How can we "enter into His gates with thanksgiving" (Psalm 100:4)?

This is entering His house, duly entering it, with praise, because He has already blessed us, and not with supplication for a blessing; entering it in the spirit of conscious victory over our enemies; tearing asunder all bonds, and silencing every tongue that would charge or condemn us.

How much better for us to be content that we are "His people and the sheep of His pasture!" This is an honor that we do not deserve, yet which God has given us. This being so, we are invited to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise" (v. 4). In His presence we indeed learn that "the Lord is good; and His mercy is everlasting." Nor is that mercy inconsistent with His truth, which endures to all generations (v. 5). Well might we unceasingly praise Him!

Thanksgiving is very intimately connected with, if not of the essence of, worship. For thanksgiving is the consequence of blessings received, whether in providence or in redemption. The sense of God's goodness and grace in thus ministering to us, in blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, constrains us to pour out our thanksgivings in His presence; and then, necessarily, we are led to reflect upon the character and attributes of the God who thus delights to surround us with the tokens of His love and care; and consequently thanksgiving passes over into worship.

Thanksgiving is very intimately connected with, if not of the essence of, worship. For thanksgiving is the consequence of blessings received, whether in providence or in redemption. The sense of God's goodness and grace in thus ministering to us, in blessing us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, constrains us to pour out our thanksgivings in His presence; and then, necessarily, we are led to reflect upon the character and attributes of the God who thus delights to surround us with the tokens of His love and care; and consequently thanksgiving passes over into worship.

In connection with opposition and hindrances, let us take notice of a great and substantial aid to prayer, namely, thanksgiving — "In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Phil. 4:6). "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2). Probably the advantage of thanksgiving as an aid to the soul is not fully seen. How often when the well of prayer seems dried, thanksgiving will cause the stream to flow! The recollection of mercies received, and blessings in possession, refreshes the soul; begets the sense that we are in communion with a giving God; and imparts new courage to approach Him with our requests. How many answers are received to prayers gone by, which are not recognised as answers, because in the interval the very prayers that were made are forgotten! Thus is lost to the soul opportunity for praise and thanksgiving; a loss of happy and profitable exercise: but besides that, it is a failure in what is becoming towards God. Is it a fit thing to receive a gift and not return thanks? Between man and man it is a breach of manners; and that God takes notice of such failure towards Him is certain from the case of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19). Only one of the ten who had been cleansed returned to give thanks, and how touching is the comment of the Lord! "Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger!" God looks for our gratitude, and that not only in the heart, but the positive expression of it; expression too, not merely in a general way, but definitely as to definite instances. Praise "is pleasant, and it is comely" (Ps. 147:1). A thankful soul is a happy soul. We can never get into circumstances where we have not cause for thanksgiving, and thanksgiving naturally leads to prayer.

In connection with opposition and hindrances, let us take notice of a great and substantial aid to prayer, namely, thanksgiving. "In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil.4:6). "Persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving " (Col . 4:2). Probably the advantage of thanksgiving as an aid to the soul is not fully seen. How often when the well of prayer seems dried, thanksgiving will cause the stream to flow! The recollection of mercies received, and blessings in possession, refreshes the soul; begets the sense that we are in communion with a giving God; and imparts new courage to approach Him with our requests. How many answers are received to prayers gone by, which are not recognized as answers, because in the interval the very prayers that were made are forgotten! Thus is lost to the soul opportunity for praise and thanksgiving; a loss of happy and profitable exercise: but besides that, it is a failure in what is becoming towards God. Is it a fit thing to receive a gift and not return thanks? Between man and man it is a breach of manners; and that God takes notice of such failure towards Him is certain from the case of the ten lepers (Luke 17:11 - 19). Only one of the ten who had been cleansed returned to give thanks, and how touching is the comment of the Lord! "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" God looks for our gratitude, and that not only in the heart, but the positive expression of it; expression too, not merely in general way, but definitely as to definite instances. Praise is "pleasant", and "beautiful" (Ps.147:1). A thankful soul is a happy soul. We can never get into circumstances where we have not cause for thanksgiving, and thanksgiving naturally leads to prayer.

Lovely words! They were not to come empty into the Lord's presence; they were to come with the heart full of praise, and the hands full of the fruits of divine goodness to gladden the hearts of the Lord's workmen, and the Lord's poor. All this was perfectly beautiful. Jehovah would gather His people round Himself, to fill them to overflowing with joy and praise, and to make them His channels of blessing to others. They were not to remain under their vine and under their fig tree, and there congratulate themselves upon the rich and varied mercies which surrounded them. This might be all right and good in its place; but it would not have fully met the mind and heart of God. No; three times in the year they had to arise and betake themselves to the divinely appointed meeting place, and there raise their hallelujahs to the Lord their God, and there too, to minister liberally of that which He had bestowed upon them to every form of human need. God would confer upon His people the rich privilege of rejoicing the heart of the Levite, the stranger, widow and the fatherless. This is the work in which He Himself delights, blessed for ever be His Name, and He would share His delight With His people. He would have it to be known, seen and felt, that the place where He met His people was a sphere of joy and praise, and a centre from whence streams of blessing were to flow forth in all directions.

These services of praise are an entirely new and most interesting feature of these arrangements, of which we read nothing in the Books of Moses, and seem to be connected with the setting up of the throne. It was spiritual instinct, as far as we know, which thus guided David—an instinct true, indeed, as we through grace can testify. To approach God at all, each and all must come by the Altar, i.e. by the sacrifice of Christ; but once in God's presence on that ground, praise and thanksgiving are the suited form of worship. This is what is perfectly set forth in Christianity, and not separated as they were here in the scene we are considering, but never to be known apart since the Lord Jesus Christ ascended on high.

To approach God at all, each and all must come as it were by the Altar, i.e., by the sacrifice of Christ. But once in God's presence, on that ground, praise and thanksgiving are the suited form of worship. This, David understood and carried out. No sacrifices went on before the Ark, only the service of song. Of that which David understood, should Christians, we may ask, be ignorant? He could teach a lesson which many, it seems, have yet to learn. We never can forget the sacrifice, we never, indeed, can get beyond the blood which has been sprinkled, as it were, on the throne; but where we worship is in the holiest, and the character of Christian worship is that of praise and thanksgiving. It would have been just as incongruous to have put the Altar inside the veil, as for Christians to resort to a sacrificing priesthood for the due carrying on of their worship. No sacrificing was permitted by David to go on before the Ark - a lesson for us in this so simple to learn, and when learnt to be maintained tenaciously.

It is true that as "a holy priesthood," the exercise of the heart by faith is toward the God who brought us to Himself by His grace in Christ, and could righteously bring us thus near by His blood. We hence approach within, and offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. What the sons of Aaron did in the sanctuary after a material sort, which derived all its value from being a shadow of Christ and His acceptance to God as a perfect and constant odour of rest, the saints are now exhorted to do. As the Epistle to the Hebrews expresses it, "By Him therefore let us offer sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, fruit of lips confessing to His name." Can any privilege be higher or more intimate than to be in His presence, walking in the light as He is, delivered from the egotism which breaks out into the variance of separate will, and cleansed by the blood which effaces every sin? to adore the Father, the only true God? to pour forth our thanksgivings for all the grace that has reached even to us? to praise Him, in spirit with all saints, for all that He is and has done, and given us to receive and know?