seated. I had mentioned this morning that there was no one else I'd rather be here for this weekend than Richard Barcelos. The other one would be Dr. Renahan.
I don't know him or I haven't known him as long or in the same sort of a relationship, but in the early 2000s, and you'll have to forgive me for the dates, the early 2000s were not a fun time in our church or in our life. I'm looking at Leslie as she's smiling brightly at me. We've come a long way. But in the early 2000s, I had a friend, and he lived in Washington, and it must have been Tacoma or Kirkland.
He said, oh, we should go hear this Dr. Renahan preach. I said, sure. So it was Hebrews 11, or no, Hebrews 10.
You point out the triad, faith, hope, and love. I don't know if you remember this time. But the thing that struck me was I knew he was a seminary professor, I knew he was a very intelligent academic, but he could preach. That's what first enamored me with Jim Renahan, is that he wasn't a stuffy old professor that didn't have any fire.
He has both light and heat. And so he preached, and that was a great encouragement to me, because I think the word of God is to be preached. But then I also had the privilege, and probably I'd say 2004, 2005, he taught symbolics at the church in Tacoma, and I was able to attend that. If you look at my copy of the confession, I have all your outlines in there.
So Rich gave me that. I still have the same confession of faith that Rich gave me way back in 1990, but it took meeting Jim Renahan to flesh it out, fill it out. And I've been indebted to your work and to your help to the churches all this time. So brother, it's a privilege to have you with us.
So please come and preach. Well, that was very kind. Thank you, Jim, for those words. I bring you greetings from Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas.
I was asked to do that. It is wonderful to be with you. What a great couple of days we've had, and we can thank God for that. Would you turn in your Bibles, please, to Psalm 88.
Psalm 88. And I want to preach from this text this evening. Psalm 88. Listen to the word of God.
A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah, to the chief musician, set to Mahalath-Leanoth, a contemplation of Heman the Ezraite. O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. I'm counted with those who go down to the pit, I'm like a man who has no strength, adrift from the dead like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, and who are cut off from your hands.
You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me and you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah. You have put away my acquaintances far from me.
You've made me an abomination to them. I am shut up and I cannot get out. My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon you, I've stretched out my hands to you.
Will you work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise you? Selah. Shall your lovingkindness be declared in the grave or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
Shall your wonders be known in the dark and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But to you I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before you. Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?
I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth. I suffer your terrors. I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over me.
Your terrors have cut me off. They came around me all day long like water. They engulfed me altogether. Loved one and friend, you have put far from me and my acquaintances into darkness.
Let's pray.
Opening Prayer
Oh God, we ask you, by your grace, through the power of your Spirit, to allow us now to hear the voice of our Savior. Guide us into the truth and help us as we wrestle with this psalm to understand it and apply it to our lives. We ask humbly in Jesus' name, amen.
Introduction
Darkness. Often it's an ominous word. Children are frightened when parents send them to bed in a shadowy room. Accidents happen when light is obscured.
Crimes are committed under the cover of darkness. As the calendar moves toward winter, nights are longer, and when clouds hide the moon, the result makes our world seem even dimmer. In October, our society takes advantage of the threatening nature of darkness to undergird the haunting scenes of the season. I don't know if you have what we have in Texas, but we have these Halloween lawn displays.
And I've noticed that they look silly during the day, even though at night they look ghoulish. There's one in our neighborhood, it's actually an electric chair with a skeleton in it, and it buzzes all through the evening. It is ghoulish. But during the day, it looks really silly.
In scripture, darkness often bodes trouble or evil. The first creative act described in Genesis 1 records that God said, let there be light. since darkness was over the face of the deep. Hebrews 12.18, referring to the deep gloom at Sinai, says that the darkness there was so profound it could be felt. The absence of light has great spiritual significance.
Isaiah likens it to prison, two times in his prophecy. Do you remember the story of Job? In the account of his profound troubles, the idea of darkness appears 35 times. In the disasters of his life, he metaphorically encountered darkness.
