SPEAKER_00: So if you just read Psalm 134, you noticed one thing right away.
SPEAKER_00: It's short.
SPEAKER_00: The Greeks were known for memorizing massive, massive poems.
SPEAKER_00: The Aeneid, which is 10,000 lines of poetry.
SPEAKER_00: It was almost a rite of passage for any Greek gentleman, although they did not use the word gentleman, but for any Greek man of dignity to have memorized most, if not all, of the Aeneid.
SPEAKER_00: 10,000 lines.
SPEAKER_00: It was typical for both Greeks and Romans to memorize Homer.
SPEAKER_00: And they would judge themselves, not based on the number of lines of Homer they knew, but they would turn hourglasses as they recited Homer from memory.
SPEAKER_00: In a contest, this was something they did at parties.
SPEAKER_00: We play catchphrase.
SPEAKER_00: They recite Homer for hours on end.
SPEAKER_00: In the early church, Augustine required new converts to Christianity to memorize a selection of scripture that he had given them.
SPEAKER_00: It was roughly 800 texts.
SPEAKER_00: Reading that selection of scripture today would take about four hours.
SPEAKER_00: The longest section being Matthew 5 through 7.
SPEAKER_00: That was his requirement for baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Four hours of scripture memory.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews, and I tell you all that just so you can start to engage with the world that the Jews were in that had the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we look down on that world, or we maybe don't think those people were dumber than we are.
SPEAKER_00: Just because they don't have iPhones doesn't mean they were dumber than we are.
SPEAKER_00: Probably the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: It was typical for a Jewish person to have the book of Psalms memorized.
SPEAKER_00: The whole book.
SPEAKER_00: They would have the law read to them and they would say amen as it was being read.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't memorize all of Proverbs, although they memorized many of them.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't memorize, of course, Jeremiah or Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: They were familiar with them, but psalms they memorized.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't just a scattershot approach of 150 Psalms either.
SPEAKER_00: Many of the Psalms had specific occasions.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're sitting there thinking there's no way somebody can memorize 150 songs, I bet your teenagers have 150 songs memorized.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you put it to music and you memorize it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what they did with the whole book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Now there are 15 of these Psalms that are different than the others.
SPEAKER_00: And these are the Psalms of Ascent.
SPEAKER_00: These were Psalms that they would read on the journey to Jerusalem, and they end with Psalm 134 that we just read now.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 134 is definitely a song for the end of the journey.
SPEAKER_00: It's a song that they had memorized, and unlike the other Psalms of Ascent, they didn't sing this one on their whole journey.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews were scattered all around the world, and they would make pilgrimages back to Jerusalem once a year or three times a year, depending on where they lived.
SPEAKER_00: Some people who lived far away.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the Jews had scattered as far away as, you know, from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them scattered as far away as modern-day Rwanda.
SPEAKER_00: They went over all of North Africa.
SPEAKER_00: They went through Persia and Assyria, modern day Iraq.
SPEAKER_00: They were, some of them were taken by Alexander the Great, back up to Greece and Italy.
SPEAKER_00: Those people might once in a lifetime dream of making the journey to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But as you start to move in closer, the Jews from Egypt would go, some of them would go up to three times a year making this journey.
SPEAKER_00: And the Psalms of Ascent are the songs that they sang on their journey to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, they're road trip songs sung from the back of the camel.
SPEAKER_00: And they would sing them over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Once getting to Jerusalem, the entrance to the temple itself had 14 steps, and they would sing one of these on each step.
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't true through all time, but there was a probably a hundred-year period of history where this was a normal thing.
SPEAKER_00: You would sing one on every step with your family.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine joining hands.
SPEAKER_00: It would be like coming to church, and you park the car and you sing one Christmas song at the car.
SPEAKER_00: One Christmas song in the entranceway, one Christmas song in the hallway, one Christmas song as you take your seat.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's different than the way we do it, but it's not that hard to imagine.
SPEAKER_00: The families holding hands on the steps and singing one song on every step all the way up to the top.
SPEAKER_00: But you'll notice I said there were 15 songs of ascent, only 14 steps.
SPEAKER_00: This last song was saved for the end.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't sing it on the journey, they sung it at the end.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't even at the top step.
SPEAKER_00: This last song they waited until they made it into the temple court.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the men would even get to go into the inner court.
SPEAKER_00: Not of course the Holy of Holies, but into the inside there on these festivals.
SPEAKER_00: And this song was saved for the last step of the journey.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice as we read it, it's not addressed to God like many of the other psalms are.
SPEAKER_00: It's addressed to each other.
SPEAKER_00: It's a song you look at your family, and then you look at the priests who were there.
SPEAKER_00: It's an imitation if you look at verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Come bless Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: It's you telling talking to your kids, and it's you talking to the priest.
SPEAKER_00: You have journeyed far.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, some people come from Bethlehem, that's only a few miles away.
SPEAKER_00: Others come from Galilee, that would take a couple days.
