Bible study: Psalms 31-60

 

PSALM 31

 By Neville V. Stevens

 This Psalm continues where the previous Psalm left off.  It’s speaking about the beginnings of the ‘Armies of the Living God’.  This is the fledgling nation that begins to restore the Holy Land and take control of it.  This army must prepare the land for the arrival of the remnant of the House of Israel. 

 It’s in these initial stages that the Tribe of Judah is called to duty, and these will be enjoined to Jerusalem’s sons.  The initial objective is to purge the Holy Land of foreigners and to save the dwellings there.

 The Prophet David knew all about going into battle against numerically superior odds, and he always prevailed in battle, for God was with him.  Being a man after God’s own heart, David believed and trusted in his Creator God, and never departed from these strongly held views.  Such was David’s life and the example he set that God has promised to reward him with the royal crown of ruler-ship over the 12 Tribes of Israel – and eternal life in His Kingdom.

 Psa 31:1  In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.  This is always a very good first step.  Trusting in God for deliverance yields great rewards and this especially applies when an army goes into battle.  It’s been said that there are no atheists on the battle field.  In battle there can only be one winner and the contest must be decided one way or the other.  In days of old, the House of Israel went into battle many times, and as long as they trusted in their Creator God, they always prevailed.  David realized this and so he always prevailed.  Even in the face of overwhelming numerical odds, he trusted in God for deliverance.

 Psa 31:2  Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.  David knew that when he called out to God, He always came to his rescue and saved him.  David certainly knew what it meant to be saved.  If David were on earth today, he would be somewhat perplexed at hearing Christianity speaking about salvation, when they’re in no danger of the enemy.  He’d certainly be in the position to give them some good advice about what it means to be saved.  David experienced it many times.

 Psa 31:3  Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.  And this is yet another indication of the type of man that David was.  He didn’t go into battle for his own glory, and he never sought to be honoured for victory.  Rather, he went into battle for the glory of God’s Name; to honour Him and to make His Name great.  David knew that every successful conquest against overwhelming odds instilled fear in the minds of God’s enemies.  When they saw their superior numbers thrown back in battle, they knew that David’s God was with him.

 Psa 31:4 Free me from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge.  When an enemy plans conquest, they make sure they have everything in place for their advantage including traps and ambushes.  The degenerates of today like to use roadside bombs and suicide bombers to create terror among their adversaries and this type of warfare is often hard to detect until it’s too late.  David was in the habit of seeking God’s protection from similar types of treachery, and what is more, David knew how to respond to such acts of treachery.  When dealing with such degenerates you take no prisoners!

 Psa 31:5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.  This was the faithful commitment of a righteous man.  If death were to come, then David knew that his Spirit would be redeemed by God to await the resurrection.  He had no desire to preserve his life at all costs, but only according to God’s will, and he was prepared to lay down his life as a service to God.

 Psa 31:6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in the LORD.  In times of trouble, superstitious people seek signs and omens from idols and/or demons, hoping for a good outcome.  Others feel secure by carrying around ‘lucky’ charms – all of which is idolatry.  Not David!  He hated those who sought to cling to worthless and inanimate objects, and he trusted only in his God.  In the minds of some, it may seem harmless enough to indulge in superstition, but it’s certainly not the way that a true servant of God reacts.  The whole purpose of superstition is to invoke some unknown power to deliver good outcomes or to save one’s life.  Superstitious people should have no expectation that God will raise them to life when they eventually die.

 Psa 31:7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.  Lest we forget!  Life wasn’t meant to be easy, and all the servants of God experienced adversity and anguish at various times in their lives.  How else would they learn to trust in God?  David was no exception and throughout his life there were many setbacks.  The measure of a man’s character is how he deals with these.

 Psa 31:8 You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.  The enemy was still there and surrounding him, but God had held them off.  The problem with administering over a large territory with sparse population was defense.  In the days of Moses, and then Joshua, God knew the 12 Tribes of Israel would have difficulty defending their borders if they drove out all the enemy at once.  So God told them to drive them out incrementally, to ensure their power remained consolidated in the areas they conquered.  Ex 23:27-33 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. ²⁸ I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. ²⁹ But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”  There is no point in having borders so vast that they can’t be defended, and God knew this.  It leads to ‘hit and run’ raids, where those on the outskirts become vulnerable to attack by the enemy.  This is an old and effective strategy of war, and relates to the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.  Unless effectively dealt with, these techniques can chisel away the security of the people and make them fearful.

 Continuing in the next verse: Ex 23:31-33 “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines (the Mediterranean Sea bordering Gaza), and from the desert to the River (refers to the Euphrates River).  I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. ³² Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you." 

 Did you notice the words, ‘Do not make a covenant with them’?  What do we find today?  The Israelis are being forced to make a covenant with these degenerates to hand over God’s Land.  Such a simple instruction, yet they’ve failed to comply!  God says, “Do not let them live in your land”, yet there are already close to 2 million of them living in Israel today and enjoying all the rights and privileges of the Israelis themselves.  Even worse, the Israelis handed over Gaza to these creatures, and now they are daily rewarded with missiles exploding in their towns and terrorizing their people.

 So handing over Gaza didn’t work, did it?  Whose crazy suggestion was it to do such a thing?  Naturally enough, it was America and Europe that came up with this hare-brained scheme.  This was to be the solution to the Philistine problem, and was designed to appease all of Islam.  Somehow they began to reason that all the Muslim atrocities throughout the world were the fault of the Israelis.  The solution, they reasoned, was for the Israelis to forfeit land and grant autonomous rule over God’s Land to His enemies.

 In David’s day, God didn’t hand David and the Israelites over to the enemy.  And the reason is that all his life David was prepared to fight for God’s Land and he never wavered in his duty and obligation to God.  Today, there shouldn’t be a single Christian or Jew on the face of the earth that doesn’t understand what God has planned for His Holy City and the Holy Land.  They should surely know that this is where God plans to set up His Kingdom, and they should surely know that God plans for a Temple to be built on the Temple Mount right where the Islamic mosque presently stands.  Any act that obstructs or attempts to thwart God’s intention is deemed to be a hostile act.  As God has said, “He who is not with me is against me”: Matt 12:30-32 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”  And of course, we are now in the age that was to come. 

 Notice that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was to be an issue in the ‘age to come’!  Blasphemy has many forms.  It can mean repudiation of God as the Creator, or it can be any remarks insulting to Him, and it can also be contradicting God’s clear instruction on how and where His Kingdom will be established.  All these things are blasphemy and many more besides.  But let’s consider the last one about God’s Kingdom.  Jesus Christ provided an outline prayer for His followers, when He was asked to teach them to pray.  Most Christians can quote this prayer verbatim and in some cases it has become a weekly ritual.  Two of the lines of this prayer are as follows: ‘Let your Kingdom come’ and ‘For Yours is the Kingdom, the power and glory’.  How many preachers today actually emphasize the need for God’s Kingdom to come?  Most of mainstream Christianity by-pass this ‘hope of the ages’ in favour of heading straight off to heaven when they die.  They choose to ignore that which was stipulated in the Lord’s prayer.  And this too, is blasphemous!  In so doing, they are contradicting God.  Since they so frequently quote this prayer, they can hardly claim ignorance.

 So the Kingdom of God is scheduled to be established in the Promised Land – right among the Jews, who will play an integral part in its establishment.  The Jewish people have been tried and tested over many generations and have remained faithful to God’s Law and they never lost sight of the establishment of the Promised Homeland.  In spite of everything they’ve suffered, they’ve never lost their faith in God.

 Belatedly, Christianity saw the horror of the Holocaust unveiled before their eyes after WW2, and some even vowed never to let it happen again.  Honourable sentiments these were immediately after the war, but now there is a different enemy, and one which has exactly the same mindset to pursue the Jews to extinction.  What happened to the collective virtue that vowed not to let it happen again?  Sweeping across the globe is another insidious enemy fit only for extermination, yet these evil creatures are impacting on the security of every nation on earth.  Not only are these Islamic parasites not being exterminated, they are not even being punished for their crimes.  Because of ‘political correctness’ and the ‘appeasement mentality’, no nation will even recognize Islam as the enemy.  Somehow, they managed to see the enemy only as a few scattered Islamic minority groups.  With nations literally hemorrhaging billions of dollars to combat this scourge (unsuccessfully it should be noted) the object seems to be to ‘win their hearts and minds’ through appeasement.  The wheel has turned full circle, and now we have the déjà vu of the Second World War.  Same circumstances, only a different enemy! 

 So what can ultimately be done to appease this enemy?  This has already been decided, but what is lacking is the means to pull it off.  The objective is to make Judah, Jerusalem, and the Holy Land the scapegoat and sacrifice them in the interests of peace.  The Western nations have reasoned that it’s far better that Jewish blood flows in the streets rather than their own.  To this end they are busily paving the way for this very outcome.  Only then will Islam be appeased through this sacrifice and start behaving themselves.  And pigs might fly!  Anyone who believes such things is brain-dead!  The spirit forces behind Islam will settle for nothing less that the conquest of all the 12 Tribes of Israel, and while they are on track to achieve their goal, the final outcome will see Islam exterminated from the earth.  Not a root or branch of them will remain, but they will be ashes under the feet of the righteous.  The righteous are those who do God’s bidding – just like God’s servant David!

 After a lifetime of fighting (David ruled for 40 years and died around 970BC), his enemies were still there and plotting against him.  The constant distress had sapped his strength and he was feeling vulnerable.

Psa 31:9  Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul (mind) and my body with grief.  And this how David’s present-day descendants are feeling right now!  How often do they have to defeat the enemy yet still lose the war?  Judah’s brother nations, the ‘lost’ 10 Tribes of Israel, have not exactly been accommodating in the defense of Judah, but tend always to side with Islam.  In God’s eyes, this is unacceptable treachery that will be severely punished, and the punishment will be swift in coming.  The 10 Tribes of Israel should have shown mercy to little Judah while they still had the chance, but all hope for them is now gone.

 Psa 31:10  My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.  In the twilight of his years, David’s strength was gone, and even though his enemies were gaining in number, David never compromised in his faith towards God.

 The last five years of David’s life was occupied with endless wars with the Philistines, and added to this was a plague that had struck his own people as a result of an ill-advised census of all his fighting men (2Sam 24:2).  The plague took its toll and the people blamed David and expressed contempt for him.

Psa 31:11  Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-- those who see me on the street flee from me.  How quick people are to find fault with others.  Sure David was at fault, but so were the people who suffered from the plague.  They believed they could co-exist with the Philistines and didn’t need another war.  David didn’t agree and realized that another war was inevitable since the Philistines were still living in God’s Land.  So he set about to find out how many fighting men was actually willing to fight the war.  The mistake David made was to rely on his fighting men rather than the mighty hand of God that had been with him throughout his life.

The fact is that David wanted to spare his son Solomon the burden that would fall upon him at his death.  He wanted to sweep clean the Holy Land of all the enemy out of obedience to God, and in order that his son might have a peaceful reign.  For this, the people held him in contempt.  The people were leaning towards ‘peaceful coexistence’ with the enemy and this was a defiant act against God’s instructions.

 Perhaps the people considered it to be a noble and virtuous ideology, as they do today, so this is a mentality that prevailed then as now.  It’s generally called multiculturalism today, where all sorts of pagan cultures and religions are both permitted and embraced by the nations of the House of Israel.  All of which in utter defiance of God and His Laws!  Almighty God specifies and stipulates the type of culture permitted among the only people He ever chose from all the families of the earth: Amos 3:1-2 “Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel--against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: ² "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins."  God has made it very clear that He has chosen only the 12 Tribes of Israel out of all the families of the earth and it’s not permissible to be diluting God’s people with pagans from other families.  It’s in regard to His chosen Family of Israel that punishment will descend upon them and multiculturalism is very definitely sin!  It’s evil in God’s eyes and will be duly punished.  There is only one culture, and that’s God’s culture and no other culture need apply.

 It’s important to note that we are speaking about ‘multi-cultural’ here and not multi-ethnicity.  All Gentiles who choose to live according to God’s Law, and His way, are grafted into the tree of the House of Israel and are considered true Israelites.  In God’s Kingdom, provision will be made for them:  Eze 47:21-23 “You are to distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²² You are to allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who have settled among you and who have children. You are to consider them as native-born Israelites; along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. ²³ In whatever tribe the alien settles, there you are to give him his inheritance," declares the Sovereign LORD.”  So here we see that God is no respecter of persons.  Those who serve Him are His people – regardless of their ethnic background.  There could be no better example of this than that of Ruth: Ruth 1:16-18 “But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”  Perhaps some people are unaware that Ruth married Boaz, and they had a son called Obed, who had a son called Jesse.  Jesse was the father of David, and through David’s line, the Lord Jesus was born (Matt 1:5-6).

Almighty God has an open policy concerning Gentiles, however, and it’s permissible for them to live among His Family provided they adopt God’s culture and obey His Laws as He requires of the House of Israel.  And all credit to those who do.  Such people are considered to be grafted into the tree and will, at least in the future, enjoy all the rights of Israelites.  However, God knew only too well that foreigners generally bring their own customs and religions and God warns that these will corrupt His people Israel and turn them away from Him.  And this is precisely what has happened in the past.

 As long as multiculturalism continues, the House of Israel is assured of punishment which will be magnitudes greater than anything they could imagine.  It’s almost beyond belief that the House of Israel has begun to embrace the worst of all cultures – Islam!  It’s Islam that has vowed to replace the House of Israel through conquest or Jihad as they call it, and to institute their own culture, called Shariah law.  The Israelite nations have sought to ‘win their hearts and minds’ – expressly in defiance of God.  These are the very people who have desecrated the Most Holy Place in Jerusalem by building a Mosque there.

 The irony of this cannot be lost today.  Now the Muslim President of the largest Israelite country on earth, referred to as Ephraim in the Bible, has consented to the building of a mosque adjacent to the very place where Islam slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans.  If nothing else, this vile act of consent plainly identifies which side of the American people is guilty of instigating the national punishment that will surely come.  It’s the lunatic Democrats!  These mindless, stupid, evil people have done it all!  Step back and observe it all in progress!  Any logical person would come to the conclusion that the Democrats, whether they have the wit to see or not, are leading the U.S. to destruction.  Because of their evil the whole nation will suffer when God fulfills His assurances of national punishment.  Most people will enter this punishment without ever knowing how or why it all happened.

 It should be noted, however, that the United States of America will not suffer total destruction because they are the worst nation on earth, but rather because they are the best that ever was.  God has a special love for America, who He refers to as Ephraim, and actually refers to him as a son.  But the son has been disobedient and must be punished.  They’re already on the pathway to self-destruction because of the foolish choice of leaders, and most logical citizens can see and understand this.  It’s not God’s purpose to let Ephraim simply fade as a nation but to face catastrophic calamity of a nature virtually unseen in the annals of history.  God wants to ensure they know they are being punished!

 God set the rules long ago about conduct, and these rules must be obeyed.  It’s perfectly obvious that they haven’t been obeyed.  From the least to the greatest among the people, God’s Law has been treated with contempt.  Yet, for all this contempt, God will remember His people and extend mercy.  As a matter of fact, the Prophet Jeremiah spoke of this very time of punishment: Jer 31:15 “This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."  We should take note of whom Rachel’s children were.  Rachel was Jacob’s fourth wife and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.  Jacob later divided the [future tribe] of Joseph according to Joseph’s two sons – Ephraim and Manasseh.  Ephraim was prophesied to be the greater of the two.  And here we see a parable, written centuries after her death, of Rachel weeping for her children because they are no more – or no more a people in their own right.  This was a prophecy for our time.  This is borne out by the fact that it wasn’t fulfilled at the time it was written, but hundreds of years later, it was partially fulfilled at the time of Herod.  Matt 2:16-20 “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ¹⁸ "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."  So Matthew describes this event as a fulfillment of what Jeremiah had written.  It’s important to note that Herod’s attempt to kill all the babies under two years old was to prevent the arrival of the future King, the Lord Jesus, but his plans were thwarted when Joseph took the new-born and fled to Egypt.

 A similar rescue occurred at the time when Moses was born.  Pharaoh of Egypt had sought to prevent the Tribes of Israel from becoming strong, so he ordered the killing of all Israelite male babies.  This time a future prophet of God was spared the slaughter when an ark of bulrushes was made and Pharaoh’s daughter rescued him from the river.  Moses was miraculously spared the slaughter.  The murderous offences of these two incidents are similar, but the circumstances are slightly different.  The circumstances were brought about in order to save two very special personages – Jesus Christ and Moses.

 I don’t want to stretch credulity here, but there is strong evidence that both the Pharaoh of Moses day, and Herod’s dynasty of Jesus’ day, were one and the same demon ruler.  And at further risk of credulity, there are signs that Barack Hussein Obama is also the same demon ruler making yet another run at destroying the House of Israel.  You can choose to take it or leave it, but the signs and the evidence are very strong.  Because of the lengthy digression such explanations would require at this time, I’ll defer to another time.  Nevertheless, bear it in mind.

 God had originally chosen Joseph as His prophet when Jacob and his sons entered Egypt and provided the means for them to prosper in the land.  Much later, Moses was chosen as God’s prophet to extract them from Egypt and to free them from the slavery they endured under Pharaoh.

 Nearly 1500 years later, King Herod heard rumours of a new King that had been born, and set out to destroy Him.  This was when he ordered all the infants under two years old to be killed.  This is when Matthew spoke of the fulfillment of the Jeremiah prophecy about Rachel weeping for her children.  But as we will see, Jeremiah added much more to this prophecy – and a much later fulfillment.   We’ll get to this shortly.

 Matt 2:19-20 “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."  These last two verses were included for a very special reason that has much to do with understanding Bible Prophecy.  Joseph was the husband of the Blessed Mary and he had gone to Egypt to escape from that evil, Arab half-breed Herod, who was in fact a demon.  There are all sorts of parallels here, but it would require a book to explain them.  This Joseph (Mary’s husband) had a dream while in Egypt.  Jacob’s son Joseph is also known for his dreams in Egypt, and as a result of his dreams, his father Jacob and all his brothers found sanctuary in a new land (Egypt) after leaving the Promised Land because of a famine.  Yet Joseph had an earlier dream that outraged his brothers, and also disturbed his father.  In fact, he had two dreams in quick succession.  This is the account of those dreams: Gen 37:5-11 “Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."  If they had occasion to hate Joseph, then this would do it.  They understood the implications of what he was saying.  V8 “His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.”  With his brothers now hostile towards him, Joseph had yet another dream, which he enthusiastically related it to them, he got a similar response; one of outrage: V9 “Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers.  "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."  Then Joseph decided to tell his father as well: V10 “When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother (Rachel) and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”  Jacob knew all about dreams from God, and was no stranger to them, so he didn’t dismiss Joseph’s dream entirely, but kept the matter in mind.  At the time, he didn’t know how or why this dream would be fulfilled, but believed it to be a sign from God.

 As we all know, shortly afterwards, his brothers sold him into slavery to the Arabs, and he was on-sold to the Egyptians.  As a servant in a noble’s household, he was falsely accused of trying to seduce the noble’s wife and imprisoned.  It was here that Joseph really hit his stride as a prophet and came under the notice of Pharaoh.  Pharaoh also began to have dreams that no-one could explain, except Joseph.  Pharaoh seemed to understand that his dreams had significance and wanted to know the meaning of them.  Only Joseph had the power to interpret them, and in time his interpretation came true.  Pharaoh gave Joseph power over all of Egypt, second only to himself.  And Joseph ruled over Egypt.  Pharaoh acknowledged that Joseph had the Spirit of God (Gen 41:37-39).

 Later, Joseph fulfilled his own dream when his brothers came to Egypt to buy grain, and found themselves bowing to him.

 So we’ve seen some similarities between Herod and the Pharaoh who came along after Joseph had died.  Both had tried to kill all the infants under two years old.

 And now we get back to exactly what Jeremiah said in this prophecy concerning Rachel and her children, and most particularly her son Joseph.  As we’re all aware, Joseph had two sons called Ephraim and Manasseh, and when Jacob blessed them, he made Ephraim infinitely greater.  In the days of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, the 12 Tribes of Israel were divided into two nations.  Ephraim ruled over the northern Ten Tribes, and Judah ruled over the southern region.  God Himself gave Ephraim the Ten Tribes.  All prophecy about Ephraim today is about the mightiest power on earth.  As for Ephraim’s brother nation, Manasseh, there is a prophecy that clearly distinguishes between them.  This is the prophecy concerning the Tribes of Joseph:  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."  There can be no doubt concerning these two brother nations about who has emerged the greater in these last days.  The United States of America (Ephraim) is magnitudes greater than England (Manasseh).  The US can field ten times more fighting men and armaments.

 There have been many silly people, who don’t understand Bible Prophecy, who have ventured to make all sorts of assertions about the Tribes of Joseph.  They can make all their assertions about ‘Great Britain’ as often as they like, but the truth is that Britain is no longer great.  They’ve lost their empire!  In two world wars they had to be bailed out by America.  But let’s not dwell on the past.  When Moses wrote Deuteronomy, chapter 33, he was speaking about the very end time.  This chapter begins with the return of Jesus Christ with all His holy ones (V1-5) and concludes with these verses: Deut 33:26-29 “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.  He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, `Destroy him!' ²⁸ So Israel will live in safety alone; Jacob's spring is secure in a land of grain and new wine, where the heavens drop dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel!  Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD?  He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword.  Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places."  As we’ve just seen, in regard to the last days, God will rescue/save the House of Israel and bring them home to the Promised Land, and there they will dwell in peace.  After Judah and Levi, the Ephraimites will be the first to return.

 Now back to the prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children:

Jer 31:15 “This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more."  And now God comforts her with the hope of good outcomes.  V16 “This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD.  "They will return from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷ So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD.  "Your children will return to their own land.”  And who is this message addressed to?  It’s Ephraim: V18 “I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning: `You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined.  Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God.”  The discipline spoken of here is national captivity and slavery, and they will return from the land of their enemy.

 Naturally enough, Rachel was weeping for her children, her tribe, the Tribe of Joseph, both Ephraim and Manasseh.  But here we see that Ephraim has been singled out.  Ephraim is the mightiest and most powerful nation on earth, and it’s Ephraim that calls all the shots.  There is a certain invincibility about the United States of America (Ephraim), and all the nations of the earth know it.  It would seem impossible for the U.S. to fall, but fall they will, and in the most spectacular fashion. 

 Almighty God has given Ephraim their power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honour, glory and praise.  And why this elaborate description?  Because this is the exact description of what the Lord Jesus will be given at His return: Rev 5:12 “In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"  And we’ll get to this comparison shortly concerning Ephraim and the coming Ruler Jesus Christ.

 After all the blessings that God has heaped upon Ephraim, he has not been faithful to God.  At the pinnacle of their power they’ve begun to appease and honour false gods.  And even more alarmingly, that god is Allah!  Allah is none other than Satan himself.  The acts of Allah’s disciples, the Muslims, are surely enough to bear this out.  The sole purpose of Islam is to wipe out the holy people of God, His chosen nations, the 12 Tribes of Israel, and Islam openly declares this objective.

 To be sure, righteous nations, and specifically Ephraim, declared war on selective Muslims, but only in a half-hearted way.  Their rules of engagement became more and more ridiculous, and the reasons for this were underpinned by a form of madness to ‘win their hearts and minds’.  It never seemed to enter the minds of the West that these evil creatures deserved death in total conquest.  Well, this will be a bitter lesson that will be learned the hard way.  Because of this, the Tribes of Israel, and Ephraim in particular, will be conquered, enslaved and driven into foreign lands.  They’ll seek refuge wherever they can get it.

 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will inherit the same powers, wealth, etc, that Ephraim has enjoyed during these past couple of centuries, and in these final days, Ephraim’s fortunes will be restored.  God refers to Ephraim as a son, a son whom God has loved very much.  As a nation, Ephraim has been the most righteous of nations, humanly speaking.  What other nation compares to America today?  America has been the peacemaker throughout the earth, and the nations have been restrained out of fear for this mighty power.  But now their guard has slipped, and they’ve actively defended the most ruthless, murderous people on earth and sought to appease them.  They seem not to have noticed that Islam has sought to destroy the House of Israel, the holy nations of God – the only people God has chosen of all the families of the earth.  Does anyone imagine that this would gain God’s favour?  What it has gained is God’s fury and His reaction!  God intends to discipline His son Ephraim!

 Following on from where we left off in quoting from Jeremiah, we find these words: Jer 31:19-22 “After I (Ephraim) strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast.  I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth (Ephraim is a younger nation than Manasseh).' ²⁰ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight?  Though I often speak against him, I still remember him.  Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD. 

 Almighty God intends to redeem the survivors of Ephraim after they have been disciplined.  Road signs and guideposts will be set up to guide them home to their ancestral lands in the Kingdom of God.  V21 "Set up road signs; put up guideposts.  Take note of the highway, the road that you take.  Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns.”  The reference to ‘Virgin Israel’ denotes purity.  They will be purified and return to God after much heart-rending discipline at the hands of their enemies.  V22 “How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter?  The LORD will create a new thing on earth-- a woman will surround a man."  This last verse is a little parable, but with very great significance.  The ‘woman’ is the same ‘woman’ mentioned in Rev 12:13.  This ‘woman’, who gave birth to Jesus Christ, is the House of David, and this is why Jesus Christ emphasized that He was the Son of David.  This ‘woman’ (The House of David) will rise again as the mightiest power on earth.  As a point of interest, this ‘woman’ is also the Bride of Christ. 

 In summary, God is going to create a new thing on earth, and a woman will surround a man.  That ‘woman’ is the House of David, and that man is Ephraim!  The woman will surround and protect Ephraim and lead them out of captivity, setting up signposts and leading the way.  Ephraim will be resettled in their ancestral lands in the Kingdom of God.  Naturally enough, this will follow after the Holy Land is cleared of Islamic vermin, and all the surrounding nations are thoroughly beaten back (Zech 12:6) and in that day, the House of David will be like God (V8).  So now we can understand why the House of David is so important.

 On a similar note, the Churches of God mistakenly believe themselves to be the ‘woman’ mentioned in Rev 12, which gave birth to Jesus Christ.  They couldn’t be more wrong!  The role of the Churches of God is to go into captivity as sheep to the slaughter.  They must set an example of being willing to die for their Heavenly Father, just as Jesus did.  They must follow Jesus’ example!  It they believed the Scriptures, then they would accept this.  If they understood the symbolic meaning of baptism, then they would understand clearly.  Baptism is a form of death, a covenant with God that they will not shrink back from death out of love for Him.  Baptism is the beginning of the road, not the end.  For those who accept this, they will be raised again to life.  They must be willing martyrs for God.  Their role is to demonstrate to the House of Israel the requirements of God, and He will accept nothing less.

 Perhaps the Churches of God believe they deserve better than this, and should expect an easy transition into the Kingdom of God.  Are they more deserving than the Apostles and Prophets of old, who faithfully served God, yet were still martyred?  Obedience to God’s Laws is a mandatory requirement, and real Christians understand this.  But real servants of God know there is more to it.  It’s just as Luke says: Luke 17:10 “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.'"  The real worthiness to inherit the Kingdom of God comes from our willingness to lay down our lives for God – just as Jesus did!  And why should this seem so strange?  Our fighting men go into battle everyday, and some die for their country in martyrdom.  Why would God require anything less for admission to His Kingdom?  God requires only the willingness to do so, though many will be tested and tried, and they must fulfill their avowedness to do so.  In that day, death will be everywhere, and only a remnant of the House of Israel will survive.  So be sure to express your willingness to lay down your lives for God if you hope to enter God’s Kingdom.

 The door of Bible prophecy is now open for all who will accept it, and for those who truly want to serve God.  The key to entering the House of David is to believe God.  Those who want to believe fabricated nonsense about the meaning of Bible prophecy have no place with God’s servants in the emerging House of David.  If you don’t believe God, then you lack the faith to serve God, and without faith it is impossible to please God: Heb 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”  Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1), and while on earth, Jesus frequently quoted from the Word of God – the only Scripture that existed at that time.  If anyone doesn’t believe the Word of God, then they don’t believe Jesus either, and neither should they believe that He will save them from anything.  He has no interest in the faithless and the disobedient, and millions of Christians and others are soon to find this out.  The perceived righteousness of millions of Christians will lead them to learn this the hard way.  Most will die never to live again.

 Without God’s Holy Spirit, there can be no resurrection to eternal life, and God’s Holy Spirit is given only to those who obey Him!  Acts 5:29-32 “Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead--whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."  It really is a travesty that so many churches teach disobedience to God and His Law!  An even greater travesty is that such people like to cite ‘grace’ as their right to be disobedient.  Grace is the free and unmerited pardon for disobedience; that is, the forgiveness of sin.  If anyone refuses to stop sinning, then there is no grace or free pardon for them.  Sin is disobedience to God’s Law (1John 3:4).  Obviously, God doesn’t extend grace or free pardon to anyone who refuses to obey His Law!

 How different the Jewish people are!  For thousands of years they’ve remembered the Laws and Statutes that God gave to His servant Moses, and they’ve obeyed them.  Christians sneeringly refer to this obedience as Judaising as if they’re superior to the Jews.  What a shock these people are in for!  Salvation is of the Jews, and if you read the 12^th chapter of Zechariah right through, you’ll learn how this will all unfold.  If you don’t know what it says, then be sure to read it.  The Tribe of Judah is the next super-power on this earth.  But first they have to be trained by God’s own Tribe, the Tribe of Levi, who will teach them by example in how to deal with God’s enemies.  In the past, they’ve tended to listen to Ephraim, and this will prove to be a huge mistake.

 Judah’s friends see them as pariahs, and their attitudes continue to harden every day.  Even when the Israelis are forced to arms and emerge successfully, the whole world comes out against them and in favour of the enemy.  At the first sign of the Israelis prevailing, the UN stampedes to announce a cease-fire.  Then they spend months or even years accusing the Israelis of being the aggressors, or using disproportionate force, or killing civilians, ad nausea. 

 And so it was in David’s day:

Psa 31:12  I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.  When your friends forget you and consider you as worthless as broken pottery, you know you can’t expect any help from them.

 Psa 31:13  For I hear the slander of many; there is terror on every side; they conspire against me and plot to take my life.  David was a prophet, and he was prophesying for his people in our day.  There could be no better description of the Israelis plight than what David has prophesied here.  The slanderous rhetoric that is hurled at the Israelis is devoid of any form of logic.  The Israelis have done everything possible to show benevolence to their enemies, yet they are constantly met with slanderous insults.  They experience terror or attempted terror every single day, but this hardly rates a mention in the Western press.  The Western media continuously conspires against the Israelis in favour of Islam, and actually plot in favour of Israel’s destruction.  Israel is fair game, but the honour of Islam must be preserved at all costs – and this typifies the madness we are seeing today!

 Anyone who knows their God would realize that He will turn the tables in favour of His people and His Land.  All that remains is for the Israel’s so-called ‘friends’ to breach the limits of God’s patience and they’ll have reached the point of no return.  When the final betrayal comes, so will the end of civilization as we know it!  All the signs are now in place!

 Almighty God has actively protected the Land of Israel in the past 60+ years since their statehood.  They’ve fought many wars against impossible odds and always emerged victorious.  The reason for this is that they trusted in their God and sought deliverance through Him.  In this regard, they were just like their forefather David, who always stood firm in the face of the enemy and trusted in God for victory.

Psa 31:14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God."  It may have gone unnoticed by some, but after the despair and hopelessness of the Holocaust in WW2, the Jews emerged faithful to God and sought to return to Him as their major priority.  Even after being granted a homeland of their own, they still had a fight on their hands to get there.  Stupidly, Britain took the side of the Muslims to prevent the Jews from entering the Promised Land, only to find themselves felled as a ‘glorious empire’ – their empire was no more!  To this very day they’ve failed to understand that the Hand of God was against them as a direct result of their callous indifference to God’s people.  Forever after, they were to be the poor cousins of the mightiest nation on earth – America!  So significant was this demotion, that, today, they no longer refer to themselves as ‘Great Britain’, but only Britain!  There is nothing ‘great’ about Britain today, and they know it!  Through a combination of very poor choices they have only themselves to blame.

 Psa 31:15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.  David knew that his time was almost up, and he wanted to ensure that his kingdom was firmly established for his son.  His enemies had decided for themselves who his replacement would be.  They had been grooming David’s son Adonijah as the future ruler and they made sure that Adonijah recognized them as the power-brokers that would ensure his reign.  They would expect rewards in the future!  Such is the conduct of power-mad people!  Almighty God, however, had already decided who would succeed David as king, and when Solomon came to the throne, he ‘took care of’ his father David’s enemies and didn’t let them go down to the grave in peace – just as David instructed him (1Kings 2:1-8).  Those who were hostile to David and his kingdom were to suffer the consequences at the hand of his son. 

 This is exactly how things will be when the Kingdom of God is set up.  There are already treacherous people who are traitors to their country and who seek to placate the enemy while destroying their own government.  These things will not be forgotten when the consequences of their actions bear down on the State of Israel leading to the deaths of many citizens.  It’s not as if they don’t know the intent of the enemy!  The enemy has been perfectly frank in saying that they will accept nothing short of the annihilation of all Jews.  Those who placate Islam merely embolden them to increase their outrages.

 In our day we’ve seen the tortuous existence of David’s descendants as they strive to establish the Holy Land against all odds and against all enemies.  Unlike Christianity today, they’ve never forgotten the lessons of the Bible and it continues to be a source of inspiration to them.  For their faithfulness and obedience, God has rewarded them with prosperity, yet there is still some more service that God requires of them before they can live in peace.

 The acrimonious insults against the Israelis by Europe and America have just about reached its zenith!  As Christian nations they should have known better than to persecute God’s people Judah.  This is especially true since both Europe and America have, themselves, experienced the vilest of outrages from Judah’s enemies.  What is more, everyone who has a brain knows that the enemy is Islam, and everyone knows that Islam openly advocates the destruction of the West.  The leaders of Islam have openly declared war on both the Israelis and the Western nations – particularly America – yet they seem to have hardly noticed.  ‘Winning their hearts and minds’ and coexistence seems to be the primary objective, and since this mindless rhetoric was first voiced, terrorism has escalated beyond anything one might have imagined.  This wimpish rhetoric has only served to embolden Islam and make them more determined to carry out their threats.

 And where does Christianity stand in all this?  Generally speaking, Christianity has failed to even recognize who the enemy is.  Judah poses no threat to them at all, but in the twisted mind of Christianity, they’ve decided that the enemy is Judah.  A growing number of false Christian religions are calling for divestment of Jewish stocks, products and investments in the hope of destroying their prosperity.  These mad, Christian religions are determined to destroy the very ones who are the source of their salvation – the very ones who will ultimately rescue them from the real enemy!  What is notably absent in their deliberations against Judah is their total ignorance of the Scriptures.  Shouldn’t they be enquiring of their God rather than the madness of their leaders?  Their callous disregard for the welfare of Judah will be brought down on their own heads.  They’ve obviously chosen blindness to enlightenment, largely because they’ve rejected the Scriptures that Christ used – the only Scriptures that existed in His day.  These are the Scriptures that Jesus taught from, and these are the very Scriptures Christianity has rejected!

 So now we’ve come to the end of days, the end of the allotted 6,000 years of Satan’s reign.  Satan is facing a 1,000 year imprisonment as a result of a judgment given long ago.  And he doesn’t intend to go quietly!  When Satan openly declares his fury, his primary objective will be to destroy Christianity in all its forms.  Every Christian alive today should realize that Satan has generated his own religion for the purpose of wiping out Christians and Jews, and it should be obvious to all that this is Islam!

 Getting back to what David said in the last verse of this Psalm: “My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.”  David was prophesying of a future time when times would be regulated by God Himself.  No-one will know the day or the hour when God will intervene to establish the Kingdom.  But at that time of God’s choosing, David’s descendants in the Tribe of Judah will be delivered.  And the Kingdom of God will begin right among them just as Jesus said: Luke 17:20-21 “Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹ nor will people say, `Here it is,' or `There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within [among] you."  And just to illustrate the point about how the Kingdom of God will be established, the Prophet Zechariah confirms it: Zech 12:1-9 “This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel.”  It will certainly concern Israel, who will be, at that time in dire straits and hoping for deliverance.  The following verses confirm that Israel’s deliverance or salvation will come from the Jews.  “The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: ² "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem.”  Here God is confirming that He is The Creator of the heavens and the earth; something that the House of Israel is loathe to believe today.  Only the Tribe of Judah – the Jews – refused to believe this type of baloney that emanates from the House of Israel, and they’ve remained faithful to their Creator God.  Through many wars and persecutions, they’ve always remained faithful and believing of their Creator.  The House of Israel cannot claim this!  Consequently, God’s favour is with the Jews and He will deliver them first.  V3 “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.”  Notice the reference to Jerusalem being a ‘rock’ – in fact, an immovable ‘rock’!  Anyone who attempts to move this ‘rock’ will be severely injured, and in fact, killed!  V4 “On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD.  Here we see a reference to the Scripture in the Book of Revelation that speaks of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, and as we’ve demonstrated many times, these are the nations that surround the Holy Land.  All of which is contrary to the madness taught by false prophets, whose prophecies are not supported by any evidence from the Bible.  Continuing in V4 "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, `The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'”  This will all come about as a result of a small band of warriors who will occupy Jerusalem and wage a battle from there.  It goes without saying that the people of Jerusalem will be strong because the LORD Almighty is their God.  Jesus Christ confirmed that all of Jerusalem’s Sons would be taught by God (John 6:45, Isa 54:11-15).  Jesus was quoting directly from Isaiah.  And wouldn’t God use those who’ve been taught by Him to establish the Kingdom?  Who else would He choose?

 So the Sons of Jerusalem will be a force to be reckoned with!  They will send the surrounding nations reeling and create panic among them all.  The leaders of Judah will see this and likewise respond: V6 “On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.”  The analogy given here about the leaders of Judah consuming all the surrounding peoples means total annihilation.  As can be deduced from this description, there will be no thought about civilian casualties.  All will be consumed as the army advances.  God has a word for it, and it’s called justice!

 And now we come to the clear evidence that the Sons of Jerusalem are the House of David.  V7 “The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah.”  Judah is to receive equal billing in the honour stakes, and God intends it to be this way.  Judah will rise to the occasion and join the House of David – the Sons of Jerusalem – to consume all the surrounding nations.  V8 “On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.”  On that day, sound-minded Christians will welcome it.  They will realize their monumental blunder in persecuting the Jews in favour of God’s enemies, and they will realize that their only hope lies in the salvation of the Jews.  At that time, they will desire with all their hearts to enter the Kingdom of God.  There’ll be no peace for man of beast outside of God’s Kingdom at that time.

 Meanwhile, all the churches are out there claiming to offer salvation to their congregations without ever knowing what ‘salvation’ means.  They have no idea how the Kingdom of God will be established, and neither do they understand that those who prepare the way for Jesus Christ have been taught by God.  These churches cannot claim to have been taught by God because they’ve already rejected the Scriptures that Jesus Christ used.  Under such circumstances, how could they ever be taught by God?

 And just to make another observation concerning the above Scriptures, we find that the feeblest of the Sons of Jerusalem will be like David and the House of David will be like God.  From this alone, we can deduce that God holds David to be a mighty warrior just like his famous ancestor, Jesus Christ!  If the House of David is to be restored in preparation for the resurrection of David who will rule over the Tribes of Israel forever, wouldn’t God choose like-minded men like David to fulfill such important prophecies?  What is more, every Bible student should know that it’s a Levite that must prepare the way for the Mighty Warrior Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist fulfilled this the first time around, and for His second appearance, Jesus Christ will appoint a Levite to prepare the way for Him (Mal 3:1).  It will be the Levites who prepare the way for Him and they will be called the Sons of Jerusalem because they’re the ones who’ve been taught by God.  It’s these who will establish the City of God, Jerusalem.

 No Bible student should be under any illusion about what David would have done in such a situation.  David would have crushed the leaders of the Philistines, just as he did Goliath, and then set about wiping the rest of their army off the face of the earth.  It should be noted that, at that time, this is exactly what the Philistines intended for the Tribes of Israel.  Nothing has changed today! 

 God intends to make an example of the present-day Philistines (who call themselves ‘Palestinians’), and wipe them off the face of the earth.  The Holy Land will be cleared of this vermin and the borders expanded.  It will be a death sentence for anyone who breaches these borders.  This is what is called Godly justice and God is quick to deliver justice when the time is right.

 But what of Judah’s brother nations that have actively campaigned against them in favour of Islam?  How does God intend to bring justice against them for their insults?  Well, retribution is coming, and it will be swift!  These nations will have their own personal holocaust to contend with, and they’ll get about as much help as they gave to Judah during their holocaust – zero!  During this devastating holocaust, millions will die and the survivors will learn the meaning of the word ‘salvation’.  The salvation of the survivors will come from the most unexpected source!

 Psa 31:16  Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.  You’ll notice in the previous verse that David speaks of being delivered from his enemies, and in this verse it speaks of being saved.  It was important in the end of days, that the real meaning of salvation would be clearly defined.  It might be comforting to Christianity today to be content with an ill-defined interpretation of the meaning of salvation, but the truth of the meaning is totally different!  Jesus Christ didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword (Matt 10:34), and this is something that Christianity struggles to grasp.  We often speak of war and peace today, with war being the opposite of peace.  This is what Jesus was speaking of in His reference to the ‘sword’.  He was speaking of wars, catastrophic wars, which will determine who lives and who dies.

 Thankfully, the Jews understand this perfectly, and Christianity would do well to take note of this, because salvation will come from the Jews just as Jesus said: John 4:19-23 “Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." ²¹ Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.”  Did you notice the words ‘a time is coming’?  And did you notice that Jesus was speaking of a time when Samaritans will neither worship on that mountain (Mt Gerizim – which is midway between Jerusalem and Nazareth) nor in Jerusalem?  The Lord Jesus was speaking of our day when the Holy Land will be cleared of them throughout its borders, and salvation will come from the Jews – just as He said!  You’ll notice that the Samaritans continued to worship in Mount Gerizim long after Jesus departed and still do today.  Jesus was speaking of a time when they would no longer be there.  Jesus also confirmed that they would not be permitted to worship in Jerusalem either!  These people worship what they do not know, and who they worship is not the Father!  As we’ve been pointing out for years, they worship the devil.  Surely, by their fruits you would know this.  As a result of their slaughter and carnage of the innocent God demands and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  Hence, they will be consumed and destroyed in the same manner as they’ve inflicted on others.

 The Samaritans were the inhabitants of Samaria.  It’s worth noting something about Samaritans.  After the northern Ten Tribes of Israel were taken away in captivity, the Assyrian king ordered that the region of Samaria should be populated with the lowliest people from his empire.  And so hordes of pagans were brought in.  Almighty God responded by sending in wild animals to tear them to pieces.  When the king of Assyria was told this, he ordered a Levite family to be sent to the region to teach the people the right way to worship, and afterwards the attacks stopped.  Nevertheless, they didn’t actually worship as the Jews did, but only partially, combining this with paganism – which was what they were accustomed to.  The account of this can be found in 2Kings 17:24-40.  It certainly set them on the path to falsifying the true faith as practiced in Judaism.  They were forced by royal decree to follow this course of worship. 

 Six centuries after Jesus spoke these words to the Samaritan women, Islam made its debut, Mohammed knew that he couldn’t continue to slaughter his own people to gain dominance by force, he had to find another way.  He decided to unite them through religion.  At the time they were all pagans worshipping different gods, and so he decided to model a new religion, and he chose to counterfeit the Jewish religion (Judaism), but with a difference!  He would replace all the gods with a central figure, a mahdi or messiah figure, and of course, that would be him.  So he cobbled together a doctrine replacing the Sabbath with the sixth day of the week.  Then he set about instituting laws by which to govern.  That law we know today as Shariah law, which makes a mockery of God’s Law.  But it appealed to his followers and guaranteed them peace – provided they followed Mohammed.

 Psa 31:17  Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in the grave.  It should be obvious to everyone that the Tribe of Judah and the Holy Land is under threat.  It should also be obvious who the enemy is that makes these threats. These are the wicked creatures who want to displace the rightful inheritors of the Promised Land, and who masquerade under the guise of presenting an alternative religion for the world with it’s own universal law called ‘Shariah law’ as a counterfeit of the Laws of God.  As Jesus said, there is a time coming when they will neither worship on the mountains of Israel nor in Jerusalem.  In this regard, David calls on God to let the wicked be put to shame and be killed, and to lie silent in their grave.  This is quite a departure from the belief system of these wicked creatures, who believe they have an appointment with destiny in heaven, and an allotment of 72 virgins.  All of which gives a fair indication of the carnality of these creatures.  To them, life is all about humiliating young women in their craven sexual desires.  Just imagine a religion that offers a man 72 virgins for their sexual pleasure in return for the ruthless killing of the innocent!  Does any sane person really believe that God would authorize such a thing?  In reality only a craven lunatic like Satan the devil would offer such inducements, and this is who Islam serves as their god.  This should be transparently obvious to Christians everywhere, but it seems that they lack any qualities of rational thought!  Instead, they believe that God is trying to get Muslims ‘saved’ as one lunatic expressed to me.  God has not promised them peace, but a sword – and that sword will come swiftly!  They’ll be no virgins for them in heaven; instead they will lie silent in the grave – dead and decaying!  Dust they are and to dust they’ll return.

 This is a reference to a religion that is founded on lies.  David was a true prophet, but Islam is based on the ramblings of a man who was no prophet at all!  Mohammed was a ruthless maniac who slaughtered everyone who opposed him and even his own people.  Yet the Christian nations never cease to refer to him as the ‘prophet Mohammed’ or the ‘holy prophet’.  All of which tells something of the mental state of Christianity today.  Why don’t they listen to the Holy Prophet David for a change:

Psa 31:18  Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.  It’s always the proud and arrogant that plot and scheme to overthrow those better than themselves, and always it’s with lies and deceit.  God protects the righteous, and he silences the lying, contemptuous lips of the arrogant.  If this is not evident now, it soon will be!

 Psa 31:19  How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.  In full sight of men everywhere, those who fear God will find refuge in Him.  This is not some airy-fairy emotionalism, but in the full sight of men everywhere God’s faithful will find refuge in God’s presence:

 Psa 31:20  In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues.  There will be a dwelling specially prepared for those whom God has chosen as His own.  It’s right here on earth, and it will be out of range for all those who would choose to do them harm.  As for the accusing tongues of their enemies, they will be silenced!

 Psa 31:21  Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city.  As we’ve already discussed, Jerusalem will be besieged, but at that time, the outcome will be entirely different to what it’s been in the recent past.  No peace deals, no UN interventions!  All those who amass against God’s Holy City, including all peace protestors, will be dealt a blow from which they will never recover.  Collectively, their lying lips will be silenced and they will lie silent in the grave – forever!

 Psa 31:22  In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.  As the forces build up around the besieged City of God in increasing numbers, it will be a natural reaction to imagine being cut off from God’s sight.  It will be somewhat a test of courage and some may become alarmed as David did.

 But now David provides the words of encouragement and reassures the saints.  Saints, of course, are those who possess God’s Holy Spirit.

Psa 31:23  Love the LORD, all his saints!  The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.  This confirms Gods’ commitment to an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  The proud and the wicked will be repaid in full!

 Psa 31:24  Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.  These are not unlike the words God used for Joshua, when he was about to enter the Promised Land after the death of Moses.  At that time, God told Joshua to be strong and very courageous.  In fact He stated it three times for emphasis over the span of 3 or 4 verses.  Josh 1:6-9 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷ Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  And there is another lesson in these words: Anyone who hopes to enter the Promised Land and the Kingdom of God had better remember the Laws God gave to His servant Moses, and obey them!  There’ll be no place for lawless people in God’s Kingdom!  And anyone who thinks to the contrary is deluding themself. 

 

 

PSALM 32

 

Of David. A maskil.

 

 Psa 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Sin is something that no-one has been free of, and all of humanity is guilty in one form or another.  Yet once we come to the realization that God is our Creator and that He makes the rules, we are confronted with a choice, and that choice is whether to obey or not.  One of the great ironies of life is that God doesn’t force us one way or the other – it’s our own choice.  One way leads to life and the other leads to death.  Human beings, on average, have seventy years to come to the right conclusion.

 Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if people would give up the deceit and stop telling lies in God’s Name.  Perhaps then they would be in a better position to understand what God requires of them.  Again and again, the Bible instructs us to seek God with all our hearts and then we will find Him.  Moses wrote this: Deut 4:27-31 “The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. ²⁸ There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. ²⁹ But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. ³¹ For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.” 

 Even today, people cling to a paganized Christianity, and refuse to obey God.  We just happen to be living in those ‘later days’ that Moses was speaking of.  And what was it that Moses was speaking of when he advised to seek and find God?  He was speaking about returning to God and obeying Him!  So by what means would one search for God?  Would we look in the cabbage patch or on some high mountain or some other obscure place?  No!  Moses was speaking of returning to God by obeying Him, and the only place you will find the means to accomplish this is in the Law and the Prophets.  Moses was the ultimate great Prophet of God, and when he speaks of God scattering the House of Israel among many peoples, and only a few of them surviving in the later days, he was literally setting the time frame.  He was speaking of our day, these latter days, when just a few survivors would return to God and obey Him, and in return, God will remember the Covenant He made with the forefathers.  This Covenant is to establish them forever in the ancestral lands promised to the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 Those who do survive will not have much to hope for unless they have a complete change of heart and seek to find God while in the pagan lands to where they’ll be driven.  And if they do, they will find that Moses was right all along, and it will happen just as he said in Deut 4:27-31.  When there are only a few people left among the Tribes of Israel, the survivors will indeed seek the LORD with all their hearts, and they will know this is their only remaining option.

 David continues this theme while taking on the persona of his descendants in these last days.  David is speaking a parable of what is to happen, and when we get to V6, this will become obvious as he emphasizes the need to search for, and find God.

Psa 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  There was a similar example to keeping silent in Jesus’ day.  He spoke of His disciples speaking out and the consequences if they didn’t.  With some exuberance, Jesus’ disciples were proclaiming the arrival of the King who comes in the Name of the Lord, and the religious ‘elite’ objected.  This is the account: Luke 19:38-40 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"  "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"  ³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" ⁴⁰ "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."  This is a clear indication that the disciples of God must proclaim the arrival of the King when the right time comes – otherwise the stones would cry out.  When the Churches of God are exiled into foreign lands, they had better believe that the Mighty King has arrived, and they must exuberantly proclaim it wherever they are.  If they don’t, and if they remain silent, then they will find their bones wasting away – as David says.  It will take courage to cry out in the presence of their enemies, but then, real courage comes through faith in God.  Students of the Bible will recall the reaction of ‘doubting Thomas’ when told that Jesus was alive and had returned.  He refused to believe it.  Thomas is credited with saying some silly things at times.  He tended to be naïve, yet full of his own importance.  When ten Apostles of God told him they had seen the Lord Jesus alive with their own eyes, he wouldn’t believe it.  A week later, when Jesus miraculously appeared to them in a locked room, He immediately singled Thomas out for a rebuke (John 20:24-28).  I’m sure Thomas learned a valuable lesson from this.  Some people are naturally suspicious people, of the type that are prone to ‘conspiracy theories’.  It took a jolt from the Lord Jesus to cure Thomas of this obsessive behaviour.  It’s rather ironic that Gentile Christianity chose to author the spurious ‘Gospel of Thomas’.  I hasten to add that Thomas was a true Apostle of God and eventually got over his quirkiness.

 Psa 32:4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah  It was in the summer months that armies marched out to war.  In the northern hemisphere, the month of March was so named because it’s the beginning of summer and an ideal time to march out for war.  This is one of the big mistakes that Hitler made when he attacked Russia.  He wasn’t expecting the furious retaliation led by the Russians that protracted the war into the winter months.  Ill-equipped for winter fighting, combined with the scorched earth policy of the Russians, and the hopelessly lengthened supply lines to his troops, Hitler’s armies were defeated and eventually surrendered.  So generally speaking, the summer months are the time for war.

 Psa 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.  Like every other human being, David was not perfect.  From time to time, he did things that were sinful and they needed to be repented of.  David was such a man that he did repent and seek God’s forgiveness and God forgave him.  It’s certainly not the purpose of this study to be delving into the sins in David’s life.  It would be more meaningful to put our own house in order first.  The fact is that David is instructing us like the good prophet that he is.  He’s telling us that the ideal time to seek God is before you are plunged into mind-defying and deadly circumstances.  It becomes much more difficult to seek God when your life is hanging by a thread.

 Psa 32:6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.  Once the mighty waters arise against you and you’re about to be engulfed, this is not the ideal time to suddenly turn to God for help.  God must be sought while He can be found.  It’s been said that there are no atheists on the battlefield. 

