Psalms - Chapters 19-21

well we're in the Book of Psalms and we're going to take three of them tonight 19 20 and 21 and just to by way of orientation here the Psalms of course was the hymnal of Israel it's poetry of a certain kind laced with very strong theology and prophecy actually the Hebrew term is actually means praises and 55 of 150 are addressed specifically to the chief musician so these were intended a poetry was intended to be sung and accompanied with instruments the Greek terms will psalm o a which is a poem to be sung on a stringed instrument or Psalter which is the same kind of thing for a heart is where we get the English term Psalms for this book but the nature of poetry here is a little different than most of us are used to most of us are used to poetry in the phonetic sense with two kinds of things the parallelism of sound we call rhyme we think of poetry having some kind of rhyme and some kind of meter or some kind of rhythm so we're used to poetry implying parallelism of either sound or of tempo or time Hebrew poetry is of a different kind altogether it's conceptual design the parallelism is there in several forms but it's always of ideas or concepts instead of phonemes we're talking about semi means concepts you know there are several kinds of parallel in comparative parallelism to illuminate some idea contrastive parallelism antithetic that is to explain it by use of opposites and completive or synthetic will also incur a number of times a term Saila some people think that this is a pause for musical instruction others suspect that it really was a pause to connect ideas so when you come when you come across a strange word from time to time it's a pause to consider what's been the meditate on what's been said so far okay now synonymous parallelism that's where the second of two lines restates the first Lord who shall abide my Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill two expressions that are parallel in the constructive sense in a parallel sense antithetic parallelism is sort of the opposite that's where the lines are in contrast to each other for evildoers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the earth two lines that are in a sense antithetical if you will and then another type is synthetic parallelism and that's where each successive line expands the the concept expressed by the previous one well see will see a pair of these tonight as we get into Psalm 19 the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether that's what we call synthetic peril of synthetic and it's a synthesis that's putting it together 73 of the hundred and fifty Psalms were attributed David explicitly now there's a group of others now the oldest one probably being the one by Moses himself which is in the collection then there's 48 that are anonymous if you will now many categorizations of the Psalms include the idea that they are in five books and these five divisions each one ends with a specific kind of styled benediction and the first 41 Psalms are sometimes called the Genesis Psalms the next step from 40 to the next 30 are the Exodus arms then we have a substantial group that are called the Levitical Psalms and then numbers 92 106 and Deuter on these are often labeled after the Pentateuch itself the first five books of Moses and there are some things about this that are appealing there's also some things that I think are a little contrived so I wouldn't overemphasize this I just mentioned it because you may run into it in your reading now I get to my real caveat having said all of that I'm going to suggest you do your best to forget it because the real issue here is chewing the cud what do I mean by that see that was the key to clean sacrifices the animals that were used for sacrifices were those that chewed the cud that was considered a clean animal because they would they they you know they would chew the cud we wanna we are admonished to do that with the Word of God we want to avoid what I would call analysis paralysis there are places in the scripture where it really pays to analyze precisely dissect it or you know see how its structured get in under the text and so forth that can be very very useful and then very very important to be very precise and very very analytical what you're doing there are other places where that's going to get in the way of really appreciating what's going on this is one of them analysis can blindfold our souls to the message and these are messages that are really to be tasted to be digested we're looking for prayerful absorption rather than intellectual dissection the Psalms are done best by being meditated upon that Psalms are a gateway for the presence of God and we want to so what you really want to do you really won't understand a psalm until you've read it maybe 20 or 30 times that sounds like I'm exaggerating only a little bit maybe but so let's try one let's take a look at Psalm 19 now some 19 I have to tell you right up front is a bit unique that's one reason we've just we've restricted our intake this coming session we often take try to take a handful of these because we'd like to get through 150 before the decade is over but in this case we're going to try to be rather relaxed in our tech at tackling Psalm 19 Immanuel Kant said of this some said two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder in awe here's one of the great minds it says two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wandering off the more often and more seriously reflection concentrates upon them the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me those are the