SPEAKER_00: Some come from Damascus, that would take a week or two.
SPEAKER_00: And you finally get to the temple and you look at the priest who did not go on a journey.
SPEAKER_00: They're parked there.
SPEAKER_00: They're on duty that afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: This is their job.
SPEAKER_00: This is where they live.
SPEAKER_00: And you look at them and you greet them with come, bless Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, who stand by night in the house of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: It's a joy for meeting them.
SPEAKER_00: This is obviously the shortest of these Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: It's the last of these Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have any prayer requests in it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not really even a prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And it's reciprocal.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice at the end that the priests talk back.
SPEAKER_00: May Yahweh bless you from heaven, the priests say.
SPEAKER_00: May he who made heaven and earth bless you.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, it's kind of an unfortunately named song.
SPEAKER_00: It's a psalm of ascent that's sung when the ascent is over.
SPEAKER_00: It's a song for the steps that's sung without steps.
SPEAKER_00: It's a song for the journey, only to be sung when the journey is completed.
SPEAKER_00: It's a song to be sung, it says in verse 3, in Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem, at the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Why did they journey to Zion?
SPEAKER_00: Why was Zion the destination of the journey?
SPEAKER_00: Zion matters because it's the place where God said he would meet with his people.
SPEAKER_00: He made that promise first to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember, initially there were not nations in the world.
SPEAKER_00: They're just people.
SPEAKER_00: And the people sinned and fought, and it was blood-filled.
SPEAKER_00: The blood ran through the streets, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: Murderers remained unpunished.
SPEAKER_00: There was no capital punishment.
SPEAKER_00: It was anarchy.
SPEAKER_00: And God judged the earth and created nations.
SPEAKER_00: He created nations by confusing the people's languages.
SPEAKER_00: They scattered, they divided into nations to check evil.
SPEAKER_00: And God promised them that he would come to them and be their savior.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first question becomes what nation is he going to come to?
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't come to any of the nations that he made then.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he chooses a new person to make a new nation.
SPEAKER_00: And he promises Abraham, I'm going to make a nation out of you, Abraham, and I'll come to that nation.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, right away, Abraham begins to wander.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have any children.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, God gives him Isaac, and right away with Isaac, Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: And he takes Isaac on a journey for three days and hikes him up a mountain and ties into a stone and is going to sacrifice him.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, at that moment, a few things happened, none of which was Isaac being sacrificed.
SPEAKER_00: God stopped the sacrifice and said, I'm going to provide a substitute, a son.
SPEAKER_00: And that starts the pattern in the Bible that God will provide his own son.
SPEAKER_00: He will meet with his people and provide his own son as a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And the second thing that happens is there's a ram in the thicket.
SPEAKER_00: There's a ram caught in the weeds, and that becomes the substitute.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a son yet, but it marks the place.
SPEAKER_00: And that sacrifice, the sacrifice of the ram, the substitutionary ram, that was Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham walks back down and wanders for generations.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 tribes.
SPEAKER_00: And they end up in Egypt and they spend hundreds of years in Egypt and become a nation.
SPEAKER_00: And then God leads them out of Egypt and back to Israel and puts the 12 tribes in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the place they're going to dwell.
SPEAKER_00: And they go to war.
SPEAKER_00: But the 12 tribes fight each other and they are not unified.
SPEAKER_00: And they never dislodge the people that are living on Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: They never dislodge the Jebusites, which is why it's called Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They never defeat them.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been to Israel, you understand this that the nation is formed, the nation of Israel is formed around in the middle this bull, these hills, and in the middle of the hills is a bull, a descent, and in the middle of that is Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: And so you could see how people could camp out there.
SPEAKER_00: It is easier to conquer the country than it is Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And so finally, David is raised up by God.
SPEAKER_00: And David unites the 12 tribes and goes to war and conquers Jerusalem, drives the Jebusites out, and says, God, this is where you'll meet with us.
SPEAKER_00: It has to be where you'll meet with us.
SPEAKER_00: Right here, Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: And God tells Abraham, I mean, God tells David, yes and no.
SPEAKER_00: I will meet with you in Mount Zion, but not with you, David.
SPEAKER_00: It will be one of your sons.
SPEAKER_00: David, you're a man of bloodshed.
SPEAKER_00: You united the 12 tribes, you defeated your enemies, but you're a man of bloodshed.
SPEAKER_00: And so it will not be you, David, but one of your sons.
SPEAKER_00: I will meet with your people through one of your sons.
SPEAKER_00: One of your sons will be, will build a place for me to meet with your people.
SPEAKER_00: So David goes to his grave, not knowing what son and not knowing what God means.
SPEAKER_00: But Solomon, David's son, builds a temple right there on Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: David bought the land and died, and Solomon built the temple.
SPEAKER_00: God's spirit filled the temple and he met with his people generation after generation by his spirit dwelling in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't last forever.
SPEAKER_00: Israel sinned.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God left the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Israel left the promised land, scattered into exile.
SPEAKER_00: And then God destroyed the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Brick by brick.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing was left.
