Psalm 89

Oh what a magnificent Psalm is this hymn exalting God for His mercies and faithfulness!  It gives such reassurance to the saint with application throughout for every moment of our lives.  It is lengthy but I plead with you, be not lazy!  Read it all.  Contemplate its truth.  Glory in the God at the center of it all!

Let us consider the movements in this Psalm.

·        The theme of the hymn is “the mercies of the Lord” and “His faithfulness to all generations (v1-2).  Mercy (Heb. chesed) and faithfulness (Heb. emunah) are prominent throughout.

·        The context of the hymn (the area where God’s mercy and faithfulness are highlighted) is God’s covenant with David in which God promised a throne forever (v3-4).  

·        Stanza 1 (v5-10): God is truly one of a kind.  None can compare to Him in heaven or on earth.  And what He is, He is constantly; His faithfulness also surrounds Him (v8).

·        Stanza 2 (v11-18): Israel is blessed to have such a God because He can do anything and everything He determines to do.  Israel’s shield (protection) and king are God’s shield and king.  How blessed!

·        Stanza 3 (v19-23): Nowhere is this blessing more evident than in God’s choice to establish and exalt His servant David as king.  

·        Stanza 4 (v24-29): The covenant God made with David promised an enduring throne, One to rule forever.  You cannot miss the obvious reference in this stanza to David’s greater Son, the Messiah.  He will be the Son of the heavenly Father (v26), the firstborn over all creation and over the new creation (v27), the King of kings and Lord of lords (v27).  David’s seed (descendants) will endure forever through the Messiah!

·        Stanza 5 (v30-37): Many stumble over the fact that many of the Davidic kings we so sinful.  They stumble in thinking that God would change His covenant with David and make it spiritual, not applying to his actual lineage.  But the mercies and faithfulness are quite evident here: God will not utterly take away His lovingkindness nor will He allow His faithfulness to fail (v33).  That is the clear answer!  It will be as established as the moon (v37), God’s faithful witness in the sky.

·        Stanza 6 (v38-45): Now we come to the issue.  Ethan the Ezrahite (cf. the title of the Psalm) writes in the context of the times of the Gentiles.  There is no Davidic king.  The nations have authority over God’s people and God’s land.  It is the nations that are exalted over David’s kingdom rather than David being exalted over the nations.

·        Stanza 7 (v46-51): Thus he asks the burning questions.  “How long?”  “Where are Your former lovingkindnesses?”  He asks questions of God.  But he does not question God!  To ask “how long” is to say, I know You will keep your word, but when?  To ask about former mercy is to acknowledge the reality of that mercy.  Behind this contemplation (again, cf. the title) is the constant struggle of the saints of the Old Testament to put together the suffering and glory of the Messiah (1 Peter 1:10-12).  The Davidic rule was to eventually move into the eternal reign of his greater Son (that’s Jesus, who will have the throne of His father David; who will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be no end, Luke 1:31-33).  But now, in Ethan’s time as in ours, there was no Davidic king on the throne of Israel!  The situation is reversed from what God promised.  He does not doubt God’s faithfulness or mercy; he has made that abundantly clear throughout the song.  But what he asks is, “how long?”  “The mercies are promised; so where are they?”

·        The song ends with a two-fold “Amen” affirming he does not doubt God.  The promise is forever; and the Lord is also blessed forevermore!  Ethan does not understand, but without question he believes in the sure mercies of David (Isa. 55:3; Acts 13:34).  

The application, as we have said, is moment by moment.  May God encourage you with this great Hymn.  Let us note:

1. God will establish the throne of David in the future.  Failure to do so is to deny Himself which He cannot do! (Psalm 2:6-9)

2. The sign of God’s faithfulness (the moon, God’s faithful witness in the sky, 89:37) is also called to testify to God’s faithfulness to keep the New Covenant (Jer. 31:35-36).  Let us trust our Lord who obtained eternal redemption, who promises an eternal inheritance and who lives forever to intercede on our behalf (Heb. 9:12,15; 7:25).

3. Every word of God is sure because He who said it is faithful.  Even our sin cannot keep Him from keeping His word because He is merciful and gracious.  As Ethan the Ezrahite rested on the promise that God made to David, so let us rest on every word of God!

