Psalms 119:160

Psalms 119:160

I. We cannot read the Old Testament without seeing that the whole of it rests on the basis of a history the history contained in what we call the books of Moses. Now, if you turn to the New Testament, you will find that it begins, in like manner, with a history: the history of the four Gospels; and what the Pentateuch is to the Old Testament, the Gospels are to the New. Here, then, is a symmetry in the two parts of the Bible. Each begins with a history which pervades and inspires all that follows. Only, the two histories are different, while they are connected. The one is that of a Divinely chosen people, selected for a special purpose. The other is that of a Divine Person. And a person is superior to a people merely as a people, as a corporate body, for a person has an immortality: a nation has not; and a person can be charged with far higher lessons than a nation. The two histories are on two planes, a lower and a higher; the lower is imperfect without the higher, and the higher assumes and completes the lower.

II. If you look to the Old Testament, you will find that there is a second stage after the Pentateuch. It is a struggle to obtain a place where the original history may find a firm footing, and may unfold itself for the good of the world. This is the history of Joshua, and Judges, and Samuel, and those that follow after. In the New Testament there is a similar period, contained chiefly in the Acts of the Apostles; but it penetrates also the Epistles. The Apostles and disciples are struggling to find a lodgment for the history of the great Person with whom they have come in contact. Only, the place is no more one country, but the whole earth.

III. If you turn again to the Old Testament, you will find a third stage. It is the period of reflection. Thought is folded over on the past in meditation. This brings us into the centre of the Old Testament to the books of Psalms and many of the prophets. In the New Testament there is a corresponding period, showing the same marks. It is in the Epistles of Paul and of his fellow-disciples. The Gospels give us great events, but the conclusions are not fully drawn; and Christ promises the Spirit of Truth to guide, to show the way into all truth.

IV. Notice one closing period in this comparison. We may call it the sense of incompleteness. This is the period of prophecy proper, of many of the Psalms, of Isaiah and the later prophets. As the sun of the past is setting, another Sun arises: the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings; and that Sun shall no more go down. The Old Testament closes with this intent, bending gaze on the future, and closes not having received the promise, but being persuaded of it and embracing it. And the New Testament has this period also. As the Old Testament ends by looking for Christ's first coming, the New finishes with a cry for His second. Its last words breathe out a response to His promise, "Behold, I come quickly:" "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

J. Ker, Sermons,2nd series, p. 186.

Reference: Psalms 119:162. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1641.