 Too many people live their lives oblivious to any responsibility towards their Creator, and some believe that if things start turning sour, then they can always have a last-minute ‘road to Damascus’ recovery, and God will be obligated to forgive them and even rescue them.  Notice the words above, ‘while you (God) may be found’.  There will come a time when God will not be readily available to intervene for you, and you will be on your own.  If you’ve chosen to be on your own for most of your life, and with no special interest in serving God, why would He then be taking an interest in you?  When one turns to Him and acknowledges Him only in desperation, then it won’t bode well for them.  This should surprise no-one since David specifically says in this verse, ‘let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found’. 

 There is an example of the ungodly found in the Book of Isaiah.  It speaks specifically of a time when God will hide His face from the House of Jacob, and they’ll be snared (led into a trap) and captured.   Isa 8:15-22 “Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." ¹⁶ Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. ¹⁷ I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.  I will put my trust in him.”  God’s disciples obey God’s Law and put their trust in Him.  They know that God is aware of their circumstances and are willing to await His deliverance – either in life or death.  In the next verse, the Prophet speaks of the children or offspring the LORD has given him.  And he makes the point that, jointly, they are signs and symbols in Israel to anyone who will listen and acknowledge their Creator.  V18 “Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.”  God will indeed dwell on Mount Zion, and act as a covering shield to all that dwell there – in the last days.  This is what sets the time-frame of what is being spoken of here.

 Whether people listen and pay attention to the signs and symbols in Israel is another matter!  The greater part of the House of Israel will prefer to listen to Satan’s agents who claim special gifts of perception: V19 “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?”  The Lord Christ added some clarity to this when He spoke of the dead in Luke 9:60 “Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."  Obviously, He was not speaking of the physically dead burying others, but the mentally and spiritually dead!  And there are plenty of these people around today!  Such people are ‘dead men walking’ but they just don’t know it yet!  The Prophet goes on to describe and identify them in the next verse: V20 “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”  These mentally and spiritually dead people will blame the One whom they never served for all their calamities!  How typical of these brain-dead creatures!  They never obeyed God’s Law, they didn’t acknowledge the Testimony, but for reasons known only to themselves, they expected God to save them from the distress, hunger and darkness they were experiencing.  Funny people!

 Why would God have any concern for the lawless?  God is a God of Law, and He hates the lawless!  He has no concern for the disobedient, and people are soon to find this out.  God’s concern is for His disciples – those who obey His Law and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.  You may have noticed what the lawless ones describe as the Testimony of Jesus.  From time to time you’ll have them on your doorstep, or on a street corner somewhere, handing out meaningless tracts about what they believe is the Testimony of Jesus.  Well, God Himself gives us the definition of the Testimony of Jesus: Rev 19:10 “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."  In short, without the Spirit of Prophecy, you don’t have the Testimony of Jesus.  And just to add to this, Bible Prophecy is what the Bible proclaims, and not what someone has conjured up in his own mind – which the spiritually-dead are prone to do!

 Too many people want to be ‘saved’ by God, but have no desire to serve Him.  They seem to believe that by their endless and meaningless flattery of Him, they have somehow won His favour.  Au contraire!  The shallowness of their beliefs will see them looking up and cursing God – just as Isaiah wrote!

 Hell-on-earth is soon to descend to test the inhabitants of the earth.  No-one should imagine that the Kingdom of God will descend peacefully to be welcomed by all.  The truth is that the Kingdom of God must be taken by force and established in time of severe trouble and carnage throughout the world.  Nations will be rising up against other nations, with death and destruction everywhere.  It will be the most catastrophic era in all of human history.  No-one living on earth today will be immune – but with one exception!  There is a band of men and their families, who will prepare the way for the Mighty Christ.  These are the ones who have been tested like gold in the furnace and purified for this very purpose.  And it’s these who alone will have God’s protection:

Psa 32:7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah  To most people, the term ‘godly’ has different meanings, but those who have served God to the best of their ability and knowledge will have a flying start over those who have done nothing.  And here we see David speaks of his hiding place where his house, the House of David, will be protected from trouble and actually delivered from their pursuers.

 In was in the planning long ago that God would once again institute the House of David as a source of hope and strength to all of His people Israel.  The House of David began with just David and his band of fighting warriors, numbering 37.  The Priest and Prophet Samuel enumerated all the mighty men of the House of David in 2Sam 23:8-39 together with a description of their exploits.  They were indeed mighty men who performed almost impossible tasks of bravery and valour.  It’s well-worth reading the account because God is advising us of the future powers of a small group of mighty men in the last days.  V39 tells us there were 37 in all, and all of them valiant.  Seven of them were exceptionally so, and were men of great renown.  2Sam 23:39 “….There were thirty-seven in all”. 

 I think everyone knows that David finally conquered all the Holy Land, largely through the exploits of his 37 mighty men, though eventually, others were recruited to service under their leadership.  And this is the way it will be when the Kingdom of God is taken by force by violent men.  These violent men will be considered by most to be ‘transgressors’ because of the twisted minds of the politically-correct ‘progressives’ who themselves are leading the House of Israel into destruction.  So contrary to the madness of the House of Israel today, these 37 violent men will be men of God – just like David, and will be called the servants of God.  As for courage, they’ve already demonstrated their courage by believing God, which runs counter to the shallow beliefs of Christianity in general.  None of these mighty men are like reeds shaken in the wind, which fall apart at the first sign of adversity.  They’re not shaken by rumours or intrigue, or the staged ‘righteousness’ of the ungodly.  God’s servants are required to be humble and as workable as soft clay.  There is no place for conceited vanity in God’s service.  As Jesus said, Matt 22:14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen."  And few it will be that enters God’s service.  Conceited arrogance is not the type of conduct that God permits among those who would be His servants.  I mention this because a lot of people approach us, the servants of God, with the object of teaching us.  We’ve been taught by God, so what could anyone, who has spent his life believing lies and distortions about God, possibly teach us?  Usually, as soon as they open their mouths they declare their ignorance, and this is no way to engender God’s favour!  Just remember these words, 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.”  It’s a fact of life that there are not too many people today who actually tremble at God’s Word.  It is a fact, however, that most people choose to ignore His Word, and particularly the Scriptures that Jesus Christ quoted and taught from, and which happened to be the only Scripture that existed at that time.

 David is to be resurrected to rule over the 12 Tribes of Israel forever.  It would seem logical that David would be resurrected prior to this in order to establish God’s Kingdom.  But David did this long ago with his 37 mighty men, and he has already earned his place in eternity.  David will be raised from the dead after Ephraim and Judah become one nation again. Eze 37:18-28 “When your countrymen ask you, `Won't you tell us what you mean by this?' <sup>19</sup> say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph--which is in Ephraim's hand--and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' ²⁰ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.”  This is the prophecy concerning Ephraim and Judah, and how they will once again be united into 12 Tribes and become one nation.  Presently, Ephraim is the mightiest nation on earth, and by far, the largest Israelite nation on earth.  This nation is made up of all the Tribes of Israel today.  Hence the reference to ‘the Israelite tribes associated with him (Ephraim)’. 

 And now we see that God will raise up David to be king over them forever: V24 “`My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'" Here we see that David will be resurrected to rule over a united, single nation of all the 12 Tribes of Israel.

 Well, that’s that good news, but as we’ve already seen, there’s plenty of bad news, which will precede all this.  All the Tribes of Israel will be scattered among the nations in captivity; here they will be mercilessly treated, tortured and killed until few of them are left alive.  In accordance with Bible prophecy, only a remnant will return!  Many of these will be barely clinging to life.

 It stands to reason that before anyone can return to their ancestral allotments in the Holy Land, the Holy Land must be cleared of Muslim vermin, and the region cleansed.  Accommodation and provisions must be organized and defense forces established.  If the remnant is to dwell in safety, then the means to beat the nations to the ends of the earth must be readied.  And wars will continue to the end.  The question now is – who is going to fight these wars?

 Well the whole story begins with God’s messenger whom God has sent.  This messenger is specifically spoken of in Mal 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.”  So the first step to the fulfillment of all things is the arrival of God’s messenger, who will deliver a message!  This same messenger must also prepare the way before the Lord Christ arrives.  Part of that preparation is to build the Temple in advance of the arrival of the Messenger of the Covenant, which of course, it the Promised Messiah – Jesus Christ, who will come to His Temple.  As a point of interest, the word ‘Malachi’, as in the Book of Malachi, means ‘messenger’.  This is why no-one could ever figure out who ‘Malachi’ was in history.  It wasn’t a person but a job description of a man, specifically chosen by God.

 At the first appearance of the Messenger of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, there was a messenger sent to prepare the way for Him.  This man’s name was John, the son of Levite parents Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Zechariah was both a priest and a prophet and was filled with God’s Holy Spirit (Luke 1:67).  Zechariah prophesied about what his son John would be in the first chapter of Luke.

 Jesus Christ also spoke about John, and confirmed that John was the one prophesied to precede His arrival.  Both John and Jesus died before they fulfilled all that was written of them.  Both the messenger and the True Messenger of the Covenant have much left that must be fulfilled.  All this additional prophecy will be fulfilled at the second coming of Jesus Christ at the conclusion of the six millennial days of mankind’s existence.  The seventh millennial day heralds the rule of Jesus Christ and God the Father for a thousand years.  Before the Lord Jesus can hand the Kingdom over to the Father, He must destroy all His enemies: 1Cor 15:24-28 “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. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”  What we’ve just read here is the end of it all, but there is much to be fulfilled before this happens.

 As for the messenger sent to prepare for the first arrival of Jesus Christ, this is what Jesus said in regard to John the Baptist: Matt 11:7-15 “As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ⁸ If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. ⁹ Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ This is the one about whom it is written: "`I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' ¹¹ I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. ¹² From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. ¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears, let him hear.”  This last sentence about ‘He who has ears, let him hear’ is a reference to a hidden meaning that only the wise will understand.  In other words, there is more to Jesus’ comments than is immediately evident.

 There are a few things we can glean from Jesus’ comments concerning John the messenger.  Firstly, John was no show-pony who dressed to be noticed!  For all the trappings of wealth and prestige, John had no interest!  There was nothing in his appearance or conduct that would impress others, and he certainly never sought the approbation of others.  In fact, he was quite the opposite – as are all those whom God calls as servants!  This contrasts markedly with all those who consider themselves to be the religious elite.  The religious elite seem to believe themselves worthy of special attention because of their inflated views of themselves.  They see themselves as being ultra-spiritual, and others are not.  As a point of interest, God favours those who are genuinely humble and see themselves as unworthy of God’s mercy.

 Secondly, in the days of John, the Kingdom had not been established, and Jesus spoke of the day when those who are in the Kingdom of God will be greater than John.  Unlike King David, John fought no battles to secure the Kingdom, and neither did Jesus Christ at that time.  Yet Jesus spoke of the Kingdom forcefully advancing, and of forceful men laying hold of it.  In qualification of this, Jesus added that all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.  Neither John nor Jesus forcefully lay hold of the Kingdom at that time.  Both were killed before the Kingdom of God was established.  Since the Kingdom of God must come and afterwards be handed over to God the Father, all the enemies of God must be destroyed first.  As all the Prophets and the Law have indicated, this ended with John and must continue with his successor.  John’s successor is destined to continue where he left off.

 Thirdly, Jesus said John was a prophet and more than a prophet.  David too, was a prophet, and as we all know, he was more than a prophet.  He was a warrior prophet – just like the Lord Christ.  However, at His first appearance, the Lord Christ didn’t fight to restore the Kingdom.  This is to be fulfilled at His second appearance when He will crush His enemies prior to handing the Kingdom over to the Father.  Obviously, the one who must precede the Lord Christ, and prepare the way for Him, must be aware of the game-plan.  This messenger must deliver a rather bitter message but with a sweet outcome.  The messenger will herald catastrophic changes in the earth and clear the territories for the Kingdom of God.  Just as the warrior prophet David fought the Philistines to clear the Holy Land in preparation for his kingdom, so will the latter-day warrior prophets.  This time around, however, they will be clearing it for the Mighty King who will arrive, and suddenly makes His appearance at the Temple, just as Mal 3:1 says.

 All these things have been largely ignored by Christianity in general.  Rarely does one see them preaching about the coming Kingdom of God, and neither do they have any idea of how this will emerge.  And this brings us to something very important.  Jesus Christ frequently quoted from His forefather David, who wrote the Book of Psalms.  And now we come to the part where David confirms he is giving us instructions for understanding the times in which we live.  These instructions, given throughout the Psalms, are to guide us to a righteous understanding of what God expects of all those who desire to serve Him.  All of which guides us through the Key, which is called the Key of David.

Psa 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.  To enter the House of David, you must hold the Key.  The purpose of the Key is to keep out the thieves and the rogues, the liars and the deceivers, who would otherwise enter the House to rob it.  Most people use the Book of Psalms as a feel-good remedy for adversity or sorrow.  Rarely do they categorize the life of David as an example by which to live and the ‘way you should go’.  Psalm 23 is an old favorite of many people and it certainly does offer comfort.  But in reality, it’s speaking of the Kingdom of God and how God will be favourably disposed towards those who choose to go the way of His instruction.  It should not go unnoticed that God chose a warrior prophet in David to instruct us in the way we should go, and especially since the whole object is to establish the Kingdom of God.  The whole purpose of David’s life was to clear the Holy Land of the enemy that lived there and to establish a kingdom for the House of Israel.  This is precisely what David is teaching us.

 Perhaps if Christianity spent more time focused on the coming Kingdom of God and all that it entails, they might be better prepared for the horror that is about to descend on the earth.  I can only suggest that they stop listening to the dreamers who like to promote better outcomes that are totally unrelated to the message of the Scriptures.  We’re all very familiar in this day and age with counseling from ‘professional’ counselors.  There seems to be armies of them today.  All of these are filled with the feel-good variety of mindless reasoning and clichés.  In other words, empty and worthless advice that benefits no-one!  If anything, their advice turns people into lame ducks who become overly dependent on sympathy from others.  The recipients of this type of deranged counseling will be ill-equipped to face the trauma that is just ahead now.

 It’s time to learn something from those who have really been under the gun in the most adverse of conditions.  Learn something from the descendants of David, the House of Judah, who went through the most horrific trial in living memory in the Holocaust.  Did the survivors emerge as lame ducks and incapable of getting on with life?  No they didn’t!  There were no useless counselors in those days reducing them to lame ducks, so the Jewish people went out into the world in full control of their faculties to become the greatest of industrialists and financiers.  On a per capita basis they’ve exceeded the whole world in Nobel prizes, research and development, and of course, the wealthiest per capita group on earth.  And they did it all without the assistance of professional counselors.

 The difference between the Jews and others is that the Jews emerged from the terrible ordeal of the Holocaust with their faith in God intact.  In spite of all they went through, they emerged faithful to God and His Law.  They emerged desirous of entering the Holy Land and living their lives as a righteous nation.  Jews all over the world backed the fledgling nation of Israel – and they prospered.  Neither did they shrink back from defending God’s Land!  They faced many wars and were prepared to lay down their lives in defense of the Holy Land – and God was with them always.  Impossible odds meant nothing to them; they trusted in God for deliverance.  If there is any criticism to be leveled against the Jewish people throughout their wars, it’s that they should not have stopped at the borders of their enemy.  They should have crushed them decisively and destroyed everything leaving them decimated and impoverished for generations to come.  This is God’s way when dealing with His enemies, and in days to come, you will understand this clearly.

 With the exception of the United States, the victors of WW2 have been bumping along the ground ever since.  On the other hand, the losers of this war, the Germans and the Japanese, have eclipsed the rest of Europe in wealth after being utterly destroyed as nations.  Both Germany and Japan have emerged as nations of honour and decency and totally repentant of their former ambitions of conquest.  Remarkably, in their desire for peace, following their ambitions of conquest during the war, they’ve now emerged as nations greatly blessed with material possessions and prestige.   There’s much to be said for utterly destroying aggressive nations and crushing them until all the aggressive behaviour is beaten out of them.  Once powerless and vulnerable, they begin to adopt rational thinking and patterns of reasonable behaviour.  Those nations who were not utterly trashed – as they deserved to be – like Italy, have never really advanced to any degree at all.  Sure they produce some nice leather goods and racing cars, but they’re still the poor cousins of the rest of Europe.  For decades they’ve found themselves ‘dancing close to the door’ for fear of disaster.  There’s scarcely a nation on earth that has had as many changes of governments and PM’s as Italy.  The essential difference is that Italy hasn’t paid their dues for the outrages they committed in WW2.  In many ways, Italy is like a mule that has no understanding.  There are many fine Italian people today, but very few of them live in Italy.

 Psa 32:9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.  This is remarkably good advice.  Those who turn to God only when they are driven by tragedy or adverse circumstances could scarcely be described as willing disciples – but rather reluctant ones!  When things are going well, such people see no reason to obey their Creator.  Yet when things go wrong, who is the first one they tend to blame?  So what David is saying is don’t be like a horse or mule who must be driven to obedience to his master.  David further states that this reluctance is caused by lack of understanding.  Those who want to be like horses and mules will find themselves driven by events that will overtake them, and they will find they have no control over their actions.  David says don’t be like this.  Instead, be like the rider that directs and controls the horse or mule and trusts in God for direction.

 Those who have no understanding, just like horses and mules, are classified as wicked.  This is because they don’t trust in their Creator God and are therefore not the recipients of God’s unfailing love:

Psa 32:10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.  Church choirs traditionally sing hymns about trusting in God.  In fact, they have one that speaks of ‘trust and obey’, but it’s the obeying part they baulk at.  Words flow cheaply and effortlessly, but they mean nothing if not backed up by obedience.  People generally obey the laws of the land for fear of penalty, more so than out of virtue, but they give themselves a free pass when it comes to obedience to God’s Law.  What they don’t realize is that defiance of God’s Laws carries the greater penalty.  This may not presently be obvious, but as David says, “Many are the woes of the wicked” – and of this you can be certain!

 Psa 32:11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!  God’s favour will be towards the righteous – those who love God enough to obey Him!  The righteous will be singing with joyfulness, but the wicked will experience many woes.

 PSALM 33

 

In this Psalm, David gives praise to God for the wonders He has created, and seeks to give Him credit for the wondrous provision He has made for us.

 Psa 33:1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.  Unfortunately, many of those who think they’re upright have fallen prey to the theory of evolution, and are none too certain about what they believe.  It’s becoming less frequent these days to hear people praising God as the Great Creator.  Yet only the righteous have the intelligence to see the design in everything and know that a Creator God designed and created everything.  This is especially so of those who have experienced building something to design.  Try building a racing car sometime without any particular design or innovation, and see how successful you are.  You’ll probably kill yourself if you ever manage to get it to function.  The slightest miscalculation could prove fatal.  A racing car begins its existence as a pile of raw materials, which has to be fabricated and assembled according to known principles, and it must be engineered according to standards and calculated stresses.  When completed, it’s obvious that someone built it.  It amuses me no end to listen to these mutts who believe everything in nature evolved by chance!  They hold this view because they think they’re intelligent.  You only have to spend about five minutes with these idiots to learn they know nothing about anything.  You’ll see their definition of intelligence dissolve right before your eyes.  Just ask them to show you some functioning object that they’ve created that actually works.  Creating something functional doesn’t happen by chance regardless of what any lunatic so ardently desires to be so.

 There is a Bible principle that speaks of certain people who make their own gods.  They fashion a piece of wood or rock and set it up as an object of worship believing that somehow the image has developed characteristics of intelligence to govern their lives.  To them it becomes a living entity.  They pray to it and make offerings of food for it and somehow convince themselves that their hands have created a living being.  This fanciful nonsense is not far removed from the beliefs of evolutionists, who similarly believe that life can come from inanimate matter.  These fools certainly have a bizarre idea about what life is.  They seem to believe that life can spontaneously appear if certain conditions are right.  Yet with all their efforts, and all their experiments, they’ve never been able to produce it – their lying deceptions notwithstanding.  An example of this deception was demonstrated recently, when some DNA was spliced into a living bacteria which reproduced a different bacteria.  This, they claimed, was the creation of life.  And now you know why God calls them fools!  There are plenty of examples of their fraudulent claims for creating life.  Remember ‘Dolly the sheep’?  They didn’t create life in Dolly – they only manipulated it by cloning genes; all of which goes to demonstrate that they don’t understand what life is.  The Creator God has created wonderful functioning things in great abundance and variety on earth.  And God alone can create life.

 It’s the Creator God we should be praising with joy and thanksgiving.

Psa 33:2  Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.

Psa 33:3  Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psa 33:4  For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

Psa 33:5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.  The Creator God has made ample provision for us all to live abundant lives.  He has placed no limits on what is achievable provided our actions are just and righteousness, coupled with concern for others.  God loves a cheerful giver and He particularly favours those who benefit others.  God has been particularly generous in providing for all our needs, and we are expected to do the same for others.  This is where God’s unfailing love shines through.

 When God speaks of justice, he expects us to be just.  There is a societal weakness today where people object to justice being done.  Long ago, God spoke these words: Eze 13:19 “You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.”  And this just about says it all!  Today, horrific crimes are committed and the perpetrators lives are spared.  The howling, holier-than-thou advocates insist no-one has the right to take another’s life.  God disagrees!  He speaks of justice, and justice is only served when His penalties are applied.  There were 19 plotters on September 11, 2001, who killed nearly 3,000 people.  Some of these are now in custody.  Do these deserve to die?  God says yes!  No death is too horrible for these evil creatures, but any death is better than no death for them.

 We have lunatic psychologists today who claim that the death penalty is no deterrent.  Well, I can promise you this: anyone who suffers the death penalty is permanently deterred and this is way God planned it when He instituted the death penalty for murder.  In the interests of justice, no-one should spare those who should not live!  In this world we reap what we sow, and if we sow evil then we reap evil, and evil has a cascading effect.  It can only be eliminated by force – the force of God’s Law!  In just a little while, these words will ring in the ears of all those who live among the Tribes of Israel.

 Psa 33:6  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.  God literally commands matter to obey Him.  A century ago, it was thought that rocks and minerals were merely an accreted mass, that is, until the atom was discovered.  The discovery of the atom led to the unveiling of a powerful dynamo of amazing complexity.  Each atom comprises a core of protons and neutrons, and around this, particles orbit, bonding through some form of electrical charge.  The atom is the ultimate perpetual-motion machine.  It never loses energy, nor does it require energy from an external force to operate.  It’s only in this final generation of human discovery that the enormous power of the atom has been unlocked by splitting it with an external force, and the result is the power of the nuclear bomb.  While this is an amazing accomplishment (which happened to come at the right time against an evil and aggressive nation), it’s primitive in comparison to the Creator God.  Merely through the word of His mouth, He controls matter.  And all matter has the inherent energy to function according to His commands because this is the way He designed it.

 God made man with a creative mind and the ability to force matter to comply to his design.  Metal ores can be smelted and molded to form many shapes for the use of mankind.  Cars, machinery and ships can be built from the raw material that God has provided us with.  Tools and equipment can be fabricated to serve our needs.  In the past, technology has been relatively primitive compared to present-day standards.  In days of old, the world was restricted to horse-drawn carriages and wind-powered ships, and this has continued for almost all of the 6,000 years of mankind’s existence.  In fact, this continued right down to a little over a hundred years ago, when steam-powered transport and steam-driven mechanical power was developed for manufacture.  This was quickly followed by the internal combustion engine which provided the means for quick mobility.  And soon high-speed travel was available to everyone on earth.

 These developments occurred late in our history for a specific reason.  It was God’s intent that development would be inhibited until the last days of human rule, frequently referred to as the end-time.  Or as the Prophet Daniel puts it, the time of the end: Dan 12:4 “But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."  A better rendition of this verse would be: “Many will go here and there due to increased knowledge” because this was the intent of this verse.  People would be highly mobile due to increased knowledge of technology and innovation. 

 We now live in the days where there is no restraint of the activities of the human race.  Almighty God foreshadowed this in the days of the Tower of Babel:  Gen 11:5-9 “But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. ⁶ The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." ⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel – because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world.  From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”  Lacking the commonality of language, they soon became divided along factional lines.

 God confounded the common language to inhibit communication between the peoples and divided them by language.  He noted that if this were not done, then eventually there would be no restraint to their activities.  Through the common pooling of knowledge, discoveries would be made that would greatly advance technology to the degree we see today.  It was the language barrier that established factional boundaries, and these in turn created enemies of the races as they became separated linguistically.  Envies among them created hostilities and ambitions of conquest, which characterized every nation’s ambition.  The stage was then set for the rancor that has persisted down through the ages.  It was the perfect setting in which Satan and his demons could happily operate.  Conquest and killing never ended!

 Psa 33:7  He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.  We may see this as merely quaint language, but the fact is that the seas are contained within boundaries.  In the Book of Proverbs, we see an account by someone who knows all about this – and it’s not Solomon!  But it took a man with the wisdom of Solomon to understand and record it.  He spoke of the Divine One who was at the side of the Creator God when He made all things.  He’s described as a craftsman at God’s side, a Creator also, and He was there when the world was formed.  And this is what Solomon recorded concerning this Being:  Pro 8:22-36 “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.”  This is obviously not speaking of Solomon!  V24 “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.”  God’s only begotten Son was given birth before anything was made in this physical world.  And He was there when everything was made.  V27 “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.”  The foundations of the earth are the landmass.  The Son of God says He was there when His Father marked out the landmass of the earth.  To this very day, mankind has not discovered that the original landmass had a specific shape.  When God marked it out, it had three straight sides. 

 Even more specifically, God says this to the Prophet Job: Job 38:3-8, 14 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. ⁴ "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? ⁸ "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb….”  V14 “The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.”  Not only did God mark out the foundations or landmass of the earth, He also laid a measuring line across it and gave it a specific shape like clay under a seal.  It had distinct features like those of a garment.  As a point of interest, Solomon’s father David had a seal, which is known today as the Star of David.  The Great Seal of David is, in fact, two triangles interwoven individually and surrounded by a circle.  David clearly understood what the original shape of the earth was!  David’s Seal is preserved to this very day as a symbol, though only the Prophets of God today know what it means.

 If you look at a globe of the earth and bring all the landmasses back towards Jerusalem (the center of the earth) it will take shape as a triangle – an upside-down one, because the earth is presently inverted to what it once was.  Though it would look like a triangle, it is, in fact, the symbol of a pyramid.  The uppermost stone on a pyramid is the cornerstone.  This cornerstone represents the Son of God who is the Chief Cornerstone (Eph 2:20).  The two triangles interwoven in the Star of David represents the two former and latter states of the earth.

 Continuing with Pro 8:30 “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. ³² "Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. ³³ Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it. ³⁴ Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. ³⁵ For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD. ³⁶ But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death."  As we’ve already seen, this Craftsman is the very one who was later born as the man Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Apparently, not too many people have been listening to Him and understanding who and what He is.  For instance, how many Christians today know that this same Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament?  Yet this is plainly stated in 1Cor 10:3-4 “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.”  You’ve probably heard people condemning the God of the Old Testament as a harsh and cruel God – which goes to show they don’t know Jesus Christ at all!  And as He says in the above verses from the Book of Proverbs, “All who hate me love death” so it doesn’t auger too well for such people!

 And now back to the Psalms:

Psa 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.  Here David is speaking about the God of the Old Testament, who was Jesus Christ and he gives some good advice.

 Psa 33:9  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  When all the design work has been done, God gives the command and it comes into being.  All matter literally obeys God.  But it goes way beyond this, and even existing objects and systems are subject to God and His commands. 

 Whatever mankind designs or does is subject to God, and the outcome can be entirely different to what they expect:

Psa 33:10  The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  In days to come, you will see this played out to perfection.  Nations like to rise up against other nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms, tribes against tribes, and now we have religion against religion – and whole nations have been dragged into this quandary as one particular religion seeks dominion over all others.

 In days gone by, God might have foiled the plans of the Islamic nations and their mental disease, which has grown in quantum leaps in the past few years.  Throughout history they’ve been crushed many times.  The Israelis accomplished this three or four times in the past seventy years.  But the Israelis are only one of Islam’s targets.  The prime target of Islam is to utterly destroy the whole House of Israel with particular emphasis on the English-speaking ones – the Tribes of Joseph.  Of the two Tribes of Joseph, namely Ephraim and Manasseh, they know that they must destroy the most powerful one first to prevent them intervening in another worldwide conflagration, as they’ve done in the past two world wars.  All efforts now focus on the destruction of Ephraim – the United States of America.  Once he (Ephraim) is taken out of the way, there will be no restraint.

 So will the LORD ‘foil the plans of the nations’?  Absolutely!  But it will be done according to God’s plans, and His plans are a little different!  Throughout all generations, God’s plans have involved the only people He ever chose for His inheritance, and the day will come when they will receive their inheritance in the Promised Land.

Psa 33:11  But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.  The generations spoke of here are the generations of the 12 Tribes of Israel:

Psa 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

 Psa 33:13 From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;

Psa 33:14  from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth--

Psa 33:15 he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.  As we’ve said many times before, God lives in His dwelling place, and it’s often referred to as heaven.  The fact is, God’s dwelling place is more like a city, with many different structures in it.  By way of example, it contains a Tabernacle just like the one that Moses was instructed to build.  It had to be an exact copy of the one in heaven where the Lord Christ serves as High Priest to God the Father.  In addition to this, this city has accommodation for 100 million angels and all of them are kept busy performing various tasks, just as human city workers do here on this earth.

 There is one big difference, however, between this City and the cities here on earth.  God’s City is mobile and travels around the circle of the earth.  From His vantage point, God can see mankind, and He ‘watches all who live on earth’ – as David says.  God describes human beings as looking like grasshoppers from where He dwells, which indicates the closeness of His City.  But of course, this City of God exists in a different dimension and can’t be seen through human eyes.  In the same way, spirit beings can’t be seen with the human eye – except when they choose to materialize to a form by which we can see them.  From time to time, people report seeing ghosts, and imagine they are the ‘souls of the departed’.  How wrong they are!  What they are seeing are demons, who like to terrorize and create an atmosphere of fear and superstition.  These demons would like to create the illusion that when we die, we don’t really die at all, but continue in some other form.  Superstitious people truly believe this!  Such crazy assumptions have their roots in paganism and there are plenty of people who believe it.

 So God does indeed watch all who live on earth, and He does consider everything they do.  Nothing escapes Him!  And He does foil the plans of nations and scoffs at them when they rely on the size of their armies:

Psa 33:16 No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.  When David recorded these things, he was well-aware of where the power of conquest comes from.  Some of David’s conquests involved impossible feats, while greatly outnumbered by the enemy.  Yet God always gave him victory.  David always knew it was the hand of God that had intervened on his behalf.

 David also knew that a fast horse was not something to rely on for safety.  Running away was not an option, and it would not engender any favour from God.  Trusting in God brings deliverance.

Psa 33:17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.  In short, David was not one to flee from the enemy.  He feared God far more than the enemy, and he trusted in God in time of trouble.

 Psa 33:18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

Psa 33:19 to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.  For those who don’t fear God and trust in Him, this will prove to be a hard task in the days of punishment just to stay alive.

 Psa 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.  Those who do trust in the LORD may have to wait in hope for a while, but their patience will be rewarded.

 Psa 33:21 In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.

 Psa 33:22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.  Many Christians today feel certain they will put their hope in the LORD when things take a turn for the worst, but they may have underestimated the ‘worst’.  It’s going to be the worst than has ever been in the annals of human history, but there is hope for those who turn to God in obedience and acknowledge that they deserve the punishment!  If they wait in hope they’ll be rewarded.

 Right now the nations are positioning themselves for the destruction of Ephraim (the U.S.), and when the death blow is delivered, there will be no restraint from the pagan nations.  At any other time in history, such a disaster might have been averted.  Instead, we have reached the end of the six millennial days allotted to Satan’s rule, and God’s Seventh Millennial Day has begun.  The House of Israel is not yet ready to receive their allotted inheritance in the Promised Land, and anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the Bible will understand why.  They’re carrying too much pagan baggage for starters, with expectations that rewards await them even though they no longer acknowledge God as their Creator.  Even the final generation is being taught in the schools that God had no part in the creation.  This factors heavily in the reasons for this time of punishment.  Nationally, Ephraim has adopted the folly of fools.

 Additionally, they’ve decided to revile God’s Name, and have forbidden its use in all public places along with all references to the Laws of God – the Ten Commandments.  At the very same time, there is a trend towards Islamic ‘Shariah’ compliance, a trend that is gaining traction.  Have people forgotten that God is a jealous God?  Have they forgotten these words in the Ten Commandments: Deut 5:8-10 “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. ⁹ 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, ¹⁰ but showing love to the thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  In reality, it will be only thousands who will obey God’s Commandments in these final days of horror.  Only these people will have the exceptional courage to gain God’s favour and mercy, even though it may require their lives.  God has no interest in anyone who doesn’t follow the example set by His Son Jesus Christ!  If anyone values their lives so much as to shrink from death, then they will lose their lives forever!  Remember the words of Jesus?  Matt 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”  In these few words we can plainly see what ‘taking up the cross and following Him’ means!  Lamentably, these words have been thoroughly watered down in these last days.

 PSALM 34

 Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.

At some stage, the Scribes decided to add a commentary of some of the Psalms based on the sequential events of David’s life.  The comments in the grey words above have nothing to do with the content of this Psalm and are a later addition.  Even in Jesus’ day, the Scribes had a real reputation for adding their own commentary and even inventing their own laws to regulate the people and to enhance their own image as learned men.  They craved recognition, and as a result, soon found themselves in alienation with Jesus Christ.

 Psa 34:1 I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.  David, being the man that he was, never sought glory and honour for himself, but always sought glory for God.  This is an ongoing theme in all his writings.  In fact, it’s the theme of the writings of all the prophets.  All of them were servants of God, and as servants, served God faithfully, and gave Him credit for everything.

 Generally speaking, Christianity falls way short of this mark.  They tend to want to glorify themselves.  They’ve firmly convinced themselves and others that they are deserving of lavish rewards because of their misguided opinions of themselves, which opinions were born of a well-organized potion of false humility.  I hasten to add that not all Christians are this way, but the tele-evangelists have certainly managed to create this impression.  Anyone following their example is well on the way to become ‘twice the sons of hell as they are’ – to quote a saying from Jesus Christ Himself.

 Psa 34:2  My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  If anyone must boast, let them boast about the wonders of our Creator.  Boasting about oneself never goes down to well with anyone.  Arrogant boasters quickly put everyone off!  It’s permissible for someone to boast about their children because they love them so much, but even then there are limits even to this.  The point is that the proud and haughty will be humbled in a spectacular way, and precisely for this reason.  God has expressed it this way: 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.”  It’s worth bearing this in mind, because it will pay dividends in the end.  If anyone wants to be esteemed by God, then lose the arrogance!  Additionally, remember that God is the Creator and He made everything – in case you are ever tempted to see any merit in the theory of evolution.  Anyone who believes that God’s creation all happened by chance is delusional.  In fact, they’re suffering from a form of insanity, which is a natural progression when one starts believing lies.  As we read earlier, God makes the point that His people Israel like to listen to lies (Eze 13:19).

 Psa 34:3 Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.  It’s a crying shame that people no longer glorify the Creator God.  Remember the Third Commandment?  Exo 20:7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”  Rather than glorifying God’s Name, people use it in profanity to insult Him.  With billowing arrogance they treat Him as if He doesn’t exist.  How different such people are in comparison to David!

 And just a few words about ‘sacred’ names – a growing trend today.  Almighty God understands all languages, and in fact, He invented them at the Tower of Babel.  All languages on earth have changed as new words are added, so in effect, all languages are a rolling revolution of change.  The age of technology and even the Internet have added many new words to our languages.  The importance of language is for people to understand it.  If we start adding foreign words into our conversation, it makes it difficult to understand the meaning.  The language of the Prophets today is English, and there is good reason for this.  The servants of God are required to speak in a language that the House of Israel understands (Eze 3:3-6), and the English language is universally understood throughout Ephraim and Judah, towards whom God’s message is primarily directed.  In God’s Kingdom the universal language will be English, and all people will speak one language.  The vast majority of Bibles on earth today were translated into English, and it’s from English that foreign language Bibles are translated.  This is the way that God intended it to be in these last days.

 The ‘sacred’ names syndrome today is farcical.  Jesus’ last words before His death were: ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani’, which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  These words are a direct quote from the Psalms: Psa 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”  And just to confirm this was a direct quote, we find other references to His trauma on the Cross in V7-8 “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ⁸ "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him.  Let him deliver him, since he delights in him."  When Jesus Christ spoke these words on the Cross, He spoke in Aramaic.  His tormentors, who heard these words, thought He was calling to Elijah to save Him (Matt 27:25-30).  ‘Eloi’ sounded like ‘Elijah’ to them, but it means ‘My God’ in Aramaic.  So why did Jesus speak in Aramaic?  The reason is, so His tormentors would not understand!  Had they understood, they would have known it was a direct quote from the Prophet David, and they might have baulked at fulfilling what David wrote.  So, by not understanding, they continued to mock Him and hurl insults, and shaking their heads in cynicism to further torment Him – just as David prophesied.  Everything that was predicted about Jesus’ first appearance had to be fulfilled, and this is how it came about. 

 Fifty days later, there were Jews gathered in Jerusalem from many nations to observe the Feast of Pentecost.  These foreign Jews lived in other parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and spoke different languages.  Peter took the opportunity to address them all.  Peter spoke in the language of the day, which was probably Greek, yet miraculously, each heard both Peter’s message and the message of the other Apostles in the language of their homelands.  Acts 2:5-12 “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶ When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. ⁷ Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome ¹¹ (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" ¹² Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"  What it meant was that God miraculously translated the Apostles words instantaneously so that each heard in his own language.  And the reason is that God wanted them to understand the message – which they did!  It was crucial that they heard the message in a language they understood.  It was God-fearing Jews that took the message of Christianity into ‘every nation under heaven’. 

 The point being, that it’s stupid to talk to people in a language they don’t understand, especially when they understand, perfectly, your native language.  If you start speaking in Hebrew they probably won’t understand if their native language, for example, is English.  In this example, God was showing that it’s the message, not the language that is important.  In this case, the message was that Jesus Christ had arisen from the dead just as He had said.  Peter addressed them and confirmed this.  He then went on to speak of the last days as prophesied by Joel in Joel 2:28-32.  This quotation is found in Acts 2:17-21.  These verses speak of wonders in the heavens and blood and smoke on earth below.  The blood and smoke serve as an appropriate description of what can be expected before the Great and Glorious Day of the LORD.  This time is just ahead.  Blood and smoke is a reference to death and destruction.

 Of course, there are many other things prophesied about Jesus Christ, but these are destined to be fulfilled at His next appearance.  His next appearance is less about teaching and more about what He has already taught.  In reality, His teachings were all about the coming Kingdom of God, which will be established forever.  The Kingdom of God will swallow up every other nation and kingdom on earth and they will cease to exist as such, and finally God’s Kingdom will fill the whole earth.  Anyone who understands the nature of humanity will know this will not be accomplished without a fight.  All this must be accomplished before the Lord Jesus hands the Kingdom over to the Father (1Cor 15:24), and this is the centerpiece of the whole operation.

 Prior to this, the nations will be enraged, and they will need to be subdued.  The only effective way to subdue nations is in total conquest.  God knows this, and the Old Testament is full of examples on how God instructs wars to be fought.  Don’t think for one moment that Jesus Christ came to bring peace!  He came to bring a sword – the symbol of war!  Matt 10:32-36 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. ³⁴ "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn "`a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- ³⁶ a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'”  And this adds a whole new complexion to the meaning.  If you choose to disown Jesus Christ as the Mighty Warrior that He is, in whose hand is a two-edged sword, then expect Him to disown you in return.  If you choose to acknowledge Him for what He really is, you’ll probably find yourself in the minority, but you will be acknowledged by Jesus Christ to the Father.  Even your close family will turn against you, but just be aware that Jesus Christ was also abandoned and disowned when the tormentors came for Him and put Him to death.  Lamentably, even the Apostles abandoned Him for a short while out of fear.  Fifty days later, they were acting courageously.

 In coming days, your commitment to Jesus Christ must be real and irrevocable, even in the face of death.  Forget all the airy-fairy nonsense, which dreamers have imparted to you in the past.  These false teachers have never known Jesus Christ, and are hardly in the position to be giving advice to anyone.

 The whole world is facing fearful days, with death and carnage everywhere.  Cascading events will see few men remaining on earth.  So there are seriously real challenges to be faced.  The Prophet David faced many such challenges throughout his lifetime, and is therefore in a position to give good advice.

 Psa 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  Those who seek the LORD and acknowledge Him will be delivered from all their fears – on this you can be sure!  However, you will be tested, and you must be sure you pass the test.

 In the past your worship of God has been mainly lip-service based on the hope of good outcomes, but as with every son whom God receives, you must be put to the test.

 You only have to read the books relating to ancient cultures to know the real essence of human nature.  A good starting point might be a book like “The Battle for North America” by Francis Parkman, (first published in 1862 and available today as a paperback) – particularly if you are American.  Many of the pioneer settlers witnessed some horrifying acts of mutilation and torture by the indigenous savages.  By reading some of the literature written in those times, you will understand what the indigenous inhabitants were really like, being led, as they were, by demonic forces.  Cruelty was considered a virtue among them.  While all these things might have happened a long time ago, the very essence of it all is still very much alive and well – though heavily disguised and inhibited for fear of reprisals.  Just bear in mind that wild animals are never fully tamed and should never be trusted.  And also bear in mind that Anglo-Europeans are different from all the other families of the earth, even though the distinction is not always obvious.  God chose only the Anglo-Europeans and the Jews of all the families of the earth (Amos 3:1-2), and to these He imparted a different mindset.  Anyone who disagrees will just have to get over it and face this reality. 

 In these last days, the mighty Ephraim has set standards of conduct for both war and peace.  Torture and mutilation have been outlawed, though with great reluctance by some of the nations of this earth, who, in the past, practiced some of the vilest forms of torture imaginable.  These vile Gentile nations abandoned some of their practices, but only out of fear of reprisals from the mighty power of Ephraim.  Yet their inhibitions are not set in stone, and if Ephraim were taken out of the way, then they would revert to type.  Ephraim has become the great restraining factor in this world, but he will indeed be taken out of the way – then all hell will break loose!  There will be no restraint anywhere!  The book, ‘Battle for North America’ will give a very good idea of the treachery of the strangers and aliens among you, and what they are really like!

 To be sure, there will be exceptions.

 The day will come when people from all the nations will be grafted into this ancestral tree of the House of Israel, as have many individuals today.  In the case of the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Samaritans were generally hated, even by Jesus who at times refused to speak to them), there will be foreigners who will be quick to show the qualities of mercy and kindness in time of trouble.  God has a high regard for such people, and they will be rewarded.  Others will revert to type.

 None of this applies, of course, to those who live as the Israelites live, and have adopted the attitude of Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi.  She famously said in Ruth 1:16-18 “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”  Who could not love such a faithful and loving woman as Ruth?  Well, God certainly did!  Though a Gentile, she is actually an ancestor of both David and Jesus.  David was her great grandson (Ruth 4:17).  In regard to both Israelite and Gentile, God makes no distinction among those who faithfully serve Him.  Those who don’t serve Him are considered to be strangers and aliens and worthless for any purpose.  And here again, if you don’t agree then you’ll just have to get over it.  This is the way it is, and this is the way it will be forever into the future.                                                  

Strangely enough, all this ties in with what David has to say in the following verses.  When we get to V9, you will find that David is speaking of the Saints.  Saints are those who have God’s Holy Spirit – just as David did!

Psa 34:5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.  True Saints who look to Him will never be covered with shame; rather they will be covered with glory!  Rather than being ashamed, true Saints consider it an honour to suffer for their Creator God – just as Jesus did!

 Psa 34:6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.  Obviously, this poor man in David’s example suffered troubles and there will be plenty of troubles as the final prophecies are fulfilled.  Almighty God will be vigilant to provide pathways out of the trouble for all His Saints.  It’s very evident from the Scriptures that many of the Saints will still be alive when the Lord Christ comes to gather them.  These will have already demonstrated their fear of God rather than the fear of men and they will be blessed with survival.

 Psa 34:7  The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.  There are not too many people today who truly fear God, yet they are quick to claim unmerited favour.  They expect Him to provide blessings and an easy exit from problems, but never do they imagine that God holds the power of life and death – both now and in the hereafter.  If anyone doesn’t fear to disobey God, then they should have no expectation of anything.

 There are people who just roll along in life and get all the breaks.  Everything seems to go well for them.  They seem to have everything and have need of nothing.  Notably, they usually have no interest in God either because they are doing quite well without Him.

 The Lord Jesus Himself said that poor people will always be with us.  This is largely because of poor choices in their lives.  It may or not be their own fault, but this doesn’t alter their circumstances.  And neither might it be anyone else’s fault.  It’s far better to be poor and Godly than rich and atheistic.  Jesus Christ pointed out that it will be very hard for the rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.  Luke 18:23-25 “When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  People who are greedy for money don’t have the right attributes for acceptance by God.  In fact, elsewhere in the Scriptures God speaks of those who rob Him of His Tithe.  Some people prefer to rob God than hand over His money.  But we won’t go into this now.

 Psa 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.  In the Book of Malachi, God invites His people to put Him to the test to see if He won’t pour out a blessing that you won’t have room enough to receive (Mal 3:10).  The point is that if you trust in Him then you will find refuge in Him.  And if not, then you are on your own.

 Psa 34:9  Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.  Anyone who doesn’t fear God rather than men is not worthy of Him.  And of course, those being addressed here are His Saints!  These are the ones who are led by God’s Holy Spirit and are blameless.  Those who fail to exercise the Holy Spirit within them will have worsening troubles.

 Psa 34:10  The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.  Even the strong may grow weak and hungry, those who might otherwise survive, but even their strength won’t help them – especially if they rely solely on their strength.  All the saints must wait on the Lord God and put their trust in Him.

 We’ve seen numerous references to the fear of the LORD, and now David is about to teach us the meaning.

Psa 34:11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.  It’s comforting to hear from one of the great servants of God regarding Godly fear.  Of all people, David really knew the meaning of this!

 Psa 34:12  Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,

Psa 34:13  keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.  There are people in this world who cannot help themselves with their lying tongues.  They speak lies in God’s Name believing they are doing God a service.  In so doing, they amply demonstrate that they have no fear of Him.  In the Book of James, we get this instruction: James 3:1-7 “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. ³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸ but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” 

 I know this sounds fairly extreme, but in reality, it’s true.  The tongue illuminates the thoughts of the mind, and the poison of the mind becomes the poison of the lips.  If anyone loves life, then he will control his tongue and speak no evil.  Since James prefaces all this with the instruction that not many should be teachers, he’s taking aim at those who tell lies in God’s Name.  And this is evil personified!  Those who teach their questionable doctrines had better watch out.  And a good starting point would be to start fearing God!  Controlling their tongue is a good first step.  To be perfectly blunt about it; if anyone is teaching untested doctrine then shut up!  They’ll be so glad they did in days to come.  If anyone ventures to teach, then they had better be sure they are teaching the will of God rather than the will of men.  The doctrine of men will never pass the test!

 Psa 34:14  Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.  These days, everyone is bickering and fighting about points of doctrine and trying to gain ascendancy over others.  None of them understand what God requires of them, yet they feel qualified to teach others.  There is nothing wrong with expressing the hope that is in you, but just make sure that this hope is not misplaced.  You have an obligation to your Creator God to know what He requires of you, and to follow His instructions.  Those who truly fear God will be doing this as a matter of course.

 Psa 34:15  The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry;

Psa 34:16  the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.  It’s fitting that James describes the tongue as a world of evil, because it’s the deceitful tongue that has alienated so many people from God.  Rather than gaining God’s favour, such people have only succeeded in cutting themselves off from God.  Such conduct is so serious that they will die for their sins and the memory of them will disappear from the earth.

 Most people today believe that because of His very nature, God is soft on disobedience and is bound to forgive everyone for everything.  God is patient in the selection of His future sons and daughters, but He also points out that many are invited, but few are chosen (Matt 22:14).  Any who don’t grow in obedience and dedication are rejected.  God hates luke-warm people, and such people are never chosen as His servants.  All of God’s servants must meet the highest standards of righteousness or they too, will be rejected.

 Churches today tend to cling to their doctrine regardless of what the Bible says.  Anyone who rejects their doctrine is considered a heretic.  The unchangeable nature of churches today is that they cannot admit error.  To do so would require them to withdraw their literature and make changes, requiring them to admit error, and this is something they cannot do.  Fear of losing their support base is the overriding factor, and this contrasts sharply with the fear of God.  In short, they don’t fear God!

 Psa 34:17  The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.  There is much to be said for living righteous lives!  Righteousness comes from God and the righteous will be living according to God’s instructions and it’s these who will benefit in time of trouble.

 Speaking of ‘time of trouble’, there will be a time of trouble immediately before David is resurrected from the dead to rule over the Tribes of Israel.  This terrible trouble concerns both Israel and Judah.  In fact, all the descendants of Jacob.  Jer 30:4-9 “These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah: ⁵ "This is what the LORD says: " `Cries of fear are heard-- terror, not peace. <sup>6</sup> Ask and see: Can a man bear children?  Then why do I see every strong man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor, every face turned deathly pale? <sup>7</sup> How awful that day will be!  None will be like it.   It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. <sup>8</sup> " ` In that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, `I will break the yoke off their necks (slavery) and will tear off their bonds (captivity); no longer will foreigners enslave them. ⁹ Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”  This ‘day’ spoken of here is the Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD, a time of terrible trouble, but also the time of the establishment of God’s Kingdom.  This ‘day’ is the seventh millennial day.  It begins with terror, not peace!  In the course of a few years, all the House of Israel will find themselves enslaved and in captivity and with no means to defend themselves.

 In view of this, it would seem that the logical solution now for the House of Israel would be to eliminate all terrorists from the face of the earth.  But no!  The House of Israel, America, Britain and Europe, are busily trying to ‘win their hearts and minds’.  So far, their success rate is minus one hundred percent.  All they’ve done is to embolden Islam – Satan’s selective brood, which is dedicated to terrorism and the destruction of the West.  Wouldn’t now be a good time to begin a crusade to eliminate Islam forever?

 The Afghan war – now that’s a laugh isn’t it?  Why fight the Taliban?  The solution is to bomb the hell out of treacherous Pakistan, destroy their armies and their cities, and India will happily come and mop up and reclaim their former territories, that is, Pakistan.  Does anyone believe that India would leave Afghanistan and the Taliban intact?  India has a healthy hatred of Islam, and Afghanistan would be a desired prize of war. 

 And the pretext for attacking Pakistan?  It’s very simple, they are harboring Bin Laden, and isn’t this what the war is all about?  Isn’t Bin Laden the very crux of this entire war against Islam?  Isn’t he the one who masterminded the start of it all?

 Well, this is never going to happen under the watch of the present U.S. Administration, and time is rapidly running out.  There is much Bible Prophecy to be fulfilled, and the outcome now has been determined.  It will be just as the Prophet Jeremiah has said.

 Psa 34:18  The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.  The Saints will suffer adversity just as Jesus did when He was on earth, and they may be crushed in spirit also, but the outcome will be magnitudes better than those who are not Saints.  God looks after His own.

 And now we come to David’s discussion of a really righteous Man!

Psa 34:19  A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all;

Psa 34:20  he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.  It was this verse that the Apostle John quoted in John 19:36.  Jesus Christ was a righteous man and not one of His bones were broken.  But this is not the prophecy that referred to Jesus in the most specific terms.  It was a prophecy by Moses that did this: Ex 12:43-46 “The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover:  "No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴ Any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, ⁴⁵ but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.  ⁴⁶ "It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.”  The Passover had to be observed on the 14^th day of the first month of Nisan.  And this is the day when the Lord Jesus was slain as the Passover Lamb in fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy.  As a point of interest, if for any unforeseen circumstances the Passover cannot be observed on this day, then it can be observed on the 14^th day of the second month.  This is further confirmed in:  Num 9:11-12 “Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁰ "Tell the Israelites: `When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they may still celebrate the LORD's Passover.  They are to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.”  The Passover may not be celebrated at any other time of the year!  These regulations must be followed exactly!  The purpose of the Passover was to slay the wicked and to spare the righteous.  The wicked, in the case of the original Passover, were those who refused to obey God and allow His people to go free and depart from Egypt.  The Tribes of Israel had to learn then and there that they must follow God’s instructions to the letter, or face the consequences.  In the celebration of this first Passover, there was no margin for error.

 And so David was identifying the really Righteous Man as the Lord Jesus Christ who is our supreme example.  He is the one who had none of His bones broken, and He is our example to follow.

 Psa 34:21  Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.  There is great evil in this world and the wicked will learn this first hand as it begins to stalk them and finally slay them.  David links the foes of the righteous to these same wicked people.  So we see that these wicked people are the foes of the righteous and they will be condemned.  Wicked people have a natural tendency to hate the righteous.  It’s a state of mind they develop but it will bear no dividends for the offender.

 Psa 34:22  The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.  So here we see that it’s God’s servants who are deemed righteous and they will not be condemned.  And here we see clearly that those who don’t fear God face condemnation and death.

