Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
Parallel Translations
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Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
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Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
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Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding joy; and praise Thee upon the harp, O God, my God.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Psalms 43:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
- Habakkuk 3:17-18 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
- Psalms 66:13-15 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you, which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats.
- Psalms 57:8 Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp! I will wake up the dawn.
- Psalms 71:22-23 I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel. My lips shall shout for joy! My soul, which you have redeemed, sings praises to you!
- Psalms 116:12-19 What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name. I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people. Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints. Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your servant girl. You have freed me from my chains. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on Yahweh’s name. I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people, in the courts of Yahweh’s house, in the middle of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yah!
- Psalms 33:2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
- Psalms 42:6 My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
- Psalms 81:2 Raise a song, and bring here the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp.
- 2 Samuel 6:5 David and all the house of Israel played before Yahweh with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals.
- Psalms 26:6 I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,
- Romans 5:11 Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
- Revelation 5:8 Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. And I will go to the altar of…
4. And I will go to the altar of God. Here he promises to God a solemn sacrifice, in commemoration of the deliverance which he should obtain from him; for he speaks not only of the daily or ordinary service, but in making mention of the altar on which it was customary to offer the peace-offerings, he expresses the token of gratitude and thanksgiving of which I have spoken. For this reason, also, he calls God the God of his joy, because, being delivered from sorrow, and restored to a state of joy, he resolves to acknowledge openly so great a benefit. And he calls him the joy of his rejoicing, that he may the more illustriously set forth the grace of his deliverance. The second word in the genitive is added by way of an epithet, and by it he signifies that his heart had been filled with joy of no common kind, when God restored him, contrary to the expectation of all. As to the fifth verse, I have already treated of it sufficiently in the preceding psalm, and therefore deem it superfluous to speak of it here.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He promiseth to offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving…
He promiseth to offer a solemn sacrifice of thanksgiving in token of his great deliverance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 43:4 Then will I go unto the altar…
Psa 43:4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
Ver. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God] Not without store of sacrifices. God’s service is now nothing so costly; and should, therefore, be more cheerfully performed. Heathens had their altars, &c., all save the Persians.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Then will I go unto the altar of God,…
Then will I go unto the altar of God, to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving for my deliverance.
My exceeding joy; the principal author and matter of all my joy and comfort.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then will I go unto the altar of God,....…
Then will I go unto the altar of God,.... Which was in the tabernacle, either of burnt offerings, or of incense, there to offer up the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for mercies received. The altar under the Gospel dispensation is Christ, on which such sacrifices being offered, are acceptable to God, Heb 13:10;
unto God my exceeding joy; as over the mercy seat, upon a throne of grace, and as his covenant God; or this is exegetical of the altar, which is Christ, God over all, blessed for ever; and who is the object of the unspeakable joy of his people, in his person, righteousness, and salvation;
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yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God: the harp is a musical instrument, used in that part of public worship which concerned the praise of God under the former dispensation, and was typical of that spiritual melody made in the hearts of God's people when they sing his praise, see Rev 5:8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Then will I go unto the altar]…
Verse 4. Then will I go unto the altar] When thy light - a favourable turn on our affairs, leads us to the land of our fathers, and thy truth - the fulfillment of thy gracious promises, has placed us again at the door of thy tabernacles, then will we go to thy altar, and joyfully offer those sacrifices and offerings which thy law requires, and rejoice in thee with exceeding great joy.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Then will I go unto the altar of God…
Then will I go unto the altar of God - The altar on Mount Zion, where sacrifices were offered: 2Sa 6:17. The meaning is, that he would again unite with others in the public and customary worship of God. Compare the notes at Psa 42:4.
Unto God - Into the immediate presence of God; the place where he was worshipped.
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My exceeding joy - Margin, the gladness of my joy. The Septuagint renders this, “who makes my youth joyous:” or, “the joy of my youth,” (Thompson) The Hebrew is, the gladness of my joy; meaning, that God was the source of his joy, so that he found all his happiness in Him.
Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee - Compare the notes at Psa 33:2-3. Instruments of music were commonly used in the worship of God, and David is represented as excelling in the music of the harp. Compare 1Sa 16:16-23.
