Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Psalm 16:9-10 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
NO DESPAIR HERE!
David is secure in his God. He is a happy man, because he knows that since the Lord is his God, God will never desert him in life or in death. He has a sure hope. He looks forward to life, fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore with his God.
Did David's exuberant faith go too far here? Didn't God permit him to see decay? Wasn't his soul left in the grave?
We can go back to what Peter and Paul said about this. David's words here do not apply directly to himself. As Peter pointed out to the Jews on Pentecost, David did die and was buried and his body saw corruption.
David was speaking here as a prophet concerning his Son as promised by God. This Son of David according to the flesh was already in David, so to speak.
So David's faith in the Lord was not in vain, even though he himself died and was buried. For what David here said in prophecy concerning the Son's resurrection is also true of himself and will prove to be true of himself on the Last Day. God would not leave him in the grave. God would show him the path of life, fullness of joy in His presence, and pleasures at His right hand forevermore. God will be his God in both life and death.
If the Lord is our God, the same will be true of us. He will also raise us up from our graves if that's where we are at His coming. If we are alive on that day He will change us from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal. Yes, on that day we shall be not in corruption, not in dishonor, not in weakness, but in incorruption, in glory, and in power. We too shall enjoy in the presence of God fullness of joy, and at His right hand pleasures forevermore.
Isn't it wonderful to be a Christian?
