(About His Redemption)
Psalm 114
Most of us imagine there have at all times been paramedics to hurry to our aspect in emergencies, however that’s probably not true. After I was rising up in Elizabethton, Tennessee, the primary Rescue Squad was being fashioned in our neighborhood. Some males acquired collectively and determined the city wanted a speedy response squad. They used an previous surplus military truck from World Conflict II as an ambulance; and when that truck wrecked, the captain of the Rescue Squad used his personal station wagon, outfitted with a rollaway mattress.
Considered one of my earliest reminiscences is my mom being loaded onto some type of early rescue squad car or ambulance to be taken to the hospital. I used to be terrified and hid behind a boxwood. I feel she had a painful drawback together with her again, however I didn’t recall that incident till after she handed away in previous age and so we by no means talked about it.
In world phrases, the function of paramedics began within the Nineteen Sixties with a health care provider in Eire. He had accomplished analysis on coronary heart assault victims and located that males who died from coronary heart assaults normally did so inside one hour of the assault. So he started placing medical doctors on ambulance crews to deal with victims of coronary heart assaults extra rapidly. The groups have been referred to as “Flying Squads.”
The thought unfold to America, however many American cities have been so massive there weren’t sufficient medical doctors for ride-alongs. So in 1967, the Miami hearth division started to show medical abilities to firefighters. These medically educated firefighters grew to become the primary paramedics in the US. However even in 1971, after I was a sophomore in school, there have been solely twelve paramedic models in the US.
Are you aware what modified it? The NBC tv community started a weekly drama referred to as Emergency about two paramedics assigned to the Los Angeles Fireplace Division. That present went by means of 122 episodes. This confirmed folks throughout America what paramedics may do, what these sorts of rescues would appear like. As we speak this present is honored with a show within the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of American Historical past for the way in which it helped pioneer the unfold of paramedics throughout America.
Typically after we need assistance, we want it very badly and really rapidly. We all know we’re in mortal hazard and we want somebody who is aware of greater than we do, who can do greater than we are able to do, and who can keep calm and picked up whereas they assist us.
The Bible calls this a rescuer, a deliverer, a redeemer, a Savior. That is on the coronary heart of the Biblical story. Redemption is if you find yourself saved, if you find yourself rescued. The phrase “redemption” conveys the concept of being recovered, being launched, being delivered. It conveys the concept of an emergency, throughout which we want somebody to avoid wasting us.
We see this illustrated many occasions in Scripture, however there are two nice events that merely grip us with their drama. The primary occurred close to the start of the Previous Testomony and set the tone for all the Previous Testomony story. The opposite occurred close to the start of the New Testomony and set the tone for all the New Testomony story.
1. Previous Testomony Redemption
The primary is the Exodus of Israel from slavery in Egypt. That story is advised in narrative type within the ebook of Exodus, however it’s celebrated musically in Psalm 114. That is the passage we’re coming to at the moment, the second in a sequence of Psalms referred to as the Hallel Songs. Let’s learn it.
Scripture—Psalm 114:
When Israel went forth from Egypt,
The home of Jacob from a folks of unusual language,
2 Judah grew to become His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.
3 The sea regarded and fled; The Jordan turned again.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs.
5 What ails you, O sea, that you just flee? O Jordan, that you just flip again?
6 O mountains, that you just skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, earlier than the Lord, Earlier than the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock right into a pool of water, The flint right into a fountain of water.
Overview
It is a essential psalm or hymn as a result of, as I stated, it’s the second in a sequence of psalms we name the Egyptian Hallel.
The phrase Hallel means Reward, and this specific assortment of Psalms known as the Egyptian Hallel as a result of right here in Psalm 114, the tune celebrates how God redeemed Israel from bondage in Egypt.
These songs, Psalm 113 by means of 118, have been sung on the main Jewish festivals across the temple. They have been additionally sung by households in the course of the annual Passover meal. In keeping with the Gospels, Jesus and His disciples sang collectively within the Higher Room on the final evening of His pure life. They have been celebrating the Passover Supper, and they might have sung this tune.
Psalm 113 and 114 have been sung earlier than the meal, and I merely can not think about what Jesus thought or how He felt as He sang these two songs. As we noticed final week, Psalm 113 focuses on the Incarnation. The transcendent, everlasting, almighty God whose identify is praised from the rising of the solar to the place the place it units, humbled Himself to interact with humanity and carry up the needy and provides them exalted locations of blessings. It’s a tune concerning the incarnation—God turning into human—the God-Man—the Messiah.
