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Bible Study:
Psalms 61-90 PSALM 61 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. Of David. By Neville V. Stevens New International Version used throughout unless
otherwise specified. When the House of Psa 61:1 Hear
my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
Psa 61:2 From the ends of the earth I call to
you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the ROCK that is higher than I. This is the Rock who led the Israelites through the desert anciently, and that Rock was Jesus Christ. 1Cor 10:1-5 “For I do
not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were
all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3
They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same
spiritual drink; for they drank from
the spiritual rock that accompanied them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. 5 Nevertheless, God
was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the
desert.”
Naturally enough, David acknowledges that this Rock is higher than he. David will rule over the 12 Tribes of
Israel, but Jesus Christ will reign over all the earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As a point of interest, each
of the Apostles will rule over one of the 12 Tribes of
Israel, presumably with the title of ‘Judge’: Matt 19:27-30 “Peter answered him,
"We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"
28 Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things,
when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Psa 61:3 For
you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. And here David acknowledges that this Rock has been his refuge and a strong tower in the troubles
ahead which he discusses in the next few Psalms. Psa 61:4 I long
to dwell in your tent forever
and take refuge in the shelter
of your wings. Selah. When
the Israelites were fleeing from Pharaoh’s armies, a cloud stood between then
and his armies. Pharaoh was unable to
attack because of it. Once in the
deserts of Sinai, the cloud went before them to lead them. Similarly, over God’s Holy City Jerusalem
there will be a cloud overhead to shield the inhabitants. This is what David was referring to as his refuge in the shelter of God’s wings. Isaiah also added some clarity to this: Isa 31:4-5
“This is what the
LORD says to me: "As a lion growls, a great lion over his prey--
and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against him, he
is not
frightened by their shouts or disturbed by their clamor-- so the LORD
Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and
on its heights. 5 Like
birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield These days, we see a lot
of the ‘good ol’ boy’ attitude towards God
by those who claim to serve Him.
Somehow, people have developed the idea that God owes them something
and that He is obligated to them.
Christianity has well and truly overstepped the mark in all this and
needs to understand a few home truths.
God the Father drove a pretty hard bargain with His Son Jesus for the redemption of his offspring. The Father consented to this, subject to
certain conditions. His offspring are
mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah, and so are some of the conditions: Isa 53:10-12
“Yet it was the LORD's
will to crush him and cause
him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in
his hand.” So here we see that Jesus
Christ’s days on earth were prolonged
through His offspring – the very ones who have the Spirit of Christ! (And we all know, if anyone doesn’t
have the Spirit of Christ,
then he doesn’t belong
to Him – Rom 8:9). God has no interest in
those who have the disobedient spirit of the devil; His only
interest is in those who have the Spirit
of His Son Jesus Christ.
Isaiah pointed out that it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, which we all know
about. But we tend to forget some of
His earlier suffering for God. Jesus
Christ fasted for 40 days and nights in order to be at His physical weakest
when He was tempted by the devil.
There are people today that have a hard time merely fasting for one
day. In fact, most of Christianity
doesn’t fast at all! The Father required
that Jesus be at His physical weakest in order to test Him against Satan’s
onslaught. Satan was quick to tempt
Him with food by challenging Him to turn some stones into bread – which Jesus
refused to do. When someone is close
to death from starvation, the temptation would be very great to eat
something, but Jesus knew this would result in failure to Honour
His Father. What this shows is that
the devil will tempt all of us in our weakest state. Only a true believer recognizes
that fasting gives that person spiritual strength. There is one
mandatory fast each year on the Day of Atonement and it must be
observed. Everyone who fails to
observe it must be cut off from God’s people.
Lev 23:26-32 “The LORD said to Moses, 27
"The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a
sacred assembly and deny yourselves,
and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. 28 Do no work on
that day, because it is the Day of
Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. 29
Anyone who does not deny
himself on that day must be
cut off from his people. 30 I will destroy from among his
people anyone who does any work on that day. 31 You shall do no work at all.
This is to be a lasting ordinance
for the generations to come, wherever you live. 32
It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From
the evening of the ninth
day of the month until the
following evening you are to observe your sabbath." So just to recap, Jesus Christ fasted for
40 days and nights in order to qualify to redeem His offspring from certain
death, yet those who pretend to be His offspring are unwilling to fast for
one day a year. Continuing
where we left off in Isaiah 53 and V11 “After the suffering of his soul
[body and mind], he will see the light
of life and be satisfied; by
his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.” You will notice
that it’s by His knowledge
that He will justify many.
God has made the point that His people are destroyed
through lack of knowledge,
so we can see that the right knowledge is vital to our survival: Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law
of your God, I also will ignore your children.” Not only have
Christians rejected knowledge,
but they have also ignored the Law of their God. It is any wonder they sound like complete
idiots when they talk about their religion?
They sound like a bunch of pre-schoolers
trying to learn their ABC’s. They
chant away at their elementary scriptures, as if they have no knowledge of
anything else in the Bible. Any
suggestion that they might have to lay down their lives as Jesus did, would
have them stampeding in all directions.
And just to show what wimps they are, many of them are now making
overtures to Islam just to play safe with a ‘buck each way’ bet. They don’t exactly measure up to the stature
of Jesus Christ, do they? And now to
conclude Isaiah’s comments in Chapter 53, V12 “Therefore I
will give him a portion among the
great, and he will divide
the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto
death, and was numbered with the
transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.” And who were these transgressors that He made intercession
for? It was His own disciples! Luke 22:37 “He said to
them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword,
sell
your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: `And
he was numbered with the transgressors' ; and I tell you that this must
be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is
reaching its fulfillment." 38 The disciples said, "See,
Lord, here are two swords."
"That is enough," he replied.” So the great
and the strong with whom He divides
the spoils of war are His own disciples – those
who have learned by His knowledge! So would two swords be enough? As long as one is in the hand of Judah and the other in the
hand of Levi, it’s enough! Of course, the Apostles of Jesus were not
really transgressors, but
they were perceived to be by others. This is made clear by Jesus’ words: Matt 26:55-56 “At
that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have
come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the
temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But
this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be
fulfilled." Continuing in
the Psalms, David speaks of his vows
to God and his inheritance
or heritage of those who fear God’s Name. Psa 61:5 For
you have heard my vows, O
God; you have given me the heritage
of those who fear your name.
David knew that he would inherit a people just like him. David was a mighty Jewish warrior, and his
many exploits are recorded for us today in the Scriptures. Throughout his life, David put his life on
the line many times. Even as a youth,
David fought lions and bears to protect his flock (like the
ultimate shepherd that he was) which he recounted to King Saul: 1Sam 17:34-37 “But
David said to Saul, "Your
servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear
came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and
rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and
killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and
the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of
the living God. 37 The
LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear
will
deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD
be with you." Perhaps one
tends to believe that David’s bravery alone gained God’s favour,
but it was more than this.
David had absolute faith in
God to deliver him in this battle, exactly as He had done when David
was confronted by lions and bears.
David always went into battle in the LORD’s
Name, and his armies are called the ‘Armies
of the Living God’. No wonder
God refers to David as a man after His own heart: Acts 13:22-23 “After
removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: `I have found David son of Jesse a man
after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' 23
"From this man's descendants
God has brought to David knew that he would
grow old and die. Yet, he also knew
that this life was not be the end for him.
He knew all through his life that his whole duty was towards God and
that God was the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him
in
this life. Most people have no
interest in God during their lifetimes, and even those who do, see God only
as the One to ask for blessings. As
such, it’s not much of an endorsement for faithfulness, is it? Our armed forces go out
every day to face the enemy knowing that death could come in an instant, yet
they do it for country and liberty, in defense of their nation. And our nations honour
them for their commitment. What would
the outcome be if they failed to do so?
Our respective countries would be overrun by the degenerates of this
world and this should be obvious to all.
It’s certainly something that the Prophet David was aware of. He spent the major part of his life in
battle and God always granted him victory. All the prophets of God
knew that there were forces of evil in this world that had to be
eliminated. They’re aware that Almighty
God intends to wipe out all of them one way or the other. There is no place for them on this earth,
and certainly not in God’s Kingdom.
Like the Mighty Messiah Jesus, David was one of the greatest warriors
of all time. It stands to reason that God
would resurrect David as king over the Tribes of Israel forevermore. David will see the Light of Life once more
and will reign in God’s presence forever. Psa 61:6 Increase the days
of the king's life, his years for many generations. David will see many generations born in the
House of Israel, and they will eventually fill the whole earth as their
numbers increase. Obviously, the
Tribes of Israel will be human
and
will eventually die of old age.
However, they will live to a great age, like the age of a tree, and will see many generations born
to them (Isa 65:20-25).
All of which makes one wonder about Christianity’s ideas today about ‘rolling
around in heaven all day’.
They’d have great difficulty finding any support for
their ideas in the Scriptures! Planet
Earth is where God will live forevermore.
What is more, Jesus Christ plainly said that no man has ascended into
heaven, except the Son of Man who came from heaven (John 3:13). Not Enoch or Elijah, and certainly not that
lying creature Mohammed as the frenzied Muslims like to claim! In short, no man except Jesus Christ! And He was seen ascending into the clouds
in full view of a crowd of witnesses (Acts 1:9-11).
Then two angels appeared: V10 “They were looking
intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in
white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said,
"why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in
the same way you have seen him go into heaven." This seems to be at odds with the general
perception of Christians today.
They’ve become fixated with a much later event when Jesus returns with
myriads of angels and all the saints for the marriage of the Lamb. The two angels were right
when they said this same Jesus
will return “in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven”. He’ll return to His “crowd of servants” on
the Mount of Olives and will ride into the City of
Little do they realize
that these Muslim graves will be bulldozed into the First of all, Jeremiah
speaks of a King – a descendant of David: Jer 23:5-8
“The days are coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign
wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Then Jeremiah
describes how this conquest of the House of Israel and the House of Judah
will unfold: Jer 30:4-9 “These
are the words the LORD spoke concerning Psa 61:7 May he be enthroned in God's presence forever;
appoint your love and faithfulness to protect him. David will be enthroned in Gods’ presence
and will be a member of the Family of God.
In the Family of God there will be many rulers and priests, and Jesus
Christ will be First Lord in the entire universe – under the Father of course! (1Cor 15:24-27) Psa 61:8 Then will I ever sing praise to your name and fulfill my vows day after day. And as he says in V5, his heritage will be
those who fear God’s Name. As things presently stand, this rules out
most of Christianity today. These need
to lose the self-righteousness and start acting like David and his Mighty Son
Jesus! They need to start fearing God
for the slovenly way they’ve conducted themselves, because soon they will be put to the test –
just as Jesus was, no less! PSALM 62 For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. Psa 62:1 My soul finds
rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. As David said earlier, the help of man is worthless. Psa
62:2 He
alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
This means, ‘I
will never be shaken from my faith in God!’ This is the type of resolve that must be in
us all. Unless our faith is built on a Rock, it will
certainly be blown away – which relates to a parable that Jesus told: Matt 7:24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against
that house; yet it did not fall,
because
it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who
hears these words of mine
and does not put them into practice is
like a foolish man who built his
house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose,
and the winds blew and beat against
that house, and it fell
with a great crash." Those who know to do right and don’t do it are worse than those who are
ignorant. Psa
62:3 How long will you assault
a man? Would all
of you throw him down-- this leaning
wall, this tottering fence? This man is a leaning wall
and a tottering fence that
has already been assaulted. He was
obviously a foolish man who didn’t build his house on a
Rock! So who is this man? Well, believe it or not, this is speaking
of Ephraim, the most powerful
nation on earth, who rules over the House of Israel. His identity will become clearer as we
progress through this study. Remember
how in Psa 60:7 God speaks favourably
about Ephraim and Manasseh – the Two Tribes of Joseph? Joseph was sold into slavery anciently by
his own brothers as a result of their jealousy towards him. Jealousy has become an international
problem today when everyone, it seems, feels free to castigate What all these ‘crazies’
in the Western World don’t know is that Just to put this into
some form of perspective, the Apostle Paul was hearing rumours
of people prophesying of the imminent return of Jesus, and he took steps to
counter this: 2Thess
2:1-12 “Concerning the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you,
brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some
prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying
that the day of the Lord
has already come. 3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not
come until the rebellion occurs
and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4
He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or
is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself
to be God.” This is clearly
speaking of the demon-possessed man who will arise, whom we know as ‘The
Beast’. Though it’s not
currently evident, this man is alive today and is being tutored for the role
he will play. A powerful spirit ruler
is doing the tutoring! But he can’t
make his move yet, and the Apostle Paul gives the reasons why. The Apostle Paul knew
from the Scriptures – the only Scriptures that existed at that time (which of
course is the Old Testament), that certain conditions must be met! V5 “Don't you remember
that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And
now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7
For the secret power of lawlessness
is
already at work; but the ONE
WHO NOW HOLDS IT BACK will continue to do so till he
is
taken out of the way.”
Who is this ‘he’ who is holding
back the secret power of lawlessness today? There is only one power today that is
capable of holding back this secret power of lawlessness, and this is Ephraim – the The Apostle Paul knew
from the Scriptures that it was Ephraim who would rise to power at the appointed time to
hold back the forces of evil. We’ve
already quoted many of the Scriptures that relate to the might and power of
Ephraim. If it wasn’t for After 9/11 the first
order of the day was to kill Bin Laden, and President Bush ordered the
invasion of It was prophesied that
the House of Israel would defeat Just to add
some clarification to all this, when Elijah departs in the ‘fiery chariot’ or
spacecraft to the place in the desert, he will leave behind Elisha, to whom
his mantle will fall, and he will have some of the power of Elijah. Elisha will die in the House of
Israel. This is why King Jehoash spoke about the ‘chariots and horsemen of Has the House
of Israel defeated Many things changed when
the Democrats gained ascendancy of power and voted in a Muslim as their
president. Almost immediately, in
November, 2009, a massacre occurred at As Bible Prophecy states, Ephraim must be taken
out of the way before the secret power of lawlessness
can be established. As things
presently stand, the Islamic nations are not unified, but this is beginning
to change as the Shi’ite factions continue to gain
ascendancy – led by the And now the Apostle Paul speaks of the time after
Ephraim is removed. The catalyst for
this event is a devastating blow to Continuing in 2Thess 2:8
“And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the
Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the
splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan
displayed
in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10
and in every sort
of evil that deceives those
who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth
and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the
lie 12 and so that all
will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” Those who refuse to believe the Truth will
be like sitting ducks for the deception of Satan, and God will ensure it is
so. After all, they had the opportunity
to believe God and now they must suffer the consequences of their actions. Ephraim’s assailants love
lies, just like the devil, and it’s just like it is with a foolish Christian
who listened to Jesus’ teachings, yet
refused to put them into practice!
These things carry a penalty, and the time is coming when everyone who
chose to believe lies will get his comeuppance. The largest Christian nation on earth has
many enemies, though they are not always recognizable due to their cunning
duplicity: Psa
62:4 They
fully intend to topple him from his lofty place; they
take delight in lies. With
their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse. Selah. It
would be bad enough if it were only the scumbag pagan nations of the earth
that hated We’re
not exactly seeing much in the way of Christian principles emanating from Only
in From
the time of the issuing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to the
time of the Civil War in 1860, Psa
62:5 Find rest, O my soul,
in God alone; my hope
comes from him. Psa
62:6 He
alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
This is a repeat
of V2,
and for good reason. Psa
62:7 My salvation and my honor
depend on God; he is my mighty rock,
my refuge. Psa
62:8 Trust
in him at
all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah. David
has just made the point of emphasizing that our trust in God is
imperative. Trusting in mankind,
whether lowborn or highborn, is totally worthless so don’t bet your life on
them. Psa
62:9 Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn
are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they
are nothing; together they are only a breath. And this is the point that David is making – don’t put your trust in
men! We’ve seen the advice of men
given in defiance of God. They promise
the world but deliver nothing. The
Prophet Isaiah began to
prophesy of John the Baptist in chapter 40.
This chapter contains some interesting comments about his
ministry. All of which is totally
different from the general concepts of Christian ministries today. We may speak of lowborn and highborn men
today, but as David says, “If weighed on a balance, they are nothing”. Well, Isaiah clarifies this still further: Isa 40:15
“Surely the nations
are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded
as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine
dust.” V17 “Before
him all the nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as
worthless and less than nothing.” So let’s forget about any
distinction between lowborn and highborn, because any nation that fails to
serve the Creator God is equally worthless and less
than nothing. There is no
nation on earth today that
meets the requirements in God’s eyes of a holy nation and I think most people would agree with
this. So a new nation is
called for. A whole new nation and one
which consists of very select people.
These select people will have proven in their lifetimes their devotion
and obedience to their Creator God!
And God Himself qualifies these comments with this: Isa 66:2 “Has not my
hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This
is the one I esteem: he who
is humble and contrite in spirit, AND TREMBLES AT MY WORD.” There are not too many lowborn or highborn
men today who are totally convinced that God
made everything, and there are considerably less men who tremble at God’s Word. There are plenty of
lowborn nations on earth today that engage in the extortion of wealth from
the richer nations. We’ve now seen the
granddaddy of extortion thrust upon the wealthier nations with the satanic
plot behind the myth of ‘global warming’. We now find that it’s merely a device to ‘spread
the wealth around’ as Obama so eloquently put it to Joe the
plumber. The whole concept of ‘global
warming’ is to tax the affluent nations to give money to the Africans
to plant trees. You can just imagine
how much of the estimated 3 trillion dollars over the next ten years would be
used to plant trees in What the West,
particularly Psa
62:10 Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your
riches increase, do not set your heart on them. The extortion that the West is presently going through is a huge scam
to ‘spread the wealth around’ and to deprive the
Western nations of the rewards of
their hard work. While
everyone is focusing on the lunacy of the lowborn ‘green’ advocates, the enemies
of the West are busily building strength.
Now is not the time to be cutting back on energy options but
to increase them! The
irony of all this is that the enemies of the West are building the ultimate
energy to destroy them! They’re
building nuclear bombs! Once the death
blow is struck, they will flood into our countries and loot everything! Psa
62:11 One thing God has spoken,
two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, Psa
62:12 and that you, O Lord, are
loving. Surely
you will reward each person according to WHAT HE HAS DONE. This is confirmed in Rev 22:12.
You’ll notice that David says God is both strong and loving, and then links this to
rewards for what we have done. People who are weak and who fall over at
the slightest provocation or hardship are not the type of people who should
expect rewards from God. Thankfully,
Jesus Christ was not like this! Jesus
was strong and courageous, and yet very loving and compassionate of other
people. He knew the day would come
when He would be making the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked and ensuring that both
got their just rewards. Jesus knew very well that
a nation divided against itself cannot stand, and He knew this division was
between those who serve God and those who serve the devil. This is the very point He makes in Luke 11:18-22
“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: "Any kingdom divided against itself
will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18
If Satan is divided against
himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive
out demons by Beelzebub. 19
Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebub,
by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20
But if I drive out demons by
the finger of God, then the
So when we
see a kingdom or nation divided, with half doing the devil’s work, and
plotting the destruction of the other half, then the Kingdom of God is due to come. I know this is
probably not totally clear at the moment, but it surely will be! It has a lot to do with the parable of the
ten virgins, five of whom were wise enough to light their lamps during the
long, dark night, and the other five were not, because they were ill-prepared. We’ll get to this later. PSALM 63 A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of
Judah. Psa 63:1 O God, you
are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you, in a dry and
weary land where there is no water.
As we would all
understand, in a normal household there would usually be enough oil to light
a lamp, but here we see a situation that is not normal. “In
a dry and weary land where there is no water”, sounds like the
ultimate deprivation of essentials. So
finding some olive oil to light a lamp would prove to be a major
challenge. And here we see the two
ingredients that typify God’s Holy
Spirit – olive oil
and water! We’re all familiar with
Jesus Christ speaking about Living
Water that flows from Him. These
are some of the verses in this regard: John 4:10-13 “Jesus
answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you
for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." 11
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the
well is deep. Where can you get this living
water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave
us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks
and herds?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this
water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." And just to
confirm that Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, we find this in John 7:37-39 “On the last and greatest day of
the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is
thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39
BY THIS HE MEANT THE SPIRIT,
whom those who believed in him were later to receive.” And where in the SCRIPTURE
does it say this? It’s written in the
Book of Jeremiah: Jer 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken
me, the SPRING OF
LIVING WATER, AND
have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold
water.” It seems their cisterns didn’t hold water – and this is the
second sin. Now they find themselves
in a dry and weary land with none of the most essential ingredient of life – water! Jeremiah adds
more, together with the malediction of their sins: Jer 17:13 “O LORD, the hope of I hope
Christian readers are not still ignorant of who
and what Jesus Christ is. Otherwise,
they will be written in the dust
and scattered over the desert. Just remember that ‘dust you are and to dust you
will return’ – unless God intervenes to reward you with life from a Spring of Water welling up to
eternal life – as Jesus puts it! Being in a dry and weary land where there is no
water will be a challenge in itself.
The hope of being saved from this predicament
is the next order of the day. Because
God loves His people Psa
63:2 I have seen you in the
sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Through the wonders of modern technology, these people will see and
hear of God’s exploits. When they see
this, at least they will have hope for a rescue. Psa
63:3 Because
your love is better than life, my lips will glorify
you. When someone is in a serious and desperate
situation, sometimes death is better than life. When there is absolutely no hope, death can
be very welcoming. There were times in
Japanese concentration camps during WW2 when inmates welcomed being beheaded
just to end it all. It’s comforting to
know that God’s love will prevail even after death – for those who seek Him
with all their hearts. Psa
63:4 I will praise you as
long as I live, and in
your name I will lift up my hands.
If the time comes
to lift up your hands in
surrender, be sure to do it for God. You may not live long after capture, but
your future life will be secure. Psa
63:5 My
soul will be satisfied as with the richest of
foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. A
starving man may fantasize about rich foods, but those who trust in the LORD
will be satisfied in due course. When the night terrors
begin, it will not be easy to remain focused on the power of God to rescue
you. This is the difference between
faith and the lack thereof. Psa
63:6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches
of the night. During the Holocaust of WW2,
the Jews were subjected to slave labour and they
probably didn’t have much time to think about God in the daytime. Just staying alive consumed their every
thought. But at night, no doubt their
prayers were to God that they might survive another day. Cities had their watches of the night to guard
against an invasion. During an
invasion, however, the watchers watched for relief from some source beyond
their walls – often without hope or help
from anyone. Psa
63:7 Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings. We’ve spoken about the ‘Shadow of God’s Wings’ previously,
relating to God’s prophets,
wings of eagles, fiery chariots, banners unfurled against the bow, the ‘Armies
of the Living God’ and about how God will effect the rescue
of His people Israel. The hope of Psa
63:8 My
soul clings to you; your right hand
upholds me. God’s right
hand is a reference to Jesus
Christ who sits at God’s
right hand. As we all know,
Jesus Christ came to destroy the devil’s work and to wipe out all of the devil’s offspring. And right on cue, these
will be destroyed: Psa
63:9 They
who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths
of the earth. This is not
only
speaking of the devil’s offspring,
who number around 90% of the population of the earth, but also his
demons. Satan and his demons will be
in imprisoned in the Abyss for a thousand years. Just to relate to who the devil’s offspring
are, we find in the Song of Moses
that God divided the nations by
boundaries: Deut 32:7-9 “Remember
the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your
elders, and they will explain to you. 8 When the Most High gave
the nations their inheritance, when
he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of So it’s obvious that this
is not
referring to the Jews only, whose numbers are
nowhere near this. It’s speaking of
the 12 Tribes of Israel – the whole family which He brought out of Sure, Ephraim became the
most righteous nation on earth by the standards of this world, but not
by God’s standards. This mighty nation
became the largest Christian nation on earth, and yet, like the rest of the
world, they refused to follow Christ’s teachings. Shouldn’t they have listened to their
Teacher and done what He instructed?
Furthermore, Ephraim was a nation that was built on law and they’ve
dictated their law to the rest of the world, and even punished other
nations for violation of their law. As thoroughly justified as this might have
been, they, themselves, utterly refused to obey the Law of the Universe – God’s Ten Commandments! If this was not clear in the past, it
certainly is today! Any reference to
the Ten Commandments is being removed from all public places. This has established their mindset as a
nation, and Almighty God has taken note!
It’s significant that this has occurred right on the eve of the
greatest calamity that ever was, and the total destruction of Ephraim and the
rest of the Tribes over whom he ruled.
Even from antiquity,
Ephraim was always the big guy on the block who called all the shots. Moses prophesied about all the Tribes of
Israel, and this is what he said in regard to Ephraim: Deut 33:13-17 “About Joseph he said: "May the LORD bless his land
with the precious dew from heaven above and with the deep waters that lie
below; 14 with the best the sun brings forth and the finest the
moon can yield; 15 with the choicest gifts of the ancient
mountains and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills; 16 with the best gifts of the earth
and its fullness and the favor of him [God] who dwelt in the burning bush. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
17 In majesty he is like
a firstborn bull; his horns are the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. Such are the TEN THOUSANDS of
Ephraim; such are the THOUSANDS
of Manasseh." It’s
obvious that Ephraim is
more powerful that Manasseh
– by
at least a factor of 10. And
who’s at the forefront of goring the nations to the ends of the earth
today? It’s So we’ve seen that God
intends to punish His people the House of Israel for their disobedience to
Him – their Creator God. It was
Ephraim who had the favour
of God (the
One who dwelt in the burning bush) and was blessed with the best
gifts the earth has to offer. Of the two
Tribes of Joseph, Ephraim was by magnitudes the greater. In fact, there is no nation on earth to
compare with the might and power of Yet, all good things come
to an end, especially when God becomes displeased with them. Today, None of us are ignorant
of Satan’s devices and his murderous intent!
Satan has no qualms about killing even his own people, but where he
really excels is in killing God’s people.
He hates God’s chosen family
– the 12 Tribes of However, Satan’s joy at
the destruction of the Tribes of Israel will be short-lived when he realized
that his fate is looming large and his diary will be full and predetermined
for the next 1,000 years! In the
prelude to this, he and his demons along with all his offspring will be dealt
with – and without mercy.
Heb
10:26-31 “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation
of judgment and of raging fire that will consume
the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses DIED WITHOUT MERCY on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be
punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy
thing the blood of the
covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of
grace? 30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I
will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his
people." 31 It is a
dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Perhaps we sometimes
forget how specific God’s instructions were to His servants in days of
old. He commanded Moses to exterminate
His enemies without mercy and that it had to be a total extermination! Joshua set out to do exactly as God had
commanded Moses: Josh 11:16-20 “So
Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole
region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah
and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir,
to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon.
He captured all their kings and
struck them down, putting them to death. 18
Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. 19
Except for the Hivites living in It’s no good
getting all emotional and self-righteous about this. These people were the lowliest and most
evil of all human beings and were totally unworthy of life on this
earth. They themselves were merciless
monsters who conducted themselves like wild animals, with killing, torture
and blood sacrifices of their own people.
If they did this to their own people, then no-one would want to fall
into their hands as captives. The only
practical solution was to exterminate them all without mercy, and Joshua
followed this advice! Psa
63:10 They will be given over to the sword and become
food for jackals. David becomes even more
specific in Psa 74:13-14 “It was you
who split open the sea by your power; you
broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave him as food to the creatures
of the desert.” The prophet Isaiah adds more: Isa 26:21, 27:1 “See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling
to punish the people of the earth
for their sins. The earth will
disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer. 1
In that day, the LORD will punish
with his sword, his fierce,
great and powerful sword, Leviathan
the gliding serpent, Leviathan
the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.” All this was
thoroughly discussed in our Bible Study of the Book of Isaiah, so we won’t go
into it all again. Psa
63:11 But the king [David] will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will
praise him, while the mouths of
liars will be silenced. This should be enough to convince everyone
that those who break the 9th
Commandment will be put to death – because this is what it means! PSALM 64 For the director of music. A psalm of David. In this Psalm, David
expands greatly on the meaning of the 9th Commandment. Lying, false accusations, perjury, treachery
and conspiracy to defame, are all sins against the 9th
Commandment. These are the sorts of
things promoted by demons to whip up emotions for mob rule. Truth is cast aside in the pursuit of their
objectives. Psa
64:1 Hear me, O God, as I
voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy. This is what David’s future subjects will be subjected to, and he
voices his complaint early. Psa
64:2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from
that noisy crowd of evildoers. Conspiracies of the
wicked against
the righteous will be
commonplace. They’ve certainly been
getting some practice in recent years! It’s actually sickening to listen to. For instance, I couldn’t care less who some
of these celebrities fornicate with, or even if they die of HIV or the
clap! It’s their life and they’re free
to destroy it any way they want. The
galling part comes from their hypocritical accusers who spent much of
their lives trying to do the same thing while proclaiming their innocence. Psa
64:3 They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. And this about says it all! The
tongue is a world of evil to these cunning, crafty accusers. They’re never content until they’ve
destroyed those who are better than themselves. Psa
64:4 They shoot from ambush at
the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without
fear. If a man were evil like themselves, they
wouldn’t even worry about him, but because he is innocent they’ll
go to any lengths to destroy him. Psa
64:5 They encourage each other
in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, "Who will
see them?" In other words, “Who will see our snares and traps? They’ll fall right into them!” Evil men are cunning and crafty and they
never stop emulating the devil. False
accusations are their tools of trade. Psa
64:6 They plot injustice and say, "We
have devised a perfect plan!"
Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning. Whatever their perfect plan might happen to be, it will be brought
crashing to the ground! In due time,
all those who violate the 9th Commandment will pay the ultimate
penalty! Psa
64:7 But
God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck
down. It’s called good ol’
justice! And God knows how to deliver
it! It’s going to take a lot of
‘arrows’, but justice will prevail for the Saints – the innocent ones! Psa
64:8 He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn. The Saints will certainly shake their heads in scorn and they’ll be
glad to see the justice of the Mighty One. Psa
64:9 All
mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has
done. These things will not be done under a
bushel, but will be very public! God
is setting up to make an example of many people, and justice will begin in
God’s House, the House of Our Lord Jesus gave us an
earlier example of this mighty power of God but not quite in the same
context. Jesus performed many miracles
of healing the blind, sick and maimed, and even raised people from the
dead. No-one was under any illusions
about this mighty power – they knew it was done through the power of
God. Huge numbers of Jewish people
flocked to Him and believed Him to be the Son of God. There were exceptions of course, and these
were the religious elite of that day, who believed themselves
to be the rightful heirs to the Kingdom.
What is more, they reserved the right to decide who would rule over
them. Because Jesus saw through their
self-righteous façade and openly criticized them, they decided it would not
be Him. Still the numbers of converts
were becoming alarming, and so they devised a cunning plan! In their minds, it seemed like the perfect
plan, and we now know what that plan was. The final outcome was
that the Jewish people took Jesus’ message into all the world and
Christianity was born. Those who
plotted injustice for Jesus and His disciples have been forced to face the
music ever since. But before we get
too carried away with accusations against the Jews, Jesus Christ actually
asked God to forgive them ‘because
they don’t know what they are doing’.
