In the Psalms: Part 2 - 250209

SPEAKER A Hello, I'm Blair Lemke. Welcome to Let God Speak. Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9, that which has been is what will be. That which is done is what will be done. And there is nothing new under the sun. The range of human emotions that we experience today have all been experienced by our ancestors. The book of Psalms has counsel, comfort, relevance and hope for us. It contains symbols and images of last day events. Join us as we discuss four Psalms that declare God as our refuge, our omnipotent king, our justice and our source of blessings. On our panel today, we have Kate Simpson and Lazio Crescentini. Welcome. SPEAKER B Thank you. SPEAKER A Good to be here as always. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank youk for this opportunity to study youy Word today. And we ask that yout would send us yous Holy Spirit to lead us into truth. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, the Book of Psalms is a collection of sacred poetry that describes the human experiences and interactions with God. The people of the land, the poets, the kings. They sing praises to the Creator and Saviour, but they also weep and cry to the Lord, longing for his judgement and salvation. Today we are going to explore Psalms 46, 47, 67 and 75 that draw attention to God Himself and have messages for us living in these last days before Jesus returns. To begin, let's turn to Psalms 46 and we'll read verses 1, 2, 3. The Bible says God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah, Kate, what is happening in these three verses? SPEAKER B There's actually a lot happening in the first three verses here. So in verse one, God is presented as our refuge and strength, very present help in time of trouble. He's the one who protects us, shelters us from the troubles. In the next two verses, verse 2 is a declaration of our commitment to God. It says here we will not fear. And I think that's powerful because this is a significant level of trust that we can have in God. Because there's quite some. Some scary things happening in these verses. SPEAKER A Absolutely, Absolutely there is. And verse two and three describe some quite notable calamities. Lazio, What? What's taking place here? SPEAKER C Absolutely. If you look at these calamities, they are not war, human dramas, but our physical calamities of nature. Now we can see this in verse two describes the mountains being carried into the sea. Verse three we've got the earthquake, tsunamis. These events make us realise just how small we are. God is our only help during these times. SPEAKER A Absolutely. Natural disasters have a way of reminding us of our smallness, don't they? But it describes this language that we see in scripture here. We see a similar description in other places in scripture as well, don't we, Kate? SPEAKER B We do. So turn with me to Revelation chapter 6, verse 14. We see some similar language here. And I'm just going to read Revelation chapter 6, verse 14. It says, and the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. So this is John seeing these events here. And it's related to the opening of the seven seals of the scroll. So this is describing the scenes of the sixth seal, which we know is just before the second coming. And it's very similar language of the trouble Psalm 46 was referring to, which we just read. So the promises of Psalm 46 are for us to claim today because we're almost living in these times. SPEAKER A That's a powerful reminder, isn't it, that God is our refuge, he is our strength, He's a present help in our time of need, particularly as we face the challenges of the last days. We will certainly need a refuge and a source of strength in the days that are ahead of us. Well, let's continue to read here. Verses 5 and 6. Sorry, I should say verses 4 and 5. The Bible says there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that right early. So the Bible goes on and we see a change in tone, I suppose you could say what's taking place here, Lazio? SPEAKER C Absolutely. So as we just read, and we can see from this upheaval, from this nature in verse two to verse three, this contrast now happening in verse four, we have this peace, this tranquilly of a calm majestic river. And if we look at rivers now, and especially through scripture, rivers are a source of the light, life giving water. That's a beautiful metaphor from God himself, where God's protection, that river, that protection from God is for those people who dwell in the city of Jerusalem. And we can see that in Isaiah. So if you go to Isaiah 66:12, it says, for thus says the Lord, behold, I will extend peace to her like a River. So God gives us that peace all of a sudden after those commonalities. SPEAKER A Mm. Wow. Well, let's, let's keep reading on here. And it goes on in verse 6 it says the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. And we see here that, you know, it moves from the source of danger changes in these verses. Where does the danger change to? Kate? SPEAKER B The danger is coming from the heathen now, which we see in verse 6. So people not natural disasters anymore, but we're looking at humanity here, specifically humanity at war, as it says here in verse 6, that the heathen raged. So we can certainly see strife and wars around us today. And yeah, we know that this is. SPEAKER A True when we read here now, there's some quite symbolic language that is picked up in these verses. It says that the earth melted. Where do we just see descriptions of the world melting in other parts of the Bible, Lance. SPEAKER C Yes, absolutely. So we can see that at the return of Jesus. So when Jesus comes, everything changes. And Peter wrote about that. So Peter wrote about these conditions leading up to Jesus coming, but also the aftermath. And let's go to second Peter, chapter three, verse ten. And, and we'll read there. And it says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with great noise and the elements will melt with ferment heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burnt up. Verse 11 continues. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of a person ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening of the coming of the day of God, because which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. So yeah, it's Friday coming. SPEAKER A That's, that's some very real end time scenario imagery that's being used here in this psalm of the melting of the earth. And, and so there's some very clear connections here between this psalm in the last days and the source of help that we'll need at that time. I want to continue reading as we go through this psalm and, and we'll pick up in verse eight through the end of the chapter here. The Bible says, come behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he has made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cut off the spear in sunder, he burneth the chariots in the fire. But still. But be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Sealer. I want to focus on verse 10 here. It describes this verse of this. This idea of being still and knowing that God is God. What can we take from this passage? SPEAKER B Just stop, you know, stop fretting, stop worrying, just be still. God says that he controls the wars. He will be the one that's exalted over the heathen. And he calls us to just be still and know that he is God. And that word. No, there's an element of experience here. This is kind of what Moses, Paul and Jesus experienced. You know, Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness resetting his thinking. Paul spent three years in Arabia clearing his Pharisaical beliefs. And Jesus as well spent 40 days in the wilderness alone before he started his ministry. So we too must be still and just know that he is God among all these calamities. We can just stop and see what God will do. SPEAKER A That's a very poignant reminder in light of the busied and hustled lives that we live in in the times, you know, in the modern age where, you know, it's sometimes hard to make time for the things that matter, the things that are spiritually important, to have that unhurried time with, connect, connecting with God. And so I see, I think that as you've pointed out, this is such a wonderful spiritual challenge and lesson for us living in these last days, to be still, to make that time, to connect with God, to recognise that he is our refuge and to stay connected to Him. Well, it's interesting to note in this psalm that verses 7 and 11 are repeated. It says that the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Sealer. When a message is repeated in the Bible, this is like an emphasis point, something that we should focus on. What's the significance here of this idea being repeated? SPEAKER C Absolutely, as we see in those verses. So the first part, God's people are the immediate targets of these things happening and identified as the speaker of Psalm 46. But yet they face these trials with courage and hope. And then verse two says, we will not fear. And that gets repeated in verse 7 and verse 11. And that reminds us that God is with us, he will protect us. He, like, we don't have to fear. His promise is sure and we can hold on to that. So it's just like A reassurance of. SPEAKER A God telling us a powerful lesson that we can take from these psalms. I want to turn our attention now to our second Psalm in Psalm 47, nine powerful verses that we can take many lessons from. Let me read the first four verses of this psalm. The Bible says, o clap your hands, all ye people. Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most High is terrible. He is a great king over all the earth. He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved. Selah. This is an interesting passage here, and it identifies Jesus as the king of the earth. And. But I suppose it raises an interesting question. Is there. Is there any dispute that Jesus is the king of the earth? SPEAKER B Yes, there actually was dispute over Jesus being the king of the earth, but only up until the cross. Because in the beginning of the world, Adam was given dominion, but he became subservient to Satan when he fell for Satan's temptation. And so at that point, Satan claimed dominion of the earth. And Job actually gives us some insight in chapter one of his book. So we'll just turn to Job, chapter one and read verse six and seven. And it just says here now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it, Jesus acknowledged Job's claim here or Satan's claim here in John 4, 14:30. I'm just going to turn over there quickly and read John, chapter 14, verse 30. Jesus says, Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. So here Satan is being acknowledged as the prince of the world. There was some dispute. SPEAKER A Yeah, it's very interesting. Here we see this idea of Satan representing himself as the ruler of the earth and Jesus to some degree, acknowledging that claim in a limited sense. But we do see that Satan loses his dominion. SPEAKER B Hallelujah. SPEAKER A Where does this take place? Lots. SPEAKER C And that happens at the cross. That's when Jesus died and he rose for us. So Jesus overcame Satan. He redeemed humanity at the cross. And it is through the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit working in our lives now that we have that same power to resist Satan as well and his temptations. And we can then follow God's will with the Help of the Holy spirit. And John 12:31 echoes that. When Jesus said, now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast down. And he's referring to himself at the cross. That's where it happened. SPEAKER A That's the hope of the Gospel, isn't it? The