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Psalm 148 - The God Who Made The Heavens And The Earth · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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others. Let's dive right in.
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Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Psalm 148, Psalm
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148, and this is one of my favorite Psalms.
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It has so many cool things in it, and I'm really looking
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forward to diving into it with you all today.
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There's also an incredible song written by Sovereign Grace Music
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from this Psalm. It's called Praise His Name,
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Psalm 148, Praise His Name, and I would really, really encourage
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you to listen to it. It is musically beautiful.
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It will help you to learn and memorize and meditate on the
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word of God. And so I just want to encourage
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you in that way. But look up that song.
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It is in the show notes. So all you have to do is click.
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And I know that it'll be a blessing to you.
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Let's read through this passage together.
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Hallelujah. Praise Yahweh from the heavens.
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Praise Him in the heights. Praise him all his angels,
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praise him, all his heavenly armies, Praise him, sun and
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moon. Praise Him all you shining
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stars, praise Him highest heavens, and you waters above
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the heavens. Let them praise the name of the
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Lord, for He commanded and they were created.
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He set them in position forever and ever.
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He gave an order that will never pass away.
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Praise Yahweh from the earth, all sea monsters and ocean
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depths, lightning and hail, snow and cloud, stormy wind that
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executes His command, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and
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all Cedars, wild animals and all cattle, creatures that crawl and
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flying birds. Kings of the earth and all
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peoples, Princess and all judges of the earth, Young men as well
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as young women, old and young together.
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Let them praise the name of Yahweh, for His name alone is
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exalted. His Majesty covers heaven and
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earth. He has raised up a horn for His
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people, resulting in praise to all His faithful ones, to the
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Israelites, the people close to Him.
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Hallelujah. Now you might say, wow, that was
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just like a lot of things that were instructed to praise God.
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What in the world could we learn from this?
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Well, I think there are some wonderful things we can learn
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about God, about his transcendence, about his
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intricate and innate worth. And also we're going to be able
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to see some things both about the scene and the unseen, the
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spiritual and the physical. So let's begin in verses one
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through 6, the first portion of the Psalm, or I guess I'll give
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you guys kind of the the two-part format, the styling,
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the layout that there is for the Psalm.
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So we would all remember Genesis 11 in the beginning, God created
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the heavens and the earth. He created the skies and the
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land would be another way that you would put that.
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And so in verses one through 6 of this passage, it's talking
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about the skies and those things that were believed to inhabit
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the skies, or if you will, the unseen realm.
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What we can't touch, we might be able to see some of the work of
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these beings or these things, but we can't interact with them.
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And then so that's the first part is verses one through 6.
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What is in the skies or the heavens?
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And then in verses 7 through 14, what is on the earth, the land,
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what we can touch? And so let's look first in
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verses one through 6 and see what is in the heavens.
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Verse one, Hallelujah, praise Yahweh from the heavens, praise
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him in the heights. So all right, what is up there
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that can praise God even as we think today about the skies, we
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go, well, you know, there, there's not really much up there
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as we think about space, You know, there's some planets,
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there's some meteoroids, there's some comets, there's some stars,
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maybe some black holes. But but that's really all that
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there is. Well, as the Israelite people
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back then, as as all of the ancient Near Eastern peoples
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thought about the skies, there was an innate time in with these
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large, majestic, distant celestial bodies that were so
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regular that we're in such normal habits that you could
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determine what time of year it was by the movement of these
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bodies. You could determine when it was,
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you know, time for harvest or when it was time to plant seeds.
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You could even, this is what's told to us in Genesis 1.
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And then all the way through the the Torah of the law was that
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Israel determined its religious festivals as a result of when
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God said, I want you during this particular month, which is when
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the moon and the stars are in these spots.
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Here's what I want you to do. And so there was almost a sense
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of, there was a, a picture that these celestial bodies were not
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just perhaps items, but that these were tied in with
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spiritual beings that as they, if you will, control our our
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seasons, as they control so much of our religious festivals, that
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there must be spiritual beings behind this.
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And so this is the way that Scripture often talks about the
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the things that we would know now as stars and planets,
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comets, meteors and asteroids is they describe them in tandem
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with the spiritual beings, those creatures that God has created
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that we cannot see, but that are immensely powerful that have
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their own, if you will, realm of ruling that the angels as would
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be the the normal way we would talk about spiritual beings that
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are not God himself, but the spiritual beings they are in
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charge of these celestial bodies.
