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Wednesday 7/31/24
Title: Psalms Book I: Psalm 27 & the New Covenant
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Psalms Book I: Psalm 27
Psalm 27,
As always, we want to be wise and informed students of the Bible. As such some simple common sense coupled together with some discernment will go a long way towards best understanding the Psalms as they apply to us under the New Covenant.
The Old Covenant, as I have pressed many times, was established by God with certain goals in mind. Once those goals were accomplished, the Old was supplanted with the New which stand on the strong foundation of BETTER promises.
Better promises means just that – better! Applying common sense to this we can immediately tell that if they are better they HAVE to also be different! They cannot be the same and better at the same time!
Back in our Word of Faith days we would often attempt to take the promises God made to Israel through Moses under the Old Covenant and turn them into the promise God gave to Abraham BEFORE the Old Covenant. We did this because we learned from the letter to the saints in Rome that we are the heirs of the promise God made to Abraham, and so we made the mental leap that the promises connected to the covenant applied to us. This was a mistake which was irresponsible! Not because we knew it and did it anyway, but because we didn’t even have the basic discernment to see that we were attempting to smuggle Old Covenants into and under the New Covenant – thus misapplying promises which were not ours but were in fact based upon the conditions of a covenant which has now been annulled!
Jeremiah and Isaiah both speak of this New Covenant…
Jeremiah 11:7-8,
“(7) For I solemnly warned your ancestors to obey me. I warned them again and again, ever since I delivered them out of Egypt until this very day. (8) But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me! Each one of them followed the stubborn inclinations of his own wicked heart. So I brought on them all the punishments threatened in the covenant because they did not carry out its terms as I commanded them to do.’”
Isaiah 55:3,
“Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34,
“(31) Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— (32) not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. (33) But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (34) No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Then the writer of Hebrews says regarding the abrogation of the Old Covenant by the New…
Hebrews 8:7-13,
“(7) For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. (8) Because finding fault with them, He says:
“BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— (9) NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.
(10) FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (11) NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. (12) FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
(13) In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first OBSOLETE. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
So it is that when God made promises to Israel that He would destroy all their enemies and cause their foes to surrender to them, He was referring to Israel THE NATURAL NATION, who were in covenant with God through circumcision and obedience to the Law.
According to Deuteronomy, IF they kept the Law God would bless and protect them.
If they did not God would turn them over into the hand of their enemies and drive them out of their land.
This is what Solomon was addressing when he prayed, “If My people…”. It was an Old Covenant promise which was about establishing His people as a nation and bringing the Messiah into the World so that through Him all nations would be blessed.
The blessing of righteousness apart from works was what Messiah would bring and would bless the world with Faithful Abraham who was imputed righteousness BY FAITH BEFORE circumcision.
We know that the Old Covenant is DIFFERENT than the Old Testament. It is true that the Old Testament contains THE record of the Old Covenant but they also record a clear account of all God was doing under the Old Covenant in preparing His people for the New. In the prophets there is MUCH foretelling of what God was aiming at accomplishing in and through Messiah in order to establish a New Covenant!
Romans 4:1-25,
“(1) What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? (2) For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
(3) For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
(4) Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. (5) But to him who does not work but believes on Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, (6) just as Davidalso describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
(7) “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS ARE FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS ARE COVERED; (8) BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM THE LORD SHALL NOT IMPUTE SIN.”
(9) Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?
For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
(10) How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised?
Not while circumcised, but while UNCIRCUMCISED!
(11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS MIGHT BE IMPUTED TO THEM ALSO, (12) and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
(13) For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH.
(14) For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, (15) because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
(16) Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (17) (as it is written, “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him Whom he believed—God, Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (18) who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”
(19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
(20) He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. (22) And therefore “IT WAS ACCOUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
(23) Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, (24) BUT ALSO FOR US. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) Who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”
Now why all this preamble to the 27th Psalm? Because of what David believed and received from God regarding his enemies.
The reason David was delivered was because he was a keeper of the Law and so the promise of God was to deliver from their enemies. THIS was the basis of David’s confidence!
However, Jesus was NOT delivered from His enemies – nor was Paul, nor any of the other apostles except for perhaps John. Also MANY in the church have not been delivered from their enemies.
Jesus in fact warned us that many times that would be the case and He warned us ahead of time so that WHEN it happened we would not be made to stumble in offense.
John 16:1-3, “(1) These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. (2) They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. (3) And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”
Notice that Jesus did not command them to remember the promises God made to Israel under the Old Covenant regarding God’s delivering power against their enemies. He simply warns them that this WILL in fact happen so that they would not stumble in offense WHEN it happened!
Can you see why this is important?
So David starts off with a strong statement of confidence in the covenant He had with God.
Psalm 27:1-14,
“(1) Davidic.
The LORD delivers and vindicates me! I fear no one!
The LORD protects my life! I am afraid of no one!
(2) When evil men attack me to devour my flesh, when my adversaries and enemies attack me, they stumble and fall.
(3) Even when an army is deployed against me, I do not fear.
Even when war is imminent, I remain confident.”
So you may wonder, then what good are Psalms like this to me under the New Covenant?
Well, I’ll answer that question with a question. Are there any enemies we DO have under the New Covenant to which such a promise might apply and if so HOW does it apply?
According to the New Covenant our ONLY enemy is the devil. In fact the word satan means adversary.
We are told that we should not be ignorant of his tactics but that our victory over him and the world system which is influenced by him is our Faith in Jesus and our covenant in His blood.
- 1 John 2:14, “I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him Who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.”
- 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He Who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
- 1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
- Rev. 12:10-11, “(10) Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. (11) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Psalm 27 cont…
“(4) I have asked the LORD for one thing – this is what I desire! I want to live in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the LORD and contemplate in His temple.
Here is a connection we have with those under the Old Covenant who had knowledge. The New Testament writer of Hebrews tells us that the patriarchs lived by faith and therefore had obtained the good testimony of righteousness with God and AS SUCH became our examples.
Of them it says,
Hebrews 11:8-16,
“(8) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
(9) By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; (10) for he waited for the city which has foundations, Whose builder and maker is God…
(13) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
The significance of this cannot easily be overstated. The ENTIRE Old Covenant pointed to the Promised Land as their inheritance and Messiah’s world rule from there. So to graduate, if you will, from that to thinking of yourself as merely a pilgrim on earth and desiring a heavenly country is of great significance!
These great men and women of faith were seeing PAST their current covenant into the true promise of God’s new and final covenant ratified in the blood of His son Jesus Christ – Lord and Savior of the world!
“(14) For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. (15) And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. (16) But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
Psalm 27 cont…
“(5) He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger;
He will hide me in His home;
He will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit.
(6) Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me!
I will offer sacrifices in His dwelling place and shout for joy! I will sing praises to the LORD!
(7) Hear me, O LORD, when I cry out! Have mercy on me and answer me!
(8) My heart tells me to pray to you, and I do pray to you, O LORD.
(9) Do not reject me! Do not push your servant away in anger! You are my deliverer! Do not forsake or abandon me, O God Who vindicates me!
(10) Even if my father and mother abandoned me, the LORD would take me in.”
Verse for Living…
“(11) Teach me how You want me to live, LORD; lead me along a level path because of those who wait to ambush me!
(12) Do not turn me over to my enemies, for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me.
(13) Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience the LORD’s favor in the land of the living?
(14) Rely on the LORD! Be strong and confident! Rely on the LORD!”
Blessings!
Tri