These self-righteous religious elites had been infiltrated by Satan
and his agents and it was these demons
who were calling the shots. Jesus made
this very plain in Matt 23:33-36 “You snakes!
You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34
Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them
you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue
from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the
righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the
blood of righteous ABEL to
the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you
murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the
truth, all this will come upon this generation.”
No-one in their right mind would suggest that the Jews are guilty of all
the righteous blood shed on earth
– and
Jesus certainly didn’t! He
was addressing snakes and vipers, the euphemistic term
for demons. Can we be sure of this? Well, the Jews were not even born in
the days of righteous ABEL,
and we’re all aware that ABEL
was killed by Cain. Cain was a demon! Furthermore, who is going to be condemned to Hell and not
escape? It’s Satan and his demons who will be
rounded up and cast into the Abyss, where they will be sealed in for 1,000
years. As for CAIN, the Apostle John confirms that Cain belonged to the devil: 1John 3:12 “Do not be like CAIN,
who
belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And
why did he murder him? Because
his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.” You’ll notice that Jesus
Christ (who is the God of the OT) was conciliatory to Cain-the-man after he
committed the murderous act and forbade anyone else from killing him. The LORD knew who the real culprit
was! As Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today and forever, He forgave the Jews who committed the act of
murder against Him, because they didn’t know what they were doing. The real culprits was Satan and His demons,
so Christians should get this firmly fixed in their minds now, before they start breaking the 9th
Commandment by falsely accusing the Jews. And just one other
thing. When Jesus said, ‘all
this will come on this generation’, if He were only speaking of
the generation of Jews that
existed then, then that generation has long since passed. Even invoking the punishment to the 3rd
and 4th generation (as stated in the 2nd Commandment)
would not encumber the Jews living today.
The generation that Jesus was speaking about is the same
generation that killed
Abel and still exists today – Satan and his demons!
These are the snakes and vipers
we know all too well today! From the
earliest time, in the Garden of Eden, the LORD God identified them as such
(Gen 3:14-15). So let’s be frank and
honest about this! There are elite
religious leaders today who, like Cain, don’t
want to obey God. They
want to decide for themselves how they will worship God – and they are not
Jews! In fact, they call themselves ‘Christians’! Unlike the Jews, they are hostile to God’s
Law and refuse to acknowledge it. They
insist that God must take them just as they are! Laughably, some of these now claim to be ‘spiritual Jews’ – yet they resemble them in nothing! Jesus Christ warned the Churches of God to be very
wary of those who infiltrate them by claiming to be Jews but are not! He calls them liars! Instead, these creatures are from the synagogue of Satan – which is not
Jewish! Everyone knows that the Jewish people obey
God’s Commandments, so
anyone who wants to be a ‘spiritual’
Jew had better be doing the same. And
if they don’t, then they are lying, fake Jews! There is now a trend underway among these fake
Jews, to deny the Lord Jesus is the Messiah.
These lying creatures are neither Christian nor Jewish, and are now trying to
emulate the synagogue of Satan. Jesus Christ frequently taught in the synagogue of the Jews in Satan has a religion
today which is sweeping across the world.
It’s a religion that has been well-crafted to deceive. The whole religion was loosely based on
Judaism, but with many substitutions.
For instance, it was unthinkable to Satan to worship on the Sabbath
Day, so this was substituted for Friday.
And of course, they wouldn’t obey the Law of God so they substituted
their own law,
called Shariah law. Then they decided that in order to replace
Judaism, they need to claim God’s Psa
64:10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let
all the upright in heart praise him! Those who are of the synagogue of Satan need not
apply! PSALM 65 For the director of music. A psalm of David. A
song. Psa
65:1 Praise
awaits you, O God, in But now the Jews resolve
has been thwarted, and increasingly, While all this is going
on, the Lord God will have a pressing priority to provide for His people!
And which people would this be? Would it be the Christian nations that
threw Well this is God’s
answer: V7
“The LORD
will save the dwellings of Yes, I know the catchcry! The Jews
rejected Jesus – right? Well, for the
reader’s information, the Jews have served this same Jesus, this same
Rock, as the Israelites did anciently
when Moses led them out of Psa
65:2 O you who
hear prayer, to you all men will come. Many will seek to serve God in
that day. There is nothing
like a good war to get people’s minds sorted out, especially when they’re
living in great danger, and when the sight of victory gives them hope. People will come all right, especially to a
safe haven. In a world of turmoil
(see V7 below), there won’t be many safe havens. Those who come had better arrive with their
cap in their hands as a sign of humility and respect. It’s the poor, the humble and the
downtrodden who will have prior rights to entry. In accordance with the teachings of Jesus,
the rich and famous and the high and mighty will be required to check their
valuables at the gate for distribution among the poor. This teaching can be found in Matt 19:21-23
and concerns the selling of possessions and giving to the poor as a
precondition to entering God’s Kingdom (V23). God is not against rich
people, in fact, David was very rich, and so was Abraham. But God is only against certain types of rich people and Jesus
tells us a parable to clarify this: Luke 12:16-21 “And he
told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.
17 He thought to himself, `What shall I do? I have no place to
store my crops.' 18
"Then he said, `This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and
build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19
And I'll say to myself, "You
have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take
life easy; eat, drink
and be merry." 20
"But God said to him, `You
fool! This very night your life will
be demanded from you. Then who
will get what you have prepared for
yourself?' 21
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but
is not rich toward
God." Here we see
a certain man described, who produces a good crop through the benevolence of God, though he seems not
to acknowledge this, and then chooses to lounge around and do nothing but
take good care of himself. He visualizes
a life of self-indulgence for himself – a condition that afflicts many people
today – and has no interest in the well-being of anyone else. They flaunt their wealth to everyone, except
God! They don’t act rich towards God, but rather
they poor-mouth themselves to God so they don’t have to pay
their dues to Him – which He requires! In this parable, Jesus tells the outcome
for this fool, as He calls
him! And now, God doesn’t demand His
tithe, but his life! And his wealth will go to another! So here we find that Jesus, through this
parable, directs us to a well-known, but largely ignored, passage of
Scripture in Mal
3:6-10 “I the LORD do not change.
So you, O descendants of Jacob,
are not destroyed.
7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees
and have not kept them. Return
to
me, and I will return
to
you," says the LORD Almighty.
"But you ask, `How are we to return?'” This is a good question, isn’t it? Most people would assume that they should
join a church and sing in the choir, and offer lots of lip-service to
God. Unfortunately for them, God gives
a completely different answer as to how we’re to return to Him!
And this is the answer He gives: V8 “Will a man rob God? Yet
you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?'
"In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse--the
whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe
into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this," says
the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the
floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have
room enough for it. 11 I will prevent pests from
devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast
their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you
blessed, for yours will be a delightful
land," says the LORD Almighty.” These are very plain
words from the Creator God Himself!
Yet people go to extraordinary lengths to refute them. They argue that descendants of Jacob, the Tribes of Today we have a situation
where Christians think they can return to God with mere lip-service, while
ignoring God’s instruction about how He says they must return to Him. Paying God’s tithe doesn’t benefit Him
because everything in earth belongs to Him – it only benefits the tithe-payer, and the truth of this
will become very evident in days to come.
How will there be food in
God’s House to feed you when you return if you don’t make provision
now? To be sure, God has made
provision for the saints to receive
hidden manna (Rev 2:17) while they are living through the
greatest calamity of all time. But the
manna stops when the Most Christians are quite
happy to believe that God can forgive their sins – and He can and will,
provided we repent and return to Him.
While the sinner was still immersed in their sins, they were under a
death sentence. They were without hope
or any promises and were considered to be dust – to which they would return. When God says, “You
are under a curse, the whole nation of you, because you are robbing me”,
He has in mind to lift that curse on anyone who returns to Him. It’s these who will return to God when He
forgives their sins: Psa
65:3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you
forgave our transgressions.
This is speaking
of the true Saints! As we read in V1 of this Psalm, such people will
be waiting for God in
This is confirmed in this
verse: Psa
65:4 Blessed are those you choose and bring
near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. Many
are called, but few are chosen, and many
are destined to find this out the hard way.
The chosen know why!
Half-hearted, lukewarm, self-seeking slackers are not the type of
person likely to be chosen by God. Naturally enough, these are
the ones who believed God and sought refuge in Him, and so it’s these who
will see the awesome deeds of God
when He arms Himself with strength: Psa
65:5 You answer
us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the
hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, Psa
65:6 who formed the mountains
by your power, having armed
yourself with strength, Psa
65:7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their
waves, and the turmoil of the
nations. It’s during the turmoil of the nations that
God will answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness. At that time, the LORD God will be armed at full strength. The Saints who return to God early,
are the ones who will be spared the calamities and the turmoil of the nations.
You’ll certainly see the turmoil
of the nations, and you’ll be firmly convinced that all nations are
demon-possessed. We’re already seeing
this spreading from nation to nation, as people cast aside any form of sound
reasoning. This speaks of nations
rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms from one end of the
earth to the other. It will take the awesome deeds of God and
His righteousness to ‘still’ all these things and punish
the offenders. And now David begins to
speak about the remnant of the House of Israel who are living far away. At the end of a long dark ‘night’
and the dawning of a new day,
God
will call for songs of joy
from them. Psa
65:8 Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning
dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy. Perhaps The Song of Moses
may become popular! It’s certainly
destined to be so (Rev 15:3). Meanwhile, back in the Psa
65:9 You care for the land and
water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain,
for so you have ordained it. With the rest of the world in
turmoil, it’s the Promised Land that will prosper. The descendants of Jacob – the Tribes of
Israel had their chance, but they didn’t believe God. Even worse, in the finish they didn’t even
believe their Creator God provided it all for them. They had it all, then lost it all, and God
has warned them again and again! But
they wouldn’t listen! Even though
God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, is irrevocable,
it will be a long hard journey for them to enter the Promised Land. Some will, however, and
they are the ones who reap the bounty. Psa
65:10 You drench its furrows
and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. Then the nations of the
world will see who has God’s favour! The House of God foretold that His
Land would be a Land flowing with milk and honey and you will see that God
keeps His Word. Psa
65:11 You
crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. Psa
65:12 The grasslands of the
desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. Grasslands produce milk and the flowers produce honey. Huge flocks will roam this pasture land. Psa
65:13 The
meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they
shout for joy and sing. Fertile valleys will be
smothered with grain. PSALM 66 For the director of music. A song. A psalm. Psa 66:1 Shout
with joy to God, all the earth! Not
much chance of this at the present time!
Yet David is speaking of a future time when they will, and he is
speaking about all the
inhabitants of the earth! Psa
66:2 Sing the glory of his
name; make his praise glorious! Or else! There’ll be no more soft-shoe shuffling in
that day about a false Jesus, whom the churches of this world worship. The real Jesus will make His presence known
throughout the world. Former pagan
nations will be scurrying around destroying their idols and taking stock of
themselves. Those who don’t will find
themselves cringing before the Mighty One. Psa 66:3 Say to God,
"How awesome are your deeds! So
great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. Is this the same Jesus that churches preach
about today? Does anyone seriously
imagine that His enemies would cringe before Him if He looked like the
depictions, supposedly of Him, in church literature? They depict Him as a long-haired sissy and
a weakling – hardly the type of Being that would make His enemies
cringe! Their depictions of Him are
blasphemous! Psa 66:4 All the earth bows
down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your
name." Selah. We
know enough about the inhabitants of the earth to know they won’t bow down to the
Mighty One unless He first provides the incentive. But after the nations are crushed and the
mountains leveled and the earth writhes beneath their feet, they’ll soon
realize that they have greatly underestimated the Mighty One. They’ll have no option other than to bow
down to Him in submission. What is
more, His eyes will be watching
them (V7
below) and any aberrant behaviour will be swiftly
dealt with. Psa 66:5 Come and see
what God has done, how awesome his works
in
man's behalf! It may not be immediately
apparent, but it soon will be that His awesome
works are on man’s behalf. Just seeing the lowlife scum of this earth
reduced to ashes will be a good start.
In addition to this, there will be major changes to the whole structure
of the landmass. As we’ve pointed out
many times in the past, God intends to put His imprint on the whole earth and
restore it to what it once was. During
this process, the inland seas of the earth will be displaced with land: Psa 66:6 He turned the sea into dry land, they passed
through the waters on foot-- come, let us rejoice in him. This verse merely touches on it, but even the Psa 66:7 He rules forever by his power, his eyes watch
the nations-- let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah. It’s
true that the nations will bear watching for generations to come. Jesus made it very clear that from time to
time, these former enemy nations will start to get uppity and show signs of
rebellion, and He gives the remedy: Rev 2:26-29 “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end,
I
will give authority over the nations-- 27 `He will rule them with an iron scepter;
he will dash them to pieces like
pottery' -- just as I have received authority
from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star. 29
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.” The Saints will be given rulership over these people, and at the first sign of rebellion they’ll know what to do! Psa 66:8 Praise our
God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; Psa 66:9 he has preserved our lives and kept
our feet from slipping. During Jesus’ last
Passover on earth with His disciples, He introduced a new procedure – to wash
the disciples’ feet, and told them to do the same with each other on the Day
of the Passover. John 13:3-17 “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come
from God and was returning to God;
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and
wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water
into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the
towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who
said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus
answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 9
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my
hands and my head as well!" 10 Jesus answered, "A person
who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And
you are clean, though not every one of you." 11 For he knew
who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was
clean. 12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his
clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for
you?" he asked them. 13 "You call me `Teacher' and `Lord,' and
rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also
should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for
you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his
master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17
Now that you know these things, you
will be blessed if you do them.” The important part of all
this is that Jesus was their Lord
and Teacher, and what their Teacher taught them had to be upheld as doctrine. They were to remember all these things and teach
them as their doctrine. This
translates into keeping our feet clean – as the symbol of the teaching of the
Lord Christ. By washing each other’s
feet, the Saints are ensuring that no
false doctrine creeps in. At
that time, the disciples didn’t understand the meaning, but later they
did. This is evident from something
that Paul wrote: Eph 6:10-15 “Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore
put on the full armor of God, so that when
the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground (without your feet slipping), and after you have done everything, to stand. 14
Stand firm then, with the
belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, 15 and
with your FEET fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” So our FEET
are fitted with the Gospel of Peace
– which
our Teacher has taught us.
So our FEET must
walk in this path. As Paul further states,
the real enemies are not flesh and blood, but the rulers and authorities of this dark world, and he calls
them the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm – that
is the invisible realm.
So now we know that the real enemy is the invisible
spirit world. Those who have not
held firm to the teachings of the
Lord and Teacher, are actually teaching the doctrine of demons. In Paul’s letter to
Timothy, he states this: 2Tim 4:1-5 “In the presence
of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his
kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct,
rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.
3 For the time will come
when men will not put
up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4
They will turn their ears away from
the truth and turn aside to
myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work
of an evangelist, discharge all the
duties of your ministry.” Well, I think that time has come, as Paul
says, and people have turned aside to myths.
If you listen to them then you will only hear what they want you to
hear – and it won’t be the Truth! There are a great number of teachers like this today! As a result of letting their feet slip, as David mentions
in the last verse (V9), there are many people today who profess to
be Saints but are not. As long as they
listen to myths and fables, they never will be. And now David begins to speak of the refining process which
requires great heat: Psa 66:10 For you, O
God, tested us; you refined
us like silver. Silver is refined in a
crucible under great heat. In this way
all the impurities are removed. If God
tests us and finds purity, then there is no need of refining in the crucible
of fire. But those whose feet have
slipped are going to find it tough going!
Some will be beaten and thrown into prison, while some will be
enslaved: Psa 66:11 You brought
us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. It
might never have come to this, but faith is not something
that Jesus expects to find when He returns, and faithless people
today abound. They’re more interested
in myths than in Truth. Yet through the crucible of refining all
this can be changed and the Churches of God had better be up for the
challenge. The rest of the House of Israel will be
relying on their example. Concerning
lack of faith, Jesus said this: Luke 18:6-8 “And the
Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will
not God bring about justice for his
chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting
them off? 8 I tell you, he
will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of
Man comes, will he find faith on
the earth?" It’s true that David is actually
speaking of the Tribe of Judah, but it all equally applies to the Churches of
God who must complete their avowed service to God. The Jewish people are your example to
follow in the coming holocaust, because they’ve been through it – and the
memory still haunts them today. Who
could ever forget Auschwitz, Treblinka, Psa 66:12 You let men
ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a
place of abundance. The Promised Land has been
reached by the Jews, but there is still some fighting to do to secure
it. Then they will see the The Psa 66:13 I will come
to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill
my vows to you— Psa 66:14 vows my lips
promised and my mouth spoke when I
was in trouble. This is the usual time
when people make vows to God – when they are in trouble! Obviously, it wasn’t David who was in
trouble and no-one cast him into prison (V11). And
neither
is everyone on earth
praising God today (V1). We
have yet to see the seas dry up (V4), so it’s evident that David was speaking of
a future time – just as Ezekiel was when he described the Psa 66:15 I will
sacrifice fat animals to you and an offering of rams; I will offer bulls and
goats. Selah. When
David comes to God’s So
why did Jesus change the symbols used for the Passover? Well, this change of the Law was only for
His disciples with whom He sat with to complete it. He confirmed it to be a perpetual ordinance
to do in memory of Him. So all future
disciples were required to observe the Passover in this manner. You’ll notice that His disciples didn’t
offer a lamb on the Passover; in fact, Jesus Christ offered Himself as the
Passover Lamb. For Jesus’ true
disciples, this is the only Lamb they would ever need to be offered for
them. All others have no rights to the
symbols of bread and wine which represented Jesus’ body and blood. For this reason, only true disciples – that is, Saints – have this right and others should not be
participating in this ceremony by eating the Bread and drinking the
Wine. Those, other than the Saints, must sacrifice a lamb
according to the Law of Moses. As
King over the 12 Tribes of Israel, David will make the offerings for animal
sacrifice for all his subjects and set them on the right path. At that time, the House of Israel will know
all about the blood-letting of sacrifices – having experienced the meaning of
them in their own personal holocaust.
Almighty God intends that they never forget! Having
set the example of animal sacrifices, David now begins to teach the meaning,
and speak of God’s qualities of mercy.
At this point, David is addressing the 12 Tribes of Israel who, at
that time, will have suffered many adversities and will not be in good
shape. He uses himself as an example
of God’s mercy, and warns that only those who fear God should hope for His mercy. Psa
66:16 Come and listen, all you who fear God; let me
tell you what he has done for me. Psa 66:17 I cried out
to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. Psa 66:18 If I had cherished
sin in my heart, the Lord would not have
listened; Psa 66:19 but God has
surely listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Those who cherish sin and expect God to
listen to their prayers are deluding themselves. Sin is the transgression of God’s Law,
and most Christians today cherish disobedience to it. Then they wonder why God doesn’t
listen to their prayers – and believe me, He doesn’t! He does, however, listen to those who obey Him! Psa 66:20 Praise be to
God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from
me! The importance of God’s love will be very
evident when the House of Israel finds themselves under harsh rule in foreign
lands. The next Psalm continues
this theme. PSALM 67 For the director of music. With stringed
instruments. A psalm. A song. Just as the Psa 67:1 May God be
gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah. Psa 67:2 that your
ways may be known on earth, your
salvation among all nations. God’s salvation will
be seen among all nations.
All the nations will see God’s rescue of His people Psa 67:3 May the
peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Psa 67:4 May the
nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah. Psa 67:5 May the
peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Psa 67:6 Then the land
will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. Psa 67:7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the
earth will fear him. Once the House of Israel
is brought back from foreign lands and resettled, all the nations of the
earth will know they made some serious errors of judgment – and they’ll have
plenty of reason to fear God then. PSALM 68 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. A
song. Psa 68:1 May God
arise, may his enemies be
scattered; may his foes
flee before him. The very act of rescuing
from the hand of the enemy results in a great number of casualties. As one can well imagine, God has no
concerns about the welfare of His
enemies – His foes
that aligned against Him! A
disproportionate number of His enemies will be reduced to ash, but then, this
is justice! While many bleeding-hearts
might object now, they certainly won’t when they find themselves in
captivity! Psa 68:2 As smoke is
blown away by the wind, may
you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. What else would anyone expect when God brings justice to this
earth? Does anyone really believe that
God would plead with them to behave themselves? After they’ve slaughtered most of God’s
people Psa 68:3 But may the
righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. The righteous will have the right ‘take’ on this and will be happy and
joyful to see justice done. In that
day, the unjust, who cry crocodile tears for God’s enemies, will be the unwanted
pariahs in the Psa 68:4 Sing to God,
sing praise to his name, extol him
who rides on the clouds-- his name is the LORD-- and rejoice before
him. Psa 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. As we saw in the previous verse, God rides on the clouds and here
we find that what He rides is His Holy Dwelling. There will be a lot of fatherless children in that
day, and a lot of widows
who have lost their husbands. God
intends to make special provision for them.
Men who offer their lives will know that their wives and children will
be taken care of. All the necessary
provision will be made for these women and children who will be the
primogenitors of future generations. Psa 68:6 God sets the
lonely in families, he leads forth the
prisoners with singing; but
the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psa 68:7 When you went
out before your people, O God, when you marched through the wasteland, Selah. Psa 68:8 the earth
shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Psa 68:9 You gave
abundant showers, O God; you refreshed your weary inheritance. God prepares the Psa 68:10 Your people settled in it, and from
your bounty, O God, you provided
for the poor. God’s people will see a
big difference in their new land compared to the land they were led out of. Psa 68:11 The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who
proclaimed it: Psa 68:12 "Kings and armies flee in haste;
in the camps men divide the plunder. By
this time, the kings and armies of the enemy will know it’s not
the time to fight – but to run! Their haste will be such that they will
leave all their valuables behind. Their
camps will be plundered by
the great company that proclaims God’s Word. Psa 68:13 Even while
you sleep among the campfires,
the wings of my dove are
sheathed with silver, its
feathers with shining gold."
We’ve spoken many times about the ‘Eagle’s Wings’ hovering
overhead before descending on the prey, and now David speaks of the ‘wings of a dove’. This dove is sheathed in silver and gold, both of which are
symbols for God’s very elect. The dove becomes the ‘peace train’ or rescue
ship to gather the great company of believers – even while they sleep among the campfires in
their migrations. This is how many
will be rescued along with their plunder taken from the enemy. Psa 68:14 When the
Almighty scattered the kings in the
land, it was like snow fallen on Zalmon. Snow falls on the uppermost peak of Psa 68:15 The mountains
of Bashan are majestic mountains;
rugged are the mountains of Psa 68:16 Why gaze in
envy, O rugged mountains, at the
mountain where God chooses to reign, where the LORD himself will DWELL FOREVER? There been a lot of envy by the rulers of the heavenly realms and
their brood for the Holy Mountain of God.
These ruthless creatures could never understand that it was not
theirs to inherit. Of all the
mountains on the earth, they wanted this one!
The pagans of Jesus’ day had many mountains they worshiped on, and one
of these was *** Just by way
of a geography lesson, there are two significant mountains in
Both these
mountains had significance when Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised
Land. The following account is Moses’
instructions to Joshua: Deut 27:4-14 “And when you
have crossed the *** Psa 68:17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands; the
Lord has come from Sinai
into his sanctuary. This is a lot of chariots – and they are not
single-seater aircraft! Some of them are immense and capable of
carrying huge numbers of people, along with their plunder. Some will be dedicated ‘Eagles’,
inflicting crushing defeat on the enemies of God, and others will be
dedicated ‘Doves’ – to bring peace to the captives. It’s fitting that “the Lord has
come from Sinai into His sanctuary” as mentioned in the verse
above. This is mentioned by Moses as
His final message to the Israelites before his death, and immediately after
he gave them the Song of Moses!
Deut 33:1-5
“This is the blessing that Moses the man of God
pronounced on the Israelites before his death. 2 He said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned
over them from Seir; he shone forth from Psa 68:18 When you
ascended on high, you led captives
in your train; you received gifts
from men, even from the rebellious-- that you, O LORD God, might
dwell there [in His sanctuary]. Psa 68:19 Praise be to
the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Selah. Psa 68:20 Our God is a
God who saves; from
the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. God intends to rescue His people from captivity, and the tens of thousands of God’s chariots
will be implemented for this very purpose. Psa 68:21 Surely God
will crush the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crowns of those who go on in their sins. We have the perfect example of this prophecy in the Book of Genesis: Gen 3:14-15
“So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
"Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will
eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
HE WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD, and
you will strike his heel." This is obviously a far-reaching prophecy
for the end of days when the enmity between the serpent and the woman
– the
mother of us all – will be brought to a climax. The captives will find comfort in
Psa
68:22 The Lord says, "I
will bring them [the captives] from Psa 68:23 that you may plunge your feet in the blood of your
foes, while the tongues of your dogs have their share." There’ll be a lot of blood just outside of Psa 68:24 Your
procession has come into view, O God, the procession of my God and King into
the sanctuary. This procession will be a
gala event with much singing and rejoicing. Psa 68:25 In front are the singers, after them
the musicians; with them are the maidens
playing tambourines. So
this won’t be an all-male event; there will be maidens participating as
well. When we get to Psalm 73, the
singers and the musicians deliver a message, which compliments all that David
has written. Psa 68:26 Praise God in
the great congregation;
praise the LORD in the assembly of Psa 68:27 There is the
little tribe of Benjamin,
leading them, there the great
throng of Psa 68:28 Summon your
power, O God; show us your strength,
O God, as you have done before. At that time, God’s
people won’t see Jesus Christ as the weakling that they depict Him as
today. In that day,
they will truly understand what the titles
‘Christ’
and ‘Messiah’ really mean! In
that day, they’ll find great comfort in the might and strength of
the Mighty One. In that day
they’ll dwell in peace and safety, and will be free of oppression from their
former enemies. Psa 68:29 Because of
your temple at It’s probably not the
ideal time to go into it, but Solomon saw his role as instructing future
generations, and this is very clear throughout the Book of Proverbs. In the 8th chapter he begins by
speaking of wisdom – which God gave to him in great abundance. In V12 he says this: “I, wisdom, dwell together with
prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.” And then he says this in V19-20
“My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield
surpasses choice silver. 20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice, 21 bestowing wealth on those who love
me and making their treasuries full.”
Then abruptly, Solomon begins speaking of the other Son of David – the
heir to the Kingdom of both David and Solomon. And just to put this in perspective, Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God:
1Cor 1:24
“but to those
whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Only those whom God has called are
able to understand that the Wisdom,
which Solomon wrote about, was Jesus
Christ. And what was
it that Solomon wrote about concerning Wisdom? Those
whom God has called know that he was writing about Jesus Christ the Wisdom of God:
Pro 8:22-31 “The LORD brought me
forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old; 23 I
was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. 24
When there were no oceans, I WAS GIVEN BIRTH, when there
were no springs abounding with water; 25 before the mountains were settled in place, before
the hills, I WAS GIVEN
BIRTH, 26 before
he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. 27
I was there when he set the heavens
in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,
28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the
fountains of the deep, 29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep
his command, and when he marked out
the foundations of the earth. 30 THEN I WAS THE CRAFTSMAN AT HIS SIDE. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his
whole world and delighting in mankind.” Jesus Christ was present when everything
was created, and He was the Craftsman
at God’s side – from the very beginning. Jesus Christ was given birth by God the
Father originally, and again when He was born as a man through the Blessed
Mary. Psa 68:30 Rebuke the beast among the reeds, the herd of
bulls among the calves of the nations.
Humbled, may it bring bars of silver.
Scatter the nations who
delight in war. “Rebuke the beast among the reeds” is a reference to one of
two beasts that God
instructed the Prophet Job about. One
is called ‘Behemoth’ and the other ‘Leviathan’. This is what God has to say in regard to
this Behemoth: Job 40:15-21 “Look at
the behemoth, which I made along with you
and which feeds on grass like an ox. 16 What strength he has in
his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! 17 His tail
sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. 18
His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. 19 HE RANKS FIRST AMONG THE WORKS OF GOD,
yet
HIS MAKER can approach him with
his sword. 20 The hills bring him their produce, and
all the wild animals play nearby. 21 Under the lotus plants he
lies, hidden AMONG THE REEDS IN THE
MARSH.” This beast among the reeds is going to
be rebuked by God. This beast
was made along with, not Adam, but Job. It was a
one-off creation and no longer exists today in that form. This beast
was created to punish one of the spirit
rulers, one of those who were first among the works of God.
That is, those who existed before mankind. There is nothing very unusual about this
since Nebuchadnezzar suffered the same fate and became a wild beast. His sentence was for a limited time. The Behemoth, as a visible, fleshly, earthly
creature, can be approached by his
Maker with a sword. In other
words, he could have been cut down at any time and cease to exist. As a matter of fact, Satan himself was very
aware of these rules, and it was his intention to catch the Son of God in
human form and put Him to death – believing He would be dead forever. How wrong Satan was! When he saw Jesus alive, he knew it would
not bode well for him! Satan knew he
had made a huge mistake! Psa 68:31 Envoys will come
from Psa 68:32 Sing to God,
O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, Selah. Psa 68:33 to him who rides the ancient skies above, who
thunders with mighty voice. Well, I imagine that when
the nations of the earth see God’s tens
of thousands of chariots in the air, they will know He means
business! Psa 68:34 Proclaim the
power of God, whose majesty is over
Psa 68:35 You are
awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the
God of For the nations of the
earth, the halcyon days of killing Jews and Christians will be over, and the
tables will be turned. As V29
says, these nations will be falling over themselves to bring gifts for God’s
people in reconciliation. So now we
know that God knows how to bring peace.
Kill the enemy and instantly you have peace! PSALM 69 For the director of music. To the tune of
"Lilies." Of David. This Psalm is speaking of
the suffering of Jesus Christ
– see V21,
and
also His offspring. Just prior
to the appearance of the tens of
thousands of God’s chariots, God’s people will experience desperate
times. Here David takes on their persona
to describe these events. Psa 69:1 Save me, O
God, for the waters have come up to my neck. Psa 69:2 I sink in the
miry depths, where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. Psa 69:3 I am worn out
calling for help; my throat is parched.
My eyes fail, looking for my
God. As we keep saying, the Jews know all about
this, because they went through it all first.
Today we have some people who seem to think the Jews deserved it. I hope these same people hold to their
accusing philosophy when they have to apply it to themselves! Because one thing is sure, they won’t
escape! Such people have yet to learn
just how much God hates hypocrites!
Especially those who favour God’s enemies
over His chosen people – the Jewish people – who have been appointed to the
establishment of His Kingdom! With
evidence mounting daily of the conduct of the Islamic hordes, these
hypocrites find fault with the Jews?
