A Strange Yet Gracious Choice
(No. 2600)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 11, 1898.
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, (on its re-opening after
repairs), ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1883.
"For the LORD has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His
peculiar treasure." Psalm 135:4.
This is a Psalm of praise all through. It is to be sung to the
high-sounding cymbals. There is not a low note anywhere–it is all
robust, exhilarating, joyful! It is "Hallelujah!" from beginning to end
and it did not seem possible to the Psalmist that he could omit from it
the high jubilant note of election, for if there is anything that makes
Believers' hearts sing unto the Lord, it is the recollection that He
has chosen them and fixed His love upon them! "You have not chosen Me,
but I have chosen you," is one of the best reasons in the world why we
should adore the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and
strength! If the Lord has made us to be His people, we will, indeed,
with joy and gladness declare Him to be our God! If He has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, we will make such return
to Him as we can, and bless Him with our loudest and sweetest music.
Blessed be the Lord because He "has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and
Israel for His peculiar treasure."
It may be said that this verse relates to the seed of Abraham. So it
does, but please remember that everything which belonged to the seed of
Abraham after the flesh belongs yet more to those who are the seed of
Abraham according to the spirit! Indeed, there always was a peculiar
blessing which never came to those who were only born according to the
flesh, for Ishmael received it not, neither did Esau enter into it. The
line of inheritance is the line of promise, the line of the Divine
choice, and if you and I have believed in Jesus Christ, we are in that
spiritual line! The mark of that line is faith– they that believe are
of the seed of believing Abraham. His very name is "the father of the
faithful" and those that are full of faith–the faithful–are the true
seed of Abraham. The Covenant in its highest and best meaning is
theirs–it was made with Abraham on their account. Therefore we shall
take all there is in this verse to ourselves if we are, indeed, God's
covenanted ones! If He has brought us into the bond of the Covenant by
a work of Grace upon our hearts, and we are now one with that glorious
promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is true of us and of all
who are like us in this respect–"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto
Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure."
I. The first thing which lies upon the very surface of our text is THE
CHOICE–"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."
This choice is a Divine one. It is the Lord that has chosen Jacob, that
very Lord who made the heavens and the earth! Jehovah, in whose hands
are all things. He has made the choice and it is a very wonderful
thing, though we speak of it as if it were a commonplace Truth of God.
Yet, if we dive into its depths, we shall see that it is truly
marvelous that God should ever have chosen any of the fallen race of
mankind! He once regretted that He had made men upon the face of the
earth, so sinful had they become, yet, knowing beforehand all about
their wickedness, the Lord was pleased to make a choice of men. He
might have chosen angels, but let it always stand as a wonderful
instance of His mysterious Sovereignty that He did not choose the
fallen angels–no, not even one of them! Our Lord Jesus Christ "took
not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of
Abraham."
Why was it that all the hosts of spiritual beings that fell with
Lucifer are left in their fallen state without any hope of salvation,
while God's eternal election has fallen upon the sons of men? Why,
indeed! We can never understand it and can give no answer but this,
"Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." The choice,
however, was Divine, and let us not get away from that glorious Truth
of God. It will give you, Believer, the highest joy to know that the
Lord has chosen you–and that knowledge will be to you a source of
great strength. It will also be one of the best rebukes to the devil.
You remember how, when Joshua, the High Priest, was standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan was standing at his right hand to resist
him, the Lord said to the accuser, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan; even
the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" There is no slap in the
face for the devil that is so painful to him as that declaration, "The
Lord has chosen Jerusalem; He has elected His people and you, O Satan,
may do what you will, but you cannot change the choice of God! If He
has chosen anyone, that man is of the conquering Seed before whom you
have begun to fall, as Haman fell before Mordecai. But you shall fall
yet lower, for the Lord has promised to the godly that He will bruise
Satan under their feet shortly." God has chosen them! It is He that
says it and, therefore, let the full force of the blessed Truth of God
come to each believing heart, "I have loved you with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you." There is an
infinite sweetness in that thought!
