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Tag: Psalms

  • Who’s House?

    Who’s House?

    I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness. – Psalm 84:10b ESV 

    Is your house a house of your God? Is your home a dwelling place of righteousness? Is your soul filled with the Holy Spirit of God?

    OR

    Do you build by emptiness of faith a house from which you must flee for a soul which cannot hide?

    Psalm 127

    1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

    2 I long, yes, I faint with longing
    to enter the courts of the Lord.
    With my whole being, body and soul,
    I will shout joyfully to the living God.

    3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young
    at a place near your altar,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God!

    4 What joy for those who can live in your house,
    always singing your praises.

    Interlude

    5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
    who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
    6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
    it will become a place of refreshing springs.
    The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.

    7 They will continue to grow stronger,
    and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

    8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
    Listen, O God of Jacob.

    Interlude

    9 O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield!
    Show favor to the one you have anointed.

    10 A single day in your courts
    is better than a thousand anywhere else!
    I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God
    than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.

    11 For the Lord God is our sun and our shield.
    He gives us grace and glory.

    The Lord will withhold no good thing
    from those who do what is right.

    12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
    what joy for those who trust in you.

     

     

     

  • Jerusalem, Jerusalem – 2

    Jerusalem, Jerusalem – 2

    O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.
    Listen, O God of Jacob. – Psalm 84:8

    Events B.C.

    • ~2000 Abraham meets Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of “God most high” (El Elyon), Genesis 14:18 -20, Hebrews 6:20-7:22). Abraham journeys three days from Beersheba or Gerar to Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command. God provides a ram as a substitute. (Genesis 22, Hebrews 11:8-19). Mt. Moriah is the site of the Temple Mount.
    • 1000 The Jebusite stronghold in Jerusalem is captured by King David. The city of David is built south of the Temple Mount.
    • 910 Solomon’s Temple is plundered by Shishak (Sheshonk) Pharaoh of Egypt. Much gold and silver are taken. (1 Kings 14:25-28, 2 Chronicles 12:1-11
    • 716 Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem, with help of God and the prophet Isaiah resists Assyrians attempt to capture Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32). Wells and springs stopped up.
    • 586 9th of Av. Nebuchadnezzar burns the city, and destroys the Temple. He murders many of the inhabitants and carries off a great number into captivity. (2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36). The destruction of Jerusalem is the starting date for the “Times of the Gentiles”–Yeshua said, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the gentiles until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24 ). Messiah’s return in glory will close this period of Israel’s history.
    • 517 Through the leadership of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel, the Second Temple is completed despite fierce opposition and delays. An altar of sacrifice is built on the Temple Mount. Temple is completed after a fifteen year delay.
    • 332 Flavius Josephus records that Alexander the Great’s invading army is met by priests outside of Jerusalem. They convince him not to destroy Jerusalem by showing prophecy contained in Scripture concerning him. Alexander spares city and the Temple.
    • 334-167 The Hellenistic Period. The Jews, in the land, are under the successive dominion of the Greeks, then the Ptolemies of Egypt, and then the Seleucids of Syria. This is the third great world empire to dominate the Jews during the times of the gentiles. It is the belly-and-thighs-of-brass era (Daniel 2:32. 39; Josephus, Antiquities 11.7-12.6; Daniel 11:2-20).175-163 The reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes whom Daniel saw as a type of the coming Antichrist (Daniel 8:1-2; 11:21-35; Josephus, Antiquities 12.5-9; 1 Maccabees 1:16:16; 2 Mac. 4:7-9:28).167-63 The Maccabean revolt and subsequent Hasmonean dynasty in Judea. A short time of Jewish independence. This is the little-help period of Daniel 11:34. (Josephus, Antiquities 12.6-14.4).

    “O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer.  Listen, O God of Jacob,” wrote David.

    You may not have followed every ebb and flow of the battle for Jerusalem for the last 3000 years.

    …it is supposed that David penned this psalm when he was forced by Absalom’s rebellion to quit his city, which he lamented his absence from, not so much because it was the royal city as because it was the holy city, witness this psalm, which contains the pious breathings of a gracious soul after God and communion with him.

    The events in Jerusalem prior to Jesus Christ, the Messiah of God, do not seem to echo the voice of an almighty God. The events of scripture do not always lead us to a faith where we would confidently stand stronger in our faith in the LORD of Heaven’s armies.

    Yet into this history of defeat of God’s chosen and destruction of the Temple of God’s chosen came a Son of Man, sacrificed on the cross for your sins and for mine.

    Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

    In death, Christ has defeated sin and death.

    In resurrection, Christ IS risen to victory as the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.

    In victory, Christ Jesus will return once more. 

     

  • The Gospel: Preached by John

    The Gospel: Preached by John

    Behold our shield, O God;
    look on the face of your anointed! – Psalm 84:9

    John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

    15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)

    16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

    Speak: and your tongue does witness the word of your soul.

    I have a ‘word’ for you: “logos.” 

    John uses Logos for the Person of Jesus as God’s Very Word spoken in the Holy Flesh of Christ Jesus.

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

    He was in the beginning with God.

    Jesus IS the ‘I AM‘ in the flesh!

    Exodus 3:13-14 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.”And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

    John’s Gospel preaches that God the Father sent God the Son to the people of Israel (and to gentiles of the nations as well). When they ask, “What is his name?” the reply is that of Jesus.

    John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

    Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

    Acts 2:37

    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

    … His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

    16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

    17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.

    But he laid his right hand on me, saying,

    “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one.

    I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.