 The tough questions seemed more and more unanswerable. The more Asaph looked around at the world, the bleaker the picture appeared. He observed that the wicked prospered, while the moral man would find his scruples a liability in the Darwinian day-to-day grind of everyday life, noting, “For there are no pangs in their death, But their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men…. They say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?’ Behold, these are the ungodly, Who are always at ease; They increase in riches” (Psalms 73: 4-5, 11-12 NKJV). This wretched state of affairs gnawed at this upright man, and the unanswerable questions haunted him. How could a righteous God allow this evil to flourish? Was He too weak to respond? Or did He have the power to respond, but sadistically finds pleasure in mankind’s suffering? These doubts tugged at the soul of this man who had devoted his life to the worship of God. Asaph was a Levite, one of the tribe of Israel dedicated to serving God. His particular sphere of service was as a musician. Indeed, he seems to have been a chief musician during the reign of King David (I Chronicles 15:18-19, 16:5-7, 37; 25:1-6). These very concerns that had driven Asaph to the very brink of spiritual infidelity are an understandable human reaction to the evil in the world. Philosophers have mused about the so-called “problem of pain” for centuries. Classically, atheists and agnostics have claimed that human suffering indicates that God either does not exist or is unable to intervene. This issue goes to the very credibility of the God we worship. Asaph then “went into the sanctuary of God…”(v. 17a). In the depth of despair and searching, he assuaged the pain of this struggle deep in his soul through worship and prayerful communion with God. All throughout the Scriptures and history, the saints have found incomparable solace in time spent with the Father in prayer, worship, and study of His word. David describes the potency of God’s word to comfort the troubled soul. In Psalm 119:81, David wrote, “My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.” The Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was in “agony” (Luke 22:44) as he contemplated not only the torture of the impending crucifixion, but also the separation from God He would have to endure since He willingly became the sacrifice for our sins. (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21, Mat 27:46). We, too, may find immense comfort from the struggles of life through communion with the Father. God blessed Asaph, and revealed to him the certainty of the judgment of the wicked. Asaph wrote that he “understood their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors” (Ps. 73: 17b – 19). Scripture warns while the wicked may prosper in this life, they will face judgment for their sins. It is entirely necessary that sins committed on earth be judged—if God allowed the rebellion and injustice of the world to go unpunished, He would not be a righteous God. Such a God would be a sadistic fiend, not the loving God revealed in the pages of Scripture. A loving God must punish those who refuse to acknowledge and obey His authority. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 promises judgment on those who refuse to accept God’s offer of salvation. “…The Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” Asaph confessed the folly of his near-descent into spiritual infidelity, writing, “Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You” (Ps. 73: 21-22). In the opening verse of the psalm, Asaph recounted, “Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart” (Ps. 73:1). Asaph remembered fully the history of God’s mercy and grace to Israel—the Lord God had reminded the nation of Israel of their humble origins to encourage them to show humility, saying, “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples” (Deuteronomy 7:7). Asaph was forced to acknowledge his own weakness in the light of God’s goodness. In v. 2, Asaph had confessed, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped” (Ps. 73:2). In spite of this brief flirtation with apostasy, a now-wizened Asaph wrote, “Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory” (Ps. 73:23-24). His own feet had nearly slipped in v.2, but God guides him, keeping hold of his right hand. He is able to claim that he desires to know God: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Ps. 73:25). On what basis did the man who had just admitted that envy of the wicked very nearly led him into spiritual infidelity? How can this man now claim to rest secure in God? Is this arrogant presumption? Asaph explains the reason, thus proving that verse 25 is not presumptuousness. He writes, “My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:26). He did not trust in his own strength or resolve to hold himself close with God, but rather trusted in God alone. Realizing that not all seek God, he writes: “For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry” (Ps. 73:27). Those who refuse to seek God will be judged (cf. Ac 17:27, 30-31; Romans 1:18; II Thess. 