Paul tells us that we are to take no part in the works of darkness. He calls our spiritual enemies the powers of darkness, and he asks the question, what communion has light with darkness? And our Lord Jesus, as he approaches his crucifixion, says, this is the hour of the power of darkness. You'll remember that during that horrible event, darkness reigned for three hours, from noon until 3 p.m., hours that are normally the brightest of the day.
Well, here in Psalm 88, Haman the Ezraite describes his own experience using this word. In fact, in the original, and in most English translations, the last word that we hear or read is the word darkness. The psalm begins with God, but it ends with this disturbing word. It's not immediately uplifting, but rather turns our thoughts to unresolved gloom and anguish.
I was paying attention as I read the psalm to the emotional temperature in the room, and I could see even in your countenance as the psalm was read, a sense of difficulty facing the words that were being read. I could see it on your faces. Let's be honest. This is an emotionally charged psalm.
To read it any other way misses its power and undermines its usefulness. When you consult the commentaries, there's universal agreement that the 88th psalm is the most sorrowful of all the songs in the book. It is the honest cry of a disheartened saint in the midst of melancholy and misery and pain. Now, someone might ask the question, why are you preaching on it?
Well, the answer ought to be obvious. It's inspired scripture. Speaking of the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul says this, whatever things were written before were written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. And so my desire for you today is that Psalm 88 will assist your endurance and encourage you to have hope.
Several commentators point out that this 3,000-year-old inspired poem has been the means of aiding God's people for millennia. I pray that that might be true today. Now, we might think of the Psalter in a couple of different ways. If an artist were to paint various Psalms in different colors according to their themes, we would find a wide variety of shades on the canvases.
Psalms 1 and 23 might be predominantly green, as they portray streams of water running through green pastures. Psalms 2 and 45 and 110 would be golden and purple, for they describe Messianic royalty. Psalms 22 and 69 and other crucifixion psalms might be crimson, reminding us of the death of the Son of God. But the most common color tone used in the psalms would be blue, since at least in our culture, blue reflects the realities of lament.
Did you know that there are more Psalms of lament among the 150 than of any other kind? They outnumber all the rest. There is more sorrow and complaint in the Psalms than there is joy. And these many Psalms of lamentation would be blue.
And among them, Psalm 88 would be the deepest possible hue of midnight blue. It would be only one shade away from black. Since the psalms are intended to be sung, we might conjecture about appropriate tunes for them. Some comforting psalms, such as 23 or 91 and 92, could have pleasant melodies and harmonies to support their encouraging words.
The royal psalms might incorporate fanfares. The final five psalms, 146 through 150, should reflect the jubilant and triumphant scene portrayed in Revelation 4 and 5 when our Lord Jesus is welcomed to the eternal throne. These would be written in a major key with all the beauty and resolution of that kind of music. But once again, the largest segment of the psalms, the laments, should be different.
The appropriate musical setting for most of them would be a dominant minor key, and perhaps a slow tempo with melancholic and evocative arrangements, making them beautiful in themselves, but contemplative. Have you ever noticed in our hymnal, I'm glad that you sing the amens, but have you ever noticed that when a tune is written in a minor key, it almost always is resolved into a major key in the final amen? And this is a musical way of saying, there is hope even when there is sadness. If this principle were to be applied to the Psalms, many would be set to a minor key, moving to a major key at the end.
But Psalm 88 is different. Not only would it be written in a minor key, but its musical setting would be discordant and perhaps even harsh. And it would not naturally resolve into a major key, rather it would leave us waiting for something else, some musical element to bring us out of the depths. Because you see, Psalm 88 is a cry from the depths.
Heman the Ezraite writes from the lowest place. He wants us to think about that. Now, probably you're familiar with famous medieval European castles. the ancient dwellings of powerful kings and princes and dukes. These great buildings are surrounded by high walls and battlements, sometimes by moats, and may only be accessed by drawbridges.
The castle was a place of power and authority, and its size and strength reflected the high rank in society that was held by its lord. We know that many of these castles had dungeons. dark underground rooms where enemies or criminals might be placed for punishment. It's not unusual to watch a movie set in a medieval fortress and see a scene that's filmed in a dungeon. But did you know that often the dungeon was not the most horrible place in the castle for an out of favor person to be abandoned?