PSALM 35

 Of David.

 The theme of the previous Psalm continues here.  It continues to deal with the meaning of the fear of the LORD.  What is more, it also speaks of God’s salvation and what this really means.  We’ll learn that the fear of God and the hope of salvation is intimately entwined with being rescued from our enemies.

David continues to teach the Saints, those who have no hope of defending themselves against their foes.

Psa 35:1  Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me.  David calls on God to come to his aid and contend with his enemies.  David was a mighty warrior and always took the fight to his enemies even when greatly outnumbered.  He always relied on God for the outcome, and God always ensured the outcome.  Yet here he is, seemingly asking God to do all the fighting.

 In reality, David is taking on the persona of the Saints in the Churches who will face a bloodbath through many tribulations.

 Psa 35:2  Take up shield and buckler; arise and come to my aid.

Psa 35:3  Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me.  Say to my soul, "I am your salvation."  David is speaking to the LORD and asking Him to come heavily armed to his defense.  It’s evident that David sees the LORD God as a Mighty Warrior!  Even more remarkably, David recognizes that it’s through the might and power of the LORD that salvation will come.

 Psa 35:4  May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay.  As the enemy builds up its forces, the righteous will long for the intervention of God.  And in fact, these evil forces are building up all over the world.  These creatures are like mad, rabid dogs who want to exterminate everyone who refuses to follow their pagan religion.  Yet Satan’s influence is not limited to these.  These are merely the catalyst to inspire violence and bloodshed throughout the whole earth, with special emphasis on destroying the 12 Tribes of Israel.

 In God’s good time, He will release legions of angels to go to the rescue of the righteous ones.  Suddenly the table will turn and the pursuers will be the ones being pursued.  Hacked to pieces, they’ll be driven like chaff before the wind and they will know that it’s an angel of the LORD bringing this disaster upon them:

Psa 35:5  May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

Psa 35:6  may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.  There are two specific archangels mentioned in the Bible that have special fighting abilities and who command legions of angels.  These two are Michael and Gabriel, and Daniel speaks specifically about them launching an attack in Dan 10:20-21.  Though, in this instance in the Book of Daniel, this fight is against the prince of Persia, to disarm him to pave the way for the prince of Greece (who is the named beast of the Book of Revelation). 

 Getting back again to the plight of the Saints, wherever they may be at that time, there will be hope for the future.  These are the ones who were blameless and were persecuted without cause:

Psa 35:7   Since they hid their net for me without cause and without cause dug a pit for me,

Psa 35:8   may ruin overtake them by surprise-- may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.  God is a God of justice and He likes to make the punishment fit the crime.  Remember how Jesus Christ said: 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.”  The very pit they dug for others will be the pit they themselves fall into.

 So when the Lord Christ arises to act, there will be a fearful dread among His enemies.  It won’t take them long to work out that they are marked for destruction, which must occur before the Lord Jesus hands the Kingdom over to the Father (1Cor 15:24).

Psa 35:9   Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.  Here we see again the meaning of ‘salvation’.  It means to be rescued from the hand of the enemy.

 Psa 35:10   My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O LORD?  You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."  This confirms that salvation means to be rescued.  When the Lord Jesus takes His stand to rescue the Saints, then they will know they’ve been saved.

 Satan is the god of this world, and he can do as he pleases with his own people.  There are restrictions on him, however, in regard to God’s people, the House of Israel.  Naturally enough, when Satan’s people infiltrate the Tribes of Israel, Satan has a ready force to do his will, and he’s able to use these ruthless creatures to great effect.

Psa 35:11   Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.  Ruthless witnesses take many forms.  Jesus Christ experienced His share of this!  His detractors couldn’t fault His conduct, but they never stopped trying.  Today, if anyone promotes obedience to God and His Law, then self-righteous maniacs come out with all guns blazing.  They can’t point to a single Scripture that indicates that the Christ abolished the Law, but apparently their madness drives them to believe He should have!  In short, they don’t want God ruling over them!  And they certainly don’t want God imposing His Law on them.  So they resort to attacking the messenger.

 At a national level, there are people who never stop accusing others and finding fault.  As an example of lawless people, we saw a classic example of this with the Mohammed cartoons.  Not only did they want to kill the cartoonist, but the furor spread all around the world, and silly people who know nothing about anything, extended sympathy for their cause, and decided to placate Islam and their unreasonable lunacy. 

 Then we have the manufactured ‘racial’ slurs.  You mustn’t refer to anyone with the term ‘nigger’ (even though it’s derived from the Greek word for ‘black’, that is niger), and now ‘negro’ is not permitted because its related to ‘black’ as in ‘nigros’.  People have become so touchy about this that they won’t even write these words, but refer only to them as something like this: n*****.  It’s only permissible for blacks to refer to each other by this term, which they frequently do.  There’s a simple solution to ‘racism’, if people act with honour and decency, regardless of their colour or background, they should be treated with the greatest respect.  If they choose to behave like wild animals, then they deserve any epithets they receive.

 Children don’t get to choose their parents!  God knows this and has made provision for anyone who desires to serve Him to be admitted to His Family without racial distinction.  Anyone who returns to God and obeys Him and believes Him will receive God’s Holy Spirit.  Once a person receives God’s Holy Spirit he is no longer an alien or stranger, but a fully-fledged Israelite in God’s eyes.  Remember what the Scripture says of Abraham: ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3).  And of course, Abraham obeyed God!  Gen 26:4-5 “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, ⁵ because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." 

 The time will come when political correctness will become so entrenched that it will be used against the best interests of God, and God’s servants will come under attack.  This is exactly what happened to Jesus, even though He was entirely blameless of any form of transgression.  Just to put all this into some form of perspective, the day will come when the offspring of Jesus Christ, that is, those who have the Spirit of Christ, will become armed and dangerous against transgressors, and this will happen soon.  Against all odds, these servants of God will be accused as transgressors themselves.  The reader is probably aware that Jesus Christ instructed His disciples to get some swords just before He was arrested.  Luke 22:36-38 “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.”  Since it is written, Jesus made sure it was fulfilled.  Sure enough, when Jesus was arrested, Peter stepped up and hacked off the ear of the high priest’s servant, using one of the swords.  At which point, Jesus stopped him and healed the servant’s ear.  It was clearly the wrong time and place for a fight.

 The reason for this is quite simple in the passage where it is written: 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 (which are those who have His Spirit) and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. ¹¹ After the suffering of his soul (body), 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. ¹² 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.”  Jesus Christ was slain as a guilt offering, and after He arose from the dead, He saw His offspring – the very ones spoken of as transgressors.  Jesus imparted His knowledge to His disciples and through this knowledge they were justified.  As we saw in the passage from the Book of Luke, these transgressors were sword-carrying disciples of Christ – the very ones who received the Spirit of Christ – also called the Counselor (John 14:24-27).  At a later time and fulfillment, those who have the Spirit of Christ, His offspring, will again become armed and dangerous and will take the fight to His enemies.

 Jesus fulfilled these Scriptures about being numbered with transgressors, but the reality is the Apostles were faithful men of God who were totally obedient to Him and His Laws.  They loved the Lord Jesus and steadfastly believed Him to be the Son of God.  They were certainly not transgressors!  But they had to appear to be!  And so they were armed to look like ruffians and lawbreakers.  It was important that this was so, because there was to be a latter-day fulfillment of these very Scriptures, when the Offspring of Jesus would once again go armed in Jerusalem and its surrounds to clear out the terrorist Muslims in preparation for clearing all the Holy Land.  These are the prophesied forceful men who will take the Kingdom by force:  Matt 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. ¹³ For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. ¹⁵ He who has ears, let him hear.”  All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, who was the prophet and messenger who preceded the arrival of Jesus Christ.  The final prophet to prophesy about John was his own father Zechariah.  His prophecy about his son can be found in Luke 1:66-80.  John was the second Elijah to appear, but there is yet a third.  The third Elijah will appear before the Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD and this is confirmed in the last passage of Scripture in the Old Testament – in Mal 4:5-6.  All Bible prophecy beyond this, including the Book of Revelation, concerns the appearance of the third Elijah and the Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD and the establishment of God’s Kingdom.  You’ll notice that, although John the Baptist preached about the coming Kingdom of God, he didn’t fight for its establishment.  Instead, he was killed.  And so was the Lord Jesus.  The establishment of the Kingdom of God was clearly for a later time.

 Jesus was formerly ‘numbered with transgressors’, who were later to be hunted down by the agents of Satan as transgressors.  The Lord Jesus will again be numbered with so-called ‘transgressors’ and He will divide the spoils of war with them.  These are referred to as ‘strong’.  In the Book of Zechariah, these ‘transgressors’ are called strong because the LORD Almighty is their God: Zech 12:5 “Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, `The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'”  The LORD Almighty is God the Father, and these people, the Sons of Jerusalem, were taught by Him (John 6:44-45, Isa 54:11-13). 

 The Sons of Jerusalem will have to be strong to clear the Holy Land in preparation for the Kingdom of God, which will begin right among the Jews.  Interestingly enough, the Jews are the ones who have been waiting for the Messiah for thousands of years to arrive and set up His Kingdom with Jerusalem as the Capital.  But there is an important event that will occur before this is fully accomplished.  It involves an assault on God’s dwelling place in heaven.  Satan and his demons will attack the Majestic Glory mother-ship, but a mighty warrior will be waiting for them.  This is Michael and his legions of angels who will launch into battle: Rev 12:7-13 “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.”  This is an event that will occur in the near future.  In fact, immediately before the Kingdom of God is established.  V10 “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.”  And who are these brothers who are accused day and night by Satan?  These represent the House of David.  It was the House of David that gave birth to the man-child Jesus, and Jesus Christ, notably, referred to Himself as the Son of David.  It’s important that none of these Brothers do anything that Satan can accuse them of in the presence of God.  Until he is cast down, Satan will certainly accuse them if the occasion arises!  In the meantime, Satan has no power over these Brothers without God’s express approval, and this approval is unlikely to be forthcoming now.

 The reason why Satan is accusing them is because he considers them to be transgressors, and a threat to all he has accomplished in leading the whole world astray.  Remember how Jesus told His disciples to arm themselves with a purse (or wallet), a bag (an overnight bag) and a sword (Luke 22:36)?  This is because they have to go on an excursion and fight a battle, which is made very clear in Isa 53:10-12 which we quoted above.  Satan complains bitterly to God about their activities and accuses them day and night, but Jesus Christ makes intercession on behalf of these so-called transgressors.  This seems to be the tipping point for Satan and he launches an attack on God’s Dwelling-place, but is defeated by the Archangel Michael and his legions.  Immediately after this, Jesus Christ is given authority to act with the power of the Kingdom of God.  This power is a distinct departure from the Queensbury Rules style of fighting that has gone on in the past.  In fact, it’s going to leave God’s enemies shell-shocked!  If anyone doesn’t fear the power of God in that day it will be because they’re already dead!

 Continuing in the Book of Revelation with V12 “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."  Everyone on earth beware!  Satan will have just attacked God Himself, and lost!  So he won’t have anything to lose now!  His time is limited before he’s arrested and imprisoned for 1,000 years, so he’ll have no regard for anyone.  Satan is capable of astounding damage!  And he’s also very good at rallying nations to war.  V13 “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.”  The woman who gave birth to the male child Jesus, is certainly not the Church!  The woman is the House of David, the linage through which Jesus was born and which is clearly shown in the genealogies leading to His birth (Luke 3:23-38, Matt 1:1-17).  Both these genealogies show clear linage through David, and therefore, through the House of David.  V14 “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.”  Here we see that the Woman is flown away in a flying craft – in the same manner which Elijah was thousands of years before.  The reason is that Satan is trying to hunt them down to kill them.  At this point, Satan will be exiled to earth and cut off from God completely.  He’ll have nothing to lose now!  V15 “Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.”  It would be remiss of us not to give further explanations here.  The serpent spews water from his mouth like a river to overtake the woman.  The serpent is not physically spewing water out of his mouth, this is merely symbolic language for war.  In the same way that the sword comes out of Jesus’ mouth, this is symbolic for the declaration of war.  A physical sword doesn’t come out of Jesus’ mouth anymore than water comes out of the serpents mouth, rather it’s symbolic for commands to His warriors.  Jesus didn’t come to bring peace but a sword!  As for the earth opening and swallowing the flood, something similar happened in the days of Moses, and the Levites never forgot it.  It happened that some felt they were equal to Moses and insisted that their opinions be valued as highly as Moses.  We’ll include this passage of Scripture here because it also relates to the very next verse in the Book of Revelation.  This is what happened to Moses at that time: Num 16:1-5 “Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites--Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth--became insolent ² and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. ³ They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" ⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers: "In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him.” 

 Skipping down to V28-35 “Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and THE EARTH OPENS ITS MOUTH AND SWALLOWS THEM, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt."  And this is exactly what happened to those who opposed Moses. V31 “As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and THE EARTH OPENED ITS MOUTH AND SWALLOWED THEM, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!" ³⁵ And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.”  This is the type of thing that happens to those who oppose God’s servants, the Levites.  As a point of interest, we mentioned this earlier in the study.  The Celtic Levites made an oath to this effect to Alexander the Great.  Alexander was fearful that the Levite armies might attack his homeland in his absence, while he was away conquering the Middle East.  The Levites stated an oath, saying, “If we should dishonour our pledge, may the ground open up and swallow us.”  This left Alexander perplexed, but he accepted their pledge.

 There are always some who feel they have rights to which they are not entitled.  Some might call it ambition; however, God calls it insolence and an expression of contempt for Him as we saw in the account in the Book of Numbers.

 And now we come back to where we left off in the Rev 12.  In the next verse, the dragon is enraged at the woman because she has been taken out of his reach.  So he goes after the woman’s offspring, who, logically enough, are Christians.  In fact, real Christians!  These Christians obey God’s Commandments, and there are not too many Christians today who obey God.  So this narrows the field considerably.  V17 “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”  And here we find they have an additional quality, that is, the Testimony of Jesus.  What, then, is the Testimony of Jesus?  The answer to this is contrary to the beliefs of 99.9% of Christendom who have never known the answer.  Here’s God’s definition of the Testimony of Jesus: Rev 19:10 “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS IS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY."  Anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of Prophecy doesn’t have the Testimony of Jesus, because both are one and the same – as the angel of God stated.

 So the Prophet and his Brothers have the Testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of Prophecy.  The Spirit of Prophecy comes through a double-portion of God’s Holy Spirit.  This addition of the Holy Spirit is called the Counsellor which God has sent in Jesus’ Name (John 14:26-27).  This Spirit imparts the true Testimony of Jesus.  It’s obvious from reading Rev 12:17 that obeying God’s Commandments is a pre-condition to receiving the Spirit of Prophecy.

 Jesus offspring are those who have His Spirit and His Testimony.  These are the ones who prepare the way for Him.  Now we see that this ‘woman’ also has offspring, who obey the Commandments of God.  This brings us back to the account of Moses being confronted with community leaders who wanted to take over the priesthood (Num 16:10).  Well, today we have congregational or Church leaders who want to take over the ministry of the Churches of God, and have installed themselves into this position.  They would see it as a distinct threat if anyone in their congregation began to accept the real Testimony of Jesus.  In order to arrive at this decision, this offspring would have to be taught by those who have been taught by God.  The only people in the whole world today who have been taught by God are the Sons of Jerusalem.  They alone have the Testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of Prophecy.  This is the sort of statement that is sure to draw a venomous response!  And it’s entirely predictable who will launch the response!  Satan will make war on the Offspring, and who do you suppose he will recruit to carry this out?  It’s the very ones who made the venomous response.  This is not without precedence.  This is exactly what happened to Jesus when the religious elite falsely accused Him and had him put to death.  As He said to His disciples: John 15:20 “Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”  As the old saying goes: It’s the nature of the beast!  For two thousand years religious leaders have wanted a stranglehold over their congregations, and they wanted to be the final authority on all things doctrinal.  Not only will Churches be divided, but whole households as well.  Remember what Jesus Christ said?  Matt 10:32-36 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. <sup>33</sup> But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. <sup>34</sup> "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. <sup>35</sup> For I have come to turn "`a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- ³⁶ a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'”  Yes, the Offspring of the Woman will be hated for the doctrine they hold in believing Jesus and His Testimony!  At that time, these faithful Church of God members will know they are the Offspring of the House of David and that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

 The sad part is that this offspring will have left their run a bit late.  The House of David will be gone for 3½ years and so they will be on their own to bear their own burden during this period.  This is one of those situations where some people like to wait to see if what God has said comes true.  A big mistake!  God demands that the faithful have the faith to believe Him before, not afterwards.  And so the Offspring will be left to prove their faith, and to be willing to lay down their lives, secure in the belief that God will raise them from the dead.  This is what results when people baulk at serving God according to knowledge.  And soon the door to the House of David will slam shut and no-one will have the key to get in – for 3½ years.

 At long last we arrive back where we left off in the Book of Psalms.  And here the theme continues.  All the good deeds one has done will be forgotten when friends and family begin spewing venom.

Psa 35:12   They repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn.

Psa 35:13   Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.  When my prayers returned to me unanswered,

Psa 35:14    I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.  I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother.  This certainly shows the measure of this servant of God.  Faithfully, he shows concern for others, praying and fasting on their behalf.  Always attempting to relieve their suffering!  All of this counts for nothing when Satan gains a foothold in the family.  Suddenly they’re repaying evil for the good you have done.  Obviously, these people have not armed themselves against the devil’s schemes, which would remind us of these verses in Eph 6:10-13 “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, and after you have done everything, to stand.”  The day of evil will not be long in coming now, and now is the time to be putting on the full armour of God.

 Psa 35:15   But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; attackers gathered against me when I was unaware. They slandered me without ceasing.  Yes, the slightest stumble will bring them down on you like a pack of wolves.  Just remember you won’t be dealing with flesh and blood rulers and authorities, but with the spirit powers of the dark world!  So be strong and stand firm against their attacks.  Try not to stumble, and don’t be caught by their verbal ambushes when they gather against you.

 Psa 35:16   Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked; they gnashed their teeth at me.  Just remember that Jesus Christ had a similar experience.  It should come as no surprise that this is how demons of the dark world operate.  You’ll recall that Jesus was merely teaching the Truth of God to His disciples and to the crowds that came out to see Him.  Yet somehow, after He was arrested, this spilled over into the political scene of the day.  His accusers maliciously mocked and jeered Him, gnashing their teeth and foaming at the mouth, and accused Him of trying to supplant their king or Tetrarch, who, in this case was Herod.  Oddly enough, the Jews hated Herod because of his Arab ancestry, but he was Satan’s man-on-the-ground, and the demons rallied to his defense.  As a point of interest, Jesus refused to even speak to Herod in order to fulfill the Scripture that said: Isa 53:7 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”  Yet in the presence of Pontius Pilate He spoke quite freely, which shows that Pilate was innocent of His condemnation.  And to confirm this, Pilate publicly washed his hands of all involvement in the murder.  Much later, when Pilate finished his tour of duty, he returned to the region of Normandy, France to retire.  Pilate, believe it or not, was a Levite.

 Returning now to the plight of the Offspring:

Psa 35:17   O Lord, how long will you look on?  Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.  ‘Lions’ is a good descriptor of them!  I imagine that 500 years after David wrote this, Daniel would have drawn solace from David’s words when he was rescued from hungry lions after being persecuted by lying deceivers.  David was, of course, referring, in this parable, to his former friends who turned on him.  Even Satan is like a roaring lion: 1Pet 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  In Peter’s day, Christians were being actively hunted down everywhere, and the slaughter of Christians went on for centuries until the Emperor Constantine brought it all to an end when he made Christianity the official religion of his empire.  Much of the credit for this goes to Constantine’s mother, who became a Christian and loved Jerusalem and the Holy Places.

 No true Christian should think it unusual if they are persecuted.  Just remember it happened long ago in the past.  Jesus Christ warned that it would come, and it’s incumbent on all Christians to faithfully endure.  The satanic forces are already operating throughout the world to persecute and kill both Christians and Jews and they are not backward in openly declaring it.

 Western secular Jews are already acting like Benedict Arnold against their own people, the Israelis, and blaming them for the satanic foment burgeoning in the Middle East.  Their latest pathetic offering is that the Israelis should turn over all the Holy Land to the satanic Muslim hordes and just wait until the promised Messiah returns to sort it all out.  How noble of them!  They seem unaware of the millions of their fellow Jews who would be slaughtered in such an event.  And because they’re secular idiots, they don’t realize that Bible Prophecy would not be fulfilled if this should happen.  Because they’ve adopted this myopic view, they’ll pay a heavy price in days to come.  It’s the faithful Jews only, who will be rewarded and invited into the Kingdom of God.

 Then we have the Christians!  How are they faring in these dark days of threats by the satanic hordes?  Typically, the vast majority of them have joined the placation chorus to whitewash the conduct of Islam.  These gutless weaklings are typical of those who will never enter God’s Kingdom!  Instead, they will get what they deserve!

 Of all the professing Christians on the face of the earth, the true entitlement to be called Christians will settle only on a few thousand people who have been prepared for this very day.  These will be faithfully obeying God’s Commandments, and they will be honoured with the Testimony of Jesus.  It won’t be easy for them, but like David, the Patriarchs and all the prophets, they will stand in the Great Assembly when God all the angels and all His Sons and Daughters of His divine Family assemble.

Psa 35:18   I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.  This is speaking of the Great Assembly of God, where all His angels and all His sons and daughters will be gathered, and where David will appear when he is resurrected to be king over all Israel.  This Great Assembly is described in the Book of Revelation, chapter 7.  Through the faithful endurance of the martyred saints, a tremendous number will emerge to stand in the Great Assembly.  These will come out of the Great Tribulation (Rev 7:4).

 And just to confirm something else that Jesus said, concerning those of special honour: Luke 13:28-30 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."  So the Patriarchs and all the Prophets will be in God’s Kingdom.  And incidentally, David is also a Patriarch.  Not the Patriarch of the House of Israel, but he’s the Patriarch of the House of David and a very important patriarch at that! 

In the Book of Acts, Peter refers to the Patriarch David, and confirms him to be a prophet: 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."' 

 As we’ve seen, many of the things David wrote in the Psalms were prophecies about Jesus and we’ve been drawing attention to these and the manner in which they were fulfilled.  One of these relates to Jesus Christ being hated without reason.  And this is what Jesus had to say in this regard: John 15:18-25 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. <sup>21</sup> They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. <sup>22</sup> If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. <sup>23</sup> He who hates me hates my Father as well. <sup>24</sup> If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. <sup>25</sup> But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason.'” 

 This next verse is actually a prophecy that supports and prophesies of  the above words of Jesus:

Psa 35:19   Let not those gloat over me who are my enemies without cause; let not those who hate me without reason maliciously wink the eye.

 Psa 35:20   They do not speak peaceably, but devise false accusations against those who live quietly in the land.  Rampaging lunatics can do as they please, but those who live quietly in the land become the target.  Why?  Well, Jesus explained it above, when He said, ‘because of my Name’!  These people who live quietly in the land will be persecuted because they are true Christians and bear Christ’s Name.  This is the satanic element behind it all:  Satan hates Jesus and the Father, and it should come as no surprise that Satan’s disciples do also.  There’s a mad rampage going on around the world right now, where Satan’s disciples, his Muslim brood, are threatening death and destruction to all Christians and Jews collectively.  But Satan’s real target, as we’ve already seen, are those who obey the Commandments of God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.  Against all reasoning, mainstream Christianity have become natural allies with Satan in despising those who obey God’s Commandments.  Most Christians today go out of their minds if anyone suggests that God must be obeyed.  They screech and holler about ‘grace’ and make violent and false accusations against those who live quietly and obey God.  How dutiful these accusers are to their master Satan!  These accusers seem unable to understand that they are accusing the Saints of doing what God commanded of the Patriarchs and all the Prophets – to obey God’s Law!  Do these evil creatures think they can go around killing people, and committing adultery at will, in defiance of God’s Law?

 Well, Jesus Christ has a message for those who think this way, and who holler ‘grace’ as their excuse for disobedience, and it’s found in Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”  Yes, if anyone loves and practices falsehood, they will be the perfect candidates for Satan’s brood.  And the penalty for this is death!  As Jesus says, the Gates of the City of Jerusalem will be out of bounds to them and they will never enter!

 Psa 35:21   They gape at me and say, "Aha! Aha!  With our own eyes we have seen it."  It’s these very creatures who will be monitoring all that the saints do in order to bring accusations against them.  I wonder what they think they’ve seen?  Did they see someone resting on the Sabbath in accordance with the Commandment?  Or did they see someone refusing to join them in their practice of falsehood?  These people are just as bad as those in Jesus’ day who accused Him of healing on the Sabbath day!  Or when they accused the disciples of eating ears of wheat on the Sabbath!  These accusers are just lying hypocrites who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. 

 This is the type of thing that is rapidly advancing as we near the end of Satan’s rule.  Not only will satanic spies be watching the Saints very carefully, they’ll be trumping up charges against them.  Jesus warned of this: Luke 21:10-18 “Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. ¹² "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. ¹³ This will result in your being witnesses to them. ¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. ¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. ¹⁷ All men will hate you because of me. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By standing firm you will gain life.” 

 Something similar to this happened to Paul and Silas, when they cast a demon out of a slave-girl who had been given the power of the magic arts of foretelling the future, and had made her owners lots of money.  Acts 16:19-21 “When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰ They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹ by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."  This is a classical example of people relying on the powers of Satan to make money, and accusing those who resist them of advocating customs which they deemed unlawful for them to accept or practice.  They were the ones who were fleecing others through the magic arts, but still they used trumped up charges against Paul and Silas.

 While this happened long ago to Paul and Silas, the lesson continues for us today.  It gives a distinct example of the type of madness that will prevail in days ahead.  Jesus warnings to us in the Book of Luke add clarity to who will be persecuted and put to death.  It will be true Christians, who obey God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus!

 Psa 35:22   O LORD, you have seen this; be not silent. Do not be far from me, O Lord.  God will not be far from true Christians during this perilous time.  At the crucial time He will be there in Spirit to advocate for the accused.

 Psa 35:23   Awake, and rise to my defense!  Contend for me, my God and Lord.  As promised, God will mount the defense through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, which will live with those who have the Testimony of Jesus. As Jesus said, the right words for their defence will be given them as we read in the Book of Luke: “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.”

 Psa 35:24   Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God; do not let them gloat over me.  Vindication will be swift in coming in the aftermath of all this persecution against the Saints of God, when nations rise up against nations, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

 We’re presently seeing wars and revolutions everywhere, as well as earthquakes, famines and all sorts of diseases and troubles, yet these are only the beginning of sorrows.  Satan hasn’t yet fought that crucial battle that will see him marooned on earth.  When this happens, his second target will be those who obey God’s Commandments and have the Testimony of Jesus.

 So what happens after this?  All those who persecuted the Saints will face the same treatment themselves.

Psa 35:25   Do not let them think, "Aha, just what we wanted!" or say, "We have swallowed him up."  Yes, they may think they have successfully eradicated the Saints of God, but now it’s their turn!  The suffering of the accusers of the Saints will be magnitudes greater and they will never recover from their shame.

Psa 35:26   May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.   Shame and disgrace scarcely describes what these wicked creatures will experience!  There’ll be nothing like this since the world began.  The Holocaust was bad, but the Great Tribulation will leave it looking like a minor incident.  With all the Holocaust deniers today, it’s almost poetic justice that such people should suffer far worse.

 Psa 35:27   May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, "The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant."  Who would delight in this vindication?  Well, after seeing the slaughter of the Saints, the servants of God will delight in the vindication that follows!  In truth, the House of Israel will get what they deserve!  As for the martyred saints, this is what God says: Psa 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. ¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant [the Woman]; you have freed me from my chains.”  The Prophet Isaiah wrote this: Isa 57:1-2 “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. ² Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”  Their struggle will be over and the resurrection will come quickly for them!

 I imagine the fellow-citizens of the martyred Saints will begin to believe they made a huge mistake in killing the righteous ones.  They’ll see all the signs of great foreboding, and realize it’s their turn to face disaster.  Having swept the Saints from the land, they’ll be on their own and searching for answers, but at that time there will be a famine of the Word of God (Amos 8:9-12).

 Thankfully, God has a back-up plan which He set in motion long ago.  The most persecuted people on earth today, the Jews, will be called to duty to rescue [save] the House of Israel and prepare the place for their return to their ancestral lands.

 Psa 35:28   My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long.  Only the Jews could suffer so much persecution for so many centuries and yet remain thankful and faithful to God!

 PSALM 36

 For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD.

 Psa 36:1  An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:  There is no fear of God before his eyes.  And this has been the problem throughout history among the Christian nations.  Fear God?  They don’t fear God, they seem to think He’s their servant, the provider of all their covetous desires!  They hold Almighty God to the highest standards of  compliancy, demanding forgiveness and protection, yet have no desire to do anything He requires.  When things go wrong, it’s all God’s fault, but when things go right they take all the credit themselves.  Well, things are going to go terribly wrong and what will those who don’t fear God do then?

 Isaiah gives us some insight: Isa 8:18-22 “Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion. ¹⁹ When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word (that is the Law and the Testimony) they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”  Those who don’t obey the Law of God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus will finish up cursing their King and God, and their end will be death – forever!  They refused to fear God, and now they will fear everything!

 It should be obvious to everyone the type of people this refers to.  They have egos as big as a house, and literally crave the admiration of others.

Psa 36:2  For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.  This is the disease of the mind that is so prevalent among the religious elite today.  We’ve all seen it and we’re well aware of it.  Is this the type of person that any normal person would seek instruction from?

 Psa 36:3  The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good.  This Psalm begins by speaking of the sinfulness of the wicked that don’t fear God.  The religious leaders are at the forefront of teaching wickedness and deceit.  They never teach obedience to the Commandments, and they certainly don’t teach the Testimony of Jesus!  What they teach are silly stories they’ve made up to make you feel good.  And it’s through these stupid, emotional stories that they exploit you!  This is precisely what the Apostle Peter had to say about them: 2Pet 2:1-3 “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.” 

 We’ve all heard these pathetic made-up stories preachers use to exploit the gullible and to make the congregation feel good.  But as the Prophet Isaiah pointed out, this will all come to a swift end when people realize their expectations have been betrayed by reality.  Perhaps they should have listened to the prophets of old instead of their deceitful preachers!

 The Apostle Peter had the advantage of understanding the Scriptures, and he knew exactly what the Prophets of old, including David, meant in all that they wrote.  These were all men who lived their lives in obedience to God.  They knew that this life was merely a training ground for greater things ahead when the Kingdom of God would be established forever.  The Apostles had the advantage of spending 3½ years with the Lord Christ and learning the meaning of righteousness and obedience to God.  They knew there was nothing beyond this life if they failed in their endeavours.  Jesus Christ didn’t cling to life in this world, but gave up His life that others might live.  He demonstrated that those who remained faithful and obedient to God would live again just as He has.  All such people would see the light of dawn in God’s Kingdom!

 Peter knew there would be false prophets in the Church, just as he knew there would be false teachers.  And the proof of what he said is very evident today.  There are literally thousands of church sects that can’t agree on anything.

 Psa 36:4  Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.  I don’t know what the significance is about plotting evil on the bed, but most of these television-evangelists are not averse to this either – as you’ve probably noticed.  Their hypocrisy is frightening!  Yet through all their devised evil to keep their congregations in an emotional coma, they omit any suggestion of obedience to God – the one thing they are obligated to do as teachers!

 Having dealt with those who have no regard for their Creator God, David turns his attention to those who do.  He reminds everyone that there are rewards for righteousness, both in this life and beyond.

Psa 36:5  Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.  For those who love the Great God and remain faithful to Him, He responds with His love and faithfulness to them.  He won’t allow them to be tested beyond that which they can endure.

Psa 36:6  Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.  O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.  Justice is something that God is very good at delivering!  He can turn the tables in all situations, and those who love their LORD God will see it with their own eyes.

 Psa 36:7  How priceless is your unfailing love!  Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.  God’s love is priceless all right, especially in time of trouble, and there is plenty of trouble looming on the horizon.  Calamities have been proclaimed because the time of punishment has come. 

 The Prophet Hosea spoke of this day and made it clear on whom this would be primarily directed.  It was a warning to the mightiest power on earth, called Ephraim in Bible Prophecy.  Hos 9:7-8 “The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand.  Let Israel know this.  Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. ⁸ The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.”  The ‘house of his God’ is the House of Israel, the only people God ever chose of all the families of the earth, and this is confirmed in: Amos 3:1-2 “Hear this word the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel--against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: ² "You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins."  Here again, we see that God speaks of this time of punishment for all their sins!  The days for this are rapidly approaching, but Ephraim is scarcely noticing! (Hos 7:8-10).  Instead they see visions of hope and change for the future without the necessity for returning to God and seeking His instruction – which He sends through His servants the prophets.  However, in times such as this, the inspired prophet is considered a maniac!

 The House of Israel, that is, Ephraim, has been steadily moving in the direction of the insanity of political correctness, and this has led to decisions that have promoted the interests of the enemy.  Did they truly believe that God’s justice would never overtake them?

 Everyone living in the largest Christian nation on earth should have known that the day would come when the Kingdom of God would be established, but the national focus is certainly not on this blessed event!  The truth is that false teachers and false prophets have nullified any hope, in the minds of the people, of the Kingdom of God coming at all right here on earth.  Yet this was the message of Jesus Christ and all the Apostles, and it began with John the Baptist (Matt 3:1-3).

It’s the extreme minority, the faithful few on this earth, who look for and pray for the coming Kingdom of God.  It’s these who are not swayed by the hopeful illusions of those who cite the Lord’s prayer yet ignore the very message it contains about “Your Kingdom come”.  Only the faithful few will delight in the coming of the Kingdom of God and they will be greatly rewarded:

Psa 36:8  They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.  This is a reference to the River of Life (Eze 47:1-12, Rev 22:1-6).

 Psa 36:9  For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.  And here we see the River of Life described as a fountain of life.  All of this relates back to the time when Moses struck the rock and out-flowed a river of water.  That Rock was Christ: 1Cor 10:3-4 “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.”  Jesus Christ confirmed that He was that Living Water: 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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”  This is the Spirit of Christ, which is called the Counsellor (John 14:25).  It was given to the disciples only after Jesus was glorified.  Only the prophets possessed it prior to this: 1Pet 1:10-12 “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.”  As you can see, the prophets of God are a little different from most people in that they “searched intently and with the greatest care” when trying to determine the will of God through the Spirit of Christ in them.  Sadly, this is not the case with church-goers today!  These don’t search at all; instead they simply listen to what the preacher tells them, and that message usually has no relevance to the Word of God or His coming Kingdom.  And there is also something else that should be noted.  Jesus Christ told the disciples that the Spirit was with them, and later, will be in them.  The Spirit of Christ would enter into them after He had been glorified: John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” 

 As we all know, God gives His Holy Spirit only to those who obey Him!  Acts 5:31-32 “God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to ISRAEL. ³² We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."  Then there is the other point mentioned here.  Jesus Christ went through all of this in order to give repentance and forgiveness of sins to ISRAEL.

 Consequently, since there are very few people who obey God, there are very few people who know their God!

Psa 36:10  Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.  God loves those who know Him, and because they know and love Him, they obey Him – obviously!

 To whom then, would God extend His protection?  Isn’t it those who love and obey Him?

Psa 36:11  May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.  God will give the faithful ones special protection, but the wicked will be dispensed with:

Psa 36:12  See how the evildoers lie fallen-- thrown down, not able to rise!  In fact, evildoers will fall, never to rise again.  Evildoers are not welcome in God’s Kingdom.  David formerly made mention of such men who have no hope of an afterlife: Ps 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.”  For such people there is no afterlife and no reward other that what they experience in this life.  When they die, they are dead forever!  There are no second chances for them.

 The reader may have heard the fairytale that everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected in the second resurrection and given a second chance at life to obey God.  There is no second chance in another life!  To be sure, there is a second resurrection but only for those who died after receiving God’s Holy Spirit.  There have been thousands of these done through the ages.  They will arise from the dead to be judged. 

 The Prophet Daniel spoke of the first resurrection: Dan 12:1-4 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book [of life] --will be delivered. ² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. ⁴ But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge." 

 It naturally follows that those who arise from the dust to shame and everlasting contempt are those who had received God’s Holy Spirit and then turned away in wilful disobedience to Him.

 Jesus Christ also spoke of the judgment in these terms: Matt 12:32 “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”  The prophets wrote many things under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it’s available for all to read in the Scriptures.  If anyone seeks to argue against the writings of the Prophets, then they will never be forgiven for it – and there are plenty of such people today!  Such people give opinions about things they don’t understand and mislead many others rather than leading them to righteousness (as we just read in Dan 12:3).  We formerly read in 2Pet 2:1-3 “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.”  Those who have been guilty of these things have very little time to come to their senses.  Jesus added this in Matt 12:36-37 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." 

 And just one other point on this subject: Heb 6:4-5 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, ⁶ if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”  In short, you can’t come to repentance and receive God’s Holy Spirit and then turn back to your former squalor of disobedience and expect to be forgiven.  As the opening verse states, ‘It is impossible!’  In marginal cases, it might be possible to seek God’s mercy and forgiveness, and return to Him, but this would be God’s judgment to make.  But if it was willful hostility to God’s Word and His Law, then forget it!  As the Apostle Paul says in 2Cor 11:15 “….Their end will be what their actions deserve.”  Paul was of course speaking about those who shill for Satan.

 

PSALM 37

 Of David.

 And now David begins to speak about the Kingdom of God and who will inherit it.  We can know in advance that it’s the Saints who will inherit the Kingdom of God, and the common factor among all the Saints is that they possess God’s Holy Spirit.

 Psa 37:1   Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;

Psa 37:2   for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.  It’s a good start to begin with the fate of evil men in this Psalm.  The interesting part of this verse is the reference to the grass that withers.  The preaching of the Kingdom of God began with John the Baptist, and Isaiah, chapter 40 is all about John’s ministry.  You’ll find a direct quote from Isa 40:3-5 in Matt 3:3 in relation to John.  In the next verse, in Isaiah, a question is asked: Isa 40:6 “A voice says, "Cry out."  And I said, "What shall I cry?"  And the answer is given: “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 Judah, "Here is your God!"  It’s important to note here that “the word of our God stands forever” just as this Scripture says, and while John the Baptist may have come and gone, this Scripture remains to be fulfilled.

 From the very outset, John’s message was about the coming Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom has yet to come.  It will come in time of trouble, with global upheavals and carnage on an unprecedented scale.  In the ‘towns of Judah’ the prophet will say, “Here is your God!”  This is not something that Christianity generally wants to hear, but this is the way it will be!  The men of Judah will be the first Tribe called to duty, after the Levite Brotherhood, for the establishment of God’s Kingdom.  And just as John the Baptist introduced Jesus to the men of Judah at the River Jordan, so will the Levite Prophet in the latter days.  This time the men of Judah will accept the Lord Jesus as the Promised Messiah.  And they will have reason to do so!  It will come after a demonstration of power by the Levite people of Jerusalem: Zech 12:5 “Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.”  At this point the leaders of Judah will join the Sons of Jerusalem in the conquest of all the surrounding peoples or nations (V6).  Judah will be the first to see the Lord Christ, while in the company of the Prophet. 

 I know there is a presumption that Jesus will first appear in the clouds with all the Saints as it states in Rev 1:7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.  So shall it be! Amen.”  But this happens at a much later time.  In regard to ‘those who pierced Him’, I’ve heard it said that this relates to the Roman soldier who pierced his heart with the spear, and that soldier will be alive to see it.  This is complete nonsense!  It’s actually speaking of Judah!  This is the Scripture that clarifies it: Zech 12:10-14 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will LOOK ON ME, the ONE THEY HAVE PIERCED, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. ¹¹ On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives.”  At this time, a great number of clans from both Levi and Judah will form an alliance to rid the Holy Land of the Muslim hordes and go on to attack all the surrounding nations.  This army will represent the full complement of the House of David.

 And just to get back to the first two verses of this Psalm concerning the grass that withers – and all men are grass – we find a further reference in Isaiah 40 where it was prophesied for John the Baptist to begin his ministry: Isa 40:24 “No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.”  What this is describing is, in fact, the weapons of God.  These will come from the sky like whirlwinds sweeping through and incinerating everything before them.  Hordes of men/grass will be burned up and blown away like chaff.  This conforms to the type of justice that is delivered through the servants of God.

 And before anyone has a fit of apoplexy over this, while holding to the propaganda of generations of preachers down through the ages who taught that God loves everyone, John the Baptist’s message brings another little shock: Isa 40:17 “Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.”  Present-day Christianity needs to get a grip on themselves and face reality.  Through the prophesied events of these last days, most of humanity will be destroyed as worthless for any purpose.  Most of humanity belongs to Satan, and they are his brood or offspring.  The Apostle John speaks about the children of the devil: 1John 3:7-15 “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he [God] 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. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed (the Holy Spirit) remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”  Just as the Blessed Mary was impregnated with the Spirit of God to bear her Son Jesus Christ, so we must also in order to be born of God.  Those who have the Spirit of God are the sons of God (Rom 8:12-14).  As we all know, God gives His Spirit only to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32).

 But it’s the children of the devil we’re mainly concerned with here, and these have been in proliferation from earliest times.  In fact, from the beginning!  V11 “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 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. ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.”  So the question is: Are the children of the devil our brothers?  The answer is no!  The children of the devil are the work of the devil, and it’s the devil’s work that the Son of God is going to destroy.

 The children of the devil hate God’s Law and refuse to obey Him, and this gives a very specific indication of who the children of God are.  Like the Prophet David, these love God’s Law!

As all Bible students should be aware, the coming Kingdom of God will bring major changes to the earth.  The work of the devil will be destroyed, and once this is done, righteousness will abound.  As the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so the Kingdom of God begins like a tiny mustard seed (Matt 13:31) – which will grow to eventually fill the entire earth.

 So there will be small beginnings, and these beginnings will start at Jerusalem.  In a world of turmoil, God will make His feelings known by driving out those who continually tread on holy ground, and the clans of Judah will join God’s own Tribe of Levi to ensure this is done.

 God speaks of saving the dwellings first, and it’s important to note this, because many people will need to be housed, and a safe haven is essential.  This is what God has said through the Prophets: Zech 12:5-9 “Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, `The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.' ⁶ "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.”  And now we come to the part about saving the dwellings first: V7 “The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.” 

 The Kingdom of God will begin with small beginnings, yet as we can see, whole nations will be destroyed – particularly those that attack Jerusalem!  It will still take a bit of sorting out to get the new nation functioning as the Kingdom of God.  For starters, the men of Judah will have to accept they are not the Priesthood!  There’s too many of them today who think they are!  This is the age-old problem that persisted in Jesus’ day and led to Him being slaughtered by demon-possessed rabbis who didn’t want Him ruling over them.  Most of the Jewish rabbis of that day had bought their priesthood through simony, and the reason was they loved the attention and admiration of others, along with the regular income they derived from collecting tithes.  Old animosities die hard, but there is a detailed solution to this problem, and this solution will be enacted in days to come.  This action is described in Eze 9:1-11, but because of the complexity of it, we won’t go into it now.  The last thing that I would want to tolerate would be opinionated rabbis.  As a point of interest, both Jesus and John the Baptist shared this view.  There’s an old Jewish joke: Ask a rabbi a question and you’ll get two different answers!  They answer the question, and then say, On the other hand…. and then proceed to give an opposite point of view.  It’s totally confusing to listen to some of them.  The Jewish Talmud (the writings of the scribes and rabbis) is awash with this type of misinformation by misguided people.

 But why would we want to criticize the Jewish people, especially when we have to listen to Muslims droning on day after day.  It’s these addle-brained morons that can’t give a straight answer to anything.  On the one hand, they claim to be a peaceful religion, but openly declare they want to kill all Christians and Jews, as well as anyone else who is not a Muslim.  Everyone is an infidel, and worthy of death, and must be blown apart, or burned to death, or beheaded, all in the name of Islam, which, they claim, is a ‘peaceful’ religion.

 Who is it that surrounds the Holy Land today?  Yes, it’s Islam, and now you know why God wants them exterminated and purged from the Holy Land and the whole region in general.  It’s the actions that occur to accomplish this that forms the beginnings of the Kingdom of God.

 Those who accept God’s judgments, and recognize God’s priesthood, will live secure in the Promised Land and enjoy peace and safety.

Psa 37:3   Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  God’s people Judah will live in peace once God’s Kingdom is established.  It will take a tremendous amount of force to accomplish the establishment of the Kingdom, but from then on, God will be keeping a watchful eye over Judah (Zech 12:4).

 Psa 37:4   Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  The Jews have a long history of delighting in the LORD, and have maintained their obedience to Him, and respect for His Law, for virtually all their existence.

 Psa 37:5   Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:

Psa 37:6   He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.  Well I think everyone knows that the Jews have suffered monstrous acts of injustice for centuries, and this still persists to this day.  We have God’s absolute assurance that the justice of their cause will be addressed!  The very people, the Jews, who have suffered monstrous persecution, are the very ones who will be exalted.

 All this will occur while Judah’s enemies are being destroyed.  The enemies of the Jews are the children of the devil, but lest we forget, a large percentage of Christians are also in league with the devil to hate and persecute the Jews!  Justice will overtake these evil creatures as well, and they will get a taste of their own medicine.  The Apostle John made mention of these evil creatures in 1John 2:18-19 “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”  When the Apostle John wrote this, it really was a last hour for many Christians as they were hunted down and killed, literally facing extinction!  The way out for these weaklings was to deny Jesus as the Christ in order to save their own lives.  It’s a fact of history that many Christians went willingly to their deaths, believing that God would raise them from the dead.  God’s promise to these martyrs still stands.  It’s the antichrists that can expect no such treatment!  To be sure, these antichrists will surely die, and die horribly, but there will be no hope of an afterlife for them.

 There is a time of trial and testing coming, and the antichrists, who have never really known the Lord Jesus, will be caught up in it.  They might call themselves ‘Christians’ but they don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Mighty Warrior that He is.  The vast majority of them see Jesus Christ as a sissy and a weakling, and this is how He appears in their fanciful pictures of Him.  Believe me, these so-called Christians are in for a rude shock!

 Well, justice for the Jewish cause is coming and God gives this assurance: Isa 40:1-3 “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.” 

 So Judah’s ‘justice for their cause’ is about to be established.  Meanwhile, back in the States, as the saying goes, their antichrist enemies are about to get the treatment they deserve, and they’ll rue the day they never offered comfort to God’s people Judah, whose City is Jerusalem.  These antichrists are equally as bad as the most flagrant of holocaust deniers – namely Muslims.  The same measure they meted out to the Jews is coming right back on their own heads, so now they can endure their holocaust!

 In the meantime, Christians will have to wait patiently for the Kingdom of God.  There is a lot of preparation work to do.

Psa 37:7   Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.  You will suffer persecution just as Jesus warned, but don’t lose heart.  Wait patiently and you will see the Kingdom of God.  Wicked men will devise wicked schemes against you, but you must endure patiently.

 Psa 37:8   Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.  This is confirmation that Christians must go silently as sheep to the slaughter with the certain knowledge that God will raise them from the dead, just as He did the Lord Jesus.  This will not be the time to start provoking trouble.

 The appointed battles will be fought by God’s own appointed warriors, those who’ve been trained for this very day.  These will destroy all the evil men from the Promised Land in preparation for those deemed worthy to enter.

Psa 37:9   For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.  There will be many who will inherit the land in the fullness of time.  Those who wait patiently for the LORD will be saved [rescued].

 Psa 37:10   A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.  As we’ve been saying, the wicked will be either killed or driven from God’s Land.  They will not be seen in the Holy Land!

 Psa 37:11   But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.  Isn’t this exactly what Jesus said concerning His followers, the disciples?  And remember, it was only to His disciples that he said it.  Matt 5:1-5 “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them, saying: ³ "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”  And this adds yet another dimension: whoever inherits the Holy Land will also inherit the earth.  Every nation on earth will be forced to pay homage to them.

 Psa 37:12   The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them;

Psa 37:13   but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming.  Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humour?  There is a certain sense of humour in God’s justice.  You can’t help but laugh when vile creatures get their just deserts.  Didn’t everyone have righteous expectations that the 9/11 bombers would be strung up?  Isn’t this what the just were praying for?  Too bad the unjust voted a madman into the White House, who has overt sympathy for the Muslim cause.  So the just will have to wait for justice and retain the haunting visions of people being blown to bits or burned alive, or forced to leap out of windows to their deaths.  As for justice and the fate of the wicked, their day is coming – just as God has said!

 Psa 37:14  The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.  As terror in the streets escalates in the House of Israel, notably in Ephraim, the target will be the poor and needy – the upright or righteous ones in the community.  It’s the natural instinct of the children of the devil to go after those who serve God in righteousness.  It goes without saying that these will be primarily identified as Sabbath-keepers, who keep the seventh day holy in accordance with God’s Commandments.  It’s Sabbath-keeping that always inflames the antichrists.  When there are no more Sabbath-keepers left, the wicked will go after all Christians as well as Jews.

 The key to all this is the massive invasion over the border that is coming, which the Bible refers to as aliens and strangers – that is, those who are not Israelites.  America has millions of them over their southern border and they are busting their gut to get in.  But the invasion is not limited to this.  Muslims will flood in unrestrictedly after America is savagely attacked and destroyed as a nation in one fell blow.  It will be chaos, and law and order will be paralyzed!

 We find the wicked, which are mentioned in the last verse, getting some justice meted out to them now:

Psa 37:15   But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.  Their weapons of offense will now be turned on them!  Remember how God laughed at the wicked and said their day is coming, well this is how it will be.  Now it will be their turn to cringe and face death.

 What will the wicked do with the wealth they’ve accumulated through the misery of others?  It won’t benefit them at all!  Instead, it will make them the targets of others, and they’ll be robbed and killed.

Psa 37:16   Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;

Psa 37:17   for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.  Everything works out better for the righteous, and they will inherit the earth – forever!  It’s the wicked who have no future!

 Psa 37:18   The days of the blameless are known to the LORD, and their inheritance will endure forever.  God knows all about the days of the blameless and their patient endurance, which will be rewarded.

 Psa 37:19   In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.  God has a means of providing for them, and this is the storehouse of the hidden manna, which is also promised in Rev 2:17, and which will sustain them in days of famine.  Manna is called the food or bread of angels.  Psa 78:23-25 “Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens; ²⁴ he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven. ²⁵ Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.” 

 As for the wicked, they’ll have nothing!

Psa 37:20   But the wicked will perish: The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish--vanish like smoke.  Just like the flowers and grass of the fields they’ll be blown away – never to be seen again.

 Psa 37:21   The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;

Psa 37:22   those the LORD blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off.  God speaks of curses against those who fail to repay Him in Mal 3:8.  He accuses them of robbing Him.  Those who rob God will be considered the enemy, and they will not inherit the Holy Land!  God doesn’t like to be the victim of thieves who don’t pay their dues.

 Psa 37:23   If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;

Psa 37:24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

 Psa 37:25   I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.  This is a good observation by David because it’s so true.

 Psa 37:26   They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.  This is the type of wholeheartedness that God loves and delights in.  Greedy, mean, calculating, miserly behaviour is an affront to God!

 Psa 37:27   Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever.  Turning one’s back on the righteous poor gains no favour with God, and once God brands you an evildoer the tag tends to stick.  Once someone falls out of favour with God it’s a difficult task to claw it back.

 Jesus Christ had something to say about evildoers; in this case it was the religious, hypocritical ‘show-ponies’ who had high opinions of themselves: Mark 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <sup>22</sup> Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, YOU EVILDOERS!'”  Those who refuse to do the will of the Father are evildoers, and all their so-called righteousness counts for nothing!  Their lying fakery notwithstanding!

 In a later Psalm, David speaks precisely about these evildoers: Psa 119:114-117 “You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word. ¹¹⁵ Away from me, YOU EVILDOERS, that I may KEEP THE COMMANDS OF MY GOD! ¹¹⁶ Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. ¹¹⁷ Uphold me, and I will be delivered; I will always have regard for your decrees.”  In saying, “Away from me, YOU EVILDOERS” it shows that the righteous want nothing to do with those who don’t put their hope in the Word of God, or keep His Commandments, or have regard for His decrees.  Why would any righteous person want to associate with such LAWLESS EVILDOERS?

 Psa 37:28   For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.  They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;

Psa 37:29   the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.  The righteous will inherit the land, but evildoers will not!  The offspring of the wicked one will be barred from entry into the Holy Land.

 Psa 37:30   The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just.

