Key OT Teachings

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JOB 19:25-29. This speaks of life and judgment beyond this earthly lifetime. Paul writes about this prophetic word by Job in 1CR 15:20&42, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” And HB 9:27 says “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

JOB 21:7. “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” More generally, the question is why does God allow evil, pain and suffering?

 

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May I remind y'all that my ongoing intent on all threads I started is for folks to feel free to offer constructive feedback, suggestions or corrections.

JOB 24:12. “I have treasured the words of [God’s] mouth more than my daily bread.” This verse foreshadows the teaching of Jesus in MT 4:4: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

There is a mystical union of God’s Spirit or Word and the mind of a man who understands and hungers for God’s words, as implied by JOB 32:8: “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.”

JN 1:14 says that Jesus is God’s Word in human form, and Paul said 1CR 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ. We gain the mind of Christ as we learn “the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation.” (2TM 3:15)

If we do not hunger for God’s Word, then we will die spiritually. God gives each normal human being the gift of reason, so that He can invite us to reason together (IS 1:18), or logical ability so that we can “test everything [and] hold on to the good” (1THS 5:21), or in the words of JOB 34:3, “The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.”

 

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We now come to the Psalms, which contain numerous teachings that seem to be key or relevant for the writers of the NT.

PS 1:1-2. “Blessed or happy is the person whose delight is in the law of the Lord.” To the extent we learn God’s law or Word or truth we can cooperate with God’s Holy Spirit and be happy on earth.

There are two main aspects of this truth.

First “we” implies that no one is an island, so establishing the kingdom of heaven on earth–in a marriage, in a family, in a church, or in any group of people–is a communal project (it takes two to tango or tangle).

Second, the word “cooperate” implies that people have free will, so that although God’s truth is the best way to live, people are free to disbelieve God or to ignore His will, and many do so. Even many of those who attend church learn very little, and so they become confused, divide into denominations and behave in ungodly ways.

 

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PS 2:1-2. “Why do the nations rage against the Lord’s Anointed One [Messiah] or Son [v.7]?” Although this question may have referred to King David, we can see that it is even more relevant today with reference to Jesus. Thus, as we apply the teaching of 1THS 5:21 to test everything and hold on to the good, we must keep in mind the warning of 1JN 4:1-3, which teaches that those who do not acknowledge Jesus as Messiah have the spirit of the antichrist or Satan.

PS 3:8. “From the Lord comes deliverance” or salvation. I find the NT equivalent or counterpart to be 1CR 10:13, “God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” This life is not heaven yet, so godly people will suffer physical pain and natural disasters, but spiritually they will learn the lesson of Paul in PHP 4, “to be content whatever the circumstances” (v.11), accentuating the positive (v.8), rejoicing in the Lord (v.4) and becoming more loving like Him (1:9-11) until the Day of deliverance arrives.

 

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PS 4:4. “In your anger do not sin”. This is quoted by Paul in EPH 4:26. Anger can be righteous, as demonstrated by Jesus when he cleared the temple of the money-changers (MT 21:12-13). The need is to link our angry emotion with rational love immediately, before we say or do something unloving that we will regret and need to confess later, since two wrongs do not make a right.

PS 5:1. Give ear to my words, O Lord, Listen to my cry for help. Briefly, prayer is simply addressing one’s thoughts to God, which is our half of the relationship with Him. We should express our agreement with the perfect will of God, as 1 JN 5:14 says and as Jesus exemplified when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (MT 26:36-46).

In order to pray in accordance with God’s will, we must know God’s Word (JN 15:7). Like bread and butter or romantic love and spiritual marriage, prayer and learning GW go together. The reason for these posts on key teachings in the OT is to help us understand God’s will and become mature believers.

 

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PS 6:1-4. “O Lord, do not discipline me in your wrath, [but rather] save me because of your unfailing love.” Like a parent, sometimes God’s love is expressed by wrath or discipline that is intended to teach us the right way to believe and behave.

