Sunday, August 6, 2017

God's Glorious Works and Word (neither will fall flat) -- Psalm 19

“My very educated mother just served us nine (pizzas).” “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” “Space—the final frontier.” Astronomy has always been interesting to me. And while the three statements that opened this post are all space related—the last two are movie quotes, and the first is a mnemonic device to remember the planet’s names—the first two mean the most to me. Star Wars has always been entertaining, and the various planets all supporting life—sitting there unsupported in space—with ships and space stations everywhere you look, can drive a youngster’s imagination and creativity for years. But to bring it closer, facts and figures abound on the internet and in science books about Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—sorry Pluto. I can spout off a ton of these facts if you were to ask me because this was my favorite subject in grade school.
And biblically, this is right. God speaks to all humanity through His creation, and it only makes sense to be totally awed by them. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.” And there’s no escaping this truth. Whether a person claims that the universe exploded out of a big bang and has expanded over billions of years; or claims that out of the gigantic vastness of the universe our small earth is the one place that God has chosen to place His intimate attention on; or claims that the earth is immovable, flat, and the center of everything because God wants it to be clear that this is all there is for us, God WILL GET HIS GLORY—at least on the last day (for the first claim).
And while I laughed at first, and people I know have laughed at me since—I think there is definitely something to say for the third view laid out above. However, let’s hear first what David has to say in Psalm 19:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.
There is no speech; there are no words;
their voice is not heard.
Their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber;
it rejoices like an athlete running a course.
It rises from one end of the heavens
and circles to their other end;
nothing is hidden from its heat.
The instruction of the LORD is perfect,
renewing one’s life;
the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy,
making the inexperienced wise.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
making the heart glad;
the command of the LORD is radiant,
making the eyes light up.
The fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are reliable
and altogether righteous.
They are more desirable than gold—
than an abundance of pure gold;
and sweeter than honey,
which comes from the honeycomb.
In addition, Your servant is warned by them;
there is great reward in keeping them.
Who perceives his unintentional sins?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins;
do not let them rule over me.
Then I will be innocent
and cleansed from blatant rebellion.
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to You,
LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
And at this point, my desire is not so much to try to convince you that I am right about my emerging view of cosmology, as it is my desire to briefly explain how this psalm points 1) to the glory of God, and 2) to Jesus Christ as the only way to be reconciled to God. However, with that said, I will bring out some of the stronger points when suitable to the discussion.
Before venturing into the text, every commentator points out that there are two distinct sections in the psalm that can be conveniently explained as general revelation (vs. 1-6) and special revelation (vs. 7-11) followed by a third section that I call the response (vs. 12-14). It is very easy when talking about poetry, especially Biblical poetry for some unknown reason[1], to call into question the literal aspect of what the author is saying because of the poetic nature of the text. If a person wants to use the “poetic language argument” on psalm 19, then they need to be consistent and use it all the way from verse one to verse fourteen. This is not to say that there are not poetic portions in the psalm, but it is to say that the main emphases in the psalm are to be taken literally.
First, we have general revelation in verses 1-6. David writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.” All six of these verses seek to prove the fact that the heavens speak of the glory of God. We cannot lose sight of this fact in any discussion of the passage. David is not seeking to be scientific, but rather is seeking to give glory to God. This is what we must all seek to do no matter what time we find ourselves in.
It is pretty clear that verse 2 is expanding upon verse 1. In the daytime creation speaks; at night creation gives knowledge. Derek Kidner explains, “Knowledge is well matched with night, since without the night skies man would have known, until recently, nothing but an empty universe.”[2]
Verse 3 is hard to understand, but after some Hebrew explanation, it begins to be clearer, and most of verse 4 goes with it. Calvin explains that it does no harm to the text to translate it as, “There is no language, there is no speech, [where] their voice is not heard.” Then he proceeds to interpret it as follows: “Different nations differ from each other as to language; but the heavens have a common language to teach all men without distinction, nor is there any thing but their own carelessness to hinder even those who are most strange to each other, and who live in the most distant parts of the world, from profiting, as it were, at the mouth of the same teacher.”[3] The fact of the matter here is that any so-called scientist who refuses to acknowledge God’s hand in creation really has no business being in that field of study. Romans 1:18-23 describes this type of person perfectly.
