Let Everything Praise the Lord

Welcome to the very last psalm, Psalm 150, a psalm that contains no argument, no real teaching, no real explanation. It is an eloquent, passionate cry to all creation to give Yahweh the praise due to Him! Join Pastor David Guzik as he finishes off this wonderful series!

Here is a quote from Augustine that refers to the end of Psalm 119, but I think is also fitting for the conclusion of the entire book of Psalms:

“As far as I have been able, as far as I have been aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm. A task which more able and learned expositors have performed, or will perform better; nevertheless, my services were not to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren earnestly required it of me.”

We now come to Psalm 150. In the entire book of Psalms, there are 150 psalms, and now we've come to the very last psalm in the collection. And to set our mind, I believe, in the right place to understand this last psalm, which is only six verses, I want to read the entire psalm to you, and then we'll take a look at it in its entirety, and then sort of verse by verse.

So here we begin, Psalm 150, starting at verse one. Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary. 

Praise Him in His mighty firmament. Praise Him for His mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise Him with the lute and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance. 

Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise Him with loud cymbals. Praise Him with clashing cymbals. 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That is Psalm 150. 

Again, these last six verses give us a fitting conclusion to the book of Psalms as a whole. Understand this. The book of Psalms is divided into five individual books, and each one of the individual books closes with a doxology.

So book one of the Psalms is Psalm 1 through 41, and book one ends like this. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and amen.

I just read to you Psalm 41 verse 13, which is a doxology, a statement of praise unto God, concluding the first book of Psalms. Book two of the Psalms goes from Psalm 42 through Psalm 72. So here is Psalm 72 verses 18 and 19. 

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things, and blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen. Again, that's the last two verses of book two of the Psalms. 

Book three of the Psalms goes from Psalm 73 through Psalm 89, and Psalm 89 verse 52 ends the third book of the Psalms like this. Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and amen. 

Then book four of the Psalms goes from Psalm 90 through Psalm 106, and this book four ends like this. Psalm 146 verse 48. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say amen. 

Praise the Lord. So this is what I want you to see. Every one of the first four books in the collections of the Psalms ends with this statement of praise and some statement of amen. 

Now the entire Psalm 150 can be seen as a doxology that not only concludes the fifth and final volume of the collected Psalms, it also closes the entire book of Psalms. You could say that Psalm 150, it contains no argument, no real teaching, no real explanation. All it is is an eloquent and passionate cry to all of creation to give Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the praise that is due to him. 

Alexander McLaren said this about Psalm 150. He said, this Psalm is more than an artistic close of the Psalter. It is a prophecy of the last result of the devout life, and in its unclouded sunniness as well as in its universality, it proclaims the certain end of the weary years for the individual and for the world. 

The conclusion of the book of Psalms in Psalm 150 reminds us of something, that the end of our days in the Lord and the end of this universe will be in praise. Praise unto God in every dimension. Well, let's take a look at it now, verse by verse. 

Psalm 150, we'll begin with the first verse. Praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty firmament. Now, as we've mentioned before, starting back at Psalm 146, the last five Psalms in the book of Psalms share the same beginning and ending line. 

They all begin with this line, praise the Lord, and they end with the line, praise the Lord. In the Hebrew, it's a single word, hallelujah, praise unto Yahweh. And so, this last Psalm shares that with Psalms 146 through Psalm 149 and now continuing into Psalm 150. 

Yahweh is praised and his people are encouraged, exhorted to praise him. There is no crisis or enemy in view here. This is pure praise. 

So, hallelujah or praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary. The sanctuary of God is a most fitting place for his praise. It is a place set apart for his honor and it involves special recognition of his presence.

If Yahweh is to be praised anywhere, it should be in his sanctuary. Now, in the Christian world, in church world, at least in America, in much of Europe, in Canada, we commonly call the main gathering room of a church building the sanctuary. It's just commonly referred that. 

Again, it's not universal, but it's common. Oh, let's gather in the sanctuary. This morning's worship service will be held in the sanctuary. 

And there's good reason for calling it that. And one of the good reasons is that in that particular room of a church building, the main meeting room, it is good and right and appropriate for God to be praised. We can say, praise God in his sanctuary. 

And again, I don't know what church building you go to in your church attendance, and I don't even know what you particularly call the main meeting room. But if you call it the sanctuary, I want you to think about that every time you go into the sanctuary, that God commands us that we should praise him in his sanctuary. And so here it is, hallelujah. 

