A Brief Explication of the Other Fifty Psalms, Psalm 95
PSAL. XCV.
THis Psalme is applied to Christ by the Apostle, Heb. 3. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Whereof there are two parts. In the first, is an exhortation to worship God in Christ, or Christ God with the Father and holy Spirit, dwelling among them in the Temple, and representing unto them his future incarnation, and the execution of his offices in types and figures. The arguments of pralsing and worshiping of him are five. The first, because he is the rock of our salvation, ver. 1, 2. The second, because of his greatnesse, ver. 3. The third, for his power, ver. 4. The fourth, because he created all things, and us his people, ver. 5, 6. The fifth, because he is our covenanted God and Pastor, ver, 7. In the latter part of the Psalm is another exhortation unto the visible Church, to evidence their obedience of saith, and not to harden their heart in the time of Gods dealing with them by his Word, as their fathers did, who perished in the wildernesse for their provocation, ver. 8, 9, 10, 11.
Ver. 1. O Come let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyfull noise to the Rock of our salvation.
2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving: and make a joyfull noise unto him with Psalmes.
From the first exhortation unto a chearful praising and worshipping of God, manifesting himselfe in Christ to his Church, and unto joyful thanksgiving for salvation offered, and granted to us in him, which is the first reason to move them to the duty; Learn, 1. As the necessity and acceptablenesse of the duty of praising God, and thanksgiving unto him, is very remarkable; so is our unreadinesse unto the duty, and unchearfulnesse in it observable also: for the frequent and pressing exhortations thereunto do intimate so much unto us: O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a noise, let us come before him. 2. Every one, but specially the Lords Ministers, should stirre up their people and others also to this duty, to discharge it not only in secret, but also publickly in their Congregations, and that with chearfulnesse, with heart and voice, whatsoever shall be their private grievances and burdens; Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms. 3. Whatsoever evil or grief do trouble us; there is reason of joy and praise and thanks, when we look to Jesus Christ and his benefits: Make a joyful noise unto the Rock of our salvation. From him is our full deliverance, and upon him lieth our victory over sin, Satan, death, hell, and all enmity, founded as upon a Rock. 4. It is time to come before God for mercy to prevent justice, while yet we are spared; and he is not come to us in judgement; for so the Word in the original giveth ground, signifying coming speedily, and with prevention: Let us speedily come before his presence, or preoccupy his presence. 5. He that cometh to God in Christ, meeteth with his reconciled face; for the coming to the Tabernacle, the Ark and mercy-seat, did signify and promise so much: and therefore it is said, Let us come before his presence, or before his face. 6. Singing of Psalmes should be done as a matter of honouring God, and not as a matter of pleasing our own eares, or the eares of others; Let us come with thanksgiving, or confession and praising, and make a joyfull noise unto him with Psalmes:
Ver. 3. For the LORD is a great God: and a great King above all gods.
Another reason of praising Christ, is his greatnesse and supremacie above all Rulers, and above all imaginable excellency: Whence learn, 1. He that hath a minde to praise God, shall not want matter of praise, as they who come before Princes do; who for want of true grounds of praise in them, do give them flattering words: For the Lord is a great God, for power and preheminency, for strength and continuance. 2. Except we put all things that bear the name of excellency under Gods feet, whethe… they be Angels or Princes, or whatsoever the world maketh their god, we do not give him his due honour: He is a great King above all gods.
Ver. 4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
A third reason of his praise is this, he is strong, sustaining by his power sea and earth, and all things of weight. Whence learn, 1. Whatsoever is most secret and remote from mens power, or from our sight and knowledge, God hath it at his disposing; for he sustaineth it, and maketh it subsist: In his hand are the deep places of the earth. 2. There is nothing of any strength among all the creatures, which hath not its strength borrowed from God: The strength of the hills is his also.
Ver. 5. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel down before the LORD our maker.
