“In the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”

What runs in your family?  Blonde hair?  Intelligence?  Height?  Big noses?  I remember seeing somewhere that there is a classification of nose types.  Imagine that!  Some people must have too much time on their hands!  There is good reason to raise this question, because something runs in God’s family.  Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.”  Obviously the common denominator in both is holiness, because our holiness comes from our Father, just like you got your characteristics, or at least some of them, from your parents. The verse goes on: “So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”  That is a very tight designation.  If you don’t have an earthly brother (I have one), you do have a heavenly Brother, which is a tighter designation than the earthly.

For proof of this family unity, the writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 22:22: “I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises” (v. 12).  This brings us to our focus: singer.  Out of context the second half of this verse would appear to be speaking of a Christian.  But no, this is speaking of Christ himself!  Yes, Christ will sing the praises of his Father — our Father, the One who made us holy — in heaven.

As I thought about Jesus in my earlier years as a Christian, it seemed that he was most notably the object and purpose and leader of my life.  And he was and is.  My thinking was that he is high and lifted up (true), he is ruler of all (true), and he resides in heaven in a glorified body (all true).  He was like a deity that was very unlike me, almost sterile of feelings and emotions and behavior.  He was, after all, divine.  But as I have grown older, read more and learned more, I have come to a greater appreciation for the image of God, from which we derive our personhood and everything that goes with it.  Naturally, it is not Jesus who changed, but me.

When do you like to sing (if you like to)?  At church?  In the shower?  After reading your Bible?  At Christmas time?  What moves you to sing?  What goes on inside you when you sing?  What happens to you when you sing?  Things do happen — to us, around us, inside us, etc. — when we sing.  This is part of what it means to be human, to be made in the image of God.  Singing is inherently an action of personality.  Now think of Jesus singing.  Does that sound a bit strange or seem a bit different than the common image we see today of Jesus?  How about in your own mind?

The quoted portion in Hebrews comes from Psalm 22, which prophetically describes the crucifixion in the first twenty-one verses.  Then the tenor shifts dramatically in verse 22, and it describes Jesus praising his Father in the midst of the congregation.  What congregation?  The one in heaven, all of us who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.  What moves him to sing?  Our presence, the unity of all his “brothers” being in that place at that “time.”  In other words, the very thing Jesus died to reclaim has now been fully reclaimed.  Every believer who ever would believe on earth is now at peace and in God’s presence.  And looking at the innumerable crowd that stretches to the horizon (if there is one), knowing each heart, and looking at his/our Father, he breaks out in what will have to be the song of all eternity, simply because we are there.  What’s more, the Hebrew word here is hâlal, from which we get our word “hallelujah.”  It means to praise with emphasis, passion and volume, even with music.  This is no contrived or simple song, not a ritual or a monotoned moment.  This is dramatic and loud, emotional and moving.

Zephaniah 3:17 likewise confirms this.  After removing the wicked from the earth and setting up his kingdom, he tells the daughters of Zion to “be glad and rejoice with all your heart” (v. 14), because “the Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy” (v. 15).  Then the focus shifts to the Lord, of whom it says, “He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”  The Hebrew indicates this as a victory shout, a passionate song.  What does it sound like to hear the Lord of the universe sing?  What does it signify that he sings over us?

The image we draw from this ought to consistently draw us into worship in wonder.  Does it?