The Temple Watchers Prime Duty
The Psalm of The Temple Watchers
Psalm 134:1-3 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. 3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
The white robed priests were on duty 24 hours a day in the temple. Here we find them on the night shift continuing their non-stop worship of the most High God. Torches burning, gold filigree on the temple walls shimmering, outlines of angel wings and pomegranates visible through the darkness; there they stood by the hundreds with their hands lifted toward heaven singing this song in antiphonal praise and worship.
"Behold! bless ye the Lord,
All ye servants of the Lord,
Who by night stand in the House of the Lord,
Lift up your hands to the Sanctuary,
And bless the Lord."
The priests are seen here doing what the priests are supposed to be doing. In fact, this is their primary function, because they are "the servants of the Lord"! It is their prime business to bless the Lord! 24 hours a day they blessed the Lord! Rain or shine, they blessed the Lord! Good times or bad, they blessed the Lord! Day in and day out, year in and year out, decade in and decade out, century in and century out, they blessed the Lord!
We learn several important things from this little Psalm, that every servant of the Lord ought to know and practice.
1. We learn that being a servant of Christ
is far more important than being
distracted by the cares of this world.
Notice how they stand, with faces facing up and arms opened wide to God. Their posture was not just symbolic, it was the powerful attitude of their hearts. They were fully involved with the heavenly realm, to the point that they did not notice the winds of time blowing around them here on this earthly plain. These are the very people whom the scoffers say "Are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good!" What they don't know, is that because they are so occupied with Christ, that any earthly good at all occurs. These are the temple watchers. These are those who are actually and continuously serving God.
You may think they are wasting their time in their holy worship, but they are the very reason God does not wipe all men off this earth. Remember Sodom in Genesis 18? God agreed to spare the city if but a few righteous folk were found in it. The heavenly minded temple watchers, whom men think are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good, these are the only people keeping the fires of eternal judgment from falling. These are those who's influence alone keep the anti-Christ withhold-en from His evil agenda to take over this entire planet and cover it completely with evil (1Thessalonians 2:6). The temple watchers withhold the spread of evil, because they are actually the only people doing any earthly good at all. All other efforts, works, goodness and deeds are futile, if the Temple watchers do not bless God.
2. We learn that these are
the people who stand in the gap!
Because they serve God, they serve man best. We need godly men at the throne of Grace. The humanization of Christianity in our day has prevented us from seeing the true purpose for the church on earth. Our theology and thinking is framed by the media, Hollywood, politics and the contemporary culture, rather than the Word of God. That's why the scene of this short Psalm looks strange and weird to us 21st century Christians. Hundreds of people with their hands toward heaven in the middle of the night, with non-stop singing and worship; we don't have any recollection of what that is about, because it is a scene which has been removed from our worldly culture. The Christians today, think just like the world around them. This is horrendous. The prime purpose of God's servants is to bless Him, and when they bless Him, they bless the whole earth!
Today we are in the busy-ness of the worlds activities, instead of in the business of serving God. I am speaking specifically about the church. The Church is the New Covenant counterpart to the Temple in our Psalms. The temple watchers of old, are the supposed to be the pastors of today! The priesthood then, is the priesthood now. It is the priesthood of all believers according to the book of Revelation. All Christians are priests and can join in the worship, but The Levites were the clergy, it was expected to be their duty more than all others. Pastors are the white robed watchers in our psalm. These are the ones who have been chosen out from among all the believers and called to serve Christ in a special way that will actually and vitally change the world as nothing else can. The special offices of the New Testament church, are the offices that are called to serve God day and night. Pastors are the new Temple watchers.
We forget that before we go to men for God, we must go to God for men. We bless men, because we bless God first and foremost. That is our high a noble calling. Don't you ever forget it, dear pastor. It's easy to follow the masses to the worlds tune, it requires all your effort to stand where few actually stand and to lift your hands to the true God who makes all the difference in every realm. When you look to Him, and are caught up in His song, and the wings of eternity and glory whisk you from the cares of this world, you can know assuredly that you are right where God want's you to be. Nothing is more important. Nothing is more relevant. Nothing is more valuable, then the man of God in the act of perpetual worship!
