Scripture Reading: Psa. 146; Psa. 147; Psa. 148; Psa. 149; Psa. 150
In this message we will cover the last five psalms, Psalms 146 through 150. Because each of these psalms begins and ends with the word "Hallelujah," these five psalms are called Hallelujah psalms. The Septuagint says that Psalms 146 to 149 were written by Haggai and Zechariah after their return from captivity. The return of God's people from captivity was a great release and restoration.
Some expositors say that the five books of the Psalms correspond to the five books of the law written by Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Other expositors say that the Psalms are an abstract of the entire Bible. Certain expositors exalt Psalms 146 through 150. However, these psalms reveal very little concerning God's economy and dispensing, for when they were written the "spiritual civilization" was still quite primitive. Since the book of Psalms was written, the divine revelation in the Scriptures has progressed very much. For this reason, Psalms 146 through 150 cannot compare with the book of Ephesians.
I have entitled this message on Psalms 146 through 150 "The Consummate Praise." This consummate praise corresponds with that at the end of Revelation. Revelation 19:1 says, "Hallelujah! The salvation and the glory and the power are of our God." Here God is praised for His salvation, glory, and power. Verse 6 says, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns."
Psalm 146 is on praising Jehovah for His reigning from Zion.
Verses 3 through 5 are a praise to Jehovah for His being the help of His saints. In verses 3 and 4 we have the background of the psalm. Verse 3 says, "Do not trust in princes,/In a son of man, with whom there is no salvation." Haggai and Zechariah, who were born in captivity, saw the kings of Babylon and Persia, and this was why they said that we should not trust in princes. Verse 4, referring to a son of man, says, "His breath goes forth; he returns to the earth;/On that day his plans perish." The plans of the Babylonian and Persian kings perished. Verse 5 continues, "Blessed is the man whose help is the God of Jacob,/Whose hope is in Jehovah his God." The writer knew that the returned captives were the blessed ones.
Verse 6 says that Jehovah made heaven, earth, and the sea and all things in them and that He keeps faith forever.
Verses 7 and 8 tell us that Jehovah executes judgment for the oppressed, gives food to the famished, frees the prisoners, opens the eyes of the blind, raises up those who are bowed down, and loves the righteous. According to verse 9, He also preserves the sojourners and upholds the orphan and the widow, but He subverts the way of the wicked.
Verse 10 concludes with the declaration that Jehovah will reign forever and ever.
Psalm 146 is a good psalm. However, the writer still held to the principle of good and evil and wrote according to the knowledge of good and evil. Here we do not see anything concerning Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. We need to see that today Christ is the Spirit in our spirit and that the grace of Christ also is in our spirit.
Psalm 147 is on praising Jehovah for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Verse 2a says, "Jehovah builds up Jerusalem."
Jehovah gathers the outcasts of Israel. This gathering of the outcasts is the release of the captives to bring them back to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Jehovah also heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He restores the afflicted and brings the wicked, the Babylonians and Persians as the captors of the outcasts, down to the ground (vv. 2b-6).
Jehovah provides food for the beast and the birds (v. 9). He takes no delight in the strength of horses, nor pleasure in the legs of man, but He "takes pleasure in those who fear Him,/In those who hope in His lovingkindness" (vv. 10-11).
Jehovah has restored Jerusalem, has strengthened its bars, and has blessed its people with peace and rich provision (vv. 12-18).
"He declares His word to Jacob,/His statutes and His ordinances to Israel./He has not dealt so with any other nation;/And as for His ordinances, they have not known them" (vv. 19-20). Haggai and Zechariah could compare themselves with the Gentiles, boasting that, unlike them, the Gentiles did not have God's ordinances. Today we, the believers in Christ, do not have the statutes and ordinances but we do have the life-giving Spirit and the divine dispensing. What Haggai and Zechariah had cannot compare to what we have in the New Testament.
Psalm 148 is on praising Jehovah for His exalted name and for His transcending majesty.
In verses 1 through 6 all the heavenly things and persons are charged to praise Jehovah from the heavens. Concerning this, verse 5 says, "Let them praise the name of Jehovah;/For He commanded, and they were created."
Verses 7 through 13 continue by saying that all the earthly things and persons are to praise Jehovah from the earth. Concerning this verse 13 says, "Let them praise the name of Jehovah,/For His name alone is exalted;/His glory is above the earth and the heavens."
According to verse 14, all His people, His saints, the children of Israel, a people near to Him, are to praise Him.
Psalm 149 is on praising Jehovah for His pleasure in His people, Israel, and His adornment of the lowly with salvation.
Verse 1 speaks of singing a new song to Jehovah and His praise in the congregation of His saints.
Verse 2 says, "Let Israel rejoice in his Maker;/Let the children of Zion be glad in their King." Verse 3 speaks of praising His name with dancing and of singing psalms to Him with the tambourine and the lyre. Jehovah takes pleasure in His people and adorns the lowly with salvation (v. 4). Thus, verses 5 and 6 say that the faithful ones should exult in glory and give a ringing shout upon their beds, with the high praises of God in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand.
Verses 7 through 9a say that the saints should execute vengeance on the nations and punishment among the peoples, bind the kings of the peoples with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron, and execute upon them the judgment written. This honor is for all His faithful ones (v. 9b).
Psalm 150 is a psalm on praising Jehovah God.
Verse 1 is a charge to praise God in His sanctuary and in the firmament of His power.
Verse 2 speaks of praising God for His mighty acts and according to His vast greatness.
Verses 3 through 5 tell us to praise God with the blast of the trumpet, the harp and lyre, the tambourine and dancing, the stringed instrument and the pipe, the loud cymbals, and the loud clanging cymbals. Today our spirit is a much better "instrument" than any of the instruments mentioned in these verses. If we exercise our spirit, we will make good "music."
Finally, verse 6 says that everything that has breath should praise Jehovah.
Revelation 19:10 says that the spirit of the prophecy of the book of Revelation is the testimony of Jesus. Based upon this principle we can say that the spirit, the reality, the characteristic, of the divine revelation in the book of Psalms is Christ (Luke 24:44) as the centrality and universality of the eternal economy of God. For this, He is firstly the embodiment of the Triune God, then the house, the habitation, of God (signified by the temple), the kingdom of God (signified by the city of Jerusalem), and the Ruler of the entire earth from the house of God and in the kingdom of God. Thus, He is all in all in the entire universe. Such a divine revelation is the same as what is revealed in the entire Holy Scriptures. The only particular point of the divine revelation in the book of Psalms is that such a high revelation, even the highest peak of the divine revelation, is prophesied in the expressions of the sentiments of the ancient godly saints. So it is mixed with their comfort in sufferings and the cultivation of godliness, yet the center and the reality, the spirit, of this highest revelation is not the comfort in sufferings nor the cultivation of godliness. It is the Christ of God, who is all in all according to God's desire and for God's good pleasure.
The consummation of this highest divine revelation is the city of New Jerusalem as a sign of the habitation, the tabernacle, of God (Rev. 21:1-3), through which the Triune God is manifested and expressed in the all-inclusive Christ.
God desires to have an organic habitation on earth, and this habitation is the aggregate of the living saints gained by God through the terminating death and germinating resurrection of the all-inclusive Christ. They will be the eternal manifestation and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God, and He will be everything to them in His all-inclusive Christ. The Triune God will reign on the new earth through such an organism in the new universe. This is the spirit, the extract, of the book of Psalms.