SPEAKER_00: He destroyed Israel, tribe by tribe.
SPEAKER_00: Again, some to Iraq, some to Iran, some to Lebanon, some to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They scattered.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing was left.
SPEAKER_00: A hundred years later, God started bringing them back.
SPEAKER_00: A few years after that, they started building a temple.
SPEAKER_00: They finally got the temple built.
SPEAKER_00: And do you remember what happened when they built it?
SPEAKER_00: They sat down and cried.
SPEAKER_00: They looked at it and cried.
SPEAKER_00: They said, This cannot be what God meant.
SPEAKER_00: This cannot be how God was going to meet with us.
SPEAKER_00: This they had heard all the songs.
SPEAKER_00: They had the psalms memorized.
SPEAKER_00: They had sung all the songs about the greatness of God meeting with them in the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And they look at this, the scaffolding thing that they built, and they just cried.
SPEAKER_00: God had promised he'd meet with his people in Zion, and after a thousand years of waiting and wandering, all they're left with is a journey.
SPEAKER_00: So every year they would make the journey.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they would do.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of them came back to rebuild the land.
SPEAKER_00: They were scattered by God.
SPEAKER_00: Many of them stayed where they were scattered for generation after generation after generation.
SPEAKER_00: But what they had was the journey.
SPEAKER_00: They interspersed with the nations, but they kept their language, they kept their calendar, they kept their laws, they kept their ceremonies, and they kept their journey year after year after year.
SPEAKER_00: And imagine how difficult this would be.
SPEAKER_00: Packing up your stuff, enough stuff for the journey.
SPEAKER_00: Food, leaving your job for a period of time, walking across the world.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole time you're singing these songs.
SPEAKER_00: Singing the songs of what it would look like to go and meet with God in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And you finally get there, and it becomes like a funnel where all the people are kind of funneled together there, and the Jews are meeting other Jews from other parts of the world.
SPEAKER_00: They don't even have the same skin tone at this point anymore.
SPEAKER_00: There's been so many generations there, they're married into the nations around them, not even in a compromising way, but people who converted to Judaism and the skin tones are all mixed, but they're wearing the same clothes and speaking the same language and singing the same songs.
SPEAKER_00: And they walk up the steps of the temple together, singing one after another after another.
SPEAKER_00: And they get to the top step and they sing this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: This was the promise of the meeting of God.
SPEAKER_00: I called them road trip songs.
SPEAKER_00: That almost cheapens them, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Think of how many times they sang this last song to the priest at the top.
SPEAKER_00: And the priest responds with, May Yahweh bless you from Zion.
SPEAKER_00: What a benediction.
SPEAKER_00: That's a future promise.
SPEAKER_00: He sees your journey, and he will bless you from this exact place, the priest is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he will.
SPEAKER_00: Countless times they'd sing these songs in their life.
SPEAKER_00: Year after year after year.
SPEAKER_00: Until that first Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the fulfillment of this song.
SPEAKER_00: That first Christmas, God comes to earth and takes on human flesh.
SPEAKER_00: He came from heaven to earth to meet with his people.
SPEAKER_00: He's born not as an angel, but as a human.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, they had to journey to come meet God.
SPEAKER_00: But once Christ comes to earth, the journey is over.
SPEAKER_00: We don't go on pilgrimages to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: I'll take groups of you there to go see things, but don't call it a pilgrimage, please.
SPEAKER_00: Like we're Turus.
SPEAKER_00: Now God meets with us where we are.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't meet us in his spirit initially, he meets us in his son, who sends his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't meet us in the temple in Jerusalem, he meets us in the temple, which is his church, as believers are built together.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't make us travel far, but he comes near.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I wanted to look at Psalm 134 on Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_00: It's the star on the Christmas tree.
SPEAKER_00: The cherry on the peppermint Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: It's God finally coming to meet with us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're so grateful that you came on that first Christmas from heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_00: You fulfilled the promises throughout human history that you've given.
SPEAKER_00: From the Garden of Eden to Abraham to David, all the way to Mount Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Thankful that Christ came as the king to born, to be born, to reign, ultimately to die for sinners, of course.
SPEAKER_00: To be resurrected from the grave and to save us from our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We don't look at priests anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, you've made us all priests.
SPEAKER_00: We don't journey to Jerusalem anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, you've brought, in that sense, your temple to us.
SPEAKER_00: You still sent us your spirit, but only after you've sent us your Son.
SPEAKER_00: He brings us near to you.
SPEAKER_00: We know that you bless us through faith in Him.
SPEAKER_00: We give you thanks in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, ibc.church.
SPEAKER_00: If you want more information about the Master Seminary or our location here in Washington, D.C., please go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're not a member of a local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, we'd love to have you worship with us here at Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: I hope to personally meet you this Sunday after our service.
SPEAKER_00: But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.
SPEAKER_00: Now may God bless you this week as you seek Jesus constantly, serve the Lord faithfully, and share the gospel boldly.