Songs of Degrees, Part 16

Songs of Degrees: This is a sermon series about Psalms 120 through 134. The Songs of Degrees, or the Songs of Ascents, are meant to teach us about our upward journey toward what God wills for His church. There are 15 of these songs and there were 1,500 years between the ministry of Moses and the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. When God gave Moses the plan for the Tabernacle, it was the beginning of His plan to restore man, to rescue man. This plan, we know, was fulfilled by the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord and Savior.

God created man after His image. Man cannot make himself after the image of God, for it is a creative work that only the Potter can accomplish. The devil tempted Adam and Eve into performing an action which he said would make them more like God. We know that was a lie, yet we still fall into the trap of using our intellect and our knowledge of good and evil to try to make ourselves more like God. It is futile. God promises that we will be conformed to the image of Christ by reckoning ourselves dead and by surrendering in obedience to the Potter and believing His Word. He guarantees that His way will work!

Scripture References (Rollover with mouse to view or click here to open Bible in a new window)

Psalm 133

1	A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
2	It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
3	As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

Psalm 133

1 Corinthians 12

1	Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
2	Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
3	Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
4	Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5	And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
6	And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7	But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8	For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9	To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
10	To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11	But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
12	For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13	For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14	For the body is not one member, but many.
15	If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16	And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17	If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

1 Cor 12:1-12:17

1 Corinthians 12

18	But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19	And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20	But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21	And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22	Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23	And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24	For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
25	That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26	And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27	Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28	And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
29	Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
30	Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
31	But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.

1 Corinthians 13

1	Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1 Cor 12:17-13:1

Daniel 2

1	And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.
2	Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.
3	And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.
4	Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.
5	The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.
6	But if ye show the dream, and the interpretation thereof, ye shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honour: therefore show me the dream, and the interpretation thereof.
7	They answered again and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation of it.
8	The king answered and said, I know of certainty that ye would gain the time, because ye see the thing is gone from me.
9	But if ye will not make known unto me the dream, there is but one decree for you: for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, till the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation thereof.
10	The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.
11	And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
12	For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
13	And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain.
14	Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:
15	He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.
16	Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.
17	Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:
18	That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
19	Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
20	Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
21	And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:
22	He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
23	I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter.
24	Therefore Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him; Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation.
25	Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus unto him, I have found a man of the captives of Judah, that will make known unto the king the interpretation.
26	The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?
27	Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king;
28	But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
29	As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass.
30	But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
31	Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
32	This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33	His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.
34	Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35	Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36	This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37	Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38	And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39	And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40	And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41	And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42	And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43	And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44	And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45	Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
46	Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.
47	The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.
48	Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
49	Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

Daniel 2

Genesis 1

26	And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27	So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28	And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26-28

1 Corinthians 15

49	And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

1 Cor 15:49

2 Corinthians 3

18	But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Cor 3:18