Quote:
Originally Posted by Curious
Psalm 40:2-3 in fact.
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When you touch the Psalms you perk up my interest. To me, they represent the experiences of the obedient, righteous, suffering servant, then exalted to glory. The whole thing, seen through a particular interpretive lens, is about resurrection. And I believe it's the lens Christ used. The passage where he explains his experiences to the dumbfounded disciples whom he met on the road to Emmaus is illustrative but by no means the only example.
So I, muddy sinner, see Christ on the solid rock and join him. His faith becomes mine. His experiences become mine. His clarity and surety become mine. I see the Exemplary Believer (He trusted in God, let him save him now) and vicariously am transferred to faith. His faith becomes mine, his joy, his song of praise to the Father leads the assembly.
If ever there was a solid rock it is this.
Now I tread more tenuously, to speculative ground. It seems to me that the whole NT narrative is about resurrection. Jesus is of course the Firstborn from the dead, and designated Son of God (This day I have begotten you), but the issue predated Jesus. Remember that the gospels say that the schism between Pharisees and Sadducees was largely on this issue, or at least greatly exacerbated by it. Paul made his great declaration in Acts 23.
Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead."
If you look at Jesus' thought-world, it liberally overlaps but does not belong. He shares the Essenian Son of Man eschatology but rejects their legalism, of which the Baptiser practiced. He shares the Sadducean critique of the Pharisees adopting "traditions of men" but otherwise has nothing with them that I can see. Of course he shares the Pharisees' hope in resurrection (as did Paul) but otherwise little else.
But my point is this: Isaiah may reveal the Suffering Servant, but the Psalms illuminate him with unmistakable (to me) detail. "When I awake, I (the Son) shall be like Him (the Father)". The light of the glory of this gospel overwhelms me, and my sufferings, which seem unbearable at times, become the crucible of resurrection. But it is his victory, his resurrection. Always, it is his.