Psalms of Ascents – Psalm 132
Nov 04 in Steps of Ascent
“Until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob…. let us go into His dwelling place, let us worship at His footstool.”
There are so many threads we can follow through the Bible, on my study during lent I found I followed the blood line, the scarlet thread which weaves its way right from the first animal that was sacrificed for making a covering for Adam and Eve after the fall, to the blood of Jesus on the cross, His blood illustrated in the Passover. His covering of us and our sin to bring us back to HIM. A second thread pops up here in this Psalm, the temple, God’s dwelling place. As I delve in I find there is so much to sink my teeth into I could spend a lifetime unravelling and digging out every hidden gem.
In the beginning God walked in the garden with Adam, talked with him…slowly the relationship between God and man is severed and so in the wilderness we find Him giving Moses the blueprint to the tabernacle, a picture of a process necessary for man to journey through in order to have communion restored again with Him.
The tent or tabernacle consisted of three areas. In the Outer Court the lamb was sacrificed (a life for a life) the blood of the lamb washed man clean of his sin, in the Holy Place we find the bread and the lampstand, how many times did Jesus say, ‘I am the bread’ ‘I am the light’ ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’? we also find the altar of incense (always symbolic of prayer) through Jesus we are reconciled to the Father. He made a way that we may enter boldly before the throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16) into the Holy of Holies, the third part of the Temple, where God dwells.
The temple was built by David’s son Solomon, destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and later rebuilt under Zerubbabel’s leadership, until it is destroyed again by the Romans in 70 AD. However, as Jesus fulfilled every requirement of the temple, it is then that the temple becomes a living temple where God dwells in us and His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) leads us back to having a relationship with God the Father like Adam had in the very beginning. 1 Corinthians 3.
Full circle
It is said of David, that he had a heart after God’s heart. He longed to dwell in God’s presence, to hear Him, to be with Him. It is only when you are in that place that you know joy, that you are surrounded by love, that you feel whole, know peace, that you truly see.
There is a process, of acknowledging Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, of accepting His covering knowing that nothing we could ever do would fulfill the requirement of sin and death no matter how good our intentions or how hard we work to achieve it. As we relinquish all to Him, He makes a way back to the Father’s arms and comes and dwells in our heart bringing with him: (v.14) rest (v.15) blessing and provision (v.16) clothes us with salvation (our heart brims with a new song) joy (v.17) a place of belonging. He gives us a future and light for the way ahead, He covers our past. He takes us from a place of emptiness ‘Lo Debar’ to a place of plenty where restored, accepted and cleaned up, in a new suit, we are invited to sit at the King’s table and partake. Like the story of the prodigal son: ‘So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’
And they began to celebrate.