O God, my God - It was not merely God as such that he desired to worship, or to whom he now appealed, but God as his God, the God to whom he had devoted himself, and whom he regarded as his God even in affliction and trouble. Compare the notes at Psa 22:1.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain the altar--as the chief place of worship. The mention…
the altar--as the chief place of worship. The mention of the harp suggests the prominence of praise in his offering.
Next: Psalms Chapter 44
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Then will I go unto the altar— “Then,”…
4. Then will I go unto the altar— “Then,” is emphatic. When God’s “light and truth,” which he shall “send forth” with authority, shall have executed the divine plan of judgment and mercy, “then” he would go “unto the altar of God,” his “exceeding joy.” And then shall the righteous rejoice and lift up their heads. Here is the hope of the Church. The last verse closes with the same sad yet hopeful refrain as Psa_42:5; Psa_42:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Then will I go] Or, That I may…
4. Then will I go] Or, That I may come (Psa_42:2).
unto God my exceeding joy] Even unto the God of my gladsome rejoicing. God Himself is the goal of pilgrimage: the altar is but the means of approaching Him and realising His presence.
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Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee) And give thanks unto thee upon the harp, as of old (Psa_42:4).
O God my God] A phrase found only in the Elohistic Psalms, and clearly the equivalent of Jehovah my God, due, not to the original Psalmist, but to the Elohistic editor. See Introd. p. lvi.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) God my God.—An expression used in this collection…
(4) God my God.—An expression used in this collection instead of the more usual “Jehovah my God.” (Comp. Psa_45:7, and for its import see General Introduction, and Psa_50:7, Note.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then will I go unto the altar Of God.…
Then will I go unto the altar Of God. As the special place where thanksgiving ought to be made, and sacrifice offered. (see 2Sa_6:17 1Ch_16:1) Unto God my exceeding Joy; literally, unto God the gladness of my Exultation. yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. The psalmist has before him some such scene as that depicted in 2Sa 6 and 1Ch_15:25-29, where, amid shouts and singing and dancing, and "with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, with psalteries and harps," a joyful procession approached the tabernacle, David himself taking part in it.
"God my exceeding Joy.
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As the Bible teems with thoughts which never would have entered men"s minds without Divine teaching, so also of feelings, which, had they not been real, men would never have aspired or pretended to. Among these is that "exceeding joy" in God which the text expresses (see margin). If it be true that "the fleshly heart is enmity against God," then this joy must be supernatural. But not unnatural. Only because man is fallen can it ever be natural to him to forget God, to be careless about his Maker. This joy is the returning of the heart to its original key-note.
I THE REASONABLENESS OF THIS JOY. On account:
1. Of all that God is in him-self his glorious perfection.
2. Of all that he is to us to mankind; to his people; to each believer personally. "O God, my God!" We can say this, as Christians, with fuller knowledge, more glorious warrant. "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II HINDRANCES TO THIS JOY.
1. Poor, unworthy thoughts of God.
2. Forgetfulness, equivalent to temporary unbelief.
3. A murmuring, unthankful, discontented spirit, underrating our mercies and overrating or rebelling against our trials.
4. Sin.
III SHALL WE SAY THE RARITY OF THIS JOY? Let each one judge. At all events, its unspeakable desirableness. Both for the happiness and the usefulness of it; a powerful motive to holiness; a witness to others for God. (Psa_34:8 Psa_66:16)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 4. Then will I go unto the altar…
Ver. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God. If David might but be favoured with such a deliverance as would permit his return, it would not be his own house or heritage which would be his first resort, but to the altar of God his willing feet should conduct him. His whole heart would go as sacrifice to the altar, he himself counting it his greatest happiness to be permitted to lie as a burnt offering wholly dedicated to the Lord. With what exultation should believers draw near unto Christ, who is the antitype of the altar! clearer light should give greater intensity of desire. Unto God my exceeding joy. It was not the altar as such that the psalmist cared for, he was no believer in the heathenism of ritualism: his soul desired spiritual fellowship, fellowship with God himself in very deed. What are all the rites of worship unless the Lord be in them; what, indeed, but empty shells and dry husks? Note the holy rapture with which David regards his Lord! He is not his joy alone, but his exceeding joy; not the fountain of joy, the giver of joy, or the maintainer of joy, but that joy itself. The margin hath it, "The gladness of my joy, "i.e., the soul, the essence, the very bowels of my joy. To draw near to God, who is such a joy to us, may well be the object of our hungering and thirsting. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee. His best music for his best love. When God fills us with joy we ought ever to pour it out at his feet in praise, and all the skill and talent we have should be laid under contribution to increase the divine revenue of glory. O God, my God. How he dwells upon the name which he loves so well! He already harps on it as though his harp music had begun. What sweeter sounds can music know than these four words? To have God in possession, and to know it by faith, is the heart's heavena fulness of bliss lies therein.
