Apr. 23, 2015

A choice of covenants

God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

13 Do return, O Lord; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord.

91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10 No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.

11 For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.
15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 “With a long life I will satisfy him
And let him see My salvation.”

 

Within the heading of Psalm 90 it tells us that it is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Psalm 91 is one of many Psalms of David, another great man of God. As I read and reflected on these two psalms I couldn't help but to think of the difference in their view of God. Both of these men were great leaders of God's people, hand picked by God and called for His purpose. Both lived under the Old Covenant, yet their is a difference in their perspective of God.

Moses call was to lead the people out of captivity in Egypt and into the promised land. It was during his leadership that the Israelites received the Ten Commandments and the Law. God established a covenant with the people, a covenant with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Moses saw how frequently man failed to live up to God's standards. He along with the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years because of disobedience. He witnessed men being swallowed up by the earth because of disobedience.(Numbers 16) Moses himself, though he was called God's servant by God himself and though he spoke with God face to face,(Joshua 1:2, Numbers 12:7), was prohibitted from entering into the promised land because he acted in anger and so dishonored the holiness of God,(Numbers 20:12) In Moses prayer, Psalm 90 we see this perspective of the futility of man, the brevity of his days and the sovereignty of God.

David, the writer of Psalm 91, on the other hand, had a different view of God. He too lived under the Old Covenant, the Law and so he was subject to the blessings and the curses of obedience and disobedience. David though had a different relationship with God. He had a relationship that was born out of countless hours of private worship and fellowship with God as a young shepherd. Although David did live under the Old Covenant, he was a representative, a prophetic foreshadow of the New Covenant in Christ. David's life was filled with great accomplishments done through God's mighty hand and His protection and provision. (His victory over the giant Goliath and even his ascent to the throne were God empowered) David's life was also filled with some great examples of his human weakness. The nation of Israel suffered through his disobedience in taking a census of the armies.(2 Samuel 24) There is also of course David's sin with Bathsheba and the price he paid for his disobedience. David's life was filled with some of the greatest personal victories and some of the lowest moments we see recorded in scripture. Yet one thing always held true with David. When he failed he was quick to repent and return to God. We see in the account from 2 Samuel 24:10-14

10 Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”  

Also in this account from 2 Samuel 12, regarding his sin with Bathsheba.

21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ 23 But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

David lived under the Old Covenant, and accepted the consequences of his actions and disobedience. But David was, as I said, a prophetic foreshadow of the New Covenant we have in Christ. His life displays the redemption and restoration of man based on God's goodness and His mercy and grace. Through David's sin with Bathsheba we see one of the greatest example of redemption and restoration contained in all of scripture.  2 Samuel 12:24

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon. Now the Lord loved him

It is through Solomon that the line and the throne of David is continued. It is even through Solomon, this child born from the union of David and Bathsheba, that Jesus ancestory is traced. Matthew 1:6  Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

What better picture of the mercy, grace, the redemption and restoration of Jesus Christ could there be than to see the things His life and New Covenant Christ offers, than to see the failures and disobedience of the human lineage of Christ overcome by the God lineage, the perfect Son of God becoming the perfect sacrifice for sin. 

We still have two covenants we can live under. We can reject Christ and the restoration and redemption He offers and so choose to live under the Old Covenant, bearing the full responsibility and consequences for our disobedience and sin.

 Or we can like David choose to repent and turn to God, accepting the finished work of the cross. Living as David did in the protection and provision of one who dwells and abides in Christ and the Father.