A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 Oh, praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
you who serve at night in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary,
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord, who made heaven and earth,
bless you from Jerusalem.
Psalm 134:1-3
Main Point: We are called to praise the Lord Jesus Christ, maker of heaven and earth, as pilgrims and servants as we enjoy His presence and travel to be with Him.
I’m looking at the many, many places in the Bible that say that Jesus made heaven and earth.
“God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.”
According to A.R. Fausset, the past 14 Psalms (120-134) have been songs of ascent or the pilgrims’ songs. They were sung traditionally when people traveled to Jerusalem to worship or to offer a sacrifice. Jews had many occasions to make this little trek, and the day Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple and Simeon and Anna saw that He was the Messiah probably would have been a time Jesus' family sang the songs of ascent.
PSALM 134
Psa 134:1-3. 1, 2. The pilgrim bands arriving at the sanctuary call on the priests, who stand in the house of the Lord--at the time of the evening sacrifice, to unite in praising God in their name and that of the people, using appropriate gestures, to which the priests reply, pronouncing the Mosaic blessing which they alone could pronounce. A fit epilogue to the whole pilgrim-book, Psalms 120-134. by night--the evening service (Psa 141:2), as opposed to morning (Psa 92:2).
Psalm 120, which starts this section off, contains verse 5,
“How I suffer in far-off Meshech.
It pains me to live in distant Kedar.”
And I think in the context of the Psalms of ascent or pilgrims songs it reminds the traveler that we don’t live in Jerusalem and it is painful to live far from the presence of God.
These songs, meant for travelers to focus their thoughts on the act of sacrifice and worship, start with being far away and end with the last sacrifice of the day in Jerusalem. But God is not restricted to Jerusalem and He is not restricted to this earth. God made it all and it is all for Him. And Jesus takes this much further in many ways:
“36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.”
Romans 11:36
But Jesus has opened the way, removing the barrier between God and man; the sacrificial system is a thing of the past. Jesus is the final sacrifice and He has removed the barrier to the holy of holies. There is so much to be said that points from the final sacrifice to Jesus (Hebrews 10:11-18) and His eternal presence and His invitation to bring us to be with Him in heaven.
“But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;”
So in a way we are always pilgrims in this world, heading to the heavenly Jerusalem, but we are always also in the presence of God. Though before heaven we see as through a glass dimly (I Corinthinans 13:12) and there we will see Jesus face to face.
Conclusion:
So I invite you to:
thank God for the work Jesus has done,
walk in the light with Jesus the creator,
be blessed and be a blessing as you live in the presence of God.
I hope these songs of ascent have helped you long for heaven and long to be in the presence of God. That you could be a pilgrim and a stranger to this world and its ways of darkness which we don’t even want to talk about, and that we would look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who invites us to join the sacrifice of praise in heaven around His throne in the new Jerusalem.
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| Handwritten Psalm 134 |
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