April 19th (Sunday Sermon) Pastor Sung Jick Kim ! (2)

Psalm 147 (NIV) 1 Praise the Lord. [Hallelujah!]* How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The Lord builds up ; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground. 7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. 8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11 the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. 12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, . 13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. 14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. 15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord. [Hallelujah!]*

*In Korean version and the Message version of the bible, “Hallelujah!” is used instead of “Praise the Lord.”

[Introduction] Hallelujah! Continuing from last week’s sermon, we are going to look at Psalm 147, a message about “Hallelujah.” is divided into five books, and the fifth book sings about the “songs of the believers” that the pilgrims sing as they/we hold onto our only Hope, Jesus Christ, on the way to our homeland, the “high up above” “kingdom of God.” The fifth book starts from Psalms 107 to 150. From those chapters, the last finale, Psalms 146-150 (five chapters), is called “Hallelujah Psalms.” The reason of this designation is because all the chapters start with “Hallelujah” and end with “Hallelujah” in Korean version of the Bible as well as in Hebrews. Thus, the last five chapters of Psalms that describe what “Hallelujah” truly means is “Hallelujah Psalms.” “Hallelu, hallal” means to “praise,” and “jah” means the abbreviation of “Jehovah, Lord.” So to put together, “Hallelujah” means “praise the Lord.” Hallelujah Psalms are songs that sing about what “praising the Lord or Hallelujah” truly is. Psalms 147 can be divided into three parts. Each part praises the Lord (“hallelu”) and portrays the subject of the praise, Lord (“jah”). All three parts each have “hallelu” part and “jah” part and are singing about “hallelujah.” Last week, we looked at the first part, “Focus on God who restores the broken spirit.” The three sections that the “hallelu,” or praise, of the first part is talking about are:

1) Pruning the useless branches of the world and only focusing on God 2) Shining the figure of Jesus Christ who looks much pleasant and beautiful than anything else in the worlds and fulfilling with pleasures 3) Singing as upright people and bearing multiple fruits in life The “jah” part of the first part is portraying the figure of God, who does not end our life on earth but calls us who were kicked out, heals all of our wounds through Jesus Christ, and restores our rights as His children. In one phrase, it is “a song of those who truly focus on God who restores our broken spirits.” This is the “hallelujah” the first part is singing about. Then, we are going to look at the second part and the third part today as we share the grace from Psalms 147. [Main Sermon]

2. Respond to God who takes pleasure in us, His children, even though we are weak (verse 7- 11) The “hallelujah” of the second part is singing about “Respond to God who takes pleasure in us, His children, even though we are weak.”

(1) “Hallelu”: Praise is the response to God Let’s look at verse 7, the “hallelu,” from the second part (verses 7-11).

7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. (Psalm 147:7) As I described to you all last week, the Hebrew expression of “hallelu,” or “praise,” is unique in each of the three parts.

The second part says, “Sing to the Lord with grateful praise.” Here, a Hebrew word, “anah” is used for “sing.” This word is used as the meaning of “respond, answer” in most of verses in the . For example, Nehemiah 8:6 uses the same word like this: 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. (Nehemiah 8:6) Here, “responded” is “anah” used as the same word in verse 7 of Psalm 147 for “sing.” So the original meaning of “praising the Lord” is “to respond, answer.” In other words, this means that praise is to respond to God. When someone calls you, you respond. “Response” cannot come first before the calling. You answer in response to someone’s call. Our praise to God is our “response.” In most cases, we can easily think that praise is something we can easily do and sing whenever we want. However, the expression, “anah” or “respond,” shows that that is not it.