Psa 37:31   The LAW OF HIS GOD is in his heart; his feet do not slip.  An unbelievable situation has developed in recent years, where some of these evildoers are calling the Law of God heresy.  How can they claim that the Word of God and His Commandments are heresy?  What God has said stands forever, but not in the mind of evildoers.  Such people are hostile to God and clearly identify themselves as the children of the devil – the offspring of the wicked one.  The Apostle Paul in writing to Timothy, told him to be like a good soldier to Jesus Christ and to do as this Commander of Armies instructs him.  He also gave the example of an athlete, who must compete according to the rules before he can receive a victor’s crown: 2Tim 2:3-5 “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. ⁵ Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules.”  The Word of God is the entire Bible, and only those who acknowledge this and have the “LAW OF HIS GOD in his heart” will receive the victor’s crown.  It’s the height of madness to suggest that Jesus Christ abolished the Law of God.

 God makes a clear distinction between the righteous and the wicked: 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.” 

 There are very great distinctions between the righteous and the wicked, and this will become very evident in the fullness of time.  It should be obvious to an honest observer that the children of the devil will go to any lengths to subvert others into disobedience to God.  These evildoers go into a howling rage when they see the righteous, with the law of God in their hearts, actually obeying God!  Like their father the devil, who was a liar and a murderer from the beginning, these lying deceivers lie in wait to entrap the righteous!  So mad are these creatures that they actually seek to take the lives of the righteous.  Presently, the only restraining factor is the fear of retribution through the law of the land.  They feel fully justified, however, in refusing to obey the Sixth Commandment since they believe they are not under the Law of God.  In their minds, lying and killing is virtuous behaviour and fully justified.  Strange people!

Psa 37:32   The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, seeking their very lives;

Psa 37:33   but the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned when brought to trial.  What could the righteous have possibly done to be brought to trial by men?  Well, what did Jesus do to deserve being brought to trial?  He healed the sick, raised the dead, and told His disciples to live in peace with all men insofar as it was possible.  Do these sound like indictable offences?  Well, it was none of these!  He was brought to trial because of lying, murderous accusations, and it all began when Satan entered into Judas Iscariot and it escalated from there.

 Today, all over Europe, and in Britain, people are being brought to trial for criticizing the most evil, murderous swine on earth – the Muslims!  And all this against a supposed right to free speech!  Muslims can spew their venom against Christians and Jews at will, with no fear of retribution.  But if anyone criticizes Islam, retribution follows swiftly.  Who says Satan hasn’t deceived the whole world?  Surely this is the evidence!

 We are rapidly heading for lots of trouble, and the children of the devil are gaining momentum.  Naturally enough, through fear and cowardice, many evildoers, who pose as Christians, will take the weak way out and side with Satan and his offspring.  And this is already well underway!

 For those who remain faithful to God, these comforting words are offered as assurance:

Psa 37:34   Wait for the LORD and keep his way.  He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.  The righteous will see it all right!  They’ll see the ‘armies of the Living God’ sweeping through the Holy Land, and beyond, destroying man, woman and child of Satan’s brood, until not a root or branch of them remain (Mal 4:1-5).  Then you will also see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked; the difference between those who serve God and those who do not.  When you see these things, then you will know that your salvation is near.

 In the meantime, you will be on your own for a little while.  You’ll have to wait until the Sons of Jerusalem have prepared a place for you to live.  We have to save the dwellings first, otherwise you’ll have no-where to live!

Psa 37:35   I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

Psa 37:36   but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found.  You’ll see the wicked and ruthless flourish, but only for a short while.  Don’t be too alarmed or fret about it.  Everything that’s written must be fulfilled, but a secure future is not far off.

Psa 37:37   Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.  If you are a true Christian, then you must remain a man of peace.  If they drag you before magistrates, trust in God for deliverance.  If they seek to kill you, be willing to lay down your life as a martyr and follow Jesus.  Like Jesus, you will be raised from the dead.

 Psa 37:38   But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of the wicked will be cut off.  Sin is the transgression of the Law of God – in other words, lawlessness (1John 3:4).  Anyone who refuses to obey the Law of God is considered a sinner and will die a sinner – never to live again!

 Psa 37:39   The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.  In the times just ahead, there will be no stronghold you can run to, you must trust in God for deliverance!

 Psa 37:40   The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.  And this confirms it!  If you are a true Christian, then wicked men will confront you and seek to kill you.  As Jesus said, if they hated me then they will hate you.  It won’t just be the marauding foreigners that will be attacking you; your enemies will be those of your own household.  Even today, fake Christians persecute those who obey God’s Law and actually consider them to be heretics.  How could they possibly be heretics for doing what God commanded?  Soon, Satan will mobilize the corrupt minds of these fake Christians to hunt down those who keep the Commandments and have the Testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17).  And when they do this, these evildoers will be formerly assigned as the children of the devil.

 In view of all this, what are your options?  First of all, if you hope for any future at all, then you must be faithful to God and obey His Commandments!  This is just the first step.  Luke 17:10 “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.'"  As you can see from this verse, God expects from you more than this!  You must step out in faith and trust in Him if you hope to be delivered.  But expect nothing if you have not done everything you were told to do!

 By now, Christians everywhere should realize they are under siege from the forces of evil in the spirit realm.  Judgments are being given against Christians, and in favour of Muslims, even in Christian countries.  Slowly but surely Christianity is losing ground to these surging masses of evil that are now sweeping the earth.  Everyone is becoming paralyzed through the medium of political correctness.

 For those who deal only in elementary Scriptures, here’s an elementary Scripture for you: 2Tim 3:1-4 “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.”  It’s important to note that the Apostle Paul wasn’t making this up and he went along – as some Christians are prone to do – instead he understood what David and the other Prophets had written, and this is the key to understanding.

 This Levite Brotherhood began 3½ years before the Seventh Millennial Day began, which is classified as the Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD.  Since that inception we have published thousands of pages of Bible Prophecy warning our readers of what to expect.  Everything we have taught is rapidly being fulfilled just as we said it would.  Nothing we taught was based on human conjecture or theory but only on Bible Prophecy.  This is the difference between God’s servants the prophets and the dreamers who teach lies in God’s Name.

 The dreamers had a field day during the 20^th century, contriving all sorts of false prophecies to draw a following after themselves.  But time was against them, and eventually their whole structure fell over as their falsified doctrine failed to come true.  It’s one thing to have been deceived by them, but an entirely different matter to continue to associate with them, knowing them to be false prophets!  What made them false prophets in the first place was they were not led by the Spirit of God.  Paul gave very good advice when he said in the verses above: “Have nothing to do with them.” 

 Remember what the Apostle Peter had to say in this regard?  2Pet 1:19-21 “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.”  The word of the prophets is what we should be paying attention to, not the opinions of men! V20 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  It’s absolutely forbidden to be prophesying from our own imaginations and any who do this are false prophets!  In the very next verse, Peter makes it abundantly clear: 2Pet 2:1-3 “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.”  So this is quite an indictment against those who make up stories to teach their destructive heresies and false prophecies.  The penalty for such people is condemnation and destruction!

 

PSALM 38

 A psalm of David. A petition.

 In this Psalm, David begins to speak of the plight of the House of Israel – specifically Ephraim – and the distress they will soon find themselves in.  It will be a time when all the righteous are driven from the land and the land becomes increasingly desolate.  This is a parable about Ephraim, who rules over all the Tribes of Israel at this present time.  It’s interesting that the Scribes gave this Psalm a heading, calling it ‘A petition’.  And this is precisely what it is.

 I think we all realize that David, a servant of God and a man after His own heart, would not write numerous Psalms to tell us about his undefined health problems.  David was a prophet (Acts 2:30), and what he wrote about was Bible Prophecy.

 At this point in time, at the conclusion of the previous Psalm, the Saints that were living in the land will have run their course.  And now David addresses what was the most prominent and influential Tribe during his reign over all 12 Tribes.  This tribe was Ephraim.  It the Ephraimites, who led a civil war against David during his reign, and which we commented on during the earlier Psalms.  It should come as no surprise that Ephraim, the United States of America, is now actively turning the rest of the Ten Tribes of Israel against Judah.  America now consistently sides with the Muslim hordes that are occupying much of the former Tribal territories, that is, the Holy Land.

 Psa 38:1   O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.  There are times when everyone needs to be disciplined, and in this case, it amounts to national problems that have developed in recent years to the mightiest power on earth.  Perhaps this mighty nation thought they knew the way to peace.  Now they have to learn that appeasing the children of the devil is not the way to go.  All the prophets of God alluded to this event, and the Prophet Jeremiah wrote this: Jer 31:18-20 “I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning: `You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined.  Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God. ¹⁹ After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast.  I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'”  Ephraim is a young and youthful country, much younger than the rest of Europe, but also the most richly blessed of all nations.  And the reason for this is that God has a special love for Ephraim, the United States of America.  Not only did God richly bless the American people, but He also gave Ephraim the power to defend the rest of the Tribes of Israel.  It’s always America that goes to their rescue in time of war, and through two world wars in the 20^th Century, it was Ephraim that determined the outcome.  In the above verse from Jeremiah, Ephraim is petitioning God for a speedy outcome from the prophesied dilemma they will soon find themselves in.

 At the present time, Ephraim has a significant problem!  As a prince over all his brother nations, he tends to dictate to them – an age-old problem where Ephraim is concerned – and it’s not always good advice!  In recent years, Ephraim has sought to homogenize the nations of the world into one big happy family, based on motives that are at odds with God.  Now Ephraim has a major problem on their hands, and it all began when he thought he could blend Islam with all other nations, and expect them to behave like human beings.  The children of the devil, however, are not like other normal human beings!  Like their father the devil, they are liars and murderers and have clearly stated their objectives: to wipe out all others who don’t share their beliefs.  This is precisely Satan’s way!  This is the problem that now stalks the mightiest power on earth, God’s beloved son Ephraim!  Now discipline is called for and it will come swiftly!

 Continuing in Jer 31:20-21 “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight?  Though I often speak against him, I still remember him.  Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.”  After Ephraim has been disciplined and has repented of their wayward ways against God’s better judgment, He will have compassion on Ephraim and bring them back from captivity, and with some considerable fanfare: V21 “Set up road signs; put up guideposts.  Take note of the highway, the road that you take.  Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns.”  Once cleansed of their sins, Ephraim will be referred to as ‘Virgin Israel’.

 After studying the Scriptures, the Apostle Paul came to the same conclusion that only a remnant of ‘Virgin Israel’ will return: Rom 9:27-29 “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:  "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”  Doesn’t this give a good indication of the meaning of ‘saved’?  Paul was speaking of a time when there would be huge numbers of Israelites – like the sand of the sea. V28 “For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."  The sentence spoken of here is the severest of disciplines, and the indication that it will be in the last days is the use of the word ‘finality’.  It’s the final, last event of discipline where Israel is concerned.  V29 “It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."  Sodom and Gomorrah as we all know was wiped out completely without leaving a trace.  The use of the descriptors, Sodom and Gomorrah, might have other connotations as well – as we are all aware today.  There are faggots everywhere today.  Naturally enough, these won’t be a part of the descendants of Israel that will be rescued!  These perverted maniacs won’t be responsive to discipline!

 As the Apostle Paul pointed out, his information concerning this remnant came from the Prophet Isaiah.  And this is what Isaiah said: Isa 10:20-22 “In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.”  Who struck the first blow to strike down Ephraim?  Who perpetrated 9/11?  Wasn’t it Islam?  In the aftermath of this, who did Ephraim reach out to?  After this monstrous act, America reached out to Islam, referring to them as a peaceful religion.  They sought to rely on them to restore peace by cracking down on terrorists – a request that was totally ignored!  So was it Islam or their father the devil that struck down Israel?  Well, you can take your pick.  Whether the god or the brood, there is little difference, and the fact remains that Israel was struck down by Islam – the children of the devil!  And there is plenty more ahead!  It’s a pity that the House of Israel don’t truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel!  V21 “A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. ²² Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return.  Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous.”  This overwhelming destruction has been decreed by God as a means of discipline – the punishment for all their sins.

 One thing you can be sure of, it won’t be accepted by the masses as righteous discipline, but by howls of derision against the Mighty God.  There will be few, that is a remnant, which will accept it as just and well deserved.  Only these will be truly repentant and will beat their breasts for sorrow for their many sins against their Creator God.

 When God disciplines, it’s usually as a last resort, but when the discipline comes it can be very severe.  Where Ephraim is concerned, who is front and center in the world with all eyes upon him, it does indeed call for severe discipline.  This is especially true since Ephraim has been at the forefront of foolishly indoctrinating the world with fanciful theories, like the theory of evolution, multiculturalism, and other mad theories and ideas that pertain to immoral behaviour.  And all this in defiance of their Creator God!  Does any sane person believe that God would favour same-sex marriages or legalized homosexual behaviour?  And this was just the starting point!  Even more alarming is their behaviour concerning His Name, which the looney side of politics is determined to expunge from all public places.  Now all prayer is forbidden that contains any reference to Jesus Christ in the legislative assemblies.  This is where all the law-makers of the nation sit, so the trend is already set.

 And where has all this led?  Today, the mighty Ephraim can’t even win a war!  Instead of hammering the nations to the ends of the earth to protect the American people, they go into battle to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of the enemy!  What sort of madness is this?  Did Ephraim actually win any hearts and minds in these degenerate nations?  No!  All they’ve succeeded in doing is to mobilize 57 Muslim states/countries against them.  America has become the most hated nation on earth in terms of vocal and public world opinion.  Perhaps the reader will remember what Moses said concerning Ephraim in his final blessing of the Tribes of Israel:  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."  So Ephraim was to be ten times more powerful than his brother Manasseh.  Two world wars have abundantly demonstrated this fact!  Even WW3, which is still in its embryonic stage, has also demonstrated this fact.  America will rue the day they never declared war on Islam and made a real fight of it!  They might have averted WW3 by doing so, but now the escalation of it is inevitable!

 How would Ephraim fare today for qualifying to enter God’s Kingdom – wherein will dwell righteousness?  Well, they are abysmally low in the righteousness stakes today!  What they need is some discipline!  And the sooner it comes the better, because the nation is becoming worse and worse.  Every fringe group, every addle-headed peacenik and every social reformer is actively engaged in lowering the moral standards of the nation and they’ve had great success.  The nation’s founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they could see the madness that prevails today.

 The days of punishment had to come, and in all honesty, it’s better sooner than later.  Ephraim’s social experiment has failed and the sooner they come to this realization, the sooner God will intervene on their behalf.  They are, however, unlikely to come to any realization of their wickedness until they’ve been severely punished.  As the premier Christian nation on earth, Ephraim was required to set the standard for Christian living as an example to the rest of the world.  In this, they’ve failed dismally!  Hos 9:7-9 “The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand.  Let Israel know this (yes, this is speaking of Ephraim, whom God will later refer to as ‘Virgin Israel’ once they are cleansed of their sins).  Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. ⁸ The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God (the house of his God is the House of Israel, namely Ephraim). ⁹ They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah.  God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”  Gibeah is in the territory of what was formerly the hill country of Ephraim: Josh 24:33 “And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.”  What happened in the days of Gibeah, in the hill country of Ephraim, is detailed in 2Chron 13:1-19.  It’s worth reading because it details the treachery of Jeroboam the Ephraimite who ruled over the northern Ten Tribes of Israel.  Jeroboam was actively corrupting Israel with all types of devil-worship, and decided to pick a fight with King Abijah of Judah.  God fought against Jeroboam and utterly crushed his army, and Jeroboam himself was struck down by God.  There’s a good lesson to be learned in this, so take the time to read it.

 David ruled over all 12 Tribes of Israel, and King Abijah of Judah was one of his descendants.  As usual, Ephraim had tried to impose his influence over David’s tribe of Judah.  This is exactly what is happening today.  David had assurances from God that Judah would emerge victorious in the battles in the last days.  David himself, would be resurrected to rule over all the Tribes again in the Kingdom of God.  Yet this ruling scepter has yet to be passed from Ephraim, who presently holds it, to Judah in these last days, and that day is not far off.

 David knew only too well that Ephraim was due for some comeuppance, and that the time for discipline would come.

Psa 38:2   For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me.  Here David mentions God’s arrows.  We dealt with this fairly extensively in Psa 7 earlier in this study, but God’s arrows and His wrath, which is spoken of in V3 below, is also spoken of in Hab 3:11-18 “Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. ¹² In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. ¹³ You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.”  Yes, the Lord Christ will have an anointed one on earth at that time, who will be defending the Holy Land against marauding hordes.  “You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. Selah.”  The land of wickedness has always been the Babylonians, against whom the Prophet Habakkuk refers to throughout his whole Book, beginning with Hab 1:5-11 “Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. ⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.”  The Babylonians ruled over a vast area of the Middle East anciently, and they still live there today.  We know them collectively as Muslims, and as we’ll see in V11 below, their strength is their god (Allah or Satan).  V7 “They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.”  Well this perfectly describes these evil creatures!  Who in the Western world had even heard about Shariah law ten years ago?  Today, England and Europe are falling over themselves trying to accommodate this satanic Shariah law.  Muslims are not interested in Western law, they want to promote their own law and their own ‘honour’ – as if they’re worthy of any honour at all!  Deceitful, lying creatures that they are!  The Israelis have known all about these ruthless creatures for generations, but it’s only in the past ten years that the rest of the Western world has been confronted by it.  V8 “Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk.  Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar.  They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; (like when they flew in and violently consumed 3,000 Americans on 9/11) ⁹ they all come bent on violence.  Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. ¹⁰ They deride kings and scoff at rulers.  They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. ¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on-- guilty men, whose own strength is their god."  The reference to building earthen ramps would seem to indicate they elevate themselves over others and we’ve already seen plenty of this.

 We’ve already seen that Habakkuk refers to the Lord Christ arising with His flaming arrows to destroy the leader of the land of wickedness.  This is a time of great calamity, and a time when God’s anointed one must be saved from a massive insurgence of Babylonians.  V14 “With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. ¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. ¹⁶ I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.”  This is the vast horde of Babylonians who are now sweeping across the earth, intent on seizing property that is not their own. V17 “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”  There is quite a lot of symbolic language in these last two verses, with the fruit of the fig tree and the oil from the olive crop, but essentially, it’s speaking of famine.  As for the grapes on the vines, this is a direct reference to the House of Israel [Ephraim]: Isa 5:7 “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight.  And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” 

 And now the whole world knows who the enemy is even though they refuse to publicly acknowledge it.  Its Ephraim that is at the forefront of trying to win the hearts and minds of the enemy – and it’s Ephraim that will suffer the outrage of defeat in war from the very ones they so radically embraced.

Psa 38:3   Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.  God’s wrath is against all who sin, and none more so than Ephraim, who has been blessed above all the nations of the earth – but have failed to acknowledge God’s blessings in a reciprocal manner.

 Psa 38:4   My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.  Another prophet spoke of the guilt of Ephraim and said that for a period, God would store up their sins before He brought them all down on their heads.  It was to be a time of reflection when they might have realized where they were heading according to the Scriptures, and the inevitable consequences of their sins.  But it was not to be!  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.”  Here Ephraim is likened to a child who is not born again by God’s Holy Spirit.  Without God’s Holy Spirit he lacks wisdom.  There are plenty of people today who think they’ve been ‘born again’ by God’s Holy Spirit, but God only gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him! (Acts 5:32, 1John 3:24).  V14 “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?”  This verse actually names two spirit entities, Death and Grave or Hades, who are spoken of in Rev 6:8 “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.”  These two named demons (noticed the names are capitalized) are set to wreak havoc on the earth.  But getting back to what Hosea wrote, Death has a specialty for plagues, and Grave or Hades for destruction.  Both are masters of their arts.  It’s from these two demons that Ephraim will be ransomed and redeemed.

 But before this redemption happens, they must suffer many afflictions, and one of these will represent the opening gambit.  This will be utter hell raining down on Washington.

 Hosea continues in V14 “I will have no compassion, ¹⁵ even though he [Ephraim] 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.”  The wind that blows from the east is, in fact, the Middle East, where there are plenty of deserts.  This mighty wind is actually described in Isaiah, chapter 28, and it concerns Ephraim and his city of Washington.  A full explanation of this can be found in our Bible study of the Book of Isaiah at our website, but briefly this is what it says:  Isa 28:1-6 “Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley-- TO THAT CITY, the pride of those laid low by wine!”  So this is speaking of Ephraim’s CITY of Washington, where we sometimes have cause to believe a bunch of drunks are running it – especially today!  V2 “See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong (and capable of causing massive destruction).  Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground. ³ That wreath (which is the City), the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.”  Perhaps we sometimes think of Satan as the ‘Lone Avenger’, like the comic book hero, who is front and center of all that happens.  The fact is, Satan has many advisors who sit in council with him, projecting their ideas for carrying out their avowed agenda – to destroy God’s people Israel.  We don’t know how many of Satan’s arsenal of 50 million demons sits in his council, but he has some really impressive experts on all types of destruction and strategies.  All of them want to make a name for themselves.  They all crave power and glory, which is why they were cut off from God in the first place.

 God Himself sets up rulers and destroys them, and Satan and his demons know this (Dan 4:17).  God empowers anyone He chooses, and in this case, God has ‘one who is powerful and strong’ and capable of throwing the City of Washington forcefully to the ground through what looks like a destructive wind and hailstorm.  Hail frequently drops from the sky during a violent storm, which is a further clue for what to expect.  Logically, if God is going to punish Israel for their declining morals, who would He begin with first?  Isn’t it logical that God would start with Ephraim’s drunkards in Washington who made the laws that led to the decline?  And what about the White House?  Should the ‘Commander-in-Chief’ who resides there escape?  And the Pentagon?  What sort of war has the Pentagon been fighting lately?  Does it meet the standard of destroying their own enemies – as well as God’s enemies?  It seems to me that all the Pentagon has done for the past ten years is to train Muslim armies in how to wage war against the West AND provide them with the weapons to do so.  Can you pick the drunks now?

 So of course God is going to target the City of Washington for punishment first!  God always holds the leaders responsible!  And what a farcical performance we’ve seen in the last two years.  Consider the effects of a high altitude nuclear weapon detonating over Washington, and it’s almost certain that there will be more than one.  Why would the ‘one who is powerful and strong’ risk a misfire?

 I don’t think anyone would baulk at calling Washington a fading flower given the events of the last couple of years, and its fading fast!  This is what Isaiah wrote: V4 “That fading flower, his (Ephraim’s) glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest-- as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it.”  Remember the parable about when Jesus approached a fig tree looking for early fruit?  When He found none, He destroyed it.  This is a meaningful parable.  There will be no early figs in Washington, and so it will be destroyed.  You’ll find a reference to ‘early figs’ in Micah 7:1-5 – its well worth a read!

 And finally we come to the last couple of verses from Isaiah: V5-6 “In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath (City) for the remnant of his people. ⁶ He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.”  The relationship between a wreath and a city is an encircled area, in other words, a stronghold.  The remnant of His people, that is, of Israel, will be provided safe haven.  Those who sit in judgment will be given a spirit of justice and a source of strength to turn back the battle at the gate.  In other words, these people who guard the Gates of Jerusalem (God’s Wreath) will turn back the battle at the gate and they will be very strong!

 Meanwhile, back in the States:

Psa 38:5   My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.  Well sin has some terrible consequences!  Sinful folly means stupid sin!  The sort of sins committed by lunatics, and you will see plenty of this!

 Psa 38:6   I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.  It’s a good start to recognize our vulnerabilities and to start showing signs of remorse for the acts that bring us to this position.  God knows, however, from long experience with humanity, that real repentance rarely comes from a minor set-back.  The right sort of repentance comes from a ‘to hell and back’ experience that will never be forgotten.  Ask any Jew about the holocaust, and they’ll tell you.

 Psa 38:7   My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.  I guess those who have lived privileged lives and are unaccustomed to any form of manual labour will find the going tough.  Pain and starvation, coupled with hard manual labor, is something that only the Jews, who survived the holocaust could accurately describe.  And the reason I keep mentioning the holocaust is because this is what Ephraim is facing.  The Jews have done their hard service (Isa 40:1-2), and now its Ephraim’s turn.  God loves the remnant of Ephraim, and longs to see them return to their ancestral lands – to their allotment in the Holy Land.  But God has little to say on behalf of the rest, who don’t meet the qualifications of the remnant – and understandably so!  They weren’t obedient to Him, and neither did they serve Him.  If they had loved Him they would have kept His Commandments!  Instead, they hated God’s Commandments and removed them from all public places.  Wouldn’t God see this as provocative?  God has an obedient Son in Jesus Christ, and He certainly doesn’t need any disobedient ones!  In fact, there will be none in God’s Kingdom!

 David ruled over all 12 Tribes of Israel, and he wrote these Psalms as a future warning to his people.  These are the very remnant of the people he would inherit as his subjects after he is resurrected, so he had a right and a duty to advise them and to encourage them.  A lot of people consider the Psalms to be merely prose or even joyful songs to sing.  There is far more to them than that.

 David was not only a king and a ruler over the 12 Tribes, he was also a Saint.  A Saint is someone who has God’s Holy Spirit.  Remarkably, Jesus Christ confirmed to his disciples that they also would be rulers and priests over territories in the Kingdom of God (Rev 1:6, 5:10).  This is confirmed through Jesus’ parable of the talents, where He confirmed that those who have done more will be given more, and He was speaking of rulership over cities in much the same way as mayors do today: Luke 19:17 “`Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. `Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.'”  As servants of God they must earn that right by doing what was required of them in the service of God.  Those who step out in faith to do God’s work are richly rewarded, but those who sit on the fence in doubt, must prove themselves in difficult circumstances.  Those who do nothing will receive nothing!

 There has never been a time like that which is coming up.  Everyone will be tested to the limit in very trying circumstances.  In the rest of this Psalm, David gives some very good advice on how to handle adversity.  David’s chief concern is for the saints – who will be the remnant of the House of Israel.  It may surprise some to know that the Book of Psalms uses the term ‘Saints’ more than any other Book of the Bible.  As we’ve always said, a Saint is someone who has God’s Holy Spirit – just as David did!

 Psa 38:8   I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.  This is beginning to sound like a great tribulation – a time of trial like nothing else seen on earth since mankind was created.  All the warning signs of this creeping menace are present now, but with the blind leading the blind, both are destined to fall into the pit.  Now is the time to be ringing the Liberty Bell in America!

 Psa 38:9   All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.  When adversity hits, people’s longings are for what might have been.

 Psa 38:10   My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes.  This is a reference to the path of life that is illuminated by God’s Truth, but it becomes increasingly dimmed by adversity.  Doubts and fears and adversities prevail.

 Psa 38:11   My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.  When the righteous are persecuted, people tend to disassociate with them because they don’t want to be drawn into the conflict.  This is certainly not the way to gain God’s favour.  Remember Jesus’ words: John 15:12-14 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ 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.”  Fear can lead people to cowardice, and this is natural, but it’s those who can rise above this and show courage that will gain favour in God’s eyes.  After all, isn’t this the type of courage that Jesus exhibited when He said, “If it’s me you want, then let these others go” in reference to His disciples.  Jesus Christ was prepared to go to His baptism alone!  This baptism, of course, referred to His death:  Luke 15:49-53 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a BAPTISM to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! ⁵¹ Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. ⁵² From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."  Here we see again the confirmation of what David and Micah wrote about family conflict and how it relates to the disciples of Jesus, that is, the Saints!

 It’s the courage of one’s convictions that makes one a true and faithful Saint, and the willingness to lay down one’s life for his friends.  These Saints come in for special mention in the Psalms: Psa 116:14-16 “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. ¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains. ¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.”  There is no greater thank offering than to offer your life in faithfulness to God.  Such an offering is precious in the eyes of God and Jesus Christ has already proven this!

 We’ve had our whole lifetimes to come to the knowledge of the Truth and we’ve all been free to do it.  Some did, some didn’t!  Some chose to view their Creator with contempt, while others were prepared to offer lip-service but refused to obey.  Only the true Saints held fast to their convictions and sought to honour their Creator God.  So it’s only the Saints that will endure to the end as Jesus Christ points out in 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.”  Yes, it’s the Spirit that speaks to the Churches, but only those Churches who obey God.  Can you imagine authority being given to anyone to dash nations to pieces like pottery, if they have always refused to obey God and keep His Commandments?  Anyone who thinks otherwise is living in the twilight zone!

 So the Saints in the Churches will have to endure to the end – and this will not be easy.  Just remember though, the early Saints, in the days of the Apostles and beyond, suffered similar persecution and were put to death.  There’s an account in the Book of Hebrews, where some of the Saints refused deliverance in order that they might have a better resurrection: Heb 11:35-38 “…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.” 

 These are not pleasant prospects, but as you’ll be aware, neither is being arrested in the middle of the night and led away to be beaten, spat upon, scourged and then have nails driven through your flesh and then hung on a crossbar to die.  This is what the Son of God had to endure, so why should anyone feel they should be exempt from similar persecution?  As Jesus said, if they hated me, then they will hate you!  In this, He was referring to the saints.

 But what about the nation where most Saints live today, where more than 80% of the people believe in God, and where there are more Christians churches than any other nation on earth?  It’s obvious that God will have a special interest in this nation.  This nation is also the mightiest nation on earth, and seemingly invincible to all other nations.  No other nation has the might and power of America, and it will take extraordinary powers to defeat the power of America.  However, this is precisely what is going to happen.

 In the midst of this coming conquest, the American people will be driven mad by the sight of what they see.  Anarchy will reign, and the Saints will be caught up in it.  They’ll be required to endure to the end.  Yet there will be an end of it, and the Saints will have to endure until that time.

Psa 38:12   Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception.  Plotters usually like to work behind the scenes, scurrilously stirring up trouble while trying to remain invisible or even to appear innocent.  This is generally the way Satan operates.  He likes others to do his dirty work while he pretends to be innocent to God.  But God knows him to be a liar and a murderer!  All liars have the potential to be murderers.  So it’s a good idea to have nothing to do with liars!

 Psa 38:13   I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;

Psa 38:14   I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply.  Americans are not known for having no opinion!  In fact, quite the reverse!  In severe deprivation of everything, people become like zombies and this is what is being implied here.  When people plot deception, they go to great lengths to reinforce their claims – with lies!  And often these lies cannot be easily disproved.  Liars possess the same cunning as Satan the devil.  And we all know Satan’s characteristics, don’t we? 2Cor 11:13-15 “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. ¹⁵ It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”  And we all know the meaning of the word ‘masquerade’, since we’ve seen plenty of these people masquerading as messengers of light.  These are the sort of people that will get you killed!  Only stupid people will wait to see if this comes true – but that’s their choice!

 So don’t wait for masquerading liars to deliver you from all your problems when that day comes.  In that day you’ll need to wait for the LORD God to rescue and deliver you.

Psa 38:15   I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.  It’s the saints that must set the example for their fellow-countrymen.  They must show courage and endurance, just like American soldiers in battle.  It won’t be easy, but extremely dangerous.  Yet everyday, soldiers in battle put their lives on the line for their country.  Yet the day will come when they will refuse to leave for battle; instead they will consider it a lost cause.

 Psa 38:16   For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."

Psa 38:17   For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me.  When the whole country falls and is overrun by the enemy, no-one will be worried about external conflicts.  It will be every man for himself!

 Then all the soul-searching will begin.

Psa 38:18   I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

 Look just across the southern border.  How many of the enemy do you see?  Are these the sort of people you would invite into your homes?  Sure we know all about Islam, but America has plenty of enemies besides these.  In fact, there are many vigorous enemies:

Psa 38:19   Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous.  Vigorous enemies, hate me without reason, you don’t have to think too long and hard to guess who these enemies are.  If you think about it, most of the world hates America out of jealousy and envy, but in times of trouble they grovel to America for help!  But we’re talking about vigorous enemies here, and there have been none more vigorous than Islam!  Not only do they hate America without cause, they successfully kill Americans without cause.  America has now been fighting them for ten years.  They hate America with a vengeance, yet the Americans are over there trying to win their hearts and minds, and trying to improve their lifestyles.  It leaves one baffled, doesn’t it?

 Psa 38:20   Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I pursue what is good.  America spent hundreds of billions of dollars to free the Middle East Muslim population of the tyranny of Saddam Hussein in the 90’s with the ‘Desert Storm’ campaign after Kuwait was attacked and defeated.  And how did these wretched creatures repay America’s kindness?  With evil!  They struck on 9/11 to kill thousands of innocent Americans and brought chaos to New York, the financial hub of the world.  Such treachery deserved an all-out war of attrition, but instead, America sought to ‘win their hearts and minds’.  This in itself was a foolish and ill-considered response; an undeserved kindness that has resulted in slanderous accusations and utter contempt from the degenerates of Islam.

 All we’ve seen in recent years is Islam growing bolder in their determination to destroy the nation that saved them from a demon ruler who was bent on conquest.  This rider rode the white horse of the Apocalypse.  And now a new and more determined ruler has arisen.  This is the rider on the red horse, and he has plans to establish the former Persian Empire.  This one has been given a large sword and the means to use it – and use it he will!  He’ll also have the power to make men slay each other (Rev 6:3-4).

 If you thought the destruction of the twin towers and the Pentagon brought chaos, then you’ve seen nothing yet!  What is coming will cripple the whole country!  Desperate times are just ahead, like nothing you’ve ever seen before.  People will be crying out in desperation and confusion, seeking answers that will not be forthcoming.  Added to this, there will be a famine of God’s Word, once the prophets are taken away.  The Almighty God takes the view that if the people didn’t listen to His watchmen in time of peace, then they’ll have no other option than to seek His guidance in the days of chaos.  God knows from long experience that people only return to Him when there is nothing left to hope for. 

Psa 38:21   O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God.

Psa 38:22   Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.  Today, Christians call to their Savior in time of need, but they still seem unable to understand what they hope to be saved from!  Soon they will know!

 

PSALM 39

 For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.

 Psa 39:1   I said, "I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence."  The day will come when this will prove to be very good advice.  Betrayals will be widespread and evil will stalk the righteous.  So at that time, people will need to watch what they say and to whom.  Mic 7:4-9 “The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.  The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you.  Now is the time of their confusion. ⁵ Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend.  Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words.”  You may wonder what is going on here.  Why would you have to watch your words in a land of free speech?  You’ve probably learned by now that ‘free speech’ only means free speech for the wicked.  The wicked can say and do as they please, but under Shariah law, if you criticize them it will mean death.  You should have already seen the signs of this creeping menace throughout Britain and Europe.  As I write this, there is a trial going on against a Dutch politician called Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.  He is accused of defaming Islam in a movie he made called ‘Fitna’.  It’s a sham trial, but appeasement of the enemy is a strange instrument in the hands of the gutless.  Instead of the trial judge declaring it ridiculous and dismissing the case, he either chose to, or was ordered to, showcase it to the world.  The Netherlands apparently chose to offer a sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered in the interests of Islam’s god.  This is set to become a landmark case.  Whether the case succeeds to a conviction or not, it will be the first of many such cases, until eventually, people will be killed without a trial for something they uttered in the hearing of others.  When David said, “I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence” in the verse above, he was clearly showing who the wicked are!  The wicked spoken of here are the appeasers of evil!

 Many of the Prophets of the Bible spoke of these things, including David, Micah, and even the Lord Christ in Matt 10:35.  The Lord Christ’s words were a direct quote from Micah 7:6-9 “For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- a man's enemies are the members of his own household.  ⁷ But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. ⁸ Do not gloat over me, my enemy!  Though I have fallen, I will rise.  Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. ⁹ Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right.  He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.”  This contrasts sharply with others who will never see this light.  The Prophet Isaiah addressed this very subject: Isa 8:19-22 “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”  As for God’s Law and the Testimony of Jesus, if anyone doesn’t speak according to these, they will see no light of dawn.  They will never emerge into the dawning of the new day (see 2Pet 1:19).

 Psa 39:2   But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased.  Here we see that for those who remain silent and still, saying nothing, anguish will increase.  Jesus Christ gave us some advice on this:  Luke 19:39-40 “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" ⁴⁰ "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."  This is a clear indication that the Saints must cry out in defense of their God even if it costs their lives.  This is evident in the next three verses, when it speaks of life’s end and the number of our days.

 Psa 39:3   My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:

Psa 39:4   "Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.  To the Saints, the important part of life is the afterlife – just as it was for Jesus Christ.  The Saints have eternal life dwelling in them through God’s Holy Spirit – as long as God’s Holy Spirit is retained.  Just remember that God’s Holy Spirit can be taken away if we turn from God in disobedience.  The Prophet David makes this very clear in Psa 51:11-14 “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. ¹⁴ Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.”  Bloodguilt means the killing of the innocent, and this is about to become widespread.

 Psa 39:5   You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.  Each man's life is but a breath.  Selah.  People will go to extraordinary lengths, understandably, to save their lives.  No-one wants to die without cause.  Soldiers go into battle to fight and die, if necessary, for a good cause.  If they didn’t believe in the cause, they’d be reluctant to fight, knowing that death could come at any time.  God expects His Saints to be like-minded towards Him and His cause, just as His Son Jesus was.  And so He’s made special provision for them: Isa 57:1-2 “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. ² Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.” 

 The Apostles certainly demonstrated their willingness to speak out even in the face of danger whenever their enemies sought to kill them.  In all cases they set the example, and there was no need for the very stones to cry out.

 Psa 39:6   Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.  This is a description of marauders going about sneakily, plundering and killing to gather the wealth of others.  This will become widespread!

 The Saints will find themselves in a world of violence with little to hope for.  The Holy Spirit that is in them will drive them to seek answers:

Psa 39:7   "But now, Lord, what do I look for?  My hope is in you.

Psa 39:8   Save me from all my transgressions; do not make me the scorn of fools.  The Saints will not be without transgressions.  They’re going to learn the hard way that they should have paid more attention to the Scriptures and less time concocting their own ideas about Bible Prophecy.  All Bible students should know that the whole Book of Revelation is directed towards seven churches.  Many of these have serious faults.  Since the Book of Revelation is all about Bible Prophecy, it becomes clear that this is their Achilles heel, to use an old saying.  Their saving grace however, is their obedience to God’s Commandments and their faithfulness to Jesus: Rev 14:12 “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”  There are not too many church-goers today who can claim this!  So the Saints are those who obey God’s Commandments, and any church-goers who don’t, are not Saints!  God gives His Holy Spirit only to those who obey Him! (Acts 5:32).

 Psa 39:9   I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.  And what is it that God has done?  The answer is He’s punished His people, the House of Israel, and the Saints in the Churches are going to be caught up in it.

 Psa 39:10   Remove your scourge from me; I am overcome by the blow of your hand.  Like the rest of the House of Israel, the Saints will feel the blow of God’s hand, and not without reason.  They will need to divest of their many false prophecies and learn from the House of David, which is, euphemistically speaking, their mother (Rev 12:17).  However, some may not recognize the House of David for its mother-like qualities initially.  Yet the House of David must be the source of knowledge concerning Bible Prophecy for the saints.  When they do come to this realization, they too, will have the Testimony of Jesus, which, as we all know, is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10).  And of course, Rev 12:17 also confirms that the Saints obey the Commandments in addition to holding to the Testimony of Jesus.

 After many years of conjuring up their own prophecies, the Churches of God are not too sure what to believe anymore.  Wouldn’t it be nice if they publicly declared their past errors and showed some signs of repentance for their lies.  The amusing side of all this is that for years they taught reams of prophecy they had made up, but they always insisted they were not prophets.  The reason being that whenever their prophecies failed, they could offset the suggestion they were false prophets.

 The Apostle John had an experience, which is recorded in Rev 22:8-9 “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. ⁹ But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"  So this angel of God is a fellow servant with the Apostle and Prophet John, and with his brothers the prophets.  And who could these prophets be?  Well, it wasn’t the rest of the Apostles, because John was the last survivor and he died on the Isle of Patmos where this prophecy was shown him.  The clue to this mystery is in the next three verses: V10-12 “Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.”  It was to be when the time was near that the contents of this Book of Revelation would be revealed by God’s servants the prophets.  It would be a time when wicked men would abound; men in whom God would have no interest:  V11 “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."  So there is no suggestion of conversion for the wicked here!  In other words, let them do as they please, because their end is near.  And just to put this into a specific time-frame: V12-13 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 

 It would be remiss of us to not mention further references to the reward Jesus Christ brings.  In Isaiah, chapter 40, where John the Baptist was prophesied to come, we find these words: Isa 40:9-11 “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 Judah, "Here is your God!" ¹⁰ See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him.  See, HIS REWARD IS WITH HIM, and his recompense accompanies him. ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.”  This is where the Lord Jesus makes His appearance and hands out His rewards.  And to whom is it first announced?  To the towns of Judah!  And who is His flock?  It’s the Jews! 

 You would surely think that the Churches of God would understand they must become like the Jews who’ve been faithful to God for thousands of years.  This understanding is confirmed in the message to the Churches: Rev 3:9-10 “I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”  There should be little doubt what the synagogue of Satan is today.  It’s the lying Muslims, who have used every deceptive trick to claim rights to the Jewish capital City of Jerusalem.  They even partially follow some of the teachings of Judah, like not eating pig meat, and making the sixth day a holy day rather than the Seventh.  This sixth day is now widely called the Islamic Sabbath.  They’ve even put a mosque on the Temple Mount to prevent the Temple being built there – not that that will present any problems when its time to build the Temple.  But their sacrilege is abominable!  Through their deception, they’ve managed to convince the whole world that they have rights to the Holy Land and the Holy City, and as a result, have made the Jews look like hated pariahs to the entire world.

 I know there is great expectation that Jesus Christ will return with rewards for everyone.  The truth is that the rewards are for those in Jerusalem.  If you read these things carefully, then you’ll understand it clearly.  Just to add further clarity, notice what Jesus continued to say in the Book of Revelation in the next verse: Rev 22:14-16 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city (Jerusalem). ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 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." 

 You’ll understand that the City of Jerusalem will be in lock-down at that time and no-one will be able to enter the Gates – except those who are specifically authorized to do so.  The dogs (Muslims), murderers, liars, sexually immoral, and all the lowlife scum outside will need to be disposed of, and their fate will be quickly executed.  Then the men of Judah will be recruited as a fighting force to join the Sons of Jerusalem.  Details of this can be found in the 12^th chapter of the Book of Zechariah. 

 Psa 39:11   You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth-- each man is but a breath. Selah

 Psa 39:12   "Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an ALIEN, a STRANGER, as all my fathers were.  This verse directs us to the Book of Hebrews:  Heb 11:13-16 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were ALIENS and STRANGERS on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”  And this City of Jerusalem will be prepared.

 It’s worth noting the manner of the appearance of Jesus Christ, which is also recorded in the Book of Zechariah. Some may jump to the conclusion that Jesus fulfilled this with His first appearance, but you’ll soon realize that He only partially fulfilled it at that time.  The complete fulfillment would come at the designated time of the end.  Zech 9:9-17 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  As we all know, this part of the prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’ day and is recorded in Matt 21:4-5 “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ⁵ "Say to the Daughter of Zion, `See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" So what was spoken through the prophet (Zechariah) had to be fulfilled, but the prophet added much more!  As a point of interest, immediately after the Lord Christ dismounted, He strode into the Temple and forcefully removed the moneychangers and the merchandizers (V12-13) – but that’s another story.

 The Prophet Zechariah continues: V10 “I will take away the [war] chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.”  This is a far-reaching prophecy that goes beyond the destruction and captivity of Ephraim when their power is broken.  This also speaks of the [war] horses of the nations being arraigned against Jerusalem, who are mentioned in Zech 12:4-5.  The Lord Christ will proclaim peace to the nations of Israel, but the rest of the nations will be hammered to the ends of the earth.

 Not only are Jerusalem and Judah mentioned in this fulfillment, but so is Ephraim.  There are a lot of people in Ephraim, with whom Jesus Christ made a special Covenant of Blood.  V11 “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.”  This Covenant of Blood was made with His disciples, the Saints, and was called the new Passover.  Everyone should be aware that this Passover had to be kept every year on the 14^th Nissan.  Those to whom Jesus Christ was referring, still do so today out of obedience to the Master.  Well, these prisoners will be freed: V12 “Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”  So these will be rewarded too!

 As we’ve already seen, Jesus Christ will proclaim peace for the nations of Israel, and the ‘turkey-shoot’ will begin!  Understandably, at that time they’ll have plenty of enemies to kill, and they’ll have them all to themselves.  What is more, Ephraim will fight under the banner of Judah and will be called “The Armies of the Living God”.  V13 “I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim.  I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword.”  And here we see that the beast power begins to emerge.  Greece – the former Greco-Macedonian Empire.  Like Alexander of old, they will come and subjugate the entire Middle East and arraign it against Jerusalem, the City of God.  It will prove to be a very bad mistake by the Greeks, though they will feature prominently in destroying the Muslim religion of Islam.  Naturally enough, the King of Greece will substitute another religion, where he himself will be the object of worship.

 There will be many intervening years in the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy.  Many battles will be fought to secure Jerusalem by the Sons of Jerusalem, while simultaneously, Ephraim will be destroyed as a nation and overrun by foreigners.  After all this, the survivors of Ephraim, the prophesied remnant, will be enjoined with the fighting men of Judah and the Sons of Jerusalem.  These will be collectively called “The House of David”.

 Continuing with the prophecies of Zechariah: V14 “Then the LORD will appear over them; his arrow will flash like lightning.  The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; he will march in the storms of the south, ¹⁵ and the LORD Almighty will shield them.  They will destroy and overcome with slingstones (a reference to David and Goliath, when a single slingstone destroyed a monster).  They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar.”  What is sprinkled on the corners of the Altar is blood.  And this blood is the Blood of the Covenant: Ex 24:6-8 “Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." ⁸ Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." 

 And finally we get to the last couple of verses from Zechariah, which speaks of the “flock of His people”: V16 “The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people.  They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. ¹⁷ How attractive and beautiful they will be!  Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women.” 

 All these things are far in advance of the immediate future, when Ephraim and the Saints experience hard times before being rescued.

Psa 39:13   Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more."  This is a reference to what happened to Jesus in His last few hours.  He cried out to God in Aramaic, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  The Saints, likewise, must go through this – if called upon to do so.

 

PSALM 40

 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

 In this Psalm, the remnant of Israel return and are received by the Lord Jesus.

Psa 40:1   I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.

Psa 40:2   He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

 Psa 40:3   He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.  The singers of the Temple were the Levites and many of the saints will become priests.  In a later Psalm, David has this to say: Psa 132:9 “May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy." 

 Psa 40:4   Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.  We’ve all seen examples of the elaborate rituals of the pagans, who dress in ornate garb to stress their importance.  They’re like mindless lunatics!  And all too often people get themselves caught up in the spurious solemnity of the occasion, and fail to notice they’re worshiping demons.  Such people don’t worship the Creator God and they don’t believe in Him.  Yet they’re firmly convinced that other invisible gods are hovering around them for their benefit provided they make all the right ritualistic moves.  These people wouldn’t be seen dead without all the paraphernalia of lucky charms – because their gods are watching and are eager to bring them luck.  And pigs might fly!

 Psa 40:5   Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.  Those who believe and love their Creator cannot fail to see the wonders of all He has done.

 Psa 40:6   Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced (I think the word should be ‘penetrated’); burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.  Well, not in the traditional way!  Rather, Jesus Christ would offer Himself in place of a lamb, and become the Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of many.

Psa 40:7   Then I said, "Here I am, I have come-- it is written about me in the scroll.  This is a reference to Jesus Christ, the Son of David.  This is confirmed in: Heb 10:7 “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; ⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. ⁷ Then I said, `Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'"  There is much to be explained here.  Firstly, the Scroll spoken of has been sealed for a very long time, and it’s Jesus Christ who releases those seals (see Revelation, chapters 5-7).  This Scroll was already written long before Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary.  In fact, all the Prophets spoke of it.  There was much conjecture among the heavenly beings about who would open this Scroll, and finally the Father handed it to the Lord Jesus (Rev 1:1) and He was given the task of breaking the seals – for our day!  And the seals are now being opened.

God the Father prepared a Body for Jesus Christ, and that Body is the Church of God (1Cor 12:27).  The Body of Jesus Christ was put to death as a sacrifice in place of the usual sacrificial lamb on the Passover.  And now another sacrificial Body has been prepared, and it’s not animals that God wants sacrificed.  God wants this Body He has prepared to be like His Son Jesus and offer themselves as the living sacrifice.  It’s much easier to offer an animal in place of oneself, but God is not pleased with this.  God wants the Holy Body to be prepared to lay down their lives for Him, just like His Son Jesus.  Remember what Jesus said in this regard?  John 15:12-14 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ 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.”  It shouldn’t go unnoticed that all the Apostles lay down their lives for their friends in accordance with Jesus’ instruction.

 So were animal sacrifices outlawed from the time of Christ?  Far from it!  Animal sacrifices will go on forever as a constant reminder of the blood sacrifices that were made in order that the Kingdom of God would be forever established in righteousness.  Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice when He came to do the will of the Father.  He set the example for all those who would become members of the Family of God.  Animal sacrifices were pointing to our day, when the Body of Christ, The Church of God, would also be sacrificed in order to prove their faithfulness to God.  If this is not evident now, then it soon will be! 

 In the Book of Revelation, we find an account of the martyrdom of the Saints.  Notice what it says: Rev 20:4-6 “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”  Doesn’t this speak of the prophesied martyrdom of the Saints?  These people are beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God!  Just a word of caution concerning those who like to claim that Jesus did it all for you!  Jesus Christ set the example of the will of God, and demonstrated that God will raise you from the dead if you follow Him.  This is exactly what the above verse says when it confirms “They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”  This speaks of the end-time martyrs who refuse the ‘mark of the beast’.  This beast has yet to arise.  And when he does, the whole world will be tested!  Just remember that the whole Book of Revelation is directed to the Churches of God: Rev 22:16-17 “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." ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”  These Churches of God are the ones who obey the Commandments of God and soon they will have the Testimony of Jesus, which they don’t currently have!  As we all know, the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10), and they certainly don’t have the Spirit of Prophecy – as many long-term members will realize from the reams of false prophecy they were taught (and believed) for so many years.  They have yet to realize that as long as they remain separate from the Branch, they’ll understand nothing.  In fact, they are in danger of withering and dying, literally!  But I guess most will learn this the hard way, and time is running out fast!

 Psa 40:8   I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."  As the Apostles pointed out this is a reference to what Jesus Christ said, when He said, “I desire to do your will, O God” and He confirms the Law is in His heart.  He was also speaking on behalf of His Body, The Church of God.  In the Book of Hebrews where we just left off, the writer goes on to speak about these things and to explain them: Heb 10:8-10 “First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). ⁹ Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  So Jesus set aside the first part of the Law, involving animal sacrifices, to establish the divine sacrifice of Himself in place of a lamb.  This was the will of God and it pleased Him!

 Not only did Jesus Christ lay down His own life instead of the traditional Passover lamb as required by the Law, but three days and nights later, He demonstrated that God can raise Him from the dead.  In so doing, He was affirming the type of faith that God requires of His flock.  The Body of Christ, The Church of God, was no longer required to offer a lamb as the sacrifice on the Day of Passover.  Instead, they were required to drink the Blood (which is the life) of Jesus Christ, and eat His flesh (which represented themselves as the Body of Christ).  This was done symbolically by drinking wine and eating bread.  Jesus told them to “Do this in remembrance of me”.  The following day they understood exactly what Jesus meant.  They were to remember God’s will which Jesus fulfilled.

 Psa 40:9   I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O LORD.  The Great Assembly is the place where all the Saints will be gathered following the first resurrection.  The Great Assembly is described in Rev 7:9-17.  The Prophet Daniel also mentions it in Dan 7:9-10.  This description by Daniel occurs immediately after a reference to the coming beast (V8).

 Psa 40:10   I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.  I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.  David will be among the many, including the angels, who proclaim Gods’ faithfulness and His salvation in the Great Assembly (Rev 7:12).  It’s also a good idea to be doing this now!  It will surely strengthen your faith if you believe God.  When we believe God it’s credited to us as righteousness (James 2:23-24).

 Yet before we can stand in the Great Assembly, we must all face our trials.  The fact is, there are going to be trials and tribulations that will test the whole world (Rev 3:10).  Some members of the Churches of God, however, will be spared this, as we mentioned earlier, in Isa 57:1-2 “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. ² Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”  Righteous and devout Saints will know that God will raise them from the dead if they lay down their lives willingly for Him.  Jesus Christ has already proven this!

 Psa 40:11   Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me.  If God’s love and Truth is always in your mind, then you will have nothing to fear – regardless of what men may do to you.  They may kill the body, but they can’t kill the Holy Spirit.  It’s through the Holy Spirit that we are raised from the dead: Rom 8:9-11 “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. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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.”  So here we see that in order to be raised from the dead you must be a Saint – one who has the Spirit of God.  This is the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and this is also the Spirit that will raise us from the dead.  And of course, the other important point here is that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, then he doesn’t belong to Christ.