The choice, being Divine, is also sovereign. About this point, we are
not left to speculation, for Paul has told us that "the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that
calls," it was said to their mother Rebecca, "The elder shall serve the
younger." The Divine purpose was made in that case irrespective of
character, for no character had been developed! If anyone says that it
was made on account of character foreseen, I reply that there was no
good character to foresee, but as far as Jacob is concerned, although
Grace did make him into a true Patriarch and heir of the promise, yet
by nature he was a very poor stick. As I read what he does, when his
human nature is uppermost, I feel that there is nothing in him why any
mortal man should choose him, and certainly there is no reason why God
should do so! There is nothing foreseen about him except that God
foresees that He will makehim gracious–but that is not the reasonwhy
He makes him gracious!
There is, at the back of it all, the reason that the Lord gave to
Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion." I find such a stuttering
and stammering about this great Truth of God in these days that I mean
to be all the more emphatic in preaching it, for I believe that this
doctrine largely helps in producing that state of spirit into which God
would have sinners brought so as to make them feel that they have no
claim upon Him–no right to His mercy and that, if He gives it, He
gives it simply because He chooses to give it! The choice was made by
that great King who has a right to do as He wills and who exercises
that right and, therefore, the declaration stands in our text, "Jehovah
has chosen Jacob unto Himself."
So we have seen that the choice is Divine and sovereign.
And, Beloved, it is a most gracious choice. As I have already said, the
more we look at the character of Jacob, the more we must discard all
idea that he was chosen for what he was by nature. From his birth, he
bore the name of a sup-planter and his brother, Esau, bitterly said,
"Is not he rightly named Jacob (that is, a supplanter)? For he has
supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright and, behold,
now he has taken away my blessing." The expression really is in the
original, "Is not he rightly named Jacob? For he has Jacobed me these
two times." He had supplanted his brother–put him out of his proper
place. He was truly the father of all the Jews and, though I will say
nothing to their disparagement, yet at driving a bargain are they not
the masters of us all? And such was Jacob from the very beginning! So,
as God chose him, assuredly He chose him of His Grace and for no other
reason than because He would do it. Election was not of works,
certainly, in Jacob's case, but of Grace and of Grace alone!
And, putting all things together, was it not a very wonderful thing
that the Lord should choose Jacob? There were other men upon the face
of the earth of whom God might have made a nation and from whom He
might have formed the chosen Seed. I do not suppose that even after
Abraham and Isaac had come to know the Lord, they were the only people
in the world who knew Him. Doubtless, there were some scattered up and
down, like Job, who, I should think, is but a sample of many others. It
seems to me that if we had been about to choose a man who should found
a race, we should have said, "There, Job is the man! 'Perfect and
upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.'" He was a right
princely man–I sometimes think that he was the grandest of all men,
when I see him sitting on a dunghill, transforming it into a throne and
reigning there right royally, while he says–"The Lord gave and the
Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." It was a noble
saying of the man who cannot be said to be less than the very greatest
of mankind!
"You have heard of the patience of Job," and all the world shall hear
of it again and again while there are ears to hear and tongues to
speak! And yet, though Job is chosen unto salvation, he is not the
founder of a great race–it is not in his line that the promised
Messiah is to be found, but–"the Lord has chosen Jacob."
Ah, me, why did He do it? When you have told me why He chose Jacob, I
shall then try to find out why He chose me! And if I should find that
out, probably you will, at the same time, discover why He chose you. It
is all a great mystery of Grace and must be left with Him who does as
He wills–not without reasons, mark you–but without reasons that are
revealed to us. God never acts unreasonably, yet He does not find His
reasons for acting in men, but within Himself, in the heart of His
compassion, in the eternal counsels of His own will. Do not think that
we are talking of God as we speak of men. A man, who has a strong will,
and who carries it out as he pleases, is a very dangerous person. A
despot, let him be ever so gentle, is a terrible being! But God–the
infinitely Holy, the perfectly Just, the supremely Good–we may well
leave everything with Him. It is not merely that we must do so, but it
is the best and wisest course for us! Even if we could "snatch from His
hands the balance and the rod," into what other hands could we put
them? No, they must remain with Him, and we are glad it is so. To me
the unlimited dominion of God is glorious. I want to have no
constitutional monarchy upon the Throne of Heaven. No, let Jehovah do
absolutely as He wills, for His will must be perfect justice, perfect
goodness, perfect righteousness!
So we leave this first point, the choice–"The Lord has chosen Jacob."