two things that really filled his mind two things he wouldn't think they're related but they are the starry heaven above overwhelmed kindness he looked up the star as he saw that that's an overwhelming to try to contemplate what's there and the other is the moral law inside him interesting CS Lewis said it more directly says I take this Psalm that is Psalm 19 to be the greatest poem in the Psalms and one of the greatest lyrics in the world that's pretty wild from CS Lewis himself so that's a perspective let's jump in and just read it through once and then go back and take a look at it more carefully let's just read it to the chief musician a psalm of David so this one explicitly labeled from David the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard well their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world in them have he set a tabernacle for the Sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race his goings forth is from the end of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making why is the simple the statues of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb moreover by them as thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret false keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer so there you have it 14 verses let's just take a look at it more carefully to the chief musician a psalm of David the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork declares the glory of God the heavens the heavens you know it's interesting that there are probably apparently spent by one by a very prominent biologist estimate there are almost two million species of fungi ten thousand species of ants three hundred thousand species of flowering plants somewhere between four thousand five thousand species of animals ten thousand species of birds and it goes on these numbers impressive though they are pale into insignificance when compared with the stars in the heavens our astonishing universe there are probably more than a hundred billion galaxies in our observable universe not stars galaxies of stars where each of those galaxies may have over a hundred billion stars in each of them just unbelievable typical galaxies contain 10 million to 1 trillion stars all orbiting around a common center of gravity that's ten to the seventh or ten to the twelfth those are big numbers so you got 10 to the 11th galaxies some of which have 10 to the 12th stars in each one of them that's J again those are numbers that we can't possibly get our mind around most galaxies are several thousand of several hundred thousand light-years in diameter the Galaxy itself just to get across it at the speed of light would take several hundred thousand years see lightyears are a measurement of distance the distances and the numbers here stagger the mind even the sophisticated mind used to dealing with this staggers in trying to in contemplation of these things and these start these galaxies are usually separated from one another by an order of millions of light-years the light traveling at the speed of light to get between galaxies would take millions of years so we have known that it's just astonishing just astonishing but it says the heavens declare the glory of God well what is his glory what is the glory of God well most of us would first the first embrace here it would be the creation as we try to get our mind around the creation we stagger and yet is that God's greatest glory or is his Redemption his greatest glory well how do you measure that how do you measure what's more important you're on an exam here what's a bigger glory of God his creation or his Redemption well how would you measure the importance of either one of these by the amount of space in the Bible that wouldn't be a bad measure would it well the creation what is involved a couple of chapters in Genesis a couple of chapters in the book of Job a small handful of Psalms a couple of chapters in Isaiah a few verses in Gospel of John and a couple of the epistles that's about it what about God's Redemption the whole book of Genesis really is all about that well that's the book of Exodus is the book of redemption that's what Leviticus is about end to end and numbers and Deuteronomy all through the all the prophets certainly the New Testament the Gospels Acts the epistles are what about the redemption of Christ so which is the greatest now the space is one way to measure that the other way to measure of which is God's greatest glories what did it cost him well the creation took six days he breathed out of his nostrils he called it into existence I'm not knocking that but I suspect he could do that again in another six day should he feel like it what did his Redemption cost him his son and we can't imagine we can't imagine whether I think we'll be spending an eternity discovering what it cost him to allow us to be with him when Paul preached to the Gentiles the book of Acts he began in X 14 he began with the creation as he was speaking to the Greek minds but then he went to the gospel I'm gonna show you why some people believe that that first verse and in Psalm 19 refers not to the stars in the sky in the usual sense but to God's Redemption that heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament speaketh of his handiwork and there's a thing called the signs in the heavens it's a field of study that that is not without its controversies but what we're going to explore very superficially very quickly is the Hebrew matzah off that's the Hebrew term for what you and I might call the zodiac though in the Mets are on All Stars have a name that's staggering