We turn again to God's Word in
the psalm that we read and the psalm that we just sang a part
of in the metrical version in Psalm 102. And reading for our text the words
that we find here at verses 19 and 20. Psalm 102 verses 19 And twenty, for he hath looked
down from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner and to loose
those that are appointed to death. And as we consider these parts
of Holy Scripture, I want to address the subject of the groaning
of the prisoner. for he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary from heaven did the Lord behold the
earth and then we have the purpose of God looking down beholding
to hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed
to death or as the margin says to loose those that are the children
of death the groaning of the prisoner. And as usual I want
to begin by endeavouring to say something with regards to the
historical setting, the context as it were, in which the psalmist
is first moved by the Spirit of God to pen these works. We believe that the psalmist,
we're not told who the psalmist was in that title, but we believe
him to be one of those holy men of God that Peter speaks of,
those holy men who were moved, who were born along by the Spirit
of God. And there must have been a certain
situation in which God was dealing with his servant who caused the
man to write in this particular fashion. And it does seem to
be a prayer associated in some ways with the Restoration. Many of the Psalms are from that
period. I know the greater proportion
of the Psalms are, of course, previous to that. They are the
Psalms of David. But not all of the Psalter was written by
David. There were other men who were
also sweet psalmists. And from what we read previously,
there does seem to be some association here with that period of the
Babylonian exile, where God has visited terrible judgments upon
Jerusalem, upon Judah, and the temple lying in ruins and the
people carried away to Babylon. And we sang it, of course, I
love that particular part of the Metricle Psalms that we sang
and it's here in this 102nd Psalm, verse 13. They shall arise and
have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her, yea, the said
time is come. For thy servants take pleasure
in her stoves and favor the dust thereof. So the heathen shall
fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth thy
glory, when the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his
glory." Oh, this was the great hope of those who were languishing
there in Babylon. And remember, Jeremiah speaks
of these things. Jeremiah, of course, laments
all that had befallen God's ancient people. We know something of
the content that we have there in the book, the lamentations
of Jeremiah out of the cities. It's solitary that was full of
people. How is she become as a widow?
She that was great among the nations and princess among the
provinces. How is she become tributary?
She weepeth sore in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks.
Among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her
friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her
enemies. Judah is gone into captivity
because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth
among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her
persecutors overtook her between the straits. The wives of Zion
do mourn because none come to the solemn feast. all her gates
are desolate, her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and
she is in bitterness." And so it goes on. The Lamentations
of Jeremiah. And as I said, we find something
similar in so many of the Psalms. They seem to be from the same
period of Israel's history. Psalm 79, O God, says the psalmist, a heathen
are come into thine inheritance, thy holy temple have they defiled,
they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. And then again another psalm,
the language that we find in the 74th psalm, very similar
to that that we've just quoted from the 79th psalm there, in
Psalm 74 and verse 3, lift up thy feet, unto the perpetual
desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the
sanctuary. And then again at verse 9, we
see not our signs. There is no more any prophet,
neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God,
how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme
thy name forever? Oh, how terrible it was. Terrible
catastrophe that befell God's ancient people when Jerusalem
was overrun by the heathen. And yet God still had a gracious
purpose to fulfill. And God, of course, would accomplish
all His good will and pleasure. of whom the temple was but a
type, the Lord Jesus Christ must come. There must be a restoration
then. The temple must be rebuilt, or
the people would return out of captivity. And so they did, of
course, in the days of Ezra the scribe, and then subsequently
under Nehemiah, the very walls of Jerusalem were also rebuilt. This is a gracious purpose that
God would fulfill, and even Jeremiah who laments the weeping prophet,
does he not speak of that glorious restoration? Jeremiah chapter
29, now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the
prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which
were carried away captives, and to the priests. and to the prophets,
and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from
Jerusalem to Babylon. And what is this letter? Verse
10, Thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished
at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good work towards
you in causing you to return to this place. For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end." It
is not the end you see. God has thoughts of peace towards
his people. And those people are so prone
at times to misjudge God. We're as guilty as anyone of
that we misjudge God. We misunderstand, we misinterpret
the ways of God. And yet there is an expected
end and it's a good and it's a gracious end. And here the
psalmist pleads the words of the prophet. That's what he's
doing really in this portion that we sang in the metrical
version. They shelterized and have mercy upon Zion for the
time to favor her. Yea, the said time is come."