II. The second part of our subject is full of practical teaching, for
it concerns THE REASON OR RESULT OF GOD'S CHOICE.
There are many persons who like to hear about God having chosen Jacob,
but listen, dear Friends, to the next words in our text. "The Lord has
chosen Jacob unto Himself" It does not say, "unto Heaven"–"unto
certain privileges"– "unto certain favors." All that is quite true,
but it does not say so here. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself"
Oh, what a blessed choice is this–to be chosen unto God! Then Jacob is
not his own, for God has chosen him, "unto Himself." Then Jacob does
not belong to any man, for the Lord has chosen him, "unto Himself." Now
Jacob must have no motives except such as he finds in God. He must have
no aims for which he is to live but that he may glorify his God, for
"the Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself." So, my Brothers and Sisters,
if you are chosen by the Lord, you are chosen to be God's child, picked
out from the rest of mankind to be, from henceforth, no longer your
own, or the world's, or the devil's, but to be God's–and God's alone!
"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself," first, that Jacob might know
Him. While others knew not God, but paid reverence unto those that were
not gods, Jacob was chosen that he might, while he slept at Bethel, see
the mystic ladder by which he might climb to his God–and down which
God might send the angels to him. Jacob must be taught about God and
Jacob's seed must have committed unto them the oracles of God. The
world lies in darkness, but there is a lamp in the house of Jacob. It
is black midnight over Assyria, Babylon and Egypt, but a star shines in
the heavens for Jacob and his seed! O dear Hearts, do you understand
the great mysteries of which I am speaking? Do you know the Lord–the
Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit? Have you been taught of God? Are you
among those to whom your neighbor need not say, "Know the Lord,"
because you belong to the people of God who all know Him from the least
even to the greatest? If so, happy, indeed, are you!
And, next, the Lord chose Jacob and his seed that they might keep His
Truth afire in the world–that God's Revelation of Himself might be
preserved by them against all comers. It is just so with Christians
now–the Lord has put us in trust with the Gospel. He has committed to
His servants that wonderful treasure which we have "in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." Still
are we bound to earnestly "contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints." And it is as much the duty of God's people
this day to guard His Truth as it was the duty of the seed of Israel to
preserve, in the midst of heathen darkness, what was known of the one
living and true God. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself" that he
may preserve His Truth among the sons of men.
It was also committed to Jacob's descendants to keep up the worship of
God. They must offer the morning and the evening lamb. They must bring
the bullocks and goats and birds for sacrifice. They must set up the
Tabernacle in the wilderness. They must build the Temple and there the
praises of Jehovah must be sung by sweet songsters day and night.
Nowhere else was God to be publicly worshipped with rites ordained by
Himself except upon Mount Zion. And now, today, the pure worship of
Jehovah is entrusted to His saints–nobody else can worship Him in
spirit and in truth but those who have been quickened and made true by
the Holy Spirit. There is no true worship of God under Heaven except
that which is rendered by His own people. Men may make their ceremonies
as gorgeous as they please, with splendor of architecture and great
show of millinery, with the sound of flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer and all kinds of music–but, after all, there is no true
worship except that which comes from hearts in which the Spirit of God
dwells! So you see, dear Friends, that the maintenance of God's worship
in the world is still entrusted to His chosen.
And the Lord has chosen His people unto Himself that He may manifest
His Grace in them.1 'In Judah is God known: His name is great in
Israel. In Salem also is His tabernacle and His dwelling place in Zion.
There broke He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and
the battle." And it is in the midst of God's own people that His Grace
is still revealed. There He breaks the arrows of sin and there He
scatters all the battalions of evil. "Out of Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God has shined" and still, out of the hearts of His chosen
people, out of the congregation of His faithful ones, does He shine
forth, for the Lord is always with those who are on His side, even with
the humble hearts in which He deigns to dwell. But He is not with the
ungodly, for they are far from Him by wicked works. Remember then, you
who are chosen, that God has chosen you "unto Himself" that He may
manifest His Grace in you.
And, especially God has chosen His people that He may commune with
them, that He may manifest Himself to them as He does not unto the
world–that they may come near unto Him in Christ Jesus and that He may
lay bare the very secret of His heart to them. Here is a text to prove
my assertion–"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and
He will show them His Covenant." He makes His glory to pass before them
and to them He reveals His choicest secrets. Happy and blessed are the
people of whom this sentence is true, "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto
Himself."
