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The Lord is on His Throne

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THE TEXT

“In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?4 The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord‘s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.5 The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright” (Psalm 11).

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Psalm 120: A Lament About Liars

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Introduction

This psalm is the first in a series of fifteen psalms, called from ancient times psalms of ascent, or psalms of degree. What this means is frankly lost to us, but there have been reasonable speculations. John Calvin thought it had to do with the musical pitch of the psalm. A medieval rabbi said that the temple had fifteen steps, one psalm per step. I favor the view that argues that these are pilgrim psalms. When Israelites went to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, they were going up (Ex. 34:24; 1 Kings 12:27)

The Text

“In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, Thou false tongue? . . .” (Ps. 120:1–7)

Summary of the Text

When a pilgrim left home to go up to the Temple, he was going to worship the God of truth. He was leaving behind the realm of men, the provenance of liars. One likely occasion for the composition of this psalm is David’s recollection of the lies of Doeg the Edomite. The lies, whatever they were, were distressing, and the psalmist cried out to Jehovah, and Jehovah heard him (v. 1). He cries out for deliverance from the evils that come from a lying tongue (v. 2). The lips are soft, but in the service of the devil they are razor sharp. He then asks what the liar will receive in return for all his labors in lies (v. 3). There is ambiguity in the next verse—is it talking about harm done by the liar, or about the recompence that God pays back to the liar? I take it as the latter (v. 4). David did not physically live in Mesech, or in the tents of Kedar, but it was as though he dwelt among an uncouth, and fierce, and barbaric people (v. 5). Against his basic desire, he dwelt together with someone who hated peace (v. 6). Despite his longing for peace, and his desire for peace, no matter what, they wanted war (v. 7). They insisted on unnecessary conflict.

The Liar Fights Dirty

One of the things that is so exasperating about dealing with slanderers and liars is not the fact of conflict with them. Rather it is that they feel free to use maneuvers that the righteous are prohibited from using. They are far more flexible in their construal of facts because they don’t need to go to the library to check them.

But a true man will not even touch the weapons that the slanderers resort to so readily. A true man will not return that kind of fire, trying to blacken the character of someone who is blackened enough already.

Deception and Lies

Having said all this, we must acknowledge that there is a difference between slander where there ought to be comity, and deception where there is already war.

The Hebrew midwives were blessed by God because they misled Pharaoh in his murderous policy (Ex. 1:19-20). And Jochebed, the mother of Moses, obeyed Pharaoh technically by putting the baby Moses in the Nile. The law didn’t say that the baby couldn’t be given a boat too (Ex. 2:2). And Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go away from Egypt for a three day journey into the wilderness, not forever and ever (Ex. 9:1). And Rahab deceived the agents of Jericho’s defenses by sending the spies out by another way than she said she did (Josh. 2:4; Jas. 2:25). And, moreover, this is what James identifies as the very moment that vindicated the genuineness of her faith. The strategy that Israel used at the second battle of Ai relied on deception (Josh. 8:2), using a tactic God gave them. And the tactic that God gave to David at relied on deception (2 Sam. 5:23). Deception in time of war is to lying what killing in war is to murder.

At the same time, God will pour out all His fury on liars. The lake of fire is reserved for “all liars” (Rev. 21:8). One of the Ten Commandments prohibits perjury against your neighbor (Ex. 20: 16). We must not lie to one another (Lev. 19:11). Lying is included in two of the seven things that God hates (Prov. 6:16-19). Because we have cast off the old man and his ways, we must not lie to one another (Col. 3:9).

We are servants of Christ, who is the Truth incarnate. This means that we must be men and women who speak the truth accurately. We must be boys and girls who do not lie.

God’s Quiver

The psalm begins with the grateful acknowledgement that God heard the prayer of this man in distress. God heard him (v. 1). This is part of the reason why I take the arrows of v. 4 as the arrows of God’s judgments. The previous verse asked the question, “what shall be done to you, oh, false tongue?” and the following verse answers the question. God will draw one of His mighty arrows out of His quiver—and you don’t want to be one of those condemned individuals that God draws a bead on. The white broom tree of the desert (ratam), rendered by the KJV as juniper, is a wood that burns hot and long.

