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Singing by Faith Alone

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Sing a New Song (v. 1-5)

David begins here with an exhortation (v. 1-3) for us to rejoice in the Lord and to praise him with music, with singing and shouting. He then gives us the reason for this exhortation (v. 4-5) – we should praise God because he is upright, because his work is true, righteous, and full of goodness.

The Works of the Lord (v. 6-19)

We praise God for his character, his attributes. But we don’t learn about these by reflecting on them in the abstract. We come to know about God’s character by studying what he has done. We know God through his works. David directs our attention to two key works of God – creation and salvation.

Creation (v. 6-12)

David looks at God’s power in creation and concludes that “all his work is done in truth” and that “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.”The triune God is our maker, creating and upholding all things by the power of his Word and the strength of his Spirit. This is why our doctrine of creation is so important. Creation is the proof of God’s authority, proof of the authority of his Word and the power of his Spirit. The argument about six day creation is not just about the exegesis, it is about the ever-present, sovereign authority of God in our everyday lives. Because he is the creator, he is the continuing sustainer of all things. This means that all peoples must fear him.

Salvation (v. 13-19)

David now describes how a king, no matter how mighty his army is, cannot stand against God and his plans. The power of a horse in battle might be awesome, but it is no match for the power of the Lord. This section is pointing back to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt at the Red Sea crossing. In fact, even when he was describing creation, he did so in a way that would remind the Israelites of the victory at the Red Sea (v. 7). And God’s deliverance in the Exodus is meant to be a picture of our ultimate salvation.

The church has long understood creation and redemption to be inherently connected and to be the two places in which we most clearly see God’s character. The church father Athanasius argued that because God created the world by the power of his Word, it was only appropriate then that he redeem us by the power of his Word. So, as David teaches us, we praise God and we fear him for his creation and for his redemption.

Mercy, Hope, and Singing

However, this Psalm began as an exhortation to the “righteous” and “upright.” Unfortunately, if we spend any time actually meditating on the greatness of God’s character as revealed in his creation and salvation, we will find it difficult to conclude that we are in this category. How can we sing this new song? But if we look again at God’s work, it will become clear to us. God created ex nihilo. God’s triumph comes not from the strength of horses. This is another way that creation and salvation are connected (2 Cor. 4:6). When God acts, he acts unilaterally, supplying all that is needed for the action. Moses sang about this when he saw God’s deliverance (Ex. 15:1-2). And Isaiah foresaw when this would be fully accomplished in the Messiah (Is. 12:1-2).

Moses sang, not because he was upright, but because he saw the uprightness of God in his actions. And as he sang, God became Moses’ salvation. There is a pun in the Hebrew of Ps. 33, between verses 3 and 4. “Sing to him a new song. . .” “For the word of the Lord is upright. . .” Singing and uprightness are rhymed with one another. Our singing is an expression of our trust in the Lord, a trust inspired by our understanding of God’s work as Creator and Redeemer. And by this faith we receive the uprightness of the Lord. In other words, we sing by faith alone.

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Palm Sunday 2011: A Plot Twist Triumph

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Introduction

The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem is the prelude to His crucifixion, and so it is odd that it has come to be called the triumphal entry. But it actually reveals a good understanding of what was actually happening there. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly (Ps. 118:16), but it turns out to have been the left hand. That it was a left-handed triumph did not keep it from being a triumph. No one thinks that the Greeks lost the Trojan War because the Trojans hauled what they thought to be a trophy of their victory inside the city walls.

The Text

“The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses” (Psalm 68:17-21).

Summary of the Text

The Bible is filled with many descriptions of triumph. Many of them are of the straight up the middle kind, as here. But when God overcame the rulers of that age, who did not know what He was doing (1 Cor. 2:8), the language of these right-handed triumphs is applied straight across. The psalmist pleads with God to arise and scatter His enemies (v. 1), which the Lord then proceeds to do. The Lord is among myriads of angels, in the holy place (v. 17). He then ascended on high, prefiguring the ascension of the Lord Jesus into Heaven (v. 18; Eph. 4:8). The Ascension looks like a triumph ought to look, but it was prefigured (accurately) by a march of death in faith. God is the God of our salvation, and He daily loads us with benefits (v. 19). The God of our salvation holds all the issues of death in His hand (v. 20). God shall win a complete victory, wounding the head of his enemies (v. 21).

