“For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.” v.24
We should see two key points in this verse:
- God was right there in the midst of Christ’s suffering. The prayer of our Saviour was heard. God did hide His face from Him, but He was right there on the cross. Lord Jesus was afflicted, but He came back from the affliction in His full glory.
- On that basis only, the righteousness of Christ is the robe of His Church. The darling, who fears the LORD is never abandoned. Our prayers are always heard only because of what Jesus did for us through His suffering and death.
We are comforted by God in our afflictions. We find this comfort in the gospel message. If we believe in Lord Jesus, we know we belong to Him. He saved us and we are assured of our justification. This is the most important message that we can share. Our sins are forgiven, we can now comfort all them who are afflicted (2 Cor. 1:4-6).
I will pay my vows before them that fear him
“My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.” v.25
Praises are in that great congregation of Lord’s darling, where the Holy Ghost stirs up the hearts of believers. They are Jesus’ brethren. We identified them as those, who fear him. It is the reverence of his presence that glorifies him. His people know that from his judgement there is no appeal. His statues and announcements are final.
Lord Jesus confirms his commitment here, by saying: “I will pay my vows before them that fear him.” We are His anointed, belonging to the Lord and only to him. We are His darling. He is our Lord and our God.
Paul writes in the letter to Ephesians of the great mystery which is the relation between Christ and the church:
“For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flash. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” Eph. 5:30-33
The church of Jesus Christ is His bride. We are bond to Him eternally. “I will pay my vows before them that fear him.” The faith you have in Him is confirmation of your anointment with the Holy Spirit. The fear of God in your heart is that stamp that Jesus put on you. He paid His vows to you. He declared you His very own!
They shall praise the LORD that seek him
“The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live forever.”
All the pride and all the sin that we carry has to be nailed to that cross on which our Saviour died. There is no more boasting and no more glory of our own. “The meek shall eat and be satisfied.” God will not fill our hearts with spiritual nourishment, with that eternal bread of life, unless we confess our sins to him. We have to become meek and humble ourselves under the cross.
In this verse we find an affirmation of how the darling of Christ will become the fulfilment of all His prayers. “They shall praise the LORD that seek him.” How do we praise God? When we seek him.
We read earlier in verse 22: “in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” We can see again, that his brethren is consisted of them who praise him and now we also see it is them who seek him. We seek him by faith, by searching and believing the testimonies about him we are given in the Scriptures.
The apostles come to the LORD and tell him: “All men seek for thee.” Jesus answers them by saying: “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth” (Mk. 1:37-38). He makes it the very purpose of his earthly ministry to bring people to repentance that they may seek him.
“They shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live forever.” Our faith is alive for its very beginning is Lord Jesus himself. The book of Hebrew tells us that He is the author and finisher of our faith. We see therefore, that if we believe, we shall live forever. This is the promise here.
Repentance by Remembering the death of Christ
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.” v.27
Turning unto the LORD comes from remembering him. We need to remember what he had done. The cross of Jesus Christ is where we remember this. It is our starting point for turning, as true repentance begins with coming to the cross with our sins and confessing to him our brokenness.
All the ends of the world shall remember! How exactly is it that all the ends of the world shall remember? The gospel is preached all over the world. Everyone who heard the message of the cross will respond to it. You can love him or you can hate him. But you cannot be neutral to the name of Jesus Christ.
His gospel requires your immediate response. You can either turn to him in repentance and walk in his light. People who reject him, continue walking in the darkness unto the pit of hell. But we know that even there He is present. There is no escape from God. He is glorified as righteous judge by the sinners being forgiven through his mercy and the blood of Jesus. But he is also glorified in them who reject Christ and suffer eternally the just judgement in hell. “All the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.”
He has power over every thing in his creation. His kingdom is eternal. It has no end. Jesus Christ is God who created us and governs all things.
“For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.” v.28-29
The thing to remember today is this: you can accept His free gift of grace and forgiveness, the salvation through blood and offering of Jesus Christ and worship him. You can also reject the gospel and go down to dust. You will, however, give glory to God: one way or another.
Christ is alive. I plead you to humbly turn to him. Beg his forgiveness. Why would you perish? Jesus is King! His grace is abundant! He is alive!
That He hath done this.
“A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.” v.30-31
We see in these verses how a generation is born as servants of the Lord. This is achieved through the proclamation of the gospel. All them who respond to its message in faith, who remember his sacrifice and turn to him, become his people.
The gospel is God’s power unto salvation. We read earlier that all the seed of Jacob and all the seed of Israel shall fear and praise the Lord. “They shall come.” How do they come? By the power of God. “No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father”. J. 6:65.
We, Christians, carry that gospel. We were given the key to the Kingdom of God. It is us who proclaim His death and His resurrection. We declare His eternal glory to this dark world. This is what he called us for. “They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness”.
Now, to whom is the message declared? The gospel is preached to all the ends of the world. However, verse 30 speaks clearly about “people that shall be born”. We remember that the Lord said: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” J. 3:3 People are born again by hearing the gospel of Christ and responding to it in faith and repentance.
“They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.” What happened on the cross of Golgotha, what we studied in this psalm, all the blood that was shed for our sins… He hath done this. Jesus Christ died for you. He rose again on the third day. Do you believe that? What is your response to this message today? He hath done this.