 As a point of interest, the Spirit of Christ is called the Counselor:  John 14:15-21 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another COUNSELOR to be with you forever-- ¹⁷ THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."  And just to confirm that the Counselor is an additional Spirit, the Father will send it in Jesus Name:  V25 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 

 People who fail to understand all things when they are taught from the Scriptures, definitely don’t have the Spirit of Christ – the Counselor!  It’s mandatory that we remember everything we’ve been taught and not be jumping all over the place with different doctrines.  And just remember, those who don’t have the Spirit of Christ – the Counselor – don’t belong to Him!  The Churches of God presently only have the down-payment of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of Christ makes the double-portion.  In order to understand the Scriptures, you must have the down-payment or deposit of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Christ.  Eph 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.”  Paul was speaking to Gentiles here, who were also included in Christ when they heard the Word of Truth and believed.  Like all Saints, they were given a deposit or down-payment of the Holy Spirit.  God’s possession is sometimes called His ‘Treasured Possession’.

 God’s Holy Spirit is also called the firstfruits of the Spirit:  Rom 8:22-25 “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (the resurrection). ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  The firstfruit is the beginning of a harvest.  All those who are Christ’s will be a part of that harvest.  To be Christ’s, you must have the Spirit of Christ.  Those who have the Counsellor, the other Spirit that guides you through all things, are called God’s Possession or sometimes, God’s Treasured Possession.  These are a very special group of people that God is assembling today.  This is how they’re described: 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.”  You’ll notice these verses appear in the Book of the Messenger [Malachi]!

 God’s Treasured Possession was the 12 Tribes of Israel from the very beginning. Ex 19:3-6 “Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ `You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."  Naturally enough, Moses was a Levite, and he had charge of the Priesthood.  God also set him over the whole House of Israel as an overseer (and considerably more than that!).  God always calls the Levites first!  This was the case with John the Baptist, who preceded Jesus’ arrival.  With the soon coming of Jesus’ second arrival, it’s the Levites who have been called to duty to teach and proclaim the Kingdom of God.  Further mention of God’s Treasured Possession can be found in Deut 7:6, 14:2, 26:18 and Psa 135:4.

 And this is where we are today with the Kingdom of God imminent.  Most of the Saints, who were given the down-payment or deposit of God’s Holy Spirit are still floundering around, uncertain of many things.  They have not received the Counselor, so they don’t have the Spirit of Christ and neither do their have His Testimony!  Without the Spirit of Prophecy (The Counselor), they cannot know the Testimony of Jesus (Rev 19:10).  And time is running out for them now!  Their reluctance to understand what God wants them to be, and to do, is the beginning of many troubles for them.

Psa 40:12   For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.  They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. 

 It’s not the purpose here to go into long explanations about the Potter and the clay, but the Apostle Paul makes a very good point here: Rom 9:19-24 “One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" ²⁰ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, `Why did you make me like this?'" ²¹ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”  There are some who are chosen for noble purposes, and then there are others who are chosen for common use – which is the point that Paul is making!  When the Saints are in terrible trouble, they’ll begin believing that God is finding fault with them and insist they haven’t resisted His will.  Just remember that when Paul wrote this, the Saints were being persecuted and killed everywhere, and Paul goes on to explain why.  He begins by explaining about the objects of Gods’ wrath, those who are being prepared for destruction.  This is a reference to the children of the devil!  And these will be destroyed!  But what if God doesn’t do this straightaway and exercises patience when these satanic creatures go on their rampages?  In such a case, the object of their rampages would be the Saints – and the Saints, of course, would be aware of this.  Now Paul goes on to explain God’s reasoning behind all this: V22 “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? ²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?”  If the children of the devil are given a short season to massacre the Saints – who are the objects of His mercy, which are being prepared for glory, then they should realize this is a part of the molding of the clay in God’s hands.  So they shouldn’t be alarmed that God is blaming them.  Instead, they should remember that this is what happened to Jesus Christ the Son of God.  They must be prepared to follow accordingly.

 All this may seem as if God is asking a lot.  It is, after all, our lot to die, whether sooner or later, which is the fate of us all.  But after this is the resurrection and life everlasting – for some!  For those who have been prepared for glory, their end will be glorious.  As God has said, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His Saints” (Ps 116:15).

 In Paul’s explanation above, he posed the question, “Why did you make me like this?”  The fact is that God didn’t!  Each and every one of us must make our own choices.  The noble ones believe God and dedicate their lives to Him.  The common ones go with the crowd, unwilling to make a commitment.  They seek safety in numbers.  Even in this, God doesn’t blame them, yet they should be aware of what their fate is, and that fate is predetermined.  They must go as sheep to the slaughter.  This is their common purpose.  Those of the noble purpose, however, will be preparing the way for Jesus Christ’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom of God – just as John the Baptist did!

 Psa 40:13   Be pleased, O LORD, to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me.  When you need saving, you need help urgently.  As human beings we should understand this perfectly.

 Psa 40:14   May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.  I guess this will be the prayer of all the Saints in those calamitous days.

 Psa 40:15   May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame.

Psa 40:16   But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, "The LORD be exalted!"

Psa 40:17   Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me.  You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay.  Yes, this is speaking about the Lord’s return and the hope that He will not delay.  Deliverance will be everything in that day.

 

PSALM 41

 For the director of music. A psalm of David.

 Psa 41:1   Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.  The poor and the weak of the flock need special attention, and blessed is he who exercises regard for them – even at great expense to themselves.  It’s the wholehearted ones who will gain God’s favour and protection.  These are the ones who have outgoing concern for others, rather than themselves.  Such noble people will get very special consideration from God:

Psa 41:2   The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.  It’s not our purpose to draw a distinction between those who willingly lay down their lives for God, and those whom God chooses to protect and preserve.  Both are noble and precious in God’s eyes.  Naturally enough, there will be others who will be afraid and weak in the face of adversity.  For instance, those with young families would be reluctant to leave them fatherless.  In fact, there are many things that might induce weakness in them, and such people will need special attention from those who are noble, brave and courageous.  Those who are noble will go after those who are lost and restore them to the flock, which is what a good shepherd does.  Remember what Jesus said when He was arrested, “If it’s me you seek, then let these others go”.  He gave Himself as hostage for His disciples.

 There are many benefits for doing what is right in the eyes of God:

Psa 41:3   The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.  Such benefits are great and David speaks of them in Psa 103:1-2 “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. ² Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- ³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, ⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” 

 Psa 41:4   I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."  God will be merciful to those who sin under duress – and it can happen!  And when it does, you must show God that you are repentant, and resolve never to do it again.  If you want the benefit of God’s healing, then being forgiven is the first step.  You can’t continue in the same offensive behaviour and expect God’s mercy.

 Psa 41:5   My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die and his name perish?"  Jesus said, “If they have hated me, then they will hate you”.  Jesus’ enemies wanted Him to die and His Name perish.  In days ahead,  true Christians will be the target of malice, and the enemy will do everything possible to ensure the Name of Christ (and Christian) is expunged from the earth.  David’s Tribe of Judah, the Jews, have already been through all this, and the enemy all but succeeded.  Even today, the malice and hatred continues for the Jewish people.  So true Christians should not think it unusual that the enemy would want to kill them also! 

 Psa 41:6   Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.  Have you noticed the slanderous comments in some newsgroups or readers comments that follow after published articles at some websites?  If someone disagrees with another, they resort to slanderous comments to vilify the other.  Forget the message, just attack the messenger – seems to be the norm today!  It’s noteworthy to see the proliferation of trick questions designed to draw an attackable response.  How much verifiable truth ever emerges from such forums?  The answer is close to zero!  As for those who debate doctrines of Christianity, truth is as elusive as a greased pig.  Yet everyone tries to create the illusion that they’re experts.  You can plainly see the trend today!

You’ll also notice that there is satanic vitriol for the Jewish people today.  With the obvious enemy being Islam and their murderous Muslim brood, there are lunatics who blame the Jews for it all.  You would think they’d be hard-pressed to find fault with the Jews in view of all that has happened, but these satanic creatures are anything if not creative in their accusations.  So wild have their accusations become, there are maniacs who claim that the Jews, in consort with the US government, actually brought down the Twin Towers with planted bombs!  Everyone on earth saw the planes plunging into the Twin Towers, but this doesn’t faze these lying deceivers one bit.  Conspiracy, conspiracy, it’s the tool of every lying madman.  As a point of interest, David foreshadowed this very trait of conspiracy as a warning for us all: Psa 64:1-3 “Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy. ² Hide me from the CONSPIRACY of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers. ³ They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.” 

 The Prophet Isaiah also describes this penchant for conspiracy among the evil creatures of this earth and also gives the timeline: Isa 8:12-17 “Do not call CONSPIRACY everything that these people call CONSPIRACY; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. ¹³ The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, ¹⁴ and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.  And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. ¹⁵ Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured." ¹⁶ Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. ¹⁷ I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.  I will put my trust in him.”  If God is hiding His face from both the House of Israel and the House of Judah, then they don’t have much going for them!  It’s certainly no consolation, but this is what happened to our Lord Jesus, when the Father hid His face from Him prior to the moment of death.  This is when He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Psa 41:7   All my enemies whisper together against me; they imagine the worst for me, saying,

Psa 41:8   "A vile disease has beset him; he will never get up from the place where he lies."  Maybe the Saints don’t believe they have any enemies.  Remember what Jesus said?  He said, “If they hated me, then they’ll hate you!”  And it’s these who will be your enemies!

Psa 41:9   Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.  Yes, even your close friends will hate you and will side with your enemy out of fear of reprisals.  Jesus confirmed that even those in your own household will need to be watched closely, and even ‘her that lies in your embrace’.  Do you fear conspiracy?  You’ll be seeing plenty of it!  The Lord Jesus did!  Even one who shared bread with Him, Judas Iscariot, played a major part in a conspiracy to betray Him.  Jesus expected it and predicted it and cited this very scripture in John 13:18.

 Psa 41:10   But you, O LORD, have mercy on me; raise me up, that I may repay them.  When the Saints are raised from the dead, there will be plenty of reprisals – understandably.  God has no intention of allowing the wicked to survive!  Those who killed the Saints are at the top of the list for extermination.  Just remember what Jesus said in Rev 2:26 “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.”  There’ll be a lot of broken pottery or shards in those days.  And it will be the Saints doing the breaking – but only after they’ve overcome to the end!  The authority that Jesus has received from His Father to repay His enemies is prophesied in the Song of Moses: Deut 32:39-43 “See now that I myself am He!  There is no god besides me.  I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰ I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, ⁴¹ when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. ⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders." ⁴³ Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.” 

 After this ordeal by the faithful servants of God, He will be pleased with them, just as He was pleased with His Son Jesus, and never again will their enemy triumph over them.

Psa 41:11   I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.

 Psa 41:12   In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.  This will be your reward for faithful service to your Creator God – everlasting life!

 Psa 41:13   Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.  Amen and Amen.

 

PSALM 42

 For the director of music. A maskil ⁿ of the Sons of Korah.

 As we saw in the last verse of the previous Psalm, the LORD is the God of Israel, as He has always been and will always be from everlasting to everlasting.  But the LORD has not always been Israel’s God.  They’ve worshiped many gods.  As for worshipping the Great Creator God, the growing trend is to seriously challenge God’s role in the creation of the earth and everything in it.  The satanic purpose of this is to diminish the importance of God and to relegate the account of the creation to a pack of lies.  Once the fundamentals of our existence are refuted, it follows that the Word of God is also under question – but only in the crazy minds of these non-believers!

 And now David speaks of the House of Judah and the land where they live.  They haven’t known peace in their land in the same manner as Ephraim (America today).  The Jewish people have suffered endless adversity since being established as a nation.  They’ve been invaded and attacked many times since being established as a nation in their own right.

 Psa 42:1   As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  With hundreds of millions of Muslims on their very borders, Judah is like a deer panting for water.  This analogy is a good one since it speaks of thirsting for the Living Water that comes from God.  There are many references to Living Water in the Bible, but this reference is particularly important to this theme: John 7:38 “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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”  Jesus had earlier spoken of this Living Water in John 4:10.  The day will come when people will search for this Living Water, but they won’t find it.  There will be a famine of God’s Word!

 The Jews, however, will find it!  It will be right among them.  What is more, God’s servants will proclaim, “Here is your God!”

Psa 42:2   My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?  Well, that day will soon come for Judah!  The very One they rejected at His first appearance will return in the same manner, riding on a donkey, the foal of an ass (Zech 9:9), but this time He comes to fight – just as the Jews had expected at His first appearance – see the rest of Zech 9.

 Psa 42:3   My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"  The Jewish people are surrounded by people who worship their god Allah the devil.  They taunt Judah as if they alone worship the True God.  Even Christianity has joined in the chorus by accusing the Jews of rejecting the Lord Christ.  The Truth is that the Jews worship the God of the Old Testament, and believe it or not, this is the One who became Jesus Christ.  Christianity doesn’t believe Jesus was the God of the O.T., yet they should know!  In Isaiah, chapter 8, we’ve just been speaking, in the previous Psalm, of ‘the Rock that makes them (Israel) fall”.  And who is this Rock?  The answer is found 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 ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the SPIRITUAL ROCK that accompanied them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST.”   There are a lot of ignorant people around today who profess to know Jesus, yet they don’t know that He was the God of the Old Testament!  So they don’t know Him very well, do they? 

 The Jews however, worship the God of the O.T., faithfully!  They hold steadfast to His instruction; something which Christianity generally, cannot claim.  So maybe Christianity doesn’t believe that the Rock that accompanied Israel in the wilderness was Jesus, but they sure believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God in the flesh – the Living example of God’s Word.  And what is the Word of God – the Scriptures?  It’s the same Scriptures that Jesus used when He was on earth.  He was teaching His Testimony from the Old Testament – the only Scripture that existed at the time!  It should also be noted that these are the very Scriptures all the Apostles and disciples quoted from during their lives.  So what then is the Word of God that Jesus personified?  It’s the Old Testament!  It’s no secret that the Old Testament is the Scripture that Christianity refuses to obey!

 Only Christianity doesn’t remember these things, but the Jewish people do:

Psa 42:4   These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng.  They were all of one mind and one spirit when they served their Creator God!  And the reason is because they never forgot all the wonders He had done for them!  Even today they correctly believe that God has planted them in the Holy Land – their inheritance!

 Psa 42:5   Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and ⁶ my God.  My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar.  (Mizar is one of the peaks of the Hermon ranges that lies midway between Damascus and Tyre.)  The area from Jordan to Mount Hermon is the extent of the Israelis’ land today in the northern regions, and even this is being hotly contested with claims for the Golan Heights being made by Syria and their defacto, Lebanon.

 Psa 42:7   Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.  This is a reference to the great sea (Mediterranean) to the inland sea – most likely Lake Kinneret in Galilee.  In this region there are calls going out from Syria to Lebanon to stir up ‘waves’.  And it never seems to end!

 Psa 42:8   By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life.  I wonder how Ephraim will fare once they begin to experience the endless wars and threats that the Israelis have had to endure on their land?  Only the Israelis have remained faithful to God throughout all adversity!  The U.S. will not fare well at all!  They certainly won’t be singing praises to God, because they’ve never known Him.

 Psa 42:9   I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me?  Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?"  Didn’t we just get through saying that Judah worships God – the Rock?  This is the same God – the Rock that Christianity has rejected!

 Psa 42:10   My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?"  What a shock these taunting degenerates will get when suddenly the Rock appears at His Temple (Mal 3:1).

 Psa 42:11   Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  Only the Jewish people are about to maintain their faith and hope in their God under the most excessive provocation.  Let’s just see how mainstream Christianity fares when their turn comes around.  Unfortunately, Christianity has built their house on sand instead of on the Rock – the same Rock that Judah acknowledges.  As a result, Christianity as we know it, will know nothing until the flood comes and sweeps them away.

 

PSALM 43

 Psa 43:1   Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.  Deceitful and wicked men are actively campaigning for Judah’s destruction, and every day their calls grow louder.  Ephraim (the United States) is becoming more dangerous than the Muslim hordes that surround the Holy Land.  From the heads of government to the lowliest of men, the Ephraimites are now campaigning to destroy the Israelis.  They desperately want to deprive the Jews of the Holy City and turn it over to Satan.  They want to excise Israeli lands back to 1948 borders.  And even worse, they want the ‘right of return’ for millions of Muslims, who have no rights to the land whatever, and to seize dwellings that are not their own.

 Ephraim thinks they can rule over Jewish Israel and dictate the play.  In so doing, they’ll be picking a fight with God, and guess who will win!  We’ve been saying for years, in the day that Ephraim betrays Israel, they’ll be crushed like ants.  The irony of it all is that it will be Judah who will rescue the remnant of Ephraim.  Didn’t Jesus Christ confirm that salvation comes from the Jews?  When you understand the meaning of salvation, you will understand the meaning of this statement.  How Christianity could fail to understand this is beyond belief!  Why would God trust anyone who refuses to obey Him?  Why would God choose anyone else to rescue the remnant of Ephraim?  The Jews have been faithful to God for thousands of years.  He is the Rock of their salvation and they’ve always trusted in Him for deliverance.

 Psa 43:2   You are God my stronghold.  Why have you rejected me?  Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?  For just a few moments, for just a little while, God will appear to reject Judah in favour of their enemies.  Then they’ll see the blazing light of their redemption.  The nations around them will be smashed like pottery with an overwhelming blow, and they’ll realize that this is the hand of God.

 God’s stronghold will be on the Holy Mountain of Jerusalem:

Psa 43:3   Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.  Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, the people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God (Zech 12:9).

 The people of Judah will join the Sons of Jerusalem in service and praise of the Almighty God:

Psa 43:4   Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.  I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

 In the meantime, Judah must wait for deliverance, but they can certainly wait in hope:

Psa 43:5   Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.  Judah will yet praise their Savior and their God, and this time is spoken of in Zech 12:10-14 – after the rescue takes place!

 PSALM 44

 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.

 This Psalm begins with a reminiscence of the history of the 12 Tribes of Israel, and their many conquests before entering the Promised Land in antiquity.  In those days they trusted in God and He gave them victories over their enemies giving them the confidence of invincibility.  After 40 years in the wilderness they entered the Promised Land and God was still with them.  He spoke through the prophets and gave assurances, and they had the confidence to believe Him having seen so many wonders in their past, with water flowing from the Rock, and manna falling from the sky, and the enemy fleeing from their presence.  Fear and foreboding went before them in the hearts of all their enemies.

 Psa 44:1   We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago.

Psa 44:2   With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish.

Psa 44:3   It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.  We are all aware that the Israelites fought many battles and their conquests are legendary.  As long as they were faithful to God they successfully conquered the nations along the way.  Though they had to fight the battles, it was God’s right arm that delivered victory.  In essence, they became God’s right arm figuratively speaking.

 Psa 44:4   You are my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob.  The reference to Jacob is a reference to his 12 sons – the Tribes of Israel.  In days long ago, the Israelites saw plenty of this.  What is more, if they became disobedient to God, the battle would go against them, and at times, they learned this the hard way!  These are lessons that the Tribes of Israel would do well to learn today!

 Even today, the Jews are well-aware of this, and still trust in God for deliverance in times of conflict, though this resolve has diminished somewhat since ‘political correctness’ and stupid ‘rules of engagement’ have muddied the water.  These crazy aberrations will diminish when they realize just how strong the Sons of Jerusalem are!

Psa 44:5   Through you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample our foes.

Psa 44:6   I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring me victory;

Psa 44:7   but you give us victory over our enemies, you put our adversaries to shame.

Psa 44:8   In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever. Selah.  Judah has learned these lessons well, going right back to the days of their fathers.  Their reminiscences of days long ago will bring great dividends.

 But now there is a problem – a very serious one!  Judah is being brainwashed by Ephraim to make peace with their enemies.  This is the same enemy that wants to kill all Jews and Christians – whom they hate with a vengeance!  From days of old, God’s specific instruction to the whole House of Israel was to destroy the enemy and drive them far from the Holy Land.  Anything short of this would lead to rejection by God and this is what is happening today.

Psa 44:9   But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies.  It’s a sad fact that this is what is coming now, and it was all so avoidable!  Judah has listened to Ephraim instead of listening to God.  Ephraim has become stupid and senseless like a silly dove – a point that God Himself has made through His prophets: Hos 7:10-11 “Israel's arrogance testifies against him, but despite all this he does not return to the LORD his God or search for him. ¹¹ "EPHRAIM is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless-- now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.”  ‘Israel’ mentioned in this verse is a reference to Ephraim, where people from all the Tribes of Israel live.  As a point of interest in Bible prophecy, Ephraim is almost exclusively referred to as the House of Israel and these two names are used interchangeably.  And just one other thing about the above verse, the reference to Egypt and Assyria is very significant, but we won’t go into it all now.  If anyone wants to do the study, they’ll find some references here: Isa 11:11-13, Isa 19:23-25, Hos 11:11 – 12:1, Micah 7:12.  Assyria, incidentally, is the region beyond the two rivers in Iraq, and borders on Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

 

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There’s an interesting story about the Assyrians, which occurred at the time of WW2.  It was the subject of a documentary on the History Channel.  Hitler had a medium/magician/demon that he consulted with, and who informed him that the ancient Assyrians were the master race because they possessed a certain root, a mandrake (Mandragora Offinarum), that resembled a man.  Hitler was told that if he were to possess such a mandrake, then his nation would become the master race.  So a delegation was send to the land of the Medes (Kurds) and they returned with one.  Hitler, thereafter, proclaimed Germany to be the Aryans (another name for the Kurdish Assyrians), the master race.  Through this black magic, Hitler managed to convince the Germans of his claim.  But he also convinced another man, who turned out to be a false prophet.  This man, Herbert Armstrong, dubbed the German people to be the ancient Assyrians, and proceeded to write reams of false prophecy about it.  The German people are not Assyrians!  They’re the Tribe of Simeon!  Coincidentally, Simeon, Levi and Judah are blood brothers and born to the same mother, Leah, the first wife of Jacob, who bore him six sons in all.

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Getting back again to V9, where it’s said that God has rejected His people and no longer goes out with their armies, this was the inevitable result of flagrant disinterest in all of God’s instructions.  Perhaps the House of Israel doesn’t believe that God was with their armies; perhaps they believed that their many victories in days gone by were the result of their own prowess.  What can be said with all confidence is that when God pulls the plug and refuses to aid their armies, they will be defeated.  We’ve just been reading about how David always gave God credit for his victories, confirming that it was the mighty hand of God that achieved this.  Many times in the ancient past, the House of Israel had to learn this the hard way.

 Satan has ways of eroding confidence in a nation, and he’s been hard at work.  Deception is a major part of his arsenal and it’s been very successful – in many ways.  Satan is the grand master of faulty philosophy, and he’s successfully brain-washed most of the population of the Western World.  At a time when trumpets should be blown to warn the people of the enemy’s ambition, the only trumpeters we hear are those trumpeting about the ‘environment’ and ‘manmade global warming’.  This is the only danger they see!

 Well may they worry about the environment, because the environment is about to be destroyed beyond repair – but not by ‘manmade global warming’!  Yet it will be done by men, who will sweep in and plunder the whole nation.

 When God’s people turn against Him then inevitable results follow.  In our day, Judah has had the apparent misfortune to be the one to set the example for others to follow.  They’ve been pursued and hunted down to the ends of the earth and faced virtual extinction at the hands of their oppressors.  Any sympathy they received after the Holocaust was short-lived.

 David prophesied of these things:

Psa 44:10   You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us.  Plundered is right!  Everything they had was plundered – even their gold teeth!

Psa 44:11   You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations.  We’re all well aware of the slaughter that occurred.  They were herded into cattle cars and driven to extermination facilities to be plundered and killed.  At the time, the Western Christian nations were only concerned about their own welfare and were greatly concerned only with their own survival. 

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The persecution of the Jews began in earnest in 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.  It reached a crescendo on krystallnacht in 1938.  This is the account found in Wikipedia:  Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, also known as Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November 9–10, 1938.^[1]

Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and villages, as SA stormtroopers and civilians destroyed buildings with sledgehammers, leaving the streets covered in pieces of smashed windows—the origin of the name "Night of Broken Glass." Ninety-one Jews were killed, and 30,000 Jewish men—a quarter of all Jewish men in Germany—were taken to concentration camps, where they were tortured for months, with over 1,000 of them dying.^[2] Around 1,668 synagogues were ransacked, and 267 set on fire. In Vienna alone 95 synagogues or houses of prayer were destroyed.^[3]

Martin Gilbert writes that no event in the history of German Jews between 1933 and 1945 was so widely reported as it was happening, and the accounts from the foreign journalists working in Germany sent shock waves around the world.^[2] The Times of London wrote at the time: "No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenceless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday."^[4]

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As a point of interest, it was also 1938 when British PM Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler for ‘peace in our time’.  By November, 1938 it was apparent to the whole world that the Jews were being slaughtered like sheep to the slaughter, but people turned a blind eye to this out of fear of the Nazi regime.  It was then that a subtle inference emerged that it was better for the Jews to die rather than Christians.  This subtle and demonic inference survives to this very day – in fact, more so!  Today it’s assumed that if the State of Israel were destroyed, Islam would be content, and the world would have peace.

Psa 44:12   You (God) sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale.  God’s own Son was sold for 30 pieces of silver with God’s full knowledge, and it had to happen this way.  If God’s only begotten Son had to be sold for a pittance, no Christian should be surprised to suffer the same fate.  These are no more immune from this than Jesus was!  The truth is, God chose His chosen people Judah to demonstrate this very fact!  I hope no-one is stupid enough to believe that Judah did this in their stead, and that God would never require it of them because they’re Christians.  Remember these things well, because when we get to V22 below, David begins talking about [true] Christians and how their turn is coming to go as sheep to the slaughter.  Judah has set the example, just as Jesus did!  Soon it will be Christianity’s turn to follow the example and to prove their faithfulness to God.

 The Jewish example continues today and they’re continually verbally bombarded from all sides.  Even Christianity has joined in to persecute them.  These holier-than-thou Christians are going to learn a severe lesson, and there will be no good outcome for them.  Their faith will fade and be replaced with fear.  Then they will know they made themselves the enemy of God!  God has already referred to them as chaff, fit only to be burned up.

 But the Jews continue to suffer in silence and remain faithful to God and His City.

Psa 44:13   You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us.  Any observer today can see the obvious hatred of those who surround the Holy Land.  The Jews have endured this for centuries, yet they still remain obedient to God and His Law.  They know that God’s way is right!

Psa 44:14   You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.  Some of the contemptible things that Christians have said about the Jews are unforgivable.  Because they refused to side with the custodians of the Holy Land and the Holy City, they’ve managed to seal their own fate.  And who is it that they side with?  It’s Islam!  Where in all the Bible is it suggested that Islam has rights to the Holy Land and the Holy City?  How could Christianity have descended into such madness?  The reason is because of their father is the devil to whom they listen.  Christianity continues today to oppose everything to do with God’s way, so it’s hardly surprising that they would side with Satan and his brood.

 The question might be asked here, who is David referring to?  Is it the Jews or the Christians?  Well, Jesus plainly said that salvation is from the Jews, and it’s salvation that Christians hope for: John 4:22-24 “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."  When we get to V22 below, we’ll see clearly that Christians must emulate Jews, and one of the reasons is that it was to the Jews that God entrusted His Truth – the Scriptures!

 It’s very important that Christians worship God in Spirit and in Truth!  Otherwise they’ll have no chance of enduring the testing trials that are soon to come upon them.  There is one consolation for them – the Jews have set the example by enduring it first!

Psa 44:15   My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame

Psa 44:16   at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.  Those whose father is the devil are always bent on revenge based on imaginary motivations.  Don’t expect any form of logic from these maniacs!

 The Jews remained faithful to God’s Covenant and have not forgotten their God.  True worshipers, who must worship in Spirit and in Truth, are those who acknowledge that God’s way is right.

Psa 44:17   All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.  What about those who have been false to God’s Covenant?  Where will they stand in the day of punishment?

 Psa 44:18   Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path.  The Jews have always taught that God’s way is right and they’ve continued to walk in His path!  It’s Christianity-in-general that disagrees with this because they are not led by the Spirit, and they don’t acknowledge the Truth.  However, some few Christians do!

 Psa 44:19   But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness.  Judah has suffered conquest and been overrun in their ancestral lands many times down through the ages.  And on each occasion the land became a haunt for jackals.  The term ‘jackals’ is not found in the New Testament; instead the term ‘dogs’ is used.  Jesus famously used the word in relation to Samaritans or Canaanites, who were not Jews! (Matt 15:26).  These were the lowliest of people, and were forcefully resettled in the region after the conquest of the House of Israel in 721BC.  They were widely spoken of as dogs by the Jewish population.  As it happened, this proved to be an acceptable term used also by Jesus.  He also used this term in Rev 22:15 “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”  We’re all aware that real dogs don’t practice magic arts, or murder or practice falsehood.  This is a reference to people who do these things!  In the New Testament vernacular, these are dogs! Whenever Judah was overrun, these are the sort of people that flooded in for the plunder.

 Psa 44:20   If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

Psa 44:21   would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?  In 586BC the Jewish nation was conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar and led off into captivity in Babylon.  They didn’t forget the Name of their God and longed to return to their homeland.

 And now we come to V22, and it might naturally be assumed that this too is speaking of the Jews.  Yet in the Book of Romans (Rom 8:36), Paul quotes this verse as applying to Christians.  What is more, he goes to extreme lengths to explain why.  We’ll try to examine everything he said in this regard.  But first this is what David wrote:

Psa 44:22   Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.  In his opening words in relation to quoting this in the Book of Romans, Paul spoke of those who were “predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son” (Rom 8:29).  He then goes on to say this: Rom 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:  "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

 It’s very clear that Paul was preparing Christians for the inevitable!  Persecution was coming in their day, and they had to prepare themselves for it.  In the pursuing couple of centuries Christians were slaughtered like flies, and the killing of Christians actually became a blood sport, which only ended when the Roman Emperor Constantine brought it to an end.  Most people won’t want to hear this, but Constantine was a native of Gaul (France today) prior to his conquest of Rome and the Roman legions.  What is more, he was a Celt.  The Celts were the Tribe of Levi, and were the original Britons prior to the conquest by the Saxons.

 Paul continues: V37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Paul was saying that rather than being defeated by death, they were actually conquerors!  Sure they had to go as sheep to the slaughter, which they did, but they will emerge as conquerors of the enemy.  In reference to the Churches, Jesus confirmed they would beat the nations with a rod of iron if they overcame in this life: 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.”  To receive the same authority over the nations as Jesus received from the Father, true worshipers must do as Jesus did and go like sheep to the slaughter.  This is the appointed task of the Churches of God.

 When Paul quoted this Scripture in Psalm 44:22 in relation to the Christians to whom he was writing, he made it clear that they must endure the same type of persecution that Jesus suffered.  Since he was writing to Gentiles converts in Rome, he wanted them to understand that the Jews are not the enemy.  It was the Jews that God foreknew and predestinated to be justified and glorified, just as Jesus said, “Salvation is from the Jews”.  God has held them in reserve for thousands of years to be examples to us.  If this is not clear now, then Paul proceeded to make it very clear:  Rom 9:1-5 “I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-- ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.” 

 Why do you suppose Paul was telling this to Gentile converts to Christianity?  The truth is that Paul knew that Christians had a duty towards God to be accursed and killed unjustly so that the people of Israel would be moved and inspired by their dedication to God – and hopefully return to Him.  Paul knew that God had made promises to Abraham that could never be revoked.  Rom 11:1-32 “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.  Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? ⁴ And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."  Firstly, let’s make it clear who Baal is.  Baal or Baal-Zebub or Beelzebub is Satan, the prince of demons (Matt 12:24-26).  There is a huge religion gaining ascendancy today, and who worship Satan or Allah, and this is Islam!  There are many people among the House of Israel today who are ‘bowing the knee’ to Islam out of fear of them.

 But getting back to what Paul said, that God has not rejected His people Israel, he gives the example of Elijah.  In the days of Elijah anciently, the people of Israel were rampantly engaged in the worship of Baal and they were killing the bearers of Truth – the prophets.  Elijah’s own nation was coming after him to kill him, and this is why Elijah appealed to God against Israel.  The example that Paul gives here relating to Elijah is that there is a future reserve of seven thousand people that God has specifically chosen from the House of Israel.  After God’s sheep have been slaughtered, and their altars or meeting places are destroyed, God’s reserves will come to the fore.  These seven thousand Israelites will see and understand that the nations of Israel have killed those who obeyed the Commandments and held to the Testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17).  These will turn to God through the grace of God and continue the work of the flock.  It’s reliably assumed that these will replace an equal number of faithful Christians who laid down their lives for our Lord Christ.  As for Elijah, who establishes the House of David, the flood or hordes that Satan throws against them will be swallowed up in a great opening chasm in the earth (Rev 12:13-16).  This is a reference to an event that happened in Moses’ day, when those who opposed him were swallowed up when the earth opened beneath them (Num 16:28-34).  The Levites never forgot it, and down through the ages they actually had an oath, ‘May the earth beneath us open and swallow us up if we fail in our vows’.

 In speaking of Elijah’s day, and the seven thousand chosen by grace, Paul says the same thing occurred in his day: V5 “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”  These seven thousand will not be able to say that they have served God perfectly during their lifetimes.  Rather, they will be horrified that they didn’t!  These people will be remorseful and repentant, and through the grace of God will be selected as an elite people, an elect people – a remnant of the House of Israel!  V7 “What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."  Of all the House of Israel, God chose only the seven thousand to be the elect among them.  The rest remained blind and deaf to everything!  They refused to listen to God!  In due course, retribution will come:  V9 “And David says: "May their table (a life of sumptuous living) become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. ¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."  ‘Backs bent forever’ is a reference to forced labour, which the Jews can tell you all about!  The Jews hard service has been completed (Isa 40:1-2), and now it’s the turn of the House of Israel.

 Now Paul begins to speak about the destruction of Israel and the reason for it.  The reason for it is because of their transgressions, which means transgressions of God’s Law.  V11 “Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!”  So is the House of Israel destined to fall beyond recovery?  As Paul says, “Not at all!”  Rather, it gives the Gentiles opportunity to gain God’s favour through the obedience that the Israelites lacked.  In this way, the Gentiles have become the beneficiaries of God’s grace.  The Gentiles were never promised anything; it was the House of Israel that received all the promises, so the Gentiles new-found grace is not based on former promises.  Only the Israelites can claim rights through former promises, and this is indeed what God’s Covenant was all about.  Remember what we just quoted above from Paul in Rom 9:3-5 “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”  It was important for Paul to explain to the Gentiles that they were being grafted into an existing tree!

 And now back to the 11^th Chapter of Romans: V13 “I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse MY OWN PEOPLE to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but LIFE FROM THE DEAD?”  The Israelites who are accepted as the elect can expect to be saved by LIFE FROM THE DEAD – which is what salvation means.  As for being grafted into the tree, Paul explains that since the root of the tree is holy, so are the branches, even though they may have been grafted in.  V16 “If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.”  So all Gentiles who turn to God in obedience to the Covenant and the Law, have rights to adoption as sons – just like the elect of Israel – and God makes no distinction between them! 

 Now Paul begins to explain about the grafting process: V17 “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.”  And we all know why God didn’t spare the natural branches.  It was because they transgressed the Covenant by breaking God’s Law!  Gentile converts should be very afraid of doing the same!  If they do the same, they will not be spared either.  There’ll be no life from the dead for anyone who fails to keep the conditions of the Covenant that God made with Israel – whether Israelite or Gentile.

 Continuing in V22 “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 [Israel] 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!”  The Olive Tree belongs to Israel and always will!  Through God’s grace, Gentiles have been admitted and it’s not a decision that was taken lightly.  V25 “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 (that is, all who are still alive, the surviving remnant), 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." 

 The Covenant spoken of here concerns God’s Holy Spirit, which will be poured out on all the survivors.  Eze 39:25-29 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. ²⁶ They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. ²⁹ I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD."  And Isaiah also confirms this Covenant: Isa 59:21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.” 

 After all that’s been written in the Scriptures, it’s a bit silly to imagine that God has abandoned His people Israel or that He would even contemplate breaking His promise to Abraham.  In the fullness of time, God will bring back the House of Israel to their ancestral lands, and there they will have His Spirit poured out on them and His Word will never depart from them forever!  These Israelites will live on and have children and many descendants, which will grow in number to resemble the stars in the sky and the sand of the seashore.

 This begins to make the teachings of mainstream Christianity look a little sick, doesn’t it?  They seem to believe they have a license to disobey God’s Law.  The fact that God gives His Holy Spirit only to those who obey Him doesn’t seem to factor into their reasoning or faze them in any way.  They reject the sure word of the Prophets in favour of their own reasoning.  Well, the sure word of the Prophets is about to become very sure: Jer 31:31:34 “The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.”  The LORD God was a husband to them, and the Israelites were His bride.  (It’s not the time to be going into long explanations about this, but there is a reference to the Bride in the final words of the Book of Revelation and can be found in Rev 22:17 and it’s worth noting.)  V33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD.  "I will put MY LAW in their minds and write it on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  Isn’t this THE LAW that Christians today reject?  Don’t they say it was ‘done away’ or ‘nailed to the cross’?  Where do they get their stupid reasoning from?  Certainly not from the Scriptures that Jesus and all the Apostles and Prophets used!  V34 “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, `Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD.  "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."  Unless you have the Law of God in your mind and heart, and obey, you don’t have God’s Holy Spirit!  Without God’s Holy Spirit you are not under the New Covenant.  What is more, you don’t know the Lord God!  This is something that most Christians are destined to find out the hard way.

 And finally we get back to concluding what Paul wrote: Rom 11:28 “As far as the gospel is concerned, they [Israelites] are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. ³² For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”  This last sentence is a bit of a clanger in the way it’s written, and Paul attempts to explain it in the next four verses: V33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! ³⁴ "Who has known the mind of the Lord?  Or who has been his counselor?" ³⁵ "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"  ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen.”  We can only hope the Romans understood what he was saying.  In simplified terms, Paul was trying to explain that the penalty of disobedience leads to tragedy, and it’s pointless for the clay to say to the Potter, ‘Why have you made me this way?’  God hasn’t made anyone ‘this way’; it was by their own choices that they were led into a punishment phase.  In a time of siege and in want of all things, rational people begin to take stock of themselves.  Generally, when all else fails, they turn to God for deliverance.  Suddenly, God is their only hope!  When Paul speaks of all men being bound over to disobedience, the whole conversation is about both Israelites and Gentiles and their relationship to God.  None should be too surprised that they are bound over to the penalty of disobedience – which is death!  Even Christians!  After all, this is how the whole conversation got started; it was about facing death all day long like sheep to the slaughter.

 And now we get back to the Psalms, and you’ll recall that V22 says this: Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.  The Apostle Paul rightly acknowledged that this is speaking of the faithful flock of Christians.  Yet, at the same time, he stresses the importance of Israel and confirms that Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, must be grafted into the root of the Olive Tree.  In the days of punishment, the whole Olive Tree will be under siege, until God extends His mercy.  This mercy comes when the Two Olive Trees or Lampstands which radiate light (Rev 11:3-4).  One of these is already here, and soon the measuring of the Temple will occur (V1), and as a point of interest, until the Temple is built, we all know who the worshippers are on the Temple Mount today – referred to in this verse.  Muslims are the only ones currently allowed to worship there.  Well all this will change long before the Two Olive Trees or Lampstands begin their 1260 day vigil in the streets of Jerusalem.

 Paul’s theme continues here about Christians being “considered as sheep to be slaughtered”.  And this is the theme of what David concludes here:

Psa 44:23   Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?  Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

Psa 44:24   Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?  Didn’t God hide His face from Jesus at the crucial point of death?  You’ll remember that Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Almighty God is asking nothing of anyone that has not already been asked of His own Son!

Psa 44:25   We are brought down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground.

Psa 44:26   Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love.

 

PSALM 45

 For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.  A wedding song.

In view of what we’ve learnt from the Book of Psalms, it doesn’t take much imagination to realize that David was indeed a skillful writer.  In fact it took a great deal of skill for all the Prophets to write what they wrote.  All the Prophets would acknowledge that this skill came from God’s Holy Spirit rather than their own ability.

Psa 45:1   My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.  The King spoken of here was born a man, and was, in fact, conceived of the Holy Spirit.  This King is the Mighty One, the Lord Jesus Christ.  The whole point here is to direct the ‘offspring’ of Jesus to the writings of David.  The importance of this was emphasized in the final chapter of the message to the Churches of God.  Remember this is what we find in Rev 22:16-17 “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." ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”  In saying that He, Jesus, is the root and offspring of David, He is directing the Church to all that David wrote – warts and all!  All the good and all the bad!  It will lead you to the gift of the Water of Life.  This is a reference to the Spirit of Christ.  John 7:38 “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. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”  This Spirit of Christ is given only to those who believe Him!  These are the true worshipers who worship God in Spirit and in Truth – the very ones that God records in the ‘Book of Remembrance’, which is referenced in Mal 3:16.  Those who don’t teach Truth, don’t have the Spirit of Christ, which is called the Counselor.  And God intends to make a clear distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not! (Mal 3:17-18).

 Psa 45:2   You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever.  Was there ever such a speaker as this man Jesus?  He’s the most widely known and most influential speaker that ever lived, and the most adored.  Yet few people today have really known Him.  We find that David prophesied of Him a millennium before, and got it exactly right!  David spoke of the man Jesus, yet inferred Him to be a king.  This was the exact response given by Jesus to Pilate when asked if He was a king.  He responded: John 18:36-37 “Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world [Gr. aion=age). If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place [time]." ³⁷ "You are a king, then!" said Pilate.  Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this [Kingdom] I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."  From the very outset, the one who preceded Jesus, John the Baptist, proclaimed the Kingdom of God which would come to this earth. 

 And now this very time has come.  At the conclusion of the allotted six thousand years for Satan’s rule, the Mighty One will arise to destroy the devil’s work.  This is the reason He came in the first place (1John 3:8).  As David points out, he turns his pen to a NOBLE theme.  We’re about to learn the difference between a NOBLE purpose and a COMMON purpose.  It’s not my intention to overstate this, but the COMMON purpose is to go as sheep to the slaughter, while the NOBLE purpose is to wage war against God’s enemies.  As its written, God is the Potter, and we are the clay.  He makes some for the noble purpose and some for the common purpose.  Rom 9:21 “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” 

 And now we read about David’s NOBLE theme:

Psa 45:3   Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty [Kingship].  Everyone should know that this Mighty One is armed with a sword – a weapon of war.  Speaking of being clothed with splendor and majesty, the Prophet Isaiah spoke of this in Isa 63:1 “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?  Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength?  "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."  ² Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?  ³ "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me.  I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ⁴ For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. ⁶ I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground."  There’s a lot here that deserves explanation.  Firstly, Edom, also called Esau, whom God hates, lives in the western Arabian peninsula, the long strip of territory which includes Mecca and Medina.  The territories of Edom/Esau are controlled and ruled by Arabia today.  It’s the two cities of Mecca and Medina which will be the focus of this massive bloodbath when the Day of Vengeance is in the Mighty One’s heart.

 You’ll notice that when asked why His clothes were stained LIKE one treading the winepress, the Mighty One replied that He HAD trodden the winepress and poured out their blood on the ground.  This is in reference to the harlot Babylon making the nations drunk on the maddening wine of her adulteries (Rev 18:2).  The harlot Babylon herself is also drunk on the blood of the saints (Rev 17:5-6).  And where do all Babylonians (Muslims) go to worship?  In the region of Edom, and specifically, Mecca!

 So you can understand why the Mighty One was treading the winepress and spilling the blood on the ground.  Sure there’s some symbolic language here, but any fool could work it out if they understood the Scriptures.  It happens to be very important information for our day.  It should come as no surprise that this will be a personal battle which the Lord Christ will undertake personally!  God hates Babylon and the Babylonians, and I think most people today should understand why!  When the Day of Vengeance is in His heart, the Mighty One is sure to act.

 Psa 45:4   In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds.  It’s the right hand of the Mighty One that holds the sword, and quite apart from the massacre in Edom, there will be many battles to fight.  The Lord Christ has other weapons for fighting whole nations, and these nations will fall beneath His feet:

Psa 45:5   Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies; let the nations fall beneath your feet.  And now we have mention of other weapons; in this case, sharp arrows.  So what do the Prophets have to say about this?  Well, one prophet wrote a scathing Book all about Babylon and the Babylonians who still occupied the entire Middle East.  This was the Prophet Habakkuk.  This is what he wrote: Hab 3:3-13 “God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.  His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. ⁴ His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.”  Teman was a grandson of Esau.  He was named after one of the sons of Ishmael, the father of the Arabs.  You’ll notice that rays flash from the hand of the Mighty One, and it’s in his hand that His power is hidden.  V5 “Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. ⁶ He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble.  The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed.  His ways are eternal.”  This is not your average skirmish!  This is the sort of power that demolishes mountains!  When God fights, He wins!  Blazing out of Edom and Teman, where He destroys Mecca and Medina, the Mighty One surveys the region and fixes His eyes on others who are drunk on the wine of the Babylonian mysteries.  This is when two other regional players come into focus:  V7 “I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.”  Cushan was a Mesopotamian king who held the Israelites in bondage for eight years anciently.  He ruled from the territory south of the Euphrates River.  There’s an interesting story about Cushan in Judges 3:1-11, with special emphasis on V1-3.  Midian was a son of Abraham through Keturah (after Sarah died) and he lived from the east of the Dead Sea all the way down the Arabian Peninsula in close association with Esau.  It was Cushan and Midian that come under special notice after the slaughter in Mecca.  This is important in so far as it serves to identify the specific Babylonians which Habakkuk refers to.  V8 “Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD?  Was your wrath against the streams?  Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? ⁹ You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. Selah.  You split the earth with rivers; ¹⁰ the mountains saw you and writhed.  Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high.”  Now we see the Mighty One is the Commander of victorious chariots (plural).  Rays flash from His hand where His power is hidden, and He calls for many arrows.  Now we begin to see the enormity of the battle that continues as the backdrop of collapsing mountains continues.  Rivers are diverted and chaos ensues as the Mighty One makes His presence known.

 His furious presence has other effects, which reminds us of ‘the long day’ in the days of Joshua: V11 “Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear.”  Well it would look like lightning wouldn’t it?  Rays flashing from His hand is something other than conventional weapons we know today.  The Lord Christ is not troubled about fair fights or Queensbury rules, He’s only interested in justice!  And so will Christianity be in that day!  The concept of ‘collateral damage’ in that day will be considered a joke reserved only for the feeble minded!  Did you happen to read the passage referred to above in Judges 3:1-3?  This is what it says: Judges 3:1-2 “These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan ² (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): ³ the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. ⁴ They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.” 

 The commands given through Moses were to utterly wipe out all these foreigners who were occupying the Promised Land.  This meant every man, woman and child of them.  Did they learn the type of warfare that God intended?  Apparently not, because they left many survivors, and now, in our day, the Mighty One will show what must be done!  The descendants of the very same people who lived there anciently are the very ones who continue to live there today.  And they continue to persecute and kill God’s people Judah.  There are ‘Christians’ today who disagree with God and take the side of the Muslim hordes that continue to harass Judah.  These ‘Christians’ have a lot to learn, and lamentably, they are going to learn the hard way.  They should have believed God and His Word!

 Returning now to Habakkuk: V12 “In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. ¹³ You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.  You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot.”  With the mention of Edom, Midian and others, it’s very plain which people the prophet is referring to as the ‘land of wickedness’.  God knows, as do all the Prophets.  It’s modern-day Christians who struggle to understand, largely because they reject the teachings of the Scriptures that Jesus used.

 Which brings us to another point!  What’s the fate of all these so-called Christians who side with Islam and against Judah?  In so doing, they’ve rejected the Word of God, Jesus Christ, and are condemned to go the way of all flesh.  As Jesus said, those who are not with Him are against Him!  In the circumstance, why would He show them mercy?  Such people will plead for mercy in the terrible days ahead, but their pleas will not be heard!

 And now we continue in the Book of Psalms, where David has been writing about the Great King.

Psa 45:6   Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.  In this verse we see that the Mighty King will deliver justice in His Kingdom.  It’s odd how Christians today like to gloss over things they’ve probably read many times.  The Apostle Paul also gave details of the Kingdom of God and how it would be established.  He confirmed that the Mighty One must reign until He’s put all His enemies ‘under His feet’ – which means ‘to destroy’ as the next verse shows.  Here is what he wrote: 1Cor 15:24-28 “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. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”  What has become very evident today is that Christians don’t believe the Lord Jesus has any enemies!  What Scriptures are they reading, if any?  If they’re reading any Scriptures, then their comprehension levels are very low!  Even worse, and in contradiction of their funny beliefs, they’ve taken it upon themselves to call the Jews the enemy.  What sort of hypocrites are they?  Well, they’ll be dead hypocrites after they realize that salvation will come from the Jews.  Such hypocrites are useless and worthless for any purpose including the common purpose!  Those of the noble purpose will put them to shame!

 Psa 45:7   You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.  This is a reference to the Counselor that God sends in Jesus’ Name.  After Jesus’ trial, death and resurrection, God the Father made the Spirit of Christ available to all His chosen ones so they could understand the Scriptures.  God the Father anointed Jesus as King forever – under Him of course.  Through His Spirit, called the Counselor, His chosen ones will also be rulers and priests.  Through the Counselor, they will all conform to the image of God’s Son Jesus.  This is the whole purpose of God’s Kingdom, to eradicate all His enemies and replace them with trustworthy, decent men and women, who conform to the very nature of His Son Jesus.  And these will be the family of God forever.

 Under the Family of God will be the physical nation of Israel, who will live in peace and inherit the earth.  These will live and breed to become huge numbers like the stars in the sky and like the sand on the seashore.  But it doesn’t end there.  There are strong indications that God plans to populate the rest of the universe, but we won’t speculate on this here.

 Psa 45:8   All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad.  We’ve all heard about the ‘Marriage of the Lamb’ and the ‘Bride of the Lamb’.  I confess it’s not an easy concept to explain, largely because marriage today implies a sexual relationship.  The fact is that this marriage implies something completely different, since it involves sons and daughters.  Then we have the further concept where Jesus will be married to Jerusalem.  I know further explanations are called for, but for the moment, we’ll just leave it at that.

Psa 45:9   Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.  This is speaking of the Royal Bride of the Mighty King Jesus.

 Psa 45:10   Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father's house.  And why not?  They’ll be a part of another Family, the Family of God.  The daughter mentioned here is the offspring of the Woman who gave birth to Christ, which, as we’ve already explained, is the House of David.  This daughter has distinguished herself by obeying the Commandments and holding to the Testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17) even while under a ferocious attack by Satan himself.

 Psa 45:11   The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.  In the eyes of God, this daughter is very beautiful.  In this regard, Jesus said something very meaningful when He said this: John 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.”  Our flesh or bodies count for nothing, it’s our development of God’s Holy Spirit that counts for everything.  It’s been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, yet true beauty comes from something other than appearance.  The truth is that God intends to supplement the beauty of those who obey Him with new bodies and I think most of us would be thankful for that.  Most of us, who are older, will also be thankful to be youthful again, and this is yet another promise to look forward to if you fall under the protection of the eagle.  This promise is found in Psa 103:1-3 “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. ² Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-- ³ who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, ⁴ who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, ⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”  As to who the Eagle is, you will find out soon enough, but he is watching like an eagle, and he is a watchman over God’s people Israel.  One of the characteristics of an eagle is that it hovers over its prey before launching an attack.

 Psa 45:12   The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift, men of wealth will seek your favor.  The city of Tyre was once the commercial hub of the Middle East, and controlled the imports and exports of the goods to the region.  Located in Lebanon, just beyond the borders of Israel, it’s still a thriving port today (Google Earth gives a very good view of it).  In the days of Solomon, the City of Tyre cooperated fully with the provision of materials for building the Temple.  In days to come, Tyre and Lebanon will once again cooperate with Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God.

 I don’t wish to be repetitive in this, but remember how Jesus Christ confirmed that He was the Root and Offspring of David, and how the Spirit and the Bride says ‘Come’ (Rev 22:16-17), this is a reference to the call of the House of David to his daughter – the Churches of God.  Just remember that Jesus Christ’s message here was to the Churches (same verses).

 The rest of this Psalm is about the Bride of Christ and how she will be lead to Him in the marriage of the Lamb.  Most people tend to believe this is a reference to the Churches of God as they exist today; that is, those who obey the Commandments of God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.  But it’s more than this!  The Churches of God are a means to an end, and the overall goal is to confirm God’s promise to the Patriarchs to build the Kingdom of God with their offspring – the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Through the faithfulness of the Churches, this will be accomplished.  To this end, God will reserve 12,000 of each of the Tribes as seed to the Kingdom of God.

Psa 45:13   All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold.  This is a description of the betrothed.

 Psa 45:14   In embroidered garments she is led to the king; her virgin companions follow her and are brought to you.  “Her virgin companions” is a reference to the second wave of servants of God, who are identified as 144,000 of the Tribes of Israel (Rev 7:2-8).  These are miraculously sealed with the Spirit or Seal of the Living God.  These are sealed to be delivered from death.  This sealing occurs before the great cleanup of the earth and its restoration to what it once was.  The next Psalm goes into great detail about this.

