NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 46 CREDO
` The Mighty God, even the LORD has spoken '
It is often said that in times of trouble the Lord's people turn to the Psalms for comfort, and whilst we do not condemn this there is in this practice the inherent danger of bringing the Lord down to our level instead of remembering our position and standing of being `seated with Him in the heavenly realm' - such is the very real pull of carnal flesh which seeks comfort rather than direction. However the Psalms are set in the heart of our Bible to give more than comfort in distressing times, for `all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work'. The Psalms, therefore, in order to stop them becoming just soothing emotional words of comfort, need to be read and understood in the contextual setting in which they have been placed by the Holy Spirit. As we have stated many times in past studies, the Jewish Scribes understood more thoroughly than many of today's Christian theologians the importance of the Psalms, and in their Midrash on Psalm 1:1 they say: `Moses gave to the Israelites the Five Books of the Law and corresponding with this David gave them the Five Books of Psalms'.

Today's disciples of the Lord Jesus will quite rightly say that with the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord the Torah, the Books of the Law, have been fulfilled in the finished work of Jesus. Yet Paul the Apostle also says that the Law is holy and righteous! Therefore, although we can accept that the Word of the Law is now not binding on all true believers, having accomplished its purpose in leading us `as a school-master to Christ', we can still hear the Voice of the Law in the Psalms in the personal work of the Holy Spirit of `teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work'. Such is the importance of the Psalms, if they are correctly understood and applied in their contextual setting and related to the principal message in the Holy and Righteous Law. A final reminder is that in the original manuscripts there were no `Psalm numbers' interupting the flow of inspired narrative: Various inserted `scriptions' drew attention to a change of inspiration yet held all within a particular Book of Psalms to its central or principal message. With that in mind we can open up the verse heading of this Credo which comes from Psalm 50.

Psalm 50 is placed within the Second Book of Psalms, where in corresponding to the Book of Exodus its principal message centres around deliverance and salvation. Again we need to remember that God has entered into a Covenant relationship with one nation alone, the nation of Israel. As the Apostle Paul says: (Romans 9:4)

" Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the Divine Glory, the Covenants, the receiving of the Law, the Temple worship and the Promises. Theirs are the Patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, Who is God over all, for ever praised. Amen! "

Undoubtably wild olive branches (individual Gentile believers in the Lord Jesus) who are grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel, enjoy all the blessings and promises given by God to His ancient people, but in order to fully understand the teaching, correcting, rebuking and training revealed in the Book of Psalms we need to understand that the Books of Psalms are the Voice of David's Greater Son speaking to His people - the Voice of the Righteous and Holy Law still drawing them towards Himself. Here in the Second Book of Psalms the principal central message concerns Israel as a Nation, and of their need of a Redeemer - for no effort of their own could bring about salvation as this could only come about through the Person of the Redeemer, One who would be both King and Servant - and of the certainty of Israel's national redemption . . His consecrated ones. We therefore cannot begin to understand the depth of God's love for His people, as seen in Psalm 50, without looking back to Psalm 49 where Israel's cry of their need of a Redeemer is revealed, which is then answered in Psalm 50. The inserted prescription between the two Psalms turns our thoughts to this: `For the Sons of Korah, a Psalm, a Mizmor'. The term `the Sons of Korah' draws us back to the time of rebellion against God's appointed leaders - in this case `Moses the Law Giver' - and of their subsequent destruction, which is the lot of all who are born in rebellion, born of the natural Adam. Psalm 49 is one of eleven Psalms attributed to the Sons of Korah, and with the understanding of the importance of numeracy in Scripture the number `11' emphasises the rebellious nature of Korah's sons (eleven being one number less than God's Governmental Order, seen in the number `12'). Thus does Scripture speak a silent message for those who want to hear!