And why did He come? He got here to do for us one thing akin to what He had accomplished for Israel 1400 years earlier than—to redeem us from slavery and bondage and demise. Psalm 114 is about His work for us. Psalm 113 focuses on the Incarnation, and Psalm 114 on Redemption.
The factor to note in Psalm 114 is its parallelism. In different phrases, each single thought on this Psalm is said after which repeated. It is a type of Hebrew poetry. There are eight verses, and every verse accommodates a fact that’s said after which repeated poetically.
Verse 1: The Lord Introduced His Individuals Out of Slavery
Have a look at verse 1:
When Israel went forth from Egypt,
The home of Jacob from a folks of unusual language…
Each Jewish man, girl, and baby would know that is probably the most unbelievable second within the historical past of Israel. Within the ebook of Genesis, God selected one couple—Abraham and Sarah—to be the channel by means of which He would rescue the world from sin. A few generations later, their descendants—a gaggle of about seventy folks—went all the way down to Egypt to seek out grain and meals throughout a time of regional famine. They settled within the land of Goshen, which was the japanese aspect of the River Nile. There they lived and multiplied for a number of centuries till the King of Egypt considered them as a menace and enslaved them—a complete nation introduced underneath bondage.
Then within the ebook of Exodus, the second ebook of the Bible, God despatched Moses to ship His folks from Egyptian slavery and convey them into the land God had at all times meant for them—the Promised Land.
Moses went to Pharaoh and stated, “Let my folks go!” When Pharaoh refused, God despatched a sequence of ten disasters throughout the land. The Nile River turned to blood, there have been supernatural infestations of frogs, lice, and flies. The livestock died within the barns and fields. Individuals broke out with pores and skin ulcers. A locust invasion swept over the land, after which a deep darkness came to visit Egypt and even on the noontime hour it was as black as sin. Lastly, the Lord despatched the demise angel to kill the firstborn in each household.
Solely the Hebrews have been spared, and that closing plague required a particular ceremony among the many Jews. Each Jewish household was to take an harmless, helpless lamb, kill it and drain its blood, and paint their doorposts with the blood of the lamb. Then they have been to roast the lamb and serve it for supper. The Lord stated, “After I see the blood I’ll go over you” (Exodus 12:13). By the point the solar rose within the japanese sky, Pharaoh had given up. He was a crushed man, and he launched the slaves they usually started leaving Egypt—households and clans and tribes, all fleeing so rapidly they didn’t have time for the bread to rise.
That total story is advised in Exodus 1 by means of 12, however it’s summed up right here in a single verse: When Israel went forth from Egypt, The home of Jacob from a folks of unusual language…
Verse 2: The Lord Dwelled Amongst His Individuals
What occurred subsequent? The folks began a mass migration in contrast to something recognized to historical past. Chapter 13 says, “By day the Lord went forward of them in a pillar of cloud to information them on their means and by evening in a pillar of fireside to provide them mild, so they might journey by day or evening. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fireside by evening left its place in entrance of the folks” (Exodus 13:21-22).
The Jewish scholar Alfred Edersheim says this was “the Shechinah, or seen Presence, which afterwards rested upon the Most Holy Place.”
Almighty God got here and dwelled amongst His folks. This manifestation of God’s presence was generally referred to as the “Angel of the Lord,” and most conservative Bible students imagine this was the Second Individual of the Trinity, the pre-incarnate Christ. However right here is Psalm 114, it’s merely summed up in a single verse:
2 Judah grew to become His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion.
Most of us know the phrase “sanctuary,” however what does it imply? The Hebrew time period merely means “a holy place.” Judah, representing the twelve tribes, grew to become the dwelling place for the holy God. The phrase dominion means the realm over which one guidelines.
After I was in school, the Jesus Motion produced a brand new type of music for the church, and one of many songs was by Ralph Carmichael. It talked about how huge and highly effective God is, how He flung the celebs into area and the way he guidelines over land and sea. However, requested the tune, “What to me?” Then the important thing strains stated:
Until by religion I met Him nose to nose,
And I felt the surprise of His grace,
Then I knew that He was greater than only a
God who didn’t care,
Who lived a means on the market….
Now He walks beside me day-to-day,
Ever watching o’er me lest I stray,
Serving to me to seek out the slender means,
He’s all the things to me.
