Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

In the Old Testament, the land of Palestine was the inheritance of his people. In the New Covenant, the inheritance is every nation in the entire world receiving the good news of Christ. At his ascension Christ bestowed upon the church the ministry gifts, his grand inheritance that will accomplish the will of God. “ The same one who came down is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that his rule might fill the entire universe. He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.” (Eph. 4:10,11) As the church celebrates the ascension and victory of Christ the King, he pours out his abilities upon us. Grateful people will be gifted people. “ God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.” (5) Delitzsch says: ‘ …this Psalm in the course of history has gained a prophetic meaning, far exceeding its first occasion, which has only been fully unraveled by the ascension of Christ 3 .’ Here is the prophetic picture of Jesus going up to heaven with trumpets sounding. This is the first time trumpets are mentioned in Psalms propelling the praises of God into new heights. The ascension elevated the worship and praise life of the disciples: “ While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. They worshiped him and then returned to Jerusalem filled with great joy. And they spent all of their time in the Temple, praising God.” (Lk. 24:51-53) In the 1st chapter of Acts Luke repeats the ascension story adding the words of the angel: “ And someday, just as you saw him go, he will return!”(Acts 1:11) Paul describes the return of Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 making the details of his ascension more clear “ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a com- manding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. ” Just as in this psalm, there was shouting and trumpets when Jesus left this earth. The ascension of Christ was one of the greatest theological moments of all time. Just as king Je- hoshaphat returned triumphantly to the Temple in Jerusalem with the Israelites who were praising, clap- ping, singing, shouting and sounding trumpets; Jesus returned to heaven with the spirits of the godly people of the Old Testament and was greeted by the rejoicing and celebrating of the angels. It is no won- der that the disciples went into the temple and spent all their time praising God; they had just witnessed the most impressive praise event of eternity! When you find something that is effective, you tend to emphasize its importance. The descendants of Korah, who authored the psalm, had just returned from the battle where they had gone ahead of the army singing praises and the Lord secured the victory. “ …the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: ‘Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!’”(2 Chron. 20:21) It is understandable that they recom- mend singing praise to God four times in one verse! The singing of praises will bring down the greatest opposition the enemy can gather. “ Sing praise to God, sing praises; sing praise to our King, sing praises.” (6) II THE KING ASCENDS 5-9

“ For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a psalm! (with understanding.) (7)

We are to praise the Lord not only from the basis of our emotions responding to pleasing music, but from the foundation of deep convictions based on the teachings of Scripture. Spurgeon says: ‘doc- trine praises God.’ When we understand that he has been exalted as King over all the earth, we praise him lavishly with confidence knowing that he controls every situation.

“ God reigns above the nations, sitting on his holy throne.” (8)

The New Testament emphasizes the ascension of Christ to the highest place of heavenly and earthly power. When the church embraces this fact our struggles seem small and our objective to touch the world seems attainable. “ …God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11)

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