Good News from Heaven
“I
will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I
make known Thy faithfulness to all generations” -Psalm
89:1
What
was it which made David so desirous to sing of the mercies of the
Lord? What was it that warmed and emboldened him at all events to
make known Jehovah’s faithfulness from one generation to another?
It was the glorious gospel of the blessed God, seen in the light of
the Spirit and experienced through the influence of grace. Here is
the reason for David’s zeal: “For
I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt
Thou establish in the very heavens” (v.
2). What is this
mercy that is “built
up for ever,” but
the glorious and the gracious scheme, the glorious and the gracious
fabric of our salvation, founded in the eternal purpose of God
carried into execution by the labors and the death of Jesus Christ
and then applied and brought home to the heart by the illuminating
and converting power of the Holy Ghost?
This
is that mercy which is “built
up for ever.” It
was planned from everlasting and will know no ruin nor decay through
the measureless line of eternity itself. Who is the builder of this
fabric? Not man’s free-will; not man’s own righteousness nor
wisdom; not human power nor human skill. Every true believer will
here join with David that it is God and God alone Who builds up the
temple of His church and Who, as the builder of it, is alone entitled
to all the glory.
The elect constitute and form one grand house of mercy; a house erected to display and to perpetuate the riches of the Father’s free grace, of the Son’s atoning mercies and of the Holy Ghost’s effectual agency. This house, contrary to the fate of all terrestrial buildings, will never fall down, nor ever be taken down, as nothing can be added to it, so nothing can be diminished from it. Fire cannot injure it, storms cannot overthrow it, age cannot impair it. It is as immovable as the rock on which it stands, the three-fold rock of God’s indestructible decree, of Christ’s finished redemption and of the Spirit’s never-failing faithfulness.
-preacher Augustus Toplady (author of the hymn, “Rock of Ages”)
The elect constitute and form one grand house of mercy; a house erected to display and to perpetuate the riches of the Father’s free grace, of the Son’s atoning mercies and of the Holy Ghost’s effectual agency. This house, contrary to the fate of all terrestrial buildings, will never fall down, nor ever be taken down, as nothing can be added to it, so nothing can be diminished from it. Fire cannot injure it, storms cannot overthrow it, age cannot impair it. It is as immovable as the rock on which it stands, the three-fold rock of God’s indestructible decree, of Christ’s finished redemption and of the Spirit’s never-failing faithfulness.
-preacher Augustus Toplady (author of the hymn, “Rock of Ages”)
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