The third quality which should distinguish the church as being the “temple of God,” is that of Praise and Thanksgiving. The voice of praise should always be heard in the church.
“We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple” (Psa. 48:99We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. (Psalm 48:9)). This character of God's temple appears continually even in the Old Testament. The glorious temple of Solomon was opened with the beautiful prayer of that king; but when after its close the fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices, and Jehovah's glory filled Jehovah's house, the children of Israel bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.” “And the priests waited on their offices; the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord which David the king had made to praise the Lord, because his mercy endureth forever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them and all Israel stood.”
What a grand and mighty volume of sound of praises and thanksgivings filled that temple, mingled with the lovely strains and the still more exquisite themes of the devoted and inspired lays of the departed Psalmist, the “man after God's own heart;” who like Abel, “though he be dead, yet speaketh” to us (though in a different way,) in his divinely inspired psalms, as he did to those gathered for praise in his son's magnificent temple.
When Israel under Solomon's foolish successor, who was heedless of his father's wise “proverbs,” had divided, and the ten tribes under their godless king had turned from God to idols, and Judah had not only followed their example, but surpassed them in wickedness, and like Israel, had been carried away into captivity, then, instead of the trumpets and harps and of the voices of the singers, the “lamentations” of the prophet sounded through the quiet air over the ruins of the city and the temple. But God, whose wrath does not, like His mercy endure forever, had at His own appointed time brought back from captivity a small remnant of His people for the rebuilding of His beloved city and His temple. No sooner had the foundation stone of Jehovah's new temple been laid, than afresh the voice of praise and thanksgiving was heard.
“And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel, and they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because He is good and His mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid” (Ezra 3:10, 1110And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. 11And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. (Ezra 3:10‑11)).
On the threshold, as it were, of the Old and New Testament, we behold Simeon, and Anna “which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,” praising God at the sight of the Divine Babe, the Word which was made flesh, the former testifying to the “salvation” of God, and the latter to “redemption.”
And when He Who was the salvation of God and a light of the Gentiles, come for the redemption of His people Israel, had been rejected by the builders, and crucified, and risen from the dead, did appear to His disciples forty days, comforting them and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and finally before their own eyes had been received up into heaven with hands lifted up in blessing them, “His disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.”
Now if that voice of praise and thanksgiving from the earthly people of God, and even of the disciples of the Lord, was heard in that temple composed of dead stones, how much more ought that voice to be heard in the spiritual house of God, built of “living stones,” the Christian “temple of God,” where the believers as “a holy priesthood offer up sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5))!
“Whoso offereth praise, glorifieth me” (Psa. 50:2323Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God. (Psalm 50:23)). If prayer becomes us, being the expression of our dependence as creatures of God, children of the Father and servants of Christ, “praise is comely,” and giving of thanks, being due to God, as the fountainhead from whence all blessings flow. “All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee” (Psa. 145:1010All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. (Psalm 145:10)).
Israel will one day praise the “glory of His kingdom and of His might.” But why do we praise Him? Paul, the apostle of glory and of the church, writes to the Ephesians: (chapter 1. ver. 3). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.”
In the writings of the New Testament, we find besides the exhortation to pray, the constant injunction to praise and give thanks. In the Gospels the Lord Himself sets the example, be it at the breaking of bread, or at the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and even at the moment of the rejection of His testimony by the most privileged cities of Israel, nay on the very eve of His crucifixion, when He with His own sang a hymn of praise. The same injunction for praises and thanksgiving we meet with in the epistles of the apostle of the church.
If we have reason to tremble for a Christian who neglects prayer, there is no less cause for concern for the spiritual condition of one, whose voice is only heard in prayers to the exclusion of thanksgiving and praise. What should we think of a child constantly importuning his father with petitionings for this thing and that thing, without expressing his gratitude for the gifts received? Even the world despises ingratitude, however true it may be that “ingratitude is the world's reward,” as fully shown toward God and His dear Son.
What then can be thought of a child of God, in whose house the voice of thanksgiving and praise is seldom or never heard? Such a household resembles a damp and dark house, the rooms of which are never lit up and cheered by a single sunbeam; as in Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, the gloomy inmates with drooping heads dragging along from day to day their weary existence. What kind of testimony can such a dismal Christian household render to its worldly neighbors? What testimony can such sombre Christian parents give to the unconverted members of their household? To make others happy, we must be happy ourselves. A truly grateful Christian will always be a happy one too, and in such a house the voice of praise will not be scarce. How much more then should that voice be heard in the church or assembly, which is the “temple of God?”
In the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, as also in the third chapter of the Epistle of the same apostle to the Colossians, we are enjoined to praise God even the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to make melody in our hearts to our Lord and Savior and Bead in glory, whilst speaking to one another with singing lips in happy communion. In Eph. 5 this is presented as the effect of being filled with the Spirit, but in Col. 3 as the result of being richly indwelt by the word of Christ in all wisdom, in keeping with the character of each epistle upon which we cannot enter here. But in both passages we find the three kinds of Christian songs of praise, namely:—
l. Psa. i.e., Christian songs for thanksgiving and praise.
Hymns for Christian worship.
Spiritual songs, i.e., such as serve for domestic and social Christian edification.
The two former belong in an especial way to the assemblies of saints, especially those for the breaking of bread, whose character is that of adoration and thanksgiving. The third kind of Christian songs—those for edification simply—would be out of place there.
Assemblies, where spiritual songs for prayer and confession are the rule and hymns of praise are seldom heard, betray a low spiritual condition. May God increase and deepen in all of us the spirit of prayer, and the spirit of worship! Wherever there is worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:2424God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)), there will be no lack of “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 2020But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, (Jude 20)).