Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

The Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, one that Paul quoted often, translates verse 5 in this way: “and Zion shall be called a mother in whom men of every race are born.” Paul magnifies this theme in his letter to the Galatians; But Sarah, the free woman, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. And she is our mother.” (Gal. 4:26) The nations are spiritually birthed in the church, the earthly reflec- tion of the heavenly Zion, but someday as Delitzsch says of the city of Jerusalem/Zion: ‘The end of his- tory is that Zion shall become the metropolis of all the nations…’ God has a plan where the natural city will be deeply influenced by the message of Christ and his church and will bear a striking resemblance to the heavenly. The city that Abraham sought is described in the very end of the Bible: “And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter–but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”(Rev. 21:26, 27) The New International Version says: “As they make music they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you.’” ‘The psalmist intends to represent the converted nations as coming in a grand procession, with songs and dances, to celebrate their admission to Zion, and there…exclaiming “all my fresh springs, all my sources of life, and joy, and happiness” are in you.’ 1 Christ is not only the ‘foundation’ of the city, he is its ‘fountain’ of life and refreshing: “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, ‘If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within.” (Jn. 7:37, 38) The ‘rivers of living water’ is the Holy Spirit that brings joy to the city. The worshiper has been born again in ‘Zion’ with their name written in the Lamb’s book of life. Praise and worship is a part of our spiritual genetic make-up as we were made to live in a continual atmosphere of celebration and adoration of our Lord. We worship our king because he is the source of our life, he is the musicians source of inspiration, he is the believers source of encouragement; Zion is our link with a bit of heaven on earth. III CELEBRATION - 7 “At all the festivals, the people will sing, ‘The source of my life is in Jerusalem!’”

1 Spence

PSALM 88: INTO THE DARKEST DEPTHS The Darkness of Death

Psalm 88 is the darkest of all the psalms of the Bible and is definitely the ‘king’ of all ancient blues music. It has no praise recorded, it focuses upon death and affliction and yet it contains three pleas for help offering a sinew of hope to those who are in the middle of deep suffering. It is tied closely with the book of Job in language and thought content. It might have been the prophetic reflections of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and in the hours of the crucifixion. Boice says ‘It is good that we have a psalm like this, but is good that we have only one 1 .’ Psalm 89 is its sequel offering the brightness of the resurrection and promises of eternal life. This is the 11th of 13 ‘Maschils’ or ‘teaching psalms’ and this lament instructs us how to endure extreme affliction. Its outline consists of three prayers:

I DAY AND NIGHT - 1-7 II EACH DAY - 8-12 III DAY BY DAY - 13-18

INTRODUCTION:

“For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah, to be sung to the tune ‘The Suffer- ing of Affliction.’ A Psalm of Heman the Ezrahite. A Song.’”

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