Chp.105 ~ The Cross Is The Power Of God To Heal The Wounds Of The Broken Heart
“And what follows of the Psalm,—‘But Thou, Lord, do not remove Thine assistance from me; give heed to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, and my9 only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,’—was also information and prediction of the events which should befall Him. For I have already proved that He was the only-begotten of the Father of all things, being begotten in a peculiar manner Word and Power by Him, and having afterwards become man through the Virgin, as we have learned from the memoirs. Moreover, it is similarly foretold that He would die by crucifixion.
Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 251). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
Justin wants us to see the image of the cross in the heart of this prayer. It is difficult, however, to see the crucifixion as he tries to use "the horns of the unicorns" as a depiction. Thankfully, he is not the infallible rule of law on the matter of this passage, regarding its interpretation. One really has to use their imagination to see the crucifixion in the images of two unicorns intersecting their horns to make a cross. The message, however, of the Psalm, does point us to the Spirit of the cross.
For the passage, ‘Deliver my soul from the sword, and my10 only-begotten from the hand of the dog; save me from the lion’s mouth, and my humility from the horns of the unicorns,’ is indicative of the suffering by which He should die, i.e., by crucifixion. For the ‘horns of the, unicorns,’ I have already explained to you, are the figure of the cross only. And the prayer that His soul should be saved from the sword, and lion’s mouth, and hand of the dog, was a prayer that no one should take possession of His soul: so that, when we arrive at the end of life, we may ask the same petition from God, who is able to turn away every shameless evil angel from taking our souls.
Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, pp. 251–252). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
In Christ's death through the "power" of the Roman sword we are delivered from the flaming swords of God that have separated us from "the tree of life" and "peace with God our Father." That sword put his body to death, but the spirit of the dogs had no power to rule over his soul. And so the condemnation that flows from the mouth of lion which sought out to devour his soul had no effect on him in death. His death was merely the means through which our "dead" soul could be made alive by the power of his resurrection, for the second death shall have no power over the sons of God. The spirit of the dogs, however, will be left in outer darkness void of the light and life of Christ.
Revelation 20:6 (NKJV) 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. Revelation 22:14–15 (NKJV) 14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Matthew 8:11–12 (NKJV) 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:2–14; 25:14-30 (NKJV)
This also cannot be representing the crucifixion, in that this prayer does not deliver the "only one" from the way of the cross, for his body was nailed to it, and he did not pray to be delivered from it but that His Father's will would be done. Therefore the "horns" are to differentiate the pride of the beasts from the humility of his way of peace in the surrender of his life into the trust of His Father. The horns of the two beasts also represent the competition of the two dominions being hostile toward one another in the butting of the heads, but in humility Christ gave his body to make peace between Heaven and this earth. So David is praying to be saved from this pride that separates him from the humility of knowing God, and so Christ reiterates this in his prayer against their ignorance for their forgiveness.
Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.
And that the souls survive, I have shown1 to you from the fact that the soul of Samuel was called up by the witch, as Saul demanded. And it appears also, that all the souls of similar righteous men and prophets fell under the dominion of such powers, as is indeed to be inferred from the very facts in the case of that witch. Hence also God by His Son teaches2 us for whose sake these things seem to have been done, always to strive earnestly, and at death to pray that our souls may not fall into the hands of any such power.
Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 252). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
Justin presumes that the soul comes under the "dominion" of and by these powers (at) death, but the reality is that the soul is already under the dominion of the dogs until set free by the Spirit of grace. Therefore we are to pray to be set free from the spirit of the father of lies, who holds the whole world under the sway of his deception, for it is the spirit of the dogs that author death in the human soul. Saul's witch is the demonstration of this fact, for not only has she deceived Saul, but also all those like Justin who have presumed her power of deception to be an image of truth. For in the death of the righteous there is no second death, and such powers of deception have no place in them who are now righteous and fully glorified before God. Therefore we pray not to be delivered from such powers (at) death, for such powers cannot torment the soul in death, but we do pray to be delivered from such powers which now exist to deceive our souls, and to guide us into the torments of God's power in the second death.
For when Christ was giving up His spirit on the cross, He said, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,’3 as I have learned also from the memoirs. For He exhorted His disciples to surpass the pharisaic way of living, with the warning, that if they did not, they might be sure they could not be saved; and these words are recorded in the memoirs: ‘Unless your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’4
Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 252). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
And so though Justin was temporarily deceived by the witch, he has power over the second death by entrusting his soul to the power of the Christ's death and resurrection, to surpass the "self-righteousness" of the pride of the unicorns that represent the spirit of the beasts. Apart from the wisdom of Christ the whole world remains under the dominion the Deceiver.
1 John 5:19 (NKJV) 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Matthew 16:26 (NKJV) 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The goal of the cross is not to gain the spirit of the world, but to sow the Spirit of Life into what man has exchanged for his soul in beginning of his death.
Genesis 2:17 (NKJV) 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 3:5 (NKJV) 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
It was the spirit of the Deceiver who sowed death into the soul, but it is the Spirit of God who revives the soul. Christ is the only "precious one" with the power to deliver the soul; and so if you have any value for own soul, you must humble yourself in the glory of His cross. If you believe life is precious, then you must die in the infinite worth of Christ's soul to be raised in the Father's measureless love of His resurrection.
