A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 How joyful are those who fear the Lord—
all who follow his ways!
2 You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine,
flourishing within your home.
Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees
as they sit around your table.
4 That is the Lord’s blessing
for those who fear him.
5 May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live.
6 May you live to enjoy your grandchildren.
May Israel have peace!
MAIN POINT: Jesus is the only one able to fulfil these promises, and He did and does.
We have established 127 times so far that the Lord of Zion, the King who reigns from Jerusalem eternally, the God who blesses Israel, the only one able to ever deliver on all these promises is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is then no surprise that it is Jesus who says things matching Psalm 128 quite well.
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
John 10:10 NLT
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
John 15:11 NLT
Have you ever noticed how blessings can run in families? It is no surprise to learn that some famous singer is the son or daughter of another famous person. John the Baptist was a miracle baby born to an older couple who had had no kids. That was after his dad, Zech, has a close encounter with an angelic being who says they are going to have a big turn-around in family fortune. And lo and behold this blessed news announced by angels theme continues to cousins, soon to be cousin-in-law, and second cousins. The family was blessed and joyful, and Mary, Zech and Elisabeth all became song composers as well as significant people in the history of God’s keeping of His most important promise, which made all of them very happy people. If you wonder about that then read the lyrics to their songs.
Fast forward thirty years or so, and John is wondering if all that family hoopla was the real deal. He is suffering and not sure if after the big splash at Jesus' baptism the national joy promised in Psalm 128 was actually going to happen and be connected to cousin Jesus. So He sends a few faithful friends and asks point blank, are you really the one?
4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— 5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” 6 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”
What does Jesus give as an answer? A list of joyful, prosperous, blessed, happy people. Hang around Jesus, then or now, and you’ll see things you won’t believe. Real, genuine joy and changed lives. I have seen all these things for myself in the spiritual realm. That is, I have seen people so blind to the truth and to the people around them who loved them, so self centred and unable to accept love, have their eyes opened to the needs of others because they were loved by Jesus. I have seen people practically comatose laying day after day on the sofa ignoring their family and missing life as if they were dead, rising from the “dead” and getting busy living. Oh to be sure Jesus is talking about literal physical miracles. But I am sure you know that deep, abiding happiness, joy, and restored relationships are possibly even rarer changes than medical science and faith healers can fake or provide.
How often have I thought that Mick Jagger just needed Jesus if he wanted to get that elusive satisfaction, and had Bono, from U2, the faith to look past his circumstances, he would have found what he was looking for in Jesus.
Jesus picks up on the bold claims of Psalm 128, and if you thought the pre-Christmas story was a big plot of happy nepotism with everyone being cousins and all, Jesus ramps up the family definition to be much wider than anyone expected.
48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”
So now we can reconsider how Jesus might fulfil the promises of Psalm 128 in His church. Have you ever experienced such close bonds that you felt like family with people from other races, cultures, or languages?
That’s exactly what meeting Jesus did to the few thousand people saved in Acts 2 and 4.
In an instant people were so happy and had families taking care of them, and this continues right to this day. The people who have met Jesus are happy, blessed, prosperous people. Maybe not in the ways the world thinks of such things but they know that what they have now is forever. And anything they might appear to lack they will cash in on later.
Conclusion:
If you read Psalm 128 and long with all your heart for such blessings, then look to Jesus who changes hearts, places people in families and blesses them with joy and full, rich and rewarding lives.
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| Handwritten Psalm 128 |
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