Every time we share the gospel with a family member at a holiday gathering, with a neighbor while we’re mowing the lawn, with a stranger on our daily commute, or even with our own children at bedtime devotionals, we are heralding to them the deeds of our great God. In this way, we pass the gospel to another generation. In Psalm 44 we see this pattern. Psalm 44 begins this way:<\/p>\n
Psalms 44:1\u2014O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is how the gospel has perpetuated throughout the centuries: one generation telling the next. Indeed, the gospel is only ours to pass on to another generation because someone first passed it on to us\u2014and someone passed it to them and so on and so forth. This is our gospel legacy. We have the privilege of passing on to the next generation the story of God\u2019s greatest deed that he performed in the days of old in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we do this, we follow in the pattern that Psalm 44 describes.<\/p>\n
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Psalm 44 in Context<\/em><\/p>\n
In Psalm 44, the Psalmist isn\u2019t heralding the explicit gospel of Jesus Christ in the historical sense, due to the fact that Jesus had yet to walk the earth when this Psalmist penned these words. However, Psalm 44 does point to, anticipate, and prophetically prefigure the gospel of Jesus Christ. Did you notice the colon at the end of verse 1? That tells us that the Psalmist is about to describe the deeds of God that he is referring to. Consider those deeds.<\/p>\n
Psalms 44:2\u20133 describe God\u2019s deeds in the days of old, when God delivered the promised land to his people, the future kingdom of their nation, by routing all their enemies. God \u201cdrove out nations\u201d before his people, and he \u201cplanted\u201d his people. God \u201cafflicted the peoples\u201d but he set his people free. The psalmist sums all this up in salvific terms. His people did not \u201csave\u201d themselves, but God did by his own \u201cright hand, [his] arm, and the light of [his] face.\u201d Why? Because he delighted in them<\/em>.<\/p>\n
In light of this past grace of God, the Psalmist then raises up his petition for God to again save his covenant people. Indeed, he frames the entire rest of the Psalm, vv. 4\u201326, with a plea for God to work his salvation again: \u201cYou are my King, O God; ordain salvation<\/em> for Jacob!\u201d (Psalm 44:4) and \u201cRise up; come to our help! Redeem<\/em> us for the sake of your steadfast love!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Gospel in Psalm 44<\/em><\/p>\n
This salvation that the Psalmist longs for, Christ fulfills. Jesus is the Israel that Israel should have been. Jesus secured for us the eternal kingdom\u2014what the promised land pointed to. And he did it by being \u201crejected\u201d in his people\u2019s place (Psalm 44:9). He did it by becoming a \u201csheep for slaughter\u201d (Psalm 44:11), by becoming \u201cthe taunt of [his] neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around [him]\u201d (Psalm 44:13), even though he had \u201cnot forgotten [God] and [he] was not false to [God\u2019s] covenant\u201d (Psalm 44:17). He became the curse for us (Galatians 3:13). And God did not \u201cabandon [his] soul to Sheol or let [his] holy one see corruption\u201d (Psalm 16:10; cf. Acts 2:27\u201331). Therefore, in Christ, God helps us and redeems us because he delights in us as his people united to Christ (Psalm 44:26). This is the gospel, God\u2019s greatest deed of salvation and redemption.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Telling God\u2019s Greatest Deed of Old<\/em><\/p>\n
So we still follow this same pattern of the Psalmist. We now tell of the greatest deed of old that God has done. God sent his Son, God incarnated, wrapped in human flesh, in order to save all who believe in him\u2014to give them eternal life (John 3:16). He accomplished this in his perfect life, death, and resurrection. This is the deed we speak of when we share the gospel. This is what we pass on to the coming generation. And we herald this past deed of grace, the gospel of Jesus, with a view to and in anticipation of God\u2019s future grace.<\/p>\n
Because of what Jesus has done, and because of what he is still doing from the throne room in heaven, we endure the trials and reproach that this life throws our way, knowing that we are awaiting the heavenly city, the city that is to come, whose designer and builder is God (Heb 11:10; 13:14). We look to the day when we will see \u201cthe holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God\u201d, when we will hear that clarion call: \u201cBehold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God\u201d (Revelation 21:3). This is what God\u2019s greatest deed in the gospel of Jesus has secured for us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/em><\/p>\n
We have the privilege of passing on to the next generation the story of God\u2019s greatest deed that he performed in the days of old in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have heard this great deed from the generation before us, and we aim to pass it on to the next. We have heard, and we will tell. And we do it all with a view to eternity with God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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