I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
Great is the LORD and most worthy of
praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend your works
to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful
works.
They will tell of the power of your
awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
They will celebrate your abundant
goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness."
In fiction readers may come across a literary device called foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is when the author gives clues that allude to events later in the story. The author is able to do this because he knows the entirety of the story. He sits in a position of knowing as the reader is taken on this journey. A good author takes care to lead his reader through an adventure. Making sure that his goals for the reader will be satisfied in the end, mainly that he/she will enjoy the ride, buy the book and recommend it to others. An author never wants to reveal to much of the plot to early. If he does he risks writing a predictable story and thus failing in his task. I heard once that imitation is a form of flattery. Man is created in the image of God. He either wants to be like God or be God. God is the creator, the author, the illustrator and designer of every thing we know. This story belongs to Him. In the beginning He planned the end. “His greatness no one can fathom.” (vs. 3)
The first four words of the Bible are, “In the beginning God”. At this point I imagine a stopwatch and finger pressing the start button. The clock begins ticking and Time begins. God is telling us He was already here. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” (John 1:1-2A) In 2 Timothy Paul writes, “Share in the suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to works, but according to Hi own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” This verse is important because it make several claims about God.
- We were called not only before we were born but before time began.
- He purposed Himself/ had a plan specifically to make humans and then reconcile them to Himself through Christ Jesus, who was present, before time began.
- And the obvious, He existed to do these things before Time began.
God existed before time. He is not subject to space and time, He created them. He exists outside of them, looking upon His story that is spread out before His view. He sees the present just as clearly as He sees the future. His will is done, the future is already written. The mural of history is His masterpiece; His motion picture will play out exactly how He planned it. He is a perfectionist not one detail was overlooked. The author of life has written the story knowing the whole plot since before the beginning. He had been carefully preparing the world for the climax. The full revelation of God’s plan to reconcile man to Himself, the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In our lives, our perspective allows us only a limited view of God’s Master Plan. That fragment is so small it can sometimes feel insignificant and negligible. For example, God is doing things all around the world, in every country. I only directly witness the things He does in my life and the lives of people around me. Imagine how many thing I don’t see. Now imagine how many groups of believers there are that I’ve never heard of and all the thing He does in their midst. (You get the picture?) God is behind it all. He is composing a song, played by a billion piece orchestra. It’s almost like He’s playing every instrument Himself, skillfully making beautiful music that is a testament to His power and glory. “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (1Cor 11:22) Granted sometimes His slaves do not have their lives in tune, but He is not caught by surprise. He is still in control. Now you see that even the most miraculous wonder God does in my personal life is a speck compared to the wondrous work He is doing on earth. In comparison those things may seem so small, there apparent impact on the world is nil. But God see the bigger picture. One day we will all see the whole. “For now we see indistinctly as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but I will know fully as I am fully known.” (1 Cor 13:12)
Before the time of Christ, God was preparing the world for salvation. From the moment of the fall, God has wanted our relationship with Him to be reconciled. He made sure the knowledge of Him would never die out. He always preserves a remnant. This is where foreshadowing comes in.
Colossians 2:16-17 says, “Therefore don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is in the Messiah.”
In other words, the tradition was just foreshadowing for the future. The cultural and ceremonial practices of before were part of the recital. The Messianic Age is the big dance.
Hebrew 10:1 says, “Since the law has only a shadow of good things to come; and not the actual form of those realities; it can never perfect the worshiper by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.”
The passage goes on to talk about how the first established the second. The second being the man who, “after offering one sacrifice for all sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.”
Psalm 145 is a foreshadowing of the Christian life, modeled through the praises of King David. I also believe that Psalm 145 gives us a glimpse of how God felt about evangelism and discipleship before the time of Jesus.
Christian are people of The Faith and should therefore be people of action.
James 2:14-18 “What good is it, my brothers if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.”
There are many actions taking place in the first seven verses of this psalm. All of the actions in the verses are actions we should do. All the verbs are action we do specifically when share the gospel.
vs. 1: “I will exalt you.” / “I will praise your name.”
vs. 2 “I will praise you and extol your name.”
vs. 2 “I will praise you and extol your name.”
