Afflicted but Not Defeated: The LORD’s Justice Against Those Who Hate Zion. Psalm 129 speaks as the voice of Israel
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Jesus Christ.
John 1:17
Sandor Viczian
Afflicted but Not Defeated: The LORD’s Justice Against Those Who Hate Zion.
Psalm 129 speaks as the voice of Israel remembering long oppression “from my youth,” yet testifying that the LORD did not allow the enemies to finally prevail. It describes affliction as deep and repeated, but it frames survival as the LORD’s righteous restraint upon the wicked. The psalm then turns into a prayer of justice: that those who hate Zion would be put to shame and turned back, and that their success would wither quickly like grass on a rooftop. It warns that hatred against God’s people is not a harmless attitude but rebellion that will not stand under God’s judgment. The chapter’s aim is to strengthen faith under pressure and to anchor hope in God’s righteous rule, not in revenge or human power.
Psalms 129:1 – 129:8
1 A Song of degrees. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4 The Lord [is] righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass [upon] the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord [be] upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We Believe…
In one God, eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
In the absolute deity and full humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His substitutionary and atoning death for all through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory to judge the living and the dead;
In the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is empowered to live a holy life, to witness and work for the Lord Jesus Christ;
In the divine inspiration of all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments as originally given, guaranteeing their infallibility, entire trustworthiness, and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct;
That all people are sinners and cannot save themselves. Salvation is received as a free gift of God’s grace, apart from works, through repentance and personal faith in the redemptive work of Christ and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit;
In the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the eternal blessedness of the saved, and the eternal punishment of the lost;
In the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ who are thus members of His Body, the Church, whose work is the worship of God, perfecting the saints, and evangelization of the world.
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