“Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

“Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

Psalm 150 is the last of the psalms. It is an appeal to every thing that has breath to praise the Lord. It speaks of praise to the Lord on many kinds of instruments. What a fanfare! And the Lord is worthy of all honor and praise. Verse 2 gives two bases for praising the Lord: His mighty works and His excellent greatness.

The Bible is full God’s mighty acts. In the first chapter of Genesis the story of creation is told. The original of everything we see around us was created by God by His word: God said, “Let there be…” and there was. Just this simple statement by Him was enough to bring into being angels and animals and plants and fish and water and land and light and air and earth and heaven itself! And all in proper order. Man was formed out of the dust of the earth, and the woman was formed from a rib from the man. This makes the creation of mankind unique! John 1 states that Jesus was the creator. While we might think that creation was done by the Father, Jesus, too, was the creator.

Another of God’s mighty acts was the Great Flood. Genesis 6:5-8 tells us, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” God gave to Noah the task of building an ark in which God would preserve life. One hundred years later the flood came and it covered the earth. After the rain stopped, it took nearly a year for the earth to dry. Then Noah and his family and all of the animals left the ark. Flooding the whole earth certainly reveals God’s might!

A third example of God’s mighty acts was bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. In that one event many mighty deeds took place. The plagues on Egypt, the drying of the Red sea so the people went through on dry ground, the parting of the Jordan river at flood stage, (and the people went over on dry ground then, too), the manna, water supplied from a rock, shoes and clothes that did not wear out for forty years, and many more. God’s might was always on display for His people as they went to the Promised Land. He led them using a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

The psalmist gives a second reason to praise the LORD, “praise him according to his excellent greatness.” God’s greatness can be seen in the examples just considered. These were displays of His might. But the psalmist says that we should praise Him according to His excellent greatness. That is, to the extent of His excellent greatness. This is other than His might.

In Numbers 14:19, Moses said, “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” Israel had sinned against the LORD from the time that they left Egypt. Here, they had just come to the edge of the Promised Land in the wilderness of Paran in the south. Ten of twelve spies came back with a bad report of the land, and the people decided to appoint a different leader and return to Egypt. They even accused God of bringing them to the Promised Land to kill them! For this Moses appealed to the LORD to forgive them according to the greatness of His mercy.

How great is God’s mercy? Psalm 36:5 says, “Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.” and Psalm 103:11 says, “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.”

Toward the end of time, in Revelation 15:3, 4, God is praised in heaven, “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” His holiness and His ways are great, and are the basis for praise in this future day. His ways are just and true; He only is holy.

Another evidence God’s greatness is His great humility, as described in Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” For the sake of mankind, Jesus obeyed His Father, came as a man, and died under God’s wrath against the sins of mankind. For this He certainly deserves praise.

“Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.”

Praise Him, praise Him—
Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer,
Sing, O earth, His wonderful love proclaim.
Hail Him! hail Him! highest archangels in glory;
Strength and honor give to His holy name!
Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children,
In His arms He carries them all day long:
O ye saints that dwell on the mountain of Zion,
Praise Him, praise Him ever in joyful song.

Praise Him, praise Him—
Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer,
For our sins He suffered, and bled, and died;
He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation,
Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the Crucified.
Loving Savior, meekly enduring sorrow,
Crowned with thorns that cruelly pierced His brow;
Once for us rejected, despised and forsaken,
Prince of Glory, He is triumphant now.

Praise Him, praise Him—
Jesus, our blessèd Redeemer,
Heav’nly portals loud with hosannas ring,
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him—
Prophet, and Priest, and King!
Death is vanquished! Tell it with joy, ye faithful.
Where is now thy victory, boasting grave?
Jesus lives! No longer thy portals are cheerless;
Jesus lives, the mighty and strong to save. (Fanny Crosby)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

     The LORD Jesus Christ said this to the multitudes the day after He had fed five thousand men using five loaves and two small fishes. From that meal was gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. After, Jesus went up into a mountain alone, and His disciples took ship to cross the sea of Galilee. Later, Jesus walked to His disciples on the sea. The next day, the people whom He had fed took ships and followed Him, looking for more.

     They confronted Him on the other side of the sea. Jesus used the opportunity to point their thinking in a different direction. In John 6:26, 27 we read, “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” What Jesus meant was they were not following Him for the right reason. They were following Him because of the food He gave them, not because of His miracles. Jesus’ miracles proved that He is God. While food sustains this life, Jesus said that that food will perish.

The crowd saw what Jesus meant. In verse 28 we read, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” or, to put it another way, “What does God want of us?” In verse 29, “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Then, in verse 30, we read, “They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?” Not even twenty-four hours before they had eaten what Jesus had provided. He fed them using only five loaves and two fishes. What more of a sign did they want? The significance of what He had done seems to have been lost on them. Or, like the “What have you done for me lately?” philosophy, they were not satisfied with the sign He had given. This was why Jesus was teaching them. He wanted to turn their thinking away from food and to Himself.

Then the conversation turned to manna. The people remembered that their fathers had eaten manna in the desert, just like they had eaten the bread that Jesus supplied in the desert. But Jesus reminded them that their fathers died, even though they had eaten the manna. Scripture tells us that a day came when the manna stopped. So, what Jesus said in verse 27, telling them to not labor for “meat which perisheth”, was true even of the manna. Jesus said that He was the bread of life, and that He was the bread from heaven. So, the next thing He said in verse 27, that there is “meat which endureth unto everlasting life.”, was a reference to Himself. He was telling them that they should be seeking Him.

So, Verse 47, above, repeats the concept He stated in verse 29. Everlasting life, and the source of it, is what He had been teaching to the crowd. It is what He was offering to those who would listen and believe Him. Reading the story through reveals that the people doubted, didn’t believe, what He was saying. Some knew His family, and wondered how He could say such things. Afterward even some of His disciples abandoned Him.

Through this Jesus’ point was that mankind’s focus needs to be turned from that which is temporary, to the eternal. Eternal life is available to all that believe in Jesus. Continuing focus on the temporal, while ignoring Jesus, brings eternal death, or separation from God. As Paul wrote in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Eternal life is freely given by believing in Jesus. How much more important is that than temporary food?

Hear ye the glad good news from Heav’n?
Life to a death-doomed race is giv’n!
Christ on the cross for you and me
Purchased a pardon full and free.

Refrain

He that believeth, he that believeth,
He that believeth hath everlasting life;
He that believeth, he that believeth,
He that believeth hath everlasting life.

When we were lost, the Son of God
Made an atonement by His blood:
When we the glad good news believe,
Then the atonement we receive.

Refrain

Why not believe the glad good news?
Why still the voice of God refuse?
Why not believe, when God hath said,
All, all our guilt on Him was laid.

Refrain (Philip P. Bliss)