Psalm 69 is another Psalm of David that has him crying out to God because of the trouble that he was in. Then there are some of these verses that also were quoted by Jesus and reference some of what He went through during his ministry and even while on the cross! Verses 7-9:
7Because for Your sake I have borne taunt and reproach; confusion and shame have covered my face. 8I have become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to my mother's children.
We know that the family of Jesus thought He was nuts! They kept trying to get Him and bring Him home with them! Then we see Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers and those selling things in the Temple! (And all of that while avoiding sin and walking in Love!) Then we see verse 21:
21They gave me also gall [poisonous and bitter] for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar (a soured wine) to drink.
The verses we will look closer at today are verses 34-36:
34Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them. 35For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and [His servants] shall remain and dwell there and have it in their possession; 36The children of His servants shall inherit it, and those who love His name shall dwell in it.
The word "praise" here is our familiar "halal" which means: to boast to rave, to be clamorously foolish over! That means loud and boisterous praise! Praise that can be heard and seen! Like David dancing before the Ark! Some will like it and join us, and some will hate it and despise us, to their own hurt, just like Michal! And this does not just mean US, but ALL of God's creation will do this! If you already do this, then you will be very comfortable at The Spoken Word Church, because we praise Him according to His wonderful Word! AMEN! Then there is the promise that He will reclaim and rebuild Israel and His people will return and live there again. They WILL NOT be moved!
In Hebrews 3:1-5:
1SO THEN, brethren, consecrated and set apart for God, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confessed [as ours when we embraced the Christian faith]. 2[See how] faithful He was to Him Who appointed Him [Apostle and High Priest], as Moses was also faithful in the whole house [of God]. 3Yet Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater honor and glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house [itself]. 4For [of course] every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things and the Furnisher [of the entire equipment of all things] is God. 5And Moses certainly was faithful in the administration of all God's house [but it was only] as a ministering servant. [In his entire ministry he was but] a testimony to the things which were to be spoken [the revelations to be given afterward in Christ].
The word "consider" is the Greek word, "katanoeo", which means: to observe fully, to behold, to consider, to discover, to perceive. Who are we to consider and discover? JESUS! When we do, theses verses say, we will see that Jesus is so much greater than Moses! Moses was very highly revered among the Jews, and for good reason! He served the Lord faithfully, but it was as a servant! Jesus obeyed, followed and served God faithfully, but as THE SON! Verse 19 says this about God's people in the wilderness:
19So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest], because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God [unbelief had shut them out]
So don't get yourself shut out from the promises of God by unbelief! Remember that unbelief comes from one of two sources:
- Ignorance of God's Word: you don't know so you can't believe and obey. The answer: get knowledge from the Word of God, then DO IT!
- Disobedience: You know WHAT to do, but you just don't DO IT. The answer: OBEDIENCE!
I learned something else new about the Book of Isaiah today! .We saw yesterday that the last 27 chapters go along with the 27 books of the New Testament. According to The Bible Exposition Commentary:
Chapters 40-48 emphasize the greatness of God the Father in contrast to the vanity of the heathen idols. Chapters 49-57 extol the graciousness of God the Son, the Suffering Servant; and chapters 58-66 describe the glory of God in the future kingdom, and the emphasis is on the work of the Holy Spirit (59:19,21; 61:1 ff; 63:10-11,14). Thus, there seems to be a trinitarian structure to these chapters.
It also stated that the heart of chapters 40-66 are chapters 49-57 that exalt the Messiah, as God's suffering servant. The heart of these verses is found in 52:13- 53:12, where we find the description of our Saviour's substitutionary death for the sins of mankind. We look at verses 52:13-15 today:
13Behold, My Servant shall deal wisely and shall prosper; He shall be exalted and extolled and shall stand very high. 14[For many the Servant of God became an object of horror; many were astonished at Him.] His face and His whole appearance were marred more than any man's, and His form beyond that of the sons of men--but just as many were astonished at Him, 15So shall He startle and sprinkle many nations, and kings shall shut their mouths because of Him; for that which has not been told them shall they see, and that which they have not heard shall they consider and understand.
His form was "marred", the Hebrew word, "mishchath", which means: disfigured, corrupted. He did not even resemble a man by the time the soldiers had finished beating Him, crushing giant thorns into his head and making Him carry his cross in that condition! He endured all of this, and much more, because He loves us! We'll look at more tomorrow!
Shalom in Him!
