I Will Serve Him with Gladness
By: Shelby Carter, Tampa, Florida
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into His presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, He is God!
It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100 is one of many Psalms that deals with our need and desire to praise the Lord. In Psalm 8, 33, and 66, as well as many others, we are told that the world is a show of God's steadfast love for us. We are a mark of His patience and love for His people, and because of that, He is deserving of our praise - an endless praise, done with gladness in our hearts. While seeming to be a simple five verses, Psalm 100 is filled with the dichotomy of the old law and the coming Kingdom.
The presence of the Lord was not a new thing to the Israelites. He had been with them in the pillar of clouds and fire in the wilderness and on the mountain with Moses. But there was always a need for an intercessor. Someone to go to God for the sake of the people. We see this idea clearly in the laws that dictated the creation and operation of the tabernacle - later the temple. In his commentary on Psalms 73-150, Derek Kidner says, regarding Psalm 100 verse 4, “ The simplicity of this invitation may conceal the wonder of it… not only his outer courts but the holy of holies is thrown open and all are welcome.” To understand the significance of this invitation we must understand what the holy of holies, or most holy place, was.
After the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, the Lord came to Moses to give him the laws and customs they were to observe in order to follow Him. These were a covenant between God and his people and were represented by the Ark. The Ark was a small box made of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and topped with a mercy seat. This mercy seat was where God told His people He would come to meet them and speak with them regarding His commands (Exodus 25:17-22). The Lord went on to tell Moses of the plans for the tabernacle which would serve as a dwelling place for the Lord among His people. Though they were able to see the pillar of fire and the pillar of clouds, only the high priest was able to enter the most holy place within the tabernacle, which held the Ark of the Covenant, and God’s true presence on His mercy seat.
Once a year, the high priest would come with two goats and a young bull to sacrifice for the sins of the whole Israelite nation. Leviticus 16 tells us the high priest would have to follow strict purification laws, cleansing himself and offering sacrifices before he was able to enter the Holy of Holies. After the cleansing and the sacrifice of the bull and goats were made, he was to burn incense in order to fill the most holy place with smoke, shielding himself from the whole presence of the Lord. If this was not done, Moses was told that the high priest would die. Once a year, the high priest was carefully able to act as an intercessor for the Israelites and be in the company of the Lord to sacrifice on their behalf. This was not a permanent transformation like we experience through baptism, but a temporary purification of their unclean hearts. The people were dependent on the high priest to go to God on their behalf for centuries, never having their own audience with their Lord. As Hebrews 10:1 tells us, “the law was but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”
The Israelites could have done everything commanded to them, year after year, and never been made perfect in the old law. In the final breath of Jesus’s life, the earth shook, and the veil that guarded the Holy of Holies was torn open, indicating the new salvation that had come.
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way that He has opened for us through the curtain, that is through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith.”
Hebrews 10:19-22 is the fulfillment of the 100th Psalm. We have been invited into his courts, through the blood of Jesus Christ who is now our intercessor in heaven, we are able to enter ourselves into the Holy of Holies. And we are to draw near to the Lord because we are sure of His steadfast love and faithfulness towards us. There is no better reason to shout our praises to Him. The words used in Psalm 100, to make a joyful noise, also mean jubilation, or fan-fare (Kidner 389). This seems like such a natural reaction to the merciful, and undeserved gift of eternal salvation through baptism we have been given, yet we grumble and make excuses at our opportunities to come to Him, to sing His praises, and to serve Him. These are not hard tasks when we compare them to the rigorous process the Israelites had to follow in order to sacrifice to the Lord, yet at times we act like too much is being asked of us. We treat our ability to have an audience with God flippantly, as if we are the ones worthy of God's time.
Psalm 100 is a great reminder that it is us who need to seek God. Our relationship needs the foundation of truly knowing God and recognizing that we are His. Isaiah 43:7 says we were “created for His glory.” Satan is a master at telling us this world owes us something and that we deserve more, but the reality is we were created to praise the Lord.
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, He entered once and for all into the holy place not by the means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12).
What a blessing we have been given, a gift deserving of thanks, a Savior worthy of praise. I must remember to come to Him with jubilation, feeling the “joy of liberation” as Kidner puts it. The Lord indeed is good, and I will serve Him with gladness.