Grace Bible Church
Tree of Life
A Weekly Review
Week ending061415
Psalm 119.
The Greatness and Glory of the Word of God.
Psalm 119 is a Poem or song known as an Acrostic Psalm which is a filing system that the Jews developed from the ancient Hebrew alphabet with every letter from their alphabet having a special significance and meaning.
One of the many interesting rhetorical features of the Hebrew language in the Bible is its’ use of alphabetical acrostics. These acrostics are not “hidden codes” but they are real Hebrew letters used to denote or portray a poetic way of filing each verse as it relates to the Hebrew letter that is used in alphabetical order. Each line begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in alphabetical order.
Acrostics occur in the word of God, in at least three different books in the Old Testament, those three are the book of Psalms, Proverbs and Lamentations, where each verse begins with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet that is being noted. You can find acrostic Psalms in Psa 111 and 112, where there are two letters portrayed in one verse, also found in Psalms 25, 34, and 145, where each letter begins a half-verse; then in Psalm 37, Proverbs 31:10-31, and Lamentations 1, 2, and 4, where each letter begins a whole verse; and then again in Lamentations 3, where each letter has three verse each for the Hebrew letter it represents.
Apparently Jeremiah loved the principles behind the acrostic passages in the word of God because he was the author of the book of Lamentations. The point is that using the principles found in the acrostic passages was a way to file certain doctrinal principles by using every letter in the Hebrew alphabet which has a meaning behind the letter that is being used. However, the most popular acrostic passage, I believe, is Psalm 119, which is the most elaborate demonstration of the acrostic method where, in each section of eight verses, each word it begins with the same letter that is mentioned in the file.
In Psalm 119, the same opening letter is used, in twenty-two sections of the Psalm which gives every letter of the Hebrew alphabet 8 verses each to explain the doctrinal principles that are being mentioned as we move through the Hebrew alphabet, letter after letter. So that we have 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet mentioned in Psa 119 with 8 verses beginning with the letter that is mentioned and having a spiritual meaning behind each letter that is used.
The first eight verses in Psa 119 all begin with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet which is called Aleph and aleph represents an Ox and signifies prosperity as found in the Word of God, mentioned in PSA 119:1-8.
The second letter in the Hebrew alphabet is found in the next 8 verses (9-16), and remember the alphabet in the Hebrew language has only 22 letters, whereas in the English we have 26, but the second letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the letter bet and represents a house and signifies a place of security and a lace of rest, it signifies a home or a house.
Then the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet is Gimel which represented a camel to the Jews. The camel was the riding animal for the desert. It brings the traveler from one place to another but it also carried gifts from far away and was like our current day UPS truck or Federal Express delivery system. So the next eight verses (17-24), when we get there we will deal with gifts from God that are a long way off from us but are getting closer to us because of our PVTD as well as representing some other things that the camel was good for.
This goes on and on with every Hebrew alphabetical letter having eight verses used as an ancient filing system that the Jews lived by. And again, we go back to the principle of ICE because without knowing the I, the isagogics or the historical background or the C the categories as they are laid out in Psa 119, and most of all, the E the exegesis or the original language, you cannot accurately interpret what the original language of the Bible is saying.
It was the way the Jewish people would file certain important principles they were writing. Each of the 22 sections is given to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and each line in that section begins with that letter. Now then: One of my favorite acrostic passage is found, believe it or not, but it is found in the virtuous woman passage in Proverbs 31:10-31 where the initial letters of each verse go through the Hebrew alphabet in order. And with all the letters having a spiritual significance, it really brings out some fantastic principles concerning a woman of virtue or the Virtuous woman.
So we begin with the aleph file which is found in verses 1-8, each verse begins with a word that begins with our letter Aleph, which again represents prosperity or how to prosper in the spiritual life. Well, let me just quickly read the first eight verses in Psa 119, and remember I am going to show you how each verse applies to our subject of prosperity.
PSA 119:1-8, How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart. They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways. Thou hast ordained Thy precepts, That we should keep them diligently. Oh that my ways may be established To keep Thy statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Thy commandments. I shall give thanks to Thee with uprightness of heart, When I learn Thy righteous judgments. I shall keep Thy statutes; Do not forsake me utterly!
Remember, the first thing I want you to recall is that each verse has one thing in common and that is “the word of God is mentioned and identified” in different ways.
In verse 1: The law of the Lord.
In verse 2: His testimonies.
In verse 3: His ways.
In verse 4: His precepts:
In verse 5: His statutes.
In verse 6: His commandments.
In verse 7: His righteous judgments.
In verse 8, His statutes.
The first file again is the ALEPH file which again looks like this in the original Hebrew a and it represents Oxen in the ancient world which connotes prosperity. As Solomon wrote PRO 14:4, Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. Now, when it says that Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, the crib was a place of storage where corn and other grain products are kept for feeding cattle and other farm animals. Now, the writer learned many years ago that prosperity is not in what you have, nor is it found in the details of life. Details of life include money, success, pleasure, social life, loved ones, health, sex, materialistic things, status symbols, friends, etc.
So under the Aleph file, PSA 119:1, How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord. The first word in this sentence is the Hebrew word Asheri in the plural and it means “blessings” or “happinesses” meaning both inner and overt.” Notice the first letter is Aleph, you read the Hebrew from right to left rather than left to right. These blessings or different form of happiness can refer to what is going on inwardly in the believer and it also could be what they are experiencing overtly. Whether on the inside or the outside, even if he has adversity or success, he has inner happiness — that is if he does what this verse says.
