Psalm 145:1-9

A Psalm of Praise for the Blessings Due to the Messiah’s Exaltation

David’s psalm of praise, dedicated to Messiah for His mighty, righteous, and gracious government of all men, and of His Church in particular.

V. 1. I will extol Thee, exalting Him high above all mere men, my God, O King, Messiah being the King over all by virtue of His exaltation to the right hand of God; and I will bless Thy name forever and ever, singing the praises of His divine essence and attributes not only here in time, but throughout eternity.

V. 2. Every day will I bless Thee, the repetition bringing out the necessity of the constant praise in honor of God and messiah, the King; and I will praise Thy name forever and ever. The song of praise now follows.

V. 3. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, greatness, unsearchable majesty, being the sum of His essence; and His greatness is unsearchable, literally, “and to His greatness not is there a search,” it cannot be fathomed and comprehended by finite man.

V. 4. One generation shall praise Thy works to another and shall declare Thy mighty acts, that being the effect which a contemplation of God’s greatness, as manifested in His works of creation and redemption, is bound to have upon men, fathers teaching their children and thus keeping the consciousness of God’s greatness and majesty alive in their minds.

V. 5. I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty and of Thy wondrous works, meditating upon the excellent superlative beauty of God’s glory and celebrating the redemption through the promised Messiah, the most wonderful theme for prayerful and thankful meditation which can be suggested.

V. 6. And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts, as the holy God performs His righteous judgments upon the children of men; and I will declare Thy greatness, for that is the effect which the acts of God’s justice have upon the believers, causing them to set forth the majesty of the Lord.

V. 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, announcing and proclaiming it, keeping the remembrance of it alive in the minds of men, and shall sing of Thy righteousness, shouting for joy over the manifestation of this attribute of God, in dealing with us on the basis of Christ’s perfect atonement, thereby giving us evidence of His unfailing interest in the welfare and in the salvation of mankind.

V. 8. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, His mercy being revealed in and through Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the world; slow to anger and of great mercy, His mercy serving, as it were, as a check upon His anger, keeping it from breaking forth upon us. That is the most wonderful fact in the Bible, that God is great in mercy, full of love and kindness toward us in and through Jesus Christ, our Savior. This Gospel-message is brought out still more strongly in the second part of the psalm.

V. 9. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works, manifested to all His creatures, the evidence of this goodness filling the believers with all the greater joy since it tends to confirm them in their trust in Jehovah, in their confidence in His love.