Psalms 150:1 - Meaning and Application

We are here called, with the greatest urgency, to praise God. If this psalm was mainly meant for the Levites, the temple servants who sang and played instruments in the house of the Lord, it still speaks to us. We also have been made spiritual priests to our God. The repeated call shows that praise is a great and necessary duty, one we should practice often and with freedom, yet one we are naturally slow and cold to perform. So we need to be urged to it again and again, line by line and command by command.

Notice where this tribute of praise comes from and where it especially rises. It comes from his sanctuary, so praise him there. Let his priests and his people, those who gather there, honor him with praise. Where should God be praised more than where he especially shows his glory and gives his grace? Praise God for his sanctuary and for the blessings we enjoy because it is among us (Ezekiel 37:26). Some read this as, "Praise God in his holy ones." Then we should notice the image of God in those who are made holy, love them because of that image, and praise God in them when we praise them.

Praise also rises from the firmament of his power, the vast sky under his rule. Praise him for his power and glory seen in the heavens, in their size, brightness, and splendor, and in the powerful influence they have on the earth. Let those who dwell in the firmament of his power, the holy angels, lead in this work. Some take both the sanctuary and the firmament of his power to mean the highest heavens, where God’s glory lives. That is truly his sanctuary, his holy temple, and there he is praised continually in a way far better than we can praise him. It is a comfort to us, when our praise feels weak, that it is carried on so well there.

This tribute of praise is due for many reasons. One is the works of his power: praise him for his mighty acts, for all the displays of his strength, in providence, grace, creation, government, and redemption, for all people and for his own church and children in particular (Psalm 150:2). Another is the glory and majesty of his being: praise him according to his excellent greatness, according to the greatness of his splendor. Our praise can never match God’s greatness, since it is infinite, but because he is greater than we can fully think or say, we should lift our thoughts and words as high as we can. Do not be afraid of saying too much in praising God, as people often are when praising even good and great men. We cannot overstate God. The danger is saying too little. So even after doing our best, we must admit that we have praised him only in view of his excellent greatness, not in proportion to it.

The psalm also shows how this tribute should be offered, with all kinds of musical instruments used in the temple service (Psalm 150:3-5). It is enough for us not to ask exactly what instruments these were, since they were well known then. What matters is this: the psalmist’s heart was full of God’s praise, and he wanted this good work to keep going. It also teaches that in serving God we should spare no cost or effort. Most of all, it shows that the best music in God’s ears is holy, devoted feeling, not just sound, but a sincere heart. Praise God with strong faith, with holy love and delight, with full trust in Christ, with confident victory over the powers of darkness, with longing for him and satisfaction in him. Praise him by obeying all his commands, by cheerfully accepting all his dealings with us, by rejoicing in his love and resting in his goodness. Praise him by working for the interests of his gracious kingdom, and by living in hopeful expectation of his glorious kingdom.

The different instruments also teach that praise should be joined in perfect harmony. They must not get in one another’s way, but help one another. In the New Testament, that harmony is shown when we glorify God with one mind and one voice (Romans 15:6).

Finally, who must offer this tribute? Let everything that has breath praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6). The psalm began with a call to those who served in the sanctuary, but it ends by calling all people. It looks ahead to the time when the Gentiles would be brought into the church, and when this incense would be offered everywhere, as acceptably as at Jerusalem (Malachi 1:11). Some think "everything that has breath" includes even lower creatures, as in the days of the flood, all that had the breath of life in their nostrils (Genesis 7:22). They praise God in their own way, according to their ability. The song of birds is a kind of praise to God. Even the animals, in effect, say to man, "We would praise God if we could, so you do it for us." John, in vision, heard praise from every creature in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Revelation 5:13).

Others think only human beings are meant, since God has breathed the breath of life into them in a special way, and they became living souls (Genesis 2:7). Now that the gospel is to be preached to every creature, to every human being, it is fitting that every human being praise the Lord. What are our breath and life for, if not to spend them in praising God? And how could we use them better? Our prayers are called our breathings (Lamentations 3:56). So let everyone who breathes toward God in prayer, and finds blessing in that, also breathe out praises. Since we have breath, let God’s praise fill our breath. Let us live in this work as in our natural element, as the air we breathe, without which we could not live.

Our breath is always passing away, and soon it will be gone. Since we must soon breathe our last, let us praise the Lord while we still have breath. Then we will breathe our last with comfort, and when death takes away our breath, we will move into a better place, where we will breathe God’s praise in a freer and better air.

The first three books of the Psalms, according to the Hebrew division, ended with “Amen and Amen.” The fourth ended with “Amen, Hallelujah.” But the last book, and in it the whole Psalter, ends with only “Hallelujah,” because the last six psalms are entirely given to praising God, with no words of complaint or request.

The closer good Christians come to the end of their lives, the more full they should be of praising God. Some think this last psalm is meant to show us the work of glorified saints in heaven, who are always praising God there. On that view, the musical instruments mentioned here are not meant to be taken literally, just as the gold, pearls, and precious stones that decorate the New Jerusalem are symbols of heavenly glory (Rev 21:18, Rev 21:19).

As those precious stones point to the greatness of heaven, so these instruments point to the greatness of the praise the saints give there. Prayer will be carried into everlasting praise. There will be no pause in praising God, and yet no tiredness, only hallelujahs repeated forever, and still new songs.

We should often enjoy thinking about what glorified saints are doing in heaven, especially those we knew on earth who have gone there before us. That thought should not only make us long to be with them, but also stir us up to do God’s will here on earth as they do it in heaven. We should spend as much time as we can in this blessed work, because we hope to spend a joyful eternity in it.

“Hallelujah” is the word there (Rev 19:1, Rev 19:3). Let us answer it now, as people who hope to join in that praise soon: Hallelujah, praise the Lord.