The true praise that we give is responding to God by obeying when He calls us first. If God did not call us first, we would not have been even able to praise Him. We would not be able to give Him praise unless He calls us first. Like we have looked at the first part last week, we were originally kicked out and were brokenhearted and wounded, but God still called us sincerely and healed us through Jesus Christ, restoring our rights as His children. To God who sincerely called us, we obey and respond. This is the second meaning of “sing to the Lord” (“hallelu” or “praise”). Just like when He called Moses, “Moses,” and called Samuel, “Samuel,” with the loveliest voice…like a father calling his son, a mother calling her daughter… When He calls us sincerely, we obey and respond saying “Lord, here I am.” This is our Hallelujah. When we look at today’s scripture, it does not just say to “sing to the Lord, respond to Him.” Let’s look at verse 7:

7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. (Psalm 147:7)

“Sing to the Lord with gratefulness, respond to Him with gratefulness.” Here, “grateful” in Hebrews is “todah.” It generally means “gratitude,” but it is used in a different verse with a different meaning. Let’s look at Joshua 7:19. 19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” (Joshua 7:19) To Achan who stole something of God, Joshua is telling him to honor God, in other words he is telling Achan to repent. The word for “honoring God and repenting” is the same word in Hebrews, “todah” or “grateful.” So in Hebrew perspective, “repentance” in front of God and “giving thanks” must go together. To God’s children, the true gratitude goes along with true repentance in front of Him. Also, if there is a true repentance, a true gratitude would come along right after. For us who do not seem good enough and are sinful, Jesus died for us and paid for our sins. When we think about this, we come out towards the cross laying under the feet of Jesus and repent. At the same time, when we repent our sins and hold onto the cross every day, He gives us joy and new power and calls us “My son and daughter,” and to God, we give thanks for the grace of salvation. After all, when we look at ourselves, the sinners falling down every time, repentance comes out from our mouth. At the same time, when we look at God who saves us and always embraces us with His love even though we are sinners, gratefulness comes from our heart. This life is the life of the children of God, the life of Christians.

When we respond to God with praise, true repentance and gratitude must come together. Repenting ourselves who knew that God called us but ignored it and giving thanks to God for His great love and grace and calling our brokenhearted spirits… Confessing that “we will live according to your calling” and responding to Him… This is the “hallelu” of the second part.

*”Hallelu”: Praise of responding to God with repentance and gratitude (2) “jah”: the figure of God Verses 8 and 9 talks about how God feeds the wild animals and the nature. And verses 10 and 11 portray the figure of God like this: 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; 11 the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. (Psalm 147:10-11) It is saying that God does not delight in the strength of the horse and the legs of the warrior. In other words, God does not delight when His creations are excellent and outstanding in some ways. Even though we are weak, may not look excellent, repent every day, and give thanks but fall down every day, just like what verse 11 says, the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. The Lord delights in those who fear Him, the ones who put their hope in His kindness. The Lord delights in those who put their hope in the love or mercy of God towards His people, or “chesed” in Hebrews. He delights in people who can wait for God’s chesed putting their hope in His unfailing love. This is what the “Hallelujah” of the second part (of Psalm 147) is talking about.

*The songs of those who fear the Lord and put their hope in His kindness to praise Him in response with repentance and gratitude 3. Proclaim the Lord who sent His words (verse 12-20) Lastly, the “Hallelujah” of the third part is “Proclaim the Lord who sent His words.”

(1) “Hallelu”: Proclaim The last part of the three (verse 12-20) talks about the praise, the “hallelu” part, in verse 12:

12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion. (Psalm 147:12)

The meaning of the word for praise in the third part is “proclaim the Lord.” The Hebrew word “shabach” that is used in “Extol the Lord, Jerusalem” is expressed in Psalm 145:4 like this:

4 One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:4)

In today’s scripture, “To commend” is expressed with the word “shabach” “extol.” This does not mean the actual volume of our voice being loud but spreading a great influence to others through us who are praising the Lord. It is not the praise that just ends at ourselves, but it is the praise that starts from us so that a good influence can reach others, living “the life proclaiming the Lord.”

As we walk in this road of pilgrims towards the kingdom of God, we should (1) praise focusing only on God and pruning the useless branches inside us, (2) walk on this road responding to God through praise with repentance and gratitude, and (3) this road of praise should not be just for me to walk on. The song of those who do their best to proclaim what He has done, the miraculous things, to spread a great influence to people that God has sent. This is the “hallelu” of the third part in Psalm 147.

