Resurrection and praise

Wednesday 2 June 2021

Resurrection and praise

I am unhappy and suffering, O God, may your help keep me safe ! I will celebrate the name of God with song, I will proclaim your greatness with praise. Psalm 69; 30.31

In the psalm quoted today, David is led to express the sufferings and feelings that the Messiah will experience, as we saw last Sunday. The sufferings of Jesus during his ministry and his distress on the cross form the core of this psalm. But his resurrection is announced there, as well as his millennial reign. This psalm also announces one of the results of Christ's resurrection : praise.

Jesus experiences, as no man has ever felt, the intense pains caused by the hatred of his enemies. He knows that nothing will disarm them and that they will sentence him to death. This is why his supplication is raised to God, the only one capable of bringing him to a place of safety. God's response will be infinitely more glorious than the protection of his life on earth : it will be his resurrection and his place of glory at the right hand of the Father.

Although in pain, but certain of God's response, Jesus already categorically states : I will praise the name of God in a song. His praise is the consequence of his resurrection, which is a triumph : I will proclaim your name to my brothers ; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praises (Hebrews 2:12 ; see Psalm 22:22). Risen, he praises in the midst of the assembly made up of all the children of God.

The presence of the Risen One in the midst of his family gives Christian worship a unique meaning : Jesus himself joins in the praise of his redeemed who, by faith, see him crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:9). Their union with Christ thus enables them to offer, through Him, to God their Father, a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of the lips which confess His name (Hebrews 13:15). This worship, God appreciates it !

Source (Pleasing the Lord)