The Early Life of Jesus (part 4): This will be my last offering of the year my dear friends and family. I pray you are blessed in knowing that Gods Word is more complete than we expected. What is left out is also for our benefit... Now, a brief look at Psalm 69: Let’s focus and hone in on the descriptive words of emotions and feelings our Lord Jesus experienced as He walked this earth through out His life. I wonder if you can place yourself in the Saviors shoes: Verse 1. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. Reminds me of Peter in Matthew 14:30, when sinking into the deep cried out to Jesus, Lord, save me! The term אלהים ĕlôhı̂ym, “God” mentioned 9 times, and once by יהוה Yehweh, throughout the Psalm. The spiritual significance of the numbers are so remarkable. “Waters,” מים mayim, are mentioned 4 times in this Psalm: verses 1, 2, 14 and 15 (four pertains to everything Earthly). Verses 2-3 I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Water and the deep, and the unstable mud that comes with it is not the natural environment for this man. It is the sinful environment for the lost where there is struggle and death, no firm foundation, and where there ‘is no peace’ (Isaiah 57:20,21; 17:12,13; Matthew 13:47-50; Romans 6:1-5; et all). If you ever experienced the sensation of drowning when the waters were up to your neck as I have on several occasions, you can surely relate to the feelings of suffocation the perfect Jesus experienced as He grew up in the midst of this fallen world. Unless we are Born-again by the Holy Spirit, one cannot make the connection of ‘not belonging’ and feeling so out of place. By the words in verse 3, can we even begin to imagine the intensity of our Savior’s crying out to His Father. When I read these words, I can’t help but think of Hebrews 5:7-9, where we read: “…who {Jesus}, in the days of His flesh, when He {Jesus} had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him {His Heavenly Father} who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected (completed), He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…” Verses 4-5. Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You. Notice the words, ‘hate me without cause,’ ‘who who destroy me,’ ‘my enemies wrongfully.’ This Perfect, Righteous young man in the midst of hatred and animosity untold, who did no wrong and was so unworthy to be treated the way He was! This is such a sad state for anyone to be faced with. The Lord’s sins were not hidden from God and in the ultimate analysis, as there were none. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” However, knowing man as He does, He could make the challenge, “…He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” John 8:7. Verses 6-7. Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. Again, notice the verbs and adjectives! In spite of everything He was faced with, this was the Heart of our Lord Jesus. He did not want to be the cause of anyone’s stumbling or confused when it came to those earnestly seeking God. The humble attitude of the Lord surely comes through in verse 7. Listen: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus (the humility mentioned in verses 3 and 4), who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8. Verse 8. I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mothers children... Notice this verse very carefully. Not the father’s children but mother’s children. Clearly revealing the Virgin Birth. Joseph had nothing to do with it. The Bible tells us regarding Jesus: Matthew 13:55, “Is this not the carpenters son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?” Mark 6:3, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.” I heard Bill ORiely make the comment recently from his book Killing Jesus that Jesus had no brothers and sisters and that in the Jewish community all were considered brothers and sisters. These Scriptures sure put a damper to that notion. Mary HAD children, sons and daughters, by Joseph after Jesus was born. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!! Verse 9. Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. Notice the personal reproach experienced by Jesus in verses 7,10,19, 20, is correlated with the reproach shown to the Father. They are truly One. This word חרף châraph, ‘reproach’ appears more often (5 times) in this Psalm than in any other Psalm (vss 7,9,10,19,20). Five is the number for grace, the result of our Saviors reproach. How appropriate; in spite of being reproached, scorned, and disgraced, because of His Great Love for those He came to save, He showed mercy and grace. Verse 10-12. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards. How sad…how all alone Jesus must have felt in a world who despised Him. You see, His reproach for us began a lot earlier than His last week on earth… Oh, I Love You So Much Lord Jesus!!! All of this should have been ME!! What was this ‘Jesus’ byword, this proverb, this joke, this mockery of the drunkards who sit in the prominence of the city gate? I believe, as some, it had to do with His being born without an earthly father, born of the Holy Spirit, Who the world does not and would never know (John 14:17). Look at the exchange which took place in John 8:38-41, when Jesus challenged the religious leaders of the day, “I (Jesus) speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father (‘the devil’ verse 44). They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abrahams children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father God. Fathers? These prominent leaders were accusing Jesus of being born of fornication. I believe this was the ’byword’ He had to live with all His life. Now, Psalm 69:28, really drives home how our Lord felt, again, in spite of all the slander and abuse, “Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none” but notice verse 13. Verse 13. