Month: April 2025

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

We can, we may, and we should enter into the Presence of God (His gates, His courts) with thanksgiving, praise, and blessing. Whenever and wherever we are, His Presence is with us, for God is with us always. We may consciously and purposely enter because of the blood of Jesus and His name (Immanuel, God with us). Wherever we go, He goes with us, and we with Him. Our body is a temple of God, where He resides constantly. Entering is recognizing that truth and remembering that promise. We enter every morning and throughout the day, and we go into the public assembly of the saints weekly.

When we are conscious of God with us we are naturally thankful for what He does and full of praise for who He is. And we bless His name, that is, we say good about God and to Him. The Lord initiates this response by loving us, sending His Son, forgiving, saving, and giving His Spirit to indwell. We enter in daily by giving thanks, praise and blessing.

Psalm 100:3 Know ye that the Lord. he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture..

Our response to God’s revelation of Himself and His character is to know the Lord (Yahweh), that He is God. He is our Creator: He made everything, and in particular he created us individually. We do not make ourselves nor exist by accident, but we are alive by God’s design and craftsmanship. Believing, confessing, and knowing this truth, that our Creator is God, affects how we think of ourselves.

As our Creator He has formed a loving relationship with us. And when we sinned, rebelled, and went astray, He chased after us, found us, redeemed and restored us. “Jesus loves me, this I know.”

He is our God, Creator, and King. We are His people. We belong to Him. We are His responsibility to be taken care of. He is also our Shepherd, and we are the sheep of His pasture. We are safe and secure, dependent on Him, and totally under His care, both now and forever. We know this, and we enjoy Him forever. We live out our lives according to that faith.

Psalm 100:1-2 Make a Joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Because the Lord is almighty, good, kind, loving, and merciful, make a joyful noise unto the Lord, everybody. Whatever noise we can make is acceptable, as long as it is filled with joy and gladness, coming from a heart cleansed by Blood and happy to be saved and given life. It is filled with joy when it is put to music. Sing “psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in your hearts to the Lord,” all the time; join in public worship and praise when the saints assemble together.

Praise and music is our way of serving the Lord. And although the Lord doesn’t need our service, other people do. Loving others begins with loving God and receiving His love for us. Sacrificing self and giving with gladness instead of grumbling is serving the Lord.

We “come before His Presence” with joy in the heart. God’s Presence is in the spirit which resides within our body, as a temple. We acknowledge that presence with joyful praise and inner singing. With more joyful noise, because God is with us, the soul is refreshed and encouraged. Jesus promises: “Lo. I am with you always.”

Psalm 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.

The Lord God answered and forgave Moses, Aaron, Samuel and the priests who pray for the people. As priests, He also answers and forgives us when we pray and intercede for people. Because the Lord our God is holy, we too, exalt the Lord and worship in His Presence, which is in the Temple. Our bodies are the temple where He dwells. Thus we are always and everywhere in His holy presence.

Because of Christ, God is good and gracious to share His Life and Holiness with us. We hear that Good News and we respond with awe-full worship. We exalt the Lord and lift Him up in our minds to approach the heavenly place where He reigns. “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name [Philippians 2:9].” And we are seated with Him! So we exalt and worship.

Psalm 99:6 Moses and Aaron among the priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.

Moses and Aaron and Samuel called upon the name of the Lord in time of need. And He answered them. As priests and prophets they prayed to the Lord in faith that God hears and answers. They held themselves up before the Lord, and as priests of God they prayed for others and brought the people before the Lord. “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.”

As believers in Christ, we are a royal priesthood, interceding for others as needs arise. Each one of us functions as a priest bringing other people and their needs before the Lord, calling upon Him to hear our prayers for their good. We believe that Jesus saved us and called us to serve people by acting as priests, calling upon the Lord to answer our prayer and deliver from evil.

It may be difficult to imagine ourselves on the same level as Moses, Aaron and Samuel, but we are. Living our lives as priests, calling upon the Lord for the good of other people, is a high calling indeed, but it is accomplished in us by the moving of the Holy Spirit. What an amazing privilege and position the Lord has placed upon us! We may, we can, and we should, exercise our calling as priests of God and call upon Him in the day of trouble.