Unbeliever will know we’re different when they see how the Lord is exalted in our lives above our own interest. Our testimonies are a powerful tool given to us to win the lost. Our individual stories of God’s goodness can impact people. We should be sure to praise God and extol his name when we share our testimony.
vs. 4 “One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.”
vs. 5 “They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.”
vs. 6 “They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.”
vs. 5 “They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.”
vs. 6 “They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.”
vs. 6 “They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.”
Are you see it now? All of these actions allude to, or better foreshadow the spread of the gospel. First through the testimony about the great act of Jesus from the eyewitnesses. And then through the testimonies of how people lives were changed after hearing the gospel. And awesome account of this event in found in 1 Thessalonians chapter one: “(vs.5) For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance.”
(vs. 6) “ You welcomed the message with the joy from the Holy Spirit.”
(vs. 7) “ As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
(vs. 8) “ For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out, so we don’t need to say anything.”
“For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idol to serve the living and true God.”
(vs. 6) “ You welcomed the message with the joy from the Holy Spirit.”
(vs. 7) “ As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
(vs. 8) “ For the Lord’s message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out, so we don’t need to say anything.”
“For they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idol to serve the living and true God.”
Imagine Paul and his boys, going into a town fully expecting to have to do a miracle in order to get the people’s attention. Instead, they get mobbed as soon as they come into view, being bombarded with questions because everybody wants to know what this gospel is that changes people’s lives. Apparently the believers in Thessalonica were living loud because news about them had spread everywhere in the province and there was a big buzz about it. People here their testimonies and saw radical change.
Here some food for thought, does the message ring out in America? People know about the church. People have heard about Jesus. But, do they see a people who turned to from idol to serve God? Is the message ringing out in your neighborhood? Your state? Do people hear us praising God? Are we commending his works to this generation of unbelievers? Do they see God exalted in our lives? Do walk do the street extolling His name?
The knowledge of God the creator survived in Jewish culture because it was passed down from generation and guarded with care. Older men taught younger men about God. Teachers of the law mentor young men through apprenticeship. They nurtured them up into maturity. In this way knowledge was passed down. It became an important part of their daily lives. In Deuteronomy 6, God instructed them, “These words I am giving to you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to you children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and gates.”
The old body reproduces a lifestyle. Verse 4 says, “ One generation will commend your works to another.” If we are looking the foreshadowing, who is this generation who commends God’s works to another. Maybe the Godly Generation of Saints who will commend his works to the unbelieving generation.
- They will tell of His mighty acts.
- They speak of the splendor of His majesty.
- They tell of the power of His awesome works.
- They celebrate His abundant goodness and joyfully sing of His righteousness.
God is not talking about a specific generation, ( And it is God speaking. “All scripture is God breathed.” ) born between this date and that. Remember He is outside of time. He is not in the future. He is not in the past. He is right now. He spoke to every believer at the same time. His word does not need to be updated as time goes on like these textbooks in college. He spoke at the time the His word was given to every man, woman and child who would ever live until the end of time, all at the same time. All the generation are one church. We most likely won’t be sort by our graduation dates in the end of time. This word means the same for me as it did to someone who lived a hundred years ago. And will mean the same thing for someone who lives a hundred years from now. The methods may change but the message is still the same. “One generation will commend your works to another.” This is how we get down. This is how we live. Christianity is not a club it’s a lifestyle. A history of proclaiming Christ to the world is our heritage. A culture of discipling our young will continue. The Body will live on beyond us.
There are reports that the Christian Faith is declining. It is possible that in America we are dying out. We might not be reproducing a replacement levels. Imagine an America without the Church. All death no salt. If you can imagine America operating virtually no conscience, you can see how dangerous that is. So if we believe this is true. I have some closing questions; if you have the answers people send em in.
- What is sterilizing the church?
- Why are we going extinct?
- Is God in the process of removing our lamp? (see rev)
The answer may be found in the rest of the chapter.
To be continued…..
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