HE BROUGHT ME UP ALSO OUT OF AN HORRIBLE PIT, OUT OF THE MIRY CLAY

We are left in no doubt by the New Testament that we are meant to find Christ in this psalm and to appreciate ‘the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all’, Heb. 10. 1-10.

The four principal offerings of the early chapters of Leviticus are found in verse 6 of this psalm. The first word, ‘sacrifice’ relates to the peace offering. The second word, ‘offering’ refers to the meal offering. The third and fourth expressions, ‘burnt offer­ing’ and ‘sin offering’ are self-explanatory.

The Lord knew that God did not desire these sacrifices and offerings for, although they had a ceremonial and instructive value for men, they could not fulfil His will. But He had a perfect knowledge of what would be required to bring pleasure to God. It was all foretold in the scripture and it was all written about Him. Christ delighted in the will of God and was willing to meet its demands even when David wrote the psalm. When the writer to the Hebrews quotes verse 7, he adds the phrase, ‘wherefore coming into the world, he says’, Heb. 10. 5 JND, and so we learn that the desire of Christ remained undiminished over many hundreds of years.

The work of Christ on the cross has enabled God to reveal His righteousness, faithfulness, salvation, and lovingkindness, v. 10. But, the cost to Christ is immeasurable, for it led Him into a horrible pit, where the miry clay pulled Him down into the wrath of God. Yet, even in the midst of sufferings, He ‘waited patiently for the Lord’, v. 1. On the cross, He consid­ered the scriptures that had to be fulfilled until, at last, He cried, ‘finished’. In His death, He fulfilled the law - ‘a bone of him shall not be broken’. He fulfilled the psalms - ‘they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots’. And finally, He set the scene for the fulfilment of prophecy - ‘they shall look on him whom they pierced’, John 19. 24, 36, 37.

No wonder that God’s response to the death of His Son was to set His feet on the rock of resurrection and establish His goings in His ascension to heaven. The man who hung upon a cross now sits on a throne and ‘sings praise unto our God’.