In Ephesians we are told not only to sing and make melody, but also to speak one to another (5:19 “speaking to yourselves” should be “speaking one to another”) in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. The psalms are the longest praises, the songs are the shortest ones, and the hymns are of medium length. There are three degrees of poetry. This means that we must use all kinds of praises—psalms, hymns, and songs. Some have said that the hymns we have written are too long. It is true that we have one hymn of twenty-six verses and others of fifteen and sixteen verses. But there is at least one psalm with one hundred and seventy-six stanzas (Psa. 119). I do hope that someday we will have a hymn of a hundred and seventy-six verses. Sometimes to express our praise we need a long psalm. Many times we need the shorter songs. It is so living and releasing to come out spontaneously with some of the shorter songs in our meetings. We must learn to praise the Lord with all kinds of poetry.
In Colossians chapter three, verse 16, we have two things put together: dealing with the Word and singing the hymns. When we have the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly, we will be full of Christ, we will have the outpouring of the inner fulness in singing and praising. If we could all learn how to praise and sing the hymns in our meetings, it would be much better than hearing a message.
Altogether, there are one hundred and fifty Psalms. The first Psalm says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly...” But Psalm 150, the last Psalm, says, “Hallelujah,” which means, Praise the Lord. In this Psalm every sentence begins with the word “praise.” It says praise the Lord in this way, then praise the Lord in the second way, then praise the Lord in the third way, etc., etc. There are ten ways of praising the Lord. Eventually it says, “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.” The book of Psalms is a condensation, a miniature picture, of the whole Bible. Such a book ends with praising, with Hallelujahs. Why must the Psalms end with praising? Because by the end of the Psalms we have the city with the temple, we have God’s habitation on this earth in the universe.
Now let us come to the end of the Bible. The whole Bible ends also with Hallelujahs. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah...” Why at the end of the Bible is there such a universal Hallelujah? Because of the Bride, the New Jerusalem, the mingling of divinity with humanity. In the entire universe there is something marvelous. It is rather difficult to give this marvelous thing a title; we have nothing to say but Hallelujah!
I long to see the day when in the local churches there will be nothing but, “Hallelujah, Amen, Praise the Lord,” all the day. Do you expect to have more teachings? Then you are still in Psalm 1. You may say that you appreciate Psalm 1 so much. But that proves that you have never grown; you are still in the first stage of the Psalms. You must go on from Psalm 1. In the first Psalm there is no praising; there is only the blessing for him who keeps the law. God is not satisfied with this; God comes in and says that he who kisses the Son is blessed, he who puts his trust in the Son is blessed (Psa. 2). It is not a matter of keeping the law, but of kissing Christ. Peter on the mount of transfiguration foolishly said, “Let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses [the law], and one for Elias [the prophets].” Then suddenly a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son...hear ye Him.” Immediately Moses and Elias disappeared and they saw no one save Christ. On the day of Pentecost Peter spoke again. But this time he did not tell the people that Jesus was good and Moses was good too. On that day he declared the second Psalm: “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). It is not a matter of how much you love the law, but how much you kiss the Son. We have already considered Psalm 8: there is nothing in this Psalm about keeping the law, but even in Psalm 8 we do not have the maturity. We must go on until we hit Psalm 150. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! This Psalm starts with Hallelujah and ends with Hallelujah, and ten times plus one throughout it says “Praise God,” “Praise Him,” or “Praise the Lord.” Praise Him in this way, and praise Him in that way— this is maturity. There is no more exhortation, no teaching, but praising the Lord. “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” This is the highest and the best.
John in the Revelation at the end of the Bible does not say, “I want you all to know that you must love the Lord, consecrate yourself, and build up one another.” No. At the end of the Bible all we have is praising, praising upon praising, Hallelujah, Amen, Hallelujah! The less we praise, the younger we are. The less we sing to the Lord, the more childish we are. We all must learn to sing the praises in the meetings of the church. So we have the verse, “When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm...” (1 Cor. 14:26). Do you have a psalm? Amen, Hallelujah!