Now, dear Friends, let the question go round among you–Am I one of the
chosen seed? You can tell whether you are chosen of God by this
test–Have you been chosen unto God? Can you say with Paul, "I bear in
my body the marks of the Lord Jesus"? Are you the branded slaves of
Jesus Christ and yet His free men rejoicing in the liberty wherewith He
makes His people free? Do you feel as if you were shut up to one course
in life, so that you can say with Paul, "This one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus"? Are you torn away from all former
ambitions? Have you a single eye unto God's Glory? Does your heart beat
for this one objective–that you may live because Christ lives in you?
Then the text describes you! "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."
Oh, what a thrill of delight these words may cause to pass through
many, even of those who think they have known the Lord for years!
Come, my Heart, it is all very well for your lips to have sung about
God's everlasting love, but have you been brought into communion and
fellowship with Him? Do you feel and know that you are, indeed, the
Lord's? I fear that there are some who profess and call themselves
Christians who live unto God in a very unsatisfactory, secondary sort
of way. Like a man I have heard of who had a large farm and then took
another, which he called his "off-hand farm." And there are some
professors who have their business farm, or their pleasure farm, which
is the chief matter with them–and their religion is a kind of an
off-hand farm and, sometimes, they think they will get a minister or a
"priest" to be the bailiff, and see to it. My Friend, I give you due
notice that I will be no bailiff of such a farm! And I also warn you
that you will never get anything worth having unless it is your home
farm and you make it the main concern of your life! God will never be
put in second place–He must be everything or He will be nothing! "The
Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself."
O my dear Friend, is it so with you? Or are you still living as if
there were no God, or as if God did not demand your heart's full
allegiance?
III. Now I will pass on to notice, very briefly, in the third place,
THE SEPARATION WHICH GROWS OUT OF
THIS CHOICE. "The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for
His peculiar treasure."
Then, He separates His people from the rest of mankind. Though this is
not expressed in the words of the text, it is the true sense of it. And
the Lord has done so. He did so with Jacob–with Israel. He made a
Covenant with them and a Covenant with God always means separation from
men. What a wonderful condition for a soul to be in–to be in Covenant
with God and that Covenant to run on these lines–"I will never leave
you nor forsake you." "A new heart also will I give you, and a now
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out
of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My
Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall
keep My judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell in the land that I
gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your
God." That Covenant makes a clear division between the two seeds–the
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent–it is one of the
grandest distinctions between man and man. If you are in the Covenant,
Beloved, you are on the right side of that happy and blessed line of
demarcation!
Then, after the Covenant with Jacob and Israel, came the Covenant
heritage which made another division, for the Lord gave the land of
Canaan to the seed of Abraham and to the seed of Israel by a Covenant
of salt. And God has given to His spiritual Israel a Covenant
heritage–we are to possess all things in Christ, "who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption"–everything we can desire, for all things are ours if we
are Christ's. Ours is a glorious inheritance! We have everything that
is necessary for this life and also for the life to come. Even Canaan
had its drawbacks, but we go to a land which in very deed flows with
milk and honey, where the sun goes no more down, where there is no
death, neither sorrow, nor sighing, a sweet land beyond the flood, the
heavenly Canaan which stands forever dressed in living green! Blessed
are the eyes that can look from the top of Pisgah and "view the
landscape over." But what a difference it makes between man and man
that this one has a Covenant heritage and the other has none, for he
sold it for a mess of pottage, and has nothing more to do with it!
Then came the broad distinction which all could see, namely, that of
redemption, for the seed of Jacob had to be redeemed. They had come
into bondage in Egypt, but with a high hand and an outstretched arm did
the Lord bring them from there. Then the difference began to be
visible. That night when the blood-mark was on the lintel and down the
two side posts, Israel was distinct from Egypt. The blood had made the
difference, for the Lord had said, "When I see the blood, I will pass
over you." O dear Hearers, have you had the blood-mark put upon you?
Has the atoning Sacrifice of Christ been laid home to your heart and
conscience? This is the great distinction between man and man–the
blood that makes atonement for the soul! The Lord has, indeed,
manifested His choice of us when we have entered into the fullness of
His great redemption!