There was another site, much worse than any dungeon could possibly be. Usually at the lowest point of the deepest dungeon, there would be a metal grate in the floor. It might look to us like a drain or a sewer cover, but it was not. It had hinges on one side and a great locking mechanism on the opposite side, and it marked the spot of what was called an oubliette.
Now Nubliet was a small chamber, often no wider than the space of a human body. Think about your body, that's its size, while you are standing at about eight or 10 feet deep. Being at the foundation of the castle, all manner of runoff would come through the grate and puddle at the bottom. It would have been a disgusting, terrible, unsanitary place.
And into this tiny, deep, dark space, someone would be dropped, and most frequently, left to die. No light, no room to move, no escape. The name for this lowest and worst prison is French, oubliette. It comes from the verb oublier, which means to forget.
And it describes the hopeless situation of anyone who was placed there. No food, no water, no human companionship, no rest. The prisoner was forgotten, left to die alone and deprived of all comfort. And the only thing that the prisoner could do while in the jubilee was cry out for mercy.
Would anyone hear? Would anyone respond? Help! over and over, so long as there was life and breath. Help!
Have mercy! Save me! You see, in many ways, Heman the Ezraite describes his life in these terms. We don't find him in a physical oubliette in the lowest place of a dungeon, but his language very much describes this kind of experience.
Think about the words that we have read. I am counted with those who go down to the pit. You've laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. I am shut up.
I cannot get out. Heman is in God's oubliette. That's where we find him. Now what are we to make of this?
How shall we understand and apply his experience? That's our task this evening. So
Background: Psalm and Psalmist
first I want to look at what we know about the Psalm, and what we know about Heman the Ezraite, because these things will help us to enter into Psalm 88. There are several clues that are given to us. We begin by thinking about the place of
Psalm 88 in the Psalter's Structure
Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms, and we need to look at the information that's provided in the superscription as well. So Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms. The 150 Psalms in this collection have not been placed together randomly. They're not arranged by authorship, they're not arranged by chronology, but rather they're placed into five books.
You've seen that as you've read your Bibles. And these five books speak primarily about David and his kingdom. The first book, Psalms 1-41, largely, though not exclusively, tell us about David's life and experiences before coming to the throne. Book 2, Psalms 42-72, contemplate the kingdom at its high point, culminating in Solomon's psalm of praise.
But the third book, Psalm 73-89, turns in a different direction, for it speaks of the failure of the Davidic kingship because of the sins of the kings and the people. It sends the book of Psalms in a new direction. The fourth book, Psalm 90, begins with the Psalm of Moses, the man of God, and runs through 106. Those Psalms turn the reader away from earthly kings to contemplate the only true and righteous king for God's people, the Lord himself.
And then the final book, Psalms 107 through 150, leads the reader to praise the God of heaven and earth in all of his glory. Our psalm is in the third book. Palmer Robertson gave this third book the title, Devastation. for it honestly depicts the trouble that came from the heavy, chastening hand of God. In some cases, it reveals the sins of believers.
In others, the sins of the nation. In fact, Psalm 89 ends that way. But it honestly portrays the consequences of putting one's trust in human princes. This, next to the last Psalm, Psalm 88, carries forward this theme.
Life in this world is hard, even for those who know and love the Lord. They must endure God's chastisements, and sometimes they do so for reasons beyond our understanding. It shouldn't surprise us that this is the lowest point in the entire Psalter, because from here, one can only look up and go up.
The Superscription and Heman
Take a look at the superscription of the psalm. It gives us some help. By the way, the superscription of the psalm ought always to be read when the psalm is read. The New Testament authors quote it, they view it as if it is inspired scripture.
In the Hebrew text, the superscription is the first verse. They need to be recognized as part of the psalm itself. So don't read by it, read it and contemplate it. Sometimes it might be as simple as a Psalm of David. but in our case it gives us more information.
