Let us turn then to God's Word
and the Psalm that we've just read. Psalm 126 and I want to
draw your attention to the last verse. The sixth verse in Psalm
126, He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed.
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves
with him." One of the Psalms or songs of degrees or descents would be another
way in which we could render the word and these Psalms that
begin at the 120th and run through to the 134th are very much associated with
the worship of God in the temple and were psalms that would have
been sung as the men made that journey that was required of
them, the three great feasts that were to be observed by all
the males throughout the year. God's commandment is there in
the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 16 and verse 16 three times in a
year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the
place which he shall choose in the feast of unleavened bread
the Passover in the feast of weeks or Pentecost and in the
feast of tabernacles and they shall not appear before the Lord
empty so from all over the promised land they must make that journey
initially it would be to Shiloh and then subsequently when David
established his capital at Jerusalem and set the tabernacle there
so they would journey to Jerusalem and eventually of course we read
of the building of the temple of the Lord and these are the
Psalms that would have been sung as they made that great pilgrimage
then to worship God on those great festal days. Now We were
in fact looking at the opening words of the 127th Psalm on the
Lord's Day morning, except the Lord build the house, they labour
in vain that build it. And that is a song of degrees
for Solomon or of Solomon. And of course it was Solomon
who was the man raised up to build the temple of the Lord,
although it was in David's heart. And David expresses that in the
132nd Psalm. The Lord remembered David and
all his afflictions. Verse 40 says, I will not give
sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids until I find
out a place for the Lord and habitation for the mighty God
of Jacob. Oh, David would build a permanent
structure to replace that tent, that tabernacle. But it was not
to be David was a man of wars, a man of blood. It was to be
his son Solomon. who was a man of peace who would
have that privilege and we were considering there now that the
opening words there in the 127th Psalm clearly referred to Solomon
as the man who built the temple but recognizes that it must be
of the Lord except the Lord build the house But then also we said
that the previous psalm, which we've read tonight, Psalm 126,
is clearly associated with the restoration of the Jews after
the Babylonian exile. When the Lord turned again, the
captivity of Zion, we were like them, that dream. For 70 years there'd been no
temple worship. The temple had been razed to
the ground. by the Babylonians, and the people
had been removed into captivity, and Jerusalem lay waste. But God had promised that there
would be a restoration, and so it was, and It's interesting
when we consider that these psalms of degrees are a set of psalms
really so clearly there's a relationship between the 127th and the 126th
psalm and so this reference to the building of the house of
the Lord doesn't only speak of that first temple but that temple
that was rebuilt and we read of that of course also there
in the book of Ezra in Ezra chapter 3 and verse 8 we have the detail
of the building the rebuilding of the temple and it was Zerubbabel
who was responsible and Zerubbabel is spoken of in in Zechariah
chapter 4 and verses 9 and 10 and we did refer to those words
in Zechariah, last Lord's Day, the promise that the prophet
gives to this man, Zerubbabel, the prince, who is to be responsible
for the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. the hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house Zechariah 4.9 his hands
shall also finish it and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts
hath sent me on to you says Zechariah for who hath despised the day
of small things for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet
in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven they are the eyes
of the Lord which run to and throw through the whole earth
and so In the words there at the beginning
of the 127th Psalm, we not only to think in terms of Solomon,
but also Zerubbabel. But both of these men were of
course typical characters, types, types of the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon clearly a type of Christ. Solomon David's son, and Christ
David's greater son Solomon, whose very name means peace,
and Christ who is spoken of in Isaiah 9, 6 as the Prince of
Peace. But then also Zerubbabel. The
name Zerubbabel literally means a shoot of Babylon. A shoot of Babylon. and isn't the Lord Jesus Christ
spoken of in that prophecy of Zachariah as the branch, my servant,
the branch. Zerubbabel also is one then who
is typical and we saw then how that really the 127th Psalm is
messianic, it speaks of Christ except the Lord build the house,
they labour in vain that build it. How the Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who declares I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Well those were some of the
things we were considering last Lord's Day morning and I thought
we'd continue in this theme tonight by looking at these words at
the end of the previous psalm, Psalm 126 and verse 6. Now observe here in this last
verse of the psalm that we suddenly have the singular. Previously it is the plural In
verse 5, they. Verse 4, turn again, our captivity. But here, no more the plural,
but now the singular, he. Who is this He? He that goeth
forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Primarily the
person spoken of is the Lord Jesus Christ. And see what we're
told concerning Him. He that goeth forth, he that
goeth forth, the eternal generation of the Son of God. In Micah chapter
5 and verse 2 we read of him who is going forth have been
from of old, from everlasting." He is that one who has eternally
gone forth, eternally begotten of the Father. That one who is
spoken of in Proverbs chapter 8 as the wisdom of God. And what does he say? verse 23
I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the
earth was when there were no depths I was brought forth when
there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains
were settled before the hills was I brought forth Twice then
He declares that He was brought forth, and brought forth from
everlasting, before there was any creation. He is that One
who is eternally brought forth. He that goeth forth. The person being spoken of, I
say, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to the Gospel,
of course, doesn't He declare concerning Himself? In John 16,
28, I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the worlds." And there we have a reference to him being
that one who has come forth eternally in the Godhead, but also in the
fullness of the time has come forth into this world. I came
forth from the Father, he says. And literally, he says, out of
the Father. I came forth out of the Father. He is the eternal Son of God. That one who is eternally begotten
of the Father. And then he says he came into
the worlds. That was the fulfillment, of
course, of the covenant in the fullness of the time. God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. And so again, in the Gospel in
John chapter 8, he says, I proceeded forth and came from God. Well,
this is the one who is being spoken of, He that goeth forth. the great mystery of his coming
into this world. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. He is the eternal son, the eternal
son is not born at the incarnation, he is given, he is the eternal
son of God. but there the child is born.
