Sermon25-1 Ps130 Guide

Ps 130 theme verse Ps 130:7

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this first Sunday of Advent, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, on the thanksgiving Sunday, through the Psalm 126, we prayed that God may continue to pour out His grace and be present with us, while counting His grace during last year. This week, on the first week of Advent, through Ps 130, we would like to wait in hope, after looking at the heart of Psalmist together.

1)    As the Advent starts from this week, church calendar also starts anew, since this church calendar is designed as a journey to live a year with Jesus as the center of life, it starts a new year by waiting for the coming of Jesus, Christmas. For your reference, the church calendar is composed of around the life of Jesus, I mean, His birth, public ministry, suffering, death, resurrection, ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, and is divided into three seasons. The first season is the period from Advent to Christmas and Epiphany, during which we meditate on the Lord’s first coming, repenting of any sins we may have committed, and prepare for the Lord’s second coming with hope. And the second is the period from Lent to Easter and Pentecost, during which we participate in the suffering and resurrection of Christ, striving to be united with Christ, and celebrating the victory of Christ. And finally the third is the period from Pentecost to Thanksgiving, during which we strive to live according to the Lord’s new commandment to love one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Among them, today is the first Sunday of Advent, when the church calendar begins anew.

2)    We celebrate the Advent for four weeks before the Christmas, while meditating on His first coming for the redemption, and preparing for His second coming. Typically, during this Advent, we prepare four candles symbolizing hope, peace, joy, and love, and lit one each week to wait for His second coming. And the Greek word for Advent is “παρουσία” (Parousia), which means "presence," "coming," or "arrival". The Latin word adventus is a translation of parousia and is the origin of the English word "Advent". 

3)    So in this first Sunday of the Advent, we would like to meditate on ”hope” through Ps 130 together. Psalm 130 is included in Book 5 of the Psalm, and its title is “A Song of Ascent”, and its genre is Hymn Psalm and in terms of its subject, it is the sixth psalm of the seven Penitential Psalms, I mean, psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 101, 130, and 143.

4)    And the structure of Psalm 130 can be divided into four strophes, with two verses each in which it expressed the weight of sin, confessing of guilt, waiting for God in faith, and finally assurance of God’s salvation. To elaborate, through the four strophes of the Psalm, I mean, the burden of sin, confession of guilt, trust in God and assurance of salvation, the psalmist develops the themes of moving from death to life, from guilt to forgiveness, from darkness to light, and from bondage to freedom.

5)    First the psalmist speaks of himself, I mean, he draws himself as the being of death, sin, darkness and bondage. In other words, in verse 1, the psalmist cried out that “Out of the depths I have been crying to you, O LORD,” through which he confessed that he is currently in a deep pit, that is, a bottomless abyss in which death is lurking. Especially to the ancient Israelites, these deep waters meant life-threatening danger as the same word is used with sea water in Psalm 69:2 and 14, and with Rahab, the monster of chaos, in Isaiah 51:9 and 10. And as the verb to cry in verse 1 is used in the perfect tense, it indicates that the psalmist who began to cry in the past continues to the present. And then in verse 3, the psalmist cried out, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” through which he confesses that he can neither be sinless nor become a sinless being before God. In this way, the psalmist confesses that he is a totally depraved being, and a totally inable being who cannot achieve righteousness on his own so as a being who is in darkness and ultimately destined to die. This, he confesses, is the reality, or misery of human beings.

6)    And then, the psalmist confesses about God that the LORD is God of ‘hased(חֶ֫סֶד)’, I mean, God of steadfast love and God of ‘pedut(פְּדוּת)’, I mean God of redemption. Here the Hebrew word hesed ((חֶ֫סֶד meaning ‘faithfulness’, ‘loyalty’ or ‘graciousness’ refers to the covenantal faithfulness of God, that is, God’s unchanging or firm love for His covenantal people. So in the English, it is translated as lovingkindness in NASB, mercy in KJV, steadfast love in ESV and NRSV, loyal love in NET, unfailing love in NIV. And also the Hebrew word ‘pedut’ (פְּדוּת), meaning ‘ransom’ or ‘redemption’ refers to the act of delivering from trouble, for example, slavery or exile, as this word is used four times in the Old Testament, namely in Ps 111:9, 130:7, Isa 50:2, and Ex 8:19. Therefore, the psalmist confesses that God is God of faithfulness in His covenant and also God of redemption. That’s why godly people respond to God with the fear of God, in order words, the reverence of God (Deut 5:29 and 1 Pt 1;17), since God is not only God of thorough judgement, but also God of steadfast love and forgiveness.