3. We learn about what it means
to worship IN THE SPIRIT!
You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and in this temple men must do what the white robed priests did in the Temple of old, you must worship in "spirit and in truth". That's what we do in this mountain of the New Covenant. We have been set free from all the externals, all the clap trap and commotion, so that day and night we can worship. This is an amazing concept that has been carried to it's fullness not by the old temple watchers, but by the people of the New Covenant!
1Thessalonian 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
Luke 18:1 ...that men ought always to pray, and not to faint
Luke21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Colossians 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
1Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
The continuity of never ending prayer, the continual uplifting of the hands toward God, is only possible as you are "praying with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT". It is only as you walk IN THE SPIRIT, that you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). And it is only as you LIVE IN THE SPIRIT that you can also WALK IN THE SPIRIT (Galatians 5:25). This is how we continually worship God day and night "IN SPIRIT and IN TRUTH" on this holy New Covenant mountain (John 4:23-24). By the Spirit we stand with our hands lifted in a continuous chorus of praise to our God, no matter what we are doing. We are praying without ceasing when we live and move and have our being in Him, so that everything we are doing is the Spirit in us worshiping the Father. This is a revolutionary idea, but it is sadly neglected and forgotten today. Whatever our hands are doing, we are doing it as unto the Lord (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Even the most trivial of occupations are turned into Temple worship when we render them to God IN THE SPIRIT. This is why Christ told His followers to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). The right priorities result in true and continuous worship. We are constantly laying up treasures in heaven, and never setting our hearts on the things of earth. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
4. We learn about
the true priority.
God is the ultimate being, and that makes Him the ultimate priority. That's why there was nothing more important for these priests to do here on this earth, than what we find them doing in this Psalm. You say, but men are perishing, shouldn't they be preaching and sharing Christ? No, not till they have done this! No man should ever attempt to speak to men for God until the have first spoken to God. Because this is where they learn exactly what to say. I tell all my preacher friends, that they should never enter the pulpit, until they have first received their message at the throne of Grace. God speaks to us, when we speak to Him. Some of my colleagues would dispute this, because their theology is that of modernism and not of the Bible. God still speaks! and He does it directly to His worshiping priests. I am not asking you to believe this, I am stating it as a matter of revealed fact, and as a matter of actual experience. The Holy Spirit still guides men, and the presence of God is still felt and revealed in true worship. The cessationists deny this, and that's why they no longer do what this passages shows we should be doing. When you dis-believe parts of the Bible, for any reason whatsoever, you show your disrespect for God and hatred for His truth.
When Jesus had been murdered through the vote of the common people, when they chose Barabbas over Christ, and soon after the nails had been driven in and the spear had punctured His pericardium; God told His people, not to retaliate, not to try to rebel against the tyranny of Rome, He told them to go to an upper room and to pray, and to wait for the endowment of power from on high, and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. We need to learn the meaning of this. I see Christians all around me who are worried that the government might take away their freedoms. So what? We have business to do in an upper room! The work God calls us to can change the entire world, just like that little motley band in Acts 1 changed their whole world. Instead of worrying and fretting about this world, we need to be getting on with our high and holy calling. When the temple watchers, quit watching, quit worshiping, quit praying, quit praising, quit waiting in those upper rooms where God has ordained to meet them, when that happens all hell will break loose on this world. When the salt has lost it's savor, it will be cast underfoot and trampled by the fiercesness of the wrath of God. If you want to stay God's hand of judgment upon America and the world, then you pastors better lead all the believer-priests back to this sacred duty. That is our only hope. That is what God is calling us to do. Not vote, not organize, not politicize, not legislate! God calls us all to worship, and when we do that everything else will be taken care of by Him. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God... and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
Psalm 134:1-3 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. 3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
The white robed priests were on duty 24 hours a day in the temple. Here we find them on the night shift continuing their non-stop worship of the most High God. Torches burning, gold filigree on the temple walls shimmering, outlines of angel wings and pomegranates visible through the darkness; there they stood by the hundreds with their hands lifted toward heaven singing this song in antiphonal praise and worship.
