#902 A Final Praise Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens!

2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3 Praise him with trumpet sound;

praise him with lute and harp!

4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;

praise him with strings and pipe!

5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;

praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! Psalm 150 ESV

A song of praise, the last chapter of the Psalms.

Praise the Lord - Who is the Lord? By the time of the Psalmists, He has been revealed as Creator, Holy (infinitely opposed to sin), revealed to Noah as righteous judge and deliverer, to Abraham in covenant, to Moses and Israel through the law. He is the redeemer in Exodus, showing His sovereignty over creation and kings. 

…13 Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.… Exodus 3: 13-15

- The exhortation is to all things in earth or in heaven. Should they not all declare the glory of him for whose glory they are, and were created? Jehovah, the one God, should be the one object of adoration. To give the least particle of his honour to another is shameful treason; to refuse to render it to him is heartless robbery. - C. H. Spurgeon

Praise God in His sanctuary - The sanctuary, church, was not a focal point for men, but rather the place that should in all ways honor God and His word, which He has placed above His name. If you are a true worshiper, a Christian, then you are a person of the Book. 

- Praise El, or the strong one, in his holy place. See how power is mentioned with holiness in this change of names. Praise begins at home. "In God's own house pronounce his praise." The holy place should be filled with praise, even as of old the high priest filled the sanctum sanctorum with the smoke of sweet smelling incense. In his church below and in his courts above hallelujahs should be continually presented. In the person of Jesus God finds a holy dwelling or sanctuary, and there he is greatly to be praised. He may also be said to dwell in holiness, for all his ways are right and good; for this we ought to extol him with heart and with voice. Whenever we assemble for holy purposes our main work should be to present praises unto the Lord our God. Praise him in the firmament of his power. It is a blessed thing that in our God holiness and power are united. Power without righteousness would be oppression, and righteousness without power would be too weak for usefulness; but put the two together in an infinite degree and we have God. - C. H. Spurgeon

12 Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. 13 And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” 14 The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.… Matthew 2: 12-14

Praise Him in His mighty heavens - The heavens declare His glory, the sky, space and the heavens above the heavens. All that is made by Him was made for Him.

…7“Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of prophecy in this book.” 8 And I am John, the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown me these things. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”… Revelation 22: 7-9

…5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting: Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the heavenly host worships You. 7 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.… Nehemiah 9: 5-7

Praise Him with trumpet sound - The announcement of the coming of royalty, a call to praise.

31 And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. 32 Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its branches become tender and sprout leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you will know that He is near, right at the door.… Matthew 24: 31-33

Praise Him with lute and harp, tambourine and dance, strings and pipe, cymbals - What the voice does not feel accomplished on its own is amplified by the instruments. It is a talent given by God, played upon the instruments made from His created materials. All gifts of use should be reciprocated to their origin. 

…9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 10 As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another. 11 If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.… 1 Peter 4: 9-11

…6 We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; 7 if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.… Romans 12: 6-8

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord - It is enough, regardless of whatever other circumstances, that you live and breathe is enough reason to praise the Lord. 

…8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.… 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10

11 that agrees with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, that He considered me faithful and appointed me to service. 13 I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.… 1 Timothy 1: 11-13