There is a time. Or there is a time that God himself
has appointed. But then, whilst we take account
of that historic context, the setting as it were, the situation,
the circumstances that lie behind the psalm, Surely, when we come
to contemplate the title of the psalm, we see that this psalm
is personal. It's not just national. It doesn't
just belong to Israel. In a sense, we might say it doesn't
simply belong to God's spiritual Israel, if we think of it in
terms of God coming and favoring the Church in our day, in our
generation, and granting a gracious revival. No. It is spiritual,
this psalm, but it's also very personal. It is a prayer of the
afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaints
before the Lord. And surely those opening words
in the title are the key whereby we can properly unlock what is
being said here. the words of our text. He hath
looked down from the height of his sanctuary from heaven did
the Lord behold the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner
to loose those that are appointed to death. The groaning of the
prisoner then is the subject matter. And I want us first of
all to say or to try to say something with regards to the prisoner
and then secondly to say something concerning his prayer, the subject
matter of his prayer and also the object of his prayer. But
first of all let us say something with regards to the prisoner. Who is this person? I say it's
a personal psalm. We have the singular pronoun
there in the title. The afflicted when he is overwhelmed
and he poured out his compliance. It is that person, it's an individual. Who is this individual? Well,
it's that sinner. And it's that sinner who certainly
believes the awful solemn doctrine of total depravity. What a doctrine
that is! I'm sure we're all familiar with
those five points of the canons of Dort and we often think in
terms of that little mnemonic tulip and the first total depravity
that's where it begins the condition of the sinner unconditional election
electing love of the Father limited atonement the gracious work of
God the Son where He accomplishes salvation, irresistible grace,
the work of the Holy Spirit when He applies that that was purposed
by the Father and that that was accomplished and procured by
the Son, and then last of all the perseverance of the saints. Sinners saved and by the triune
God. But it begins there with that
awful doctrine of total depravity. And we believe it. We believe
it. But why do we believe it? Well,
if we're saved, if we're really saved, we believe it because
we have felt something of it in our souls. We must feel it
in our souls. That awful fact that we are by
nature dead in trespasses and in sins you might have been favoured
to have been born to Christian parents what a blessing to have
a godly father, a godly mother but you know grace does not run
in the bloodline though you're born to gracious parents you
are by nature a child of Adam we're all children of Adam and
we all sin in Adam And we have received from Adam a fallen nature. And we're all therefore those
who are being spoken of here in the text. Those that are appointed
to death. Those who are the children of
death. That's what we are by nature.
What does God say to Adam there in the garden concerning any
disobedience? with regards to that tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die. Adam, if you disobey, there will
be death, dying. Thou shalt die. The very seeds
of physical death, but immediately there is that spiritual death,
that separation, that alienation from God, and we see it subsequently
Clearly now there's a breach, God comes into the garden as
he was wont to commune with the man and the man tries foolishly
to hide himself from the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden. There's no hiding from God. Oh God is that one who is
omnipresent, he's in all places. He's omniscient, he knows all
things. But that's what the sinner does, he tries to hide himself
from God. But there he is now, fallen,
dead in trespasses and sins. And that is the condition in
which we were all born. We were all born in that sad
state, alienated from God, enemies to
God. You know the scriptures, we quote
them so many times, Romans 8-7. the carnal mind, the natural
mind, the mind of the flesh, enmity against God, not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can the... It's impossible. He's born of the flesh, that
that he's born of the flesh is flesh, says the Lord Jesus. The natural man he receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness
to him, neither can he know them, they are spiritually discerned.