when you start trying to add up the ten to the twelfth galaxies some of which have ten to the twelve stars in them you get numbers that go beyond our ability to even if we if we tried to speak 10 a second we couldn't admit and mention them all in a lifetime they all have a name this is both the psalmist and Isaiah remind us we use the term zodiac that comes from the word Saudi or the way and it's interesting that what we know about the Stars in a secular sense comes from the temple of dendera from 2000 BC and this is a corruption a Babylonian corruption of ideas that were emblazoned earlier the signs of their zodiac we know them as Virgo the virgin and each sign of the two the 12 signs of the zodiac have deacons associated constellations with them Brewer has coma the infant the desired one Centaurus Buddhas these are associated with Virgo you have Libra the crux the cross loop is the victim throne of the crown Scorpio which has a number of deacons associated with it serpens and Hercules and so on Sagittarius has deacons associated with that again a dragon Capricornus Aquarius these are the labels that astronomers used because they take them from the Babylonian corruption of their earlier names from Genesis 11 on all this became very corrupted and boy we could expense time in each one of these I'll try not to because we're just going to go over the slightly now and they go for anyway they go from Virgo to Leo if you go around the 12 constellations let's just take one of them and examine it more carefully when you go to a planetarium show they typically suggest that these pictures each one of these collections of stars have a label and that label is usually emblazoned with some kind of imagery they try to tell you well the ancients thought these things laid out that image that's utter nonsense there's no way this looks like a a woman there's no way that Cassiopeia you look up in the sky it looks like a vent w doesn't look like a woman chained to a chair see this is a myth that gets promoted in the secular world because they don't know any better the secret to understanding the the the story that those stars are intended to remind you of is to know the names of the stars in the order of brightness each of the stars and each of these constellations have names the trick is to find out what is the name of those stars in Hebrew many of them in law have been lost through years but we can get some clue from the Arabic or in some cases the Egyptian well let's take a look at Virgo the brightest star is called speaker and among the astronomers that means an ear of corn in the Hebrew it's called semuc which means the branch and the Arabic at South Summit which means the branch in Egypt it's s boliya the seed of the 20 Hebrew words translated branch the only the word Semak is used exclusively of the Messiah engine and Jeremiah Zechariah and elsewhere the promised seed of the woman of course is a title of Jesus out of genesis 3:15 Verglas shown here with a branch in her right hand and an ear of corn in the left the branch speaks of the Nazarene and the ear of corn and corn dies and it cannot bring forth fruit there's a there's the constellation Libra which are scales were balances the wedge usually represented the hebrew word is a month anima which means scales weighing the arabic is odds being that the purchase or redemption the coptic islam idea which is a station of propitiation the latin is Libra being weighing now the the brightest star is zubenelgenubi the price deficient a price that was inadequate you will the next brightest star is zooming out camera which is the price that covers so you got two prices ones adequate ones not adequate the next brightest one is Zuma Grob which is the price of conflict and it's pointing towards sent arias and the victims lane we go through the Deacons the cross and bunch of others I won't go through all of these in detail but let's get to the climax of course at the end of the road is Leo the Lion in the in Hebrew it's area that of the lion it's associated with the tribe of Judah the brightest star the alpha star is Regulus created treading underfoot a de novo the judge cometh then Oba L said which is the judge shall reign and the Deacons that associated with this are the fleeing serpent the cup of fire and the raven so the message all together is let's go through with the message if you go through all of this and get the stars what suggested is Burgos speaks of the seed of the woman the desire of the nations one of them is that the key one is a double star not a single star the double nature in humiliation the exalted Shepherd and the Harvester Libra the price to be paid the cross that would be endured the victim that was slain and the crown that was purchased these are all echoed in the backgrounds of the constellations by their ancient names not the ones we know them by Scorpio the conflict the serpents coils a struggle with the enemy the toiling Vanquisher of evil sagittarius the double natured one triumphing that gladdens the heavens he builds far as a punishment he cast down the dragon and we could go through the rest of these life out of death the air of God pierced and failing springing up again into abundant life Aquarius the life waters from on high drinking in the heavenly food carrying the good news bearing aloft the cross over the earth in Pisces the multiplication of the Redeemers people upheld and governed by the lamb intended bride bound and exposed the bridegroom exalted Ares the lamb found worthy the bride released from making ready Satan bound the breaker triumphing Taurus the invisible