He has remembered His covenant forever!

Psalm 105:1-15 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord’s Wonderful Works in Behalf of Israel.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples.
² Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.
³  Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.
⁴ Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.
⁵ Remember His wonders which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth,
⁶ O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!
⁷ He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.

⁸ He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,
⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac.
¹⁰ Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance,”
¹² When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it.
¹³ And they wandered about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people.
¹⁴ He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes:
¹⁵ “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”

The first time we see this psalm in scripture is in 1 Chronicles 16, when David is celebrating the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.

And they brought in the ark of God and placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ² When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³ He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake. ⁴ He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel: ⁵ Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals, ⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. ⁷ Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord.

Verse 8 then begins with the psalm from today’s text. Along with the call to praise, honor and give glory to God, the psalmist also encourages the Israelites to remember all that God has done for His people Israel. There is thankfulness to God because; ⁸ He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, ⁹ The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac.

The Old Testament from the promise given to Abraham in Genesis, throughout the remainder of the Old Testament is mostly the account of the ebb and flow of the individuals involved in this covenant and the nation of Israel as a whole in response to the conditions of the covenant. This covenant that the psalmist is thankful for was a promise of an inheritance of land to the Israelites through Abraham and Isaac. It was conditional on the Israelites themselves living righteously before God. So we see throughout the Old Testament times of blessing and times of difficulty for the nation of Israel as they either turned toward or from the ordinances of God.

Today, as we join the psalmist, giving thanks, praising God, calling upon His name, remembering all that He has done, we do it under a different covenant. The covenant we remember and thank God for is the New Covenant established through and by Jesus. It is no longer a covenant with a single nation, but rather with the nations. The Greek word used in the New Testament for nations is ethnos, which is the root of our English word ethnic. It refers to all tribes, races and tongues as opposed to a singular political identity. In addition this new covenant is not about an inheritance or promise of land, but rather it is a promise of redemption from sin, a restoration back to a right relationship with God and eternal life.      “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16)       Under this new and better covenant there is no longer the ebb and flow of the blessings and the difficulties because it is not conditional on the actions of men. It is conditional on the single act of Jesus Christ on the cross.      Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit(1 Peter 3:18)    Jesus Christ fulfilled all the conditions of this new and better covenant. It is no longer about what we did or do; it is about what He did. We need only to believe and receive.

As believers and receivers of the promises of God in the new covenant in Christ there should be noticeable changes in our lives. But while the process of our changing to become more like Christ takes our entire lifetime, the promise we have in Christ is immediate.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.(Ephesians 2:8-9) There is no longer an ebb and flow, Jesus did all, once for all. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)    We are not saved or even judged for our own works, but we are: His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)  In response to God’s love and faithfulness we are called to walk in the way He calls us.

 The promise of eternal life with God is not all that we have through the new covenant in Christ. We also have been given a call and a commission in and through Christ. Jesus says: Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.(John 14:12) Greater works than the Lord Jesus Himself, that too is part of the promise we have through Christ in the new covenant. When we look at the miracles Jesus did we realize that we probably can’t really do more than Christ Himself did. But, Jesus entire earthly ministry lasted only 3 years. We as believers have been given 2000 so far. He was one and through the Holy Spirit we who are many are one with Him.

The psalmist had much to be thankful for. God was faithful to His word and His promise to Israel. We have so much more to be thankful for. His word and His promise to us is redemption and eternal life with Him; It reconciliation to a living relationship with Him. His promise to us is power to do the things He calls us to do. Thank God. Bless and praise His name.

He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples.  Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders.   Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.  Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.  Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth,  O seed of Abraham, His servant, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.   Amen.