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A couple of weeks ago I met with my longtime friend and mentor Bill Krayer and during our exchange he shared one of the most profound Truth with me from the Hallel psalms. He's been going through most of these particular psalms during the lent period and one of the most poignant truth he shared with me came from psalms 115 &118. The thing that struck me the most was their implications during Jesus's ministry especially when He cleared the temple , an event that was recorded in the gospels. I will invite you to watch this presentation in its entirety to get better understanding of the significance of these Psalms next time you read them.
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hello guys on this Easter Eve here and I'm here with my mentor friend for more
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than 10 years bill cray he's also a teacher at Montgomery College and he teaches um meteorology if
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I'm not mistaken I'm saying that right so um he and I have been friends for a long time and he's really helped me in
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my walk with Christ and if I'm here today part of the reason why is because of bill and and in other people that I
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didn't mention on the screen of course but he is one of my main reasons why because he met with me for more than
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four years we met together twice a week sometimes more than that and I called
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him every time I had a question when he came to understanding scriptures now a
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couple of weeks ago we met at Dunkin donut and during our conversation he
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shared um psalm 115 and 118th with me and what he
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said out of it is what really struck me because I felt like in this day and age now sometimes when we read scriptures we
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don't fully understand why certain things happen and in this instance um
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the psalm that he read to me basically had to do with jesus clearing up the temple because he was he became angry
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because of what was taking place in there they were merchants that were selling stuff in some portion of the
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temple and then when Bill shared why this was so important to Jesus it really
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gave me more understanding of why we're so upset with what was taking place and I'm not sure if I explained everything
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right but I want bill to kind of explain exactly what he said to me a couple of
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weeks ago because I felt like everybody need to hear this because it's important so bill your honor
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okay well thank you tell you I appreciate your intro just a little bit
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of background in the last two or three years during the during the season that
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we call Lent which you know I was growing up I really didn't do much of
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any commemorating Lent that wasn't in my tradition but recently what I've been
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doing in my own devotional time with the Lord is taking the Psalms 115 through one no 113
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through 118 collectively those psalms are called the challah or sometimes
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called the egyptian Hallel I was doing some reading on what the what the how L
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was all about we don't know exactly when
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those Psalms are written you know sometimes you hear that every Psalm was
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written by David but that's not true there were a lot of songs that were written after David and these songs
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probably were written quite a ways after in fact they could have been written as
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as late as the time when when Israel was
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carried away into Babylon and then they came back and they rebuilt the temple
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according to the command of God and and
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so the temple once again became the centerpiece of worship in Jewish culture
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and Jewish life and so so these Psalms became connected with the Passover
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season we're not sure if they were written for the Passover season but at
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some point they were connected with Passover so that by the time of Jesus by
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the time Jesus came along during his lifetime it was common practice for
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families to get together for Passover for the Passover Seder and they would
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sing these songs or chant these Psalms during that Passover time maybe even
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during the meal they were they would
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sing these songs and were pretty sure that Jesus and His
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disciples practiced this and the reason why we're sure is in Matthew and I think
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is chapter 21 verse 30 just after Jesus
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commemorated the Passover with his disciples and Judas had gone away to to
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betray Jesus on the on the very night before Jesus was crucified matthew
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reports the fact he said at the end when they had sung hymn they went out to the
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Mount of Olives we don't know for sure if that hymn was one of these Psalms
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whether it was psalm 118 which is very possible that was the last one of the
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series 113 - 118 but we suspect and not
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just me but a lot of commentators say that the that these were the Psalms that
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Jesus and His disciples saying and that's really really special to me and
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so well I've done during my own quiet time is I have gone very slowly through
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these Psalms and the first thing I ask myself is ah what did these Psalms mean
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to the people who first heard them and that could be before or after the Exile
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but it was certainly hundreds of years
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before Jesus came along the second question I've been challenged to ask is
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what did these Psalms mean to Jesus and
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to his disciples if in fact they sang them at
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the Passover what did that mean what did they mean and then finally I was
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challenged to ask the question what do these songs mean to me personally and so
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that's the way I've approached that I go very very slowly through them and this is probably the third time this year
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that I have gone through the gone
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through these these things Psalms during the forty days of Lent and it's been a
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very fulfilling experience so what I want to do is share my my my screen and
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show you first psalm a part of psalm 115
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mm-hm and then we will go we're not going to read all these songs and then
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we'll go to a part of psalm 118 and then we're going to ask the questions what
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did this mean to the people who first heard them what did this mean to Jesus
