Messianic Psalms – Jesus Places His Hope in God


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  • Mel Speaking
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Introduction:

  • Series on Messianic Psalms
  • Strengthen faith seeing the events of Jesus’ time on earth were planned beforehand

Psalm 40 is a Messianic Psalm which shows Jesus placing His hope in God the Father and delighting to do the will of God the Father. It also points to so many parts of the story of Jesus – His birth; the reason He came to earth; His words and works; His death, burial, and resurrection; the salvation which would come to those trusting in God.

Text: Psalm 40
Theme: Jesus Places His Hope in God

Verses 1-3
Sometimes it is challenging to know what portion of a Messianic psalm is the psalmist speaking about their own life and situation and what part they are speaking about the coming Messiah’s life and situation. Psalm 40 – how much is about David and how much is about Jesus?
Psalm 40:6-8 are quoted in the New Testament in Hebrews 10 and they are definitely about the Messiah. And when I read the rest of Psalm 40, I see many parallels between what is being said and the life of Jesus. I see Gospel proclamation, betrayal by enemies, resurrection, faith and salvation; and so I will be interpreting all of Psalm 40 as Messianic prophecy. In one way or another I can see it all applying to Jesus.

Verses 1-3 speak about someone being drawn up from a pit of destruction and having their feet set upon rock. The result of this person being rescued from destruction and made to walk again will be that many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. David or Jesus? To me, it’s much more natural to see this applying to Jesus. David might have figuratively descended into a pit of destruction and been raised again from it, but Jesus literally did. And when did such an event happen in David’s life that resulted in many trusting in the Lord? I can’t think of any.

Pit and destruction are both terms that were sometimes used in the Old Testament to talk about Sheol, or Hades. Sheol was the resting place of the dead in Old Testament times. Now, when Christians die, their spirits go to rest in heaven near Jesus. But it was not this way until after the resurrection of Jesus. Before the resurrection of Jesus, the spirits of all who died would descend to a place called Sheol. You can read about Sheol in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16.

In 1 Peter 3 we read about Jesus descending to this place. Romans 10:7 states that Jesus descended into the abyss. Ephesians 4:9 also says that Jesus descended into Sheol/Hades.

Verse 1 then speaks of Jesus’ patient waiting for His resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus was accomplished cooperatively by the entire Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all involved in resurrecting Jesus. He waited and hoped patiently for His cry to be heard.
Verse 2 – Jesus is drawn up from the place of death in order to stand again on solid ground and walk.
Verse 3 – Jesus glorifies God, people see and hear about the resurrection and choose to trust in God.

Verses 4-5
God has performed many marvelous deeds. This could just as easily apply to David talking about his own lifetime or David prophesying about Jesus, but for consistency I’ll be sticking with this as Messianic prophecy as I will throughout.

During Jesus’ time on earth He, Himself performed great deeds in the power and name of God. Healing of the sick, causing the lame to walk again, giving sight to the blind, walking on water, turning water into wine, causing abundant fish to be caught, feeding over 5000 with just a few fish and a little bit of bread, raising Lazarus to life, and resurrecting Himself after His death.

John 1:1 declares that Jesus is the Logos or Word of God. Jesus reveals the words and thoughts of God to us. John 1:14 states that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Every action taken by Jesus and every word spoken by Jesus was from God, a revelation of God’s wondrous deeds and thoughts. As the Word of God, one of His chief missions on earth was to be proclaiming God through His deeds and spoken words.

Those who choose to trust in the Lord are blessed. The words and works of Jesus Christ, which proclaimed God – and especially Jesus being lifted up out of the pit of destruction and made to walk again, give reason for people to put their trust in the Lord – and those who do so will be blessed!

Verses 6-8 – Hebrews 10:1-14
Verses 6-8 are the deepest verses in the psalm, but also the easiest to interpret because the Bible does that job for us in Hebrews 10. I like when the Bible makes interpretation easy.
*Read Hebrews 10:1-14*
The teaching of Hebrews 10 is that the Old Testament animal sacrifices occurred continually because they themselves did not take away sins. Bulls and goats can’t do it because a human must die to take away the sins of humans. But you and I can’t do it because we are sinners and too weak to endure the infinite wrath of God. We are too sinful to pay the infinite cost of our own sins, let alone the sins of others.

Only a human can die in the place of humans, but only God is holy enough to satisfy His holy demands, and only God can take the wrath of God and survive. Enter Jesus – the Son of Man and the Son of God. The divine Son of God made flesh to dwell among us and do what only He could do – as a human to take the place of humans to die, and as God to satisfy the holy demands of God and endure His just wrath.

Burnt offerings and sin offerings did not satisfy the desires of God. Instead, a body was prepared for the eternal Son of God to become the once for all sacrifice that satisfied God’s holy requirements.