 Psa 45:15   They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king.  Obviously, all this is speaking about a wedding – the Wedding of the Lamb.  The King and the Lamb, of course, is Jesus Christ.

 Psa 45:16   Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.  Well, there won’t be any more democratic elections of rulers or fathers of the nations, the rulers will be chosen from the Family of God.  In that day this will make perfect sense to everyone, especially when we all see what the rule of our fathers of our nations led to! 

 Psa 45:17   I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.  In other words, the people of this earth will not forget all that happened, and who emerged as victorious servants of God.

 People do tend to go overboard with their assumptions today.  They’re perfectly willing to believe that God owes them something even though they’ve never believed or served Him.  They’re quick to believe that maybe He didn’t create this earth and everything in it, after all, because self-proclaimed ‘intellectuals’ tell them differently.  They’re happy to assume there are rewards awaiting them when they die, but they give no thought to what God might require of them to qualify for such rewards.  In their jumbled minds there seems to be much confusion!  They ignore the source of all information – God’s Word – in favour of their own assumptions.

 The Bible is the only Book on earth that details the historic record of humanity from the beginning to the end.  In confirmation of this, Jesus Christ stated that He is the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end.  No religion on earth now, or ever in the past, has had anything resembling it.  Historians and archeologists have confirmed it’s accuracy throughout the ages, and only a fool would argue to the contrary.  Unfortunately, we’re being besieged by fools today!

 Today we’re being besieged by widespread insanity about saving the earth.  Lunatics are screeching about ‘global warming’, and when their theories failed, they revised it to ‘climate change’.  This amounts to an each-way bet.  If the climate gets either warmer of cooler, they can still claim to be right.  Isn’t their crazy theory based on ‘greenhouse gas’?  More specifically, carbon dioxide, the essential gas for making plants grow?  The very gas they pump into greenhouses to stimulate growth?  Why then would any sane person want to eliminate carbon dioxide?  Carbon dioxide represents just over 0.3% of the atmosphere, and this level has existed for thousands of years with no significant change.  So why are we seeing this obsessive behaviour from everyone who sees himself as a scientist, like dentists, social workers and Al Gore?  It’s all about ‘Show me the money!”

 Today we have polar bears, grizzly bears, whales, wolves, sharks and other vermin breeding out of control and beginning to threaten the habitat of human beings.  In Australia we have camels, kangaroos, crocodiles, koalas, sharks and whales that are breeding out of control, and becoming pests.  Other nations cull their pests, but not North America or Australia.  We have too many ‘intellectuals’ feeding off the public purse to do such a thing.  The catch-cry of these lunatics is that all wild animals must be protected because, indefinably, they are more important than human beings.  It’s difficult to understand their reasoning since they kill and eat domestic farm animals by the million, but will go to any lengths to save a sick or injured crocodile in order to return it to the wild.  It’s almost as if they believe these animals to be gods to be worshiped.

 Well, we sure have saved plenty of whales!  Don’t believe me?  They’re so prolific, there are tens of thousands of them beaching themselves and dying on our shores every year, just like lemmings.  Because of the huge uninhabited coastline of Australia, we see but a fraction of these suicide whales beaching themselves.  The huge numbers of these things has upset the food chain, reducing stocks of commercial, edible fish, and the situation grows worse every year.  It’s getting so bad that some people would welcome a ‘lynch a scientist’ or a ‘lynch an environmentalist’ day.

 The Japanese were more than willing to address the problem of excessive numbers of whales, but their benevolence has been rebuffed by self-righteous, environmental lunatics.  The present socialist government in Australian has just sued the Japanese government for whaling in the Antarctic, so there is little chance now of the Japanese offering us their services to cull our excessive whale population.  As if they Japanese don’t have enough to contend with, with the lunatic Greenpeace ship harassing their whaling activities, now they have to contend with a mad, self-righteous, socialist government in Australia.  Perhaps if France could be persuaded to sink this Greenpeace ship as they did the Rainbow Warrior, at least this part of the problem could be resolved.

 The reader may be wondering about the reason for this discourse on the environment and the ‘green’ movement in general.  Well, there is a very good reason.  While everyone is engaged in wanting to save the planet, Almighty God is about to frustrate their plans.  The penchant of most people today to focus on the ridiculous is about to be refocused on reality.  God owns this earth and everything in it, and He will do as He pleases.  It pleases Him to make fools of all those who have challenged His authority, who have experienced life and the wonders of His creation, but have failed to acknowledge Him.  Almighty God is a God of Justice and He has a way of seeing justice done.  God’s justice may not please everyone, as real justice seldom does.  It depends largely on the frame of mind, and most people’s minds are framed in stupidity to believe anything.  Especially when it contradicts the Scriptures!

 When wars come, and you’ll see plenty of that, and when you see friends, family and neighbours as casualties, whose fault will it be?  Will you consider what led to it all and place the blame squarely on the failure of the government and the people who failed to react in rational ways?  Will you then acknowledge that multiculturalism and political correctness has obscured your rational thought processes, leading to the empowerment of your enemy?

 Or will it be God’s fault?  Well, I can tell you this!  About 99% of the Western, Israelite nations will blame God.  Like nations of sheep they will fall for the popular propaganda, and duly act in defiance of God.  And believe it or not, this is a well documented prophecy of the Bible: Isa 8:19-22 “When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? ²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” 

 Wars and rioting, together with the earth in total chaos of darkness and fearful gloom, definitely leads to distress.  Add ‘hungry’ to the equation and you have the perfect setting for the blame-game.  Apart from the ruler, whether PM or President, who else is there to blame?  With a little creative reasoning the answer is obvious – it’s God!  It’s all His fault, so let’s all curse God!  Yes, they’ll all curse God and cast their eyes around for any of His followers – the Saints.  The very God they didn’t believe in is now to blame for everything.  Since they can’t retaliate against God personally, the logical next step in their minds is to kill His Saints.  In their corrupted and twisted minds this will seem to make perfect sense.  After years of practicing and believing delusion, they’ll be well-placed to descend into the ultimate delusion of fighting against God.

 There are well entrenched procedures today to accuse someone publicly, where rightly or wrongly, and destroy their lives, then expect a public apology.  We all know the procedure, and it goes something like this: Bush lied (about weapons of mass destruction), Clinton lied (about his dalliances with a young female intern), Obama lies about everything so the only logical option would be to falsely accuse him of telling the truth – which, knowing his character would only lead to denial.  Then after all the accusations, the next stage is to demand a public apology.  Here’s a lesson now for all the hypocrites: Bush, Clinton, though not Obama, might apologize, but the accusations against God will prove fruitless!  He won’t apologize!

 God-fearing men like President George W. Bush took the fight to the enemy and went straight to the heart of Babylon (Iraq) to destroy these evil creatures, but the prevailing mindset of the looney-left was to react with hostility, demanding protection from collateral damage for the ‘innocent’ civilians.  Thus it became a sham war to remove a dictator and leave the Muslim hordes intact.  This is not how you fight a war! 

 Did you know that the Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz got word out of  the camp for the allies to bomb this concentration camp, even knowing that they too would die?  The allies, however, refused, and finally, when the allies got there, they saw the Jews lying dead everywhere.  Tens of thousands had to be buried in mass graves by the allies to prevent the spread of diseases.  The Jews begged them to bomb the Adminstration bloc knowing full well that many of them would be killed as collateral damage, but many others would be saved.  Instead, most of them were exterminated to hide the evidence before the allies got there.  Utter irrational madness on all sides!

 I think we all know that most Christian religions fancy themselves as the 144,000.  It’s funny how they think this, since most believe themselves to be Gentiles.  It seems that in their minds when God says 12,000 from each of the Tribes of Israel, He really means unspecified Gentiles.  These churches seem to have some sort of problem believing God (as if we don’t already know this!). 

  

PSALM 46

 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. ⁿ A song.

 Psa 46:1   God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  I think we all know what a refuge is.  It’s a safe haven, which is very welcome in time of trouble.  Since there is plenty of trouble ahead, it’s comforting to know that refuge will be given to those who trust in God.

 Psa 46:2   Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Psa 46:3   though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah.  We’ve already spoken of this, when the Mighty One Jesus comes back fully armed and the mountains collapse in His presence.  We cited the Prophet Habakkuk, but you’ll also find that the Prophet Samuel spoke of it as well in 2Sam 22:8-20 “The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. ⁹ Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. ¹⁰ He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. ¹¹ He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. ¹² He made darkness his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky. ¹³ Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. ¹⁴ The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. ¹⁵ He shot arrows and scattered the enemies, bolts of lightning and routed them. ¹⁶ The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of breath from his nostrils.”  The foundations of the earth are the landmasses, which will be laid bare.  The reference to the valleys of the sea being exposed, indicates a huge displacement of sea water; similar to the tsunamis we’ve been seeing recently, only magnitudes greater!  The Cherubim are the commanders of powerful combat craft that belong to God, and the Mighty One will appear in one of these, flying along on the wings of the wind. 

 No-one in their right mind would pick a fight with these Cherubim commanders, but the day will come when Satan will try just that!  The outcome will be total defeat for him and he will be permanently cast back to the earth.  Silly him!  This account is found in 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." 

 Here we find an account of ‘Brothers’ who are constantly accused by Satan in the presence of God.  These Brothers overcame Satan by the Blood of the Lamb – the True Passover Lamb, that is Jesus Christ, and by the Word of their Testimony, that is, the Testimony of Jesus.  These Brothers are the ones who didn’t shrink from death.  As a matter of fact, the Prophet Habakkuk spoke of the Mighty One coming to save His anointed one.  You’ll recall how we just read this: Hab 3:12-13 “In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. ¹³ You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.  You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot.”  God’s people – the Brothers – don’t shrink from death!  Against overwhelming odds, they do eventually find themselves in trouble, but still they refuse to shrink back in the face of the enemy.  This is when the Mighty One acts to save them.

 Continuing now with what the Prophet Samuel said: 2Sam 22:17-20 “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. ¹⁸ He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. ¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. ²⁰ He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.”  As a fellow warrior, the Lord retaliates against the enemies of His anointed one, and crushes them.  It’s a bit like crushing grapes in a winepress and pouring the blood on the ground!  As we mentioned earlier!

 Speaking of crushing grapes in a winepress, we have an account of a massive occurrence of this in the Book of Revelation.  Most people would know this as the Battle of Armageddon.  As you can imagine, this won’t be a pleasant death, but it will have great symbolic ramifications.  These vast hordes will get what they deserve, and if you don’t agree, then wait a little longer and I think you’ll change your mind.  These people, destined for this winepress, are the children of the devil, so we need have no sympathy for them.  This is the account: Rev 14:17-20 “Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. ²⁰ They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (presumed to be 180 miles).” 

 Since this occurs ‘outside the City’ of Jerusalem, we’re directed to another prophet’s account, and this is found in Zech 14:1-9 “A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.”  They’ll be plenty of plunder to be had in this day, but not before a fierce fight ensures.  V2 “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”  This is the big showdown between the Mighty One and the nations of the earth.  V3 “Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle.”  It can be reliably assumed that this other day of battle which He fought is the one where He crushed the leader of the land of wickedness to save His anointed one.  This occurs some time before this great Battle of Armageddon however.  The Battle of Armageddon is an entirely new battle against all the nations of the earth, which are gathered for this specific purpose.  It should be borne in mind that considerable time, in fact a period of years will transpire between these two battles.  There are many prophecies detailing these intervening years. 

 So with the next verse there’s a considerable leap forward in time.  At this time, the City of Jerusalem will have already been attacked and conquered and there will be a bloodbath of slaughter, rape and plundering.  The Lord Christ Himself will provide an escape route for the faithful through a miraculously formed valley.  A rear-guard action will be fought by two Witnesses or prophets to enable the escape.  This is when they lay down their lives for their friends in the ultimate sacrifice.

 Not surprisingly, the Lord Christ will stand on the Mount of Olives where the Apostles first saw him go two millennia ago (Acts 1:11).  And He’ll return in the same way they saw Him go into heaven.  But once His feet stand on the Mount of Olives a whole chain of events occur.  The Mount of Olives will split in two creating a pass or valley for the faithful, and they will escape eastward through the valley.  You’ll notice in the verses below that this valley will extend to Azel.  Where Azel is, is anyone’s guess, but 50km to the East, across the Jordan River is Mount Nebo, where Moses was buried by God.  I don’t know the significance of all this, but fortuitously, Moses will be resurrected at this time as we’ll find out in these verses:  V4 “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”  So now we have the time sequence.  First Jesus’ feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, and the mount will be split in two and a valley formed.  Through this valley, the faithful will escape to Azel.  Then after all this, the Lord Christ will come with all His holy ones with Him.

 It’s worth noting these things, and especially if you happen to be one of the ‘rapture’ theorists, who think they’re going to be whisked away while the sun shines brightly above and everything in the garden is lovely.  The odd thing about this crazy ‘rapture’ theory is that it’s based on verses from Matt 24, which these theorists believe applies to them.  To arrive at this conclusion, they’ve ignored everything that is written in the Scriptures.  Right at the outset, let it be known that these verses apply to the Brothers – the ones who opposed Satan by the Blood of the Lamb, who held to the Testimony of Jesus, and did not shrink from death (Rev 12:10-14).  It’s these that Satan went after (V13-14), and it’s these who are taken by God to a place prepared for them – on earth!! 

 Who was appointed to prepare the way for the Lord Christ?  Who was the messenger of the Covenant?  Wasn’t it John the Baptist?  Wasn’t he the Elijah who was to come?  Wasn’t the original Elijah taken up in a fiery chariot, a space-craft and deposited elsewhere on earth, where, 20 years later he wrote a letter to a Judean king called Jehoram? (2Chron 21:12).  Elijah was still on earth when he died, and like Moses and Enoch, they are still dead.  All these faithful people were still living in faith when they died! (Heb 11:13).  Only Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and taken to Heaven, where He is today.

 At the time of the fifth Seal, which is yet future at the time of this writing, there will be others joining Jesus Christ and they will be housed under the Altar where Jesus serves the Father as High Priest.  These are the Brothers and servants of God who have been killed!  This is the account: Rev 6:9-10 “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.”  Isn’t this what we’ve been saying all along?  The true servants of God don’t shrink from death, but willingly lay down their lives for their God – just as Jesus Christ did!  These are the holy ones that Jesus will bring with Him after the Mount of Olives is split in two.  You’ll notice that these holy ones had to wait until the rest of their Brothers and fellow-servants had been killed – just as they were killed!

 If you seek rewards, then be prepared to offer the service (which is what a servant does) that will earn these rewards.  Forget all about your fanciful ideas about a ‘rapture’!  If you don’t serve God in the manner He demands, then, it’s most likely that only eternal death awaits you.  The word ‘rapture’ doesn’t even appear in the Bible, so who invented this fanciful term?  It was certainly not the servants of God!  The meaning of the term is ‘great joy’ or a ‘state of great bliss’.  This hardly describes the death of Jesus or the death of His saints, in fact it’s totally opposite!  Jesus and His saints suffered before being made perfect through death.  Why would God trust, honour or reward anyone who is not prepared to lay down their lives for Him as His Son Jesus did?  Unless I’m mistaken, the assumption of ‘rapture’ theorists is that if they believe their own nonsense, they can expect to be taken off to heaven, but anyone who doesn’t believe their unscriptural garbage, won’t!  How convenient this is.

 Our nations send soldiers into battle to fight and die for their country, and we all acknowledge that these are brave and honorable and worthy of acclaim.  Why would God not have a similar viewpoint?  These give their lives that others might live, and didn’t Jesus Christ declare this to be the ultimate form of love? (John 15:13).

 And now, just to complete the verses we began to quote from Zech 14:1-9, we now come to V6 “On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. ⁷ It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime--a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.”  V8 “On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.”  V9 “The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.”  This is the River of Life which is described by the Prophet Ezekiel in Eze 47:1-12 and Rev 22:1-2.  The prophet Joel also makes mention of it in Joel 3:13, and David also mentions it in the very next verse in the Psalms.

 And now we’re back to the Book of Psalms:

Psa 46:4   There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.  This confirms all that the other prophets have said about the River of Life that flows from the City of God.

 Psa 46:5   God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  This is a reference to the New Dawn that Peter spoke about in 2Pet 1:19, which is also referenced by the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” 

 With the dawning of this new day, you’d expect tranquility and bliss to extend over all the earth, wouldn’t you?  Surely the inhabitants of the earth would delight in seeing their Creator God reigning in Jerusalem!  Not so!  The nations of the earth will be outraged, and so will Satan and his nations of demons!

Psa 46:6   Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.  The nations are in uproar because they’re hostile to God!  The nations worship the devil, and they favour the devil’s ways.  Despite all that their eyes will see, they’ll refuse to live by God’s Laws and they’ll refuse to allow Him to rule over them.  The very concept of rulership requires obedience to the laws of the land, and in this case, the Ruler of heaven and earth makes the Rules, which are eternally known as the Law of God.

 Perhaps the nations will think they can snipe from the sidelines at God and the people of Jerusalem, and in the interests of harmony, God will do nothing.  The truth is that while the nations are in uproar, the earth will melt!  The earth is presently in chaos as a result of the rebellion by Satan and his demons long ago before the days of Adam and Eve.  The explanation of this can be found at our website in an article called “Geology, Dinosaurs and Chaos – what really happened to the earth?”

 In brief, the landmass of the earth was once a single continent in the shape of a triangle, which represented a pyramid.  It was broken up and the landmass fragments were scattered across the globe.  The Creator God plans to restore the earth to what it once was and Jerusalem will be at the center of the new landmass.  In order for this to be effected, the mantle of the earth must go into meltdown and the islands and continents will slide across the face of the earth and be brought back together in the form that formerly existed.  In the process of this, mountains will be leveled, rivers and oceans displaced, and of course, cities will be reduced to rubble.  In fact, virtually everything that mankind has produced will be destroyed and there will be few men left.

 Just when Satan and his hordes had in mind to make a last stand, Almighty God plays the trump card and the earth goes into meltdown.  Satan doesn’t understand the Scriptures, and even when he’s told, he refuses to believe it.  He’s obsessed with destroying the work of God or at least, sabotaging it.  He can’t seem to understand that the reason Jesus Christ came was to destroy his, that is, the devil’s work.  Somehow, he’s always believed his own propaganda, which his stooges have promoted down through the ages, and which falsely assumes that God will not destroy the children of the devil and everything they’ve built.

 In the prelude to this, God will secure His people in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and Jerusalem will remain in its place, unmoved!  The rest of the landmass of the earth will be brought back towards it.  Jerusalem will be a safe haven and a fortress.

Psa 46:7   The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.  The people of God will be secure in their fortress.  The rest of the world will be in chaos.

 Psa 46:8   Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth.  This is what we’re talking about!  Total desolation, of both cities and people!

 There is a perception among many people, particularly mainstream Christianity, that when Jesus Christ returns, He will plead with everyone to behave themselves.  Those of us who know the wiles of the devil know this will not work.  People are naturally hostile to God because they’ve been indoctrinated by Satan and his demons.  You just have to listen to the senseless arguments by people who refuse to obey God’s Commandments.  Not only are they hostile to the Commandments, they are also hostile to anyone who obeys them.  What sort of mindset do they possess?  In short, it’s the mindset of Satan, who is the arch-rebel of the universe.

Psa 46:9   He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.  Any who survive and who still have some fight left in them, will have to fight with sticks and stones.  As we pointed out earlier, even after the nations regroup and begin to breed once more, the legacy of Satan’s mindset will still persist for a period.  God has made provision for this too: 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 Churches of God have a great future, provided they understand the Scriptures and all that God requires of them.  Perhaps a good starting point would be to believe the messenger that God has sent.  It’s this messenger of the Covenant that will be your lifeline in days to come.  I’m sure all the Churches of God accept the above verse in the Book of Revelation as applying to them.  Now they’ll have to take the leap of faith to understand that God has given His messenger similar powers in these last days.  Just be sure you don’t find yourselves fighting God!

 Psa 46:10   "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  This should give fair warning to everyone! A valuable lesson to lose the self-righteousness and start behaving like servants of God!  At least try to gain a vision of what the Scriptures are telling you.  You’ll be so glad you did.

 Psa 46:11   The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah.  The LORD Almighty is with His people and they will be secure in His mountain fortress.

 

PSALM 47

 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

 Psa 47:1   Clap your hands, all you nations [of Israel – see v3-4 below]; shout to God with cries of joy.

 Psa 47:2   How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!

 Psa 47:3   He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet (see Mal 4:3 to see what happens to nations who rebel against the Great King)

 Psa 47:4   He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah.  It may be fortuitous that we refer to a family group of lions as a pride of lions, but at the appropriate time, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will arise to act.  Nevertheless, God has chosen the inheritance for His people Israel, and this occurred long ago.  Today we see this inheritance under threat and Judah is being besieged.  In just a little while these treacherous hordes will be ashes under the feet of the Jews (a reference again to Mal 4:3).

 Psa 47:5   God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.  This ascension is when Jesus Christ becomes King over all the earth.  It will be a time of blowing trumpets and singing praises to God.  In view of all that will happen in the interim, this will certainly be a time for rejoicing.  Israel will finally live in peace when they receive their inheritance.  Their King will reign in that day!

 Psa 47:6   Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.  Well, we could say, ‘What will we sing?’  The answer to this is already written!  And while some people today may not like it – especially those who hate the teachings of Moses, the redeemed will sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb: Rev 15:1-4 “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's wrath is completed. ² And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God ³ and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.  Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. ⁴ Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name?  For you alone are holy.  All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."  The Song of Moses can be read in Deut 32:1-47.  The Song of Moses is a study in itself of all that has happened and will happen in the last days.  Moses concludes by saying, “They are not just idle words for you – they are your life!”  We’ll include a brief study of the Song of Moses later.

 Psa 47:7   For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.  Here David affirms that a Psalm or Song will be sung to the King of all the earth in confirmation of the Scripture quoted from the Book of Revelation.

 Psa 47:8   God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.  Prior to this, God wasn’t reigning over the nations.  Instead Satan was!  Around 90% of the inhabitants of the earth belong to the devil.  Most of these will be eradicated from the earth, though survivors will remain to once more increase the diversity of the nations of the earth, and the nations of Israel will rule over them.  After God’s final act of wrath against them – the Seven Last Plagues – they will be few in number.  Still, they’re fast breeders and will inevitably increase in number.  This time, though, others will rule over them, and these others will wield a rod of iron!  No longer will Satan’s political and religious systems prevail.

 Psa 47:9   The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.  Those who sit in the Great Assembly are the rulers of the earth – every one of them is appointed by God.  All the kings or rulers of the nations will belong to God, and these kings and rulers will rule with a rod of iron!

 

PSALM 48

 A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 Psa 48:1   Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.

 Psa 48:2   It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.  The word ‘Zaphon’ in Hebrew means ‘north’.  The KJV translators rendered it as ‘the sides of the north’, the NIV translators, observing that the word was capitalized, chose to leave it as a name.  Both translations have merit.

 The utmost heights on the sides of the north is where Lucifer sought to seize God’s Throne and this is how the KJV describes it: Isa 14:13 “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north…”

 The NIV renders it this way: Isa 14:13-14 “You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. ¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."  The utmost heights of the Sacred Mountain is the Chief Cornerstone – the uppermost Rock of the Pyramid shape.

 In both these translations, we are speaking about a mount or sacred mountain – the very top of a mountain.  As David said, Mount Zion is like the utmost heights of Zaphon, meaning ‘the sides of the north’.  So what was David talking about?  Well David left us a valuable clue when he gave us the Star of David.  The Star of David is not really a star but two mountains interwoven to look like a star.  These two mountains have straight sides and look like a triangle or pyramid.

 A long time ago, a Levite Brotherhood of Knights, called the Knights Templar, an abbreviated form for ‘The Knights of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem’, used this pyramid as a symbol of Jerusalem.  This symbol showed a pyramid with the upper-stone or cornerstone illuminated.  After Europe launched a holocaust against the Knights Templar, arresting, torturing and killing them by the thousand, they all but ceased to exist.  Later they were re-formed under another name, called the Freemasons with an initial determination to build the Temple in Jerusalem.  Those ideals soon departed with time, and instead they became a ceremonial organization, preserving much of the beliefs of the Knights Templar.  Most central to this was the preservation of the symbol of the Holy Mountain where the Chief Cornerstone is illuminated.  This symbol found its way onto the Great Presidential Seal of the United States of America, and of course, onto the dollar bill.

 It’s no secret that Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of that Sacred Mountain where God dwells.  Eph 2:19-22 “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, WITH CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF AS THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” 

 We have another symbol of God’s great power in the landmass of the earth, and this was once shaped in the form of a mountain or pyramid shape.  In one catastrophic event, the landmass was broken up into many pieces and slid across the earth.  Today, if you figuratively bring all the parts back towards Jerusalem, what you will see is an inverse triangle, an upside down view of a pyramid shape.  This is why David shows two triangles (or pyramid shapes) interwoven in the Star of David.  One represents the earth’s landmass as it once was, and the other, what it has become.  The whole explanation for this can be read at our website in an article called, “Geology, Dinosaurs, chaos – What really happened to the earth?”

 So even the landmass of the earth represents the Holy Mountain of God!  It’s as David says in V2 of this Psalm: “It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.”  In other words, Mount Zion is like the Chief Cornerstone, which represents Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and soon to be King of the whole earth.

 David was a prophet, and as a point of interest, all the Prophets of God knew what had happened to the earth.  This is actually a test of the bono fides of a prophet.  Anyone who doesn’t understand these mysteries of God cannot claim to be a prophet!  This is made very clear in a number of Scriptures, including this one: Rev 10:7 “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."  This mystery of God will be accomplished when God restores the earth to what it once was.  At that time the mountains will crumble, cities will collapse and lavas will flow, but Jerusalem will remain intact in its place.

 In the next verse David continues to speak of Jerusalem, the Holy City of God.

Psa 48:3   God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

 Psa 48:4   When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,

Psa 48:5   they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.  We’re seeing a prelude to this today, with all the rulers seeking the destruction of the people of Jerusalem.  They’ve tried joining forces in the past to destroy the Jews and their City, but on every occasion they’ve been rebuffed.  The Israelis have been forced to fight for their lives!  Soon things will change dramatically, and when they see what they are up against the enemy will flee in terror.  They’ll probably abandon their pathetic little weapons and run for their lives.  At that time, they had better run clear beyond the borders of Israel, because if they don’t they’ll be burned up where they stand.

 It’s quite pathetic to see Christians siding with Islam today, and against, of all people, the Jews!  It just shows how easily people are deceived by Satan.  David was a Jew of the Tribe of Judah, and he wrote 150 Psalms to tell you what to expect in the final days of Satan’s rule.  He left many signs and symbols along the way, including the Star of David.

 When the Kingdom of God becomes a force to be reckoned with, the Muslim hordes will be in dire straits.  Their long history of hostility towards Gods’ people of Judah, the Jews, will serve to haunt them to the ends of the earth.  In that day, Islam will be outlawed and all its devotees will be hunted down and killed – and they will die without mercy!  Anyone who has any qualms about this had better get used to it – real fast!  In that day, you will either be for God or against Him!

 To be sure, these evil creatures that surround the Holy Land will be astounded and will flee in terror!

Psa 48:6   Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.  When they see their own kind reduced to ashes while standing on their feet, they won’t be too eager for a fight.

Psa 48:7   You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.  A great wind that destroys ships is not selective in who gets killed; any ship in its path is destroyed.  So be sure you are not standing with the enemy in that day!

 Psa 48:8   As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever. Selah. When all prophecy is fulfilled, but before the Seven Last Plagues, Jerusalem will be established and secured forever!  The ruling Tribe will be Judah – the Jews – the Tribe of the David.  David will be resurrected to rule over all the 12 Tribes of Israel.  The priestly rulers, who rule under Jesus Christ, in service to God the Father, will be the Levites.  Jeremiah prophesied this: Jer 33:19-22 “The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ "This is what the LORD says: `If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, ²¹ then my covenant with David my servant--and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me--can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. ²² I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.'"  Human beings may think they can regulate many things, but one thing they cannot do is to change the time cycle of the rising and setting of the sun!  It’s impossible to do it!  And, hence, it’s also impossible that God will not raise David as king, or install the Levites who minister before Him.  These two events, like all Bible Prophecy, is cast in stone forever.  Christianity generally believes that they have superseded both David and the Levites – they have a lot to learn!

 Psa 48:9   Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.  Just bear in mind that when David wrote this the Temple was not yet built.  It was to be built by his son Solomon after David’s death, so David was clearly prophesying for the future.

 Psa 48:10   Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.  This is the hand the prophets spoke about, where His Power is hidden.  The hand that holds His sword, His arrows and His spear – to crush His enemies!  And whether you want to believe it or not, this is righteousness!  This is the type of righteousness that the House of Israel will crave as an exit from their misery.  There’ll be no thoughts in that day of trying to win the hearts and minds of God’s enemy!  The House of Israel will crave to see them all destroyed!

 Psa 48:11   Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.  Mount Zion and the villages of Judah will certainly be glad at that time!  It’s interesting to note that it speaks of the villages of Judah rather than the cities of Israel.  It’s the humble people rather than the exalted intelligentsia of the cities who will rejoice and be glad to see their Mighty Warrior King suited up for battle.  Perhaps then, Christianity will follow the example of the villages of Judah, and understand the meaning of the titles ‘Christ’ and ‘Messiah’.  At least the Jews always got it right!  They always knew and expected that the Messiah would appear as a Mighty Warrior.  And when He arises to act, His praises will reach the ends of the earth – or else!  Paganism, like Islam, will be outlawed, and the peoples to the far reaches of the earth will be given a choice – life or death!

 Notwithstanding, it’s the villages of Judah who receive comforting advice and are invited to freely walk around the Holy City and to see the fortifications and the power and might that will exist there.  They will be in a position to tell all about it to the next generation:

Psa 48:12   Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,

Psa 48:13   consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.  In the midst of a world in chaos, it will be comforting to see that the chaos will soon end.  Those who have seen it and experienced it will be the right ones to witness it for future generations.

 Psa 48:14   For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.  As we’ve said many times, the real end comes when the Lord Jesus Christ hands over the Kingdom to the Father: 1 Cor 15:24-28 “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. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”  Jesus Christ always said that the Father was greater than He, and what is more, He ensured that everyone should worship the Father – just as He does!

 

PSALM 49

 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

 In view of all David’s prophecies in the previous Psalms, he begins giving some timely advice. 

 Psa 49:1   Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in this world,

Psa 49:2  both low and high, rich and poor alike:

Psa 49:3   My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the utterance from my heart will give understanding.   And it comes in the form of a proverb or riddle, something that will require understanding.

Psa 49:4   I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will expound my riddle:

And this is the riddle:

Psa 49:5   Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me--

Psa 49:6   those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?  Well this is quite a riddle!  Should we fear when the evil days come and we’re surrounded by wicked deceivers, that is, people who trust in their wealth?  Wealth has a way of creating false security and some tend to believe they can buy themselves out of trouble.  Those who fear God won’t fear when the evil days come.  Such people will feel secure that God will fulfill His promise to them.  Not so the rich – the lovers of money!

 Some people believe that when the evil days come, they’ll be able to dodge a bullet by paying a ransom for their lives or the lives of others.  Some may even believe they can give God a ransom to spare them.  When the evil days come, it will be too late for this type of thing.  The ransom they hope to tempt God with is so they will live on forever and not see decay – as V9 states.  Are they proposing to bribe God’s servants when the evil days come?  Do they really believe they can wander into the Kingdom of God with bags of money and hope for safety and eternal life?

Psa 49:7   No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him--

Psa 49:8   the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-

Psa 49:9  that he should live on forever and not see decay.  Well here’s a hypothetical question:  What would you be willing to give for your life?  A house, a car, a boat, or all the money you have in the bank?  Tomorrow you die, what sort of ransom are you prepared to give?  I guess, at some point in our lives, we would consider these things and hope it never comes to this, but what if it did?  And this is why God poses the question.  All our riches will count for nothing when confronted with evil men.  You may offer a ransom for your life, but it won’t be enough.  They have you at their mercy and they’ll want it all.

 So now you’re in a real jam!  Surrounded by evil and with nowhere to go – what do you do?  Well, David gives the answer to his riddle, though it’s not what most people will want to hear.  This is particularly true of those who baulk at following their Lord Christ.  Our Lord had His life ransomed from the grave after someone else ransomed his own life by betraying Him, collecting 30 pieces of silver in the process from the murderers who sought the life of Jesus and his followers.  Judas’ 30 pieces of silver actually bought him death!

 Down through the ages plenty of wise men and rich men have died.  There is nothing unusual about this – it happens every day.  All their accomplishments count for nothing when they face death.  They may hope for an afterlife, but in reality, they lived the only life they’ll ever have.  There is nothing beyond the grave for them and this is where they will lie forever.  But there is a caveat, and this concerns those who did serve God during this lifetime – as David points out in V15.

Psa 49:10   For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others.

Psa 49:11  Their tombs will remain their houses forever, their dwellings for endless generations, though they had named lands after themselves.  Naming lands or buildings or charitable trusts after themselves is their way of wishful thinking that God will remember them.  They can do all these things, but if they never served God then they will never be remembered for all eternity.  Dust they are, and to dust they will return.

 Psa 49:12   But man, despite his riches, does not endure; he is like the beasts that perish.  Riches or not, they have no precedence over the beasts that perish; both die never to live again.  Both were promised nothing and they will receive nothing.  Wild beasts don’t acknowledge the Creator God, and those who act like wild beasts should expect no better.

 And now we get to the heart of the matter:

Psa 49:13   This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. Selah.  It doesn’t matter if it’s rich men, political leaders, movie stars or religious leaders, don’t be approving of their sayings just because they’re cleverly contrived.  Like sheep, people tend to follow the leader because the leader trusts in himself – as distinct from trusting in the Creator God.  Most leaders today don’t know what they are talking about, so by approving of their sayings, you are led into lies.  There is no form of godliness that justifies liars.  In the case of religious leaders, this will lead to death, both for themselves and for those who approve of their sayings.

 Psa 49:14   Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning (that is, at the dawning of a new day); their forms will decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions.  After the dawning of the new day, when the upright are resurrected, they will have rule over the sheep.  This is where David’s riddle really gains traction.  We know that Jesus constantly spoke of His sheep or His flock, and at one point, spoke of the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ – meaning the lost 10 Tribes of Israel.  He even said He had come only to the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ (Matt 15:24).  Many of the ‘lost sheep’ will die and will decay in the grave, never to live again.  Of course this has been going on for centuries because people die all the time.  Yet this is speaking of the time of the end, when the Saints (the upright ones) will be resurrected to rule, just like David:

Psa 49:15   But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah.  And where might it be that they’re taken?  They’ll be taken to a special assembly area beneath the Altar where the Lord Christ serves the Father as High Priest.  Shortly after they are killed, and before their bodies decay, the angels will gather them, to await the killing of their fellow-servants: 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.”  Those who were slain because of the Word of God – and the Testimony they maintained – will be resurrected and gathered to God Himself – just as David says.

 The Apostle Paul spoke of the Saints going like sheep to the slaughter – of being destined for the grave.  He was quoting from Ps 44:22 which we covered earlier.  The whole point is that the saints, after going as sheep to the slaughter, will have to wait a little longer until their fellow-servants and brothers are killed as they were.  This is speaking of martyrdom of the faithful saints who lived by the Word of God and maintained the Testimony of Jesus.  They will know from Bible Prophecy what God requires of them!  The same thing as He required of His Son Jesus.  Anyone who aspires to be a part of the Family of God must qualify by following Jesus and believing that God can and will raise them from the dead.  As we all know, the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10).  The Spirit of Prophecy is given only to obedient servants, and if you don’t have it, then neither do you have the Testimony of Jesus.  It’s quite laughable that so many Christians today ignore Bible Prophecy, but still believe they have the Testimony of Jesus.

 The days are coming when each of us will either live or die according to what we’ve believed.  It’s never a good idea to listen to those who trust in themselves.  It’s quite commonplace today to be overawed by the rich and famous and to somehow believe that God has blessed them with wealth and knowledge.  Their wealth and knowledge will be worthless in the day of reckoning, and they’ll finish up a worthless corpse entombed forever.

Psa 49:16   Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases;

Psa 49:17  for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.

 Psa 49:18   Though while he lived he counted himself blessed-- and men praise you when you prosper--

Psa 49:19   he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life (the new dawning of the resurrection).

Psa 49:20   A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.  This confirms what David said in V12.  I hope we’ve all learned something from David’s parable.  As unpalatable as it may be for some, the real meaning of the parable is to render to God what is His, because you won’t take it with you to your grave.  God loves a cheerful giver (2Cor 9:7).  On the other hand, He hates greedy, mean, lovers of money (2Tim 3:2-5).  Such people are sure to face death – and nothing will save them.  At that time, any attempted ransom will be worthless – and too late!

 

PSALM 50

 A psalm of Asaph.

 Psa 50:1   The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.  Throughout the Bible there are references to the New Dawn and the Rising of the Sun of Righteousness.  There are also references to the setting of the sun and the long dark night that follows.  Bear this in mind as we proceed.

Psa 50:2   From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.  In Mal 4:2, the Lord Christ is described as the Sun of Righteousness who will arise with healing in His wings.  David confirms that our God, the God of the Old and New Testaments will shine forth from Zion – the City of God.

 In the last Psalm, David spoke a riddle and a parable to prepare the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ for what lies ahead.  Most people seem to reason that God has been silent for a long time, and so they choose to ignore Him.  They just want to get on with their lives and enjoy the fruits of their labours.  So they hurry through life, packing in as much pleasure as possible, and give no thought to the end of it all or what the outcome will be.

Psa 50:3   Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him, and around him a tempest rages.  Not only will God – our Lord Christ – not be silent, but neither will He come to bring peace – but a sword!  A devouring sword!  A sword that devours everything in its path with fire!  I pity those who don’t understand that Jesus Christ is a Mighty Warrior!  Peace will come as a consequence of the wars He will wage.  Not only will He destroy His enemies, He will also judge His people.

 Psa 50:4   He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that he may judge his people:

Psa 50:5   "Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."  By a real sacrifice no less!  Just as Jesus went as a Lamb to the slaughter, so will His consecrated ones.  As we previously said, the angels will gather the consecrated ones after they complete their sacrifice.  And didn’t a mighty angel cast aside the stone from Jesus’ tomb when he came for Jesus?  This is how it will be for the consecrated ones when they are gathered.  The Covenant made with Him by sacrifice is confirmed every year on the Passover by His consecrated ones.  This is how this Covenant was established: Matt 26:26-28 “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." ²⁷ Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."  You would think that Christians everywhere would be observing this Covenant on the Day of Passover every year!  But no!  Instead they substitute a false observance by doing it on any day or any time they choose, and even then, it’s a poor example of observance.  If this is how shabbily they treat the Passover, then how could they possibly imagine themselves to be the consecrated ones?  Why do you imagine that Jesus Christ observed this New Covenant immediately before He went as the Sacrificial Lamb to the slaughter?  Wasn’t He likewise preparing His consecrated ones for their obligations under the terms of the Covenant?  Weren’t His disciples willing participants of this Covenant?

 In the next few verses, we’ll be getting into a discussion about animal sacrifices and where they were pointing and who was involved.  We all know that it was the House of Israel to whom God gave the instructions for these – and no-one else.  David quotes God as speaking when He speaks of bulls and goats.  As you’ll see, this contrasts markedly with God’s Flock, His sheep, that is, those who remain obedient to Him. 

In the Temple anciently, there was a huge fixture set up outside.  It’s called the Sea.  It’s a huge half-hemispherical basin supported by 12 bulls – which represent the 12 tribes of Israel.  Hopefully, the importance of this will become clearer.

 Psa 50:6   And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.  Most Christians today would not see God’s actions as righteousness.  They have a wholly different view of righteousness.  Our Lord Christ is coming to save His consecrated ones and redeem them from death – after they’ve been murdered and martyred.  Does anyone imagine that the perpetrators will go free?  God is a God of justice, but He’s also a God of vengeance – and He will repay!

 God’s enemies are Satan’s brood, all those who served the devil in their lifetimes to the exclusion of God.  Apart from most of the world, this also includes some of the House of Israel.  They haven’t served their Creator God, and in fact, have led the whole world astray in refuting their Creator with worthless theories.  So God has some serious issues with the House of Israel.

 Psa 50:7   "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.  When God begins to speak like this, you know that trouble is brewing.  When God has to confirm, “I am God, your God” you know that the House of Israel has not been listening!  In the context of what David recorded in Bible prophecy this is exactly what God is saying now.

 Psa 50:8  I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.  Well this was a long time ago when the Israelites willingly made service to God by offering the best of their flock – and God was pleased.  God required it and Israel complied.  Believe it or not, this was when God loved them most.  Apart from obeying God’s Ten Commandments, offering sacrifices was the only service the Israelites knew.

As we all know, animal sacrifices continued long after David’s death, in fact, right up until the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.  God certainly didn’t rebuke them for their sacrifices, in fact, quite the contrary!  God was pleased with them!

 Yet, as God points out, He has no need of anything that man can offer.  He owns everything:

Psa 50:9   I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens,

Psa 50:10  for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Psa 50:11   I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

Psa 50:12   If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

Psa 50:13   Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?  In this day and age, God is not interested in the voluntary sacrifice of bulls and goats, though there is great significance in the mention of these.  Bulls represent the 12 Tribes of Israel, and goats are those on the left when the flocks are gathered.  The bulls are going to be sacrificed and the goats are going to pay the ultimate penalty.  Matt 25:31-33 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”  Perhaps this is where we get the terms ‘right’ and ‘left’ in politics.  It certainly seems appropriate!  Well, it’s the goats on the left who’ll be condemned: V41 “Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. <sup>42</sup> For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, <sup>43</sup> I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' <sup>44</sup> "They also will answer, `Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' ⁴⁵ "He will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”  When the Shepherd sorts His flock, it’s the goats on the left who have the most to answer for.  It’s the left side of politics, the left-wing loonies, that have sought to turn everything upside down, to the point where truth and honesty is cast aside.  As for any form of righteousness, forget it!  These people have really gone mad.  There certainly needs to be some sorting!

 As long as the Temple remains un-built, God does not require animal sacrifices for the reasons He has already stated.  But He does require thank offerings!  In the parable of the sheep and goats, it’s very evident that these thank offerings should be directed towards God’s servants, those who act on God’s behalf – namely the Levites.  Are they to go into battle at their own cost?  Sure God can fund the cost of food, clothing and the general cost of wars, but He’s demanding some thankfulness from the House of Israel!  After all, it’s the Tribes of Israel that will be immersed in the Day of Trouble that is coming, and which is virtually on the doorstep, so if they hope for deliverance, then they need to show some thankfulness to God and His servants.

Psa 50:14   Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High,

Psa 50:15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."  Anyone who hopes to be delivered in time of trouble will have to demonstrate their thankfulness to God.  And what is more, they will need to honour Him!

 It’s obvious that the nothing can be expected from the goats!  And God really launches against them with this scathing harangue:

Psa 50:16    But to the wicked, God says: "What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?  There is nothing more galling to the servants of God than to hear these meatheads discussing God’s Laws and His Covenant when they utterly refuse to honour them.  God adds more:

Psa 50:17   You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.

Psa 50:18   When you see a thief, you join with him; you throw in your lot with adulterers.  In the day of trouble, these creatures will become opportunists, joining in the plunder of the innocent – which is their way of ‘spreading the wealth around’, and we’re all very familiar with this in the present political climate.  And what about throwing their lot in with adulterers?  Well here’s a word of caution: lock up your daughters and children when these plunderers come calling!  They won’t only be seeking plunder!  When the law of the land becomes paralyzed, don’t expect help from law-enforcement agencies!  They won’t be prosecuting for rape, and they won’t even bother to prosecute for murder.  We’re not only talking about civil war, we’re also talking about total conquest from foreign hordes.  Some of the salacious and ill-conceived definitions of rape today are laughable compared to what is coming.  The cash-cow of false accusations of rape will end and the litigious harlots who organize these scams will be deprived of the millions they always hope to get through the courts.

 God’s words about throwing their lot in with adulterers is definitely an understatement – a polite way of putting it!  In these desperate days of deprivation, women will sell their bodies for a crust of bread.  God speaks of those who recite His Laws yet hate His instruction.  Well the laws of the land on which they relied will fail them miserably when the crunch comes.  They rejected God’s Law and now they will have none!

 Psa 50:19   You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.  Have you seen any of this coming from the mouths of those in Congress and the Senate?  And who is it that has become mesmerized by this evil and deceit?  Isn’t it the goats?

 Psa 50:20   You speak continually against your brother and slander your own mother's son.  When lies and deceit proliferate as they are today, it’s time for the warning bells to ring.  Our Lord Jesus Christ warned of family disunity in Matt 10:35-36 “For I have come to turn "`a man against his father,  a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- ³⁶ a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'”  Treacherous people will betray one another and hate one another – even members of their own families.  When Jesus spoke these words, He was quoting from the Prophets – in this case, Micah.  Micah 7:2-7 “The godly have been swept from the land; not one upright man remains.  All men lie in wait to shed blood; each hunts his brother with a net. ³ Both hands are skilled in doing evil; the ruler demands gifts, the judge accepts bribes, the powerful dictate what they desire-- they all conspire together. ⁴ The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.  The day of your watchmen has come, the day God visits you.  Now is the time of their confusion. ⁵ Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend.  Even with her who lies in your embrace be careful of your words. ⁶ For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- a man's enemies are the members of his own household.”  And in conclusion, Micah gives some very good advice: V7 “But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” 

 Well, let’s hope you are one of those whom God hears!  In the following three verses, God makes a clear distinction between those who serve God and those who don’t!

Psa 50:21   These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you.  But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.  Let’s hope the goats are listening!  Because this is whom God is primarily aiming at!

Psa 50:22   "Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue:

Psa 50:23   He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."  Well, let’s hope they consider this, because those who offer thank offerings are those who prepare the way for the salvation or rescue by God.  Those who don’t will be torn to pieces and there will be none to rescue them!  You can’t be fairer than this!  Sometimes we need to look at ourselves and ask if we are a sheep or a goat – and God makes this distinction.  So when He does He will accuse the guilty to their very face.

 

PSALM 51

 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

 As long as God remains silent, there is still hope for repentance and acceptance by God.  God has delivered some harsh warnings and He expects His people to listen.  It’s too late once the day of trouble begins, because you’ll be on your own.  The Godly will have been swept from the land and from where will you seek guidance then?  Immediately after this there will be a famine of the Word of God.  Almighty God takes the view that anyone who doesn’t believe Him before the event, is unworthy to be His servant.  It’s paramount that His servants believe Him because this is the type of faith that God requires.

 So what about those who decide they will believe nothing until they see it with their own eyes?  Well, now they have to do it the hard way!  They didn’t believe God’s warnings, now they’ll have to believe that God can rescue them.  Amid the terrors that await them, rescue will seem impossible.  But those who endure to the end will find peace.  Their end will be when they lie in death.  In accordance with the New Covenant, this is what God will require.

 In addition to this, and prior to this, real repentance will be the order of the day.  In that day, the magnitude of sins against God will be very evident.  At least every repentant person will see where their defiance of God has led them, and this is a good starting point for real repentance.

 So now David takes us through the whole gamut of repentance that is acceptable to God.  Gone will be all the posturing and insincerity that characterizes most people’s views on Christianity, together with their rebuttal of the New Covenant.  They’ll soon realize that flowery phrases and outward proclamations in a carnival atmosphere are not service to God!  God’s way is a heartfelt inward dedication to Him, and a determination to obey Him in everything.

Psa 51:1   Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Did God’s love fail when our Lord Jesus went as a Lamb to the slaughter?  No, this was a prearranged act of faithful obedience which had to be fulfilled.  Jesus knew that God would raise Him from the dead!  One sinful man cannot atone for the sins of another.  It would take the sinless obedience of God’s own Son to do this, and God would accept no other.

 We all know that the reason the Son of God came was to destroy the devil’s work: 1John 3:8 “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 work of the devil must be totally destroyed because the devil has been sinning from the very beginning.  The devil refuses to obey God!  This is also true of the children of the devil.

 When Jesus came, Satan had agents on the ground who watched His every move.  Their whole purpose was to catch Him sinning, so they could accuse Him.  Even when He healed someone on the Sabbath, they accused Him of breaking the Sabbath – the violation of  the Fourth Commandment.  They ignored the obvious miracles performed by the power of God, and strained to accuse Him of sin.  In spite of their best efforts, they could find in Him no sin.  So they changed tactics and began to accuse Him of blasphemy.

 The odd thing about all this is that the devil still has agents on the ground today.  These people masquerade as Christians, that is, followers of Christ, but they refuse to do as Jesus did and obey the Ten Commandments.  What is more, they howl like rabid dogs at anyone who obeys God as Jesus did.  One minute they’re spewing their venom at anyone who keeps the Sabbath Day holy, claiming it’s no longer required, and the next minute they’re claiming that Sunday is the holy day because they mistakenly believe Jesus was raised on this day.  So the nature of the devil’s offspring should be obvious to anyone.  Such people are raving, irrational lunatics who are determined to destroy God’s Work.  Like the devil, they refuse to obey God and despise anyone who does.

 Sin is lawlessness – the transgression of God’s Law (1John 3:4), so when we read that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work, this includes those who are of the devil – those who belong to him!  These are the ones who do the devil’s work for him – just like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.

 But it’s not just the children of the devil that the Lord Jesus is going to destroy.  He intends to destroy every vestige of the legacy of the devil, and leave nothing standing.  He intends to sweep the whole earth clean and restore it to its former glory.  The children of the devil will be a natural consequence of this destruction.  God intends to fill the earth with righteousness, and God’s righteous Kingdom will rule the whole world.

 Psa 51:2   Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  This is an obvious reference to baptism, even though baptism was not a requirement in David’s day.  Baptism began with John the Baptist, and became a requirement of all Christians in order to receive God’s Holy Spirit.  In David’s day, as it is today, God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him (Acts 5:32) and also 1John 3:24 “Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”  In the very next chapter, John adds something else that is vitally important: 1John 4:6 “We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”  The spirit of falsehood is that which refuses to obey God’s Law – just as John stated.  So don’t listen to the children of disobedience and falsehood.

 Psa 51:3   For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Sin is the transgression of the God’s Law (1John 3:4).  It’s lawlessness!  We’ve just gotten through reading about lawlessness in the last Psalm and what it leads to.  Now it’s a form of justice that those who wanted to live without God’s Law, will now have to live without any law!  They wanted lawlessness and now they will have it!  In that day, the only law that will matter is God’s Law.  Survival will be conditional upon obedience to it.  It’s beyond belief that any Christian could believe that the words that were written on stone with the finger of God could be vilified as unacceptable.

 In the final chapter of the Old Testament, in the Book of the Messenger, in Malachi, we find these words: Mal 4:4-6 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb (or Sinai) for all Israel.”  Here we clearly see instruction for all Israel.  It encompasses the Law that God gave to His servant Moses.  But the Messenger of the Covenant adds more: 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."  We’ve just been reading about family disunity at a time of great and dreadful distress in the day of trouble.  And believe it or not, Elijah has come before all this.  This same Elijah will prepare the way for the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Messenger of the Covenant (Mal 3:3).

 Psa 51:4   Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.  And all the time, most people believed they were obligated to only obey man’s law.  They forgot all about God’s Law!  As David states, when we sin we are sinning against God – and only God!  If God doesn’t define sin, then who does?  If anyone doesn’t understand this, then how are they going to react when God judges them?  God alone is the Judge, and He will judge!  Their outcome will mean life or death.

 Psa 51:5   Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  Does a baby sin?  No!  Without the Law there is no sin.  But a baby is born with a sinful nature, and until he learns differently, he is not guilty of sin.  Once he is trained, then sin becomes a factor in his life, and this is why we are instructed “to train a child in the way they should go, so that when he is old (or older), he will not turn from it” (Pro 22:6).  What David was saying is that sin was already in the world when he was born, and this sin had to be overcome.

 David goes on to speak about God teaching him the wisdom necessary to overcome it:

Psa 51:6   Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.  Heartfelt truth is what God requires of us all, and this Truth is found in God’s Word.  This Truth must be instilled in our innermost parts, that is, our hearts and minds.  In this way, we develop the mind of God through His Spirit – which God gives to those who obey Him: Acts 5:32 “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."  Anyone who desires the Truth of God must first obey Him.  The first step towards this is repentance.

 Now David instructs us on the washing away of our sins.

Psa 51:7   Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  At the last Passover before His death, when the Lord Jesus made the New Covenant, He performed a ritual cleansing of the Apostles.  They had all just bathed, so they were already physically clean.  But Jesus told them that what He was about to do they would later understand.  He proceeded to wash their feet (John 13:7-10).  Symbolically, it was to cleanse their feet to walk in the paths of righteousness.  The Apostle Paul later added something to this when he spoke of suiting-up with the whole armour of God in Eph 6:14-18 “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. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”  Symbolically, our feet must be clean if we are to walk in the paths of righteousness.  This comes as a result of being cleansed in the heart and mind.  It’s something that must be achieved following the cleansing of the body of sin.  David requested cleansing with hyssop, a powerful cleaning agent – such was his desire to be perfectly clean in God’s eyes.

