1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:05,920 Well, this is a classic. Psalm of Praise, praise the. 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:09,000 Lord, Well, that's kind of what the Psalm says. 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,600 That's kind of the application. So I could sit down now, if you 4 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:16,239 like, but perhaps you'd like a little bit more than that, just 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:20,360 to show that I've put a little bit of work in praise, the Lord 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,360 says praise the Lord, you, his servants. 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:28,730 Which I assume is you praise. The name of the Lord. 8 00:00:28,730 --> 00:00:31,490 Now that's a somewhat curious phrase. 9 00:00:31,490 --> 00:00:33,410 Isn't it praise the name of the Lord? 10 00:00:33,690 --> 00:00:35,090 Why not just praise the Lord? Why? 11 00:00:35,090 --> 00:00:38,730 Praise the name of the Lord if you want to say thank. 12 00:00:38,730 --> 00:00:40,130 You to someone you don't get to say thank. 13 00:00:40,130 --> 00:00:42,530 You to their name or maybe. You do, I don't. 14 00:00:43,090 --> 00:00:44,850 It's it's an unusual phrase. It's a little bit. 15 00:00:44,850 --> 00:00:47,730 Curious, isn't it? So why is there this phrase that 16 00:00:47,730 --> 00:00:52,250 says praise? The name of the Lord, and the 17 00:00:52,250 --> 00:00:55,250 reason, I think, is that in the context of the Psalmist. 18 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:59,250 The name of the Lord is something incredibly important, 19 00:00:59,410 --> 00:01:04,050 incredibly precious, and also incredibly informative because 20 00:01:04,050 --> 00:01:10,010 it tells them, it tells him his. People not just who God is, but. 21 00:01:10,010 --> 00:01:15,170 Something about who they are. And you can find the roots of 22 00:01:15,170 --> 00:01:17,810 this sense of the preciousness of the name of God going right 23 00:01:17,810 --> 00:01:20,900 back into the book of Exodus, which is kind of where you 24 00:01:20,900 --> 00:01:25,900 first, where Moses is, discovers this familiar story they the 25 00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:28,300 story. Of the burning Bush, Moses in 26 00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:31,180 the burning Bush, which many of you may be familiar. 27 00:01:31,180 --> 00:01:35,860 With where? Moses encounters God and God 28 00:01:35,860 --> 00:01:38,660 commissions him to go and rescue his people. 29 00:01:38,980 --> 00:01:42,180 From slavery in the land of Egypt, but alongside. 30 00:01:42,180 --> 00:01:46,060 That something that happens is that God reveals his identity. 31 00:01:46,710 --> 00:01:49,990 He reveals his. Name to Moses, and this is a 32 00:01:49,990 --> 00:01:54,710 unique privilege that he gives just a little. 33 00:01:54,710 --> 00:01:58,550 Bit from Exodus Three just to. Remind you, Moses said to God. 34 00:01:59,070 --> 00:02:00,590 Suppose I go to the Israelites and. 35 00:02:00,590 --> 00:02:02,590 Say to them the God of your fathers has. 36 00:02:02,590 --> 00:02:06,910 Sent me to you, and they asked me, what is his name, and what 37 00:02:06,910 --> 00:02:12,830 shall I tell them? And God said to Moses, I am who 38 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:15,350 I am. You could translate it. 39 00:02:15,740 --> 00:02:21,060 I will be who I will be. This is what you are to say to 40 00:02:21,060 --> 00:02:24,620 the. Israelites I am has sent me. 41 00:02:24,620 --> 00:02:27,220 To you. God also said to Moses, Say to 42 00:02:27,220 --> 00:02:31,180 the Israelites, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of. 43 00:02:31,180 --> 00:02:34,220 Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has. 44 00:02:34,220 --> 00:02:37,700 Sent me to you. And so here God reveals. 45 00:02:37,700 --> 00:02:40,860 Himself when this really kind of mysterious form. 46 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,840 I am who I am. I will be who I will. 47 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,320 Be And in sense it's saying to Moses, I am something that's 48 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,960 beyond you. I am something that just is was 49 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,920 is is to. Come always, There always will 50 00:02:55,920 --> 00:02:57,800 be. Something that you do not 51 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:02,680 define, says God. God is the one who defines who 52 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,000 God is. God alone defines who God is. 53 00:03:06,740 --> 00:03:10,340 And the name the Lords that you see here, Well, this is. 54 00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:13,660 What you find in in an English Bible where you see. 55 00:03:13,660 --> 00:03:16,340 The Lord in written in little capital letters. 