A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah to the chief musician set to Mehalath-Leonath, a contemplation of Heman the Ezraite. Let's think about each of these portions. The first section of the superscription, a song, a psalm to the sons of Korah to the chief musician set to Mehalath-Leonath, tells us that this poem was intended to be used in public worship. The Sons of Korah were a guild of musicians responsible for leading worship in the temple in Jerusalem, along with a chief musician, and the untranslated Hebrew words are probably the name of the tune that would have been used in public worship.
Secondly, we notice that this is called a contemplation, or if you have an ESV in front of you, it's untranslated, and it says, maskil. That Hebrew word seems to suggest meditation or instruction. That means we are intended to think deeply about the contents of this psalm. We are to pause over it and meditate on it and think about what it says.
Thirdly, we notice in the superscription that the author is identified as Heman the Ezraite. Ezraite is his family name, like Renahan or Butler. That's what the Ezraite means. But his name Heman, his given name, means faithful.
He only appears here in the Psalms, but we find him in other places in Scripture. In 1 Chronicles 25.5, he's appointed to serve in the worship of God under David, and we're told in that text that he was a seer in the things of God, the old name for prophet. He was a seer in the things of God. This tells us that he was a man of faith and prominent in the spiritual life of Israel.
You see, the Lord chose him to be an instrument of the inspiration of scripture. And today, we're able to enter into his experience. So if we look at the superscription, what do we have? We have a psalm that is written by a prominent spiritual leader that was intended for public worship so that the people of God might be instructed in one of God's ways with his people.
We can learn that much just from the superscription.
The Psalm Itself: Heman's Agony
Now we look at the psalm itself. The psalm divides quite simply. Verses one and two are an example of the classic beginning of a psalm of lament. They directly address God with great urgency.
Verses 3-5 summarize Heman's cry, and verses 6-18 pick up the theme and describe it in greater detail. Now what do we find when we look at the psalm? Simply that our psalmist has been and continues to be in agony. Like a man in an oubliette, he cries out to God day and night.
And he uses the language of faith, Lord, God of my salvation, calling his master to hear and to respond. When we read this psalm, we need to hear the complaint in his voice. He has shouted his plea to the Lord over and over again, and yet there has been no reply. He is still trapped in the pit, unable to be free, enduring great pain and sorrow.
Heman is before the Lord. There's some doctrine that's important that he understands. He understands that God is present in all places. He understands the omnipresence or the immensity of God.
And though God is there, God is silent. So he's asking the question, where is the Lord? Where is the God of my salvation? Oh, Lord, hear me.
Oh, God, save me. Now, do you see that despite the delay and the ongoing agony, this man's faith has not weakened. He trusts the Lord will hear him and that the Lord will save him from his prison of misery. Look at verses three through five again.
My soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to the grave. I'm counted with those who go down to the pit. I'm like a man who has no strength. I drift among the dead like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more and who are cut off from your hand.
These words are full of pain in soul and in body. Heman is almost like a walking corpse and his soul might as well be dead. Now, we might ask the question, I think it's a reasonable question to ask, what specifically is Heman's affliction? Was it some kind of physical disease?
Did he suffer a profound loss, such as the death of a spouse? Did he encounter a Judas in his life, betrayed by a trusted friend? Well, the honest answer is, we don't know, and we can't tell. Much of the language in this song obviously is symbolic or metaphorical.
Now there are some who speculate that perhaps he was enduring one of the skin diseases such as leprosy that required physical separation from family and friends, but I don't find that convincing. It relies on the most circumstantial bits of evidence. Certainly, these diseases could produce the kind of lament we find here, but to state that this was Heman's affliction presses the evidence beyond credibility. I would suggest to you this.
The fact that the psalm, along with the other mentions of Heman in the Old Testament, does not describe a specific cause of suffering is really to our benefit. If this psalm were to identify a particular cause, we might be tempted to limit its usefulness to those who endure a similar circumstance. But because it's open-ended, the psalm becomes a means of help for every believer who faces deep and profound troubles in life. You see, it's a universal description of deep pain among God's faithful people.
It is for you, and it is for me.
Darkness: The Bracketing Theme
Now, in the long section from verses 6 through 18, there are several things to notice. The first is that this section is bracketed by the idea of darkness. Look at verse 6. You've laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths.
