Universalism? In MY Bible?

Let all that has breath praise Yah is how Psalm 150 ends, according to Robert Alter. He’s the professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. And yes, in that verse it’s Yah, not Yahweh. But I want you to notice his commentary more than his translation.

He writes, “Appropriately, the psalm and the book conclude on a note of universalism.”

Wait, what? “Universalism? Not in MY Bible!”

Before we rush to correct him, let’s remember these things —

At the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, “Jesus Christ is Lord!”  (Philippians 2:10, 11)

I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13)

Might do some of us well to hit the Pause button and reconsider, in the words of a song, just “How great is our God.”