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And so you can even see this back in the church fathers,
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which would be the pastors and leaders, writers from about the,
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you know, 100 AD all the way to, I don't know when the cut off
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for that is, but it's like 5 or 600 AD.
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As these believers in Jesus looked at the Old and the New
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Testament and saw what God had to say about the angels.
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As they looked up at the night sky and saw these things that
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God had created, that God had put together.
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They always tied it in with the angels.
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And there was almost an assumption that the way that our
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universe and even our world works is put to not necessarily
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put together, but it is directed, it is helped, it is
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accomplished through angelic means.
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Now, this isn't to, if you will counter any sort of scientific
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claims about the world. It's not a OK, well, no, gravity
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doesn't exist. It's that there's an invisible
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Angel that's pulling you, you know, back down to the surface
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or something. That wasn't the claim.
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The claim was that in everything in creation God has his hands,
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his movement in our world and in the cosmos, but he has mentioned
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in scripture that he has done so by means of the spiritual
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beings, so that even our day-to-day lives are affected by
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spiritual beings all around us. I I think I'd mentioned man way
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back in Acts. I think I have an episode title
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from the old, I can't remember which old country group it was,
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but it might be Alabama or something.
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The song is, I believe there are Angels Among Us.
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And I think that the scriptures would testify to this truth that
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every iota of our life God cares about.
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And what we're told in Hebrews one or two is that God has
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actually made the spiritual beings to be servants, to be
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ministers first and foremost to him, but then also to help his
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people, that they help to protect us.
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We read that over and over again in the Old Testament and then
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even into the new. And so when we think about our
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world, nothing is without the touch and work of God.
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Now there are unfortunately those spiritual beings that,
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like many humans, have also decided to, if you will, go
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rogue. And you can think about Satan
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and his testing of Job, that there is demonic influence even
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on things like a whirlwind or a tornado there that kills Job's
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family. That there is actual demonic
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activity that is a result of evil, if you will, natural evil.
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In our world. We are told by Paul that Satan
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is the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
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works in the children of disobedience.
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And so as we think about the heavens, as we think about the
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cosmos, certainly we can think about the beauty of nature and
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all of the things that you can see on, you know, National
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Geographic or things that you can pull up a website and look
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at the wonders of the stars. And that's an amazing thing.
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And you can be amazed at the wonder and beauty that our God
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has put into creation. But we can also think, God,
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there is so much more to our universe than just the physical.
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There's more than just what we can see.
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And God, you have your hand in every atom of creation.
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I forget now if quarks have been empirically proven or something.
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But whatever exists, God has his hands in it, and he is chosen to
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interact with his creation that it would accomplish his will
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through the spiritual beings. And so as we continue here, you
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might be like, well, Brian, is that really what's being talked
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about like in the heavens? Well, look at verse 2.
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Praise him all his angels, praise him all his heavenly
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armies. This is the host of Heaven is a
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very common way that it's phrased, especially in some
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older translations or even some newer ones that retain a lot of
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traditional renderings like the New King James or the new
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American Standard Bible. Different ones like that will
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have that same phrase. Still, the host of heaven or the
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heavenly armies is what's being referenced.
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He says praise Him sun and moon, praise Him all you shining
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stars, praise Him highest heavens, and you waters above
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the heavens. That is every aspect of what God
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created. One of the things that is
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recurring in Scripture is that God is the only uncreated one.
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That He created everything else that exists, That every Angel,
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every spiritual being, even every demon has a beginning.
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That God himself created all that is.
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And here you have the heist heavens.
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It's the skies, and then the waters, the blue that is above
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the skies. These people didn't know
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everything that we knew about the cosmos, but they knew the
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most important thing, which was that God Himself had created the
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cosmos. Verse #5 He says let them praise
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the name of Yahweh, for He commanded and they were created.
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He set them in position forever and ever.
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He gave an order that will never pass away, that God set up how
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the cosmos works. He put where the sun, moon and
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stars would go and at what times and when they would make their
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journeys around the sun or other gravitational bodies.
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It's why I can't recall which word it is.
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I want to say it was probably meteor.
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The word meteor, that was in the Greek language, they called it
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like they called meteors the Wanderers, because all of these
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other celestial beings are going exactly according to plan they
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have. They're supposed to show up at
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this time, this time of year, and they're bright at this
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point. They're dim at that point, and
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then they fade off the scene. And so there's all of this
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regularity with the sun, moon, and stars, but then you have
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these Wanderers that are not following the path.