Psalm 49 opens with an enigma, a puzzle, which must at some time or other come to all people `both low and high, rich and poor together', which is: How can we escape from the certainty of death which must come, not only because of a decaying natural body but also because of the destructive rebellious nature of man and the world in which we live? Even those who have a belief in their own abilities know that their efforts will end in futility. Verses 5 and 6 give this understanding:

" Why should I fear (more than any other) in the days of evil,
when the wickedness of my heels (my whole self) surrounds me . .
No man can redeem the life of another
or give to God a ransom for him . . . "
The enigma is answered in verse 15, and the understanding is confessed that no man can redeem, but there is the remembrance of a promise given by God to His people of the One who would come, who would crush the head of rebellion and through His death would answer the enigma of everlasting life through an everlasting (final) death:

" But God will redeem my soul from the grave;
He will surely take me to Himself. Selah. "
Do not hurry over the Selah for it draws attention to an enigma of life through death. It connects the fear of man, and the futility of his efforts to redeem himself, to the certainty, the hope of God's promises to those who believe and trust in Him: `Be not afraid when one is made rich'. This is the principal message of Psalm 49, `Be not afraid' and the reason for that exhortation is revealed in Psalm 50 - `A Psalm of Asaph'.

There are twelve Psalms attributed to Asaph, the number `12' speaking of God's Governance, His perfect way, and of these twelve Psalms of Asaph one is to be found in the Second Book of Psalms - the `Exodus Book'. The other eleven are to be found in the `Levitical Book' of the Third Book of Psalms, where the principal message is concerned with the holiness and righteousness needed for ministry in the Temple of God. These twelve Psalms of Asaph which link two distinctive Books covering salvation and holiness speak their own message of the fruit of the Holy Spirit that follows salvation - and we need not dwell on the absence of such fruit in much of what is called `church life'! The prescription `A Psalm of Asaph' inserted between Psalms 49 and 50 thereby confirms God's promise of His Redemption . . His Deliverance . . as being compounded into His Holy and Righteous Governmental Order. The Psalm opens with an awareness of a Majestic, Holy and Righteous God, even the LORD, breaking His Silence and calling His people to hear His response to their cry of repentance: (Psalm 50:1-4)

" The Mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken and has called the earth
from the rising of the sun until the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth.
Our God shall come and will not keep silence;
a fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round Him.
He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people. "
As we have seen, the words in the preceding Psalm 49 demonstrate man's total inability to procur salvation through human effort and his trust in a Divine Salvation to be revealed and provided. We have often noted that modern translations in their effort to be readable gloss over, indeed change, certain words, and in doing so they miss the Voice that speaks in His Word. In the opening verses of Psalm 50 this dilemma is apparent, and words hastily read miss what the Holy Spirit is saying, for the LORD, in breaking His Silence, speaks to His people and points to His Faithfulness and Trust in His Word given to His people Israel. After the quietness and solemnity seen in the words of the previous Psalm, the Silence of God is now broken with a powerful declaration:

" The Mighty God, even the LORD has spoken . . . . . .
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. "
From out of Zion, the City of David, has come forth David's Greater Son, the perfection of beauty, the LORD's Redeemer King! His Provision has always been available to those who have that personal relationship with Him - those who have looked beyond `the righteous requirements of the Law' to see the Righteous God who demands righteousness and knows that man's efforts could never attain such salvation. God has spoken; He has provided; His gifts and His calling are irrevocable - as the Apostle Paul wrote many centuries later!

Psalm 50 is now broken into two distinctive parts. One part opens with the words of verse 7: `Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel ' The LORD then speaks directly to His people, followed by verse 16 where He speaks through the Psalmist: `But unto the wicked (God says) . .'. It needs to be noted that in both verses the command of the LORD is to `Gather My saints together unto Me' and by the use of the Covenanted Name of the LORD we know that the `gathering' is for the people of the nation of Israel - both those `that have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice' and also `the wicked'. The words that are used in the opening verses need careful attention too lest we turn prophetic Scripture into an intellectual enjoyment: (Verses 3-6)

" Our God shall come and shall not keep silence;
a fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous around Him.
He shall call to the heavens from above,
and to the earth, that He may judge His people.
Gather My saints together unto Me;
those that have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice.
And the heavens shall declare His righteousness;
for God Himself is Judge. Selah. "
With the first coming of Israel's Redeemer no such majestic sights and sounds were manifest. A virgin girl . . a birth in a manger . . a child wrapped in strips of cloth! Not even the Angel of the LORD and `the great company of the heavenly host, who appeared to the shepherds' could be compared to the opening words of Psalm 50 when, `the Mighty God, even the LORD' breaks silence to speak to His people, pointing forward to a time yet to come at the end of what Scripture calls The Great Tribulation: `For God Himself is Judge'.

