God's Chosen Rejected

by Greg Neely, Toronto, Canada. | Category: More Meditations In The Psalms | Sept 1992

Peter writes about the Lord Jesus Christ that He was "rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God ... the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone" (1 Pet. 2:4,7).

What a sad commentary on men, that even as they looked for their Messiah to come, when He appeared, they refused to accept Him. They wanted a majestic king; they got a servant King whom they did not know and did not receive. "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him" (John 1:10,11). What marvellous grace that "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His Name" (John 1:12). He is God's Son, God's Chosen; and men rejected Him, their eyes blinded by sin and self-righteousness.

Psalm 1 describes the man who is blessed, or abundantly happy, as one who "does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!" Instead, he finds his delight in the law of the Lord, and he meditates in it day and night. While we can learn lessons ourselves from this, it appropriately describes the character of the Lord Jesus, who said of Himself to His Jewish followers: "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfil" (Mat. 5:17). His delight was in the law of the Lord. Indeed, He was the fulfilment of it! The counsel of His God was where He walked, and the path of His Father was where He stood. He said of Himself, "for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29). It is evident from His life, His actions, His words, that His delight, His treasure, was with His Father.

David is the man of Psalm 40 who lovingly tells his God: "I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God; Thy Law is within my heart" (v.8). The writer to the Hebrews takes up the strain in chapter 10:5-10 and points out that this more fully describes the Lord and His delight in the things of His God. Those sacrifices and offerings that the Law required became odious to the Lord as His people forgot God in them, and they became formalities and traditions devoid of meaning. The people were far from God; religious, yet not spiritual. We must guard against the same error. Yet, a body was prepared for the Lord to become

that one glorious offering by which we have been sanctified. He came to do the will of God, delighting in it; and He did it wholly and acceptably, God delighting in Him. "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified" (Heb. 10:14).

Though He is chosen of God, the kings and rulers of the earth take their stand "against the LORD and against His Anointed" (Ps. 2:2), but "He who Sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them" (v.4). The time is coming very soon when the Lord will take His rightful place on the throne of earth in the millennium of peace, because He has already been installed upon Zion by His God. He is the One to whom God speaks in His absolute delight, "Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee" (Ps. 2:7; cf. Heb. 1:5). To no one else has He ever said that, not even to the angels who do what He bids without hesitation. But to the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, He has given "the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware" (vv. 8,9). When He comes again to His own, He'll come in absolute majesty to reign, and there will be none who can stand against Him in that day to reject Him as King. He is King, He is Lord, and He is coming in all authority; the One rejected by men, but with God, "elect, precious".

Psalm 41:9 and Psalm 55:12-14 give us something of the anguish that

David felt at being betrayed by a close friend, but also vividly portray the anguish of the Lord as Judas betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver. The closeness of the friendship obviously escaped Judas, who did not appreciate the depth of the love of God in Christ, and he "lifted up his heel" against Him. "For it is not an enemy who reproaches Me, then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates Me who has exalted himself against Me, then I could hide Myself from him. But it is you, a man My equal, My companion and My familiar friend". "Friend, do what you have come for" (Mat. 26:50), said the Lord in the garden as Judas led the mob to take Him prisoner. Oh, the depth of the love and grace of Christ! They had walked together for about three and a half years and "had sweet fellowship together... in the house of God in the throng". Yet this was the one who delivered Him to the chief priests to be condemned and crucified. No wonder Peter referred to Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8 when in Acts 1:20 he said about Judas, "Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no man dwell in it; and, His office let another man take".

What depth of anguish is seen in the words of Psalm 69. The Lord was the Man who walked, not in the counsel of the wicked, but in the counsel of God. He stood, not in the path of sinners, but in the path of God. Yet we find Him in a most fearful place. "I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows Me". This One who walked firmly in the path of God must sink in the deep mire as He bore in His body all our sin. He must be baptized with the flood of God's wrath for sin. How this distressed Him during His life until it was accomplished (Luke 12:50). No wonder that on the Cross His throat was parched (69:3), not with crying, for Christ opened not His mouth, but with the agony of what He was enduring at the hand of His God who had turned from Him. He quoted from this Psalm Himself in John 15:25 as He reflected on the hatred of men: "Those who hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of My head". Then we see in verse 4 something of the truth of the trespass offering, of which Christ was the Antitype and more:

"What I did not steal, I then have to restore". Though Christ was sinless, He restored all that had been removed by sin, plus a whole lot more than the twenty per cent that the trespass offering required. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). We've been taken from being dead in

our transgressions, to being made alive together with Christ; and we've been raised with Him and seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, "in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" ~ph. 2:5-7). What a restoration of that which He did not steal!

Psalm 69:8 shows the rejection that the Lord experienced at the hands of His own household (see John 7:3-5). Verse 9 explains, however, that the household with which He was most concerned was that of His God and Father. He was never rejected there! "For zeal for Thy house has consumed Me". It was not zeal for dead tradition and inactive formality, but zeal for a house where God was living and active. The house had value only because there was a living God associated with it, whom the Lord loved with all His heart and soul and mind. The value of the house has not changed. And yet, the One who so delighted the God of the house was heart-broken by reproach "I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They also gave Me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink". The nation of Israel crucified the Lord of glory, their Messiah, their King, the One who thrilled the heart of God. They rejected Him outright, they horribly mistreated Him. But He was and is God's Chosen. "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified" (Acts 2:36). He's on the throne of God and one day soon Psalm 69:34-36 will come to pass. He'll be rejected no more! He'll be the center of God's kingdom, on a throne that is rightfully His. And we'll praise Him forever, God's chosen One in whom His soul delights (Is. 42:1).

All Scripture quotations are from NASB.

Greg Neely, Toronto, Canada. | Sept 1992
More Meditations In The Psalms