Sunday School Lesson

1. Psalm 84
“Lord, I’m Coming Home!”
A Glimpse of Heaven
July 2, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

2. What’s the number one thing?
http://berylloeb.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/one-finger.jpg

3. The Glory of God!
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4. 1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
it all to the glory of God.

5. July Memory Verse:
Genesis 1:1
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the
earth.

6. References
•Phillips, John, Exploring The Psalms, Volume One, 1-88
(Loizeaux Brothers, Neptune, NJ, 1988), pp 690-698.
•Morrow, Barry, Heaven Observed (Navpress, Colorado
Springs, 2001).
•The ESV Study Bible, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway
Publishing, 2011).
•Unless otherwise stated, scriptures are quoted from
the ESV.

7. Introduction to Psalm 84 (Subtitle)
To the choirmaster: according to the Gittith. A Psalm
of the Sons of Korah.
•Gittith – a striking (string) instrument
fabricated by the people of Gath (Philistine
city).
•Also referred to as a “zither”.
•David spent time in Gath while fleeing from
Saul.

8. Gittith (Zither):

9. Introduction Psalm 84 – A Psalm of the Sons of
Korah.
•Sons of Korah – Wrote 11 Psalms recorded in Bible.
•Descendants of Levi and son named Kohath.
•Descendants of Kohath rebelled and challenged.
Moses and Aaron in Number 16.
•God had them and their family swallowed alive by the
earth.
•A remnant survived and became important musicians
and “doorkeepers” in the Temple for King David.

10. Interpretations of Psalm 84
1. A Passover Pilgrimage Song.
•During Hezekiah’s reign, the Passover Pilgrimage
was reinstituted after the Assyrian invasion (700
BC).
•The Sons of Korah were returning to Jerusalem as
the doorkeepers of the Temple.
• This Psalm was penned and sung by them as they
traveled back to Jerusalem.

11. Interpretations of Psalm 84
2. Psalm of Prophecy.
•Describes the arrival of millennial reign of Christ
•Ezekiel’s Temple has been built.
•Tribe of Levi given back their inheritance.
•Young Levites are coming to Jerusalem on first
pilgrimage.

12. Interpretations of Psalm 84
3. Personal Application.
•Describes our praises to God during Worship.
•Mental picture of joyful feelings while worshiping
in God’s house.

13. Interpretations of Psalm 84
4. A Psalm of our home in Heaven.
•A glimpse into Heaven.
•The place where believers will spend eternity.
•The writers did not have the descriptions given in
the New Testament.
•Assumption – Words are not really adequate to
describe the indescribable!

14. The Word of the Day:

15. Our Love is Centered in the Sanctuary:
Psalm 84:1
1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
• “lovely” or any other adjective is inadequate to
describe Heaven.
• John 14:2-3
2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were
not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a
place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place
(spiritual and physical) for you, I will come again
and will take you to myself, that where I am you
may be also.

16. Paul’s Description of Heaven in 2 Corinthians
12:1-9:
•Paul says he was caught up to the “third heaven”.
•He was prohibited from describing what he
experienced there.
•What Paul saw and heard was so magnificent that God
gave him a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being
conceited.

17. John’s Description of Heaven in Revelation
21:10-27:
•The Lord is the only light needed.
•The “glory of God” is present in Heaven.
•It is filled with brilliant glowing stones or jewels.
•The paradise of the Garden of Eden is restored.
•The tree of life bears fruit that heals the nations.

18. The Best Thing About Heaven:
•Jesus will be there with us.
•Jesus will be the “Center” of Heaven.

19. Our Longings Are Centered in the Sanctuary:
Psalm 84:2
2 My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

20. Our longings will be satisfied:
•Our longing will be not just for His house, but for Him!
•Our desire is to be with Jesus.
•Our home will be with Jesus, our Living Savior.

21. Our Looks Are Centered in the Sanctuary:
Psalm 84:3
3 Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.

22. Lessons From The Birds of The Heavens:
•Sparrow – reminds us of the Lord’s care for us.
•Matthew 10:29
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one
of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
•Swallow – reminds us of the Lord’s coming for us.
•Swallows are known for swiftness of flight, love of
freedom and faithfulness to mate and location.