56 00:03:16,780 --> 00:03:17,300 What? That's? 57 00:03:17,300 --> 00:03:21,260 Actually doing is translating what you would see what you 58 00:03:21,260 --> 00:03:23,860 could. Put in an English text as is. 59 00:03:23,860 --> 00:03:29,340 Four letter name YHW. H which is kind of taken 60 00:03:29,420 --> 00:03:33,580 straight across from the Hebrew. And there's a very, very long 61 00:03:33,580 --> 00:03:35,620 tradition in in Jewish circles that you. 62 00:03:35,620 --> 00:03:37,660 Don't even try and pronounce that. 63 00:03:38,340 --> 00:03:41,220 And so rather than putting vowels in there because it's 64 00:03:41,220 --> 00:03:45,100 just consonants, they translated when they when they saw it in 65 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:47,700 their text, they didn't try and say it, they said. 66 00:03:47,900 --> 00:03:50,380 I don't. I instead, which means Lord, 67 00:03:50,860 --> 00:03:54,500 which is why this is habit is. Carried over into our text. 68 00:03:54,500 --> 00:04:00,260 Where it doesn't say the name of the Lord is YHWH, it says the 69 00:04:00,260 --> 00:04:04,380 Lord that is. The name, in fact, the name of 70 00:04:04,380 --> 00:04:07,060 the Lord, The Lord is. It's such a precious. 71 00:04:07,060 --> 00:04:09,580 Thing that it's almost inexpressible. 72 00:04:09,700 --> 00:04:13,540 To them. And this is the name that the 73 00:04:13,540 --> 00:04:15,500 Psalmist is calling people to praise. 74 00:04:15,740 --> 00:04:19,019 And this points to the glory of God. 75 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:22,540 Across the entire cosmos, I'd like to. 76 00:04:22,540 --> 00:04:24,980 Draw attention to what and I call 3 dimensions. 77 00:04:25,180 --> 00:04:27,180 You're being pedantic. You might call it four and come 78 00:04:27,180 --> 00:04:30,580 to that in a moment. 3 or maybe 4 dimensions in which? 79 00:04:30,580 --> 00:04:35,500 The glory of God is extended. Through our creation and in 80 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:39,060 which His name is to be praised. And the first one is through 81 00:04:39,060 --> 00:04:43,340 time and you see this in the verse three from the. 82 00:04:43,340 --> 00:04:45,780 Rising of sorry, let sorry verse. 83 00:04:46,060 --> 00:04:47,820 I'll just take come on to verse three in a minute. 84 00:04:48,100 --> 00:04:50,980 Let the name of the Lord be praised both. 85 00:04:50,980 --> 00:04:55,900 Now and forevermore so, how long is the name of the Lord to be 86 00:04:55,900 --> 00:04:56,660 praised? Is it just to? 87 00:04:56,660 --> 00:04:59,850 The end of the service. Maybe to the end of Sunday, 88 00:04:59,850 --> 00:05:01,450 because Sunday's a special day, isn't it? 89 00:05:01,890 --> 00:05:03,810 Or maybe at a stretch. I'll take it into Monday 90 00:05:03,810 --> 00:05:07,970 morning. Do we just praise God for a few 91 00:05:07,970 --> 00:05:09,930 years? While things are going well and 92 00:05:09,930 --> 00:05:13,050 then maybe we'll switch out of. That no the name of the Lord is 93 00:05:13,050 --> 00:05:15,250 to. Be praised now and forever 94 00:05:15,810 --> 00:05:19,650 through your whole life. Into your children's life and 95 00:05:19,650 --> 00:05:22,090 your children's children's life throughout the generations. 96 00:05:22,090 --> 00:05:26,030 God's name is worthy of praise. Right from the beginning and 97 00:05:26,030 --> 00:05:28,350 right through to the. Farthest end you can even 98 00:05:28,350 --> 00:05:31,470 conceive God. Reigns and God's name is to be 99 00:05:31,470 --> 00:05:34,590 praised, so God is to be praised through. 100 00:05:34,590 --> 00:05:40,190 Time at the 2nd dimension, arguably 2 dimensions. 101 00:05:40,190 --> 00:05:46,550 I will call the horizontal verse three from the rising of the sun 102 00:05:47,470 --> 00:05:50,910 to the place where it. Sets the name of the Lord is to 103 00:05:50,910 --> 00:05:53,760 be praised. Now that sounds it could that 104 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,040 could be time as well. Just about couldn't be sunrise 105 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,360 to sunset 12 hours, so. Maybe we only need to. 106 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,600 Praise God, when the sun's shining, well, absolutely not. 107 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:04,840 We've already had. That sorted out in the previous 108 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:07,520 verse. We praise God now and forever, 109 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,760 so all time is included. This is geographical. 