THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXXIV. Gaining Assurance From God’s Deliverance

(Psalm 124:1-8)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

God has delivered us believers in Christ from various humanly overwhelming trials:

(1) The Biden administration was marked by “multiple crises” that “developed around the globe, Americans were mass deprived of employment due to government-forced vaccinations, states were browbeaten to allow children to get life-altering hormones, and an ultimately victorious presidential candidate was nearly jailed. While the 46^th president’s handlers, most likely at the behest of former President Barack Obama, led him around . . . the federal apparatus operated on its own . . . Decisions were carried out by vast, interlocking agencies at the behest of their Democratic Party allies whom they serve. This was the first fully deep-state presidency . . . The result was a . . . disaster. Americans rightly lost faith in their leaders and the elite institutions attached to this corrupt apparatus. U. S. foreign policy was at best strategically adrift. Our enemies around the globe went on the march. The people feared the government more than the government feared them . . . (and w)e can’t forget . . . how much the legacy media covered for a senile president’s . . . incapacity.” (Jarrett Stepman, “Biden’s ‘presidency’ is a scandal of historic proportions,” Republican-American, May 21, 2025, p. A7) In spite of it all, we still function as a body of believers!

(2) Associated Press journalist Peter Smith in his recent story on Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis (“With an ark and museum, he spreads creationism a century after Scopes trial,” Ibid., May 23, 2025, p. B11) wrote, “(T)he famous Scopes Monkey Trial, which took place 100 years ago this July” so influenced the nation toward evolution that “(l)eading science organizations say it’s crucial to teach evolution and old-Earth geology” and “the National Academy of Sciences” says “(e)volution is ‘one of the most securely established scientific facts.’” Yet, Peter Smith wrote that Mr. Ham’s goal is “to assert the entire biblical Book of Genesis should be interpreted as written – that humans were created by God’s fiat on the sixth day of creation on an Earth that is only 6,000 years old.” (Ibid.) Mr. Smith added that Ken Ham critiqued William Jennings Bryan’s effort to defend creation in the Scopes trial by his “interpreting parts of (the Bible) metaphorically rather than literally. ‘It showed people around the world that Christians don’t really believe the Bible – they can’t answer questions to defend the Christian faith,’ Ham says. ‘We want you to know that we’ve got answers,’ Ham adds.” (Ibid.) God has sustained us regardless of the Scopes trial!

(3) “Timothy ‘Chaz’ Stevens . . . wants the flag of Satanology raised over City Hall and in four other Connecticut cities after Christian flags were raised by city officials. But Torrington Mayor Elinor Carbone says the flagpole in front of City Hall is not a public forum, the city won’t fly the flag of Satanology and to prevent it they are looking into making an ordinance change . . . Carbone said . . . the Christian flag . . . honors . . . the city’s founding. ‘In . . . . Connecticut, you couldn’t be founded without a foundational church, in this case the First Congregational Church,’ she said. ‘It was done as an acknowledgement that the city of Torrington would not have existed without that foundational church.’” (Sloan Brewster, “Torrington may change rule to prevent Satanology flag from flying at City Hall,” Ibid., May 22, 2025, p. A1) God is still delivering us from trouble at the local level!

Need: So, we ask, “How does God want us believers to respond to His past deliverances?”

I. In Psalm 124:1-5, David acknowledged God’s great deliverance from overwhelming foes:

A. David acknowledged God’s great deliverance from sudden defeat by fierce enemies, Psalm 124:1-3:

1. The protasis (“if” clause) is mentioned twice in verses 1-2 and the apodosis (“then” clause) is mentioned three times in verse 3 to emphasize the certainty of Israel’s demise had God not delivered her.

2. That near demise would have been a sudden, fierce destruction by Israel’s foes, Psalm 124:2b, 3b.

B. David acknowledged God’s great deliverance from overwhelming destroyers, Psalm 124:4:

1. Israel’s near destruction by her foes is figuratively likened to her being overwhelmed by a great flood.

2. David may well have pictured the Noahic Flood’s worldwide and hence inescapable destruction of every living thing on the land as reported in Genesis 7:19-24.

C. David acknowledged God’s great deliverance from complete destruction, Psalm 124:5:

1. The figurative flood Israel nearly faced would have swept away their lives like the Noahic Flood.

2. The KJV noun “soul” translates the Hebrew noun nepesh, one’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual life (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 1088; Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, 1973, p. 56-59), so David indicated that had the Lord not intervened, Israel would have been completely destroyed!