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They're not following a set path like the sun, moon, and stars
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are. And so it's one way to even
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think about the spiritual beings that you have, those angels that
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follow the Lord that obey him, and then you have the spiritual
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beings that go off on their own path.
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They wander away from the path of God.
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And it's one kind of cool or interesting way to think about
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the fallen spiritual beings. But when you look at the order
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of the cosmos, when you look at the placement of where
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everything is in creation, when you look at how intense gravity
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is, if gravity were any stronger, we would all be
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crushed. Life would be near impossible on
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Earth. If gravity were less, it would
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cause 1000 other problems. God fine-tuned everything in the
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universe so that we would be able to exist, that we would
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know and praise and worship him. And so we ought to praise this
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God, the God who made everything above, everything unseen, and
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then starting in verse #7 praise Yahweh from the earth.
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So now we've gone from the heavens and the spiritual beings
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now down to the land. It says praise Yahweh from the
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earth, all sea monsters and ocean deaths.
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I am. If I'm remembering correctly.
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This should be the word, the tenoneem.
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And you guys at some point will get tired of me mentioning the
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chaos dragon, but I do not care because it is one of the coolest
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things in scripture and I absolutely love it.
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All right, here, let me pull up. Yep, it's the tenoneem.
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It is the sea monster. It is the sea dragon.
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This was again mentioned in Genesis 1 often in the ancient
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Near East. They feared the open oceans and
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there was almost a personification of chaos and
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death that they didn't want to go out too far.
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Because as you know, you read from maps in the 13 or 14
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hundreds, you'll read the phrase like here be monsters or
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something like that, that there was, Oh no, there are giant sea
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serpents out there that are out to destroy everything.
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They're out there to end life. And here the psalmist says, no,
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whatever exists, God has made it.
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And whatever exists has a duty to praise the Lord, to praise
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Yahweh. And I'm thankful that one day
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that great sea dragon, that beast that comes, if you will,
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using the language of revelation, that beast that
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comes out of the sea, that deceives the nations, that leads
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them in rebellion against God, that dragon is going to be cast
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down to hell. And he will serve as a picture
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of the justice and righteousness and the avenging of God for all
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eternity. And so even the sea monsters,
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the sea Dragons, the Tanneneem, and the ocean depths need to
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praise Yahweh. Verse #8 lightning and hail,
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snow and cloud, stormy wind that executes His command.
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Even the weather is supposed to praise the Lord.
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That when I see the rain, I can be thankful for God's promise
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that He will never again flood the entire earth.
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And so I can praise God in the rain and in the lightning.
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When I see the snow, it reminds me that God has washed my sins
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white as snow. That in the words of the old
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Psalm, sin had left a Crimson stain.
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He washed it white as snow. When I see the cloud, I can
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remember that God gives shade. That God gives the rain to both
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the just and the unjust. That He is kind and good to all.
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When I see the hail, I can remember what he did to Egypt.
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And remember that just as God punished those that had harmed
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the children of Israel, so God will harm he who has set himself
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against my soul because I am on team Jesus.
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And that I will experience that same joy that Israel did when
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their enemies and their persecutors and their tormentors
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were punished, That I will experience that same thing.
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The stormy wind here that executes his command.
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When I hear or see or feel the wind, I can be reminded that
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God's presence, if you will, the wind of God, the Spirit, the the
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pneuma in the Greek and the ruach in the Old Testament in
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Hebrew, that God's wind, his Spirit, his presence is with me
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at all times. And I can remember Pentecost
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when there was that great joy of that early church being filled
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with the Spirit's power. And I can remember that today
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the Holy Spirit lives in me and I can walk in his power.
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So even the weather can be used for the praise of God.
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Verse #9 Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all
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Cedars. Those things that in our world
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we think of as inanimate, God can use even those to praise his
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name. You think of mountains and when
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I, I grew up in Colorado, so being able to climb or to hike
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different places, as you look from the top and you see all of
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the land below you, you can't help but go, man, this is a
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special spot in the Bible. Often mountains are talked about
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like those places where heaven and earth or the skies and the
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land are overlapping. And so that's why a lot of the,
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you know, Pagan peoples, they made altars on high mountains
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and, and high places. The, the children of God don't
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have to do that. Like God's just, he is with us
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just as much in low places as in high places.