Then came the going out of Egypt which may be likened to conversion.
The passage through the Red Sea, which sets forth regeneration. The
dwelling in the wilderness which is a type of the life and experience
of many Believers. The passing of the Jordan and the entering into
Canaan which should be a picture of the joy of all who believe in
Jesus, for "we which have believed do enter into rest" and come into
the land of promise. These things, which I have only mentioned in
passing, made very grave distinctions between the people of Jehovah and
all other nations who looked upon them as a strange race dwelling alone
and not numbered among the ordinary nations of the earth.
This brings me again to the critical question–Has the Lord made any
difference between you and the rest of mankind, dear Hearers? Have you
received any pledge of the Covenant of Grace? Do you know what
redeeming love means? Have you been separated from the world? Have you
heard the voice of God crying to you, "Come out from among them, and be
you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I
will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My
sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"? Is the world a wilderness
to you? Have you looked to the bronze serpent and lived by the sight?
Does the water from the Rock follow you–that Rock which is Christ? Do
you feed on heavenly manna? Is the Lord in the midst of your camp? Is
His Glory manifested there? Do you delight to be led by His fiery
cloudy pillar from day to day? All this will be the manifestation of
the eternal separation which God made in His predestinating
purpose–"The Lord has chosen Jacob unto Himself." He led Israel out
into the wilderness that there He might speak to their hearts. He drew
them away from men. He made them live solitary and alone, like eagles
on the rock, that they might dwell there with Him and have no strange
god among them. Blessed are the people who enjoy this separation! But
unhappy are the men and women who talk about election and yet have
never known the separation which stamps their election as being a
matter of fact.
IV. Now I close with one more characteristic of the people of God, and
that is, THEIR ELEVATION. This is clearly in the text, "The Lord has
chosen Jacob unto Himself." But He elevates Jacob in a moment, for He
adds, "and Israel for His peculiar treasure."
The "supplanter" has grown into a prevailing prince. He took his
brother by the heel but now he has accomplished a grander feat than
that–he has grasped the Angel and he has said, "I will not let You go,
except You bless me." He supplanted Esau, but now, as a prince, he has
prevailed with God and seen Him face to face–and yet he has lived! And
though he goes limping away from the wrestling, yet is he more than
conqueror through Him that loved him! Yes, Beloved, God's choice
wonderfully elevates a man! He may have been Jacob, before, but he
becomes Israel afterwards! Has such an elevation as that taken place in
you, my Friend?
Then see, next, that God elevated His choice in value, for He compares
Jacob to a "peculiar treasure." "Since you were precious in My sight"–
oh, that is a wonderful word!–"precious in My sight," to be used by
the God who says, "The silver and the gold are Mine, and the cattle
upon a thousand hills." "Since you were precious in My sight, you have
been honorable, and I have loved you." They are put to an honorable
use, for the choicest treasures of kings, that make up their regalia,
are meant to be brought out on coronation days and on other grand
occasions when they bedeck themselves with all their pearls and
diamonds and stars and crowns. And such are the Lord's people, precious
in His sight, "His peculiar treasure." And they are put to this use–to
adorn His doctrine in all things–to be as the jewels of His crown–to
be as the signet ring upon His finger–to be as precious stones upon
His breastplate! God's people are everything to Him! There is nothing
that you have, that you account rich or rare, that is anything to you
in value in comparison with what God's people are to Him! His delight
is in them–the pleasure which God has in His people is truly
wonderful. He made the heavens and the earth, the stars and all things
that are–and then He touched the world with His wondrous finger and
molded it into the thing of beauty which it is today! And it took Him
six days to do it and when He had done it, what happened? "The morning
stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."
But did God sing? No, He simply said, in plain prose, that it was very
good. That is all He had to say about it. Ah, but when the time comes
for the newcreation, when He makes a true Believer, when He forms His
Church, the bride, the Lamb's wife, we read, "He will rejoice over you
with joy. He will rest in His love, He will joy over you with singing."
