{"id":9806,"date":"2024-03-04T10:54:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9806"},"modified":"2024-03-04T10:54:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:54:15","slug":"psalm-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=9806","title":{"rendered":"
Psalm 100<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 <\/sup><\/strong><\/a>Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
2 <\/sup>  Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 <\/sup>Know that the Lord is God!
    It is he that made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 <\/sup>Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him, bless his name!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 <\/sup>For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures for ever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I could, I would have a machine that would shake this building so we could feel the ground tremble. I\u2019d have cannons go off and cymbals and trumpets and drums. I\u2019d have fireworks outside and music, banners, and dancing inside. This is that kind of praise and thanksgiving that is meant in Psalm 100.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a clever parallel to this in Psalm 47: 1<\/sup>\u201cClap your hands, all people! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! . . . 5<\/sup>God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 6<\/sup>Sing praises to God, sing praises!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are times in our lives when that type of exuberance just happens. Think of the end of World War II, August 14, 1945, when Japan\u2019s Emperor Hirohito broadcast his surrender on Radio Japan. As the news spread to the US, people came out in the streets cheering and shouting. The famous kissing photo (the elated Navy sailor kissing a women), was taken in New York City\u2019s Time Square on this day. The war was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if we don\u2019t show it every Sunday, we know that exuberant joy is at the heart of the Christian message. Think of Handel\u2019s Messiah, the Halleluia chorus and the great sevenfold \u201cAmen.\u201d Handel not only wrote The Messiah, he also wrote the coronation hymn for King George II in 1727; we use part of his Oratorio, Judas Maccabeus, at Easter, which we know as the hymn, \u201cThine is the Glory! Risen, conquering Son . . . .\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2, the angels sing \u201cGlory!\u201d At Easter we stand and sing: \u201cChrist the Lord is risen today, Halleluia.\u201d Or in Rev 4:8, 11 they sing \u201cHoly, Holy, Holy,\u201d and the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders bow down. And we remember that it doesn\u2019t mean bow by nodding one\u2019s head, or bow from the waist down, or even the knee. It means bow flat on your face because it is the kind of adoration and celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it says in this psalm \u201center his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise,\u201d it is about the temple. Maybe you have seen models of Solomon\u2019s temple, its cedar walls coated with gold, and with its inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies. What we don\u2019t have pictured for us is, of course, that the temple was also a place for sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worship in the Temple sometimes involved sacred dance. We read about this in Psalm 149:3: \u201cLet them praise his name with dancing.\u201d And Psalm 150:4: \u201cPraise him with timbrel and dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have some difficulty swaying and shouting in church in praise, joy, and thanksgiving. It\u2019s not in our Northern European nature, as it is in some South American and African cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am reminded of the story of the boy who went to his friend Tom\u2019s birthday party and his mother instructed him: \u201cWhen you leave, remember to say \u2018Thank you\u2019 to Tom\u2019s mother.\u201d When he got back from the birthday party, his mother asked: \u201cDid you say \u2018Thank you\u2019?\u201d And he said, \u201cNo.\u201d Taken back, she asked sternly: \u201cWhy not?\u201d And he said because the boy ahead of him said \u201cThank you,\u201d and she said: \u201cDon\u2019t mention it,\u201d so I didn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s kind of the way we are. We let others do it, forgetting how everything is different because of his cross and resurrection, forgetting how the Lord has \u201csnatched us from the jaws of the devil and made us his own\u201d (Large Catechism, Baptism 4\/83).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Psalmist writes: \u201cOne thing I have asked of the Lord . . . that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord\u201d (Psalm 27:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or as Psalm 96:9 states: \u201cWorship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.