June 10 Daily Devotional

Life Everlasting: A Meditation on Psalm Sixteen

Psalm 16

1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Devotional

Those who love God and keep His commandments are not only blessed in this life, but also they have the assurance of the life which is to come. They have a sure and steadfast hope which no trial can take away. If Christ benefited believers in this life only, they would of all men be most miserable. Salvation is only salvation when Christ comes to receive His own. Hence those who believe, earnestly look for the Saviour from Heaven.

Victory Over Death

Whence comes this assurance of the resurrection of the body, and eternal life? This faith rests upon the resurrection of Christ which David, the Psalmist, saw afar off. We know that such was David's hope because the apostles Peter and Paul apply this Psalm to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 2:25-31; 13:35-37). Here is a distinct prophecy that the Messiah would he raised from the grave without experiencing corruption. The apostles argue from the fact that David did return to corruption in the grave like other men that this psalm could not have referred primarily to David, but that it had its proper and highest fulfillment in the resurrection of Christ.

It is then because of Christ's resurrection that the godly in all ages have been enabled to despise death and, with a note of triumph, sing, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"

All men are under the just sentence of death. Hell only is their desert, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. How could David hope for release from death, unless he saw Christ's death and resurrection hy the spirit of prophecy? There is but One who can give life to dying men. David saw Him in faith as we must see Him if we are to be sharers in His resurrection.

Christ, by His death and rising again on tbc third day, purchased immortality for His elect. He was utterly and wholly exempt from corruption in His grave that He might call the redeemed into a fellowship of life. He is not the God of the dead but of the living.

It is true that those who now trust in Christ experience a blessed fellowship. The life of Heaven is theirs now, but (he present glories bestowed upon believers are nothing to be compared with the bliss that shall be. "Beloved, now arc we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (I John 3:2).

(to be continued)