Ver. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God. Let us remember that the approach to God in the holy place is by means of the altar, whence eternally ascendeth the fragrance and the preciousness of the one whole, perfect burnt offering, and where for ever and ever the divine holiness resteth and feedeth with its pure fire with infinite satisfaction, with inconceivable delight. Oh, what a holy, a divine, a wondrous place is this altar of God! That altar now means all the value and everlasting efficacy of the one offering of Christ unto God for us; and it is in the full power and blessedness thereof that we draw nigh to God. To this point, to this unspeakably blessed position, the light and the truth of God will attract the child of God. Toward this altar all the rays of the light of divine favour and grace, and of divine truth and holiness, have from eternity converged; and from this point they shine forth toward and upon the soul and heart of the poor, far off penitent, attracting him to that altar where he may meet his God. Let us then come to the altar of God; let us enter the cloud of holy incense that filleth the tabernacle of the Most High; let us realise how perfectly God is satisfied with that which Christ has done, with his obedience in dying to meet the claims of divine justice on the sinner, and to complete the perfect surrender of himself as our exceeding joy, even the gladness of our joy, the heart, essence, substance, and reality of our joy. John Offord, 1868.
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Ver. 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God. He would with cheerfulness run and offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving to his gracious deliverer; he would take his own soul as the burnt offering, and kindle and burn it up with the fire of a vigorous love and raised affections terminating upon God, the flames whereof should ascend to him alone...Unto God my exceeding joy, or, as the Hebrew is more exactly translated, unto God the gladness of his joy that which gave a relish to every other comfort, which was the soul and life of his pleasures, and could only make them real and lasting; it was God who raised his joy to fulness of satisfaction and contentment. William Dunlop.
Ver. 4. Then will I go...unto God. The expression of going to God implies SUBMISSION and FRIENDSHIP
1. Submission. I will go and pay my homage to him, as my Sovereign; I will go and hear what he says; I will go and receive his orders.
2. Friendship. I will go and consult him, and converse with him as a friend; and be thankful that, in such a troublesome and ensnaring world, I have such a friend to advise with.
1. I will go and tell him my griefs; how greatly I am distressed with some particular disorder in my body, or with some disturbance in my family, or with some disappointment in my worldly circumstances, or (which is worse than all of them together) with a sad darkness in my soul. 2. I will go and tell him my joys, for even in this vale of tears "my heart is" sometimes "glad, and my glory rejoiceth." 3. I will go and tell him of my sins. He knows them, indeed, already, but he shall hear them from me. 4. I will go and tell him my fears; how greatly I am distressed at times, when I perceive this or the other corruption so strong, which I thought had received its death wound... how I tremble when I have by my folly provoked the Lord to leave me, for fear he will never return again, etc. 5. I will go and tell him my hopes, for some hope I have amidst all my discouragements...I will go and tell him all this; I will unbosom and unburden my whole heart to him; and if my necessities did not drive me to him, I should go to him from inclination. Condensed from Samuel Lavington.
Ver. 4. Unto God. Believers are not satisfied in the use of religious duties, unless they arrive at God himself in those duties. We speak not here of that arrival at God himself which is by and after all duties, to a beatific vision of God in glory, but we speak of that arrival at God himself which is to be had in duties, while we are in the exercise of duties; namely, to attain to God's special presence in them, in an actual communion, communication and conversing with God, so that we are spiritually sensible he is with us therein. I say God's special presence and actual communion, to distinguish it from that ordinary habitual presence and communion of God's being with a believer at all times. Joh 14:16. Nathanael Homes.