The end of verse 4, through the end of verse 6, describes the sun. This description is beautiful, and I will repeat it here: “In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a groom coming from the bridal chamber; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat.” David’s poetic language hits a high point in verse 5. Verse 4 and verse 6 are simply stating facts. To an observer, the sun is moving—not the earth—and as such, it dwells in the tent of the heavens—within our own atmosphere—running a racetrack around the earth. And while David’s point is not to prove this—our Bible is a trustworthy book, and several things need to be stated. First, if the earth is orbiting the sun, how did the earth get formed on the second and third days of creation, but the sun didn’t get formed until the fourth? Second, if the earth is spinning 1,000 miles an hour on its axis (and its unchanging motion is why we don’t notice it), why does Joshua 10 simply say, “the sun stood still,” and not something along the lines of, “the sun stood still, and we all flew east because the earth actually careened to a halt”? (I recognize that God is powerful enough to keep everyone from flying away, but I also believe that God is a God of simplicity, proven by, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”; the simplest way for the sun to stand still is literally for the sun to stand still). Finally, if God sits above the circle of the earth—and the circle is actually a sphere, which isn’t textually supportable[4]—wouldn’t He technically be under the earth anywhere in the southern hemisphere?
But I digress. While other religions worshipped the sun, David is here saying, “Lord, you are glorious because You gave the sun a job to do and it does it: day in, day out, for weeks on end and years untold.” This is what set Judaism—and now sets Christianity—apart from any other religion on earth. Other religions worshipped the heavens; we see them as pointing to God.
Second, we have special revelation. David writes, “The instruction of the LORD is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. The precepts of the LORD are right, making the heart glad; the command of the LORD is radiant, making the eyes light up. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are reliable and altogether righteous. They are more desirable than gold—than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey, which comes from the honeycomb. In addition, Your servant is warned by them; there is great reward in keeping them.” David here makes six statements about God’s Word—that special revelation by which man can be put into covenant with God. If there is poetic language in the first half of the psalm besides David’s description of the sun’s movement as a bridegroom/athlete, then it is in the fact that the sun could be used as a simile for all six statements about God’s Word.
First, the sun is bright, and who is not cheered by the light of the sun on a cloudless day? In a much greater way the Word of God renews life.
Second, the sun follows a trusted course, and wise people understand this. In much the same way—though greater—the Word of God can be trusted to make people wise.
Third, though it is hard to see how the sun can be right, it isn’t hard to see how it makes hearts glad. When it rises people rejoice at getting another day to live. In a much greater way, the Word of God is right—never wrong—and this should lead to gladness for those who rely on His Word.
Fourth, the sun is radiant, and if you look at it, it hurts your eyes. In a much greater way, God’s Word is radiant with truth, and looking in there will leave a glow on your face like Moses’ (Exodus 34:29).
Fifth, the sun is pure light. And its continuous circuit through the heavens would evidence that it is never going anywhere for good. It is “everlasting.” What is truly everlasting though, is God’s Word. Revelation says that there will be no sun on the New Earth, but the Word of God will be there.
Sixth, and finally, the sun is reliable. It rises in the east and sets in the west. It sinks lower in the sky as winter comes and rises higher as summer draws near. It has done this for 6,000+ years. It isn’t stopping anytime soon (unless Jesus returns). However, the Word of God is much more reliable, and it—not the sun nor any other part of creation—is what we must place our trust in.
David then adds two things at the end of the section. First, he says he’d rather have God’s Word than riches/wealth or delicacies of diet. Second, he says that it warns him of sin and encourages him to run with perseverance for his reward (Hebrews 12:1-2). How much attention/praise do we give to God for His Word? Do we want it more than a steak dinner or a six figure job? If we don’t, we should. We don’t want a created object to obey God better than we do; though sadly, the sun is always a much more faithful servant of God than we are.
Finally, we have David’s response where he says, “Who perceives his unintentional sins? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. Moreover, keep Your servant from willful sins; do not let them rule over me. Then I will be innocent and cleansed from blatant rebellion. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” In reflecting upon the sun and how nothing is hidden from its heat, and in reflecting upon the amazing law of God, David is reminded that not only is the Law amazing and positive for the child of God, but also that it searches him out and he cannot escape it. Derek Kidner calls it “the spiritual counterpart of verse 6c.”[5]
