Revive Our Hearts

Dannah Gresh: Revive Our Hearts is brought to you in part by members of the Revive Partner team.

Eunice Colleen: Hi, this is Eunice Colleen from Maine. And I want to thank Revive Our Hearts for your faithfulness to standing on the truths of God's word and proclaiming, teaching us women as well as anyone who listens how to better follow the Lord, to learn and to continue to be faithful witnesses to others.

I have been listening to the daily podcast with Revive Our Hearts since the spring of 2020. I realized I needed more of God's word put into my mind just because of the events that we were dealing with here. And it's been a continued routine that God has used to help grow me and challenge me and to just continue to reaffirm the truths of God's word. So thank you, Revive Our Hearts. Blessings to you as you continue to shine for Jesus.

Dannah Gresh: Oh, thank you so much, Eunice. Now let's turn to today's edition of Revive Our Hearts. Here's Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Well, I've heard that there are three words that are recognized universally in almost every language: the word Amen, the word Hallelujah, and the word Coca-Cola.

Dannah Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of Seeking Him, for June 23rd, 2026. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Hallelujah. That word gets used a lot. Churchgoers sing it in songs, and sometimes we just say it when we're happy. Have you ever gotten news and reflexively shouted, "Hallelujah!"? I know I sure have. Well, recently this word has become part of a huge pop culture trend as well. Young people are posting it all over social media.

But I wonder, how many of us know the deep, weighty history of the word? What it really means? Well, good news. Nancy is going to take us there in our series for this week, "Hallelujah: A Praise Celebration".

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So let me ask if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, that you'll turn with me to Psalm 113. Psalm 113. And as you're turning there, let me give you a little bit of context and background for where this Psalm falls. I think Scripture always takes on additional meaning to us if we know where it falls, what the context is, and a little bit about the background.

Psalm 113 is the first in a short collection of six Psalms, Psalm 113 through 118, that are known as the Hallel Psalms. That's H-A-L-L-E-L, Hallel Psalms. Sometimes they're known as the Egyptian Hallel. And I'll tell you why in just a moment. Now the word "Hallel" means in Hebrew "praise". So these are praise Psalms, but a lot of the Psalms are praise Psalms. But these particular Psalms focus on praising God for His deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

The children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God sent His servant Moses to lead them out of slavery. The second Psalm in this group, if you just let your eye go down to Psalm 114, second of the Hallel Psalms, starts by talking about this. "When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language." So it actually refers specifically to the Exodus from Egypt. But this whole collection of Psalms, the Hallel Psalms, are an important part in the Jewish life of their annual celebration of the Passover.

Now when did the Passover begin? When was it inaugurated? At the Exodus, when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, right? And so these Psalms commemorate the deliverance of God's people from captivity, from Egypt. And they also point in a New Testament sense for those of us who are New Testament believers, they point to God's ultimate redemption of His people that will not just be those who were coming out of Egypt but will spread to God's people all around the world that He is delivering for Himself.

Now the first two Psalms in this collection, Psalm 113 and Psalm 114, are typically sung when the Jews celebrate Passover. They're sung before the Passover meal. The last four, Psalms 115 through 118, are typically sung after the Passover meal. So it's likely that when we read in Matthew 26 that they sang a hymn as they left, as Jesus and his disciples left the upper room where Jesus had just had the Last Supper, instituted the Lord's Supper, as they left that room, it says they sang a hymn.

And then they went out where? To Gethsemane, right? Where Jesus would be arrested and then taken to be crucified. So it's likely that these Psalms were the hymns that Jesus and his disciples sang there in the upper room before Jesus went to be crucified. And that makes them for us as New Testament believers very, very special as we think Jesus knew and sang these Psalms.

And we'll see as we go through this Psalm that this Psalm, as do the others, gives us an early Old Testament portrait of Christ and His redeeming work. Now these Psalms are songs of thanksgiving. And as the Jews would celebrate the Passover every year, many of them still do, they would remember and they would rejoice. They would look back and they would thank God for the slain Passover lamb. And they would thank God for redeeming and delivering His people from bondage.

