WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:05.900 Psalm 129, a song of ascents. 00:00:07.060 --> 00:00:10.519 Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:16.420 Let Israel now say, greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:19.820 Yet they have not prevailed against me. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.320 The plowers plowed upon my back. 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:25.580 They made long their furrows. 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:28.580 The Lord is righteous. 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:31.039 He has cut the cords of the wicked. 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:36.899 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:42.659 Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up. 00:00:43.479 --> 00:00:48.159 With which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor the binder of sheaves his arms. 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:52.459 Nor do those who pass by say, the blessing of the Lord be upon you. 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.879 We bless you in the name of the Lord. 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.520 This is God's holy and authoritative word. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:05.299 It says in Proverbs 24, verse 16, 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:09.500 The righteous falls seven times and rises again. 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:13.280 But the wicked stumble in times of calamity. 00:01:13.980 --> 00:01:18.340 And the righteous can rise again, even after many falls, 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:23.480 because his hope is in the judgment of the righteous Lord. 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:25.480 And that's the main point of Psalm 129. 00:01:26.260 --> 00:01:28.760 It's that even when afflicted by the wicked, 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:33.219 we can hope in the judgment of our righteous Lord. 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:37.480 And so in the first four verses, we see the past affliction. 00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:43.020 In the verses five to eight, we see the future judgment. 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:48.060 So first, the psalmist invites God's people to remember their past affliction. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:50.819 And he begins in verses one to three like this. 00:01:50.899 --> 00:01:53.799 Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. 00:01:54.219 --> 00:01:57.759 Let Israel now say, greatly have they afflicted me from my youth. 00:01:57.819 --> 00:01:59.379 Yet they have not prevailed against me. 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:01.500 The plowers plowed upon my back. 00:02:01.659 --> 00:02:02.959 They made long their furrows. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:08.680 I mean, we know just even just from the history that's contained in the Old Testament 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:17.759 that God's people endured much affliction from sojourning in foreign lands to slavery in Egypt, 00:02:18.379 --> 00:02:26.459 from oppression under the Philistines and other nations to exile in Assyria and Babylon. 00:02:26.460 --> 00:02:37.360 And all that is entailed therein, the wars, the deaths, the mourning, the rapes, the imprisonment, 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:42.300 the countless suffering and toil that's contained in all of that. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.939 And figuratively speaking, and from their youth, from of old, 00:02:47.140 --> 00:02:52.700 from really the onset of their history as God's people, 00:02:53.100 --> 00:02:54.920 they've been greatly afflicted. 00:02:56.460 --> 00:03:00.480 And this affliction is described in vivid terms in verse three. 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:00.820 It says, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:03.219 The plowers plowed upon my back. 00:03:03.760 --> 00:03:05.420 They made long their furrows. 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:11.340 Ancient plowers used a plow to break up large lumps of soil 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:14.800 and to remove debris and weeds from the soil, 00:03:14.939 --> 00:03:18.000 all in order to make the soil more suitable for farming. 00:03:18.780 --> 00:03:22.560 And a plow has a triangular tip, an iron tip, 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:29.259 called the plowshare, which is what scrapes and rips up the ground as it goes through the ground. 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:32.920 And so imagine people plowing upon your back. 00:03:33.920 --> 00:03:38.640 And not just for a short stretch, but making long their furrows. 00:03:38.819 --> 00:03:40.280 Furrow is a reference to the long, you know, 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.740 kind of that line that is formed from plowing. 00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:47.780 And it's a graphic metaphor of torment and oppression. 00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:51.879 In English, we have a similar, much milder metaphor. 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:54.260 We talk about people riding someone's back. 00:03:54.480 --> 00:03:55.900 You guys have all heard it, I'm sure. 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:58.400 When you say someone's riding on your back, 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:00.540 that means you're saying that they're harassing you. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:02.000 They're upbraiding you. 00:04:02.040 --> 00:04:03.780 They're just criticizing you constantly. 00:04:03.939 --> 00:04:05.080 They're riding on your back. 00:04:05.080 --> 00:04:06.960 And then so in response, sometimes people say, 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:07.980 hey, get off my back. 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:09.740 They stop criticizing me. 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:13.080 Stop, you know, harassing me. 00:04:13.920 --> 00:04:17.040 And plowing upon someone's back is a similar expression, 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:19.319 except it's much more severe and violent. 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:22.639 Like the plow upturning the ground, 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:26.439 God's people were overthrown and oppressed time and time again. 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.639 And yet, they maintain in verse 2, 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:33.040 that their enemies have not prevailed against them. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.220 And verse 4 tells us the reason why. 00:04:36.760 --> 00:04:38.420 The Lord is righteous. 00:04:39.080 --> 00:04:40.640 He has cut the cords of the wicked. 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.860 The cords of slavery, the cords of oppression, 00:04:44.140 --> 00:04:47.200 the cords by which the wicked bound and controlled God's people, 00:04:47.700 --> 00:04:49.660 the righteous Lord has cut them. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:52.480 And so remembering that deliverance, 00:04:52.580 --> 00:04:55.020 God's deliverance time and time again throughout their history 00:04:55.020 --> 00:04:57.980 is what assures the psalmist and assures God's people 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:00.700 to proclaim their trust in Him 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:03.920 in His future judgment in verses 5 to 8. 00:05:04.659 --> 00:05:06.000 And He says in verses 5 to 8, 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.300 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward. 