110 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,800 This means from the east where the sun. 111 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:19,830 Rises into the West. So how far is that early? 112 00:06:19,830 --> 00:06:21,430 Part of the 20th century there were. 113 00:06:21,870 --> 00:06:24,950 There was considerable interest amongst some adventurers and 114 00:06:24,950 --> 00:06:27,110 explorers in being the 1st to get to. 115 00:06:27,550 --> 00:06:30,590 The North Pole and the South Pole, and so you. 116 00:06:30,590 --> 00:06:34,950 Have various inspiring characters like Fritschoff, 117 00:06:34,990 --> 00:06:36,510 Manson. Who? 118 00:06:36,510 --> 00:06:38,710 Who got married? Probably left his wife. 119 00:06:38,710 --> 00:06:41,830 Behind, sailed off in. His boat the front and 120 00:06:41,830 --> 00:06:45,630 deliberately froze it into the Arctic sea ice, hoping. 121 00:06:45,750 --> 00:06:47,990 That it would drift across the pole. 122 00:06:48,610 --> 00:06:51,490 And he got back home to his wife about five years later. 123 00:06:51,890 --> 00:06:53,610 And she apparently was still happy to. 124 00:06:53,610 --> 00:06:56,690 See him, even though he hadn't actually got. 125 00:06:56,690 --> 00:06:58,370 To the North Pole he just got. Quite close. 126 00:06:58,370 --> 00:07:00,090 He had an amazing adventure on the way. 127 00:07:00,250 --> 00:07:01,530 Or you've got. People like Roald. 128 00:07:01,530 --> 00:07:04,970 Allenson and. Robert Falcon Scott trying to 129 00:07:04,970 --> 00:07:07,610 get to the South Pole and Amundson got there first. 130 00:07:08,010 --> 00:07:11,370 Amundson actually was also the. One of the first to go over the 131 00:07:11,370 --> 00:07:13,850 North Pole in a balloon, remarkably. 132 00:07:14,220 --> 00:07:15,340 He wasn't the first to walk there. 133 00:07:15,580 --> 00:07:17,420 Now I'd like you to imagine an adventurer. 134 00:07:17,420 --> 00:07:19,540 A couple of decades after. This he's thinking. 135 00:07:19,540 --> 00:07:21,540 I need a quest. Tell you what? 136 00:07:22,420 --> 00:07:24,500 North Pole and South Pole are already done. 137 00:07:25,740 --> 00:07:29,460 I am going to go to the West Pole so. 138 00:07:29,780 --> 00:07:31,820 Gets out the compass, equips his expedition. 139 00:07:31,820 --> 00:07:34,140 And they set off to the West. Following the compass, keep 140 00:07:34,140 --> 00:07:37,260 going, compass is still pointing W there must be further to go. 141 00:07:37,740 --> 00:07:40,060 We've gone 10,000 miles, but it's still pointing West. 142 00:07:40,340 --> 00:07:45,210 Let's keep going 20,000 miles. Ah, still to go West. 30,000 143 00:07:45,210 --> 00:07:47,490 miles Things are looking a little bit familiar around here, 144 00:07:48,490 --> 00:07:51,290 but it's still WI will carry on. West And eventually they realize 145 00:07:51,290 --> 00:07:52,810 they cannot get to the West Pole. 146 00:07:52,810 --> 00:07:54,450 So they think okay, I'll try the. 147 00:07:54,450 --> 00:07:57,930 East Pole instead. Go back, you know. 50,000 and 148 00:07:57,930 --> 00:08:01,210 they can't get there. You cannot get to the West Pole. 149 00:08:01,290 --> 00:08:03,170 You cannot reach the end of the West. 150 00:08:03,290 --> 00:08:05,890 It keeps on going. You cannot get to the end of the 151 00:08:05,890 --> 00:08:07,690 East. It keeps on going. 152 00:08:09,170 --> 00:08:11,370 Now the psalmist may not have thought about it in exactly 153 00:08:11,370 --> 00:08:13,830 these terms. Because he may not his sense of 154 00:08:13,910 --> 00:08:16,310 what shape the. Globe was may not have well, 155 00:08:16,470 --> 00:08:18,430 people knew. People had a pretty good idea. 156 00:08:18,430 --> 00:08:21,270 That it was spherical by maybe the 3rd century BC and. 157 00:08:21,350 --> 00:08:25,750 Probably before, but the point is that the psalmist here. 158 00:08:25,750 --> 00:08:28,750 Is saying the glory of God. Belongs to the farthest. 159 00:08:28,750 --> 00:08:32,870 Extremes that you could imagine. You cannot reach the end of the 160 00:08:32,870 --> 00:08:37,799 realm in which God reigns. You cannot get to the end of the 161 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,360 area of the world of the. Cosmos, we might say. 162 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,360 In which God is to be praised. So that's. 163 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:47,840 Kind of my horizontal dimension. Now this might seem a bit 164 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,600 confusing, how I'm now going to talk about what we can call the 165 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,360 vertical. Dimension the Lord is exalted. 166 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:56,280 Over the nation is glory. Over the heavens. 