There God's eternal Son takes to Himself that human nature. He is God manifest in the flesh. And how this is revealed in the
course, of course, of His earthly ministry, how the Jews understand
it. Oh, Peter was a Jew, and Peter
understood it there at Caesarea Philippi. Thou art the Christ,
he says, the Son of the living God. Or this is that promised
one who is God's eternal son. But how those unbelieving Jews
hated and despised him, they sought the more to kill him,
because he not only had broken the Sabbath day, but said that
God was his father, making himself equal with God. Who is the person
being spoken of? It is God's Son. It is Him who has come forth
as the Saviour of sinners. He that goeth forth. And then we see here how that
He came forth to endure sorrows. We read here something of His
work, do we not? He goeth forth and weepeth. And this is how we see Him here
in this world He is that one spoken of as a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. Now we read on occasions of the
Lord weeping. We see him as he makes that final
journey to Jerusalem. It was as he recognized the time
was come And he set his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem. He knew those things that would
befall him there in the city. And as he approaches, he sees
the city of Jerusalem. And we're told there in Luke
19.41, when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over
it. He wept over it. He goes forth
as a man who weeps. He weeps over those sinners. There, of course, we see him
as that one who is rebuking the scribes and the Pharisees in
Matthew's account, the end of Matthew 23. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent
unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would
not. Now, it's interesting to observe
here, that initially he is speaking in the third person, he is speaking
of Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them
that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children
but then at the end he speaks in the second person and ye would
not he says And that is very significant because it is clear
that whilst he is speaking of Jerusalem, at the end of that
verse he now continues to address himself to the scribes and to
the Pharisees. And these are the ones, of course,
who he has been speaking to throughout the chapter. It is a chapter
of fearful woes. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer
ye them that are entering to go in. And again, woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, repeated so many times throughout the
chapter. And here, at the end of this
37th verse, he's addressing these men. Ye would not. Now they opposed
him. And yet, Christ is that one,
of course, who came unto his own, and his own received him
not. But how tender we see Him here. He's a man of sorrows, a man
acquainted with grief. Again, when we read in John chapter
11 of the raising of his friend Lazarus, but how he feels the
situation. The reality of his human nature
is so evident in that chapter. We're told how he groaned in
spirit and was troubled. He sees the mourners, he sees
Mary and Martha and their great grief. And then we have that
short verse, verse 35, Jesus wept. And they were real tears
that the Lord wept. Many times he was troubled. He
is troubled in chapter 12 of John as he begins to contemplate
that that is to befall him at Jerusalem. Now is my soul troubled
and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour
but for this cause came I to this hour. Father glorify thy
name. He knew what he must endure even
the contradiction of sinners against himself. He must bear
the wrath of God against the sins of his people. And so we
see him again in the garden, in an agony. He prays more earnestly,
we're told, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to
the ground. Here is that one, you see, who
comes to accomplish a work that involves great suffering and
many sorrows. and those words that we find
in Hebrews chapter 5 who in the days of his flesh when he had
offered up prayer and supplication with cries and tears was heard
in that he feared though he were a son yet learned the obedience
by the things that he suffered. He is that one who is a suffering
Savior then. He is the eternal Son of God
going forth from eternity But he comes into this world as that
man who is acquainted with sorrows and acquainted with grief. But
then we read of him here, bearing precious seed. He beareth precious
seed. Now, the figure here, of course,
is the same as we have in the the parable of the sower the
sower and his seed and here we have it in the text either goeth
forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him and the Lord tells that
that parable of the sowing of the seed and he speaks of that
seed that is sown in the good soil and he brings forth fruit
thirtyfold sixtyfold a hundredfold It's the same figure that we
have in the psalm and Christ interprets the parable of course
to his disciples and he tells them quite clearly that the seed
is the word of God. Isn't this what he comes bearing,
bearing precious seed in the course of his ministry. We see
him as that one who is the fulfillment of the prophetic office. He is that prophet that descends
from God. He is that great teacher. As
Nicodemus recognized himself as he comes to the Lord in John
chapter 3, no man can do the miracles that thou doest except
God be with him. We know, we know that thou art
a teacher, come from God. And so he says, John 7, 16, my
doctrine or my teaching is not mine, but is that sent me. He comes bearing precious seeds. That association that we see
between him who is the word incarnate and what we have in the Bible,
the word inscripturated. the scriptures and the Lord bear
one tremendous name the written and incarnate word in all things
are the same says Joseph Hart how true he comes bearing precious
seed but the seed here it's an interesting word because it doesn't
just have to do with that seed that is sown in the ground. But
the particular word, the Hebrew word that we have here, is often
used of offspring or protégé. Christ himself, of course, is
called the seed of the woman and is also spoken of as the
seed of Abraham. that great promise, they call
it the Protoevangelium, the first promise in Genesis chapter 3,
the very chapter that records the entrance of sin, the fall
of man, in the very chapter where we have that awful solemn history
of sin, we have the promise the word that's spoken to the serpent
who was the instrument of Satan in tempting the woman God says,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy
seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, thou
shalt bruise his heel. He is the seed of the woman,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is made of a woman the human
nature that he has, he takes from his mother. He is conceived
in a womb by the Holy Ghost, he knows not a man. He is clearly
the seed of the woman, but he is also, of course, subsequently
seen to be the seed of Abraham, of whom Abraham's son Isaac is
another type. Galatians 3.16, Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made, it saith not to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. Paul is quite explicit in declaring
that the seed, the true seed of Abraham is the Lord Jesus
Christ, thy seed which is Christ. But then, Here is the amazing
thing is Christ, the seed of Abraham. Well in Isaiah, the
end of Isaiah 59, we read of seed's seed. The great promise
of the gospel there in the closing verses of Isaiah 59. The Redeemer shall come to Zion.
