Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord - 240109

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Clive Nash. Welcome to let God speak. In the previous episode we were reminded that life is brief. We need to gain biblical wisdom. This particularly applies to finding the joy of righteous living for this life and for eternity. Today we continue our journey in the song book of the Bible, the psalms in songs written long before Jesus Christ came to this earth. Events in his life were foreshadowed in these writings. Our panel today will unpack this topic. On our panel today we have Daniel Vokurka and Harold Harker. Welcome, Daniel and Harold. Good to have you with us. SPEAKER B Thank you. SPEAKER A But before we begin our discussion, let's take time to ask the Lord to be with us, our loving Father in heaven. We just want to thank you for the opportunity to be able to open the Bible today. We thank you that we live in an atmosphere of freedom to worship. And we pray that as we discuss this important topic and learn more about the different roles of Jesus Christ our saviour, that we will be blessed and so will our hearers and viewers. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A Well, I'd like to begin by looking at a passage in Luke's gospel, Luke, chapter 24 and verse 44. And this is what it says. Then he, he, that's Jesus said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled. And notice what he says here where the writings he was referring to things which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms concerning me. So Harold, why did Jesus particularly include the psalms here? SPEAKER C Well, all of those three areas was the Old Testament, as we call it. And the psalms is a big section. And, you know, some of the psalms pointed forward to Jesus Christ. An example. There are psalms 24, psalms 45 and psalms 72 and 101. They talk about the ideal king and judge. Now they have a typological fulfilment. This typological fulfilment, let me explain. SPEAKER A It's a big word. SPEAKER C That's a big one. But it just shows what will happen in the future. To explain it, let me tell you. It's the concept of a type and an anti type or the fulfilment. A simple illustration is the sacrifice of a lamb. In the Old Testament, the lamb was a type. The anti type is Jesus. The lamb represented Jesus. You'll remember when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to the Jordan to be baptised. He said, behold the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. The lamb offering was the type. Jesus is the anti type or if you like fulfilment. The lamb was sacrificed for sin, and it pointed forward to Jesus Christ, who was the one, only one, who can take away sin from our lives. He does that when we accept him as the saviour by faith. SPEAKER A Now, Daniel, the psalms tend to have various themes like praise or thanksgiving, even laments in the psalms. Or do they foreshadow the coming of Jesus Christ? SPEAKER B Yeah, good question. They certainly do. And in fact, in Jesus's own prayer, in John 17, we can see some interesting things. And so Jesus was praying for justice, for deliverance. He was not for himself, but for his people. And there are some interesting things that he says here. So in John 17, verse six, he says the following, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. And then if we go to the psalms, we find that. We find a similar thing. In psalm 22 and verse 22 it says, I will declare your name to my brethren. And so we can see there the type and the enter type, I guess, that Pastor harker was talking about. But also in John 17, and if we go to verse twelve, it says the following, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. And then if we go to psalm 41 and verse nine, it says the following, pardon me. And it says, even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. SPEAKER A Okay. Which is clearly a reference to the son of perdition that Jesus talked about to Judas. Now, I guess the most popular psalm or the most loved psalm is psalm 23, the. The shepherd psalm. And the first verse says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So does this remind you of some words in the New Testament, Harold? SPEAKER C It surely does. Let me read for you John ten and verse eleven. Jesus is talking and he says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. So you can't be better than the good shepherd. And then he also talks about us as being his sheep. In verse 15, it reads, as, the father knows me, even so, I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Jesus was willing to give himself as a ransom for the lives of his sheep. He was the good shepherd. And psalm 28 also talks about that. And let me read verse nine here. And it says, save your people and bless your inheritance. Shepherd them also and hear them forever. He's shepherding us. He's leading us. He's the good shepherd. SPEAKER A So, Daniel, this idea of having Jesus as a good shepherd, what does that concept say to you, it is a. SPEAKER B Very tender and relational picture of Jesus. In fact, if we go to John ten and verse 14, he says the following, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own. And so he says that he is the good shepherd and he's not only the shepherd, but he is the good shepherd. And this whole idea of shepherds might be a little bit different for us in Australia, but certainly around in Jesus's time. And even now, shepherds, very interesting, the way that they communicate with the sheep, how they simply talk to the sheep and the sheep hear the voice and follow the directions. SPEAKER A I've seen the shepherds out in the field with their sheep in Israel, so they still have the same sort of practise today as they did in Bible time. SPEAKER B That's amazing. And so when I read that, it's actually quite amazing that even here it says the sheep know the shepherd's voice. And I actually saw this YouTube clip, which is very interesting. And you had these people trying to call the sheep, but the sheep would not respond until they actually heard the shepherd's voice. And it was only when the shepherd called that the sheep responded. It was quite amazing. SPEAKER A Yeah. There's an interesting text in two Samuel, chapter five and verse two, which says, in times past, when Saul was king over us, says, the Lord said to you, you shall shepherd my