The Great "What If" Text: Psalm 124:1-5
Introduction: The Hinge of History
There are certain questions that function like a hinge upon which the door of reality swings. Our modern world is obsessed with trivial "what ifs." What if I had chosen a different career? What if I had bought a different car? These are small questions that ultimately terminate on ourselves. But the Bible is not interested in such navel-gazing. It asks the ultimate "what if," the question that defines everything else. And David, in this Song of Ascents, puts it to us with stark clarity: What if Yahweh had not been on our side?
This is not a psalm for the comfortable. It is a psalm for those who have felt the hot breath of the dragon on their neck. It is a song for pilgrims, for those on the way up to Jerusalem, which is to say, for Christians on their way to the New Jerusalem. And the path is never safe. The world is not a neutral playground; it is hostile territory. It is filled with men who rise up, with anger that kindles, and with raging waters that seek to overwhelm. This psalm is given to us so that we might have a song to sing after a great deliverance, a song that rightly assigns all the credit for that deliverance to the only one to whom it is due.
We live in a therapeutic age that wants a God who is a celestial butler, there to help us with our self-improvement projects. But the God of Psalm 124 is not a helper; He is the deliverer. He is not an assistant; He is the absolute necessity. The premise of this psalm is that without God, we are not just in trouble; we are annihilated. We are swallowed, drowned, and swept away. This is a psalm that teaches us to look at our salvation not as a matter of course, but as a stupendous, miraculous rescue. It forces us to confront the alternative, to stare into the abyss of what would have been, had God left us to ourselves. And in doing so, it cultivates in us the only proper response: radical, grateful, and exclusive trust in the Lord who made heaven and earth.
This is a corporate song. "Let Israel now say." This is not just for your private devotional life, though it certainly applies there. This is a confession for the covenant community to make together. We, the church, are the new Israel. And as the world's hostility toward Christ and His people intensifies, this is a song we must learn to sing together, and with conviction. We must constantly remind one another of the great "what if" so that we might rejoice in the great "what is": that Yahweh is on our side.
The Text
"Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side,"
Let Israel now say,
"Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side
When men rose up against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their anger was kindled against us;
Then the waters would have flowed over us,
The stream would have swept over our soul;
Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”
(Psalm 124:1-5 LSB)
The Necessary Premise (v. 1-2)
The psalm begins with a conditional clause, a hypothetical that is meant to be contemplated deeply.
"Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side," Let Israel now say, "Had it not been Yahweh who was on our side When men rose up against us," (Psalm 124:1-2)
The repetition is emphatic. This is not a casual thought. David wants Israel to stop, to consider, and to confess this foundational truth. The phrase is "Let Israel now say." This is a call to corporate testimony. The health of the church depends on her members constantly reminding one another of this reality. Our testimony is not "look what we did," or "look how resilient we were," but rather, "look what the Lord has done."
The name used for God here is Yahweh, the covenant name. This is personal. This is not some generic deity or impersonal force. This is the God who made promises to Abraham, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, the God who bound Himself to His people by a covenant of grace. The issue is not whether a god is on our side, but whether Yahweh is. All other gods are idols; they are part of the created order. Our help must come from outside the system, from the one who is not swept along by the current of history but who directs that current.
Notice the context: "When men rose up against us." This is the normal state of affairs for the people of God. From Cain and Abel onward, there is an antithesis, an enmity, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The world does not applaud the righteous; it resents them. Jesus promised us this: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you" (John 15:18). So when opposition comes, when men rise up, we should not be surprised. This is the script. But the outcome of that conflict is determined entirely by the answer to one question: Is Yahweh on our side?
If He is not, we are lost. If He is, we are invincible. The entire Christian life, all of history, turns on this one point. This is the doctrine of God's sovereign election and effectual grace stated in the raw language of experience. We are not on God's side because we were smarter or more moral than our neighbors. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. God chose to be on our side. He took the initiative. He crossed the battle lines to rescue us while we were still in rebellion. All our theology, all our worship, must begin here.
The Ravenous Enemy (v. 3)
Having established the premise, David now paints a vivid picture of the alternative reality. What would have happened if Yahweh had not intervened?
"Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their anger was kindled against us;" (Psalm 124:3 LSB)
The first image is that of a great beast, a monster like Leviathan, swallowing its prey whole. This is not a picture of a noble defeat in a fair fight. This is total, instantaneous annihilation. The enemy's intent is not merely to defeat us, but to obliterate us, to erase us from existence. This is the language the serpent uses. Think of Pharaoh's command to drown the Hebrew infants. Think of Haman's plot to exterminate the Jews. Think of Herod's slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. The world's rage against God's people is a murderous, consuming rage.
And the fuel for this rage is "their anger." The Hebrew word for anger here is related to the idea of burning, of nostrils flaring. This is not a cool, calculated opposition. It is a hot, irrational, and violent hatred. Why? Because the very existence of a people who belong to God is an intolerable rebuke to a world in rebellion against Him. Our faith, our obedience, our joy in Christ, it all shines a light that the darkness cannot stand. And so it lashes out.
The phrase "swallowed us alive" also brings to mind the judgment on Korah and his rebellion in Numbers 16, where the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them alive. The point is that the world's way of dealing with opposition is total consumption. But God's people are not consumed. Like the burning bush that was not consumed, we endure because God is with us. The rage of men is hot, but the preserving grace of God is hotter.
The Raging Waters (v. 4-5)
David then shifts the metaphor from a devouring beast to another primal image of overwhelming destruction: a flood.
"Then the waters would have flowed over us, The stream would have swept over our soul; Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul." (Psalm 124:4-5 LSB)
In Scripture, chaotic waters often represent the forces of godless gentile nations, the turmoil of rebellion against God. Think of the great flood in Noah's day, a judgment that swept away an entire world of wickedness. Think of the Red Sea, which God used to deliver His people and to drown the Egyptian army. The psalmist here sees the armies and the anger of men as a flash flood, a torrent that comes suddenly and with irresistible force.
Notice the progression. First, the waters "flowed over us." This is the initial surge. Then, the "stream would have swept over our soul." This is more intense; it is a current that carries you away, a force you cannot stand against. The word "soul" here is nephesh, meaning our very life, our being. This is not a superficial threat; it is an existential one. Finally, he repeats it for maximum effect: "the raging waters would have swept over our soul." The word for "raging" here implies pride, arrogance, insolence. These are the proud waters of arrogant men who think they can defy God and destroy His people.
This is a picture of utter helplessness. You cannot reason with a flood. You cannot negotiate with a torrent. You cannot fight a tsunami. When the nations rage, when persecution comes, when the culture turns on the church like a tidal wave, our only hope is to be standing on a rock that is higher than the waters. Our only hope is the one who commands the waves and the sea, and they obey Him. Our only hope is the one who walked on the stormy water. Without Him, we are swept away. There is no other recourse. We do not have a spiritual life-jacket that we can deploy. We have a Savior, or we have nothing.
Conclusion: The Great Deliverance
These verses set the stage for the praise that follows in the rest of the psalm. But they are crucial in themselves because they teach us the grammar of salvation. The grammar is this: man's total inability and God's sovereign, all-sufficient grace. We must learn to think this way. We must look at our own conversion, our continued perseverance, and the survival of the church through the centuries, and say with one voice, "Had it not been Yahweh..."
When the temptation to pride comes, and we start to think we are holding on to God, we must remember the raging waters. When despair comes, and we think the enemies of the church are too strong, we must remember that Yahweh is on our side. The same God who shut the mouths of lions for Daniel, who delivered the three young men from the furnace, who raised His own Son from the grave, is the one who is for us.
The ultimate expression of this psalm is found at the cross. When did men rise up against the true Israel, Jesus Christ? When did their anger kindle against Him? When did the raging waters of sin and judgment and demonic fury threaten to sweep over His soul? It was at Calvary. And in a sense, for a moment, it looked as though He was swallowed alive. It looked as though the waters had overwhelmed Him. He was plunged into the ultimate flood of God's wrath against our sin.
But because Yahweh was on His side, because the Father would not abandon His Son to the grave, He was not ultimately swallowed. The grave could not hold Him. The waters could not sweep away His soul forever. He was raised in victory. And because we are in Him, we were raised with Him. We have been brought through the flood of judgment, safe in the ark of Christ. The waters that should have destroyed us have become the waters of our baptism, the sign that we have passed from death to life.
Therefore, let Israel now say it. Let the church now say it. Let us look at the chaos of our world, the anger of our enemies, and the weakness of our own hearts, and let us confess the only truth that matters. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, we would be utterly lost. But because He is, we are eternally secure.