We are writing this while in a part of the world (Ukraine) that keeps the "Eastern Calendar."  Today is Easter in Ukraine.  This Psalm about God's faithfulness and mercies is prime material when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.   How merciful that God poured out His own life-blood for mankind.  And He will be faithful to give the gift of eternal life to all who believe because death could not hold our Lord.  The chains of death are broken.  He is alive!  "Blessed by the Lord forevermore!  Amen and Amen."

Why did the Old Testament not predict two advents of Christ? (2)

Read Ephesians 3:1-13

Continuing our discussion from last Saturday, the inability of the Old Testament prophets to distinguish two advents of Christ is the reason for the list of mysteries referred to in the New Testament.  The term mystery is used in a technical way in the NT (cf. Rom. 16:25-27; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 3:3-5; Col. 1:26).  It referred to truth kept secret by God in previous times, but now revealed to and through the Apostles, even as Jesus had promised (John 16:13).  

A consideration of these mysteries shows how they fit the idea of two advents as well as the parenthetical time in between.

·        Matt. 13:11; Mk. 4:11; Lk. 8:10: The parables of Matthew 13 were given when Jesus saw His rejection by the Jewish leaders.  They describe the time between the two advents as a time of sowing and reaping, of rejection and reception.  As He says, they are the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; they are a form of that kingdom that was unknown prior to that time.

·        Rom. 11:25: Israel’s blindness was predicted in the OT.  But the resulting time of being set aside in order for Gentiles to be saved was not known. 

·        Eph. 3:6; 5:32: Salvation of the Gentiles was predicted in the OT.  But the fact that it would involve Jew and Gentiles on equal footing, in Messiah’s Bride and not in the Nation of Israel, was unknown to the prophets.

·        1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:13-18: There was no mention of the rapture of the Church in the OT.  This event is necessitated so the purposes of Daniel’s 70^th Week, which have to do with Israel, can be fulfilled.

·        Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; 1 Cor. 2:8: Saving faith has always been in Christ.  But in OT times the message was a shadow, pointing to an event involving the shedding of blood of One who was of the seed of the woman.  How the sufferings and glory of Messiah were to be accomplished was a mystery.

·        Col. 1:26-27: The OT predicted the Holy Spirit’s outpouring.  But the way it would happen, with the indwelling of Christ by the Spirit, was not known.

·        2 Thess. 2:7: The mystery of lawlessness has roots in the OT (Zech. 5:5-11).  But the increase in evil toward the end of this age, especially in Israel, was something Jesus revealed (Luke 17:26-30).

·        1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21: The OT predicted the Messiah would be know as The Lord our Righteousness.   But the mystery of godliness is how in fact the righteous life of Christ would become our life.  It is a truth that could not become reality until after the great exchange of the cross when believers were united with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.

All these fit with THE Mystery of God (Rev. 10:7; Eph. 1:9-10), God’s plan to exalt His Son over all His enemies.  OT saints had to wait for our day for these mysteries to be seen and for their own faith to become sight!

Fellowship with Christ in His Death

(#86)

Read Luke 23:27-49.

"The place called Calvary."  Have you been there?  What comes into your mind when you say Calvary?  Do you think of those who "stood afar off"?  Or do you think Calvary covers it all? 

The fact of fellowship with Christ in His death.

Passages such as Rom. 6:1-8 and Gal. 2:20 make it clear that the Christian's position is that of having died with Christ.

w   This position is never subject to human experience.

w   This position is never subject to feeling.

w   Satan can never change it (though he sometimes hinders the blessing that comes from this position.)

The meaning of fellowship with Christ in His death.

    1.  The believer is reconciled, 1 Peter 2:24; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:14; Col. 1:20-22.  Sin's penalty has been met, he now has a relationship with God.

    2.  The sinner is crucified, Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:24; 6:14.  When the old nature asserts itself in the life of the believer it defeats the purpose of the new birth.  The result is a "teeter-totter" life as seen in Rom. 7.  Is deliverance possible?  Yes! through the death of Christ.  It is not through suppressions of the old nature nor by reformation of the old nature but by the believer's moment-by-moment wielding of the cross.

    3.  The overthrow of Satan, Heb. 2:14; Col. 2:14-15.  Satan is defeated through the cross.

    4.  A fruitful life is produced, John 12:24; 15:8.  As in John 12, the death of the seed is required for there to be fruit.  So the believer's death opens the way for a fruitful life.

Satan hates the cross.  He did not want Christ to go there.  Nor does he want believers to go to the cross.