Pilgrim Pattern For Perseverance

"Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him." Psalm 128:1

Main Readings: Psalms 128-130 & Acts 10

Supporting Readings: Genesis 12 & Colossians 2

The curator who compiled these Psalms of Ascent directed the minds of the ascending pilgrims to recall their journey from exile in Babylon to restoration in Jerusalem. And so, at this point in the journey, the approach he is taking is to make the covenant-promises of God foreground in the minds of the pilgrims. To give them a vivid and vibrant reminder of who they are, and how they relate to God. And it certainly makes sense that the curator does that for these people, because so much has been lost. So much in fact, that to the pilgrims it feels like they are a lost people. A people who have sinned their way out of God’s favour, and who simply have no future.

But that’s not the case! And what they need is to hear the truth of who God has made them to be and that they have a relationship to him. They need that to be reignited in their souls. Well, that’s what Psalm 128 does.

But right on the back of that, there’s the complications of the realities that took them to Babylon in the first place. The complication of enemies from the outside – by which they were taken into captivity. And the complication of sin from the inside – the consequences of which was their captivity. Psalm 129 deals with the enemies from without and Psalm 130, addresses the sin from within.

But if enemies still exist, and sin still besets, then how will the covenant blessings of Psalm 128 be realised? That’s the big question. These three Psalms work together to answer it.

When God covenanted with Israel, his servant Moses spoke to them like this: ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning’. The verdict God gave through Jeremiah - 700 years later, just before captivity - was this: ‘Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realise how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe [no fear] of me,” declares the Sovereign LORD Almighty’. Here in Psalm 128 the Psalmist declares that the blessed ones – those who are divinely happy – are those who ‘fear the Lord’ – verse 1.

The Psalmist then reminds the pilgrims of what Moses said at the beginning: Blessed are all who fear the Lord AKA: all who walk in obedience to him. Obedience is the opposite of sinning. The fear of the Lord - which they had lost - is what is necessary now to prevent them from sinning and to promote them to obedience. So that’s the goal: that this generation of Israel – returning to Jerusalem be the kind that fear the Lord. And let me tell you, God has not changed. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom for all God’s people throughout all the ages. ‘Fear the Lord’ means to regard God in his right place. It means to esteem him in his holiness and in his righteousness.

It is to align ourselves with values that accord with his character. It is to retain him as the one true and living God and never to allow him to become a god amongst a pantheon of Gods in our hearts.

Israel had done that and it had cost them their covenant blessing. And yet that’s what we have here – covenant blessing.

The curator reminds the pilgrims of what comes of fearing God properly – of walking in obedience to him. When you labour, he says, you eat the fruit of your labour. All the olives and the figs and the grapes – you get to eat them. In captivity however, others eat the fruit of your labours. And the fruitfulness of the labour is so abundant -because of the abundance of the God who blesses you - that not only do you eat, you prosper from your labours. In God’s economy, you don’t merely scratch out a hand to mouth existence where you only just have enough to eat – you prosper the Psalmist says.

God’s rich blessing even extends to the pilgrim’s family – verse 3. The whole house is blessed. Children are a heritage from the Lord. They produce of the fruitful wife – and they themselves are fruitful. Like olive shoots – they grace the family table and grow up in the household of the Lord. Yes, says the Psalmist, this is the blessing that comes and rests on the pilgrim who fears the Lord – verse 4. Fruitful labour; land that yields prosperity; an abundance of children. These are the characteristic blessings promised to Abraham – from whom Israel came forth. God said to Abraham in Genesis: ‘I will make you very fruitful’. ‘I will make you into a great nation and will bless you’.

‘To your offspring I will give this land’ said God to Abraham. And, ‘I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky’ said God to Abraham. ‘Thus, God’s covenant blessings to Abraham extend to you pilgrim – you who are the offspring of Abraham’. ‘May the Lord bless you from Zion his dwelling place and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life’ – verse 5. That’s an important prayer for the pilgrim because the pilgrim’s captivity had meant separation from the God of Abraham. God who’s dwelling place had been in the land he had promised Abraham: your offspring will inherit it.

And the prayer: that the pilgrim see – with their own eyes – the prosperity of Jerusalem, must have felt like a distant dream to them from captivity in Babylon! But the Psalmist says ‘no’ this is the promise God made to your forefather Abraham - and his covenant will not be broken!

How can he be so sure? Well, it’s because God swore by himself when he covenanted with Abraham, and therefore the covenant blessings depend on no one else, except himself! Which means they are triple lock guaranteed! What he has sworn he will certainly bring to pass.