ruler comes the sublime vanquish her the river of judgment the all Shepard Germany the marriage of the lamb the enemy trodden down the price coming in glory and it's princely following and cancer the possession secured the lesser fold the Church of the firstborn and greater fold Israel it's a folding into the everlasting kingdom Leo the king rending the serpent fleeing the bowl of wrath upon him and his carcass devoured interesting ly enough now this view there are scholars that believe that the Persian tradition is that the matsarata was the way that Adam and his followers following generations taught their children the plan of God that's why it was called the way and there are many that you know regard this as fanciful accidental they dismiss it but the UW Bullinger back in 1893 published the witness of the stars Josephus ice published in 1882 actually was 1860 but it was reprinted in permanent prim evil astronomy in 1882 of the gospel in the stars there have been a number of books more recently that pick this up and develop it but part of the problem is is to get back into the ancient names of what those stars mean to try to infer what the message that they're conveying so we have a briefing packet on this that goes into detail for those of you want to chase it down but I think it's fascinating to realize at least the possibility exists that in the heavens was God laid out the plan of his Redemption you and I in Christ well let's go at this again to the chief musician the psalm of David the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge there's no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line is going out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world first four verses the technology that I see here is not a astronomy nor is it necessarily limited to the heavens declaring through the zodiac I can't help but notice it's my personal expertise is in the information sciences what fascinates me that leaps out at me the heavens declare the glory of God the firmament shows his handiwork Dan today uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge these are information terms there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard their line has gone out through all the earth and there their words are to the end of the world in their twice in each phrase there are information terms the creation is screaming at us continually of what God would have us know day on today other speech and night unto night uttereth knowledge there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard what is this saying this is saying that no one has any excuse for not recognizing God who he is and it's interesting that the exact that's exactly what Paul says in the book of Romans chapter 1 for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse everybody says well what about the savage and the jungles well if he doesn't get the message it's our job to bring it to him then huh in Romans 10 Paul actually quotes Psalm 19 to make this point in Romans 10 starting in verse 16 but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah said Lord who hath believed our report he's quoting there from Isaiah 53 so that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God but I say have they not heard yes verily their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world that's not familiar that's a quote from Psalm for Tom nineteen it's interesting that Phillip Brooks gave the first instructions about God to Helen Keller remember Helen Keller was the gal that was born deaf and blind right Phillip Brooks gave the first instruction about God to her and she replied that she had always known it was a god but she didn't know what his name was staggering our task is to tell the world what his name is name is Jesus there been books written called eternity in their hearts it's astonishing when they go into ancient tribal areas they discover people there already knew all about Jesus let me just have another label for it their line has gone throughout all the earth verse four and their words to the end of the world in them heavy said a tabernacle for the Sun the word line there is no Septuagint is translated sound their line their sound their influence this way some translators handled it as going forth is from the end of heaven no it's over this particular thing the line has gone through all the earth and their words the end the world in them hath II set a tabernacle for the Sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices as a strong man to run a race if he feels strength and joy and that expression but speaking of the son says his going forth is from the end of heaven into the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and I remember the teenager reading critics that said see how silly that is everybody knows the Sun doesn't rise and set that they assume that this is Ptolemaic cosmology cousin cosmology Copernicus came along and proved to us the Sun doesn't rise the Earth turns see this is out of date this is what they call an anachronism that's only because they the critics haven't done their homework in the presumption that it's not talking about sunrise and sunset it's talking about the path the Sun and the path of the Sun is from one end of heaven to the other and the circuit to the ends of it the Milky Way that is this collect the galaxy that we are in called the Milky Way is a spiral galaxy of about 400 billion stars that's a lot of stars it has a central bulge and then it's sort of an extended disc and that the diameter of the thing is about 100,000 light years if you are traveling at the speed of