February 15
“You will not leave My soul in the grave, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show Me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore,” Psalm 16:10-11.
By inspiration, Psalm 16 was written by David, but it does not speak about David. It is the eternal Son of God who is speaking in this psalm through David. In this psalm, we have a good example of the teaching, ‘Scripture interprets Scripture; the Bible explains itself; the Bible is its own commentary.’
In the New Testament, both the apostles Peter and Paul testify that it is Jesus who is speaking in this Psalm. Peter said, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is at My right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore My heart rejoiced, and My tongue was glad; moreover My flesh also will rest in hope. For You did not leave My soul in hell, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to Me the way of life; You will make Me full of joy in Your presence.’ Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on His throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses,” Acts 2:22-31.
The apostle Paul said, “Therefore (God) also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’ David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins,” Acts 13:35-38.
The apostles Peter and Paul both testify that the Son of God and our Savior is speaking in Psalm 16, and the emphasis in the Psalm is not only on what Jesus would suffer to redeem us, but especially upon His resurrection from the grave. While Jesus’ body was in the grave, His flesh saw no corruption – that is, His body did not begin to decay. In God’s sight, that was not necessary for our salvation. The comforting part of Psalm 16 is that the promised Savior, who died to take away our sins, rose again. He came forth triumphantly from the grave! We do not have a dead Savior! We have a risen Redeemer and an ever-living Lord, who conquered sin, death, and the devil for us.
Not just Jesus’ birth, but His resurrection seals for us the forgiveness of sins, our justification, and our reason for rejoicing!
We pray: Dear Savior, send me on my way rejoicing, knowing that I have a Redeemer who conquered sin, death, and the devil for me and for all people. Move me to lift up my voice to tell others about the Good News of God’s great love for sinners, one and all. In Your name, I pray. Amen.