Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness. It would be difficult to say to which the Gospel owes most, to its friends or to its enemies. For when they have persecuted Christ's servants they have scattered them abroad, so that they have gone everywhere preaching the Word. Jesus Christ would never have preached many of His discourses had not His foes compelled Him to answer them. So with the Book of Psalms. Had not David been sorely tried, we should have missed very many of these holy songs. This Psalm is one of those which had never been written but for his great trouble. Our text tells of his consolation in the hope of future bliss. We note — I. THE SPIRIT OF THE TEXT. It breathes the spirit of one who is — 1. Entirely free from envy. The wicked may do as they will, but I envy them not. "As for me, I," etc. 2. Looking into the future. "I shall be satisfied." It has nothing to do with the present. He looks beyond the grave to another world. He who lives in the present is a fool; but wise men are content to look after future things. When Milton wrote his Paradise Lost he might know, perhaps, that he should have little fame in his lifetime; but he said, "I shall be honoured when my head shall sleep in the grave." There are many things that we never hope to be rewarded for here, but we shall be by and by. Christian, live in the future. 3. Full of faith. There is no "perhaps" about his words. "I will behold"; "I shall be satisfied." And there are many of God's people who can say the like. But such must expect to have trouble, for God never gives strong faith without fiery trial. He will not make you a mighty warrior if He does not intend to try your skill in battle. God's swords must be used. The old Toledo blades of heaven must be smitten against the armour of the evil one, and yet they shall not break. II. THE MATTER OF THIS PASSAGE. 1. David expected to behold God's face. We have seen His hand in both awful and gentle forms. And we have heard God's voice; but the vision of God, what must that be? It is said of the temple of Diana, that it was so splendidly decorated with gold, and so bright and shining, that a porter at the door always said to everyone that entered, "Take heed to your eyes; you will be struck with blindness unless you take heed to your eyes" But oh! that view of glory. Who can know what it is to see God's face? 2. There was a peculiar sweetness mixed with this joy. For he should behold God's face "in righteousness." How our sins have dimmed our sight, that we could not get a clear prospect of Jesus. But yonder we shall, see Him as He is. 3. And there will be satisfaction. "I shall be satisfied." Imagination, intellect, memory, hope — all will be satisfied. 4. But when shall this satisfaction be? "When I awake in Thy likeness." Not till then. On the resurrection morn, when complete in soul and body, they will awake. Their bodies till then are in their graves. But then they shall be restored. When a Roman conqueror had been at war, and won great victories, he would very likely come back with his soldiers, enter into his house and enjoy himself till the next day, when he would go out of the city and then come in again in triumph. Now the saints, as it were, steal into heaven without their bodies; but on the last day, when their bodies wake up, they will enter in their triumphal chariots; and the body is to be in the likeness of Christ. The spirit already is. III. HERE IS A VERY SAD CONTRAST IMPLIED. We are all together now, undivided; but the great dividing day will come when Christ, the Judge, shall welcome His own people, but with lifted sword shall sweep the wicked into the bottomless pit. But now, whosoever will may be saved. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. |
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