The final word of the Psalmist at the close of the Psalm is a prayer for long life - long enough to see generations of children. And through those generations, for peace to be the steady state experience in Israel.

It's a glorious picture the Psalmist has painted. There’s nothing negative in it whatsoever. It’s just full of promise and blessing. What more could the pilgrim ask for?

For sure, it would have been hard for the pilgrim to think along these lines, given everything that had happened with the exile. It would have been hard for them to believe that God would extend this kind of blessing to them again, when he seemed so far from them. But that’s the reason for the prayer of the Psalmist on behalf of the Pilgrim here. The Psalmist takes hold of the promises of God, by faith, and trusts that God will honour those promises to these pilgrims.

Well, there is a pilgrim who has walked the pilgrim path fearing the Lord; with full and true obedience every step of the way; who laboured producing more fruit than anyone can possibly imagine. Ascended at the right hand of the Lord now; blessings and prosperity beyond measure. For his wife, a fruitful church. For his offspring, sons and daughters of the living God. He says, ‘here am I and the children God has given me…for surely it is not angels he helps but Abraham’s descendants’. Yes, brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus has made us to be his descendants upon whom the covenant blessings of Abraham have come to rest forever! Can you believe that?!

The promise here to us is of labours that ultimately will not be fruitless; of families that will extend way way beyond flesh and blood; of a zion to come from which blessings will flow like rivers from the throne of God; of everlasting days and everlasting peace. This Psalm speaks directly and without equivocation of our blessing - flowing to us through our own personal covenant maker – Jesus Christ. Exult in this O church of Christ, for it is amazing!

Would that we could leave it there and not face the two reality checks coming our way now. But, remember, all scripture is God breathed and useful, so let’s trust God has blessing lined up for us here too. Because he certainly does. Psalm 128 finished with ‘peace be on Israel’. Psalm 129 starts with ‘let Israel say, “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth”’. What a contrast! And with that contrast, here the curator gives us a jolting reality check. It’s like it’s back down to earth with a bump at this point.

What is true for the individual, is true for the collective. The pilgrim growing up in captivity was oppressed from their youth of course. But Israel grew up in captivity too - the captivity Egypt. She was oppressed by Pharoah from her youth. Nevertheless, the Psalmist injects a note of hope doesn’t he: ‘never have they been wiped out’. Though the threat of annihilation hung long over the head of Israel, yet they were not defeated – verse 2: ‘they have not gained the victory over me’. Nonetheless, how dreadful was their affliction! The image the psalmist conjures is just about as horrible as it gets. In his picture, Israel’s back is the field; and her enemy the plowman.

And the plowman ploughs his furrows ‘long’ verse 3 says – right to the edges of the field. His aim: to maximise his harvest from his captives. The plough goes in deep and Israel’s back is torn to open. What a contrast with the field of Psalm 128. That field that promised copious harvests for Israel. But in this reality, Israel is the field; the field that is laboured on for the prospering of her enemies!

But look! It’s not like that forever! Look! The Lord is righteous – verse 4. He’s faithful to his covenant promises and to his covenant people. He hasn’t forgotten them. Their plight is not hidden from his eyes – praise be to God for that! Praise be to God: he has cut the pilgrims free from their wicked oppressors. The very cords that connected the plough to the ploughman, the Lord has cut apart – setting them free from their oppression, verse 4.

Who are these oppressors? Are they not those who hate the God of Zion – the God of Israel? Verse 5 says they are. The Psalmist prays again. He prays for the end of the oppression, by praying for the end of Zion’s enemies. ‘Let those who hate Israel and her God be turned back from their pursuit of her in utter defeat’. ‘Let them lay in the dust of death’. ‘Let their shameful treatment of Israel be exposed for all to see’. In fact: ‘Let them wither away like the grass that is set ablaze by the heat of the summer’. Verse 6. ‘They designed for their captives, Israel, to be a fruitful field for their prosperity, but let it yield nothing O Lord our God’. Verse 7.

‘Let the enemy reaper walk away with not even a handful of produce’. ‘Let the enemy harvester leave with no grain to fill their arms with’. ‘And may this curse be on them: “may the Lord of the harvest not bless you! For such a blessing would be unfitting for you”’. Verse 8.

Yes, the opposition has been fierce. Yes, the suffering has been great. But God has remembered you O Israel and has set you free from your bondage, so that you can say, ‘they have not had the victory over me’. And as for them: they will be ‘clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead!’ ‘Let Israel say then, “God has helped her at break of day”’.

