Psalm 116:16--Bursting Forth
Although I am too old to enjoy going to the bottom of the pool's deep end frequently, I did so several times this past summer while entertaining a youngster just learning to do these things. As a child, however, the part I loved most about touching bottom was the pushing up afterwards with all my might and breaking forth through the surface tension of the water into the freedom of the breathable, wild air, testing how far I could rise above the waters, like a whale breaching from the ocean's depth.
Psalm 116:16--Bursting Forth
By Christina Wilson
NET Psalm 116:16 Yes, LORD! I am indeed your servant; I am your lowest slave. You saved me from death.
LXE Psalm 116:16 O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast burst my bonds asunder.
NIB Psalm 116:16 O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.
Although I am too old to enjoy going to the bottom of the pool's deep end frequently, I did so several times this past summer while entertaining a youngster just learning to do these things. As a child, however, the part I loved most about touching bottom was the pushing up afterwards with all my might and breaking forth through the surface tension of the water into the freedom of the breathable, wild air, testing how far I could rise above the waters, like a whale breaching from the ocean's depth.
Such is Psalm 116:16--You have "burst my bonds asunder".
In a prior article1, we saw the possiblility of viewing the entirety of Psalm 16 as prophetic of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection from the grave. In continuing with that thought, verse 16 is particularly applicable to Christ.
First, "I am indeed your servant; I am your lowest slave."
Isaiah brings out the concept of Christ as servant amply, but especially in Isaiah 53:1-11, where His lowliness and suffering are described in detail, followed by the identification in verse 11, "'My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.'"
The writer of the letter to the Hebrews presents the lowliness of the divinely incarnated Son of God--
NET Hebrews 2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor.
And the Apostle Paul again describes His humility--
NET Philippians 2:6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.
Secondly, the latter portion of Psalm 116:16 speaks of Christ's resurrection victory with vigor--
NET ...You saved me from death.
LXE ...You burst my bonds asunder.
NIB ... You have freed me from my chains.
Knox ... Thou has broken the chains that bound me.
When has anyone ever burst forth from the grave with no person present to give that command?
I love Robert Lowry's famous refrain2: 
"Up from the grave he arose;
with a mighty triumph o'er his foes;
he arose a victor from the dark domain,
and he lives forever, with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!"
More recently, the third verse of "In Christ Alone",3 a modern song by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, captures the swift and mighty power of the Lord's resurrection from the grave--
"There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!"
This is the victory of the cross--the resurrection from death, the bursting forth from darkness, the breaking of bonds asunder, the loosing of the chains of sin and death, the mighty rumble of glorious triumph in swelling crescendo as the slaves go free.
But, one can never know that victory without tasting that death. Christ descended to the very bottom, so that He could be lifted to the very top, Psalm 116:6b "I was brought low, and He saved me." And, Philippians 2:9 "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,"
Who can keep from singing with the psalmist in verse 17--
LXE Psalm 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
...............
No one likes suffering. No one willingly chooses the cross. (Romans 5:7) But Psalm 116 is a call to faith, a call to believe in (to trust in, to cling to, to rely on4) the goodness and faithfulness of our great God and Savior, the Almighty triune God Himself.
NAU John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
As an adult (and senior citizen at that), I no longer often go to the very bottom of the pool in the deep end--I have to say it hurts my head too much--but the child in me--that unextinguished spark of energy and life--still vividly remembers first, the apprehension, then the command from my brain to my body to push off and rise up quickly, and finally, that great, joyous, magnificent bursting forth into the glorious freedom of pure, splashing air.
Spiritually, it is still like that. To fellowship with Christ in His dying upon the cross, to grieve with Him there, to know even minutely the agony of His suffering as He bore the world's sins upon Himself, and then to burst forth with Him into the light of day, His glorious resurrection power and freedom--there's nothing like that.
His word, the Bible, tells it all. It's all there. And, what is too abstract for us to comprehend from words alone, our life experiences, the experiences a kind and loving Father allows us to undergo, these teach us the rest. This is why the title of Psalm 116, as given in the Septuagint to this and the other paschal psalms in the series, is simply...
Alleluia!
__________
1 Christina Wilson, "Psalm 116:1-9--Death and Resurrection", available at http://users.bible.org/articles/psalm_1161_9_death_and_resurrection
2 Robert Lowry, Up from the Grave He Arose (Low in the Grave He Lay), 1826-1899
3 Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, In Christ Alone, Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music
4 The Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1965 by Zondervan Publishing House
5 Copyrighted image by Francois Gohier available at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3Bcrnk_timediscountc&cp=11&gs_id=58&xhr=t&q=whale+breaching&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38897761&biw=1600&bih=763&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=WCG1UJDjLYadiALHk4DoBQ#q=whale+breaching&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSEglX4E-amgrKsyFpuALd6abCOg&iact=hc&vpx=1096&vpy=138&dur=4254&hovh=179&hovw=282&tx=92&ty=255&sig=111450828930400022720&ei=XiG1ULuCCMm0igL5u4G4Dg&page=1&tbnh=137&tbnw=222&ved=1t:2220,r:5,s:0&fp=1&bpcl=38897761&biw=1600&bih=763&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&cad=b&sei=bSO1ULHlPOKXiQKg7IG4Aw
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