# 41 2018. Dev. Ps. 47. The Ascension! Read all of Ps 47. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw Gremar and I closer to God and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Psalm 47:5,6 “God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praise; sing praises to our King, sing praises.”
Ps 47 is one of three praise songs. They are liturgical songs used for temple worship initially, but later Ps. 47 was used during feast days like the feast of tabernacles. During the time of the synagogue it was sung at the Jewish New Year. After the Reformation the Psalm is sung for the celebration of the ascension of Christ.
In vs. 1-4 the Psalm is addressed to all nations of the world, “the great King over all the earth”, God is in control with His power and His love. God’s intention for the people of God, Israel and the new Israel, the church, is to bless all the nations of the earth (Gen 18:18). Vs 5,6,7 are the center of the Psalm, God ascending up to and into the temple, the Holy of Holies. The temple was the model of the sanctuary in heaven. Today the followers of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, are the sanctuary of God. Therefore, “sing to Him a Psalm of praise.” Vs 8,9 establishes God as the ruler of the earth; “the earth belongs to God; he is greatly exalted”.
For Christians today this song of praise resonates, His power, His love, His reign, but the Ascension of Christ not so much. Given the state of scientific knowledge the idea of ascending up to heaven from the earth is not believable. The Protestant Church mentions the Ascension of Christ but no special service as in the past. Yet, the Ascension is the climax of the Incarnation and was the condition for sending the Comforter. Of course the ascension is possible, God exists in an other dimension; spiritual but also physical, Christ is there in his physical body!
How do we explain it all? By faith, the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the Ascension! God’s ways are not our ways, God’s understanding is not our understanding of the world. “God is seated on his holy throne, God reigns”. Praise the Lord!
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