Psalm 99:3, 5 Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy….Exalt ye the Lord, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

Because God is Holy, our response is to praise His terrible and holy name, to exalt the Lord, and worship at his footstool. The Lord God doesn’t actually need our praise and worship, and we cannot exalt Him higher than He already is. We praise and worship so that we are reminded how high, mighty, and holy He is, We exalt Him in our minds and awareness, so that our faith and vision comes closer to reality. Invisible truth is seen with the eyes of faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. God is as great and good and powerful and loving as He says.

Our praise and worship recognizes the unseen truth. So we exalt Him to the highest position, which He already occupies. God is bigger and higher than we can imagine, and we need Him to grow bigger in our minds. Praise expands our faith.

We don’t really know what holiness looks like, but we can know that it judges sin and loves the sinner. For that we praise and worship. Exalting Jesus lifts us up to the heavenly places where we are seated with Him.

Psalm 99:1 The Lord reigneth, let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cerubims, let the earth be moved.

The Lord is an awesome and terrible God, who rules mightily over everything. Therefore, the people respond with trembling and the earth itself is moved at His glorious reign. Trembling and fear before a mighty and holy God is the natural human response as sinners before a holy God. Thunder and lightening, wind and hail, are only minuscule expressions of the mighty power of holiness directed against sin and evil. Like close by thunder causes us to tremble, so does the fearsome presence of God.

The Mighty God is present on the earth between the Angels on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple. That very fact causes the people to tremble and the earth to shake. And every natural disaster reminds us of the holy judgment of God against Sin.

Whenever we think of God, we too, react with fear and trembling before a holy God, but the next thought of God sees the overpowering love of God pouring out His holy wrath upon His Son on the cross. We react with worship and loving thanks and praise for the life-giving power of love and mercy. We tremble twice: first, when we hear the words of God’s Law, and second, when we hear the words of God’s Gospel. We tremble over God’s overpowering Holiness and over God’s overwhelming Love. We look at the Cross, and it causes us to tremble, tremble, tremble.

Psalm 98:1, 4-5 O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory….Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise: Sing unto the Lord with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the king.

The strength (right hand) of the Lord and His power (holy arm) have gotten Him the victory for our salvation. He is the Lord, our King. Therefore, we, for whom God showed forth His power, respond by making a joyful noise unto the Lord. We sing, rejoice, and praise the Lord with all our might, making a loud and beautiful noise. We pull out all the stops in worship and praise to our good and great God.

This joyful noise is in us all day long, since God is always good. We sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord continually responding to the ups and downs of life as they come our way from day to day, for Jesus Christ is the same, today, yesterday, and forever. Always good. At the cross we see the weakness of Sin and the Power of God expressed in love. And in the Resurrection we see the truth of the Bible verse: “Love is stronger than death.” So raise your your voices, your king cometh.

Psalm 97:12 Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

The Lord generously grants deliverance, light and gladness. Our free reception by faith responds by rejoicing and giving thanks. When we hear the Gospel our spirit rejoices in the Lord and naturally gives thanks every time we remember the holiness of the Lord given us through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Faith receives the tangible gift of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Our lives are changed from sorrow, death, and despair to powerful hope, joy and life. Through Baptism, Communion, and faith in the Gospel we go from the depths to the heights, from darkness to light. Then our lives are transformed into continual rejoicing in the Lord and daily giving thanks. That is what our life looks like all the time. We need regular reminders of grace and love, because life in this world is hard and gets us down. So we go to church weekly and repent daily.

Our joy is in the Lord, not in the things of the world nor even in ourselves. The joy of the Lord is in us, and nothing and no one can take that away. Expressing that joy and thanks reinforces the truth and reality of God’s love, joy and peace.

Psalm 97:6, 8 The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory….Zion heard, and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord.

The sun, moon, sky, stars and planets reveal and shout out the righteousness of the Creator God. There is a beautiful and glorious God who demands holiness of us. We humans are answerable to this God. We see and we hear, and we are filled with gladness and joy. We also rejoice because His judgments against our Sin is just and fair, and because He has judged our enemies, sin, death, and the devil.

When we see the suffering, death and resurrection of the Son of God and hear the Good News of the saving Gospel, we respond with gladness and joy. Our lives are filled with joy and rejoicing after we hear the gospel weekly and when we see His mercies new every morning. Sin, guilt and all evil is judged and finished by Jesus Christ. We are free to enjoy God’s forgiveness, mercy, grace, love and life. All doubt, fear, guilt, and worry are judged, gone forever. We glory in the cross of Christ.

In the hearing of the Gospel of Creation and Redemption faith, hope, and love takes over and rules our lives every day. We see, hear and rejoice always.