167 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:00,280 So the glory of the Lord goes this way as well it goes. 168 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,280 Upwards and in one sense you can say this. 169 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,690 Is just going into space. And yes, this is true, because 170 00:09:06,690 --> 00:09:09,650 the glory of God goes. Throughout the entire cosmos. 171 00:09:10,810 --> 00:09:13,130 But actually, what we're. Talking about here in the sense 172 00:09:13,290 --> 00:09:17,450 is God's glory, his reign over the hierarchy of. 173 00:09:17,450 --> 00:09:22,690 Powers, whether human or even heavenly, the angelic powers. 174 00:09:23,130 --> 00:09:26,450 And what's interestingly here and interesting here is that 175 00:09:26,610 --> 00:09:29,250 we'll see going a bit. Further down that God. 176 00:09:29,250 --> 00:09:33,410 Reigns not just in heaven, but over heaven. 177 00:09:34,370 --> 00:09:36,490 So God doesn't just sit in heaven looking down on the 178 00:09:36,530 --> 00:09:38,930 earth, He. Sits somewhere exalted above 179 00:09:38,930 --> 00:09:42,290 that. Looking down even on heaven and 180 00:09:42,290 --> 00:09:46,610 then beyond that to the earth. And so, throughout the entire 181 00:09:46,610 --> 00:09:51,250 heavenly realm, God's glory is. Seen and God is to be praised 182 00:09:54,130 --> 00:09:57,610 and so various. Dimensions all-encompassing. 183 00:09:58,020 --> 00:10:00,220 If you can invent some more dimensions, it'll apply. 184 00:10:00,220 --> 00:10:01,820 There as well. I'm sure the mathematicians 185 00:10:01,820 --> 00:10:03,620 amongst you could probably do something like that. 186 00:10:03,940 --> 00:10:07,260 Maybe there are others, but this applies everywhere and all 187 00:10:07,260 --> 00:10:10,820 places. And so the Lord, it says, is 188 00:10:10,820 --> 00:10:15,580 exalted. Enthroned on high you could. 189 00:10:15,580 --> 00:10:17,940 Literally take that as the Lord goes up to. 190 00:10:18,340 --> 00:10:21,660 Sit down. He goes up to this highest. 191 00:10:21,660 --> 00:10:23,940 Place and sits down, of course, on a throne. 192 00:10:24,580 --> 00:10:29,550 And then he looks down from this incredible height looks. 193 00:10:29,550 --> 00:10:33,110 Down on the world and. I don't know how we can get a 194 00:10:33,110 --> 00:10:35,950 sense of what it's like. Looking down on the world like 195 00:10:35,950 --> 00:10:37,630 that, I mean we we flew to France. 196 00:10:37,910 --> 00:10:38,910 A little while again, you've got. 197 00:10:38,910 --> 00:10:39,990 That experience as you go up in a. 198 00:10:39,990 --> 00:10:44,390 Plane that you you things just get smaller and smaller and 199 00:10:44,390 --> 00:10:46,710 smaller things that seemed quite large. 200 00:10:47,190 --> 00:10:48,990 When you were on the. Ground that you know the. 201 00:10:50,710 --> 00:10:54,710 The immenseity of Birmingham is spread out there before you. 202 00:10:55,270 --> 00:10:58,650 And as you go up, Birmingham. Gets smaller and smaller. 203 00:10:59,170 --> 00:11:04,170 Thankfully, some people might. Say, and the big houses and the 204 00:11:04,170 --> 00:11:05,730 small houses start to look the same. 205 00:11:05,730 --> 00:11:08,890 They're indistinguishable as as you go up. 206 00:11:09,210 --> 00:11:12,330 Things get smaller and then you get to the point where as you go 207 00:11:12,330 --> 00:11:14,290 above the clouds, because it's the UK and it's. 208 00:11:15,450 --> 00:11:18,570 Suddenly everything below that is is is irrelevant because you 209 00:11:18,570 --> 00:11:20,930 just see us this. Wonderful sea of white and 210 00:11:20,930 --> 00:11:23,850 everyone below it's. Just a Gray rainy day, and you 211 00:11:23,850 --> 00:11:25,970 are. Exalted above England. 212 00:11:27,270 --> 00:11:30,190 And and somehow it becomes irrelevant to you what's going 213 00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:32,510 on down there. It's just like little little 214 00:11:33,310 --> 00:11:37,790 insects, in fact. In Isaiah 40, Isaiah likens. 215 00:11:38,030 --> 00:11:42,030 Gods looking down on the earth to looking down on insects, he 216 00:11:42,030 --> 00:11:45,310 says. He sits in throned above the 217 00:11:45,310 --> 00:11:48,950 circle of the earth. And its people are like 218 00:11:48,950 --> 00:11:52,910 grasshoppers. They're like grasshoppers. 