Psalms 84 - 89

Psalms — Steve Gregg

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Psalms 84 - 89

PsalmsSteve Gregg

In this discussion, Steve Gregg explores Psalms 84-89, focusing on the themes of blessings and strength in God. He notes the significance of Jerusalem as the city of God and the place where His glory rests. Gregg also discusses the covenant made with David and its relevance to Christians today. Ultimately, the psalms emphasize the importance of walking in truth and calling upon the Lord daily.

Transcript

Let's turn to Psalm 84. This is a very uplifting psalm. This is a song sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for one of their annual feasts.

The Jews had to go to Jerusalem for three feasts a year, Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And as they would travel from various parts of the world, they would usually travel in caravans. It wouldn't just be like in our day, you know, people like Trip, they just go alone in their car.

And no one travels together anymore. In fact, even if ten people are going from one neighborhood to the same office, they drive ten different cars instead of carpooling usually because people are, they just like to be alone in our society for some reason. I guess people are getting kind of less sociable.

But in the old days, if there were a hundred Jews going from one country back to Israel, they'd go together and they'd sing songs together and they'd just sort of have a celebration on their way there. This is one of the songs that they would sing as they would go to Jerusalem to the temple. And it's a song that celebrates the beauty of the temple and how they envy those who could live in Jerusalem.

They just envy the people who don't have to make these pilgrimages, but who could just live and see the temple every day and worship God there. And for some reason or other, they don't feel themselves that they can do that, but they just think the temple is just a beautiful thing. It says, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.

This is actually a reference to the temple, thy tabernacles. My soul longeth, yea, even faileth for the courts of the Lord. Courts of the temple.

My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow hath found in house and the swallow in nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.

They will be still praising thee, Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them, who, passing through the valley of Baca, may make it a well. The rain also filleth the pools.

They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob.

Selah Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. There are three beatitudes in this psalm, blessings. One is in verse four, one is in verse five, and the other is at the very end, verse twelve.

The first one, verse four, is sort of a longing sort of thing. Blessed are they, sort of an envious sort of thing. Blessed are they who dwell in thy house.

That is, unlike the pilgrims who have to travel great distances to see and be around Jerusalem and the temple, blessed are those who are able to just reside there and never have to go away. They're very fortunate. But then he says, blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, which is perhaps somewhat including himself now more.

Not only is he, he's maybe not part of that blessed group that gets to live in Jerusalem, but he's nonetheless part of a larger blessed group that do have their strength in God. And that while they are passing through the Valley of Baca, which actually means mulberry trees, but may refer to an actual valley, but the idea is that they have to travel through valleys and so forth to get to Jerusalem. Nonetheless, their strength is in God.

God strengthens them. Probably just the whole anticipation of being there causes them to press on and gives them strength. They go from strength to strength.

Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. The final blessed is, blessed is every man that trusteth in thee. Now, if we go back to the beginning of the psalm, it says, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.

Or how beautiful, how lovable, how desirable is the temple. My soul is longing and fainting for the courts of the Lord. The temple had several courts, some were in the open air and some of them were enclosed.

But he just wishes he could see those courts. He's longing for it. My heart, my flesh are crying out for the living God.

Now, when he makes reference to the sparrow and the swallow there in verse 3, he's probably referring to the fact that even animals have greater privileges than he has. Some animals have been able to even lodge there under the eaves of the temple and in the open courtyard there. There's no doubt birds' nests.

He says those birds, they don't realize how blessed they are to be able to live near the temple like that. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house. Verse 4. Now, getting down to verse 9, it says, Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. Apparently a thousand anywhere else. That is, if I had a choice to spend one more day of my life, and I could spend it, if I could spend one day of my life in your courts, or else live a thousand more days and be somewhere else, I'd rather spend that one day at the temple.

In the presence of God. He just loves to be before God and in the presence of the worshippers there. And he says, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Meaning, I'd give anything to be able to stay at the temple. I'd even serve as a doorkeeper, gladly, rather than to have to live out in the heathen territory I live in, in the tents of the wicked people. I'd rather be a servant in God's house than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

Probably referring to where he actually does live. He'd like to volunteer as a servant, just so he could stay in the temple and open the doors and so forth. Now this, of course, also tells us that, it's sort of the attitude of a Christian, I think, that we'd rather be a servant of the lowest kind and be in God's family, in God's household, than to have some exalted position among the heathen.