A fourth reason of Christs praise is, because he is the Creatour of all things, and to be worshipped of us as our Creatōu… That Christ as God, or God to be incarnate, one with the Father and holy Spirit, is here intended, appeareth by the command given to the worshippers to present themselves in the Temple, and to kneel down toward the place of the A…k before God dwelling between the Cherubims; that is, before Christ, God to be incarnate, Whence learn, 1. All things were made by Christ, whether high or low, Coloss. 1. 16. And it was meet that our Saviour should be no other then he by whom sea and dry land were made, so great is the work which the Mediator hath in hands. The se… is his, and be made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 2. Christ as he is one with the Father and holy Spirit in greatnesse and power, in respect of his Godhead and divine nature: so is he one with the Father and holy Spirit in the capacity of divine honour; O come, let us worship and show down. 3. Religious kneeling is a part of divine worship, whereby we testify our absolute submission unto and highest giving of honour to God in soul and body; and this honour is incommunicable to any creature: Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
Ver, 7. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand: to day if ye will hear his voice.
The fifth reason of Christs praise is, because he is our God, and Pastor of his Church by office of his Mediatorship. Whence learn, 1. God deserveth praise of all the world, but specially of his Church, because of the near relation of Covenant between God and his Church; Let us worship and bow down: for he is our God. 2. The good shepherd of the Church, who layeth down his life for his sheep; the great Doctor and Prophet of the Chuech; the Mediator of the Covenant of grace, and covenanted spouse of the Church, is very God, and was knowne, believed on, and worshipped as very God, before his incarnation: He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture. 3. Christ the Make…, the God, the Mediator and Pastor of the Church, doth not only effectually feed his people by teaching, but also effectually governeth and defendeth his Church by his omnipotent power; We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand: whom his Almighty hand and power governeth and protecteth in all ages.
Ver. 8. Harden not your heart, as in the provocation: and as in the day of temptation in the wildernesse:
9. When your fathers tempted me: proved me, and saw my work.
10. Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do …re in their heart: and they have not knowne my wayes.
In the latter part of the Psalme, which beginneth in the former verse, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart … he giveth another exhortation to his Church visible, to believe and obey the voice of our great Prophet Jesus Christ; as the Apostle, Heb. 3. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. teacheth us to expound it. The main argument to enforce the exhortation is, lest the curse of God should overtake the disobedient, and they should be debarred from heaven and happinesse, as the misbelieving Israelites were secluded from Canaan; and from heaven signified by it: the history may be seen, Exod. 17. Whence learue, 1. The voice of God in the Scriptures, in the Gospel, appointed to be preached by sent Ministers, is the voice of God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy Spirit, one God in three persons: for all who do grant the Scriptures, to be divine, do acknowledge also that the Scriptures are the voice of God the Father; and this Psalme the Apostle, Heb. 3. 7. calleth the saying of the holy Ghost: and in that same place he expoundeth his voice, of whom this place doth speak to be the voice of the Sonne, Jesus Christ; and so the voice of God in the Scriptures, in the Gospel, appointed to be preached by sent messengers, is the voice of God the Father, Son and holy Spirit, as David also doth teach us, 2 Sam. 23. 2, 3. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, there is the person of the holy Spirit: The God of Israel said, there is the ordinary designation of the person of the Father without secluding of the VVord or Spirit: The Rock of Israel spake to me, there is the description of the person of the Son, who is the Builder of the Church, his house, and the foundation whereupon his Church is builded; against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. 2. The visible Catholick Church, which hath the Word of God preached unto them, and are in Covenant with him, is the people of Christs pasture, and sheep of his hand, wherein may be found many such as harden their heart and perish, and so are not all of them elect persons; for, To day if ye will hear his voice, is spoken unto all, to whom the Word of God doth come, and doth bring them in the bond of the Covenant to hear his voice. 3. Of such as are in Covenant with God in Christ, to believe and obey his voice, those only are actually true disciples, who have this property; to love, to believe, and to obey Gods voice, to yield their heart to the Lords Word: To day if ye will hear his voice, is here the probation of their covenanted profession. 