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and His disciples assuming they they sang these songs during the Last Supper
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and what what does it mean to us today so let me share my screen here and so um
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okay and let's go to psalm 115 can you
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see it type just like a thief okay so we're going to begin with verse 9
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it's right here at the top o Israel trust in the Lord he is their help and
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their shield o house of Aaron trust in the Lord is their help and their shield you who
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fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield the Lord has
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remembered us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the
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house of Aaron he will bless those who fear the Lord both the small and the
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great and so that's where I'm going to finish just those verses starting with 9
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and going through 13 and as I read these verses if you notice 9 through 11 the
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first part of each verse is a command and the first command is oh israel trust
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in the lord ah it's it's in the imperative you trust
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in the lord but then the second part of the verse is he is their help and their
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shield then o house of Aaron trust in the Lord
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well the house of Aaron were the priests they were the priests who were standing
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and serving at the altar and then you have that same phrase he is their help
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and their shield and then you have this group you who fear the Lord trust in the
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Lord and then he is their help and their shield and so I looked at this and I
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said this is rather strange language you
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look at the first phrase in each verse and it's you and the second phrase is
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they it's there so the the psalmist is
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changing on is changing the person from
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second person plural to third person
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plural and that's not done I mean I
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don't understand why that would be done I looked it up and in the original
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language and it sure is this way it's not a mistake it's the way it is and I
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looked at some [Music] some commentators and read them and and
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I wasn't sure that they understood either why this would be the case and
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why there was there was so much repetitiveness in these verses uh not
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only do you have the repeating phrase he is their help and their shield in verses
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9 to 11 but then you have in 12 and 13 he will bless he will bless he will
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bless he will bless and so so that that
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kind of puzzled me now I'm going to scroll down and I'm going down to psalm
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118 and this adds to the intrigue okay
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starting with verse 1 oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his
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steadfast love endures forever let Israel say his steadfast love endures
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forever let the house of Aaron say his steadfast love endures forever
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let those who fear the Lord stay is steadfast love endures forever oh do you
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see the similarity this Israel house of Aaron those who fear the Lord and then
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the phrase is steadfast love endures forever over and over and over again so
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let's go back to the regular screen here
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and I'll turn off the stars stop sharing and we'll be ok you see me yes well okay
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so so the so I thought about this and I
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think that it goes back the fact that some of the Psalms are
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very very personal and individual the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he
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makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside still waters you see
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that's very personal that's very personal anything he David out in the field playing his heart for his lyre and
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he is singing maybe to himself singing
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to the Lord but it's just him and God very personal but I think these Howell
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Psalms are not at all personal they they are community songs they never were
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meant to be sung as solos they were meant to be sung in community but don't
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think of this as the way we normally sing songs in church what what is it the
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way we sing songs in church we you know there's a there's a worship team up front and there's they lead us they sing
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the same thing we do they we look at the words we sing along with them and we say
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that we are singing to an audience of one we're singing to God and you've
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heard that right to iiep you've heard singing to an audience of one and I have
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for years thought that's right we're singing to an audience of one and yet is
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right okay I'll I'll grant you it is right we are singing to the Lord when
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we're together in church and we are singing worship songs we are singing to
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the Lord but it's not the whole picture the whole picture is I think the Lord
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wants us to be singing to each other yes and so I went back and looked at those
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verses Oh Israel trust in the Lord
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I think there was at the front at the temple now please picture this okay this
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is where I have to do some hand waving because I don't have a picture of the temple grounds and what this looked at
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but again what did this mean to the people who first heard it this is what we're asking me so they had come up from
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all over to to celebrate Passover and they were gathered on the temple grounds
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now when we say temple we think of the holy place and the Holy of Holies but
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that's not that's just part of it that's just the center but around it there were
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places where people came to worship they couldn't go into the the the actual
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temple so there were places where people worshiped and the priests and the
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Levites came out to lead the worship and the Jewish people stood in the court the
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temple court but you had to be Jewish understanding and to worship then behind
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that court there was a there was a low wall that extended across and outside
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that wall was called the court of the Gentiles and this was the place where
