Psalm 108:1-5 is another Psalm of David, and this Psalm speaks directly to my heart. It calls all of us to “sing and make music with all our souls and to praise God” (verses 1-2), and four times, David says, “I will,” indicating his own personal conviction to rejoice and praise God (verse 1-3). In this Psalm, David says, “I will awaken the dawn” (verse 2), which means that David had to rise before dawn in order to awaken it. He desires to proclaim his message “among the nations and the peoples” as a testimony of truth to them, “for great is His love – higher than the heavens; His faithfulness reaches to the skies” (verse 4). Truly, God alone is “exalted above the heavens, and His glory is over all the earth” (verse 5). Our God is without counterpart or equal. As Isaiah said, “He is seated on a throne, high and exalted – holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is filled with His glory” (cf., Isaiah 6:1-3). Whether mankind accepts these words or not, nothing could be stated more accurately, more truthfully, or more consistently with reality.
In Isaiah 43:1-44:23, we see God’s glorious promises and His truthful assurances to Israel for its restoration as a nation. He tells Israel, “I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be there with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (verse 2). Whether we believe it or not, God is always with us. God promises to preserve us – His children – through the various trials of this life, and He will see us through all of the struggles of life and death to lead us to His home in eternity. We are “precious and honored in His sight because He loves us” (verse 4). He says, “You are my witnesses” (verse 10) – “No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?” (verse 13). We are safe and secure in Him. In chapter 44, God established His unequalled deity to Israel – “I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me, there is no God” (verse 6). This same God said, “Cyrus is my shepherd; he will accomplish all that I please” (verse 28). “He will say, of Jerusalem and of the temple, ‘Let it be rebuilt’” (verse 28). Indeed, Cyrus knowingly made the statement, but he was simply God's mouthpiece.
In Galatians 3:26-4:40, Paul states that we are “all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (verse 26). A transaction based on our faith in Christ has taken place, and here, Paul explains what it means. If we “belong to Christ, we have clothed ourselves in Him, and we have become Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise of God” (verses 26-29). Our faith relationship in Jesus Christ has transformed us from being outsiders who were once enslaved by the “basic principles of the world” (cf., Colossians 2) to which – in Christ – we died and subsequently were elevated to become “children of God” (cf., 4:1-7). “Baptized in Christ,” we have now become as close to our heavenly Father as our clothes are to us (cf., 3:27). We are His “heirs” by right of promise (verse 29). God has brought us into His family and made us His children. We are no longer subject to the slavery of the law, and we should not turn “back to those miserable principles” (4:9). What a privilege that God has made us His children and brought us into His family!
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