A Most Unusual Triumph

Christ entered the conquered city in triumph before He had conquered it. Usually you have the battle and after that the victory parade. Jesus, the model of all faith, reversed the order. He held a triumphant procession before the battle. This had all been laid out in Scripture beforehand, and Scripture cannot be broken. Jesus knew that, because He saw Scripture rightly. And it did not matter how explicitly He spoke of this plan, spiritual blindness— attached as it is to the wisdom of the world—cannot comprehend it, and cannot overcome it (Jn. 1:5).

But we can understand how it is that they could not understand. Not only did Jesus conduct the victory parade before the victory, but His victory, when He came to it, was accomplished by dying, and not by killing. He crushed the serpent’s head by allowing Himself to be bruised by a crushing blow (Is. 53:5). And so being crushed was actually the crushing blow.

But the lack of spiritual understanding was not because the words were unclear.

“From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (Matt. 16:21)

When God Speaks in Code

As Christ entered into His victory, so should we. We are Christians, imitators of Him. What then is your triumphal entry? Have you been demoted, insulted, wronged, or badly handled? Has the Lord of all affliction assigned a portion of that peculiar blessing to you? Do you chafe because Lot pushed ahead of you and chose the choice portion, right next to Sodom? Are you mystified because after Samuel anointed you the next king, all the promotion memos resulted in you hiding from Saul in the wilderness? Why does God persist in thinking that down is the way up?

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12).

This is how God speaks in code; this is how He hides the purloined letter. He says what we would rather not hear, and does so bluntly, overtly, plainly, and with all clarity. If we receive it in faith, the promise is apportioned to us in accordance with our faith. If we say, sorry, we “can’t do that, not after what they did to” us, then the first thing we ought to do is consider the possibility that what they are saying is not false. The promise does not belong to those who reject the terms of it. When we take up our cross to follow Jesus, as He required of us, the process includes exulting in a great victory by faith beforehand.

The Righteous Shall Enter

But Christ is righteous, and we are not. Of course He knows how to do this kind of thing. But how can we approach the “gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter” (Ps. 118:20)? “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in” (Is. 26:2). How do we enter those gates? Because Christ defeated the devil in this “upside down” fashion, it is possible for sinners to respond to His invitation. Left to our own devices, we would have entered the wrong gate, taken the wrong entry ramp. We would have done the obvious thing. He made it possible for us not to.

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt 7:13).

In order to do this right, we have to stop thinking like scholars, and start thinking more like little kids.

“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 18:3).

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

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Psalm 60: The Wine of Astonishment

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

This psalm begins in a disastrous period in Israel’s history, and ends with disaster for her enemies and foes. It begins with Israel drinking the wine of astonishment at her peril and impending calamity, and ends with Moab and Edom thrown down. It begins with Israel facing potential disaster, and ends with her enemies facing actual disaster.

The Text

To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtama of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.
“O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again . . .” (Ps. 60:1-12).

Background to the Text

The inscription to this psalm identifies it with the occasion when Joab defeated Edom in the valley of salt. This would appear to be the battle mentioned in 1 Chron. 18:12, although there the slain were numbered 18,000. The discrepancy may be accounted for by reckoning 12,000 to Joab, and 6,000 to his brother Abishai. David came to a (divided) throne in 1 Chron. 11), and was immediately in the midst of hard fighting—first with the Philistines, and then later with Edom and Moab. Remember that when David assumed the throne, the priests of God had been murdered by the king, the kingdom was still divided, contemptible men were in office, and Israel’s military power had been scattered. David says that God had cast Israel away, and the word indicates the way you would cast away a loathsome object.

