Word of Salvation – Vol. 43 No. 06 – February 1998
De Profundis
Sermon by Rev. J. W. Deenick on Psalm 130
Scripture Readings: Psalm 6; Romans 8:18-25; Luke 13:1-9
Suggested Hymns: BoW 421; 51a:1, 5, 8; 154; 181; 443; 531
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why do we still read and sing these Old Testament psalms? Why should we still dwell so much on the sins and the troubles that were part and parcel of Jewish life but from which we have been set free in and through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ?
We do no longer live under the Old Covenant, do we? Our sins have been paid for, have they not? Have we not been set free in Christ, and do we not have the victory over sin and death? Should we then not rejoice in the Lord, knowing that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ?
Indeed, that may well seem to be a sound proposition. As Christians we have left behind the sorry state of affairs in which, before Christ, not only the pagan world but in many ways also the Jewish people still found themselves.
Yet, from very early on, the Christian Church does not seem to have understood it that way. In their worship services, Christians have always been reading and singing the psalms; and most churches still do. In Roman, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican worship, the psalms have their well-established place in the Sunday service; and all churches that follow the order of the church calendar still regularly read the psalms in worship.
In some of our Reformed Churches, we no longer do that. There was a time when we regularly sang the psalms and very little else but the psalms, but in some places that is history. The psalms now take a back seat in the life and worship of some of the Reformed Churches in this part of the world. Yet, for most of the Christian Church that has never been, and still is not the case. They may not sing the psalms as much as we did; they do certainly read them; and more than we do.
That needs an explanation. How is it still possible for Christians to identify with these Jewish songs about sin and punishment for sin, about enemies and vengeance on their enemies, about tears and troubles, and about being forsaken by God?
But there is an even more pertinent question: how could the Lord Jesus himself sing these psalms and identify with them? There is no doubt that he did. We will have to come back to that a little later.
1. First we need to examine the deep hole we are in.
In the liturgy of the early church, and afterwards, Psalm 130 was counted among the seven penitential psalms. In them, believing Christians confessed their sins together with the saints of the Old Testament. There were seven such psalms. Apart from this psalm and psalm 51, there were also psalms 6, 32, 38, 102 and 143. Martin Luther reckoned Psalm 130 among the four, what he called Pauline psalms – psalms the apostle Paul could have written – together with 32, 51 and 143. And still today, Psalm 130 has a prominent place in Christian worship. It is generally known by the first two words from its Latin translation: ‘de profundis’ – ‘out of the depths’.
Now, of course, if we want to read and sing our psalms intelligently, we will try to understand as best we can the circumstances under which they were written. We do that with all poetry. It is not always possible to know the specific circumstances under which poets write their poetry, but it helps if we can. It makes it easier to identify with the poem. For biblical poetry that is true as well; also for this psalm.
So, we’d better ask a few questions… “Out of the depths I cry unto you, O LORD; Lord, hear my voice.” What kind of deep places does the psalmist refer to? Does he refer to the depth of his sinfulness? Some have suggested that he does. Yet, that is not necessarily so. Although he clearly makes a connection between his troubles and his sins, his predicament may have been something quite different. He may have been seriously ill. He may have been in serious political, military, or financial trouble.
But then, it is also possible that he speaks on behalf of all of the people. In fact, that may well be the most likely scenario, that the psalmist speaks for all of Israel, a nation in deep trouble, driven into exile possibly, living like refugees among people who discriminate against them.
Still, whether the emphasis is on his personal predicament or on the troubles of the nation, he definitely sees a connection between, on the one hand, the deep hole he is in, or they all are in; and, on the other hand, his sins, or the sins of the nation.
There is a connection between trouble and sin. Not necessarily a direct connection; as if this particular trouble is caused by that particular sinfulness. At times, that may well be the case, but it need not be. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus makes that perfectly clear. The man born blind was not born in that condition because of his own, or his parents’ sins. And when the tower of Siloam collapsed and many people perished, that calamity did not happen to them because these people were more sinful than the rest of Israel.
Yet, there is a connection. We cannot separate the hardships we suffer from the sins we commit; from our own and all the world’s sinfulness. We are not innocent. The Lord Jesus does not say about the people of Siloam that they were innocent. He says: they were not more sinful than the rest of Israel; but they certainly weren’t innocent.
This psalmist, too, is well aware of this. He uses a word that in the King James version and in other older translations is rendered as ‘iniquities.’ It means: acts of transgression; of what is not right in the eyes of a holy God. If the LORD God would take into account all the different ways – and at times extremely wicked ways in which we continue to do evil, who would not be wiped out?
The Word of God never lets us forget it; and our confessional statements together with the prayers of our Reformational prayer books keep reminding us of it. The believer, though being a saint in Christ, is still very much also a sinner. We should, therefore, have no problem identifying with this psalm; even if, for the moment, we do not feel in any deep hole. Indeed, some of us may well feel ‘on top of the world’; like people who are being abundantly blessed.
