How great is Your mercy Adonai. Rich in compassion. Overflowing with lovingkindness. When Judah walked in disobedience, just like her sister Israel, You brought upon her calamity and exiled her to Babylon. Yet like a caring husband, You said through Isaiah, Your servant, " 'I was angry for a moment and hid my face from you; but with everlasting grace I will have compassion on you,” says Adonai your Redeemer.' " You not only kept Your word and restored Judah to the land after the 70 years that You spoke of through Jeremiah but You also told of a day when Israel will be scattered no more; and how You will establish her in righteousness, far from oppression, with nothing to fear; far from ruin, for it will not come near her.
And just as the captives in Babylon rejoiced when they could return to the land and found it so extraordinary that they thought they were dreaming; in much the same way, a day is soon coming when all that You promised so long ago through the prophets concerning Israel, You will fulfill through Yeshua. How grateful I am that though in the past, as a Gentile, I was separated from the Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger to the covenants of promise; I now have been shown mercy and brought near by the blood of Yeshua and made a part of Thy body. For in that day when You fulfill Your promise to Israel, because I am now a part of that promise, I too will experience Your glorious restoration of all things at that time; and it may appear to me as though I am dreaming.
Song of Ascents comprises of a collection of 15 psalms from Psalm 120 to 134. While there are a number of suggestions as to what the phrase, “Song of Ascents” could mean, one thought is that these psalms were sung by Israel as they went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the three annual feasts that the Lord had commanded (Lev. 23; Ex. 23:14).
We have concluded the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread which started on the 15th day of the first month of the Biblical calendar (or on the evening of March 30, 2018). During this seven day feast, Israel went up to Jerusalem singing these Songs of Ascent. The next feast is Shavuot (or Pentecost) which is 50 days from First-fruits. (This year it falls on May 20, 2018.)
From the day of First-fruits, which was the day our Lord rose from the dead, we have now completed 43 days of counting up to the fifty days to Shavuot (Lev. 23:15-16), the next feast day of the Lord. This counting is also a good reminder of the fact that after our Lord Yeshua rose again, He revealed Himself to His disciples and many others for 40 days before pouring out the Holy Spirit upon them and clothing them with power from on high. Having now seen the Lord ascend into heaven the disciples tarried in Jerusalem just as He instructed them. The Feast of Weeks was only ten days away when all Israel was to gather in Jerusalem according to the command of God. While Yeshua told them that they would receive the Holy Spirit “not many days from now”, could they have imagined that this glorious promise of the Father would be granted to them on the day of the Feast of Weeks? I wonder if they knew that God was to fulfil one more of His promises on His appointed ‘Moedim’, just as He did on His other three appointed days of Passover (in Yeshua’s death); the Feast of Unleavened Bread (in Yeshua’s burial) and in First-fruits (Yeshua’s resurrection).
My purpose of posting a verse from these psalms each day (during these days between the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot) which in Greek is called Pentecost) is so that we too—if you are a son (or daughter) of Israel, even though you once may have been a Gentile but now through the great grace shown to us by the Father and through the blood of the Messiah Yeshua—can pilgrim into the presence of the Most High God (for we are the temple of God and the Holy Spirit dwells in us) singing these psalms to Him who sits on the throne (in heaven and in our hearts).
Join with me then O son of Israel and let us exalt the name of our God together as we pilgrim on His appointed feast days just as He commanded.
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