Psa 104:31-35 | KingComments | STEP | The taking away of the breath is not God’s last word with regard to His creation. In , the psalmist describes new life after a drought or after a winter, as a picture of the regeneration of the earth: the realm of peace. It is a picture of the work of the Spirit of God Who brings about a new creation by renewing “the face of the ground”. The same will happen when the realm of peace is established ( ). That will happen after the period of the great tribulation. We see a picture of this in the flood and afterwards. After the flood, which ended all life on earth, Noah and his family come to an earth with a renewed face. In the realm of peace, “the glory of the LORD” will “endure forever” ( ). All that is then is the work of God Himself through His Spirit. At that time, “the LORD” is “glad in His works”. All who enter into the realm of peace will rejoice with Him in it. It is like the Sabbath, the seventh day, when God sees all that He has made and sees that it is very good ( ). He remains the Almighty even then ( ). His gaze alone is enough to make the earth tremble (cf. ). And when He touches the seemingly unshakable mountains with His finger, “they smoke”. We see this at Mount Sinai when God descends upon it ( ).

‏ Psalms 104:31-35

God’s Glory Endures Forever

The taking away of the breath is not God’s last word with regard to His creation. In Psa 104:30, the psalmist describes new life after a drought or after a winter, as a picture of the regeneration of the earth: the realm of peace. It is a picture of the work of the Spirit of God Who brings about a new creation by renewing “the face of the ground”.

The same will happen when the realm of peace is established (Isa 65:17). That will happen after the period of the great tribulation. We see a picture of this in the flood and afterwards. After the flood, which ended all life on earth, Noah and his family come to an earth with a renewed face.

In the realm of peace, “the glory of the LORD” will “endure forever” (Psa 104:31). All that is then is the work of God Himself through His Spirit. At that time, “the LORD” is “glad in His works”. All who enter into the realm of peace will rejoice with Him in it. It is like the Sabbath, the seventh day, when God sees all that He has made and sees that it is very good (Gen 1:31 ; Gen 2:1-3).

He remains the Almighty even then (Psa 104:32). His gaze alone is enough to make the earth tremble (cf. Hab 3:10). And when He touches the seemingly unshakable mountains with His finger, “they smoke”. We see this at Mount Sinai when God descends upon it (Exo 19:18).

What Endures and Who Disappears

After his description of God’s wonderful work in creation, the psalmist comes to the exclamation that he “will sing to the LORD as long as” he lives (Psa 104:33). The psalmist again calls the LORD “my God” here, emphasizing his personal relationship with the LORD. The psalmist praises the LORD for Who He is.

He will continue with it and never stop. Always He will see new reasons to praise Him even more. There will eternally be an increase of reasons. The glory of God is so great that it will never be fully fathomed. Eternally there will be new things visible that are reason to honor Him.

All the foregoing is material for meditating on Him, on His Person (Psa 104:34). Everything that has become visible of God in His works points to the greatness of Himself. It is about Him. His works refer to Him. Meditating on Him is “pleasing to Him”. There is no activity that is more pleasant. The psalmist is “glad in the LORD” Himself. This is the fellowship that leads to complete joy (1Jn 1:1-4). We see it in the three forms of boasting of which the apostle Paul speaks. The believer boasts “in the hope of the glory of God”, he boasts “in tribulations”, and finally he boasts “in God” Himself, through the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:2 ; 3 ; 11).

Those who do not join in with the song of praise to the LORD are “sinners” and “the wicked” (Psa 104:35). They do not acknowledge Him as the source of all their material blessings (cf. Rom 1:21). Therefore, they have no right to a place on God’s earth. These people will disappear from the earth and not be there anymore. They do not belong in a world fully established and maintained by God, of which Christ is the center and object of worship.

The psalmist ends with the same words with which he began the psalm: “Bless the LORD, O my soul” (Psa 104:1). His soul is full of all that he has sung and especially of Him about Whom he has sung.

The final word of the psalm is “hallelujah!” or “praise the LORD!” This is a call to others to praise the LORD. First the call to oneself to praise the LORD sounds, and then a call to others.

The word “hallelujah” appears in the Old Testament only in Psalms. In this psalm we hear it for the first time. After this it is used twenty-three more times. In the New Testament it occurs only in Revelation, where it is exclaimed four times (Rev 19:1 ; 3 ; 4 ; 6).