(Psalms 16:4) “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.”

This Psalm has been expounded between two thoughts of interpretation. First, they are the Words of Christ, our Representative, God in the flesh. Second, they are the words of David. The devotions in this series are presenting these words as the Words of Christ, the saint’s Representative.

The Subject of this Psalm is the Lord Jesus Christ. David records the Words of Christ as our Representative, as our Perfect Savior, and as our Forerunner to the Father. Some of His statements relate only to Christ, the Perfect Lamb of God, His Only Begotten Son, God in the flesh. Other times His statements are as our Substitute; speaking for us in His Perfection; which also applies to us because we are His Body, the Church.

Please read devotions Part One and Part Two of this series to give continuity to the interpretation of this Psalm.

In this third devotion, Psalm 16:4 is the text verse: “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.”

The word “their” refers to the rebellious Jew (the unbelieving Jews). This is prophetic, or for the future, of those who would reject the true Messiah as King and Savior, and go after another messiah. When Jesus the true Messiah came, they received Him not. But when another came in His name, they received him (Jn. 5:43). They are still, to this day, hastening after another; and are praying for the Messiah to come.

“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god.” This is what Jesus told the Apostles in (Matt. 24:6). It is also what the Apostle Paul wrote (1 Thess. 2:16) would happen; and it did happen in 70 AD. “It holds good of all, whether Jews or Gentiles, that hasten after another savior; that say to the works of their hands, that they are their gods, or go about to establish a righteousness of their own, or seek for life and salvation by their own doings; these, sooner or later, will lie down in sorrow” (Isa. 50:11).

“Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer.” Christ, in prophetic terms, says that He as the Priest would not offer the sacrifices of the Jews, since He is the end of all blood sacrifices; for He is the Sacrifice, the end of the law for Righteousness (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 2:16). Therefore, there is no more sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:18). There is no need then of any more blood sacrifices for sin; for in Christ’s Atonement for sin is the fulfilment of the Ransom payment forever.

“Nor take up their names into my lips.” Why? Because the name of “Loammi” (Hos. 1:9-11) applies to the Jews that rejected Christ as Messiah. (Hos 1:9) “Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”  “Declaring them to be no longer the children of the living God (as a nation); for Paul wrote in (Rom. 11:1-10); that this does not mean all without exception; for there was a remnant according to the election of grace; of which Paul was part of Romans 11:5); leaving their names for a curse, a taunt, and a proverb in every place; expressing the utmost abhorrence of them, and showing the utmost indignation at them, as persons whose names were not worthy or fit to be mentioned” (Eph. 5:3).

Application: 

The text verse is a grave warning to Jew and Gentile who reject Christ as the true Messiah, even God in the flesh, yet without sin. The rejection by any man that Christ is the Sacrifice for sin; the Substitute for sinners; and the Savior of sinners; fits this description in (Ps. 16:4) when he faces the Judge of all the earth, Jesus Christ.

Good works, being religious, and having good morals as the foundation of his salvation will fail the sinner when he stands in front of the Judge as he steps into eternity. If the sinner is covered by the blood of the Lamb, then he will stand in the Justification of Christ in His Atonement on the Cross (Rom. 3:24-25; Eph. 1:7); as reconciled and redeemed in the Work of Christ as Savior for the sinner. But, if the sinner appears before Christ the Judge without the covering of the Atonement of Christ, he will stand condemned, and thus separated from God for all eternity in the second death, hell.

“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.” This last phrase, “nor take up their names into my lips,” is the most condemning of the statement in this verse; for this means that Christ is not the sinner’s Advocate, or Mediator, or Substitute, in the face of the wrath of God on sin. The saddest words a sinner will hear at the Great White Throne Judgment will be that their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 20:15).

Upon this truth, it is all important for every reader of this devotion to examine himself, (2Co 13:5) “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

If you find, after self-examination, that you are not in Christ; then, turn to Christ and confess that He is God, your Sacrifice for sin, your Substitute for sin (2 Cor. 5:21), and your Savior that has reconciled you and redeemed you from sin’s penalty, punishment, power, and practice (Eph. 1:7; Rom. 10:9-10). Then, find a God-honoring church that preaches the Grace and Love of God, and submit to water baptism for your public confession of faith in Christ. The reason to submit to water baptism is not for salvation; but, to manifest your understanding that you are a co-participant in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:1-23); and as obedience to the first command of Christ; and as a public witness to the Church and to others of your understanding of (1 Jn. 5:20) “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.”