"Behold! bless ye the Lord,
All ye servants of the Lord,
Who by night stand in the House of the Lord,
Lift up your hands to the Sanctuary,
And bless the Lord."
The priests are seen here doing what the priests are supposed to be doing. In fact, this is their primary function, because they are "the servants of the Lord"! It is their prime business to bless the Lord! 24 hours a day they blessed the Lord! Rain or shine, they blessed the Lord! Good times or bad, they blessed the Lord! Day in and day out, year in and year out, decade in and decade out, century in and century out, they blessed the Lord!
We learn several important things from this little Psalm, that every servant of the Lord ought to know and practice.
1. We learn that being a servant of Christ
is far more important than being
distracted by the cares of this world.
Notice how they stand, with faces facing up and arms opened wide to God. Their posture was not just symbolic, it was the powerful attitude of their hearts. They were fully involved with the heavenly realm, to the point that they did not notice the winds of time blowing around them here on this earthly plain. These are the very people whom the scoffers say "Are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good!" What they don't know, is that because they are so occupied with Christ, that any earthly good at all occurs. These are the temple watchers. These are those who are actually and continuously serving God.
You may think they are wasting their time in their holy worship, but they are the very reason God does not wipe all men off this earth. Remember Sodom in Genesis 18? God agreed to spare the city if but a few righteous folk were found in it. The heavenly minded temple watchers, whom men think are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good, these are the only people keeping the fires of eternal judgment from falling. These are those who's influence alone keep the anti-Christ withhold-en from His evil agenda to take over this entire planet and cover it completely with evil (1Thessalonians 2:6). The temple watchers withhold the spread of evil, because they are actually the only people doing any earthly good at all. All other efforts, works, goodness and deeds are futile, if the Temple watchers do not bless God.
2. We learn that these are
the people who stand in the gap!
Because they serve God, they serve man best. We need godly men at the throne of Grace. The humanization of Christianity in our day has prevented us from seeing the true purpose for the church on earth. Our theology and thinking is framed by the media, Hollywood, politics and the contemporary culture, rather than the Word of God. That's why the scene of this short Psalm looks strange and weird to us 21st century Christians. Hundreds of people with their hands toward heaven in the middle of the night, with non-stop singing and worship; we don't have any recollection of what that is about, because it is a scene which has been removed from our worldly culture. The Christians today, think just like the world around them. This is horrendous. The prime purpose of God's servants is to bless Him, and when they bless Him, they bless the whole earth!
Today we are in the busy-ness of the worlds activities, instead of in the business of serving God. I am speaking specifically about the church. The Church is the New Covenant counterpart to the Temple in our Psalms. The temple watchers of old, are the supposed to be the pastors of today! The priesthood then, is the priesthood now. It is the priesthood of all believers according to the book of Revelation. All Christians are priests and can join in the worship, but The Levites were the clergy, it was expected to be their duty more than all others. Pastors are the white robed watchers in our psalm. These are the ones who have been chosen out from among all the believers and called to serve Christ in a special way that will actually and vitally change the world as nothing else can. The special offices of the New Testament church, are the offices that are called to serve God day and night. Pastors are the new Temple watchers.
We forget that before we go to men for God, we must go to God for men. We bless men, because we bless God first and foremost. That is our high a noble calling. Don't you ever forget it, dear pastor. It's easy to follow the masses to the worlds tune, it requires all your effort to stand where few actually stand and to lift your hands to the true God who makes all the difference in every realm. When you look to Him, and are caught up in His song, and the wings of eternity and glory whisk you from the cares of this world, you can know assuredly that you are right where God want's you to be. Nothing is more important. Nothing is more relevant. Nothing is more valuable, then the man of God in the act of perpetual worship!
3. We learn about what it means
to worship IN THE SPIRIT!