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But even as we, you know, go to different camps and things, we
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had a men's retreat this past October that was wonderful.
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And that we did not get all the way to the top of the hill for
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reasons that you can ask any of the guys that were on that trip.
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Short of it is I accidentally let us down a trail that was not
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a trail and we had, you know, some guys with us that were a
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little bit older in age. And whereas, you know, the 27
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year old guy can do a lot of, you know, climbing off the path
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and everything. Not everyone is at that spot in
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their life. And so I almost did damage to
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some of my people as we were walking.
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Where was I going with this? When you are camping and when
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you are out in nature and you can be able to feel close to
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God. And you think in those moments
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of solitude and quiet, far away from the hustle and bustle of
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the city or the towns or away from electronics.
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And you just remember, God made all of this, and in His goodness
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to me, He has made it so that whenever I call on Him, He will
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answer. Sometimes I just have to be
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apart. I have to be in solitude enough
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to be able to hear the voice of God.
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So there are mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all
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Cedars. You can think even to Genesis,
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too, that God gave Adam and Eve all the trees of the garden that
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they could eat from, that everything that there is to eat
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here on earth, God has given it to us.
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And we can be thankful for that #10 wild animals and all cattle,
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creatures that crawl and flying birds, that all of these amazing
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creatures. My son absolutely loves animals,
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loves bugs, loves looking at, you know, encyclopedias and, you
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know, National Geographic kids shows that that talk about these
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creatures. You cannot look at these things
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and not see the handiwork of God in the amazing way that He has
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put them together. The way that He has caused even
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the ecosystems of our world to work are just magnificent.
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And so when I see a squirrel, or when I see a dolphin or a turtle
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or whatever else the creature might be, I can thank the Lord
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for his creativity. And I can remember that God made
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it so that mankind would be the the pinnacle of creation and
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that all of creation is intended to be put to service by us.
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That through using the resources that God gave us, we would make
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this world a better place. And I'm so thankful for many of
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my friends that do that in a million different ways.
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I know especially some of those that work in the medical field
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that you work to better other people's lives through utilizing
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the the natural bodies that that God has given us through using
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medicines. I know many of them developed
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from different plants and roots and and different things that it
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is so cool what God is used all of mankind to create in 1000
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different ways to better the lives of people.
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And I want to encourage you like view whatever your job is as an
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opportunity to make someone else's life better.
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Don't just view your job as a way for you to make money.
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View your job as a way that you say, whatever my job entails
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today, I'm going to make someone's life better.
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Whether that's, you know, a customer, if that's the kind of
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field you work in, whether it's my Co worker, whether it's, you
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know, I'm doing some sort of research thing.
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And I recognize that what I do is going to have an impact on
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other people. And so I am going to live to
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make other people's lives better.
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Verse #11 kings of the earth and all peoples, Princess and all
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judges of the earth, even the kings, Princess, judges, rulers
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of all shapes and sizes. The courts are supposed to be
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proclaiming the praise of God. They don't get a pass on it just
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because they're ruling. They need to be praising God as
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well. Verse #12 young men as well as
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young women, old and young together.
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That is everybody, the young and the old.
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And if you're like, well, I don't really know if I'm old
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yet, but I don't feel young. Listen, you got to pick one and
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then you got to praise the Lord in whatever life stage you are
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verse #13 let them praise the name of Yahweh for his name
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alone is exalted. His Majesty covers heaven and
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earth. He has raised up a horn for his
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people. This is strength.
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Someone that would be able to operate in might resulting in
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praise to all his faithful ones to the Israelites, the people
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close to him. Hallelujah.
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And even as we think about now, after what Christ has done, that
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those people that are close to God are not just those that
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would be by ancestry Israelites. It is all those that have placed
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their faith and trust in Jesus. And those people have been
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brought close by the blood of Christ.
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He, Jesus, is the horn, the exalted one, the King that we
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are called to devote our worship and our attention and our love
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and our obedience to. And why would we praise him?
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Why would we obey him? Because of all of these
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wonderful things that he has done and created and made in our
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world. I hope this episode was an
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encouragement to you. Would love to hear any insights,
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thoughts, questions that you have.
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And I encourage you as well to listen to that song from
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Sovereign Grace Music, Psalm 148.
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Praise his name, see you next time.