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Read: Psalms 27:4
"The one thing I ask of the Lord, The thing I seek the most is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His temple." (Psalms 27:4)The book of Psalms was written with hopes that the people of God will somehow completely fill His purpose on earth and that all nations will someday submit to the coming Messiah.
In our main verse, the psalmist was looking into the future of the promised Messiah, and that gave him hope in his present time. He meant for these psalms to be reflected by God's people so that their hearts would also echo the words written in it and that they too would hold on to this same hope.
The beauty of this psalm is shown as it bridges the Old Testament and the New Testament from what was once a "future hope" into a "fulfillment" of this hope in Christ.
So here's what the psalmist hoped for in the verse:
1. He hopes to live in the house of the Lord
Looking back into the Psalms 27:4, the psalmist hopes to live in the house of the Lord all the days of his life.We see this hope fulfilled when Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we have been made as God's temple - a place where His very presence and Spirit dwells. (1 Cor 3:16)
What was only a future hope for the psalmist then has been made possible for us now. Today we are freely welcomed in the presence of God. Not only that, we have been made into His dwelling place. The psalmist only hoped to dwell on his house but God made us His house, His temple on earth.
This is an incredible picture of Jesus Christ fulfilling the hope of the psalmist into the life of the believer. What Jesus Christ did at the cross is to make us right with God so that we can dwell in His holy presence without turning to dust.
2. He hopes for all nations to submit to the coming Messiah
As mentioned earlier, the whole book of Psalms was written with this hope in mind. Now that we know that in Jesus Christ we were made as God's temple where His Spirit dwells, this hope is fulfilled.Back then in Israel, in order for other nations or foreigners to experience God's presence, they still needed to go to the temple of God in Jerusalem which was miles and miles away. But with what Jesus has done on the cross, God's presence was now within their reach. God's presence is probably just beside them during office hours, or just living next door, or perhaps beside their cabin as they sleep.
You see today foreigners no longer need to travel miles to experience God in His temple, His temple themselves travel to these nations to make His glory known. This is the beauty of the global mission God has intended for His people.
3. He hopes to delight in the Lord's perfections and meditate in His temple
Back then, the people of the Lord needed to offer sacrifices to make sure they are ceremonially clean before entering God's presence. But when Jesus became our mediator, we now have the confidence that His blood was a sufficient sacrifice for our sins so we can freely come to Him and delight in His perfection as Jesus reveals the fullness of God to us.My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will put these truths from our heads into our hearts so we can truly delight in His perfection.
When the time this psalm was written, the psalmist was lamenting while yearning for this hope. On the other hand, those who put their trust in Christ Jesus celebrates for its fulfillment, Amen.
Photo by: Jaime Legaspino
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