A MEDITATION

Psalm 89 is a Psalm of Ethan. Ethan was one of the three chief musicians appointed by David to lead the Levitical singers in the temple. The history of this Psalm is centered in the time of the reign of Rehoboam. After Solomon’s reign there was a period of great decay. Judah and Ephraim were separated. Rehoboam reigned over Judah. The glory of David’s and Solomon’s reign had fallen. Judah was oppressed by other nations. Shishak, the king of Egypt, declared war against Rehoboam with a mighty army. He captured the walled cities which belonged to Judah and came to Jerusalem. This Psalm also speaks of the evil that the Lord would bring upon the kingdom of David and Jerusalem because of the sins of the people.

But before this would come to pass, the poet of this Psalm speaks of the firmness of David’s throne. “Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one.” Here Christ is declared to be the firm foundation of the church of God in the conflict. That is no small matter. He, who speaks here, is the Covenant God, Jehovah, the Lord. What condescending goodness, that God speaks to man. Yes, this is the greatest thing a person can experience, that God speaks to him. It is also a great privilege that we may speak to God, according to the Word of the Lord, where the Lord says: Pour out your heart before me, and call upon me in the day of trouble. But it is still greater if the Lord speaks to us.

He speaks to man in many different ways. He speaks in the realm of nature and in the realm of grace; with deeds in the realm of nature, and in grace with His word and Spirit. And in all this the Lord makes Himself free of every one. He speaks in anger and wrath against sin, and in mercy and goodness by granting grace to sinners. But this is all to the glorifying of his justice and mercy, and to the praise of his great name. Thus He spake also in vision to His holy one. And in a comforting way. David knew something of this. Even as the Lord had spoken through Nathan, the prophet, of the evil that David would experience by reason of his sins, so God also spoke of the good that he would bring to pass upon David’s house. And this so humbled David that he confessed with his whole heart: “Who am I, 0 Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto.” And in the vision where the Lord bad spoken to David of His Holy One, there was much comfort for David. It was that the Lord would establish the throne of David, and destroy his enemies. And this would be through Him who was given by the Father as a covenant of the people, the blessed Christ of whom David was a type, as a mighty one, in humiliation and exaltation. And therefore David was strengthened and comforted and able to rejoice in the deeds, but also in the words which the Lord had spoken to him.

There is a people who, with David, rejoice in God and in His word, when they, as poor sinners, standing before His holy justice, in guilt and sin, are directed to such a Person. And, as transgressors of His law, and breakers of His covenant, who deserve death, they are directed by the Lord to His Holy One. For such there is salvation and redemption in Him. It is through this Mediator that God’s mercies come forth to a creature worthy of condemnation, because there is a people who are not delivered in themselves, but who become delivered. And that could not occur otherwise than through the vindication of God’s justice, because this redemption through the Holy One, rests on justice and righteousness. This justice demands the punishment for sin, which is death, and therefore Christ was compelled to die to satisfy justice. As there was no other way possible to reconcile such a deeply fallen sinner with Himself, He opened a way in His beloved Son. It is adorable grace in Him for lost ones in themselves, He who is given by the Father for the reconciliation of our sins. This is a comfort for God’s people. It often occurs that they have hard thoughts of the Lord; that everything lies in darkness, they cannot discern any grace and there is much inward strife, and it appears as if God’s work was never glorified in them. But the Lord speaks through His word to this people who are tossed with tempest and not comforted, and it is proclaimed to them, “Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One.” Oh, what an incomprehensible wonder, that the Lord looks down on such, whom no eye pities, and glorifies Himself in this Mediator, revealing Himself to poor and miserable people. It becomes a great wonder that such needy ones can be saved through another. And what is the testimony of God to such a people? The Lord says: “I have laid help upon one that is mighty.”

This verse contains much. Who is this mighty one? Where is that help to be found? Is it David? Surely David was brave. As a youth he slew a lion and a bear. He fought in the power of the Lord and slew the giant Goliath. The women answered one another as they played and said, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” What a blessing for Israel to have such a king.

David was an elect mighty one, upon whom God’s help had been laid, to deliver and reign over Israel. But another mighty one was necessary to establish an eternal kingdom and deliver God’s people from their hellish enemy and to destroy the work of the devil. For this purpose no one was more able than the Greater David, Who is the eternal blessed Son of God Who gave Himself willingly for this work. He is the one that is mighty upon whom help is laid; who from eternity presented himself as a surety and took upon Himself the redemption of those given to Him by the Father, from the curse of the law and the punishment of sin, which is death.