*”hallelu”: “Praise of proclaiming the Lord out loud” (2) “jah”: the figure of God The third part describes the figure of God like this in verse 13:

13 He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. (Psalm 147:13) The bar of the gate is the door lock. If it breaks, the gates can easily be opened even if they are made of strong steel. This means that the bars of the gates are crucial for the security of the city. This verse is saying that God sincerely strengthens the bards of the gates of the city where the people, who proclaim the Lord spreading a good influence, live. An emphasis in Hebrews is used for the word “strengthen.” God strengthens the bars of the gates as strong as possible in order to protect us so that no one can break the gates. The later part of verse 13 says “blesses your people within you.” Here, one of the three Hebrew expressions for blessing, “barak,” is used. The blessing called barak has a strong notion of proclamation. Even if a person blesses someone using barak, it is the notion that proclaims the blessing of God to be on each other. This blessing is not something that we can give to each other, but it is the blessing that only God can give. Only God is the source of all the blessings. We proclaim the Lord who is the source of this wonderful blessing and praise the great love of God. In barak, the Hebrew emphasis is also used. God, our source of the blessing, sincerely takes care of His children and fulfills our life with His unfailing love and grace, continuing the kingdom of God at the same time. It does not just end from here. The most interesting section of the third part is that the expression of “sending His command/word” appears continuously.

15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. (Psalm 147:15) The Hebrew word for “His command” originates from the verb form of “speak,” which also means “word.” After all, God sends His words to the earth, and His word runs swiftly. 18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow. (Psalm 147:18) Here, it also expresses that God sends “His word.” However, an even more unique expression is used this time. When God sent His words and melted the coldness, He stirs up His breezes melting the ice, hail, and snow, and the waters flow. Usually breezes would make the cold colder and freezing, but this breeze that is sent by God, when God sends His word, melts all the coldness making the waters flow. 19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. 20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the Lord. [Hallelujah!] (Psalm 147:19-20) Here, it is saying that God reveals “His word” to Jacob. The words “law” and “decree” are also interchangeable with “His word.” Thus, He reveals His word to Jacob and to Israel, but not for other nation. This overlaps with John 1:14. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) “His word” that God sent, “His word” that He revealed to within the Israel tribe, is Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of God. God sent Jesus Christ, the Word, on earth, revealed Him to the Israel tribe, stirred breezes of the Holy Spirit, melted all the ice and coldness, let the waters flow, and made the river of life overflow.

God protects His children who spreads a good influence to others as they proclaim the Lord by strengthening the bars of the gates. Also, He, who is the source of blessing, fulfills His children and the children of His children with His love and grace. Ultimately, He sent His words, Jesus Christ, on earth and melts all the coldness into the river of life that flows in us. “Proclaiming” the Lord our Father… This is the “Hallelujah” the third part of Psalm 147 is talking about.

[Conclusion] Dear lovely Hope church members, Continuing from last week, we looked at the three part of the meaning of Hallelujah in Psalm 147.

(1) “The song of those who focus only on God who restores our brokenhearted spirits” (2) “The song of those who responds to God who called us as His children, who fear Him and put their hope in His grace, with repentance and gratitude” (3) “The song of those who spreads a good influence to others around them as they proclaim the Lord who saved us through Jesus Christ, the Word that became flesh After all, the abbreviation of the meaning of Hallelujah is (1) “Focus” (2) “Response” (3) “Proclamation.”

(1) Focus on God after pruning our useless branches inside us. (2) Respond to God, who called us, with “repentance and gratitude.” (3) Proclaim the Lord, spreading a good influence that comes from the salvation through Jesus. I hope that we all can hold onto the three meanings of Hallelujah, the life of “focus”, “response”, and “proclamation,” as we walk on this everlasting way to the kingdom of God and hope that we all can become the pilgrims of faith who live in this worlds with “Hallelujah.” Like the ending of Psalms, I hope that our last confession would also end with “Hallelujah.” And through us, I pray that we all can be the true children of God, who sincerely blesses and fulfills those whom God sent to us by working through us with His grace and love, in this last generation.