The Horn of our Salvation

The Horn of our Salvation

Thursday, January 17, 2013

We read in Psalm 148, verses 13-14 (NIV 1984):

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

    for his name alone is exalted;

    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

He has raised up for his people a horn,

    the praise of all his saints,

    of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the Lord.

How should we praise the Lord? We should praise him with our worship of him by giving to him our lives as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our reasonable service of worship. This is true worship of God! We should no longer be conformed to the ways of this world, i.e. we should not pattern our lives after the mannerisms of this sinful world, we should not follow after their systems of thinking and behaving, and we should not adapt our lives to the culture around us. Instead, we should be transformed in mind and heart via the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God within us; to be made new creatures in Christ Jesus, our Lord, Savior and King (see Ro. 12:1-2).

We should also praise the Lord by exalting him (lifting him up) in our minds, hearts, actions and words to the place of honor, dignity, respect, and admiration that he so deserves, because of what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins, so we could go free from the penalty of sin (eternal damnation), so we could be free of slavery (bondage) to sin day-to-day, and so we could be free to experience wonderful and awesome fellowship with him as we walk daily humbly with him in obedience, surrender and submission to his ways and to his will for our lives. God is not pleased when we honor him only with our lips, but our hearts are far from him, which is evidenced by how we live our daily lives, and by what priority we give God over our lives.

God the Father gave his Son Jesus Christ as the horn of our salvation. He is our power! He is our strength! He is our mighty Savior and God! He is the King of kings and Lord of lords; the Lion of Judah who took away the sins of the world; and the Lamb who was slain so we could go free from our sins. He is our safety and our protection. He has given us victory over sin, self, Satan and death. He is to be the object of our praise, for he alone is worthy! Our God has shown us great love and kindness, mercy and forgiveness, and he has lavished upon us his wonderful grace! And, we are so undeserving of such love! Yet, he has chosen us, his saints, the people of God, the Body of Christ, true Israel, and true followers of Jesus Christ to be a people close to his heart. So, we should honor him with our praise! 

Audio/Video: http://originalworks.info/the-horn-of-our-salvation/