2/8/2012 9:38:44 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: David Pictures the Cross
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 40:6-10
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will return to Psalm 40 and make every effort to finish the commentary on this wonderful psalm, which as mentioned is one of my favorite psalms. I want all to remember the words that Dr. Wiersbe wrote at the end of his introduction to Psalm 40: “From whatever experiences led to the writing of this psalm, David learned some valuable lessons and gave us three important instructions to follow in the difficult times of life.”
Give God All The He Asks (vv. 6-10): “6 ¶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. 7 Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. 8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart." 9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. 10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.”
You see similar statements throughout the OT that David has mentioned in verse six and what we have here is the reason that God does not desire the sacrifice and meal offerings, and that is because David is writing about the Lord Jesus Christ offering His own body on the cross to pay for the sins of those who will accept His sacrifice. For when the writer to the Hebrews uses this section in his writing he states it in a different way: “5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; 6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. 7 "THEN I SAID, ’BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’" 8 After saying above, "SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them" (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.”
You see the highlighted section that says “which are offered according to the Law,” and yet through the Holy Spirit it is written that God does not desire those offerings that are according to the Law that we see in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, along with Numbers and Exodus. This raises an obvious question as to why they were there in the first place and if God put them there for the people of Israel why was He not pleased with them? As one goes through the OT sacrifices and studies them they will discover that all of these sacrifices pictured what the Lord Jesus Christ would accomplish through His death on the cross. These were just shadows of what Christ would do, just pictures or snapshots. The trouble is that many of the children of Israel did not see this and so they made these sacrifices into a ritual and not into worship. Those who understood this was just a picture of something that was coming did not make them into a ritual and we see that David was one of those who got it.
I have mentioned in an earlier SD that the Holy Spirit uses OT Scripture in the NT, and that sometimes the author of the NT Scriptures will use the exact writings from the OT, but sometimes they will use OT Scriptures from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT). There are other times, like in this passage that He will use OT Scripture and change the words a bit, and there is no problem with this as it is the Holy Spirit of God who inspired the writers of both OT and NT to write what He desired them to write. “19 ¶ So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (Peter 1:19-21).”
Now because I had memorized the 40th Psalm I had always wondered why there was a difference between what was written in Psalm 40 and what was written in Hebrews 10, and one day I heard something that made sense to me, and yet I am not sure it is the reason. David writes “My ears you have opened,” and the writer to the Hebrews writes “But a body You have prepared for me.” The obvious difference is between an ear and a body. I am going to show a passage from Deuteronomy 15 about a person who is a Hebrew servant or slave and this person who is the slave is also a Hebrew. Moses writes “12 ¶ "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. 13 "When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 "You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. 15 "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. 16 "It shall come about if he says to you, ’I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; 17 then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. 18 "It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.” Exodus 21:6 has this to say about this, “then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.” Now let’s look at another OT passage that I think will help tie all of this together, “Zec. 12:10 "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” I believe that this is how the passage in Psalm 40 and the passages in Hebrews ten are tied together. I can see Jesus as a willing servant, “Mr 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’” We know that the body of Jesus was pierced through as foretold through Zechariah just as the willing Hebrew servant had his ear pierced through because of his love for his master. One more thing that comes to my mind and that is the word doorpost and that makes me think of when the children of Israel came out of Egypt they were to celebrate the Passover and God told Moses to have all of the children of Israel take the blood of the sacrificed lamb and place it on the doorposts so that the angel of death would passover their houses and not kill anyone. “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22b.).”
We see from yesterday’s verses that God had lifted David up out of the pit and placed him on a rock and now David wanted to worship the Lord, but he knew that the Lord would be more pleased with him if he gave Him his heart as opposed to giving Him a sacrifice.
David now says that he delights to do the will of God, and that is something that all believers should be willing to do. We then see David willing to tell others about what the Lord had done for him, to proclaim it in the sanctuary which was where the great congregation was.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at the first two sections of Psalm 40 I am moved by how this pictures what the Lord has done for me, for I have been lifted from the pit of hell and placed upon the Rock that will never move, that will never fail me. Now He has given me a great desire to share things that He is teaching me to the “great congregation.” Before I begin to do these Spiritual Diaries I pray to the Holy Spirit that He will guide my heart and my thoughts as I write to my Spiritual Diary, so that the things that I learn will bring good to me and glory to the Lord whom I serve. I then pray that these words that I write that will be placed on a blog will be used by the Holy Spirit to help others grow in their walk with the Lord or perhaps be used to plant seeds that will one day sprout into the salvation of someone who reads them. “To God Be the Glory.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. To be faithful to the Lord who has called me unto a great salvation and proclaim it to those He brings into my life.
2. To continue to learn contentment and patience.
2/8/2012 10:57:49 AM
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