Sabbath: In the Psalms: Part 1
Daily Lesson for Sabbath 17th of May 2025
Image © Pacific Press
Read for This Week’s Study: Hebrews 9:11-15, Psalms 122:1-9, Psalms 15:1-5, Psalms 24:1-10, Exodus 33:18-23, Psalms 5:1-12, Psalms 51:7-15.
Memory Text:
“Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1, NKJV).
As Seventh-day Adventists, we are used to searching for the symbols of Revelation in the stories of the Old Testament to help us understand those symbols. These narratives, though far from the only good source, are found all through the Old Testament.
One particularly rich source of information is the book of Psalms, a collection of sacred poetry that explores many human experiences and possible interactions with God—ranging from despondency over sin and suffering to unbridled joy in His presence and His repeated promises for forgiveness and salvation.
A careful reading of the Psalms yields details that make the book of Revelation come alive, especially Revelation 14:1-20, which describes the final work of God’s remnant church on earth. God’s last-day people have been given the same assignment as Israel of old: we are to be a light to the nations, a final merciful call to all people to worship and obey their Maker.
Some details provided in God’s songbook can give us new ways to understand and appreciate our role in the final moments of earth’s history.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 24.
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Several prophecies and themes in the Book of Psalms are well echoed and fulfilled in the Book of Revelation. This demonstrates that the Bible is not simply a collection of books but a divinely unified narrative about the plan of redemption. What was anticipated in the Book of Psalms was completed in the Book of Revelation. This coherent narration points to one person, Jesus Christ. This tells us that the Bible is alive, powerful, and can be trusted.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” – Hebrews 4:12
We studied poetry at school. When I say "studied", what I mean is that we learned poems off by heart so that we could parrot them back in tests and examinations. I can still do a passable recitation of Wordsworth's "Daffodils". At the time, I wondered what all the fuss was about. There wasn't even the glimmer of possibility that I would emulate the poets and write eloquent rhyme and metre, so why spend time "studying" it?
I studied science and forgot all about literature and particularly poetry. It wasn't until I was mature and studying computer science in later life that I discovered the significance of poetry. I met a man at one of our computer science conferences who also happened to be the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, one of our most prestigious research universities. He had a classics education and no background in computer science at all. But, his conversations with us nerds were inspiring. They were liberally sprinkled with ideas from great poetry literature. He knew how to instil ideas into our workshops that were both challenging and encouraging. My encounter with him gave me a new sense of the deep meaning in poetry that I had ignored all along.
The book of Psalms is the Hebrew poetry book, and I guess that human nature being what it is, they rote-learned it and recited and sang it, because it was there. They thought it was good to learn but few took time to think about the deeper meaning that the ancient poets had embedded in it.
So, how do we "mature?" Christians approach our study this week? I will leave that question hanging on purpose!