SHARING MY JOY FROM THE ANCIENT SACRED SONGS REFERRING TO MESSIAH 28 SEP 2015

This is a discussion for those brothers & sisters who have embraced Christ, our beloved King. How wonderful it is to sing praise songs, especially knowing that not only do we fulfill His advice to sing such songs of thanks (PS 147:7), but also knowing that God inhabits the praises of His people (PS 22:3). Many of the songs (of the Book of Psalms) refer to Messiah, the coming anointed of God (PS 18:50, 20:6, etc.) who would be the climax of God’s plan for mankind’s redemption. (For instance, PS 22:16 refers to his enemies piercing his hands & feet. And some psalms point to the time God would restore His people–PS 14:7, 53:6 & others.) Has Christ not changed our hearts & given us great joy? How wonderful to realize people of faith have sang about him by using the psalms for over 3,000 years.

MESSIANIC TRUTHS IN THE PSALMS OF PRAISE (Tehillim). The psalms were written over a thousand years before Christ, and refer to a future anointed messiah. Indeed Christ specifically taught his disciples about how the ancient Scriptures taught about him. (Unfortunately we only have glimpses of what he taught in this area.) He said, “This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that was written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”(LK 24:44) For instance, we see his entrance into Jerusalem (PS 118:26) and his rejection (PS 118:22). Peter quotes PS 118:22 at Acts 4:11 to talk about the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone. Christ himself loved the Psalms and quoted Psalm 22 on the cross. His last words quoted at LK 23:46, “Into thy hands I commit my spirit” are a quote from PS 31:5. In the gospel of John, Yahshua reveals that he is the “good shepherd” (JN 10:11,14-15), and so his disciples discovered that the beautiful 23rd Psalm referred to Christ. Who of us in the Body of Christ have not been blessed by the sweet words of the 23rd Psalm?!

THE SONGS OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS. The Psalms are a collection of songs in Hebrew, many written by the “sweet psalmist of Israel” David (2 SAM 23:1), which were sung for centuries in their original form, and in recent centuries have been translated & sung in the common languages of mankind. Christ himself at the Feast of Passover sang the Songs of Ascent ( Psalms 126 thru 134) and the Hallel songs (Psalms 113-118, and 136, which was the climax song) which were part of the ceremony. As Yahshua sang PS 116:8 at the last supper, “For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death…”, he must of thought of how he had faith that God would resurrect him. And for myself, oh how wonderful it is to sing Psalm 42, “As the deer pants after water, so my soul longs for Thee…” And how meaningful to sing PS 2:12, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the Way…” knowing that “…the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”(JN 5:22)

HEB 10:5-7 & Psalm 40:6-8. In Hebrews 10:5-7 we learn an amazing thing…the words of PS 40:7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of me…” were sung by Christ before he took his body form. Verse 6 speaks of how God does not simply want sacrifice, but true works of righteousness flowing from the heart of man. Verse 8 confirms this thought, “I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” That was so true of Messiah. Other prophets like Micah (MIC 5:2) prophesied that Messiah’s origins “are from old, from ancient times”. Two verses later the Messiah is called the “shepherd” again. The Spirit of God inspired the Psalmist with the song that Christ sang as he took his human body. Interesting.

MT 13: 34-35 quotes PS 78:2. Christ explained in MT 13 why he spoke in parables. PS 78:1 begins, “Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.” Verse 2 continues, “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old.” Christ revealed the riddles of our faith, the hidden plan of God’s redemption. What he taught was not totally new, but it was fresh. He taught the old truths, many of them lost, in a fresh authoritative way like no one had done before. Christ taught that he was the true manna, the true bread from heaven. The rest of PS 78 goes on to explain how the Israelites had rejected the original manna given to them after their salvation from the World of slavery.

FINAL THOUGHTS. PS 110:1 onwards shows the Messiah as a king, and priest and conqueror, who will reign at the right hand of God. This clearly is about the Messiah, not King David or Solomon. How encouraging to realize that God inspired faithful men to write these songs that referred to our Savior over a thousand years before he came. As a teenage Christian I wanted to set the psalms in English to music, and over the years I saw accomplished musicians do that. I am sure that you have been blessed by some of these songs as I have. Hallelujah!