 Psa 51:8   Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.  As a prophet, David had far greater vision than most people.  And as a prophet, he was an honest broker or advisor in the ways of God.  He knew that sin carried an automatic penalty, though most people today don’t even recognize the penalty.  Most just attribute it to ‘bad luck’.  When God remains silent no more, then people will be forced to take stock of themselves, and this is the point that David is making.

 David uses the example of crushed bones in the previous verse to remind us that sin carries a penalty, but is quick to point out that God will extend mercy to those who truly repent.

Psa 51:9   Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  When God blots out our sins following complete repentance, those sins cease to exist even in the mind of God.  He literally forgets them!  You are washed clean as if you never committed them and God will not bring them up again.  That is, unless you choose to repeat them.  Then the penalty will revisit you.

 Psa 51:10   Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  The keyword here is steadfast!  Half-hearted weaklings are intolerable to everyone, and no less to God!  In this world you must develop some backbone and not rely on the wishbone.  Just to digress a little here, does the reader recall what God said to Joshua when he was about to enter the Promised Land?  This is what He said: Joshua 1:6-9 “BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷ BE STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸ Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹ Have I not commanded you? BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."  Yes, God told Joshua to be strong and very courageous!  God has no time for the insipid and effeminate weaklings that stand in pulpits today.  The Kingdom of God must be taken by force, as Joshua learnt, and forceful men take hold of it.  What is more, God states it yet again in V18 “Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death.  ONLY BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS!"  If I were Joshua, I wouldn’t want this last category of people with me in the first place.  Disobedient rebels can be even worse than the effeminate weaklings.  To me they both deserve death because they can never be trusted.  Such people are not steadfast and totally committed to their Creator God, and probably never can be.

Psa 51:11   Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Contrary to popular belief, all the prophets of old had God’s Holy Spirit – including David!  Christianity today likes to pretend that the Holy Spirit was given only after the time of Jesus Christ.  Such people may need to reach for the heart-balm, but Adam also had God’s Holy Spirit, and so did God’s servant Abel, but we won’t go into that now.  If you have a good understanding, then you’ll know why this is so.

 Does anyone imagine that David, a man after God’s own heart, and a mighty warrior just like Jesus Christ could have entered God’s service without His Holy Spirit?  Well I guess there is plenty of noise emanating from pulpits in your country and mine who would suggest so.  These are the sorts of people that shouldn’t be listened to.  They’ll destroy you!

 Psa 51:12   Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.  In the troubled times ahead, those who hope to be saved from it all will need to be like David.  They’ll need to repent of their sins, and be washed clean and turn in obedience to God – only then will they be rescued (which is what the meaning of ‘salvation’ is).

 Psa 51:13   Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.  The Son of David, Jesus Christ, delivered a whole Book to the Churches of God, it’s called the Book of Revelation.  Among the final words of this Book, Jesus said this: Rev 22:16-19 “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 (the Sun of Righteousness – Mal 4:2)."  So the Book of Revelation is clearly a message for the Churches.  Jesus also confirms that He is the Root and Offspring of David – and this is why we are studying what David wrote!  Jesus Christ was directing us to learn from His Son David (He is both the Root and Offspring of David).  The same Spirit that directed David is also directing the Bride of Christ – the Saints, who enter God’s Family as His children.  V27 “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. ¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book (and there are plenty of plagues in this Book). ¹⁹ And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” 

 Psa 51:14    Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.  Bloodguilt means bloodshed and murder, and David is asking God to save him from this – to spare him from those who would kill him.  In the coming holocaust, it will be quite permissible to ask God to spare us from the murderous hordes.  Jesus Christ faced the same situation and prayed to God that He might be spared, but added, “Not my will, but your will be done”, and of course, at that time, it was God’s will that our Lord should die.  All who would enter the Holy City and share in the Tree of Life will need to be just like Jesus, and be prepared to do God’s will!

 Psa 51:15    O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.  And God must have done just this, because this is where we are learning from David – from the Psalms he wrote under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit.

 Psa 51:16   You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  It wasn’t the sacrifice of animals that God was pleased with, but the meaning behind it.  The sin offerings were given as a genuine desire to atone for sins.  To acknowledge that only blood or death could fully atone for sin!  By taking life in this way, albeit animal life, the people were learning that life must be forfeited for those who remained disobedient to God.  It was only the Israelites who were sanctioned in this way out of all the families of the earth, and in addition to this, it was only the Levites who could administer this death.  This speaks volumes for this present situation.  As a point of interest, both John the Baptist and his parents were of the Tribe of Levi, and specifically from the linage of Aaron (Luke 1:5-6).

 Not everyone can administer the sacrifice, and while the guilt of the people was on the head of the animal, the animal in question was not the guilty party.  The real guilty party is the devil and his demons, the snakes and vipers of this world, and all who follow them.  These are the work of Satan – those who have the spirit of falsehood.

 God is not asking the Church to make animal sacrifices today, and even the traditional Passover Lamb has been replaced for True Christians with bread and wine symbols.  But don’t think for one moment that animal sacrifices are finished forever, because with the dedication of the New Temple, animal sacrifices will once again continue (see V19 below).  And there are sound logical reasons for this!

 As with the Passover symbols, God accepts something other than animal sacrifices from the True Church:

Psa 51:17   The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  From these people, who say, ‘Not my will, but your will be done!’ no animal sacrifice is required.  For these, who are truly repentant, the laying down of their own lives is the greatest act of love that could ever be.  Jesus Christ is testimony for that!

 Psa 51:18   In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.  God’s good pleasure is coming soon.  The walls will be built up and the Holy City will become a fortress and a safe haven.  At that time, anyone who tries to attack Jerusalem will only injure themselves: Zech 12:2-5 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, `The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.'”  The ‘people of Jerusalem’ is another term for the ‘Sons of Jerusalem’ – these are the ones who were taught by God (John 6:45, Isa 54:11-13) just as the Prophets confirm.  To this end, they will built up the walls of their City – and defend it!

 This will have some unexpected consequences from those who were never taught by God or His Prophets.  These are the ones who have corrupted Christianity to the point that their doctrines are unrecognizable in the light of the teachings of the Apostles and Prophets.  And so they will react badly!  As a matter of fact, they’ve already been reacting badly towards the Tribe of Judah, whom God has chosen to join with the Sons of Jerusalem to deliver salvation to all those who have dedicated themselves to the service of God.  You’ll see the howling rage of the churches who ‘masquerade as angels of light’, who sought to placate God’s enemies, while castigating His Tribe of Judah.  Inasmuch as they’ve aligned themselves against God, natural consequences will follow.  It’s called justice – God’s justice!

 Psa 51:19   Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.  I’m sure everyone realizes that once the Holy Temple is built, in accordance to the instructions God gave to His Prophet Ezekiel (Eze chapt. 40-48), that animal sacrifices will continue.  The reason why is quite obvious if you understand the Scriptures.  Jesus Christ Himself showed that animal sacrifices were offered in place of human beings when He became the Passover Lamb.  As we’ve already pointed out, Jesus Christ didn’t represent the bulls that will be sacrificed on the altar.  The bulls, collectively, represent the Tribes of Israel – particularly the ‘lost 10 Tribes of Israel’.  In view of their conduct, especially towards Jesus’ own tribe, the Tribe of Judah, sacrifices are called for to atone for their sins.  Unfortunately for the Bulls of Israel, the altar will not be ready in time for this sacrifice, and so they will have to submit to their own sacrifice.

 So let’s be practical about this.  The Tribes of Israel have had the past two thousand years to come to their senses.  Today they claim to be Christian nations, yet they’ve universally failed to fulfill their obligations to God.  They haven’t believed Him and neither have they taken their cues from the Prophets of God.  In fact they’ve rejected the Prophets that Jesus and all the Apostles referred to again and again.  Instead, they’ve chosen to listen to those who ‘masquerade as angels of light’.  And how well-honed their masquerading skills have become!  There is nothing more sickening than to see and hear these creatures performing behind the pulpit.  Satan is so pleased, though God, however, is not!

 Soon the Tribes of Israel will understand what the Kingdom of God is, and how it will be established on earth.  The Prophets have declared it, and God will fulfill it.

 

PSALM 52

 For the director of music.  A maskil of David.

 The largest Christian nation on earth today is the bull that gores the nations to the ends of the earth. Deut 33:47 “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."  Ephraim and Manasseh are the sons of Joseph, the prophet that saved the fledgling House of Israel in the earliest days of their existence when Jacob and his sons faced the great famine.  They moved to Egypt where they prospered, until finally, they became slaves and had to be rescued.  Now in the final days of their existence, they will need to be rescued again.

 At the present time, we are seeing the might and power of Ephraim, the majestic bull, who gores the nations to the ends of the earth.  Ephraim can field ten times more fighters that his brother nation Manasseh.  In fact, Ephraim has had to rescue Manasseh through two World Wars.  I think most people will happily acknowledge that America and Britain are brothers who speak the same language!  Collectively they’re the Tribe of Joseph – Ephraim being the younger nation.  They went their own ways after an acrimonious war back in 1776, when Ephraim declared their independence.  From frail beginnings, Ephraim became the mightiest power on earth.

 Almighty God prepared Ephraim by teaching them to fight through many conflicts, even from the time when they were established as a nation in their own right.  And just to prove the point established in Deut 33:47, Ephraim fought Manasseh and drove them from their ‘New Land’, and a whole new era began.  At the present time, Ephraim is the mightiest power on earth, and the only super-power.  This is confirmed by the Prophet Hosea, who wrote this: Hos 13:1 “When Ephraim spoke, men trembled; he was exalted in Israel.  But he became guilty of Baal worship and died.”  Not only did the Prophet Hosea predict the power of Ephraim, but he also predicted his death.

 It’s one thing to ‘masquerade as angels of light’ like Satan, but it’s another matter entirely to openly and flagrantly worship him.  Baal-worship means worshipping the devil.  Baal or Beelzebub is the prince of demons (Matt 12:24-27).  But Baal has another name today which is used by his antichrist brood, and this name is Allah.

 It would seem to be unthinkable that the mightiest nation on earth could have as their leader a worshipper of Baal in these last days.  But the unthinkable has happened!  With the mighty Ephraim leading the war against Islam following outrages throughout the earth of the killing of defenseless people, who did the United States of America vote as their President?  Well, the looney-left side of politics, the brainless, moronic half of the population voted into power a black, African Muslim!  Christians and Jews everywhere should have seen this onerous sign as a retrograde step in this day and age.  When we all saw him lining up with his Muslim family in Kenya, the warning bells should have been ringing throughout the land. 

 And how did the Western media react after this view of his Muslim family?  Were any suspicions raised there?  No, these brainless people emphasized again and again that Obama was a Christian because of his associations with Reverend Wright – a man who openly expresses hatred for America!  Wright is so consummately evil, and especially with his associations with Malcolm X the Muslim, it’s unthinkable that he could be called a Christian.

 Does anyone imagine that the Prophets of old would not have predicted the appearance of this man?  David is a father and patriarch of Jews and Christians, and he was surely going to warn about him.  In the midst of speaking about the sacrifice of bulls, of which Ephraim is the first-born bull, true to form, David mentions him in specific terms:

Psa 52:1   Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?  Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?  Who does this remind you of in this day and age?  Who boasts of evil and upholds the virtue of God’s enemies in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Who globe-trots to Muslim nations as a priority to flatter them and endlessly quote the Islamic Koran, while denigrating the American people who elected him as their leader?  Commander-in-Chief – that’s a laugh!

 To be sure, there have been many evil, mighty men in the course of human history, but who else could possibly fulfill this Prophecy on the very eve of the destruction of the mightiest nation on earth?  As for further identifying the man, why would anyone be a ‘disgrace in the eyes of God’ if they had nothing to do with God’s people Israel.  Were either Attila the Hun or Ivan the Terrible a disgrace to God?  Both these tyrants were a disgrace to their own people, yet God had no interest in them one way or another.  They belonged to Satan and God expects Satan’s rulers to act in this way.  Never mind who the human face is among these tyrants!  The real rulers are the invisible spirits behind the man, and it’s these who dictate his course.  These rulers of the spirit realm go to great lengths to position their man on the ground for leadership.  And strange as it may seem, they can only do this with God’s permission, and especially when it relates to God’s people Israel.

 As for this boasting, evil, mighty man, he is a disgrace in the eyes of God!  He is plotting the destruction of the House of Israel as well as the House of Judah for that matter.  He’s determined to turn over the Holy Land to God’s enemies, as well as God’s Holy City Jerusalem.  And this truly is disgraceful behaviour in the eyes of God! 

 This lying creature never stops plotting destruction, and his true motives are well-known to those who follow the saga of the Middle East hordes and the Israelis.

Psa 52:2   Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit.  The reason why he was voted into power was because of his tongue and his well-practised deceit.  And his lying deceit has never ended.  No-one knew anything about this creature before he came to the White House, and even now very little is known about him.  He’s spent millions fighting court-cases to prevent him from showing his birth certificate.  His own relatives in Africa have verified that he was born there rather than in the United States, yet this deceitful creature will go to any lengths to deny it.

Psa 52:3   You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. Selah.  Everything about the man is falsehood!  He’s a lying treacherous deceiver like no other who has entered the White House.

 Psa 52:4   You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue!  If anything typifies Obama, it’s his lying silver tongue that enabled him to be elected.  It certainly wasn’t talent, experience or ability.  The man has none of these!  Just a lying deceitful tongue, and half the nation fell for his lying deceit when they elected him.

 Psa 52:5   Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.  Selah.  This is particularly revealing!  Particularly when you understand the prophecies relating to Ephraim’s demise and where the fatal blow will be struck.  It’s Washington!  The wording of snatching him up and tearing him from his tent (house, or in this case, White House) and killing him serves to confirm it.  He and all his cronies in government will be swept away in the windstorm of the blast.  This event has been thoroughly explained in our Bible study of the Book of Isaiah at our website.  For those interested, the place to begin would be Isaiah, Chapter 28.

 It will be a fearful time for the righteous people of God – and they will see it:

Psa 52:6   The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying,

Psa 52:7   "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"  So don’t expect any touching, emotional eulogies from the righteous when this happens.  This madman has raised his hand against God’s people Judah, the Israelis, and as a result the whole nation of Ephraim will suffer the consequences.  This is God’s way to hold the nation accountable for what their leaders have done.  And you’ve got to admit that the nation acted in a bizarre way when they elected this dark and foreboding demon against all logic!  Do you miss George W. Bush yet?  No?  You soon will!

 Only the righteous will see and fear when the gamut of this creature’s delusion reaches its zenith.  Those who are cut off from the Olive Tree will be lost and alone in their delusions, but the righteous will flourish.

Psa 52:8   But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.  Here David confirms that he is like the Olive Tree that flourishes in the House of God.  And isn’t this what we’ve been teaching all along?  The second Olive Tree, the second witness, is from the House of Judah, and even more precisely, from the line of David.  This is the account of the Two Olive Trees: Rev 11:3-6 “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." ⁴ These are the TWO OLIVE TREES and the two lampstands (bringers of light) that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. ⁶ These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.”  So the Two Olive Trees are not what most people have imagined!  These two are God’s servants, and will be endowed with might and power from God.  People will die from opposing them, and everyone will know that this is the power of God.

 There’s been any number of people claiming to be the Two Olive Trees or Witnesses, but they have none of the characteristics of the Lampstands, which illuminate the Truth and enlighten others.

 Psa 52:9   I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good.  I will praise you in the presence of your saints.  Like his Lampstand, David will praise God in the presence of God’s saints – the ones who are led by God’s Holy Spirit!  Today, I can tell you this: these are few in number!  Only when Christians face reality will these numbers increase.  This reality can be found in the teachings of the Prophets – the very ones that Jesus and the Apostles quoted endlessly from.

 How easily Christians forget that Jesus Christ is the Word of God – the Sacred Scriptures.  And how easily they forget that the only Scripture that existed at the time of Christ and the Apostles was the Old Testament!  The Old Testament is frequently described as The Law and the Prophets.  Christianity generally, has repudiated the Law of God, and has totally abandoned The Prophets as a source of information vitally important to their very future and existence.  In short, what they have really done is to reject God!  David continues this theme in the next Psalm.

 

PSALM 53

 For the director of music. According to mahalath. A maskil of David.

 Psa 53:1   The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.  Perhaps not everyone openly states there is no God, but when they openly decide they will not be ruled by Him and His Laws, they might just as well say so.

 Psa 53:2   God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  God uses the term ‘sons of men’ to describe those who are not His own.  However, God is not averse to gleaning where He has not sown as Jesus’ parable states:  Matt 25:26-27 “His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”  As a point of interest, God’s bankers are the Levites who collect God’s Tithe.  But this is something that the Churches don’t want to hear!  Yet they will hear it loud and clear in days to come!  God will reap from where He has not sown, and these will turn and seek God.  This fulfills Jesus words, that some who are first will be last, and the last first.  The Churches of God, the people to whom the Book of Revelation was directed, were given the down-payment of God’s Holy Spirit first when they turned to God in obedience.  They now have the opportunity to understand what God requires of them and what their mission is.  Yet, instead of seeking God for this instruction, they have relied on their former, failed leaders and the nonsense they taught.  They can’t seem to shake loose from their ill-conceived ‘prophecies’ of the past.  Others will however, and these will come from where God has not sown.  These will seek, and they will find!  It’s these who will enter the Kingdom of God before those who rejected God’s Truth for themselves.

 And so the sons of men continue in their delusions:

Psa 53:3   Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.  As God has pointed out, they don’t seek Him!  The sons of men do as they’ve always done, they follow the leader rather than God.  Since their leaders have already turned away the natural consequences of the actions are inevitable.

 Just a few words about the sons of men.  As we know from 1Cor 15:45, Jesus Christ was the last Adam, and He called Himself the Son of Man.  Paul does a reasonable job of trying to explain this: 1Cor 15:45-49 “So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶ The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. ⁴⁸ As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”  Four thousand years after the first Adam, he’s described as the son of God (Luke 3:37).  The last Adam is also called the Son of God, yet he frequently referred to Himself as the Son of Man.  This Son of Man, Jesus Christ, was born as a human man but of heavenly origins.  He called Himself the Son of Man because He was subjected to the same temptations as any other man, yet maintained the heavenly standards.  Like any other man, He was not immune to sin, yet He demonstrated that sin had no power over Him because He resisted temptation.  For this reason, we should develop the ‘likeness for the man from heaven’ as Paul puts it.

 It seems that evildoers never learn, and like all the sons of men, they yield to temptation constantly.

Psa 53:4   Will the evildoers never learn-- those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God?  When evildoers abound, God’s people of the House of Israel will be devoured.  But there has to be a prelude to this, and this began when the people turned from God and refused to call on Him or even listen to Him.

 Speaking of ‘devouring God’s people like bread’ we now we come to the most mind-boggling deception that has existed in our lifetimes.  After September 11, 2001, no-one could make up their minds as to who the enemy was.  They finally settled for a few isolated ‘terrorists’, though the term ‘Muslim’ was anathema in relation to them.  Anyone who linked Islam with terrorists was publicly castigated.  Finally, the only acceptable term was ‘al Qaeda’.  Everyone knew that al Qaeda were Muslims, but it was forbidden to couch it in those terms.  “Islam is a peaceful religion”, mumble, mumble, and put a gag on your mouth!  Then came the most bizarre behaviour of all!  Rather than profile Muslims at airports, they started profiling white, Israelite Americans and even their little children.  Ordinary American citizens were overwhelmed with the dread of flying with Muslims on board, only to find themselves being profiled as terrorists.  Everyone in their right mind knows that all terrorists are Muslims, but the present administration seems to disagree.

 The Western nations have been fighting endless wars with Muslims since 9/11 but insist that Islam is not the enemy.  If they are not the enemy, then why don’t they hand over the elusive and mythical ‘al Qaeda’ terrorists?  Rather than hand them over, they chose to fight, and just as surely they were crushed.  Yet it wasn’t a war in the true sense of the word.  The purpose of war is to kill the enemy!  Especially those whom God despises!

 During the battle of  Desert Storm back in the early 1990’s, America went out and beat the hell out of the Muslims and God gave them an overwhelming victory.  Mind you, this war was to save and protect Muslims; in this case the Kuwaitis.  It was no different when the American-led NATO forces attacked the Christians in Serbia to protect the Muslims in Croatia.  Muslims in the region had a long history of persecuting and killing Christians in the region and the Serbs had had enough of it and retaliated.  Typically, a self-righteous, Democrat President of the US decided in favour of the Muslims and attacked the Serbs using NATO forces.  If you look at a political map of this former Macedonian region, it’s an absolute hell-hole of divided groups.  It’s hard to believe that this same region is what Alexander the Great inherited from his father Phillip, king of Macedonia.  Alexander campaigned through this region and beat them into shape to become a mighty army.  It was this army that defeated the Medo-Persian Empire.  History has a way of repeating itself!

 For those who don’t call on God, David gives a little revisionist history.  He saw plenty of this when he went out with his armies against overwhelming odds.  Those who call on God – as David did – saw their enemy smashed to pieces and their bones scattered all over the place.  So if God despises the enemy then what have we to fear?

Psa 53:5   There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread.  God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them.  There was nothing to dread!  America could have gone out and wiped Islam off the face of the earth and brought peace for generations.  But no!  They wanted ‘to win their hearts and minds’ and what a travesty this became!  Instead of killing them, they have now empowered and motivated one fourth of the earth’s population against themselves.  The present administration still thinks they can placate Islam by profiling white Americans and their children.  And now President Obama is screaming from the rooftops that, quote: “America is not at war with Islam and never will be”.  Whatever would possess this man to make such an outrageous statement?  Well what possesses him is not human.

 So America has had their chance.  God was prepared to deliver the enemy into their hands in total defeat and annihilation, but they refused to listen.  Instead they listened to evil-doers, who spoke of peace when there is no peace.

 So is this the end?  Well, it’s the end of one nation but the beginning of another.  It’s the time for the Kingdom of God to be established and only through this will salvation for Israel come.

Psa 53:6   Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!  When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!  You’ll notice that this speaks of a time when God will restore the fortunes of His people Israel.  You’ll also notice that Jacob is mentioned here, and this is significant, because we are now entering the time of Jacob’s trouble.  As we’ll read from the Prophet Jeremiah, this trouble of Jacob occurs immediately before David is resurrected to rule over all the Tribes of Israel:  Jer 30:7-14 “How awful that day will be!  None will be like it.  It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it (Jacob himself will not be there during this trouble.  It’s speaking of his descendants).  V8 “In that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. ⁹ Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. ¹⁰ "`So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel,' declares the LORD.  ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile.  Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. <sup>11</sup> I am with you and will save you,' declares the LORD.  `Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you.  I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.' ¹² "This is what the LORD says: "`Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing. ¹³ There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you.”  It could hardly be fortuitous that America’s President has just forced a bill through Congress to enforce his brand of healthcare which half the people reject!  It seems that this was his bizarre and sinister joke of appearing as the healer of the nation.  And why this particular Bill that no-one was allowed to read before it was enacted and signed into law?  Well, posterity will find this out for themselves.  V14 “All your allies have forgotten you; they care nothing for you.  I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many.”  Yes, well we all know that sin is the transgression of God’s Law, don’t we?  And sins, in the plural, are violations of many of God’s Laws.  The whole nation has violated God’s Law and must be punished in the interests of God’s justice.  Sin carries a penalty and justice must be served.

 Well, it seems that not too many ‘hearts and minds’ have been won!  All these degenerates care nothing for you!  In fact they hate you!  But I suspect that most sane people would realize this by now.

  

PSALM 54

 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil ⁿ of David. When the Ziphites had gone to Saul and said, "Is not David hiding among us?"

Just occasionally, the scribes who added their comments to the Scriptures, as in the grayed lettering above, got something right in a parable sense.

 David is speaking of his people Israel and the Churches of God who will enter his kingdom.

Psa 54:1   Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might.  It’s the churches that speak of being saved all the time, but the only problem with this is, they don’t know what it means.  Salvation is an airy-fairy concept developed in the minds of Christianity generally, which doesn’t actually require anyone to be saved from anything.  It’s become just a delusional state of mind.  We now have millions of people who claim to be already saved, yet they haven’t even been attacked yet.

 Psa 54:2   Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.

Psa 54:3   Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life-- men without regard for God.  Selah.  The whole function of the Church was to be persecuted and put to death – just as Jesus was!  Christians must follow Jesus Christ in His example of faithfulness to God.  When ruthless, godless strangers start attacking you, you must stand your ground, knowing and believing that God will save you either in life or in death.  Unfortunately, true Christians will be caught up in Jacob’s trouble and it will prove to be a horrific time for all of God’s people – the House of Israel.

 Jesus said many things to prepare His disciples in advance of these things: John 15:18-25 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. <sup>21</sup> They will treat you this way because of my name (that is, Christian), for they do not know the One who sent me. <sup>22</sup> If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. <sup>23</sup> He who hates me hates my Father as well. <sup>24</sup> If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. <sup>25</sup> But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason.'”  Those who have been taught by God teach what the Word of God says.  Others, of course, teach what they please, and what appeals to them.  One thing they refuse to teach is that true Christians will be persecuted by ruthless, godless evil creatures who will seek to take their lives.

 Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, persecution of His followers became rife, and it escalated to the point where Christians were rounded up to be put to death.  As it happens, a certain member of the Sanhedrin became a key player in this persecution and was actively rounding up Christians and stoning them to death.  This was Saul of Tarsus.  Saul actually believed he was doing God a service!  Jesus Christ later interrupted his delusion when He met him on the road to Damascus.  As we all know, his name was changed to Paul of Tarsus.  The point being, that the persecution of Christians resulted in death for centuries to come with huge numbers dying in the arena.  Thankfully, this all ended when a righteous man became Emperor of the Roman Empire.  This was Emperor Constantine and Christianity became the sanctioned religion in Europe and all the territories of the Roman Empire.  It became a lifesaver for Christianity.

Well, that was then, but what about now?  As we speak, the Kingdom of God is yet in the future, but it’s rapidly approaching.  Jesus Christ prophesied of this very time: Matt 24:4-14 “Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains.”  Birth pains here are a reference to the emergence of the Kingdom of God.  V9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰ At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹ and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. ¹² Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³ but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, AND THEN THE END WILL COME.”  THE END COMES when Jesus Christ hands over 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.”  

 Importantly, Christians will be persecuted and killed, for this is their allotted task in their service to God.  But they should take heart from the fact that they will not be lying in their graves for centuries to come, but in most cases it will be mere days until they are resurrected to life once more.  The qualifier in this is that they must stand firm until the end and not turn from the faith.

 Psa 54:4   Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.  Even Jesus sought God’s help in prayer on the eve of his capture.  He set the example by praying all night.  You will recall His words: Luke 22:39-44 “Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”  It was no easy task for Jesus because no man wants to die, but martyrdom is the ultimate test of faith and Jesus complied as an example for us.  Just as Jesus knew that God could and would raise Him from the dead, so must all Christians believe this!

 Just remember that Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work (1John 3:8), but just as importantly, Jesus came to provide replacement rulers – to replace Satan and his demons from rulership of the earth.  The qualifications for entering God’s Kingdom are well established in the Scriptures.  The Kingdom of God will reign on earth forevermore.

 Psa 54:5   Let evil recoil on those who slander me; in your faithfulness destroy them.  God will certainly do this!  There will be found no place for these treacherous creatures, and what is more, they will be ashes under the feet of the righteous: 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 Israel.”  Yes, well the last verse is sure to raise the hackles of some professing Christians, but if they fail to remember God’s Laws, then they too will be ashes under the feet of the righteous who revere God’s Name.

 It’s the slanderous insults that are so galling to God’s servants, and those who engage in this type of slander will get what they deserve.  Almighty God is fiercely defensive of His servants and it would bode well for all to remember this.  Instead they should be using what time they have left to understand what God requires of them and to get themselves prepared.

 Psa 54:6   I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you; I will praise your name, O LORD, for it is good.  We saw in V3 that evil men were seeking the lives of God’s people: (Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life-- men without regard for God), so what must one sacrifice?  If Jesus were in the same position (as He once was!), He would sacrifice His own life in order to spare His friends or family.  If anyone finds themselves in this position (and true Christians will!) be sure to offer yourself to the blood-lusting degenerates in order that your friends and family are spared.  In this way, you will achieve the greatest love ever – just as Jesus said: 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.”  It sounds like a very big ‘ask’, but Jesus did it, and so must every true Christian if this is the situation they find themselves in.  Of course anyone who refuses to do what Jesus commanded will find themselves unworthy of Him.

 Psa 54:7  For he has delivered me from all my troubles, and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.  True martyrs will have no further troubles in this life, and they are assured of the next life.  Then their eyes will look in triumph over their foes.  This also happened with Jesus.  After His death, did Jesus triumph over His enemies?  He certainly did, and this is recorded in the Book of Colossians.  In the interests of keeping it in context, we’ll review the whole passage: Cor 2:13-15 “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities (of the spirit world), he made a public spectacle of them, TRIUMPHING OVER THEM BY THE CROSS.” 

 The question is, what was ‘nailed to the cross’?  We’ll get to this in a moment!  But first, Jesus triumphed over the powers and authorities of the spirit realm, and where were they?  They were locked up in prison (1Pet 3:19) – a place called the Abyss – where all disobedient spirits are locked up.  True Christians will certainly have their moment of triumph!  As Paul pointed out, the real enemy is not flesh and blood:  Eph 6:12 “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.”  It’s as well to always bear this in mind.  All too often those who oppose us are demons and they are very persuasive.

 And now we come to the question of what was nailed to the cross.  If you listen to most Christians today, they will tell you that the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross.  They imagine that God now permits people to kill and maim at will (6^th Commandment), to steal whatever they like (8^th Commandment), and to lie their heads off whenever they choose (9^th Commandment), and this is perfectly OK with God.  In their minds, it’s also perfectly OK to worship other gods before God (1^st Commandment).  Because they believe the Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross, they conclude that it’s quite permissible to worship demons – and God would be so pleased.  This is the type of mentality that exists in Christianity today! 

 No-one in their right mind would suggest that God would repeal such righteous Laws as these, which were designed to keep us safe and secure, and neither would anyone want to live their lives in a world of lawlessness where death and destruction were ever present.  Yet this is the only option for those who believe that God’s Commandments were nailed to the cross.  While Christianity is busily engaged in violating God’s Law and worshipping demons, everything they feared and dreaded will come upon them in the day of punishment.

 So what was nailed to the cross?  While we were still in our sins and disobeying God we were under the death penalty of the Law!  Most Christians are aware of the regulations of the Law that were written down by Moses.  These required the death as punishment for those who violated God’s Law, and these regulations were specific!  Capital crimes demanded capital punishment!  Neither God nor Moses made any secret of this!  It’s all written down for all to see!  Oddly enough, every Christian today understands that the wages, or penalty, for sin, is death, and they often quote the relevant scripture for this. 

 How often it happens today that Christians and others line up to prevent the execution of a murderer and somehow believe they are standing on moral ground.  These deluded and heartless creatures have no regard for the victim of these monsters!  Instead, they like to publicly play-act their self-righteousness by refuting and obstructing the regulations of God’s Law.  Amazingly, their justification for this is to quote the 6^th Commandment by saying ‘No-one has the right to kill!’  They believe the Laws of God have been repealed, but they still hold to them when it suits their self-righteous purpose!  Do you wonder why God hates hypocrites?  Well, here’s your answer!

 We in the Western World all know we must be governed by laws.  We also know that if we break the laws of the land we will incur a penalty.  To be sure, some laws have a statute of limitations for a crime committed years ago, but most capital crimes do not.  Anyone who has such crimes hanging over their head, will eventually pay the penalty if caught.  God’s law is no different and every offence or sin carries a penalty.  That penalty is there for the life of the guilty party unless they are either given a pardon, or the law is repealed, or the guilty party dies.  It’s universally accepted by normal, sane people that laws for capital crimes cannot be repealed because it would open the door for unrestrained behaviour like murder, rape and stealing.  After all, where there is no law there is no crime!  This is why retrospective legislation is not popular or even legal but it doesn’t stop some lawmakers from introducing it from time to time.

 At the end of the American Civil War in 1865, pardons or paroles were issued to all the parties of the losing side.  There were no charges of treason, insurrection, plundering or stealing, killing, or rape charges laid when the Confederates surrendered their weapons.  They went home as free men.  They were unconditionally pardoned.  There were no laws repealed in order to do this, the laws of the land remained intact.  All that happened was the soldiers were forgiven – and they went home to live out the rest of their lives!  Mind you, if anyone thought that after the amnesty, they still had the right to kill a few Yankees, then they soon found out different!  The amnesty was a one-time-only event that occurred within a minimum time-frame, and afterward the whole function of the law – as it continued to exist – was applied.

 God has made no provision to repeal His Law.  In fact, God’s Law supersedes man’s laws; it’s the higher Law, and most laws in the Western nations are modeled after them.  The Superior Law trumps the lower law.

 Paul goes on to explain this amnesty/pardon that was granted when Jesus Christ gave His own life in our stead for past sins committed.  Rom 6:19-23 “I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin (amnesty) and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  I think we can all guess which parts of their bodies these Gentiles were enslaved to in their quest for further wickedness!  In the very next verse Paul goes on to explain the relationship between a man and his wife in regard to the Law of God.  But we’ll skip ahead to Rom 7:4-6 “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.”  Since the penalty for sin is death, we were all under the death penalty while we continued to sin.  Without the amnesty given us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we would still be dead men walking.  This amnesty was granted in order that we might bear fruit to God.  If we fail in this, then we are still dead men walking.  And the penalties and regulations of the Law will still claim us!  They’ll be hanging over our head until the day that we die.  Without this penalty being removed, and without obedience to God and His laws, there is no eternal life!

 And now we come to some of those things that Paul wrote, which Peter said were hard to understand: 2Pet 3:15-16 “Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, AS THEY DO THE OTHER SCRIPTURES, to their own destruction.”  In this regard, Peter certainly got it right!  Ignorant and unstable people distort everything to suit themselves.  Paul had the disadvantage of trying to teach Gentiles who have always been unstable in all their ways.  The reason for this is they never had God’s Righteous Laws as the Israelites did.  Gentiles are generally inwardly focused rather than outwardly and they tend to be very self-serving.  They don’t necessarily make good students for this reason.  On the other hand, a deeply devout and converted Gentile is in every way equal to any Israelite. 

 As Peter said, some of the things that Paul wrote are hard to understand, and ignorant and unstable people like to distort them – just AS THEY DO THE OTHER SCRIPTURES!  The Scriptures that Peter was referring to are the ones that Jesus and all the Apostles used – the Old Testament – the Law and the Prophets!  Not only do they distort these Scriptures, but they actually reject them!  They refuse to obey God’s Law!

 So now we continue in the Book of Romans where we left off on what Paul was saying: V5 “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.”  This verse should have been translated as: “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law at work in our bodies, were such that we bore fruit for death.”  Paul was speaking of the sinful nature or the natural law of their bodies that led them to the fruit for death.  In other words, the natural consequences of their sins led to death.  V6 “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from [that] law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”  Under the written code they were as good as dead!  Now through the new way of the Spirit, they have everlasting life awaiting them as long as they endure to the end.

 And now begins a long discourse about SIN, and the point Paul is trying to make is not very clear!  Anyone who didn’t know that sin is the transgression of the Law would have difficulty understanding it – as Peter suggested.  V7-12 “What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." ⁸ But SIN, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin [sinners] [are] dead. ⁹ Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came (the 10^th Commandment), SIN sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ For SIN, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment (the 10^th Commandment), deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”  It’s just as well that Paul added this last verse so we can understand what he was talking about.  Not only is the Law holy, but the Commandment about coveting, which he gave as an example, is also holy.

 Since God’s Law is holy, anyone who treats it as unholy is as good as dead!  They can distort the Scriptures all they like, but they had better be aware of the penalty for sin!  It’s death, and will be for evermore.  God’s Law is eternal!

 There are too many people today who believe they have a free pass to go on sinning against God’s Law, but as Jesus and all the Apostles, including Paul, stressed in different ways, the wages of sin is death.

 Christianity generally believes today that they have no obligation to their Creator God to obey Him, and until they do they are as good as dead.  From the very beginning, God made it perfectly clear to all, that He must be obeyed in everything He said in the Sacred Scriptures.  Yet God was realistic enough to know that there would be few indeed in these last days who would do this.  God knew that the Gospel would become so corrupt that people would use the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son as a license for disobedience, and this is exactly how it turned out.

 Mistakenly, many people imagine they can go on sinning against God’s Law, and every day, forever into the future, the amnesty of Jesus’ sacrifice will apply as forgiveness.  Well, as it happens, Barnabas, in his letter to his Hebrew brothers, brings this myth to a swift end: Heb 6:4-6 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, ⁵ who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the POWERS OF THE COMING AGE, ⁶ if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”  True Christians know that God gives His Holy Spirit to those who obey Him: Acts 5:32 “We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who OBEY him."  Ironically, there are people today who call themselves ‘Witnesses’, yet they refuse to obey God, and even more ironically, they think they have God’s Holy Spirit.  Well, they don’t have God’s Holy Spirit and their sins remain unforgiven! 

Yet even those who repented of their sins and turned to God in obedience, who received God’s Holy Spirit and have understood the will of God, and the POWERS OF THE COMING AGE, are still not out of the woods if they continue to sin willfully.  For such people, the penalty that Jesus removed at His crucifixion will no longer apply to them.  In short, their continuing sin is subjecting Jesus Christ to public disgrace and they can no longer be brought back to repentance.  And so their lives will be forfeit.  If these people are condemned to forfeiture of life, where does it place those who never obeyed God, nor received His Holy Spirit?  Jesus Christ gave a very plain answer to this: Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. <sup>22</sup> Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'  There are plenty of people who say and do things in Jesus’ Name, but He has never known them!  Such people don’t do the will of the Father in heaven, and therefore, Jesus has nothing in common with them.

 As long as people are under the law of sin they are under the law of death, that is, the penalty of God’s Law, and as God has said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” as Paul quotes in Rom 12:19.  He was actually quoting from the Song of Moses in Deut 32:34-43 “Have I not kept this in reserve and sealed it in my vaults? ³⁵ 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. ³⁷ He will say: "Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, ³⁸ the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings?  Let them rise up to help you!  Let them give you shelter!”  It should be noted that the Song of Moses is mentioned in Rev 15:3.  As we all know, the Book of Revelation was written to the Churches of God, and these will emerge victorious, and will sing the Song of Moses as an everlasting reminder of God’s vengeance on those who hate Him.

 Continuing with the reference Paul made to the Song of Moses in Deut 32, we find further explanations of God’s vengeance in V39 “See now that I myself am He!  There is no god besides me.  I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰ I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, ⁴¹ when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me. ⁴² I will make my arrows drunk with blood, while my sword devours flesh: the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders." ⁴³ Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.”  And this is what is referred to in the former quotation about the ‘POWERS OF THE COMING AGE’.  The Mighty One will avenge the blood of His servants!  It’s worth noting that this is a reference to the offspring of the House of David, who obey God’s Commandments and hold to the Testimony of Jesus (Rev 12:17).  We’ll be talking more about these servants of God shortly, when David raises it in Psalm 55.

 People seem to forget that God is a jealous God.  This type of jealousy can be likened to someone giving their love to someone, only to see it rewarded by them loving another instead.  The reference to God being a jealous God can be found in the 2^nd Commandment: Exodus 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 of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  Here God confirms that He will tolerate no worshipping of other gods to the exclusion of the One True God – the Eloihim Family, which comprises the Father and the Son. Eloihim being the uni-plural name for the Father Eloi, which Jesus used to address His Father in Matt 27:46.  Another example of a uni-plural word is the word for a prophet, which is ‘nevi’ and the plural is ‘nevi’im’. 

 As a point of interest, British PM Neville Chamberlain had within his name the term that designates a prophet – ‘Nevi’, and this was the man who waved a piece of paper in the air proclaiming “Peace in our time”.  He had just done a deal with the devil and he believed him.  As it turned out, Neville Chamberlain was no prophet!  Neville Chamberlain thought he’d secured peace; meanwhile, pogroms against the Jewish people in Europe raged and the slaughter continued.  Who could ever forget ‘Crystal Night’ the breaking of windows of Jewish dwellings, with the looting and killing that took place just a couple of years before Chamberlain waved that worthless paper?  According to Neville Chamberlain, the slaughter of the Jews was a reasonable price to pay for “Peace in our time”.  While the world Jewish community watched on in horror and saw this outrageous appeasement of the enemy, this writer was born – and with the same detestable given name as Chamberlain.  There’s an interesting story about my given name and how I got it, but I won’t go into it now.

 The point is that a prophet is not sent to proclaim peace, but to warn of impending disaster.  The only good news given by a prophet is the final outcome when disaster has run its course.  This is true of all the prophets of God, and it’s also the distinguishing feature against the false prophets who proclaim otherwise.  A true prophet understands the Scriptures, and unlike the false prophets, he doesn’t make it up as he goes along.  The Apostle Peter makes this abundantly clear: 2Pet 1:19-21 “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. ²⁰ Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 

 All the Apostles and Saints sought guidance from the Prophets and quoted from them many, many times.  The Great Creator God gave the Prophets their inspiration through His Holy Spirit.  So why do we have so many false prophets inventing prophecy from their own minds?  The simple answer is they don’t have God’s Holy Spirit, and without this, they can never be prophets.

 Now we get back to the teachings of a real prophet – David!  David wrote 150 Psalms for our guidance.  He meticulously guides us to understand what to expect in the days leading up to his own resurrection as king over the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Being a great warrior, David knew the Kingdom of God would have to be taken by force.  And in this, he spoke from experience! 

 David knew there would be a time of trouble and turmoil at the time when God’s Kingdom would be set up, and he knew that all the enemies of God would try to prevent its establishment.  In the next few Psalms, David uses his experience to advise both the House of Israel and the Church of the long and tortuous road ahead.  As we said earlier, Jesus Christ invoked David’s name and heritage in relation to the Churches of God in Rev 22:16.  So both the Churches of God and the House of Israel would do well to pay attention to him.

 PSALM 55

 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.

 Psa 55:1   Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;

Psa 55:2    hear me and answer me.  My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught

Psa 55:3   at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.  David’s descendants, the Jews, can tell you all about this!  They saw and experienced all of this in the Second World War.  There are Christian churches today that revile the Jews, and who earnestly seek to appease Islam.  Did we mention that God is a God of justice?  In the interests of justice, what do you suppose God will do to those who revile His people Judah?  Six million of the Tribe of Judah gave their lives in the most horrific circumstances imaginable as a warning of what to expect, and now the pendulum has swung in the direction of those who hate the Jews.  Isn’t there some poetic justice in all this?

 It’s not just the Jews these pseudo-Christians hate, is it?  They hate everyone that keeps the Law of God, particularly Jews, but also Christians who obey God’s Law.  What is more, they’ve already shown their preferences for the enemies of God – Islam!  These so-called Christians hope to see the Israelis destroyed and the Holy Land overrun with God’s enemies.  They hope their treachery will be well-received by the Muslim hordes.  Perhaps they should have done their homework, then they would’ve understood that Islam hates Christians almost as much as they hate Jews.

 In WW2, Satan had hoped to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth to prevent the Kingdom of God ever being established in the Holy Land.  Satan knew from the words of Jesus Christ that salvation would come from the Jews, and all the prophets of old confirm this.  So he had to wipe them out!  Yet he failed!  To his shock and dismay, the mightiest power on earth rescued them and enabled them to return to their ancestral lands.  No power on earth could defeat the mighty Ephraim, and Satan knew that a long, hard struggle would ensue to destroy both Judah and Ephraim.  And so Satan began his fight-back, recruiting his age-old cronies in the Middle East – the hordes who serve him and hate the 12 Tribes of Israel.  Astoundingly, he chose the very people who were destined to fulfill all that the Prophets of old wrote about.  Satan really had no choice!  He had to choose those who surround the Holy Land for his planned conquest of the Jews.  As early as 1948, he marshaled his forces, and six nations were brought to battle against the tiny nation of Israel.  To his utter horror, his forces were defeated!

 Now Satan realized that he had to prevent the Jews from becoming stronger, which would put conquest beyond his reach.  So he recruited an unlikely ally.  It was Britain!  Britain went out of its way to prevent any further migration of Jews to the Holy Land (the reader has probably read the book or seen the movie ‘Exodus’).  And what did God think of Britain’s treachery?  The Brits had just been rescued from an enemy themselves, through the might and power of Ephraim, and here they were hypocritically applying pressure on the Jews who suffered far more in the same war.  So what was God’s judgment of Britain and its empire?  It was swept away, and even worse, their own country was overrun by the dregs of their former empire, and these Gentiles brought with them all their nasty habits, creating ghettos of undesirables.  And so multiculturalism was born in the Tribes of Israel – and it all began in Britain!  Britain attempted to put a brave face on it, convincing the rightful inhabitants of their nation that it was a good thing – and the disease began to spread.  In time the whole of Europe became inflicted with it.

 As we all know, multiculturalism is a one-way street.  The Western nations are supposed to embrace this immigration, even knowing they are not welcome in the lands of the immigrant.  This is particularly noticeable in Muslim countries.  Against all logic, the largest percentage of all immigrants, both legal and illegal are Muslims today in Europe and, sadly, in Australia!

 As for the Israelite nation of America, these have enough treacherous and evil men living amongst them right now.  America has millions of them straining to get over their border and sweep through the nation!  Satan has hundreds of millions of these treacherous creatures held in reserve to await the opportunity to invade America. 

 But first America has to be softened up by a blow that will send the nation reeling.  Then the American people will be face to face with the treacherous hordes of Satan who hate them.  We know only too well from history what these primitive degenerates were in their natural state, with their human sacrifices and cannibalism.  Americans understand only too well about the disproportionate crime rate among them, and their penchant for the illegal trafficking of drugs.

 It might be argued that many of these people have made valuable and honourable contributions to the American society, and no reasonable person would fault such people, but you can’t allow a hundred of them to immigrate in the hope of getting one of these.  Do you tolerate the 99 for the benefit of the one decent one?  Does any sane person want to provide the fodder for the creation of more Mexican gangs roaming their streets inflicting carnage on their society?  This is becoming a bigger problem every day for all decent Americans, and it’s about to reach its zenith.

 At this point in the Psalms, David begins to speak about this and his parable becomes very specific:

Psa 55:4   My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.

Psa 55:5 Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.  Just when the House of Ephraim was feeling secure, all hell will bread loose.  The days of punishment has come.  The Prophet Hosea makes mention of this: Hos 9:7-8 “The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand.  Let ISRAEL know this.  Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. ⁸ The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over EPHRAIM, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God (that is, House of Israel).”  You’ll notice that ISRAEL and EPHRAIM are used interchangeably here, because it’s speaking of the House of Israel – the ‘Lost ten Tribes’.  Ephraim ruled the northern Ten Tribes after the death of David’s son Solomon, and throughout Bible prophecy, Ephraim is spoken of as the House of Israel.  America is Ephraim today in Bible Prophecy!

 As Hosea says, in the days of punishment and reckoning, the prophet is considered a fool and a maniac and snares or traps await him wherever he goes.  David continues his parable, and lo and behold, he speaks about the prophet!  Not directly, mind you, but by inference:

Psa 55:6   I said, "Oh, that I had the WINGS OF A DOVE!  I would fly away and be at rest--

Psa 55:7   I would flee far away and stay in the desert; Selah

Psa 55:8 I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm."  It’s hardly surprising that David would mention the prophet, since this prophet is from the House of David.  After the demise of Ephraim, who ruled the northern Ten Tribes, and their captivity in 721BC, only the House of David remained.  The two Tribes of the House of David were Judah and Levi.  We’re all aware that the House of David gave birth to Jesus Christ, and He frequently referred to Himself as the Son of David.

 So what was David referring to in verses 6, 7, 8 above?  Well, he was referring to the fledgling House of David, which gave birth to Jesus Christ.  When Jesus Christ delivered the Book of Revelation, He specifically refers to this: Rev 12:13-17 “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. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”   You may have noticed that David speaks of them flying away on the WINGS OF A DOVE into the place in the desert, while the Book of Revelation speaks of flying away into the desert on the WINGS OF AN EAGLE.  Both are very meaningful.

 The explanation is this: This ‘woman’, which is the House of David, has to leave behind her offspring, whom she has taught, and who obey God’s Commandments and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.  To this offspring, the House of David represents peace – the symbol of a dove, but to the dragon and his brood, the House of David is an eagle flying overhead.  This is significant since the dragon and his demons will now be earthbound, having been cast to earth after a great war in heaven (Rev 12:7).

 It should surprise no-one that the servants of God will be flying in a mighty craft owned by God.  When we get to Psalm 60 we’ll see a reference to this craft.  And wasn’t Elijah taken up in such a craft and transported elsewhere on earth?  As a matter of fact, he wrote a letter to King Jehoram some 20 years later (2Chron 21:12) from his desert retreat.

 After the flight of the Eagle, the true Saints, who obey the Commandments of God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus (which is the Spirit of Prophecy – Rev 19:10), will be left to fulfill their obligations to God and to fulfill their destiny.  It won’t be a pleasant environment!  Most of them will be martyred just like the Jews were in the holocaust.  These saints will understand, at that time, that prophecy must be fulfilled, and prophecy has much to say about them.  Sure they’ll have hoped to fly away on the wings of a dove or eagle, but once they begin to hold to the Testimony of Jesus, and realize that this is all about prophecy, these faithful Saints will accept their obligation to go as sheep to the slaughter.

 At that time, life will be cheap and death and destruction will be evident everywhere.  This is what happens in time of war.  In this particular war, it won’t only be external forces; instead the enemy will be right among you, and it will be every man for himself.

Psa 55:9   Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.  Remember the Tower of Babel, when God confused the wicked and confounded their speech.  Formerly, they all spoke the same language, but afterwards they spoke in different languages so they couldn’t understand each other.  This indicates the many divisions that will exist in the country at that time.  As a point of interest, the English language is the sacred language of the Prophets today, and at some point in this study of the Psalms, we’ll explain why.

 Psa 55:10   Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it.  Gangs of marauders will be everywhere, and there will be no safety for anyone.

 Psa 55:11   Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.  Purchasing essential supplies will be a dangerous business for anyone who ventures into the cities.  This is a classic example of what happens when lawlessness prevails.  Those who didn’t want to obey God’s Law will now find themselves without any law to protect them, and this is the lesson God is trying to teach.  As a matter of fact, the Prophet Isaiah has something to say about this: Isa 28:9-15 “Who is it he is trying to teach?  To whom is he explaining his message?  To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?”  And of course, God is not trying to teach babies, though we could learn a few things from little children about obedience, but these would not understand God’s Message.  It’s God’s message we’re supposed to teach our children – just as God teaches His children.  Isaiah puts it this way: V10 “For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there."  The colloquialism employed here of Isaiah’s day is not very clear to us today, but the KJV gives us a better idea of the meaning of how God teaches us from the Scriptures: KJV – V10 “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little.” 

 It should be obvious to all Bible students that this is how the Bible is constructed with the need to search out the different precepts by a line by line discovery.  As the search goes on, you find a little here and a little there.  Just to illustrate this point, we are currently reading verses from Isaiah, chapter 28.  Isaiah 28 is all about Ephraim and their capital city of Washington. In V1-4, God warns Ephraim that their city will be thrown forcefully to the ground by a ‘destructive wind’.  When this happens, you can kiss law and order goodbye.  It will no longer exist.

 As we continue going line by line through this passage of Isaiah, God makes the observation that they don’t want to listen to Him!  So God makes the point that they can listen to others!  Their new masters will speak in foreign tongues: V11-12 “Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, ¹² to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"-- but they would not listen.”  The ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ seem to have forgotten that God granted them great peace within their borders for the past 100+ years.  Since they didn’t want to listen to God, the same demands will be made of them by foreigners: V13 “So then, the word of the LORD to them will become:  Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there-- so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.”  So when this happens – and not too far in the future – the American people may be comforted to remember that the Jews went through this first in the WW2 Holocaust, and some of them survived.  They may even recall that Britain paid a huge price for their treachery towards the Jews after the Holocaust.  So America knows the price that will be paid for any further treachery towards their future saviours.  But apparently, they are still not listening: V14 “Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule [over] this people in Jerusalem.”  Bear in mind that this whole chapter of Isaiah is directed at Ephraim!  V15 “You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with DEATH, with the GRAVE we have made an agreement.  When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."  In Rev 6:8, Death and Grave [Hades] are mentioned by name.  These are powerful demon spirits of the heavenly realm; they’re mentioned many times in the Prophets.  Ephraim’s boast is that they will make covenants and agreements with these Middle-Eastern demon rulers for their own refuge, while at the same time, throwing the Israelis under a bus.  And that Muslim POTUS is in the very process of doing just that!  How he was ever voted into office defies all logical reasoning!  Hilary Clinton would have been a better bet, and at least she would’ve had Bill standing behind her, and knowing Bill, he’d be ready to bitch-slap her when she got out of line.  As nutty as Hilary is, at least she’s fairly predictable, and we do know where she was born.  But most of all, she is not a Muslim!  Just ask her family.  Don’t ask Obama’s family in Kenya though, they’ll make a liar of him!

