Psalm 119:152

We now come to the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Koph.

Psalms 119:152  Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

God’s testimonies, which make up the Bible, are indestructible.  This is because the Lord has founded them for ever.

Founded – Based, having a (specified) base or ground (with qualifying adverb).  Also without adv. = ‘well founded’, well grounded, etc.

When something is well founded, it is able to withstand the forces that would destroy it.  Our Lord demonstrated this in the parable of the wise and foolish builders.

Matthew 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

Every word the Lord has spoken is like the words He spoke by the prophet Samuel of which we read:  “the LORD…let none of his words fall to the ground” (1Samuel 3:19).  Being founded, God’s testimonies are like the house built on the rock that “fell not.”  Many have been the efforts to destroy the written word of God.  Yet God’s testimonies continue to stand because they are founded forever.  And they are founded for ever because God declares they will stand forever and He cannot lie.  Furthermore, God has infinite power and can insure that they are preserved.

Psalms 12:6  The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

7  Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

Isaiah 30:8  Now go (God speaking to Isaiah), write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever….

Isaiah 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Matthew 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Even though the words are written on destructible paper, the words themselves continue.  The paper on which they are written changes, but the words written on the paper remain and shall never pass away. Today’s verse states the reason they remain:  thou hast founded them forever.  It is God’s work to see to it that once His testimonies are spoken, they remain.  He sees to it that His words are carried over from one piece of paper to another and, yes, from one language to another.  Yet they remain as much His testimonies as when He first uttered them.

Now the psalmist was convinced of old that God has founded His testimonies forever.  He knew this when he penned these words and he knew it a long time before that.    

Of old:  of old time, in the olden time, long, since, formerly; also, From old days, for a long time (preceding the present).

That God has founded His testimonies forever was an established fact long before the psalmist ever appeared on the scene.  His fathers knew it and their fathers knew it and so on back to the beginning of time.  Once God had given His words, those words remained for them to learn, to observe, and to see fulfilled.  They could compare the events of time with those words and see how God’s testimonies were vindicated over and over in the prophecies they declared, the blessings they promised, and the judgments they pronounced. 

Deuteronomy 32:7  Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

Job 20:4  Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5  That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Psalms 44:1 We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou

didst in their days, in the times of old.

Psalms 78:1  Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

4  We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

5  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

6  That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:

7  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments….

Our holy religion rests on a firm foundation tried and proven of old, even from the beginning of earth’s history.  God’s testimonies provide us with a sure support when every thing else around us gives way.  It is as we sing:  “How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!”  It was because of this firm foundation that the psalmist had such confidence in prayer as he attests four times in this octave.  It was because of this firm foundation that the psalmist could take solace in the fact that God was near him when his enemies drew nigh.  Commenting on this verse Charles Spurgeon wrote:  “Bubbles please boys, but men prize those things which are solid and substantial, with a foundation and a bottom to them which will bear the test of the ages.”  And so we conclude our meditations on this octave of Psalm 119.  Amen!