That it may be a lowly thing to be a Christian, and maybe our position is not a highly exalted one, even in the church. But just being in the church is such a blessing, that regardless of what menial duties we really have to do, maybe we're not a prophet or an apostle or a pastor or a teacher or an evangelist, but maybe we're just a doorkeeper, maybe just someone who sets up chairs, maybe just someone who duplicates tapes or something. That's more desirable than living out in the world and just being part of the system.

Just being part of the system of the wicked, man, I'd rather do anything. I'd rather sweep floors or clean toilets in the kingdom of God than to just be sucked up with the world system and even be rich and have even an exalted position among men. And that's what he's saying here, too, or at least that's how we can apply it.

He says, God is our sun and our shield. Sun, of course, representing the source of life and source of light. Our shield being our protection.

He says, He will give grace and glory. Now, grace here probably means favor or possibly beauty, but when we take the New Testament concept of grace and read it into this verse, we can see that God gives much more than just beauty or more than just favor, but He gives us all things that are needed to us. All sufficiency is included in His grace that He gives us.

He gives us grace in terms of His merciful forgiveness of our sins and acceptance into His family, but He also gives us grace to endure and grace enabling us to serve Him acceptably with godly fear and glory ultimately. And no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. If you're walking uprightly, God will withhold no good thing from you.

We already read in another psalm, I think it was 37, and it said, They that seek the Lord shall not lack. No, it's Psalm 34, verse 10. They that seek the Lord shall not want or lack any good thing.

He won't withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly. That means anything that has been withheld from us is not necessarily good for us. Okay, we'll go on now to Psalm 85.

And this, again, there was sort of a happiness in the previous psalm, a joy at the thought of going to the temple again, but in this one, we're back to the old complaint syndrome, the old prayer for strength and for deliverance and for vengeance and so forth, basically complaining that things are not going well now. He remembers at the beginning of this psalm that God has been good in the past to Israel, but this is a prayer for revival, really, praying that God will revive us again. In fact, that's basically the words that are used in verse 6. Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? So, we could see this is a prayer for revival.

Lord, thou hast been favorable to thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. This must mean it was written after the Babylonian captivity, unless it's referring to just turning the fortunes of them, restoring their fortunes.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to folly. Surely salvation is nigh unto them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps. This latter part might be seen as a description of revival, or a description of the fruits of revival.

First of all, it says in verse 9, Surely his salvation is nigh unto them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. That certainly would be the desirable fruit of a true revival, is that the glory of God might fill the land, might dwell in our land, instead of the reproach of the heathen dwelling in our land as is currently the case. Verse 10, it's difficult to know what the psalmist meant, although we can make an interesting application to the cross of Christ, where it says, Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

These two statements are basically parallel of each other. Mercy, of course, is the ability to forgive, but truth, or righteousness, as the second line indicates, is, of course, justice. And the great thing that was accomplished at the cross was the meeting of mercy and justice, because God, in justice, had to judge sin, but in mercy wished to forgive our sins.

And that was the dilemma. How could he forgive our sins and still be just? How could he show mercy without compromising justice and truth and righteousness? And the answer is, at the cross, Jesus justly was punished for our sins. If that seems like justice, but the fact is, our sins were punished.

Justice was carried out upon them, but not upon us, but upon a substitute, so that God was able to show mercy and satisfy justice and truth at the same time, so that mercy and truth have met together. Really, at the cross is the only place that that really has happened, though it's hard to know exactly what was meant by the psalmist when he said it. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

The peace that comes from forgiveness and righteousness means justice. That is, God's justice no longer has to be exhibited in wrath, but his justice can be shown in giving us peace and mercy. Truth shall spring out of the earth.

So, in the case of a revival, when the glory of the Lord is dwelling in our land, and mercy and truth have met together, then truth will spring up out of the earth. That is to say, will be proclaimed, I believe, that the truth will be proclaimed and preached throughout the whole earth. And righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase, which probably to the psalmist referred to agricultural crops. To us, we'd be thinking more in terms of spiritual fruit, or even converts to Christianity as the fruit of revival. Righteousness shall go before him, and he shall set us in the way of his steps.

So, if we might see this as a call for revival, according to verse 6, then the revival such as we would desire would include salvation and glory in the land, verse 9, mercy and truth not being compromised, truth springing out of the earth, that is proclaiming God's truth in the gospel, the gospel going out the more during the revival time. Verse 12, the reference to God giving, or the earth yielding its increase, perhaps referring to the convert being made, and also us being set to walk in God's ways or in his steps. Okay, now we have another Psalm of David, Psalm 86.

