... 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,
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.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
A Song of Ascent.
Those who trust in the Lord [shall be] as mount Zion,
[which] cannot be removed, [but] abides forever. The mountains [are] round about Jerusalem. So the Lord [is] round about His people from now on
even forever: for the rod of the wicked shall not rest on the lot of the
righteous; lest[2] the
righteous put forth their hands to iniquity.
Do good[3], Lord, to [those who are] good3,
and to [those who are] upright in
their hearts. As for such as turn aside to
their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the
workers of iniquity. Peace [shall be] on Israel.[4]
[1] The
ruggedness and durability of the solid rock, Zion, is an apt icon of the
permanence, power, and stability of heaven.
It not only looks rugged and durable, it is invulnerable to attack if
any army defends it. David was only able
to capture the city because the Jebusites became overconfident and failed to
defend it properly (2 Samuel 5:6-9; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9). The heavenly city, unlike Zion, will never be
poorly defended. The wicked will never
enter or rule (rod or scepter) there. The
righteous will never sin there, because temptation will cease.
Zion speaks of a finality of judgment where the crooked are
cast out and peace reigns supremely.
Believers in heaven are pardoned for their sins, and all record of their
sins is blotted out of the heavenly books, to be remembered no more. Moreover, sin itself is removed from the
sinner’s life as the deadly cancer it is, until no sin whatsoever remains: the
damage done by these sins during earthly life is also removed and healed. Finally, the healing is so complete that
believers cannot sin any more, but are made perfect in the complete likeness of
Christ.
[2] This
is the logical apodosis to “the rod of the wicked….” It is a consistent fact of life that whenever
the wicked rule over the righteous, the righteous experience an increase and
intensification of temptations to sin.
But God has promised that these will not become excessive (1 Corinthians
10:12-13). Here is the root cause for the
Great Flood in the days of Noah; not that God is cruel and exterminated mankind
with evil glee; but rather that mankind was beyond repentance, and if allowed
to continue would bring Noah down in sin, and his family down with him. Likewise the departure of Abraham from Ur, the
overthrow of the Egyptians through Moses, and the defeat of the Canaanites
under Joshua are all icons or types of God’s protection of His people from
excessive temptation. However, “God
takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11),” neither
in this life, nor in the life to come.
[3] Neither
Hebrew nor Greek distinguish between good and well: wellness is always the
result of moral virtue; it is impossible to say, “I am well,” in either Hebrew
or Greek. In English, we may not use
well here, because moral virtue, with actions that flow from this virtue, is in
view here, and not a personal state of being.
Such virtue is then applied to human beings in spite of their sinful
condition only because God in His rich mercy begins to make them good when they
cry out to Him in confession, sorrow, and love.
[4] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations in
Psalms, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.
These meditations are not controlled by
Creative Commons or other licenses, such as: copyright, CC, BY, SA, NC, or ND. They are designed and intended for your free
participation. They were freely
received, and are freely given. No other
permission is required for their use.