Why don’t these hypocrites take a good look at themselves for a
change? Many of the writers of
the Scriptures have spoken of the perilous times ahead in the last days, and
none should underestimate the severity of it.
Everyone was given one lifetime and how they conducted themselves was
entirely up to them. God Himself set
the rules for righteous living and it’s on the basis of His rules or Laws
that all mankind will be judged. He
is, of course, the Great Judge and judges judge according
to law. It’s God’s determination that
the lawless will perish, because they are not welcome in His Kingdom. Oddly enough, it was the ‘rule
of law’ that made The Bible labels
lawlessness as sin (1John 3:4), and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Jesus Christ never sinned because He obeyed the Law. Jesus Christ did everything that God
required of Him while He was still on earth.
And the final requirement was to give His life – which He did! In this regard, Jesus gave us some good
advice: Luke
17:9-10 “Would he thank the servant
because he did what he was told to
do? 10 So you also, when
you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We
are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" Our duty to God
is to obey Him, which Jesus Christ Himself did, but God’s thanks and
appreciation, as well as any rewards, require more. And in this, you cannot afford to fail. The time is
coming when people will hate you and severely persecute you if you do all that God has told you to do. However, the alternative is death
forever. There are not a lot of people
who would welcome their courage being tested, but this is what it will come
to. The entrance fee for entering the
Family of God is very high, so if it requires persecution and death, then
just remember that many others have gone before you in the faith of their
convictions. Psa 69:4 Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head; many
are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me. I am
forced to restore what I did not steal.
Extortion is
something that is widely practiced in one form or another today. You’ll be falsely accused and your accusers
will extort all they can get from you.
Once the well has dried up they’ll seek to kill you, and they won’t
seek any reason to do so. The law of
the land will be paralyzed and no-one will come to your aid. Others will have enough problems of their
own, and few will be willing to come to your aid. Psa 69:5 You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from
you. In those days, people will find themselves
in this position because they never believed God with the kind of faith He
requires. Too many people today think
they can dictate how God must be worshiped and soon they will learn of their folly! If they have any sense, then they will
learn quickly and confess their guilt
to God. Psa 69:6 May those who hope in you not
be disgraced because of me,
O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may
those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel. Well this is a good attitude to have!
The folly that has
led to their own guilt
should not result in another’s suffering, and the folly taught in churches
today is on track to do just this. It
should be borne in mind that after the persecutors have finished with the
Saints, they will be coming after the churches, who have a long history of
masquerading as Saints. Psa 69:7 For I endure scorn for
your sake, and shame covers my face. It’s the righteous man who will endure by trusting in God. All these things may seem meaningless now,
and completely unnecessary to the average Christian, but they’ve never had
the Testimony of Jesus – which
is the Spirit of Prophecy
(Rev 19:10). And without it, ‘they will know nothing until
the flood sweeps them away’ (Matt 24:39). And so we must ‘endure scorn
for your (God’s) sake’,
knowing that the endgame is near. The
Mighty One, Jesus Christ will not be far off when the full bloom of
persecution takes hold. The next two
verses begin to speak of the entrance of Jesus Christ and how He deals with
trouble when it involves sacred things.
The next verse speaks of His inter-family conflict. Psa 69:8 I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons;
(Jesus’ own brothers, the sons of His mother, did
not believe Him – John 7:3-5 “Jesus' brothers said to him,
"You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see
the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure
acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the
world." 5 For even
his own brothers did not believe in him.” They saw and acknowledged all the miracles
He did, but they still didn’t believe Him.
To their credit however, they were at the Feast of Pentecost fifty
days after Jesus rose from the dead – Acts 1:14). Psa 69:9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall
on me. Jesus Christ saw some
alarming insults to His Father in His Father’s House.
It was enough that He had experienced insults from His brothers in His
own household, but this was His
Father’s House and He wasn’t going to tolerate it! He stormed into the The odd thing about all
this is that Christians
don’t seem to have the same zeal for the Father’s House! In fact, the Father’s House, the Psa 69:10 When I weep
and fast, I must endure scorn; Psa 69:11 when I put on
sackcloth, people make
sport of me. Putting on sackcloth is a sign of outward repentance – a form of
public humility. It’s usually done
when all the signs indicate that God is not pleased with the people. The most poignant example of this is when
the Two Witnesses don sackcloth
in the streets of So much for the deceivers
who say that no The As we’ve already seen,
the Two Prophets are given considerable powers. They have power to call down fire from the heavens to kill their enemies and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they
want – in addition to many other powers. The rebellion will come when the Beast
emerges with similar powers
and convinces a majority of the people that he is God himself and therefore
superior to the Two Prophets. Rev 13:11-17
“Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth.
He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. 12 He
exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants
worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13
AND HE PERFORMED GREAT AND MIRACULOUS
SIGNS, EVEN CAUSING FIRE TO COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH IN FULL VIEW OF
MEN. 14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on
behalf of the first beast, he
deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of
the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 He was given power to give breath to
the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all
who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16
He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to
receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no
one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast
or the number of his name.” The
difference here is that the Two
Prophets use their powers to
kill God’s enemies, while the Beast
and the False Prophet use their powers to kill their own enemies. One other thing you’ll
notice here is a distinct demotion of Satan. Whereas the Muslims worshiped the devil as
‘Allah’, the Beast who arises from the Abyss (where he has served a long
prison sentence), will force everyone to worship
himself to the exclusion of Satan. Old hostilities will emerge and the effect
will be to leave Satan sidelined. Since we know in advance that
Gods’ Two Prophets will be in Psa 69:12 Those who sit
at the gate mock me, and I am the song
of the drunkards. Psa 69:13 But I pray to
you, O LORD, in the time of your
favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure
salvation. Most Christians today believe they are already saved. Where do they get this idea from? Salvation will come in the time of God’s favour, and
not
before. As a matter of fact, the Two
Prophets will demonstrate that their salvation
or
rescue will come after their deaths. Psa 69:14 Rescue me from the mire, do not
let me sink; deliver me from those
who hate me, from the deep waters. You’ll notice that these ‘deep waters’ are the men who hate them. In the same way, the Prophet David begins
to speak in the next verse about floodwaters
that are about to engulf them – which serves as a timely reminder of
whom he is talking about. Psa 69:15 Do not let
the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me. This is actually a prophecy about the House of David, which will emerge prior to the
Only the Levites remember
the account when Moses was challenged, which we’ve referred to before. A pit opened up and swallowed Moses enemies
– the whole account is found in Num 16:1-46 and it’s well-worth reading! To keep it brief a pit opened up and
swallowed up those who opposed Moses, and then closed over them, burying them
alive. As a point of interest, John the
Baptist was a Levite prophet just like Moses.
Jesus Christ was born into the House of David, and John prepared the
way for Him as God’s messenger (Mal 3:1). All of God’s prophets suffer
trauma from their enemies from time to time, and in the past most of them
were killed as Jesus pointed out in Matt 23:30-34.
Jesus Christ was no exception, and He too was killed, and by the same
evil brood of snakes and vipers
that killed the son of Adam,
that is, righteous Abel. All the prophets went to their deaths with
complete faith that God would raise them from the dead when the In the day of His death,
Jesus Christ prayed to God all night.
And God heard His prayers. Yet
it wasn’t possible to save Him if the Scriptures were to be fulfilled – a
point made by Jesus earlier: Matt 26:53-54 “Do you
think I cannot call on my Father,
and he will at once put at my
disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be
fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" Generally
speaking, most people will go to any lengths to save their lives – but not
Jesus! He knew He had to complete this
task! Psa 69:16 Answer me, O
LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me. Psa 69:17 Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me
quickly, for I am in trouble.
Prophecy had to
be fulfilled, and the Father knew that He would have to turn His back on His
Son. In those famous last words, Jesus
cried out: Matt
27:46-50 “About the ninth hour Jesus
cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which
means, "My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?" 47 When some of those standing
there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah." 48
Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and
offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said,
"Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him." 50
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.” The identifier here is the reference to vinegar, which we’ll see below
in V21. It was vinegar
they gave him for His thirst in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. Psa 69:18 Come near and
rescue
me; redeem me because of my foes. It would have been a difficult task for Jesus to pray all night,
knowing that it was not possible for the Father
to rescue Him if prophecy
was going to be fulfilled. Psa 69:19 You know how
I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you. God knew very well the nature of these snakes and vipers who
masqueraded as religious leaders. God
knows every one of these demons who possessed this unruly mob of human
beings. It was no small thing to allow
them the appearance of victory. But
this earth and this creation were worth saving and both Jesus and the Father
loved it, and concurred on this, that in the absence of Satan and his demons,
a viable creation could continue forever.
So Jesus had to complete this task and then reappear in triumph. The earth would be saved but Satan and his
demons would be destroyed. And this
plan is set out in 1Cor 15:24-28. Psa 69:20 Scorn has
broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there
was none, for comforters, but
I found none. It’s a fact of history
that all His followers fled when they lost their nerve. Peter had formerly said he would never do
this, and Jesus had to advise him that he would deny Him three times. It’s all very well for us to pontificate
about this now, but all will be put to the test. The truth is that it had to happen this way
for the Scriptures to be fulfilled and Jesus knew in advance that it would
happen. We all know that after
Jesus was betrayed and crucified, His followers, including His mother Mary,
gathered around the site of His impending death. It was then that Jesus gave the Apostle
John the charge of taking care of His mother.
It was also here that another prophecy was fulfilled. They gave Him vinegar for His thirst: Psa 69:21 They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for
my thirst. And this prophecy was fulfilled. This whole dreadful saga
began with the betrayal of Jesus by one man – Judas Iscariot! But the real villain was Satan the devil
who entered into and possessed Judas (John 13:2, 27).
It stands to reason that someone like Judas would not fare well after
the betrayal of His Son Jesus. Psa 69:22 May the table
set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. Judas planned a life of luxury for himself and hoped to become a
prominent landowner. He even saw
himself as becoming a folk hero in the eyes of the religious elite as well as
the people. It’s patently obvious
that Judas was not a true believer, or he would never have done what he
did. He was Satan’s ‘plant’, his
protégé of evil, hand-picked for this betrayal, and he was the perfect
candidate. Prior to this, Satan had
requested of God that Peter be put at his disposal, but Jesus objected and
prayed to God that Peter be spared: Luke 22:31-32 “Simon,
Simon, Satan has asked to sift you
as wheat. 32 But
I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when
you have turned back, strengthen
your brothers." This gives us some idea of how things get done
in the Great Assembly of God’s presence.
Satan has to make this request of God when it involves one of
God’s people. You’ll
recall that a similar situation occurred with God’s servant, the Prophet
Job. Thankfully, with Jesus’
intervention, the request for Simon Peter was denied. So Satan had to set his sights a whole lot
lower, and Judas Iscariot became his protégé. Psa 69:23 May their
eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. Well, those who betray God have their eyes darkened so they cannot see
– as evidenced by Judas! And Satan is
the author of this type of treacherous behaviour. Judas actually fell from height and his
intestines gushed out when his abdomen split open. It’s very possible that his back snapped
and he finished up bent backwards and he was buried this way. We have no clear evidence of this from
history, but this is what the prophecy indicates. Psa 69:24 Pour out your
wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them. In Judas’ case, God’s fierce anger was certainly on him. There he was on his newly acquired property
surveying his ill-gotten gains when he slipped and fell (Acts 1:18). Psa 69:25 May their place be deserted; let there be no one
to dwell in their tents. This verse is quoted by
the Apostles in reference to Judas Iscariot in Acts 1:20 “For,"
said Peter, "it is written in the book of Psalms, "`May his place be deserted; let there
be no one to dwell in it,' and, "`May another take his place of leadership.' 21
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the
whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from John's baptism to the
time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."
23 So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas
(also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed,
"Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have
chosen 25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he
belongs." 26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to
Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.” This confirms the meaning of all we’ve been
saying, and how the Apostles used the Scriptures to confirm God’s will. What is more, it confirms that the Book of Psalms is a Book of Prophecy for those who
have
the Spirit of Prophecy and
can understand it. There are plenty of
treacherous deceivers today, and their deceptive skills are well-honed
through years of practice. The love to
quote the Psalms to make their congregations feel good, but have no idea of
the wealth of information it contains about Bible Prophecy. These same people completely dismiss any
suggestion that God may require a degree of suffering to strengthen our faith. In their minds, everyone who suffers
adversity must be a sinner! That is,
everyone except them. Yet, their real hatred is
against those who love their God and faithfully serve Him in all
circumstances, faithfully obeying His Laws and willingly enduring His correction. As it is written: Heb 12:4-6 “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted
to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And you have forgotten that word
of encouragement that addresses
you as sons: "My son, do
not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when
he rebukes you, 6 because
the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he
accepts as a son." As a point of interest, the word of encouragement
mentioned here was written by David’s son Solomon in Pro 3:11-12. One only has
to mention keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and this is enough to turn these
persecutors into maniacs. They screech
and holler that no Christian should obey or honour
God because, they believe, Jesus favoured lawlessness. They, themselves refuse to obey God’s Law, and so those
who do obey become their natural enemy: Psa 69:26 For they
persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt. To these persecutors, God’s
discipline of those He
accepts as sons, is a sure sign that all who keep God’s Commandments
are sinners and must be punished. And how wrong they are! Psa 69:27 Charge them with crime upon crime; do not
let them share in your salvation. It’s the persecutors
that will be charged with crime upon crime, and they’ll have no
defense. They’ll be condemned and will
never be saved or rescued! Psa 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed
with the righteous. Regardless of what they
might have been in the past, if they turned away like dogs to their vomit,
then there is nothing left for them.
Peter has this to say: 2Pet 2:21-22 “It would have been better for them not
to have known the way of righteousness,
than to have known it and then to turn
their backs on the sacred command[ments] that was passed
on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"
and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." As Peter says it would have been better for
these never to have known the sacred
Commandments than to have turned their backs on them. But if you think this is
a serious indictment, take note of what He says in the earlier verses leading
up to this: 2Pet
2:1-20 “But there were also false prophets among the
people, just as there will be false
teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought
them--bringing swift
destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their
shameful ways and will bring the
way of truth into disrepute. 3 In
their greed these
teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.
Their
condemnation has
long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” I don’t imagine too many of these false teachers and false prophets have been
reading this to their congregations!
These greedy creatures will be too busy exploiting them with stories they’ve made up. You know the type of stories – sickening,
syrupy lies that make them feel good! Continuing in V4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but
sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood
on its ungodly people, but protected Noah,
a
preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by
burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is
going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued
Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men 8 (for
that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his
righteous soul by the lawless deeds
he saw and heard)-- 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue
godly
men from trials and to hold
the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their
punishment. 10 This is especially true
of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.” Whose authority
do they despise? It’s God’s authority, and it’s God who
makes the Law that must be obeyed. He
is the final authority on everything! “Bold and
arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander
celestial beings; 11 yet even angels, although they are stronger and
more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the
presence of the Lord. 12 But these men blaspheme
in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures
of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed,
and like beasts they too will
perish.” As you can see
here, there is no sign of ‘political correctness’ in what
Peter has to say. ‘Political
correctness’ was designed to protect the guilty – the worthless scumbags of this earth
– while using it as a weapon against the righteous! So don’t be too quick to engage in this
worthless nonsense or you’ll find yourself at odds with God and His teachers
– Peter
in this particular instance! V13-20
“They will be paid
back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of
pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes,
reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. 14 With eyes full of adultery,
they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood!
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the
way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16 But he
was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--a beast without speech--who spoke
with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness. 17 These
men are springs without water
and mists driven by a storm.
Blackest darkness is reserved for
them. 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they
entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them
freedom, while they
themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to
whatever has mastered him. 20 If they have escaped the
corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again
entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.” And now we know Peter’s inspired
words on the matter! Psa 69:29 I am in pain
and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me. Anyone who wants to serve God faithfully should not expect life
to be easy. If the lives of the
faithful and obedient were that of endless joy, then everyone would want to
experience it, but Almighty God has a clear goal of favouring
only those who are prepared to endure adversity. This would clearly be off- putting to those
who want all the rewards now. They
want clear and definable benefits in order to serve God faithfully. Most people would want clearly defined inducements
before they’d be prepared to pony up to obedience to God. It’s possible that some
hope to wait for a ‘road to
There is, however, a
caveat on this, and it’s found in the parable
of the vineyard which is likened to the There is going to be a
lot of distress in God’s vineyard in the last hour. The wise will recognize it as the hour of punishment and will toil
to produce some good results even in the harshest time imaginable. The wise
will understand that if God didn’t spare Judah – the Garden of His delight
– in the Holocaust, then they shouldn’t expect Him to spare them. In the last hour, which is now upon us, the
wise will praise God,
knowing His way is right, and they’ve only gotten what they deserved. After all, Jesus didn’t violate God’s
authority or refuse to obey God’s Commandments, yet God didn’t spare
Him either! But He didn’t
deserve it – as
we all know! He did it all
that we might do likewise in service to our Creator God – and
follow Him! Psa 69:30 I will praise
God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This is what the wise will do!
They endure their punishment with thanksgiving, knowing that God is
the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Psa 69:31 This will
please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and
hoofs. A bull is a reference to nations. God is much more pleased with one repentant son than a whole
nation of pretenders. Psa 69:32 The poor
will see and be glad-- you who seek God, may your hearts live! In that day, poor Christians will be the
norm. In a world in upheaval, true
Christians are to be mercilessly targeted, and only the blind would fail to
see this emerging trend today. And
just to clarify something, the ‘last hour’ referred to in the
parable of the vineyard will last for years! Psa 69:33 The LORD
hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. Nevertheless they will be captives
in foreign lands, and it’s
from there they will be rescued. This
rescue will not occur until their future destination is ready. Their future destination is in the Psa 69:33 Let heaven
and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them, Psa 69:34 for God will save
Psa 69:35 the children of his servants will inherit
it, and those who love his name
will dwell there. And this confirms what
we’ve been saying! PSALM 70 For the director of music. Of David. A petition. Psa 70:1 Hasten, O
God, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. In
short, those who seek to inherit God’s Promised Land will rely on their
God. They won’t be seeking to blame
God for the impending attack against them by foreign forces. Instead, they’ll blame themselves for not
seeing the ‘writing on the wall’
and for not heeding the warning of God’s servants the
prophets. Others, of course, will
blame God as they always do when things go wrong. They’re not so quick to give Him credit
when things go right though! The ironic thing about
all this is that the Ten Tribes of Israel will go into captivity because they
failed to listen to God.
They knew better than God and relied on their great military power and were convinced of
invincibility. And we are speaking
about Ephraim who has rule over the Ten Tribes today. Presently, they are the mightiest power on
earth. This is what the Prophet Hosea
has to say about Ephraim: Hos 10:13
“But you have planted
wickedness, you have reaped evil, you
have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on YOUR MANY WARRIORS”. When you live among
people who have eaten the fruit of
deception, who practice
wickedness and reap evil,
it will be quite an act of faith to trust in God for deliverance. Yet there will be a few that will! Psa 70:2 May those who
seek my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be
turned back in disgrace. The faithful few will
become the target of those who blame God for everything. Psa 70:3 May those who
say to me, "Aha! Aha!" turn back because of their shame. In a time of absolute crisis, these deceived creatures will be seeking
to destroy those who hold to their faith in God. Psa 70:4 But may all
who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, "Let God be exalted!" This is when we’ll see the difference between those who love God’s salvation and those who never understood the meaning
of it. Psa 70:5 Yet I am poor
and needy; come quickly to me, O
God. You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay. In these circumstances, any delay would mean utter carnage, and the
Saints will realize this. PSALM 71 David begins telling a parable
with himself as the player, but he’s actually referencing the Saints and their resurrection,
which we’ll see when we get to V20. Psa 71:1 In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to
shame. Psa 71:2 Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. “Rescue me” and “save me” mean virtually the same
thing. Christians everywhere would do
well to realize this! They need to
dispense with the ideas they received when they ate the fruit of deception. Salvation is not some
mythical state-of-being, as Christians today like to
imagine. It literally means to be saved from our enemies. So when some deceived lunatic asks you, “Are
you saved?” just tell them that you haven’t been attacked yet, which is
clearly explained in V4 below.
This clouded-mind origin of claiming one is already saved comes from pagan
origins. Pagans love to claim they’ve
reached the highest level of ‘zen’ or something similar, and it simply means they think
they’ve reached a higher level of spirituality. In this, they are only deluding
themselves. And so are Christians if
they think that being saved is merely a state of mind. They are soon to find that salvation is
something more than this! Psa 71:3 Be my rock of refuge, to which I can
always go; give the command to save
me, for you are my rock and my fortress. David knew what it meant to be saved
– and he was saved many
times! Psa 71:4 Deliver me, O my God, from the
hand of the wicked, from
the grasp of evil and cruel men. “Deliver me” also means to be
saved. Jesus Christ was saved when He
was delivered from the power of
death three days and three nights after He was killed. Psa 71:5 For you have
been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my
confidence since my youth. This shows the similarity
between David and Jesus Christ. Even as a 12-year-old, Jesus was confidently
teaching the rabbis in the Psa 71:6 From birth I
have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you. David was a prophet, and like all the prophets of God,
David had the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of
Prophecy. Jesus Christ testifies
through His prophets, and the Testimony
of Jesus is the
Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10).
This is a good reason not to be listening to false
prophets! False prophets make it up as
they go along without any references to the Scriptures to back up their
claims. Psa 71:7 I have become
like a portent to
many, but you are my strong refuge. A portent is
a strong feeling that something is going to happen, and this is what
a true
Prophet of God does. Psa 71:8 My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Of course this doesn’t mean standing on a street corner annoying
everyone with elementary and stupid nonsense about being ‘saved’, and we’ve
all seen plenty of this! What it
really means is to have our minds conditioned to God’s way in everything we
say and do. It means having God’s body
armour on at all times to guard against the forces
of evil – as Paul describes it in Eph 6:12-15. Psa 71:9 Do not cast
me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone. David was a mighty warrior, and when he went into battle it was always
as the ‘Armies of the Living God’. There was a certain invincibility about
David because God never forsook him.
Here he expresses concern for his strength being gone, and the likely
reaction of his enemies. He asks God
to remember that he is now old. As V7
above says, David was a portent to
many, and the many
will find this out in these last days. Psa 71:10 For my
enemies speak against me; those who
wait to kill me conspire together.
Of course these
creatures will take the opportunity to attack the vulnerable – just as David
suggests. These same types of
creatures would not have attacked him at the height of his great power. Psa 71:11 They say,
"God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him, for no
one will rescue him." Like all brute beasts of
the field, these creatures single out the vulnerable. The same thing happened to Jesus Christ
when they came after Him armed with swords and spears. If this happened to the Son of God, then
don’t think it won’t happen to you. Psa 71:12 Be not far
from me, O God; come quickly, O my God, to help me. Once our strength is gone, whether this means our physical strength or
just being in the vulnerable minority, there is no other practical option
than to trust in God for deliverance.
David is urging us to remember this! Psa 71:13 May my accusers perish in shame; may
those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace. This is something that we can be absolutely sure of; the humility
these accusers will
experience will be remembered forevermore.
Their lives will be forfeited, and they will die horribly. The Apostle Peter made this clear when he
spoke of the demise of Judas Iscariot, who finished up where he belongs
(Acts 1:25). Psa 71:14 But as for
me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and
more. Psa 71:15 My mouth will
tell of your righteousness, of your salvation
all day long, though I know not its measure. The resurrection from the dead is not something we’re presently
familiar with, but all will know the measure of it when they see it and David
adds something to this below in V20. Psa 71:16 I will come
and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your
righteousness, yours alone. Psa 71:17 Since my
youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Generally speaking, a prophet has a lifetime of learning, and it’s not
always apparent to him why, until he is called to duty. Only then does he realize what it all meant
and why he was taught certain things.
A prophet is almost invariably someone with a wide frame of interest
in many things. As such, he is not
easily persuaded by the ridiculous ideas and theories of stupid men. Everything perishes eventually, but true
knowledge lasts forever. Psa 71:18 Even when I
am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Thanks to the Great God, David fulfilled this task when He wrote the
Book of Psalms – for all those who are to come! This is the type of knowledge that lasts
forever. Psa 71:19 Your
righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great
things. Who, O God, is like you? Don’t ask a stupid evolutionist this,
because his answer is predictable.
Soon these people will learn how wrong they were, and they will also
learn the penalty for their
lying deceit. Psa 71:20 Though you
have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again
bring me up. David died, knowing that
God would raise him from the dead. Psa 71:21 You will increase my honor and comfort
me once again. David’s honour will be increased when he rules over all 12 Tribes
of Israel in the Psa 71:22 I will praise
you with the harp for your
faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One
of Israel. We all know that David played the harp, but Bible students
will know that the saints will also play the harp in the Psa 71:23 My lips will
shout for joy when I sing praise to
you-- I, whom you have redeemed. Yes, we are speaking about the redeemed. The harp-players are those who have victory
over the mark of the Beast. They will
be killed for refusing it but will be redeemed by the resurrection. Psa 71:24 My tongue
will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm
me have been put to shame and confusion.
And this is when
the Saints see justice – when their enemies are put to shame. PSALM 72 Of Solomon. This Psalm is not
talking about Solomon as the Scribes have suggested,
although there is plenty of evidence that Solomon was, at times, typecast as
Jesus Christ – as we’ve already seen. Psa 72:1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. God’s justice will be something to behold! We talk about justice today, which always
seems to favour the guilty; that always seem to
have endless rights. God’s justice is
real and it brings results and it always favours
the innocent. The guilty will get
their just deserts! Jesus Christ will
be endowed with God’s
Justice, and in days to come, all the righteous will be thankful that
this! It’s always good to see the good
guys win. Psa 72:2 He will judge your people in righteousness, your
afflicted ones with justice.
God’s afflicted ones will be very
glad to see God’s justice! Psa 72:3 The mountains
will bring prosperity to the people, the
hills the fruit of righteousness. Though
it’s not obvious here, the fruit of righteousness is the grape, which is
crushed to make wine. It would result
in a serious diversion to go into all the reasons why wine means
righteousness, and the sacred meaning of it.
But in brief, it represents the Blood of Christ. Psa 72:4 He [Jesus Christ] will defend the afflicted among the people and save the
children of the needy; he will
crush the oppressor. Yes,
the oppressor will be crushed
as in a wine-press, right
outside the City of Psa 72:5 He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through
all generations. This is certainly speaking
about the Lord Christ, and He is referred to as the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) and the Bright Morning Star (Rev 22:16). Psa 72:6 He will be
like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. In other words, He will be like the Water of Life that makes everything grow and prosper. Psa 72:7 In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity
will abound till the moon is no
more. The
moon today is used as the symbol of Islam, which is
appropriate, considering their god is the devil. Satan represents the lesser light
created by God. Psa 72:8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the
earth. This virtually means the
whole earth – which Jesus Christ will rule.
It’s reminiscent of what Daniel wrote: Dan 2:34-35 “While you were watching, a ROCK was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the
statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze,
the silver and the gold were broken to pieces AT
THE SAME TIME and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the
summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the ROCK that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” The huge
mountain is the restored landmass of the earth, which
will become a single continent, that is, the new earth. The ROCK
that struck the statue, which represents all the kingdoms
beginning with Psa 72:9 The desert tribes will bow before
him and his enemies will lick the dust. Daniel was describing the desert
tribes who occupied the Psa 72:10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him;
the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. This brings up an interesting anecdote. A few years ago, an aspiring ‘Christian’
leader wrote an article trying to claim that the name Psa 72:11 All kings
will bow down to him and all
nations will serve him. The Queen of Sheba was
one of the first to honour the Son of David, which
was King Solomon in her day. She
brought huge quantities of expensive gifts to the King. So David’s prophetic words in V10
were fulfilled. Yet David was speaking
of his other Son – the Son of David,
Jesus Christ. It’s Jesus Christ who will rule from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth as
stated in V8. Psa 72:12 For he will
deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. There’s going to be plenty of these people in that day, and they will
get help at the most crucial time in all human history. The world has no idea of what is
coming. In their wildest imaginings,
they couldn’t begin to comprehend. It
will be a time unlike anything that has ever been since human beings first
walked the earth. It will be a time of
carnage, death and destruction on a scale that couldn’t be imagined. After 6,000 years of
human history, it seems that humanity has learned nothing. Even God’s chosen people, the 12 Tribes of
Israel, have failed to learn – even with the example of Noah’s flood
– that wicked, evil people don’t deserve to live. God’s intentions were clearly stated when
He wiped out all of humanity in the days of Noah – sparing only Noah and his
family. To reinforce this lesson, just
a few months ago, God caused the Those Christians today
who loudly proclaim that Jesus Christ abolished God’s Law are in for a rude
awakening. It’s one thing to have
private views, but to teach others their
lies means their death sentence.
They’re guilty and they know it!
So don’t expect mercy from God!
If God didn’t spare His own Son Jesus from the penalty of lawlessness, even though He kept the Law perfectly,
don’t think that you or anyone else who willfully disobeys God will
escape. As we noted earlier, Peter
pointed out that it’s better never to have known the way of righteousness than to turn away from
the Sacred Commandments (2Pet 2:21). So the lawless will be on
their own, with no-one to help them.
But now we find that God will take
pity on the weak and the needy – who could these be? Psa 72:13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. Could the lawless possibly be among these? Is God really going to save from death
those who refuse to obey
Him? Psa 72:14 He will rescue
them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his
sight. Whose blood is precious in
God’s sight? Well, first of all, God’s
Son Jesus’ blood is, and so is the blood of His offspring – those who have
the Spirit of Christ. These are called
Saints. God tells us whose blood is precious in His sight: Psa 116:13-15
“I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. 14
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Jesus Christ poured out His blood in
death for the Saints, and the Saints should be prepared to do
likewise for Him. If they do, then
they will be precious in the sight
of God. Not all saints will be
required to die as martyrs, but they must remain obedient to God even in
captivity as an example to the rest of the House of Israel. In the minds of some, a quick death would
be better than years of slavery, so some may prefer martyrdom to survival in
horrific conditions of oppression
and violence. Either way, God
will rescue all His Saints, whether in life or in
death. There are no guarantees for
anyone else! Psa 72:15 Long may he
live! May gold from Psa 72:16 Let grain
abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let
its fruit flourish like Psa 72:17 May his name endure forever; may it
continue as long as the sun. All
nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. Psa 72:18 Praise be to
the LORD God, the God of Psa 72:19 Praise be to
his glorious name forever; may the
whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen. Psa 72:20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse. This is a natural break in the continuity of the Psalms. David has taken us through and taught us
the sequence of the Psalms as it relates to Bible Prophecy and has given us a
good overview of it all. Book III Psalms 73-89 PSALM 73 A psalm of Asaph. The Levites were a Brotherhood
of Priests, but they were also the directors of music and Asaph
was a Levite just like Moses. It was
Moses that composed the Song of
Moses, which is famously referenced in the Book of Revelation (Rev 15:4)
and marks the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy and the rescue of the saints. So now we have another
perspective, and this time from the point of view of the Saints and the
suffering they’ll have to endure for a short time. In the same way as the workers in the
vineyard toiled all day and felt they were deserving of more pay than those
who did less work, the Saints will at first be envious of those who have the
same desired reward even though they served less time. In this way, the first will be last, and
the last first. Too many of the Saints
have unrealistic expectations of rewards for time served in obedience to
God. They like to bicker and argue
over the minutia of what their service to God entails, yet they’ve obviously
missed the most important point! And
this is to be prepared to follow Jesus in His ordeal. They knew that in the last days perilous
times would come: 2Tim 3:1-5
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2
People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful,
proud,
abusive,
disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- 5 having a form of
godliness but denying its power. Have
nothing to do with them.” Well, these verses just about cover the
whole gamut, and this is what we can expect.
