Sermon for HCBC (12 Apr 2020). To listen, click here. Also available on your favorite podcast app.
Introduction
There’s talk today of being at war with a virus or an unseen enemy. This language shocks us because it’s unusual. But in the ancient world, the dangers of life were always pressing in. Barbarian hordes may sweep your village. Another country might lay siege to your city. Plagues might kill off half the population. This is the world of the Bible. The writer of Psalm 18 is David. David has seen much combat. He has fled from enemies and battled enemies, and the LORD has delivered him. He composes this psalm as a response to his victory. This psalm is a declaration that the LORD has vindicated David.
Now what does this have to do with Easter? Let me tell you. In 2 Sam 7, the LORD made a promise to David. It’s a really critical passage. It’s one of those passages that is necessary to understand if you want to make sense of the Bible. It’s a key text. It’s a lengthy passage, but here are the highlights. The LORD says to David:
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers [David’s death], I will raise up your offspring after you … and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
So, the promise is that one of David’s descendants will reign forever. Do you see a problem with that? How can someone reign forever? They can’t. They will lie down with their fathers like David, unless that someone is more than a man, unless that someone has beaten death. Let’s sharpen the promise. The true king will be a descendant of David and he will be king forever.
That means when we read about David and we read the psalms that David wrote, we need to read them through the lens of the promise in 2 Sam 7. David is only a shadow. He’s a type or pattern of the real thing that comes after him. In Psalm 18, then, we have David’s victory song, but ultimately we have the victory song of the real king who will come later. The esteemed commentator on the Psalms, Derek Kidner, wrote, “Every theme in [the psalm] was to gain new depth with Christ.”
Now this isn’t some sort of clever technique to force Jesus into the text. This is exactly how the NT reads the OT. Listen to the first sermon of the Church in Acts 2.
24 God raised [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
The phrase “pangs of death” is the same as the phrase “cords of death” in Ps 18:4, by the way. Then Peter quotes from Ps 16 to validate his point, to say, “Look this psalm is really about Jesus even though David wrote it.” Look at what Peter says in Acts 2:29–31:
29 Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne [Remember 2 Sam 7], 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
Here’s his logic. David wrote about overcoming death. But David is dead. Therefore, he must have been talking about someone else. Christ is alive. Therefore, David was writing about Christ. So, in Ps 18, we have a fitting text for Easter because in David’s victory we are ultimately hearing about Christ’s victory. Let’s look at Ps 18. And in doing so, I want to make four observations. These observations help us to see how the psalm points to Jesus.
1. Jesus did suffer and die.
First, Jesus did suffer and die. Notice vv. 4–5.* Jesus actually faced the horrors of death. He actually did suffer and die. This is crucial because without his death, there is no redemption. How can we be right with a righteous God without a sacrifice? We can’t. This is the problem with moralism. Moralism thinks that a person can justify themselves before God by doing good works. Moralism thinks good people go to heaven. But moralism makes no sense of Jesus’s death. Why did Jesus come and die if good people go to heaven? I emphasize this because we must realize our inability to save ourselves. More on that in later.
Another reason we must not forget that Jesus suffered and died is because without real suffering and death, the resurrection is not astonishing. And if it’s not astonishing, it’s not hopeful or good news. But if Jesus really did die, and he really did rise again, then there’s hope, there’s good news, that we can cling to.
2. Jesus’s resurrection is vindication.
Second, Jesus’s resurrection is vindication. Remember what Peter said in Acts 2:24: God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Jesus’s resurrection is proof that he is more than a man. It’s proof that he’s perfectly righteous. It’s proof that he really is the king to sit on the throne forever. Look at vv. 7–9.* This is intense language to describe God being on the move. Nature is in an uproar. J. A. Motyer wrote that this is “a disturbance of nature so profound that it might almost seem as though creation was being undone.” Yes, death itself is being undone. Remember there are similar signs in nature when Jesus dies. The sky is darkened. But Matthew also reports an earthquake. He’s a bit unclear in his timeliness, but he says, “And the earth shook, and the rocks were split” (Matt 27:51). This may have happened at the crucifixion, but if we read on, it’s also possible it happened at the resurrection. Listen to what he says next, “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many” (Matt 27:52–53). In any case, he definitely includes an earthquake at the resurrection. Matthew 28:2: “And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.”