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation (Hebrew: ישׁע Yesha). His Name Jesus is in Hebrew Yeshua (or Yeshuah). Interesting! Jesus (Yeshua) IS TRUTH (John 14:6). Wow! Verses 14-19. Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies. You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You. NOTHING is hidden from God. ALL is openly exposed before Him (Hebrews 4:13). Notice the plea to the only One who can save out of death! Verse 20. Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. Thank You Father that You are, “…near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18), and that You are the One Who, “heals the broken-hearted And binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:20). The Hebrew word, נוּשׁ nûsh, for ‘heaviness’ is unique here in all the Old Testament. It is used nowhere else. It literally means, ‘to be sick’ (CEV; GW; JPS; OJB; Lesser; YLT; Spanish La Biblia Americas, ...y estoy enfermo... translated Im sick.; French Louis Segond Bible uses the French malade which means sick; the German Slachter Bible reads, daß ich krank geworden bin which translates, I got sick...) Verse 21. They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The words ‘gall’ and ‘vinegar’ are associated with something unpleasant, judgment, misery, and affliction. “Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall” Lamentations 3:19; 3:5; Deuteronomy 29:18; Jeremiah 8:14; 9:15; Proverbs 10:26). Think about the meaning of this word throughout the life of Jesus and even when He was on the Cross! Verses 22-28. Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually. Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; Let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded. dd iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous. In the unrealistic security of the sinful, their eyes are blinded and they live in the darkness of the devil himself (Acts 26:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4). They want to believe to badly that this evil is reality and truth. God will judge them with a righteous judgment and all they have built up will be forever destroyed. “For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, But it shall be no more” Psalm 37:9. They, the enemies of Christ, persecuted Him who God struck. They did not accept Him as the Savior of the world. They did not accept His love, mercy, and truth, but hated Him without cause. They did not want to come to the Light because their deeds were wicked (John 3:17-21). The word here used in verse 26, נכה nâkâh, for ‘struck’ is ‘smitten’ in some translations. It is used 501 times in Scripture for ‘smote’ or ‘kill.’ Who was the One who God ’struck?’ Yeshua!!!! Our Salvation!!! The same Hebrew word is used at Isaiah 53:4, when speaking of the Messiah Yeshua, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten (נכה nâkâh) of God, and afflicted.” Peter drives it home as to Who this Scripture refers when he wrote, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” 1 Peter 2:21-25. The unregenerate, those NOT Born-again by the Holy Spirit of Life, will be blotted out of our Lord’s Book of the living! Listen: “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” Revelation 20:15. Verse 29. But I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation (ישׁוּעה Yeshuah, the very Name of the Holy Son of God), O God, set me up on high. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” 2 Corinthians 8:9. Praise the Name of the Lord my friends!!! Verse 30-31. I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Listen: Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart Psalm 40:6-8 (of Jesus, compare Hebrews 10:7). Indeed, For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise Psalm 51:16-17. In Conclusion: FOR THOSE OF US WHO BELIEVE: Verses 32-33. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men Ephesians 4:8 (Psalm 68:18). We have been bought, purchased by such a great price my friends. Verse 34. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein. Yes! Amen!!! For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God’s children, because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. [Lit. by its subjecting] The one who subjected it did so in the certainty [Lit. hope] that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time. However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies Romans 8:19-23 (ISV). Listen carefully: Verse 35. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. God WILL hold true to ALL His Promises to Israel and Yeshua WILL be their King!!! Verse 36. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein. This seed {זרע zera‛} also of his servants would pertain to us, who have been Born-again by the Holy Spirit seed of Jesus Christ. This זרע zera‛, sperma in Greek, this seed, can be traced from Genesis 3:15, throughout the Bible into Revelation!!!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 00:04:54 +0000
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