And then, out of Israel comes a pilgrim who from his youth knew nothing but oppression – hunted down at birth, as he was, by a jealous king. Out of Israel comes one who offered his back to those who beat him; his cheeks to those who pulled out his beard. But the cords of death could not keep their hold on him – they too were cut loose. And the victory of the grave had no claim on his life either. If that was how they treated him, how will they treat us, his followers? They will certainly do the same to us; they did to him. Jesus says, ‘take up your cross and follow me’. ‘Love those who hate you and pray for those who oppress you’. ‘Leave room for the Lord to avenge – for it is his to repay’.

But know this friends: the victory will be yours! They will not get the victory over you, because God will always lead us captives in triumphal procession. And when Jesus comes again, he will consume his enemies and yours.

It’s one of the great pressures on the Christian life – to live with the opposition of those who hate God and hate his gospel. It brings shame on the Christian. It brings, ridicule. It brings usury and slander. Sometimes it brings physical abuse, and slavery, and imprisonment, and even more! But the Psalmist says, ‘don’t yield to that pressure’. Because, the covenant keeping God is for you. The righteous Lord Jesus Christ will not allow even the cords of death, that consume everyone, to consume you. But will severe them! And you will rise to everlasting peace. And your enemies? They will wither like the grass on the roof.

They sought to prosper from shaming you; from framing you; from maiming you; but they will go away empty handed; empty armed; and lifeless. Jesus’ curse will rest on them forever. Be confident then in your covenant deliverer brothers and sisters – even in the middle of your oppression.

Well, if the oppression of Psalm 129 lays the pilgrim low. Then Psalm 130 has him lower still. Because, look: it’s out of the depths that he cries to the Lord. If oppression from without was reality check number one, then this is reality check number 2. The reality of sin – from within. The peace of Israel at the end of Psalm 128 seems like a distant prayer now, because the depths that sin takes the pilgrim to are so deep. So deep that he has to cry out at the top of his voice to be heard in the courts of heaven where God is. ‘Lord hear my voice’ he cries. For his sins – verse 3 – have taken him to the edge of the pit of hell itself.

‘O Lord, my only hope is that you might hear my call for mercy, for I have sinned against you O God and am not worthy of your attention’. ‘If you Lord kept a record of wrongs who could stand Lord?’ And the answer obviously comes back – no one! God is holy and people are not. Therefore, no one could stand before the Lord as he read out the record of their sins – all their sins against him! For that is what they all are - ultimately, against him.

But that is if he were to keep a record of sins. Instead, though, ‘with you there is forgiveness’. The pilgrim’s sins have taken him to the edge as he looks on at the righteousness and purity of his God. But even from the edge of the pit, there is hope to be found with the Lord. He is the covenant keeping God of Psalm 128 – he will forgive for he has covenanted with his people.

And the forgiveness is not so that sin might be made to be meaningless. Sin is never meaningless is it? Sin costs lives. Sin pushes most people into the abyss forever. Sin pushes some people into the depths and they are humbled. And they confess: ‘who could stand if you kept a record O Lord’. And they cry out for mercy to God, who alone can save them. And then it costs the life of God’s own dear Son to rescue them and bring them into the realm of God’s amazing forgiveness. Sin costs lives, make no mistake. And so, forgiveness is not for making light of sin. Forgiveness is for restoring relationship. And relationship with God is: where the creature is in awe of the creator.

‘But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you’ – verse 4. ‘Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him’ was the basis of all the covenant blessings of Psalm 128. Forgiveness restores relationship; relationship is based on reverence; and reverence produces obedience – ‘service’ as we have it here in verse 4.

Why, having received the forgiveness that he cried out for at the beginning, does the pilgrim now express how he waits on the Lord? Hasn’t the Lord already answered his prayer of verse 1? His cry for mercy of verse 2? Surely it is for two reasons that he waits on the Lord; his whole being waits on the Lord; he waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning; even more than watchman wait for the morning! Surely it is because, in the experience of the sinner who really really feels his sin – so much that he is in the depths – in his experience, the reality of forgiven sin is more instantaneous than is the feeling of that reality.

The forgiveness is won already, but the feeling is not felt already. And so, he waits. He waits for the full feeling of guilt to dissipate and the full feeling of forgiveness to permeate his soul again. That waiting is a trusting. A trusting that the Lord is true to his word and that confessed sin, and repented sin, and prayerful dependence on God’s mercy does really convey the blessing of forgiveness. Because God is a faithful covenant keeping God.

