Settled for ever
By Peter Murcott
For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89
We live in uncertain times. This is an age which has been described as a moral maze. It is a time when many raise questions, without receiving answers. Indeed, there are those who treat with suspicion anyone who suggests that firm and fast answers are to be had.
On the search
In these unsettled times, we should not be surprised that many are on the search for stability. These are the days when politicians are increasingly worried at the growth of extremism, which is the natural consequence of instability; and we hear of various proposals for addressing it. The root problem is that this is an age when God’s Word, the one certainty in life, has largely been abandoned, or, at least, it has been sidelined in many people’s minds into mere insignificance. This has resulted in people searching for security in other directions, the consequences of which are becoming extremely apparent.
The only answer
Yet the Bible would remind us that it not only has the answer to all our needs, but that it is the only answer. It is only by God’s mercy that we have this infallible guide available to us, and that we do not live in places where Bibles are hard to come by and are liable to be confiscated. Therefore, let us receive divine instruction, and, it might be added, divine comfort, in the troubled days in which we live, by making Psalm 119:89 our particular point of reference: “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
We will first look at this text in portions, and will then reflect upon its implications for today.
For ever
“For ever” is beyond our imagination. We are creatures of time. We are aware of change, however much we might try to halt it. Much attention today is focussed on heritage. Maybe it is because there is so much uncertainty about. The same thing happened early on the Victorian age; and it spawned the Gothic revival in architecture. This is not to say that knowledge of things past is not important. Quite the opposite! A lack of knowledge of history is one of the causes of many problems today; but it needs to be remembered that the best times have always been when Scripture has been highly regarded.
Still the same
When that is realised, something very wonderful has been discovered, because whatever else has changed, the Bible has not. It is still inerrant, impregnable, infallible, immeasurable in its wisdom, and eternally the same. Horatius Bonar (1809-1889) bids us look up at the sky:
The stars that shine
Tonight in these calm skies
Are the same stars that shone of old
In primal paradise.
Think on that. A century ago, a millennium ago, and more, the same stars shone in the sky as they have done since the dawn of creation. Now God’s Word is like that.
It is changeless, and, it cannot be changed.
Neither have His promises, His precepts, or His commands altered.
God is still sovereign and supreme.
The same stars of truth shine from His Word, and they will go on doing so for ever!
No earthly rebellion affects them; no contrary opinion whatsoever can replace them.
In times past, there have been those who have tried to destroy God’s Word. Where are they now? Dead and buried! Did they succeed in their dark design? No; God’s truth is marching on.
How does our text continue? “For ever, O LORD …”
O LORD
By the words “O LORD”, the Psalmist directs attention to the One from whom the everlasting Word came. In so doing, he speaks in very reverential tones: “O LORD”. This is an acknowledgement of, and a submission to, God’s sovereignty. “Sovereign” and “supreme” are two words that should be on our lips and should be reflected in our lives. A sovereign owns no superior. There is none greater. There is none else. O how wisely Isaiah says: “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” (Isaiah 2:22). Yet, all too many do the opposite, following man rather than God.
Middle verse
Or take the middle verse of the Bible: Psalm 118:8: “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” That doesn’t mean that you cannot trust anybody. Of course you can. But the best of men are just men at their best. They are apt to make mistakes — sometimes serious ones. They are here just for a moment. They have limited understanding. Their lives are but grains of sand in the oceans of eternity.
Go to Job
Hear what the noble Job said of Almighty God: “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?” (Job 9:4). And the same God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – about whom Isaiah and Job spoke has not changed. Neither, O Lord, has,
Thy word
Notice that this is a statement of fact. Have you heard it said whenever a point of Scripture is raised: “Oh, that’s your opinion!” That’s a silly remark. We didn’t write it! It was written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). It is as much a fact as the sun that shines in the sky, or the changeless sequence of seasons. It is settled in heaven, because God has spoken. No one queries it there. So it should be here. That is one reason why we should pay the closest attention to the words in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”.
May it never become vain repetition, and thus break the Third Commandment.
God’s will
How do we know what God’s will is? The answer is because it is expressed in His word. Christ Jesus made that perfectly clear in His earthly ministry. Hear Him, for instance, on the Mount of Olives: “I have many things to say and to judge of you; but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him” (John 8:26).
And of God’s Word, the Psalmist says that it,
Is settled
There is no division or disagreement about it amongst the Three Persons of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is foolish to suppose otherwise. Our text comes from the Old Testament, a portion of Scripture that is commonly thought to be at variance with the New. But how can this be? “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”
Take, for instance, what Peter wrote — and remember that he was quoting from what we now call “The Old Testament”: “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:24,25).
God’s Word is settled. There has been no new revelation. Therefore any departure from it must be a rebellion. It is settled, meaning that it is final, unchanging, and, most importantly, unchangeable.
In heaven
Here is a further thought. Since God’s Word is settled for ever in heaven, any attempt to alter it, to disobey it, or to disregard it, must, at the most, be a temporary phenomenon as well as being futile. You would have thought that, at least, this ought to make those who openly disregard it to stop in their tracks. Mysteriously, it does not seem to have that effect. It just goes to show once again that “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead” (Proverbs 21:16).
Complete reassurance
Yet, to the faithful, here is a statement of stability, certainty and hope. “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.”
It is full of reassurance, more especially since Psalm 119:160 says: “Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever”;
It is a reason for rejoicing and remembrance, saying: “I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word” (Psalm 119:16); and
It is to be made known, especially when so much seems to be falling apart and where many live only for the day.
Nothing pleases, honours and glorifies God more than faith. Where does it begin? It starts here and now by turning to the Lord and seeking salvation; and it continues by walking in His ways, according to His Word. Those who do so, and who endure to the last, can truly declare with Henry Williams Baker, (1821-1877):
Lord, Thy Word abideth,
And our footsteps guideth,
Who its truth believeth,
Life and joy receiveth.