23. “…my King and my God.”
•The Psalmist mentions the sovereign.
•These are titles of glory.
•Revelation 11:15
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there
were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of
the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of
his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."

24. Our Life is Centered in the Sanctuary:
Psalm 84:4
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah
•Blessed translates to “Happy” or “Fulfilled”.
•There will be nothing to make us unhappy in
Heaven.
•We will continually sing praises to God.
•Selah – (Definition debated) – “Pause and
Meditate”.

25. Our Heart Is Right:
Psalm 84:5
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
• Our hearts are focused on the pathway to Heaven
• Jesus promises that we will not get lost on the
highway to Heaven
• John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.”

26. Jesus Leads Us On The Highway to Heaven:
•John 10:27-28
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my
hand.

27. Our Highway is Rough:
Psalm 84:6
6 As they go through the Valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.

28. Weeping In The Valley:
•Baca derived from a root which means “to weep”.
•Valley of Baca was a waterless valley through which
the pilgrims passed on their way to Jerusalem.
•Morning rains would fill the pools in the valley to
refresh the travelers.
•God brings us through the dry weeping valleys of life
to provide us blessings.

29. Valley of Baca:

30. Walking on the Mountain:
Psalm 84:7
7 They go from strength to strength;
each one appears before God in Zion.
•The building blocks of sanctification (spiritual
maturity).
•We keep finding new levels of strength on the
journey.

31. Our Hope Is Real:
Psalm 84:8
8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
•Our real resource on this journey is prayer.
•Our prayers are heard by our creator.

32. The Holy Spirit Intercedes for Us:
•Romans 8:26-27
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we
do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too
deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows
what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

33. Psalm 84:9-12 (Final Verses):
Delighting In Our Service Of God
“Glimpses of Heaven”

34. We Are Here, Lord:
Psalm 84:9
9 Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!
•The first thing we are going to do in Heaven is
resign all our worries!
•There will be no fear or enemy in Heaven.
•“I Can Only Imagine”.

35. Glimpses of Heaven:
•The second thing we will do in Heaven is realize all our
wants!
•We will be complete in heaven with all needs and
wants fulfilled.
•The things we thought were important on earth will
have a different perspective in Heaven.

36. We Are Home, Lord:
Psalm 84:10
10 For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of
my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

37. Time Takes On A New Dimension:
•2 Peter 3:8
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with
the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day.
•Heaven has a different clock, if it has one at all!
•We currently say, “I was, I am, and I will be.”
•God says, “I am, I am, and I am.”

38. Tasks Take On A New Distinction:
•We will have an occupation of service to God.
•There will be no menial tasks in God’s service.
•No more pain – glorified bodies will have perfect
teeth! (I will have a new job.)
•Dwelling in the tents of the wicked is a temporary
freedom in sin with permanent dire consequences.

39. Will we work in heaven or just rest?
•Matthew 25:21
21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful
servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set
you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
•Revelation 2:26-27
26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works
until the end, to him I will give authority over the
nations, 27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron,

40. We Have Been Helped, Lord:
Psalm 84:11
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.

41. “The Lord God is a sun and shield”:
•This is the only reference in the Bible to God as the
“sun”.
•The coming Messiah is called “the sun of
righteousness” in Malachi 4:2.
•Malachi 4:2a
2a But for you who fear my name, the sun of
righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.

42. Light in Heaven:
•Revelation 21:22-23
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the
Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city
has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the
glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

43. “No good thing does he withhold…”:
•Psalm 23:6
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
•Romans 8:28
28 And we know that for those who love God all things
work together for good, for those who are called
according to his purpose.

44. We Are Happy, Lord:
Psalm 84:12
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!
•We will have true happiness in Heaven!!!

45. C. S. Lewis:
•If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this
world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is
that I was made for another world. If none of my
earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that
the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures
were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to
suggest the real thing. I must keep alive in myself the
desire for my true country, which I shall not find till
after death.

46. Happy July 4th

47. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
John 3:16
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.”
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

48. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life
to pay the penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death
explained in Revelation 21:8.

49. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
Revelation 21:8
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for
murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,
their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death.”
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.

50. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
Romans 6:23b
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7
7 “The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his
God and he will be my son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquers.

51. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
Romans 10:9-10
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.”

52. The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
If you have questions or would like to know more, Please,
contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/