Praise the Lord, all things in heaven and on earth!

[Psalm 148]

Last week, during the Wednesday prayer meeting, we learned from Psalm 147 that the Lord is building His church, the body of Christ, and that we should praise God because it is good, beautiful, and right to do so (v. 1). The Lord is building the true church, made up of saints who fear God and hope for His kindness, by (1) gathering the scattered, (2) healing the brokenhearted, (3) holding up the humble, (4) providing what we need, (5) protecting us, and (6) sending His word to us. Therefore, we should offer praise to God. We have learned that this is good, beautiful, and right.

Today, when we look at Psalm 148, verses 1 and 7, it says: “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens…” (v. 1), “… Praise the Lord from the earth” (v. 2). The psalmist tells us that all things in heaven and on earth should praise God. Here, when referring to all things in heaven (v. 1-6), the psalmist mentions “all the angels” and “all the heavenly hosts” (v. 2). In other words, the psalmist says that all the “angels in heaven” should praise God. Beyond the angels, the psalmist also mentions that “the sun and the moon” and “the shining stars” must praise God (v. 3), and “the highest heavens” and “the waters above the heavens” must praise God as well (v. 4). The “highest heavens” refers to the “most exalted heavens,” and “the waters above the heavens” refers to the “waters in the clouds” (according to Dr. Park Yun-sun). In short, the psalmist is saying that everything in the heavens, including the kingdom of heaven and the sky with clouds, should praise God. We can imagine that the angels in heaven praise God. Of course, the angels spoken of here are not the fallen angels, such as Satan and his followers, who oppose God and will never praise God. In the context of this passage (v. 2), the “all the angels” and “all the heavenly hosts” are the sinless angels who praise God.

When we imagine the angels fervently praising God, it reminds us that when Jesus returns, we will be like those angels, clothed with glorious, sinless, spiritual bodies, and we will praise our Holy God. How eagerly we anticipate that day! We pray and wait for that day to come soon.

However, what is hard for us to imagine is how the sun, the moon, the shining stars, the highest heavens, and the waters above the heavens (the waters in the clouds) praise God. Certainly, these are all created things, and as such, they should praise their Creator, but how can these things praise God? This is a question that may be difficult to grasp. But when reading Dr. Park Yun-sun's commentary, I realized that the mere fact that the sun, the moon, and the stars exist in their current form is, in itself, a form of praise to their Creator, God. Of course, this is different from the kind of praise we give with our mouths. We use instruments and our voices to praise God, but the sun, the moon, and the stars cannot praise God in the same way. Therefore, these things praise God in a different manner, unlike us, who have reason. When we consider it from this perspective, we can begin to understand how the sun, the moon, and the stars praise God.

The important thing is not how praise is offered, but that all things in the heavens should rightfully praise God. Why is this? What is the reason? Let's look at verses 5 and 6 of the passage: “Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He established them forever and gave a decree that will never pass away.” The reason all things in the heavens must praise God is because He created them by His command. That is, God created all things in the heavens, including the angels, the sun, the moon, the stars, and so on, and He set them in their places forever. Therefore, all things in the heavens must rightly praise God, for He is their Creator.

The psalmist says that not only everything in the heavens should praise God, but everything on the earth should praise Him as well (verses 7-14). He encourages all the "dragons and the sea" (v. 7), "fire, hail, snow, and clouds" and "stormy winds" (v. 8), "mountains and all the hills, trees that bear fruit and all the cedars" (v. 9), and "wild animals, all cattle, creeping things, and flying birds" (v. 10) to praise God. He also encourages "the kings of the earth, all the nations, princes, and all the rulers of the earth" (v. 11), as well as "young men and maidens, old men and children" (v. 12) to praise God. This passage calls on all creatures on earth, whether human beings or elements of nature, to praise God.

Just as it was mentioned that the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens praise God by existing in the way they do, the natural elements on earth do the same. Living under the sovereignty of the Creator, the very fact of their existence and presence on earth reflects the greatness of God's power, thus praising God (Park Yun-sun). When the psalmist encourages all people on earth to praise God, he seems to point out that even beings without reason (natural elements) praise God through their existence, so how much more should we, human beings, praise God? (Park Yun-sun). Therefore, he insists that all people, believers and non-believers alike, should praise God (Park Yun-sun).

Particularly, the psalmist encourages God's chosen people, those who are close to God, "all His saints," to praise Him (v. 14). Why? Because "He has exalted the horn of His people" (v. 14). In other words, because God has saved all the saints, they should praise Him. We are the saints who have received salvation from God. We are God's people and children, close to Him. We are God's people, made new creations in Christ Jesus. Therefore, as God's children who have received salvation, we should praise the God of our salvation.

The psalmist exhorts us in this way: "Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and the heavens" (v. 13). Everything in the heavens and on the earth should praise the name of God. Why? Because God's name is exalted alone. Because His glory is above the earth and the heavens. Let us all praise the Lord's greatness and grandeur (Hymn 40).

Desiring to praise the Lord's greatness until the day of my death,

James Kim, Pastor
(Desiring to sing eternal praises for salvation)