Psa 115 “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” – Part 1

Psa 115:1  Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

This Psalm 115 expresses the process and the struggle that all flesh must endure to come to the point where we can understand in our hearts that “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty”.

1Ch 29:11  Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

All glory in heaven and earth is given unto God and “not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but rather “unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake.”

Psa 115:1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake.

This phrase “not unto us” is uttered twice in the opening verse of our Psalm 115 to remind us that whatever glory does occur within us, as we go from glory to glory in this life is being accomplished by God through Christ who is showing mercy unto His people, unto his “name” or “for thy truth’s sake”.

2Co 3:18  But we all [the body of Christ], with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The only one who can lay up treasure in  heaven (that is to glorify God), our heavens being represented by our hearts and minds,where the kingdom of God resides, is Christ, who gives us the power to “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal“.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Christ is the reason “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent” representing our fleshly carnal minds that must be changed in order to no longer glory in that which God does through us, as though we had something to do with it. Taking this glory unto ourselves is another way of saying our treasure or talent will rust in the earth and be corrupted by our own deceitful and desperately wicked hearts that are likened to the very temporary and flighty existence of a moth that eats the fabric of Christ’s righteousness which is likened to linen (Rev 19:8), thereby taking that glory unto ourselves. The rust as well eats away at the ruddy man, Adam, whose glory is fading and is temporary like the grass, or like rust that destroys the base metal of iron which flesh represents.

1Co 4:7  For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Psa 103:15  As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. 

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Dan 2:43  And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 

Unless we are caused to give glory to God for all that He accomplishes through us, showing “thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all” (1Ch 29:11), our treasure will remain buried in the earth. We are initially the thieves as well in Matthew 6:19 who want to break through or receive our reward in this earth and steal the glory from God by not acknowledging that everything we do, the good and the evil, the light and the darkness, are all accomplished to His glory and to the end that men may learn that they are beasts. Everything we learn from God starts off in our naturally carnal minds, and if we are being sanctified in this age by God’s holy spirit, the end result will be that the seed of Adam will die and the light of Christ will break forth in our heavens.

Mat 25:25  And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
Mat 25:26  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Mat 25:27  Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. 

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Mat 27:51  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. [in God’s elect as well as Christ]
Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Mat 6:1  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2  Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Rom 8:30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

It is only with the mind of Christ that our changed hearts will “unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth‘s sake”. If His words are important to us, His commandments, if that is “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” and then we will be witnessing that “the kingdom of God is within you”.

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luk 17:21  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The increase which is manifest to the glory of our LORD through the church bears witness that we are God’s predestined workmanship from the foundation of the world and that Christ is the one giving us the strength and the power to go from glory to glory so we can accomplish these works which have been predetermined.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

2Co 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, [Luk_12:32]
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Christ and His Christ are the one true light and witness who has come into the earth to reveal our Father. Our Father’s life and Christ’s life was revealed and is revealed on this earth today through the life of Christ in us causing Christ’s body to be the light of the world.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Joh 5:31  If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Joh 14:9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

As Dennis mentioned last Sunday, that virgin work which Christ is doing within the body of Christ is accomplished by the new blood of Christ revealed in the type and shadow event of the true virgin wife, who has not been defiled as shown in these verses (Deu 22:13-21). Once a woman is impregnated it normally takes the complete nine months of gestation within the womb for the child to be born. Mary, who is a type of the church, sees the Son of God born through a typical nine-month period of gestation or judgment (9 months) on the house of God which brings about Christ just as the manchild can only be brought to term (the manchild – Rev 12:5) in our lives through those symbolic nine months of judgment upon the church that will lead to the first resurrection.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth [Rom 8:14-16]. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Mat 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Mat 11:26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Isa 66:9  Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. [“therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” is what we are being told in this verse of Isaiah Rom 8:1]

Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

We cry out to God in our spiritual birth pangs “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” knowing that if we start in the spirit and finish in the flesh, not giving all glory to God for this life-long process of judgment that brings us unto perfection on the symbolic third day, we will in essence have labored (pun intended) in vain.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
Gal 3:5  He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham [Heb 10:38-39].

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

This Psalm 115 is an admonition against not acknowledging God as Sovereign over the whole process of our growth, in the light and the darkness which He has created and is using to bring about His new creation. God’s elect are likened unto pillars because those pillars represent the strength God has given us through Christ to be able to bring the rest of the world (4 pillars in the temple which represent all of humanity who shall be saved) into a right relationship with our Father and Christ through grace and faith (5 first pillars of the temple). Together those pillars add up to 9, which we know represents judgment, a judgment which begins at the house of God (1Pe 4:17) and concludes in the lake of fire for the rest of humanity.

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

God has purposed these ordinal events of his workmanship in the earth in the parable of the vineyard (Mat 20:1-16) to His glory and each man in his appointed time (1Co 15:23) will be saved and all mankind will eventually witness and understand, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.”

Psa 115:1 Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

I mentioned the verses in Hebrews 10:38-39 earlier, and I want to encourage us to remember that “we are not of them who draw back unto perdition”. Our goal in this life is very singular; the dream is one, and there is a simplicity or singleness in Christ where there is no condemnation (Rom 8:1) which we have been blessed to understand together in Him as we strive for the mark of the prize of the high calling in our Lord together.

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

Everything we do as we press toward that mark and even fall seven symbolic times (Pro 24:16) is something which God has ordained so we can learn of His righteousness. Unlike the men of old who typified that overcoming process in the Lord, like king David and others, we are also left with examples of those who have fallen short of the mark of the prize, and this falling short will also be to the glory of God in our hearts and minds, if we can be among those who acknowledge today that it is God who is working all of these events according to the counsel of His will, the light and the darkness, the good and the evil (Ecc 1:11, Isa 45:7).

A strong man, a great man in the earth, will tell us that it was by his principled life that he was able to overcome, and that he had no plan B. This is true, at least in the realm of the physical, but it is very few who understand that it is God alone who is working all things according to the counsel of His own will and that it is He who does not have a plan B for any part of His creation; not for the overcomer in this age, and not for those who were not granted to overcome in this age.

We see our calling simply because God has opened our eyes, and it is our battle cry as the body of Christ to say, “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.”

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 

We will fall seven times, but the righteous will get up, and God will finish what He has started in us through Jesus Christ, and these words are true “but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” as we see clearly stated in these verses below.

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all [“but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy“].

We can learn many things from the mighty men and woman of old, and our modern King David types, and those lessons will serve us greatly if we are granted to remember that our ability to overcome and endure until the end is a complete gift from God as He has proclaimed the end from the beginning and has told us that it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom, even knowing that we are predestined to fall seven times and get back up and continue to forget what is behind us as we press ahead through Christ.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 

Exo 15:11  Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

How glorious it is that God can call the weak of the world and demonstrate His strength and longsuffering spirit in us as we persevere and overcome in this age, witnessing that only Christ can be Christ. To truly overcome in the spirit is to put off the mind of Adam which is enmity against Christ as we overcome the beast and the number of his name, through Jesus Christ alone.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 

Next week, Lord willing, we will look more closely at some other verses in Psalm 115 as we learn how God blinds the world and keeps us from seeing the beast that we are, spoken of in Revelation 13:1 and :15.  It is through the destruction of our old man, typified by both of those beasts which are the same beast at different stages, that we will learn “Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all”. The true riches, as always, are found in coming to know that God is working with you, destroying that man of sin and creating a new vessel of honour by his “power and might”!

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rev 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

1Ch 29:12  Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
1Ch 29:13  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. [Heb_13:15]
1Ch 29:14  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
1Ch 29:15  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
1Ch 29:16  O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.