Here’s the point. The language in the middle of the psalm is a picture of Jesus’s vindication. He was condemned by Israel but exalted by God. He was crucified at the hands of lawless men but raised by God. Do you see? This is confirmation that he is the Savior and the King. And here’s the really astonishing message of the gospel. Because Jesus is vindicated in resurrection, those who are associated with him will be vindicated in resurrection. The way the NT speaks about this is that we will share in his resurrection. This is what it means to be in Christ. What happens to him happens to us. He represents all of us. Just as we all die in Adam, we can live in Christ. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be in Christ, to be associated with him. Consider how Paul makes this point in Rom 6:3–6:
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
When we baptize someone, we are saying this person has died to sin and now they live in Christ. They were crucified with him, and now they live. Paul is addressing stagnant Christians here, and his point is simple: stagnant Christianity doesn’t make sense. It’s illogical. Without belaboring this point, we might just ask two questions: (1) Are you growing in holiness as a response to your union with Christ? (2) Are you endeavoring to walk in faithful obedience to the Lord? Those are evidences that you have died and are alive, and when Christ returns you will be vindicated with him because you will be raised. The question is not: Did you say a prayer? The question is: Are you in Christ?
3. Jesus alone is righteous.
Third, Jesus alone is righteous. Look at vv. 20–24.* Who can say this about ourselves? No one. How can David say it about himself? Well, he can’t really. Remember as good as David is, he’s still a massive failure. If we read the Bible and come away thinking that our righteousness can justify us before God, we are reading it all wrong. Are you banking on your own righteousness before God? Your good works? If God judges you on the basis of your actions and what’s in your heart, what will the verdict be? Guilty. Romans 3: “There is no one who does good. No one is righteous.” Who can say this then? Only Jesus. He’s the only one who can claim perfect righteousness because he’s more than a man. Do you remember Adam? He fails. Then there’s the curses in Gen 3, but in the midst of those curses, there is a promise. Genesis 3:15 promises that a descendant of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Well Adam failed so how could any descendant of the woman win that battle? They couldn’t, unless they are more than a man. Back to Romans once more. Here’s how Paul makes the point in Rom 5:18–19:
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Here is the good news of the gospel. You and I are freely justified before a righteous God not through our rule-keeping, not through our righteousness, but through a righteousness that doesn’t belong to us—a righteousness that is alien, belonging to another, a righteousness that is credited to us. If we hope in our own righteousness, we will find that we like Adam, like Noah, like Moses, like David, will come up short every time. But as 1 John 2 says, “When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He alone can claim that title.
4. Jesus is the true king.
Fourth, Jesus is the true king. Look at vv. 43–50.* This theme of the nations being his inheritance bounces around both the OT and NT. Christ is the true king. And notice v. 50 once more. It has three parallel lines. “Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.” Reading these together, we realize that the king is the same as the anointed, and this anointed king is referred to in the last line as David and his offspring forever. Remember the promise of 2 Sam 7. One of David’s descendants will sit on the throne forever. The psalm is tapping into this thread that runs throughout the Bible, and if we follow the thread, we arrive at the inescapable conclusion: Jesus is the true king, the Davidic descendant who sits on the throne forever.
Implications
What do we do with these four observations? First, look to Jesus. He’s the only one who has overcome. He has overcome sin, Satan, and death. He has overcome sin so that do not need to hope in our own righteousness but his. He has overcome Satan so that we might not be blinded rebels but might become children of the living God. He has overcome death so that we need not fear the consequences of sin. Look to Jesus. He alone is our hope. Watch yourself right now. The last few weeks have been a gift because they expose our idols. Ask yourself: what are you hoping in? The only answer that will keep you from falling is Christ Jesus.
Second, do not be afraid. Because Jesus has overcome, we do not need to fear death or the end of the world. The whole world has woken up to the reality that death is coming. Look at the hysteria and mania. But on Easter we proclaim the central confession of our faith. Christ is alive. The power of death has been disarmed. Christians, we do not need to fear.
Nor, do we need to fear the end of the world as we know it. Certain Christians jump on any bad news as an apparent “sign” of the times. In all their talk, they are showing that they neither understand Scripture nor the history of the world. But that’s not my chief concern. My chief concern is when this language stokes fear in other Christians. Let us entertain the possibility that the world as we know it is about to end. Jesus is about to return. That is the best possible news. There’s a reason one of the earliest Christian prayers was maranatha—Lord, come! The return of the king is incomparably glorious news.
Let me close with three sentences. On Easter, we are not celebrating family or Spring, we are confessing that the King has won the battle. He is victorious. Jesus has conquered sin, Satan, and death, and he is alive.