Hello Everyone,
This was the first song I wrote as a believer in Christ. I took the lyrics from Psalms 134 and 138. Below is a brief word to shed light on what the chorus can mean to us given its Old Testament roots. I hope this song will serve as an inspiration for many to truly bless the LORD!
Grace and Peace,
Josh
Come, Bless the LORD,
All you servants of the LORD,
Who stand by night in the house of the LORD,
Lift up your hands to the holy place
And bless the LORD!
"...Through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in Whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
Ephesians 2:18-22
"Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him Who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house- Whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end."
Hebrews 3:1-6
As a believer I know that when I didn't have faith in Christ I didn't have real access to God, but now in Christ I have access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). That started with a call to believe the Gospel. When I answered with belief I also became His servant, in part because I was purchased with precious blood, the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Being our sinless, once-for-all sacrifice for sin and our eternal High Priest, He fulfilled the Law and became the way of true, blessed, permanent access to the Father. In the Old Covenant under the Law, only a few men were chosen to be priests in a physical temple in Jerusalem to give gifts and make sacrifices. But now because of Christ and His high priestly work as the Son of God, I have glorious access to God which exceeds all that the Levitical priesthood ever had! Now I can bless the Lord as His servant in His house, and I am now even a part of His house with those who believe in Him for eternal life.
And His fullest, 'truest' holy place was never a part of the temple that was made with hands. Before Christ, everyone was under the Law, and "the Law made nothing perfect" (Heb. 7:19a). Now in Christ Who fulfilled the Law, I can lift up my hands to the real holy place where God is, not a man-made copy, because through faith my sins which prevented a relationship with God were forgiven, no longer a barrier, and I received the Spirit of God to dwell within me.
In Him "we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him" (Ephesians 3:12). I can pray to Him anytime, and I can lift up my hands and bless Him Who because of His love chose to save me and be with me.
Jesus made the way through giving Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sin. He is our great High Priest, having actually entered the Father's presence for us, both as God and Man, as no other priest could. Through Christ "there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 7:19).
I can worship God wherever I am!
"But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered in the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."
Hebrews 9:11-12
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For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11