4. The present time only is the opportunity of salvation, or embracing of the offer of Gods grace, and testifying of our obedience of saith; we are not sure how long the Word shall remain with us, or we with it: To day if ye will hear his voice. 5. How ignorant, weak, and unable soever a man be by nature, to believe and obey the voice of God, yet seeing God doth offer himselfe by his Word to cure him of all his evils, he cannot endure that a man should wittingly & willingly reject the counsel of the Lord, and resolutely strengthen himself in his natural misbelief and disobedience, for this were to harden his own heart yet more, which here is forbidden: To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart. 6. The example of other mens sinnes should be made use of to make us wise for eschewing the like; as here the history of the peoples murmuring against God and his Ministers, is for this end recorded from Exod. 17. 3, 4. concerning their tentation of God, and provocation of him in the willernesse. 5. It is to good purpose that we look upon the sins of our fore-fathers, and upon Gods judgements on them for their sins, that we may be humbled & m…de watchful against heredita…y sins, so this end is the time told them, When your fathers tempted me, proved me. 8. He that maketh question ei…her of Gods power or good will, after he hath had experience and proof thereof, burieth unthankfully the Lords bounty, and doth draw a great deal deeper in the sin: for this doth aggravate the provocation of God by the carnal Israelites here, that they had often proof what God could do, They saw my works, saith he. 9. The Lord not only marketh mens sins, but also doth reckon how long they continue in them: Fourty yeares long was I grieved. 10. M…sbelieving of God, and not submitting our selves to his government, is a vexing of his Spirit, and a provocation of him to reject the sinner; Fourty yeares long was I grieved with this generation. 11. The errors of the minde are dangerous; but the errors of the heart are yet more dangerous: for the faults of the minde simply considered, are ignorance and error; but the fault of the heart, is a loving of darknes and error: the error of the minde saith, I knew not, I did not understand such a duty; but the error of the heart saith no lesse then, I will not know; I desire not to hear of, I care not for such a duty; I said it is a people that do erre in their heart, and they have not known my wayes: that is, they have not regarded my wayes, have not allowed of them, or loved them; for otherwayes they were not simply ignorant of them; they heard his words, and saw his works. 12. Not to subject our selves to such and such particular hard exercises, difficulties, straits, and sad dispensations, as it pleases God to put us under, is a not knowing and disapproving of the ways of God, which he followeth in dealing with his people, and is no lesse then if we did take upon us to be wiser then he, and to counsel and direct him how to govern the world and our particulars better then he doth; They erre in heart, and have not known my wayes.
Ver. 11. Unto whom I sware in my wrath: that they should not enter into my rest.
To enforce the exhortation, the Lord repeateth the doom pronounced upon such as harden their own hearts, in their unbelief and disob…ience of the voice of God; to wit, that he sware, they should not enter into his rest, that is, they should not enter into the rest of reconciliation and peace with God, which is a part of the believers rest, whereof the Apostle speaketh, commenting on this place, Heb. 4. 3. nor into the rest of Canaan the type of heaven; so they …ied in the wildernesse: nor into the rest of heaven signified by Canaan, so many of them as continued in this sin of hardening their heart against the voice of God. Whence learn, 1. There is a rest of God ordained for Believers, who give up their hearts to the impression of Gods voice, in the obedience of faith; to wit, the rest of justification, reconciliation, and peace with God; the rest of begun sanctification, and ceasing from their own works, and the rest of everlasting refreshment, begun in this life, and perfected in the life to come: for this is the rest which God calleth here his rest: They shall not enter into my rest. 2. A… all sin hath judgement following after it, as the shadow followeth the body: so hardening of the heart against Gods Word in special, hath wrath annexed unto it; To whom I sware in my wrath. 3. Obstinate hardeners of their heart in unbelief and disobedience against Gods Word, are near to the curse; and whosoever do continue to the end, shall be found reprobates justly damned to the eternal torment of restlesseness, against whom God standeth sworne, to condemn them and destroy them: Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest. 4. The most fearful curses and threatnings pronouncel against sinners by God, and the most terrible judgements which have been executed upon disobedient unbelievers of Gods Word, are mercifull and fatherly warnings of Gode children, to eschew such …ns as carefully and really, as they abhorre the punishment inflicted for them; for the Lords making use of his wrath against the misbelieving and disobedient Israelites here doth teach us so much.