by Rev. Alex. PcPherson
Psalm Fifty-one
Verse 14. “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”
Bloodguiltiness! Guilty of murder! The nearer David draws to God the more terrible his sin appears. Who can cleanse away that stain but the God who has manifested that He is both a just God and a Saviour? Believing that this really is the divine character, David can speak of Him as his Saviour God.
And he is also going to make a loud song about God’s righteousness, for it is in a righteous way that he has been shown mercy. This is a principal mark of those who really have believed the Gospel; they see that it magnifies God’s righteousness. Having learned that God is infinitely righteous, and having a new heart which adores this quality, they would not wish to be saved in any other way. They know that God cannot simply forget sin or overlook it, but that He must punish it either in the sinner or in a Substitute. The amazing fact that a Substitute exists is the revealed truth to which faith responds by entrusting its deliverance from sin entirely to the propitiation achieved through that Substitute.
Abel perceived the Substitute and the way of Salvation behind the typical lamb which he offered and God accepted. Abraham obtained a still clearer view when he saw the way in which God provided Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering. The earthly father who was willing to sacrifice his only and greatly loved son received a glimpse of the nature of the coming Substitute as the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of the eternal Father given over to sufferings and death for sinners. Did not Jesus say: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8: 56). And we are sure that David who was admitted in some measure to this secret of how God can be just and at the same time the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. His language here is in full agreement with that of Psalm 71.
“Thy justice and salvation my mouth abroad shall show,
Ev’n all the day; for I thereof the numbers do not know.
And I will constantly go on in strength of God the Lord;
And thine own righteousness, even thine alone, I will reward.
Verse 15. “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.”
So unsure of himself is David now that he sees the privilege of singing God’s praises one that he is unfit for apart from enabling grace. In his own nature dwells nothing good, therefore praise must proceed from a mind enlightened, and a heart made willing, and a mouth trained to speak right things by the God of his salvation.
“Set, Lord, a watch before my mouth,
keep of my lips the door.” (Metrical Psalm 141: 3).
Verse 16. “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it : thou delightest not in burnt offering.”
This verse ought to remove any doubts as to the extent to which David understood that salvation accorded with righteousness, and especially with the divine provision of a divine Substitute whom God should set forth “to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” (Romans 3: 24, 25).
David knew that no sacrifices were provided in the ceremonial law whereby the sins of murder and adultery might be expiated. Both were punishable by death. His words however embrace a wider thought than this. They reveal that David realised that none of the offerings of the Levitical ceremonial could really put away sin. A better, more efficient sacrifice was required. Long afterwards, Paul, repeating David’s words, said this very thing in connection with the fitness and willingness of Christ to be such an offering. “In those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.” (Hebrews 10: 3-6).
No sacrifice but that will do. Only the death of the true Lamb of God gave satisfaction to divine justice. The offering, “one sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.” (Hebrews 10: 3-6). but to lean with all the weight of our guilty souls upon this glorious fact and sing as David does elsewhere?
“Let Israel hope in the Lord.
for with him mercies be;
And plenteous redemption
is ever found with him.
And from all his iniquities
he Isr’el shall redeem.” (Metrical Psalm 130 : 7, 8).