"Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord" — Psalm 35:23
The psalm from which our text for today is taken is one of those known as "imprecatory psalms." These are psalms in which the writer calls for judgment on his enemies, and often seem out of character with the grace notes of the New Testament. Understanding them requires that we first recognize that God will ultimately vindicate the righteous and destroy the wicked. Second, we must perceive that by divine inspiration the writer of the psalm often speaks not only for himself, but also for Christ. That, it seems to me, is the case here.
One of the primary themes in this psalm is unjustified animosity and hatred. For example, "Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause (v.19)." That sin was (and is) inflicted supremely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The petition of David actually echoes the prayer of Christ in the face of the hostility of the world for which He died. He said, "He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause [John 15:23-25]." Behind the voice of the writer here is the voice of the Son crying to the Father for His vindication.
We often overlook, in reviewing the sacrifice of Christ for sinners, His utterance on the occasion of His arrest: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled [Mt. 26:53-56]." All that stood between His opponents and destruction was the divine plan to make a way of escape for those who would believe on His name. The grand and awful incident of His crucifixion introduced the day of grace over which for now waves the banner, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." When that day has served the divine purpose, God will vindicate His Son and verify His righteousness. It is that day psalms such as this anticipate.
Those who spurn His grace, then and now, are asked, "[Do you] despise… the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God… " That day will come, in answer to the petition of the Son Himself. It is foretold in the last book of the Bible, which is replete with references to the wrath of God awaiting the Christ rejecting world at the consummation of the ages.
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand [Rev. 2:12-17]?"
A paradox: "the wrath of the Lamb." And so shall it be, for God has promised. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead [Acts 17:31]." Worship Him now as Savior and Lord, or succumb to Him then as Sovereign and Judge!
For God's glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
The psalm from which our text for today is taken is one of those known as "imprecatory psalms." These are psalms in which the writer calls for judgment on his enemies, and often seem out of character with the grace notes of the New Testament. Understanding them requires that we first recognize that God will ultimately vindicate the righteous and destroy the wicked. Second, we must perceive that by divine inspiration the writer of the psalm often speaks not only for himself, but also for Christ. That, it seems to me, is the case here.
One of the primary themes in this psalm is unjustified animosity and hatred. For example, "Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause (v.19)." That sin was (and is) inflicted supremely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The petition of David actually echoes the prayer of Christ in the face of the hostility of the world for which He died. He said, "He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause [John 15:23-25]." Behind the voice of the writer here is the voice of the Son crying to the Father for His vindication.
We often overlook, in reviewing the sacrifice of Christ for sinners, His utterance on the occasion of His arrest: "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled [Mt. 26:53-56]." All that stood between His opponents and destruction was the divine plan to make a way of escape for those who would believe on His name. The grand and awful incident of His crucifixion introduced the day of grace over which for now waves the banner, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." When that day has served the divine purpose, God will vindicate His Son and verify His righteousness. It is that day psalms such as this anticipate.
Those who spurn His grace, then and now, are asked, "[Do you] despise… the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God… " That day will come, in answer to the petition of the Son Himself. It is foretold in the last book of the Bible, which is replete with references to the wrath of God awaiting the Christ rejecting world at the consummation of the ages.
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand [Rev. 2:12-17]?"
A paradox: "the wrath of the Lamb." And so shall it be, for God has promised. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead [Acts 17:31]." Worship Him now as Savior and Lord, or succumb to Him then as Sovereign and Judge!
For God's glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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