Yet it will get far worse than this.
This is basically speaking of so-called fellow-Christians, who will
become treacherous towards them and betray them. When we get to V9
below, another dimension is added.
This speaks of “Their
mouths lay claim to heaven, and their
tongues take possession of the earth” and this is not
speaking about Christians! Psa 73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those
who are pure in heart. Those who live among the
Tribes of Israel will know that God has been good to them. It’s the English-speaking people who are of
the Tribes of Joseph, that is, Ephraim and Manasseh, and it’s these who have
aspired to the greatest blessings of God.
Today, it’s Ephraim, the The Prophet Hosea wrote
almost exclusively about Ephraim,
and this is what he wrote concerning God’s comments regarding the fathers of the nation: Hos 9:10 “When
I found Israel, it was like
finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw YOUR FATHERS, it
was like seeing
the early fruit on the fig tree.” There is a great deal more to be said about
the fig tree in Bible Prophecy,
but this is not the time for such a digression. Note, however, that God saw the FATHERS as being like figs on a fig tree. Before we
move on, there is a parable told by Jesus, which has great importance for
these last days. Luke 13:6-9 “Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on
it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the
man who took care of the vineyard, `For three
years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and
haven't found any. Cut it down!
Why should it use up the soil?' 8 "`Sir,' the man replied,
`leave it alone for one more year,
and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next
year, fine! If not, then
cut it down.'" If after a total of four years, a fig tree doesn’t bear fruit, then
it’s time to cut it down!
In short, the fig tree
is the host nation
of the early figs that God
craves. Psa 73:2 But as for
me, my feet had almost slipped;
I
had nearly lost my foothold.
This is certainly
speaking of the Saints, whose feet represent the Gospel of Peace (Eph 6:15), and their envy of the prosperity of the arrogant and
the wicked almost causes
them to lose their footing. Psa 73:3 For I envied
the arrogant when
I saw the prosperity of the wicked. This breaks the 10th Commandment about coveting – not
a wise thing to do! There is always
the danger that this envy
will break out and cause the Saints to join the wicked in order to relieve
their own suffering. Just remember the
circumstances which Jesus endured.
Jesus Christ, as we all know, had enormous
power, yet He didn’t use this power to save His life. He went as a lamb to the slaughter without
any attempt at escape. Psa 73:4 They have no
struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. Their bodies would be healthy and strong since the live off the
plunder of the defenseless! The
prophet is speaking of the ‘wicked’ – those who live off the
misery of others. Psa 73:5 They are free
from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. If you had been a Jew living in a concentration camp, it would appear
to you that your Nazi overlords were fit, strong and healthy and in need of
nothing. This is the way it seems to
the downtrodden. The Nazi fascists, of
course, are long gone, but today the word “Islamofascist”
has been coined – which is more to the point! Psa 73:6 Therefore pride is
their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. I don’t know what is
meant by the word ‘necklace’ but this was once a term
commonly used by lynch-mobs! A
variation of this occurred in Psa 73:7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their
minds know no limits. Now we’re beginning to
see mob rule in what is written here. Today this is known as peaceful, public
demonstrations where the mob descends into an unruly mass of lunatics,
plundering, burning and killing. In
the aftermath of this, it’s usually officially stated that they had a right
to demonstrate ‘peacefully’, but it’s no peace for those who are beaten to
death and have their shops plundered and burned. Those who are familiar with
‘multiculturalism’ will know which groups commit these public outrages! This is the culture of Gentiles who demand
for themselves what they have not earned. In a mob-rule setting there are always
plenty of innocent victims to exploit! Psa 73:8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in their
arrogance they threaten oppression. Especially when they don’t get what they want! Jesus Christ knows all about mob-rule,
because this is what He was confronted with when He was led to His
death. He knew there were forces of
evil at work – forces that are not human! Mob-rule is
a device of Satan and his demons, and unruly mobs are famous for their demonic
behaviour. Psa 73:9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the
earth. It’s Satan and his demons
that lay claim to heaven – and so do their followers. And just to enforce this claim, Satan and
his demons plan to attack the Dwelling-Place of God: Rev 12:7-12 “AND THERE WAS WAR IN
HEAVEN. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
and the dragon and his angels
fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and
they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was
hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who
leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his
angels with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now
have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day
and night, has been hurled
down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as
to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you
heavens and you who dwell in them! But
woe to the earth and the sea,
because
the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because
he knows that his time is short." After this event, you will see the
emergence of the Psa 73:10 Therefore their
people turn to them
(Demons) and drink up waters in abundance. These demons laid claim to Heaven
and lost, so now “their tongues take possession of the earth”
(see last verse). Psa 73:11 They say,
"How can God know? Does
the Most High have knowledge?"
This is a typical
response from “their people”,
that is, Satan’s brood. Psa 73:12 This is what the wicked are like-- always
carefree, they increase in wealth. And they think God will
know nothing! The Saints will have a
hard time of it though; they will need to endure and this
will not be easy. Importantly,
they mustn’t lose heart. Psa 73:13 Surely in
vain have I kept my
heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
Remember how Pontius Pilate washed his hands in innocence
when confronted by an unruly, satanic mob? Apart from Jesus, Pilate may well
have been the only sane one there! Washing his hands in innocence
had no effect on this satanic mob, and in the end it was all in vain. And so
will it appear to be for the Saints!
Yet death is the safe haven of the Saints and soon afterwards they
will be resurrected. The Saints must follow
Jesus and be prepared to lay down their lives for their friends. It may well come as a shock to them, but
most will not be entirely innocent. Once they understand the Testimony of Jesus, and
realize that this is the Spirit of
Prophecy which they must hold to, they will realize
that God requires much more of them than previously thought. Perhaps they’ll remember the many instances
where they sat and listened to the satanic nonsense of teachers who like to make up their own stories. You’ll need to ask yourself why you ever
believed them. The Truth is available
now, but most people have been conditioned not to believe
it. It’s as if they believe God has no knowledge and doesn’t know
anything, but their local preacher does. How could such people ever be taught by God (John 6:44-45) without the Spirit of Prophecy? Psa 73:14 All day long
I have been plagued; I have
been punished every
morning. Punishment is God’s way of bringing people
to their senses, and every son
whom he receives must be brought to their senses. Heb 12:4-6 “In your
struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
"My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes
you, 6 because the Lord
disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as
a son."7 Endure
hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.
For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not
disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate
children and not true
sons.” Psa 73:15 If I had
said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
The last thing in
the world that anyone should do is to betray God’s sons and daughters, and if
they do they can expect the worst!
Anyone who wants to cling to their former teachings and “speak thus” will find they have not
only betrayed God’s children but God Himself! Then we have those who
read the words of God’s messenger and find them oppressive. It
doesn’t seem to gel with their preconceived ideas so they don’t understand or
believe. Psa 73:16 When I tried
to understand all this, it
was oppressive to me Psa 73:17 till I
entered the sanctuary of God; then
I understood their final destiny. It’s
one thing to think that God is trying to get everyone ‘saved’ – including His enemies
(which seems to be the general perception today) – but another entirely to
understand that God has predetermined their final destiny. The children of the devil are not
welcome on the earth and certainly not in God’s Kingdom! The wise man will not find the
teachings of God’s messenger oppressive, but will be
joyful to know the Truth! What makes
it even harder to understand all
this is the nonsense the average church-goers has been taught by
those who were not messengers.
Were the thousands of differing Christian churches all messengers of
God? Were they faithfully conveying
God’s message to the people? No! And the Scriptures confirm this! Psa 73:18 Surely you
place them on slippery ground; you
cast them down to ruin. God will certainly bring
His enemies to ruin and they will be swept away as chaff in the wind. Just be sure you are not among them,
because this will require conscious decisions on the part of the Saints. Psa 73:19 How suddenly
are they destroyed, completely
swept away by terrors! As we’ve been saying, God
is a God of justice and He knows how to deliver justice. He has previously said: Deut 32:35-36
“It is
mine to avenge; I will repay.
In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near
and their doom
rushes upon them." 36 The LORD will judge his people
and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and
no one is left, slave or free.” And these words just happen to be found in
the Song of Moses. In confirmation of these things, the Levite
Barnabas wrote this in the Book of Hebrews: Heb 10:30-31 “For we know him who
said, "It is mine to avenge; I
will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.” If anyone wants to know real
fear, just fall into the
hands of the Living God by defying Him!
God will not only judge His enemies, but His own people as well! Anyone who doesn’t conform to the spiritual
stature of Jesus Christ and His Testimony will find themselves in the wrong
camp. Psa
73:20 As a dream when one
awakes, so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies. People seem to love fantasies, and just as they awake from a dream,
they are often groggy with the fantasy of their dreams. In the Book of Jude they’re described as dreamers, and in some Bible
versions, filthy dreamers. Jude 1:8-10 “In the
very same way, these [filthy] dreamers pollute their own
bodies, reject authority
and slander celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when
he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to
bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke
you!" 10 Yet these
men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and
what things they do understand by instinct, like UNREASONING
ANIMALS--these are the very
things that DESTROY THEM.” Psa 73:21 When my
heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, Psa 73:22 I was senseless and ignorant; I
was a brute beast before you.
Brute beasts are UNREASONING ANIMALS!
And this is the way that a lot of people are! They don’t want to listen to reason, and this is the very
thing that destroys
them. Almighty God has made it very
clear that His people are destroyed
from lack of knowledge. Hos 4:6 “My people are
destroyed from lack of knowledge.
"Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject
you as my priests;
because you have IGNORED THE LAW OF
YOUR GOD, I also will ignore your children.” Well, this seems
fair! Reject God and His knowledge and ignore His Laws, and He will reject
you. This is exactly how the laws of
our respective countries work.
Ignorance of the knowledge of the law is no excuse, and if you break
the law then society will reject you and punish you. Everyone would understand this, with the
exception of the lawless! Lawless
people don’t want to obey any law, and especially God’s Law. Psa 73:23 Yet I am
always with you; you hold me by my right hand. Only those who fulfill God’s Law through obedience will find favour with God and He will guide them through their
perils. Psa 73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward
you will take me into
GLORY. “Glory” is something
the Apostle Peter spoke about. In
fact, he referred to it as the Majestic
Glory, from where a voice from heaven came: 2Peter 1:16-18 “We did not follow cleverly invented
stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice
came to him from the Majestic
Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased." 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were
with him on the sacred mountain.” The Majestic Glory (notice the capitalization indicating a
name) and Heaven
are
one and the same place.
When Jesus was taken up into Glory, He was
taken into the Majestic Glory
– the
dwelling-place of God, which was just above the clouds (Acts 1:9). The men of Galilee, the
Apostles, were on the But the
The point is that God
does live in His dwelling-place, and this dwelling-place is mentioned many
times in the Scriptures. Not only
this, but we even have descriptions of what’s in His dwelling-place. The most notable description is the
Tabernacle in the wilderness that Moses was commissioned to build. Moses was told that it had to be made
perfectly and to specification because it was to be an exact copy of the one in heaven (Heb 8:2, 5).
So anyone who would like to read the description of the Tabernacle built by
Moses will know exactly the type of things in heaven. The description of the Tabernacle starts in
Ex 25:8
and continues for several chapters.
This Tabernacle in heaven is where the Lord Christ serves the Father
as High Priest. In the last verse we find
the words, “and afterwards you will take me into
Glory”, and in the
next verse the question is asked: Psa 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing
I
desire besides you. Once we get over the love of this world – this present evil world –
and the pride of one’s possessions, we’re beginning to approach the stature
of Jesus Christ who gave it all up out of obedience to God. The Apostle John gives further insight into
this: 1John
2:15-17 “Do not love
the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. 16 For
everything in the world--the
cravings of sinful man, the
lust of his eyes and the
boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but
from the world. 17 The world and its desires
pass away, but the man who does the
will of God lives forever.”
If you read the next verse of what John wrote, you’ll notice he is
speaking of the time when the antichrist will come. We have antichrists
everywhere today, not least of which is Islam that despises everything to do
with Jesus Christ, and they hate and despise His followers. In addition to this, we have so-called
Christians opposing everything Jesus taught while composing their own
doctrine of good outcomes. These sorts
of people never knew Jesus and what they teach is against
Christ. In short, they’re antichrists
too. And now we have half
the American people, the largest
Christian nation on earth, opposing the use of God’s Name anywhere in
public. Therefore, isn’t it right to
say that the left-wing-looney side of politics is
also antichrist? In days to come you
will know the truth of this! Continuing the theme of
the last two verses in this Psalm, and the reference to ‘take me into
Glory’, the truth is that some will be taken into the Majestic Glory and will be
clothed, housed and fed under the Altar, where Jesus Christ is High Priest to
the Father. This is the account: Rev 6:9-11
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those WHO HAD BEEN SLAIN because of
the word of God and the TESTIMONY they had maintained.
10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign
Lord, holy and true, until you judge
the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11 Then each of them
was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as
they had been was completed.”
These dead martyrs will be gathered by the angels and taken to the Mothership – the
Majestic Glory – where they will await the killing of their
fellow-servants. This is the beginning
of the first resurrection. Jesus Christ certainly
was the firstborn [from
the dead] of many brothers. Rom 8:29-30 “For those God foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of
his Son, that he [Christ] might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified,
he also glorified.” You’ll see there are two possible meanings
for the word “glorified”. Firstly, that they are taken to the Majestic Glory, and secondly,
they receive their glorified spirit bodies
shortly thereafter, and live forever.
The resurrection has not yet begun, but when it does, those who are
resurrected will only have to wait
a short time for the rest of their brothers and the triumphal return with
Jesus Christ. Psa 73:26 My flesh and
my heart may fail, but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever. Faithful martyrs for God will experience the
failure of their flesh and
their heart. This is the definition of death. But afterwards, God will give His Saints a
strong heart that will last forever.
What is more, they will be God’s portion – those He takes
as members of His own God Family. Obviously, those who are
far from God will be excluded. Psa 73:27 Those who are far from you will
perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. It will be a one-time only selection, which will be concluded when the
number of the rest of the fellow-servants and
brothers are killed. Those who
didn’t remain faithful to God will be destroyed. The Saints who are still alive on the
ground will meet the triumphal procession in the air. Psa 73:28 But as for
me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will
tell of all your deeds. Then he will be a very
good teacher forever into the future!
Just remember that the human kind will live on and breed in large
numbers, eventually to die of old age (Isa 65:20). The God Family will rule over them all and
it’s the Family of God that will do all the teaching. PSALM 74 A maskil of Asaph. A maskil
is generally taken to mean an instructive or meditative declaration about
things of ominous portent. Like a
parable of doom and gloom, and this is what this Psalm is about. We’ve just been reading
the prophecies of the redemption of the Saints, and these Christian Saints
are presently living among the 10 Tribes of Israel. In this present day, as in days of old,
Ephraim rules over the 10 Tribes of Israel.
Ephraim is the largest Christian nation on earth today and is composed
of all the Northern 10 Tribes who have migrated there in the last 390 years. To be sure, there are
plenty of Israelites still living in This called for a special
nation where freedom of religion would be enforced by charter and so the Ephraim was to be a group of nations – namely
Israelite nations. This is what Ephraim is today (#see
note below). Things might have turned
out a whole lot better if Ephraim had stuck to the concept of a homeland for
the Israelites, but instead they gave equal weight to the aspirations of the
Gentiles and allowed the Gentiles to practice their own religion in a
Christian nation. The founding fathers
intended it to be a Christian nation and made provision for this in the
Constitution, yet today, half the nation wants to revile this and promote
multiculturalism. A very serious
mistake! Now Ephraim’s sins are
beginning to pile up! They were given
the best of everything – virtually everything the earth could provide, but
apparently it wasn’t enough for them.
Half the nation is now pushing for independence from their Creator
God. They don’t want to be ruled by
Him and neither do they want anyone else worshipping Him. They don’t want His Name mentioned
anywhere, and especially in public.
They’ve sought to ban all prayers to God in every public place. Now that we’ve seen this trend, it should
come as no surprise that God would be planning punishment for them. *** (# Jacob prophesied about the
Tribes of Joseph, making Ephraim the greater of the two. This is what he said: Gen 48:17-20 “When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on
Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to
move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 Joseph said to
him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on
his head." 19 But his father refused and said, "I know,
my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless,
his younger brother will be
greater than he, and
his descendants will become a group of nations." 20
He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will The odd thing about this
“group of nations” is that
it was translated from the Hebrew words “melo ha
goyim”, which means “fullness
of the Gentiles”. And this is
how the Apostle Paul translated it in Rom 11:22-26 “Consider
therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but
kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you
also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief,
they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24
After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and
contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the
natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 25
I do not want you to be ignorant of THIS
MYSTERY, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has
experienced a hardening in part until
the FULL NUMBER OF THE GENTILES has come in. 26 And so all
Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn
godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant
with them when I take away their sins." In the
account by Jacob concerning the sons
of Joseph, Ephraim and
Manasseh, the name God gave to Jacob – In summary, what occurred
was this: When *** The entire Book of Hosea is addressed to Ephraim, the When Psa 74:1 Why have you
rejected us forever, O God? Why does
your anger smolder against the sheep
of your pasture? This is why Jesus
referred to the 10 Tribes of The foolishness of the
mighty Ephraim has had catastrophic repercussions on the Tribe of God’s inheritance. Judah,
who inherited the City of Jerusalem,
are now living among a sea of Baal-worshipers, and have become increasingly
vulnerable – thanks to Ephraim’s stupidity! As a Christian nation, Ephraim should have
known that the Jews are the custodians of the Psa 74:2 Remember the
people you purchased of old,
the tribe of your inheritance,
whom
you redeemed-- Ephraim is about to die
because they’ve called for the desecration of God’s City Jerusalem by handing
it over to the devil-worshipers. Since
we always talk about God’s justice, God has some real justice in mind for the
betrayal of His City; He will bring Ephraim’s city Washington to ruin in one
enormous, catastrophic event, and Ephraim will begin to die immediately (you can read this prophecy in Isa 28:1-6). They didn’t want to live by God’s Law as
the Jews do, so now they will have no law.
Lawlessness will abound, and the full number of the Gentiles will have
their day as they overrun the country.
It will be a long time before And now the prophet
beseeches God to turn His steps toward the Sanctuary: Psa 74:3 Turn your
steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought
on the sanctuary. The reader will be aware
that there was no So what about the
Sanctuary that existed in Jesus’ day?
What did He have to say about it?
Firstly, let’s remember that Jesus called it “My Father’s House” when He
drove all the traders and moneychangers out of it! And secondly and most importantly, He
said this: John
2:19-22 “Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and
I will raise it again in three days." 20 The Jews
replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are
going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was
his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead,
his disciples recalled what he had
said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had
spoken.”
Jesus was, of course, speaking about His resurrection, and His Body
represented the After this,
the Body of Christ became
the Saints rather than the
Until the new
Temple is rebuilt, the Saints (and we’re speaking of true Saints here) will
be the home of God’s Holy Spirit as long as they continue to observe the Law of the Temple, which God
confirms through the Prophet Ezekiel: Eze 43:10 “Son of man, describe the temple to the people of
Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let
them consider the plan, 11 and if they are ashamed of all they have
done, make known to them the design of the temple--its arrangement, its exits
and entrances--its whole design and all its regulations and laws.
Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and
follow all its regulations. 12 "This is the law of the temple: All the surrounding area on
top of the mountain will be most holy. Such is the law of the temple.” As long as the Saints
lived they were to follow the design
of the What has happened in the
interim is that Christianity has completely lost track of their obligations
to God and the Law of His Temple. It
would be an exercise in futility to even begin to describe the Law of the
Psa 74:4 Your (God’s) foes roared in the place where you met with us;
they set up their standards [flags] as
signs. Presumably the type of
banners used by demonstrators! Perhaps
the reader is familiar with the Christian newsgroups where the fake
Christians revile those who obey God’s Law with the venom of a cobra. You have to wonder why these evil creatures
are so incensed against those who faithfully obey God’s Law. Psa 74:5 They behaved
like
men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees. Like lunatics destroying everything! Psa 74:6 They smashed
all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets. This is what they did to the Psa 74:7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they
defiled the dwelling place of your Name. Interestingly, this same mindset exists today, and it’s
becoming quite common to see Church buildings and Synagogues being
torched. But it’s not talking about this! It’s actually speaking of the Sanctuary of God’s Holy Spirit that
lives in the Saints and the places where they meet. Psa 74:8 They said in
their hearts, "We will crush them completely!" They
burned every place where God was worshiped in the land. The true Saints today worship in houses – not the big
church buildings of the lawless! The Saints are the Church
that Jesus built – not the building! Psa 74:9 We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none
of us knows how long this will be. The prophets, who have the Testimony
of Jesus, will be gone.
They’ll be transported on Eagles wings to a specially prepared place
in the desert from where they will launch against the enemies of God. Meanwhile there will be a famine of God’s
Word among their offspring who are left behind to fulfill their appointed
obligations to God. And they’ll have no
idea how long this will go on for. Yet, at that time, when no prophets are left,
they’ll begin to think clearly about what they said while they were still
with them. In the stark reality of
those times, they will begin to hold to the Testimony of Jesus – which
they previously never understood. If
all goes well, then they will understand that the Testimony of Jesus was all about future Bible Prophecy (Rev 19:10)
and the final outcome of what God will achieve. The simplest definition of this is: The total destruction of the devil’s
work (1John
3:8). This is why Jesus came in the
first place. Contrary to
popular belief, He didn’t come to ‘save’ all mankind – most of whom belong
to the devil! So the Saints face very
trying times! Provided they don’t
place too much value on their lives, the outcome will be very good for them. It’s understandable that they will fear
death, but then, so did Jesus Christ.
Yet Jesus also knew and believed that God would send a mighty angel to
raise Him from His grave. This
happened exactly three days later, just before sundown. As we’ve said previously, the Saints will
be gathered to the Majestic Glory by the angels, and as the Body of Christ, this will be
done in a similar time-frame. This is
the sequential resurrection
of the Saints. There they will
await the arrival of their Brothers, who are to be killed as they were
(Rev 6:11). Understandably, there
will be some anxiety among the Saints, and they’ll be keen to see God’s
salvation begin when they are rescued
from
the hands of the enemy. Psa 74:10 How long will
the enemy mock you, O
God? Will the foe revile your name
forever? This is where anxiety begins to set in, and
they make their plea to God. Psa 74:11 Why do you
hold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them! At this time the Saints will
be keen to see the devil’s work
destroyed
and they’ll be waiting anxiously for it to happen. Psa 74:12 But you, O
God, are my king from of old; you
bring salvation upon the earth.
After the
punishment period ends, God will rescue His people and take them to their
ancestral lands where they will live in peace. In the context of
bringing salvation to His people, the prophet says this: Psa 74:13 It was you who split open the sea by your
power; you broke the heads of the
monster in the waters. When God saved the people of Psa 74:14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and
gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. We referenced this Scripture earlier in this study. This leviathan was a one-off creature that
doesn’t exist today. Job wrote about
it, because it existed in his day. In
fact there were two of these types of monsters in Job’s day. They were created in Job’s lifetime
(Job 40:15). Only their Maker could approach these monsters with His sword (Job 40:19). These were rulers of the heavenly realm
under punishment in the same way as Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a wild
animal as punishment for seven years.
In the above verse, the prophet confirms that God killed this monster
and fed its body to the creatures
of the desert – so it was flesh and blood when this happened. It was a fitting punishment for such a
monster. Psa 74:15 It was you
who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers. This may well relate to the desertification of the cursed lands of the
Psa 74:16 The day is
yours, and yours also the night; you
established the sun and moon. And the Sun of Righteousness is
also Christ (Mal 4:2). Psa 74:17 It was you
who set all the boundaries of the earth; you
made both summer and winter. The landmass of the earth
had very distinct boundaries when God created the earth. The Chief
Cornerstone of this landmass
is represented by Jesus Christ. You’ll
see it illuminated on the American dollar bill. It’s as well for the Saints to understand
all these things and not get all caught up in the fantasies of human beings
who have no idea what the earth once looked like. God gave the Prophet Job a lesson on what
the earth once looked like when He said this: Job 38:4-7 “Where were you when I laid
the earth's foundation? Tell me,
if you understand. 5 Who
marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who
stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its CORNERSTONE-- 7 while the
morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” Anyone who has ever held an American dollar
bill should have not problem understanding the meaning of the Cornerstone. And don’t be listening to
the conspiracy theorists who are half-mad with demonism. They speak of the ‘Illuminati’ and the New
World Order (NWO) that is supposedly creeping up on us all, yet they
understand nothing about anything.
They are merely imbibed with yet another form of insanity, which is
generally known as “conspiracy theory”. And one other thing that
God taught Job about the earth as it was when first created, when all the angels shouted for joy:
Job 38:14
“The earth [landmass] takes shape like clay
under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.” In other words, it was made with
precision! You’d have a difficult time
trying to stretch a measuring line
across the boundaries of the present landmass of the earth and coming up with
a distinct shape today! It
wouldn’t exactly have the features
of a garment, would it? The
general chaos of the landmass of the earth is yet another part of Satan’s
work that has to be repaired and the earth restored to what it once was. What we’ll see when the new earth is revealed is
exactly what God described to the Prophet Job. Mountains will crumble, rivers will close
up, inland seas will disappear, and the whole earth will be restored to what
it once was. It will look like a great
mountain or pyramid shape. All the
continents and islands will be migrated back towards Psa 74:18 Remember how the
enemy has mocked you, O LORD, how foolish people
have reviled your name. How could we ever forget? These
lunatics are everywhere and they never stop mocking the Creator God. Psa 74:19 Do not hand
over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives
of your afflicted people
forever. The dove spoken of here is distinct from an
eagle. The dove is prey to wild
beasts, whereas the eagle preys on wild beasts. These are the two birds that God speaks of
prophetically. The doves are going to
have a hard time of it. They could
have opted to be an eagle, but they lacked the faith to believe – until it was
too late! However, if they endure to
the end, then they will receive a
prophet’s reward: Matt 10:41-42 “Anyone
who receives a prophet because
he is a prophet will
receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I
tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." In this
Scripture, it’s literally speaking of both the eagles and the doves
– believe it or not! As for anyone
who gives a cup of water to these little ones who are Jesus’ disciples, they
will not lose their reward. In this
regard, there is an account given in Schindler’s List similar to this. Cattle cars were filled with Jews at a
railway station when Oscar Schindler came on the scene. The Jews were crying out for water and
about to die. The Nazi officers
completely ignored their cries. I
don’t know exactly what Schindler said to them, but suddenly their sanity
returned briefly and then there was a stampede to give water to the
Jews. I can’t speak for the Nazis or
even suggest that they might have received a reward, but I can speak for
Oscar Schindler who risked his life to oppose the Nazis. His legacy will live on as a hero to the
Jewish people. Psa 74:20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land. God’s Covenant was with those who obey Him, and here the Saints are
reminding God of their service to Him.
Conditions will not be ideal in those days, when violence will lurk in every dark place. In recent years we’ve seen plenty of this,
but it’s nothing compared to what is coming. Psa 74:21 Do not
let the oppressed retreat
in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name. This is the type of prayer that should be used in these
circumstances. It will take a lot of
courage by the Saints to stand
their ground rather than to retreat
in disgrace, and this is the very advice that Paul gave to those in
his day that were confronted in similar circumstances: Eph 6:13-15 “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,
you may be able to stand your
ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around
your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and
with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of
peace.” Just remember that when
Paul wrote this, the Saints were coming under severe persecution and the day of evil for
them could have come at any time.
Paul himself would know this!
He was once one of the persecutors!
He was one of those sent out by the Sanhedrin to round up Christians
to be stoned to death. Stephen was one
of his first victims! The persecution
and slaughter of Christians went on for hundreds of years. Today, Christians think they are immune
from such things. No wonder Jesus
said, “They’ll know nothing until the flood comes and sweeps them away.” This is what happens when people buried
their heads in the sand! Psa 74:22 Rise up, O
God, and defend your cause; remember
how fools mock you all day long.
The days of evil will seem
endless, and the Saints will know that only God can help them. This is the big test in having faith in
God. So this is how God intends to
imbue the Saints with this type of faith after all else has failed down
through the generations. As the
children of God all must be disciplined and tested. Recall what we just read a few verses back
in Heb 12:4-8
“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet
resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have
forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not
make light of the Lord's discipline,
and do not lose
heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes
everyone he accepts as a son." 7
Endure hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as sons.
For what son is not disciplined
by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and
everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children
and not true
sons.” Psa 74:23 Do not ignore
the clamor of your adversaries,
the uproar of your enemies,
which rises continually. Eventually, God will not
ignore the clamor of His
adversaries, or the uproar
of His enemies, but His priority is to straighten out His true sons with the right
amount of discipline to prepare them for service to Him. And when the time comes, God’s enemies will
wish they’d never been born! But it
does bring to notice that God has many
enemies and Christianity generally has a hard time believing this. Satan has now had 6,000
years now to do all his work. His six millennial days have
expired, and now the Just to
illustrate this point: John’s father Zechariah, was both a priest and a
prophet, and being filled with God’s Holy Spirit, he prophesied about his son. The account is found in the Book of
Luke. You’ll notice that John
died prematurely (as did Jesus also) before
either of them fulfilled all that is written about
them. This is what Luke wrote
concerning John: Luke 1:67-80 “His father
Zechariah was filled with the Holy
Spirit and prophesied: 68
"Praise be to the Lord, the God of There’s a few things to
note in this passage. Firstly,
Zechariah was speaking about his son six
months before Jesus
was born, and everything he says here relates to John – with one
exception. The RISING SUN which is to come from heaven is a reference to Jesus Christ, for whom the Elijah was to prepare the
way. So, of course, there must be
another Elijah in the last days of Bible Prophecy. I hope the reader has ears to hear. You’ll notice the
prophecy above concerning John speaks of a horn of salvation appearing in the House of David. Horns are the weapons of a
charging bull, and in fact, they are a reference to the weapons of war which will be in the hands of the Elijah. In V4 and V5 of the next Psalm, we see a reference to horns in the hand of the
enemy. The enemy is warned not to lift their weapons
against the Saints or against God Himself in any circumstances. PSALM 75 For the
director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A psalm of Asaph. A song. Psa 75:1 We give
thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. The world will see many wonderful
deeds that will leave them shell-shocked. They’ll see fire coming down from heaven
destroying the enemy, and they’ll see whole cities vaporized. They’ll see mountains crumble, and they’ll
see earthquakes, storms and famines on an unprecedented scale. Psa 75:2 You say,
"I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge uprightly. God does indeed have an appointed time for all these
things – the time when His judgment begins on all mankind. This judgment will determine who lives and
who dies out of all the inhabitants of the earth. Psa 75:3 When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who
hold its pillars firm. Selah. Only
Psa 75:4 To the arrogant I say, `Boast
no more,' and to the wicked,
`Do not lift up your HORNS. The arrogant and the
wicked will think of taking
up weapons but God strongly
warns them against such folly. The
mere act of doing so will lead to a catastrophic response! Psa 75:5 Do not
lift your HORNS against heaven; do not speak
with outstretched neck.'" Typically, when anything
goes wrong it has to be God’s fault in the minds of lunatics. Anyone who thinks they’re going to ‘get
even’ with God are delusional.