Now comes a `Selah' which connects the broken Silence with the Voice of God: (Verse 7)

" Hear, O My people, and I will speak;
O Israel, and I will testify against you;
I am God, even your God. "
The following verses show the utter futulity of endless religious activities, no matter how pious and well-intentioned. The LORD will not be moved by such activities . . His redemption has been provided . . the redemption of His Covenanted people will happen! The timing is in His hands and will not be delayed, and in waiting the LORD asks only one thing of `His saints, those that have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice': (v 14-15)

" Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay your vows unto the Most High.
And call upon Me in the Day of Trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. "
These words, spoken to those `that have made a Covenant', clearly reveal that not even their zeal, their sacrifices made with sincere hearts, can bring about their salvation. It must be a Sovereign work of God or it merely becomes the work of man. The concluding verse of the first part of the Psalm speaks of a coming `Day of Trouble' with their deliverance made certain through their sacrifices of thanksgiving for the Salvation He has provided!

The Psalmist now turns to the remainder of His people, those whom God calls `wicked' - and He is still speaking to His people, for in this Psalm His people alone are gathered to hear the Voice of the LORD! The Psalmist now speaks for God to the remainder of those gathered; they are still His people, but when one has to speak to another through an intermediary the personal relationship has gone and all that remains is the Word of the LORD being spoken - the Voice is no longer able to be heard. This second group of people still consider themselves to be the `one people of God' for the Psalmist speaks disdainfully of them when he says: (V 16-17)

" What right have you to declare My statutes ,
or that you should take My Covenant in your mouth?
Seeing that you hate instruction and cast My words behind you. "
We dare not now `trust' the words of Scripture to suit our own attitudes, for the words of this Psalm are the LORD's reponse to His people's cry in the preceding Psalm, and His words to both groups of people are to the one people of Israel for it is with this one people alone that the LORD has entered into a Covenanted relationship. (We digress for a moment: Such words of Scripture should silence those who speak of Kings and Queens of other nations who make their Coronation Oaths or `Covenants', and it is thought by many Christians that the LORD will honour such oaths.) In the opening words of Psalm 50 `the Mighty God, even the LORD' speaks to His Covenanted people, `those who made a Covenant with Me' - and it was Israel who alone entered into that relationship with God with their words spoken on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal: (Deuteronomy 27: 9-14 in part)

" Then Moses and the priests who are Levites, said to all Israel, `Be silent, O Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the LORD your God. Obey the LORD your God and follow His commands and decrees that I give you today . . . . When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim . . . and Mount Ebal . . . and the Levites shall recite in a loud voice . . . "

Returning to the closing words of Psalm 50, which speak `unto the wicked', we need not elaborate on the actions of those whom God calls wicked for they speak for themselves. Suffice to say that those whom God has delivered out of Egypt, those whom He has separated unto Himself, are called to reveal His glory to the surrounding nations by the life they lead. The concluding two verses however now speak the same message to the `wicked' as to the faithful ones of Israel - it is not their efforts, either good or bad, which will bring salvation but the sovereign will of the Mighty God, even the LORD, who now remonstrates with those who are called `wicked': (V 23-24)

" Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you to pieces,
and there be none to deliver (bring to salvation).
Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
and to him who orders his conversation (his ways) aright
will I show the salvation of God. "
Too often much of the Church, in its `pick and mix' attitude to the Word of God, turns such verses into happy choruses and fails to hear the Voice of God in His remonstration with people whom, although they are His, are still called `wicked' by Him. Yet another problem for the Lord to sort out!

