Bless Ye The Lord

Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 19th April service and hymns are below.

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Our principal verses are:

Psa 103:20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

Psa 103:21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Psa 103:22 Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

Bless Ye The Lord

David’s psalm of pure praise rises to a crescendo in these final verses. The psalmist who began by calling upon his own soul, and inner-man, to bless the Lord now entreats God’s mighty angels and Christ’s redeemed church to join his personal chorus to worship their Mighty King, Lord and Saviour. The psalm is filled with the praise of God’s sovereign majesty and divine glory. Now it culminates in an appeal to heaven and earth to laud the praise of Christ the Saviour.

A psalm for troubled hearts

There is no sorrow or sadness in this psalm. It is an upsurge of worship, an outpouring of gratitude, a paean of joy for the goodness and mercy of God. It has been said that Psalm 103 is peculiarly suited to troubled hearts and souls; beneficial to be pondered in times of testing and fitted for such times in a believer’s life when sorrow overwhelms our senses and our human spirit must be borne up through faith in Jesus Christ.

Angel worship

David calls God’s mighty angels to bless the Lord. They are His angels, the elect angels of whom Paul speaks (1 Timothy 5:21). These blessed creatures were preserved in holiness when others were cast down and bound in chains. They were set apart in Christ as ministering spirits to do God’s will. They are powerful beings. They excel in strength. They implement God’s commands and serve at His pleasure.

Holy, holy, holy

God’s excellent angels constantly stand before Him, always beholding His face, always delighting to hear His voice and fulfil His word. They are always employed in worship; blessing and praising the Lord. David’s invitation to them to praise God implies no reluctance on their part. His purpose in calling them to bless the Lord is to stir up the church’s worship, here on earth, by teaching us how these noble creatures are themselves employed.

The church

To this end David continues by calling on the church to follow the angels’ example. He says, ‘Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure’. It is possible David is continuing to address the angels but it seems rather that the believing church on earth and also the church already in heaven is in David’s mind. These are sometimes distinguished as the church militant and the church triumphant, the church still engaged in spiritual warfare in this world and the church already entered into its glorious rest. These dual hosts bless the Lord for His great glory and great salvation.

Gospel ministers

Within the church militant those who preach the gospel as God’s ministers are singled out particularly. Their prominence amongst the elect on earth is that they lead informed worship by setting before the people the accomplishments of their Lord in the covenant of grace and peace. This is, of course, what David has spent his time doing in this psalm; speaking of God’s love, pity, mercy, redemption, forgiveness, justification and providential care together with all His many benefits. Ministers do God’s pleasure when they preach the full gospel of Jesus Christ.

All God’s people

The gospel is the great message of the complete accomplishment of the churches’ salvation by Jesus Christ. Those who preach the true gospel faithfully and fully inform our spiritual understanding and motivate our worship of the Triune God in all His works and ways. Then the psalmist broadens yet wider his call to bless the Lord. All God’s works are to bless His name. God’s works extend to all creation but perhaps David has in view those individual believers who are peculiarly God’s ‘workmanship’ (Ephesians 2:10) created in Christ Jesus to serve, honour and worship their God who has set Himself upon the throne of their hearts and brought them into His kingdom.

My own soul

Finally, David returns to where he began. He calls again upon his own soul to bless the Lord. This faithful witness taught the church in the Old Testament to behold its God and Saviour, to prize its gospel blessings and to trace its spiritual privileges to their blessed source. How much more clearly have we been favoured to see our gospel rights and freedoms personified in Jesus Christ and secured by His saving work on the cross. By so much more ought we, to whom these wonders have been shown, love and bless the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Amen

Hymn 504

1 Chron. 16. 28; Ps. 103. 20, 21

J. Hart    8.8.6.

1
Ye saints on earth, your voices raise,
And sing the eternal Father’s praise,
And glorify the Son;
Give glory to the Holy Ghost,
And join with all the angelic host
To bless the great Three-One.

Hymn 834

Praise for Creation and Redemption. Ps. 103. 22

J. Hart          C.M.

1
While heavenly hosts their anthems sing,
 In realms above the sky,
 Let worms of earth their tribute bring,
 And laud the Lord most high.

2
In thankful notes your voices raise,
 Ye ransomed of the Lord;
 And sing the eternal Father’s praise,
 The God by all adored.

3
All creatures to his bounty owe
 Their being and their breath;
 But greatest gratitude should flow
 In men redeemed from death.

4
His only Son he deigned to give;
 What love this gift declares!
 And all that in the Son believe,
 Eternal life is theirs.

David calls upon God's mighty angels to join him in blessing the Lord. Then he solicits the praise of the church of the redeemed in heaven, the church on earth and her ministers and every born-again child of God's workmanship. Finally the psalmist returns to his own soul and ours saying, Bless ye the Lord.