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Psalm 130: That He May Be Feared
Christ Church on March 21, 2021
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Psalm 129: From the Soil of Our Pain

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INTRODUCTION

One of Scripture’s great themes is the theme of deliverance. God first delivers us from the bondage of our sins, and then after this He delivers us from the spite and hate leveled at us by those who hate the fact that we have been delivered from the bondage of our sins. This is a psalm about that second kind of deliverance.

This is the way of the world. No sooner is the man child of Revelation born but the dragon is after him and his mother both (Rev. 12:13). The history of the world is a history of billions of deaths, but the very first one was a martyr’s death (Luke 11:51; Heb. 11:4).

We will be addressing the subject of persecution, and while I will not be making explicit references to our situation here in Moscow, you are invited to make your own applications for use in your prayers. This does apply for the simple reason that these things always apply.

THE TEXT

“A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: Yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: They made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous: He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you: We bless you in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 129:1-8).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The psalmist has been afflicted “many a time,” and this has been the case from his youth on (v. 1). This was true of him, and all of Israel was invited to join him in his lament. Many a time they have afflicted me (us), and yet have not prevailed (v. 2). The image of plowing is then used, referring probably to the stripes raised by flogging (v. 3). They made long furrows on his back. But the Lord is righteous and intervened—He cut the traces and cords of the oxen pulling the plows of contempt, the machinery of persecution (v. 4). This is followed by the psalmist’s pious wish that those who hate Zion be confounded and turned around (v. 5). Let them be like grass that grows on rooftops, which withers almost immediately (v. 6). Let them not be enough grass for a mower even to bother with, or a harvester to gather (v. 7). The last verse implies a likely custom of that day—when you walked by a field of abundant grain, you would bless it in the name of the Lord (v. 8). Let that not happen with this brown little rooftop grass.

PAPERCUT PERSECUTION

Now whenever American Christians take note of the first stages of our coming persecution, they are often mocked as being nothing more than pampered whiners. “You think you are persecuted because sitcoms make fun of your kind?” But as Christians, we should stand back from this sort of taunt and let our Lord define what persecution looks like. Scurrilous verbal abuse is most certainly included in what He describes, and it is frequently used as the preliminaries for what is coming next.

“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” (Matthew 5:11–12).

So we may allow the Lord to define what it means to be persecuted, and we are most certainly lied about. But we must also take care not to apply just one half of the passage. When we are lied about—you racists—make sure to rejoice. Make sure to overflow with exceeding gladness.

THE SOIL OF OUR PAIN

Some might think that the metaphor of a plowed back is an odd one. But although it is striking, there is profound sense in it. When the persecutors do their work, their intention is to grow a crop in the soil of our pain. That is what a man intends when he plows a field, is it not? He purposes a crop. That means they want to grow something for themselves out of the travail of the saints.

But what does God do? He allows them to do what they do, and then, when the time is just right, He cuts the traces, and their oxen run off. This is because He makes them do the work for a crop of His own. And when we look at that crop—full, abundant, rich, golden—we can say over the harvest, “bless you in the name of the Lord.” The devil wants to grow despair in the furrows of your affliction. God intends to grow joy.

IMPRECATORY PRAYERS

Notice that this prayer of imprecation is not a matter of taking up personal vengeance. This prayer of cursing is directed that all those who hate Zion (v. 5). Imprecatory psalms are no justification for road rage, nor to be directed at people who happen to inconvenience you. These psalms are not the pins for scriptural voodoo dolls. No—we stand against those who hate the Lord, and who hate all His people.

Now if it is the good pleasure of the Lord to destroy an enemy by making him into a friend, as He did with the apostle Paul, this is something that the sons and daughters of Zion can readily take as a true and genuine blessing. “But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me” (Gal. 1:23–24).

But if “victory through conversion” is not the will of our God, then we still continue to ask Him to undertake on our behalf. Spurgeon put it this way: “Study a chapter from the Book of Martyrs, and see if you do not feel inclined to read an imprecatory psalm over Bishop Bonner and Bloody Mary. It may be that some wretched nineteenth century sentimentalist will blame you: if so, read another over him.”

CHRIST IS THE ULTIMATE PERSECUTED ONE

The Lord was flogged, and by His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24). His suffering is ours. But we also learn in Scripture than our suffering is His. “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). What is done to the “least of these” is reckoned as done to Christ (Matt. 25:40-45).

