Prepare
Opening Prayer
Father, thank you for this day and for your Word. Bless and care for us as we read, and enable us to bless you. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 134
Praising the Lord In His House at Night
A Song of Ascents.
1 Behold, bless the Lord,
All you servants of the Lord,
Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,
And bless the Lord.
3 The Lord who made heaven and earth
Bless you from Zion!
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 134.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
As the Songs of Ascents conclude, the servants who remain at the Lord's house are called to keep blessing him through the night, while the pilgrims return home assured that the Lord who made heaven and earth continues to bless his people from Zion.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 134:3
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The Lord who made heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
The surviving transcript does not contain an explicit Best Verse answer. Verse 3 distills Bryan's emphasis that God's blessing does not end when the worshipers go home, because the Maker of heaven and earth continues to bless his people from Zion.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Bless and praise the Lord, and receive his blessing through Jesus Christ. Our heavenly high priest continually intercedes for his people, so fix your eyes on him and know that the Father smiles upon you for his sake.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Well, thanks for joining me this week. It's a busy VBS week, and I'm so glad you're here tonight. This is the last psalm of the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 134. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, why don't we go ahead and we'll pray and we'll read God's Word together. Father, we thank you for this day, and we thank you for your Word. We pray now that as we read it, you would bless us, that you would care for us, that we would bless you.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. Psalm 134, a song of ascents. Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
As this psalm series kind of wraps up, the psalms of ascent, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So, A, what is this about? First of all, It's about us blessing the Lord. But more than just that, this is, remember, these are Psalms of Ascent.
These are talking about the priests and the people at Zion in Jerusalem, specifically at the Tabernacle, or more likely here, the Temple, and as the Levites and as the priests are praising, blessing the Lord. they walk away going home knowing that God is going to, that they are going to continue to bless God, continue to praise God, even though the rest of the people are going home. And that the Lord's blessing doesn't end when they go home. Verse three, the Lord made, the Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion. God is going to continue to bless from Jerusalem his people, even though they have to go home.
And so, We know, we know that even though God is in his heavenly sanctuary now, we have a high priest who stands there continually, day and night, making intercession, praying for you and me, blessing the Father's name, and that you and I receive the blessings of God through the intermediary actions of Jesus Christ.
So what is this about? Bless the Lord, all you priests, and the Lord will bless us. Well, why don't we go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for the blessing it is to get to praise your name. We pray, Lord, that you would bless us, and we thank you for Jesus Christ, who always makes intercession for us as our high priest in heaven. We pray that we would fix our eyes on Him and know that You are smiling upon us for His sake. In Jesus' name, Amen. May the Lord bless you tonight. May you have a good night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.