Hallelujah- Psalms 145-150

 The Great Hallelujah 

Psalms 145-150

The book of Psalms closes out with a crescendo of praise to the Lord. Hallelujah is derived from the Hebrew “halal” which means praise and “Ya” which means the Lord, so hallelujah literally means “praise the Lord”. The praise builds from psalm 145 to the end at psalm 150.

Psalms 145:1-4, 20-21 (NASB20) 1 A Psalm of Praise, of David. 

I will exalt You, my God, the King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation will praise Your works to another, And will declare Your mighty acts.

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20 The LORD watches over all who love Him, But He will destroy all the wicked. 21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

Psalm 145 starts of our final praise journey with general praise to the Lord. The psalmist is still thinking of the impact of his enemies on his life, but is starting to think about blessing the Lord and teaching the next generation to praise the Lord. He ends the psalm by acknowledging that the Lord watches over those who love Him and he turns his focus to speaking the praise of the Lord forever and ever.

Psalms 146:1-10 (NASB20) 

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, my soul! 2 I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Do not trust in noblemen, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; On that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea and everything that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; 7 Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. 8 The LORD opens the eyes of those who are blind; The LORD raises up those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD watches over strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked. 10 The LORD will reign forever, Your God, Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 146 begins the journey to higher praise. Here the psalmist praises the Lord and remembers all the blessing of creation. He remembers that the Lord made heaven and earth and that He established justice in the land. The psalmist is still aware of the problems in the earth, but “The Lord opens the eyes of those who are blind”, so he is starting to see. Praise the Lord!

Psalms 147:1-3 (NASB20) 

1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is beautiful. 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Psalms 147:7-8 (NASB20) 

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises to our God on the lyre; 8 It is He who covers the heavens with clouds, Who provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass sprout on the mountains.

Psalms 147:19-20 (NASB20) 

19 He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. 20 He has not dealt this way with any other nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!

In the next psalm, the writer is starting to get into the spirit of things, singing praises to God and rejoicing in how the Lord has dealt beneficently with His people. “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” As the psalmist allows the Lord to heal the brokenness and hurts in his life, he begins to look upward to praise the Lord. He is also looking outward to declare the wonderful works of the Lord to his brethren. You cannot both praise the Lord and dwell on you past hurts. At some point you are overwhelmed but the goodness of the Lord and His glory overcomes all the problems of life. So thank the Lord for His kindness and praise the Lord for who He is.

Psalms 148:1-14 (NASB20) 

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! 2 Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His heavenly armies! 3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! 4 Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! 5 They are to praise the name of the LORD, For He commanded and they were created. 6 He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree, and it will not pass away. 7 Praise the LORD from the earth, Sea monsters, and all the ocean depths; 8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; 9 Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; 10 Animals and all cattle; Crawling things and winged fowl; 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples; Rulers and all judges of the earth; 12 Both young men and virgins; Old men and children. 13 They are to praise the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven. 14 And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones, For the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 148 starts to get the praise cranked up. Here the psalmist lists many of the things that the Lord has done that are worthy of praise; from sea monsters to the sun and moon. Even the stormy winds are worthy of praise. Therefore let all men, young and old, kings and all people, children and old men. Let everyone praise the Lord!

Psalms 149:1-9 (NASB20) 

1 Praise the LORD! Sing a new song to the LORD, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones. 2 Israel shall be joyful in his Maker; The sons of Zion shall rejoice in their King. 3 They shall praise His name with dancing; They shall sing praises to Him with tambourine and lyre. 4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will glorify the lowly with salvation. 5 The godly ones shall be jubilant in glory; They shall sing for joy on their beds. 6 The high praises of God shall be in their mouths, And a two-edged sword in their hands, 7 To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishment on the peoples, 8 To bind their kings with chains, And their dignitaries with shackles of iron, 9 To execute against them the judgment written. This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD!

In Psalm 149 the psalmist runs out of old songs and must sing a new song. The Lord is worthy of more than we can express, so we need to allow the Holy Spirit to give us a new song that is new every morning. So let us be joyful and rejoice, Let us take pleasure in the Lord and in His people. Let everyone sing praises to the Lord. “This is an honor for all His godly ones. Praise the LORD!”

Psalms 150:1-6 (NASB20) 

1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. 2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. 3 Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. 4 Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flute. 5 Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. 6 Everything that has breath shall praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

Finally, we come the the finale. Psalm 150 is the capstone of the Psalms, the final word on praising the Lord. In the earlier psalms, there was an awareness of people, of evil and of problems, but in this final psalm there is no mention of any person. There are no “I”s or “Me”s and no mention of any man at all. This entire psalm is dedicated to praising the Lord. This is the great Hallelujah. Every verse contains “hallelujah”, which is translated “Praise the Lord” in this version. Every voice, every instrument, everything that has breath shall praise the Lord.

There is really nothing else that needs to be said. The ultimate goal of every believer should be to set aside every thought of self and this world, and focus entirely on the Lord. In many ways, this life is just choir practice, teaching us how to worship the Lord, in every circumstance, through every problem, and in every way possible. When we learn that lesson, then we will be fit citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Everything that has breath shall praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!