Deliver me from the oppression of man:
So will I keep thy precepts (Psa 119.134).
The gospel of salvation by free grace is easily twisted by our wealthy, hedonistic culture into a heavenly gift of eternal retirement. When carnal laziness is coupled with the mistaken notion that work is an inherent evil, a part of the misery in this fallen and cursed world, the result is a conception of ultimate blessedness which basically amounts a lavish vacation of good eating with plenty of sleep and fun at God’s expense. It is basically a Western, sanitized version of the eschatological Muslim harem.
The entire biblical mindset is completely different. From the beginning, God made all things for his glory. His glory is the only ultimately worthwhile reason they exist. By this I do not mean to deny that there are other praiseworthy ends God accomplishes in creation and providence, but rather that if any of these subordinate ends did not in some way tend to display and promote the glory of God, in his estimation they would not be worth doing. For an elaborate defense of this doctrine, see Jonathan Edwards’ essay, “Concerning the End for which God Created the World.”1 God makes himself his ultimate and chief end.
And yet, as Edwards explains, “The interest of the creature is, as it were, God’s own interest, in proportion to the degree of their relation and union to God.” This profound statement is the lynchpin that joins God’s purpose of glorifying himself with our duty and happiness as glorifying him. These two great ends, God’s glory and man’s worship of God with consequent bliss, converge.
Thus God saves sinners to serve, that is, to worship him (cf. Matt 4.10), for this was his original purpose with respect to them, particularly his elect, and this is the only way we can be truly and eternally happy.
With this Scriptural understanding, David’s inspired prayer request comes into sharp focus.
THE PETITION FOR SALVATION
“Deliver me from the oppression of man.” The request itself is an admission of inadequacy and helplessness, a most humble confession, and completely without false modesty, since David knew that unless the Lord came to his aid, his case was utterly hopeless. The divine sufficiency and mighty power to save is also implied, for this is the reason David appeals to God in prayer. True prayer is inherently God-glorifying, because in it we take our proper low place of weakness and need before him, and in a worshipful expression of trust and hope we express the reality of his great ability to save and his goodness in being disposed to save those who call upon him.
The enemy of the church’s welfare is here described as “the oppression of man.” Fallen mankind, apart from God’s grace, presents a hindrance to the spiritual salvation of any individual. Scripture labels this enemy “the world” (John 15.19), and it is one of the Christian’s three enemies, alongside the devil (1 Pet 5.8) and the flesh (Rom 7.18), a hellish trinity. In reality these three are all interrelated, for the devil exercises sway over the world, composed of his subjects in the kingdom of spiritual darkness, and “the flesh” is nothing more than the remnants of our sinful corruption, our residual affinity with the world, and the devil’s depraved influence remaining in us.
In very practical ways, the saints of God are always oppressed by the world, even when not personally suffering violent persecution. They set a bad example before us, and it is hard to resist imitation. They attempt to squeeze us into the mold of their beliefs and expectations, even if sometimes unintentionally. We find that we are alienated from their affections and fail to win their approval for whatever spiritual progress we have made by the grace of God. They refuse to join us in public worship, at least inwardly, even if they happen to be in physical attendance of the church’s meetings. The most eminent Christians are ostracized and resented by unbelievers, and the expression of this antipathy is not secret. Their offhand remarks and body language make it altogether apparent that they have no fellowship with us.
To appreciate how great a spiritual threat this is to the believer, try to imagine how different things could be, and how we would be helped along in our sanctification if the whole society were composed of devout fellow Christians! If the common greetings in public were, “The LORD be with you,” and the reply was often, “The LORD bless thee,” as among the reapers of Boaz (Ruth 2.4). But alas, we are the Lord’s soldiers behind enemy lines, and it takes courage even to confess his name in daily conversation with unbelievers!
And so David prays for deliverance from such wrongs inflicted upon him by sinful humanity. The specific verb in the first line is usually translated in the AV as “redeem,” a word which means literally “to ransom,” that is, “to achieve the transfer of ownership from one to another through payment of a price or an equivalent substitute” (TWOT #1734), as in Exodus 13.13. This verb also appears concerning the exodus of Israel from Egypt:
Because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. . . . Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them (Deut 7.8, 11).
The word “redeem” thus came to be used in a more broad sense for salvation from all kinds of miseries (Psa 25.22). “The oppression of man” is one manifestation of those miseries from which the psalmist pleads deliverance.
THE REALIZATION OF SALVATION
Notice the connection in Deuteronomy 7 between the Lord’s redemption of Israel and Israel’s doing his bidding, keeping his revealed will, and serving him. From the beginning this was God’s aim in liberating them from their cruel, earthly taskmasters, and the oppressive widespread idolatry of the land of Egypt.
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me. . . . And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. . . . The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness (Exod 4.22-23; 5.1; 7.16).
Thus David, showing a mind thoroughly steeped in the true nature of God’s covenant with Israel, prays, “So will I keep thy precepts.” The original for “precepts” particularly denotes “what God has appointed to be done.”2 The grammatical relationship between line one and line two of this verse “indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.”3 The end of divine deliverance is that this one, liberated from the world’s oppression, should wait upon the Lord without hindrance as his loyal servant.
Luke beautifully describes that venerable and godly widow Anna in these terms: she “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2.37). More importantly,
one of the exalted titles of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord’s Servant (Isa 42.1). The righteous in heaven are “arrayed in white robes” and are “before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple” (Rev 7.13, 15).
In more abstract theological terms, Paul says that this kind of service is the divinely-intended end of God’s grace to the elect in the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Eph 2.8-10). Yes, Christians are saved to serve, not only in this life, but in the life to come. We should never desire any retirement from worship. God’s grace restores us to the divine intention for us. This is not only not against our bliss, but the only way to promote it.
Thus, whoever has no interest in keeping God’s commandments is not saved, but remains a part of mankind oppressing the holy church of Christ. Professing Christians with the “eternal retirement” view of grace have fundamentally misunderstood the biblical gospel. We are being delivered from the world that we might be transformed into God’s loyal servants, discovering the joy that comes from union with him in his purpose to glorify himself. Amen.
Notes:
1. http://edwards.yale.edu/research/major-works/the-end-for-which-god-created-the-world
2. ESV Study Bible, introduction to Psalm 119.
3. NET Bible notes.