Confronting a Bad Gospel
Called by God (1-5)
Paul, as was often his custom when opening a letter, affirmed that he was not just one of the many apostles of the Church but, instead, an apostle of the Lord, having been added to the twelve by Jesus Himself after He ascended (1). Paul reiterated that Jesus’ death was the only way to escape the present lust-driven, sin-infested evil age and begin enjoying King Jesus’ new age. It was deliverance from the present evil age that prompted Paul to give Jesus eternal praise and affirmation (1-5).
A Servant of the True Gospel (6-12)
Paul wasted no time declaring his shock over the Galatians who had quickly deserted the true Jesus-message of grace for a different, distorted non-gospel of a fake Jesus. So outraged was Paul by the corruption of the gospel that he eternally condemned any people, and even some angelic beings, who would dare teach another gospel (6-9).
Paul then made his life mission clear: he was not seeking to please man because his gospel was not the invention of man, but his gospel had been sourced in a revelation from Jesus Christ. Paul was fully Christ's servant and was serving Jesus alone in this matter of gospel presentation. It was Paul’s revelation of the gospel, taught to him by Jesus personally, that not only made him one of the personal apostles of Christ but also served as the foundation for his letters to various churches (10-12), which would come to be known as Scripture.
Paul Lays Out His Testimony (13-24)
Paul further outlined his former life as the tormentor of the Church, who would have destroyed it if he could have (13-14). But Paul's menacing of the Church had been disrupted by God before he was even born (15). It was the very same God who found pleasure in introducing Paul to His Son, Jesus, and then transformed him not only into a preacher of the gospel of Jesus but also a preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles (16). Paul here used his own conversion experience as an example of the transforming power of grace to verify what great things the gospel was capable of.
Paul finally chronicled his journey, making certain that the Galatians realized he did not go just anywhere to have the gospel explained to him because his gospel was revealed to him by Christ.
Immediately after his conversion and without human direction, Paul followed a specific path:
He went to Arabia.
Then he went back to Damascus (17).
After three years, he made his way to Jerusalem. He spent two weeks there being hosted by Peter and James (18-19).
Without receiving formal teaching or training, Paul left Jerusalem for Syria and Cilicia (20-21).
He was not recognized as an apostle of Jesus Christ until he was sent out by the church at Antioch and subsequently traveled to Galatia to establish churches among the Gentiles (22).
The only reputation Paul had before the church at Antioch recognized him as one who had been with the Lord was that of a persecutor of Jesus’ followers who had become a preacher of faith in Jesus (23) and was bringing glory to God (24).
Paul unfurled his first major point as he began his confrontation with false teachers: “I have a revelation of the gospel. It was given to me by Jesus and all contrary teachings are false and cursed.”
Psalms 120-134 are all “Pilgrimage Songs” and were written to be sung by the Jews on their way up to Jerusalem for the three feasts held there each year [the feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Booths]. Ten of the Psalms are anonymous, four are attributed to David (122, 124,131,133), and one to Solomon (127)].
I have written these chapter devotionals as Jesus would have sung them and heard them as He was going to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts as a Boy, as a Man, and then ultimately in His final ascent to Jerusalem as the Passover culminated at Calvary. I will especially let these Psalms flow from Jesus’ own lips as we imagine a bit of what might have been going through His mind as He walked His disciples to that city 3,800 feet above sea level—the city in these Psalms referred to as Jerusalem and Zion.
Some imagine these Psalms were written for Solomon's Temple, each Psalm written for the fifteen steps leading up to the inner court—one Psalm at a time sung by the Levitical choirs accompanied by musicians as the priest made his way up each step.
Others imagine the Psalms were written for the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. Still others place them at 445 B.C. during Nehemiah's time, after the walls were built, when the Jews ascended to the temple for the Feast of Tabernacles.
Whenever these Psalms were written, they became songs sung by Pilgrims moving toward Jerusalem for one of the three feasts of Israel.
Psalm 125
The Psalm of Yahweh's Protection
Isaiah the prophet had gone to King Ahaz and warned him that to rely on Assyria for help against threatening Syria was foolish (Isaiah 7:1-8:8). King Ahaz did not listen to Isaiah but submitted to Assyrian lordship and had to empty the temple and his palace of treasure to appease the Assyrians.