people, Israel, and be ruler over. So here King Saul was to be a shepherd of his people. Do you think the kings of Israel and Judah lived up to that sort of ideal herald? SPEAKER C Well, most of them didn't, unfortunately. But Jesus is always the ideal shepherd king. You know, there's an old hymn and it says, the king of love, my shepherd is whose goodness faileth never. It also references what the shepherd does. He finds the lost sheep. And then the hymn says, and on his shoulder, gently laid and home rejoicing brought me. Here's a verse from first Peter, who knows that in verse chapter two and verse 25, for you were like sheep going astray and have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your. You know, Jesus is the shepherd for all of us. If we will just acknowledge him and follow him, he is a spiritual example. We can be under shepherds of the great shepherd. SPEAKER A Yeah. There's another concept that comes through with Jesus talking here about being the true shepherd. And I'm referring to John, chapter ten. Daniel. John, chapter ten, verses two and three. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice referring before to knowing the voice of the shepherd. And he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. What's the background to this text, Daniel? SPEAKER B Yeah, it's very interesting. You see, if the shepherd was near a walled town, at sunset, he would bring his flock into a communal sheepfold in the town. In the morning, he would call his flock out, and they knew his voice. And in the country, a rough sheepfold would consist of a low wall of rocks with an opening, but no gate or door. So the shepherd would lie down in the opening for the night to protect his sheep. This is why Jesus also said that he is the door to the sheepfold. Notice that Jesus is the door. Not a door, but the door. And he is also the way, the truth, the life. SPEAKER A Yeah, that's a beautiful thought, Daniel. Thank you very much for sharing that with us. And my Bible for one of the other psalms. Psalm 22 has an interesting heading. It says here, the suffering, praise and posterity of the Messiah. So is this psalm prophetic? Is it looking forward to the coming of Jesus, Harold? SPEAKER C Sure, while it is a psalm of king David. And he probably wrote it, but much of it points forward and applies to Jesus. In fact, jesus applied it to himself. And in verse one, he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? This was Jesus on the cross. Why are you so far from helping me? And from the words of my groaning? This was Jesus paying the price. And he quotes that. But let me read some more. In this psalm, dogs have surrounded me. The assembly of the wicked has encircled me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, o Lord, do not be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me. This is the cry of Jesus paying the price for sin. All written back in psalm 22. SPEAKER A Yeah. And literally, this is what happened with the soldiers, didn't they? SPEAKER C You're right. Let me read another one. SPEAKER A Yeah. Casting lots for his garments. SPEAKER C In John ten and verse 30, Jesus always identified himself with his father. And he said, I'm one with my father. This verse says, I and my father are one. So when he felt forsaken on Calvary, he felt that separation on a different level. He trod the wine press alone. Wow. For a short time, he feels the weight of the sin of every person, of you and me, separating him from his father. But he still trusted. And he went through that agony of bearing the sin of the world. You know, here is a great thought. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon his heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of his displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of his son with consternation. You know, psalm 22 just portrayed that it showed Jesus in his agony. SPEAKER A Now, I think you referred, Harold, to this idea of, well, dogs surrounding him. In verse twelve of psalm 22, it says, many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bullsque. Yeah. So, Daniel, these words apply to Jesus about these strong bulls and dogs. SPEAKER B Well, let's see if, in fact, they do. If we go to Matthew 27 and have a look at verse 30 and then verse 39 to 44, we can see some interesting things. So Matthew 27 and verse 30, it says the following. Then they spat on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. That sounds pretty strong, even like it's animalistic, actually. And then if we go to verse 39 to 44, it's actually even worse than animalistic, it says, and those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself if you are the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests, also mocking with the scribes and elders, said, he saved others himself. He cannot save if he is the king of Israel. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him. Verse 43, he trusted in God. Let him deliver him now if he will have him. For he said, I am the son of God. In verse 44, even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him with the same thing. So we can see here that certainly that imagery of animals surrounding him, I would say, fits quite well. And then if we go back to psalm 22 and verses six to eight, we can see that literally being fulfilled. And so we can see that definitely these verses apply to Jesus in his agony. But then it doesn't stop there, because we can then go to psalm 118, verse 22 and 23, and it says the following. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It is marvellous in our eyes. And Paul applies this to Jesus. And if we go to Ephesians 219 to 22, we read, now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the Household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. And here we go, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And so we see here that these words that David wrote can also be applied to Jesus. SPEAKER A So this idea of Jesus being the chief cornerstone. Harold, do you find that to be an encouraging concept, a hopeful one? SPEAKER C Well, the cornerstone is what everything else hangs together and is built on. So if you build your life with Jesus, if you go to him, you've got it. Let me read for you. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 21, and he quoted what was in psalm 118. And then he says, therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you, given to a nation bearing the fruits. And whoever falls on the stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him into powder. Let me explain that a little bit. David Reed has written in a book, cornerstone or crushing stone. And he says, we can fall on the rock, Jesus, and be broken and saved. But if he falls on us, we'll be crushed, we'll be lost. And so do we accept Jesus or not? And I choose Jesus as the cornerstone of my faith. SPEAKER B Amen. SPEAKER A Yeah, let's consider God and his covenants with humanity. Daniel and Harold. And I'd like to read from psalm 89 and verses 27 to 29. And he says, I will make him my first born, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever. And my covenant. My covenant, my agreement shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. Daniel, do you think that God intended his covenant with King David to be permanent? SPEAKER B It would certainly seem so. And if we read just a little bit before that, in verses one to four of that same psalm, it says, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, mercy shall be built up forever. Notice forever two times. That's interesting. Your faithfulness you shall establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to my servant David, your seed I will establish forever and build up your throne to all generations. Now, there are two factors that are involved in this covenant. The first factor is God's solemn oath, and the second factor is the king's faithfulness. So the Atinan psalm laments the failures of the davidic covenant from men's failings. But God still remains faithful. And a sense of God's wrath comes through in various psalms. And we can actually find that in psalm 74 and verse one, just over a few pages. O God, why have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? SPEAKER C Right. SPEAKER A Coming back to psalm 89 again and looking at verse 46, it says it poses the question, how long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire? How long? The psalmist is saying, is there an inference that God's wrath, although serious, is actually temporary? SPEAKER C Harold, God's wrath is not just here and now. His wrath against sin is always there. But he loves the sinner. And I'd like to think of Jesus, who has love for everyone, gives us the opportunity to come to him. SPEAKER A Okay. Jesus Christ is the son of David, in fact, isn't he? SPEAKER C Right. SPEAKER A So should we be looking to him for the fulfilment of the davidic covenant and promises? Daniel? SPEAKER B Absolutely. In fact, I mean, Daniel chapter two shows what's going to happen after all of these kingdoms have come and gone. There's a big stone that comes and destroys the image. And we know that that is God's kingdom, that's the second coming of Christ. And so it shows us that the king of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. And that is something I'm very much looking forward to. SPEAKER A Jesus used various terms to refer to himself, didn't he? He called himself the Son of God. He called himself the son of man. And another term is used in Matthew, chapter one and verse one about the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Says, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. So here's another term to refer to Jesus. In what sense, Harold? Was Jesus the son of David? SPEAKER C Well, he was from the line of David, certainly. And he's called the king from that line. But let me read colossians one and verse 15, it gives another thought. Here. He is the image of the invisible God. Or he's just like God, the firstborn over all creation. Now, that's an allusion back to psalm 89 and in verse 27 also, I'll make him my first born. Now, this is not how you come in preeminent in chronological order, it's preeminence. Jesus is the firstborn. He has total preeminence. He has all the glory and all the honour. And so we don't talk about a chronological one. He is the firstborn. He is the first of all. SPEAKER A Okay, so it's kind of like Jacob and Esau, isn't it? The firstborn or first in priority. There was not in who was born. SPEAKER C Isaac was called the firstborn, too, but. SPEAKER A He wasn't, in fact. So Jesus has the preeminence is what you're saying here, isn't it? SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER A Let's have another look at the New Testament. Acts, chapter two and verse 30. Acts chapter two. Of course, we're referring here to the day of Pentecost and the sermon of Peter on that occasion. And verse 30 says, therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh, he would raise up the christ to sit on his throne. King David is the one quoted here. And Jesus was the descendant, destined to be the eternal king Daniel. What qualified him to be the everlasting king? SPEAKER B Good question. So if we read on. So in verse 31 and 32, it says, he foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the christ, that his soul was not left in hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. So a king cannot be everlasting if all of a sudden there is an end. So he had to rise from the dead. And that is what qualifies. SPEAKER A Another image of the Old Testament, of course, is Melchizedek, who was both king and priest. Priest and Harold. Jesus is that in both roles, isn't he? SPEAKER C And Jesus was of the order of Melchizedek, priest and king. He's also the sacrifice. Can I read a couple of verses here from hebrews seven? SPEAKER A Oh, I don't think we have time for that. I'm sorry. Yeah, the clock is against us once again. But thank you very much, Harold and Daniel, for your contributions. You know, the gospel of Matthew gives Jesus the name of Emmanuel, or God with us. How can this be? How can he be with you? How can he be with me? Well, Jesus knew what it was to have trials, to battle in prayer, to cry out for justice. And that's how he can be with us, as the perfect king and priest and sacrifice. He can save each of us for eternity. Well, we're glad you joined us today on let God speak. If you're blessed by this programme, tell your friends. Remember, all past programmes plus teacher’s notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. Email us if you wish on [email protected] join us again next time. And until then, God bless. SPEAKER D You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from.