We haven't had any Psalm of David for quite a long time. We've had the Psalms of Asaph and Psalms of the sons of Korah, which were all different temple singers. But now we have David himself coming back on the scene with one of his Psalms, not too different than some of his other Psalms.

In fact, having many points in common with some of them. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. This statement he's made in Psalm 40, verse 17, also in Psalm 70, verse 5. I am poor and needy.

Preserve my soul, for I am holy. Meaning, I've been set apart for God. O thou, my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. David said that in Psalm 25.

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. That is, I present my case and my life into your hands. For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon thee.

The reference to being plenteous in mercy is found also in Psalm 103. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer and attend unto the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. Meaning, the gods of the heathen, the false gods. Among them there is none that compares.

Neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. Actually, this psalm is echoed in Revelation, chapter 15.

Kind of interestingly, because it's the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb recorded there. Revelation, chapter 15, where the saints in heaven are seen singing this song. And it's described as the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.

Well, the song of Moses is mentioned here in... Well, let's read the passage in Revelation, then we'll go back to this psalm to talk about how it works in. Revelation 15, 3 and 4. It says, And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. At the end of verse 3, where it says, King of saints, the best text available actually reads King of nations, not King of saints.

But, Just and true are thy ways, thou King of nations. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest.

If you go back to Psalm 86 now, you see many of those features here in verses 8 and 9. Now, the song of Moses was sung at Exodus chapter 15. And that's where they said, Who is like unto thee, O Lord? And here we have in Psalm 86, 8, Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there any works like unto thy works.

So, here's the song of Moses sort of echoed in this verse. And then we have in verse 9 here, the song of the Lamb that's mentioned in Revelation. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name.

Those words are actually found almost exactly the same in verse 4 of Revelation 15. It says, For thou art great, and doest wondrous things. Thou art God alone.

Teach me thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name.

This verse is interesting. It says, Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I'll walk in your truth. If you show me your truth, I'll walk in it.

Show me which way to go, and I will go there. This is the man who has already made a decision about obeying God. He's decided he's going to obey.

He just doesn't know what it is he has to obey yet. Jesus said in John chapter 7, and I think verse 17, but I'm not sure. Maybe I should find it.

Yeah, John 7, 17. He said, If any man will do his will, that is, if any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. That is, if anyone has a willingness already to obey God, he will let them know.

And here, David demonstrates that he does have that willingness. He says, I will walk in your truth. Just teach me your way.

I just need to know what it is. There are some people who it will do them no good to know God's ways. They have no interest in going in His ways.

But there is a class of people who have already made a decision that they will follow God. And they just, the only problem remains to know where He wants them to go. Well, probably, I certainly hope all of you are in that category.

I know, it used to puzzle me that there were people who were not in that category. There were people who had not yet decided whether they would obey God or not. But that's just a basic difference between some people.

Those who have decided to follow God, those who have not. And those who have decided to follow God have made the decision that whatever He says, they'll do. They're willing.

And therefore, He will teach them His way so that they can walk in His truth. It says, Unite my heart to fear thy name. The word unite there means to make it one, of course.

And it suggests that He's got maybe a double heart, somewhat. Just like Paul talked about in Romans 7. You know, I do the things I hate and so forth. In my mind, I approve of the laws of God, but there's another law in my members resisting it.

I've got another will to fight against. And he's saying, basically, God, unite my whole heart to follow You instead of letting me have conflicting principles warring within me about it. I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart.

I will glorify Thy name forevermore. For great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul and have not set Thee before them.

But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me and have mercy upon me, give Thy strength unto Thy servant, and save the son of Thine handmaid. Show me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because Thou, Lord, hast helped me and comforted me.

So the same kind of request that David frequently makes in his psalms, just calling out for God to help him and save him from the proud and from the violent men, mentioned in verse 14, who have sought after his life. Now, Psalm 87, actually, we've moved faster than I expected. Psalm 87 is as far as I was expecting to get today.

And we're really ahead of schedule, and that's good. It's better to be ahead than behind. But Psalm 87 is a short psalm about the city of God.

And it reads a little funny, but it'll be worth our while to meditate on it because of the things that are hidden in it. And Paul seems to allude to it when he talks about the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all. We also sing from this psalm, by the way.

It says, His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.

Selah. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia, this man was born there.

And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man were born in her. And the highest himself shall establish her. The Lord shall count when he writheth up the people that this man was born there.

Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs are in thee.

You'll recognize some of those lines from our singing that psalm. But basically he's talking about the exalted status of Jerusalem, of the city of God on Mount Zion, and how God loves that city more than any of the other cities even in Israel. That's what he says in verse 2. It says, His foundation is in the holy mountains.

The holy mountains would probably be the mountain range of which Mount Zion was a part upon which Jerusalem was built. Meaning that in these mountains that have become holy because God has chosen to dwell there, He has laid a foundation. That's the foundation of His city.

And He says to the city of God, in verse 3, glorious things are spoken of thee. Now whether that means that people have praised the city gloriously, which is very possible, because the city was just beautiful. The city was beautiful.

And the temple especially was overlaid with gold, and it was ivory, and it was just a beautiful sight to see. In fact, a traveler looking toward Jerusalem in the morning from the west side, I guess, or from the east side, would see the reflection of the rising sun on the gold dome of the temple, and it would just look like the whole city was made out of gold or made out of glass or something. And so when he says glorious things are spoken of thee, of course it could be said that a lot of flattery has been spoken of the beauty of the city.

However, if we apply it to the church, as I believe Paul applies this psalm to the church, the glorious things that are spoken of us, the church, have to do with our glorious future. The fact that the glory of the Lord is going to rest upon the people of God. The glory of the Lord shall rise upon thee, the scripture says.

And therefore, those are the glorious things that are spoken of the church. The glory of the Lord dwells in it and will arise upon it, and will be seen by all flesh. The Bible says the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

And I believe it will be revealed through His people in the church. So the glory of the Lord is to be seen upon us. We are going from glory to glory into that same image of Him.

And that is the glorious destiny of the church. The glorious things that are spoken of the church have to do with our destiny. Now, these verses, four through six, each one of them stresses that certain people are born there.

Apparently, he's suggesting that being born, a natural born citizen of the city, is a special privilege. He makes frequent reference, once in verse four, once in verse five, and once in verse six, to those who are born there. In fact, verse six, it says, The Lord shall count when He writes up the people that this man was born there.

In other words, God Himself considers it noteworthy if a person was a free-born citizen. Remember, it's almost like Paul's citizenship to Rome. He was a free-born citizen, which gave him a higher claim, even than that other captain of the guard that rescued him from the Jews.

That man had paid a fee for his citizenship, but Paul was free-born. He was born in a Roman province, and therefore he had special status as a free-born Roman citizen. Well, we are like free-born citizens in the kingdom of God, in the church, in the city of God, because we've been born again.

That's how we came into it. When you're born again, you're born into the city of God. So, this one and that one were born in her.

In verse four, there's mention of several different heathen nations. The suggestion is that people from these nations are going to be born in her. Now, how can that be? I mean, if he were talking about proselytes, he could talk about Babylonians and Philistines and people like that coming and becoming proselytes to Judaism and living in Jerusalem.

But how could he say that they'd be born there? And I believe that this is a prophecy about the church, how that people from all nations, all the Gentile nations, people will be born again and have the status of natural-born sons of the church. Natural-born citizens. And that's what I think is mentioned here.

When he says Rahab, he's not talking about Rahab the harlot. Rahab is actually a symbolic name for Egypt, which is evident in some of the other places where the word is used. In Psalm 89, verse 10, it's used that way.

Isaiah 51, 9 also, and other places. Rahab is a reference to Egypt. So, he mentions Rahab, or Egypt, and Babylon.

Now, those first two that are mentioned were the two great enemies of the Jews. They were the two nations that had taken Israel in captivity. The Jews had been captive in Egypt and in Babylon.

And yet, even though those nations were the great enemies of the Jews, they too would come to have a portion in the city of God. And he says concerning Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia. Philistia was actually a near neighbor.

The Philistines actually lived among the Jews and never were fully really driven out or conquered by the Jews. So, they were sort of the thorn in the side of the Jews, the Philistines. And Tyre represented the wealthy neighbor to the north, Gentiles.

And Ethiopia represents the nations to the south. So, it's saying essentially that various Gentile nations will actually have a part. Even ones that had been enemies of the Jews previously will no longer be enemies.

But it will be said of them, this was born there. Now, that's an obscure verse, verse 4. It's hard to read it smoothly because it says, I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre and Ethiopia, this man was born there.

