OCR Text |
Show r I M"- SPEAKS r jM MUJt . Sunday School l.gaoru Ul! By DR. KENMETH J. FOREMAN SCRIPTURE : Psalms 8:2; 22:1: 16-18; 16-18; 91:9-12; 103:8-13; 110:1; 118:22-23; Matthew 21:15-16, 38-42 ; 22:41-45; Luk 24:44. DEVOTIONAL READING: Mark 14:12-16. 22-26. Jesus and the Psalms . Lesson for September 11, 1949 SOME parts of the Old Testament Jesus never once mentioned. Others he quoted again and again. Could this be because some parts were more helpful to him than others? At any rate, the Psalms were one section of his Bible which he often quoted. Worship oNE USE Jesus made of the Psalms was in public worship. wor-ship. Whenever he went up to the Temple he would join in singing or in listening to the great choirs singing these ancient an-cient hymns. Many of our own best-loved best-loved hymns, while not direct translations, trans-lations, are based on Psalms. For example, "Still, Still With Thee" i -1 is from Psalm 16; Dr. Foreman "God Is My Strong Salvation" from Psalm 27; "The TCing of Love" from Psalm 23; "0 "Worship the King" from Psalm 104. In private worship also we know Jesus used the Psalms. One of the Hebrew names for them was "The Book of Prayers," and Jesus, like many another who has loved these Psalms, found in them the natural expression of what was deepest in his heart when he turned toward Jiis Father in heaven. "..v-- A striking proof of this ' comes from the story of Cal vary. The cry, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Is a quotation from Psalm 22:1, and "Into thy hands I commend my spirit" is from Psalm 31:5. Thus, -two out of three prayers .he uttered .in his last moments -were from the Psalms. So the Teader today, pondering in a quiet moment these immortal poems, either from the printed book or bet-- bet-- ter yet, as Jesus did, from the treasures of memory, may often iind in them prayers which seem breathed from his own mind and to which he need only say. Amen. Truth about God JESUS also found in the Psalms a revelation of truth. It would be too much to say that Jesus derived de-rived his ideas of God from the Psalms. But certainly some of the great teachings about God which we hear from Jesus we can read already in the Psalms. Jesus did not use the Psalms ( stupidly, of course. He would never have supposed that you could take just any sentence about God out of some Psalm or other, and quote it as the last word" about God. For instance, during his temptations tempta-tions the thought was suggested to him that he could jump off a high building and not be hurt; had not God promised just that in a Psalm? Now it is true that Psalm 91:9-12 does say that God will keep you from "dashing your foot against a stone" but Jesus knew that does not mean that God will guarantee to keep you out of trouble or harm no matter how foolish you are! Christ in the Psalms JESUS found in the Psalms also prophecies. There is a rather r thin line between illustration and prophecy. For instance, when the Jerusalem Jerus-alem boys and girls were making such a noisy welcome for him, and the dignified priests were protesting, protest-ing, Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 in defense de-fense of the children: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Did he mean that the Psalmist Psalm-ist had predicted that very occasion, or did he mean that the Psalm expressed a truth always good. At all events, we do know that Jesus often took a Psalm, or a part of one, as a prophetic picture of himself. He knew himself to be the true King of Mankind, "the Lord's Anointed," as his use of Psalm 110:1 plainly shows. Yet he also knew that he must pass through suffering to his throne (Luke 24:26). When the leaders of his people rejected him he was not surprised, for he thought at once of Psalm 118:22-23. When he hung on the cross, and saw the soldiers gambling for his clothes. Psalm 22:16-18 would sure-r sure-r ly come into his mind. And can we doubt that in his last agonies, one who knew the Psalms so well would not have remembered also the later line;i from the same prophetic Psalm? It begins with the tragic question Why? But it rises to a song of triumph "When he cried unto him, he heard!" fCopyricht by the Intcrnntinnnt Council Coun-cil of. Kcliuious Education on boh.ilf of 40 Protesl;uu denominations. Released y WNU Features. |