MPC 4th September 2005.Psalm 16 - "Peace in the Promises"
Matt Viney MPC 4th September 2005.
At the end of last year, Kerry and I and our little girl Hannah were returning from a holiday in Tasmania. During our brief stop-over in Melbourne we were stopped by airport security at the metal detectors. They'd put our bags through the X-ray machines and found something dangerous.
Immediately two security guards hustled us
over to one side and asked us to remove this item that was a
threat to the safety of the plane and all aboard it. We went
through our bags, to take out this dangerous weapon we had stowed
away: baby nail clippers.
They can hardly cut paper, let alone be used as a dangerous
weapon. Now we knew that you can't take knives and scissors onto
planes, but we thought, surely this is an exception... I
mean this is the most pathetic, tiny pair of scissors you've ever
seen. Surely these aren't a risk to anyone.
Well, after 5 minutes of negotiation, we were given the all clear and allowed to board the plane, with our dangerous baby nail clippers.
I think that experience reminded me of how concerned our society is with safety. Of how deep our need for security is. And it's no wonder - our world just seems to be filled death and disasters everywhere you look. If you switched on a TV this week youd've seen Hurricane Katrina kill hundreds in the USA and lay whole cities to waste. Nearly 1000 people were crushed to death in Iraq in a stampede during a religious festival. Next Sunday is the 4th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Closer to home, you might know some of the people in our church family who are dealing with the loss of loved ones recently. It seems that hardly a week can go by without us being reminded of how frail and how troubled humanity is.
The fact is that we live in uncertain times, in an uncertain world. And everywhere you go, you can sense our deep need for safety and security. Our world's filled with violence and death... and we really hope that somehow we won't be touched by that. That it won't be us on the TV or in the newspaper- broken by our broken world.
We don't want to lose our possessions. We don't want to lose our jobs. And we certainly don't want to lose our life. We want to know that we're safe. And that's exactly the thing that this Psalm can help us think about... in our current age of uncertainty, how do you know when you're safe. When can you rest, being fully assured that your life is secure?
Psalm 16 gives us a vivid picture of the great king David. The King of God's specially chosen people, the Jews. The great king over the promised land of Israel. David's words here come at a time when there was peace in the land. When, in a sense, everything was going the way it should go. As David writes he sees a beautiful sight - God's people, living in God's place, living under God's rule. Israel, enjoying peace in the Promised Land.
And yet, right there in verse 1, we know that David's got something on his mind...something's troubling him. We can't be sure of what's got him worried. But whatever it is, it drives him to ask God to keep him safe. In fact it's the only thing that he asks God for in this whole Psalm. And David knows that the only true place to seek security is in God, verse 1:
Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
Notice that he's not just asking for safety, but he's also stating his confidence in God. David expects God to help him, because God is his place of safety. God is his refuge. Keep me safe Lord... for in you I take refuge.
But there's something very special about David's relationship with God. As we read on it becomes clear that David sees God at work all around him. He sees God's faithfulness to his people - God's faithfulness to his PROMISES.
Notice in the next verse David confesses that everything good in his life comes from his relationship with God. Apart from the God who is faithful to his people, he's got nothing good... all other contenders for David's devotion and trust are just second rate, verse 2
I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."
David's saying everything that I have with you as my faithful God is good. Without it, I've got nothing.
David's peace and security has all to do with God's promises. Because hundreds of years before David was born, God had promised to Abraham that the Israelite people would be given a land in which they could whole heartedly serve and honour God and live at peace. But God spoke to David as well, and made promises to him...
I'll read what God said to David. It's back in the 2nd book of Samuel chapter 7. This is what it says:
Now then, tell my servant David, "This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore... I will give you rest from all your enemies."
David looks around him in verse 3 of the Psalm and sees the Israelites in the land, and says "here's God's very own people, living in this terrific land, living with God as their King."
Listen to his love for the people who God in verse 3:
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
God's promise to David of a special place for his special people has been fulfilled. David's looking around thinking "What God has promised, God has delivered". And because of God faithfulness to his promises, David knows he can rest secure, and be confident. Whatever comes his way, he can feel safe and secure, knowing of God's faithfulness. All he needs to do is look out his palace window and he can say, in verses 5 & 6:
Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
The boundary lines of the promised land are in place and they're secure. David rejoices at the sight of God's faithfulness to his people. Rejoices at their delightful inheritance.
You can see his confidence in verse 8 as well:
I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
So here we see David, a God-centred King over a God-centred Israel - at peace in the promised land. Resting and rejoicing in the faithfulness of God, to his promises.
But God didn't just promise peace in the land. In 2nd Samuel, God also promises David that certain things would happen much later, after he died. God was also going to make David's name great and establish a 'house' for him - he's promises to David a great dynasty, an eternal legacy - that he would set up a throne and kingdom for one of David's descendents. A kingdom that, unlike every other kingdom, would never end.
Following on from what we read before, here's God still addressing David in 2nd Samuel...
The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
It's a bright future for David- peace with God now, peace in the promised land now, and the promise of a descendent whose rule will last forever.
