These Pilgrim Psalms include chapters 125-128. They are almost certainly covering the time of the post-Babylonian exile. With themes touching on the transcendent value and promises associated with Mount Zion, the provisions of God in terms of children and harvests as well as the need for God’s direction and help in all of one’s pursuits – these Psalms are timeless and full of profound, yet simply wisdom for daily life!
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We began this week by re-reading 1 Corinthians 2, drawing out certain truths which set the pace for the rest of the teaching. All we did was red a few passages, all of which offered both support, further examples and added to the knowledge we learned in 1 Corinthians 2.
The Spirit of God steers our mind towards the word of God, towards the character of Christ and ulitmately towards faithfulness in our stewardship regarding the spirital gifts invested in us by the Holy Spirit of God.
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Tonight we begin with Psalm 120 which is the first of a sub-category of psalms which are referred to as songs of ascent. There are 15 of these psalms in all.
While the individual composers of these Psalms may not have had this intent in mind, they have been used in Judaism for generations as ‘Pilgrim songs’ sung while ascending the hill outside of Jerusalem on major feast days.
In particular these Feasts are the three major annual feasts of Passover, Shavuot (now known as Pentecost), and Sukkot (also known as the Feast of Tabernacles).
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The danger of the seeker friendly movement was also the inevitable stripping away from the gospel anything that might offend. This has produced a Gospel which bears nearly ZERO resemblance to that witnessed in the early church.
This morning we spent almost 90 minutes looking at what the Gospel looked like 2000 years ago. What did confessing Christ and baptism cost those in the early church? The New Testament letters are FULL of information which we barely touched on superficially and it looks staggeringly different from what passes for the Gospel in the 21st Century.
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This is the last 6 segments of this Alphabetic Acrostic Psalm. It covers Pey – Tav in the Hebrew alphabet.
Being container of God’s word, humility leading to the glory of Christ’ likeness, our need for our Creator and the rightness of our calling out to Him, turning towards God and away from wickedness, loving God’s law and the great hope His commandments offer and being marked by God’s sign which delivers from death. All of this and more are in these last segments.
As an additional treat, the final verses under Tav seem to summarize the entire 119th chapter in its emphasis on God’s words and our relationship to it!
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