Paul noted this in HB 12:5-6, where he quoted PR 3:11-12, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son [or child].”

PS 8:4-6. “What is man?” One answer is that mankind is God’s steward over His creation (per GN 9:7-17). The Bible does not really address the question of mankind’s stewardship in detail, but if we should take care of our bodies because they are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1CR 3:16-17), then we should take care of our world, because pollution of the environment affects the health of our bodies,.

 

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PS 9:10. “You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you“. We can take this as an OT precedent for the teaching of Jesus in MT 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find”. Or in the words of HB 11:6, “Anyone who comes to [God] must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” This is a statement of God’s requirement for salvation (GRS) that is relevant especially for those who never had the opportunity to hear the gospel about Jesus.

PS 10:1. “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” This question arises again in PS 13:1-2 and in 22:1, which says “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” You will recognize that Jesus quoted this Psalm when He was on the cross.
Even the Son of God felt distant from God the Father during His crucifixion, which is why this truth has been called “distanciation” by some theologians. The truth is that we walk by faith, and that God does not normatively or as His “SOP” prove He exists by performing miracles that make faith unnecessary. In fact, we are warned against being deceived by counterfeit miracles of Satan (2THS 2:9) performed by false prophets (MT 24:24).

 

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PS 11:6-7. Different (opposite) ultimate destinies await those who are evil and those who serve God. This passage describes hell by saying “On the wicked [God] will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.” But we find a hint of heaven when it says, “upright men will see [God’s] face.”

A clearer reference to heaven is found a few Psalms later in PS 16:10-11, which says “You will not abandon me to the grave; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Also see PS 17:15.)

We might compare these verses with JN 3:18, which says “Whoever believes in [God’s Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.”

We have already seen this teaching when we discussed DT 30:19, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.”

PS 14:1. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Paul addresses the atheists and antichrists in 1CR 1:20, saying “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” and in verse 25 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom”, and again in verse 27, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”

And again in RM 1:22-23 Paul wrote, “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images”, and we might add: the truth of God for darkness and the love of God for selfishness/I-dolatry.

 

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PS 15:1. “Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?” In other words, who may be saved? The answer is “He whose walk is blameless” (v.2, cf. MT 5:48), but the NT teaches us that all have sinned (RM 3:23) except Jesus (HB 4:15), so we can obtain righteousness only by becoming one with Him by repentance/saving faith (PHP 3:9, RM 3:22-26).

PS 19:1&4. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” What this means is that God has made it possible for those who have not heard the gospel of Jesus to perceive the truth in a way that is sufficient for salvation.

As Paul said in RM 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, so that men are without excuse.” This is because God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”, as Paul says in 1TM 2:4. And this truth is not apart from Christ, who is GW incarnate (JN 1:14), but is a manifestation of the pre-incarnate Word/HS or proto-Gospel. Thus, GRFS for seekers (MT 7:7) may be stated most universally as “faith in God as revealed”, which is illustrated by the Parable of the Talents (MT 25:14-27).

 

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PS 22:6-18. This passage is significant because it apparently prophesies the death of Jesus on the cross.

PS 23. Thankfully, the tragedy expressed in PS 22 is followed by the joy of this Psalm. While we are not likely to be crucified, we know that this life is not heaven yet. We experience numerous trials and temptations; we have problems with relationships and loneliness. May we find comfort like the Psalmist in knowing that the Lord is with us, leading, guiding, providing, protecting, blessing and loving us every moment of every day as we look forward to spending eternity with Him.

PS 26:1&13. The Psalmist claims to have a blameless life, but we know that is not true, because everyone has sinned. What he should mean is that He loves God and tries to live in accordance with God’s truth (v.3).

This leads us to note that there are two types of sin and faith: saving faith in Jesus as Lord and working faith in the moral teachings of Jesus/God or the faith that expresses itself through loving works (GL5:6, JM 2:17).

