Psalm 65:3
To praise someone is to proclaim his virtues. Therefore to praise God is to confess that He is God. Higher praise to Him than that, there is not. That lifts Him above all creatures and explains Paul's words that "In Him we live and move and have our being." That praise man must render to God. And the day is coming when, as we read in Psalm 65:2. "Unto Thee shall all flesh come" — that is, come with praise.
When Christ returns, Zion, the church, will praise God. But the ungodly in the lake of fire will also do so. They will then acknowledge that He is God and that they are in torment because they sinned against Him. They are not going to deny Him as they did in this life.
The difference between the praise of Zion and of those outside of Zion is that the believers can and do praise God for something for which the unbelievers cannot praise Him. David writes in Psalm 65:3."Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, Thou shalt purge them away."
Or as we sing (PRC Psalter):
Against us sin has battled hard:
For help we look to Thee and pray;
Thou our transgressions will forgive,
Yea Thou wilt take them all away.
That the ungodly can never sing. For forgiveness of their sins they can never pray, or praise God from out of hell. But for those of Zion this is a very basic work that calls for praise. Take the forgiveness of our sins away, and you take away all right to blessedness. The wages of sin is death! If those wages are not removed, death remains our lot.
We ought therefore to be Christ-minded in all our songs and prayers. Forget Christ in your prayers and you have no reason for praising God as your Savior. Forget the cross. and you forget the basic reason for Zion's praise to God. You forget what makes it possible for us to praise God in this life,
Forgiveness of our sins opens the door to all other blessings. Be sure then to praise God as your Redeemer in His Son.
Read: Hebrews 7:1-22
Psalter versification: #166:2
(Words and Music of the Psalter)
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #270
Why not sing along??
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Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Ezekiel 7 ; Ezekiel 8 ; Ezekiel 9:1-11
Hebrews 5:1-14
Psalm 105:1-15
Proverbs 26:28
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Quote for Reflection:
"And these things, whatsoever sense we now have of them, were those on which the salvation or damnation of these Hebrews did absolutely depend. For unless they were prevailed on to forego that priesthood which was now abolished, and to betake themselves alone unto that more excellent one which was then introduced, they must unavoidably perish; as, accordingly, on this very account it fell out with the generality of that people, their posterity persisting in the same unbelief unto this day. And that which God made the crisis of the life or death of that church and people, ought to be diligently weighed and considered by us ... And God in like manner doth oftentimes single out especial truths for the trial of the faith and obedience of the church in especial seasons. And when he doth so, there is ever after an especial veneration due unto them" (Hebrews, vol. 5, p. 363). ~ John Owen
Additional Info
- Date: 3-November
Heys, John A.
Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.