But not only that, verse one says that we should praise God. Adam Clark points out that this is not the phrase hallelujah. In other words, praise Yahweh.

This is hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God, the strong God, the mighty God. 

So praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary. Now the last line of verse one, praise him in his mighty firmament. The firmament has the idea of the wide expanse of the sky with all of its might as it's seen in the storms and weather that come upon the world. 

That also is a fitting place to praise God. Since the firmament stretches forth from horizon to horizon, it tells us that God should be praised in every place under the sky. If God's glory fills the universe, then so should his praise. 

Praise him in the mighty firmament. Now, let me give you an interesting thought here. In that phrase, in his mighty firmament, Adam Clark, who wrote his commentary, let's say in the early 1800s, he had an interesting thought. 

I'm not telling you I believe this, but I just want to share with you an interesting thought from Adam Clark. He thought that this included beings who might live on other planets. That phrase, in his mighty firmament. 

In other words, in all the sky above, the day sky and the night sky. This is Adam Clark's quote. He said this, through the whole expanse to the uttermost limits of his power, praise him whose power and goodness extend through all worlds and let the inhabitants of all those worlds share in the grand chorus that it may be universal. 

Now, I certainly don't know or believe that there's necessarily life on other planets, but if there is, they should be praising God based on this command in Psalm 150, verse 1, praise him in his mighty firmament. Now, verse 2, here we transition from the thought of in every place the Lord should be praised, now in verse 2, for every reason the Lord should be praised. Take a look at this verse 2, praise him for his mighty acts, praise him according to his excellent greatness. 

God's mighty acts are one reason to praise God in every place. That's why it says there in verse 2, praise him for his mighty acts. He has done great and powerful things, especially what Jesus has accomplished at the cross and the empty tomb. 

Those are the mightiest among God's mighty acts. Now, the singer of this psalm only had shadowy knowledge of the fulfillment of God's greatest mighty acts, but the ultimate demonstration of God's power would come in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You can read about that in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 19 and 20.

So, for that mightiest of God's act, the resurrection of Jesus, and for all of his mighty acts, we should praise him. Alexander McLaren indicated that the idea his mighty acts really has the sense of his heroic acts or his valiant acts. God's deliverance, his rescue of his people is done in a heroic way. 

Now, as I said before, there's no doubt that God did many mighty acts for Israel. However, God did still mightier acts in Jesus Christ for the redemption of the world. What Jesus did at the cross makes a mightier deliverance than what God did in the exodus.

So, even though we're not ignoring what God did for Israel, we're also celebrating what God did for Israel and the whole world in the mighty deliverance that he granted at the cross and empty tomb through the person and work of Jesus Christ. So, that's the mighty acts mentioned in verse 2. Now, the second line of verse 2 says this, praise him according to his excellent greatness. Now, the first line of verse 2 tells us that it is right to praise God for the mighty things that he does. 

Absolutely true. But there is perhaps something even greater in praising him for who he is. As verse 2 says in its second line, praise him according to his excellent greatness. 

In all the excellence of his greatness, this greatness surpasses everything else in the entire universe. God is excellent above all. John Trapp said that the sense of the Hebrew here is the greatness of greatness, which yet can never be done, but we have to endeavor to do it. 

We have to try. You can never praise God to the full extent of his greatness, but you should give it a try. And starting here at verse 3, he's going to tell us how we can praise. 

So, we praise God in every place. We praise him for every reason. Now, starting at verse 5, we praise him with every expression. 

Look now, verses 3, 4, and 5, we read this. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the lute and harp. 

Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes. Praise him with loud cymbals. 

Praise him with clashing cymbals. The psalmist refers here to an orchestra of God's people, and he is sort of being the conductor for this orchestra. He's looking over there at the trumpets. 

Now, come now, you praise them, the trumpets. Now, you lute and harp. Now, come now, you praise them. 

And just like a conductor would point to different parts of the orchestra and bring them in to the beautiful symphony that's being offered, that's what the psalmist is doing here. He is conducting our music in praise to God. There was to be no instrument left out of the orchestra of God's praise. 

Brass instruments, string instruments, wind instruments, percussion instruments, they all join together in the praise of a God who is so great. Now, it's sort of fitting that he began with the sound of the trumpet. There was good reason to mention the trumpet first in this extended list.