Similarly, the sin of unbelief in God is the opposite of saving faith, whereas sins (plural) refers to immoral attitudes and actions that believers may commit as they strive toward perfection.

 

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PS 27:1. Since the Lord is our light and salvation, of whom shall we be afraid? The answer is “no one“.

Of course, this teaching refers to our ultimate destiny and does not mean we will experience no problems during our life on earth, such as disease or divorce or persecution or loss of a job or death of a loved one. But as Jesus said in MT 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” And if we love God, we certainly have no reason to fear Him, and He will resurrect our souls to a heavenly life that will be well worth everything we suffer and endure on earth.

Thus, just as there is a type of anger that is righteous, so there is a type of fear that is prudent and will help us to avoid unnecessary risk. As Jesus said in MT 10:16, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

PS 32:3-5. This verse teaches the same thing as 1 JN 1:9, that if we confess our sins to God, He will forgive us and we will be able to have fellowship or a right relationship with Him. We saw the importance of the prayer of confession in connection with PS 5.

PS 33:1-2. It is appropriate for people to praise God with songs and instrumental music. Choirs and music add a very enjoyable element to religious services. While one would not want heavenly existence to consist only of playing a harp for eternity, we can look forward to hearing some great music in heaven, just as beautiful music has blessed this earthly life.

(Maybe I will be able to play guitar by ear and remember the lyrics :^)

 

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PS 34:11. “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Indeed, teaching the younger generation about God is a parent’s primary responsibility. When taught by moral example as well as by loving words, children will not be prone to rebel against their parents and reject faith in God. Jesus taught us to let the little children come to Him (MT 19:14), and Paul instructed parents not to exasperate or embitter their children, but to teach them about the Lord (EPH 6:4).

PS 40:10-11. This speaks of God’s love and truth, which comprise the basis of my personal motto: Love to learn, and learn to love. Love to learn the truth or God’s Word, and learn the truth that we should love others by allowing His Holy Spirit to work through us. This is the recipe for joy and heaven on earth.

PS 47:1. Shout to God with cries of joy! Joy is a main theme in the Psalms, being mentioned in over 50 of them. Paul said in PHP 4:4, Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice! And Jesus said in JN 15:11, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Although Jesus was crucified, Paul was persecuted, and we experience painful trials in this life, our faith remains strong because it provides us great joy, just as the angels promised to the shepherds on the night of our Savior’s birth. So, do let neither man nor devil rob you of your joy in this life as we await the coming joy beyond imagining in the next life.

 

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PS 62:12. “You, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.” This verse raises the question regarding the relationship between faith and works. It is cited in TOP #141: A person reaps what he or she sows. [GL 6:7-10]

This truth (cf. TOP #137 & 139) serves as a warning against what is called “cheap grace” or viewing God’s forgiveness as a license to sin. This TOP is akin to EPH 2:10. Thus, genuine Christians will “do good to all people”, especially to fellow believers.

PS 78:2. “I will open my mouth in parables.” Sometimes people seem not to understand that ultimate or spiritual truth may be communicated using two types of language. It may be stated literally or using historical stories, and it may be conveyed metaphorically or using fictional stories or parables. It is not always obvious which type of story is being used, such as in the Genesis creation stories. Some people seem to think they are historical accounts, but they may be allegorical or like the parables of Jesus.

PS 78:18&56. These verses refer to the Israelites putting God to the test. This is what atheists do, and even Believers would rather not walk by faith, wishing that God would zap evildoers or perform miracles to prove He exists. However, Jesus said we should not put the Lord our God to the test. (MT 4:7)

Instead, the purpose of this life is for God to test humanity and see who qualifies for heaven. This is indicated in PS 81:7 & 95:8-9, which refers to God testing the Israelites in the wilderness even as they tested Him. Paul instructs us in 2CR 13:5 to examine or test ourselves to see if we are saved or in the faith, and in Hebrews he cited the testing in the wilderness as an example of apostasy.

