In Mark 10:17-34 Jesus addresses an issue. “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” He raises this issue after the encounter with the rich young ruler. To set the stage for this, I want to highlight Psalm 49 in this post.
· 49:1-4: Who needs to hear this Psalm? Everyone, Jew or Gentile (all peoples), rich and poor. The rich need to hear lest they trust in the riches they have. The poor need to hear lest they set their hearts on the riches they don’t have.
· 49:5: What is the issue? How shall we live in this evil world (evil as sinful and/or evil as full of bad experiences)?
· 49:6-14: Prov. 18:11 says, The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own esteem. Does that mean the wealthy have an advantage in the day of trouble? No. For one thing, Prov. 18:10 says The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Ps. 49 points out the inadequacy of the rich man’s wealth. He can never have enough money to redeem himself or anyone else (v6-9). Further, he is usually building his own kingdom (v10-12), failing to deal with the inevitability of death (v13-14).
· 49:15: What confidence do the righteous have in facing death? But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave. How did this Psalmist know this?
o “Redemption” (v7,8,15) is a special term. It is not the “kinsman-redeemer” term used and explained in Ruth. This is the term in Ex. 13:13,15: And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. … Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. The firstborn belonged to the LORD. Thus Israelites were required to account for this, sacrificing the animals to the LORD and paying a ransom for firstborn sons. But as Psalm 49 says, the actual redemption price was too great. The blood of the Passover lamb, placed on the doorposts in Egypt, redeemed the firstborn sons. This all pointed to Christ, our Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7). In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Col. 1:14). The ransom price is the blood of God’s Firstborn, the “firstborn over all creation” and “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:15-20).
· 49:16-20: How does this affect my perspective in life lived in this evil world? We do not need to fear the wealthy, who often are the “oppressors” in this world. Nor should we fear the life to come, as if we will have some lesser standing. The “rankings” of this life, which regularly place the rick above the poor, are irrelevant in the life to come. And if I am a wealthy person, I should make sure that I understand this as well. The redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever – that he should continue to live eternally, and not see the Pit!
HALLELUJAH FOR THE CROSS!
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