The Final Great Hallelujah



Scripture:

Psa. 150:1        Praise the LORD!
    Praise God in his sanctuary;
        praise him in his mighty firmament!
2     Praise him for his mighty deeds;
        praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
 
Psa. 150:3        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 clanging cymbals;
        praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6     Let everything that breathes praise the LORD!
    Praise the LORD!

Observation:

This final Psalm is the climax of all the Psalms and a fitting doxology. In the end we are left with nothing but praise for our LORD!

We are invited into the sanctuary, or into the very place of God’s holiness where we are overwhelmed with his holy presence.

We praise God for all that he has done and the instruments are invited into this great hallelujah. The trumpets which are normally used for ceremonial purposes, gaining the attention of the people blast out the praise of God. The lute and the harp which were typically used in worship continue to play and the cymbals, clanging in happy and loud pronouncements — this is our God!

Wake up oh people of God, “let everything that breathes praise the LORD!”

This is the doxology — the great Hallelujah.

Application:

The message of God’s word is continually pointing in a direction where God’s people will dwell with him in his holy presence. The idea of being ushered into the very heart of God, into his holy sanctuary results in praise simply springing forth from every part of our being — the great hallelujah cannot be contained!

Many of us will go to church today to worship our LORD. We will be ushered into a physical sanctuary where we will have the opportunity to praise and to worship God. But while we may be in a physical sanctuary, we may not be in a place where the great hallelujah springs out of us. This can only happen when we enter the very holy presence of God — when all the obstacles to true worship are removed from our lives. The Psalmist spoke of a physical temple, Jesus spoke of God’s people as the temple. God comes and dwells in and among his people through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For us to praise God in his sanctuary is to praise him through us. We shouldn’t have to wait to go to church on a Sunday to praise the Lord. Nor should going to a church on a Sunday be the answer to our lack of praise of the Lord. We won’t worship God in church if we haven’t allowed God into the sanctuary of our own lives.

But when he does come and dwell in us, bringing his holiness to us, then praising God oozes from every part of our being. We will then praise him in the sanctuary, and everywhere else. We will praise him with the ordinary instruments of life and with his instruments of worship. It won’t matter what style of worship we have at church because our greatest desire will simply be to shout out the great hallelujah to our holy God, and when that happens praise breaks out on the trumpet, harp, lute, cymbal — and who knows what else!

Prayer:

Lord, may I praise and worship you in church today and everywhere else.  Amen.


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