EPC Australia

"Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" (v:7).

That heartfelt cry is our response to what we see and experience in this fallen world! It is the cry of the righteous in every generation.

In this Psalm David is the mouthpiece for Christ's mystical body, the church. The church, in the union and communion with Christ, is waiting like a bride for her Saviour/husband to come out of Zion.

As believers we are part of Christ's waiting-for-the-Lord-from-glory church. The Old Testament saints waited for Him, and he came as promised. Having perfected our salvation in his death and resurrection, he ascended into heaven, promising to come again. We New Testament saints take over the waiting that our Old Testament brethren began. And so the church - in every generation - awaits his return (see also Hebrews 11:39-12, Revelation 5:6-10). As we wait we sing this prayer/song of the waiting bride: "Oh that salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" And in the language of the New Testament scriptures: "He which testifies these things says, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

What leads Christ's waiting church to lift that particular cry to her Lord in heaven? That is described in verses 1-6. As Christ's witnesses we stand amidst the ruination of sin and its misery and malice. We live among total depraved rebels (people who are just like we were and are by nature) who are most assuredly going to meet our God and Saviour when he comes to save us. But they are fools in the true sense of the word, for they deny the undeniable. They say in their hearts: "There is no God" (v:1). They are like blind men standing in the full light of the sun denying the light that surrounds them! What a blinding power sin is! And all the while, "the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God" (v:2). Verse 3 describes what God saw: "They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Those words are reproduced in Romans 3:10-13 - because we need to know that sin has utterly ruined mankind. We are not very sick, and much depraved. We are not in need of God's help. No indeed, God's assesment in these verses is truth. The unsaved person is totally depraved, "dead in trespasses and sin" (Eph. 2:1-5, Col.2:13, John 3:5-6).

That puts the church of Christ (which will not cease calling upon the Lord) right in the firing line. As God continues to look down from heaven, the ignorant workers of iniquity eat up his people as they eat bread (v:4) Though in their heart they know that God is in the generation of the righteous, and great fear haunts their conscience, they will not leave off their hatred (v:5). They mock and ridicule the Lord's poor ones for making the promising Saviour, Jehovah, their refuge (v:6).

Brethren, these lamentable sights and experiences must not overwhelm us. They should drive our hearts heavenward! They are designed to lead us into prayer for our Saviour to come: "Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." They should bounce our minds into the joy that awaits us upon Christ's return!

We are people who can face and experience the black horror of sin and not be overly discouraged. For, every glimpse and glance at it should bounce our believing minds immediately up to our almighty Saviour. He IS. He came to us in his saving grace! And he is coming again in his salvific glory! That lightsome reality brightens even the darkest night in our pilgrimage through this present evil world.

In the strength of that reality we can even continue to stand forth, boldly, as His witnesses to a fallen world. We can continue to bring the knowledge of Him to our dead-in-trespasses-and-sins neighbour. For we know that he can come to him/her as he did to us, by his Word and Spirit, to make them singers of the song with us!

"Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion." Come, Lord Jesus - come quickly!

Lord, never let sin silence your church's glorious song!

Keep coming in your grace - then, come arrayed in all your glory!

Pastor C..

Hebrews 11:39-12:2 (King James Version) 
³⁹And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
⁴⁰God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
¹Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Revelation 5:6-10
⁶And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
⁷And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
⁸And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
⁹And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
¹⁰And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Revelation 22:20
²⁰He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Romans 3:10-13 (King James Version)
¹⁰As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
¹¹There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
¹³Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Ephesians 2
¹And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
²Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
³Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Colossians 2:13
¹³And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
John 3:5-6
⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Psalm 14
¹The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
²The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
³They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
⁵There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
⁶Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
⁷Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.