7)    And then the psalmist in Psalm 130, called the name of God 9 time, that is, 5 times of the LORD in Capital letter and 4 times of the Lord in Small letter, although there are only 8 verses. Here the first name of the LORD in Capital letter which is the translation of the four Hebrew consonants YHWH (יהוה, yot, he, vav, he)” which is translated as Jehovah in the New Korean Revised Version. By the way, there is a reason why I read this word only as consonants without vowels. Because the Israelites actually forgot how to read this word. What I mean is, when the scribes read the Bible, then they met this word, yot, he, vav, he, they were afraid that they would break the third commandment “ You shall not take the name of the LORD Your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain,” so they read it instead with the Hebrew word אֲדֹנָי֮  (Adonai), which means “Lord.” But, as time passed, they eventually forgot how to pronounce this word. Then later, when the Masoretic Bible tried to add the vowels to the Hebrew Bible which was written only with the consonants, they added the vowels of “Adonai” into this word, reading it as Yahweh. And then In 1518, Galatine, who was the confessor of Pope Leo X, first suggested the Latin pronunciation of this word, “Jehovah,” so it was later read as “Jehovah.” So, the New Jerusalem Bible translated it as Yahweh, while the American Standard Version translated it as Jehovah, yet most other English Bible versions translate it as The LORD, but in Capital letter as a euphemism for Adonai. And it means the name of the one true God, focusing on His certainty of existence and relationship with His covenantal people. (Exodus 3:15) And secondly, God is called ‘Adonai’, which is the plural form of the singular root of this word, adon (אָדוֹן,ā·ḏôn, vv. 2, 3, 4, 6), and is a honorific of God signifying His majesty, meaning that God is the one who has sovereignty. So the New Korean Revised Version translates it as “주”, while all English translations translate it as The Lord, in Small letter. Therefore the psalmist confesses that God who is God of steadfast love and redemption is the LORD, Yahweh, who are faithful to His covenant and also the Lord who has sovereignty over all His creations.

8)    Therefore the Psalmist says he is waiting for God the LORD of only hope in the midst of deep abyss of death and hope in His word. And here, the “word” the psalmist is waiting for can be an oracle of salvation (Kraus, 2:872) or an act of salvation in fulfillment of God’s word of promise (cf. 107:20) or a new act of salvation by which the godly person is upheld in faith based on the fact from the concluding assurance that the Lord will redeem his people from their sins.

9)    And the reason why the psalmist says to hope in Him is a) because the LORD God is the God who listens and hears the prayer of His people, and b) because He is the One who forgives their sin and makes them stand before Him, and also c) because He is God of Hesed, I mean, the God of covenantal faithfulness, and finally, d) because He is God of Sovereignty who has the power to do all these things. Therefore, on this first Sunday of Advent, if there is a person who is waiting for His answer, I pray we may wait for His answer and for His second coming in hope in our God the LORD who sincerely keeps His covenant and in our Lord who is sovereign.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q As we celebrate the first week of Advent, I hope we all can walk with our Lord, making Him the master of our life for another new year of church calendar. After looking back on the past year, if there was anything lacking, may we put it down before the Lord and repent, and then we set our mind to follow the Lord even more intimately in the coming year. I hope that we can share our thoughts and experiences with our team members to share grace.

Q2 According to Ps 130, today’s text, it says to have hope in the Lord and His Word. In that sense, let’s think about what the Lord’s Word is that we should hold onto this year and what hope we will have in the Lord, and I hope that we can share our thoughts and experiences with our team members and share grace.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.