And then notice verse 18, the psalm ends with the word darkness. In verse six, the Lord metaphorically places Heman and the oubliette in utter darkness. The following verses should be read under this dark shadow. And verse 18 concludes with a similar thought, but it is very difficult, actually, to translate.
One commentator rendered it like this, this is verse 18, you've put loved one and neighbor far from me, my acquaintance's darkness. The NKJV, or the commentators acknowledge that the final few words are challenging. The NKJV, the New American Standard Bible, and the ESV render it similarly, but when I look at it, I wonder what does this mean? You've loved one and friend, you've put far from me and my acquaintances into darkness.
What does that mean? Is it that from Heman's perspective, his loved ones and friends have been taken away so that he cannot see or hear them? Well, that would seem to be the sense in this rendering. But if you have an ESV in front of you, there's an interesting footnote suggesting another way to translate these difficult words, and it makes a great deal of sense to me, especially in the context.
The footnote says, darkness has become my only companion. Now, I would prefer to keep the word order of the original and say, my only companion is darkness. But this translation fits the psalm well. As he ends the psalm, Heman's prayer has not yet been answered.
He waits for the Lord in the depth of the shadow of the oubliette and stands as an example to us of continued cries and pleas to the Lord for help in the midst of the most difficult trouble. That in itself ought to give us encouragement. Heman, remember his name means faithful, Heman does not give in to utter despair and fall into silence. Rather, he constantly raises his voice to heaven to seek help and deliverance.
May I speculate just for a moment? It's always a dangerous thing for a preacher to speculate, but I'm gonna do it. No one has objected yet. Is it possible that the inclusion of Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms, and thus in the Word of God, implies that at some point the Lord did answer Heman's cry?
Someone, I have my ideas of who put the Psalter together, probably Ezra or Nehemiah or someone else after the exile, but someone recognized the inspired nature of this poem and incorporated it into the third book of the Psalter where it fits perfectly. The language of the psalm is evocative and consistently depicts a believer in great distress. He's alone. He's imprisoned.
He wonders if death is nearby. He repeatedly emphasizes calling on God. Look at verse 9, verse 13, verse 14. Lord, I've called daily upon you, I've stretched out my hands to you, 13, but to you I have cried, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? These are the words of a child in great danger, pleading for a parent to come help. In verse 12, shall your wonders be known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
In verse 12, Heman sounds like a man who wishes to continue leading worship. The temple is the place of adoration. It's the place of light, not of darkness or forgetfulness. And it was in the temple that the wonders of God were made known.
Twice, Heman uses that Hebrew word that we don't translate, silah. He calls us to pause and meditate over his trouble. And the pictures really are frightening. In verses six and seven, we have mixed metaphors.
A pit, the depths, waves, breakers, these things are drowning him. And in verse 9b and 10, he contemplates death. Silah. Now, we notice as we read the Psalm,
Suffering from God's Hand, Not Sin
Heman tells us that his sorrow originates with the hand of God. Notice these verses with me, 6, 7, and 8. You have laid me in the lowest pits, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me.
You have afflicted me with all your waves, Selah. You have put away my acquaintances far from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, I cannot get out.
Look down at verse 14. Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? I've been afflicted and ready to die from my youth.
I suffer your terrors. I am distraught. Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.
Verse 18, loved one and friend, you have put far from me. He even tells us that his trouble is not a result of sin, his own sin. but rather the Lord's providential way in his life. Now there are other Psalms in this third book which speak of affliction because of sin. Psalm 73 at the beginning, when Asaph was slipping and stumbling because he envied the prosperity of the wicked.
That's true of him. But there's no hint of sin here. Heman is like Job or Paul or even our Lord Jesus, who endured the deepest possible suffering as he faced the horror of the cross. For his own purposes, the good Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord who loves his people, sends some of them into the darkest and deepest trouble.
And he gives them this psalm and other examples such as Job and Paul and the believers in the book of Hebrews and our Lord Jesus to help them. You remember earlier I quoted from Romans chapter 15. We've heard Paul's voice. He was not afraid to admit that he despaired even of life in the midst of his affliction.
