Psalm 89:1-5, 19-29
I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said:
“I have granted help to one who is mighty;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him,
so that my hand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him;
the wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
I will set his hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’
And I will make him the firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my covenant will stand firmfor him.
I will establish his offspring forever
and his throne as the days of the heavens.
James Huenink 0:00
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, December 24, is Psalm 89, verses one through five and 19 through 29. I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever in the heavens, you will establish your faithfulness. You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations. Let the heavens praise your wonders, oh Lord, Your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones. Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people, I have found David, my servant, with my holy oil, I have anointed him, so that my hand shall be established with him, my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him, I will crush his foes before him, and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name, shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers, he shall cry to me, You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love, I will keep for him forever. And my covenant will stand firm for him, I will establish His offspring forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens. Here ends the reading. This psalm ties in with our Old Testament reading, pointing out the steadfast love of the Lord for David, and the covenant that he gave David, that his offspring would be kings forever, on the throne of Judah. It starts with that celebration of that steadfast love. When he sings, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever. And it moves on, you have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations. Now, this psalm isn't a Psalm of David, David isn't singing this with joy, saying, God has made a great promise to me. It's interesting that this is a Psalm that says that God's promised to David is a great promise for Israel, or for the nation of Judah, is that God will establish a king for them to defend them. And that's a very important aspect of the promise that God gave to David is that God would give Israel a king, a king, who would protect them from their enemies, who would fight for them, who would save them. And so this covenant with David is not just a promise for him and his family, but for all of the people of God throughout the Old Testament. And now, this promise goes on in verses 19, through 29. And it talks a lot about the things that God will do for the servant, David. And so it says, I have granted help to one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people, I have found David, my servant with my holy oil, I have anointed him. Now, this reminds us of the anointing that Samuel did when he found David and pulled him from the sheep and chose him to be king. And it reminds us of the anointing that happened with Jesus when he was baptized, or even later, when his feet were anointed by the woman who washed his feet and anointed them with expensive oil. It continues, so that my hand shall be established in him, my arm also shall strengthen him, the enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him, I will crush his foes before him, and strike down those who hate him. Now for the faithful kings of Israel, that would happen in a pretty literal way. The enemies wouldn't, wouldn't defeat them, the armies that would come against them would be destroyed. We see faithful kings, trusting in God and God saves them in battle after battle, including David himself. But it looks a little different when we understand that Jesus is the final one, the one who is a part of this throne of David. When David goes up again, when excuse me, not David, when Jesus goes up against his enemies. He looks like he's the one who's outwitted. It looks like he's the one who is defeated. The Pharisees they nail Him to across the Romans, they put him there. He looks defeated. But of course, Jesus's enemies aren't actually human beings. It wasn't the Pharisees of the Romans that Jesus came to defeat, but sin and death itself. And Jesus entered into death, to destroy that. He took on our sin, to destroy sin. And so the psalm continues, it says, my faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name, shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea, in his right hand on the rivers, he shall cry to me, You are my father, my God and the rock of my salvation. That is, of course, what what happens. Now, again, in the Old Testament, the power of the king, his right hand on the sea, and on the rivers, was somewhat metaphorical, that God would be with him and exalt him and protect him, but he wouldn't give him power over the sea or the rivers. But with Jesus, he called the storm, he walked on water. Pretty amazing, right? He called out to the father and said, You are my God, and the rock of my salvation. And the next promise goes, is pretty amazing as well. It says, I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love, I will keep for him forever. And my covenant will stand firm for him, I will establish His offspring forever, and his throne as the days of the heavens. This was certainly hyperbole for the human kings of ancient Israel. I don't think there could be any point in Israel's history, where he was the highest of the kings of the earth. Perhaps the closest we got was Solomon, who was wise and powerful and rich, but he never had a an empire, or the beauty of like Nebuchadnezzar or Babylon, or Cyrus the Great with Persia. He was still just kind of a local power. He was not established forever, because he grew old and died. But with Jesus, He is definitely the highest King. His throne is in heaven. He rules over all of the earth. And he will be on the throne of David his father forever and ever and ever, even past the day when he returns and makes a new heaven and a new earth and gives us eternal life. What an amazing promise that God gave to David and seen in Jesus. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai