Psalm 119:111-112 Your testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.… I. THE CLAIM ASSERTED BY DAVID — GOD'S TESTIMONIES HE ASSERTS TO BE HIS OWN HERITAGE. Speaking as a Jew, he declares with feelings of thanksgiving and triumph that he from his birth has had a rightful possession of God's revelations. Whilst other nations have been left in darkness, some never visited with the light of truth at all, others at best having to become proselytes, they, the Israelites, knew God from their mother's womb. Now, in examining into the cause of David's thankfulness, we are brought across the broad subject of ancestral religion. How far and on what grounds is it a matter of gratitude to God that we in this kingdom have not had to hear, late in life for the first time, the proclamation of the Name of the Lord, but have been born and bred in the midst and under the influence of Christian institutions? If we had not received it as a heritage we might never have enjoyed it at all. Which of us is certain that if he had met Christ face to face in the valleys of Judah we should not have despised Him? II. DAVID CLAIMS GOD'S TESTIMONIES AS HIS INHERITANCE, not for the brief period of this mortal life, but FOR EVER; as though implying that they would hereafter form the source of his joy and triumph. The Divine Word and testimonies are to remain for an inheritance of delight to the saints. What is this? Why, it is that the knowledge and contemplation of God and His attributes shall form the eternal occupation and pleasure of the blessed in heaven. For ever! aye, when our present tastes and feelings shall have long passed away, .and we stand upon the shores of another land whose features we cannot surmise, and hear other sounds whose echo imagination cannot catch; when He that sitteth on the throne shall have made all things new, still, if among the saved, shall we throw ourselves upon the old revelations of God, and cleave to them as the noblest of the things prepared for those that love Him, and so find the words of David, words of earth, still true when earth is no more: "Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine heritage for ever." (Bp. Woodford.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.WEB: I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. |
    |