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116 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
(ESV)
“How can I repay the LORD for all the good He has done for me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh.”
Psalms 116:12-13 HCSB
What is the cup of Salvation? Psalm 116 is the only place it appears in the OT. In ancient times, after the Passover feast, this psalm would be read immediately following the third cup of wine called “the cup of Salvation.” For them, this represented the image of a redeemed life provided by God. OT theology viewed this phrase differently than how we would interpret it. Today, Jesus has fulfilled God’s plan through the cup of Salvation.
The irony here is that Jesus would have taken Passover with his disciples. They would have read this psalm and drank together the cup of Salvation. Moments later, Jesus would literally drink the sup of Salvation (God’s wrath) in order to atone for our sin.
The psalmist asked a question in verse 12. “How can I repay the Lord for all the good He has done for me?” So, what does the NT have to say about this? What would be a similar verse viewing this from New Covenant?
Romans 12:1 HCSB Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.
“You have given God all you have when you have given him your weakness, your sin, your emptiness; that is all that is truly yours; and then it is that you render to him that which he asks for, that he may put away your sin, that he may fill your emptiness and glorify himself in your weakness.”
Charles Spurgeon