AP

Psalm 148:13-14   Let [everyone and everything across all the great diversity of Creation – see verses 1-12] praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his splendour is above the earth and the heavens.  He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart.  Praise the LORD.

The equivalent for us today of ‘Israel, the people close to his heart’ is, of course, the Church; and the ‘horn’ God has ‘raised up for his people’ is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour (in the OT, ’horn’ on an animal being the symbol and instrument of its power and strength, and when used as a musical instrument, the rallying signal of God’s power and strength, so clearly a looking forward to the coming Promised Messiah).

I can think of no better way of reflecting on the message of today’s verses than to quote the vision recorded by the Apostle John in Revelation 5:6-14 –

“Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.  He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.  He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.  And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.  Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.  And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.’  Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!’  Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!’  The four living creatures said, ‘Amen’, and the elders fell down and worshipped.”

If we are among those who, by his amazing grace, have been brought ‘close to his heart’, may the Hebrew word “Hallelujah”, “Praise the Lord”, be forever on our lips to keep us mindful always of who our God IS, and what he has DONE for us in Christ!