Claiming God's Word in the Psalms, Book V

Glimpsing Eternal Glory

Arriving at Book V of the Psalms is like reaching the top of a mountain, only to discover a whole new mountain range beyond this summit. With Zion at last in view, we nevertheless realize that we are not yet home: this magnificent new height of victory is but the prelude to eternity. With renewed humility, we look down to realize that we would have dropped to our death in this breathtaking climb, had the Lord not given us feet like hinds' feet and set us "upon [our] high places" (Psalm 18:33). As we look ahead to the road to be traveled, the perils still hidden within our quest remind us more than ever that God's Word must remain our staff to keep us even now from falling. But we march triumphantly, singing as we go--knowing that the soul's summum bonum is pure worship of our King forever.

The Golden Street to Zion

The holiness of Book I, the hope of Book II, and the humiliation of Book III--leading captives home in Book IV--now lift us to the heavenlies in Book V. Totaling forty-four Psalms (from Psalm 107 to Psalm 150), Book V functions as a primer for eternal praise, with Psalm 107 ushering us immediately into the Presence of the Lord--not because of our faithful walk (Psalm 1) or because of our constant abiding (Psalm 91) but because of His mercy that endures forever, making both possible.

We might think of Psalm 107 as the golden street leading us to Zion. Paved with the mercy of God, it reminds us of the centrality of God's Word in our journey--as both the walk so vividly defined at the gateway to the Psalter in Psalm 1 and the staff which makes our walk secure. As if going not only up but also around the mountain, Psalm 107 patterns this walk as a circle in which we tend to lose our orientation toward glory. Psalm 107 shows us eloquently why the sacrifice of praise orients our vision always upward. It is indeed the act of willful praise that keeps us going when we stumble toward the seat of the scornful. The paradox of marching to Zion means that, the higher the climb, the more perilous the journey. We must vigilantly claim the truth of God's Word to arrive safely home.

Psalm 107 is one of three Psalms in Book V that begin with a command to give thanks unto the Lord: "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever" (Psalm 107:1). Psalms 118 and 136 also begin with this exact call to worship. While Psalm 107 shows various narrative cycles of God's mercy in the history of Israel--despite their backslidings--Psalm 118 shifts Psalm 107's third-person point of view to first person, featuring the Psalmist's confidence in God's help against his personal enemies. Thanks for the Lord's undeserved mercy when Israel has become its own worst enemy becomes in Psalm 118 a cry for the Lord's mercy from the inevitable enemy of death. Psalm 118 ends as it begins, with the Psalmist's personal claim upon God's mercy ending in the same words that opened the Psalm: "Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever" (Psalm 118:28-29).

Psalm 136 not only begins with the Lord's mercy that endures forever; it ends each of its twenty-six narrative snapshots with this phrase, "for his mercy endureth for ever." In fact, it is the only Psalm in the Psalter that does so. This repetition invites antiphonal singing in corporate worship and provides a lyrical quality to the journey of Israel as embedded in the rhythms of Creation. As if lacing the effects of the Fall with the mercy of God, Psalm 136 not only paves the golden street to Zion; it makes God's mercy the downbeat of the traveler's step. Clearly, we must "enter his gates with thanksgiving," as Psalm 100:4 instructs. We would go so far as to say that the one who is not thankful for the Lord's lovingkindness will never enter Mount Zion.

The Golden Harp of Worship

Does it surprise us that David has reached the summit and has even passed us on his march to Zion? Who better could travel the golden street paved with mercy and thanksgiving? With good reason did the Lord say that he who has been forgiven much loves much (Luke 7:47). Far better not to fall than to retrace lost ground--and yet David's touch upon his golden harp is more tender than words can express for the humility that vibrates through his voice and strings; David would fill his lungs with Psalm 107:2, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."

Like Israel, David was his own worst enemy in his fall from grace, but how beautiful is his new resolve in Psalm 108:1-5, "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth." As the first of David's fifteen Psalms in Book V, Psalm 108 brings David's voice back into the most glorious ascent to Zion. In fact, four of David's Psalms are indeed songs of ascent and comprise a significant portion of this theme in Book V: Psalms 122, 124, 131, and 133.

Psalm 109 sounds at first like another fall from grace as David prays an imprecatory prayer against his enemies. Taken aback at his apparent spirit of vindictiveness, we too soon cast aside his prayer as sin, assuming we would forgive our enemies and be the "bigger person." But verse 4 provides an intriguing clue to David's viewpoint: "For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer." David did love his enemies. In fact, if we know our Jewish history, Joab tartly accused David of loving his enemies and hating his friends (II Samuel 19:6). But David is here speaking prophetically of the final judgment that will come to those who have rejected the love of Christ, and such a thought justifiably fills his heart with righteous hatred. This proves another reason that David was called a man after God's own heart.

Verse 16 shows that David's hatred is a form of justice: "Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart." Do we not remember our Lord who spoke of the "little ones" against whom wrongdoing should be cursed with a millstone hanged about the neck, to be drowned in the depths of the sea (Matthew 18:6)? The Lord was never more wrathful than when one of His lambs was being maligned or mistreated--or murdered. And in this, David's golden harp breaks forth in the final music of Zion as the place where all evil will be silenced forever.

Psalm 110 not only lifts us to the risen Christ's Throne; it prophesies of Christ's millennial reign when indeed His enemies will become his footstool. Jesus quoted David here when He answered the Pharisees with a riddle of His own: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:41-46). Verse 2 is even more surprising: "The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." Scripture foretells that the Messiah will rule with a rod of iron in His earthly reign (Revelation 2:27; 12:5; 19:15). Yet, once again, this is a glorious promise to the one who sees in Zion the perfection of beauty (Psalm 50:2).