219 00:11:52,910 --> 00:11:54,790 They're. Tiny and irrelevant and. 220 00:11:55,250 --> 00:11:57,010 Well, maybe they're not irrelevant if you are a keen 221 00:11:57,010 --> 00:12:01,810 biologist, but they are. Something that the point is that 222 00:12:01,810 --> 00:12:05,410 they're so. Small and so shrunken you can 223 00:12:05,410 --> 00:12:08,690 imagine being irrelevant. Now you know one grasshopper 224 00:12:08,690 --> 00:12:12,410 compared to another grasshopper. Maybe you get the more proud 225 00:12:12,410 --> 00:12:14,730 grasshoppers which have. Achieved more in. 226 00:12:14,730 --> 00:12:19,170 Life and I I started. Off as a biologist, actually, 227 00:12:19,170 --> 00:12:21,810 And. I have a I like some insects and 228 00:12:21,810 --> 00:12:24,910 one of my favorite insects. Is is what you might call the 229 00:12:24,910 --> 00:12:27,430 greatest of the British grasshoppers. 230 00:12:28,110 --> 00:12:30,750 It's. Called tetagonia Veridissima, 231 00:12:31,230 --> 00:12:34,750 which goes under the English name The Great Green Grasshopper 232 00:12:35,870 --> 00:12:36,910 and when you hear the phrase, the. 233 00:12:36,910 --> 00:12:39,110 Great green grasshopper. You might imagine something, 234 00:12:39,110 --> 00:12:41,510 let's say size. Of A and in a lorry, you know, 235 00:12:41,910 --> 00:12:43,190 enormous. Great thing. 236 00:12:43,470 --> 00:12:45,510 Terrifying. You know. 237 00:12:45,910 --> 00:12:49,830 Towering over all the other grasshoppers, Actually, the 238 00:12:49,830 --> 00:12:51,310 great green. Grasshopper is still only about 239 00:12:51,390 --> 00:12:54,270 that big. Compared to the presumably the. 240 00:12:54,270 --> 00:12:57,070 Little brown grasshopper. Maybe that's not the technical 241 00:12:57,070 --> 00:13:00,870 term which is about that big. And so when God looks down on 242 00:13:00,870 --> 00:13:04,030 the earth that all the pride of all the celebrities. 243 00:13:04,150 --> 00:13:06,790 And all the rulers and all the famous people. 244 00:13:07,150 --> 00:13:09,110 To be honest, it all just merges into one. 245 00:13:09,110 --> 00:13:11,630 It does not look impressive as God looks. 246 00:13:14,110 --> 00:13:17,950 But now we find in this song a truly extraordinary move. 247 00:13:19,190 --> 00:13:22,340 It does actually say God Stoops to look down. 248 00:13:22,340 --> 00:13:23,900 He's coming to check the grasshoppers out. 249 00:13:24,700 --> 00:13:27,820 He Stoops. Down to look at these 250 00:13:27,820 --> 00:13:31,020 insignificant characters he Stoops. 251 00:13:31,020 --> 00:13:32,660 Down to look. On the heavens. 252 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:34,220 That's that point I made already. 253 00:13:34,300 --> 00:13:36,820 He's above the heavens. To see the heavens, God looks 254 00:13:36,820 --> 00:13:38,700 down and he looks down to the earth. 255 00:13:39,660 --> 00:13:42,460 And you might imagine after all this, that God looks down and 256 00:13:42,460 --> 00:13:47,420 things Grasshoppers. So what? 257 00:13:47,620 --> 00:13:49,820 I've got. Maybe better things to do? 258 00:13:52,130 --> 00:13:56,130 But this is not what happens. It says he goes right. 259 00:13:56,130 --> 00:14:01,810 Down in amongst these people. And he goes and finds not the 260 00:14:01,810 --> 00:14:06,410 most impressive or the richest. Or the most famous He goes and 261 00:14:06,410 --> 00:14:09,850 seeks out the poor and the needy. 262 00:14:10,370 --> 00:14:13,170 You can imagine perhaps God's You know the. 263 00:14:13,530 --> 00:14:16,610 As you descend, you see maybe a great city with palaces. 264 00:14:16,610 --> 00:14:20,610 And temples and and. Beautiful things and you come 265 00:14:20,610 --> 00:14:22,530 down towards it. You think Okay, surely? 266 00:14:22,530 --> 00:14:25,290 As God looks down, he will focus on these bits. 267 00:14:25,770 --> 00:14:28,930 See the wealth? But as you come down, actually 268 00:14:29,170 --> 00:14:31,890 God's gaze shift. It appears as the way the 269 00:14:31,890 --> 00:14:34,890 psalmist is putting it shifts. From the center, from the 270 00:14:34,890 --> 00:14:38,770 palaces, from the centers of wealth to the outskirts of the 271 00:14:38,770 --> 00:14:42,810 city and to the rubbish heap, the ash heap. 272 00:14:43,290 --> 00:14:47,450 The slums. And this is where God. 273 00:14:47,450 --> 00:14:51,320 Focus his attention. On the needy and on the poor. 274 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:56,320 And it says He raises them. So this God who is exalted 275 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,520 throughout all of eternity throughout. 276 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,360 All of that horizontal dimension, all that vertical 277 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:06,200 dimension, sees the poor and the needy and cares he has. 278 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:12,000 He notices, and he does something about it. 279 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:14,080 He lifts that. He raises. 280 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:18,440 The poor from the dust lifts the needy from the ash sheep. 