light it would take you 100,000 years to get from one end to the other of this galaxy we are the Sun is at about twenty eight thousand light years from the center it's it has its it's looking at the edge it's flat with a bulge in the middle and you actually haven't been able to map this and figure out where we are and we're twenty-eight thousand light-years from the center and the others are anyway his going forth is from the end of heaven and a circuit unto the ends of it and then says and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof something made people may not realize is the the the source of all the energy in the solar system is from the Sun the entire solar system in all the planets all the energy on those planets comes from the Sun and certainly all the all the energy on the planet earth comes from the Sun well what about gas and leanin oil oil came from compressed leaves that came that stored their Angie over periods of time and under pressure from the Sun let's just take an example of the leaves we're in this season that were the leaves are starting to change we're seeing the marvelous colors there's a whole story behind those I'll spare you right here get into our Genesis comforter if you want the details but if you if you take a leaf and study it you'll discover it is incredibly complex incredibly skillfully designed with a an elegant processing system that's too complex for us to do and he would summarize here but the plants basically give off oxygen and mix it mixes carbon hydrogen oxygen into sugar glucose which of course the animals need the oxygen they need and they need the glucose or derivative of it the animals of course burn that up doing whatever they do and they breathe out co2 the plants cannot make glucose or oxygen without the co2 so the plants need the co2 just as badly as the animals need the oxygen to breathe so we have a system that is incredibly elegant and obviously skillfully designed now well this did this all happen couldn't possibly have because you can't have a system of subsystems if the system's dependent on the subsystems the subsystems all have to be their operative for the system to survive you can't have one without the other you follow me and that's a that's the irreducible complexity are you aware Michael Behe and others photosynthesis simply means to build with light the plants are sugar factories producing millions of new glucose molecules per second most plants produce more glucose than they can use in store and so the store to starch and carbohydrates and roots stems and leaves which of course are eaten by various creatures each year the photosynthesizing organisms produce 170 billion metric tons of extra carbohydrates and about 30 metric tons for every person on the planet Earth every one of us depends directly on that photosynthesis which comes from the Sun all nothing is hid from the heat thereof but there's something more in the psalm than just this tour de force of the creation and his Redemption see following the fall of man creation has been subjected to utility and bondage as a result of the curse that's described in Genesis 3 and elaborated on in Romans 8 to reveal himself even more clearly than from a fallen creation we've got cursed creation he has given us his word so in addition to all of this God has given us his word he's done it through a nation Israel to all the world his word is pure that's what the psalm 19 points out we need to dwell on that for a minute the Word of God is pure it's perfect it's pure what does that mean that means you don't mess around with a paraphrase you don't mess around with an inadequate translation you find the most adequate translation you can know translations perfect that's okay because the problems are typically well footnoted but you want to have a profound respect for the word as it was given by God well I don't speak Hebrew a Greek I understand that's where the translation is there to help you make that bridge but there's two theories of translation one is called verbal equivalency and the other is called dynamic equivalency the trend in modern scholarship has been to give deference to what they call dynamic equivalency taking the ancient expression and trying to turn it in today's into today's language that sounds noble and put it in the common tongue it's great except that's giving deference to today's modern language verbal equivalency does it the other way around gives deference to what was actually said and that is that's one of the reasons so many scholars cling so tightly to the King James not that it's perfect because it's got problems tube that they're well documented but at least the attempt was made to maintain the precision and the majesty of the original and and not yield to the vernacular of the day of today but check that out it's you know how does God feel about his name pretty jealous of his name right there's lots of scripture on that it's a shock to discover that God puts his word even above his name psalm 138:2 highlights that so let's continue now the psalm 19 is going to shift gears here and go into the law of the Lord we've been talking about stars and universes know the law of the Lord is perfect complete the taurah of the lord taurah means instruction teaching the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple see it's it's but what it's saying that law of the Lord is perfect it is flawless it is complete it never needs revision God said this thousands of years ago and it's still true how many of you would take a course in physics using 1950 textbooks how many of you take a course in physics