Transcript

Go to the Psalms. Psalm 132, a great Psalm of ascent. These were Psalms written as the Jews were bringing themselves or being brought back from captivity into the Promised Land and what a powerful picture we have, a type of Christ in this Psalm. And as you think about what the Psalmist is writing and what he’s saying, you cannot but doubt in any way, I mean, there can be no question in your mind, the Spirit of God is the author of sacred Scripture. No man could have thought this up or put these pieces together like this. You know, what they’re asking for, they’re coming back into the Promised Land, they are asking for the blessings of God. They are making a petition and I’ve just entitled this whole Psalm in this message, “A Petition for Blessing.”

So here they come petitioning God for blessing. What might be living under the blessing of God? I mean, there are a thousand ways, I suppose, you could speak of that but let me give you three thoughts of what it is to live under the blessing of God. Number 1: it’s to know the presence of God. You see, God can’t just do stuff for you, he is the greatest gift to you. He is the blessing. When Paul talked about he was working for the prize that awaits him, I’m convinced the price was being with Christ. That’s the prize and the more you know him, the more you realize that. Now, we do enjoy the common and redemptive grace as he pours on us but the end of all of it and certainly the end of redemptive grace is the presence of God because we’re shut out from him as sinners brought back in, of course, by grace. So the presence of God and then flowing from that we live by the provisions of God. That’s living under his blessings and then having a heart, thirdly, that overflows with the praises of God. All those linked together: you’ve got to know the presence of God, then flowing from that are the provisions of God and then you will overflow with the praises of God and that’s basically what they’re saying. “God, as we come back into the Promise Land,” you’ve got to remember now, historically Israel connected geography with God’s presence and primarily the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies was where God manifested his Shekinah glory, his most intimate and vital, if you will, presence was there. So as they come back into Jerusalem, they’re talking about entering back into a union and a fellowship with God that they had lacked in Babylonian captivity.

Now, a key phrase that I think, the hinge you might say, that this whole Psalm turns on is verse 10. He says, 10 For the sake of David Your servant, Do not turn away the face of Your anointed.

That’s interesting. Here they come back into the Promise Land, this is not David writing obviously, and they say, “For the sake of David Your servant, through the means of, the provision of David our forefather, we want you to bless us.” So here these exiles are returning from captivity, are praying for God’s new blessing and they are praying for it and petitioning for that blessing based on going through the right person: they are going through David, the provision of King David. Now, we see Christ all in this. First of all, note the devotion they refer to here. They say, “Because of David’s devotion, we want you to bless us.” It seems kind of cheating, doesn’t it? You almost want to say, “Well, wait a minute, why does David have to be the guy who’s got all the good stuff done and did all the meritorious work and you get the blessing?” Well, there’s one good clear reason for that: that’s a perfect picture of Christ. He does the work, we get the blessing. He was the one who had the covenant relationship with God and we get the blessing. By the way, as a side note, I made ramble a little bit but it’s pretty good rambling: you’ve got to anchor into your minds that salvation is at its core, a covenant agreement between God the Father and God the Son, that God had an agreement with his Son, “If you will go and die for the children, be buried for their transgressions, be raised for their justification and ever live to intercede for them, if you will go and do the work required to be a Savior for the children, then I will give you a people, a church.” Now listen, so the security of your salvation is based on the Father’s guarantee to Christ that he will have a people for all eternity. Get out of it. It’s not about you primarily, it’s about God the Father and God the Son.

So the Psalmist writing here says, “You made a covenant with David that someone from his seed would sit on the throne of Israel forever,” and so there we