This was the Exodus expertise. God redeemed His folks, after which He joined them on their journeys.
Verse 3: The Lord Parted the Pink Sea and the Jordan River
What occurred subsequent? Pharaoh modified his thoughts and determined to ship his armies to annihilate the escaping multitudes. The Israelites grew to become trapped by the Pink Sea, they usually have been in a hopeless scenario. Then God advised Moses to stretch out his hand over the ocean, and a sequence of uncanny phenomena unfolded with miraculous drama. The pillar of sunshine and darkness moved over the youngsters of Israel and positioned Himself between them and the Egyptians. Then the wind picked up and commenced tugging on the waters of the Pink Sea. The waves rose as much as the North and the South, and have become mighty mountains of liquid, and a dry pathway fashioned by means of the ocean like a valley of escape. It was all lit up like a soccer subject all by means of that never-to-be forgotten evening because the Israelites handed by means of the ocean with a towering wall of water to their proper and to their left.
Forty years later, one thing related occurred on the Jordan River, which was rampaging at flood stage. The waters parted, and the God of Israel who had led the Israelites out of Egypt now led them into the Promised Land. I’ve written about each these tales in The Pink Sea Guidelines and the Jordan River Guidelines. These have been twin miracles, paralleling indicators, and all the story of the Exodus is bookended with parting waters.
All of that is summed up in Psalm 114:3: The sea regarded and fled; the Jordan turned again.
Verse 4: The Lord Gave Israel the Holy Land
Then what occurred? God led Israel into the hills and mountains and valleys of the land He had ready for them, the hills of Judea, the mountains of Samaria, the foothills of Galilee. All the land—the Promised Land, Beulah Land—grew to become alive.
Verse 4 places this poetically: The mountains skipped like rams, the hills, like lambs. At any time when the Jews are within the Promised Land, Israel prospers like a backyard. When the Jews will not be within the Promised Land, it languishes like a wasteland. It’s generally stated that the land of Israel and the Jewish persons are like physique and soul. When the Jews will not be in Israel, the land is lifeless. When they’re, the land thrives.
So the primary half of Psalm 114 is a poetic retelling of the Exodus from the Plagues of Egypt to the Conquest of the land.
Verses 5-8: The World Ought to Tremble Earlier than God
The final half of the Psalms, the final 4 verses, all result in one nice implication. Have a look at them. Verses 5 and 6 are rhetorical questions: What ails you, O sea, that you just flee? O Jordan, that you just flip again? O mountains, that you just skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
In different phrases, why did all of creation cheer when God redeemed Israel? The reply isn’t given, however it’s apparent. As a result of the Creator of the Earth—the Maker of the seas and rivers and mountains and hills—was unleashing His energy. And what ought to modern-day Pharaohs do? What needs to be the response of individuals on the earth? They need to tremble and concern and revere the God of redemption. The tune ends: Tremble, O earth, earlier than the Lord,
Earlier than the God of Jacob, who turned the rock right into a pool of water, the flint right into a fountain of water.
2. New Testomony Redemption
That was the tune Jesus and His disciples sang earlier than they started their Passover meal, the identical meal that had been served in Jewish properties for 1400 years, because the unique Passover. And nothing may have been extra applicable, as a result of Jesus was about to unleash the Exodus another time—not only for Israel however for all of the world. Jesus fulfilled the Exodus story.
David Murray wrote, “The exodus was not solely crucial redemptive occasion within the Previous Testomony; it additionally supplied the redemptive language and ideas for numerous prophetic predictions. This led Israel to anticipate one thing just like the exodus redemption, although increased and higher, sooner or later.”
He’s the One who introduced His folks, together with you and me out of slavery. He dwells amongst us. He parted the waters for us. He introduced us out in order that He may convey us in. He leads us into His Promised Land of everlasting and ample life.
I took the freedom of rewriting Psalm 114 from a New Testomony vantage level. Right here is the way in which we would interpret it by means of the prism of the Gospel.
Whenever you and I went forth from Devil’s bondage,
The followers of Jesus Christ from an evil world,
We grew to become His sanctuary; the church, His dominion.
We crossed the Pink Sea of His blood and the river of His redemption.
We felt as if the mountains have been shaking and the hills have been singing.
Why did the Pink Sea of His blood free us? What brought about the river of redemption to welcome us?
Why are the mountains shaking and the hills dancing?