Oh, we can trot these words off the end of our tongue quite easily,
but How awful when we feel it. And this is the character in
the Psalm, you see. He's a prisoner. We read of the
groaning of the prisoner. He's a prisoner. He has an awareness
of what he is. The majority of men have no awareness
of what they are. They're truly dead in trespasses
and sins. And the amazing thing is that
when God begins to deal with us We become aware of what we are
by nature. And this is the man that we're
reading of here in the Psalm. Look at what he says at verse
23. He weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days. Isn't this what God does when
He begins to deal with us? When we reflect on the Lord's
ways. When that awakening comes, He weakened my strength. He afflicted
the margins, says, my strength in the way. He arrests us. and we're made to feel something
of what we are. He teaches us. And so we have
to learn the lesson. Verse 3, My days are consumed
like smoke, my bones are burned as an hearth, my heart is smitten
and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread. Again at verse 11, My days are
like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass."
Twice we have this expression then. He confesses that he is
withered like grass. That's the comparison that he
is making. That's the figure that he is
using to describe himself and what he is, and what he's been
made to feel himself, withered like grass. And when I was reading
through this psalm, read these words, my mind then went to the
language of the prophet Isaiah. Remember Isaiah chapter 14, where
the prophet is speaking of the ministry of John the Baptist. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. The voice said, Cry, and
he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. Oh, look what it says, you see.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. Why? Because, because
the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Or when the Lord comes
and deals with us. And John, what is the ministry
of John the Baptist? He's a harbinger. He comes before. He prepares the way. He's the
last of the Old Testament prophets. The greatest of all the Old Testament
prophets. That's John the Baptist. but
he is simply preparing the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ the forerunner of Christ and he must come in a sense and
minister to us and this is the experience of this man whom we
are reading of this prisoner and how he confesses you see
my heart is smitten and withered like grass My days are like a
shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass. He feels
what he is. He feels himself now to be utterly,
completely undone. But what is God's purpose? All
God has a purpose in this. And God's purpose is to save
those that he convinces of their sins. That's what God will do. Psalm
79 verse 11, let the sighing of the prisoner come before the
earth. Oh, the sighing of that prisoner, that poor person who's
now so shut up. God says, I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end, you're languishing in prison. But God has a gracious and in
view, and the end of the thing is better than the beginning
thereof." Well, look again at what Janie Meyer says there in
that remarkable book, The Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse
31. The Lord will not cast off forever,
but though He cause grief, Yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men. He doth not afflict willingly. We're told in the margin the
Hebrew means to afflict from the heart. He doth not afflict from the
heart, nor grieve the children of men. Now, he has a gracious
end in view. This is something of the paradox
of the ways in which the Lord deals with his people. How he
comes to us sometimes and he crosses us. And we can't understand,
he seems to go contrary to us. Oh, but he's a gracious God,
he's a good God. And now, time and again we have
these experiences of the people of God laid down in Scripture. There are so many different characters
we could think of. think of the man Moses that meek
man and what does he say in his prayer in psalm 90 thou turnest
man to destruction and sayeth return ye children of men he
felt that God turned him to utter destruction the end of himself
that's what God brings the sinner to that's the prisoner you see
he cannot free himself he cannot release himself and as was the
case with Moses wasn't that also in many ways the same experience
as David now I'm not saying the experience is always the same
we can't line out a way in which God must deal with us God is
sovereign and he deals with us each of us individually we all
have our own experience we all have our own testimony of God
and the dealings of God with us if we know anything of salvation
but there are there are certain principles that we see time and
again in the experiences of the godly we refer to Moses be in
turn to destruction David Psalm 142 verse 7 he says bring my
soul out of prison that I may praise thy name he wants to praise
God he wants to worship God and yet he feels so shut up he's
in prison What is David experiencing? He's experiencing what he is.
