Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 106:1 et seq. Indeed, God’s work was the only one in sight in the previous Psalm; it did not mention the sins of Israel. Psalm repeats the same narrative from the exit from Egypt, but emphasizing the responsibility of the people. Our history also has a twofold aspect. On the one hand, the perfect work of grace that saves us, then takes care of us to lead us surely to the goal, despite obstacles and difficulties (Phil 1:3-8). Secondly, our walk, too often slowed down by detours and missteps. We need the One who, more than Moses, constantly stands “in the breach,” interceding for his own (Rom 8:31-37).
“Do not forget any of its benefits,” recommended Ps 103:1-5. Indeed, oblivion is the door open to covetousness and this leads to rebellion. For without an ungrateful heart, Satan has a good game to sow guilty desires. For the one who has ceased to value god’s gifts, he knows how to make the things of the world attractive and, through them, gradually attract his victim into the path of open revolt against God. May the Lord therefore grant us to always be “attentive to his wonders”. Thus, in Psalm 105, the verbs translated the sovereign intervention of God: “He sent”, “He spoke”, “donna”, “struck”, “made people go out”… Here, as we have seen, it is the thoughts and deeds of man (and what acts!) that are highlighted: “They did not believe… they whispered… they mingled with the nations… served their idols… sacrificed to the demons… shed innocent blood… made themselves unclean…” Heartbreaking story of this people who have sunk deeper and deeper into evil and have done everything to ignite the wrath of the Lord! In conclusion, one would expect its final rejection. Well! this terrible indictment ends with the victory of grace. Again it is God who acts: “He looked at them in their distress when He heard their cry… He remembered… repented… made them find compassion… ». To this divine mercy will respond an eternal praise.
The sin in verse 24 was particularly apt to sadden God’s heart: “They despised the land of delights; they did not believe in the word of jehovah. Christians and believers, we are on our way to a homeland infinitely more desirable than the earthly Canaan: the Heavenly City, the House of the Father. Is it in our eyes desirable or despicable? Our entire progress will depend on it. The psalm ends with the reminder of the cry so often uttered by the people of Israel in the days of their distress, throughout the book of Judges. It is the same cry that the psalmist then raises because of Israel’s current distress . Then, anticipating divine clemency and deliverance, he blessed the God of Israel. The members of his mystical body –the Church – will be transformed into the conformity of the body of his glory, Israel and the nations will live again on earth, and Creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption.
It is true that there will be different ranks and different glories, but everything will be on the basis of the resurrection, that is, the new creation. For when Jesus preached, he also healed. The same was true of the apostles and disciples he sent. Infirmities and diseases disappeared from place to place on his way, and the grateful voice of the recovered health was heard in the villages and cities of Israel. As in the past when He led His people out of Egypt, He was “the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). He himself drove them. For forty years their feet did not swell – Caleb’s strength had the same vigor and freshness as when he had set out – testimony of what would have been the part of the whole congregation, if they had been obedient. Similarly, when the reign comes, the lame will jump like the deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing with joy. Such will again be the works of the Son of David (Isaiah 35; Mat 12).
For the Resurrection – or redemption – (in principle, they are one) is God’s great purpose from the beginning. Without faith in the resurrection, the “power of God” is not known (Mat 22:29), and God Himself remains ignored (1 Cor 15:34). Creation only leads to the knowledge of God, it is only the antechamber. It took place with a view to redemption; and redemption is not a thought after creation. For according to God’s counsel before the foundation of the world, everything was to be on the ground of redemption. This is shown to us by the ordinance of the Jubilee (Lev 25). And this is what the man of God, the forgiven and approved sinner, celebrates in this magnificent series of psalms; as we have said, he rejoices in the deployment towards him, towards creation and towards Israel, of this power in redemption or resurrection – admiring him everywhere in the glorious scene that his soul contemplates. For the purpose of the Spirit in these psalms being moral, not historical -to establish the righteousness of Jehovah in his ways toward Israel, and the guilt of Israel’s conduct toward Jehovah -the psalmist, in Ps 104 and 106, does not record the events to which he refers in their strict order. For example, he mentions the plague of darkness before that of flies, and he speaks of the rebellion of Core before talking about the golden calf. This is quite natural, and we would probably do so if we pursued, as here the psalmist, a moral and not historical goal in the relationship of facts.
Having thus considered these psalms as a whole, we leave them to the study of the saints; we believe, however, that a careful examination of everyone would confirm this general impression. It is a precious subject of meditation that they offer to the renewed understanding. And in fact, what alone can give us the ability to enter into the intelligence of the divine ways is to know their power in our soul, as is the case here. For the believer is a “kind of firstfruit” (James 1). He is already reconciled, as all things will soon be (Col 1). God acts in grace, or resurrection, and the sinner who enjoys forgiveness is therefore the only one who is fully God’s prophet—the only one who can fully enjoy Him or proclaim who He is. “Know God, if you want to taste His works.”