1:7-9). Asaph, on the other hand, is able to write “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.” (Ps. 73:28) Asaph realizes that he must trust in God to allow him to even seek Him and come into His presence. It would appear that Asaph had a glimpse of the eternal security of the believer in Christ. This revelation was hardly commonplace: even King David (a contemporary to Asaph) had not such a clear sense of security. After his sin of adultery with Bathsheba, David prays to God, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps 51:11). David did, however, have at least some sense of security as he does affirm with confidence in Psalm 23:6, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” and claims after his infant son’s death, “I shall go to him” (II Sam. 12:23). Indeed, the Old Testament Israelite lived in perpetual fear. Like the Greek king Damocles of pagan myth, who lived under the constant shadow of a sword suspended above his head, the man under the old covenant was ultimately unsure of his salvation-- God had said through the prophet Ezekiel, “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die” (Ezekiel 18:26 KJV). The very terms of the old covenant were based on obedience. God’s covenant with Israel stated, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine” (Exodus 19:5 NKJV). The Old Testament covenant with the Jew was concerned with national privilege and prestige, and eternal life was largely unknown to the average Israelite. This does not imply that salvation was ever by works, nor that the concept of eternal life was totally foreign to the Old Testament. King David, for example, fully grasped the concept of unmerited salvation when he wrote, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity”(Ps. 32:1-2). He realized that his own good works did not save him. He undoubtedly did not understand the mechanism of salvation, but he did comprehend its effects. The Old Testament saint, just as the New Testament believer, was saved by his faith in the as-yet future work of redemption ultimately performed by the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. The apostle Peter wrote: “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven -- things which angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:10-12) The New Testament believer has an unbelievable source of security. It is not of ourselves. We, like Asaph, are weak human beings. The apostle Paul observed how strong the flesh, which “is at enmity with God” (Romans 8: 7), was in his life. He wrote, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:18-19). The apostle, noting his weakness, writes as the closing verses of Romans 7 (7:24-25), “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God——through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” The next verse, however, is the epitomé of confidence in God: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Christ Jesus was the source of Paul’s confidence. The writer of the book of Hebrews expressed it this way: “Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever” (Hebrews 7:23-28). In ancient Israel, the high priest was the intermediary between God and man. Since this high priest was a mere mortal man, he would eventually die, thus leaving the Jew uncertain regarding the efficacy of this man’s intervention. The Lord Jesus Christ, who now is “seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1), cannot die. We are secure because He is forever the “one Mediator between God and men” (I Tim. 2:5). Our Mediator is not some disinterested third party who neither knows nor cares for our infirmities, for He had taken them upon himself, yet He was holy. Hebrews 4:15 declares, “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.” He took “the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7), and was tested and tempted by Satan himself. He did not fail under circumstances that by far exceed the intensity any other man has ever experienced. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s unique qualifications, the writer of Hebrews says “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). The Greek expressed here as “to the uttermost” is pantelhx (panteles), and can alternatively be translated “completely”(Darby) or “forever” (NASB). Our Savior is able to completely and perfectly save us. Our security is based squarely upon Christ’s interposition as our High Priest. The writer of Hebrews explains, “by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12). It through Christ’s finished work that we are redeemed, and therefore saved. Because of this shed blood, God promises in Heb. 10:17 “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” It is on the basis of Christ’s blood that we may “have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10: 19 NASB). In Ps. 73:2, Asaph recorded that he had once “nigh slipped” into apostasy, yet he was able to affirm with the sincerest of confidence, “You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory…. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:23, 26). This ancient promise has its counterpart in the New Testament. The closing words of Jude show that our source of security is the same as that of Asaph’s. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25). Our flesh and our heart truly do fail, but the Lord Jesus Christ is our strength. He is able to keep us from slipping. We, therefore, even as Asaph, can rest secure in our trust of God. The New Testament believer need not live in fear. Damocles’ sword does not exist. - I Thessalonians 5:23-24 |