Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

Psalm 87 Citizenship is sometimes a confusing part of our identity. I have many foreign-born friends and acquaintances. And interestingly, some of my friends of foreign identity were born in Belgium but adamantly identify as Italian. Lyssa and I are Belgian. Don’t you believe me? My identity card says I am. But my passports from England and America both say I am a citizen of those countries respectively.  “When the LORD registers the nations, he will say, ‘ They have all become citizens of Jerusalem. ’” Interlude Psalms 87:6 It looks like I will (or already) have at least one more citizenship. Another close friend, when asked her country of origin, prefers to reply, “I am a European.”  Paul says that you can even be broader and more inclusive if you have faith in Christ. “In the new life there is no difference between Greeks and Jews, those who are circumcised and those who are not circumcised, or people who are foreigners, or Scythians. There is no difference between slaves...

  Psalm 85 MAIN POINT: Jesus has come as saviour and will return as saviour, and we are invited to listen to His words of peace and experience and expect His salvation. Sometimes it isn’t easy to get your bearings in the Bible. One reason is that the Bible speaks about time as things that have happened, are happening and will happen more fluidly than we might be used to. But since God is 100% sure what has happened, what will happen, and what is happening, He can reveal things with confidence. We on the other hand usually can only apply such confidence and interchangeability of time to the immediate or possibly the past. Another aspect of the Bible that you might find challenging in our individualistic society is the principle of representation. We do get this idea sometimes but we don’t always get it. We often think that all the uses of representation are suspect to a negative prejudice. What I mean is that an individual is painted with the same brush as the whole. All Americans ...

Psalm 83 “Then they will learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18 If I don’t see that God alone is the Master of the universe, then I am His enemy. Asaph sees it that way, and he wants God to respond to all enemies of God in such a way that they too will see it. I don’t know about you, but when I read once again a Psalm where the author is asking God to take action, I am uncomfortable. And I hear it as sort of accusing God for being too slow to act. I worry that Asaph is too aggressive in his desire for retribution and vengeance by asking God to utterly disgrace them. And some people might wrongly conclude that this is an Old Testament phenomenon. ‘Jesus isn’t like that,’ you might hear from someone. But Asaph isn’t out of step with God and God’s plans, desires or ways of thinking. So once again it is old William’s heart that needs to be adjusted. I wonder if it is repeated so often in the Bible because I am so...

  Psalm 82 “God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:” Psalm 82:1 MAIN POINT: Jesus sits above everyone and He determines the priorities of the universe. And His priorities are the care of the poor, the widow, the foreigner, the orphan and the oppressed. We know this is Jesus in Psalm 82 sitting in judgement over all things because Jesus has position but He also has the priorities of God’s heavenly court. How do I know I have the heart of God? How do I know if I am singing off the same song sheet as Jesus? Imagine for a moment I have been called into the office to have a conversation with Jesus. There we are saying hi, getting comfortable and Jesus asks if I want a coffee and I say, yes please. And then after a little bit of small talk. Jesus askes, well how do you like your position in my kingdom? And I say, “Oh Jesus it’s great, thanks, I love it.” And then He says, then I am just wondering, William, do you know what my kingdom priorities ...