If it wasn’t for the Word of God and its searching, sword-like nature, none of us would care about how we live our lives. In fact, many people in this world recognize the truth about the Word of God, know it makes a huge claim on their lives, and refuse to submit to it, and rebel in every way possible. There are some who believe in a flat earth who would argue that our government—NASA specifically—knows that the world is flat and have decided to create and promote the globe model in umpteen different ways to deceive the world. Now, while I don’t like conspiracy theories—and I find them foolish—I would like to say that if this was proved to be true then it only casts more credence to the Word of God. Romans 1:18-23, Colossians 2:8, and 1 Timothy 6:20—among others—all talk about people being deceived or simply ignoring and rebelling against the truth that is right in front of them. But I digress again.
David recognizes that he is a weak human who obeys God less faithfully than the sun, and for this reason he asks God to cleanse him even from sins he doesn’t yet recognize in his own heart. (I’m so thankful that God took almost seven years to reveal as much of my wickedness as I am now aware of—there’s so much more I’m still oblivious to—and that He didn’t drop it all on me the first day I came to Christ.) David knows his heart is wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and he wants God to deal with it. He even asks the Lord to keep him from willful sins. He wants God to keep him from false testimony, adultery, idolatry, etc. He knows he is incapable of avoiding these on his own. He knows he’s weak. But he also knows that if God answers this prayer then he would be blameless, and that is what all of God’s people should desire—holiness and blameless living.
He closes with a plea that even his speech and thoughts be pleasing to God. Do we desire this much to be close to God and in blameless, uninterrupted communion with Him? I’m praying that I would become this way.
But maybe you’re reading this and you think, “this guy is crazy—even more than the average, ‘kooky’ Christian—because he thinks the earth is flat.” Or maybe you don’t. Maybe your issue is more substantial, “Who is this Jesus he is talking about? Why would he want to live a blameless life? My life is anything but blameless.” I have good news for you.
First, you need to understand that the same man who wrote this psalm fell into the vilest of sins at one point in his life, and it took a story about sheep to get him out (2 Samuel 11-12). If a guy can be so dedicated to God that even looking at the sun convicts him of wrong heart motives he might have, and then he falls into the “worst” of sins later on in life, then I must say that there is nothing you can possibly do to keep yourself from God’s love and grace.
Second, you need to understand that the reason anyone would desire to live blameless is because they want to please those who love them. No one loves greater than God, and since God desires holiness, those whom He has loved desire freely to please Him by striving to live a blameless life. If this desire is absent in a person’s life then they are not a believer.
Third, you need to understand just how God’s love is greater than anyone else’s love. There is a Son much greater than the sun that was discussed extensively in this post. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, born of a virgin who lived a perfectly sinless life. As such, He had not earned death as the punishment for sin, and as such He had done a life full of good deeds that we couldn’t even come close to equaling. But, He was unjustly tried, sentenced to death and crucified on a cross. Three days later He rose from the dead because death had no claim on Him, and for those who believe in Him death won’t have the last word either. So with that, I plead with you to give your life to Him.
So as my title implies, God’s glory is seen in both His works and His Word, and His glory in both will never fall flat, because He upholds the world by the word of His power, and His Word outlives everything on earth (Isaiah 40:8). God’s Word even outlived Pluto as a planet (which causes one to wonder when they’ll decide seven other objects in the sky aren’t planets either). But let me suffice it to say: you can’t prove that the earth is flat any more than you can prove that the earth is a globe. Mathematical calculations can work either way and there are also scientific explanations either way. However, what can be proved is that God is glorious, and that His works and Word demonstrate this truth. The question is: you have faith in your view of the structure of our planet, but do you also have your faith placed firmly in Jesus Christ? That’s the only question that ultimately matters.
Solus Christus
Soli Deo Gloria



[1] I think I know the reason: people don’t want to accept the plain facts the Bible is saying—like how in Genesis 1-2 God created the world Himself, and He did it in six literal days. Instead, “that’s poetic language, so we must understand it as poetry.” Give me a break.
[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, TOTC (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-varsity Press, 1973), 98.
[3] John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms.
[4] “To render chûgh, the LXX strangely uses the rare word gýros, “ring, circle,” used especially for a circular trench around a tree, gyróō, “bend, make round, make a circular trench” (cf. gýrōsis). The image conveyed by this word appears to express the classic Babylonian idea of the ring of water surrounding the earth’s surface.”
G. Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament – Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament: Volume 4, Revised, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 09/16/2016), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 246. Interestingly, as seen in the word “strangely” in the prior quotation, the LXX could have used sphaira, “sphere” instead of circle if that’s what God had intended to convey. See David Wardlaw Scott, Terra Firma (original copyright 1901), 113.
[5] Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, TOTC (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-varsity Press, 1973), 100.

No comments:

Post a Comment