SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 8/27/2012 7:45:29 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
Psalm 118
PT-3
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm
118:15-29
Message of the verses: We will continue to look at Psalm 118 in
Today’s SD, and I want to again remind you of what Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end
of his introduction to Psalm 118: “—the
psalm speaks to all believers in every age and gives them four practical
instructions.”
Glorify the Lord after Every Victory (vv.
15-21): “15 The sound of joyful
shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the
LORD does valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand
of the LORD does valiantly. 17 I will not die, but live, And tell of the works
of the LORD. 18 The LORD has disciplined me severely; But He has not given me
over to death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through
them, I shall give thanks to the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD; The
righteous will enter through it. 21 I shall give thanks to You, for You have
answered me, And You have become my salvation.”
I
want to remind you that although there are different opinions on who wrote this
psalm and what time period it was written in I am going to look at it as if it
were written after the Jewish people came out of their captivity from Babylon
and they began to work on the temple of the Lord as they were surrounded by
many enemies.
We
see in verse fifteen that there are shouts of joy and this could be speaking of
the great shout that went up after the walls were dedicated which is found in
Nehemiah 12:47. The salvation in the
tents of the righteousness could be referring to new homes and the temporary
homes that were put up for the Feast of Tabernacles.
We
see that the people gave glory to the Lord for His protection while they
restored Jerusalem (vv. 17-18). Dr.
Wiersbe writes, “One of the best ways to ‘seal’ God’s blessing to our hearts
and make sure He gets the glory is to publicly praise Him—and keep on praising
Him!”
See the Lord in Every Experience (vv.
22-29): “22 The stone which the
builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. 23 This is the LORD’S
doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD,
we beseech You, do send prosperity! 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name
of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD. 27 The LORD is
God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the
horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my
God, I extol You. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His
lovingkindness is everlasting.”
I
want to give Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on verse twenty-two: “Under Zerubbable and Ezra, the Jewish people
had been rebuilding the temple, and under the leadership of Nehemiah, they had
built the walls of Jerusalem and restored the gates. During these activities, did they find among
the ruins a large stone that they rejected, only to discover it was the most
important stone of all? The Gentile
nations had despised and rejected Israel (Neh. 2:18-20; 4:1ff), but God had spared
them to finish the work He gave them to do.”
As I read this commentary I begin to think that this surely could have
been the reason that the psalmist wrote this verse, and then it is used in the
NT to describe the rejecting of Jesus Christ by the people of Israel. The verses we find in this psalm are used
many different times in the NT, which shows the richness of this psalm. There are many reference of a stone representing
the Lord in the Scriptures, and we see in Isaiah 8:14; 28:16; Dan. 2:34-35, 45;
Matt. 21:42-44; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17-18; Acts 4:11; and Romans 9:32-33 that
these are references to the Messiah as a rock or stone. In Acts 4:11 we read these words of Peter, “’He
is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE
CHIEF CORNER stone.’” Peter goes on to
speak these words which are familiar words that speak of salvation, “’And there
is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has
been given among men by which we must be saved.’” It was the death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ which made Him become the chief cornerstone
of the Church, God’s temple, binding Jews and Gentiles together in one
sanctuary (Eph. 2:19-22). When Jesus
returns to judge the earth He will be that crushing stone that Daniel speaks
about in Daniel 2:34, 44-45.
All
true believers can use verses 22-24 to praise the Lord for the great salvation
that He has provided for us. Dr. Wiersbe
points out “Save now’ (v. 25) is the word ‘hosanna’ which the people shouted
when Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Matt 21:9; Mark 11:9-10), and note the words,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” We find these words in the 19th
chapter of Luke which were words spoken by the disciples of Jesus as He rode
into Jerusalem on what is called “Palm Sunday.”
It is believed by many that this was the fulfillment of a part of
Daniel’s prophecy that is found in Daniel 9:24-27, stating that Messiah would
offer Himself as king, be turned down and then be “cut off” meaning
killed. The prophecy begins in Nehemiah
chapter two and ends here for these words that were spoken of by the disciples
were only to be spoken when Messiah came and the Scribes and Pharisees told
Jesus to rebuke His disciples to which Jesus spoke these words, “"I tell
you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!’” Jesus went on to say “"If you had known
in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been
hidden from your eyes 43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies
will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every
side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not
recognize the time of your visitation.’”
The words “this day” and then “because you did not recognize the time of
your visitation” were spoken by Jesus and they fulfilled the prophecy in Daniel
9:24-27. From the time that Nehemiah was
given permission to go and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem until this day was 173,
880 days and that is why Jesus says, “This day.”
Verse
27 states “. 27 The LORD is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival
sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” Dr. Wiersbe explains, “The blood of a
sacrifice was applied to the horns of the altar (v. 27; Lev. 4:7), but there is
no evidence that the sacrifices were tied to the altar before they were slain. The altar was considered so holy that it was
not likely it would be used for tethering animals. The New International Version marginal
reading suggests that the bound sacrifices were brought up to the altar where
the priests cut the animals’ throats, caught the blood, and offered both the
animals and the blood on the altar to the Lord.
Of course, each sacrifice was a picture of the death of Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the world. One each of the
seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the priest led a procession once around
the altar and then offered one burnt offering, but on the eight day, the
procession marched seven times around the altar and seven sacrifices were
offered.
“Jesus
Chris is seen in the psalm—His triumphal entry (vv. 25-26), His rejection (v.
27), His death and resurrection (v. 17), and His exaltation as God’s chosen
Stone (vv. 22-23). Perhaps verse 24
hints at the Lord’s Day, the day of resurrection, as ‘the new day’ of the new
creation made possible by His atoning work.
It is important that we see Jesus Christ in every experience of life, for
then these experiences will help us grow in grace and become more like the
Savior.”
We
will take a short break from the book of Psalms in order to finish up the ninth
chapter of the book of Marks and then we will begin to look at the longest
Psalm, and the longest chapter in all of Scripture, the 119th Psalm,
which is all about the Word of God, or the Law of God. This will take many Spiritual Diaries to look
at because of the length of it.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: The last section goes along with our Pastors
message from last evening in which he spoke on two verses in Psalm 18, verses
30-31. David is the author of that psalm
written near the end of his life and these two verses speak of God being in
control while this last section of Psalm 118 speaks of the Lord in every
circumstances of life. Knowing that the
Lord is in control and in every circumstance of life brings confidence to my
heart, knowing that I am not in this alone, but can trust the Lord in all
circumstances of life, and this give me confidence in the Lord, and a desire to
praise the Lord
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to give me His wisdom to work
out something that I am facing.
Memory verses for the week: I am going to continue to go over the first eleven
verses in 2Peter 1 for the rest of this week, making sure that I have them
memorized and then I may work on the 13th chapter of 1Cornithians,
verses that I once memorized, but need to work on them again.
8/27/2012 9:07:33 AM
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