It is worth repeating that part of Psalms 105 and 106 was sung when the ark was brought to Zion in 1 Ch 16; this beautiful hymn borrows its words from several psalms including Psalm 96. For this occasion represented in type the time of Israel’s future joy; and these psalms are songs of praise well suited to this time. The resurrection -the glorious light that illuminates God’s ways and counsel, and eternal witness to His love and power -thus being the theme of this collection, we can say, “Whoever is wise will take care of these things and understand the goodness of Jehovah.”
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Israel’s infidelity, God’s faithfulness:
· Our iniquities, gluttony
Nb 11.32 During all this day and all night, and throughout the next day, the people got up and picked up the quails; the one who had picked up the least had ten homers. They laid them out for them around the camp Dt 21:20 They will say to the elders of his city: Behold our son who is indocile and rebellious, who does not listen to our voice, and who indulges in excesses and drunkenness. Pr 23:1-3 If you are at the table with a grown-up, pay attention to what is in front of you; 2 Put a knife to your throat, If you have too much greed. 3 Do not covet his treats: It is a deceptive food. Pr 23:21 For the drunkard and the one who indulges in excesses become impoverished, and drowsiness makes bear rags. Phil 3:19 Their end will be perdition; they have their belly as their god, they put their glory in what shames them, they think only of the things of the earth.
· Total destruction, predicted
Isaiah 34:2 For the wrath of the Lord will melt upon all nations, and His fury upon all their army: He dooms them to extermination, He delivers them to carnage. Jer 25:9 I will send for all the peoples of the north, says the Lord, and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; I will bring him against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around, in order to devote them by prohibition, and to make them an object of desolation and mockery, eternal ruins. Ml 3:19 For behold, the day comes, Ardent as a furnace. All the haughty and all the wicked will be like stubble; The day that comes will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, He will leave them neither root nor branch. Lk 3.9 Already even the bump is put at the root of the trees: any tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 2 Thess 1:9 They will have as their punishment an eternal ruin, far from the face of the Lord and the glory of his strength, Rev 18:21 Then a mighty angel took a stone like a great millstone, and threw it into the sea, saying: Thus will be thrown with violence Babylon, the great city, and it will no longer be found.
· Disapproval, a type of apostate Church threatened with judgment
Lev 26:17 I will turn my face against you, and you will be beaten before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee without being pursued. Dt 31:17 On that day, my anger will ignite against him. I will abandon them, and hide my face from them. He will be devoured, he will be the prey of a multitude of evils and afflictions, and then he will say: Is it not because my God is not in my midst that these evils have reached me? 1 Kings 14:16 He will deliver Israel because of the sins that Jeroboam committed and that He made Israel commit. Jer 7:15 And I will reject you far from my face, as I have rejected all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim. 2 Thess 2:12 that all those who have not believed in the truth, but who have taken pleasure in injustice, may be condemned.
· Faithfulness of God
Dt 7:9 Know, therefore, that it is Jehovah, your God, who is God. This faithful God keeps his covenant and mercy until the thousandth generation towards those who love him and keep his commandments. 1 Kings 8:56 Blessed be the Lord, who gave rest to his people of Israel, according to all his promises! Of all the good words he had spoken by Moses, his servant, none went without effect. Ps 36:6 Eternal, your goodness reaches to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Ps 89:2 I will always sing the goodness of the Lord; My mouth will make your faithfulness known forever. 1 Cor 1:9 God is faithful, he who has called you to the communion of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Hb 6:18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may find a powerful encouragement, whose only refuge has been to grasp the hope that was offered to us. 1 Pet 4:19 Thus, let those who suffer according to God’s will surrender their souls to the faithful Creator, doing what is right.
From all the above, we note the immense goodness of the Lord: “Hallelujah! Celebrate the Lord, for He is good; for his goodness remains forever.” We have often found this expression of the inexhaustible and faithful goodness of Jehovah who makes the safety of Israel. This Psalm then describes the character of those who are blessed, and asks, as if through the mouth of a faithful Israelite of the end, that Jehovah remember him according to his favor to his people, with the desire to see the good of his chosen ones, to rejoice in the joy of his nation and to glorify himself with his inheritance. It is the expression of a true piety that begins to confess the guilt of the people. She does not say: they have sinned, although she acknowledges it, as manifesting the goodness of the Lord who dwells; but: we have sinned with our fathers. It is the language of practical piety, experiencing, through one’s own confession, the permanence of mercy. The Psalm then goes through the whole history of Israel in this regard and shows in the end that, despite everything, Jehovah remembering his covenant, considered the affliction of Israel and made the nations that had taken him captive have compassionate him. For it is mercy that the faithful now contemplate, so that they may triumph in the praise of the Lord. May God’s grace continue to overburden us. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” the faithful celebrate the deliverance of the Lord.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.