Now today, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, as we often do in our churches, we also look back. We also remember. We also rejoice. What do we remember? What do we rejoice over? Well, it's the deliverance that we've experienced from sin through the shed blood of Christ, our Passover lamb. So as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, these are Psalms that are appropriate for us to have in mind as we remember and we rejoice.

Now in the Passover, the Jews also, they not only looked back, they also looked forward to the day when Messiah would come and would deliver His people from their spiritual bondage. And as we observe the Lord's Supper in our churches, we not only look back, but we also look forward. We anticipate the hope of our final, ultimate, complete redemption when Jesus comes back to take us to Himself.

So put these Psalms in the context of the Passover and the Lord's Supper. We look back, we remember, we rejoice, and we look forward with great anticipation to the consummation of God's eternal plan as we experience that final redemption. Now to Psalm 113. There are three stanzas, and each one has three verses. So it outlines pretty neatly, and we're going to take a day on each of these three stanzas plus this first day on the first phrase of this Psalm.

So let me read the Psalm. The first three verses are one stanza, then verses four through six, and then seven through nine form the third stanza. So let me just read the Psalm and then we'll start to unpack just the first phrase. Psalm 113:

Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised! The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord!

A short Psalm, but one that's packed with meaning. We're going to manage, I think, to get four days of programs out of that Psalm. So join me if you would in praying and asking the Lord to speak to us through His word.

And Lord, we honor You because this is the word of the Lord. This is our praise to You and about You, but You've also given this to us. It's inspired, it's holy, and I pray that You'd fill our hearts this day with fresh hunger, fresh thirst, fresh appetite to hear You, to know You, to see You, to respond to You, and to praise You with all that is within us for Your great redeeming works.

We love You, we bless You, we celebrate Christ our Passover lamb who has been slain for us but is also raised and ascended and seated at the right hand of God, who today makes intercession for us. And we come boldly to the throne of God and in the name and the shed blood of Jesus Christ to say, oh God, come, visit us, meet with us, speak to us, tune our hearts to sing Your praise and be magnified as we worship, as we listen, as we respond to Your word. We pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

First one: Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord! Now that might sound a little repetitive, and if you were writing this in an English class in high school, your teacher might say, "That's a little redundant. You need to be a little more concise." I never had a teacher tell me I was too concise in my writing. Usually they're saying you need to trim some words out, you're using too many words. But when the Scripture uses this number of repetitions, it's not an accident. God doesn't need an editor.

It's intentional. And in Hebrew poetry, we could talk about that another time, but it's just important to know that when you see repetition in the Scripture, particularly in the Hebrew poetry, it's significant. It's important. There's a purpose for it. It's intentional. And the emphasis in this first verse shines light on the concepts that God wants to make sure we get. And so we start with the first phrase: Praise the Lord!

Does anyone know what that phrase is in the original Hebrew language in which the Old Testament was written? Praise the Lord in Hebrew would be: Hallelujah! You knew it. You were a little afraid to say it because you thought you might be wrong. But if you can say the word Hallelujah, you can speak a little bit of Hebrew. Hallelujah, that's the word there. It's actually two Hebrew words that are put together. The first is a verb, "Hallel", H-A-L-L-E-L. That word means to praise, to praise.

And when you go to the root of that word, its meaning is really special. Here's what a couple of Bible dictionaries tell us about that root word. It means to be bright, to shine, to be splendid, to boast, to celebrate, to glorify. That word, the root word, has the idea of radiance, brightness, bright shining radiance. It could refer to a bright or a clear light that's visible from a specific source, such as the sun, the moon, the stars give off light. They are radiant. They're bright. They're brilliant. They're splendid.

And from this we get the Hebrew word Hallel, which means to praise, to make your boast in God, to shine a spotlight on Him, to show that He is brilliant. Wikipedia even has something to say about this word Hallel in Hebrew. It says it's joyous praise in song, to boast in God. It says it could also refer to someone who acts madly or foolishly. And yes, some illustrations in Scripture of people who, when they would praise the Lord, people thought they were kind of nuts.