There’s always some idiot who exalts himself with an outstretched neck
– appearing superior to all others.
This is the type of person that gathers a following in the aftermath
of disaster to exact retribution against their perceived enemies. Their enemies are usually the innocent. Psa 75:6 No one from
the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. Now here’s a good lesson to learn!
Don’t think for one moment you can exalt a man to lead you out of the
mess. No man can save you – only God
can do that, and all decisions must be your own rather than that of some
bumpkin whose only claim to reason is the power of his persuasion. Such persuasion is invariably wrong. Psa 75:7 But it is God
who judges: He brings one down,
he
exalts another. It will be too late to be
appointing leaders in that day. All
God’s leaders will have already been appointed – these are the ones you must
follow. The House of David should be
your desired goal. Psa 75:8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming
wine
mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all
the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs. It’s interesting that this verse should appear here. Jesus Christ gave His disciples a cup of wine to
drink that represented His Blood. It was a reenactment of the Passover. All those who take of the New Covenant of blood, represented by the Passover appointed and enacted by
Jesus Christ, will be spared those catastrophic consequences when
the people of the earth are
forced to drink it. As Paul pointed
out, those who drink of the Cup unworthily
are prone to dying: 1Cor 11:27-32 “Therefore,
whoever eats the bread or drinks
the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of
the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before
he eats of the bread and drinks of
the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without
recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why
many among you are weak and sick,
and
a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we
judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the
Lord, we are being disciplined
so that we will not be CONDEMNED
WITH THE WORLD.” As far as the
Cup of the Lord is
concerned, along with the condemnation
of the peoples of the world, there are many Bible Prophecies that
detail it. It was the Prophet Jeremiah
who explains it in the most comprehensive manner: Jer 25:15-33 “This is what
the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and
make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When
they drink it, they will stagger
and go mad because
of the sword I will send among them." 17 So I
took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he
sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings
and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and
cursing, as they are today; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and
all his people, 20 and all the foreign people there;
all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left
at Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab and Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre and
Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; 24 all
the kings of Arabia and all
the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; 25 all the
kings of Zimri, Elam and Media;
26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the
other--all the kingdoms on the face
of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach ( When the world is in
chaos, the prophet is told to again prophesy:
V30
"Now prophesy all
these words against them
and say to them: "`The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his
land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the
earth. 31 The
tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will BRING CHARGES against
the nations; he will bring judgment
on all mankind and put the
wicked to the sword,' " declares the LORD. When the LORD God BRINGS CHARGES, it’s always
according to Law – His
Law – the only Law!
And He enforces His
Law! There is a penalty for
breaking God’s Law and it will be enacted on the guilty which extends to the
whole world. V32 “This
is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look!
Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth."
33 At that time those
slain by the LORD will be everywhere--from one end of the earth to the other.
They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground.” Yet,
amazingly, this all begins with a relatively simple act of defiance – that
of failing to keep the Passover in a
worthy manner. Now it becomes blood for
blood. Pseudo-Christians could never
get anything right! From time to time,
they go through a form of the observance of the Passover – but never on the
appointed day. And what is more, they
refuse to call it the Passover,
and instead, call it the Lord’s Supper. All
of them are unworthy
to partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. And now, through the prophecies of
Jeremiah, they will know the consequences of their actions. They will be embroiled with the disasters
that are to come on the whole world! Psa 75:9 As for me, I
will declare this forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
It’s true! The Passover
will be declared forever,
and observed forever – even
after
the New Temple is built in
Jerusalem: Eze 45:21-22
“`In the first
month on the fourteenth day
you are to observe the Passover,
a feast lasting seven days,
during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. 22
On that day the prince is to provide a
bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land.” As you’ll note,
animal sacrifices will be conducted in the Psa 75:10 I will cut
off the HORNS
of all
the wicked, but the HORNS of the righteous will be
lifted up. The horns or weapons
of the
wicked will cease to exist and if any fight is
left in them, then it will have to be done with sticks and stones. In that day, the righteous will have all
the weapons, and they will use them to beat the nations to the ends of the
earth: Rev 2:26-27 “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will
give authority over the nations-- 27 `He will rule them with an
iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' -- just as I have
received authority from my Father.”
And just so there is no mistake to the meaning of this, it’s also
confirmed in: Micah
4:13 “Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will
give you HORNS of iron; I will give you hoofs
of bronze and you will break to
pieces many nations." You
will devote their ill-gotten gains to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of
all the earth.” The Daughter of Zion is the offspring
of the House of David and
these people are spoken of in Rev 12:17.
These are the people who obey God’s Commandments and hold to the Testimony of Jesus. PSALM 76 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of Asaph. A song. Psa 76:1 In Judah God is known; his name
is great in Psa 76:2 His tent is
in Psa 76:3 There he broke the flashing arrows, the
shields and the swords, the WEAPONS OF WAR. Selah. It’s
a serious matter when people take up weapons against God’s Psa 76:4 You are
resplendent with light, more majestic than mountains
rich with game. God’s Dwelling-Place is
capable of emitting a great deal of light.
We’re all aware of the three wise men who followed the ‘star’ which led them to the manger in Psa 76:5 Valiant men
lie plundered, they sleep their last sleep; not one of the
warriors can lift his hands. This is a fitting result
for those who made themselves God’s enemies.
They’ll be killed and plundered, and this is speaking of the neighboring lands (see V11
below) in the region. In other words,
the Muslim hordes! Psa 76:6 At your
rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse
and chariot lie still. Horses and chariots are a reference to weapons of war.
Naturally enough, the prophets of old couldn’t describe the weapons
that are used today, so they did the next best thing and resorted to
symbolism. Psa 76:7 You alone are
to be feared. Who can stand before you
when you are angry? When God is angry, He
releases His weapons
of war with devastating results for His enemies! Psa 76:8 From heaven
you pronounced judgment,
and the land feared and was quiet-- Psa 76:9 when you, O
God, rose up to judge, to
save all the afflicted of the land. Selah. And
remember we are still speaking of Judah
– and the people of Psa 76:10 Surely your wrath against men brings
you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained. Well, it will certainly bring praise from me and the Levite
Brotherhood, and I hope this is also true of the reader. Psa 76:11 Make vows to
the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. I’m sure we all realize that the neighboring
lands around Psa 76:12 He breaks
the spirit of rulers; he is
feared by the kings of the earth. You may not think that this is so now, but the spirit rulers of the heavenly realm
cringe
in fear of God even
today! They continue to do their dirty
work, but they are ever wary of the fabled ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over their heads. Destruction for them can come at any
moment, and they are well aware of this.
From time to time they do exercise restraint out of fear of God. Human beings have yet to learn this vital
lesson! Yet, there are some who
have! These are described in the Book
of the Messenger: Mal 3:16-18 “Then
those who feared the LORD talked
with each other, and the
LORD listened and heard. A scroll
of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those
who FEARED THE LORD and honored his name. 17
"They will be mine,"
says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a
man spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will
again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked,
between those who serve God
and those who do not.” While it’s presently true that the average
Christian doesn’t fear
God, God will yet insure that they have every reason to do so. As a matter of fact, the
Book of the Messenger adds more: Mal 4:1-4 “Surely the
day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every
evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,"
says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. 2
But for you who revere my name,
the sun of righteousness
will rise with healing in its wings.
And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. 3
Then you will trample down the
wicked; they will be ashes
under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things,"
says the LORD Almighty. 4 "Remember the law
of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all It’s no coincidence that God’s servant Moses is
mentioned in this last verse, because the next verse mentions someone just like Moses. V5 “See, I will send
you the prophet Elijah before
that great and dreadful day of the
LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to
their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I
will come and strike the land with a curse." The Prophet Elijah is a Levite Prophet just
like Moses, and his function it very similar to that of Moses: Deut 18:15-19
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a
PROPHET LIKE ME from among your own
brothers. You must listen
to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God
at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said,
"Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire
anymore, or we will die." 17 The LORD said to me: "What
they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a PROPHET LIKE YOU from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth,
and
he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If
anyone does not listen to my
words that the prophet
speaks in my name, I myself will
call him to account.” In
conclusion, after you REMEMBER
the Law of God’s servant Moses,
and begin to obey it, the next step is to listen to God’s Levite Prophet Elijah,
and this Prophet must be listened
to! God puts His Words into his mouth, and these are the very words of God.
It anyone reads these words and doesn’t listen, then God Himself will call
them to account.
The last thing that anyone would want is for God to call
them to account. It’s far
better to hear the words, “Well done, you good and faithful servant”. It will mean the difference between life and
death. There are now
hundreds calling themselves ‘Elijah’
but they’re deceiving themselves and others.
God has not put His
Words into their mouths! They neither
understand the Scriptures nor do they have the Spirit of Prophecy! You must not listen to
them! The Book of
the Messenger gives some further advice about Elijah, and anyone who knows
the importance of names in the Bible, will understand why he has the name of Levi. It’s because he’s of the Tribe of Levi. And this is what the Book states about him:
Mal 2:4-9 “And you will know that I
have sent you this admonition so that my
covenant with Levi may continue," says the LORD Almighty. 5
"My covenant was with him,
a covenant of life and peace,
and I gave them to him; this called for reverence
and he revered me and stood in awe
of my name. 6 TRUE
INSTRUCTION was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips.
He
walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.
7 "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, AND FROM HIS MOUTH MEN SHOULD SEEK
INSTRUCTION--because he is the MESSENGER
OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble;
you have violated the
covenant with Levi," says the LORD Almighty. 9
"So I have caused you to be despised
and humiliated before all the people, because you have not
followed my ways but have
shown partiality in matters of the
law." We all know which Law this is
speaking about! It’s the Law that God
gave to His servant Moses on Why would the
LORD Almighty choose anyone from any Tribe, other than His own, as His
messenger? It’s the Tribe of Levi that the Father, the LORD Almighty, has chosen for His very own tribe. Num 8:15-18 “After you
have purified the Levites
and presented them as a wave offering,
they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting. 16 They are the Israelites who are to be
given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in
place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite
woman. 17 Every firstborn male in People must make their
own choices and as things presently stand, most are not aware of the
importance of right decisions. Most
people are more comfortable when they’re following the crowd. They tend to think ‘How could all these thousands of churches and congregations be wrong?’ But when you think about it, the real
question that would apply would be, ‘How
could all these churches be right?’
The truth is that none of them can agree on anything, but with one
exception! They all agree that the Law
that God gave to His servant Moses must be forgotten! And this is the pathway to death! Jesus Christ said, “If
you want to enter into life,
obey the Commandments”
(Matt 19:17). Those who don’t can expect a lot of distress, and this is precisely
what the next Psalm speaks about. PSALM 77 For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm. Psa 77:1 I cried out
to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. Psa 77:2 When I was in
distress, I sought the
Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be
comforted. This is usually a sign of extreme
distress! The Psalmist is giving clear
warning that this is the time to cry out to God for relief. Psa 77:3 I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I
mused, and my spirit grew faint. Selah. In
extreme distress and danger, most Christians remember God and seek Him as
their only option for help. When
things are going well, they are less inclined to remember Him. Need tends to dictate demand. Those who are less inclined to distress are
those who regularly give God thanks and accept His occasional
correction. Those who are less
inclined to remember Him,
except when in deep trouble, will be the ones in the most distress. Sometimes it’s good to
remember the good ol’ days when everything seemed
peaceful and happy. These were the
days when we sang and praised our Creator and appreciated the good things He
gave us. In days of long ago, we probably
had less, but still we were happy. We
were more inclined to appreciate the simple things in life. Stress seems to increase with the abundance
of possessions, and God knows this only too well. He confirms again and again that this is
the time when people tend to forget all about Him. The events of their lives displaces all
thoughts of Him, and suddenly they find themselves facing insurmountable
problems. For the Saints in
particular, this requires remedial action, and sleep no longer comes easy for
them until they come to their senses. Psa 77:4 You kept my
eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. This is God’s way of giving us a shake-up. This is the time when we should put our
personal problems aside and focus on seeking God’s deliverance. The deeper the trouble, the more difficult
this is to do. Our problems tend to
loom larger in our minds and become difficult to dismiss, even
temporarily. Yet true saints can do it
when they set their minds to it.
Distress and problems became a training ground to strengthen us,
especially as we approach the days of national punishment, and as we are
about to see, those days are not far off. Psa 77:5 I thought
about the former days, the years of long ago; Psa 77:6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: Psa 77:7 "Will
the Lord reject forever? Will he never
show his favor again? As children long ago, we
learnt many songs or hymns and many of us still remember them. Songs like ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’
and many others, which we all sang but never fully comprehended the real
meaning. In the days of distress,
there is no doubt that some of these songs will be remembered. Psa 77:8 Has his
unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? It may seem like this, especially during the days of punishment, but
this is the nature of punishment. If
the punishment is not severe enough then it will soon be forgotten. Almighty God wants to ensure that the
punishment and the reasons for it are never forgotten! Psa 77:9 Has God forgotten
to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?" Selah. The
Lord Jesus Christ gave us the perfect example of this. At His darkest moment He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” God required the
suffering of Jesus Christ that others may live. By prior arrangement Jesus Christ agreed to
give His life for His friends. As we
all know, Jesus Christ didn’t
have to do this! At any moment, He
could have reneged and God would have rescued Him, but this would have meant
that all of mankind would have been wiped out. Matt 26:53-54 “Do you think
I cannot call on my Father, and he will at
once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be
fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" Jesus Christ knew the Scriptures had to be fulfilled,
even those which required that He suffer personally. When He began His life as a human being, He
knew the day would come when He would have to lay down His life for others –
and He accepted this. Like any human
being, he feared the outcome and He felt the pain. Yet He knew that God would raise Him from
the dead! As human
beings today, we all have hopes and dreams and aspirations of good outcomes
in our lives. In a different era, most
would see out their full lives and be content. Well, this era is different; we’ve seen the
recorded history of six millennial days of human existence, and as all Sabbath-keepers
know, the last millennial day belongs to God.
This day has now begun! It can
be either a blessing or a cursing, and this depends on our attitude and
response to our Creator God. It’s
incumbent upon all of us to remember the history of the suffering of the past
6,000 years, and to realize that the rulers
of this dark world will not relinquish their hold
willingly. For some years now we’ve
seen the satanic madness building all over the world, with every satanic
ruler jockeying for position with none of them ready to relinquish their
power base. All of them have the same
motivation, and this is to destroy the House of Israel – all 12 Tribes of
them. Yet their highest priority is to
destroy the Jews and capture the And what’s
behind this motivation? Satan and his
demon rulers know that God has a premier nation – the 12 Tribes of Israel –
and all of these demon rulers know who the Israelites are!
The Israelites themselves may not, but these demons do! The demons know that these Tribes will rule
over all the earth, effectively displacing them, and in their minds, this
means a fight to the death. These
demons, along with their master Satan, know that time is short, and if
they’re to make their moves, it has to be now! For years now, they’ve been rallying their
troops for the showdown. As we
continue on in this Psalm, we’ve already seen the anguish and distress as the
prophet ponders the outcome. Through
the darkest hours, he looks for God’s mercy to relieve the situation. Then he has a thought: Psa 77:10 Then I
thought, "To this I will appeal: the
years of the right hand of the Most High." The right hand of the
Most High is a reference to His might
and power – rather than His mercy. It’s all very well to be worrying about our
own well-being and seeking relief from distress, but there comes a time when
we must see the bigger picture and the bigger solutions. In the final analysis, the real solution
can come only through
the might and power of God’s right hand. Bible students will remember His many deeds
and the deliverance that came from His mighty power. Psa 77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of
long ago. Sometimes we may think
that our situation is so dire, that even God couldn’t relieve us from the
distress of it. At such times we need
to meditate on the past and recall His mighty deeds. Psa 77:12 I will
meditate on all your works and consider all
your mighty deeds. Here the prophet confirms
his good advice to us. God has already
gathered people who share the views of the prophet. All of these were taught by God, and they
know exactly what God requires of them.
In faith they accepted God’s
ways, and became His servants. Psa 77:13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? And this is the firm and heartfelt feelings of His servants. Psa 77:14 You are the
God who performs miracles;
you display your power among the peoples.
It would be
beyond the scope of this study to enumerate all the many miracles that God
performed in days of old. It’s up to
the reader to meditate on them and bring them to recall. Psa 77:15 With your
mighty arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah. Joseph is an
interesting inclusion here, because in the next Psalm, Joseph’s son Ephraim is spoken of. God redeemed His people from We might imagine lovely
blue skies and calm weather when the Israelites crossed the Psa 77:16 The waters
saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were
convulsed. Psa 77:17 The clouds
poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back
and forth. Psa 77:18 Your thunder was heard in
the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and
quaked. Psa 77:19 Your path led through the sea, your
way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. It was the footprints of Moses and Aaron which were seen on the ground. Psa 77:20 You led your
people like a flock by the hand of
Moses and Aaron. PSALM 78 A maskil
of Asaph. Psa 78:1 O my people, hear my teaching; listen
to the words of my mouth. Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter
hidden things, things
from of old— (All the prophets of old spoke in parables, as did Jesus Christ) Psa 78:3 what we have
heard and known, what our fathers have told us. Most of the parables spoken in the Bible can only be understood by a
good understanding of the Scriptures.
The Scriptures, you’ll understand, which were used by Jesus and the
Apostles, is the Old Testament – the only Scriptures that existed at the
time. They quoted from them many times
to show their relevance to the disciples who would follow. Oddly enough, Christians today largely
ignore them! As the prophet says in
these last two verses, he will utter
hidden things from of old. Psa 78:4 We will not
hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and
the wonders he has done. Psa 78:5 He decreed
statutes for Jacob and established the law in Psa 78:6 so the next
generation would know them, even
the children yet to be born, and they
in turn would tell their children.
Well there are a
few hidden things (see V2 above) here worthy of note!
Notice in the previous verse that God decreed statutes for Jacob and established His Law in him ( Psa 78:7 Then they
would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would
keep his commands [Commandments]. The children yet to be born didn’t seem to remember them after
a few generations, as we all know from the Scriptures, and they finished up
enslaved in Egypt, where they forgot all about them. Generations later, Moses arose through a
miracle that occurred on the This time, after a
further 40 years of slavery, they were more malleable to their rescuer Moses:
Psa 78:8 They would not
be like their forefathers-- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose
hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him. Sometimes it takes some extra punishment for people to see reason, and
this is something that God is very aware of. As we saw in the last
Psalm (Psa 77:15) it mentions this: “With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the
descendants of Jacob and
Joseph.” The descendants of Jacob were all the 12
Tribes, not just the Tribe of Joseph, yet here the descendants of Joseph come in
for special mention. The Prophet
Joseph was already dead and buried at the time of Moses, and the Israelites
were required to take his bones with them when they left Remarkably, now the prophet,
in the next verse, begins to speak of Joseph’s son Ephraim! Did the
prophet make a mistake or have a lapse of concentration? Why is Ephraim
singled out for the association with the captivity in Psa 78:9 The men of Ephraim, though
armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle; Psa 78:10 they did not
keep God's covenant and refused
to live by his law. Well, the prophet pulls no punches here! I think we can truthfully conclude that
it’s not cowardice that makes the Ephraimites
turn back on the day of battle. The
American soldiers are legendary for bravery through many, many major
conflicts! It’s got to be something
else. Of course, a battle is often won
on the strength of the rules of engagement.
The Israelis won the war of 1967 by a preemptive strike against Then the disease of
diplomacy set in! Ephraim, that is, the As an example, in the
First Gulf War, So we begin to see why the
Psalmist confirms this trait in Ephraim of turning back at the gate. It’s certainly not the will of
God to spare His enemies! The mere
mention of trying ‘to win the hearts and minds’ of
His enemies is enough to invite disaster!
Has There are many things we
could say about In addition to turning
back on the day of battle and sparing the most evil of dictators, V9-10
above confirm that Ephraim
“did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law.” If the prince of his
brother Israelites refuses to do this, then it’s hardly surprising that the
rest don’t either. Psa 78:11 They forgot what he (God) had done, the wonders he had shown them. Remember we’re still speaking about Ephraim turning back on the day of
battle as a continuation of the last verse. Psa 78:12 He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in
the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. Psa 78:13 He divided
the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. Psa 78:14 He guided them with the
cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. The pillar of fire prevented the Egyptians from advancing on the
Israelites. With a bit of poetic
license, we could say that God held them under fire until the moment came for
the coup-de-grace. It’s just as well
that God never turned back on the day of battle! Once the Israelites were safely across the Psa 78:15 He split the rocks in the
desert and gave them water as
abundant as the seas; Psa 78:16 he brought streams out of
a rocky crag and made water flow
down like rivers. When Moses struck the
rock and water gushed out of it, it wasn’t your average spring. It was a huge torrent that flowed like a
river! It seems the Ephraimites quickly forgot these things. In fact, today, it’s a national trend even
today to forget about the good things and focus on the bad, finding fault
with everything, and looking to blame others.
In fact, Psa 78:17 But they continued to sin
against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. At the slightest wind of adversity it had to be God’s fault. Forget all the miracles, forget they were
no longer slaves to foreigners, at the slightest bit of discomfort, it had to
be God’s fault! Psa 78:18 They willfully
put God to the test by demanding the food they craved. Ah, so it was Ephraim that craved meat! They weren’t going hungry of course, they
had food to eat, but it wasn’t good enough.
They demanded the
food they craved! Psa 78:19 They spoke against God, saying,
"Can God spread a table in the desert? What a blatant insult! They had
just seen God deliver water flowing
like a river out of a rock – and they ask this? Psa 78:20 When he struck the rock,
water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But
can he also give us food? Can
he supply
meat for his people?" Remember these are the people who were delivered out of harsh slavery
by God through many miracles. They
don’t sound too thankful for that, do they?
Within a few weeks they’re whining and complaining about food. Were they faring any better under slavery? Psa 78:21 When the LORD heard them,
he was very angry; his fire
broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Psa 78:22 for they did not
believe in God or trust
in his deliverance. What about people
today? Are they thankful to God for
what they have? Do they give thanks
for the food He provides and give Him credit for it? Today the House of Israel has a
super-abundance of food available to them.
They have fast-food outlets in every suburb and the availability of
food is taken for granted. No-one goes
hungry except those who refuse to provide for
themselves. The small elements of
people, who may go hungry occasionally, are those who expect others to
provide for them! Welfare has become
their god and their never-ending complaints are an insult to all who provide
for them. God too, is insulted when demands are made of Him! Not surprisingly, He becomes very angry! And now He responds to
their demands, but it comes with a mailed fist! Psa 78:23 Yet he gave a
command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; Psa 78:24 he rained down manna for the people to eat, he
gave them the grain of heaven. Psa 78:25 Men
ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat. This
grain from heaven is what
the angels eat. It’s produced in
heaven and falls from God’s Dwelling-Place. Psa 78:26 He let loose the east
wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power. From this we can assume the quail came from the south, that is, the African
coast, and the east wind directed them towards the Israeli camp – not that
it’s that important but it’s worth noting. Psa 78:27 He
rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore. These birds were quail. Great
flocks of them descended into the camp. Psa 78:28 He made them come down inside their camp, all
around their tents. Psa 78:29 They ate till
they had more than enough, for he
had given them what they craved. We shouldn’t be craving
anything to the point where it becomes an obsession. It’s far better to be thankful for what we
have. Jesus Christ gives us some
valuable advice in this regard: Matt 6:33-34 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and
all these things will be given to you as well. 34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” And craving can bring plenty of trouble! Jesus message here is clearly stating that
if we seek first His
Kingdom and its righteousness, all the things we need and want will
be given to us. Yet if we begin to
obsessively crave things, then each day will bring nothing but trouble. Cravings tend to overshadow the desire to
see God’s Kingdom established, and this is the first sign of trouble. The Israelites learned
this lesson the hard way: Psa 78:30 But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their
mouths, Psa 78:31 God's anger
rose against them; he put to death
the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Psa 78:32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite
of his wonders, they did not believe. Individually, some of them
did believe God and restrained themselves from sin, but others, typically the
loudmouths kept up their influence against God’s Law. This is true even today, and not much has
changed since then. Psa 78:33 So he
ended their days in futility and their years in terror. We know from Bible history that these people never entered the
Promised Land. For 40 years they
wandered aimlessly in the wilderness until that generation had died out. God chose the new generation to enter His
Holy Land and the old generation fell in the desert (Heb 3:17). Well, this is what happened to that
generation, but we’re dealing with Bible Prophecy here, and these prophecies
relate specifically to Ephraim. Psa 78:34 Whenever
God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. There’s nothing like death to bring people to their senses. Death of a loved one is always a somber
moment. In time of war, people become
very aware of their vulnerability to death, and as crazy as it sounds, war
tends to unite the population and bring out the best in them. It’s in time of war that the church pews
begin to fill as people once again begin to acknowledge God. In days of old, God knew
what would bring the Israelites to their senses, and if He had to slay them
to accomplish this, then this is what He did.
Death had the effect of bringing about an amazing transformation – at
least temporarily. At such times they
would remember the miracles of the past and acknowledge the LORD God: Psa 78:35 They remembered that God was their Rock, that
God Most High was their Redeemer. Yet, as it is today, there was no real sincerity! It was merely opportunism and a ‘form of worship’ that they hoped would
satisfy God. Nothing much has changed
between then and now. We still have
this insincere ‘form of worship’
and the Psalmist accurately describes it: Psa 78:36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues; Psa 78:37 their hearts were not
loyal to him, they were not
faithful to his covenant. Christian churches today love to flatter their Saviour by saying lots of nice things about Him, but the
limits of their worship is what they might get out of it. They’re not loyal to Him and His
teachings, and neither are they faithful
to His Covenant. In fact, the
majority of these teachers are just liars!
Some of the stories they make up are sickening to listen to. What is more, God knows it! In days of old, God
exercised restraint, though at one stage, God thought of wiping them all out
and building a nation from just the offspring of Moses. Psa 78:38 Yet
he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath. Psa 78:39 He remembered that they
were but flesh,
a
passing breeze that does not return. Even in those days, the pagan idea of automatic ‘life after death’ widely prevailed. From the earliest days, God confirmed that
flesh is flesh and it returns to dust.
He said, “Dust you are and to dust you will return”. Flesh that passes to dust does not return – as
the Psalmist says. Without the
Spirit of God, no flesh will see life again.
It takes the Spirit of God living in us to enable the raising of the
dead. Rom 8:11 “And
if
the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you, he who
raised Christ from the dead will
also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” As the
prophet says, God remembered that they were merely flesh with a
limited lifespan, and also that their only reward was in this life. Earlier in this study we read this: Psa
17:13-14 “Rise up, O
LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your
sword. 14 O LORD, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose
reward is in this life.” The men
of this world have only one shot at life!
Without God’s Holy Spirit there is nothing beyond the grave! Such people are dead forever! And now the Psalmist
brings to remembrance many things that happened in Psa 78:40 How often they rebelled
against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland! Psa 78:41 Again and again they put God to the test; they
vexed
the Holy One of Israel. The sarcasm of
saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert” was their way of putting God to the test! God did respond, but while the meat was
still in their mouths, the plague struck them! God is very sensitive to this type of
sarcasm, especially when they saw so many miracles in the lead-up to this. And now the prophet
brings them to remembrance: Psa 78:42 They did not
remember his power-- the day he redeemed
them from the oppressor, Psa 78:43 the day he displayed his miraculous SIGNS in So remember everything
God did in Psa 78:44 He turned their rivers to
blood; they could not drink from their streams. Psa 78:45 He sent swarms of flies
that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. Psa 78:46 He gave their crops to
the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. Psa 78:47 He destroyed their vines
with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. Psa 78:48 He gave over their cattle
to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. Psa 78:49 He unleashed against them
his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility-- a band of destroying angels. These angels were sent out to kill the firstborn in every household, except
those households who had observed
the Passover. Psa 78:50 He prepared a path for
his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. Psa 78:51 He struck down all the firstborn of Psa 78:52 But
he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert. Psa 78:53 He guided them safely, so
they were unafraid; but the sea
engulfed their enemies. Psa 78:54 Thus he brought them to
the border of his holy land, to the
hill country his right hand had taken. This is a reference to something Jacob said to his son Joseph, in
relation to him and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. This is what Jacob said: Gen 48:20-22 “He
blessed them that day and said, "In your name will So it was Jacob who took
the hill country where Ephraim was to settle, and it was to this region that
Joseph’s bones were taken and interred.
God drove out the nations before the Israelites. These nations had no rights to His Land. Only the Israelites were permitted to live
there. Any of these foreigners who
refused to leave were to be killed, and this was the preferred option. Psa 78:55 He drove out nations
before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of The LORD God had
delivered them just as He said He would!
Having seen many miracles and the fruition of God’s love for them, you
would think they would be faithful and true forever, but no! Their celebrations took a dark turn and
before long, they had forgotten all about obedience to their Creator. They were quickly enticed to disobedience
and began to disregard God’s Statutes and Laws. Psa 78:56 But they put God to the
test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. Psa 78:57 Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable
as a faulty bow. These fathers are
the ones who died in the wilderness during the forty years. The children of these fathers didn’t seem
to learn their lesson. Instead, they began
listening to the nations around them and adopting their customs – the very
thing that God had warned them about! In no time at all, they
were building shrines to demons and worshipping them. These demon gods offer plenty of incentives
to entice them from the true worship of the Creator God, and these incentives
invariably have something to do with sex.