power of Jesus claiming dominion of this world and our hearts and our lives. Well, the first four verses, of course, of this psalm speak of this idea of the hope of the psalmist. It talks about the enemies being subdued, subduing the people under us and this sort of thing. Let's read on and have a look at verses five to nine and notice a change of emphasis here. The Bible says God is gone and up with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet, Sing praises to God. Sing praises, sing praises unto our king. Sing praises, for God is the king of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness. The princes of the people are gathered together. Even the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong unto God. He is greatly exalted. What do we see here, Kate, in this emphasis change in the last part of that psalm? SPEAKER B Yes, the first four verses are kind of expressing the hope of what God will do, and the last five verses are emphasising the accomplishment of that hope. So verse two also is repeated in verse seven with more certainty. Says in verse seven, God is the king, and verse eight, God reigneth over the heathen, a theme that we've been seeing so far today. So today, right here, right now, we can have certainty that our king, he's currently in the heavenly sanctuary, is our king over all the earth. SPEAKER A Amen. That's a powerful promise to hold onto, isn't it? Now, there is a prophetic element to this psalm as well. Lazio, what do we see in a prophetic sense here? SPEAKER C Absolutely. So we can see through that psalm that the nations who are now praising God in verse seven are the same nations that were defeated in verse three. And if we look at Revelation, which then brings back that prophetic thing in Revelation 22, 2 says, in the middle of each street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruit, of which tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. So it speaks here of the healing of those nations in the new Jerusalem. And the nations who accepted Christ as their king are no longer against God people. But now they've become Part of God's people. They are now God's people and have that healing. So it's prophetic showing towards that. SPEAKER A I think that's really powerful. And it, again, speaks to the power of the gospel that no one's too far to be saved. You know, we can. We can, we can put our confidence in him and be a part of that group that will be in that wonderful heavenly kingdom. So, yeah, again, a wonderful highlight that we can see here. Let's have a look now at our third Psalm. We're moving through our psalms today. Let's look at verse chapter 75, Psalm 75, and I'll read for us here verses one through to three. Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks. Unto Thee do we give thanks for that Thy name is near Thy wondrous works Declare when I shall receive the congregation, I will judge uprightly. The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. I bear up the pillars of it. Selah, what imagery is presented here in these couple of verses? Kate? SPEAKER B Well, in verse three here we see the God is saying, the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. There's kind of a metaphorical shaking of the earth, crumbled society, it's lost all its foundations, which is pretty much what we see today. You know, chaos, disorder, lost stability, lost moral reference points is a bit of a mess, to be honest. But the last part of verse three contrasts this mess with God saying that he will bear up the pillars of the earth and reminding us again that he is the judge, he is in control. He's in the business of restoration and restoring the stability of society. He is our hope. SPEAKER A Again, another. Another wonderful promise that we can hold onto in the days that we're living. Well, let's read another text here in Psalm 75, and I'll highlight for us verse 8 for another aspect of imagery that we see in this Psalm. Verse 8 says, for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and he poured out of the same, but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall ring to them and drink them. This is some interesting imagery. What's going on here, Lazio? SPEAKER C Absolutely. So in verse 8, we can see that image that the cup is full of strong wine, and that wine that God pours out onto the wicked, and the wicked drinks that wine thoroughly. And the image is very similar to what we see in Revelation, where the cup of God is God's wrath with that cup. And that's Revelation 14:10 and verse 10 says he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. So this message to us is not to drink of that cup, but is actually to drink of the pure living waters which of God. And we can see that in John, if we go to John 4:14, and it says, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. SPEAKER A I think that's another important reminder in connection to the days that we're living in with, to that, that wine of the wrath of God's indignation, the, the wine of Babylon, that, that wrath, that. That is going to be poured out upon the wicked. Ultimately, we don't want to be drinking that. We want to have the pure water, the water of life that Jesus offers. And so absolutely, the Bible does give us some drinking advice for the last days, you could say. Now let's, let's look at one more image here in the. This psalm that we're seeing in verse in Psalm 75, and I'm going to highlight for us verse 4 and 5. The Bible says, I said unto the fools, deal not foolishly, and to the wicked, lift not up the horn, lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck. And if we jump across to verses nine and ten again, we see, but I will declare forever, I will sing praises. Oh, my mistake. Where are we in verse? SPEAKER B I think that was it. SPEAKER A That was it. Yep. Almost mixed it with another psalm. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Now, we see another image here that in this psalm. We've packed a couple of images here in Psalm chapter 75. Watch this imagery of the horns that we've just reflected on here, Kate. SPEAKER B Right. So we also see horns in Daniel, chapter seven, verse eight. And I'll just read that quickly. It will give us some more insight here. It says, I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things. So the little horn here represents some power. You know, it's plucked up the three before it. So back to Psalm 75. In verse 5 it says, hold on. In verse 75, verse 5, sorry, God puts down the boastful wicked who lifts up his horn or power. And then in verse 10 God exalts the righteous whose horn was thrown down. So these righteous, they've submitted to Christ and God comes through as the divine judge to restore the order that was overturned by the power powers of evil. And this is a powerful image that justice will prevail. SPEAKER A And that's very in line with what Jesus teaches as well, of course, of not exalting self, but you know, having Christ as the source of our strength, not seeking our own human power and all of these parallels that we see throughout Scripture. Lazio how would we Sum up Psalm 75? SPEAKER C Yes, that's while we are at midst of this turmoil of this world that's falling apart with all this chaos, we can still praise God. We know that he hears us and he will deliver his people and we can hold on to that. Ultimately God is in control now. He is the judge. He will be the one that's going to bring this deliverance to us and justice to this world. I want to say in the end is he will restore it to the right order, like God is in control. So that's how I would sum it up. SPEAKER A We can trust him, we can put our confidence in him, and he is the sovereign God of the universe and he will reign supreme, which is the sort of God that we want to be serving in the last days, I think. Let's look at our last psalm now and we're going to have a look here at Psalm 67 and I'll highlight verses one to seven. Only seven verses in this psalm. Let's read through it together. The Bible says God, be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah that thy way may be known upon earth thy saving heath among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise Thee Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon the earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase and God, even our own God shall bless us, God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. So we see some direct blessings to the people in this psalm. But what else do we see asked for in this psalm? SPEAKER B Kate well, in verse two it says God intends that we reflect his light to the rest of the world that his way may be known upon the earth. We've got this theme of knowing God reappearing here. This was a task given to Israel. You know, the temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations or all people. And we'll just quickly turn over to Isaiah, chapter 56 and verse 7, it reads. I'll just read the last part here. For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. So in our day we are to receive God's light and reflect it as we take the three angels messages of Revelation chapter 15, verse 6 to 12 to the world. And then all people will know God. Kind of like we were talking about earlier in Psalm 46. We reflect God and then people have the opportunity to know him as well. SPEAKER A It's a call, it's a wonderful call to be a witness, to shine our lights, to be an example, to take that message in the last time days that we're living in. And as we've seen in all of our previous psalms. Kate, does this psalm here in Psalm 67, does this also have an end time prophetic focus? SPEAKER B Yes, it does, because it also says in verse two, all nations. So this has an end time fulfilment when all nations, like not just Israel, will benefit from God's blessing in the new Jerusalem. And there God's face will shine upon everyone. Revelation 21:23 says, and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. And you know, with God lighting it, all will know that he is God. In that moment we'll be surrounded by his presence, surrounded by his glory. Honestly, it sounds like the most amazing thing. SPEAKER A Absolutely. And if in some final remarks as we finish, if we could sum up this lesson, what would be a sum up that you would take from what we've looked at in our time together today? A take home lesson. SPEAKER B I would sum it up as like knowing God, being surrounded by all of the things, seeing all the chaos in the world, that we can look at all of that around and we can just be still and know that he is God. That's what I'll be taking away from it. SPEAKER A Absolutely. And of course there is no better time than the present to put our full confidence in him, to take our time and to invest it in the cause of Christ. And so we're glad that you could join us today. We've looked at four psalms that declare Christ as our refuge, our King, our righteous judge and the source of our blessings. How important is it for us living in these crazy, turbulent last times? And the best news of all, of course, is that he is going to return very soon to collect his people that love him and have waited for Him. If you do not know Jesus, ask Him to come into your life. Today is our appeal. We're glad that you joined us today on Let God Speak. Remember, all past programmes plus teacher's notes are available on our website, 3abnaustralia.org.au. You can email us on [email protected]. Please join us again next time. God bless. SPEAKER B You have been listening to let God speak, a production of 3ABN Australia television. To catch up on past programmes, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 02 4973 3456. Or email [email protected]. we'd love to hear from you.