using 1999 in other words science is constantly obsoleting itself correcting itself finding where it wasn't quite right before law of the Lord has never changed and yet all these ideas are in his word to the testimony Lord is sure making wise simple judgment is coming and the commandments reveal that moving on verse eight the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart Romans chapter seven Paul says wherefore the law is holy the commandment holy just and good was then that which is good made death unto me god forbid but sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful and we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin the fact that the law reveals us as sinners does is not a fault of the law that's what it was intended to do it wasn't intended that we could keep it perfect it was tended to read to reveal to us our inability to meet the law and that's what we call law school but Romans 7 develops that from end to end so the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul that tests me the Lord is sure making wise a simple the statutes of the Lord and here we're talking in the the daily instructions for everyday life statue the Lord are right rejoicing the heart the commander of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes it's interesting the Ten Commandments are the root statutes and that's a nine of the ten are quoted in the New Testament the fourth one wasn't it was the only one not explicitly recounted and of course the applications there are detailed in the epistles particularly Ephesians chapter 4 and elsewhere the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes commandment means that which is appointed warnings of life and death and so forth the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments the Lord are true and righteous all together the judgments are coming God's judgments are coming the statute Lord are right rejoicing the heart the fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever the judgments the Lord are true and righteous altogether to teach fear is to teach the Bible according to Psalm 34 you will come to later and Deuteronomy 4 and elsewhere the fear of the Lord sounds like a change of subject nor to teach the fear is it to teach the Bible is to teach the fear of the Lord and judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether no judgments are ordinances verdicts decisions of the judge we need to understand God's righteousness because that will illuminate for us our need for His grace that's basically the whole story to know the warning and not heed it is sin according to James 4:17 now going on with God's Word here more to be desired are they that God's commandments and so forth more to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than honey in the honeycomb moreover by them as thy servant warned and in the keeping of them there is great reward who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults do we desire God's word above everything else who do we're at do we do do we really really favor time spent in his words over other things not how else can we rise above our fallen nature keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins what are those let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression the word v''e is not in there by the way in the Hebrew innocent from great discretion transgression what is a great transgression a great transgression is the rejection of the remedy that God has provided for our shortcomings that that that remedy is Jesus Christ knowing the creation his word know that it's not enough we must have a relationship with him see sinners were guilty even though they were ignorant of what they had done Leviticus 5 points that out in the Torah 5:17 the Old Testament made provision for sins of ignorance Leviticus 4 deals with that numbers 15 22 to 29 however there was no atonement for presumptuous sins that's scary presumptuous sins psalmist says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer see the words of our mouth reveals our heart that's why in its insert in some context the words or mouth can be our sacrifice before the altar is there if they're revealing the meditation of our heart and the word Redeemer there is the word you would think it would be it's the go L one of the studies you undertake is what is it go well you find that out in the Book of Ruth also in Leviticus 25 25 and numbers 35 and Isaiah 43 the go well the kinsman redeemer in Revelation chapter 5 when I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book sealed within and on the backside and sealed with seven seals then who was worthy to open the seals and loose the to take the book and to loose the seals thereof no man was found worthy in heaven or on earth or under the earth to open the seals and to look thereon and John says I sobbed convulsively until the elder said wait wait wait behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David he hath prevailed and John looks and he sees the Lamb Jesus Christ he is our kinsman redeemer he had to be our kinsman he had to be a man it would be that's why he came to earth incarnate and be our kinsman he had to be able to perform he had to be willing to perform and he all Duet he also had to assume all the obligations of the one that he was redeeming and he has done them it's completed but the kinsman redeemer was also the Avenger of blood and he comes in a second coming as that Avenger okay we can still squeeze in a couple more so we don't spend our entire session on this one let's go to Psalm 22 the chief musician a psalm of David the Lord