Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

One of the marvels of this small poem is the use of parallelism in its construction; each sentence is balanced perfectly. Israelites out of Egypt family of Jacob strange tongue Judah God’s sanctuary Israel his kingdom Sea saw them coming Jordan River turned away Mountains skipped like rams Little hills lambs

It is outlined in three sections:

I WHEN ISRAEL ESCAPED - 1-4 II WHAT HAPPENED, JORDAN ?… 5, 6 III WATER FROM THE ROCK - 7, 8

The Red Sea Parts

The Jordan Turns Back The Rock Produces Water

I

WHEN ISRAEL ESCAPED - 1-4

“When the Israelites escaped from Egypt– When the family of Jacob left that foreign land– (people of a strange language) The land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, And Israel became his kingdom.” (1, 2)

In the opening stanza of the song God combines the experience of ‘coming out of bondage’ and ‘going in to promise’ into one thought. The two greatest national events in Israel’s history are recounted together here as two parts of one act of salvation. It is never his purpose to only deliver his people but to fully bring them in to the fruitful life of the Holy Spirit. In Luke’s account of the Mount of Transfigura- tion it says Moses and Elijah were with Jesus: “And they were speaking of how he was about to fulfill God’s plan by dying in Jerusalem.” (Lk. 9:31) The Greek text for ‘God’s plan’ is the word ‘Exodus’; when Jesus died on the cross he was fulfilling God’s ‘Exodus’ delivering all who would believe in him from the bondage of sin. The cross is the new Exodus from spiritual Egypt.

“From a people of a strange language”(NKJ)

God delivered them from a people of a ‘stammering language 3 ’ . As Spurgeon notes the new life of the Christian is far different than ‘the filthy conversation of the wicked.’ This whole psalm foreshad- ows the work of the Holy Spirit who filled the church with the gift of tongues on the day of Pentecost as a gift to communicate the Good News of Christ to the world. “…and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.” (Acts 2:6)

“…the land of Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel became his kingdom.”

Right in the act of deliverance God’s unchangeable purpose for his people is communicated. He had determined that Judah would be the tribe for his sanctuary in Jerusalem and the entire 12 tribes would be his special dominion even before they entered the land. The mystery and wonder of his fore- knowledge is displayed in this prophetic proclamation; we can trust him to fulfill the purposes he has for our lives.

“ The sea (Red Sea) saw them coming and hurried out of their way!” (3)

The greatest act of God in Israel’s history is recounted here. “…and he (God) brought them all safely through the waters of the sea on dry ground. [NLT] And they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. [NIV]” (1 Cor. 10:1,2) The passing through the Red Sea was a spiritual act whereby God baptized the family of Israel into Moses who represented the law. We are baptized into Christ and his grace when we trust him for our salvation. We cross the Red Sea of unbelief and are birthed into the new life in Christ and his body, the church: “But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12:13)

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