3–9 May 2015.
Even though Psalm 117 is the Bible’s shortest psalm, it deals with an immensely important topic: the universal praise God or, for us Christians, of the Father, Son, and Spirit.
This praise must be universal because God is not just the God of tiny Israel; he is the God of all countries, even Taiwan. And he is not just the God of Christians, this tiny 4% of Taiwan’s population; he is the glorious God of all people.
So when we come to church and spend a few minutes praising Christ and the Father, that praise is ok, but is it enough? Of course not! We are just a small group of people. But what about the wonderful praise of all Christians around the world, almost 3 billion people—is that enough? Still no! What about the praise that all Christians throughout all history have offered to Christ, the shouts of praise of those alive today as well as the eternal praise of all the saints of heaven—isn’t that enough? No! It is not until all the saints of heaven, all people on earth, all those “under the earth” praise Christ, it is not until the whole creation joins together in praise, not until the entire universe explodes in praises to Christ the Lord will we even come close to properly worshipping a Christ that is beyond all praising!
So in John 12:32, Christ is the universal king and God, who will draw all people to himself. And as Philippians 2:10–11 tells us: “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue shall acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord!”
Why does Christ deserve this universal praise? Not because he uses his power to force people to praise him, like human rulers do! After all, what kind of praise would that be!? No, as this psalm tells us: all people will praise him because of his love, his eternal and unlimited love, his incredible faithfulness to us. So let’s start off this week properly by praising the Lord!
Pastor Stephen Lakkis
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