here the in the day of trouble the name of God in the name of the God of Jacob defend thee send the help from the sanctuary and strengthen the out of Zion remember all the offerings and accept thy BIRT sack fayla Psalm 20 appears to be a psalm of prayer before a battle Psalm 21 appears to be a praise after the victory and they're both Psalms of David and the first five verses are the people pray for their king and in Deuteronomy 24 verses that required the officers and the soldiers to first dedicate themselves to the Lord before a battle that's what they're doing here the Lord here the in the day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob defend thee that's a strange term for David to use perhaps but God was never ashamed we called the God of Jacob and remember all the offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice say la accept thy sacrifice not my sacrifice thy sacrifice oh what's that about is it possible that this Psalm is also in its own way messianic we'll take a look at that that is gonna that's gonna raise a whole nother issue for us here I've come to that in a little bit grant the according to thine own heart and a fulfill all by counsel see David did more than just worship he also sought the Lord's will concerning his strategy for the battle and he does that in 1st Samuel 23 and elsewhere grant the according to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel we will rejoice in thy salvation and in the name of our God we will set up our banners the Lord fulfill all thy petitions now know I that the Lord sayeth his anointed he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand now as we read this Psalm we're gonna suddenly get a feeling that there's maybe three levels here it's a psalm that you could use going into battle it's a psalm it relates to David going into his battle but the ultimate son of David of course is none other than the Messiah himself and as you reread this sum you'll get the feeling that all three are operative here it was a real Psalm David used before a battle it's applicable to Israel going to any battle but it also puts the son of David in those shoes when you need to see it that way now we will rejoice in thy salvation in the name of our God we will set up our banners the Lord fulfill all thy petitions remember in John 11 Jesus says father I thank thee that thou has heard me I knew that thou hearest me always and the Christ is probably the only one that the father always answers and here's an answers now know that I the Lord sayeth his anointed he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand that certainly applied to David in one context it certainly applies to Jesus Christ you know much broader one the King was the focus in this Psalm the King was the life and breath of the nation the king was the lamp of Israel second staying with 21 the King was the special target of the enemy for obvious reasons God's covenant with David assured him a victory over his enemies at 2nd Samuel 7 verse 11 but in a broader sense his covenant with Christ his farm is far more reaching some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God they are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright see if God can be for us who can be against us the way Paul phrases that in Romans 8 save Lord that the word in Hebrew is Hosanna let the King hear us when we call indeed well we have a companion Psalm Psalm 21 to finish our study for the evening to the chief musician a psalm of David the king shall joy and thy strength O Lord and thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice this is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving a pair after a great victory and it would seem at least that this simply parallels some 20 but there may be some surprises in store for us here the king shall join strength the Lord in thy salvation I'll greatly shall he rejoice thou has given him his heart's desire and that's not withholding the request of his lips Ceylon okay and by the word the word salvation there it can simply mean deliverance or victory incidentally not necessarily soteriological for thou prevent him with the blessings of goodness thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head the word prevent here really means to see to it beforehand an old english term meaning to see to it beforehand used in psalm fifty nine ten some seventy nine to eight also without prevents them with the blessings of goodness thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head he asked life of thee and thou gave us didn't him even length of days forever and ever well this sounds like another coronation doesn't it his glory is great in my salvation honour and Majesty has now laid upon him for thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou has made him exceeding glad with thy countenance in your joy of victory you could have seed the nation Israel ascribing this applying it to David and indeed they must have and yet there's something much deeper going on here it even more broadly applies to the son of David for the King trusts them the Lord and though and through the mercy of the Most High shall not be moved thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee thou shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them boy this is starting to get a little heavy here the word find out there and in verse eight is to dispose of thine hand we'll dispose of all that enemies thy right hand shall dispose of those that hate thee see all those that rejected him are his enemies fire is fire then judgment is judgment and that's what's coming up