The Living Word – May 19, 2022 (139/365)

The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the LORD are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring forever;

the rules of the LORD are true,

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey

and drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalms 19:7-11

Friends, this is for myself just as I believe it is for all of us, especially those of us who belong to the body of Christ – those who have chosen to believe in the love of God, manifested in His only Son, Jesus Christ. It’s easy to look at each of the verses above (the first 5 ones, anyway) as words coming from the Lord that need to be heeded, possibly even verbatim, noted and recorded and shared for all to listen to and to follow.

In light of this, I hope and pray that we also consider, again, what John said in his Gospel, in the first chapter to be precise – that the Word became flesh, and dwelled among us. This is Jesus Christ to me, the Living Word, who is also the Word of Life. And as we consider this, may we also consider the following:

1. That Christ is the law of the Lord, and it is He, therefore, who is perfect, and revives the soul. You know how I enjoy quoting 2 Corinthians 5:21, where it is mentioned that Christ became sin, in order for us to become His righteousness. Friends, He did not take our sin; He BECAME sin, and therefore paid all its wages. He had done as He had said, draining the cup down to its dregs, taking all the death that all sin deserved… But the words in this verse of Psalm 19 interest me, particularly because it had me thinking that Christ, who became sin and died in all aspects of His being that would die because of sin, was even at this point, perfect. His divine nature and glory could not be contained, nor held down by death (and, therefore, sin) forever. Sin and death could not hold Jesus Christ down, so He came back to life, and because He lives so we live as well. Jesus Christ is perfect, and He revives our souls.

2. That Christ is the testimony of the Lord, and it is He, therefore, who is sure, and makes wise the simple. Christ says He is not only the Way, nor is He only the Life, but friends, He has also said in the same verse that He is the Truth. This is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who shares the same glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit, in that they are infinite and eternal, Creators superior over all that is created. I say all this only to share exactly how sure Christ is – He is the Eternal Truth, He is OUR Eternal Truth, from whom we could bound forward and live, without any complications beyond really just trusting our God, who has figured it all out, to be our wisdom for us when the complications of the world render us simple. Jesus Christ is sure, and He makes wise the simple.

3. That Christ is the precepts of the Lord, and it is He, therefore, who is right, and He rejoices our hearts. Indeed, we have reason to celebrate, because sure as Christ has become our sins, so He, in His infinite mercy, has made us His righteousness. We’ve been brought to right standing with no less than the Creator of all things seen and unseen. We’ve been made new creations, totally separate from the sin that once dragged us down in to hell, entropy, and hopelessness. It is for these reasons, at least, that we ought to take heart! For see, no matter what we have gone through, or no matter what we are facing in the coming days, understand that no matter what happens Christ has guaranteed that your right standing with God will never diminish, not by the slightest. This is why we rejoice! Jesus Christ is right, and our hearts rejoice.

4. Christ is the fear of the Lord, and it is He, therefore, who is clean, and He therefore endures forever. So far we’ve been talking about how Christ is perfect, sure, and right. Now, to think that He is clean, and to see how it is linked to endurance, I am reminded of how a gold bar remains to be a gold bar no matter how much mud is flung on it. So’s the case with Christ as well, I believe. It’s sort of how He is perfect, for in His perfection we have witnessed how Death and sin had no hold of Him whatsoever. In this particular case, we would say that He is clean, in that – well, there you go – he has endurance and longsuffering. This means that exhaustion and anxiety may plague Him, but it is, just as sin and death are to Christ – it’s ll secondary to Him. We remain cleansed as Christ Himself was cleansed. Jesus Christ is right, and He endures forever. Finally,

5. Christ is the rules of the Law, and it is He, therefore, that is true and righteous. Considering His supremacy, and how He takes prevalence over anything and everything that the world and all within the finite reality would throw at Him, it is but natural for us to say that He is true. And just as we would say that Christ’s finished work is stronger than anything and everything else in all of creation, so we say that our being righteous is far greater and certainly indomitable compared to what we do and what is done to us.

And friends, here again in yet another set of verses, we see how Christ and His finished work have had their impact of the words of this particular Psalmist, so many years ago. I’m excited to keep reading to Word to see how it all connects to Christ.

Until tomorrow’s post, I pray that you are blessed by God’s best.