Because this is a God they're praising that you can't see, and yet people are praising Him. And I think if some people who don't know God were to walk into some of our churches, they might think or hear us talking about how good God is, how faithful God is, how kind God is, or they hear us clapping to praise the Lord or watch us lifting our hands to praise Him, to bless Him. Hear us saying "Hallelujah!", and sometimes saying "Hallelujah!".

If people could hear that who don't know God, they might look around and go, "Who are they talking to? What are they talking about? What's this about?" They might think we were looking a little foolish, that we were acting madly, that we were crazy. Well, we're not crazy. If we are, it's good crazy, as we praise the Lord, as we celebrate His goodness, His greatness. Hallelujah!

Here's another Bible dictionary that says this root word suggests being sincerely and deeply thankful for and satisfied in, lauding the superior qualities or the great acts of the subject. Now that's a mouthful. But it means that as we focus on God who is so great, He is so powerful, we focus on His superior qualities, His exceptional, His extraordinary, His unique, amazing qualities, we're deeply thankful for them. We're sincerely thankful.

We're satisfied as we lift up worship and praise, as we boast in God, as we say "Hallelujah!", praise the Lord. We offer up praise. And you see in this passage and in many of the Psalms that our praise is to be offered with an attitude of joy, an attitude of rejoicing, an attitude of delight. Knowing who God is, believing that God is who He says He is, in our lives that kind of faith should always be intertwined with joy.

Now that doesn't mean every circumstance in our lives is a joyful one. We know that's not the case. There are some here today who are in the middle of some deeply grieving, painful, hurtful circumstances. But in the midst of that, haven't you experienced that as you lift your eyes up, though they may be filled with tears, that there's joy from a source that you can't explain? It doesn't have anything to do with your circumstances. It has everything to do with the One that you're praising, the One that you're worshipping.

So that faith and that joy are intertwined because of the greatness of our God. So I said Hallelujah was combined of two Hebrew words. The first is the verb Hallel, which means to praise. The second word is the noun Yah, J-A-H, which is short for Yahweh. You'll see that Yah at the end of some compound names in the Old Testament. Elijah means "the God of Jehovah". Abijah, King Abijah in the Old Testament, that means "my Father is Yahweh", "my Father is Jehovah".

So when you see that J-A-H at the end of a name, it refers to Jehovah. So Hallel-Yah, Hallelujah, what does it mean when you put it together? Praise the Lord! Praise Jehovah! Praise Yahweh! So when we read in the English text "Praise the Lord", as we do at the beginning and the end of this Psalm, it's that Hebrew word Hallelujah. Hallelujah! Yah, Jehovah, the self-existent one, the One who revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 3 as "I AM THAT I AM".

I need nothing, I need no one, I am self-sufficient, I am self-existent. Whenever we speak the word Hallelujah, we're actually speaking the Lord's name in an abbreviated form. So let me say this, and I don't want to put anybody on the spot, but maybe we need to be: to use this word or similar words casually or flippantly is to trivialize the Lord's name. So when somebody makes a great shot in a basketball game, or somebody, you know, you get a raise or something, to just flippantly say "Hallelujah!"—now if you mean praise the Lord, then say that.

But if you just mean you're excited about something, be careful how you use that word. Because when we use it, we're using God's name. And to trivialize God's name is to take it in vain. It's to profane His name. So use the word, use the term, use it with joy, use it as praise, but remember when you do that, that you're speaking the name of God.

Here's how Charles Spurgeon addressed that. He said, "Surely this is not a word to be dragged in the mire. It should be pronounced with solemn awe and sacred joy." Awe and joy. Hallelujah! So, "Praise the Lord", the first phrase of this Psalm, Hallelujah. This is a Hebrew expression of praise to God. It's a standard call to worship in the celebration and the corporate worship of the Jews.

With one exception in the Psalms, Psalm 135, when you see the word Hallelujah or "Praise the Lord" in the Psalms, it's always found at the beginning or the end of the Psalm. It's a call to worship. It's a benediction. It's an exclamation point. It's a celebration in our corporate worship. Now Alfred Edersheim, some of you may recognize that name as a 19th-century scholar of biblical times and life and has written some wonderful helpful scholarly works about what it was like in the Bible times.