Christmas really was a great miracle and one of the key moments in history. It’s worthy of our remembrance and celebration. The Word of God the Father from before the world began, the eternal Son of God, took upon Himself a human nature to become 100% God and 100% man.
The only hope for a sacrifice that could satisfy God’s desires was born in a manger on Christmas day. The author of the Universe now still the author of the universe but also a baby boy with a destiny to reveal God to us and save us all! What a mystery!

Notice what Jesus says is His motivation to do this: “I delight to do your will, O my God.” An argument of critics of Christianity against the faith is that the death of the Son of God to satisfy the demands of God the Father is tantamount to divine child abuse. They’ve written books about it.

The unbiblical narrative that they construct in their attack is of a God that isn’t 3 in 1, but 2 different gods. The Holy Spirit isn’t considered by them. God the Father they paint as abusive and the Son as an unwilling and tortured sacrifice.

That is not the teaching of the Bible. It’s a straw man. Something they have made up themselves to tear down. The teaching of the Bible is that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect unity and agreement in all things. Their complete unity and harmony in all thoughts and attributes is an essential part of the truth that they are one. And all members of the Trinity delight in one another.

Jesus loves the Father and glorifies the Father and the Father loves the Son and glorifies the Son and the Holy Spirit loves and glorifies both. They collectively planned our salvation together and accomplished it together. In fact, I would encourage you to take some time and read through the Gospels and take note of what motivated Jesus to go to the cross. It might be different than you think.

Jesus talked a lot more about love for and obedience to the Father than He did about love for you and me. Here in Psalm 40:7 and 8 Jesus essentially says “I have come to be the necessary sacrifice because I delight to do your will, O my God.” I love John 3:16 which states “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” But there are a lot more verses that say the Gospel happened because God loves God.
That’s not to say He doesn’t love you and me. Of course He does! He loves you and me more than anybody else could ever love you and me. He loves you with complete and unconditional love.

But it is to say that the picture of an abusive Father and an abused Son is just a made up straw man argument. Jesus constantly talked with admiration and affection of God the Father and likewise did the Father to the Son. You can read about a lot of conflict that Jesus had with people. He never had conflict with the Father. And His conflict with people was because they weren’t doing His Father’s will.

Jesus delights to do the will of God. Christmas and Easter are heroic stories of a God perfectly in harmony with Himself. It is a story of a Father who delighted to make His Son the hero of human history, the Savior of the world, and to put the judgment of the world into His hands. It is a story of a Son whose pleasure was to do the will of His Father, glorify His Father, and bring people into a relationship with His Father. It is a story of the Holy Spirit who worked out the incarnation of the Son and who now indwells believers to bring them into relationship with Jesus and the Father, whom He loves.

And finally it is a story of a God who deeply loved people and wanted to rescue them so that they could be forever with Him in heaven.

Link: Well, I’d better move on, still several verses left!
Verses 9-10
During Jesus’ time on earth, He spent a lot of time talking about all of these things – deliverance should be translated as righteousness, as the King James does. Jesus told people about God’s righteousness, His faithfulness, His steadfast love, and His salvation.

The beatitudes had much to do with God’s righteousness. His faithfulness, steadfast love, and salvation all talked about in various ways as well – in His conversation with Nicodemus about love, His rebukes toward the rulers and the Pharisees about their unfaithfulness to a faithful God, and His frequent reminders to His disciples that He came to die and rise again to pay for the sins of the world.

Verses 11-17
Here I see the crucifixion of Jesus as He takes upon Himself the sins of the world. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God. Our iniquities placed upon Him and our evils surround Him. The sins are more than can be numbered and weigh heavily upon Him. His heart fails and dies under the weight of the sins.

People surround Him who desire His death and delight in His suffering. They say to Him “Aha, Aha!” That same mocking spirit and tone is found as those who crucified Jesus said things like “He saved others but He can’t save Himself!,” “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!,” “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!,” “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him.”

Throughout this all, Jesus is placing His hope in God the Father – looking to Him for His help and deliverance. Jesus confidently hopes in the mercy of God and that His steadfast love and faithfulness will preserve Him.

Application:

  • Verses 1-3 Death, burial, resurrection – People trust in the Lord
  • Verses 4-5 Jesus, the Word of God, proclaims the deeds and thoughts of God during His time on earth.
  • Verses 6-8 Jesus, delighting in obedience to God the Father, comes to earth to be the perfect sacrifice.
  • Verses 9-10 Jesus teaches people about God’s righteousness, faithfulness, love, and salvation.
  • Verses 11-17 Jesus takes upon Himself the sins of the world. He is mocked by enemies who desire to see Him suffer. But
  • He puts His hope in God. As we know from verses 1-3, God resurrects Him.

Place your hope in God too!