Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

Psalm 40 – Trust in the LORD – A Patient Wait! (Part 2 of 3) 

How We Wait (vs. 6-10) – Verse 6 continues with “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” Using synonymous parallelism David drove home his amazing point that might shock some of us. He said here that the LORD does not desire sacrifice and offering! How could this be! Sacrifices and offerings were ordained by God for the people of Israel. They functioned as types of Christ! Of course David was not saying that God does not desire sacrifices and offerings. The point is made clear when we understand this verse in relation to Hebrews 10:7-10 “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

The LORD was obviously not saying He was not desirous of the Levitical system of sacrifice because it was wrong. As stated above, God ordained it. The LORD did not desire the animal sacrifices because He knew that they were only types or representatives of the actual offering which was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Until that day came there was no full satisfaction. That is why the priests including the high priests of Israel in Old Testament times had to offer daily animal sacrifices for the cleansing of their own sins. They were not able to offer a once for all perfect sacrifice that could satisfy God permanently and perfectly, which only the sinless body of the perfect Lamb of God could provide. That is why there was no “chair” inside the tabernacle or the Temple of Solomon, for the work of the priests and high priests were never done to God’s full satisfaction; these animals could not take away the sins of the people of God permanently as the people of God were made in God's image. Only a perfect human sacrifice was sufficient to take away the sins of the people of God. However, in the case of Christ, the moment He arrived in heaven, the Bible says that He was seated on the right hand of God. Hebrews 1:3 “Who being the brightness of hisglory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 10:12 “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” And Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of ourfaith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

David saw or rather heard this and understood this well as he declared that his eyes were opened by the LORD to see. Also a perfunctory offering of the animal sacrifices was a problem that existed throughout the time of the fall. When God introduced the animal sacrifice system even before the formation of the nation of Israel, people could very well offer the animal sacrifices without heart! The clean animals might be without blemish but very often, the worshipper’s heart was not. This was also a problem that caused the LORD to reject the animal sacrifices. But the true believers in Christ who loved the LORD could offer animal sacrifices and they would be accepted by the LORD because they did so in faith. They “saw into the future” that these animals represented the Lord Jesus Christ, the truly perfect offering who would come and die for them as these clean animals represented. Such an offering with such a biblical understanding in faith was pleasing to the LORD. 

Verse 7 (synthetic parallelism) – David added by saying, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me.” David was not referring to himself but the LORD as Hebrews 10:7-10 reveals. This is a wonderful revelation teaching us how prophecies are revealed. Prophecies of God are included as part of the normal narrative and in this case the heartfelt prayer in song of a man of God like David. He was writing about himself in relation to his LORD and then suddenly he shifted gear and included prophecies in the narrative or prayer. Verses 7 and 8 definitely refer to Christ alone. This is not a typology but prophesy. The Old Testament is all about Christ! It is about the “coming” of Christ to be specific, with the whole Levitical system of sacrifices, and even before that all pointing to the coming of Christ as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and the sins of God’s people in particular! The LORD Jesus Christ Himself says that He would come. There was no forcing or reluctance but He would come willingly. 

He would come down from heaven’s glory and become the perfect Son of Man to live and die on the cross for the sins of the world! This is the love and sacrifice of Christ. If He would not do this, the entire sacrificial system that began at the fall of man, when God killed the first animal to clothe Adam and Eve, would become meaningless and completely impotent to save. The potency of all the millions of clean animals sacrificed would be void and rendered powerless IF Jesus Christ did not come! But the LORD Jesus came just as He prophesied and said in verse 7. The Old Testament prophesied about Jesus Christ’s coming and it was fulfilled when Christ was born of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. 

Verse 8 (synonymous parallelism) – This verse describes for us the willingness of Christ’s obedience to the Holy Father’s will. It says, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law iswithin my heart.” The LORD Jesus Christ delighted to do the will of God the Father even though it meant He had to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of the world. The suffering was painful and most humiliating, for He was the Son of God and Son of Man who suffered and died; He could have delivered Himself being perfect and without sin! Yet He endured them all for the sake of the sins of the world and in particular the sins of all the children of God! Isaiah 53:4-12 sum it up very poignantly, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he waswounded for our transgressions, he wasbruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace wasupon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was anydeceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put himto grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see hisseed, he shall prolong hisdays, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, andshall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portionwith the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” 

The LORD Jesus came to do the will of God by fulfilling all the laws of God on behalf of God's children. This fulfilment of the laws of God perfectly was so that upon salvation, the righteousness of the law could be imputed upon all true believers of Christ. Just as the Law was within the heart of Christ it is now within the heart of God's children. This means that all of God's children are now regarded by God as never having broken any of God’s law; otherwise they would not be given the righteousness of the law. Romans 8:1-4 “There istherefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” 

What about the sins committed by God's children as they serve God on earth? Will these transgressions result in the LORD rescinding this righteousness? The answer is an absolute no. The reason is the work of Christ on the cross has redeemed all the sins of the children of God (past and future) at the point of salvation. That is why they can enter heaven immediately upon salvation. But the LORD desires some to remain on earth to witness for Christ. If remaining on earth means that their salvation could be rescinded, then no one would want to remain behind after salvation! That is why God promised all His children that when they remain behind to serve Him, their salvation is secured forever and will never be in jeopardy! Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” However, this does not mean that God’s children do not need to repent of their sins when they serve the LORD on earth. If they do not repent they will lose their fellowship with God in terms of prayers and worship being rejected by Him. Psalm 66:18-20 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19 Butverily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed beGod, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.”   

Verse 9 (synthetic parallelism) – The psalm now reverts back to David as he testified that he preached to others about Christ. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.” David told as many people as he could as the king of Israel. What a tremendous privilege and blessing it was for him to use the greatness of his kingdom to influence millions for Christ. David’s generation was tremendously blessed to have such a godly and Christ-centred king! This righteousness that David preached is all about Christ and not his own, for David was a man after God's own heart. He cared only for the glory of God in his life unlike the kings of the world who focussed only on self and their little and soon to be forgotten kingdom regardless of how enormous its temporal greatness was. This is the foolishness and blindness of sinful men. But not kings like David who were always Christians first in their lives so that they could promote Christ and not themselves. 

David did not refrain from praising the LORD. Every opportunity he got, he preached and talked about how good God is in Christ in his life! Every child of God needs to do the same. For how can anyone keep within his being the goodness of God in Christ that he has received from God and that has transformed him from a depraved sinner into a child of God?! He now lives in the light of God's truth and no longer in the darkness of sin and spiritual filth! All children of God must cry to God for such a heart like David that will tell all they meet about the love of God in Christ! David shared that God knew this about him in his life! God also knows all His children’s hearts. We need to cry for such a heart, that the LORD who knows all things must be pleased with what He sees and finds within us! 

Verse 10 (synthetic parallelism) – David confessed: “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.” Verse 10 is a confirmation of what David had already stated in verse 9. He was not a secret or selfish believer. He did not hide the knowledge of the love of God in Christ. He shared with others about God’s faithfulness and salvation in his life. With this world in her last days and the falling away of Christianity, the world needs to know the real Christ now more than ever before! Like David, God's children cannot keep to themselves what they have experienced in Christ. They need to tell the world about God’s faithfulness and salvation. To do that God’s children must, like David, be living a holy life reflecting this wonderful truth! It is hard to tell what we do not believe and live by. 

Thank God David did not conceal God’s lovingkindness and His truth from the great congregation. David shared the love of God with His own people as he was supposed to do. That is why he was put into the kingdom of God in Israel, and likewise all the children of God today! 

[To be continued]