But the way it reads in the Hebrew actually makes it clear that it's saying that people from these nations will be able to have a claim to be natural born sons of Jerusalem. And in verse 5 it says, in Zion, of Zion it shall be said, this and that man were born in her and the highest himself shall establish her. Now, that first line in verse 5 is lacking a word that is found in the Septuagint.

The Septuagint adds the word mother in there so that it reads, the New English Bible, for instance, follows the Septuagint version. It says, and Zion shall be called a mother in whom men of every race are born. Now, that's an interesting thought.

That's the way the New English Bible translates verse 5. And they follow the Septuagint version to do so. It says, Jerusalem, or Zion, shall be called a mother in whom men of every race are born. Now, that's interesting because Paul, in writing to the Galatians, in Galatians 4.26, said, the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Now, us all would refer to himself, a Jew, and the Galatians who are Gentiles. Men of all races are born to this mother. This Jerusalem which is above.

So, Paul took this statement here in verse 5 and applied it to the heavenly Jerusalem. And so, the things that are said of Jerusalem here really apply to the church, according to Paul. And it's actually a prophecy of the fact that Gentiles will be part of the church and they will have the same status as free-born Jews of Jerusalem, like citizens of Jerusalem.

But, of course, it's the spiritual Jerusalem, the church, that is intended. And it says that even the Lord will honor this and he'll include them when he writes up the people. And he'll say, yes, this man was born there.

So, in his book, even, the Gentiles who come in, who know him, will be counted as natural-born citizens. Then, in verse 7, it says, as well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there. So, it's a place of rejoicing, of music and dancing and so forth.

And all my springs are in thee. The reference to all my springs reminds us of another psalm about the city of God that we covered earlier, Psalm 46, where it says in Psalm 46, in verse 4, there is a river, the streams of which shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. There's a river, the springs of which, or the streams of which, will make glad the city of God.

Here we have him saying, to the city of God, all my springs are in thee. Apparently, springs of joy, this river that makes glad the city of God, as referred to here. In Ezekiel 47, there is a description, symbolically, of this great river coming out of the city of God from under the throne of God.

This is Ezekiel 47. And when we get to Ezekiel, we'll talk about this passage, which has a lot of difficulties in it. But the chapter begins like this, Ezekiel 47, Afterwards he brought me again to the door of the house, meaning the temple, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the south side of the altar.

Then brought he me out of the way of the gate, and so forth. It talks about the water issuing forth from under the threshold of the temple. In Revelation chapter 21, or 22, verses 1 through 5, it describes a river coming out from under the throne of God.

All of these are symbolic, rather than literal representations. But the idea is that from God's presence, which is in the city of God, the river of blessing, the river of joy, and of peace, and of all the blessings of God, flow forth. All the springs from which I refresh myself are found in the city of God, and in God himself who dwells there.

That's what's being said here. Now, Psalm 88, we might as well go on and cover Psalm 88, since we have the time to do so. Psalm 88 is one of those few psalms, there's only really three of them, that has no positive side to it.

Most of the psalms have, you know, a lot of them start with complaints and then end with statements of confidence. This one is complaint all the way through to the end. And there are two others that are like that, as we mentioned when we ran through them before.

It says, O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried. Now, by the way, this was written by Heman, the Ezraite, who only wrote one of the psalms, that's this one. He didn't have anything positive to contribute to us.

But it says, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee, incline thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit.

I am as a man that hath no strength, free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with thy waves, Selah.

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination unto them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon thee. I have stretched out my hands to thee.

Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Suggesting that they won't, but of course we know that some will. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? Or in the land of the dead, where earthly life is forgotten.

But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer my terrors, I am distracted.

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water.

They compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness. Some of these statements are echoes of things that David had said, though this psalm is clearly not David's.

But in Psalm 38, he made reference to his lovers and friends having nothing to do with him because of the blow of God upon him and the disease that was upon him from God. So here we have just a man complaining. He doesn't have anything new to complain about.

Everything he complains about, David had complained about on other occasions. And unlike David, this man didn't come to a place of victory. But he begins and ends pretty much in gloom and doesn't change.

Where most of the prayers that are David's, at least, do end in a positive and optimistic note because by going to prayer at the time of his crisis, he found relief. Well, Psalm 89 is the last psalm in the third book of Psalms. Remember, there's five books, and the third book ends with Psalm 89.

And I don't know if we want to take the time to go into it or not. We do have the time. It just means that we won't have to go through it later if we do it now.

But it mainly is... Well, let's go ahead and take it. This is from another Ezraite. The one we just read is from Heman the Ezraite.

