November 4 - Soul Escape
Psalm 124: 6-7 - “Blessed is Yahweh, who has not allowed us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the trap...”
This psalm is one of the 14 “Songs of Ascents”, written after some of the Jewish exiles returned from a temporary stay in Babylon, due to being carried away from the land of Judah because of God’s judgment upon the sinful-majority nation. These Psalms mostly convey a sense of joy in the tempered, but not full, restoration of the nation of Judah. They are the words of “the remnant”, the very small group of faithful followers of Yahweh, who have always existed within the original “nation of Israel”, and even within the world itself. Most of these returning pilgrims were of the second generation of exiles, as most of the first generation would have died after approximately 70 years in servitude and/or exile as described by Jeremiah the prophet (Jeremiah 25:11-12).
Much can be gleaned in this Psalm regarding the ideas of judgment upon God’s people, the concept of “remnant”, and how both carry over into the current spiritual body of Christ, the latter being the logical fulfillment of the concept of God’s people. I want to focus on one aspect, however, and leave the big picture concepts above, for another time. That concept is the will and grace of God. Those people in Jeremiah’s time who were “destined” for the sword, famine, and plague, were all in God’s perfect exaction of his judgment upon them (Jeremiah 24:10). The very poorest of the poor were left in the land of Judah after the destruction of Israel’s temple, to linger in their poverty. Some were taken to Babylon as captives, in order to serve the kings there over time. (Daniel and his three friends were part of this group who actually served in high “government” positions.) It is this latter group who had the “privilege” of returning to the land chosen by God, at the allowance of Cyrus the Persian, who eventually conquered the Babylonians. I denoted the word “privilege” because sometimes God’s favor seems like a privilege to some and not to others. (Cross-reference Psalm 16 to get a gist of why David thought his pleasant fortune was a blessing from God – [hint: it had to do with righteous living].)
For us believers in Christ, let’s look at this Psalm in a spiritual light. Our own sins nailed Jesus on the cross; there was nothing that we could have done to keep that from happening. The waters should have engulfed us (vv. 3-5), as our just punishment. However, Jesus broke the trap for us and allowed us to escape the snare (vv. 6-8), by being ensnared himself (Isaiah 53:4-8). The last verse in Psalm 124 finally sums our only remedy: “Our help is in the name of Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.” Romans 5:6-9 gives us a fuller explanation of our dire straits and of our rescue. “While we were still helpless [a direct reference to Psalm 124:8], Christ died for the ungodly....but God demonstrates his own love toward us - while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Therefore, having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” That is the soul escape that Jesus purchased for us, because we could not accomplish it ourselves.
Have you been set free from that inescapable trap that would cause eternal exile from God?