Some of you, congregation, may have come to church quite cheerfully this morning and now you are confronted here with Psalm 130: “out of the depths I cry unto you, O LORD”; and you may wonder: how am I to identify with that?
Well, before you say that you cannot, remember that if our Lord Jesus Christ was able to take up this psalm and make it his own, you may well have to reconsider your position.
There is absolutely no doubt about our Lord’s identification with these Old Testament penitential psalms. The gospels tell us that our Lord sang them. He must have done so also when he joined the people on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem; when they went through the gates of Jerusalem and entered the holy temple. He must have joined them in the singing of the songs ‘hammaalooth’, the songs of ascents: i.e., the psalms 120 to 134. So, this psalm was one of these.
How could the Lord Jesus do that? He could do that because he came to stand right beside us in the inexpressibly deep trouble we are in as a human race. We may happily forget about that, but the Lord Jesus could not. He carried on his heart all the misery and the pain of this whole creation, and of the human suffering and despair in it. We may want to forget about the human tragedies, the famines, the genocide, the crime, the abuse. Jesus could not. He said: what you do to one of these little ones, you do to me.
And he went one step further still: he also identified with us in our guilt. Because we are all of us together responsible for the condition this world is in – for the wretchedness all around us. Do not say that you have nothing to do with it. You have everything to do with it. Through your sins and mine the world is in this unspeakably deep hole that it is in. And the apostle Paul says the whole creation groans in its suffering because of it.
There is not a soul here in this church who can get away from it. We are in a hopeless situation, except for this, only that our Lord Jesus came to stand next to us, became one of us in our guilt, and carried it to the cross, so paying the price for it.
And so, for you and me there is no other way out but this: that we humble ourselves and pray our ‘Kyrie Eleison,’ as they do in the Greek Orthodox Church. They call it the ‘Jesus Prayer’: “Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on us sinners.” And, in the traditional liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, we pray: “Christ, holy Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us and give us your peace.”
2. And that leads us to the wide open door of hope in this psalm. You see, our Lord Jesus did more than merely identify with this psalm. He had himself written this psalm in the first place. As the eternal son of God and as the Word of God who was from the beginning, he inspired this psalm through the Holy Spirit in the mind and heart of the Old Testament poet.
And so we find that there is much more in this psalm than merely a cry for mercy. There is also a wide open exit out of the deep hole the psalmist knows himself to be in. The LORD has heard his cry; and what’s more, the LORD is prepared to forgive his sins. With Israel’s God there is forgiveness. The psalmist knows that because the prophetic word has told him so and in this word of the LORD he puts his trust and his hope, both for himself and for all of Israel.
And now the whole picture changes Together with all Israel, he is still in that same hole, and it is still a very deep place, but it is no longer a dark place. There is a very wide opening right above him, and through it shines the sun of God’s forgiving love. He is no longer shut up in darkness and hopelessness; all he now has to wait for is for the LORD to fulfil his promises. But he waits in assured hope for with the LORD is unfailing love and sure redemption:
Now here again, congregation, you, and I, and all the church, are called to identify with this psalm. Also for us as Christians, this is our human condition. For all who follow the Lord Jesus, it is both the glory and the burden of living by faith. The hope is the glory, the waiting is the burden.
Also as men, women, and young people who trust in Jesus Christ, we are still in a very deep place. There is no denying it. No matter how often people tell you and make themselves believe that the Christian life is all wonderful, that the old has passed away and that the new has come, and that they are a new creation in Christ and much holier than they used to be (and we do hear a lot about that nowadays) – they are deceiving themselves. We are still in the waiting room!
Sure, the old hopelessness has passed away and the new assurance has come; and in that sense we are a new people. There is a wide open door right above us. And, by the grace of God, there will also be a small beginning of a new life of following Jesus. But do not boast of it. The moment you do, it slips away through your fingers. We are still in the same position the apostle Paul was in, in Romans 8: in the waiting room, where we inwardly groan to be delivered.
In the verses 5 and 6 the psalmist speaks about waiting as often as 5 times: “I wait”; “my soul waits”, “the watchmen wait”. It is so typical for our human condition. Yet, with the Lord Jesus Christ we do not wait in vain.
In the way of the cross, our Lord and Saviour came down into the deepest of depths, where also the Father had forsaken him. Then, identifying with this psalm, Christ Jesus cried out to God; and the Father heard him and set him free! And so, God the Father set us free, too, in Christ and in hope.
In this valley of tears there are still crosses to bear; the gate is still small; and the road still narrow that leads to life; but we travel in hope.
It is no wonder, then, that those who follow Jesus have always loved this psalm. It is so honest and so real.
Out of the depths there is hope. No full triumphant living yet, but triumphant hope. Let Israel hope in the LORD. With him is full redemption. He will set us free!
Amen.