Psalm 110:3 bursts forth with this theme: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." Can there be a more breathtaking image than the womb of the morning giving birth to the new day of Christ's eternal reign? The travail of His soul has brought forth His own people, and His visage--marred more than any man's at Calvary--will shine with the sparkle of everlasting youth. "The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek" (Psalm 110:4). This priestly King is the sole reason we are marching to Zion. And His own uphill climb to Calvary has been here transformed into Zion's Hill. With good reason, Psalm 110 is the most quoted Old Testament passage in the entire New Testament, claimed by our Lord Jesus as the center of His identity. And with good reason, therefore, does David's harp undulate with these promises of victory over evil.

We could go on and on with David's eloquence; but of his eight remaining Psalms--Psalms 138-145--we must listen to his hymn to the unborn in Psalm 139 and to his highest praise in Psalm 145. In these arguably greatest of all David's Psalms, we rightfully celebrate the truth of Psalm 138:2, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." To those who would argue the opposite today--that God's Name supersedes His Word--we say they have no claim on either.

Christ Himself is the Word made flesh, and when we think of Psalm 139 in light of our Lord's miraculous birth, we see that the Lord Jesus has redeemed us from the womb to the grave. Eve may bring forth children in sorrow, and, although David could say, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5), he could equally claim: "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee: for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psalm 139:13-14). The Lord who has searched me and known me (verse 1) and who is acquainted with all my ways (verse 3) has made His Word so intimate to my soul that His thoughts toward me outnumber the grains of sand (Psalm 139:17-18).

In the context of the Lord having written all my members in His Book, even when there were "none of them" (verse 16), we boldly conclude that these thoughts are the Lord's plans for that little life yet to be born--that life worth far more than the evil offender who will plunge into the depths of the sea. If ever our Lord spoke on behalf of the unborn, it was in this Psalm and in Matthew 18:6. No excuse can replace a lost human life, but we know that each life is written in the Lamb's Book of Life even before it is born. As John MacArthur writes, they are Safe in the Arms of God, for even in Sheol (verse 8), "thou art there." The omnipresence of God is inextricably linked with His awareness of my every move--every time I kicked my feet inside my mother's womb to the first time I sucked my unborn thumb. And when I myself emerge from the grave into the womb of the morning, "even the night shall be light about me" (Psalm 139:11). We cannot help wondering if the wicked and bloody men David denounces in this most exquisite of his Psalms indeed allude to those who would murder the innocent in secret (Psalm 10:8).

But in Zion, millions upon millions of unborn babies will rise up to praise their King. Imagine their voices joining in with Psalm 145:1, 4: "I will extol thee, my God, O King: and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts." This is the golden harp upon which the boy David played. With firsthand knowledge could he sing: "The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works" (Psalm 145:8-9). Does "all" mean "all," or does it mean "some" chosen to be loved while others are cast aside? If not "all," better that these had never been born--or fearfully and wonderfully made! But "all" does mean "all," and David knows the power of this word "all" in verse 14: "The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down."

The Opening of Zion's Gates

When we get so close to Zion that we can hear the gates swinging open, the shout of our praise could rival Jericho's walls falling down. Here, not only will all barriers to joy be broken; our soul's destined occupation will have just begun. Ten Psalms in Book V begin with these simplest and most emphatic of words: "Praise ye the LORD." Psalms 111, 112, 113, 117, and 135 instruct us to praise either the Name of the Lord or His Word or both. Psalm 111:10 declares that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever." Psalm 112 begins with an echo of Psalm 1: "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments" (Psalm 112:1). Remarkably, Psalm 117--not only the shortest Psalm but the shortest chapter in the Bible with only two verses--also prioritizes the praise of God's Word: "O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD" (Psalm 117:1-2).

Psalms 146-150 present the grand finale of the soul's praise. Each Psalm beginning with "Praise ye the LORD" broadens both its participants--even to the stars--and its instruments. We expect the trumpet, psaltery, and harp; we welcome the timbrel, stringed instruments, cymbals, and organs. But the two-edged sword? What is this? "Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD" (Psalm 149:6-9). How is this part of the magnum opus of heaven, we ask? How would heaven be heaven if evil still lurked around us? I Corinthians 6:2 makes clear that the saints shall judge the world. Hebrews 4:12 declares that God's Word is shaper than any two-edged sword, and Revelation 19:15 and 19:21 prophesy that Christ will slay the wicked with the sword of His mouth. We claim Zion through the Word of God or we do not claim it at all.

The Mount Everest of the Bible

And we are left one mountain yet to climb. Psalm 119 containing twenty-two sections and 176 verses is not only the longest Psalm in the Psalter but the longest chapter in the entire Bible. This Mount Everest of Scripture is placed appropriately in the middle of Book V and in the almost exact center of the Christian Bible. If ever we doubted the claim of God's Word on our lives, Psalm 119 settles all dispute. Specific reference to God's Word in almost every verse encompasses all aspects of God's Word: law, testimonies, commandments, statutes, judgments, precepts, way, and word. I remember discovering this on my own one summer while riding in the backseat of our very long Plymouth station wagon. The rear-facing seat made the perfect hideaway from five other people as I pored over my Bible while my father drove us through the mountains.

With suspense, I wondered if the pattern would be perfect; was I onto something that God's Word was used in every verse? Yes, every single verse--all except one, that is--Psalm 119:122. And that one omission confirmed the intentionality of all the rest. And as I gazed up in awe upon the Lord's majestic Smoky Mountains, I learned a lesson that would stay with me all these years: knowing God's Word is and must remain our soul's highest quest if we would march to Zion. Shall we begin the journey?