Psalm 148 is like a musical Google Earth. With Google Earth, a satellite camera shows you the whole planet from space, and can be gradually focused on smaller and smaller parts of the earth. The camera moves from continent to country to state, to the city, the suburb, the street, the house, the person, even the person’s foot. The psalmist attempts a similar scan in Psalm 148, except that he starts on an even broader canvas.

Back in 1989, astronomers discovered the “great wall” of galaxies. This wall is half a billion light-years long. This size is breathtaking. Why would God bother with so many stars and galaxies? Because the greatness of their size and majesty brings praise to God (v. 3).

The psalm invites all the angelic hosts to spend their days in praise of their Maker (v. 2). When the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the awesome glory of God, he heard the praises of the seraphim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:3). Many of our hymns speak of the praises of the angels, like the Christmas carol, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”.

The psalmist now invites all the mountains and hills, trees, rain, hail, snow and clouds, birds, and animals, to join the chorus of the heavens and the angels. Just imagine if you could put together all the sounds of the heavens and the earth. It would be an amazing symphony of praise. The God who made all this doesn’t need a band or an orchestra or even a choir or a human song. He has a universe singing to Him every day!

Finally, the psalm takes us to the pinnacle and climax of God’s creation—men and women. From the greatest and most powerful to old men and infants, all should praise His name. But there is a particular group of people who, above all others, praise God: they are His faithful servants, “the people close to his heart” (Psalm 148:14). This is such a delightful expression. Who are the people close to your heart? They are the ones who hold the most special place in your affections. That’s how God feels about His people, who are, in the light of the New Testament, those who love His Son Jesus.

The psalm concludes by reminding us why God is worthy of praise. Chiefly, it’s because “he has raised up for his people a horn” (v. 14). The horn is a symbol of strength. Before the birth of Jesus, Zechariah the priest praised God who had redeemed His people by raising up “a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David” (Luke 1:69). This horn was the Lord Jesus who showed His immense might in His saving death and resurrection.

All creation worships God, but among the loudest voices in this cosmic choir are all those who rejoice always because in Jesus, God has taken their sins away and made them His precious sons and daughters.