IT is no uncommon thing, especially in the country districts, to see some aged inmate of a cottage sitting with the Bible open at the Psalms. Often has the writer’s heart been cheered by such a sight. Poring over the sacred page, the aged reader has doubtless found there what could be found nowhere else. Yet, alas! what ignorance there often is, even with such, touching the gospel of the grace of God, unfolded in its fullness and blessedness in the New Testament.
Now, though the gospel is not the subject of the Psalms, we do find in the Psalms what constitutes the gospel, for we find Christ there—the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
It is with the thought of presenting Christ that we now take up certain Psalms in a gospel way.
Let us suppose the reader to open the book of Psalms for the first time, and begin with Psa. 1, “Blessed is the man.” How sweetly the first word falls on the ear— “Blessed.” It is what God pronounces him to be who answers to the description given in this Psalm. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” What a beautiful life this is, on both its negative and its positive sides.
Can you, my reader, claim blessing from God on the ground of answering to the description here?
Have you never walked “in the counsel of the ungodly”? Have you never sat “in the seat of the scornful”? Have you always delighted in the law of the Lord, and meditated in His law day and night? Let such questions be asked in the presence of God, and we shall each have to answer, No; my life has been far otherwise.
One Man, and one alone, could claim blessing from God on the ground of what He was. It is Jesus who fully answers to the picture—that unique, that perfect Man over whom God could open the heavens and say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Surely He was as that “tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper.” It is Jesus who was all that a man should be. His beautiful life should convince us of sin. What a contrast He is to all others! Like lost sheep, we have all gone astray; He, never. We have found pleasure in doing our own wills, while He could say, “I always do the things that please My Father.”
But let us look now at Psa. 14:22The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. (Psalm 14:2): “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.” What did He see? “They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no not one.” How emphatic, how sweeping are the words in this verse— “all,” “altogether,” “none.”
No exception among all the children of men.
Can you bow your heart here and say, “O God, I own that Thou hast in this scripture given me my own moral photograph”? This is repentance. God would convince thee of sin in order that thou mayest take the place of self-judgment, and we know that He will never condemn those who condemn themselves.
In Psa. 1, then, it is Jesus, not I. In Psa. 14 it is I, not Jesus.
Now we come to Psa. 22 “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” Well do we know who it is that was thus abandoned of God. “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
The forsaken Man of Psa. 22 is the blessed perfect Man of Psa. 1, Jesus the Son of God.
But it was seen at Calvary.
Dear reader, ponder these words— “why,” “Thou,” “forsaken,” “Me.”
“WHY?” And when no answer came (for God was silent to Him), then from out that awful solitude and from that heart, that broken heart, which was a shrine for God’s glory, came the answer which vindicated God in that forsaking, “But Thou art holy.”
“FORSAKEN.” A holy God forsakes Him because He was made sin. But this same scripture declares “He knew no sin.” He was the perfectly righteous Man of Psa. 1.
But here in Psa. 22 He takes, as Substitute, the place of the filthy man of Psa. 14; and none may know what it cost Him, for who could fathom that ocean of sorrow? There are other sorrows in this wonderful Psalm, sorrows resulting from man’s hatred; for poor wretched man was there incited by Satan. “Dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet.” They can even gamble for His garments (v. 18).
But the sorrows of verses 1, 2 are atoning sorrows; it was what He endured at the hand of God, as Isa. 53:1010Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10), “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him.” He hath put Him to grief. Oh, wondrous love, to give His Son! Oh, infinite holiness, to put Him to grief when made sin If we could measure the ineffable and uninterrupted communion which was ever His in all His perfect way here, perhaps we could then understand what it was for Him to be forsaken. Dear reader, let us learn, here, the wondrous love of God that gave Him; the infinite holiness and righteousness of the God who forsook Him; the matchless love of Christ who thus endured sin’s judgment.
But that bitter night of weeping is over (v. 21), for He was heard and taken from the lowest point of death— “the horns of the unicorns.” After having met all the righteous claims of God, and exhausting the judgment we deserved, He gave up the life in which He bore it.
All, all was met there, and now peace and joy come. “Joy cometh in the morning” —the resurrection morning.
“That glorious resurrection morn
Bids doubts forever cease,
For far and wide the news is borne
Of perfect peace”
How fitting the title of this Psalm— “The hind of the morning” —and how beautifully it ends. Mark the closing sentence: “He hath done this.” Let your faith put two other words, “for me,” or write your name in full at the bottom of that Psalm, “For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died.”
Yes, for the one whose condition is described in Psa. 14.
Now turn to Psa. 32. Again are we greeted by that precious word “blessed.” “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
So the sinless Man of Psa. 1 dies in Psa. 22 for the sinful man of Psa. 14, in order that the sinful man of Psa. 14 may enjoy the portion of the blessed man of Psa. 32.
It is interesting to note also that this is the first Psalm entitled “Maschil,” which means “Giving instruction.” It is the first instruction God gives to man. May you, my reader, be thus instructed and blessed.
Another word. The man who is thus instructed and blessed can now go back to Psa. 1 and seek to walk in His footsteps. “He hath left us an example, that we should walk in His steps” (1 Peter 2:2121For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (1 Peter 2:21)).
“And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins.”
“And in Him is no sin.”
“Whatsoever abideth in Him sinneth not.” To abide in Him is to walk even as He walked. May it be our joy and blessing thus to walk “till traveling days are done.”
W. J.