Salutation
... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King: Prayer to the Holy
Ghost
O
Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill
all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and
cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Psalm 50:1-23[i]
A Psalm of Asaph
The mighty God, [even] the Lord, has spoken, and called the
earth from the rising of the sun to its going down. From Zion, the perfection of
beauty, God has shined.
Our God shall come, and shall
not keep silence. Fire shall devour
before Him, It shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call the heavens from
above, and the earth, so that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together to Me;
those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. The heavens shall declare his
righteousness: for God [is] judge Himself. Consider.
Hear, O my people, and I will
speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you. I [am]
God, your God. I will not
reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, continually before Me. I will take no bullock from your
house, [or] male goats from your
folds: for every beast of the forest [is] Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the
mountains. The wild beasts of the field [are] Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell
you: for the world [is] Mine, and the
fullness of it. Will I eat
the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Offer God thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the most High. Call on Me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver you, You shall glorify Me.
But to the wicked God says, “What
have you to do to declare My statutes, or [that]
you should take My covenant in your mouth?
Seeing you hate instruction, and cast My words behind you. When you saw a thief, then you consented
with him, and have been partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil,
and your tongue frames deceit. You
sit [and] speak against your brother.
You slander your own mother’s son.” These [things] have you done, I kept silence. You thought that I was altogether [such an one] as yourself. I will reprove you, and set [them] in order before your eyes.
Now Consider, you who forget
God, lest I tear [you] in pieces, and
[there is] no one to deliver. [He] who offers praise glorifies Me. He who orders [his] conversation [aright]
will I show the salvation of God.
[i]
Asaph, writing after 586, notes that in the past God’s Glory did shine forth
from earthly Zion. That Glory is gone
now; but it will come again: and indeed it did in 4 BC. However, it seems to me that, here Asaph sees
past the First Advent, past our present evil age, to the Second Advent of
Christ and the final judgment.
In the following paragraphs, Asaph sounds like Paul in the
first three chapters of Romans. He makes
it clear that the bloody animal sacrifices will end: they were only an object
lesson anyway. What was that
lesson? Because of our sin, God’s love
comes with a terrible price, pictured in the bloody sacrifices; but this lesson
is more about learning to be thankful to God for all His benefits, being
faithful to Him, and trusting Him to answer prayer (Psalm 116:10-19).
It is our faithfulness to our vows, and our praises from
thankful hearts that set aside from the wicked.
It is not that we have stopped sinning: we haven’t. It is not that we are better than they: we
aren’t. We have simply come to
understand God’s mercy in forgiveness and in deliverance. What are these vows? Our prayers are our vows, but primarily the
things we promise in the Nicaean Creed, and the like. We do believe in God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Ghost. We do believe
that Jesus will return with power and Glory.
We will love all our brothers and sisters in Christ. We will gladly embrace the salvation that
Jesus brings with His Second Coming.
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