The Hebrew Christians endured a great struggle with sufferings and they were reminded that some were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Even of our sinless Savior, it is said, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. You see, Psalm 88 is part of a great theme of scripture. We are strangers and aliens in this world, and it is full of trouble.
We are called to endure suffering, all the while crying out to the Lord for deliverance. Our rest and our comfort is not in this present evil age, but rather it is in the world to come. So Heman the Ezraite's experience is a reminder to us that we should expect trouble now. Psalm 88 weans us from the love of the world and turns our attention to heaven.
Now, you might ask the question, is there any light in this psalm about darkness? And my answer is yes, indeed, there is. We've already noticed much of it. The fact that the psalm is included in the canon of scripture tells us that the Lord wants us to know and to understand, to contemplate and to be instructed by its words.
But that's not all we have. Here is a man whose name means faithful. who addresses the covenant Lord, notice how the Psalm begins, Lord written in all uppercase letters, the covenant name by which he reveals himself to Israel and not to the nations. The man whose name means faithful addressing the covenant Lord by his most intimate appellation, a name revealed only to Israel, calling him the God of his salvation and seeking his help in trouble. Though faithful, as in God's oubliette, he never forgets God.
Three times he uses Lord, capital L-O-R-D, Yahweh, a reminder that he is in covenant with God and that the one who is always faithful, greater than any human commitment, listens and hears. In a physical medieval dungeon oubliette, the cries of the prisoner would go unheeded. The guards would ignore. The prince was so far removed from the dungeon that he would never hear the fervent pleas of the prisoner.
But Heman knows that the Lord will hear, though he may delay. The psalmist must continue to cry to the great king, trusting that at the right time he will hear and he will deliver. And even if the king keeps him in the oubliette until his death, there's a better hope that awaits. And this strengthens Heman in the midst of his trouble.
So what then should we say about this psalm? Let's say several things. Let's reflect on it for a few moments. The first thing is this.
First: Suffering Validated for Believers
This psalm validates the experience of believers who endure suffering. Suffering is a genuine Christian experience. And I want you to contemplate that with me for a moment. I can hear someone say, but brother, that was the Old Testament.
We live under the New Covenant. We have the Spirit who produces joy. Well, it's certainly true that we live under the New Covenant. and we have received the Spirit who works joy in us, but this in no way negates the realities of Psalm 88. Consider these facts.
Number one, we've already heard Paul's words from Romans 15, which tell us that the writings of the Old Testament are given for our benefit. Secondly, we must remember that for much of the apostolic era, the only scripture available was the Old Testament, Paul tells us that it is inspired and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. All of God's Word belongs to us, and we need it in its fullness. I'm more convinced of this than ever, and I hope you are as well.
The Old Testament is a Christian book. It is a book for us. Thirdly, We've noted the fact that many New Testament believers, those who lived under the New Covenant and knew the Spirit who brings joy, many New Testament believers endured suffering similar to Heman's. This is not an isolated Old Testament experience, but rather one vignette in a tapestry that extends from Genesis to Revelation.
You know, even the saints in heaven know sorrow. Do you ever notice, John says, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Do you know what comes next? He says, and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? that a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed, as they were, was completed.
You see, it's not until the end, the final resurrection, that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. See, I fear that we have been too easily and readily deceived by prosperity preachers so that we think that the life of Christ's disciples is one of continuous and increasing comfort and joy. But the Bible teaches us a very different story. We ought to expect trouble in this life, and sometimes it will be as profound as the trouble that came to Heman the Ezraite.
So brother or sister, This means that when you face a circumstance such as we've mentioned, a critical illness, or bereavement, or abandonment, or betrayal, or any other dark providence, this is not an indication that you have sinned, but rather an opportunity, painful though it may be, to draw near to God through texts such as Psalm 88. Think about it like this. Would you be so bold, simply by yourself, to address God in the terms that Heman uses? Most of us would be quite reluctant to do so.
But remember this, a song, a psalm for public worship, a prayer to God for deliverance is given to you. You may take these very words boldly to the throne of grace. You may bring them before the Lord. You may say, Lord God of my salvation, hear the words you've given to me.