King Ahaz's foolish disobedience finally led to the Assyrian invasion of Judah during the reign of Hezekiah. The account of the Assyrian invasion is recorded in Isaiah 36-37. While the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians and was taken captive, Hezekiah was watching city after city in Judah fall and was waiting for the Assyrian army to make its way to Jerusalem.
Hezekiah had decided to reject Assyria's lordship over Judah and bowed out of his obligation tribute payment.
Sennacherib had conquered Judah's city and villages and sent word to Hezekiah by Rabshakeh. The Assyrian army was on its way to take Jerusalem next, and they needed to submit and pay up.
The speech of Rabshakeh to Hezekiah was arrogant and equated Yahweh, the Lord of Judah, with the useless gods of other nations who were unable to stop the Assyrian force.
Hezekiah could have formed an alliance with Egypt and resisted Assyria and then been indebted to Egypt.
Hezekiah decided to believe the word of Yahweh through the prophet Isaiah and completely trust Yahweh for deliverance. The entire story can be found in 2 Kings 18:9-19:37 and Isaiah 36-37. The two accounts give some detail to Hezekiah's decision to trust Yahweh.
A message was sent to Hezekiah from Sennacherib a second time demanding surrender and payment.
Hezekiah made a hasty run to the temple to seek Yahweh.
There in the temple, Hezekiah heard from Yahweh: “Thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David” (2 Kings 19:32-34 ESV).
Judah was saved as Yahweh sent an angel one night and slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
The Assyrians never recovered their national strength.
This is believed to be the setting for the writing of Psalm 125, which was later placed in this spot when the Psalms of Ascent were formed.
Protection of Yahweh (1-2)
Mountains were symbols of things unchanging and immovable. Mt. Zion, the place where Yahweh dwells with Israel, was considered anchored to eternity, fixed and permanent, adamantly rooted.
Mt. Zion was not just a spot in Jerusalem; it had become a divine center of Yahweh's Kingdom among His people. Those who trusted Yahweh were, by the Psalmist, likened to those in God's Kingdom; they were “unbudgeable” (1).
The Psalmist considered: higher mountains surrounded Jerusalem, but even more, Yahweh is the symbolic Mountain, the highest and greatest of all power, and He surrounds Mt. Zion.
God's people, snuggled away in God's presence, were hedged in by the unending, unstoppable protection of Yahweh. This was what Hezekiah would have been thinking when Yahweh stepped in and protected Judah, hemming her in as an impenetrable haven in a world whirling with threats.
This is what Jesus would have been singing as He ascended toward Jerusalem for His Passover crucifixion, singing as He went, “I'm surrounded by Yahweh.”
Prediction from Yahweh (3)
Hezekiah looked throughout Judah—they were under the shadow of the scepter of the Assyrians, who were eating up and assaulting city after city, then looting and raping village after village. Their reign of terror sought absolute dominion.
The Psalmist turned prophetic and declared that the exploitive nature of a tyrannical regime would never violate or corrupt the heart of the truly righteous.
Hezekiah, when threatened by the ravenous rule of Assyria, did not go to Egypt for help, nor surrender to the despot-regime. Hezekiah threw himself at the feet of Yahweh, going to the temple to pray.
Christ, when facing trial before Rome's Pilate and when facing satan in the wilderness, stood strong and did not give up His soul to save His life. Neither Rome nor satan's scepter ever ruled Jesus, who was the true inheritance of Yahweh, the true Israel. The Psalmist prophesied it, and Jesus fulfilled it—the wicked rule did not move Jesus to do wrong.
Petition to Yahweh (4-5)
Hezekiah then petitioned Yahweh to do good to those who decided to stand in fidelity with Yahweh, those who would not become crooked and swerve to pacify God and swerve back again to appease the Assyrians.
Those whose path form a crooked road going this way to humor God and then that way to soothe worldly powers are destined to be led away with the morally vile, who corrupt and damage covenant faithfulness to Yahweh.
As Jesus prayed this prayer under the shadow of Roman power, as He walked up to Jerusalem, He was convinced of Yahweh's protection. Jesus would sing, “Yahweh is good to those whose love remains covenant faithful, whose heart is not changed by the evil around them.”
Then the Psalm ends with the benediction of “peace” thriving and flourishing on God's chosen firstborn, Israel.
On the final ascent to Jerusalem, Jesus, being fully aware He was becoming God's Israel, drank in the peace of God.