I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:1
There were times in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus when there were few to worship Him. At His birth, the angels issued a great proclamation, the shepherds came to worship, and Simeon and Anna recognized in Him God’s Salvation, and spoke words of adoration and praise. But throughout His ministry, there were times when He was not appreciated or wanted; there were those who sought to get rid of Him or to avoid any responsibility for HIm. On the night in which He was betrayed, we are told his disciples all forsook Him and fled. Surely He was alone in the shameful agonies of Golgotha… almost. We are told that one malefactor lifted up his voice in recognition of the One beside him as Lord. His sojourn here on earth was marked by rejection, betrayal, and abandonment. Even during too much of our own lives, we confess we too despised and rejected Him. But He ever longed for us and sought us out. And each Lord’s Day, we gather to extol Him as our King, to bless His name, and to appreciate His promise that our worship of Him will never end.
Today, the worship of our Lord may be in small companies, but those small companies circle the globe. Many thousands today do Him reverence and honour. No longer is He appreciated by only a few individuals.
In David’s great Psalm of praise, he speaks of blessing the Lord every day and of praising His name for ever and ever. We can say today that we share this glorious privilege with David. We gather on the Lord’s day to appreciate as a company of believers what we appreciate as individuals every day of the week. Our worship of Him today, our lifting of His great Name in praise, is a daily outflowing of our thankfulness to Him.
Bread and the cup are temporary. For two thousand years they have been temporary reminders to us of the great eternal gathering of the blood-washed saints, to extol the Lord as He alone deserves, and to bless His name for ever and ever. -Jim MacIntosh