A Generation of the Lie

We live in time that is dominated by the Lie. The Lie is the coin of the realm. The Lie comes at you from every direction. You are lied to in your Spotify playlist. You are lied to in the movies, in the books you read, and on the Internet. You are lied to by our culture, you are lied to by our political authorities, and you are lied to by the devil.

Keep in mind that it is a sin to believe a lie. That is how our race fell into sin in the first place. God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18), and He told Adam to stay away from that tree. The devil wreathes himself in lies, and he is the one who told them to go ahead. The Fall was the result of believing a lie.

And one of the central ways to immunize yourself against believing lies is by resolving, before God, that you will speak the truth.

 

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Palm Sunday A.D. 2020

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Matthew 21:1–11, Psalm 118

1-7 The King Enters Jerusalem

Jesus had visited Jerusalem many times before, but this was to be his last visit prior to his arrest. And when he entered, he entered on the back of a donkey, in fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy.

It is important to understand that in biblical literature the donkey was actually a sign of kingship. This goes all the way back to Jacob’s dying prophecy over Judah (Gen. 49:10-11). And throughout Scripture we continually see kings riding donkeys. Remember when David publicly announced that his son Solomon was to be the new king of Israel, he demonstrated this by parading Solomon through Jerusalem on the back of the king’s donkey (1 Kings 1:38, for other examples of rulers riding on donkeys see Judges 5:10, 10:4, 12:14). So it make sense that Zechariah would prophesy that the new king of Israel would arrive in Jerusalem on a donkey, a king who would exercise universal dominion (Zech. 9:9-10).

8-11 Hosanna

This next bit gets particularly hard to understand. The people lay branches in the road before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, and they cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” This seems like a bizarre way to behave. But to understand what is happening here, you need to understand Psalm 118 and that is not easy.

Psalm 118

Psalm 118 is like a confused dream if you just read it by itself. But when you hold it up to the rest of Scripture, especially to the life of Christ, and especially to his triumphal entry, then instead of being this confused dream, it turns into an answer key that helps to make everything else make sense.

Feast of Booths

Remember that in Old Testament Israel there were three pilgrim feasts – Passover, Pentecost, and Booths. At all three of these celebrations, the Jews would sing the Hallel – Psalms 113-118. And as part of the Feast of Booths, the Jews would bring their lullavim, made from the branches of the fruitful trees of Israel, and cast their lullavim onto the altar, while reciting Psalm 118:25. The cry “save now” in Hebrew is Hosanna!

So the people were taking the pieces of their celebration of the Feast of Booths and were applying this ceremony to Jesus. What they had celebrated as a type and a shadow they were now able to actually celebrate in its reality.

The Cornerstone

In verses 22-24, the Psalmist describes a rejected cornerstone, describing the very humble beginning of a building project. This is likely why bits of this Psalm are picked up to celebrate the laying of the foundation of the second temple (Ezra 3:11-13). But in a very early Jewish tradition this passage is understood as referring to David’s selection as king over all his brothers. And so you see all of these elements picked up in Jesus’ triumphal entry.

The Rejection

Over the next several chapters the Jewish leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, the chief priests, and the scribes) all make clear their final rejection of Jesus’ teaching. He makes this the point of his parable of the wicked vinedressers (21:42-45, quoting Ps. 118:22-23). And again, after completing denunciation of the Jewish leadership in Matthew 23, he concludes with 23:38-39 (quoting Psalm 118:26).

Conclusion

One of the greatest vices of the evangelical church over the past century has been our bad habit of attempting to read our Bibles in light of our current events, instead of the other way around, which is to read our current events in light of our Bible. In Scripture you have a firm and certain word. In the world around you, as we have right now, you have a raucous multitude driven by whatever emotion has worked its way to the top of their esophagus. If you go from that raging emotion to Scripture you will have no end of confusion. But if you start with the clear testimony of Scripture you will find that you suddenly have your feet on an immovable rock.

So let’s start with Scripture and the promises of Psalm 118. These things have been promised to us and for us to be obedient means reading our current situation in light of this text.

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Psalm 119: A Hymn to the Word

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Introduction

And here we come to a great hymn of gratitude and praise, offered up to God for His glorious law. We have here the definitive answer for those who accuse us of “bibliolatry” simply because we treat the words of God like the treasure they are. It is of course true that there is an absurd sin of actual bibliolatry out there in the religious world, the kind of sin that misses the whole point (John 5:39). But how could it be bibliolatry if we resolutely refuse to miss the point?

