ALL PRAISE
Finally we come to Psalm 150: “Hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise the Lord!” In this Psalm we have ten different ways to praise the Lord: (1) “Hallelujah. Praise God in his sanctuary.” We must praise Him in the church, in the sanctuary; (2) “Praise him in the firmament of his power”; (3) “Praise him for his mighty acts”; (4) “Praise him according to his excellent greatness”; (5) “Praise him with the sound of the trumpet”; (6) “Praise him with the psaltery and harp”; (7) “Praise him with the timbrel and dance”; (8) “Praise him with stringed instruments and organs”; (9) “Praise him upon the loud cymbals”; (10) “Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.” Then the Psalmist exclaims, “Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah.” Of all the ten ways to praise Him, notice that the first is to praise Him in His sanctuary, His house. Hence, Psalm 150 is a Psalm for the house. Praise the Lord, at the close of the Psalms we are left in the “hallelujah house.”
Psalm 150 is not merely the conclusion of the Psalms; it is the consummation of the entire Bible. The whole Bible ends in this way. When we have read all the Psalms, from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150, we have read from Genesis to Revelation in abbreviated form, passing from the law, to Christ, to the house, and eventually to the city with the earth. Then we have the Hallelujahs.
Revelation 19:1, “And after these things I heard a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah.” This is the conclusion of the Bible, just exactly like that of the Psalms. No more do we have anything about the man being blessed who keeps the law. There is only a great multitude saying, “Hallelujah; salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great harlot…and again they said, Hallelujah…and the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Hallelujah. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God the Almighty reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad and give glory to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb (the house and the city). And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God” (vv. 1-9). Praise the Lord!
The Psalms are just the entire Bible in miniature. The whole Bible is for Christ, the house, the city, and the earth. Hallelujah!
I am so grateful to the Lord that He has given us such a wonderful time in reading through all these one hundred and fifty Psalms. I do not have adequate utterance. I trust in the Holy Spirit that He will speak something further and deeper than all I have said to you.
In 1956, in Taipei, we had a life study on the Psalms. At that time the line was only with Christ and how God has turned the saints from the law to Christ. This time the line is with Christ, the house, the city, and the earth. It is much richer and more wonderful. Hallelujah! In all the history of the church, the Lord has never opened the Psalms as He has today. I am so grateful to the Lord for showing us these things. I have no words to say. I believe that the timing of these messages under the Lord’s sovereignty is truly wonderful. He has opened the Psalms to us at exactly the right time. Now we only care for Christ; the Lord has turned us from the law to Christ. And Christ has brought us to the house. What can we say but Hallelujah! He is enlarging the house into the city, and from the city He will gain the entire earth. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!
(Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 23, by Witness Lee)