Summary of the Text

This psalm progresses through three phases. The first reflects the terrible situation that Israel was in when David came to the throne (vv. 1-3). The reign of Saul was ended by the military disaster at Gilboa. When David came to power the Philistines were in the ascendancy, and the Israelites were divided between David and Ishbosheth. Threats were potent in every direction, but David cites the real problem. God had cast them off (v. 1). God was the one making Israel lean precipitously, ready to go clean over (v. 2). God had given Israel the gift of hard times. He had showed them hard things, and had given them the wine of astonishment (v. 3). The second section (vv. 4-8) begins with those capable of learning from the first three verses—“those who fear thee.” God gave them a banner to fly (v. 4). David’s name means beloved, and he is a proxy for all God’s beloved (v. 5). God has given the word, and David will triumph (v. 6). He will divide the spoils in Shechem (v. 6). Gilead and Manasseh, loyal to Ishbosheth, will come to David (v. 7). Ephraim, the largest tribe, will be David’s strength, and Judah will be the seat of law (v. 7). Moab becomes a pot for David to wash his feet in (v. 8), Edom will have to clean his boots (v. 8), and Philistia is taunted with the irony of David’s victories (v. 8). We see this exultation is all by faith because the third section presents a petition to God that concerns the coming conquest of Edom (v. 9). The entry to Edom was Petra, and the access to that was a two-mile long canyon, with places only wide enough for two horses side by side. God, who formerly had abandoned Israel, is asked to return to them (v. 10), and what man cannot do, God most certainly can (v. 11). Through God we will do valiantly—and that is the only way we will do valiantly (v. 12).

Broken

We always want to deal with a wound by dabbing around the edges of it. We want to spin our way out of a hard diagnosis. We don’t want the hard truth. But when David comes to the throne, he conducts a frank and completely honest inventory. He concludes that Israel makes God sick. All the horizontal difficulties (and there were many) were functions of God’s great displeasure. And so David begins by asking for a true restoration (v. 1), which will only happen if God turns back to Israel. Israel was tipping over, and at the point of utter collapse (v. 2).

The straight way out of any disaster is complete honesty in confession. How do we know that help is near? When God shows us hard things. When God gives us wine that makes us stagger.

Broken and Restored

But there are two elements to this. The first, just mentioned, is honesty about the sin. The second is honesty about your Savior. Those who fear God, David says, are given a banner. Where does a banner belong? On the end of a pole, up in the sky, with that pole in the hands of the bravest man in the regiment. God gives a banner to those who fear Him (v. 4), so that it might be displayed because of the truth (v. 4), in order that God’s beloved might be delivered by Him (v. 5). Salvation must be declared. The Savior’s name must be honored. The banner of Christ’s sacrificial lordship over all, a blood-red banner, must be unfurled. And when it is, no matter how grim the circumstance before, God will arise and by His might, put all His enemies to flight.

God Hath Spoken

David’s confidence is not suspended in mid-air. God had promised the land to the patriarchs, and so David’s confidence was based on a recognition that God will complete what God has begun. If God has declared that something will come to pass, then he is no fool who counts on it coming to pass, and who labors toward that end.

Vain is the Help of Man

David began by noting that God needed to be the one who reversed Israel’s misfortune. He ends on the same note. He asks God for help from trouble, and he says that vain is the help of man. At the same time, he says “through God we shall do valiantly.” We work out what God works in. Work out your salvation, Paul says, with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you to will and to do for His good pleasure. A strong confidence in the ultimate and complete authority of God does not lead to a passive quietism. It does not lead to the true believer schlumped on the sofa. We shall do, and we shall do valiantly. Atheist observers will deny that God had anything to do with it —but we know better.

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Psalm 59: Deception and War

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

Here is yet another psalm from yet another time when David was in trouble. The inscription says that it was the incident in which Saul’s daughter, Michal, helped David to escape when Saul’s men were watching their house.

The Text

To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. “Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me . . .” (Ps. 59:1-17)

Background to the Text

Let’s begin by reading the account of this incident in 1 Sam. 19:8-17. We can tell something of the generally low spiritual condition in that time by the availability of a teraphim, a household idol that Michal could use. Samuel had rebuked Saul four chapters earlier, and used this word to do it—stubbornness is “as iniquity and teraphim” (1 Sam. 15:23). Rachel had stolen the teraphim of her father in Gen. 31, a smaller one, that she could hide under a saddle. This one that Michal used was apparently much larger, the size of a man. The thing to note here is that David was delivered by the Lord, and he was delivered by means of his wife’s cunning and trickery. She helps David escape by means of a trick, and protects herself from her father’s anger by means of a lie.

