Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

The mystery of the relationship between the Father and the Son begins to unfold before the eyes and the heart of the worshiper. “ No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Mt. 11:27) You cannot know God the Father and His Son by research alone but by revelation. He comes in moments of wor- ship and shares himself with those who love Him.

1 Spurgeon 2 Keil & Delitzsch 3 Lewis

PSALM 9: HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD Justice as A Foundation of Praise

This psalm portrays God as the righteous judge of both individuals and nations and teaches us that there cannot be praise and celebration without fair and equal justice. It contains four sections that begin with praise and then move into judgment with a final call for God to ‘Arise.’ Christ is foreshadowed as the ‘Son who died to fulfill God’s demands for justice.’ It is outlined;

I FILLED WITH JOY - 1-6 Il HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD - 7-10 III PRAISE AT JERUSALEM’S GATES - 11-16 IV LET THE NATIONS BE JUDGED - 17-20

This psalm was probably written after David had established the tabernacle on Mount Zion as one of the commands of the psalmist is to “ sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem (Zion)”(11) It might have been written at the fall of the city of Rabbah during David’s war with Syria and Ammon. Rab- bah is the city where David had Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba murdered 1 . The form of the psalm is an acrostic poem based on the first ten letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The first four lines of verses 1 and 2 all begin with the first letter of the Hebrew language. The first four lines of verses 3 and 4 begin with the second letter of the alphabet…etc.

INTRODUCTION:

“ For the choir director: A Psalm of David, to be sung to the tune of “ Death of the Son. ”‘

The Death of the Son’ ‘enables us to refer it mystically to the victory of the Son of God (on the cross) over the champion of evil, even the enemy of our souls 2 .” This psalm is pointing us to Jesus, the great judge of all mankind. “ And the father leaves all judgment to his Son, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.”(Jn. 5:22,23)

I FILLED WITH JOY - 1-6

“ I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.” (1-2) This is the first use of the phrase “ I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart; ” which is repeated in later psalms and is the basis for sincere worship. If not ‘all’, where is the rest of our heart? It also is the first reference to coupling our praise and proclamation of the good news together that is later repeated in verse 11: “ Sing praises to the Lord…tell the world about his unforgettable deeds. ” Every evangelistic ef- fort should have praise as its power source. One of the foundations of praise is ‘joy’. Our champion has defeated the enemy and now we celebrate the justice he has provided for everyone. David refers to God’s judicial name in this psalm: “ O Most High. ” “ My enemies turn away in retreat; they are overthrown and destroyed before you. For you have judged in my favor; from your throne, you have judged with fairness. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have wiped out their names forever. My enemies have met their doom; their cities are perpetual ruins. Even the memory of their uprooted cities is lost. ” (3-6)

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