For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Psalm 89 belongs among the psalms that give voice to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives while holding out encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from their persecutors. It declares that mercy shall be built up forever and that faithfulness shall be established in the very heavens, meaning that divine goodness and faithfulness are enduring, firmly established, certain and secure. In this it presents God as steadfast and faithful in keeping His covenant with His children. That covenant shall stand fast with Christ forever and shall not be abolished.
That unabolished covenant is the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, as righteousness that shall not be abolished. What was foretold to be done away was sacrifice and oblation, not this covenant. Christ magnified this law by His teachings, by keeping all His Father's commandments in His life, and by dying to redeem humanity from the penalty of transgressing it.
David repeatedly praised and made known this enduring mercy and faithfulness, trusted in it for salvation, and repeatedly affirmed that mercy endures forever. The praise springs from redemption purchased for David and all the redeemed. It reflects David's own experience of pardon when he humbly acknowledged his transgression, and his rescue and cleansing made him a witness to God's abundant pardon and mercy toward sinners.
The psalm is a prophecy of Christ and His glorious reign, prophetic both of David and of David's greater Son, Jesus Christ. The verse belongs to David's prophetic song of deliverance, which is connected with the triumph of the Lord in the resurrection. It forms part of the promise to David that Christ would reign as King in God's coming kingdom on earth. That kingdom promise to Jacob's descendants was conditional, was forfeited under the old covenant, and can be regained only through an interest in Jesus, who is now Prince and will soon be crowned King.
Psalm 89 belongs among the psalms that give voice to the sorrows and afflictions of the Hebrew captives while holding out encouragement and assurance of divine help and final deliverance from their persecutors. It declares that mercy shall be built up forever and that faithfulness shall be established in the very heavens, meaning that divine goodness and faithfulness are enduring, firmly established, certain and secure. In this it presents God as steadfast and faithful in keeping His covenant with His children. That covenant shall stand fast with Christ forever and shall not be abolished.
That unabolished covenant is the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, as righteousness that shall not be abolished. What was foretold to be done away was sacrifice and oblation, not this covenant. Christ magnified this law by His teachings, by keeping all His Father's commandments in His life, and by dying to redeem humanity from the penalty of transgressing it.
David repeatedly praised and made known this enduring mercy and faithfulness, trusted in it for salvation, and repeatedly affirmed that mercy endures forever. The praise springs from redemption purchased for David and all the redeemed. It reflects David's own experience of pardon when he humbly acknowledged his transgression, and his rescue and cleansing made him a witness to God's abundant pardon and mercy toward sinners.
The psalm is a prophecy of Christ and His glorious reign, prophetic both of David and of David's greater Son, Jesus Christ. The verse belongs to David's prophetic song of deliverance, which is connected with the triumph of the Lord in the resurrection. It forms part of the promise to David that Christ would reign as King in God's coming kingdom on earth. That kingdom promise to Jacob's descendants was conditional, was forfeited under the old covenant, and can be regained only through an interest in Jesus, who is now Prince and will soon be crowned King.