And that's what we come to sometimes, we have to, we feel what we are,
and it's not very nice to feel what we really are. When God
causes us to see ourselves in some measure as He sees us. Bring
my soul out of prison, cries David. We find the same in Heman. Psalm 88 verse 8, he says, I
am shut up. and I cannot come forth. Here
is the poor man. Oh, he's shut up. He's shut into
what he is. He wants to be out. He wants
to be at liberty. He wants to be free. I am shut
up and I cannot come forth. We can't release ourselves. I
remember, well, some years ago now, I read a sermon on that
verse in Psalm 88. A sermon by James Wells. And I suppose when I think back,
it was probably 20 years after I'd first come to know
anything of the Lord, 20 years. And I remember reading that sermon,
and if I remember it right, it has the title, Prisoners of Hope. That was the title Wells gave
to the sermon, Prisoners of Hope. And I read that sermon, and you
know, it came so wonderfully because it opened up to me so
much of my experience and that the Lord had dealt with me. I
think in fact when I first came here back, when was it? I suppose
1996 and coming before the church to relate something of my experience
and I think I actually referred to that particular sermon and
that particular event. It was a long time after I'd
made a profession of faith. when we tell our testimony we
don't just have a testimony of what happened to us 50 years
ago surely we can testify of the Lord dealing with us constantly
and showing us things and opening up to us he's wise in our souls
but that was the experience of him and I am shut up he says
and I cannot come forth and yet well said here is a prisoner
of hope or there's hope for that man he cannot release himself
He's shut up now to the sovereign grace of God. And then the New
Testament, we have Paul. And now Paul writes here in Galatians
3.23, he talks of faith. Before faith came, that is before
saving faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the
faith which would afterward be revealed. There must be something
of being shut up under the law. Not all have the same depth of
experience and the conviction of sin. Some have a greater experience
of conviction of sin than others. John Bunyan, of course, who lead
grace abounding to the chief of sinners, and there are great
depths, but Bunyan had a remarkable ministry to exercise. And so
the Lord dealt with him in a remarkable way. I'm not saying we all have
the same depths. Oh, but we have to know. Some
think of what we are by nature. And Paul, how Paul knew that. The commandment which was ordained
to life, he says, I found to be unto death. All the commandments
is good, holy, just. There's nothing wrong with the
commandment of God. Ah, but the commandment finds
out the sinner. There's the problem. The problem's with the sinner.
And that's the ministration of the Lord, is it not? to shut
up the mouths of men to make them see they have nothing to
plead their guilt and the law condemns them and God you see
has to deal with us in this way we have to know something of
what we read here in the word of God of the experiences of
these men why are these things written? well I trust we can
say they are written for our learning that we through faith, and comfort of the Scriptures,
or is it patience, or endurance I think it is. That's what the
word patience means. Endurance and comfort of the
Scriptures might have hope. Though we refer to several characters
in the Old Testament, the New Testament, that then I just quote
from one hymn writer, Dear John Newton, O could I but believe!
Then all would easy be, I would, but can not, Lord, relieve, My
help must come from Thee, O could I but believe! Lord, I believe,
says the man in the Gospel, Help thou mine unbelief, or the prisoner. this is the character that we
read of here and God looked down from the height of his sanctuary
from heaven did the Lord behold the earth to hear the groaning
of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death oh
what a God it is that we have to deal with friends this is
the purpose why he looks down and beholds the earth he's looking
he's looking for these characters Well, let us, in the second place,
look more particularly at the prayer of the prisoner. The prayer
of the prisoner. The opening words. Hear my prayer,
O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from
me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in
the day when I call. Answer me speedily. Answer me
speedily. And here then in verse 20, to
hear the groaning of the prison, to lose those that are appointed
to death. First of all, to say something with regards
to the subject matter, the content of the prayer. What is the content
of this man's prayer? Now the psalm really is the prayer.
That's what we have in the psalm, that's what the title tells us.
So we have the content before us in these 28 verses that follow
the title. But here in the text we see that
the content of his prayer in a sense is nothing more than
groaning. He's a groaner. In Psalm 79 verse 11 we have
a very similar statement. The sighing of the prisoner.