This one's from Ethan the Ezraite. We don't know anything about those men, who they were. But it starts out positively, but it basically reminds God of the covenant that he made with David.

Now, the covenant he made with David was that David would never lack a man to sit on the throne in Jerusalem and that God would raise up the Messiah to reign perpetually, eternally in Jerusalem from David's loins. Now, that's the promise that is going to be alluded to here. And the question that is asked in this psalm is whatever happened to that promise, whatever happened to that covenant.

It says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, mercy shall be built up forever.

Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant.

And I was quoting what God said. Thy seed will I establish forever, is what God had said to David, and build up thy throne to all generations, see thou. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord.

Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. For who in the heavens can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is as strong, Lord, like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee? Thou rulest the raging of the sea.

When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab, meaning Egypt again, in pieces. As one that is slain, thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The north and the south, thou hast created them.

Tabor and Hermon, two mountains, shall rejoice in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong as thy hand, and high as thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne.

Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

In thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horns shall be exalted. For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is our King.

Okay, then he talks about the covenant that was made to David. He's already alluded to it in the first verses. Now he goes into it a little more.

It says, Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidest, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant.

With my holy oil have I anointed him, with whom my hand shall be established. Mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

And I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea and his right hand in the rivers.

He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

His seat also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. This is the covenant that was made with David. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless, my lovingkindness will I not utterly take away from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips. Once I have sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

Now most of these last verses we've just read, especially about if his seed sins, that he'll be chastened but will not utterly be forsaken, are taken right from the promise made to David in 2 Samuel chapter 7. It says in verse 36, His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

Now the throne of David then was said to be eternal. And what happened was that the Babylonians overthrew the dynasty of David for the 70 year captivity, and the Jews forever afterwards waited for the throne to be reestablished. And it was reestablished with Jesus seated upon it.

Not literally in Jerusalem, but in heaven. And so the promise is fulfilled in Christ, and his throne is forever and ever, and will endure longer than the sun or the moon. But that was not understood by the writer.

So he asks, or he says in astonishment, in verse 38, In light of these promises, it seems strange that thou hast cast off and abhorred and has been wroth with thine anointed. Referring to the Babylonian captivity. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant.

Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. Thou hast broken down all his hedges. Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.

All that pass by the way spoil him. He is a reproach to his neighbors. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries.

Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and has not made him to stand in the battle. Thou hast made his glory to cease and cast his throne down to the ground.

The days of his youth hast thou shortened. Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah How long, Lord, wilt thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is.

Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? What man is he that liveth that shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of a grave? At this point, the cassette tape was stopped and turned over to record on the second side. How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen and Amen. This latter statement in verse 52 probably doesn't belong to Ethan the Ezraite, but is the compiler of the book.

This is the end of the third book of Psalms and each of the books ends with a statement sort of like this. Whoever compiled the Psalms in each case just sort of put a doxology at the end. Blessed be the Lord forever and ever.

Amen and Amen. But the book actually ends with quite a depressing scene. He reminds God of all the lofty promises he made to David.

Then he says, why then is David's throne overthrown? Why are his armies defeated? Why is his city burned down? Why, why, why, why? Didn't you keep your covenant? The idea being that God didn't keep his covenant, but he really did. He said he would chasten with the rod of men if David's sons did wickedly. God said, I will chasten them with the rods of men, but I will not utterly cause my mercy to depart from him.

Meaning that God had the right to chasten or to punish any of David's sons he wanted to, but ultimately his mercy to David would be fulfilled. The sure mercies of David would be given eventually. And in Acts chapter 13, Paul says that by raising Jesus from the dead, God fulfilled the sure mercies of David that he has actually fulfilled the promise that was made to David by raising up Jesus from the dead.

And so they went through a long time of suffering the rod of men, really. From the Babylonian captivity on, there never was a king on the throne in Jerusalem. Although when they came back from the Babylonian captivity, he was irrevocable, the governor was of the tribe of Judah and of the line of David, but he was never king.

And during the Maccabean period, they suffered the rod of men many times. The Greeks, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Romans. But then finally, in the very end there came Jesus.

And so those promises were fulfilled. This psalm was written in the interim while David's household was still suffering the rod of God's chastisement. But the fulfillment had not yet been seen of God sending his Messiah to fulfill the promises that were made to David.

Well, we will end there. That's a logical place to end. And it also uses up the majority of our time and puts us ahead of our schedule.

So we'll just get out a little early.