Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;Such as sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Being bound in affliction and iron,
3 sermons cite this verse
This may be the most important psalm that you never think about. There are other more famous psalms, Psalm 23, Psalm 51, that great cry of repentance from David when he's confronted, Psalm 1, blessed is the man, Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, extolling the words of God. This psalm, you recognize some familiar phrases, but likely is not one of those psalms that you've studied in depth or have heard many, many sermons preached, and yet it is in this very psalm a microcosm of the entire human experience. Gregory of Nyssa, an early church father, said about this psalm, it contains a complete consummation and recapitulation of human salvation. And that's not an exaggeration. This psalm is the story of Israel's deliverance. It is the story of our salvation, and it is the story of what Christ has done for sinners. I want to start, I hope you have your Bibles open. I want you to notice before we go deeper, I want you to notice the overall structure sometimes we think about poetry as being that kind of art form that just wells up within the poets and we have a romantic kind of ideal that true art must be something that breaks all the rules and just kind of explodes out of the artist and yet i think most artists especially art that lasts would tell you that it's often quite the opposite, that the most amazing pieces of music follow certain rules. …
In order to a right understanding and improvement of the words of the text, we may observe, 1. What Christ here takes notice of in John, and declares concerning him, viz. that he was a burning and a shining light. He was a light to the church of Israel, to reveal the mind and will of God to them, after a long-continued dark season, and after they had been destitute of any prophet to instruct them for some ages; he arose on Israel, as the morning star, the forerunner of the Sun of righteousness, to introduce the day-spring, or dawning of the gospel day, to give light to them that till then had sat in the darkness of perfect night, which was the shadow of death; to give them the knowledge of salvation; as Zacharias his father declares at his circumcision, Luke i. 76-79. “And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” And he was a burning light, as he was full of a spirit of fervent piety and holiness, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb, having his heart warmed and inflamed with a great love to Christ, being that friend of the bridegroom that stood and heard him, and rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice; and was glad that Christ increased, though he decreased, John iii. 29, 30. and was animated with a holy zeal in the work of the ministry: he came, in this respect, in the spirit and power of Elias: as Elias was zealous in bearing testimony against the corruption, apostacies, and idolatries of Israel in his day, so was John the Baptist in testifying against the wickedness of the Jews in his day: as Elias zealously reproved the sins of all sorts of persons in Israel, not only the sins of the common people, but of their great ones, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, and their false prophets; with what zeal did John the Baptist reprove all sorts of persons, not only the publicans and soldiers, but the Pharisees and Sadducees, telling them plainly that they were a generation of vipers, and rebuked the wickedness of Herod in his most beloved lust, though Herod sought his life for it, as Ahab and Ahaziah did Elijah’s! As Elias was much in warning the people of God’s approaching judgments, denouncing God’s awful wrath against Ahab, Jezebel, and Ahaziah, and the prophets of Baal, and the people in general; so was John the Baptist much in warning the people to fly from the wrath to come, telling them in the most awakening manner, that the “axe was laid at the root of the tree, and that every tree that brought not forth good fruit should be hewn down and cast into the fire; and that he that came after him had his fan in his hand, and that he would thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. ” …
2. But there are two grand heads of doctrine, which contain many truths of the most important nature, of which the most enlightened Heathens in the ancient world were totally ignorant; as are also the most intelligent Heathens that are now on the face of the earth; I mean those which relate to the eternal Son of God, and the Spirit of God: To the Son, giving himself to be “a propitiation for the sins of the world;” and to the Spirit of God, renewing men in that image of God wherein they were created. For after all the pains which ingenious and learned men have taken (that great man, the Chevalier Ramsay, in particular) to find some resemblance of these truths in the immense rubbish of heathen authors, the resemblance is so exceeding faint, as not to be discerned but by a very lively imagination. Beside that, even this resemblance, faint as it was, is only to be found in the discourses of a very few; and those were the most improved and deeply-thinking men, in their several generations; while the innumerable multitudes that surrounded them were little better for the knowledge of the philosophers, but remained as totally ignorant even of these capital truths as were the beasts that perish. 3. Certain it is, that these truths were never known to the vulgar, the bulk of mankind, to the generality of men in any nation, till they were brought to light by the gospel. Notwithstanding a spark of knowledge glimmering here and there, the whole earth was covered with darkness, till the Sun of Righteousness arose and scattered the shades of night. Since this day-spring from on high has appeared, a great light hath shined unto those who, till then, sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. And thousands of them in every age have known, “that God so loved the world, as to give his only Son, to the end that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And being entrusted with the oracles of God, they have known that God hath also given us his Holy Spirit, who “worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” …