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Gentiles that is non-jewish people like
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me I'm not Jewish uh if I believed God if I had come to fear God I came and I
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worshiped at the temple and sometime we
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don't know how long before Jesus came along but these people began to be called
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god-fearers that's what they were called they were god-fearers and whenever you
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talked about god-fearers you man Gentiles non-jews who were who were
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coming to worship God and they were believers they had received the gift of
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God's presence into their life but they couldn't go inside that temple court
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they had to stay out in the court of the Gentiles in fact one cut one commentary
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I read just this morning said that there was a sign on the gate leading into
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where the Jews went that said Gentiles
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you have only yourself to blame for your own death if you go through this gate a
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not very severe that's serious yes that is serious stuff so the Jews and the
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Gentiles were separated the Gentiles could come you can worship but your back
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your your your back and look in the peanut gallery you know you're not going to be up here in the orchestra section
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where you can hear everything has going on where you're close to the priests you
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can't get there and so so the way I hear
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these Psalms ty eid is i hear them sung responsively so there's a worship leader
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up front that says o israel trust in the lord and then the congregation comes
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back says he is their help and their shield that included the gentiles they
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would come and they would they would say he is their help and their shield
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acknowledging he is the helper for the Jews and their shield and then all those
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sons of Aaron trust in the Lord and then the congregation would say to
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all the priests up front he is there help in their shield so there's a
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responsiveness mm-hmm you who fear the Lord trust in the Lord so now what I
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picture is and this is I don't know whether this really happened but it would be cool if it did is that all the
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Jewish people turned around and faced the outside all the people on the other
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side of the wall and says you who fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their
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help and their shield and the same thing
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with psalm 118 is you know is his
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steadfast love endures forever o that
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Israel say and then you hear Israel all the Jews saying is steadfast love
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endures forever what the son of sons of Aaron say and
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then you hear all the priests lined up in front saying his steadfast love
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endures forever and let those who fear the Lord say and then all the people
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from the other side of the wall saying his steadfast love endures forever you get what I'm saying
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yes we don't stink like work today no we
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don't but there's evidence that even
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maybe the early church sang this way on
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even up to maybe three four hundred years ago in in in a worship service
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this is the way we say this is the way Christians sang in a worship service
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they sang responsively now I do remember as I grew up in the church I grew up in
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we had every week a psalm that we read responsibly
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it was and the way it was done was the pastor read verse 1 and we read verse 2
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the pastor read verse 3 we read verse 4
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that's as close as I've been to this kind of worship music mmm responsive
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right that that's that gives you you know a background what did this mean to
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the people who first started mmm now how
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about how about Jesus Jesus and His disciples simple said so Jesus let's
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take let's go back to Palm Sunday an appropriate day here we are it's Palm
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Sunday today night and Palm Sunday and Jesus comes in on an honor donkey and he
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accepts the worship of the people and and he goes up to Jerusalem and and the
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Gospel of Luke tells us that he weeps over the city and and then if you if you
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put the Gospel accounts together mark says that on the next day so that would
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be Monday he went into the temple with
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the wind and started to clean house cracking whip turning over tables and
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generally being very angry and all the people who were selling and and are the
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money changers and the merchants and so we have that story it happened the next
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day and the disciples saw this they saw what was happening so what so so what
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you know what did this mean Jesus
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and his disciples I am sure we're getting ready for Passover Passover was
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coming now the disciples thought okay this was going to be the next Passover they didn't quite grasp yet that this is
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going to be the Last Supper with their Savior that their Savior is going to go
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to the cross within a week and so and so
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Jesus thinking about psalm 115 and about
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how it is son remember responsively and thinking about psalm 118 and how it's
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sung in the temple grounds and how people were coming that very day they
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were coming from all over and they were going to sing those songs again on the
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temple grounds except for one problem
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the problem was the merchants and the
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money changers had set up shop in the court of the Gentiles they had displaced
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the Gentiles from their place there was no place for the Gentiles to stand and
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to worship and so everybody else was
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getting ready for Passover thinking about the words to the song and being
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very happy but the more Jesus thought
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about it the angrier he got he until it
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finally boiled over and he took that whip and he got rid of those guys and he