He was made under the law, born of a woman, to make satisfaction for the justice of God and to redeem His people from the bondage of sin. He came in the deep state of his humiliation as the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief, to bear and take away the sins of His people. He was mighty in His life but also mighty in His death. And as the mighty one He made complete payment for His people, and conquered the power of death, so that the Lord’s people might exclaim; “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.” He robbed the powerful one of his prey, bearing the wrath of God, and has given eternal value to his redemption. He, as the mighty one, has fought the battle as the lion of the tribe of Judah. He obtained life and victory for the captives of Satan, and paid the price with His own blood which could not be satisfied nor paid by our works. Neither can a child of God ever free himself from the demands of the law, and from the snares of unbelief, nor can he deliver himself from the blows of the prince of darkness.

And continually, after grace is received, in the standing of their spiritual life, they have much need of this one that is mighty, yes in all things for time and eternity. And He who delivered them will deliver them continually. He is the one that is mighty upon whom help is laid for all who are bound with bands and chains in this spiritual warfare. No power on earth can cause Him to fall. Nothing obstructs His way. He shall reign from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. All power is given Him in heaven and upon earth; and one day he shall consume all enemies, bring under the last enemy, and grant complete redemption in glory, where the redeemed of the Lord will eternally reign with Him as King.

Oh, how the captives in chains, the afflicted of heart, and those persecuted by the enemy should rejoice for such a help appointed by God, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Nothing shall befall them, being kept in all things through this One that is mighty, who leads the conflict, and will not suffer His people to fall in the hands of the enemy. He is a fiery wall round about them and will help them through all ways, no matter what snares Satan spreads for them. He will never relinquish the work of his hands.

The time when David began to reign was a very sad time. The end of King Saul was sad. And what was the condition of the people of Israel? They were slain for their sins. They had demanded a king, and received Saul in God’s disfavor. But the Lord now grants them David, a mighty one to deliver Israel from their enemies. God remembered His covenant. And this David was a type of Him, the Greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to redeem the spiritual Israel from their deep state of misery. For by nature they are profoundly miserable people. How sad is their state and condition, having voluntarily and willfully left God and become sunken into a state of misery! They are such who miss all spiritual good, and all righteousness to exist before God, and who have grievously sinned against all His commandments. They have no power to deliver themselves from their deeply fallen state, no farthing to pay the towering debt.

They are captured by the prince of darkness, are under the power of death, bound in chains of sin, and in the bands of unrighteousness. And, as David was now sent by God to deliver the people of Israel, so the precious Christ voluntarily gave up crown and throne and left His glory to come to make miserable ones free from their misery, and to give life to the dead. He Himself takes their place, to bear the punishment for His people, and takes away the wrath of God, having swallowed up death in eternal victory, to restore life to them.

And even if they may, through faith, receive this great benefit, they remain in themselves a poor and miserable people, who must constantly be ministered unto by Him. A people who become poorer and poorer, with all the grace they receive, and who often remain in the bonds of doubt and unbelief, and sometimes in the greatest oppression from fear of the last enemy, which is death.

But if the eye of faith is enlightened, they can glory in the face of death in Him who is the mighty one in life and death, upon whom help is laid. And though they are sometimes in fear and darkness, and their needs become continually greater, these captives who in themselves are poor and miserable, may once more take courage. Then they can sing praises to God, in their chains, and with the eye on Him and a strong consolation in their heart, experience that He maketh not ashamed. Stephen saw this in the hour of death, the one that is mighty upon whom help is laid, for he said: “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.”

Blessed are all they who are subjects of such a mighty one, who delivers His own, and continually delivers them, and one day will completely deliver them and bring them into glory, where they will eternally reign with Him, where no enemy will ever again pursue them, where they are no more prisoners, and where there will be no more trouble or care. But eternally redeemed they will walk in the light of His countenance, to be forever with the One that is mighty upon whom help is laid.

From whom is our help? And in what does our help consist? Is it in temporal things? Is it in man whose breath is in his nostrils? Is it in your might? ... or your power? ... or your strength? Is it in your piety? Or your orthodoxy? Your virtues, or your zeal? All these are insufficient, and are weak and broken staffs of reeds, which will pierce our hands; and broken cisterns which can hold no water. All these will fail us at death, before Him who searches the hearts and tries the reins. 0, that we might become the object of this help which is laid upon one that is mighty; that all our help might fail us, and that we come before him in our helplessness. Then when we can no longer help ourselves and he becomes necessary unto us, we, as miserable ones will cry and weep at the throne of His grace for deliverance from guilt and sin. For such there is expectation but only in Him, the Mighty One.

Beneath Thy care the sparrow
Finds place for peaceful rest;
To keep her young in safety
The swallow finds a nest;
Then, Lord, my King Almighty,
Thy love will shelter me;
Beside Thy holy altar
My dwelling place shall be.

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