Psalms 134
Chuck Smith on Psalms 134
Verse by verse, taught on Sunday nights: the C2000 series, 1979 to 1985, and the C3000 series, 1985 to 1999. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
Sunday Nights, 1979 to 1985 (C2000)
Verses 1–3
Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which stand by night in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion (134:1-3).
So twofold: bless the Lord, and then may you receive the blessing of the Lord. "Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord."
One of the glorious ministries of Calvary Chapel is the Men's Prayer Ministry where men gather by night in the house of the Lord. Where men are here all night long, standing before the Lord, bringing before the Lord the prayer requests, the needs of the body. Men volunteer on three-hour shifts maybe every second week or so to just come in, just to stand before the Lord in His sanctuary. "Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which stand by night in the house of the Lord." What a privilege, what a blessing. Just to come down and stand before the Lord for the needs of the body. "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Bless the Lord." How glorious it is. How beautiful it is. May God bless you out of Zion.
Sunday Nights, 1985 to 1999 (C3000)
Chapter introduction
Psalm one hundred and thirty-four is the final psalm of the degrees or the ascent. This is the last in this series. We’ve had fifteen of them and this is the last of the series. It is now an exhortation, you are there, you’ve arrived, you participated in the worship, you’ve gathered together in unity and you’ve seen the beauty.
Verse 1
BEHOLD, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD (134:1).
A beautiful thing about the temple and about the tabernacle is that they had appointed priests who would always be there night and day singing praises unto God. There never ceased to be praises ascending to God from the place of worship. You can go there anytime of the night or day and you can hear the priests in there singing the psalms, singing the praises unto the Lord. That to me is just beautiful and exciting. It’s inspiring.
The last time we were going through the psalms, six years or so ago, when we got to this and we were talking about how they would stand in the house of the Lord to bless the Lord at night, that’s where the inspiration came for the all night men’s prayer meeting. Since that time we have men during the night, here at the church, praising the Lord and praying over the needs. That’s why you can call at night and you’ll find men here who are there to minister to you. The inspiration came out of this. How marvelous it was that there were those priests always worshiping and praising God there in the temple night and day. We wanted to have somewhat that kind of a thing.
Verse 2
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD (134:2).
The exhortation for those priests that were there.
Verse 3
The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion (134:3).
As people bless the Lord they are blessed of the Lord. You’ve discovered that. You can’t out give God. God will never be debtor to you. You can never give to God but what God won’t give back to you measured out, pressed down, running over. After exhorting them and extolling those that where there blessing God in the sanctuary then the return and the response is God bless you the one who made the heaven and the earth.