The Public Relations Department of the Kingdom Text: Psalm 145:10-13
Introduction: Creation's Rumor, The Saints' Report
We live in a world that is groaning. The secularist, the materialist, looks at the cosmos and sees only a blind, pitiless indifference. He hears the groaning and calls it entropy, the slow, cold march toward heat death. But the Christian knows what this groaning is. It is the groaning of a pregnant creation, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. It is the groaning of a world that knows, deep in its bones, that it was made for something more. It was made for glory, and it is waiting for a king.
Every part of creation, from the quasars to the quarks, from the mountains to the microbes, is a testament to the glory of God. They are all, in their own way, giving thanks. The sun gives thanks by shining, the rivers by running, the trees by growing. This is an objective, built-in, structural thanksgiving. But this praise is mute. It is a glorious rumor, a magnificent hint. Creation can tell you that there is a glorious King, but it cannot tell you His name. It can show you His power, but it cannot tell you of His grace. For that, a different kind of witness is required.
This is where the saints come in. God has established a public relations department for His kingdom, and we are it. Creation provides the objective reality of God's glory, and the saints provide the subjective, verbal, articulate confession of that glory. The world gives thanks, but the holy ones bless. Thanksgiving is what a thing does because of what it is. Blessing is what a person says because of who God is. The rocks cry out that God is mighty; the redeemed cry out that His name is Jesus.
In our passage today, David lays out this glorious interplay. He shows us the universal, objective praise of all God's works, and then he zeroes in on the specific, covenantal task assigned to God's people. Our job is to be the spokesmen for a world that is bursting with a glory it cannot articulate. We are here to put words to the music that creation is already playing. And the song we are to sing is the song of the kingdom.
The Text
All Your works, O Yahweh, shall give thanks to You, And Your holy ones shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your might; To make known to the sons of men His mighty deeds And the glory of the majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures from generation to every generation.
(Psalm 145:10-13)
Objective Praise and Covenantal Proclamation (v. 10)
We begin with the foundational distinction between two kinds of praise.
"All Your works, O Yahweh, shall give thanks to You, And Your holy ones shall bless You." (Psalm 145:10)
Notice the two groups and their two distinct actions. First, "All Your works...shall give thanks." This is comprehensive. It includes everything God has made. The stars in their courses, the leviathan in the deep, the granite cliffs, the circling electrons. Everything fulfills the function for which it was made, and in doing so, it gives thanks. A well-made engine gives thanks to its designer by running smoothly. A well-grown tomato gives thanks to the gardener by being delicious. This is the praise of function, of being what it was created to be. This praise is constant, universal, and undeniable. As Paul says in Romans 1, the invisible attributes of God are clearly perceived in the things that have been made. No one has an excuse.
But this objective praise is not enough. So David immediately adds the second part: "And Your holy ones shall bless You." The "holy ones" are the hasidim, the covenant people, the saints. We are the ones set apart by grace. And our task is different. We are not to simply give thanks through our function; we are to bless. To bless God is to speak well of Him. It is to praise Him with our mouths, to declare His worth, to attach coherent, propositional truth to the raw glory that creation displays. A mountain range is majestic, but it cannot preach the sermon on the mount. A thunderstorm is powerful, but it cannot explain the power of the resurrection. We can. That is our job.
Creation shows God's glory, but the saints tell of it. We are the translators. We look at the glory of a sunset and say, "The God who painted that masterpiece is the same God who forgave my sins through the blood of His Son." We see the order of the seasons and say, "The God who governs the cosmos is the same God who is bringing all of history to its appointed consummation in Christ." The world gives thanks; the church blesses. The world provides the evidence; we provide the verdict.
The Royal Curriculum (v. 11-12)
Having established who is to do the talking, David now tells us what we are to talk about. The curriculum is fixed. We are to be heralds of the king.