This is what the prisoner does. Here he is, he's shut in, he's
not at liberty. Imagine this poor man, what does
he do all day long? He sighs, he groans, he's bewailing
his condition. And this is how God deals with
his people. We can think of the experience of the children of
Israel, there in Egypt, back in Exodus, and you know, you
know the situation it's set before us there in the opening chapters
how God is making provision with the birth of Moses but how he
brings his children to that situation where they have to really pray the end of chapter 2 of Exodus
the children of Israel sigh by reason of the bondage and they
cried and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage
and God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob and God looked upon the
children of Israel and God had respect unto them. We read of them in bondage you
see they sighed They cry, they groan, and God hears all this. It says at the end, in the margin,
God had respect unto them, in the margin, and God knew them.
Or God knew all about them, and God remembered His covenant.
Now, as I said at the outset, here in the 102nd Psalm, it's
not the bondage of Egypt. Historically, it seems that it
was captivity. It's Babylon. It's Babylon. It's a very similar situation.
Then it was bondage in Egypt. Now, captivity in Babylon. But then also, remember, the
spiritual significance. As I said, the psalm is so personal,
so individual, it's so spiritual, this psalm. And we would not
do justice to the Word of God if we simply confined it to the
original setting it's a word to us whatever things were written
for time were written for our learning it's for us that God
has given this particular word and you know sometimes when we
come together to worship God I know one of the complaints
people make with regards to Gadsby's hymn book is that there are a
shortage in a sense of of prayers for worship. It's a very experimental
book. I know what people mean. I don't
think it's altogether a just criticism, but people make that
criticism. But we do sometimes sing one
of John Berridge's hymns of worship. We sing the hymn 884, where he
draws a contrast between the spiritual worshipper And that
person who is doing nothing more than worship God in name, there's
nothing real in his worship, he's a formalist. Or worse, he's
a hypocrite. But what is it that Berridge
says of that true worshipper there in the hymn 884? For thee my soul would cry and
send a laboring groan, for thee my heart would sigh and make
a pensive moan. and that's worship, that's how
Berridge understands it in a sense sometimes isn't that how we feel
we're coming to God our worship is so inadequate how can we begin
to worship a God so great as the Lord our God how can we worship
a God who is so good as the Lord our God and we've sinned against
Him and we've had a week of sinning and we come to the Lord's day
and we come to worship Him what can we do? We sigh and we cry
and we groan and David knew it, Lord he says all my desire is
before thee and my groanings are not hid from thee all the creatures that we are
and the God our Creator who is so good and so gracious to us
and what does God do? He makes every provision all
the Spirit itself helpeth our infirmities and maketh intercession
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered," says the Apostle.
Thank God! There is such a ministry as that
of the Holy Ghost. It is the subject matter then,
the content of his prayer. He's a groaner. He's a sire when
he comes to worship. And yet, as I said, the whole
of the psalm is really the subject matter of his praying. And what
is it ultimately that he is seeking? He wants to be released. All
he wants released is prison. He wants freedom from all that
he is as a sinner. And where is it that he will
find that blessed release? Ye shall know the truth, says
the Lord Jesus, and the truth shall make you free. And that's
what we come to hear, is it not? We come to hear the truth of
God's Word. We come to hear that blessed truth of the gospel of
the grace of God. And that's what brings liberty
into our souls. Nothing of ourselves, you see.
It's all the goodness and the grace of God. Ye shall know the
truth, says Christ, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son
therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Oh,
isn't he that one really ultimately is set before us in Scripture?
He is the why, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father, he says, but by me. Oh, the subject matter then of
the prayer of the prisoner. But then the object. Oh, the
object of his prayer. And what is the object of his
prayer? It is surely the Great God of the Covenant. How does the psalm open? Hear
my prayer, O Lord. He addresses the Lord. He addresses
the Great I AM THAT I AM. The Great God of the Covenant. And what a God is this? Verse 27, Thou art the same,
and thy years shall have no end. He is I Am. He is the unchanging
God. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. You see, it's not that we're to look to
our prayers We don't look to anything of ourselves. We're
not to look to our prayers. We're to look to that God who
is the one who has given us prayers and who answers our prayers.