II. Consequently, Psalm 124:6-7 records David’s thanksgiving to the Lord for His great deliverance:

A. David thanked God for not letting the people of Israel figuratively be torn by the teeth of their foes much like a fierce, predatory, wild beast would tear at the flesh of a helpless livestock animal, Psalm 124:6.

B. He reported that Israel’s life principle (nepesh, Ibid., Kittel) had escaped like a defenseless bird out of the fowlers’ snare, that snare being actually broken by the Lord’s intervention, Psalm 124:7.

III. David’s conclusion from recalling God’s great deliverance was that Israel’s perpetual help was in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. We explain (Psalm 124:8):

A. The word “Lord” here translates “Yahweh,” the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-18) in preparation for the Lord’s great deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.

B. God’s role as “Maker of heaven and earth” recalls His sovereignty as the Creator of the universe, Genesis 1-2.

C. Thus, David concluded that God’s recent great divine deliverance of Israel from fierce, overwhelming enemies aligned with His sovereign, good, omnipotent commitment to continue to deliver Israel in the future!

Lesson: God wants His people to realize that His past great deliverance of them from overwhelming defeat to fierce foes is assurance that He is willing and able to continue to deliver them. Thus, God’s people owe Him praise.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) As we acknowledge God’s past deliverances, we should praise Him, recognizing that His past deliverances are assurances that He will continue to deliver us in the future.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and/or provide additional guidance . . .)

We view Scripture passages that give more insight and assurance on the issues of concern in our introduction:

(1) On the multiple crises of the Biden administration and the effort to fly the flag of Satanology at City Hall, (a) James 3:14-16 NIV and ESV reveals that such activities marked by disorder, envy and selfish ambition are earthly, unspiritual and demonic. (b) This should not surprise us as 2 Corinthians 4:4 reveals Satan is the god of this world. (c) However, instead of being anxious over this state of affairs, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-14 predicts that the Holy Spirit Who indwells us believers in Christ currently restrains evil so that the antichrist and Satan’s full-blown rebellion in the world will not occur until after the Church is raptured. Thus, (d) 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 directs us believers to be comforted in this truth that we might be established in every good word and work until God takes us to heaven!

(2) As for the Scopes trial where William Jennings Bryan tried to defend creationism by a metaphorical interpretation of parts of Scripture, (a) the ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow who upheld evolution spoke of the Bible at the start of the trial, saying, “‘We expect to show that it isn’t in conflict with the theory of evolution’” (Bolton Davidheiser, Evol. and Christ. Faith, 1976, p. 94). Then, during the trial, Mr. Bryan testified, “I do not see that there is any necessity for construing the words, ‘the evening and the morning’” in Genesis 1-2 “‘as meaning . . . a twenty-four-hour day.’” Mr. Darrow asked, “You think they were not literal days?” and Mr. Bryan answered, “I do not think they were twenty-four-hour days.” (“Transcripts from Tennessee versus John Scopes, 1925,” history.hanover.edu) Mr. Bryan’s claim that the Genesis 1-2 days were figurative left room for one to view them as long ages of time for evolutionary processes to occur, fitting Mr. Darrow’s goal to show that the Bible did not conflict with evolution and leaving Mr. Bryan and the fundamentalists he represented appear to be foolish to oppose evolution!

(b) However, in Genesis 1-2, (i) “(e)vening and morning cannot be construed to mean an age, but only a day,” for “everywhere in the Pentateuch the word day” is “used (as here) with a numerical adjective” it “means a solar day (now calibrated as 24 hours)” (Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Gen. 1:5). (ii) Also, the first numerical adjective in Genesis 1-2 is in the cardinal form in the Hebrew text and reads “one” (‘ehad), not the ordinal form that would read “first” (ri’shon), where all of the following numerical adjectives are in the ordinal form and read “second” (sheni), “third” (shelishi), “fourth” (rebi’i), “fifth” (hamishi), “sixth” (shishi) and “seventh” (shebi’i)” respectively (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1-2; J. Weingreen, A Pract. Gram. for Class. Heb., 1969, p. 242-245). Kenneth Barker, Ph. D., Dropsie College and former Chairman and Professor of Semitics and Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, claims that wherever this idiomatic use of these numerical adjectives appear with the word “day” in ancient semitic writings, it refers to consecutive solar days in a calendar month. Genesis 1-2 in the Hebrew text then claims that God created the universe in a solar week! Had these facts been noted at the Scopes trial, Mr. Darrow’s goal to show the Bible did not conflict with evolution would have been blocked and the trial’s ideological impact checked! (c) The big lesson here is that we need to use Jesus’ way of interpreting Scripture literally (cf. Mark 12:18-27 and Matthew 5:18)!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we acknowledge God’s past deliverances as assurances that He will deliver us in the future.