It became an irresistible draw-card to get them involved. It is, perhaps one of the most potent
weapons in Satan’s arsenal. Psa 78:58 They angered him
with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. People tend to forget that God is a jealous God, and He confirms this
in the 2nd Commandment. In
the weird atmosphere of idol worship people begin to lose their minds and do
the unthinkable. It’s like a darkness
spreading over them and they become addicted to it. It’s the mass hysteria of demon influence. Psa 78:59 When God heard
them, he was very angry; he
rejected Psa 78:60 He abandoned the tabernacle of It was during the time of
Samuel, a Levite, that God brought about the major changes He had
foreshadowed. It began when the
children of Psa 78:61 He sent the ark of his might into
captivity, his splendor
into the hands of the enemy. These were dark days for
the children of Psa 78:62 He gave his people over
to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. They continued to lose battle after battle, and a great number of
Israelites died on the battlefield. Psa 78:63 Fire consumed their young
men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; Psa 78:64 their priests were put to
the sword, and their widows could not weep [mourn]. Suddenly there is a big imbalance in
the ratio of men to women, which is common in the aftermath of war. Things were beginning to look very grim for
all concerned in and around the northern capital. Psa 78:65 Then the Lord awoke as
from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine. There is no doubt that God had some regrets
for what His enemies had inflicted on His people, but it falls into the
category of punishment for disobedience.
While God turned His back on His people for a time, when He arose He
unleashed His fury against those who had dared to inflict carnage on His
chosen people. Then God arose to action
to spare the remnant who remained: Psa 78:66 He beat back his enemies; he put them to
everlasting shame. While it’s a historic
fact that God does allow His enemies to conquer His people on occasion, God’s
retaliation against them is rarely forgotten.
God brings their own cruelty down on their own heads. The cruelty of these evil creatures against
their captives is legendary. I don’t
know in what context V63 above refers, but it seems they liked to burn young men alive. Now God speaks plainly
about how things
will be. No longer will the
Tribes of Joseph be the
premier nation, and more particularly, it won’t be Ephraim. From the
very outset, this Psalm has been speaking about Ephraim. Psa 78:67 Then he rejected
the tents of Joseph, he did
not
choose the tribe of Ephraim; Psa 78:68 but he chose the tribe of Psa 78:69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like
the earth that
he established forever.
The earth was established forever,
and this physical planet will not pass away.
The new earth
will be a reshaping of the landmass back to what it was
originally. God’s Sanctuary will be in From the time of Samuel,
some four hundred years after the Exodus from Psa 78:70 He chose David his servant and took him
from the sheep pens; Psa 78:71 from tending the sheep he
brought him to be the shepherd of
his people Jacob, of The Prophet
Jeremiah wrote this some 400 years after David had died. What we’re reading here is what the state
of the House of Israel will be immediately before David is resurrected as
King of Israel. As we’ve seen, the
Tribes of Israel will be taken into captivity and enslaved, and it’s from
there that they will be SAVED. This puts a whole new complexion on what
Christians think being ‘saved’
means. The Scriptures that the Lord
Christ and the Apostles used make it so much clearer! When the
Prophets speak of the House of Israel, as in this Psalm, they are predominantly
speaking about the English-speaking peoples of the world; that is, the Tribe
of Joseph. The Tribes of Joseph are
North America, It may not
sit well with some people today, but virtually all Bible Prophecy relates to Ephraim and Judah, that is, All this
happened 40 years after David died, and Solomon’s son Rehoboam
came to the throne. Rehoboam had ten Tribes taken from him and given to Jeroboam the Ephraimite
– and
Jeroboam ruled over the northern Ten Tribes. The King of Judah, Rehoboam,
retained just one Tribe – the Tribe of Judah.
This left just one Tribe – the Tribe of Levi, and this Tribe wasn’t
given to either. This
Tribe was retained as God’s own Tribe just as He stated in Num 8:16-18 “They
(the Levites) are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken
them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every
Israelite woman. 17 Every firstborn male in It’s
interesting to note that God chose the Tribe of Levi for Himself at the time
of the Passover, when God “struck down all the firstborn of If anyone has
any doubts about why God chose David and the Tribe of Judah as the keepers of
the Holy Places and the preservation of the Scriptures, they should have a
better idea now. Psa 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led
them. And so he will again! David served God faithfully all the days of
his life, and although he wasn’t entirely without sin, he retained the integrity of heart that
God loves. PSALM 79 A psalm of Asaph. The Lord Jesus Christ foresaw
a time when armies would encamp around And after the Jesus Christ spoke of ‘The
Beast’ in Matt 24:15-25 “So when
you see standing in the holy place
`the
abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel--let
the reader understand-- 16 then let those who are in
Judea flee to the
mountains. 17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take
anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to
get his cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for
pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will
not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will
be great distress, unequaled
from the beginning of the world
until now--and never to be equaled again. 22
If those days had not been cut
short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23
At that time if anyone says to you, `Look, here is the Christ!' or, `There he
is!' do not believe it. 24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs
and miracles to deceive
even the elect--if that were possible. 25
See, I have told you ahead of time.” So now we see the
time of the proliferation of the “false Christs”
and “false prophets”. While
many Christians have been practicing in recent years for this role, they’ll
find themselves ineligible for the type of “false Christs”
and “false prophets” who will emerge in that day. These deceivers will have satanic powers to
deceive people through satanic signs
and miracles. People will
believe this to be the power of God.
The only ones who won’t be deceived by them
will be the very elect – those who possess God’s Holy Spirit. As the reader will
understand – hopefully – this beast
will stand in the Getting back to Christ’s
account as recorded in the Book of Luke, after the appearance of the Beast in
the City of In the aftermath of the
enforcement of the ‘mark of the beast’, the whole
world will be struck with fear at the horrific scenes
they will see. This is God’s classic
retribution for the worshipping of a foreign god. The whole world will be in anguish and
perplexity of what their eyes will see.
There’ll be no pretenders claiming man-made global warming
as those idiots do today! This will be
God-made
global climatic upheaval on a scale that can scarcely be imagined: Luke 21:25-28
“There will be signs in the sun, moon and
stars. On the earth, nations will be
in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.
26 Men will faint from terror,
apprehensive of what is coming on
the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At
that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power
and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because
your redemption is drawing near." You haven’t
seen these things yet, but when you do, you will know that your redemption is near – provided
you never received the mark of the beast!
There is only one outcome for those who do: Rev 14:9-13 “A
third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image
and
receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he,
too, will drink of the wine of
God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be
tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the
Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever.
There is no rest
day or night for those who worship
the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." 12
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the SAINTS who OBEY
GOD'S COMMANDMENTS and remain
faithful to Jesus.” You can’t get more specific
than this! What’s more, we also find
that SAINTS are those who obey
GOD’S COMMANDMENTS! You couldn’t get a more explicit indictment
against
those who refuse to obey
God’s Commandments! If the
Saints must endure death
out of obedience to God and
faithfulness to Jesus, then
they must do it! They’ll only
sleep for a short time before the resurrection: V13 “Then
I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit,
"they will rest from their
labor, for their deeds will follow them." And now we get back to
the Psalms and immediately we find a prophecy that did not occur in the
time of the Psalmist. In fact, it
could not have occurred until Solomon built the
Psa 79:1 O God, the
nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced
Psa 79:2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants
as food to the birds of the air, the
flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. God’s servants and the
Saints will be
one-third of all those living in the Psa 79:3 They have poured out
blood like water all around Psa 79:4 We are objects of
reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. The Saints will be caught in a vast sea of enemies whose primary
object is to kill them. Psa 79:5 How long, O LORD? Will
you be angry forever? How long will
your JEALOUSY burn like
fire? What jealousy
is the Psalmist speaking of here?
God’s jealousy
reaches it’s zenith when foreign gods are worshipped; that is, when demons are
worshipped, and this is what we’ve just been reading. God warned of this long ago in the 2nd
Commandment: Ex
20:4-6 “You shall not make for yourself
an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in
the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your
God, am a JEALOUS God,
punishing the children for the SIN
OF THE FATHERS to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
me, 6 but showing love to the thousands
(not millions) of those who
love me and KEEP MY
COMMANDMENTS.” Psa 79:6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your
name; (see the
reference again in Rev 14:9 about the “wine of God’s fury” and
the “cup
of His wrath”.) Psa 79:7 for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland. It’s not immediately obvious here what is being referenced as Jacob’s
homeland, but it will be when we get to the next Psalm in just a few
verses. Then we’ll see the cries of Ephraim and Manasseh pleading to be
saved. When the rebellion occurs in Psa 79:8 Do not hold against us
the SINS OF THE FATHERS; may
your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. You’ll notice that the ‘SIN
OF THE FATHERS’ is referenced in the 2nd Commandment which
we just quoted. Not only should these
foreign gods not be worshipped, neither should we even listen to
them! Islam worships the devil, as we
can plainly see by their murderous ‘fruits’
or actions. Their whole doctrine is
about killing anyone who disagrees with them.
And who is it that the Western nations listen to today out of fear of
offending them? It’s Islam! If anyone wants to invoke God’s jealousy,
then this is the surest way to do it! Psa 79:9 Help us, O God our
Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver
us and forgive our sins for your name's sake. Some might say it’s a bit late to be appealing to God for His
Name’s sake, especially after appealing to Allah for so
long! Did the House of Israel really
believe that their appeal to Allah and his followers would bring peace? Apparently half the American people did
when they voted a Muslim as their President – and he’s been bowing and
groveling to them ever since! Psa 79:10 Why should the nations
say, "Where is their God?"
Before our eyes, make known
among the nations that you avenge the outpoured
blood of your servants. It’s been a feature of conquest for thousands of years that the
victors gave credit to their gods. At
such times, they concluded that their enemy’s gods had failed them, while
theirs had prevailed. So, “Where is their God?” will become
the taunt of the victors. In due time,
these murderous Islamic swine will have the answer to their own
question. At that time, I hope they
don’t expect any mercy – because it won’t be forthcoming! Psa 79:11 May the groans
of the prisoners come before
you; by the strength of your arm preserve those condemned to die. There are actually two ways to look at this. Because of the harshness of the captivity
and the groans of the prisoners, many of those who are condemned to die will be
preserved in death for the resurrection.
Because of their willingness to die for God, they will set an example
to the remnant of the House of Israel.
It’s of primary importance to God that His promise to the Patriarchs
is preserved. To this end, the lives
of 12,000 of each of the Tribes of Israel will be preserved when they are sealed
with His Holy Spirit. This is confirmed in Rev 7:1-8. I hope the reader takes the time to read
this passage because it refers to the wind
and the roaring seas that Jesus spoke about, that will leave human
beings anguished and perplexed
and fainting with fear. Psa 79:12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven
times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord. Well, seven times the
reproach or punishment
seems about right for these Muslim dogs.
And it will be vigorously applied! Psa 79:13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will praise you forever; from
generation to generation we will recount your praise. Wars come and go and the outcomes vary, but this particular time of
carnage and war will never be forgotten. It’s God’s intention that the lessons
learned will never erased from the minds of the survivors. Only then will they carefully and
methodically obey God and His Laws. And
this will be the lesson of all ages! PSALM 80 For the director of music. To the tune of "The Lilies of the
Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm. Psa 80:1 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel (that is, God), you who lead Joseph
like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine
forth Psa 80:2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. (Benjamin is mentioned here
because half this Tribe intermarried anciently with Ephraim, and the
other half with It’s not the time to be
going into it all again, but God planted His Church, His one true Church, in Ephraim! He selected a shepherd to guide them into
the knowledge of God’s requirements.
This Church continued as a The point is that Herbert
Armstrong was the shepherd that God called, and he was called in
Ephraim – the
Psa 80:3 Restore us, O God; make
your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. As we’ve just read in V1, God leads the Tribe of Joseph like a flock. Then the prophet adds this: “shine forth before Ephraim,
Benjamin
and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.” So this clearly refers to the Tribes of
Joseph – both Ephraim and Manasseh. As
we’ve just pointed out, God planted the Psa 80:4 O LORD God Almighty, how
long will your anger smolder
against
the prayers of your people? Well, the short answer to this is, for as long as they refuse
to obey
His Commandments! All the 12 Tribes of Israel from the earliest
times are under a mandatory requirement to obey God’s Law. And this mandatory
requirement couldn’t be more explicit: Mal 4:4 “Remember
the law of my servant Moses,
the
decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb FOR ALL ISRAEL.” ALL
ISRAEL, not just the Churches, are required to remember and obey all
the Laws and decrees that God gave Moses at Psa 80:5 You have fed them with
the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. Psa 80:6 You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
There is quite a
bit of poetic justice in this. Both
Ephraim and Manasseh have a lot of explaining to do. During WW2, Manasseh ( In the aftermath of WW2,
it took a great American, General Dwight D. Eisenhower to show the outrage of
what he saw in the concentration camps.
Ephraim ( Now the wheel has turned
full circle! Anyway, we get the drift
of what is happening today. The
outcome of it all was prophesied long ago.
If any nation wants to set itself up to be the policeman of the world,
then they had better do their duty. So
far the mightiest power on earth has taken this role upon themselves but
without any form of substantive results.
In fact, their amateurish ways have only succeeded in inflaming the
whole world. And now At any other time in
history, the outcome might have been different, and although their power and
influence might have been drained, they would probably continue to survive as
a nation. Unfortunately, we are not
living in any other time of history, and this time it’s the end of the road. It’s all been prophesied and it has to
happen. It all has to do with God’s
timetable. He allotted 6,000 years for
Satan’s rule and now the time of God’s rule is upon us. The prophesied Seventh Millennial Day has
begun, and this is the time when the majority of the ruling God Family will
be selected to replace Satan and his demons.
Since the Still, it’s not over for the
House of Israel, and they will be reestablished as the premier nation, but
first they’ll have to be saved and restored: Psa 80:7 Restore us, O God
Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. And now the prophet
begins to recount their history from old: Psa 80:8 You brought a vine
out of Psa 80:9 You cleared the ground
for it, and it took root and filled
the land. And it was Ephraim that
ruled over the ‘Vine’ up
until the day they went into captivity.
Psa 80:10 The mountains were covered
with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. This vine
overshadowed everything in the land – symbolically speaking. This was a big nation consisting of ten
of the Tribes of Israel, but with Ephraim at the head. For hundreds of years, Ephraim continued to be the dominant Tribe in the Psa 80:11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots
as far as the River. It’s difficult language,
but this vine sent its boughs to the sea. These boughs crossed the sea
to become a nation in their own
right when they founded A prophecy found in the
Book of Hosea confirms these things: Hos 9:10-13 “When
I found Psa 80:12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
The border walls will be broken down and
foreigners will plunder them! There’s
quite a bit of irony in this! It was So now we can have a
better understanding of why God will break down Ephraim’s walls – their defenses – and
enable the intruders to flood in from the south at will. Ephraim’s southern border wall is their
only defense from the millions to the south who try every day to flood into Psa 80:13 Boars from the
forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. These invading creatures will act like pigs (boars) in a patch of
strawberries, and I think the reader will understand the intent of this
verse. Hint: They won’t come looking
for strawberries! But the grapes
of the vineyard will be a
viable target for them. Psa 80:14 Return to us, O God
Almighty! Look down from heaven and
see! Watch over this vine, Psa 80:15 the
root your
right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself.
Now we see that this vine is a son. This vine
is the son that God raised
up Himself, that is, Ephraim,
as the Prophet Hosea explains. The
Prophet Hosea provides us with the link that identifies the House of Israel with Ephraim – the son that God brought out of God likens Ephraim to a vine,
that is, a fruitful branch. What is more, their forefather and prophet
Jacob confirms this: Gen 49:22-26 “Joseph is a fruitful
vine, a fruitful vine
near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. 23 With
bitterness archers attacked him;
they
shot at him with hostility.”
Well this is all the Indians had to shoot at him – arrows! And these archers were certainly hostile to the fledgling
Ephraim, the son of Joseph. But as we
see, Ephraim was equal to the task and remained
strong: V24 “But his bow
remained steady, his strong arms
stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of
Jacob, because of the Shepherd,
the Rock of Israel, 25
because of your father's God,
who helps you, because of the
Almighty, who blesses
you with blessings of the heavens
above, blessings of the
deep that lies below, blessings
of the breast and womb. 26 Your father's blessings are
greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the
age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of
the prince among his brothers.” And just to put the timeframe in
perspective, this is what Jacob wrote when he began to deliver this blessing:
Gen 49:1
“Then Jacob called for his sons and said:
"Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.” Most Bible versions correctly render
this ‘days to come’ as ‘the last days’. It is indeed a prophecy for these last days. As we’re all aware, God
speaks of another Son,
whom He brought out of But the real meaning
between the association of Ephraim
and Jesus as
sons is this: Jesus Christ
confirmed that He had come only to the ‘lost
sheep of There’s a lot of pressure
coming and everyone should be aware of this.
Everything written by the Prophets is about to be fulfilled. The Prophet Hosea wrote of this in Hos 9:7-9
“The days
of punishment are coming, the
days of reckoning are at hand.
Let The House of Israel, specifically
Ephraim, doesn’t like what
the Prophets teach, and any prophet who teaches according to the Prophets of
Old, is considered a fool and a
maniac. Even so, along
with God, God’s prophet
is the watchman over Ephraim!
And the inhabitants of Ephraim had better believe it! Psa 80:16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. So much for God’s son Ephraim!
In his final days he’s been brought to ruin. Ephraim will no longer be the shepherd of
the ‘lost Tribes of Psa 80:17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised
up for yourself. I wouldn’t even suggest
that this could be speaking of any other than the man, Jesus Christ, who
now sits at God’s right hand, and who often referred to Himself as
the Son of Ephraim today are the ‘lost sheep of Psa 80:18 Then we will not
turn away from you; revive us,
and we will call on your name.
Take the time to
read the previous verse of this Psalm, because this is the continuation of
it. In other words, the call is for
God to empower the son of man at
His right hand and then they will not turn away from God but
will call on His Name. Psa 80:19 Restore us, O LORD God
Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. This is speaking of real
salvation – from
the enemy – rather than the airy-fairy nonsense taught today. Though it’s a little
off-topic, wouldn’t it be nice if all the religious crackpots who think that
the Israelis are the entire House of Israel would wake up and learn something
from the history of the Bible. The
Israelis or Jews are only one of the Tribes of Israel, and Western
Christianity would do well to wake up to this fact. What these ignorant, lawless
Christians don’t understand is, that fully half of Bible Prophecy relates to
them – and not in favourable
terms! Soon they’ll be forced to drop
their self-righteous façade and start facing the stark reality of who they
are and what their fate is. In the
very last days they’ll be given an option, as we’ve already pointed out. That option will be to accept the ‘mark
of the beast’ to save their lives temporarily, or to
refuse it and be killed and await the resurrection. Unless you believe the Scriptures and obey
God now, you’ll be powerless to resist when the evil day comes. At the present time, the House of Israel and the The second reason
relates to something that the Prophet Ezekiel recorded: Eze 2:3-5
“He said: "Son of man, I am sending
you to the Israelites, to a
rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their
fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day. 4 The people to whom I am sending you
are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, `This is what the Sovereign
LORD says.' 5 And whether they listen or fail to listen--for they
are a rebellious house--THEY WILL
KNOW THAT A PROPHET HAS BEEN AMONG THEM.” It’s of no
consequence to God whether they choose to remain obstinate and stubborn! He is only interested in those who listen and obey Him, and only
these will be called to participate in the establishing of His Kingdom. Yet time is running out even for
these. Perhaps their obstinacy and
stubbornness has overridden their better judgment. With or without them, the It should come as no
surprise that Levi, the
man God favoured, is spoken of in the Book of the Messenger (Malachi) – see Mal 2:4-9. Nor should it surprise anyone that Levi
will replace the fruitful branch of Ephraim with the purity of God’s
instruction, which is represented by an Olive Tree (Rev 11:4). It’s Levi who has to come first and deliver
the message just as Moses did, and later John the Baptist – both
Levites! It’s also Levi who is the
messenger, who will prepare the way
for the True Messenger (Mal 3:1). The reader may not be
aware of the words Moses spoke immediately after reciting the Song of Moses (Deut 32),
which is also referenced in Rev 15:3.
He said this: Deut 32:46 “Take to
heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may
command your children to obey
carefully all the words of this law. 47 They
are not just idle words for you--they are your life. By them
you will live long in the land you are crossing the PSALM 81 For the
director of music. According to gittith.
Of Asaph. Psalm 81:1 Sing for joy to God our strength; shout
aloud to the God of Jacob! When
eventually salvation from the enemy comes, there will be great rejoicing in the
House of Israel. Psalm 81:2 Begin the music, strike the
tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. Psalm 81:3 Sound the ram's horn at the
New Moon, and when the moon is full,
on the day of our Feast; Psalm 81:4 this is a decree for Psalm 81:5 He established it as a statute for Joseph when he [God] went out against In the above verse we
find a reference to ‘a language we
did not understand’, which might be misconstrued to mean the Egyptian
language. Although the Israelites
preserved their Hebrew language, they were quite fluent in the language of
the Egyptians. So what language didn’t
they understand? They didn’t understand God’s
language! All these
decrees given them were totally alien to them. For hundreds of years, they had been living
in the world of the devil and
carrying out his desires.
Jesus Christ later made this very clear: John 8:43-45 “Why is MY
LANGUAGE not clear to you?
Because you are unable to
hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil,
and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer
from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native
language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet
because I tell the truth,
you do not believe
me!”
It’s God’s LANGUAGE
that the Israelites didn’t understand when they were about to depart from To offset the
many misunderstandings of the Israelites, God had to give them very specific
instructions on how to keep the Passover.
It was actually their first attempt at understanding God’s requirements. They weren’t too sure what it was all
about, but dutifully they slaughtered the lamb and splashed its blood on the
lintel of the door, and then ate the body of the lamb, so that nothing
remained until morning. In the morning
they awoke to the chaos and howling of the Egyptians for the deaths of all
their firstborn. The death angel had passed over the Israelites and
struck only the Egyptians. The
Israelites learned first hand the importance of obedience to God’s
instructions. Now they were beginning
to understand God’s language,
which was becoming clearer to them. Psalm 81:6 He says, "I removed the burden from their
shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket (presumably the baskets
that carried mud for bricks). From
this time on they were free men and no longer under the power of Pharaoh. Remember this whole Psalm
is about bringing the House of Israel out of slavery again! We’re reading about the aftermath of God’s
salvation from After virtually 3½
millennial days (3,500 years), the wheel has turned full circle, and now the
House of Israel are again facing slavery and the prospect of being rescued
once more. The remnant of the
Israelites will not be in good shape after prolonged servitude and
God’s language will not be clear to them – just
as it wasn’t anciently in As we previously read,
God gave great favour to Ephraim, but because they
refuse to repent, He will turn against them once more, and as a punishment,
He confirms they will return to both Egypt
and Assyria (the land of the Kurds today): Hos 11:3-7
“It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not
realize it was I who healed them. 4 I led them with cords of human
kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down
to feed them. 5 "WILL
THEY NOT RETURN TO EGYPT and will
not Psalm 81:7 In your distress you called
and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah As
an item of interest, the waters of Meribah is also mentioned in the Moses’
benediction concerning Levi
(Deut 33:8),
which we just quoted above. At the waters of Meribah,
the Israelites were half-crazed with thirst and needed water desperately. God was testing them to see if they would
acknowledge His power to provide it.
The fact is that there were two
waters of Meribah. The
first, where water flowed from the Rock, was It might appear to be a
minor infraction, but the importance of this is explained in 1Cor 10:1-5
“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact,
brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all
passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the
cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food (manna, the bread of angels) 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for
they drank from the SPIRITUAL ROCK
that accompanied them, AND
THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. 5 Nevertheless, God was not
pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.” Jesus Christ was
the God of the Old Testament
and the Rock Moses struck was Christ. Jesus Christ
was that Spiritual Rock
from where the living water
emanated, and He further emphasized these things with these words: John 4:9-12 “The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and
I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
) 10 Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who
it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have
given you living water."
11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw
with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our
father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his
sons and his flocks and herds?" 13 Jesus answered,
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give
him will never thirst. Indeed, the
water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal
life." Jesus Christ then goes on
to explain to the Samaritan woman a few facts about how God must be
worshipped, and the worship of God begins with knowledge – which is called Truth! John 4:21-24
“Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor
in Psalm 81:8 "Hear, O my people, and I
will warn you-- if you would but listen to me, O Israel! Truth and knowledge are not gained when not
listened to, and this is the universal problem today. Sure, people have itching ears for what
appeals to them, but God must be
worshipped in Spirit and in Truth, and not all Truth is appealing to
them. For instance, Jesus Christ had
to undergo an horrific ordeal, a baptism of death, and the truth of this was
not appealing to Him, yet He faithfully endured it in order to fulfill all
Truth. The House of Israel is no
different today, they still have itching ears for good outcomes, and from
behind the pulpit, their teachers see that they get it. What is lacking is Truth! Psalm 81:9 You shall have no
foreign god among
you; you shall not
bow down to an alien god. You would think the Israelites today would have the good sense to ban
foreign gods, yet on any day of the week you can walk into an Asian market
place and see idol of Buddha prominently displayed – right among
the Israelites. All this is for the
purpose of promoting multiculturalism!
Something that God expressly forbids!
Apparently, no-one understands God’s language! Psalm 81:10 I am the LORD your God, who
brought you up out of Muslims have a form of
worship like the Samaritan woman which we just referred to and to whom Jesus
spoke. Quite obviously, Muslims don’t
worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
They’ve gleaned just enough truth to provide a good counterfeit of
Judaism. They refrain from eating pig
meat and ceremonially slaughter their meat and call it, not Kosher, but Halal. They set
aside one day of worship during the week, not the Seventh Day, but the
sixth. Even in this, they had to
preempt Judaism. Mohammed is their
prophet – and no other! The Koran is
their holy book – and no other! It’s kinda funny how they gleaned a major part of their
doctrine from the Holy Scriptures and yet they hate the Jews to whom God entrusted the Scriptures (Rom 3:1). Psalm 81:11 "But my people would not listen to me; Psalm 81:12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to
follow their own devices. And isn’t this exactly
what happened? They weren’t going to
listen to God and they certainly weren’t going to listen to the Jews – to
whom God entrusted the Scriptures. The
Scriptures spoken of in Rom 3:1 are the Old Testament – the same
Scriptures that the Apostles and Prophets always referred to – and
used! The Book of Psalms
is one of them. Psalm 81:13 "If my people would
but listen to me, if Psalm 81:14 how quickly would I subdue their enemies and
turn my hand against their foes!
Well, If they had but listened
to God, He Himself would have mounted the defense against the enemy and
crushed them. It’s all too late for
that now! Psalm 81:15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before
him, and their punishment would
last forever. God has many enemies as
we’ve demonstrated many times from the Scriptures, and when God does launch
against them, they will cringe! What is more, their punishment is death forever! There’ll be no room in the Psalm 81:16 But you (The House of Israel) would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from
the rock I would satisfy you." If
only they had but listened! PSALM 82 A psalm of Asaph. This is the ‘gods’ chapter, where God speaks of two
different groups of ‘gods’. On the one hand, He speaks of the present ‘gods’ of this earth, who rule in their
own right. These are superior to human
beings, who have been made a little lower than them. Human beings don’t possess the same powers
as these demon ‘gods’. From time to time, these ‘gods’ must answer to God: Psalm 82:1 God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment
among
the "gods": It’s very obvious that
God calls the ‘gods’ of this earth
before Him for judgment, and these ‘gods’
are the present rulers of this world – namely demons! Satan and his demon rulers presently rule
this earth, and they like to be referred to as gods – and worshipped. When people worship idols they are
worshipping demons. In fact, any
worship other than that stipulated by God is demon-worship! Satan and his rule is
soon to come to an end, and at that time there will be ‘gods’ to take over
these duties, which we’ll get to in V6 below. When the present ‘gods’
appear before God in the Great
Assembly for judgment, they generally
receive some stern advice like the following: Psalm 82:2 "How long will you defend
the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah These
‘gods’ have a habit of defending the unjust and showing partiality to
the wicked – even though they know that it will invite a rebuke from Almighty
God. Psalm 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain
the rights of the poor and oppressed. These ‘gods’ only defend the cause of the strong and the ruthless,
because this is what they are themselves.
They have no compassion or mercy; and their whole purpose is to rule with fear! Psalm 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver
them from the hand of the wicked.
This is very good advice, but it’s totally
ignored by these ‘gods’! These creatures favour
the wicked, so why would they want to rescue the weak and needy from
them? Well, there is good reason to do
so, not that they would listen to such reasoning! It was the Lord Jesus that gave this
advice: Matt
7:2 “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged,
and with the measure you use,
it will be measured to you.” So these ‘gods’ will have a lot to answer for,
and what is more, they will be judged by ‘gods’ appointed
by God – called Saints! As for Satan’s ‘gods’, they have a lot to learn! Psalm 82:5 "They know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the
earth are shaken. This last phrase has to
do with why they are now walking
around in darkness (rather than in the Light of God) and know
nothing. It has to do with the
great rebellion that
landed these 50 million demons on earth in exile. At that time, the landmass of the earth was
shattered into many islands and continents, and even today they are still
quaking in the aftermath. This is
written about many times in articles at our website, so we won’t go into it
now. It’s a pity these foolish demons know
nothing about anything, because they are in a very vulnerable
position. Psalm 82:6 "I said, `You are "gods"; YOU ARE ALL SONS OF THE MOST HIGH.' And now we see where Jesus Christ clarifies who will be THE SONS OF THE MOST HIGH. Luke 6:32-38 “If you
love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' love
those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to
you, what credit is that to you? Even `sinners' do that. 34 And if
you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?