He describes the responsive reading of the Psalms in the temple worship. And he says that the Levites would read the first line of the Psalm, and then the people would repeat that line. And then after the Levite would read each successive line, the people would say at the end of each line, "Hallelujah!"

So I want us to read Psalm 113 this way, in this responsive way that the Jews might have read it in their corporate worship. I'm going to read the text and then I'm going to ask you to say with all your heart, like you mean it, with energy, the part that's in brackets there. And we'll read this responsively. So beginning in verse one: Praise the Lord!

Crowd: Praise the Lord!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Praise, O servants of the Lord.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Praise the name of the Lord.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: From this time forth and forevermore.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: From the rising of the sun to its setting.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The name of the Lord is to be praised.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Don't fade out on me. The Lord is high above all nations.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And his glory above the heavens.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Who is like the Lord our God?

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Who is seated on high.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Who looks far down.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: On the heavens and the earth.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: He raises the poor from the dust.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And lifts the needy from the ash heap.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: To make them sit with princes.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: With the princes of his people.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: He gives the barren woman a home.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Making her the joyous mother of children.

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Praise the Lord!

Crowd: Hallelujah!

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Hallelujah! Don't you love reading Scripture that way? So maybe when your pastor reads the Psalm on Sunday, you can just insert a few Hallelujahs there. You might want to talk with him about that first. Well, Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

Now this word Hallelujah is found 42 times in the Old Testament. And I want to talk about just how it's used grammatically and what it suggests so that when you read the term "Praise the Lord" or Hallelujah, depending on your translation, you'll know what it is really meaning and saying. First of all, it's almost always used in the imperative mood. What does that suggest to you?

This is not an option. This is a command. Praise the Lord! You see it in Psalm 113, verse 1 and verse 9. Praise the Lord! This is not a suggestion. If you feel like it, praise the Lord. If the sun is shining today, praise the Lord. This is whatever's happening today, praise the Lord. And the grammatical form makes this the strongest command possible in the Hebrew language.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! So to praise the Lord, it's a great privilege, but it's also an awesome responsibility for every child of God in every season and circumstance of our lives. Now also the grammatical form here suggests that this is not just to be an occasional activity. Something you just do when you're sitting in a recording session and we're reading responsively and you go, "Hallelujah, praise the Lord."

But this is to be a habitual lifestyle. It's a way of life. One commentator said it should be our persistent, persevering activity. Now of course we come together for our corporate worship. We don't do that every day all the time. But 24/7 we are to be in a lifestyle of praising the Lord, consciously, volitionally, gladly, eagerly, willingly. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

And then it's interesting that the verb used in this phrase, Hallel, the verb to praise, is not in the singular form; it's in the plural form. Which suggests that praise is not essentially or primarily a solo game, a solo song. It's not a spectator sport. All are to join in praising the Lord, as we just did in the reading of that Psalm.

And as we're doing here gathered in the presence of the Lord, praising the Lord. We a moment ago before we started this session, we had some time of praise and different ones led us out loud in praise. But did you find that your heart was joining in as people were praising the Lord? Praise the Lord, y'all! Or as they say in the South, all y'all. Praise the Lord!

Worship does not equal a group of singers or musicians standing on a platform performing. Now they may be worshipping the Lord, but for us to just stand there and watch them like bumps on logs, that's not worship. We're supposed to join. We're not just supposed to stand there and spectate.

And it's sad to me to say that you look around at a lot of churches today and during the, quote, "worship time", you look around and the only people singing pretty much are the people up on the platform. Now it's great that they're singing, but what about us? This is a plural y'all, all y'all, praise the Lord. Hallelujah! And if this Psalmist were a worship leader in a church service, I think he would say to the congregation, "Praise the Lord, all of you! Not some of you, all of you!" So we see here the power of the corporate praise of God's people.

Some of you remember the names John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism, and Charles and John were hymn writers. They loved hymns. And the Methodists in the early days of the Methodist revival were hymn-singing people. And John Wesley in 1761 wrote what he called some "Rules for Singing". Rules for Singing. Let me read to you the first two of those rules. This language is a little quaint, but I think it makes the point.