The Text

“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord . . .” (Psalm 119:1-176).

Summary of the Text

This psalm, taken as a whole, is a work of towering literary craftsmanship. It has twenty-two sections, each one presided over by each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, the first section is ruled by aleph, and that letter is repeated eight times throughout that section at the beginning of each discrete thought. The next section belongs to beth, and it is repeated eight times, and so on.

It is also a song of deep devotion, again showing that true dedication to God and craftsmanship in literary art are not in any way at odds.

A facile but wrong-headed summary might want to say that a psalm of 176 verses that is dedicated to praising the law of God might have to get a tad repetitive—as though the psalmist could only say nothing more than yay law a couple hundred times. But this is not what we find at all. There are many shades of meaning here, and many lessons for us to learn.

In the Word

We shall shortly see that the Word of God is an amazing tool chest. It is large, and contains hundreds of tools. Christians who do not read their Bibles are like those who are given a tool chest that they store in the garage or attic, never acquainted themselves with what they have, with what they have been given. Not only so, but every day they have numerous tasks for which they need one of those tools, but which they do not know they have. The same thing goes for elders and ministers. The Word of God is given, in part, so that the man of God might be “thoroughly furnished” for all “good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

So how might this psalm be a blessing for you? There are many ways, although we just have time to discuss a handful of them.

Prevention of Sin

We begin with the simple truth that Bible memory will help you in the hour of temptation. What did Jesus do when tempted? He quoted Scripture. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee” (Ps. 119:11).

We are shown that our choice is binary—either/or. Either the Word or covetousness. Either the Word or vanity. “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; And quicken thou me in thy way” (Ps. 119:36–37). It is one way or the other.

And when we are in the Word, we learn more than just a tsking disapproval. “Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law” (Ps. 119:53)

Instruction

The more we learn, the more we are able to learn. We are enabled to see wonderful things. “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Ps. 119:18). When we eat, we grow bigger, beginning with the heart. “I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart” (Ps. 119:32).

When we are taught this way, we are given a great advantage over our enemies, and we even find ourselves ahead of our teachers. “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation” (Ps. 119:98–99).

Encouragement

Who does not have moments of discouragement? The Word is there. “My soul melteth for heaviness: Strengthen thou me according unto thy word” (Ps. 119:28).

The fact that we need to be driven to the Word is one of the reasons why afflictions arise. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I might learn thy statutes” (Ps. 119:71). Some saints, like some oven dishes, can only be adequately prepared at high temperatures.

Guidance

Suppose you don’t know which way to go, or what to do. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). And when we wander away from the path—the one illumined by this light—the reason we did so was because of pride. “Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments” (Ps. 119:21).

Protection

While affliction drives us to the Word, that Word is not a paper fortress. God drives us there because He wants us to see what He can do. “Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: For I do not forget thy law” (Ps. 119:153).

As we have noted before, the psalmist had enemies. He also had the Lord and His Word, which were his strong tower. “The proud have forged a lie against me: But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law” (Ps. 119:69–70).

Praise

And all of this comes back around to the God who spoke the Word. The perfect God spoke the perfect Word. The living God spoke the living Word. The constant God spoke the constant Word. “For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth” (Ps. 119:89–90).

Our knowledge of God is mediated to us. No creature can apprehend God directly—He dwells in unapproachable light. And so He mediates His glory to us in various ways. He does so through the glory of creation. His glory fills the earth. He does so through His incarnate Son, who lived, died, and rose among us, and ascended to the right hand of the Father. He does so through the glory of the gospel. And He mediates His glory to us through the vehicle of His perfect Word, all of which causes us to praise and glorify His name.

“Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments” (Ps. 119:164).

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Psalm 118: The Stone the Builders Rejected

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Introduction

And so these Hallel psalms conclude on a note of high triumph—but it is triumph through the midst of trials. This is triumph through the heat of a great battle. It is the joy of a rejected stone, now made the corner. A likely occasion is the ascension of David to the throne. In Ezra 3:10-11, when they were laying the foundation of the temple we read that citations from the first and last portions of this psalm were sung, indicating that the whole was sung.

The Text

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: Because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, That his mercy endureth for ever . . .” (Psalm 118:1–29).