\u201d Another translation says: \u201cin the splendor of holiness\u201d (ESV), meaning that which blazes forth. Holiness is so beyond us that we cannot even comprehend or even look at it. As the Psalmist says: \u201cTremble before him, all the earth\u201d (Psalm 96:9) (See also I Chronicles 16:29, Psalm 29:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see that translations differ (\u201cbeauty of holiness,\u201d \u201csplendor of holiness\u201d), and this brings up how one goes from one time, place, and language to another. For example, Psalm 100:3 says: \u201cWe are the sheep of his pasture.\u201d If you were trying to bring this to pygmies in Central Africa in the Congo, you\u2019d have a tough time with that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pygmies are very short so they can walk easily under the lush canopy of the jungle. Because they are short, they can take the heat of the jungle more easily. But they have never seen a sheep, a goat, a deer or herded animals. If you are going to say to them: \u201cThe Lord is our shepherd, and we are the sheep of his pasture,\u201d it doesn\u2019t mean anything to them. How does one convey this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or consider the word \u201cGem\u00fctligheit<\/em>\u201d in German. It\u2019s quite difficult to translate this word into English. It is sometimes translated \u201ccomfortable,\u201d but to Germans it means much more. It means a family getting together on Sunday afternoon to eat and relax together. Or meeting up with friends on a summer evening at a local restaurant. Gem\u00fctligheit<\/em> captures the feeling of friendliness, contentment, and belonging. It’s a word that layers physical and mental sensations. You can see why a simple dictionary definition in English doesn\u2019t cut it. It can\u2019t be translated that with one word; it takes a whole paragraph!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what is happening with Psalm 100, as Christians have used it in hymns that we know, for example, \u201cAll People That on Earth Do Dwell,\u201d and the Doxology. See how the Doxology is like Psalm 100:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPraise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him all creatures here below
Praise him above ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about the third line: \u201cPraise him above ye heavenly hosts\u201d?  There\u2019s no mention of heavenly hosts, of angels in Psalm 100. What is going on here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 100:1 says: \u201cMake a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands\u201d or \u201call the earth.\u201d From the Hebrew point of view, the earth includes the lower heavens. That would include the heavenly hosts. The fellow who wrote the Doxology, Thomas Ken (1637-1711), wanted to bring in the Holy Spirit, and the fact that \u201cheavenly hosts\u201d and \u201cHoly Ghost\u201d rhyme, probably explains this way of stating this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we come to the matter of how we use this Psalm. First of all, we remember that sacrifice is over. Yet we are called upon to make the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. But that\u2019s not because the Lord needs it. In Psalm 50:12 the Lord says (paraphrase): \u201cIf I were hungry, I wouldn\u2019t need to come to you.\u201d No, it\u2019s because we need it. We need to be caught up in thanksgiving and glory to God. We need to \u201cworship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 100:3 says: \u201cKnow that the Lord is God! It is he who made us, and we are his.\u201d Not only that he possesses us; we are his, but also we can depend on him. It has this double-sidedness that is brought out in the next line: \u201cWe are his people and the sheep of his pasture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes: \u201cEnter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.\u201d Give thanks. Bless his name. All of that is the same thing. Blessing, praising, giving thanks, that\u2019s what it is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After \u201cGive thanks to him,\u201d comes \u201cbless his name.\u201d That\u2019s where we, as people of the New Covenant, are able to bring in the Trinity. For the people of the Old Covenant, that\u2019s Jehovah. But for us it\u2019s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, one in three, three in one. (For this reason, we don\u2019t call God by other names or many names.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this Psalm, as in all four Psalms so far, what is lifted up above all, is his \u201csteadfast love.\u201d The one-sided covenant. As Psalm 100:5 states: \u201cFor the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord is the one who not only made us, and we are his, but he continues and is faithful in his steadfast love forever. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Make a joyful noise to the\u00a0Lord, all the lands!
\n2\u00a0\u00a0 Serve the\u00a0Lord\u00a0with gladness!
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Come into his presence with singing!<\/p>\n

3\u00a0Know that the\u00a0Lord\u00a0is God!
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is he that made us, and we are his;
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9806"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9811,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9806\/revisions\/9811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}