Number one: Sing all. Period. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a slight degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing. Have you ever found yourself sometimes when it just was so hard to sing the hymns or the songs that were being sung? It was a cross to you? And he says take up that cross. Sing to the Lord even when you don't feel like it, and you will find that the singing becomes a blessing.

So number one, sing all. Number two, we wouldn't quite use this wording today, but I think you'll get what he means. He said: Sing lustily and with a good courage. Now in those days the word "lustily" would mean sing out, sing up, sing lustily, sing courageously. He said: Beware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep. I like that. But lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now nor more ashamed of its being heard than when you sung the songs of Satan.

He said when you used to, when you were following Satan and you were in the bars and you were at the games and whatever, you would sing out. But then you come to church and you sing timidly? He said sing out, sing lustily and with good courage. Now there are some like me who have voices that are not made to be miked when singing. I'm kind of a sound man's worst nightmare because sometimes in conferences I will just break into a song and all they can hear in their headsets is my voice and I think they want to maybe turn off the mic.

I don't have a singing voice. My mother's the one in the family who got that. But we're still supposed to sing. My voice, the older I get, the more it cracks, and it's not something that they would ever air on Christian radio unless I sing during this series and then they might not have any option. But we're to sing out, sing all, sing to the Lord. Hallelujah!

So it's a word that's mostly used in the Old Testament, but four times in the New Testament we find this word Hallelujah. It's a transliteration of the Hebrew Hallelujah, "Praise the Lord". And all four of those uses in the New Testament are found in Revelation chapter 19. One of the last chapters of the Bible. This is the chapter where we see the consummation of human history. We see the fall of Babylon the Great, representing the kingdom of man.

And we see that the King of Kings returns to Earth to reign forever and ever. And this great work of our heavenly, holy, majestic God prompts the citizens and the angels of heaven to lift their voices up in a great Hallelujah chorus in Revelation 19. Now when we think of singing Hallelujah, saying "Praise the Lord", we don't always think of using it in the way it's used first in Revelation 19, as these angels and saints praise God for His righteous judgments.

Let me read Revelation 19, beginning in verse one: After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice, and in the Greek that loud voice, it's the word from which we get megaphone. The megaphone. There was like a megaphone, these angels, these citizens, this great multitude in heaven, crying out. What are they crying out? Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out: Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. This is God's judgment on Babylon the Great, on all wickedness and all kingdoms of man.

And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who was seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great." Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude. And in that day, that multitude will include us. We'll be there. We'll be part of this throng.

I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." Say it with me again: Hallelujah! Again: Hallelujah! Louder: Hallelujah! Hallelujah, for the Lord God Almighty reigns. Praise the Lord!

Dannah Gresh: Ah, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been leading us in a study of Psalm 113. We're calling this series "Hallelujah: A Praise Celebration". Isn't that just the happiest title? I love it. There's more joy to come throughout the rest of this week. And before you go, I want to remind you that we're also celebrating our Revive Partners this month.

Now you've been hearing from them at the beginning of each episode. These friends of the ministry donate monthly, they pray for the ministry efforts of Revive Our Hearts, and they really just keep us going strong. If you're a Revive Partner, thank you. Thank you so much. You've blessed this ministry and the women we reach more than you'll probably ever know, this side of heaven anyway. But the impact is real.

Now if you're interested in becoming a Revive Partner, you can visit ReviveOurHearts.com/partner. There you'll learn more about what that entails. For as little as $30 a month, you can become a part of this sweet partner family, and you're going to also enjoy some awesome monthly perks. So I hope you'll check that out.

Now if you can't commit to a monthly donation right now, but you'd still like to contribute to our ministry initiatives here at Revive Our Hearts, you can do that through a one-time donation. This month, we are sending a copy of Nancy's devotional, Dwell, to anyone who makes a gift. Nancy will walk you through 30 Psalms. She's going to help you understand them more and apply them to your life. To donate and request that resource, visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959.

Well, we're not done with Psalm 113. So I hope you'll continue exploring that passage with us tomorrow as Nancy encourages you to choose worship over whining. Oh, are you already feeling the conviction rise up? This is going to be such a helpful episode for all of us. I just have a feeling about that. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.