Your union with Christ is a precious gift—don’t abuse it by misunderstanding it by misunderstanding the source of your troubles (1 Pet. 4:15). But your identity as a Christian gives you the source of true glory. “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:16). This is because Christ is in all of it.

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Psalm 128: Deuteronomic Blessing

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INTRODUCTION

One of the features of the modern evangelical world is that we hear conflicting voices. On the one hand we hear those calling for radical discipleship and renunciation. On the other we hear the clamor of those selling what has come to be called the “health and wealth” gospel. It should not surprise us to discover that the Scriptures actually teach us both. And the only way such contraries can be made to agree and walk together is if the Holy Spirit of God is at work.

THE TEXT

“A Song of degrees. Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; That walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine By the sides of thine house: Thy children like olive plants Round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem All the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, And peace upon Israel” (Psalm 128: 1-6).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

To fear the Lord is to walk in His ways, and when a man does this, God promises a blessing (v. 1). That man shall be blessed in the fact that he will be able to feed himself and his family (v. 2). It shall be well with him. His wife will be a fruitful vine growing around his house (v. 3). Changing the image, his children will be like olive shoots growing up around his table (v. 3). This is the blessing that comes to the man who fears the Lord (v. 4), and this is the second time the fear of the Lord is mentioned. The blessing of the Lord will proceed out of Zion, and such a man will see the good of Jerusalem for all the days of his life (v. 5). He will see the peace of Israel; he will see his children’s children and the blessing upon it (v. 6).

And at this point, let me change back to the orientation of the psalm, which speaks in the second person—you shall be blessed in this way. The third person is fine for instructional purposes, but we want to move past mere instruction. We want to taste the actual blessing.

THE MEANING OF OLIVES

The symbolism of the olive tree is varied, and in this psalm we see a mixture of three of the main images. It represents wealth, it represents righteousness, and it represents Israel. First wealth:

“And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full” (Deut. 6:11; 8:8).

Then blessed righteousness:

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever” (Psalm 52:8).

“His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.” (Hosea 14:6)

And then Paul describes nation of Israel as a cultivated olive tree, over against the wild olives of the Gentiles.

“And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree” (Rom. 11:17-24).

Put all these together, and we have Israel, called to covenant, which means she was called to covenantal faithfulness, and to such faithfulness God annexes His promises of prosperity.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD

The precondition for this kind of blessing is the fear of the Lord, emphasized twice in this brief psalm. This is not a craven fear, the kind having to do with fear of punishment (1 John 4:18). It is not the kind of fear that crawls. The Scriptures describe this kind of fear as a grace, as a gift.

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28–29).

But although it is not craven, neither is it casual and breezy. The fear of the Lord does tremble in His presence. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).

But remember that Philippians is the book that exhorts us to constant joy. Therefore, rejoice with fear and trembling. Your Savior is God Almighty.

HOW DEUTERONOMIC BLESSING WORKS

Remember that this is not a vending machine. God is personal in all His dealings with us, which is necessary, as He is the ultimate Person. Remember what you were reminded of recently—there are times when faithful believers miss the hors d’oeuvres, but not one of them misses the banquet. And remember the divide we see in Hebrews 11:32-38.

“Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee . . . Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things” (Deut. 28:45–48).

CHRIST IS THE BLESSED ONE

Our elder brothers, the Israelites, did enjoy various periods of this kind of peace and prosperity. But their tendency was to oscillate in and out of it. This was because of a sinful pattern that would occur over and over again. God would bless them. They would become complacent, and veer off into idolatry. Affliction would arise as a result, and they would cry out to God. He would deliver them, and after waiting for what they thought was a suitable period, they would become complacent and idolatrous again.

Now Christ did not come to erase all these promises. Rather He came to fulfill all the conditions, and inherit all the promises. And because He has done this great thing, and you have been made an heir of all the promises in Him,

“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).

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Psalm 127: Enemies in the Gate

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INTRODUCTION

We live in a generation that wants to define family in radically perverse and demented ways. In times like this, it is easy to allow phrases like the traditional family and the biblical family to blur together, as though they were the same thing. But the biblical family is much more militant than the traditional family, and much less sentimental. And this is one of the reasons why the traditional family has had such trouble defending itself against the onslaught of the “brave new family.”