The entire world needs to be shaking earlier than the Lord, earlier than our redeeming God,
As a result of He has happy our thirst and given us infinite rivers of dwelling water.
Lately I listened to Jim Boone inform his story of redemption. He stated he enrolled at North Carolina State College in Raleigh, however his actual focus was browsing and going to events. Sooner or later close to the top of his senior 12 months of faculty, he got here throughout some males—members of the Gideons Worldwide—on the sidewalk gifting away New Testaments. He took one and put it in his backpack. As quickly as faculty was out, Jim traveled from North Carolina to California to affix the browsing tradition. He met two lifeguards who advised him they have been taking place to Mexico to surf, and Jim went with them. They stayed there a few months, browsing and having enjoyable. Sooner or later Jim went out into the surf along with his digital camera to take photos of his buddies browsing. When he was about 200 yards from shore, his buddy paddled as much as him and shouted: “Get out of the water. We’re swimming in a college of feeding sharks.” He frantically tried to swim to shore, however he was terrified and, he later stated, two ideas got here to him. First, I’m about to die. Second, I’m not going to heaven!
Jim did make it to shore, and he determined to return to North Carolina as a result of he knew a browsing pal there who may inform him tips on how to turn into a Christian. He boarded a bus in Mexico, however at two within the morning it was stopped by Mexican troopers. They boarded the bus, pulled Jim off, and pointed their machine weapons at him. For the second time inside a number of days, Jim thought he was going to die. The boys began going by means of Jim’s backpack, in search of medicine. Considered one of them pulled out the New Testomony he had positioned there at the start of the summer season.
“What’s this?” they requested.
“My Bible,” Jim stated.
The officer regarded on the Bible, smiled, put his pistol again in his holster, waved the boys away, and escorted Jim again onto the bus. Not lengthy afterward, Jim arrived again in North Carolina, discovered his pal, and requested him tips on how to be saved. His buddy advised him tips on how to have a private relationship with God. Jim didn’t obtain Christ proper then, so his pal prompt he learn the ebook of Romans. Jim learn by means of the ebook of Romans.
Jim went again to his dad and mom’ home and browse Romans. He got here to chapter 6, which says: “Don’t you already know that while you provide yourselves to somebody as obedient slaves, you’re slaves of the one you obey—whether or not you’re slaves to sin, which results in demise, or to obedience, which results in righteousness? However thanks be to God that, although you was slaves to sin, you could have come to obey out of your coronary heart the sample of educating that has now claimed your allegiance. You will have been let loose from sin and have turn into slaves to righteousness” (Verses 16-18).
Jim learn by means of the remainder of Romans and went on to 1 and a pair of Corinthians. Then he got here to Galatians and to chapter 4, the place he learn, “However when the set time had totally come, God despatched his Son, born of a girl, born underneath the legislation to redeem these underneath the legislation, that we would obtain adoption to sonship. Since you are his sons, God despatched the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you’re now not a slave, however God’s baby; and since you’re his baby, God has made you additionally an inheritor” (Galatians 4:4-7).
Lastly he got here to Ephesians 2, and he learn these phrases: “As for you, you have been lifeless in your transgressions and sins, through which you used to dwell while you adopted the methods of this world and of the ruler of the dominion of the air, the spirit who’s now at work in those that are disobedient. All of us additionally lived amongst them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its wishes and ideas. Like the remainder, we have been by nature deserving of wrath. However due to his nice love for us, God, who’s wealthy in mercy, made us alive with Christ even after we have been lifeless in transgressions—it’s by grace you could have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him within the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, so that within the coming ages he may present the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it’s by grace you could have been saved, by means of religion—and this isn’t from yourselves, it’s the present of God— 9not by works, in order that nobody can boast” (Ephesians 2:1-9).
At that second, Jim stated, “It was as if the Lord Jesus Himself stood in my bed room.” He sank all the way down to his knees and prayed, “Lord, I’m so sorry. I by no means realized. Will you save me?” When he stood again to his ft, he knew he was a modified man. Quickly he led his girlfriend to Christ. They usually went on to ascertain a Christian residence and to be staff for the King of Kings.
God took a younger man who thought the best factor in life was browsing and going to events, and He redeemed Him from a lifetime of slavery to sin and demise.
Conclusion
Have you ever ever thought concerning the parallels between Moses and Jesus? In Deuteronomy 18, Moses stated that within the final days God would elevate up “a prophet like me” from among the many Israelites, whom the folks have been to obey (Deuteronomy 18:15). Later generations understood that Moses was predicting the Messiah, who could be, in some methods, a prophet like him. How, then, did Moses prefigure Jesus?