"They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your might; To make known to the sons of men His mighty deeds And the glory of the majesty of His kingdom." (Psalm 145:11-12)
The subject is the kingdom of God. This is not a peripheral theme; it is the central message. We are to "speak of the glory of Your kingdom." The kingdom of God is not some ethereal, wispy sentiment in our hearts. It is the concrete, historical, advancing reign of Jesus Christ over every square inch of the cosmos. Its glory is its comprehensive nature. Christ's lordship extends to politics, to education, to art, to agriculture, to everything. Our task is to declare this. We are to "talk of Your might." This is not the might of abstract power, but the might of "mighty deeds." We are to be historians of God's action in the world. We recount the exodus, the conquest, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the sending of the Spirit. These are not myths; they are historical facts, mighty acts that demonstrate His power over sin, death, and hell.
And what is the purpose of all this talking? "To make known to the sons of men His mighty deeds." Our speech is evangelistic. It is missionary. It is public. We are not to huddle in a corner and whisper about the kingdom to ourselves. We are to get a bullhorn and climb onto the public square and make it known to the "sons of men," to everyone. We are to publish the news that there is a King, Jesus, and that His kingdom is glorious, majestic, and powerful.
This is an optimistic, aggressive, postmillennial task. We are not announcing a kingdom that is in retreat. We are not selling fire insurance for a world destined to burn. We are announcing the invasion of a kingdom that is like leaven, working its way through the whole lump. We are making known the mighty deeds of a King who is currently in the process of putting all His enemies under His feet. Our proclamation is the primary instrument by which He does this. When we speak of His kingdom, we are extending it.
The Unshakable Certainty (v. 13)
This grand, ambitious project of proclaiming the kingdom would be the height of foolishness if the kingdom itself were flimsy or temporary. But David concludes this section by grounding our mission in the eternal nature of the kingdom we proclaim.
"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures from generation to every generation." (Psalm 145:13)
This is the bedrock of our confidence. We are not fighting for a losing cause. We are not trying to build a kingdom that will one day be replaced. We are citizens and heralds of a kingdom that is "everlasting." Every other kingdom, every empire, every nation, every political movement is a flash in the pan. The Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires are all in the dustbin of history. The Soviet Union is gone. The American experiment is creaking at the joints. But the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is an everlasting kingdom.
And its dominion "endures from generation to every generation." This is covenantal language. God's plan is not a series of disconnected spiritual revivals. It is a generational project. We are to make the kingdom known to our children, who will make it known to their children, and so on, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. This is the great commission in the Old Testament. It is the confidence that God's covenant faithfulness will not fail. His dominion is not shrinking; it endures, it persists, it grows from one generation to the next.
This is why we can labor with such joyful confidence. We are on the right side of history because our King is the Lord of history. The outcome is not in doubt. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Our task is simply to announce what is already an established fact in heaven and is becoming, day by day, an established fact on earth.
Conclusion: Your Talking Points
So what does this mean for us, here and now? It means we have a job to do. You have been drafted into the public relations department of the King of the universe. Your life is a press release.
First, you must recognize that all of creation around you is shouting the glory of God. Do you have ears to hear it? When you see the intricate design of a flower, do you simply see a flower, or do you hear it giving thanks to its Maker? Learn to listen to the objective praise of the world, and let it fuel your own articulate blessing.
Second, you must open your mouth. The saints bless. The saints speak. The saints talk. Your faith is not a private, personal matter. It is a public proclamation. You are to speak of the glory of Christ's kingdom and talk of His might. This means talking about how Jesus is Lord over your finances, your family, your work, and your politics. It means telling your children the mighty deeds of God in history and in your own life.
Finally, do this with unshakeable, long-term, generational confidence. Do not be discouraged by the morning headlines. The media is reporting on the death throes of a dying kingdom. You are a citizen of the everlasting one. Your task is to be faithful in your generation, to raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and to trust that His dominion endures. Plant trees whose shade you may not sit in. Build institutions that will outlast you. Proclaim a kingdom that will never, ever fail. For all God's works give thanks, but we, His saints, have the high honor of putting that praise into words, and blessing His holy name forever.