This Week's Focus Passage

‘Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah.’

Focus Passage: Psalm 150:6

‘Let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah.’

This beautiful exhortation forms the very last verse of the book of Psalms in our copies of the Word of God. We refer to it as an exhortation because it sounds like a ‘call to worship.’ It sounds like a call to all of creation under the sun and beyond to join the psalmists in giving praise to our God. Does it not bring also to our minds the blessed promise found in the prophecy of Habakkuk 2:14 where we may read, For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea? We cannot even begin to imagine what such a thing would be like; what would it look like; what would it entail? We are able perhaps, however, to imagine a parallel with the request that Moses made of Jehovah when he pleaded with Him to Show me thy glory. This promise from the prophecy of Habakkuk would surely include a grand display of the glory of God. Could it be the case that Habakkuk has in his mind Psalm 150:6 when he penned these words which, at least, suggest something of an equivalent thought? Could the prophecy be a promise inherently related to the psalmist’s prayer asking that everything that hath breath, or being, should praise Jehovah? When the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea, is it not equally the occasion when everything that hath breath shall be praising Jehovah?

Isaiah employs this language as well. God has spoken through this prophet in the eleventh chapter which begins with the solemn and grand promise of the Savior of mankind, even the Son of God, the promised seed of David;

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit: and the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah: and his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins.

Isaiah has spoken prophetically of the Messiah. He declared of this One, that the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him. Centuries later the realization was testified to the people—and to us—of the fulfillment of this utterance of Isaiah. In John’s gospel, and supported by Matthew’s account, we may read of the testimony of John the Baptist. It is stated unequivocally as recorded for us in John 1:31, And John bare witness, saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon him, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew, in 3:16, relates further that on this very occasion there was heard, a voice out of the heavens, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And, most importantly, to our investigation, the close of the pericope in which these blessed words are to be found, contains the further words of promise concerning the advent of this shoot out of the stock of Jesse, when we read in verse nine,

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

This is that of which Paul spake many years later, saying as recorded by Luke in Acts 13:23, and referring to David, that, of this man’s seed hath God according to promise brought unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.

God displayed His glory to Moses in pronouncing His name to him, when He passed by before him, and proclaimed,

Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

Is this not an eminent pronouncing of the Name of Jesus; He whose name, we might say, the psalmist declared, saying, Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other? As God showed His glory to Moses, so did Christ show His glory to His disciples through His transfiguration. Yea, and it was so testified by the Father at that event, when, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Of this man, Jesus the Christ, Paul later averred when writing his second—third?—epistle to the church at Corinth,

For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Is it not only in the face of Jesus Christ that we are given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God? There is a day coming, according to Isaiah and Paul when everything that hath breath shall praise God. Paul seems to be mindful of Isaiah 45:23 when he writes in Philippians 2:10,

that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

All creatures capable of rendering homage, whatever be the conditions of their existence, shall bow the knee. This is found to be in line also with the Revelation given to John, where the language refers to every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, saying:

Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.

Yea, let everything that hath breath praise Jehovah, Praise ye Jehovah!

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church

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