01 January 2014
Genesis 1; 2
Psalms 1; 2
Matthew 1; 2
"BLESSED ARE ALL WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM"
"Blessed" is not a word we use very much these days, it is not 'cool' to use it. One of the intriguing things about the book of Revelation is that the word "Blessed" (as with one or two other words, e.g. patience) occurs just 7 times. Seven is known as the complete number.
Now as we start to read the wonderful book of Psalms to begin the New Year the First Psalm beginnings with that word. The "blessed" person is one who delights "in the law (margin: instruction) of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night."
We can say such a person has healthy food for thought, and one takes in small meals better than large ones! Such a person "walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers" [Psalm 1:1] Notice the progression of action! First he is walking on a path that tempts him to stop and stand, which in turn leads him to sit! It was not a pathway towards God's blessings. The Psalm ends with the observation, "for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
Then we come to the remarkable Psalm 2, quoted so much in the New Testament as a Bible with centre column cross references shows - and we sense this ourselves the more we read the Bible, God's words start to circulate in our thoughts like blood circulates in our bodies.
Psalm 2 is specially, a prophetic picture of times of trouble and the ultimate work of God, we saw verse 9 quoted in Revelation. The Psalm ends by using that word BLESSED again - "Blessed are all who take refuge in him." The time is coming when that will be vital.
Genesis 1; 2
Psalms 1; 2
Matthew 1; 2
"BLESSED ARE ALL WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM"
"Blessed" is not a word we use very much these days, it is not 'cool' to use it. One of the intriguing things about the book of Revelation is that the word "Blessed" (as with one or two other words, e.g. patience) occurs just 7 times. Seven is known as the complete number.
Now as we start to read the wonderful book of Psalms to begin the New Year the First Psalm beginnings with that word. The "blessed" person is one who delights "in the law (margin: instruction) of the LORD and on his law he meditates day and night."
We can say such a person has healthy food for thought, and one takes in small meals better than large ones! Such a person "walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers" [Psalm 1:1] Notice the progression of action! First he is walking on a path that tempts him to stop and stand, which in turn leads him to sit! It was not a pathway towards God's blessings. The Psalm ends with the observation, "for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
Then we come to the remarkable Psalm 2, quoted so much in the New Testament as a Bible with centre column cross references shows - and we sense this ourselves the more we read the Bible, God's words start to circulate in our thoughts like blood circulates in our bodies.
Psalm 2 is specially, a prophetic picture of times of trouble and the ultimate work of God, we saw verse 9 quoted in Revelation. The Psalm ends by using that word BLESSED again - "Blessed are all who take refuge in him." The time is coming when that will be vital.
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