Saturday, May 5, 2012

A New View of The Book of Psalms

I have been taking a course on the Book of Psalms and have been given an entirely new outlook on this portion of scripture. My Bible reading program consists of reading through the Bible in order, alternating between the OT and the NT books.  Naturally, I have more favorite parts of scripture and less favorite portions, but I read everything so as to continue in the full counsel of God.  Each time I come to the book of Psalms, I tend to pay a little less attention than I would in say a book like Hebrews.

I am ashamed to admit that I have missed so much and I am excited to say that now I cannot get enough of the Psalms.  One of the points my professor brought out is that Jesus spent a great deal of time praying during His earthly ministry, the Psalms are what He prayed.  As I re-read this amazing book, I realize that my professor is right!  In fact, that insight is only the beginning of the things I am seeing in a new way.  What I never realized before was how prophetic the Psalms are. I always knew that they were prophetic pointing to the first coming of Israel's Messiah(who can deny that Psalm 22 is a perfect description of the crucifixion?) but now, I am seeing incredible prophecies pointing to the tribulation period, the ant-christ, the second coming of Christ, the battle of Armageddon and the 1000 year reign of Jesus in Jerusalem where He will redeem Israel unto Himself.

I have been studying the Bible almost my entire adult life and I feel as excited as I did when I first began understanding His word and discovering it's truths.  I encourage you to check out the Psalms and think about what is being said and what they may pertain to.  For instance, Psalms 10 - 14 seem to describe conditions on earth prior to the flood and what was going on in the heart of Noah.  Psalm 18 seems to describe Israel during the coming earthly reign of Messiah, especially check out vv. 43-50.

One of my favorite Psalms of all, 22, gives a graphic description of the death of Christ in vv. 1-18.  What I never noticed before, is that the rest of the Psalm seems to deal with the resurrection - vv. 19-24, the church - vv. 25-26,and the 1000 year reign of Christ - vv. 27-28.  Psalm 32 seems to deal with the church and   the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

I encourage you to check out the passages above and see if you agree.  I have only put a fraction of the exciting new insights I have gained from a part of scripture I have read and re-read numerous times.  I now view the Psalms in totally new light, I see it as a song book of praise for the nation of Israel, I see it as a sneak peek into the prayer life of our Lord, I see it as a book of comfort and encouragement for the tribulation saints(who I believe will be mostly Jewish) and a book of praise for the inhabitants of earth during the earthly reign of the King of Kings.

Check it out and feel free to share your insights.

Check back for a new blog coming soon dealing with an explanation to Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of Elohim and the sky proclaims His handiwork.   

Please feel free to comment and share your insights on any of my blogs, just click the word comments below.

Thanks for reading and God bless!