Ver. 4. My exceeding joy. The psalmist might well call God his exceeding joy, for it infinitely exceeds all other joy in its nature, degree, and duration. Samuel Lavington.
Ver. 4. My exceeding joy. As faith acquires more strength, we come to think of God and address him in more endearing terms. J. P. Lange.
Ver. 4. Exceeding joy. This can be said of no other joy. All other beauties have their boundaries, all other glories have their glooms. This is that illimitable sea, God. E. Paxton Hood.
Ver. 4.
1. The good man's dutyexpressed by going to God.
2. His blessedness expressed by rejoicing in God. Samuel Lavington.
Ver. 4. (first clause). When? Then. Where? Altar of God. Who? I. Why? My exceeding joy.
Ver. 4. (second clause). It is God alone who can be an exceeding joy to his creatures. W. Dunlop's Sermons.
Ver. 4. The joy of joy. The soul of soul joy.
Ver. 4. The great object of public worship, its bliss, and the praise resulting from attaining it.
Ver. 4.
1. The medium of joy, the altar of God, or God in Christ Jesus.
2. The springs of joy, or the attributes of God mercy, justice, power, holiness, as seen in the atonement.
3. The value of joy, as comfort, strength, etc.
Ver. 4. God my exceeding joy. A most rich and precious title.
Ver. 4. (last clause). Possession, praise, resolution.
Psalms 43:5*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then will I go unto the altar of God,…
Psa_43:4
Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.
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The altar of joy
This is the expression of a twofold desire, a desire for communion with God, and for communion with God through public worship. There is a great wail of sorrow in the psalm, but it is not a sorrow without hope; faith struggles with despondence, and gets the victory. The authorship of the psalm we cannot be certain of. Nor of the occasion, whether some event in Davids reign, or in Ahazs, or in the captivity, or yet some other. Augustine held that the psalm is the proper expression of the Church while she is an exile in this world. They are unquestionably words for all individual souls who feel that something intervenes between them and God--whether it be exile of the body or of the heart only. Often we are separated from the house of God, from the worship that we love, and which has been so precious because so helpful to us, and we yearn for restoration to our privileges. Or it may be the yearning of the heart for spiritual joy, for delight in worship, for the kindling inspiration, the answering voice, the holy rapture which once we knew but now do not, though all the outward service is still ours. Or it may be the longing of the holy soul for Gods heaven, that presence of God in which there is fulness of joy and of which sometimes in our holiest hours we have visions and foretastes. Thus in different experiences and moods we make these precious words our own. But to the psalmist they told--
I. Of his strong desire for restoration to the public worship of God. It is of the very essence of the religious heart that it should yearn for God. Let a mans religious life be full and fervent, and the use of what are termed the means of grace may be safely left to the instincts of his own soul. But does not every pious heart sympathize with Davids delight in the house of the Lord? Who of us has not realized there a fuller and more fervent feeling of His presence than anywhere else? Who of us neglects or disparages Gods house without coldness and dulness creeping over our whole devotional life? Its services are the festivals of our piety, it is the place where His honour dwelleth. But the psalmist speaks of worship before Gods altar. Why the altar rather than the mercy-seat? It is not enough to say that he spake the language of his dispensation, which was one in which sacrifice was prominent. Why was it so? There is but one satisfactory answer--that it was an institution prophetical and preparatory to the great sacrifice of Christ. By no satisfactory process, at least to minds like my own, can it be explained away or reduced to a mere symbol of self-sacrifice. The facts and instincts of our moral consciousness all agree to the doctrine of sacrifice as it is set forth in the Bible.
II. The psalmists superlative joy in such worship. Why have we not more joy? It is absent almost everywhere. In all churches and services, in hymns and prayers. It is because we fail of the personal character essential to it, and because we think hard and false thoughts of God. (H. Allen, D. D.)
The altar of God
The devotional spirit is the life of religion; and there never was a man of piety who was not a man of prayer. The text opens to us two important views.
I. The peculiar nature of that worship which God has authorized. It is going to the altar of God. We ought all to be aware that there is a peculiarity in the worship which God authorizes. There is--
1. The recognition of our sin. When man was innocent he needed no atonement. There was no altar in Paradise. But now we need one.