The Psalm is concluded with a postcription entrusting the words to the Chief Musician (of the Temple music) which tells us that it can be brought out and sung to the assembled people when similar circumstances arise, thereby giving the Psalm a prophetic message. We would suggest that such a time will come when the `Chief Musician' will again be instructed to `read the words of the Psalms to His assembled people', and if so what is it that we must listen for? Clearly these words are spoken to the assembled nation of Israel and are intended for both a `remnant' and an `apostate' people within that one nation. God has spoken and has revealed His Redeemer King in the Person of the Lord Jesus! He will once again call His people together in response to their cry, and their Redeemer King will indeed be revealed as a King, One who is called to reign and judge after that time Scripture calls `the Day of the LORD' and the Great Tribulation, and in the Psalms's opening words we have already glimpsed a little of what that means when it says: (V 3-4)

Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence;
a fire shall devour before Him,
and it shall be very tempestuous around Him.
He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth,
that He may judge His people. "
We also know that with prophetic Scriptures such events often come and then come again in growing intensity until their final fulfillment - and several unfulfilled Scriptures are clearly nearing the point of total fulfillment concerning the judgement and redemption of His people. There are also those within the Church who say that since Israel rejected their Promised Redemption, Jesus, the promises of God were nulified and made void and passed to the Church. If this was so the Scriptural Judgements of God, which must be connected to the Promises of God, are soon to be released on an increasingly apostate Church! Clearly this is contrary to the truth of Scripture, for God has made a Covenant with the one people, the nation of Israel, and all the Covenanted Promises are to be found in the Olive Tree, which is Israel, the outworking coming from the Covenant made with Abraham. There is a remnant in Israel whose eyes have been blinded for a time, who are still waiting for their Redeemer, but there is a time in God's providence when He will call to them and they will respond. This will be both the natural and the wild olive branches, regrafted or grafted into the Olive Tree, for the Church - the redeemed Jews and Gentiles who are gathered into God's providence by the New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel - is joined intrinsically together with unbelieving Israel until the time when the Mighty God, even the LORD, breaks silence and gathers His people to listen.

We limit our closing thoughts to those `regrafted and grafted into the Olive Tree' - the Church of the Redeemed. If we take the words of Psalm 50 seriously (as we must) then there is within the Church a `remnant' who, in their distress at what they see around them in the Body of Christ, have begun to move from their trust in Scripture concerning the certainty of God's promises and are in danger of returning to the Word of God but not listening to the Voice of God. Such action will very quickly turn to self-righteous condemnation, and the LORD speaking through the Psalm of Asaph responds to this: (v 8-9 and 14-15))

"I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings,
to have been continually before Me.
I will take no bullock out of your house,
nor male goats out of your fold. "
But instead:

"Offer unto God thanksgiving;
and pay your vows unto the Most High.
And call upon Me in the Day of Trouble;
I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me. "
Remembering that in conclusion we are considering the `regrafted and grafted branches', there are also those whom the Psalmist calls `wicked' - true members of the Body of Christ who `declare My statutes . . . (and) take My Covenant in your mouth. Who hate instruction, and cast My words behind you'. The warning concludes with words to those apostate people that they `order their conversation (their ways) aright'. There are many in the Church - indeed there are many `churches' - who, whilst still insisting on their belief in `the fundamental doctrines of the Church', by their fruit show their total unbelief and their defiance towards a Holy and Righteous God. To these comes the remonstrance, `Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver', and to those who do hear, and in hearing return to Him in repentance and offer praise to God for His mercy, `I will show the salvation of God'!

These words of God are still committed `to the Chief Musician, the Keeper of the Temple Music' who is instructed to bring forth these words whenever such times occur again so that God's people may be rebuked and encouraged. The breaking of the `Silence of God' will not come through apostacy in the Church - linked though it is with the apostacy seen in the nation of Israel! It will not come through the wickedness of man - increasing though it is but through which God will outwork His judgements! It is inextricably linked with the nation of Israel's recognition of its need of a Redeemer as it sees its own efforts to affect `Peace' fail! That will also come with the repentance, which is so desperately needed in the Church for when disciples of the Lord Jesus separate the Word of God into easily digestible parts we fail to hear the Voice of God. The Psalms we have looked at in this Credo are set in the `Exodus Book' of Psalms - the Book of Deliverance in Torah - and when read in their contextual setting they give us encouragement to look beyond circumstances to `our sure and certain hope' shown in the Word of God and spoken by the Voice of God. As we wait for that Day, be further encouraged into action by the words of the Apostle Paul, written to Timothy, his true son in the faith: (2 Timothy 4:2-6 in part)

" I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction . . . . keep your head in all situations; endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. "


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