Psalm 16 Continued…
Psalms 16:8-11 I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
We can know what it is to be guarded by God: I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. In the old days when people fought with swords, a soldier defending another would naturally stand on his right. David could see the Lord standing on his right to defend him from his foes. That is something the unsaved man does not have.
Because he is at my right hand implies that he is kept safe and protected from falling by God’s ever-present help. God is seen as his advocate and defender (Psalm 73:23; 109:31; 110:5; 121:5; 1 John 2:2; Acts 2:33; 5:31). With the Lord as his guide and guard, he had nothing to fear: I shall not be moved or deterred from my duty to God, or from the attainment of that glory and happiness which is prepared for me. The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord.
The godly man can know in this life what it is to be in the favor of God. Even if there was no life to come, it would be worth being a believer just to have the peace, the rest, the joy God gives here and now to his own. But there is more to it than this life. Just think of the prospects of the godly man. To delight in the Lord and his goodness and then to lose all these blessings at death would be a great tragedy.
As we approach the end of the psalm, it rises to the mood of radiant joy. There is joy in David’s heart, a feeling of excitement in his soul, and a sense of restful security in his physical being as he ceases speaking about God and pours out his soul to Him.
In the final verses the psalm takes a giant step into the unknown—into that which cannot be known by human reasoning but only by divine revelation. David speaks of things that transcend reason. He puts his finger unerringly on a truth which had to await New Testament revelation to be properly grasped: the truth of Resurrection (v. 10).
Old Testament believers did not have much light on the subject of death. They knew that Hades claimed the soul and that the grave claimed the body. David believed that neither the triumph of the tomb over his flesh, nor the hold of Hades over his soul, was final. Why? Because he had been such a godly man? Because he had accumulated enough merit to ensure his deliverance from death. No indeed!
His faith leaps forward again, this time to Christ. As great a saint as David was, he certainly was not God’s “Holy One,” the ideal Israelite. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sanctified and sent into the world, can claim that title “the Holy One of God.” The wages of sin was death, but Jesus was sinless so death and hades had no power over Him. His body lay for three days and nights in Joseph’s tomb, but corruption and decay could not touch Him. Then:
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes:
He arose a Victor from the dark domain.
And He lives forever with His saints to reign.
There it is! David, with the eye of faith, with keen unerring vision, was able to see the truth of resurrection. He would live beyond the grave because of what the Holy One would do when He would bear away in triumph the very gates of death.
He is in God’s hands and he is glad to be there; God counts him as one of his loyal ones. God will not give him up to Sheol, the land of the dead, but on the contrary will show him the path which leads to life, and quite concretely, which will eventually lead him to the Temple where the Lord dwells.
PRAY
Father we thank You for Your great plan of salvation for us through His life, death and resurrection, paving the way for us to have new life with You. All praise to You for Your Great love for humanity. Thank You for giving us a Lord, a Conqueror, Victor, Redeemer, Deliverer and a Friend in Jesus Christ our Lord.