Psalms 145:5
Let Each Next Generation Praise the LORD
Psa 145:4-7 can also be translated in the imperative, e.g., Psa 145:4a: “Let one generation praise Your works to another.” In the realm of peace, the children, the grandchildren, and so on, will praise the LORD in accordance with the covenant the LORD will make with Israel (cf. Isa 59:21). What the psalmist is doing, praising and magnifying the LORD, will continue from generation to generation (Psa 145:4). The old, rebellious, apostate generation is no more. It was judged at Christ’s coming to earth. A new generation, a people made up of the righteous (Isa 60:21), has entered the realm of peace. They extol God’s works and will pass it on to the next generation. For us, we are already declaring God’s mighty acts to our children. Each new generation in the realm of peace will praise God’s works and declare His mighty acts, because the previous generation passed it on to them. Always through, the remembrance of God’s works and His mighty acts in the past will remain alive. Enjoying the blessing of the realm of peace is not possible without thinking of its source and the way in which He wrought this wonderful blessing.Each coming generation will meditate “on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wonderful works” (Psa 145:5). Each new generation agrees with what Christ says. No one is better able than He to pass on the glorious glory of God’s majesty and God’s wonderful works. He did that in His life as Man in humiliation on earth. He will do that in the realm of peace when He reigns as Messiah. We as New Testament believers may behold His glory (Jn 17:24) and see Him in glory, crowned with glory and honor (Heb 2:9). Of this we may speak and testify, we may declare His lordship over our lives.The people who have entered the realm of peace “shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts” (Psa 145:6). They will remember the awesome deliverance that the LORD wrought for them through the judgments on their enemies. The Messiah Himself will tell of the greatness of the LORD. It is the psalmist’s wish that from generation to generation people will remember and praise God’s awesome deeds. “They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness” (Psa 145:7). For God’s people, the judgment on the hostile powers is a proof of His abundant goodness to them. When they think about it, their mouths overflow with gratitude. They start shouting “joyfully of Your righteousness”. God’s acts of judgment on the enemies and in favor of His people are also acts of justice. Justice means acting in accordance with the norm, with the law, in this case with the covenant. These acts are elaborated in Psa 145:8-13.His righteousness demands judgment on the rebellious nations. His righteousness also demands the fulfillment of all the promises of blessing He has made to His people. For His people, who, like the nations, have deserved judgment, His righteousness has been fulfilled through the sacrifice of His Son, through which the blood of the new covenant has been shed. The rebellious nations have rejected that sacrifice and therefore must pay for their sins themselves.Because God’s justice for His people has been satisfied by His Son, the people can sing joyfully that the LORD is “gracious and merciful” and “slow to anger and great in lovingkindness” (Psa 145:8; cf. Exo 34:6; Psa 103:8). We see that God is slow to anger in the long time He endures rebellious man, “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2Pet 3:9). His lovingkindness, Adonai, is great because He is great. His lovingkindness is great because there is a new covenant, based on the blood of the new covenant through the great sacrifice of His Son. Because of that, He can offer a greatness of forgiveness, by which even the greatest sin can be forgiven. This is what the people of God will be aware of in the realm of peace. We will also be aware of that when we consider who we are by nature and how great and numerous the blessings are we have received.These impressive attributes of God are not just for Israel. The power of the blood of the new covenant is so great that it enables God to give His blessing to us in the New Testament even apart from Israel (2Cor 3:6-18). The blessing of the new covenant is not the result of Israel meeting the requirements of the covenant. That blessing comes because the Mediator bore the curse of the covenant and paid the price of the covenant with His blood. Israel will receive the blessings of the covenant by virtue of grace. And if it is grace, then God can grant these blessings to us New Testament believers as well. In the realm of peace, not only Israel enjoys God’s abundant blessing, but through Israel all creation shares in it (Rom 11:11-15). This is why Christ, and with Him all who share in the blessing, says that the LORD is “good to all” (cf. Psa 100:5) and that “His mercies are over all His works” (Psa 145:9). On everything He has made is the seal of His mercy. It bears the testimony of Him as the mild, kind God with a heart full of love, Who loves nothing more than to bless. He takes care of creation and the creatures that suffer as a result of sin.
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