Summary of the Text

Here is a psalm with some glorious repetitions, culminating in a great messianic promise. The repetitions are indicated in bold. Give thanks to the Lord because His mercy endures forever (v. 1). Let Israel say that His mercy endures (v. 2). Let the house of Aaron say that His mercy endures (v. 3). Let those who fear the Lord say the same (v. 4).

I called on the Lord, who answered and delivered me (v. 5). What can man do to me if the Lord is on my side (v. 6)? This passage is quoted in Heb. 13:6. The Lord takes up my side, and so I will triumph over my enemies (v. 7).

Trusting in the Lord is better than putting confidence in men (v. 8). For those who like to keep track of such things, this is the middle verse of the over 30K verses in the Bible. Trusting in the Lord is better than putting confidence in princes (v. 9). The nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I destroy them (v. 10). They encircled me, but I destroy them (v. 11). They came at me like a swarm of bees, but I quenched them like a thorn fire. I destroyed them (v. 12).

They thrust me back, but the Lord sustained me (v. 13). The Lord is my strength, song, and salvation (v. 14). The tents of the righteous are filled with jubilation, and the right hand of the Lord does valiantly (v. 15). The right hand of the Lord is exalted, and again does valiantly (v. 16). I will not die because I need to talk about the Lord (v. 17). The Lord chastened me severely, but not to the point of death (v. 18).

I will go through the gates of righteousness in order to praise the Lord (v. 19). The righteous will go through this gate(v. 20). I will praise the Lord because He has heard me, and has been my salvation (v. 21).

The next verse is quoted in multiple places in the New Testament (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11;1 Pet. 2:7). The builders rejected this stone, and it has been made the cornerstone (v. 22). The Lord has done this thing, and we think it is marvelous (v. 23). This is the day the Lord has made, the day of resurrection. This is why we rejoice and are glad on this, the first day of the week, the day of resurrection (v. 24).

The next verse (v. 25) is fulfilled in the hosannas of Palm Sunday (Mark 11:8; John 12:13), and the verse after (v. 26) is cited multiple times (Matt. 21:9; Mark 11:9; Luke 13:35; Luke 19:38; John 12:13).

God is the Lord, and He made His light shine on us, and we bind our boughs to the altar (v. 27). You are my God, and I will praise You (v. 28); You are my God, and I will exalt You (v. 28). And then the psalm concludes by returning to the key note established at the beginning of the psalm. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever (v. 29).

In Imitation of Christ

In a moment, we are going to consider the application of this psalm to the Lord, in whom the psalm finds complete fulfillment. But the fact that we see Christ in this psalm, which we do, does not mean that we cannot see ourselves in it. In fact, because of our union with Christ, we must learn to see ourselves.

In Hebrews 13:6, verse 6 from this psalm is quoted, and is introduced with this phrase—“So that we may boldly say . . .” If God is our help, and He most certainly is, then there is absolutely nothing that man can do to us. What is it to us if the enemy has a thousand spears when the Lord has ten thousand shields?

Joshua 1:5 is quoted just before this, and this is God’s promise. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The context from Joshua, and from the larger point of Hebrews, is a context on the brink of the great invasion. We are appointed to take the land, and in the Great Commission, the land is now the earth.

If you want iron in your veins, then internalize the psalms. At one point in his ministry the great Wycliffe fell ill, and the word went around that he was dying. He had been a great nuisance to the orders of friars, and representatives of four orders came to his bedside in order to exhort him to repent, to renounce what he had been doing, to make a full confession, and to die reconciled to them. When they were done, Wycliffe had a servant raise him up a bit, and he then quoted from this psalm (v. 17) in a loud voice. “I shall not die, but live, and declare the evil deeds of the friars.” In confusion, the monks tumbled out of the chamber.

Christ the Valiant

When the Lord observed the Passover meal with His disciples, we are told that when they were done, they sang together. “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives” (Matt. 26:30; Mark 14:26). According to the custom of the Jews, what they sang was almost certainly this psalm. And it is striking for us to consider what the Lord was singing when we consider right alongside it what the Lord was facing.

The Garden was still before Him. The arrest, the impudent midnight trial, the flogging, the taunting, the crucifixion—all that was before Him. And yet, consider the jubilant and victorious tone of this agonistic psalm. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

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