But second, it is surely also the case that the concept of a record of sins implies lots of sinning. In fact, a lifetime of sinning. Which also implies the necessity of a lifetime of forgiveness. And therefore, there isn’t a consistent soul-satisfied state in this life. The soul of the pilgrim, then, waits for the ultimate deliverance of the Lord - when the long night of sin and seeking is over and the morning of sinlessness enters in forever. In this, the pilgrim puts his hope. And he encourages the community of Israel to put their hope also.

By waiting in hopefulness on the Lord like this, two things are accomplished: despair is not the result of ongoing failure and faithlessness – for one day that failure and faithlessness will be over. And two, sin is not given free reign. The offence of sin is not minimised.

There must always be confession of sin and a costly answer for sin. The reason the Lord is worthy of being hoped in for this future deliverance is because of his unfailing love – verse 7 says. With God there is not mere temporary redemption – that would be partial and incomplete. With God there is full redemption – a permanent answer for sin. And God’s love accomplishes it. His covenant love will ensure that the tendency of our hearts to sin against Him gives way to a sinlessness whereby that inclination is gone forever. In the end God himself will redeem Israel from all their sins – that’s the promise.

And then think of this: he who had no sin is said to have become sin for us. And oh, what depths he was taken to, though he had no sin. How he cried out for mercy in the garden, though he knew full-well what it was that he had come to do. Namely to cancel the charge of legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us, by nailing it to the cross. He put his whole trust and hope in the God who could raise him from the dead. And indeed, God did raise him from the dead and seated him at his right hand, far above all dominion and authority, or any name that can be named, either in this age or in the age to come.

Oh, that we could feel the cost of our sin more acutely, how it might ward us off sinning. That with the pilgrim, when we sin, we might increasingly feel the depths to which we have sunk.

But what a pattern for peace the pilgrim has given us. When we sin, and find ourselves in the depths, surely his is the pattern to follow. A pattern of confession; followed by crying out; followed by faith in the forgiveness of our covenant keeping God; followed by restoration; and reverence; and service. It's a pattern that the pilgrim tells us requires patient endurance for the rest of our lives. Never will this pattern cease this side of death. But never will this pattern continue the other side of it either. In the Lord Jesus’ covenant death, there is ample grace for the forgiveness of each and every sin.

And there is ample love so that we can, with hope, be assured that the pattern of sin in our lives will come to an end. And that the fullness of our redemption will come in.

It must be said, also, that a watchman is an alert man. He does not sleep during the night, but he longs for the morning. The Christian does not sleep either, during the night of this long life. The Christian stays alert. Just as the watchman becomes more and more accustomed to watchfulness as he persists in his role as a watchman, so the Christian becomes more and more accustomed to watchfulness as they persist in their role as a watchman also. What does that mean? It means, that there must be alertness to sin in the Christian which, as time goes on, produces the fruit of victory over besetting sins. The watchfulness is not just for the morning when sinning will be no more.

But it is also for the sin that so easily entangles now. The war will not be complete until the morning comes - true. But battles must be engaged with in this lifetime - and increasingly won, in this lifetime. The watchman metaphor implies both these truths.

So, let’s sum up. We started in Psalm 128 with the covenant faithfulness of God and his promised blessings which are all ours in Jesus. Praise be to God for that! Psalm 128 sets the whole basis for our Christian hope and delight and pleasure. But the twin realities of enemies from without and sin from within, strike at the heart of the glories of Psalm 128. Our backs are ploughed; our sins have placed us on the precipice of the grave. With these setbacks our hope teeters, maybe, and our resolve weakens. And yet, our faithful covenant keeping God has not forgotten us. He has answers for both these challenges. He is the God who cuts the cords of the wicked and sets us free.

And who, thereby, opposes all our enemies. And he is the God who has made full and free provision for all our sins in the perfect forgiveness accomplished in Jesus’ death on the cross. Protection and provision. These are the two great deliverances of these later two Psalms – and God gives them to us, by faith.

What is the result? The result is restoration, unto reverence, for the sake of service. Or to put it in the language of Psalm 128: restoration, unto fear of the Lord, for the sake of obedience. For, the man or woman who fears God and walks in obedience to him, is a child of God through the blood of Jesus, and all the blessings of God’s everlasting covenant with Abraham flow into their lives. And are ultimately realised when the watchful Christian has run their course to the very end. A time when peace will be on the Israel of God – even us! A time when all our enemies will be defeated. When we will be fully redeemed from our sin.

And when we will enjoy Christ our righteous redeemer forever, in a far better country than this. Amen? Amen. Come Lord Jesus come.