THE TEXT

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep. Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: And the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; So are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: They shall not be ashamed, But they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:1–5).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

All of our labors are futile unless the Lord gives success to the work (v. 1). The one who builds a house cannot complete it unless the Lord is actually the one building it (v. 1). If the Lord is not protecting the city, it doesn’t matter how many sentries you post (v. 1). It is vain for you to wear yourself out if God does not want to give it to you (v. 2). So when the Lord is building a house, how does He do it? Children are a heritage from the Lord, and His reward is the fruit of the womb (v. 3), but the first principle applies even here. Unless the Lord blesses the child-rearing, the thing is fruitless. The children of one’s youth are described here as the arrows in the hand of a great warrior (v. 4). A man who has a quiver full of loyal children will not be ashamed when he confronts his enemies in the gates of the city (v. 5).

COME NOW, YOU WHO SAY

The Lord’s brother James warns us about our tendency to go in for arrogant planning. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”” (James 4:13, NKJV). What we ought to say is quite different. “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that”” (James 4:15, NKJV). Our lives are in God’s hands, completely and utterly and finally. As Burns put it, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley,” which means that they skid sideways.

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; Ye eat, but ye have not enough; Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; Ye clothe you, but there is none warm; And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes” (Haggai 1:6).

“Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deut. 8:11–14).

If God’s blessing is not resting on it, depend upon it, you will be able to do nothing worthwhile with it. If the blessing of God is present, then both wings can fall of and it will still fly. This is true of farming, of inventing, of painting, of woodworking, of writing, and of anything else that we might decide to do. And it most certainly applies to the building of a house, to the rearing of children.

And it is here that we have to distinguish the difference between genuine faith and high-flying presumption. From fifty yards away, they can both look equally crazy.

NOT A SENTIMENTAL MOVE

We all love the fact that children are a blast, and nobody should mind the fact that we love it. But this psalm is not about the patter of little feet around the house. This is not about your Christmas photo album. The ancient world, when they went to war, had a clearer view of what was at stake than do we (Hos. 13:16; Amos 1:13). A kindergarten class is a packet of warrior seed.

A quiver holds arrows, and a warrior holds arrows in his hand as well. The man who has children in his youth is a man who has grown children when he is still active and in the fray.

ENEMIES IN THE GATE

The city council of an ancient city was found in their gates. It is where their elders sat. It is where decisions were made, and transactions conducted. If a showdown occurred, that is where it would occur. So there are two things to note about this.

The first is that a man is contending with his enemies in the gate, and his sons are there with him. His sons are present in the gates when this happens, and (this is important), they are on their father’s side.

The second thing is that these are not foreign enemies, besieging the city from outside, but rather domestic adversaries, belonging to the opposition. A righteous man, together with his arrows, stands against all enemies “foreign and domestic.” The issue is righteousness, not party, or tribe, or nation. And a blessed father brings his children along with him in their shared loyalty to truth and righteousness. The glue that holds such families together is outside the family. This is fundamental.

Every attempt to get families, or nations, or churches to hold together apart from Christ (Col. 1:18) is idolatry.

CHRIST IN THE GATE

Remember that Jesus is Jehovah, Jesus is Yahweh, Christ is the Lord (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10: 9,13). So unless Christ builds the house, then forget about it. Unless Christ is guarding your nation, forget that too. Your heritage in your children, if it is to be a true heritage, must be from the hand of Christ.

Look to Him for every blessing. Look to Him for every deliverance. Look to Him.

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Psalm 126: Like Those Who Dream

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INTRODUCTION

The word eucatastrophe was coined by J.R.R. Tolkien, and it refers to a deliverance when all was thought to be lost. There was no possible way . . . and then the unbelievable happened. “My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”

THE TEXT

“A Song of degrees. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done great things for us; Whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This is a psalm of the Lord’s turnings (vv. 1, 4). When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion into liberty, it was like a dream, too good to be true (v. 1). But it was true—and resulted in mouths full of laughter, and tongues occupied with singing (v. 2). In addition to this, even the heathen were talking about how kind God had been to His people (v. 2). Where does this kind of gladness arise? It came because of the great things that the Lord had done for them (v. 3). Then comes a plea, turn our captivity again. Do it again this time, the way God could divert the streams of the south (v. 4). Those who sow with tears shall reap with joy (v. 5). The one who goes out weeping, carrying precious seed, is doubtless going to come in again, carrying the heavy sheaves of blessing (v. 6), and doing so in joy.