2. Our first liability to punishment is acknowledged.
3. And that God is propitious through the atonement He has appointed. A mere sacrifice is not sufficient, for it might have been a human invention merely. But this God has appointed. Atonement is for the penitent (cf. 2Ch_6:29-31).
II. The emphatic description which is given of the joy of it.
God, my exceeding joy. This joy arises from--
1. Our being placed in the presence of a Being of infinite glory and perfection. It supposes reconciliation with God.
2. Because this worship enables us to appropriate this display of glory to ourselves. David speaks of My God.
3. It is the joy of confidence.
4. And in going to the altar of God we have the renewed assurances of His favour.
5. And there is the joy of life. (R. Watson.)
The believer going to God as his exceeding joy
Especially does he thus come to God in the holy ordinance of the Lords Supper, which was called by the ancients the Eucharist or Sacrifice of Praise. Now--
I. In this ordinance there are to the sincere Christian many sources of joy.
1. The fullest assurance and the clearest evidence of the forgiveness of sins.
2. The strongest and most illustrious proof of Divine love.
3. The fullest assurance of receiving from God all that is necessary for comfort and happiness while in this world, and that both for spiritual and temporal life.
4. A pledge and earnest of heaven.
II. Practical improvement of this subject. See--
1. How great is Gods goodness in providing for us now so rich entertainment.
2. What joy and consolation there are here be the fearful and doubting Christian.
3. And, indeed, to all without exception, because here we see that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. (J. Witherspoon.)
God, my exceeding joy
I. Cheerfulness is health and duty (Pro_17:22; Neh_8:10; Isa_64:5). It is our duty as Christians to rise to
What nothing earthly gives, nor can destroy
The souls calm sunshine and her heartfelt joy.
II. God alone is exceeding joy. He alone lasts, He only overflows. And all this but natural to Him who is the Lord of the universe. And this exceeding joy is undisturbed by any fear of coming to an end. The bridal pair are very happy, but the thought often comes, One of us must survive the other; which, alas? But the joy of God cannot be disturbed by any calamity. And how elevated it is. For none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.
III. There is a great difference between thinking about God and enjoying him. It is one thing to apprehend God, and another to appropriate Him. The God of experience is the God we need. (E. Paxton Hood.)
The good mans duty and blessedness
And then I shall be happy: heaven only can make me happier. Oh, if I can but get near to God and procure a smile from Him, all the world will be as nothing to me. A happy frame of mind this, to meet trouble in. Consider--
I. The good mans duty--going to God. This implies--
1. Submission as to his Sovereign.
2. Friendship so as to commune with God as to his troubles, joys, sins, fears, hopes, needs.
II. The good mans blessedness--exceeding joy in God. It exceeds all other joy.
1. In its nature. It is not earthly but spiritual and divine.
2. As to its degree. Creature joy is but little--a drop--at most, but in Gods presence is fulness of joy.
3. As to duration. It is as the house on the rock compared with that on the sand. Let us ask, What is our joy?
III. Improvement.
1. How wrong not to go to God. We are either still children of wrath, or if not there has been some sad declension from God.
2. How great our obligation to Christ.
3. Let us long for heaven. (Samuel Lavington.)
Communion with God, the Christians aim in attending Divine ordinances
I. In what manner we should attend upon Gods ordinances; in imitation of Davids example.
1. He resolved to deal with God only by the intervention of an atonement.
2. He intended not to continue an idle spectator, nor to consider himself as such, during his attendance in Gods tabernacles. Here is the market-place, where all that is truly valuable is exposed to sale by Gods authority, and may be bought without money and without price.
3. He resolved to bring somewhat with him into Gods tabernacles which he might offer upon His altar. And every Gospel worshipper, when he comes into Gods courts, ought to bring an offering with him. If you are duly affected with what He has done for you, nothing less will satisfy you than to offer yourself, and all your services, and all your talents, and all your possessions as a sacrifice of thanksgiving upon the Gospel altar.
4. tie would present his gift upon the altar, and expect the acceptance of it only in that way. When you present your supplications to God, remember that you can receive no gracious answer, whatever it is that you pray for, unless through Christ. And when you make an offering of yourself and your services to God, consider always that it is only for the sake of Christ and His atoning sacrifice that any of your offerings can be accepted.
