Psalm 121; Psalm 123-125; Psalm 128-130; Acts 10:44-48; Revelation 8:10-11; NKJV         

Psalm 121

1 A Song of Ascents. I will lift up my eyes to the hills-- From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Psalm 123

1 A Song of Ascents. Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens.2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us. 3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt. 4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorn of those who are at ease, With the contempt of the proud.

Psalm 124

1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side," Let Israel now say-- 2 "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us, 3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us; 4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; 5Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul." 6 Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 125

1 A Song of Ascents. Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion, Which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 2As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever. 3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest On the land allotted to the righteous, Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, And to those who are upright in their hearts. 5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, The Lord shall lead them away With the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 128

1 A Song of Ascents. Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways. 2 When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. 3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. 4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the Lord.5 The Lord bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life. 6 Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

1 A Song of Ascents. "Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth," Let Israel now say-- 2 "Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth; Yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long." 4 The Lord is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked. 5 Let all those who hate Zion Be put to shame and turned back. 6Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up, 7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand, Nor he who binds sheaves, his arms. 8 Neither let those who pass by them say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you; We bless you in the name of the Lord!"

Psalm 130

1 A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning-- Yes, more than those who watch for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption. 8 And He shall redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

Acts 10:44-48

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. 45 And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered,47 "Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.

Revelation 8:10-11

10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.

The blessing of the individual with God is routinely described in today's Psalms, but the greatest blessing within is the "coming in" of the Gentiles to a part of the Church. This is unequivocally expressed through a Pentecost-type experience within the house of Cornelius. God used this marker to show that He was actively bringing about His Word and blessing the nations, immediately in that very personal way. God may sparingly use signs, but for grandiose landmarks like this, He will move exactly how He sees fit. Keep in mind that this sovereign act doesn't move in spite of people's will and action, but in concert with it. This God-fearing Gentile is blessed with the same mark of the early church.

Often in scripture, there are things expressed in detail according to the view of the world perceived in that time. The amazing thing about God's revelation is that if He had revealed it in modernity, it would have been lost on countless generations, until just recently. He chose, however, to reveal it in a time, where the nuance of what is being described made sense then and can be understood now! Revelation talks about a star falling as a burning torch. This is understood by many commentators to be a meteor. The judgment that this brings hearkens back to the Nile becoming bitter, but this time one third of the fresh water is spoiled. This incredible amount of water is equivalent to the Nile, the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Rio Grande, and the top three rivers, the Amazon, the Congo, and the Ganges, combined. This type of destruction would not have been able to be communicated by John, except for the visual image he describes from His vision. God is incredible in His revelation, and is due all the glory!

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