Think of God, the Everlasting Father, the Ever-Blessed Son, and the
Divine Spirit bursting out into singing! What a song must that be! I
would like to hear the singing of the angels and of all the host
redeemed with blood that stand in their white robes before the Throne
of the Most High. It must be such a song as mortal ears as yet have
never heard. But, oh, to hear Godsing–the great Father, Himself with
His holy hymn–the glorious Son with His sweet Psalms–the Holy Spirit
with His blessed song! We can scarcely imagine what it must be, but the
expression shows how precious the Church must be to the Lord when He is
said to rejoice over her with singing!
As the love of a husband to his bride, such is the love of Christ to
His people. Otherwise the Song of Solomon means nothing at all and is
an idle book. As the love of a tender mother–and what can excel
that?–such is the love of God to His people! Like as a mother comforts
her children, even so shall the Lord God comfort you. So, then, you
see, dear Friends, that the choice of God has lifted His people right
up from all their former degradation and made them precious in His
sight, so that He, Himself, takes delight in them.
Go home, then, and take delight in God. If He can and delight in you,
much more may you delight in Him! And, as the Psalm from which our text
is taken begins with, "Praise you the Lord," so now, you who know that
you are chosen by Him, praise Him! And as the Psalm ends with, "Praise
you the Lord," you who love Him, you who have been loved by Him,
continue to praise Him even till your last breath–gasp out a
"Hallelujah!" as you pass into eternity!
The Lord be with you, Beloved, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM135.
Verse 1. Praise you the LORD. Or, "Hallelujah." "Hallelujah" is the
keynote of it. So this is one of the Hallelujah Psalms, for so it
begins. And if you look at the end, you will see that so it closes.
There is, "Hallelujah," again. The whole Psalm is shut in at the
beginning and at the end with this which is both our duty and our
delight! "Praise you the Lord."
1. Praise you the name of the LORD. The Character, the work, all that
is revealed of God is a subject for praise. And especially that
wonderful and incommunicable name, Jehovah–never mention it without
praise! "Praise you the name of the Lord."
1. Praise Him, Oyou servants of the LORD. Make it a part of your
service. Praise Him because you are His servants. Praise Him because He
accepts your service. You ought to be first in sounding His praises,
therefore, "Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord."
2. You that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house
of our God. You are permitted to dwell near Him. You have a standing
and an abode, an office and a work in the courts of the Lord's house.
Therefore take care that you begin the strain. Should not the King's
courtiers praise Him? Praise Him, then, "you that stand in the courts
of the house of our God."
3. Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good. There is one excellent reason
for praising Him and you can never praise Him too much. He is so good
that you can never extol Him to an exaggeration.
3. Sing praises unto His name; for it is pleasant. That is, singing
God's praises is pleasant–it is a pleasant duty and the Lord's name is
pleasant, or lovely. The very thought of God brings the sweetest
emotions to every renewed heart. There is no pleasure in the world that
exceeds that of devotion. As we sing praises unto the Lord, we shake
off the cares of the world, we rise above its smoke and mists and we
get, then, the clearer atmosphere of communion with Him.
4. For the LORD has chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His
peculiar treasure. There is something for you who are the Lord's chosen
to sing about–
"In songs of sublime adoration and praise,
You pilgrims to Zion who press,
Break forth and extol the great
Ancient of Days, His rich and distinguishing Grace."
5. For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all
gods. "I know it," says the writer of the Psalm. "I know it by
experience. I know it by observation. I am sure of it. There is no god
like our God. He is a great Creator, a great Preserver, a great
Redeemer, a great Friend, a great Helper. 'I know that Jehovah is
great, and that our Adonai is above all gods.'"
6. Whatever the LORD pleased, that He did in Heaven and in earth, in
the seas, and all deep places. The heathen divided out the universe
into provinces–they had Jupiter to rule Heaven and earth, and Neptune
for the sea, and even today many sing, but, oh, how inaccurately,
"Britannia rules the waves." It is Jehovah and no one else that rules
the waves! And the people on either land or sea! He is Lord everywhere
and whatever He pleases to do is done! He is no lackey to wait upon the
free will of His creatures–"Whatever Jehovah pleased, that He did."
7. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. That is a
very wonderful work! What millions of tons of water are every day
turned into vapor and caused to ascend from different regions of the
earth to fall, again, in cheerful, refreshing rain! What would we do if
this process were suspended? It is the very life-blood of the world.
