Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

I SING PRAISES - 1-5

“Sing praises to God, our strength. Sing to the God of Israel (Jacob). Sing! Beat the tambourine. Play the sweet lyre and the harp.”(1)

The Passover Festival was the ‘Christmas Time’ of the Old Testament being both a solemn and joyous feast for the Jewish people. Although the Levites specialized in leading the people with singing and playing of instruments and the priests sounded the trumpets, all of Israel would join in the joyful praise 1 . In John’s gospel, Jesus began his early ministry at the Passover Festival and again he spent the last week of his life there fulfilling its true significance by giving himself as a sacrifice for us. “It was now almost time for the celebration of Passover, and many people from the country arrived in Jerusalem…They wanted to see Jesus,..they asked each other, ‘what do you think? Will he come for the Passover?’” (Jn. 11:55, 56) The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem marked the beginning of the Festival and fulfilled this joyful command that God had given to his people in this psalm; “…all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.” (Lk. 19:37) Wher- ever the sacrifice of Christ’s life upon the cross is acknowledged there will be singing. The most sorrowful moment in all of human history has been turned into the greatest of all celebrations, Christ died, Christ is alive! “Sound the trumpet for a sacred feast when the moon is new, when the moon is full. For this is re- quired by the laws of Israel; it is a law of the God of Jacob. He made it a decree for Israel when he at- tacked Egypt to set us free.”(2,3) In the days of the wilderness after leaving Egypt God told Moses to make trumpets to summon his people to warfare and worship: “Blow the trumpets in times of gladness, too, sounding them at your an- nual festivals and at the beginning of each month to rejoice…The trumpets will remind the Lord your God of his covenant with you.” (Num. 10:10) In the New Testament Paul likens the trumpet to the sound of prophecy to remind the church of the truths of God’s word: “And if the (trumpet) doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?”(1 Cor. 14:8) In this psalm Asaph proph- esies like a trumpet about the inconsistencies of Israel’s worship; they must understand the true mean- ing of the Passover. On the night he delivered his people from Egypt God instituted this Festival: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you…You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.”(Ex. 12:13) This is the beginning Festival upon which all others are based; the blood saves us from death.

II SAVED FROM EGYPT - 6-7

“v.5- I heard an unknown voice that said…”

The rest of this psalm is a direct prophecy from God. Yahweh himself is the preacher at this Passover just as Jesus gave his most impacting sermons in Jerusalem during the passion week.

Asaph begins by describing his own personal ‘prophetic process.’ Most likely he heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him in his heart and it was different than the sound of his own thoughts. The Holy Spirit impresses his thoughts upon the believer in the same way today as we pray, worship and meditate upon his word. Asaph was to David what John the Baptist was to Jesus, a prophet that pre- pared the way of the Lord through his fiery utterances. These two verses present a rapid recounting of the Exodus: • The Slavery in Egypt- “Now I will relieve your shoulder of its burden; I will free your hands from their heavy tasks.”(6) • The Red Sea Deliverance- “You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud.”(7)

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