Jottings

by Miller, J. | Category: Jottings | Jan 1954

Frequently in the Old Testament we have side by side the sufferings of the Christ and the glories that should follow them. This is so in Psalms 68. and 69; but here we have the glories first and the sufferings afterwards, for Psalm 69. tells us of the Suffering One, whereas Psalm 68. tells of the Lord's glorious ascension, when He led captivity captive (verse 18, see Ephesians 4. 8-10).

We can easily identify Psalm 69. from such quotations of verse 9 in John 2. 17, and verse 21 in Matthew 27. 34, 48, that the psalm deals with the Lord's sufferings during Ilis earthly sojourn which ended with the cross. How often our hearts have been touched by the words of verses 1 and 2.

"Save Me, 0 God;

For the waters are come in unto My soul.

I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing:

I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me".

The words of verse 3 may have flowed through the mind of Paul as he wrote Hebrews 5-7:

"I am weary with My crying; My throat is dried: Mine eyes fail while 1 wait for My God."

Who in the days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications . . . unto Him that was able to save Him from (Ek, " out of," R. V. marg.) death, and having been heard for His godly fear."

The Lord did not cry to be saved front death, that is, from dying on the Cross, but in anticipation of death He cried that God would save Him out of it. He was heard by God, who raised Him on the third day. His cry as the cold waters of death entered His soul was-" Save Ale, 0 God."

As we move on through the psalm we note what He says about His enemies being more numerous than the hairs of His head. Even in His home in Nazareth, in which His brethren did not believe on Him (John 7. 5), He says that He was a Stranger and an Alien to them. There was a gulf between Him and their unbelieving hearts. But this we are glad to think did not continue, for amongst His disciples were eventually found " His brethren " (Acts 1. 14), one of whom became the apostle James, the Lord's brother (Galatians -1. 19). But their later faith did not assuage His grief over them in the home in Nazareth.

The Lord became a proverb to the elders (" proverb " here is no doubt used in the sense of a byword), and the song of the drunkards. Nothing seemed too vile to heap upon the Lord. He turned to His God, whose Servant He was, and said,

"Thou knowest My reproach, and My shame, and My dishonour:

Mine adversaries are all before Thee."

This Divine Sufferer touches the depths of His suffering,,,, at human hands when He says,

"Reproach bath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none " (verse 20).

He who was ever the Man of Sorrows, who was well acquainted with grief (the word "acquainted " means to know, and can be used in the noun form, of kinsfolk, a kinsman or a familiar friend: has many other uses beside). The Lord knew grief daily as a familiar friend, but, when on the cross the weight of reproach became too heavy for His tender heart. it broke Him -" Reproach hath broken My heart." He looked down on the scowling faces of the surging mob that surrounded the Cross to see if there were any who had pity, if perchance there might be one of that race of Israel that He loved so well, who would prove a comforter to Him in His hour of pain and sorrow, but there was none. Cruelty has ever been a characteristic of human hearts, but it never reached lower depths than on that day in Golgotha, when the poor and sorrowful Man was in their hands. But the time of His distress and sorrow passed, and on the resurrection morn, His sweet voice rises clear and serene.

"I will praise the name of God with a song,

And will magnify Him with, thanksgiving " (Psalm 69.30).

As Psalm 69. is a psalm of the sufferings of the Christ, Psalm 68. describes the glories which shall follow them. Millennial glories are envisaged in the words

Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall haste to stretch out her hands unto God. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; 0 sing praises unto the Lord " (Psalm 68 . 31, 32).

The historical setting of Psalm 68. is at the time of the bringing up of the Ark from the house of Abinadab to Zion. The words of verse 1 are almost identical with those of Numbers 10. 35 which says,

" And it came to pass, when the Ark set forward, that _31oscs said, Rise up, 0 LoRD, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate ]'bee flee before Thee."

The words of Psalm 68. 1 are,

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; Let them also that hate Him flee before Him

When the Ark was taken by the Philistines consequent on the iniquity of

Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, it was a day of grief and humiliation to all godly Israelites. " lchabod " was not only the name of Phinehas' son, it was

written over the whole nation. God had forsaken Shiloh, and the glory of Israel

had departed. But God was not weak as Israel had been before their foes. Thirty four thousand footmen of Israel had been slain, and the widows in Israel were many. God met the Philistines on their own ground and defeated them city by city with tumours and mice. Mice! who would have thought of confounding the Philistines with such an army? Then their god Dagon was humbled in the dust and lost his head and his hands. At length the Philistines were glad to see the Ark go, drawn by the milch kine which went lowing as they went, with the lords of the Philistines, following in humble procession behind.

The sin of the priests and the people of Israel was the cause of God forsaking His habitation. Was not this the cause of that greater calamity when priests and people, in rebellion never before known, rejected their promised Messiah, and He went forth from the temple saying' " Your house is left unto you desolate "?

(Matthew 23.38). Calvary lay before Him, and destruction and misery before

them in long years of alienation from divine favour nationally. But as the Lord

went down to the land of the Philistines to defeat them on their own ground, so

also the Saviour was going to enter death, and by death to bring the devil to nought who had the power of death (Hebrews 2. 14). His death demoralized and paralysed the powers of evil; it shook as a mighty earthquake the whole foundation on which the kingdom of darkness was built. The lords of Satan's kingdom will yet pay honour, at least outwardly, to Him who triumphed at Calvary, for every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For long years the Ark abode in the house of Abinadab, till David came to the throne of Israel. His earliest work thereafter was to find a place for Jehovah, and then to bring, up the Ark to Zion, the place that Jehovah had chosen for His abode. This going up of Jehovah and His Ark to Zion was like the ascent of the Lord, following His resurrection, to the Mount Zion above, and to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12. 22).

" Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered ";

" Thou host ascended on high, Thou hast led Thy captivity captive

(Psalm 68.18.; Ephesians 4.8-10).

He had to descend before He could ascend. He descended to deal with sin and Satan, to enter the strong man's house and to bind him. He has ascended and will deal to all His enemies a fatal blow. He " shall smite through the head of His enemies " (Psalm 68. 21).

" The God of Israel, He giveth strength . . . unto His people " (verse 35), whether it be His people of the past or of a present day. " Blessed be God!

Miller, J. | Jan 1954
Jottings