We must look to Him. And what do we see here? Well,
a number of things we see here that God hears. God hears. Verse 20, to hear. He looks down from the height
of His sanctuary He beholds from heaven to hear. He hears us. To hear the groaning
of the prisoner, it says. He hears all our words. But more
than that, more than that, he hears our groans, he hears our
sighs, and he understands, he interprets them. He has given
the Spirit Himself to help us. Oh, He's able, you see, to interpret
everything that we say, even when we come with our poor prayers.
And what does God do? As He hears our words and our
sighs and our cries and our groans, He remembers. Oh, He remembers
His own words. And what are God's words? Oh,
what are God's words? Well, He has said that men ought
always to pray and not to cease. He said that we're to pray without
ceasing. He says to us, take with you words, turn to the Lord.
He has given us the ordinance of prayer, and He will own prayers
and honor prayers. That's His Word. And what is
that Word? Thou hast magnified thy Word
above all thy name. God is always true to His own
Word. He remembers His Word. And He has not only given His
Word, His promise, He has confirmed it by an oath. Remember what
we read concerning Abraham in Hebrews chapter 6, when God gave
promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater, he
swore by himself. Oh, He has magnified His Word
above His name Himself. If His Word fails, He fails.
And He is God no more. And He hears. What do we read at the end of
Micah? Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy
to Abraham, which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days
of old. or God hears our words, our broken
sentences, and He remembers, and remembers His covenant, and
He is faithful and true to His Word. But He doesn't only hear,
He sees. He looked down, it says. He looked
down from the height of His sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold
the earth. He beholds. In other words, He
fixes His eye upon us. All those eyes of the Lord Jesus,
those eyes that are all seeing, flames of fire. He sees into
the very depths of our souls. But He sees us. Now, aren't we
reminded here also of His sovereignty? He looked down It says, from
the heights of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold. Heaven is His throne. Earth is
His footstool. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever He pleased. We read in the 115th Psalm. It's
the sovereignty of God. All the inhabitants of the earth
are accounted as nothing. And He doeth according to His
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
And none can stay His hand or say to Him what doeth there.
Oh, that proud man Nebuchadnezzar who had overrun Jerusalem and
taken the people into exile and destroyed the temple of the Lord.
He has to make that great confession there in Daniel chapter 4. He
has to acknowledge the God of the Hebrews, the Lord God, as
the only living and true God who does always according to
His will. All from that blessed vantage
point of heaven, God sees it all. What do we read of verse 17?
He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise
their prayer. This God who is sovereign, His sovereignty is absolute.
He is the poor destitute sinner. And God regards the prayer of
that man. He doesn't despise prayer. You tell me your prayers
are such poor prayers. Or they're not half as poor as
my prayers. And yet God regards these poor
broken sentences time and time and time again and He hears and
He answers. He hears and He sees and He acts. And how does God act? He acts
in mercy. Verse 13, Thou shalt arise and
have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her, yea, the
said time is come. Oh, He acts in mercy. He is such
a merciful God. Oh, when He passed by, remember,
There, in Exodus 34, Moses is granted that remarkable sight
of God. The Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed the name of the Lord, merciful and gracious. That's the name of the Lord.
He is a merciful God. He is a gracious God. And there
is that blessed purpose when he comes and makes himself known.
and we have it here in the text he looks down from the height
of his sanctuary from heaven the Lord beholds the earth here
is the purpose to hear the groaning of the prisoner ah but ultimately
this is the blessed act to loose to loose those that are appointed
to death the children of death He's the one who loses them.
This is what the Lord Jesus came to do. To vanquish sin. To vanquish Satan. Isn't Satan
that great jailer who will shut us in? He's vanquished. He's a defeated foe. This is
what the Lord has done. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. All that we might know here.
This is the one, you see, the ultimate object of the prayer
of the prisoner he looks to him who is spoken of here again by
that covenant name the end of verse 19 the Lord Jehovah I am
that I am oh God grant that we might find comfort then in this
blessed God who deals with us not according to our sins but
deals with us according to his mercies. Oh, the Lord then bless
his word to us. Amen.