Psalter Praise to Our Covenant God

Fitting for the occasion we witness today, I also post three Psalter numbers (1912 United Presbyterian Church; used in the Protestant Reformed Churches) for our encouragement and edification:

 

241.  The Mercies and Faithfulness of God.  Psalm 89.  L.M.

My song forever shall record

The tender mercies of the Lord;

Thy faithfulness will I proclaim,

And every age shall know Thy Name.

 

I sing of mercies that endure,

Forever builded firm and sure,

Of faithfulness that never dies,

Established changeless in the skies.

 

Behold God’s truth and grace displayed,

For He has faithful covenant made,

And He has sworn that David’s son

Shall ever sit upon his throne.

 

The heavens shall join in glad accord

To praise Thy wondrous works, O Lord;

Thy faithfulness shall praise command

Where holy ones assembled stand.

 

Who in the heavenly dwellings fair

Can with the Lord Himself compare?

Or who among the mighty shares

The likeness that Jehovah bears.

 

With fear and reverence at His feet

God’s holy ones in council meet;

Yea, more than all about His throne

Must He be feared, and He alone.

 

O Thou Jehovah, God of Hosts,

What mighty one Thy likeness boasts?

In all Thy works and vast designs

Thy faithfulness forever shines.

 

The swelling sea obeys Thy will,

Its angry waves Thy voice can still;

Thy mighty enemies are slain,

Thy foes resist Thy power in vain.

 

The heavens and earth, by right divine,

The world and all therein are Thine;

The whole creation’s wondrous frame

Proclaims its Maker’s glorious Name.

 

238.  The Church Universal.   Psalm 87.  8s, 7s, 4.

Zion, founded on the mountains,

God, thy Maker, loves thee well;

He has chosen Thee, most precious,

He delights in Thee to dwell;

God’s own city,

Who can all thy glory tell?

 

Heathen lands and hostile peoples

Soon shall come the Lord to know;

Nations born again in Zion

Shall the Lord’s salvation show;

God Almighty

Shall on Zion strength bestow.

 

When the Lord shall count the nations,

Sons and daughters He shall see,

Born to endless life in Zion,

And their joyful song shall be,

“Blessed Zion,

All our fountains are in Thee.”

 

215.  Religious Training.   Psalm 78.  C.M.

O come, my people, to my law

Attentively give ear;

With willing heart and teachable

The words of wisdom hear.

 

My mouth shall speak in parables

Of hidden truths of old,

Which, handed down from age to age,

To us our fathers told.

 

We will not from their children hide

Jehovah’s worthy praise,

But tell the greatness of His strength,

His wondrous works and ways.

 

A testimony and a law

The Lord our God decreed,

And bade our fathers teach their sons,

That they His ways might heed.

 

He willed that each succeeding race

His deeds might learn and know,

That children’s children to their sons

Might all these wonders show.

 

Let children learn God’s righteous ways

And on Him stay their heart,

That they may not forget His works

Nor from His ways depart.

Covenant Blessings: Grandchildren and Baptism

Chloe, Abbey, and Finley

This morning my wife and I along with family and friends will witness the baptism of our eighth grandchild, Finley Reegen Kuiper. This is, without question, one of the greatest blessings we are privileged to see this side of heaven. It humbles us and fills us with deep thanksgiving to God for all His amazing goodness and grace to us through our children and now grandchildren. Such an occasion also creates an opportunity to reflect on what this baptism means and how we as believers should think about it in terms of God’s saving work in Christ.

For one thing, we do not assume or presume the salvation of any or all our grandchildren, any more than we did (do) with our children. If we believe that God is absolutely sovereign in salvation and that His grace is wholly unmerited and undeserved, then He is also free to save or not save our grandchildren; none of them and none of us deserve anything from the Lord based on what we are or have now. God is not indebted to us to save our grandchildren because we and our children have received His grace and are believers. According to His sovereign free will God may or may not save Finley Reegan. And in fact, based on the fact that we, our children, and grandchildren are all lost sinners, the only thing we deserve from the Lord is everlasting damnation and the wrath of the Lamb.

Graeson and Gavin

And yet as Reformed believers we baptize our children, and they as Reformed believers baptize our grandchildren. Why? Because we trust in the covenant God of abounding grace and mercy in Jesus Christ. Because He is pleased to continue His covenant in the line of believers and gather His church in our generations (Gen.17:7; Ps.103:17-18; Matt.19:13-15; Acts 2:38-39; I Cor.7:14; Gal.3:13-29; Eph.6:1-3). For the salvation of Finley Reegan we place our firm confidence in the faithful God of the covenant! And He is faithful, as He has already proved – in our generations and in the generations of all believers!

Logan and Finley

And at the same time we use all of the means God has given us for our own salvation and for the salvation of our grandchildren. We pray for God to work by His mighty grace in their hearts and lives, to blot out their sins in the blood of Christ, to regenerate them, to convert them, to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to a life of holiness before Him (“Father, so work in the heart and life of Finley”!). We bring them to the house of God to hear the gospel of Christ crucified and raised, God’s power unto salvation to all who believe (Romans 10:8-17; I Cor.1:18ff.). We bring them up in the fear of the Lord, according to the Word of God, in the home and in the Christian school (Prov.22:6; Eph.6:4). And as we use these means, so we pray even more, “Covenant Father, work through these means by Thy mercy and grace so that our grandchildren too may be saved in Jesus Christ!” And we rest in the Lord, patiently and quietly, for Him to work and reveal His sovereign plan for our grandchildren (Yes, in the weakness of our faith sometimes anxiously too!).

And so, again, today as we witness Finley’s baptism, we do so with humility and thanksgiving. We will worship our great God according to His covenant faithfulness in Jesus Christ – our Savior, our children’s Savior, and our grandchildren’s Savior. Soli Deo Gloria!