Saturday, March 3, 2018

Ps 89 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD .
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
they exult in your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
and by your favor you exalt our horn.
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD ,
our king to the Holy One of Israel."

When God created man, He placed Him in the garden of God. The garden was Gods gift to man to rule and enjoy the fruits of Gods creation. The Psalmist is teaching that Gods throne is the display of His righteousness and justice in His original creation. God spoke all the creation into existence as a display of His perfect order and beauty. Mans was given a blessed estate in which the value of the gifts of God were the proof of Gods care for man. There was nothing in man or in the garden that opposed his desires and abilities.
Even tho man fell into sin, God had already made provision in order to restore man to that position by cursing the sin and corruption that would prevent him from exercising freedom to rule over the creation. Man is restored to this original authority in salvation.
Before sin man had no opposition. But after he sinned ,he was made unable to restore himself. The restoration of man was Gods work alone. God restored mans freedom and authority in the work of Christ. The Psalmist teaches that we can do nothing that is good without Christ acting perfectly as the basis of our confidence in our own acts. So we could envision this work of Christ as restoring us to ruling over all of the creation as governors in a kingdom that is controlled by God in the perfect justice of blessing and cursing.
This is why the Psalmist argues that God must be exalted because He has restored the value of all things by renewal. This evidence of success of Gods righteousness and justice is that all corrupted things must die before they can be renewed. In order for God to restore His proof to man in His gifts ,He must restore the true value of the gifts by renewal.
We are desperately dependent upon the success of God to restore us to purpose for which we were created. If this throne of God was not proficient in this restoration there would be no hope. This is why God has given us pronouncements in order to trust in the simplicity of the gifts rather than to be restored through the law. We exercise our authority in these life and death pronouncements.