Summary of the Text

In vv. 1-7, he prays, setting forth his woes. In vv. 8-10, he declares his confidence in the Lord. In the remainder of the psalm, he renews his petitions, singing with joy as he does so (vv. 11-17). Saul had been stirred up by an evil spirit “from the Lord,” and yet David was still able to cry out to God for deliverance (v. 1). Those seeking him were intent on murder, they were bloody men (v. 2). They were waiting for him (v. 3), and not because he had done anything wrong. They are industrious in their evil (v. 4). He asks God to withhold mercy from the wicked, as they are being wicked (v. 5). For the first time, David compares his enemies to prowling scavenger dogs (v. 6). Their mouths spill out violence (v. 7). But David knows that they are going to be laughed at (v. 8). “Saul’s daughter put an idol in the bed, and then used goat hair . . .” God would defend David (v. 9). God would let David see his enemies thwarted (v. 10). David then asks God to prolong the existence of his enemies, so that God’s people would not get too much out of spiritual shape (v. 11). David asks that their lying and deceitful ways would result in them being taken in their pride (v. 12). Consume their lying works (v. 13). Let them prowl, and growl, unsatisfied (vv. 14-15). David escaped by night; he would sing in the morning (v. 16). He will sing to the God of all mercy (v. 17).

Envy is a Form of 20/20 Blindness

In the historical background to this psalm, we learn that David was a faithful warrior, fighting Saul’s battles, and that God had given him success. He was then used as a musician to play in a way that might comfort Saul. But Saul was tormented, and tried to pin David to the wall with a javelin.

Noise Like a Dog

We are accustomed to think of dogs in the way we use them as domestic pets. We have very little experience with dogs of the ancient near East, dogs that were vicious scavengers, hunting in packs within the city limits—a very dangerous form of garbage disposal. David compares the stake out team outside his house to such dogs, and he does so twice. The first mention is in v. 6—they make a noise like a dog, and go around the city. The second is in v. 14, with the detail added that they should resent it if they are not satisfied, if they do not get what they want (v. 15).

Life is Not a Game

In football, everything is as level as you can make it. If one team is not allowed to clip, the other team is not allowed to do so. If one team has four plays to make a first down, the other team doesn’t get six attempts. From this, too many Christians have concluded that if the Pharisees don’t get to call Jesus demon-possessed, then we shouldn’t be able to call the man living among the tombs demon-possessed. But in warfare, and in life, there is a little matter called the truth. And there is also an important question about whether or not there is a condition of war. Deception is in war what killing is in war.

Deception and War

Saul sinned by believing lies about David. The wicked men who sought David’s life in this incident were characterized by their lies (v. 12). So how was it God’s deliverance that enabled David to get away by means of deception and trickery?

In a state of peace, lying is a great evil. The lake of fire is reserved for liars (Rev. 21:8). We are told not to lie to one another (Col. 3:9). We are commanded not to bear false witness against our neighbor (Ex. 20:16). But in this fallen world, some people so behave (by their lies) as to forfeit their right to the truth.

In a condition of war, deception is not the kind of lying we just noted. It is not a sin to paint your tank to look like a bush when it is in fact not a bush. But you are deceiving the enemy pilots . . . The Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh, and so God greatly blessed them (Ex. 1:17-19). Rahab hid the spies, sent them out another way than she said she did, and James tells us that this deception was what vindicated her faith as true and living faith (Jas. 2:25). In her case, faith without such a deception would have been dead. David pretended to be mad when he was not (1 Sam. 21:15). God told Joshua to deceive the soldiers of Ai with a fake retreat (Josh. 8:1-2). We could make a very long list if we wished. We want to be righteous, not over-scrupulous.

The issue is God’s law. Those who won’t deceive when God’s law requires it are likely to be the same ones who will lie when His law forbids it.

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Psalm 58: Before the Pot Heats Up

Joe Harby on

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Introduction

We should note again that God’s hymnbook, the psalter, is just full of enemies. Our modern hymnbooks very rarely encounter anything like that. A central part of the reason is that we have worked out a truce with the devil. We don’t have to deal with him attacking us, for we have agreed not to attack him. If we really were to attack him, we would have tumults to sing about soon enough.