Why have you laid me in the lowest pit? Why do you cast off my soul? Why do you hide your face from me? And when you say those words to the Lord, you may be comforted by the fact that the Lord himself is glad to hear his own word coming from the mouths of his people.
These are words given to you that you might pray. I wouldn't be bold enough to say these things on my own, but because they're revealed in scripture, I can bring them to the Lord in prayer. One wonders if Psalm 88 might have been on the lips of Jesus when he was in Gethsemane. The Psalms were his prayer book, and this may be the case.
We'll talk about that in a few moments. Certainly, both Mark and Luke seem to have Psalm 88 in mind when they describe the events of the crucifixion. But in any case, be comforted by this psalm. Receive its instruction, and through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, have hope.
That's what Paul says it's there for.
Second: Obligations to Suffering Saints
Secondly, There's an important word in Psalm 88, for those of us who do not endure sufferings such as Heman's. Did you notice, as we read the psalm, how he complains of being alone, of his companions being far from him? And even that translation that I offered to you of the very end, my only companion is darkness. The oubliette, is solitary confinement at its extreme.
Now while we don't know the circumstances of human separation from friend and loved one, we must learn from his isolation. Christian love calls us to be companions to brothers and sisters in their times of darkness. We have obligations to them. On the one hand, we must overcome our tendency to think of trials as punishments and thus keep our distance from those who endure them.
Rather, we are taught to weep with those who weep, and this is the time and place where we must do this. The false doctrine which denies sorrow in the Christian life and promotes prosperity and happiness must be rejected, rooted out of your thinking, Have compassion on sisters and brothers who endure hardships and difficulties and sufferings. In a Christian church, we have obligations to one another. We ought to make it our aim to see that no believer we know endures suffering alone as did Heman the Ezraite.
So far as it is within our power, let us comfort and encourage one another. Speak a word of love, remind your friend of the key of promise to overcome giant despair, as Bunyan describes it in The Pilgrim's Progress, and pray for the deliverance of your brother or sister. Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13? Love suffers long and is kind.
That's a legitimate translation, but it doesn't really bring to us the sense of what Paul says, because in English it doesn't work. I made up a word, I coined my own word to try to describe what Paul says. He doesn't say that love is kind as if kind is a characteristic of love. Really what he says is love kindnesses.
That's the way love acts. It kindnesses. It looks to others and reaches out to them and helps them. It acts according to the needs of others, seeking to aid them in their troubles.
And so I read Psalm 88 and I say, beloved, let us love one another. That's what Psalm 88 says to us. Let us love one another. But
Third: Christ in Gethsemane and the Cross
thirdly, let us think of how Psalm 88 points us to our Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel. Now we've stated that the book of Psalms was Jesus' prayer book. God in his kindness prepared everything for his son, and it served him in many ways. If Martin Luther is correct in saying that all of the Psalms are about Jesus, may we read this as his prayer?
Think about the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew and understood the horror that was before him. Listen to how Matthew describes the scene in light of Psalm 88. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there.
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, my soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He was in terror.
He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples, you remember what he found? found them sleeping, and said to Peter, what could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Again a second time he went away and prayed, saying, oh my father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So he left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. You know, when I read that, much of it is reminiscent of Psalm 88.
We're told that Jesus was sorrowful and deeply distressed, even to the point of death. He was profoundly exercised in his soul by the dread of the events immediately before him. And I ask the question, who could do otherwise? What man could view it differently?
He knew that the physical sufferings of crucifixion would be horrible, Crucifixion was the ultimate torture and the Romans were experts at it. But even more so, he knew that facing the wrath of God against sin and draining to the dregs the cup of the wrath of God would be the greatest trial anyone could ever know. Our Lord did not go to Calvary unaware. He was fully conscious of everything he would encounter.
And as he comes to the garden, he's accompanied by his closest friends, Peter, James, and John. They were brought along to aid him, and what did they do? They fell asleep, and they left him alone. And three times he prayed alone.
We might even go beyond the garden and consider the entire experience of his ordeal. Abandoned by friends, exhausted without sleep, beaten by enemies, and finally crying out, an echo of Psalm 88, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Do you hear Heman? Of course, that's a quotation from Psalm 22, but do you hear Heman's words in those words of Jesus?