PSA 119:1, “Blessings or happinesses belong to those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord.
The key word here in the first part of the sentence is the Hebrew adjective tamiym which refers to those who are equipped with integrity, character and truth. The equipped believer whose way is blameless is the one whose soul is filled with doctrine and that doctrine governs his life, Mark 12:28-30. He listens to doctrine and fulfills MAR 12:29 when Jesus answered, one of the scribes who said “What commandment is the most important of all?” Then He applies the doctrine when our Lord said in MAR 12:30and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
So the principle is simple this: No believer is equipped unless inside their soul they have rooms and rooms filled with doctrines that govern their soul or what I like to refer to as governing doctrines.
So, we have in PSA 119:1, “Blessings or happinesses belong to those whose way is blameless or those who are equipped with doctrine, [and then notice the final phrase] Who walk in the law of the Lord. Walk is the application of the word of God to your life and your experiences, it is relaxation, one step at a time. And what is it they walk in? They walk in the Law [Torah] of the Lord. The Torah is one of the titles of the word of God or Bible doctrine which directs, guides, and aims us toward a way of life resulting in God’s divine nature in human vessels, or what I taught you on Friday evening, which is called Theandric action. What is Theandric action?
Theandric action is God’s nature controlling a believer who has the humility revealed by the governing of the indwelling Word of God with the power of God the Holy Spirit which causes them to live for Christ. This is when we truly believe GAL 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. That is Theandric action. Believers who live in Theandric action even without knowing about it believe and live in passages like JOH 14:19-20, “After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”
They love and truly believe and live in what 2CO 4:7-12 says when the apostle Paul wrote: 2CO 4:7, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. What treasure? It is the treasure of the divine nature within us working with our new nature that we received at the moment of our salvation. So the apostle Paul says in 2CO 4:7-8, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
Why? Because Theandric action means that with the nature of God working together with the new nature within us, we can fulfill-PHI 4:13, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Therefore in 2CO 4:9 we go through times where we are persecuted, but not forsaken; [we are] struck down, but not destroyed; In 2CO 4:10, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. In other words, as He died for us and therefore we are said to be dead in our flesh or in our OSN], Why?
Well, the next part of verse 10 says so that the life of Jesus [that is His resurrection life] also may be manifested in our body. This is because we keep on learning to die unto our self life while Theandric action motivates us to live for others, just as He did. As John the Baptist said, not the apostle, but the Baptist told his disciples in JOH 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” And so Theandric action motivates us to lose our own lives and live for others, just as He did. As the apostle Paul stated in our corrected translation of PHI 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
PHI 2:3-5, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. “Have this mind or attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,”
How? Through Theandric action! Then goes on to say in 2CO 4:11-12, For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, [Why] so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. So, the person who walks in integrity and virtue and follows what Psa 119 says “they walk in the Torah”.
They love and truly believe and live in what COL 1:27 says that God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope or the confidence of [not just glory] but the confidence that comes from the SHEKINAH or the glory of God in you which is the Shekinah, or literally the Shekinah glory! They love and truly believe and live in what the apostle Paul taught and should give everyone of us as believers in TLJC, the confidence in the fact that whether we are alive on this earth or somewhere in the eternal state, we do not need to worry or be concerned with what is really going to happen to us when we die. For if you are a believer and you believe, HEB 4:12, Titus 1:2, HEB 13:5, ROM 8:1, and ROM 8:28. If you believe all of that and Theandric action is alive in you which means the divine nature is working with the new nature that is within you. But if you believe that Theandric action is alive in you then you believe and do your best to obey what the apostle Paul said and wrote beginning in 1TH 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation and deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ.
HEB 10:25-26, Do forsake our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but gather together encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.- that day is either the day of your death or the Rapture or the exit resurrection of the Church. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.
You cannot get on a works program and try to make it up to God. What you need to do is simply rebound and recover! So again, the apostle Paul says in 1TH 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation and-or deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1TH 5:10-11, who died for us, that whether we are awake [alive on this earth] or asleep [have gone home to be face to face with the Lord], that notice again we may live [not asleep underground inside a casket, which by the way some teach that is what happens to us when we die and they call it soul sleep] but [the Bible says] that we may live together [Where?] with Him. [Then again, the importance of gathering together with Theandric action working within us or really the divine nature alive in us]. Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
When Theandric action is working within the members of the congregation, it will be manifested by the way that we treat one another. Remember JOH 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Also Theandric action is manifested by passages such as MAT 25:40, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”
Then in 1TH 5:12, the apostle Paul goes on to bring out the importance of Theandric action in us by reminding us the importance of spiritual authority and unity in the body of Christ when he says, But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction.
1TH 5:13-14, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.
Again we see the importance of gathering together as an assembly, and whether it is face-to-face or non face-to- face, it doesn’t matter for when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and when he wrote what is known as the prison Epistles; Paul was their leader but he did so from prison, which is called the prison Epistles: Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and even the letter to Philemon, the prison epistles.
Notice again Theandric action in operation. 1TH 5:16-17, Rejoice always; – a believer who lives in Theandric action lives with inner happiness. pray without ceasing; – means that you always living with an attitude of prayer toward God the Father as well as always being ready to fellowship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Remember there is a difference between prayer and fellowship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, for the believer who fulfills PSA 119:1-2, in 1TH 5:18 he or she lives with this attitude in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. And so back in Psa 119.
An Amplified translation of PSA 119:1 would look something like this PSA 119:1, “Blessings or happinesses belong to those whose way is blameless or those who are equipped, Who walk in the law or the governmental doctrine of our Lord.