The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 307

V. 'l'HB LORD JESUS CHRIST, IN THE FAOT OF HIS IN0ARNATION, DECLARED THAT HB BAD COME TO ACOOMPLISB THB UNFULFILLED MEANING OF 0LD 'l'ESTAMENT SACRIFICES. We are not told here that he said this by his Spirit in the fortieth psalm; but that" when he came into the world" he said it. His entrance into our race was itself the great declnration.1 'l'hat act of" emptying himself" spake volumes then, and will do through all time; and thus he put upon the ancient words the sublimest possible siguificancc. VI. IN ACCO~H'L!SHING TYPE AND PROPHECY, JESUS FULFILLED THE WORD OF Goo. His advent to earth was an absolute self-surrender to the Father's will (cf. John iv. 34; vi. 38). He fulfilled the Father's will (1) by revealing the Father; (2) by honouring the Law; (3) by condemning sin; (4) by thus laying a basis for the forgiveness of every penitent. Vl!. ON THE GROUND OF THIS SURRENDER OF HIMSELF, SIN IS PUT AWAY, "He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. ix. 26). The absolute surrender of the will of the Eternal Son to the Eternal Father accomplished, in fact, that which all past sacrifices bad accomplished only in figure. The surrender of that will ensured the fulfilment of all the purposes for which that will was surrendered. "He hath obtained tbe eternal redemption for us" (Heb. ix. 12; see J oho vi. 38-40). VJII. SIN BA'VING BEEN PUT AWAY FOB EVEB, THE ANCIENT SACBIFI0ES BA.VE CEASED FOR EVER. "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second" (Heh. x. 9); "By one offering be hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Any pretended repetition of the Saviour's sacrifice in the Mass is impiety. No repe- tition of it is possible. .All Old Testament sacrifices have ceased; the Old Testament priesthood has ceased, and has never been renewed.1 Note: What now remains for us? Only (1) to accept the one offering of the Son of God as all-sufficient; 3 and (2) to render now the only sacrifice which is possible for us, viz. the loving, the absolute surrender of our will to him who hath loved us, and bath given himself for us, that we may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.-C. Vers. 1-17.-Grace and gratitude. "Hearken to me, ye that follow after right- eousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.'' So said the prophet (Isa. Ii. 1), and it is good for us betimes to follow this counsel. It will not only teach us humility, but bind us more firmly in love and gratitude to God. It is the depth that proves the height. It iR the misery that measures the mercy. It is by the utterncss of the ruin that we realize the completeness of the restoration, It is by contemplating the gloom and horrors of the abyss into which we had sunk through sin, that we can best com- prehend the wonders of the redemption wrought for us through Jesus Christ. The psalmist dwells upon two things, I. WHAT Goo HAD DONE FOB ms SERVANT. "Pit;" "clay.'' These images mark: 1. The greatness of the danger. The pit was "horrible," gloomy and terrible, tbe place of certain destruction if no help came (Gen. xxxvii. 24-27). The clay is called" miry," to indicate that there was no solidity-nothing but a foul, seething mass, where no rest could be found (Jer. xxxviii. 6). 2. The greatness of the deliverance. It was free-in God's time (ver.1); complete (ver. 2); joy-inspiring (ver. 3); morally influential (ver. 4); prophetical, typifying and giving promise of many other" wonderful works" cf God (,·er. 5; cf. Paul, 1 Tim. i. 16). It should also be noticed that the deliverance was wrought out (1) in harmony with eternal righteousness. King Darius was bent on sa,,ing Daniel from the den of lion8, and "laboured till tbe going down of the sun to deliver him;" but in vain. The law was against him. 'l'he decree which be himself had established bound his bands. He could do nothing (Dan. vi. 14-17), But the King of kings is a just God o.nd a Saviour (Isa. xiii. 21; Hom. iii. 25, 26), Also (2) in harmony with =n's/reedom. There is a certain order in the method. Man can do nothing without God, but God will do nothing without man. We are made willing in the day of his power. First there is the cry ; then the bearing; then the lifting up; 1 See Perowne's special note here, 6th edit., p. 350, col. i. 1 Farrar's 'Lives of the Fathers,' voL i. p. 101, lines 2 to 5. • "In thi.B passage we have the theology ae well as lho fa.et of the Atonement" (Bishop Alcxu.nder).  rs. XL, 1-17.J 'rHE BOOK OF PSALMS. 319