And if we read the last verse of the Psalm, we see even another reason for David to rest safely and be confident. Because he knows that with the God of Israel as his faithful Lord, he doesn't even need to fear death. A bright future awaits him, where he'll eternally live with God and for God in God's presence... the last verse there, verse 11, says it all:
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
David, this God-centred king, has a God-centred future. Confidence in God's faithfulness means peace and certainty now. God has promised to David a descendent whose rule will never end. And he knows where his life is ultimately heading... to joy and eternal pleasure in God's presence.
I think this Psalm can be a great comfort to us. To be reminded by the words of David about God's faithfulness and goodness. To know that we can go to God in faith, and find certainty. To know that there is a bright, eternal future for us as we live in relationship with him. But before we go any further, let's take a critical look at two more verses in the Psalm.
And let's think about the simple fact that David died. Contrary to verses 9 & 10 of the Psalm, his body succumbed to death and stayed dead. I'll read those verses for you - verses 9 & 10
David said, verse 9:
...my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; And my body will rest secure, because you won't abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
It's obvious that David's talking about death. I mean, he's not talking about tooth decay is he?
He seems to be saying that after I die, you won't leave me that way, but I'll come back to life. My body won't see decay. The problem is of course, it hasn't happened. King David died & he stayed dead. He did see decay. Which I guess makes you wonder, "did David get it wrong; was he kidding himself, or was he really talking about something else?"
What do those two verses really mean - "you will not let your Holy One see decay"?
Fortunately, a 1000 years later, the Apostle Peter spoke about this very Psalm, explaining what David meant by what he said... It's in the 2nd chapter of the book of Acts. It comes at a time right at the beginning of the early church, not long after Jesus has died and been raised to life.
Peter's addressing a crowd of Jews - and it's the very first sermon of the Christian church, which means that whatever Peter says must be of great importance. And he says to the Jews: you put Jesus to death - but God raised him to life. And that means the Psalm ultimately isn't talking about David - it's talking about Jesus. And he quotes David's words almost exactly. I'll read it for you, Acts chapter 2, from verse 25, Peter says:
David said about him [Jesus]: "I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence."
You see, Peter quotes a lot of Psalm 16, and in verse 29 we can see where he's leading us. Peter says, "Hey guys... David died... and he's still dead..."
Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day.
And from verse 31, Peter says if you think that David was talking about himself, then David was wrong - but the reality is that it's about Jesus. Verse 31:
Seeing what was ahead, David spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we're all witnesses of the fact.
Peter says that he and the other disciples are "all witnesses of the fact" that Jesus has been resurrected. It's not a matter for debate, they witnessed it. It's a fact. And if you read between the lines, because Jesus didn't see decay, it means he's really the Holy one of God that David was talking about. David's words find their fulfillment in Jesus.
But what about the promise that God gave to David, about one of his descendants - the one that God promised would come and rule over an eternal Kingdom? Well, Jesus is that one - the resurrected King of God's kingdom.
And let's put it beyond any doubt and read some words from the Gospel of Luke. Let's listen to what the angel says to Mary, about Jesus before he's born, chapter 1, verse 30
Do not be afraid, Mary... You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.
Now, it doesn't get anymore obvious than that, does it?
Jesus is the one that God promised to David, a descendent of David, whose throne and kingdom will never end.
We live in a fearful world don't we? There seems to be so many things that we just don't want to happen to us or that we don't want to be a part of - losing our jobs; losing our money; being in a terrorist attack; getting caught up in a tsunami or a hurricane. It's strange - in our society we even fear baby nail clippers because they might be used as a weapon!
But of all the fears we have, perhaps the most 'in your face' one is that of death. And let's face it, death comes to us all, and it can come at any time. Next month, next week, tomorrow, tonight, even right now. We just can't predict what life is going to bring our way can we? That's reality.
I had my own unexpected brush with death 11 years ago, when I'd first met Kerry. We had been dating for two weeks, when she suggested we go for a drive to meet her parents. An encounter which I thought was dangerous in itself.
We'd hadn't even been on the road for an hour, when the unexpected happened. Screeching tyres, and then... we crashed at 100 km an hour - an almost dead stop... literally.
One minute we were driving along chatting, listening to music. The next we were lying next to the overturned car, bleeding. Instead of meeting family, we met ambulance officers. And instead of having a fun time, there I was getting my face stitched up, unable to walk, in hospital.
That's the unpredictable nature of our uncertain world.
I'm aware that most of you have probably had a brush with death, whether you've been ill in an accident; or you might know the pain of losing someone very close to you. We all know that death is coming. But Jesus offers us real security and real safety, because in the resurrected King Jesus, we know that death ultimately isn't the end.
See, Jesus is the one who didn't experience decay - he had life after death, and he offers us eternal life as well.
He said, in John 11:25:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies...
Now, that's a promise you can put your trust in, and find security and peace... here and now.
If you're listening to this talk today, and you don't believe in Jesus - if he isn't the King over your life, then he invites you to come and follow him, and find safety and peace of mind.
In Jesus - the promised, resurrected king, we can look forward with confidence and say, just as David did:
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.