 So much for Ephraim and the catastrophes they face.  Now David goes on to speak of the offspring of his House, the House of David, and the perils that will be inflicted upon them.  As we saw earlier in this study, Jesus Christ also spoke of them, and said their enemies would be from their own household.  We referred to Jesus words, and we also referred to the source of His quote from the Prophets.  Just to refresh memories, this is what Jesus said concerning betrayals in the last days: Matt 10:32-36 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. ³⁴ "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to turn "`a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- ³⁶ a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'”  Jesus then goes on to say this in V39 “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  So He is speaking about persecution, betrayals and death.  Some will seek to save their lives while others will willingly lay down their lives for God.  Jesus then goes on to narrow the field considerably, when He speaks of those who receive a prophet, and says they will receive a prophet’s reward (V41).  The mention of this is very significant because Jesus Christ specifically mentions the Church He built in the Book of Revelation (Rev 12:17) as “obeying the Commandments of God and holding to the Testimony of Jesus”.  The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10) and only a true prophet has this.  For this offspring of the House of David to be holding to the Testimony of Jesus, they must first receive the Prophet that God sends.

 And this is how the grouping of the House of David is described.  The House of David will have two prophets, also called two witnesses, Olive Trees, Branches, etc. And they will have ‘offspring’ or ‘children’!  The two prophets are from the Tribe of Levi and the Tribe of David (Judah), respectively.  They will come in the likeness of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ Himself as the Son of David.  The second Prophet to appear will be a prince of the Davidic dynasty – just like Jesus.  And of course, he’s a Jew!

 If anyone imagines that God would call anyone to service that doesn’t obey His Commandments, then they’re dreaming.  This is where the Jews have the advantage over the hordes of Christians that refuse to obey God’s Law.  Without the Jews, the Scriptures wouldn’t have even been preserved for our day, as the Apostle Paul points out: Rom 3:1-2 “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? ² Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.”  Most Christians have rejected the Words of God, for instance, the Ten Commandments, but not the Jews!  They preserved them because they alone could be entrusted with them.  No matter how much the Jews suffered and were persecuted, they always remained faithful to God’s Word, and they always sought to return to God’s Holy City Jerusalem.  So there is much advantage in being like the Jews.  Jesus Christ even made a distinction between those who claimed to be Jews, but are not.  He called them liars and said they were of the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9, 3:9).  So then, there is great advantage in being a Jew, or at least, a grafted Jew who’s been grafted into the Tree as Paul puts it in Rom 11:17-24 “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. ²² 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!” 

 So much for those who hate the Jews and refuse to obey God, how could they be grafted into the Tree?  Paul makes it obvious that Christians must be grafted into the tree and be just like the Jews!  That is, obedient and faithful to God’s Word and His Law.  As Paul mentions in the next couple of verses from the Book of Romans, the deliverer will come from Zion – not the Church!  So Paul’s words, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid’ have some real meaning!

 And now we find that Jesus words about ‘a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’ adds traction to what David writes:

Psa 55:12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.

Psa 55:13   But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,

Psa 55:14   with whom I once enjoyed SWEET FELLOWSHIP as we walked with the throng at the house of God.  The House of God is wherever His Holy Spirit dwells.  The Church of God is such a place!  It’s not a building of course, but the people!  The congregation of Spirit-led people!  Yet there will be differences of opinion when the crunch comes.  There’ll be some who will seek to save their own lives, and in order to do so, they will betray one another and even hate one another – even their close friends with whom they formerly enjoyed sweet fellowship!  There’s always got to be a Judas!  For this reason, Jesus stated that those who seek to save their life will lose it.  And like Judas, their death will not be pleasant, but violent!

 Psa 55:15   Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go DOWN ALIVE TO THE GRAVE, for evil finds lodging among them.  (This last phrase is a reference to demon-possession.)  Being buried alive is not something that average person would want to experience.  Yet it’s one of the options that God uses against those who oppose His servants.  It happened in the days of Moses when he was confronted by an unruly mob who wanted to challenge his authority: Num 16:28-34 “Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: ²⁹ If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." ³¹ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. ³³ THEY WENT DOWN ALIVE INTO THE GRAVE, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!"  No doubt these words of Moses inspired David’s comments in V15 above.  David was making it clear that there are no soft options for those who treat the LORD with contempt.

 Just to confirm God’s love for Moses, in the last passage of the Old Testament, we find God’s stresses that we must remember the Law of His Servant Moses, which He gave Him at Mount Sinai for all Israel (Mal 4:4).  You must listen to Moses!

 Those who remain faithful to God will get a lot of help.  He seldom allows the lives of His saints to go cheaply without exacting terrible revenge on their persecutors or killers.  V23 below confirms this.  In the meantime, the faithful must endure, but at the same time, trust in God for deliverance.

Psa 55:16   But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.

Psa 55:17   Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.  One of the first rules of obedience to God is to not question Him about our misfortune as if we don’t deserve it.  Only Jesus Christ didn’t deserve it because He never sinned.  None of us can claim this!  A master doesn’t always act according to the whim of his servant.  There are times when God will test our courage.  Yet if we trust in God He will deliver.

 Psa 55:18   He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.  Almighty God has many inducements to ensure the enemy lets His people go!  Unfortunately for the enemy, they don’t know this yet.  Perhaps the enemy should read the account of the exodus from Egypt, when Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go.

 

Psa 55:19   God, who is enthroned forever, will hear them and afflict them—Selah men who never change their ways and have no fear of God.  There’s no surer way of raising God’s anger than to express no fear of Him.  Such people will be afflicted because they never change their ways.  Perhaps if they saw some of God’s enemies buried alive as the Israelites saw in the days of Moses, they might stop taking God for granted.

 It’s obvious that most of Christianity has no fear of God!  They seem to believe that God owes them something, like eternal life for a life of disobedience!  There’s plenty of dreamers in this world!  God, however, does give an example of those who fear Him: 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.” 

 As we previously said, there always has to be a Judas!

Psa 55:20   My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.

Psa 55:21   His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.  Smooth, soothing oily words from deceivers is something to be expected.  Even Satan himself appears as an angel of light, and so do his protégés.  These creatures are the agents of Satan and through their deceitful actions they will deliver you to the enemy.  The fact that they will be delivering you to death won’t faze them at all.  The soothing words he uses are in fact, drawn swords – ready to strike a deadly blow.

 Psa 55:22   Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.  And just a word of clarification – the righteous are those who believe God and fear Him!  Without this faith, it is impossible to please God.

 Psa 55:23   But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days.  But as for me, I trust in you.  God intends to ensure that bloodthirsty, deceptive, evil men will get what they deserve.  David is speaking of a time when evil creatures will abound and actively hunt down the righteous; these satanic creatures will typify Satan himself.  Yet David’s emphasis was on those who once shared sweet fellowship with you, and whose tongues are like drawn swords.  In other words, treachery will arise right among you in the Church.

 Most church-goers are familiar with the soothing, oily approach of their pastors who like to play-act their own form of righteousness by telling people how to be saved – according to their own definition.  To the uninitiated, it all sounds so ‘spiritual’ doesn’t it?  Believe it or not, Paul had the same experience with a slave girl who was very ‘spiritual’, and this is the account: Acts 16:16-18 “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." ¹⁸ She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.”  So this gives us some timely advice on how to test the spirits.  If you encounter a pastor who endlessly intones through protracted emotionalism the way to be saved, then the chances are you are listening to a demon who is trying to project himself as an angel of light.

 The point being that those who resort to cunning trickery to enhance their image, while deceiving others, supposedly in God’s Name, can never be trusted!  The spirit world employs many devices to deceive others.  Paul’s example here is just one of them. 

 

PSALM 56

 For the director of music. To the tune of "A Dove on Distant Oaks." Of David. A miktam. ⁿ When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

 Psa 56:1 Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack.  If you doubt the severity of what is coming, view some of the old footage of the Watts riots and other riots that have occurred in the streets of America over the years.  There’s plenty of it on Utube where non-Israelites are killing, maiming, burning, plundering and generally destroying everything in sight, and no-one could understand why.  Police seemed utterly powerless to intervene.  Eventually the National Guard had to be called in.

 This is generally what happens when mob rule takes hold.  In normal times law enforcement is the restraining factor, but when law enforcement becomes paralyzed, there is no restraint among marauding, senseless creatures.  Everyone becomes their enemy as anarchy reigns.  To protect themselves in these tumultuous conditions, many people, including church groups, will resort to betrayals of others in order to take the heat off themselves.  Remember how Jesus warned that a man’s enemies would be of his own household?  When fear grips a man, then he will do anything to spare himself – even betraying those closest to him.

 Psa 56:2 My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.  Remember what happened in Germany just prior to the outbreak of WW2?  The most effective way to protect oneself from either the brown-shirts or the Gestapo was to either betray a Jew or to betray someone who was sympathetic to the Jews.  The archives of these letters of accusation were opened just a few years ago, and the History Channel made a documentary about them.  What characterized most of these accusing letters was the lack of any form of justification!  It was merely innuendos and lies that resulted in so many being bundled off to concentration camps.  Some towns, when they ran out of Jews, began to attack Christian groups that were outside the mainstream Catholic belief system.  And so some Christians joined the Jews in the concentration camps.  ‘Politicals’, those who voiced any adverse comments about the Nazis were also targeted.  And so, fear reigned day and night.

 We should always be willing to learn the lessons from history, because these tend to repeat themselves.  Forget the fact that most of these men and women who committed these atrocities are now dead; the spirit that motivated them is still alive and active.  These are the invisible rulers of the spirit realm, that is, they are not flesh and blood (Eph 6:12), and they are masters of generating mob-rule.  We’re already seeing the beginnings of mob-rule in the streets of the Western nations, with rioting and destruction.  These will continue to escalate as evil spirits begin their destabilizing role of the 12 Tribes of Israel.  It’s all a part of their conditioning process.  These demons have their allies or agents; these are the rent-a-crowds that they bring in to ensure the level of violence.

 Psa 56:3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you.  Fear is a difficult problem to overcome, yet it’s something that must be conquered.  We’ve all seen examples of bravery when people put themselves in harm’s way to protect a loved one or even a stranger.  In such circumstances, the heroic one puts personal fear aside.  The most perfect example of this was when Jesus Christ surrendered Himself to an unruly and murderous mob, insisting that His disciples go free (John 18:7-9).

 Psa 56:4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can mortal man do to me?  Here again, Jesus Christ is our example.  He trusted in God to strengthen Him for His ordeal, and three days later He triumphed when He arose from the dead.  The rulers of the spirit realm use mortal men as their agents in all manner of atrocities, but it was the spirit realm that Jesus triumphed over: Col 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” 

 Psa 56:5 All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me.  Yet again, the Son of David, Jesus Christ, becomes our example.  His life was characterized by constant harassment of everything He said to the religious elite of His day.  They hated Him and were constantly plotting to kill Him.  It’s really no different today.  When people feel threatened by God’s Truth, which they’ve never understood, they want to attack the messenger – to kill him, in order to remove the threat to their livelihood.  Today, the churches of this world are full of such people!

 Psa 56:6 They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.  These pathetic creatures go to any lengths to find fault with anyone who speaks the Truth.  They trawl through everything that is written or spoken to find fault, while ignoring their own deficiencies.  These gutless creatures don’t have the guts to do anything manly, so they snipe away like jackals, completely oblivious to what their end will be.  And there will be no escape for them!

 Psa 56:7 On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations.  Now we see clearly that David begins to speak of nations who are eager to take the lives of his people Israel.  Who are these nations that trouble the Tribes of Israel?  Should we try to guess?  No!  This is not permissible!  The answer must come from the Scriptures.

 Psa 56:8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll-- are they not in your record?  What a lucky break!  David identifies them!  They’re recorded in God’s Scroll.  All Christians should be aware that God the Father handed the Son of David, Jesus Christ, a sealed Scroll that only He was able to open.  With the opening of the First Seal, Jesus is described as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  Prior to this, He was called the Lamb of God.  The Scroll is spoken of in the Book of Revelation, chapters 5 and 6.  The Seals of the Scroll reveal, successively, the ‘four horsemen of the Apocalypse’.  Who these nations are can be found in the Study of the Book of Isaiah at our website, which covers it comprehensively, so we won’t go into it now.  Nevertheless, these are the nations that David is speaking about.  The Tribes of Israel are already at war with the Sunni nations of Islam, and the Shi’ite nations (Iran and its allies) are gearing up to make their entrance in fulfillment of these prophecies.

 Psa 56:9 Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.  By this I will know that God is for me.  David’s enemies are our enemies today!  Sadly, some people have trouble grasping this.  These same generations of people who troubled David anciently are still there and continue to plot against God’s people Israel.

 Psa 56:10 In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise--

Psa 56:11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?  Well, as we all know, men can kill you!  Yet those who trust in God as David did, will have nothing to worry about, and neither should they be afraid.  It’s a fact of life that we must all die, but those who are faithful to God will live again for all eternity.

 Psa 56:12 I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you.  Christians must be baptized and receive God’s Holy Spirit, and in so doing, they are under vows to surrender their lives to Him.  If anyone shrinks back, then they are unworthy of Him.  If Jesus Christ had shrunk back from death, none of us would have been alive today.  Because of His faithfulness to God in laying down His life, we, too, have the hope of the resurrection.

 Those who are faithful and obedient to God were delivered from the penalty of death through Jesus’ Sacrifice, and if we fulfill our vows to the end, our resurrection is assured.  We will see the Light of Life.

Psa 56:13 For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.  The Light of Life is eternal life.  Jesus Christ was also delivered from death.  It had no power over Him.

 

PSALM 57

 For the director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." Of David. A miktam. ⁿ When he had fled from Saul into the cave.

 Psa 57:1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.  I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.  It may seem like a bit of a stretch to say that the “shadow of your wings” is a reference to a flying ship, but this is exactly what it’s referring to.  These flying combat craft will give protection for God’s people.  As David suggests, they will be very visible until the disaster has passed.  We’ll see another reference to these when we get to Psalm 60.

 Psa 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.  It was always God’s purpose to save His people from disaster, and the definition of ‘God’s people’ is, in fact, those who serve Him faithfully.  God has real purpose for these.  They’ll be His sons and daughters in His Kingdom.

 Psa 57:3 He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; Selah   God sends his love and his faithfulness.  In times of trouble, there’ll be some help from the faithful ones that God loves.  This will especially apply in the Holy Land, where there will be a lot of rebuking of God’s enemies who pursue His people.

 Psa 57:4 I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts-- men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.  Here’s another mention of those whose tongues are sharp swords, and this time they’re referred to as wild animals.  Their tongues are destined to inflict much harm on God’s people.  At the forefront of this will be the Churches of God, who are the offspring of the House of David.  And when they run out of members of the Churches of God to blame and to kill, they’ll cannibalize each other and the pogroms will begin in earnest.

 Psa 57:5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.  In this context it’s worth mentioning this verse: Ps 116:14 “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.”  Those who are prepared to die for God as martyrs will be playing an important role in the overall goal of destroying the devil’s work.  Jesus Christ began this by being the first of this era to accomplish this.  Every Christian is under vows when they receive God’s Holy Spirit to serve Him faithfully even in the face of death.  When the Kingdom of God is established it will eventually fill the whole earth: Dan 2:35, 44 “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.”  As a point of interest, this huge mountain is what the landmass of the earth will look like when God restores the earth.  When this happens, God’s glory will be over all the earth.  David left us a sign of this mountain with the Star of David, which is not actually a star, but two mountains intertwined with each other, depicting two different eras.

 And just to confirm something we mentioned earlier, these rulers who ruled the kingdoms represented by the great statue depicted by Daniel, will rise again, and these are referred to in the Book of Revelation as the ‘Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’.  V44 “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. ⁴⁵ This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.  "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."  And this is where we are in Bible Prophecy, with the imminent setting up of God’s Kingdom by those appointed to prepare the way for Him.

 No nation on earth is crazy enough to declare war on the mightiest power on earth – America!  Yet Bible Prophecy must be fulfilled!  So rather than declaring war, the destruction will come through a ‘coup de grace’.  An unexpected and catastrophic blow that will render the nation paralyzed.  In the lead-up to this, seditious forces must be in place, and this sedition is gaining traction everywhere.  It all began as ‘free speech’ but today it’s openly treasonous!  Riotous subversives stand ready to inflict lawlessness on everyone, and the only thing holding them back is the force of the law.

 God holds the kings or rulers of a nation responsible for the conduct of the whole nation, and in this day and age of democratic elections, the people are responsible for the election of their leaders.  So more than ever, there is enough blame to go around.  Every nation knows that its fortunes are tied to their leader, so when a people vote into power a man who is pure evil, they have only themselves to blame.  Isn’t the first and primary job of a President to protect the American people?  Isn’t it the President’s responsibility to recognize the enemy of the people, and to take such action as would ensure the people’s safety?  As an example, doesn’t it seem logical for airport security to be profiling the enemy, which is clearly Islam today, instead of the traditional citizenry of the United States?  Every sane person in the United States knows that Islam is the enemy because they openly confess it themselves!

 Now we have the leader of Iran breathing fire and brimstone against America, which they call the ‘great Satan’, and which they have vowed to destroy.  Iran now has more support in the South American continent than does America!  Something has gone horribly wrong in the last couple of years, and it’s spreading like wild fire.  The last thing in the world that America needs right now is an appeaser as a President!  Yet this President goes like a mendicant to the Muslim nations groveling and bowing, while reassuring them that “America is not at war with Islam and never will be!”  This may well be a self-fulfilling prophecy!  It now seems that once the ‘coup de grace’ is delivered, America will be in no position to field an army for defense.  This President has literally traded the lives of the American people for that of Islam, and his preferences have been obvious since he walked into the White House.

 Amid the catastrophic failure of law and order, it will be every man for himself, and the blame-game will begin.  Oddly enough, America is at the forefront of playing the blame-game – the courts are overrun with frivolous lawsuits trying to make others pay for ‘misfortune’, which is usually bogus!  But you reap what you sow!  One of the more amusing bogus ‘misfortunes’ is when a licentious strumpet screams rape against a celebrity in order to extract exorbitant fees for her service – and we’ve seen plenty of this in recent years!  Well, these licentious harlots have some more reaping to do, but it won’t be with paying clients.  In that day, their services will be free, and so will the forfeiture of their lives in the hands of her tormentors.  What is more, no-one will care!

 People may think they can escape justice, but justice has a way of catching up with them.  They seem unaware that the breaking of God’s Law carries penalties, and these can come at any unforeseen moment and with calamitous results.

Psa 57:6 They spread a net for my feet-- I was bowed down in distress.  They dug a pit in my path-- but they have fallen into it themselves.  Selah. Almighty God’s justice is well known to His servants and they have a healthy fear of it.  They know that God’s Law carries penalties, and they also know from the Testimony of Jesus that justice will prevail.  As for those who set traps for others, Almighty God has counseled death for them.  Isa 8:20-22 “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. ²¹ Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. ²² Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”  Utter darkness means death – the ultimate darkness!  This is the ultimate fate of those who don’t obey God’s Law and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.

 Psa 57:7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

Psa 57:8 Awake, my soul!  Awake, harp and lyre!  I will awaken the dawn.  Awakening the dawn is a reference to the dawning of a new day, which Peter mentions in 2Pet 1:19-20.  It also ties in to what Isaiah wrote in the verse above in Isa 8:20, where he says that those without the Law and the Testimony will have no light of dawn.  The reference to singing and playing the harp at the time of the new dawn is referenced in Rev 15:2-4.  It will be a whole new era, when the nations will come and worship before Him, after His righteous acts have been revealed.  (Be sure to read these verses).

 David is clearly speaking of this same event in the Book of Revelation.

Psa 57:9 I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

Psa 57:10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  God is faithful to His people even though they don’t deserve it.  They haven’t exactly been faithful to God in return, have they?  Nevertheless, God will provide them with a homeland, their ancient homeland, where they will live in safety.  They will be mortal human beings, who will live and breed and die at very great ages (Isa 65:17-25).  They will not, however, be members of the God Family, who will replace Satan and his demons as the present rulers.  Members of the God Family will be those who prove their worth in this life!  So you can understand why the angels desire to look into these things (1Pet 1:12).

 Psa 57:11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.  It will be a glorious time!  No longer will Satan and his demons be ruling on earth; in fact, they’ll be replaced by true Sons and Daughters who have been fashioned after His Son Jesus.  Satan and his demons will spend a thousand years in prison for the former rebellion that occurred long before human beings existed.  Human beings were created in the very image of God for this specific reason, to emulate the Son of God, Jesus, and to provide the numbers for the ruler-ship of God’s Kingdom.  As we all know, these will be given responsibility for cities and groups of cities throughout the world, and they’ll have specific areas of expertise.

 To be perfectly honest, God has had enough of human rule and demon rule, yet He’s tolerated it for six thousand years for the crowning glory of His Sons and Daughters.  Never again will evil men reign over His people or His Kingdom.  Yet there is a final chapter to be written about events at the end of the Millennium, when Satan is released from prison, which hopefully will be written during this study.

 

PSALM 58

 For the director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." Of David. A miktam.

 Psa 58:1 Do you rulers indeed speak justly?  Do you judge uprightly among men?  And what have we just been saying about rulers?  Is it any wonder that God expresses His deep dissatisfaction?

 Psa 58:2 No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth.  How easily people forget that God wiped out all life from the earth in the days of Noah because of the violence that had filled the earth: Gen 6:11-13 “Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.”  As we all know, God destroyed all these violent people, but he didn’t destroy the physical globe of the earth but only the face of the earth.  He wiped out all memory of the people of the earth including their cities and their dwelling-places.  Everything they built was gone and destroyed.  God ended the generation of them, then and there, and humanity became just eight people.

 As a point of interest, Noah’s Ark has been found 13,000 feet up Mount Ararat, just as the Bible stated.  It was discovered by Singaporean Christians following sightings of a wooden bow of a ship protruding from the snow-covered heights.  For those interested, do a Google or Utube search for ‘Noah’s Ark found’, and you’ll see the pictorial evidence of this amazing find.

 To be sure, satanic forces are now at work trying to discredit this discovery.  Their most recent, ridiculous claim is that the Singaporean Christians carried hundreds of tons of huge beams up this mountain-side and built the enclosures seen in the photos, purportedly to deceive the world into believing that God’s account of Noah’s Ark is true.  It goes to show how mad and illogical such people become when they try to discredit the Word of God.  A thousand paid porters couldn’t accomplish this task, and as for assembling this structure when they got there, it would be impossible!  What is even more impossible would be to keep it quiet from the eyes of the media.

 I can personally attest to the fact that Noah’s Ark has been found 13,000 feet up Mount Ararat, just as God always planned for it to be found in the very last days.  Even Jesus, when He was speaking of these last days, mentioned Noah and the Ark as an example of what to expect: Matt 24:27 “As it was in the days of NOAH, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before THE FLOOD, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day NOAH entered the ARK; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until THE FLOOD came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.” 

 Is the evidence of Jesus’ statement enough to verify the truth of Noah’s Ark and the flood?  Isn’t it evident that God would provide the proof of Noah’s Ark in these last days?  I’ve heard Christians actually refuting the account of Noah’s Ark and the flood, and they steadfastly refuse to believe it.  What is even more incredible, after refuting evidence from Jesus Christ, they believe they qualify to fulfill V40-41 above about some ‘rapture’ that they’ve conjured from their own minds.  Jesus Christ was not speaking about Christian church members; He was speaking about those who are to prepare the way for His return or ‘the coming of the Son of Man’ as He put it.  Where do these so-called Christians get their mad ideas from?  Such people are not going anywhere, least of all to heaven!

 To be sure, men and women in small numbers will be gathered and taken away in a special craft and to a specially prepared place, from where they will storm the Holy City and take possession of it.  These are also called ‘The Sons of Jerusalem” and these are the ones who have been taught by God.  We’ve confirmed these things hundreds of times in the articles at our website giving all the reasons and explanations, so there is no point in going through it all again.

 These families, who are servants of God, will leave other ‘offspring’ behind after imparting to them the Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of Prophecy (Rev 19:10).  As we’ve said many times, these offspring will obey the Commandments of God and hold to the Testimony of Jesus.  The details of all this can be found in Rev 12:13-17.  These ‘offspring’ will see their teachers taken away on the wings of a ‘great eagle’ to a place prepared for them from where they will fulfill their duty to God.  The offspring will also be called servants of God and Jesus Christ goes on to speak of them in Matt 24:45, where they are also warned of any slovenly behaviour, while awaiting deliverance.

 It’s beyond belief that any student of the Bible could fail to understand these things, but the truth is they prefer to listen to lies.  They’d be doing themselves a big favour if they divested of the silly ideas about a ‘rapture’ which is not going to happen for them.  All they are doing is providing themselves with unrealistic expectations.  Most of these ‘rapture’ theorists don’t even obey God’s Law, and they certainly don’t have the Spirit of Prophecy!  Have you seen the type of numerology they use to conjure up their dates for this supposed event?  Their reasoning is so childishly flawed that you have to wonder about their sanity!

 Psa 58:3 Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.  Some people are born naturally wicked because of the sins of their fathers.  The sins of the fathers are punishable to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God (Ex 20:5), and this is the natural law of penalties we spoke about earlier.  Does this make it impossible for some people to serve their Creator God?  No, it just makes it a little harder when one has to overcome the sins of their forefathers.  This punishment is especially obvious among the nations that have traditionally been pagan worshippers.  You see them worshipping idols, kissing cows, monkeys and rats, which they believe carry the spirit of their ancestors, and yet they live in abject poverty!  You have to wonder about their sanity.  They certainly have no form of logic!  Where are the blessings from their idols or their ancestors?  Can’t they see they are under a curse?  In fact, it’s a generational curse that must be resisted and overcome or it will continue to be passed on to their children.  Just as assuredly as generations are cursed for their disobedience to their Creator God, so God confirms that He shows love to the thousands who keep His Commandments (Ex 20:6).

 Speaking of generational curses, have you noticed the type of deranged madness exhibited by those who refuse to obey God against the few thousand that do obey?  What possible excuse could these children of disobedience have to attack those who do as God has commanded?  Whatever God has commanded must be obeyed!  To the delusional, evil generation, God’s Commandments must be resisted at all costs, and anyone who obeys God must be savagely attacked.  It’s not a hard task to figure out who has God’s favour!

 The theme of worshipping idols and animals in defiance of the 2^nd Commandment continues here:

Psa 58:4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears,

Psa 58:5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.  Playing tunes to a cobra is a typical Middle Eastern practice.  Worshipping reptiles is something they enjoy and it’s a part of their nature.  But remember that this Psalm is an indictment against ‘RULERS’ who don’t judge uprightly among MEN! (See V1 again.)  This is very clearly speaking about the RULERS of the spirit realm who rule over MEN.  Everything about these men shows that they worship evil, demon spirits, and the curses they live under are obvious.  No amount of music by the charmer is going to change these reptilian creatures.

 In short, these are the children of the devil.  It should be obvious why the servants of the One True God have no time for such people.  Like David, they seek to disarm them, and David has a quaint way of putting it:

Psa 58:6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God; tear out, O LORD, the fangs of the lions!  Cobras, reptiles and roaring lions need to be disarmed and defenseless.  Even the Apostle Peter makes reference to the devil as a lion seeking whom he might devour: 1Pet 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  So we can see that David’s appeal to God to break their teeth has merit.  These satanic creatures cause a lot of trouble and have to be eliminated or they will continue to cause suffering to the brothers throughout the world.

 Didn’t the Apostle John plainly state that our Lord Jesus came specifically to destroy the devil’s work? (1John 3:8).  But first our Lord had to be the victim of the devil before taking revenge.  But revenge is coming, and no mercy will be shown to the children of the devil!

Psa 58:7 Let them vanish like water that flows away; when they draw the bow, let their arrows be blunted.  They’ll be disarmed and blown away to vanish forever.

 Psa 58:8 Like a slug melting away as it moves along, like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun.  I think we all realize that this is speaking of the Sun of Righteousness spoken of in Mal 4:1-2 “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.”  It will be the most amazing period of healing the world has ever seen.  The disease that has inflicted the minds of people everywhere will be completely eradicated.  Everyone inflicted with Satan’s mental disease will be burned up.

 Psa 58:9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns-- whether they be green or dry--the wicked will be swept away.  Whether grass, stubble or thorns, they will be swept away as dust and ashes.  And don’t be feeling sorry for them!  They are the enemies of God and of all your brothers around the world.  The children of the devil don’t deserve to live, and neither will they!  If you’ve become like a sob-sister to all the evil in the world, then you, too, have become an enemy of God.  You’ll need to moderate your views!

 Psa 58:10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.  Yes, the righteous will be glad!  They long for the dawning of a new day!  David particularly wanted to challenge the sensitivity of people today, who seem to think that the blood of the wicked is sacred.  He knew that self-righteousness would escalate in the minds of people in this end-time, which would lead to feigned concern for the most lowly of creatures.  Such people would hardly welcome the Mightiest of all Warriors when He makes an example of the wicked.  In truth, such people have never known Him!  He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who will replace the roaring lion that most Christians would recognize today as the devil.

 Psa 58:11 Then men will say, "Surely the righteous still are rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth."  Praise our God and His Mighty Son that justice will prevail when He comes to judge the earth!  You’ll be so glad you did praise God!  At that time, men will acknowledge that the righteous are rewarded.  There are certainly rewards for the righteous – those who serve God faithfully and endure to the end.

 

PSALM 59

 For the director of music. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." Of David. A miktam. When Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him.

 There’ll be a major battle as part of God’s judgment of the earth, when He draws in all the nations of the earth to launch an attack against the Holy City for the big show-down!  We usually refer to this as ‘The Battle of Armageddon’ because these forces will be gathered in the Megiddo Valley.  This battle is thinly disguised in the following verses of this Psalm. 

 Long ago, God promised that He would never again bring destruction on the earth through a universal flood as He did in the days of Noah.  Instead, He had something entirely different in mind!  In the days of Noah, the people knew nothing until the flood came and swept them away.  This time around the inhabitants of the earth will know enough to understand they are fighting against their Creator God.  The Mighty Son of God will draw them into battle, a battle that will dwarf the casualties of the days of Noah.  In the aftermath of this, there will be few men left!

 Psa 59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God; protect me from those who rise up against me.  By this time, the whole world will be against the Kingdom of God, and will actively seek to destroy it in its earliest stages.  Slowly but surely they will begin to amass their forces.  As David said in the last verse of the previous Psalm, “There surely is a God who judges the earth”.  The most practical way to do this is to gather all their warriors together for a mass kill.  Jesus Christ Himself prophesied of this day while still on earth.  It’s a much overlooked prophecy of what will happen when His Kingdom is established.  This is the account: Luke 19:11-12, 26-27 “While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. ¹² He said: "A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.”  The parable is obviously about Jesus Christ who will return as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The return of this Mighty King will not be well-received by the inhabitants of the earth.  They won’t want Him ruling over them!  Because of this, there is only one solution!  And so our Lord Jesus provides the solution: V26-27 “He replied, `I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--BRING THEM HERE AND KILL THEM IN FRONT OF ME.' " 

 When you think about this, Jesus Christ predicted His own death, as well as His return after being appointed King over all the earth.  Surely everyone on earth has heard the account of Jesus death and resurrection!  What is more, they have surely heard that He intends to return as King of Kings.  Yet all those who belong to the devil will resist Him and seek to kill Him again.  This is based on the fantasy that if they did it once they can do it again.  Perhaps the demon rulers even believe that if they succeeded, it would buy them another 2,000 years respite.  But whatever they think, Satan has held hundreds of millions of dragon-worshippers in reserve across the Asian continent in preparation for this very day.

 Now David inserts a reminder here of what they did to our Lord Jesus, perhaps to assuage the sensitivities of those who don’t see the need for justice.

Psa 59:2 Deliver me from evildoers and save me from bloodthirsty men.  Jesus Christ had to face cruel and heartless men who wanted to kill Him, and He had to endure it to the end.

 Psa 59:3 See how they lie in wait for me!  Fierce men conspire against me for no offense or sin of mine, O LORD.  They plotted and schemed and conspired against Him, even though they could not find any offence or sin in Him, whatsoever.  Prior to this, Jesus actually challenged these demons to find a sin in Him, and they couldn’t do it!  John 8:46-47 “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? ⁴⁷ He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."  When people fall into the grip of Satan they are incapable of any form of logic.  They become mad and impulsive, spewing venom like a cobra.  It becomes obvious that such people don’t belong to God and they certainly don’t listen to what God says!

 Psa 59:4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.  Arise to help me; look on my plight!  It’s a strange quirk of human nature that people of this earth hate the righteous, yet this present evil world loves their own, which are hostile to their Creator God.  Those who listen to what God says become natural targets for the children of the devil!

 Psa 59:5 O LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to wicked traitors. Selah.  It goes without saying that when the King returns, He will show no mercy to the wicked traitors, and all nations will become His target!

 In the final chapter of the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ gives an account of what it will be like when He returns as King: Rev 22:12-16 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴ "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 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."  Here Jesus clearly identifies what ‘dogs’ are!

Psa 59:6 They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city.  This is what Jesus will find in the Holy City when He returns!  Some may say, “Well, how could this be?  Aren’t both the Holy land and the Holy City prepared in advance of Jesus’ return?”  Indeed, this is so!  But a huge betrayal will occur immediately before Jesus’ triumphal return, orchestrated by the coming beast, and Jerusalem and the Holy Land will be overrun.  God’s two witnesses or prophets will spend 3½ years warning of the impending doom coming with the return of Jesus Christ.  At that time, the two prophets will have supernatural powers to inflict curses and to slaughter the inhabitants of the earth.  The account of this is found in Rev 11.  The precise detail of all this can be read in the Study of the Book of Isaiah at our website.

 Psa 59:7 See what they spew from their mouths-- they spew out swords from their lips, and they say, "Who can hear us?"  Once they have the imprint of the Beast on them, they’ll feel fully justified in killing anyone who doesn’t have the mark of the beast.  Naturally enough, it will be the saints they target!  That is, those who remain faithful to Jesus Christ.  It will a time like nothing ever seen in all the annals of human history!  Daniel spoke of this slaughter of the saints in Dan 7:21-22 “As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.”  Saints are those who possess God’s Holy Spirit – and no other!  Most professing Christians today are not Saints – even though they may think otherwise.  We all know that God gives His Holy Spirit only to those who obey Him, don’t we?

 Psa 59:8 But you, O LORD, laugh at them; you scoff at all those nations.  In a diminutive way, this always reminds me of the nuclear bombing of Japan.  The Japanese had retreated to their island, and armed themselves with anything that would kill Americans.  The Japs envisaged a bloodbath of attrition against the coming invasion by Americans.  President Truman scoffed at them with their sharpened sticks and their samurai swords from the closet, and then ‘zzzzap’!  Quickly followed by another ‘zzzzap’ over Nagasaki!  And it took the fight right out of them!  Oddly enough, the Japanese people were transformed into a decent and honourable people in the aftermath of this – a people totally distinct from the rest of Asia today!  I know the bleeding-hearts of the Western nations will disagree with this assessment, but it’s proven history!  It happened and we all know the results!

 So when God laughs at the nations and scoffs at them, He knows something that they don’t!  He knows how to bring peace!  The bizarre part about all this is that during WW2, America did too.  America recognized the enemy and pounded them into the ground – both in Europe and in Asia.  There were no commiserations about collateral damage in those days – otherwise they would have lost the war!  And this is precisely why they can’t win a war today and all of God’s servants know this.

 Psa 59:9 O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress, ¹⁰  my loving God.  God will go before me and will let me gloat over those who slander me.  Only God can now deliver the type of retribution necessary, and His servants will see it!  It will be the vindication of the Saints when they are able to gloat over their enemies.  With the Beast and his forces killing the Saints, it will be time for the alternative to Noah’s flood to take effect.  God doesn’t plan to kill them individually but collectively in one fell swoop.  He’ll have them wander right into His trap.

Psa 59:11 But do not kill them, O Lord our shield, or my people will forget.  In your might make them wander about, and bring them down.  This is speaking of the nations of the earth that God laughs at.  All those nations who hate God and His City!  From the north and the east He will bring them down for the big showdown.  And here they will be destroyed forever.  It will be a most memorable battle, and one which God’s people will never forget!  It’s called the Battle of Armageddon.  This battle is to be immortalized forever and never forgotten!  Remarkably, they will fall into the trap of entering the battle in the place of God’s choosing.  The numbers of these warriors are recorded as 200 million fighting men.

 Notwithstanding, there is a special reason why this should not be forgotten.  At the end of the 1,000 year Millennium, Satan will be released from prison, and who will he seek out as his loyal, dragon-worshipping offspring?  It will be the regenerated Asian hordes.  This is the account of how he will be released from prison to deceive the nations once more: Rev 20:1-3 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ² He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³ He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”  He will emerge unrepentant from his thousand year imprisonment and will go out to deceive his own dragon-worshipping brood once more for one final attack.  But that’s another story, which ends in Satan’s death forever.  As we all know, the wages of sin is death!  Not just for human beings, but for Satan and his demons as well.

 Psa 59:12 For the sins of their mouths, for the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride.  For the curses and lies they utter,

Psa 59:13 consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more.  Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah.  Surely no-one in their right mind would think that God would cleanse the earth of evil men and leave Satan and his demons to live forever!  If Jesus Christ came to destroy the devil’s work – and He did, then this will also include the architect of this work.  Jesus Christ Himself died to accomplish this, therefore justice will prevail.

 Psa 59:14 They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city.  Notice again Jesus words in Rev 22:15 in fulfillment of these words.  These words are a repeat of V6 and a reminder of the type of people that will oppose the Saints of God before justice is meted out.  It’s also preparatory to the plight of the House of Israel – the ‘lost Ten Tribes’ who presently live in safety while trying to ‘win the hearts and minds’ of these dogs around the world.  In the next Psalm, Ps 60, David begins to talk about the Tribes of Joseph – Ephraim and Manasseh – which he refers to by name!

 Psa 59:15 They wander about for food and howl if not satisfied.  Huge numbers of these dogs are work-shy and expect the tax-payer to support them.  The only thing they are good at is breeding!  These creatures almost cover the earth today, and many have now infiltrated among the Tribes of Israel.

 Speaking for all the Saints, David says this:

Psa 59:16 But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Psa 59:17 O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.  Only the saints recognize why God is a loving God, because they believe everything He has said and taught!  The children of the devil disagree, because they don’t believe God!

 

PSALM 60

 For the director of music. To the tune of "The Lily of the Covenant." A miktam ⁿ of David. For teaching. When he fought Aram Naharaim ⁿ and Aram Zobah, ⁿ and when Joab returned and struck down twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.  What wishful thinking this is on the part of the scribes who added these comments much later.  This Psalm has nothing to do with any of it, and Joab is not even mentioned in this Psalm.  Perhaps they were drinking loopy-juice when they wrote it!  It’s obviously not inspired Scripture!  This is true of most of these greyed-out comments that have been added at the start of the Psalms.

 Now we come to the plight of Ephraim and the tribes associated with him.  We’ll see that the Tribes of Joseph are specifically mentioned in V7.

Psa 60:1 You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry--now restore us!  Say please!  After all, they did bring it upon themselves!  They rejected God first, didn’t they?  It’s no good getting all uppity now, after the day of punishment has come.  All the prophets warned of this day, and it was there for all to see in the Scriptures.  Where are all their teachers now who did nothing but promise good outcomes?  What about all the rewards they promised?  For doing nothing, no less!  Were they good shepherds as they looked down on the congregation from the pulpits?  What have they done to protect the flock?  What a laugh that is!  They’ll run like jackals at the first sign of trouble.  Most of these preachers are not exactly known for their manliness are they?  They’re not the sort of people one might see entering the Temple and overturning the tables of the money-changers and scattering both men and animals in all directions, are they?  You don’t often hear them preaching about real manly courage and tenacity either, do you?

 In days of prosperity, when everything is going well, and people have no fear of external forces invading them, they become complacent and begin to philosophize about whether their Creator God actually exists.  Then they go to extraordinary lengths to discredit the Christian religion and seek to have it banned in schools.  To create the illusion that they’re too intelligent to have any interest in a Creator God, they develop all sorts of mindless theories which they can never prove, like ‘evolution’, ‘global warming’, ‘environmentalism’, and the fanciful tectonic-plate theory, all of which are sheer nonsense!  It’s absolutely hilarious that these idiots think they can predict outcomes based on their ‘science’ falsely so-called.  And God makes fools of them every time!  The reader will see with his own eyes how God makes fools of these ‘scientists’ with things that they can never explain. 

 And how harsh that lesson will be!

Psa 60:2 You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking.  This is speaking of catastrophic damage to the landmass of the earth.  In the build-up to these catastrophic events, Jesus Christ warned of increasing earthquake activity at the end of the age: Matt 24:7-9 “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹ "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.”  It seems that Christianity is already leading in the ‘most hated’ stakes throughout the world today, with the possible exception of the Jews.

 Psa 60:3  You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger.  When you observe the madness of ‘earth scientists’ today, they appear as if in a drunken stupor.  Their predictions are always wrong, and they seem to have no logical explanation for anything.  Because they have refused to believe God, He gives them the wine to make them stagger.  In other words, He makes fools of them.  As a result, they are going to experience desperate times! 

 It should be observed that these crazy theories about earthquakes resulting from ‘tectonic plate activity’ and the myth about ‘man-made global warming’ all emanated from the Christian nations by maniacs who don’t possess any form of logical ability or observation.  And these are the very things that will come back to bite them.

 Not only has God given them wine that makes them stagger, He intends to impart it to all the nations of the earth.  This is a reference to the Cup of God’s wrath that He forces all nations to drink.  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."  Never mind that the land is quaking and fractured, stage two is just ahead.  It will be a time of absolute destruction and carnage.

 And now the Prophet is told whom he must force the cup upon, and you’ll notice that it all begins among the nations of the Middle East.  This is actually a parable, because Jeremiah didn’t go to all the nations of the earth in his day.  Nevertheless, it’s a realistic and true parable that will be played out at the end of the age.  V17-26 “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 (Babylon) will drink it too.”  The first thing you will notice is that all of these are Muslim nations today.  You may not recognize all the nations mentioned, but the underlined ones should be obvious to all.  V27 “Then tell them, `This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.' <sup>28</sup> But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, `This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it! ²⁹ See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name [Jerusalem], and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.'”  Recall what we just quoted from Matt 24:7 “Nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…” 

 Jeremiah now continues in graphic detail, and he is speaking of a time when God will make His presence known: 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.”  You’ll notice the obvious reference to a roaring lion – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!  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.  ³² 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.”  Well, you can’t get much clearer than this!  When the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roars, you will know what His intentions are.

 And so we see that the cup of the LORD and the wine that makes men stagger is a punishment on all those who have made themselves God’s enemies.  Of special interest to Christians is the reference to the Cup from the LORD’S hand.  You will notice that Jesus Christ enacted the Passover with a Cup of Wine, and greatly desired to share it with His true disciples.  It was not the ‘Lord’s supper’ as some defiant people like to describe it!  It was the Passover!  The Passover was first observed in Egypt when God exacted justice on the enemies of His people Israel.  It was a bloodbath of men and animals, but a life-saver for those who observed it. 

 The Lamb of God substituted His own Blood and Body for the lamb that was sacrificed anciently – but only for His own disciples!  Everyone else observed the traditional slaughter of the Passover lamb at that time.  The same condition applies today, and only the true disciples of the Lord Jesus may observe it, and of course, this observation must be done on the Day of Passover!

 Those who observed the Passover in Egypt were spared God’s Wrath, and the warning went out that if anyone didn’t observe it in a worthy manner, then they would suffer the same fate as the Egyptians.  The same thing applies to Christians today, and we find that the Apostle Paul took note of this: 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 [died]. 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.”  It’s very obvious that Paul was referring to the judgment and condemnation of the world to which the Prophet Jeremiah was referring.

 Those who have never obeyed God are certainly not worthy to take the Lord’s Passover.  Their only option is the sacrifice of a lamb together with their fervent prayers that God will accept their sacrifice and not bring them under the judgment of the world.  I would suggest that their situation will be very, very tenuous for them in that day.  To be sure, all this may seem like foolishness to those who are perishing, but perish they will!  God intends to identify the fools!  He also plans to make a clear distinction between those who both fear and serve Him – and those who do not (Mal 3:16-18).

 Psa 60:4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.  Selah.  In fact, the bow of a ship!  We’re all familiar with the ‘colours’ or ‘banner’ being raised on a ship in battle.  Of similar interest, when a ship surrenders in battle they ‘strike their colours’ meaning they lower their banner in submission.  It’s the universal sign for surrender.  You’ll notice that those who fear the LORD, raise their banner for battle and their ‘colours’ will never be struck!

 The Bible makes many references to this ship in a variety of ways.  In Elijah’s day it was called a fiery chariot when it came to pick him up.  It was the only colloquial description available at that time.  At other times, the ship is referred to as the wings of a great eagle.  This ship is also inferred as a type of Noah’s Ark which rescued Noah and his family.  But it was the prophet Elisha that truly identified a number of these combat craft as flying machines: 2Kings 6:1617 “Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”  These craft could not be seen by Elisha’s servant until God opened his eyes.  In other words they were invisible spirit craft, which are indestructible by any human means.  And their weapons are more than all of mankind’s weapons put together.  The fire-power of these combat craft are city-destroyers, and this same type of craft destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah with fire rained down from heaven.  At the time, God forbad any humans to observe how and what He was doing when He destroyed these cities, but Lot’s wife couldn’t resist and paid the penalty.

 Obviously, those who fear the LORD and faithfully serve Him will follow the manner of Elijah when he was lifted up by a ‘fiery chariot’, and flown beyond the view of Elisha.  This is the account: 2Kings 2:11-12 “As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. ¹² Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.”  You’ll notice that after Elisha acknowledged Elijah as his father and considered himself to be Elijah’s offspring; he also acknowledged that these were the chariots and horsemen of Israel.  The very purpose of these chariots or space craft is the defense of the House of Israel.  Elisha’s reference to Elijah as ‘My father!  My father!’ was the recognition that he, Elisha, was the ‘offspring’ of Elijah.

 As a point of interest, we find that Elisha became a father to the House of Israel – not Judah – just before he died:  2Kings 13-14 “Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died.  Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. "My father! My father!" he cried. "The chariots and horsemen of Israel!"  So Elijah’s mantle certainly fell to Elisha after he departed to other territory in a secret location.

 David now goes on to confirm that his people, the Tribes of Israel, will be in need of much help.

Psa 60:5 Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered.  Yes, it’s those whom God loves who will be delivered, and these will be a mere remnant of the Tribes of Israel.  It should be obvious to all, that the Tribes of Israel are not ready for any sort of rescue attempt.  In the event that it happened, and the chariots of God arrived, the response from the Tribes of Israel would be “What are you trying to save us from?  We don’t need you to save us!”  So God has no intentions of mounting a rescue – yet!  However, in due time they will have need of rescue, and then they’ll just have to await their turn.  It will take years to rescue them from all the nations where they will be scattered.  The servants of God will have more urgent and pressing tasks to deal with.  Not least of which will be the problem of accommodation in their ancestral lands to where they will be brought.  This is specifically addressed in Zech 12:7-9 “The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.”  The House of David and Jerusalem’s inhabitants will be given Jerusalem to live in, but Judah must also be accommodated and dwellings for them must also be secured.

 The upshot to all this is that Judah will be honoured before the House of Israel, that is, the ‘lost Ten Tribes of Israel’.  And why do you suppose this is?  The ‘lost Ten Tribes of Israel’ are predominantly the Christian nations of the earth, with America being the largest.  So in terms of obedience to God, who have been the most faithful?  The House of Judah or the House of Israel?  It’s no contest!  The Jews have been far more faithful and obedient to God, and this has continued for millennia!  Even after a period of captivity, they returned to God and continued in obedience to His Laws.  The House of Israel, the Ten Tribes, never did!  And now it’s their turn!

 So of course God favours the Jewish people; why wouldn’t He?  Christians today repudiate God’s Laws, calling them “Jewish laws”.  There’s been a long history of Christians hating Jews and persecuting them.  The Jews might be forgiving of them, but the Servants of God are not!  The betrayal of the Jews will carry a very heavy penalty and this penalty will be exacted without mercy!  For every Jew that falls, a thousand will fall on the other side.  These are the ratios we’re talking about for the treachery of Christianity against Jews.  So take it to heart – you’ll be so glad you did!  Nevertheless, a remnant of the House of Israel will return – from captivity!

 It’s God’s intention to renew the earth will a clean slate, and to wipe out all those who disagree with Him, and have made themselves His enemy.  For obvious reasons, God plans to start at the House of Israel – the recalcitrant and rebellious Ten Tribes.  So horrific will their punishment be that they will be the object or horror and scorn throughout the whole world.  After this, they will learn the lesson that salvation comes from the Jews!

 Eventually, the day of punishment will end, and the remnant of Israel will return to their allotted ancestral lands.  Lands and territories will need to be allocated and all sorts of provisions made.  All of which will take some time.

 Psa 60:6 God has spoken from his sanctuary: "In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth.  After our LORD has triumphed, He will begin parceling out the Holy Land according to the prophesied divisions of territories for the Tribes of Israel.

 Manasseh and Ephraim are the sons of the Prophet Joseph, and the Tribe of Joseph is often referred to by the names of his sons.

Psa 60:7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter.  Gilead is the region east of the Jordan River, which has a rich history in the Bible for many reasons.  Central to the theme of this Psalm, it was the territory occupied by half the Tribe of Manasseh, the Tribe of Gad, and the Tribe of Reuben.  God confirms that this territory is His, so it doesn’t bode well for those who are presently occupying it.  As is happens, the peoples presently occupying it are held in contempt by God.

Psa 60:8 Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph."  It’s interesting to note that Muslims have a way of displaying insults to others, and this is to throw their shoe or sandal at those they want to insult.  Well, in this account, God returns the gesture.  Edom is definitely an object of God’s contempt.  Edom occupies the territory south of Jordan, and this extends deep into the Arabian peninsula, all the way to Yemen.  Edom is Esau, the brother of Jacob, whom God detested.  God makes no secret of how much he hates Esau in the Book of the Messenger – Mal 1:1-5.

 Moab and his brother Ammon were the sons of Lot, and today occupy the territory east of the Jordan River.  Laughingly, they call their nation ‘Jordan’ to ensure their claims to the Jordan River boundary.  What they seem to forget though, is that God has given this territory to two of the Tribes of Israel – Gad and Reuben and part of the Tribe of Manasseh.  God intends to clean them out, hence the reference to them being God’s washbasin. 

 Psa 60:9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?  Who will lead me to Edom?  Gad, Reuben and Manasseh have claims to the Eastern side of the Jordan, and these are presently the inhabitants of parts of Europe today.  Reuben settled in France, Manasseh the British Isles, and although the evidence for this is fairly thin, Gad is thought to have settled in Switzerland.  However, exact boundaries have become muddied over many generations.  One thing is certain, America today is made up of all the Tribes of Israel, and God collectively calls America ‘Ephraim’ because Ephraim was the mightiest of them all – even in ancient times, and he ruled over all ten Tribes.  The fact is that God gave Ephraim 10 Tribes in the days of Jeroboam.  The very name Ephraim is used interchangeably with the House of Israel many times in the Bible as we’ve continued to point out whenever the occasion arises.  So when the question is asked about who will lead them to the Fortified City and the land of Edom, Ephraim is described as being God’s [battle] helmet, and Judah the ruling body or scepter (V7 above).

 Psa 60:10 Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies?  Thanks to a whole lot of maniacal decisions effecting both Ephraim and Judah (America and Israelis), the sun is rapidly setting on their hopes for peace.  How much more evidence do they need in order to recognize the enemy – which just happens to be God’s enemy of old?  What part of the Scriptures justifies their appeasement of such a vile enemy?  Have they learned nothing from history?  Do they really believe that God would be with their armies while they favour dialogue rather than war?

 Psa 60:11 Give us aid AGAINST the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.  You can say that again!  The help of man is worthless, and especially the man that Ephraim voted into office as their President.  Read the words in V11 again.  Does it suggest giving aid to the enemy?  No!  It says give us aid AGAINST the enemy!

 With some reluctance, God will give them aid against their enemy, but this time Judah will be in charge!  Unfortunately for Ephraim, only a remnant of them will return to accomplish this.

 Psa 60:12 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.  This is undoubtedly true, but it will take many years to accomplish this, and many will die for this cause.

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