Introduction
It’s been a while since we last looked at the psalms together, but you might recall that I said before that the final five psalms in the book of Psalms are all psalms of praise. And they therefore anticipate what we will do for ever and for ever in the presence of God, because for ever and for ever we will praise God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Just like the previous two psalms, today’s psalm begins and ends with ‘Hallelujah’ which means ‘Praise the Lord!’ And the rest of the psalm can be divided into two parts. In the first part, the psalmist commands the heavens and all that they contain to praise the Lord. In the second part, he commands the earth and all that it contains to praise the Lord. So, the psalmist is calling on the heavens and the earth to praise the name of the Lord our God.
Verses 1 to 6
In verse 1 he commands the heavens to praise the Lord. And when he mentions the heavens and the heights above, he’s referring to everything that is contained in the heavens above. And in the following verses, he lists some of those heavenly beings and bodies.
He mentions the angels first who make up God’s heavenly hosts. So, we’re to think of angels and archangels and cherubim and seraphim: those angels who stand in the presence of the Lord and who worship him day and night. But he also mentions the sun and the moon and the shining stars. He calls on them to praise the Lord. And then he refers to the highest heavens and to the waters above the skies. And now he’s probably thinking about everything in the heavens above which we cannot see. So, we can see the sun and moon and the stars, but there are other heavenly bodies in the sky which we cannot see with the naked eye.
And by calling on the heavenly bodies to praise the Lord, the psalmist is personifying them. That is to say, he’s treating them as if they were living beings who are able to speak and to sing praises to God. And, of course, even though they’re not living beings, and even though they cannot speak, the heavenly bodies declare to us day after day the greatness of our God. They speak to us without words about the greatness of God who made them and who sustains them. The heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his hands. And so, they praise the Lord by their very existence.
And the psalmist goes on to say in verse 5 that the reason these heavenly beings and bodies are to praise the Lord is because he commanded and they were created. So, they’re to praise him because he is their Creator. He’s the one who called them into existence. He set them in place for ever. He issued a decreed about them, commanding them to exist. And God’s decree about them will never pass away.
And so, the heavens and all they contain should praise the Lord, because he made them and by his will they were created.
Verses 7 to 14
In verse 7 the psalmist turns his attention to the earth and he calls on everything that the earth contains to praise the Lord.
He begins with the sea creatures and all the other creatures who live in the ocean depths. He calls on them to praise the Lord. Once again he’s personifying them, treating them as if they’re like us and can talk. He also refers to lightning and hail and snow and clouds and stormy winds. And he mentions the mountains and hills and fruit trees and cedars as well as wild animals and cattle in the farmer’s field. Small creatures and flying birds. All of God’s creation is to praise the Lord.
And last of all, he calls on human beings to praise the Lord. And every human being should praise the Lord including the kings of the earth and the people of all the nations. Princes and rulers should praise him. Young and old, men and women should praise him.
The psalmist calls on the earth and everything on the earth, including all people, to praise the Lord our God. They should praise him, because his name alone is exalted. Do you see that in verse 13? He alone is God and his name, or his reputation, is greater and higher and more glorious than any other name. His splendour is above the earth and the heavens. So, think of all the wonderful things in this world. Yvonne and I were in Bergen on holiday and we took a train ride across a mountain and we took a boat ride down a fjord and everyone had their cameras out to take pictures of the wonderful scenery which was breath-taking. The world is full of wonderful things, splendid things, glorious things. But God’s glory, his splendour, is above the earth and the heavens. His greatness far exceeds what the heavens and earth contain.
In the ancient world, the pagan nations worshipped the sun and the moon and the stars. They worshipped sea creatures. They trembled before the stormy winds. The pagans regarded parts of creation as divine. But the Lord our God made these things. He created the sun and the moon and the stars. And he is therefore above them. He’s the Most High God. We cannot imagine anything greater than our God. And since that’s the case — since he’s the Most High God, the Most Perfect Being — then we should worship and adore him and him alone.
And the members of his church should praise him because he has raised up for his people a horn. Do you see that in verse 14? And the psalmist says that this horn will be the praise of all God’s saints. The saints — all of God’s people, the people close to his heart — should praise God for this horn.
What does he mean by this horn? In the Bible, a horn or an antler symbolises power and strength. Think of a deer with its strong antlers and how it uses them to defend itself against other deer or predators. In that case, if God is said to raise up the horn of his people, it means he strengthens them and gives them the power they need to overcome their enemies. However, the image of a strong horn was also used to refer to a powerful king. In that case, if God is said to raise up a horn for his people, then it may mean that he has raised up a king to rule over them and to defend them.
So, the image of a horn can mean God gives his people strength or he gives them a king. It’s not clear which is the right interpretation here in the psalm. The psalmist might be calling on God’s people to praise the Lord because he has strengthened his people. For instance, once they were in exile. But then the Lord enabled them to return to the Promised Land and to rebuild Jerusalem and its walls and temple. Praise the Lord for that! And praise him for causing his church on earth to flourish. Or the psalmist might be calling on God’s people to praise the Lord because he has given us a great king to rule over us and to defend us. He sent his Son into the world as our great king. And as our great king, he gave up his life on the cross to save us from sin and satan and death. And by his resurrection and ascension, Christ our king has been seated in heaven far above all rule and authority and power and dominion in this age and in the next. And from his throne in heaven, he protects us for all his enemies. And so, praise the Lord for that.
Perhaps we don’t need to decide between these two interpretations, because the reason the church on earth exists and can flourish and has the strength to stand up to the devil’s wicked schemes is because of Christ our mighty king who saved us and who strengthens us. So, we should praise God continually for Christ our King and for all that he has done for us in the past; and for all that he is doing for us in the present; and for all that he will yet do for us in the future.
Conclusion
The heavens declare God’s glory. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. They praise the Lord by their very existence, because they speak to us of God’s great power and wisdom. And God has created us: men and women. And he created us so that we would praise him. But because of Adam’s fall, we are sinners by birth and sinfully inclined to worship created things instead of the Creator. But thanks be to God who has rescued us from our sin and misery by his Son who gave up his life on the cross to reconcile us to God. And from his throne in heaven, he gives us his Spirit to renew us. He therefore gives us a new heart to love him. And, through the reading and preaching of his word, he continually reminds us of why we should praise him and he moves us to do so more and more.
And we can look forward to the day when we’re glorified in his presence in the life to come and we are made perfect and we’ll worship him without weariness and we’ll join our voices with the angels and with all of God’s people in every generation and from every nation to sing ‘Hallelujah’ to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Heaven and earth will unite with one voice to worship and adore the one true and living God who made us and who has saved us. And until that day comes, we should pray that more and more men and women and boys and girls will likewise be reconciled to God through faith in his Son and that they too will praise him in this life and look forward to praising him for ever.
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