The sound of the trumpet, again, quoting Spurgeon here, the sound of the trumpet is associated with the grandest and most solemn events, such as the giving of the law, the proclamation of Drubalee, the coronation of Jewish kings, and the raging of war. It is to be thought of in reference to the coming of our Lord in his second advent and the raising of the dead. Yes, the trumpet has a prominent place in Israel's worship. 

It was fitting for the psalmist to begin with the sound of the trumpet. Now, to come back to Adam Clark, he described what he believed each musical instrument here mentioned to be. So, I'm going to mention the name of the instrument in English and then Clark's explanation of the Hebrew word. 

Please forgive me if my Hebrew pronunciation of these terms isn't the best. But in verse three, it mentions the trumpet. Clark says that's the so far from its noble, cheering, and majestic sound. 

Then verse three, there's the lute. That's the nabal, the nabla, a hollow stringed instrument, perhaps like the guitar. Then verse three mentions the harp. 

That's the kinor, another stringed instrument played on with the hands or the fingers. Then verse four mentions the timbrel. Adam Clark says that's the tof, the drum, tabret or tom-tom or tympanum of the ancients, a skin stretched over a broad hoop, perhaps something like the tambourine. 

Verse four mentions the dance, but Adam Clark says this is the machal, the pipe. It never means the dance. And he mentioned a similar thing back at Psalm 149.

So, Adam Clark would say that dance in verse four actually refers to an instrument somewhat like a flute or a windpipe. Then verse four mentioned stringed instruments. He refers to it as the mininum. 

And this literally signifies strings put in order, perhaps a triangular kind of hollow instrument on which the strings were regularly placed, growing shorter and shorter till they came to a point. Verse four mentions flutes. He says that's the Hebrew word ugah, very likely syrins or the mouth organ, pans, pipes, both of the ancients and the moderns.

Verse five mentions the loud cymbals. These are the tzatzilim, hollow plates of brass, which being struck together produced a sharp clanging sound. And then finally, verse five mentions the clashing cymbals. 

Once again, quoting Adam Clark, he says perhaps these of a larger make struck above the head and consequently emitting a louder sound. So, the list of instruments here, it's not meant to include every possible instrument, but it just simply means all kinds of instruments. Anything you can think of, use it to praise the Lord. 

Hey, the message is this. Everything you have can be used to worship God. Now, one other thing that we observe by this is the fact that this broad list of musical instruments tells us that God wants every class and group of people to praise him because these instruments were normally played by different types of people. 

Alexander McLaren explains this, quoting him. He says, the horn was the curved shofar blown by the priests. The harp and the psaltery were played by the Levites. 

Timbrels were struck by the women as they were dancing. Playing on stringed instruments and pipes and cymbals were not reserved for the Levites. In other words, all different kinds, all different classes of people would be involved in playing these different instruments. 

The variety of instruments is a way of God also telling us he wants all peoples to praise the Lord. Hey, listen, praise to God is not the job of the choir leader or the worship leader or whatever you want to call it. No, no. 

These are people who are meant to lead us in praise of God. Every one of us is to praise the Lord. Now, if you notice in verse 5, he also says, praise him with the loud cymbals. 

These individual instruments must be played with strength and celebration. You see, the collection of them together would fill the whole room with sound. If the trumpet, the lute, the harp, the timbrel, the flute, the instruments, the cymbals, the loud cymbals, if they're all praising the Lord together, that's loud.

That's energetic. This was not halting or hesitant praise. Just like the love and the goodness of God are not halting or hesitant towards us in any way, so our praise to him should be energetic, should be filled with life. 

I like what James Montgomery Boyce had to say about this. He said, let's be done with worship that is always weak and unexciting. If you cannot sing loudly and make loud music to praise the God who has redeemed you in Jesus Christ and who is preparing you for heaven, perhaps it is because you do not really know God or the gospel at all. 

If you do know him, hallelujah. Amen to that. Our praises should be filled with hallelujahs.

Now, verse 6, the last verse of Psalm 150, the last verse of the Psalms, the psalmist writes, let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. This is a remarkably fitting conclusion to this Psalm and to the entire book of Psalms.

Everything that breathes should give its praise to the one who gave it breath. Every breath is the gift of God and praise is the worthy response that we should make for that gift. Derek Kidner noted that the literal way to translate this phrase, let everything that has breath praise the Lord, he said more literally, it could be said, let all breath praise the Lord.

Or John Trapp put it this way, let every breath praise the Lord. We have all as much reason to praise God as we have need to draw breath. Now, we understand that sort of in Hebrew literature, in the Psalms, these things that have breath, it's all living creatures.

