The Bonds of Death are Burst Apart
6/15 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 20; Psalm 107; Isaiah 47; Revelation 17
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6/15 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 20; Psalm 107; Isaiah 47; Revelation 17
Psalm 107:14
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
SHADOWS
In its historical context, this psalm celebrates the providential deliverances of Israel through the mercy, or steadfast love, of YHVH God. Since everything in the Scriptures testify of Christ (John 5:39), this also foreshadows our deliverances through the saving and sanctifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mr. Spurgeon delivers this truth more eloquently than I when he writes:
“…yet, under cover of this, it mainly magnifies the Lord for spiritual blessings, of which temporal favours are but types and shadows.” —C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David
Our verse today is a particularly blessed meditation, not only because of its foreshadow, but also because of it is a spiritual blessing unto us by the eternal favor it provides. When Jesus hung upon the cross, there was darkness upon the land at noon, staying dark for three hours until Christ’s death. He suffered God’s eternal and infinite wrath for sins He did not commit in the shadow of death. Moreover, Jesus was appointed in the Triune God’s eternal counsel to the bonds of the law and the bonds of death, that we may be brought out of darkness and the shadow of death by the marvelous light of Christ’s death and resurrection. By faith in the Suffering Son’s work upon the cross, Jesus has burst the chains of our bonds apart. We were once captives to sin and death, with the darkness of God’s wrath and the shadow of death upon us, but Jesus liberated us so thoroughly by His death that the chains by which we were held can never be put together. His sufferings, death, and shed blood has forever shattered the iron by which we were clad and cuffed. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
He brought us out of darkness and
He burst our bonds apart
By Christ’s own death and nail-pierc’d hand—
We see Christ’s loving heart.