here thou shalt make them as a fiery oven boy it sounds like this is getting beyond just a victory thing for David their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth their seed from among the children of men for they intended evil against thee they imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to perform Wow kind of a strange tone for a victory song isn't it therefore shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make the make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power wow this is a psalm of David I hear echoes of for Sam - or Samuel to where it says thou those that honor me I will honor could this also be a messianic song it's not on the list of Messianic Psalms as we come and report them as we did in their earlier summaries it's also not quoted in the New Testament as referring to Christ so for that reason it wouldn't be normally designated as a messianic Psalm and yet Israel from the beginning held this Psalm as speaking not just of David but also of the Messiah the targum which is the Chaldean paraphrase of the Old Testament and the Talmud they both teach that the king mentioned in this Psalm is the Messiah the great Talmudic rabbi the Solomon izaki which is commonly known as Rashi born in 1040 ad you're talking 10th century 11th century guy he endorsed this interpretation that this would be messianic but he had a footnote he also suggested that they should give it up because Christians were making use of the psalm as evidence that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah so he recognized it was messianic but he tried to discourage its use because the Christians were picking up on this with with their zeal they they could see could see them as I in it there are certain churches denominations that are very liturgical and this Psalm is used by liturgical churches to observe certain days such as Ascension Day they use this sum as commemorating the ascension that is the return of the Lord Jesus to glory and its presence there as our great High Priest and when you read it so you can go now you can go back and you can read that some as replying to David you can read that some as applying to Christ and it'll have it's really like a two-tier trip as you go Jay Stewart her own said each Jewish monarch was but a feeble type of Israel's true king and all the hopes and aspirations of pious hearts however they might have for their immediate object and then reigning the then reigning monarch whether David himself or one of his sons still they looked beyond these to him who should be David's Lord as well as the son which of course is Jesus Christ that's surprising to see in his reminding to see somewhat of a liberal theologian let's just go through it again the king shall show it join us strength O Lord and thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice thou has given him his heart's desire and it's not withholding the request of his lips Sayla I hear Jesus Christ praying in John 17 without produced him the blessings of goodness thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head he asked life of thee and thou gave us of him in the length of days forever and ever how long forever ever the glory is great in thy salvation honor and Majesty as I laid upon him for thou has made him the most blessed forever thou has made him exceeding glad with thy countenance the King trusts in the Lord and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger it doesn't sound like David to me the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them their fruit shall I'll destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men where they intended evil against thee they imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to perform yeah you know if you shift from here to first Thessalonians excuse me second Thessalonians and you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in the Saints and be admired and all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day Wow the psalmist continues that therefore thou shalt make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon those strings against the face of them be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power boy boy boy are you one of Christ do you have a relationship with him because there is a judgment coming that's a sir that's most certain thing in in destiny you want to be in his shoes well this Psalm 21 sort of opens the door for a very different kind of messianic Psalm and next time we're going to go through Psalm 22 23 and 24 they are sometimes called the shepherd Psalms the middle one Psalm 23 we probably most of us have memorized the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and so forth the one just in front of that Psalm 22 is probably one of the most remarkable passages in the entire Bible because it reads as if it was dictated by the Lord Jesus himself as he hung on the cross during the crucifixion it's astonishing it opens up and close it opens and closes with his first and last words from the cross my God my God why has thou forsaken me and ends so shall it be done and so it's going to be a very special study a very special study and then Psalm 23 will go through of course into Psalm 24 these are these are clearly labeled by most accountings as very conspicuously in this Sanok so I encourage you to it for your preparation for your next session to not just read but really meditate on those three Psalms let's stand for closing word of Prayer

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Length: 58min 23sec (3503 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 30 2020