Psalms for the Journey to the Cross

This coming Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the forty-day period that comes before Easter. The number 40 is very important in the Bible. It is one of those symbolic numbers that does not necessarily refer to an actual numeric value between 39 and 41. But instead, whenever we see the number forty in the Bible, it is the Bible’s way of noting the completion of God’s purposes. For example, When Noah went into the ark it rained for forty days and nights—in other words, it rained long enough to complete the purpose for which God sent the rain. The Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years before entering the promised land of Canaan—in other words, they were in the desert long enough for God to accomplish his purpose for being in the wilderness. When Jesus was baptized and began his earthly ministry, the first thing he did was go into the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days. It is the gospels’ way of telling us that Jesus takes upon himself and sort of lives out the entire narrative history of God’s people on their behalf. It is the time in which he is preparing to complete the purpose for which the Father has sent him.

the number 40 - time for God to complete his purposes

So then, this forty-day period of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday is loaded with symbolic meaning for us as well. It is a time when we dedicate ourselves for God to complete his purposes within us. It is a time of reflection and repentance and renewal leading up to Easter; and we dedicate forty days to this time as our way of declaring that God would complete his purposes for our repentance and renewal.

This year for Lent, we are going to be tracking this forty-day journey using the Psalms of Ascent as our guide. Today I want to prepare us for those readings by looking at two of the themes that come from Psalm 84 and set the stage for how we will be viewing the Psalms of Ascent.

Psalm 84 NIV

For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. 1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young— a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. 9 Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one. 10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 Lord Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

Pilgrimage

Psalm 84 - main point is in the center (verses 5-7)

Let’s spend just a few minutes looking at the way this Psalm is put together. That will help us pull out the two themes which will carry us forward into the Psalms of Ascent over the coming forty days. Notice how Psalm 84 begins and ends with the same title for God, LORD Almighty. This sort of bookend framing helps us identify a literary technique that is common in the Bible in which the writers mirror—or reflect—points around some kind of center idea or theme. In this case, Psalm 84 has twelve verses, so the center theme is placed somewhere around verse six. In fact, verses five through seven form a center stanza and the rest of the poem revolves around this center point. So then, we begin with that center point and work our way outward. The theme introduced at this pivotal center stanza in verses five through seven is all about pilgrimage.

pilgrimage = religious journey

A pilgrimage is a religious journey. We do not use the idea much anymore. In our own American history around Thanksgiving in November we remember the story of the pilgrims who left Europe and settled in Plymouth. That’s not what we are talking about here; Psalm 84 means something a little bit different when it talks about pilgrimage. The Hebrew word mesillah means highway or main road; in some contexts can also mean lift upward. The idea of pilgrimage, then, pictures a way that is marked out and set before the people in order to make an upward journey.

symbolic of life-long upward journey of inner soul

The Old Testament people of Israel in the time of this Psalm would have had three such occasions each year. There were three main festival celebrations in Jerusalem every year for which many Israelite people would come to the city. Jerusalem was built on Mount Zion, one of the highest locations in Judah. This means that the main roads leading to Jerusalem all went upward. These festival celebrations in Jerusalem became a pilgrimage for those who traveled from the outlying areas of Israel to attend the feasts. On the one hand, it was a literal physical journey along the marked roadways that led up the mountain to the temple in Jerusalem. But in a far more symbolic and meaningful way, the pilgrimage also represented the inward journey of the soul on the way marked out by God to climb closer to the place where he dwelled. The pilgrim journey which played itself out over and over again in the annual traditions of the Israelite festivals became a reminder to the people of the life-long journey of the soul upward to the place where God dwells.

path that is intended to bring us closer to God

In some ways we are not so different. Every year we commemorate and celebrate the major occasions in the life of the Christian church. We journey through Advent every December to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. And starting this Wednesday we begin the journey of Lent the remember and celebrate our salvation which Jesus accomplishes on the cross of Good Friday and the resurrection of Easter. We relive these stories every year in the church. Even though we do not make a literal physical journey to some holy site, we do follow the tradition of pilgrimage in commemorating these events as something in which our inner souls journey closer to God. Although, we certainly could make the argument that in the Christian religion, it is God who journeys closer to us.

not a linear journey; has its ups and downs

passes through valleys - moments of struggle

from strength to strength - finds moments of refreshing

Either way, it is our annual reliving of the Christian story that marks out for us something of the life-long journey of the new life we have in Christ which day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year sanctifies us to become the people God has called us to be. Psalm 84 reminds us that this life-long journey is one which passes through valleys of tears (that’s what valley of Baka means). And it is a journey which goes from strength to strength; meaning, God renews and refreshes us along the way.