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drove them away and I think I forget whether it's mark or Matthew that says
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he says you know get all these people away
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my house shall be a house of prayer for all nations so what was what was getting
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under his skin was the fact that that
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the Gentiles had no room they had no way to join in those songs they had no way
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to join in the blessing and he just lost
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it he just he you know you know and and
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the disciples remembered when they saw him losing it they remembered that the
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prophecy of the Old Testament said zeal or my for my father's house has consumed
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me and so it wasn't just the temple and
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is in the holy place but it was the temple grounds that he was so zealous
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about I sure yeah so what does this mean
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to me you know personally I have to
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examine my heart and see if I have if I
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have allowed anything to come in that stands in the way of other people being
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blessed by God and worship mmm I've got to examine my own heart we as a church
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have to examine our hearts to see if we
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are doing anything that excludes that
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puts people out that that that puts up a
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barrier Ephesians 2 Paul carries this
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theme in Ephesians 2 let me see can I yeah
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back and get that passage yes come on do this I'm gonna go and hang on mm-hmm I'm
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gonna change to Ephesians 2 okay is this
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coming across this okay go on okay let's let's start with verse
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11 the Ephesians 2 verse 11 therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles
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in the flesh now Paul is talking to the church in Ephesus primarily Gentiles
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called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in
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the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ
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alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of
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promise having no hope and without God in the world I'm gonna stop there
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because because what the what Israel had allowed at the time of Jesus with all
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the money changers and all the merchants just made that all the more obvious then
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that they had no hope and they were without God yes but now in Christ Jesus
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you who once were far off and I always
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thought that meant okay far off in another continent or around the world or whatever but it means far off from the
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altar in are off from the temple far off
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Oh on the other side of the fence other side of the wall you who were once
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far-off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our
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peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing
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wall of hostility mm-hmm all right any
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wall that has a sign on it that says you have only yourself to blame for your
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death if you cross through this gate that's a that is a dividing wall of
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hostility agreed yes totally and so Paul
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is thinking of the temple grounds here that Jesus divided he took out that
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dividing wall mm-hmm and so there is no dividing wall anymore by abolishing the
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law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two
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so making peace and might reconcile us
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both to God in one body through the
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cross thereby killing the hostility yes
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when he came and preached peace to you who were far off other side of the wall
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and peace to those who were near for
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through him we both have access in one spirit to the Father so then you are no
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longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God
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don't on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being
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the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together growth
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and here's the key this makes sense right grows into a holy temple in the
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Lord in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God
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by the spirit and so here we go back to
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where we are now so all this ties it
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together that today there is no there is
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no separation there's no dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles
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the people of God whether they are Jews or Gentiles whether they are men or
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women whether they are white or black or
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Asian or African or latin-american they
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are all one in Christ I think what am i doing that might be entering that and
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how can I more effectively in my own
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worship in my in the way in the way I help to organize worship in my church
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and how can I make make this more accessible for everybody so that's it
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tight that was excellent you know I'd forgotten pieces of that so
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I'm glad we have it on recording because now I can go back and watch it you know whenever I need to be built up myself
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thanks a lot before this presentation and I hope that wherever is watching it
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really enjoys and not just enjoys it but I actually take this to heart and a lot of Holy Spirit of God Himself to to talk
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to you and if there are areas in your life where you need change then confess it and he say he's faithful and he will
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wash you clean and he will give you a new spirit so that you can worship Him so I hope you you really take time to
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study the Psalms if you can you know because this is what we need to do as us people of God really study his word and
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be like thank you again for for this this was good and and it just makes more so much more
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sense when you read the stories in the New Testament and then you you can go back and half there the historical
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aspect of it then you know you understand why certain things took place this was good oh praise God thank you
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