Psalm 17 and Christ Raised From the Dead in Fulfillment of Psalm 16
A Prayer of Faith and Investigation: Psalm 17, and Christ was Raised From the Dead in Fulfillment of Psalm 16
Psalm 17 is a prayer of invitation for investigation. Study it in the light of the innocent Christ, numbered with the transgressors. He was tested by the closest scrutiny of God (“examined,” verse 3, margin), God could find nothing in Christ. He was innocent. He knew no sin. Even His enemies could find no sin in Him through which they could convict Him (John 8:46).
Another tested Christ. Lucifer examined Him, to see if he could find a flaw in His character. Since God’s searching eye “found nothing” in Christ, the devil’s investigation was an exercise in futility. Jesus testified that “he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30). This has to do with sins. The devil could find “not even one” sin in Him. Nothing in Christ responded to the devil’s temptations.
The reason for Christ’s flawless character is found in the fact that He would do “not even one” thing of Himself (John 5:19,30). Christ’s words and works were done by the Father’s power (John 14:10). This is living by faith, righteousness by faith.
Christ was a servant of the grace of God, and it was thereby impossible for Him to be forced into sin so long as He remained under God’s power. Grace is always greater than sin! The Spirit that dwelt within Christ was stronger than the inherited tendencies of sinful flesh (Romans 5:20, 21; 6:16; Galatians 5:16, 17). Thus it was God, in Christ, who condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3).
This should greatly encourage your heart, especially as you face the judgment. To the condition of Christ when He was on earth, in human flesh, God will bring His people in the faith of Jesus. The devil will find “not even one” sin in them by which he might gain the advantage. The reason he will find nothing in God’s people is because first God Himself will examine them. Because of the power of His grace dwelling in them and the righteousness of Christ given to them, He will find nothing in them! Judgment will be pronounced in their favor. The everlasting gospel message will accomplish God’s work in the believer (Revelation 14:12; 18:1; Daniel 7:9, 10, 22; 1 Thessalonians 5:8, 9).
After God’s examination, then and only then, will Satan have opportunity to investigate God’s elect. No doubt the devil will try them to the uttermost. But he will meet with the same result that he did with Christ, for Christ is formed within them as the hope of glory. The same righteousness of God that was in Christ and given to them, Satan will test. He will find “not one thing” that will respond to his sophistry. This is so because God’s grace will have such control over God’s people that sin in them will be conquered and condemned in their sinful flesh by the power of His word and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit based upon the work of Christ on the cross.
While on the one hand the law of God points out sin in the lives of everyone, it also testifies in behalf of the believer (Romans 3:20, 21). Only Christ’s righteousness will be found in God’s people (Jeremiah 23:6). God’s law of righteousness will testify to the genuineness of that righteousness. God has already investigated that flawless righteousness in Christ. As Christ could do nothing of Himself, so His followers “can do not one thing” of themselves (John 5:19, 30; 15:5). Christ only will be seen in the believer. Christ and His mind, His thoughts, His words, His works, His righteousness.
Christ purposed in His mind not to transgress with His lips (Psalm 17:3; 1 Peter. 2:22). So it is with His people (Revelation 14:5; 1 Peter 3:10; James 2:26; 3:1-12). By God’s word, Christ was kept from sin (Psalm 17:4; Matthew 4:4). So it must be with His people (Psalm 119:19).
In Psalm 17:5-15 we read the prayer of faith. Since Christ lived “by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God” we can be assured that He made this psalm His own. He endured the cross, despising its shame (Hebrews 12:2-4). The psalm ends in faith: “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” From this, let’s turn our attention to Psalm 16.
It was written by David. No doubt some of this psalm is about his own experience. But it is another of the psalms about Christ. It concludes with the hope of His resurrection. His prayer of faith here is that He would not experience corruption in the grave. This can only apply to Christ and not to David because it is evident from Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, and later from Paul’s sermon in the synagogue in Pisidia that this refers to Jesus (Acts 2:25-35; 13:33-37).
Psalm 16:8-11 is a recorded prayer of the faith of Jesus concerning His resurrection. Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost quoted this passage in reference to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that day. He told the “men of Israel” that although they had put Christ to death, God raised Him up in fulfillment of this psalm (Acts 2:24-32). Verse 10 is quoted directly in Acts 2:27 (KJV): “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” Peter argued that this referred to Christ, and not to David, because David did see corruption and he was still on earth in his tomb in Jerusalem at the time Peter preached to the people on the day of Pentecost.
Christ went to hell for us (Psalm 16:10). Sheol in the Old Testament and Hades in the New meant the grave. Christ died. Both soul and body died. Isaiah wrote that His “soul” would be made “an offering for sin,” and that “He poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:10, 12).
Christ’s death was more than physical.
Had His death been only physical, it would have been no more than a pagan sacrifice. But no! He really died. His total mortal person perished. When He died, His thoughts perished, just as they do with all who die (Psalm 146:4). He died the equivalent of what the Bible calls the “second death” (Revelation 20:6). This death is punishment for sin. This is what mankind earns. This death is “good-bye” forever to life. It means eternal separation from God. But our “wages” were paid by Jesus. “The wages of sin is death” even the death of Jesus. Because Jesus lived fully by faith, and in faith of God’s promise to bring Him back from the dead, He was resurrected from the grave and now ever lives to make intercession for us. Because He died, you live. Because He died you may live forever, conditioned of course on your non-resistance to His grace.
Christ in his human nature is the only human who was destined to go to hell. No other human being has to go there. That fire was prepared for devils, not mankind. Those only who persistently refuse the grace of God that surrounds them just as certainly as the atmosphere encircles the earth, will join the devil and his angels there (Matthew 25:41).