281 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:22,560 And one thing I find quite striking about this is is is 282 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:24,120 actually. I mean, it's not so obvious in 283 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:25,920 in the English text here, but there's a. 284 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,040 Verbal link between when it talks about. 285 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,160 God being exalted and what he does to the needy, he takes 286 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:38,480 this. Needy person and exalts them. 287 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:43,360 He takes them up with him, and he does that to sit them with 288 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:45,680 Princess, with the Princess of his people. 289 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,680 So he takes an interest and he cares. 290 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,680 He exalts the lowly. Now this is a pattern that you 291 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,040 find regularly throughout the scriptures in fact. 292 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:00,600 Another fairly well known. Perhaps you may. 293 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:03,080 You may be familiar. With the beginning of 1 Samuel 294 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,520 we have the. Story of Hannah, who is longing 295 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,400 to have children and can't have children and yet God answers her 296 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:15,240 prayers. She's barren and God gives her 297 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,550 children. And you can see the echo there 298 00:16:17,790 --> 00:16:19,350 with. Verse nine, he settles the 299 00:16:19,350 --> 00:16:20,990 childless. Woman in her home as a happy 300 00:16:20,990 --> 00:16:22,510 mother of children. But. 301 00:16:22,510 --> 00:16:28,830 Actually, in one Samuel 2, Hannah sings a song and in that 302 00:16:28,830 --> 00:16:32,510 song she uses almost the exact same phrasing as we get in Psalm 303 00:16:32,510 --> 00:16:37,870 113. It says this is verse. 304 00:16:38,150 --> 00:16:41,550 One Samuel 2 Seven to 8, the Lord sends poverty and wealth. 305 00:16:41,550 --> 00:16:44,230 He humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor. 306 00:16:44,230 --> 00:16:47,060 From the dust. Lifts the needy from the ash 307 00:16:47,060 --> 00:16:50,500 heap he seats. Them with Princess and has them 308 00:16:50,500 --> 00:16:55,940 inherits a throne of honor and so you can see this is a. 309 00:16:55,940 --> 00:16:59,180 Theme that occurs again in the game now. 310 00:16:59,420 --> 00:17:01,820 A really good echo actually is also. 311 00:17:01,820 --> 00:17:06,060 Found of one Samuel 2 in the beginning of Luke's Gospel. 312 00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:09,300 Again in the beginning of Luke's Gospel, Luke. 313 00:17:09,300 --> 00:17:12,460 Chapter One, we have someone who in some ways is a little bit 314 00:17:12,460 --> 00:17:14,940 like. Hannah We have Elizabeth, the 315 00:17:14,940 --> 00:17:16,900 wife of Zechariah, who's elderly. 316 00:17:17,060 --> 00:17:19,859 Not being able to have. Children and yet miraculously, 317 00:17:19,859 --> 00:17:22,900 God. Transforms their situation and 318 00:17:22,900 --> 00:17:27,220 she encounters Mary and parley. In response to her encounter 319 00:17:27,220 --> 00:17:30,540 with Elizabeth, Mary sings this extraordinary song where using 320 00:17:30,540 --> 00:17:33,180 slightly different vocabulary. She makes the same kind of 321 00:17:33,180 --> 00:17:40,780 point. This is Luke 1 52 He he God that 322 00:17:40,780 --> 00:17:42,750 is. Has brought down rulers from 323 00:17:42,750 --> 00:17:45,550 their home home Thrones, but has lifted up the humble. 324 00:17:46,150 --> 00:17:50,310 He's filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich 325 00:17:50,310 --> 00:17:53,630 away empty. And So what you see here is that 326 00:17:53,630 --> 00:17:56,550 when Jesus comes, it's. As though things get turned 327 00:17:56,590 --> 00:18:00,590 upside down, there is a reversal in which God. 328 00:18:00,710 --> 00:18:03,430 The High and exalted one in Jesus. 329 00:18:03,630 --> 00:18:06,590 Comes and things change. The lonely. 