Sunday, May 5, 2013

Psalm 22:31


Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely
Psalm 22:31

31 They shall come, [bow'] and shall declare [nagad] his righteousness [tsadaqah] unto a people [`am] that shall be born, [yalad] that he hath done [`asah] this.  KJV-Interlinear

31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it. NASB

The scene of this psalm is the cross and the thoughts that went through the mind of Jesus while He was being crucified.

His sorrow at the idea of being abandoned by God, demonstrating the requirements of Gods plan.

His confidence in God that the divine plan will be accomplished.

His remembrance of His early hopes.

His perception at the taunts and reviling's of His enemies.

His consciousness of diminishing strength.

His reciting the details of activity as the soldiers pierced His hands and feet, and as they divided His clothing.

His prayer that His enemies might not accomplish their design, or to defeat the work of redemption.

His purpose to make God known to men.

His assurance that the effect of His sufferings would be to bring the dwellers on the earth to serve God, and to make His name and His righteousness known to far distant times.

That the end result of history is that none other than God will rule.

The certainty that the overall effect of His work will result in a common seed of believers, planted by God throughout history, and of whom will survive to the end of history in resurrection, to recognize and worship Him.

And here is an important principle, from the last verse, the seed that is planted, is planted by God.  God plants people into history, and throughout history.  Man does not perpetuate human life, only God creates human life as it is deemed pertinent to His plan, and in the time and place that God decides.

And finally in our current verse, there will be a generation, that will declare Christ, in contrast to the generation that rejected Christ.  And that generation will be the final generation of our dispensation, the Church Age, who will oddly enough, enter into the Tribulation as unbelievers, but will turn to Christ.  Some of whom will survive that terrible time to witness the Second Advent, and thus when the Kingdom of God is established, will declare Christ as Lord and God.  And their declaration will be to people who will be born in the millennium.

These statements all apply to the Messiah while He is in the midst of His sacrifice for salvation.

No one generation declared His righteousness subsequent to the eviction of Adam from the Garden.

No one generation declared His righteousness subsequent to the Flood.

No one generation declared His righteousness subsequent to the exodus.

No one generation declared His righteousness subsequent to the Cross.

This declaration will come from one single generation of believers and that will be that generation of surviving believers at the end of the Tribulation, who will enter into the millennial reign of Christ.

At the end of the Millennium, history will end and there will be no more new generations born to man for all of eternity.

As a result of Christ’s work on the Cross as projected by David, and as looked back on from our perspective, the next psalm is made possible.