 

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PS 97:10. “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.” (Cf. PR 8:13) Notice that we are to hate evil deeds, but Jesus taught us to love evil-doers or God’s enemies (MT 5:44), because before we accept God as Lord, that is what we all were (RM 5:10). So we have now noted that there is righteous anger, prudent fear and divine hatred.

PS 95:2 & 100:4. These teach that we should be thankful. Indeed, sometimes it is easy to become discouraged when something bad happens, and if we are not careful we can become paranoid, always seeing the glass as half empty and talking ourselves into depression.

The antidote of depression is appreciation, which is why Paul, despite all of the persecution and hardships he endured, taught us to “give thanks in [not for] all circumstances” (1THS 5:18).

PS 103:3. This introduces a topic that can be controversial, when it says the Lord “heals all my diseases.” So what is the truth about “faith healing”?

I believe it is in the same category as the teaching regarding prudent fear. God may work a miracle to save us from an enemy including the enemy of disease, but most of the time God works through human doctors to provide whatever benefits can be given by their knowledge of medicine. So, while we can ask for a miracle, we may also ask God to guide the doctors and to show us how we can be a source of comfort to the sick person.

Remember that a common practice in the Psalms is to say the same thing twice in one verse using different words, so it may be that the diseases referred to are more those personality defects that contribute to our sinfulness. We can see this meaning in PS 107:17&20, “Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities… Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and … He sent forth his word and healed them.”

 

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PS 105:5. This teaches the need to remember what the Lord has done and taught us, and thus it is related to PS 95:2 and 100:4.

2PT 1:12-15 makes this point most emphatically, saying “So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body… and I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.”

Probably, most of us would like to have a photographic memory, so that we could remember everything read and become a genius. However, for most of us, memory is rather short term; if we don’t use something we will lose it. Thus, it is necessary for us to go over the same teachings many times during our lives, so our knowledge will not fade. I think that in heaven we will have permanent memories that will aid our free will in choosing never to repeat the error of rebellion committed by Satan and then Adam & Eve.

PS 107:1. “The Lord is good.” Jesus said that only God is good (MT 19:17). Atheists and others need to realize that if God does not exist, then everyone’s opinion is existentially equal and morality is relative, so that there is no objective rationale for condemning Hitler or anyone else’s behavior.

But because God exists and is almighty, He has the right or power to determine what is right, and He has determined it is right to love the truth and each other. And He has promised to be faithful to this teaching and never change His mind, which is why we praise Him, because if He were to change, then God would be the Devil and earthly existence would be hell.

 

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PS 110:1&4. These verses are important to the writer of Hebrews, who applies them to Messiah in his explanation of how the OT is fulfilled by the NT (in HB 1:13 and 5:6-10). This is why we refer to Jesus as both Messiah/Christ and Lord or God with us, as Paul does in 2CR 4:5, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” The right hand of God refers to the power to act as judge on behalf of God Himself (PS 110:6).

PS 111:10. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” "Fear" means reverence. God wants people to love Him freely because of desire to fellowship with Him in heaven and not to obey Him grudgingly because of coercion or the threat of hell. God loves a cheerful giver and believer (2CR 9:7). Hell is simply the logical consequence of rejecting God’s love, joy and peace that actualizes free will so that we have a moral choice and are not merely robots.

So instead of fearing the Lord, it would be better to say “reverence” for the Lord or appreciating who He is should be the motivation for loving and serving Him by those who are wise. As PS 116:12 asks, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?”

PS 118:24. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” A major theme in Psalms is rejoicing and singing.

These words have been put to music:

This is the day, (this is the day).
That the Lord has made, (that the Lord has made).
We will rejoice, (we will rejoice),
And be glad in it, (and be glad in it).
This is the day that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, (this is the day)
That the Lord has made.