330 00:18:06,590 --> 00:18:09,070 And the poor are lifted up the rich. 331 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,120 Well, there's a reversal those who decide to. 332 00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:14,760 Hold on to their wealth and their pride and their privilege 333 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,080 in their hubris? Well, maybe temporarily They're 334 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:20,600 allowed to. But don't forget, they're just 335 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:22,760 the bigger grasshoppers. And to. 336 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,120 Hold on to your bigger grasshopper status. 337 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,760 And not allow God to lift you up is the way of futility. 338 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,400 And so this. Is a theme that we find in the 339 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,640 New Testament that when Jesus comes there is a reversal. 340 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:38,960 And Jesus comes. We see. 341 00:18:39,350 --> 00:18:44,510 Psalm 113 start to be. Fulfilled in a new way and just 342 00:18:44,510 --> 00:18:46,910 as I I'm coming towards the end of this. 343 00:18:46,910 --> 00:18:48,910 Now I just want to draw one other link here. 344 00:18:50,030 --> 00:18:54,670 I'd like just to draw a line, in a sense, between Psalm 113 and 345 00:18:54,670 --> 00:18:57,750 another passage which I. Think may be familiar some view 346 00:18:57,750 --> 00:19:01,710 which is in Philippians 2 and Philippians two. 347 00:19:03,030 --> 00:19:05,750 Paul is writing. To people he knows in the church 348 00:19:05,750 --> 00:19:10,460 in the Greek town of Philippine and encouraging them to behave 349 00:19:10,460 --> 00:19:12,580 well to each. Other And he said you need to 350 00:19:12,780 --> 00:19:17,300 think in your actions with each other behave like Jesus and. 351 00:19:17,300 --> 00:19:18,980 This is what he said. Now as you listen to this 352 00:19:18,980 --> 00:19:21,460 passage, which I'll read to you just. 353 00:19:22,340 --> 00:19:27,940 Hold also in your mind the movement we get in Psalm 113 as 354 00:19:27,940 --> 00:19:32,420 God Exalted. On high looks down and comes 355 00:19:32,420 --> 00:19:35,740 down and lifts up. It's not exactly the same 356 00:19:35,740 --> 00:19:38,560 movement here, but. You have got this similar sense 357 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,040 of a vertical. Move. 358 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:43,520 I think so, Paul said. This in your relationships with 359 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,880 one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus Who? 360 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:53,520 Being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God. 361 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:55,560 Something to be used to his own advantage. 362 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:01,680 Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature. 363 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,800 Of a servant. Being made in human likeness and 364 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:06,520 being found in appearance as a man. 365 00:20:07,090 --> 00:20:12,250 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on 366 00:20:12,250 --> 00:20:15,690 a cross. Therefore, God exalted. 367 00:20:15,690 --> 00:20:19,730 Him to the highest place. And gave him the name that is 368 00:20:19,730 --> 00:20:22,730 above. Every name that at the name of 369 00:20:22,890 --> 00:20:27,690 Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under 370 00:20:27,690 --> 00:20:31,170 the earth, and every tongue acknowledged that Jesus Christ 371 00:20:31,170 --> 00:20:33,970 is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 372 00:20:36,150 --> 00:20:37,550 What we see in. Philippians too. 373 00:20:38,430 --> 00:20:43,270 Is the compassion of God embodied in Jesus as Jesus? 374 00:20:43,270 --> 00:20:47,310 Comes down into the depths and into the darkness. 375 00:20:47,790 --> 00:20:52,790 And saving power, and therefore God exalted. 376 00:20:52,990 --> 00:20:55,390 And this takes us, in a sense, full circle. 377 00:20:55,390 --> 00:20:59,790 Here we started off talking. About the name of God that 378 00:20:59,790 --> 00:21:04,990 exalted holy. Incomparable name the name that 379 00:21:04,990 --> 00:21:07,310 almost. Many of thought shouldn't even 380 00:21:07,310 --> 00:21:09,150 be spoken because it's so precious. 381 00:21:09,990 --> 00:21:13,910 And now we find this set of Jesus that God gave. 382 00:21:14,350 --> 00:21:16,990 The name that is above. Every name. 383 00:21:17,470 --> 00:21:23,870 What is the name that is above? Every name this is, this starts 384 00:21:23,870 --> 00:21:25,270 to get hard to get your head round. 385 00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:28,190 But in a sense, what's going on here is Paul is emphasizing. 