Even `sinners' lend to `sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35
But love your
enemies (that’s your
enemies – not
God’s enemies), do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to
get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and YOU WILL BE SONS OF THE MOST HIGH, because he [God] is kind to the ungrateful and
wicked. 36 Be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful. 37
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will
not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give,
and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed
down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your
lap. For with the measure you use,
it will be measured to you." We all accumulate
a few enemies along the way, often through no fault of our own. As Jesus points out here, money is often
the cause of the problem. Carnal, ungrateful
and wicked people tend to focus on personal gain and greed rather than
kindness, and the purpose of the
SONS OF THE MOST HIGH is to set the example for behaviour
– especially in relation to money. In this you will be measured
by the measure you use! And of
course if you’re mean with God, then you have little chance of being a SON OF THE MOST HIGH, and if
you rob Him you have no hope of ever returning to Him (Mal 3:7-8). The standard of the sons of God is very high. From the teachings of Jesus
Christ, who is a Son of God
– in fact, the Firstborn of many, we learn of the standards that God
requires for sonship. God wants all His sons to be like His Son
Jesus, and like David, the father and ancestor of Jesus Christ, who was the
Son of David. Therefore, all that
David teaches becomes paramount. In
fact, we are about to find out that all that David wrote is binding
law. Jesus Christ confirmed this by quoting from
Psa 82:6, which we have just been studying
above. This is the account: John 10:33-36
“We are not stoning you for any of these,"
replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 34
Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, `I
have said you are gods' ? 35 If he called them `gods,' TO WHOM THE WORD OF GOD CAME--and the Scripture cannot be
broken-- 36 what about the one whom the Father set
apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of
blasphemy because I said, `I am God's Son'?” Naturally
enough, the sons of God inherit His title of God. And as both Jesus and David confirm, they
are literally gods, that is, rulers of this world. So who are these sons of God? Did you notice these words of Jesus: “he called
them `gods,' TO WHOM THE WORD OF GOD CAME”? To
whom
did the word of God come? Jesus
explains: John 6:44-45 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise
him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: `THEY WILL ALL BE TAUGHT BY GOD.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes
to me.” And where
is this written in the prophets? We find it in Isa 54:13-14
“All your
sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny
will be far from you; you will have nothing
to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not
come near you. 15 If
anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to
you.” In reality, these sons of God are also
called the “Sons of Jerusalem” – see V11-12. I hope no-one is silly enough to believe
that terrorists would surrender to a church! On the other hand, if anyone attacks the Sons of Jerusalem, they will
either surrender or die! And they’ll have about ten seconds to make
up their minds! It will be a
very sad day when anyone attacks the Sons of Jerusalem, that is, sad for the
aggressors. Even today, those who
challenge God’s Truth are finding their little world and their church failing
before their eyes. They didn’t love
the truth enough to be saved from all that is coming upon them. The reason for this is because they chose
to be beguiled by the dark forces of evil that are presently deceiving the
whole world. It’s no good blaming your
preacher or your President or anyone else for that matter! God holds the individual responsible for
their own actions! Each makes his own
choices. And the choice is whether to
serve God or not. One third of
the angels made that choice long ago.
50 million of them rebelled against God and now live on this
earth. These are the catalyst for all
the evil that has occurred on the
earth. These are the present
‘gods’ of this world and they’re about to be replaced by sons of God. These present
rulers, these gods of this world, will die like mere men and this includes their rulers –
the rulers of the spirit realm. Psalm 82:7 But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other
ruler." When this happens, and Satan
is imprisoned for a thousand years, along with the remaining demons, peace
will be restored to the earth. It will
certainly take some years for the nations of the earth to get their
priorities right, but in the absence of demon influence this will be achieved
and the Kingdom of God will fill the earth – just as the Prophet Daniel said
(Dan 2:35, 44). Psalm 82:8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your
inheritance. It will be strange indeed
to see the Kingdom of God fill the whole earth and to see the survivors of the nations
turning to God and obeying His Commandments and even observing His Annual
Holy Days. There will be no more
dragon-worshipping festivals in that day!
Every nation
will be required to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles: Zech 14:16
“Then the survivors
from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year
after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast
of Tabernacles.” The nations that
will attack PSALM 83 A song. A
psalm of Asaph. Now we come to the Psalm
that details the motivation of the gods
of this world. We’re about to
find out that their whole objective is to destroy the name of It’s the oddest thing,
but much of Christianity today is of the view that God already did this long
ago. They seem to believe that God
rejected His people It should be obvious that
God didn’t reject the 12 Tribes of Israel because when the Book of Revelation
was handed down to us, the 12
Tribes of Psalm 83:1 O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still. Psalm 83:2 See how your enemies
are astir, how your foes
rear their heads. As we’ve said many times
before, God has many enemies! In truth, more than 90 percent to the world
population are God’s enemies. As Jesus
Christ pointed out, those who are not with Him are against Him, and those who
are against Him are automatically His enemies. If His enemies behave themselves then He
lets them live, but if they rise up against His people As we’ve just read in the
Zechariah, chapter 14, eventually the whole world will come against the Holy
Land and the Holy City Jerusalem, and then the Lord Christ will go out and
fight them – personally! Psalm 83:3 With cunning they conspire against your people;
they plot against those you cherish. These people never learn, do they? Mad, impulsive brute beasts that they are,
they can’t restrain themselves from wanting to kill those God cherishes. God cherishes the Jews because they alone
have sought to obey His Law
for thousands of years. Christianity,
on the other hand, has refused to obey Gods’ Law for the past
2,000 years. Psalm 83:4 "Come," they say,
"let us destroy them as a
nation, that the name of Even today they continue
to plot while continuing to refuse to recognize Psalm 83:5 With one mind they plot together; they
form an alliance against YOU (God) – (when they fight God’s people, they are
fighting God! Plotting is not
a good idea either.) Psalm 83:6 the tents of Psalm 83:7 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of As we’ve pointed out
before, Perhaps the reader may not
be aware of the Mighty One Jesus Christ arriving from And getting back to V6 and
all those who plotted and schemed for the destruction of the Israelis, we see
the Ismaelites
(Arabs)
mentioned, and also Psalm 83:8 Even Assyria
has joined them to lend strength to
the descendants of Psalm 83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera
and Jabin at the river Kishon, Psalm 83:10 who perished at Endor and became
like refuse on the ground. I think we can all have
confidence that all these nations mentioned just beyond the borders of Psalm 83:11 Make their nobles like
Oreb and Zeeb, all their
princes like Zebah and Zalmunna, Psalm 83:12 who said, "Let us take possession of the
pasturelands of God." And there you have
it! All their princes and nobles
thought they’d take possession of the pasturelands of God, but He decides
otherwise. And now the prophet goes
even further. Not only should they be
left as refuse on the ground, but in time they will dry up and blow away like
chaff before the wind. These are the
sorts of creatures who don’t deserve burial. Psalm 83:13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the
wind. Well, this is a fair comment and they
probably will blow along like tumbleweed, unless of course, after being
flattened like pancakes and dried out, they might blow along like
cartwheels. Who knows? It could happen. Seeing bearded marionettes rolling along
the ground like cartwheels would certainly be a sight to behold. Seriously though, if these corpses blow
along like tumbleweed, then justice will be served. Either way, whether tumbleweed or
cartwheels they’ll get what they deserve!
And the key here is justice! Obviously, any who try to
escape will be pursued, and
as the prophet points out, it might have been better to have been killed the
first time round. What he describes
here is a firestorm. Psalm 83:14 As fire consumes the forest or
a flame sets the mountains ablaze, Psalm 83:15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm. The Prophet is not making suggestions here; he’s prophesying
of what will happen! Psalm 83:16 Cover their faces with
shame so that men will seek your name, O LORD. If a Muslim’s beard is shaved off he feels shame, but if it’s burnt
off then he feels both shame and pain.
This is the type of scenario that one might expect in a firestorm. When this type of withering defeat is
observed, there’ll be plenty of people reassessing their options. Suddenly, being on the side of the Creator
God will be the best option. Psalm 83:17 May they ever be ashamed and
dismayed; may they perish in
disgrace. Unless the punishment
fits the crime then few people ever learn.
We all live in a ‘civilized’
world where actual punishment is frowned upon. Murderer’s lives are sacred, even though
the lives of their victims were not.
There’s always the chance that the murderer might be rehabilitated,
even though there is no second chance for the victim. Still, we’re all ‘civilized’ aren’t we?
Apparently, it’s always better for 1,000 victims to die than for one
guilty one to be harmed. Just ask one
of the ‘new-age’ do-gooders –
they’ll tell you! Well, I can tell you
this: there’s going to be a dramatic shift of opinion when people observe the
carnage around them! At that time,
when their brain-fog is lifted, they won’t be favouring
the guilty! On this you can bet your
life! As for all the
self-righteous madness that prevails today, Almighty God disagrees. As the Great Lawgiver of the Universe, He
judges with equity, that is, with
rules and standards according to Law.
God went to a lot of trouble to give us His perfect Laws and in days to come these Laws will be
vigorously applied to all who have trouble obeying Him. Psalm 83:18 Let them know that you, whose
name is the LORD-- that you alone
are the Most High over all the earth.
Allah the devil
truly believes he is the ‘most high’
of the earth. He’s been diligently
marshalling his forces to kill off the House of Israel. Presently, he’s not very happy that his
efforts have had limited success. His
minions are like mindless automatons with limited intelligence, but this is
the result of the way he’s ruled over them.
Mind you, a Muslim with a functioning brain could be dangerous. These people are scarcely human as it is,
so what else would you expect from those who worship the devil? They are impulsive, mad, murderous creatures
– and
we all know it! Except
those who prefer to remain delusional! In addition to the devil,
there are powerful ruling entities called ‘rulers’ or ‘spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realm’ (Eph 6:12), and these are powerful
and unpredictable. They rule over most
of the earth, and they dominate those in the human realm. These rulers of the spirit world even duel
against each other – usually over territory.
They are power-crazed regarding territorial rights and frequently
throw their human armies against the armies of their opponent. They are the authors of chaos and they’re
just like unreasoning beasts. Almighty
God actually calls the worst of them ‘beasts’. They do acknowledge one limitation however,
and this is the power of Satan to whom they yield – howbeit,
reluctantly. But none of them, Satan
included, fail to note that they are no match for Almighty God. The Great God does rule above all, and at
any moment, He can bring these rulers to ruin, sweeping away their power and
reducing them to nothing. And He
frequently does this. God Himself
decides who continues to rule and who doesn’t! The demons know this, and they fear and
tremble before Him! (James 2:19). PSALM 84 For the director of music. According to gittith. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. Psalm 84:1 How lovely is your dwelling
place, O LORD Almighty! For those who think the
LORD Almighty floats around in the clouds are in for a shock. We’ve said many times that God has a dwelling-place where He
lives. Here the Prophet acknowledges
it as a lovely place.
It’s a magnificent and spectacular place that moves like a huge
ship. To give some idea of the size of
it, there are millions of God’s angels assigned to it. The Apostle Peter, when he heard a voice
emanating from it, called it the Majestic
Glory (2Pet 1:17) Psalm 84:2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the
living God. The Courts
of the LORD are where decisions and judgments are made. The equivalent on earth would be our
Parliaments or Congress. God gives
judgments according to the Laws He has made – just like any other just
judge. And God’s judgments are always
right! Every spirit being in the
universe knows this to be true, and the guilty ones often find themselves
trembling with fear before Him (James 2:19). Psalm 84:3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-- a
place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God. This verse has something to do with something Jesus said in Luke 9:58 “Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has no place to
lay his head." The
intent is not immediately clear, but Jesus was on His way to Jesus Christ was anxious
to get to Psalm 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in
your house [dwelling-place]; they are ever
praising you. Selah. And this certainly describes Jesus! And now the Psalmist
speaks about those whose strength is in the Lord Jesus, and who will also
make this same pilgrimage. Psalm 84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who
have set their hearts on pilgrimage. There’s going to be a lot of pilgrims emerging from captivity in
foreign lands, and journeying to Psalm 84:6 As they pass through
the Psalm 84:7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God
in Zion. And God will be there in
Psalm 84:8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to
me, O God of Jacob. Selah. Contrary
to popular belief, the LORD God Almighty will be the God of Jacob in that day – the only people He ever chose
from all the families of the earth. In
that day the children of Jacob
will be with their God! Psalm 84:9 Look upon our shield, O God; look
with favor on your anointed one.
Along the way,
the pilgrims will have a protective
shield to fight off any dogs who want to try their luck. This protective
shield will be a band of men lead by an anointed one, who will also arise from the dead after lying
dead in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 ½ days. Prior to this, there will
be years of battle to
secure the Psalm 84:10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of
the wicked. These are the words
famously quoted about King David – even today! In fact, it’s a popular theme for many
preachers. Having dwelt in the tents of
the wicked, many of the pilgrims
will be very happy to dwell with God. Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD
bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. At that time, the pilgrims will be blameless, having learned some very
severe lessons. The sun is the
light-bringer, and in the Scriptures, God is referred to as the Sun of Righteousness that will
arise with healing in His wings (Mal 4:2).
The Apostle Peter confirms this in 2Pet 1:19 “And
we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to
pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until
the day dawns and the MORNING
STAR rises in your hearts.”
Jesus Christ confirmed that He is the bright Morning Star: Rev 22:16
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this
testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the
bright
MORNING STAR." Psalm 84:12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Those who don’t trust in God will not be blessed,
and neither will they be a part of this pilgrimage. PSALM 85 For the
director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. This chapter follows the same
theme of the last chapter, when we saw the pilgrims returning to
Psalm 85:1 You showed favor to your
land, O LORD; you restored
the fortunes of Jacob. Well, we’ve already read the
account of how the land will be transformed as the pilgrims pass
through. Springs and pools of water
will develop as the first stage of transforming the land like the Garden of
Eden. The Prophet Joel wrote
about this time: Joel 3:17-18 “Then you
will know that I, the LORD your
God, dwell in Psalm 85:2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.
Selah. It’s should be
obvious to all that the first of Jacob’s sons to occupy the Holy Land is And now that God has
established the Tribe of Judah, God will look to the rest of the House of
Israel to restore them and bring them back to the Promised Land. This becomes more evident when we get to V10. Psalm 85:3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. In the lead-up to the restoration, God’s fierce anger will deal with the stubbornness of the Ten
Tribes and never again will they seek to take liberties with Him. To ensure this, God will write His Laws in their hearts and minds so they
can never forget
them. By this means, their
very conscience will be
activated against disobedience. Heb 8:10-12
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of
Psalm 85:4 Restore us again, O God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
It’s obvious this
is referring to a time of punishment similar to that which they experienced
in Psalm 85:5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations? In bondage and slavery among peoples who despise them, the Tribes of
Israel will have a hard time of it. It
will appear to them that there is no future and no hope of survival as a
people. And frankly, it has to reach
this point, because nothing short of this will be a lasting reminder to them
of the penalty of disobedience to their Creator God. Psalm 85:6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may
rejoice in you? Before the people will be
able to rejoice in Him, they first must acknowledge Him as their Creator God. As things stand today in the prelude to the
most disastrous time in human history, the trend is to refute the divine
Creation of God in favour of ‘evolution’. It’s not
a good starting point to be asking for revival! Psalm 85:7 Show us your unfailing love, O
LORD, and grant us your salvation. God’s salvation means to deliver
them from the hands of their enemy!
Obviously, the Tribes of Israel have not been saved yet! They’ll most certainly know when they are
saved – when their chains
fall off and they walk free! Just ask
any Jew who survived the Holocaust! When the time comes for God’s salvation, it will be
through the efforts of His people, the
Saints; it’s from these the knowledge of repentance and redemption
from slavery will come. These Saints
must accompany them into captivity. Psalm 85:8 I will listen to what God the
LORD will say; he promises peace to
his people, his saints--
but let them not return
to folly. For their service to Him,
God promises peace to His Saints. Until
that peace comes, they must continue to live in faith and not
return to the folly of former ways. Psalm 85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land. Those who fear God can be
reassured that God’s salvation
is not
far off, but they must endure
to the end. Psalm 85:10 Love and faithfulness meet
together; righteousness
and peace kiss each
other. Who is it that speaks endlessly about love, but have no desire for faithfulness to God? And who is it that has been faithful to God for thousands
of years, yet have been hated by all these who so easily profess ‘love’?
Where was all this love when the Jews were being slaughtered? Generally, today, this love is being
directed towards Gods’ enemies, the Muslim hordes, and against their
brother Israelites, the Jews! While
their flowery phrases of ‘love’
rolled from their lips, why didn’t they take note of what Jesus said, “Salvation
is of the Jews”? Love is more
than mere words, you know! Love
involves the protection of others, and this may mean laying down your life
for others. Perhaps from time to time,
we should reference Jesus Christ’s definition
of love: John 15:13-14 “Greater love has no one than this,
that
he lay down his life for his
friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I
command.” Are you prepared to do what Jesus
commanded? Is this the type of love
you have? Or is your love just mere
words? Well, time will tell, and all
will be tested! Those who
have genuine love, according to Jesus’ definition, will meet together with those who
have faithfulness – that is, those who put their lives on
the line year after year in the defense of God and His people. The first group must be prepared to lay
down their lives for another, while the second group must be prepared to
fight for God’s Kingdom. “Righteousness
and peace will kiss each other”: the righteousness comes from God
and the peace will come
from the faithful on earth
who achieve this peace through war against God’s enemies: Psalm 85:11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks
down from heaven. This confirms what we’ve
just said. Christians, today, tend
to forget the history of the House of Israel and how God required them to
fight for the Psalm 85:12 The LORD will indeed give
what is good, and our land
will yield its harvest. It will be called the
Blessed Land. There’s nothing like
hardship and deprivation to give us an appreciation of the basic things we
take for granted today. If only people
would reflect on the deprivation of the Jews in the Holocaust before they
whine and complain about minor glitches in their lifestyles. How ill-equipped will such people be when
they are deprived of everything, and their lives hang by a thread
everyday. At that time, people will
long for God’s blessing of peace and prosperity and the removal of the threat
of the enemy. This is how God describes
these blessings in return for obedience: Deut 28:3-11 “You will
be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of
your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your
livestock--the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5
Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will
be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The
LORD will grant that the enemies
who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come
at you from one direction but flee
from you in seven. 8 The LORD will send a blessing on your
barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless
you in the land he is giving you. 9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as
he promised you on oath, if
you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on
earth will see that you are called
by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. 11
The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity--in the fruit of your womb, the young
of your livestock and the crops of your ground--in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.” God knows how to
bless His people, and He knows how to provide for all their needs, but this is dependent on their
obedience. On the other hand, Moses
was equally explicit about what would befall God’s people Psalm 85:13 Righteousness goes before him and prepares
the way for his steps. I would hope that
everyone knows by now who prepares the way for the True Messenger! It’s
Levi! (Mal 3:1). This is God’s description of Levi: Mal 2:4-7 “And
you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,"
says the LORD Almighty. 5 "My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace,
and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6
True instruction was in his mouth
and nothing false was found on his
lips. He walked with me in peace
and uprightness, and
turned many from sin. 7 "For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction--because he is the MESSENGER of the
LORD Almighty.” PSALM 86 A prayer of
David. As we all know, David was
a prophet and a Patriarch. As a prophet
he
predicted future events. And
as a Patriarch, he
had fatherly concern for his offspring. Acts 2:29-35 “Brothers,
I can tell you confidently that the PATRIARCH
David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30
But he was a PROPHET and
knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his
descendants on his throne. 31 Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the
Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32
God has raised this Jesus to life, and we
are all witnesses of the fact. 33 Exalted to the right
hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out
what you now see and hear. 34 For David did not ascend to heaven, and
yet he said, "`The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 35
until I make your enemies a
footstool for your feet."' All of which should become clearer
as we progress through this Psalm. This prayer of David (Psalm 86) is for his future offspring; the most famous, of
course, being Jesus Christ. As a point
of interest, Jesus Christ also had offspring – though not in the
same way as through human reproduction.
Jesus offspring are
those who have His Spirit. And if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, then they
are not His
[offspring]. Rom 8:9 “You, however,
are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if
the Spirit of God lives in you.
And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not
belong to Christ.” A better
rendering of this last sentence would be, “And if
anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ then they are not His OFFSPRING.”
This is confirmed in Isa 53:10 “Yet
it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him
to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his OFFSPRING and prolong
his days, and the will of
the LORD will prosper in his hand.” Christ’s days on earth were actually prolonged through His offspring in whom He lives
through
His Spirit. Jesus Christ
is the Son of David, and so
Jesus’ offspring also include the offspring of David. In the last chapter of the Bible, Jesus
Christ actually confirms that He is both the root and offspring of David (Rev 22:16). The importance of this is
that both Jesus Christ and David were Jews of the Tribe of Judah. This is why the Apostles confirmed that the
offspring of Jesus must become like the Jews – regardless of their ethnic or
tribal background. It was, in fact,
the Jews and Levites who took the message of Jesus into the rest of the
world. Matthew was a Levite,
and so was Luke. Another very important player in all this
was Barnabas, who was also
a Levite (Acts 4:36), and who wrote the Book of Hebrews.
Barnabas was the one the Apostles sent to It’s in this
context that David prays for their offspring.
Having provided
this background information, it’s time to begin this Psalm. Psalm 86:1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy. At the time of the end,
the offspring of Jesus will suffer many things to test them and to prove
their resolve. They’ll be living in
difficult circumstances and will find themselves in need of many things. Psalm 86:2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save
your servant who trusts in you.
An additional burden
will be the proliferation of their enemies who will seek to kill them. Psalm 86:3 Have mercy on me, O
Lord, for I call to you all day long. In that day, terror will abound, and getting through even a single day
will prove to be a challenge. Jesus’
advice on this was to not worry about tomorrow, because it will take care of
itself: Matt
6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble
of its own.” The lesson here is to get through one day
at a time, rather than worry about what may happen later. Psalm 86:4 Bring joy to your
servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul [body or life). Those who
serve
God as servants have a distinct
advantage over those who don’t! Mal 3:17-18 “They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty,
"in the day when I make up my treasured
possession. I will spare them, just as in
compassion a man spares his son who
serves him. 18And you will again see the distinction
between the righteous and the
wicked, between those who serve God and those who do
not.” Surely a servant should do as his Lord commands him! If he doesn’t, then he falls into the
category of “the wicked”. Psalm 86:5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. The category spoken of here refers to God’s servants (see last
verse) – those who obey Him! To these God is forgiving and good. Psalm 86:6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen
to my cry for mercy. Those who don’t listen to
God will find that He doesn’t listen to them either. Many will have to learn this distinction
the hard way. Those who serve
God will find that He will answer their cries
for mercy. Psalm 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer
me. There’s going to be plenty of trouble, and
as we’ve just stated, God will answer those who serve Him. For generations,
Christians haven’t cared much for the Both Jesus and his cousin
John the Baptist spoke of the coming If the Kingdom of God must be taken
by forceful men, then the
taking of the Psalm 86:8 Among the gods there is none like you, O
Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. If the reader grasped what Jesus said about the ‘gods’ “to
whom the Word of God came” (John 10:35), and has been following the
subsequent instruction, you’ll know who these ‘gods’
are. These ‘gods’ will become
renowned for their deeds, but none of their deeds will compare with that of
God Almighty. Yet these ‘gods’
will be “sons of the Most High” (Luke 6:35). These sons
or ‘gods’ will know their might and power comes from the Most High God. Psalm 86:9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before
you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. Primarily, all the nations
God has made are the children of Psalm 86:10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. God is a Father to all
His sons and daughters and He knows how to take care of His
own. His children will see His
marvelous deeds. Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may
fear your name. The days are coming when every human being on the face of the earth
will have a healthy fear of God. Those who want to act tough now will soon find
their hearts failing for fear! Those
insolent creatures that challenge God will soon receive God’s response! In the words of David we read this: Psa 28:4-5
“Repay them for their deeds and for their evil
work; repay them for what their hands have done and bring
back upon them what they deserve.
5 Since they show no
regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done, he will tear them down
and never build them up again.” Psalm 86:12 I will praise you, O Lord my
God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86:13 For great is your love toward
me; you have delivered me from the
depths of the grave. This is the point that
Luke made in the Book of Acts (Acts 2:31) concerning the resurrection of
Jesus. David himself is still
in the grave and awaiting the resurrection: Acts 13:36-37 “For when David
had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he
was buried with his fathers
and
his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from
the dead did not see decay.” In the future,
David too, will be raised from the grave and live again. It was God’s intention
that we should have confidence that He can raise us from the dead, and we’ve
just been reading that the Apostles and disciples were witnesses of this event of Jesus’ resurrection
(Acts 2:32). The Apostle Paul also confirms that if the
Spirit that raised Jesus is living in us, then we too will be resurrected: Rom 8:11
“And if the Spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the
dead will also give
life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Our mortal bodies
will come back to life, fully functional and repaired, and we will live again
– if
we have God’s Holy Spirit, which
He gives to those who OBEY Him (Acts 5:32). Like Jesus Christ, we’ll
all have to prove our worth to God.
The greater our worth, the greater the honour! It’s no good lamenting after the event what
might have been. The chances are that you
will only one chance to prove your faithfulness to God before the death-blow
is struck. Persecution and death were
widespread in the days of the Apostles, and for hundreds of years afterwards. Christians were mercilessly hunted down and
put to death, and their deaths were far from pleasant! Heb 11:35-40 “…Others
were tortured and refused
to be released, so that
they might gain a better
resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while
still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to
death by the sword. They
went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- 38 the world was
not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and
holes in the ground. 39 These
were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what
had been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us so
that only together with us would
they be made perfect.”
These poor tortured people will be resurrected in the first
resurrection with the saints of our day. The early Christians knew
all about persecution – real persecution! Today
we have Christians whining and complaining over a bit of name-calling and
they think this is persecution. They
have a lot to learn! People today have
developed sensitivity to any form of criticism, especially where it relates
to ‘political correctness’. How are these people ever going to cope
when their constant accusers come at them with weapons to kill them? Will they yield to them as they yielded to
their ‘political correctness’
accusations? Well, now they must! They defended these worthless creatures
against all commonsense or justice when they falsely accused, and now they
must pay the penalty of their stupidity. Does anyone really
imagine that these foreigners had a right to criticize everyone else and to
demand respect when they, themselves, show none in return? You opened your doors to admit them to your
country for a better way of life, and like the dogs they are, they turned to bite the hand that feeds
them. And even worse in Psalm 86:14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks
my life-- men without regard for you. Your enemies will be right among you, and once the law of the land
becomes paralyzed, there’ll be nothing to stop them from attacking you and
killing you. If you’ve learned
anything from history then you will know what to expect. It’s not just Muslims either! You have blacks and Latinos who’ve joined
the chorus of accusing you of everything, and once again you have half the
nation defending their right to do it.
You would have noticed that ‘freedom of speech’ is a one-way street today! And here’s the
clincher! These men have no regard for God, and your
loyalty to God will be tested. Will
you defend God even in the face of death, or will you cave and defend their
rights to free speech in order to save your life? If you take the second option, then expect no
mercy from God! Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness. God is faithful to those who are faithful
to Him! If anyone wants to act like a
traitor and betray Him and His Saints, then they will find God most uncompassionate! Psalm 86:16 Turn to me and have mercy on
me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. This is a little difficult to explain, but the maidservant is a reference to the City of Psalm 86:17 Give me a sign of your
goodness, that my enemies may see
it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me. The reference to being comforted
is very significant here. It has to do
with God choosing The fact is that
everything that was prophesied of John,
as
the Elijah, was not fulfilled in his
day. There are many things that remain
unfulfilled. His life was cut short,
as was the life of Jesus Christ, so there are many prophecies to be fulfilled
by both Jesus Christ and Elijah. The
third Elijah will come in the power of the first Elijah, with power to call
down fire from the sky and many other powers, including withholding rain and
causing droughts, cursing the lands and generally provoking God’s enemies. PSALM 87 Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song. Psalm 87:1 He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; Psalm 87:2 the LORD loves the gates of The reader may be interested
in an excerpt from Wikipedia concerning the King’s
Gate or *** The gate is located in the middle of the eastern side of the In Jewish tradition, this is
the gate through which the Messiah will enter The Golden Gate is one of the few sealed gates in Jerusalem's Old City
Walls, along with the Huldah Gates, and a small
Biblical and Crusader-era postern located several stories above ground
on the southern side of the eastern
wall. (Apparently, the Muslims decided to play
safe and seal this eastern-wall
window or doorway as well.) *** The irony of it all is
this: It has to be said that although the Muslims are violently antichrist,
yet they do believe the Prophecies, especially those which they are sensitive
about and which might impact on them.
This is something that Christians have a hard time with, that is,
actually believing Bible Prophecy.
Mind you, the Muslims have the guidance of the spirits that control
them, and these spirit rulers of
the heavenly realms will do virtually anything to prevent Bible
Prophecy from coming true! It seems
these demons also have strong alliances with some churches; many of whom are
equally opposed to the Jews even being in the We can’t move on without
a further reference to V2, which says, “the
LORD loves the gates of But we’re jumping ahead
here. It’s important to note that God
does love all 12 Tribes of Israel, including the 10 recalcitrant ones, but
there are limits to His patience with them.
And since we’re speaking of Gates,
God’s love for them becomes evident when the New Jerusalem descends to the earth. This City of The New Jerusalem is yet
in the future and won’t arrive until the Lord Christ puts down all rebellion,
after which, He will hand the Kingdom to the Father: 1Cor 15:24-25 “Then the end
will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God
the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and
power. 25 For he
must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” Having crushed the forces of evil, the Lord
Christ will hand over the Kingdom to the Father, and He will dwell among men – that is, human beings: Rev 21:2-4 “I saw the We find a further
reference to this in the Book of Revelation relating to the aftermath
of the Great Tribulation: Rev 7:14-17
“I answered, "Sir, you know." And he
said, "These are they who have
come out of the great
tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, "they are before the throne
of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the
throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they
hunger; never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead
them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from
their eyes." Psalm 87:3 Glorious things are said of you, O
city of Psalm 87:4 "I will record Rahab (colloquially There’s a lot more to the
above verse than just this, especially relating to The fact is that those
who were actually born in The survivors of Ephraim will
live and breed to become as
numerous as before, but only after they are brought back from
captivity and shown how to fight the enemy.
There’ll be none of the wimpish behaviour of worrying about ‘collateral damage’.
They’ll be educated to know how to deal with God’s enemies and to know
they difference between those who have rights to the Psalm 87:5 Indeed, of Psalm 87:6 The LORD will write in the register of the
peoples: "This
one was born in Psalm 87:7 As they make music they will
sing, "All my fountains are in
you." It will be from
PSALM 88 A song. A
psalm of the Sons of Korah. For the director of
music. According to mahalath leannoth. A maskil
of Heman the Ezrahite. As we all know, David was
both a Patriarch and a Prophet. A
prophet prophecies as all the Prophets of Old did. A prophet understands God’s will and he
understands God’s Word. This is because
he possesses the Spirit of Prophecy. As a prophet, David prophesied. What he wrote was prophecy. This seems logical, doesn’t it? So is this what the churches of this world
believe? Well, apparently not! There have been many sermons preached by
preachers based on verses here and there from the Book of Psalms. These selective verses are always preached
to make the congregation feel good in the typical hand-holding and limp-wristed fashion.
The whole purpose of these sermons seems to be to make the
congregation feel good about themselves and leave a little extra in the
collection plate. Is this really the duty
of the preachers in the churches? What
about repentance and obedience to God?
Isn’t this the real duty of humanity?
Is life really all about feeling good?
If this is what the churches think, then they have woefully misread
the Scriptures. If the Lord Christ had
wanted to feel good, then He could have run in the other direction when His
accusers came to arrest Him. He wasn’t
interested in feeling good! He was
interested in obeying His Father
and doing what was required of Him! The churches of this
world cannot claim to have been born in Presently, the Jews are
under enormous strain from all the nations around them and they’re completely
out-numbered. Added to this, the
Western nations continue to aid and abet their enemies, making them even more
vulnerable. It’s now White House
policy to force the Israelis to continue to make concessions to the Muslim
hordes and even allow them to make Every Christian on the
face of the earth, who has ever read the Scriptures, would know that this is
the worst possible affront to God.