The Text

To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David.
“Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? . . .” (Ps. 58:1-11)

Summary of the Text

The psalm can be divided into three sections. In the first, the ungodly enemy is indicted (vv. 1-5). In the second, a just judgment from God is sought (vv. 6-8). In the last, David sees the answer to his prayer by faith (vv. 9-11). David begins by challenging the majority. What the whole congregation knows is not necessarily so (v. 1). The heart of man is an underground forge, in which violence and wickedness is crafted (v. 2). Wickedness begins in the womb; evil men rejoice when they are born—so that they can start learning how to lie (v. 3). Their lies are not harmless, but rather full of venom (v. 4). External tricks and charms will not restrain them (v. 5). They will not be reasoned with, and so David asks God to bust out their teeth (v. 6). Let them be like water running into parched earth (v. 7). Shatter their weapons, O Lord (v. 7). Let them melt like a slug in the sun (v. 8). Let them come to nothing, like an abortion (v. 8). David then exults in the approaching answer to his prayer. Before the cauldron of the wicked heats up, the whirlwind of God shall take them away alive (v. 9). The righteous man does not flinch when he sees this—he rejoices to walk over the battle field after the victory (v. 10). What is the conclusion? Surely the righteous are reward (v. 11), and surely there is a God who judges in the earth (v. 11).

Black-Robed Malice

This psalm provides a strong contrast between the judgments of men (v. 1) and the judgments of God (v. 11). Does man judge uprightly? No. Does God? Yes. What do men speak from their heart of hearts? Lies. What does God speak from His heart of hearts? The truth.

So let us begin with the curse. These are not private slanders that David is dealing with. These are lies parading as righteous judgments in the congregation. These are appalling untruths uttered from behind the bench, with the acclaim of the sons of men. For just one example among far too many, the men who voted to establish Roe v. Wade were Harry Blackmun, William Brennan, Warren Burger, William Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, Lewis Powell and Potter Stewart. All of these men have gone out of this life to settle their accounts with God. They don’t have a black robe anymore and, even if they did, a robe will protect no man if it is soaked with the blood any innocents other than Jesus (Rev. 7:14. What would any of those men give now to revisit that damnable vote?

Now, when the Lord judges, what will He judge? He will judge the pretence of righteousness (v. 1). He will judge the hidden forge of malice (v. 2). He will judge the lies involved, including convoluted reasoning learned in order to pass the bar (v. 3). He will judge the poison (v. 4). He will judge the refusal to listen (v. 5). How will He judge? He will break out their teeth (v. 6), shatter their weapons (v. 7), cause them to melt away (vv. 7-8), and bring them to an abortive end (v. 8). God judges before their pot heats up (v. 9). Every unconverted man is an abortion—not able to grow up to the restored image of God in Christ.

No Endless Discussions

Truth is determined by what God says, not by what the general consensus is. Justice is determined by how God would judge a case, not by what we might think while groping our way. When we hear the phrase final judgment (which we do too rarely), we sometimes rush to the judgment side of it. But we really need to remember that it is final. Everything gets settled.

Early Morning Lies

Whenever you get up early in the morning for a trip, by the end of the day, you will have been able to go a long way. So when you rise early in your life to tell lies, by the time you are done, you have traveled long down that road. But here is the hard truth—this is the human dilemma. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3, no one seeks after truth. But God be praised, the truth seeks after us. That is grace.

Afraid of Victory

The liberal is one who doesn’t feel up to taking up his own side in anything. If this is at all accurate, many so-called conservatives are actually liberals. We have been far more affected by the spirit of the age than most of us know. If we hear anyone pray to the Lord, “Break out their teeth, O Lord, and don’t leave them with any,” our first reaction is to rush to the cautionary warning that they probably don’t know what spirit they are of (Luke 9:55). Okay, so maybe they don’t. But do we know what spirit we are of ? Like so many castrated roosters, we greet the morning sun like Knox, and Luther, and Huss, but we are just a cluster of capons for all that. Never confound personal desire to retaliate, which is prohibited to us, with in God’s vengeance (v. 10).

Two Things to Keep in Mind

We are told in Scripture that the man who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of the one who diligently seeks Him (Heb. 11:6). We find the same kind of thing here in this psalm. A man should be able to say two things about God. First, that there is a God who judges in the earth, and second, that He brings with Him a reward for the righteous.

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