SOWING AND REAPING AND ADVERBS

The Scriptures are very clear that what you sow is what you are going to reap (Gal. 6:7). If you sow barley, you are going to reap barley. If you sow thistles, you are going to reap thistles. But we learn in this passage that the way you sow is not necessarily the way you will reap. You go out to sow with tears, and you come back in singing songs. You go out, it says, carrying your precious seeds (Ps. 126:6). These seeds are little, few, and easy to carry. They are precious because everything rides on them. Though your load is light, the sowing is accompanied with tears. And then, at harvest, when you are laughing, singing, and shouting to your companions, you are carrying the great weight of sheaves.

THINK FOR A MOMENT

God loves to release His people. He loves to hear their laughter as they come, disbelieving, out into the sunlight. He loves to listen to the songs that they sing when this happens.

Think of Noah and his family coming out of the ark onto dry land (Gen. 8:18). Think of Joseph being brought out of jail, hurriedly shaved, and bustled into Pharaoh’s throne room (Gen. 41:14). Think of Jacob being told, after many years exiled in his grief, that Joseph was alive, and ruling over Egypt (Gen. 45:28). Think of the Israelites in Egypt, laboring in slavery for many years, suddenly released (Ex. 12:37-38). Think of the Jews in Babylon, suddenly hearing about the decree of Cyrus (2 Chron. 36:22). Think of Esther and Mordecai, as they contemplated how God arranged the reversal of fortunes between Haman and Mordecai (Est. 8:1-2). Think of Peter in prison, kicked in the side by an angel, and then escorted out (Acts 12:7ff). Think of Paul in prison in Philippi, escorted out by the city officials (Acts 16:35-39). One of God’s great gifts to His people is the vision of their prison doors swinging out.

PRECIOUS SEED

One of the easiest foolish things in the world to do is that of eating your seed corn. Things are tight, and they look to get tighter. And when that happens, you have to take your seed, your precious seed, and go out and put it in the ground. This is an act of faith under any circumstances, but then you remember that sometimes there are crop failures, and what about . . .? And this is why the one sowing goes out with tears. This is our final hope, our last hope, our only hope, and here I am putting it in the dirt. But the one who does this weeping will doubtless come back in again, staggering under the weight of the sheaves.

TRUST HAPPENS IN STORIES

The message is, of course, that we must trust in Christ. This is what you expect to hear, correct? This is a Christian worship service, and you are listening to a Christian sermon being preached by a Christian minister. You expect to hear Christian things, right? So trust in Jesus.

But trust is something that happens in stories. It does not happen in a timeless void, where God is here and you are there, and then you trust Him. It is not that kind of static or frozen picture.

In order to have the experience of “them that dream,” you need to be in real trouble. You are in exile, or in prison, or in pain, or in some difficulty, or in some other dire circumstance. You don’t know how much longer you can keep on. The pressure is awful, or petty and tedious, or indeterminate, and so you trust, and you trust, and you wait, and then you trust some more. And you wake up, and there those dungeon walls are again.

Remember that God is the one who gives you your trust, but He is also the author of all those external reasons in your life that you are tempted to think of as good reasons not to.

When you were converted, you trusted in Christ while under the burden of your sins. You were here in the story, and trust was the pivot point, and then you were there. When we believe God, what do we call the people who do that? We call them believers. When we refuse to believe God, what do we call people like that? We call them unbelievers.

SHADOW SALVATIONS

The kind of deliverances I mentioned earlier is the sort of thing that God loves to do. He has done it many times, both in scriptural history, and in the history of the church since the close of the canon. But though He does it often, in this life it is not the case that He will do it each and every time. Some believers are faithful to the shedding of blood. There are martyrs. There are Christians who make enormous sacrifices and do not appear to have been delivered in this life at all. What are we to make of them?

We are tempted to think that deliverances in this life are the “real thing,” while our final or ultimate deliverance is a “pie in the sky” sort of thing. But it is the other way around. There is a place where absolutely every believer will come, and will be like those who dream. So these are the shadow salvations, and thatis the final reality. When God delivers His people in this life—as He often does—it is just a foretaste. God is whetting the appetite for what is to come.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

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