II. What it is to go to God himself at his altar or in his ordinances.
1. A cheerful and ready forsaking of all sin. Our degree of intimacy with God in ordinances will always bear a proportion to our diligence and success in cleansing ourselves from sin.
2. A turning of our back upon the world and leaving it behind us. We must go to heaven, not by any local motion, but by an elevation of our hearts, affections and desires above the vanities of a present world; and setting them upon the things that are above, where Christ is at the right hand of God.
3. A believing acceptance of God Himself as the persons everlasting and all-satisfying portion upon the footing of His own gracious grant and promise. In that wonderful declaration, I am the Lord thy God, so often repeated, God makes over Himself to us; as a portion, in the enjoyment of which we may be supremely blessed, even through an endless eternity.
4. An offering up to God all our desires in a way of fervent supplication.
5. A diligent searching after God, and after communion with Him in His ordinances.
6. An attendance upon God in ordinances with a view of being so much nearer to the full enjoyment of Him in the holy of holies above.
III. In what respect it is, on what grounds, that God may de called his peoples exceeding joy.
1. Why is God called His peoples joy?
(1) God is the author and the efficient cause of all the believers joy. It is one of the fruits of His Spirit dwelling in His people.
(2) God is the object of the believers joy.
2. Why the believers joy in God has the epithet exceeding.
(1) It exceeds all the joy that arises from the possession of any other, or of all other objects. All other objects are but the works of His hands. Therefore, that joy of which He is the object exceeds all that arises from other things, as far as the Creator is superior to the creature.
(2) It exceeds all the grief, heaviness and sorrow incident to the child of God through the manifold trials and miseries of all this life.
IV. Inferences.
1. All attendance upon Divine ordinances must be fruitless and unprofitable when persons are not concerned to come to Christ in ordinances.
2. No person comes really and acceptably to Christ who comes not, at the same time, unto God through Him.
3. In vain will any person attempt to come unto God, any otherwise than through Jesus Christ.
4. In this text we may see who among us shall be acceptable worshippers in Gods tabernacles; and particularly who will be welcome guests at His holy table to-day.
God our exceeding joy
God is the exceeding joy of the godly man.
1. As the immutable source of his supreme satisfaction. Let a man possess the favour of Him in whose presence there is fulness of joy, and he needs no more. Our lesser sources of satisfaction may be destroyed, but our greatest can neither perish nor change by the influence of evil.
2. As a perpetual supply of good which he may always appropriate. As the objects which constitute the materials of earthly happiness are all external, consequently they, as well as the happiness they create, are alike subject to change and decay. But they who rejoice in God have that redundant spring whose waters fail not. External sources of comfort may be dried up, like the prophets book, but the inward solacements of piety remain.
3. As the wise controller of all worldly events. It is on this ground that the believer can maintain his serenity of mind amidst outward causes of perturbation. Amidst all his trials he is well assured that God has attached an ultimate design of mercy to every sorrow. He can generally perceive that design, even if he cannot understand its full extent of good. In some cases it comes to prove and exhibit the excellency of his principles, the beauty of confiding faith, and the power of quiet meekness. In other instances it is to correct the evils of his heart, wean him from earth, and stimulate him to seek all his joys at Gods right hand.
4. As that Being who will eventually recompense the trials and sorrows of His people with eternal joy. Here the Christian is but a pilgrim through the wilderness preceding that promised good land, of which he gets but few and scanty gleams. Here, he has the flower of hope; there, God will give him the fruit of perfect joy. The largest desires of the soul shall hereafter be amply satisfied. The spirit, freed from all the sorrows, sins, and imperfections of this world, shall find perfect purity its element, and shall reflect the happiness of God for ever, as jewels the rays of sparkling light. (James Foster.)
God--the saints exceeding joy.
It is observable that, in the courts of kings, children and common people are much taken with pictures and rich shows, and feed their fancies with the sight of rich hangings and fine things; but the grave statesman passeth by such things as not worthy taking notice of--his business is with the king. Thus it is that in this world most men stay in the outer rooms and admire the low things of the world, and look upon them as pieces of much excellence; but the spiritually minded man looketh over all these things that are here below--his business is with God. (J. Spencer.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.