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:12.220 Let them be like the grass on the housetops, 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.000 which withers before it grows up, 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:16.879 with which the reaper does not fill his hand, 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:18.620 nor the binder of sheaves his arms, 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:20.620 nor do those who pass by say, 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:22.660 The blessing of the Lord be upon you. 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.699 We bless you in the name of the Lord. 00:05:25.699 --> 00:05:31.680 This is not just a vindictive, you know, personal vendetta. 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:35.159 Rather, it's a call for divine justice 00:05:35.159 --> 00:05:38.920 because the only way God's people get justice, 00:05:39.219 --> 00:05:40.939 the only way God's people get relief 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:43.480 is when the wicked are judged, 00:05:43.819 --> 00:05:46.180 when justice comes to them. 00:05:47.319 --> 00:05:52.480 And so here, the image of the harvest and farming is reversed. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:54.920 Right? Earlier in the first stanza, 00:05:55.700 --> 00:05:58.480 they were using God's people like ground, 00:05:58.600 --> 00:05:59.939 plowing up on their backs, 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:03.300 enriching themselves through the pain and toil 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:04.860 and oppression of God's people. 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:08.020 But here, they're described as these, 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:10.040 you know, this futile harvest. 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:16.000 And He says they will be like grass on housetops. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:19.279 So basically, it's referring to little kind of grass 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:21.939 that grow on these crevices on rooftops. 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:24.240 And they wither really quickly, 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:26.759 especially in arid climates like Israel, 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:30.519 because there's not enough soil to take root in. 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:34.120 It's the exact same scenario as in the Paragel of the Sower, 00:06:34.379 --> 00:06:36.220 the seeds that fall upon the rocks 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:38.040 and can only have shallow roots, right? 00:06:38.579 --> 00:06:40.779 And so they wither before it grows up. 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.959 And of course, the reaper is not going to fill his hand 00:06:43.959 --> 00:06:46.560 with that kind of dried up grass from the roof, 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:48.859 nor the binder of sheaves fill his arms with those. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:51.939 And nor will people passing by that harvest say, 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:53.620 the blessing of the Lord be upon you. 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.579 No, rather, it's clear that God's judgment is upon them. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:06:58.919 And that's what the psalmist is calling for, 00:06:58.979 --> 00:07:01.319 that that will be the fate of the wicked. 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:08.680 And that's really the death and life and deliverance 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:12.079 that this psalm speaks of is encapsulated 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:14.159 in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:17.600 And that's really the story of every Christian, right? 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:22.180 Because 2 Corinthians 4, verses 8 to 11 says this, 00:07:22.740 --> 00:07:25.959 we are afflicted, the same word, right? 00:07:25.959 --> 00:07:30.399 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, 00:07:31.459 --> 00:07:33.759 perplexed, but not driven to despair, 00:07:34.539 --> 00:07:36.519 persecuted, but not forsaken, 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:39.060 struck down, but not destroyed, 00:07:39.859 --> 00:07:42.819 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus 00:07:42.819 --> 00:07:46.979 so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:50.899 For we who live are always being given over to death 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:52.079 for Jesus' sake, 00:07:52.479 --> 00:07:55.359 so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested. 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:57.359 In our mortal flesh. 00:07:58.419 --> 00:07:59.719 And Paul's writing here, I mean, 00:07:59.739 --> 00:08:03.039 Paul has himself suffered much affliction, right? 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:05.799 Imprisonment, you know, being shipwrecked, 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.779 being stoned, and being left for dead, right? 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:09.719 And all these things. 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:11.539 And he's saying that through these sufferings, 00:08:11.659 --> 00:08:13.179 the gospel is still going forward. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:15.279 Through his affliction, 00:08:15.779 --> 00:08:18.039 God is still being glorified in his life. 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:19.839 And his faith is, 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:23.019 he's first persevering in faith and obedience through them. 00:08:23.019 --> 00:08:24.819 And it is through death, 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:26.319 that through his death, 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:29.139 in really following after a pattern of Christ's death, 00:08:29.599 --> 00:08:33.299 that the life and the glory and the power of God is made manifest. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:37.159 And that's the same story for us as Christians, 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:41.980 even though we face affliction, 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:44.799 torment by evildoers, 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:46.779 people who sin against us, 00:08:47.439 --> 00:08:51.699 people who taunt us, 00:08:52.379 --> 00:08:53.939 people who persecute us. 00:08:55.439 --> 00:08:58.439 And though we experience all of this, 00:08:58.539 --> 00:08:59.879 we have hope, 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:06.179 because we believe in the judgment of the righteous Lord. 00:09:06.679 --> 00:09:08.120 He will come again, 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:10.559 and he will bring justice. 00:09:11.259 --> 00:09:12.399 And because of that, 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:14.439 we can endure through suffering, 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:15.740 in hope, 00:09:16.059 --> 00:09:19.600 and let Christ's life be manifested, 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.659 even after our death, 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:23.559 even after our suffering, 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:26.179 even after the affliction that we endure. 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.479 Maybe this is really relevant for some of you. 00:09:33.579 --> 00:09:36.059 Maybe this is not so relevant for some of you, 00:09:36.099 --> 00:09:36.759 but it will be. 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:38.079 The time will come when it will be, 00:09:38.199 --> 00:09:41.659 and I pray that we'll be able to remember this message.