You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and in this temple men must do what the white robed priests did in the Temple of old, you must worship in "spirit and in truth". That's what we do in this mountain of the New Covenant. We have been set free from all the externals, all the clap trap and commotion, so that day and night we can worship. This is an amazing concept that has been carried to it's fullness not by the old temple watchers, but by the people of the New Covenant!
1Thessalonian 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
Luke 18:1 ...that men ought always to pray, and not to faint
Luke21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer
Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Colossians 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.
1Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
The continuity of never ending prayer, the continual uplifting of the hands toward God, is only possible as you are "praying with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT". It is only as you walk IN THE SPIRIT, that you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). And it is only as you LIVE IN THE SPIRIT that you can also WALK IN THE SPIRIT (Galatians 5:25). This is how we continually worship God day and night "IN SPIRIT and IN TRUTH" on this holy New Covenant mountain (John 4:23-24). By the Spirit we stand with our hands lifted in a continuous chorus of praise to our God, no matter what we are doing. We are praying without ceasing when we live and move and have our being in Him, so that everything we are doing is the Spirit in us worshiping the Father. This is a revolutionary idea, but it is sadly neglected and forgotten today. Whatever our hands are doing, we are doing it as unto the Lord (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Even the most trivial of occupations are turned into Temple worship when we render them to God IN THE SPIRIT. This is why Christ told His followers to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). The right priorities result in true and continuous worship. We are constantly laying up treasures in heaven, and never setting our hearts on the things of earth. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
4. We learn about
the true priority.
God is the ultimate being, and that makes Him the ultimate priority. That's why there was nothing more important for these priests to do here on this earth, than what we find them doing in this Psalm. You say, but men are perishing, shouldn't they be preaching and sharing Christ? No, not till they have done this! No man should ever attempt to speak to men for God until the have first spoken to God. Because this is where they learn exactly what to say. I tell all my preacher friends, that they should never enter the pulpit, until they have first received their message at the throne of Grace. God speaks to us, when we speak to Him. Some of my colleagues would dispute this, because their theology is that of modernism and not of the Bible. God still speaks! and He does it directly to His worshiping priests. I am not asking you to believe this, I am stating it as a matter of revealed fact, and as a matter of actual experience. The Holy Spirit still guides men, and the presence of God is still felt and revealed in true worship. The cessationists deny this, and that's why they no longer do what this passages shows we should be doing. When you dis-believe parts of the Bible, for any reason whatsoever, you show your disrespect for God and hatred for His truth.
When Jesus had been murdered through the vote of the common people, when they chose Barabbas over Christ, and soon after the nails had been driven in and the spear had punctured His pericardium; God told His people, not to retaliate, not to try to rebel against the tyranny of Rome, He told them to go to an upper room and to pray, and to wait for the endowment of power from on high, and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. We need to learn the meaning of this. I see Christians all around me who are worried that the government might take away their freedoms. So what? We have business to do in an upper room! The work God calls us to can change the entire world, just like that little motley band in Acts 1 changed their whole world. Instead of worrying and fretting about this world, we need to be getting on with our high and holy calling. When the temple watchers, quit watching, quit worshiping, quit praying, quit praising, quit waiting in those upper rooms where God has ordained to meet them, when that happens all hell will break loose on this world. When the salt has lost it's savor, it will be cast underfoot and trampled by the fiercesness of the wrath of God. If you want to stay God's hand of judgment upon America and the world, then you pastors better lead all the believer-priests back to this sacred duty. That is our only hope. That is what God is calling us to do. Not vote, not organize, not politicize, not legislate! God calls us all to worship, and when we do that everything else will be taken care of by Him. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God... and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).
© 2012 Rev Earl Jackson www.RevEarlJackson.com
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This article may be reproduced on any website or blog in its entirety without alteration of change, provided that this copyright and a link back to this website is made. Please inform us if you use this article and send us the link to where you have placed it. You may not reproduce this article in any other form, such as hard copy, and it is not permitted to sell it or otherwise use it for money making purposes.