and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith
the Lord as for me this is my covenant with them saith the
Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my word which I have put
in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the
mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed
saith the Lord from henceforth forever is Christ the seed of
the woman, the seed of Abraham, while Christ has His own seed. All those who are given to Him
in the eternal covenant, they are His seed, are they not? And
He comes forth bearing precious seed. He comes forth for these
very people. Behold I and the children which
God hath given me, He says. These are the ones that He has
come forth to redeem. and its precious seed. That's
what it says here in the text, does it not? He weepeth, he goeth
forth, and weepeth bearing precious seed. Why precious? Because it is bought at a great
price. It is redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spots."
Oh, it's the Lord Jesus Christ that we see then quite clearly.
He is the person that he's being spoken of, the singular pronoun,
He, whereas previously we've had the plural. We've considered
how he comes forth to do a work, and it's a sorrowful work, has
bitter experience that he must endure he weeps but he is bearing
precious seeds and then finally we read here of the sheaves shall
doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him
what does he speak of? he speaks of success he speaks
of success he speaks of the fruit of all the sufferings of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that His sufferings have not been in vain, shall
doubtless," it says. There is that, you see, that
is so sure and so certain. The Lord Jesus Christ has actually
accomplished salvation for His people. Isn't that the truth?
that is revealed to us so clearly here in Scripture, he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. The great
doctrine of Christ's particular redemption, how that atoning
death is limited in the sense that it is for a specific people,
those that were given to him in the eternal covenant, that
precious seat. that He comes forth bearing. These are the ones that He has
suffered and bled and died for. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. And you see the connection with
what follows in the next Psalm, except the Lord build the house.
Thy labour in vain that build it. All Christ says upon this
rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. How He is so sure, so certain
that His success and that He is being spoken of here when
we read of these sheaves. He shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. But is there
not also here a reference to that glorious event that Christ
oft speaks of in the course of his earthly ministry and is taken
up by his apostles, the sure and certain hope of the believer
that the Lord is to come again The second time, without sin,
unto salvation. He is to come in all the glory
that belongs to him now in his mediatorial kingdom. And our
Christians are to encourage themselves at this blessed prospect. And
alas, we make so little of it. Look at the language that we
find here. For example, in chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians, Verse 13, Paul says, But I would
not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain
unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep,
for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with
the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the
dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord and
then this wherefore comfort one another with these words Oh,
what a comfort it is to the child of God, the certainty of that
coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall doubtless, it
says, come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Now, as I say, here we have the
singular in this verse, but in the previous verses, in verse
5, it's the plural, they that sow in. tears shall reap in joy."
Do we sow in tears? Or do we know what it is to sorrow
over our sins? Do we feel sin to be a grievous
thing? Is it that that is our constant
burden and brings tears to our eyes that we should sin against
such a God as this God? Do we sorrow? Are we in any sense,
you'll see, acquainted really with the man of sorrows? Joseph
Hart says in the preface to his hymn book, there can be no communion
between a broken-hearted Saviour and a whole-hearted sinner. or we're not to be whole-hearted
sinners, we're to be broken-hearted sinners. Here is the acceptable
sacrifice. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, says David, a broken and a contrite heart thou wilt
not despise. God help us then to come and
to seek His face with that brokenness of heart, that brokenness of
spirit. and yet to come with confidence as we plead the one
that is spoken of here in our text, even the Lord Jesus Christ,
and plead all that He is and all that He has done, all His
blessed accomplishments, He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
His sheaves with Him. Amen. Well let us, before we
pray, sing God's praise in the hymn 441 and the tune is Whitburn 435
the hymn 441 so fair a face bedewed with tears what beauty in in
grief appears he wept he bled he died for you what more ye
saints could Jesus do 441