386 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:30,880 That in G if you want if you want to ask the question, ask 387 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,280 the question who is God? What is the God the identity of 388 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,400 God And you had this is it's it's all. 389 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,440 Tied up with the name. Now we know that when we see 390 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,560 Jesus. We see the name of God somehow 391 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:51,280 made flesh, that the Jesus is somehow included in that name in 392 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,560 a way that theologians has. Spent many centuries wrestling 393 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,760 with because it's just. So awesome and wonderful. 394 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:04,680 And so we see in Jesus the. Revelation of God we see in a 395 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:10,120 sense Psalm 113 played out in a in a different way, we see God 396 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:13,320 revealed to us God's. Identity is shown to us. 397 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,040 God has shown himself as glorious the One. 398 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,760 Who transcends all dimensions vertical through. 399 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,600 Time horizontal, and if you want to know what God's like, you 400 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:27,110 have to hold. On to that that God is so. 401 00:22:27,230 --> 00:22:31,190 Awesome and ungraspable, but if you want to know what God is 402 00:22:31,190 --> 00:22:36,910 like, look at Jesus. Who came as a man died. 403 00:22:37,750 --> 00:22:41,630 On a cross on the ash heap outside the city. 404 00:22:42,150 --> 00:22:46,750 In the slum from which the poor media lifted up, in effect you. 405 00:22:46,750 --> 00:22:50,430 Want to know God hold these things together Because then you 406 00:22:50,430 --> 00:22:52,510 see actually that Jesus is lifted up. 407 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:55,440 Into that same glory that we talked about. 408 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:01,640 From the song and as you just. Wind this up. 409 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,240 I mean, I wonder whether whether you'd indulge me in this just as 410 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,640 a way of finishing this off. Can we perhaps reread the song 411 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,480 together again as we just? Wind this up. 412 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:16,880 Wind this up so. If you can find it in front of 413 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:18,760 you, all of the various. Sheets floating around which 414 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,720 have it. On as well, and perhaps we could 415 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,630 stand together. And let's just read this. 416 00:23:25,030 --> 00:23:29,350 Together looking as as we read at the movements that we see 417 00:23:29,350 --> 00:23:32,510 throughout the song. Thinking about how God has his 418 00:23:32,510 --> 00:23:35,510 glory spreads throughout. The entire cosmos. 419 00:23:35,510 --> 00:23:38,590 And yet he comes down to meet with us. 420 00:23:42,830 --> 00:23:45,950 So, Psalm 130, let's do this together. 421 00:23:46,910 --> 00:23:51,310 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord you, his 422 00:23:51,310 --> 00:23:54,900 servants. Praise the name of the Lord. 423 00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:58,220 Let the name of the Lord be praised. 424 00:23:58,820 --> 00:24:04,900 Both now and forevermore, from the rising of the sun to the 425 00:24:04,900 --> 00:24:09,300 place where it sets. The name of the Lord is to be 426 00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:13,620 praised. The Lord is exalted over. 427 00:24:13,620 --> 00:24:20,060 All the nations his glory above the heavens, who is like the 428 00:24:20,060 --> 00:24:24,450 Lord our God. The one who sits enthroned on 429 00:24:24,450 --> 00:24:31,290 high, who Stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth he 430 00:24:31,490 --> 00:24:35,010 raises. The poor from the dust and lifts 431 00:24:35,010 --> 00:24:39,690 the needy from the ash. He seats them with Princess. 432 00:24:40,570 --> 00:24:45,250 With the Princess of his people, he settles the childless. 433 00:24:45,250 --> 00:24:51,210 Woman in her home as a. Happy mother of children, praise 434 00:24:51,210 --> 00:24:53,700 the Lord. Oh man.