7. He makes lightning for the rain. It is said that the Bible was
written to teach us religion, not science. That is very true, but the
Bible never makes a mistake in its science–and I would rather agree
with the old writers who held that the Bible contained all science than
go with those who blasphemously pretend to correct the Holy Spirit and
to set Him right upon geology and I know not what besides. In the long
run, it shall be proven that the old Book beats all the scientists! And
when they have made some wonderful discovery, it will turn out that it
was all recorded here long before. "He makes lightning for the rain."
There is an intimate connection between electricity and the formation
of rain–in the East this is very clear, for we are constantly reading
in books of travel of heavy downpours of rain almost always accompanied
by thunderstorms.
7. He brings the wind out of His treasuries. The wind never comes
puffing around us according to some freak of its own, but, "He brings
the wind out of His treasuries," counting and spending it as men do
their money, not suffering more wind to blow than is needed for the
high purposes of His wise government. Let praise for this be given to
the God of Nature who is ruling over all and always doing as He wills!
The Psalmist goes on to show that the God of Nature is also the God of
His people.
8. Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast It was God's
own hand that did it. The firstborn of man and beast could not have
died by accident all over the land of Egypt at the same hour of the
night! Jehovah thus punished the guilty nation. Had they not oppressed
His firstborn? Had they not cruelly trampled on His people and refused
to listen to His Word? And when the time came for this last and
heaviest blow, the Lord did but act in justice to them, and in mercy to
His people.
9. Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst ofyou, O Egypt, upon
Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. "Tokens and wonders"–not only
prodigies which astounded the people, but, "tokens," which taught them,
for the plagues were directed against their deities–and large books
might be written to show how every plague exposed the impotence of some
one or other of the false gods which the Egyptians worshipped! Pharaoh
and his servants were all involved in the sin, so they were all
included in the punishment. How much better was it to be a servant of
Jehovah than to be a servant of Pharaoh!
10. Who smote great nations and slew mighty kings. Two of them are
mentioned, perhaps because they were two of the most powerful kings who
blocked the road of Israel.
11-13. Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king ofBashan, and all the
kingdoms of Canaan: and gave their land for an heritage, an heritage
unto Israel His people. Your name, O LORD, endures forever. He is the
same Jehovah now as He ever was. Multitudes of people, nowadays, have
made unto themselves new gods–they have imagined a new character for
Jehovah altogether, and the God of the Old Testament is ignored and
slandered. But not by His chosen people–they still cling to Him! The
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is not the God of the dead, but
of the living! And that is true spiritually as well as naturally. Those
who are spiritually dead refuse to acknowledge Him and set up gods that
they have imagined–but those who are quickened by His Grace delight in
Him and glorify His name. Let this, Beloved, be our joyful song, "Your
name, O Lord, endures forever!"
13, 14. And Your memorial, O LORD, throughout all generations. For the
LORD will judge His people, and He will repent Himself concerning His
servants. For they have their dark times and are often in trouble
through their sin. Then the Lord sends chastisement upon them, but when
it has answered His purpose, He gladly enough withdraws it. How
different are the idols of the heathen from our God!
15. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's
hands. They can do no works, for they are themselves the result of the
work of men! Their handiwork can be nothing, for they are the work of
men's hands.
16-18. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they
see not; they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath
in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is everyone
that trusts in them. The original conveys the idea that those who make
such gods grow to be like them–they are continually getting to be more
and more like them. They become dumb, blind, deaf, dead as they worship
such idols as these.
19, 20. Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, Ohouse of
Aaron: bless the LORD, Ohouse of Levi: you that fear the LORD, bless
the LORD. All of you, whether you are of the house of Aaron or of the
tribe of Levi, to whatever house or tribe you belong, bless the Lord!
And if you are Gentiles, even though Abraham acknowledges you not, yet,
"you that fear the Lord, bless the Lord."
21. Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwells at Jerusalem. Our
inmost hearts would bless Him. We cannot make Him more blessed than He
is! We cannot add to His Glory, but, oh, we do wish that everything we
can do, everything that can be done to His honor, may be done!
21. Praise you the LORD. That is, once again, "Hallelujah!" Oh, for the
spirit of Divine Grace to set us praising God from the heart–and to
keep us at that holy exercise all our days!