Presence

Psalm 84 - verses surrounding center: longing to be near to God

goal of pilgrimage is to be closer to God

Now let’s back out a bit from the center of Psalm 84 and look at the theme of the surrounding verses that begin and end the Psalm. The writer of Psalm 84 is very much focused on the goal of his pilgrimage being the dwelling place of God, the house of God. The writer speaks with passionate longing for the place where God resides. The house of God they are referring to here is the temple in Jerusalem. We should remember that this Psalm was written before the events of Acts chapter two in which the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles at Pentecost. You and I live in an age of the church in which the Spirit of God resides within the people of the church. The presence of God is something that is always near because the New Testament declares that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is why we do not refer to the church as a place. This building is not the church. It is the people who gather here who are the church.

OT - presence of God was nearest at the temple

However, the Old Testament Hebrew world of Psalm 84 was a different time. In their time, the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out upon the church. In their time, Jesus had not yet come into the world as one of us. In that time, the presence of God was still followed as it was in the days of Moses with the tabernacle. In Exodus we read about the way in which God’s presence came descended upon Mount Sinai when the law was given to Moses. And then the Israelites built the tabernacle—their portable tent temple. And the presence of God moved from the mountaintop of Sinai to the Tabernacle. And for the forty years in the wilderness, the presence of God moved around with the tabernacle. In the days of king Solomon when the temple was built in Jerusalem, the presence of God moved to the temple and then stayed there. This was the place where God was most present among his people. The temple is the place in which God’s people could be nearest to him. In the world of Old Testament Israel and Psalm 84, the presence of God was tangible. It was an actual place in which the presence of God was made known in the cloud and pillar of fire that would descend and hover upon the tabernacle in the time of Moses. It was tangible in the physical activities which took place in the temple at the alter in the courtyards and in the meaningful items placed inside with the ark of the covenant. Those items in the ark of the covenant were singularly unique and could not be replicated in other places. This temple was the one place on earth where God was most present among his people.

plea: sun and shield - light for the path and protection from harm

The pilgrimage to Jerusalem, then, was more than festival celebration. It was more than a worship service or a religious gathering. It was a journey which literally and physically brought people closer to the actual presence of God among them. That was always the real purpose; that was the goal. These pilgrim journeys were always about the purpose of coming closer to God. Because look what the presence of God meant for them: guidance and protection. The psalmist writes that the blessing of the LORD is the sun and a shield. The sun which gives light to guide and expose those who attack. And a shield which keeps the arrows and swords of the enemy from striking. The presence of God is guidance and protection. It is no wonder that the poet longs to be like one of the birds who make nests right in the temple court areas and have their shelter right there within sight of the alter of God.

NT - presence of God is nearest in the Holy Spirit (Pentecost: Acts 2)

The presence of God means something a little different to us today as followers of Jesus. It is not that we can physically travel to some place on earth where we are somehow literally closer to the Almighty now that the Holy Spirit of God has taken residence in our hearts. For us, the presence of God is more about posture than place. It is more about an awareness of God’s presence which impacts the way in which we live than it is about physically getting somewhere. I think we know that. Just sitting here inside this room today is not all by itself something that makes you closer to God. But the worship offered from your heart to God—here in this place, or anywhere—is what awakens an awareness of the Holy Spirit residing within. Jesus put it this way when he was having a chat with the Samaritan woman by the well.

John 4:20–23 NIV

20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

my spiritual pilgrimage - moments of worship where I become more aware of God in my life

the WORD and the SPIRIT given to me always lead me to the cross of Jesus

But look at what Psalm 84 is telling us today about this worship Jesus is pointing towards. The worship we offer to God in the Spirit has a purpose. It is not just to learn something new about God or the Bible; it is not just to fulfil some kind of duty and cross it off a list of religious activity. No. Our combined worship collected together week-after-week marks out for us a sort of spiritual pilgrimage. We gather and do this because God uses these times to open our eyes so that we may see his Spirit moving and dwelling among us more clearly. The invitation that Jesus gives is an invitation that comes to us yet today to dwell richly in the presence of the Almighty. His Word and his Spirit are given for you. Take this journey with us over the next forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Discover (or rediscover) your connection to Jesus at the cross where the guilt of all your sin and failures are taken; and reignite once again the everlasting power of Christ’s resurrection at Easter which continually brings new life and new hope to those God calls close to his heart.