We’ve just gotten through reading how God loves the foundations of His Knowing this will mean
certain slaughter for the Israelis, the Ten Tribes feel this is a small price
to pay for peace in their time. They
feel they must appease the Muslim hordes so they can wave a worthless piece of
paper in the air like British PM Neville Chamberlain. To the Ten Tribes and a growing number of
churches, this will be a happy day.
And while they are feeling good about themselves,
sudden destruction will engulf them like the waves of the sea, and it will be
just like it was in the days of Noah.
At that time, there will be no further warning and they will know
nothing until the flood sweeps them away. And now, through his prayer to God, the king of the
House of Israel, the Prophet David,
beseeches God on behalf of His constituents: Psalm 88:1 O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before
you. The days of self-satisfaction and feeling
good will come to an abrupt end for the House of Israel. They cared nothing for the House of Judah, and
now their turn has come around. Psalm 88:2 May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry. The prayers of the House
of Israel will fall on deaf ears in that day, because God will refuse to
listen to them. If Jesus Christ was
forsaken by God at the moment when He gave His life for the House of Israel –
the only people He was sent to at that time (“I was sent only to the lost
sheep of Israel” Matt 15:24) then why would the House of Israel
have any expectation that God would hear their prayers? The whole nation of them will be ignored as
they are brought to the very brink
of the grave. Even worse,
there will be a famine of the Word of God (Amos 8:11-12), so they won’t know
what is happening or why. In that day,
they won’t be feeling good about themselves! Psalm 88:3 For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.
As a whole nation, Ephraim will be near
death. Ephraim was a special son of
God, whom God took an interest in, building him up and enriching him in every
way. But just as God expected, Ephraim
turned away from Him (Hos 11:1-7).
The nation of Ephraim (USA) is the House of Israel in Bible
prophecy. To those who stubbornly
disagree with this, just wait and see who loses their capital city first –
which is prophesied in Isaiah 28.
This event begins a chain of catastrophes. When it happens, it will be too late for
regrets for failing to believe God.
From then on you will be on your own and facing down destiny itself. With the life-blood of
the nation drawing near to the grave, there won’t be a lot of hope for the
formerly mightiest nation on earth.
Thankfully, God offers hope, but first a little background
information: Hos 13:12-15 “The guilt
of Ephraim is
stored up, his sins are
kept on record. 13 Pains
as
of a woman in
childbirth come to him, but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time arrives, he does not come to the opening of
the womb.” And who is the woman in childbirth who is
about to give birth to
a nation? With all their might
and power, Ephraim has no interest in this woman in childbirth, which gave birth to a son. With all their power, they chose to do
nothing, even though they had a similar birth themselves in the early days of
their nation. As for the woman in childbirth, this is
the House of David, which
gave birth to the man child Jesus Christ.
Rev
12:13-14 “When the dragon saw that he
had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the
woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman
was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place
prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,
out of the serpent's reach.” And this details the precise timing of the
destruction of Ephraim and the duration of their fall as a nation. It will be 3½ years of catastrophic
destruction and slaughter before they are no more a nation. Years of slavery will continue in foreign
lands before they are finally rescued. Continuing where we left
off in the Book of Hosea concerning Ephraim:
Hos 13:14 “I will ransom
them from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is
your destruction?” Here the
prophet addresses Death and Grave as living entities, and
this is exactly what they are! In
fact, they’re mentioned by name as ‘horsemen of the Apocalypse’ in Rev 6:7-8
“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the
voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8 I
looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close
behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by
sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Notice the capitalization indicating
names! (The translators chose to translate ‘Grave’ as ‘Hades’, but
it’s the same demon ruler.) These two demon spirits are spoken of in
this Psalm in V11
below. Continuing in V14 of
the Book of Hosea: “I will have no compassion, 15
even though he thrives among his brothers.
An east wind from
the LORD will come, blowing in from
the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up. His
storehouse will be plundered of all its treasures.” It’s pretty obvious where this east wind comes from; it comes
from the Psalm 88:4 I am counted among those who
go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength. The time is coming when the mighty Ephraim will have no strength! They have not used their strength
wisely, and their power and might will be taken from them and given to those
who will use it for a godly purpose. Psalm 88:5 I am set apart with the dead, like
the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care. God expended a lot of care on Ephraim, healing them in times past of their calamities, and even ‘stooping
down to feed them’ (Hos 11:4). In V2 of this same chapter of Hosea, God says, “But the more I called Psalm 88:6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths. The reader will recall that this happened first to the Jews during the
Holocaust, when the Jewish captives were led into long trenches and gunned
down, and hundreds of their bodies were stacked into each pit. So Ephraim should be under no illusions as
to the meaning of this. Now it’s
Ephraim’s turn! In spite of everything
that happened to them, and after all that they suffered, the Jews still
returned to God! Now Ephraim must do
the same thing if they hope to be saved and restored. Psalm 88:7 Your wrath lies heavily upon
me; you have overwhelmed me with
all your waves. Selah. Remember Jesus’
words in Matt
24:37-39 concerning a flood that will sweep them away? It is, in fact, speaking of a flood of war. Psalm 88:8 You have taken from me my closest friends and have
made me repulsive to them. I am
confined and cannot escape; Psalm 88:9 my eyes are dim with
grief. I call to you, O LORD, every
day; I spread out my hands to you. Ephraim chose the wrong friends,
even though they used every device to ‘win their hearts and minds’. They promised them freedom and prosperity,
and spent billions of dollars building infrastructure for them, but all their
inducements fell on deaf ears. They
became even more repulsive to their so-called ‘friends’. Psalm 88:10 Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Selah. This
is a reference to the afterlife that so many Christians believe in. They confidently believe that after they
die, God will take good care of them and show them all His wonders.
The Prophet David is telling them that there is nothing beyond
the grave for those who never
served Him! Psalm 88:11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness
in Destruction? And now the prophet side of David comes to the fore, as he mentions ‘grave’
and ‘Destruction’. Notice
the capitalization of ‘Destruction’,
indicating a name? Grave and Destruction (Death) are the two spirit
entities we spoke of earlier. Is God’s
love
and faithfulness declared
in these two evil creatures? With the
remnant of Ephraim in the very throes of survival, these are the very
creatures they’ll have to contend with!
If any slip up and accept their ‘mark’,
they’ll be thrown into the lake of
fire (Rev
14:9) along with Death
and Hades (Grave):
Rev 20:14
“Then death
and Hades were thrown into
the lake of fire. The lake
of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.” It will be of
small comfort that Death
and Hades will also be
thrown into the Psalm 88:12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your
righteous deeds in the land of oblivion? Those who find themselves in these places will be dead forever! If in this life they failed to serve God in
obedience, what possible use would they be to the Creator God in the
afterlife? There is an afterlife, but
only for those who remained faithful to their God. Psalm 88:13 But I cry to you for help, O
LORD; in the morning my prayer
comes before you. Before the
beginning of a long day and a very
dark night, this is the time to be praying for God’s guidance, and seeking
Him while He can still be found! Psalm 88:14 Why, O LORD, do you reject
me and hide your face from me? The answer is that God’s people rejected Him first! Psalm 88:15 From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death; I have
suffered your terrors and
am in despair. God describes Ephraim as
a child whom He carefully
nurtured as they became a nation in their own right. They had every reason to honour and respect God for all that He has done for
them. Instead, they have led the world
in promoting the godless theory of evolution and no longer give credit to the
Creator God or believe Him. Some may
suggest that these transgressors are largely the left-wing loonies, but these
are the majority who voted in a foreign President! Nations tend to get the leaders they
deserve! The Democrats have a
specific mental disease that drives them to believe themselves to be
‘progressives’. They were determined
to ‘progress’ to either a woman President (Hilary Clinton) or a black one
(Obama). Finally they chose Obama
because he was the most likely to ‘spread the wealth around’. Democrats didn’t care about Obama’s associations with Islam, nor his undocumented
past, they were only interested in getting the wealth of others. And what they got was financial chaos! Where’s the wealth now they were hoping
for? Has it trickled down to the
undeserving? Nations do, indeed, get
the leaders they deserve, and God sees to this! Dan 4:17 “The decision
is announced by messengers,
the holy ones declare
the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.'” What a duplicitous
creature Obama is! On the one hand he
goes to the Psalm 88:16 Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me. In view of all that has happened in the recent past, whose fault is
this? Does anyone seriously believe
that God would be happy with the present US Administration? God gave them what they demanded, but now they are
finding it was not what they needed. Such is the madness of the Democrats, and
still they think everything is the fault of President George W. Bush! One of the promises Obama
made during the election was to end the war on terror and
bring the troops home.
This was met with loud acclaim from half the people. One of his other promises was to close So what’s God’s verdict
in all this? Is it peace and
tranquility everlasting? No, His wrath will sweep over them,
and terror will destroy
them. Psalm 88:17 All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me. As we all know, God
promised He would never again destroy the world with a flood. What this is referring to is the flood of war and
terror. The enemy will surround them on all
sides. The Ephraimites
will be hunted and tracked down and they’ll have no defensive borders. Psalm 88:18 You have taken my
companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend. When all your companions and loved ones are gone, darkness may well be
the only avenue open to anyone. At
that time of mob-rule, venturing into daylight will prove fatal. Millions will flood the borders, and those
living among you will rise up against you.
Most Americans are already aware of the crime rate among these aliens. PSALM 89 A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. There is a marked
contrast with this Psalm and the previous one. The difference is that they are speaking of
different people. The previous Psalm
marks the demise of the northern Ten Tribes – specifically Ephraim, whereas
this Psalm speaks of God’s love for His people Judah and the coming of their
appointed king, which is King David – which we get to in V3. Psalm 89:1 I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your
faithfulness known through all generations. Faithfulness to the Laws
of God typifies only
the Jews, and God extends His faithfulness in return. God is faithful to those who are faithful
to Him! Psalm 89:2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness
in heaven itself. Before the Assembly of the Holy Ones who surround
God, this declaration of faithfulness
was made; this is stated in V5 and is speaking of the faithful angels. Psalm 89:3 You said, "I have made a
covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant, Psalm 89:4 `I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through
all generations.'" Selah. This
Psalm contrasts markedly with the previous Psalm concerning the ‘lost Tribes of Psalm 89:5 The heavens praise your
wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness
too, in the assembly of the holy
ones. The angels who remained faithful to God are
the holy ones, which contrasts with those angels that rebelled against Him and
were exiled on the earth. Psalm 89:6 For who in the skies above can
compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? In was in the Assembly of the Heavenly Beings that God declared His faithfulness to
Judah and David their king. Psalm 89:7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he
is more awesome than all who surround him. Here we see another reference to the Council or Great
Assembly of the Most High God.
All those who surround Him
in this Council know
that God is more awesome than them. However, long ago, there was one who didn’t
think so, and he aspired to sit on the very Throne of God! (Isa 14:13-14). He started a rebellion to overthrow God but
was immediately challenged by the One who became the Christ, and this Mighty
Being hurled Satan to the earth (“like
lightning” is the description He gave – Luke 10:18) – along with all his
treacherous angels who were willing to betray God. And so began a 6,000 year demonstration of what
results when power is in the hands of a lunatic, and Satan has confirmed this
description of himself – and so have his offspring, the children of the
devil. Psalm 89:8 O LORD God Almighty, who is
like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and
your faithfulness surrounds you.
God remains
faithful to those He loves, whether they are humans or angels, but His love
and faithfulness doesn’t extend to those who rebel against
Him. Psalm 89:9 You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you
still them. It may be comforting to
know that God can still the surging sea, and this is exactly what Jesus
did. Matt 8:24-27 “Without
warning, a furious storm
came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was
sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord,
save us! We're going to drown!" 26 He replied, "You of
little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked
the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. 27
The men were amazed and asked, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!" We could
consider this to be just an interesting anecdote about a furious storm that came up without warning.
With Jesus and the twelve aboard the ship, it seemed to the spirit rulers
to be a good time to mount a coup and kill them all. The disciples were fearful, but Jesus
wasn’t. He knew the source of the
attack and rebuked it. There is more
to this surging sea than is
immediately apparent. There is a beast that arises out of the surging
sea, which is spoken of in Rev 13:1, and this beast is going to be given a
certain season to do his work, but we won’t go into all that now. Just to confirm the
context of all this, we now find mention of a spirit ruler in Psalm 89:10 You crushed Rahab
like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. Colloquially, Rahab refers to Psalm 89:11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all
that is in it. Only David’s own Tribe of
Judah has continually believed God and worshipped Him as the Creator God, and
not just in words either!
They longed to return to the City of Jesus Christ, the Rock, came to the earth as a man to reveal
the Father: Matt 11:25-27
“At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for
this was your good pleasure. 27 "All things have
been committed to me by
my Father. No one knows the
Son except the Father, and
no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses
to reveal him.” So clearly, it was the Father whom nobody knew! Jesus further pointed out that the Father was greater than He. John 14:28 “You heard me
say, `I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you
would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” So do all
Christians know the Father?
Even more to the point, do they actually know the Son? Jesus very plainly said, “No one knows
the Son except the Father”, and it’s very obvious today that
Christianity doesn’t know the Son! Do they see Him as the Mighty Warrior, the
Messiah figure, who will spring disaster on His enemies? Hardly!
They portray Him as an effeminate weakling; one who is totally
incapable of waging war. They’re whole
doctrine is all about feeling good about themselves and deluding others about
their ‘righteousness’. So who actually knows
Jesus Christ today? Jesus told
us! He told us that those who are taught by the Father are the
ones who know the Son. John 6:44-45
“No one
can come to me unless the FATHER who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last
day. 45 It is written in the Prophets:
`They will all be taught by God.'
Everyone
who listens to the FATHER
and learns from him comes
to me.” In the last days, God has raised up some
sons and taught them. The Prophets wrote about them! In the last days, when The Sons of Jerusalem
know they must fight for the Psalm 89:12 You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name. Tabor and Herman are two mountains in the The Eleven Apostles were
standing there when Jesus ascended above the clouds to the Majestic
Glory. This occurred just before the
Feast of Pentecost. The Apostles were
called “men of There was something else
spoken of just before this. The
Apostles asked Jesus if He was going to restore
the Kingdom to Israel at
that time. We find this account in V6-8 “So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord,
are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Many people think they
know today, and even though they set dates based on human delusion, they
never seem to speak of the
restoration of the Remember we’re still
speaking of the two mountains that enclose the region of Psalm 89:13 Your arm is endued with power;
your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.
The Apostle John
later saw Him in vision as the fearsome warrior that He is (Rev 1:12-16). What comes out of His mouth is not a
bouquet of flowers but a two-edged
sword, and He means business!
The two-edged sword coming out
of His mouth is actually a command to His servants. Psalm 89:14 Righteousness
and JUSTICE are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. God’s JUSTICE will
catch up to all those who’ve continued to be unfaithful to Him. But
love and faithfulness will be forthcoming to those who have learned to
acclaim Him and have walked in the Light of His presence: Psalm 89:15 Blessed are those who have learned
to acclaim you, who walk in the light
of your presence, O LORD. “Light of your presence”
refers to the Spirit of Christ
– the promised “Counsellor”, which
God the Father sent in Jesus Name
to those who have learned from Him
and faithfully walk in the Light of
His presence. Psalm 89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. Unlike God’s servants,
Christianity doesn’t rejoice in God’s righteousness. They have their own ideas about
righteousness, and it seems that one of these is to love God’s enemies. God’s servants know that the reason the Son
of God came was to destroy the
devil’s work. All
of it, including the children of the devil, and to
start with a clean slate: 1John 3:7-8 “Dear
children, do not let
anyone lead you astray. He
who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8
He who does what is sinful is of
the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The
reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the devil's work.” The time for this will be when the Lord
Jesus returns to restore the Psalm 89:17 For you are their glory and strength, and
by your favor you exalt our horn. The horn is a
reference to the horns of a bull
that gores its victims.
It was the might and power of Ephraim who was first to gore the nations in Moses’ prophecy for the last days:
Deut 33:17
“In majesty he is like a firstborn
bull; his horns are
the horns of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even those at the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim;
such are the thousands of Manasseh." Well, the
firstborn bull is gradually fading away, and a replacement is in order. It was through the blessing of God that Ephraim arose to such might and power
in these last days to become the mightiest power on earth. And just as assuredly, God can remove that blessing and give it to
someone else. And in V15 of this Psalm, God identifies His choice with: “Blessed are those who have learned
to acclaim you, who walk in the Light of your Presence, O LORD.” This is what
God requires of His servants, and Ephraim has failed miserably in this. They seem to learn nothing from God
anymore! Wasn’t it
Moses who led the people of In the Book
of Zechariah we learn that the people or Sons
of Jerusalem will be very
strong, and the leaders of And this is the beginning
of Psalm 89:18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One
of Israel. There’ll certainly be a defensive
shield around the Sons of
Jerusalem, making them virtually invincible.
This will further exacerbate the enemy with madness. And now we come to the
moment when the Prior to this and in their darkest
hour, the leaders of Psalm 89:19 Once you spoke in a vision, to
your faithful people you
said: "I have
bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have exalted a young man from among the people. Psalm 89:20 I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed
him. David was anointed ‘King of Israel’ by the
Levite Prophet Samuel while he was still a young man. Psalm 89:21 My hand will sustain him; surely my arm
will strengthen him. Psalm 89:22 No enemy will
subject him to tribute; no
wicked man will oppress him. Psalm 89:23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. Psalm 89:24 My faithful love will
be with him, and through my name his horn
will be exalted. This confirms the meaning
of the ‘horn’ to gore His enemies. Psalm 89:25 I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. Psalm 89:26 He will call out to me,
`You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.' Now
we have it confirmed that the Rock
is our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
which is also confirmed in 1Cor 10:3. Psalm 89:27 I will also appoint him my firstborn, the
most exalted of the kings of the earth. The firstborn bull,
Ephraim, will no
longer be exalted
in the earth, but David will be! And
like Ephraim, David will use his horn to gore the nations to the ends
of the earth. David
will
be the most exalted of the kings of the earth. Psalm 89:28 I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never
fail. David is now dead, but God’s covenant to
him lives on and will be confirmed at his resurrection. Psalm 89:29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens
endure. The line of David
continues to this day, and many Jews are the direct descendants of
David. Jesus is one of them. Not all Jews of course, have a direct line
through David, but those who do, enjoy a very special privilege in the same
way that our own children and our grandchildren, and great grandchildren do
with us. But all Jews, being of the
Tribe of Judah, have rights to the House of David their king. Psalm 89:30 "If his sons forsake my law and do not
follow my statutes, Psalm 89:31 if they violate my decrees and
fail to keep my commands, Psalm 89:32 I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; Psalm 89:33 but I will not
take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. Much more is expected of the sons of David, because their father David
is a son of God. Psalm 89:34 I will not violate my covenant or alter
what my lips have uttered. So God’s faithfulness to
David’s sons continues to this day.
Down through the ages they deserved punishment and they got
punishment, but God’s faithfulness towards them never waned. The rest of the Tribes of Israel didn’t get
this type of attention from God. In a
large part, they were left to their own devices and suffered the natural
consequences for their sins. However, with Ephraim,
God did take notice.
Ephraim’s sins were stored
up and kept on record (Hos 13:12) to await the day of
punishment. Psalm 89:35 Once for all, I have sworn by
my holiness-- and I will not lie to David-- Psalm 89:36 that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; Psalm 89:37 it will be established forever
like
the moon, the
faithful witness in the sky." Selah Well,
Almighty God has certainly made His position clear! His faithfulness to David and his sons will
never fail. However, there were times
of punishment, and these were often very public, resulting in severe beatings
and expulsion from many countries.
They were hunted down like animals for no other reason other than they
were Jews. They were completely
harmless in their host nations, and never engaged in subversive actions or
anything else that would justifiably draw any form of acrimony. Yet they were persecuted never-the-less. Perhaps God’s position
wasn’t so clear after all to those who were being punished. When the Jews lived among the heathen, they
began to compromise their faithfulness to God by adopting the practices of
others. Other nations might get away
with it, but God’s covenant with David was very specific. David’s
sons would not get away with it, and
would be punished. Naturally enough,
when they saw themselves being punished, and noticing that others far worse
than them were not, they imagined that they were being rejected by God. This is not unique to the
Jews only, and Christians also struggle with it: Heb 12:4-8 “In your struggle against
sin, you have not yet resisted to
the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten
that word of encouragement that addresses
you as sons: "My son, do
not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, 6 because the Lord
disciplines those he loves, and he
punishes everyone he accepts as a son." (As a point of interest, this is a direct quote from
a son of David, whose name
is King Solomon, and can be found in Pro 3:11-12.) V7 “Endure hardship as discipline;
God is treating you as sons.
For
what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not
disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate
children and not true sons.” As the Levite Barnabas points out in this
passage, Christians had not yet struggled against sin to
the point of shedding their blood.
For the past 2,000 years, the sons of David have shed much blood in seemingly
endless persecutions. So it’s almost a natural
consequence that they would imagine that God had forsaken and rejected them. Psalm 89:38 But you have rejected, you have
spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one (David).
As the sons of David, they are feeling a little hurt – and
understandably. Psalm 89:39 You have renounced the
covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. When people feel hurt and humiliated, they tend to forget that God
disciplines all the sons
He receives. Although we’re
speaking of the sons of David here, the same thing applies to Christians
today, even though Christians in the Western world have not had to struggle to the point of shedding
blood. The Jews, however,
have, and this has gone on for centuries. It’s interesting to note
that since the Jewish people have repopulated the But now there is a
problem! Instead of listening to their
Creator God, the Jewish people have been listening to Ephraim. They saw the power of God through four
major wars, but today they rely on the power of Ephraim to bring them
peace. Ephraim is renowned for giving bad
advice, and today that advice is drifting into the realm of the spirit
world. That advice has taken the form
of surrender, surrender! Surrender
everything for peace! After four major
wars defending God’s Land, the insane advice from Ephraim
is to give God’s enemies all of God’s Land and His Holy City, and to become
stateless minority in a The faithful Jews have
one more task to perform. They must
prove the evil intent of Ephraim’s advice by suffering the consequences! And God has good reason for doing
this. What Ephraim has thrust upon the
heads of the Jews will come down on their own heads. When Ephraim sought to sacrifice the Jews in order to have
peace with Islam, in that moment, their fate was sealed! And so the faithful Jews
must suffer the indignity of the consequences of Ephraim’s madness as a
prelude to Ephraim’s total destruction.
The Israelis must be invaded yet again and be plundered and scorned by
their present neighbours: Psalm 89:40 You have broken through all his walls and reduced his
(that is, David and his
sons) strongholds to ruins. It was certainly not
by chance that the Israelis built miles of protective walls to keep the
marauding Muslims out! The leftist
maniacs in Psalm 89:41 All who pass by have plundered
him; he has become the scorn of his
neighbors. Psalm 89:42 You have exalted the right
hand of his foes; you have made all
his enemies rejoice. We all know how these
dogs rejoice; we all saw them dancing in the streets on 9/11. When they slaughtered 3,000 Americans they
became ecstatic. So imagine their joy
when they slaughter the Israelis! The
leftist loonies in Psalm 89:43 You have turned back the edge
of his sword and have not supported him in battle. David’s people Judah will have a hard time
wondering what went wrong. ‘How
did it all happen?’, and ‘Why did it happen?’ will be
the questions being asked. And the
answer, in a word, is Ephraim! Psalm 89:44 You have put an end to his
splendor and cast his (David’s) throne to the ground. Thankfully, the throne will be
restored and the crown kept for safe-keeping by a caretaker priest-king (Zech 6:12-15). Psalm 89:45 You have cut short the days of
his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame. Selah. It’s the youth who get cut down in war, but
it also means that by any standard, Psalm 89:46 How long, O LORD? Will you
hide yourself forever? How long will your
wrath burn like fire? Psalm 89:47 Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you
have created all men! David actually died around the age of 65, and this is something to remember. There was futility in the creation of all men, and God
acknowledges this. It wasn’t all men
that God was interested in, but only those whom He chose. The whole purpose to the creation of
mankind was to generate righteous rulers to replace the
present rulers of the spirit realm.
And this is precisely why Jesus came – to destroy Satan and his rulers
along with all their brood (1John 3:8).
Further reference to this can be found at Heb 2:10-18. Psalm 89:48 What man can live and not
see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? Selah. How
true this is! From the very outset,
God made it clear that ‘dust we
are, and to dust we’ll return.’
We have no power of our own to rise from the dead. The so-called inherent ‘immortality’ that
has us floating off to heaven when we die is merely the fiction of the churches today. When a man dies,
just as David did, his body decays and turns to dust. And in most cases, they are dead forever,
never to live again. The one caveat to
this concerns those who faithfully obeyed God and received His Holy Spirit. The same
Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will also raise the Saints in the
resurrection: Rom
8:11 “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” If the mortal bodies of the dead are
still lying in the grave, then they are still dead! Which means,
of course, they are not living in heaven! They are still dead and in the process of
turning into dust. Even God’s servant
David is still in the grave awaiting the resurrection (Acts 2:29). He has not ascended to heaven (V34). Psalm 89:49 O Lord, where is your former
great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? David’s descendants will see God’s love and faithfulness – in just a
little while. In fact, God puts it
this way: Isa 40:1-5 “Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God. 2 Speak
tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been
completed, that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3
A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the
wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be
revealed, and all mankind
together will see it. For the
mouth of the LORD has spoken."
God offers comfort
for His people Judah,
and confirms they received double
for their sins. He also
confirms that their hard service is
over. This all happens when preparation for the way of the LORD
begins. All Bible students would know that this is
a reference to the messenger
(Mal 3:1),
whom God refers to as Levi
(Mal 2:4, 7). It won’t bode well for
Ephraim if, they too, receive double for their sins. The Jews have been faithful to God’s Holy
City Jerusalem and have suffered many atrocities in its defense. This is something that Ephraim could never
claim! So Ephraim doesn’t have a lot
going for it! Perhaps they deserve
triple for all their sins. As things
presently stand, Psalm 89:50 Remember, Lord, how your
servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations (including Psalm 89:51 the taunts with which your enemies have mocked, O LORD,
with which they have mocked every
step of your anointed one. Psalm 89:52 Praise be to the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen. I hope for Ephraim’s sake
they be able to say this with a clear conscience when the wheel turns full
circle and they find themselves in the same position as Judah. At the present time this is looking
dubious! PSALM 90 A prayer of Moses the man of God. Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been our
dwelling place throughout all generations. Psalm 90:2 Before the
mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and
the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. The mountains were, in fact, brought forth after God
created the earth and before mankind was created
in this present world. The destruction
of the former world, the dinosaur era, is what resulted in the formation of
the mountains. Totally worthless
mountain ranges litter the surface of the earth today, and these will be
demolished and the land restored to its former state. This is what we just read in Isa 40:4
“Every
valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.” God didn’t originally create the
chaos we see today on the earth. But
He did, however, create mankind on the earth amid all this present
chaos. He left it in its present state
in order to demonstrate where rebellion leads and the outcome of it. Psalm 90:3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men." This
confirms what we said in response to Psa 89:48 just a few verses ago: “Dust we are and to dust we return”,
but those who have God’s Holy Spirit will see life again in the resurrection.
Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night. In the beginning, God
established a cycle of seven days, with the Seventh Day being a Holy
Day. In addition to this, God also
allotted seven millennial days, each with a duration of a thousand years. The Seventh Millennial Day is also a day of
rest, that is, a rest from the present rulers of this world, namely Satan and his demon rulers. At the beginning of this 1,000 year
Millennial Day, God plans to repair the earth by leveling the mountains and
restoring the landmass of the earth to what it once was. This is referred to as the New Earth. All visible signs of Satan’s original
rebellion will be gone. Understandably, this
means cities will disappear, along with all the infrastructure that goes with
them. Rivers, bridges and inland seas
will also disappear as the mountains crumble and become a smooth plane. The continents and the islands will be
migrated back to their original positions closing off all inland seas. At that time, there will
be no confusion over who rules the earth.
God’s stamp of authority will be on the whole earth. In that day, all the survivors of the earth
will be required to come and pay homage to their Creator God in Jerusalem at
the appointed times. Psalm 90:5 You sweep men away in the sleep
of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-- Psalm 90:6 though in the morning it
springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. This is a fairly candid description of sudden disaster. In the morning they look healthy like new
grass, but by the evening, they are swept away in death, lying withered on
the ground. And just to put this into
the time-frame of this Psalm and the previous one, we saw a reference to the
messenger of God in Isaiah, chapter 40, which John the Baptist partially
fulfilled. We saw the prophet Isaiah
speak of John as the one who cries out in the wilderness. Luke confirms that Isaiah was speaking of
John the Baptist in Luke 3:4-6, and quotes the very words relating
to the leveling of mountains
and the infilling of valleys. In Isaiah’s account, the
messenger asks what he should cry out, and is told: Isa 40:6 “A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" And then the voice responds: "All
men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of
the field. 7 The grass withers
and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely
the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God
stands forever." 9 You who bring good tidings to Zion,
go
up on a high mountain. You
who bring good tidings to Jerusalem,
lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Quite apart from the fact
that this verse makes reference to the peoples of the earth being like grass that withers,
the prophet is also told to bring
good tidings to The good tidings of the
prophet will come at a crucial time, a time when Psalm 90:7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation. Psalm 90:8 You have set our iniquities
before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Psalm 90:9 All our days pass away under
your wrath; we finish our years
with a moan. Psalm 90:10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet
their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly
away. Well, they will have strength when they
realize that the Sons of
Psalm 90:11 Who knows the power of your
anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. There’s a lot that could be said about those who don’t fear
God. They seem to believe that as long
as they play their ‘spiritual’
games, then no harm will befall them.
Lip-service doesn’t cut it with God!
His servants must obey Him and fear not to! Otherwise, they’re worthless for any
purpose. Psalm 90:12 Teach us to number our days aright, that
we may gain a heart of wisdom. Otherwise they’ll “finish our years with a moan” (V9 above). The Jewish people haven’t been hearing much
wisdom lately, and all the advice they receive from their supposed ‘allies’ is delusional nonsense. Soon they’ll know that wisdom comes from
God. Psalm 90:13 Relent, O LORD! How long will
it be? Have compassion on your servants. The survivors of the siege in Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with
your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted
us, for as many years as we
have seen trouble. Almighty God will go one better
than this. Their generations will be
blessed forever into the future. Psalm 90:16 May your deeds be shown to your
servants, your splendor to their children. Psalm 90:17 May the favor of the Lord our God
rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the
work of our hands. The work of the hands of
God’s servants will be established forever.
This will be in stark contrast to those in the rest of the world. Their works will disappear along with their
mountains. All rights reserved |
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