- In Acts 7:20, Stephen stated, “At the moment Moses was born, and he was no abnormal baby.” Properly, neither was Jesus.
- Moses was the son of a Hebrew peasant lady. So was Jesus.
- The child Moses was positioned in a basket; the infant Jesus was positioned in a manger.
- The ruling king tried to kill child Moses. The identical factor occurred to child Jesus.
- Moses left a lifetime of royalty to redeem God’s folks. So did Jesus.
- The Israelites rejected Moses. In the identical means, Jesus got here unto His personal, and His personal obtained Him not (John 1:11).
- The voice of God spoke from Heaven affirming Moses’ management. The voice of the Father spoke from Heaven affirming Jesus’ sonship.
- Moses carried out miracles. So did Jesus.
- Moses was a shepherd. So was Jesus.
- Moses was an ideal instructor. So was Jesus.
- In keeping with 1 Corinthians 10:2, Israel was baptized into Moses within the cloud and the ocean. And all of us are all baptized into Christ by His demise and resurrection.
- Moses fasted forty days on Mount Sinai. Jesus fasted forty days on the Mount of Temptation.
- Moses got here out of Egypt; and the Bible says of Jesus: “Out of Egypt I’ve referred to as my Son.”
- Moses parted the Pink Sea. Jesus stilled the storms of Galilee.
- Moses fed the multitudes within the wilderness. Jesus fed the multitudes in Galilee.
- Moses gave folks bread that got here down from Heaven. Jesus stated He was the bread that got here down from Heaven.
- Moses gave folks water to drink from a rock. The Bible says that rock represented Christ, who provides us dwelling water (1 Corinthians 10:4).
- Moses met with God on the mountain and His face glowed with the glory of God. Jesus was enveloped in a cloud of glory on the Mount of Transfiguration and His face glowed just like the solar.
- Moses select twelve spies to spy out the land; Jesus selected twelve disciples to alter the world.
- Moses appointed seventy elders who led Israel. Jesus appointed seventy disciples to unfold the Gospel.
- Moses led his folks out of the bondage of slavery; Jesus leads us out of the bondage of sin.
- Moses mediated the Previous Covenant; Jesus mediated the New Covenant.
- Jesus stated, “Simply as Moses lifted up the snake within the wilderness, so the Son of Man have to be lifted up” (John 3:14).
- Moses died outdoors the promised land. Jesus died outdoors Jerusalem.
- Moses made a exceptional look after his demise on the Mount of Transfiguration; Jesus was seen many occasions, and on one event by as much as 500 folks, after His resurrection.
The prologue of John says, “For the legislation was given by means of Moses; grace and fact got here by means of Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
Jesus stated, “For those who believed Moses, you’ll imagine me, for He wrote about me” (John 5:46).
The Guide of Colossians says that these Previous Testomony occasions have been “a shadow of issues to come back; the truth, nevertheless, is present in Christ.”
Revelation 15:3 tells us that in Heaven we’ll sing the tune of Moses and of the Lamb, saying, “Nice and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Simply and true are your methods, King of the nations.
Hebrews 3 says: “Due to this fact, holy brothers and sisters, who share within the heavenly calling, repair your ideas on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and excessive priest. He was devoted to the one who appointed him, simply as Moses was devoted in all God’s home. Jesus has been discovered worthy of better honor than Moses, simply because the builder of a home has better honor than the home itself. For each home is constructed by somebody, however God is the builder of all the things. “Moses was devoted as a servant in all God’s home,” bearing witness to what could be spoken by God sooner or later. However Christ is devoted because the Son over God’s home. And we’re his home, if certainly we maintain firmly to our confidence and the hope through which we glory” (verses 1-6).
How superb that when Jesus gathered with His disciples within the Higher Room on the evening earlier than His crucifixion, with the roasted Passover Lamb sitting in the midst of the desk, they might sing this tune—Psalm 114—the tune of the redeemed!
It was no accident, not a coincidence. It was the plan of God to impress upon you and me how a lot we want redemption, greater than the rest on this planet. We want One who is larger than Moses. We want Jesus, the Lamb of God, who saves us by grace by means of religion, who brings us out to convey us in, and who makes us tremble—not with concern, however with pleasure—at His superb grace.
