Psalm 114: Christ and the Anticipation of Deliverance

Christ and the Anticipation of Deliverance

Psalm 114

Purpose: In this study we shall see two points to be at awe with God with His deliverance.

1. Be at awe with God’s deliverance in the Old Testament (v.1-3)
2. Be at awe with God’s deliverance anticipating Christ (v.4-8)

 

Situating Psalm 114

• The last twenty four hours Jesus sang according to Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26.[1]
• This would have been Psalms 113-118.
• That is because the Jews sang Psalms 113-118 during the Passover.
• Psalms 113-118 was called the “Hallel” Psalms.[2]
• The Jews sang Psalm 113-114 before the Passover meal and afterwards they sang Psalm 115-118.[3]
  These songs would have been the Scriptures that Jesus have thought about as He was the worship leader for the Passover meal that was His Last Supper with His followers before He would be crucified the next day.
• Yet these would minister to Him and therefore also minister to us!

 

Note: This is not an easy Psalm to divide.  Charles Spurgeon said “I did not interrupt the reading of the Psalm by any exposition. It is a perfect whole, and could not well be divided without spoiling it.” [4]

 

Be at awe with God’s deliverance in the Old Testament (1-3)

1. Passage: “When Israel went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 2 Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion. 3 The sea looked and fled; The Jordan turned back.”
2. Proof
   1. The first three verses summarize early history of the Hebrew:
      1. Slavery in Egypt: “When Israel went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,” (1)
         1. “When Israel went forth from Egypt,” this would have been something well known to the Jews: Their time in slavery in Egypt.
         2. “strange language”
            1. According to Dr. Barrick: “This is the only time this particular Hebrew word occurs in the Old Testament. The meaning is “speaking an incomprehensible language.”[5]
            2. Yet also its more than just a foreign language; think of the Egyptians’ whip and lash of the tongues upon the Hebrews as slaves.[6]
         3. No doubt during the time of the Egyptian slavery some of the Hebrews felt that God was small and Pharaoh was bigger; yet God was going to reverse things. Think about how this would have ministered to Jesus the night before He knew He was going to die in the hands of other evil authorities.[7]
      2. The parting of the Red Sea: “The sea looked and fled.” (3a)
         1. With such few words the writer summarized all the working of God to take them to the sea escaping Egypt.[8]
         2. What happened is described in Exodus 14:21: At the Red Sea, the waters parted in the sea forming a path so Israel could cross over on dry land.[9]
      3. A: “The Jordan turned back.” (3b)= What happened is described in Joshua 3:16; 4:23-24: God led Israel across the Jordan River and stopped the waters from flowing so that they could cross on dry land.[10]
      4. God still care for His people: “Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His dominion” (2)
         1. Both names of “Judah” and “Israel” is significant because later there would be two divided kingdom after Solomon (1 Kings 1:35; 4:20). [11]
         2. Yet God still care for His people.
         3. This is also in the middle of verses 1 and 3 about the Hebrew exodus experience but this interruption is showing us the importance of God genuinely caring for His People.
         4. Imagine Jesus reading this and knowing His purpose is to show God’s care for His people and even more that He will be with them forever because of His work on the Cross!
3. Practice
   1. Are you amazed at how God delivered Israel?
   2. In terms of world history this deliverance is not just once, but many times; Assyrian Captivity, Babylonian Captivity, Persian empire (book of Esther), Roman Empire, Hitler’s Third Reich, modern Israel, etc.

 

 

1. Be at awe with God’s deliverance anticipated through Christ (4-8)
   1. Passage: “4 The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs. 5 What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? 6 O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, Before the God of Jacob, 8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.”
   2. Proof
      1. When did this happen? “The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs.” (v.4)
         1. Some commentators thinks this is describing Mount Sinai when God gave the law. But this doesn’t seem to be case since that moment was terrifying while here we see the hills being like a joyful lamb.[12]
         2. Also the verb “skipped” is often associated with joy not horror and fear.[13]
         3. So this is not talking about past when the Psalms was written.
         4. So when did this happen? I think it is talking about when Christ was resurrected and the earthquake that followed: “And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.” (Matthew 28:2) which resulted in Great Joy (Matthew 28:8)!
      2. A question: “What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? 6 O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?” (v.5-6)= Basically why does the earth move in this way?
      3. Before answering the Psalmist gives us a command: “Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water” (v.7)
      4. The answer: The work of God in the future involving Christ: “Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of water.” (v.8)
         1. Seeing the word “rock” should make us think of Christ. Christ is the Rock according to 1 Corinthians 10:4: “and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.”
         2. Seeing the word “flint” should make us think of Christ. Christ is the Rock according to 1 Corinthians 10:4: “and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.”
      5. To understand that we need to see how Christ “fulfilled” this typology!
         1. OT                                                  NT
         2. Enemies control Jews                   Enemies control Jews
         3. Enemies soldiers present              Enemies soldiers present
         4. God has a plan to save them        God has a plan to save them
         5. People complain about God        People complain about God
         6. People were arrogant                   People were arrogant
         7. Water needed                               Water needed
         8. Stone                                            Stone (“Jesus”)
         9. Stone struck                                  Stone struck
         10. Striking was sin                             Striking was sin
         11. Water then came out                    Water and blood came out
         12. What was needed was provided   What was needed was provided
   3. Practice
      1. God delivers people every day in countless ways; yet are you most amazed at His deliverance of us from hell through Jesus Christ?
      2. Do you also see how amazing God is that with various physical deliverance in Israel’s history it is a type pointing us to Jesus?

 

 

 

[1] Phillip Ross, Anthems for A Dying Lamb, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus), 3-4.

[2] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_113.pdf.

[3] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_113.pdf.

[4] Source: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/spe/psalms-114.html.

[5] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_114.pdf.

[6] Phillip Ross, Anthems for A Dying Lamb, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus), 54.

[7] Phillip Ross, Anthems for A Dying Lamb, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus), 54.

[8] Phillip Ross, Anthems for A Dying Lamb, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus), 55.

[9] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_114.pdf.

[10] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_114.pdf.

[11] Source: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_114.pdf.

[12] Phillip Ross, Anthems for A Dying Lamb, (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus), 56.

[13] Source: https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7540.htm

 

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