Everything that is given life by the creator, that should always give praise unto God. But I do like something about that phrase, let all breath praise the Lord. Our praise to God should be as constant and as natural as simply breathing in and out, praising him. 

Let every breath praise the Lord. You could say this, the one condition of praise is to have breath to praise God. As long as you have breath, praise the Lord. 

And I want you to know something, Revelation chapter five, verse 13 tells us that this will happen. Here, I'm going to read you this verse, Revelation chapter five, verse 13. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. 

Brothers and sisters, this will be certainly fulfilled. It's our place to get on with the program right here and right now. Which brings us not only to the last verse of Psalm 150 and of the whole book of Psalms, but to the last line. 

And what could the last line of Psalm 150 and the entire book of Psalms be other than praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the triune God who is known to us in God, the Father, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit. 

Yahweh is to be praised and honored and he will be so praised and honored among his people and among all creation. If you want to go all the way back to the first verse of the Psalms, Psalm one, verse one begins with the word blessed and it ends with the word hallelujah. I can't think of a better beginning and a better end for this entire book of Psalms. 

F.B. Meyer said this, your life may look like the Psalter with its varying moods, its light and shadow, its sob and smile, but it will end with hallelujahs if only you will keep to the will and the way and work of the most holy. Indeed. Well, let's consider one final way as we conclude this wonderful study. 

It's been wonderful for me through the entire book of Psalms. Let's ask ourselves the question, how does Psalm 150 point to Jesus? I'm just going to suggest one way. Again, I'm sure we could think of more, but I'll suggest one way. 

Jesus Christ has a sanctuary and it should bring praise to God. Verse one of Psalm 150 says, praise God in his sanctuary. And in light of the new covenant, we realize that God's sanctuary is not fixed to a particular building. 

It's not fixed to a particular building in Jerusalem as the Psalmist would understand it. It's not fixed to a particular building at a church grounds today. No, Jesus serves his people in a sanctuary in the heavens.

Let me read to you Hebrews chapter eight verses one and two. It says this. Now, this is the main point of the things we are saying. 

We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. Oh, we have a high priest and he serves in the heavenly sanctuary. That is Jesus Christ serving his people from a real actual literal heavenly sanctuary that is in the heavens right now. 

Hebrews chapter eight verses one and two tells us. But Jesus is also making his sanctuary among his people collectively. Second Corinthians chapter six verse sixteen tells us this. 

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. 

Again, if we collectively are the sanctuary of God, we rejoice in that. And then thirdly, there's a sanctuary that Jesus has in heaven. Jesus has a sanctuary. 

He's making a sanctuary collectively among his people. We see thirdly that Jesus makes his sanctuary in the individual believer. First Corinthians chapter three verse sixteen says, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? So it is true that Jesus has a sanctuary among his people collectively, but he also has a sanctuary among his people individually. 

First Corinthians three sixteen tells us so. We also know that ultimately Jesus himself will be the sanctuary of God among his people. Revelation chapter twenty one verse twenty two says this, speaking of heaven, but I saw no temple in it for the Lord God almighty and the lamb are its temple. 

So we understand that in its final fulfillment. Now, if Psalm one hundred and fifty verse one indicates for us that Jesus should receive praise in his sanctuary, it means that as Christians, as believers, as the people of God, we should praise Jesus both collectively and individually as the God and know that we will do it for all eternity. Amen. 

This ends our look at the Psalms. It's been more than one hundred collective hours of teaching through this marvelous book of the I hope I pray that you have been touched and if by chance you have gone through all one hundred and fifty Psalms with me and God bless you all the more. It's been a wonderful journey for me and I pray that it would be so for you also. 

Let me pray in conclusion now, not just of Psalm one hundred and fifty, but of all these songs. Lord, this last Psalm is a beautiful and powerful exhortation to us to praise you. What a fitting conclusion to the book of Psalms. 

And so we simply do it, Lord. We say hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. 

Praise God. You are the God who has made us. You are the God who has redeemed us. 

And in every way conceivable, in every place, for every reason, with every means, with all that we have, we want to praise you with every breath. And most pointedly, we praise you for all that you have done for us, the all that you have given us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is enthroned in a sanctuary, who is building a sanctuary, both in us collectively and individually, and who one day will be the very embodiment of the temple of God among his people. Let him be praised in the sanctuary. 

We pray this, thanking you and praising you for the beautiful message you have for us in and through the book of Psalms. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.