I don't want to diminish Heman's sorrow in any way, but we might read Psalm 88 as a transcript of Jesus' experience as he walked toward and endured the cross. And brothers and sisters, this gives us much hope because it reminds us of a great truth.
Our Sympathizing High Priest
Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It's not an empty promise, that's a promise based upon our Savior and His own experience. When you pray Psalm 88, you come to God by way of an intercessor who has experienced deeper and darker sorrow than you have ever known.
And I don't mean to diminish your sorrow and difficulty. But because of this, because of his endurance, he is sympathetic with your trouble. He knows, he understands, he hears. So you may come boldly into the throne room of heaven, bring your request before the majestic throne of grace, and there find mercy, the cry of one in the oubliette, and find grace to help in your time of need.
Now this is not a promise of immediate resolution, but of divine assistance. The Savior will give you grace to endure and you will find help. You are not alone. You have loved ones and friends, but even better, you have a compassionate high priest and the ear of the Lord of heaven and earth when you come to him.
Application: The Gospel Call
Finally, let me remind you of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He endured the cross, despising its shame. He made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
So I ask you this question. Have you bowed the knee to Jesus Christ? You will now, or you will at the last day. There are many in this room who can say he is a wonderful Savior, a compassionate Redeemer, a forgiving Lord.
He took our sin upon Himself. He endured the wrath of God so that we might be forgiven. He died so that we might have life. And He gives everything freely to all who will place their faith in Him.
So if you have not placed your faith in Him, why do you wait? Because if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's a promise that is always true for everyone who comes to him. So will you confess and believe?
Psalm 88 is dark. There's no denying this fact. But as we have seen, it has some light. And when set in the context of the whole of scripture, the darkness begins to dissipate.
God's oubliette is undoubtedly a difficult place to be and none of us should want to be there. Even Jesus asked the Lord to take it from him. But Psalm 88 may also be encouraging. It reminds us that we need the Lord and that he hears us even when we cry out to him in the darkest moments of life.
The color tone of the psalm may be the deepest shade of blue and the tune may be in a dissonant minor key. but there is light for those who look up, and there is melody for those who will listen. Glory be to God. Amen. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
O Lord, we do cry to you, thanking you that you have given us a book that is honest, that doesn't hide from us the realities of life, but provides help, encouragement, strength for the difficulties that we face in this world. We pray for one another. For those in this room now who are enduring the kind of darkness that Heman the Ezraite faced, would you draw near to she or he? Would you draw near to that one and give encouragement and strength and help and help them to look up and find in you a God who loves and who cares?
Would you help us to endure in this life, recognizing that it is not our home, but we look for a city whose builder and maker is God. We anxiously wait for the day when we will gather around your throne with all of the saints of all of the ages and sing your praises. So thank you for giving us The Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit. Thank you for giving us your Holy Word.
Thank you for giving us Haman the Ezraite and the record of his own experience, which is an assistance to us as we walk in this world. We give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I know our esteemed brethren didn't conspire, but Brother Richard preached the soul trouble of Christ connected to the hour in John 12, 27. And you preached the soul trouble of Christ in the Psalter.
But as he said, it's not just Christ's soul trouble that we find there, but Heman's as well. And hallelujah, what a savior that he delivered us. from our sins. We'll close by singing doxology of praise to our God. You can stand and turn to page 568.
Praise the God who all blessings flow. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Father, thank you that in your kind providence we are reminded of our blessed Savior this morning with reference to the hour and the trouble of his soul. Thank you as well for this encouraging word from Psalm 88 tonight and how it does show us more of the Savior in Gethsemane and Golgotha, but as well it shows us the reality of the Christian life.
Thank you for our brothers. Thank you for these men. Thank you for their visit, for their encouragement to us as a church. I pray they'd go back to their respective churches with joy in their hearts.
They would pass on our greetings and our love to them. that you would continue to strengthen your work on the face of this earth. And may Christ be exalted and praised among your people. And we pray that you would go with us now and that the truths of number six would be ours. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Well, please be seated for a brief time of meditation.