THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XXI. Relying On Our Most High God Today

(Psalm 21:1-13)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

In today's world, we certainly need assurances of security about our lives:

(1) Clifford May's column, "'Off-ramp' fades from view" (Republican-American, April 25, 2022, p. 8a) noted that "Vladimir Putin, Russia's ruler, has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, including 10 times as many tactical nukes as the United States." On top of that, last Monday, the "Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that there was a 'serious' threat of conflict involving nuclear weapons" due to the way NATO nations are supplying Ukrainian soldiers weapons to stave off Russia's invasion of their country. (Alla Slisco, "The Threat of Nuclear War Should Not Be 'Underestimated,' Kremlin Says," April 25, 2022; msn.com/en-us/news/world/)

(2) Last week, Bloomberg News ran the story, "China plans system to take out asteroids heading toward earth" (Ibid., April 26, 2022, p. 9A) that reported that not only China, but NASA "already watches space for asteroids that could be on a collision course with earth" with an apparent motive to try to avert a catastrophe.

(3) The lead editorial, "Unprepared for days ahead" (Ibid., p. 8A) warned, "Congress, the courts, the public or all three should not let the Biden administration go forward with a potentially murderous scheme to turn more food crops into motor fuel, in a time of probable worldwide food shortages or worse" due to the "war . . . in Ukraine – a breadbasket nation."

(4) A letter by Todd Peterson of Washington Depot, Connecticut (Ibid., April 22, 2022, p. 6A) asserted, "Since 1975, when state-employee unions solidified their outsized influence, Connecticut has watched its financial situation decay" to where "we rank at or near the bottom of the list of sovereign states with extraordinary debt load, unfunded liabilities, and migration of population and taxable income growing unchecked. All are self-inflicted wounds."

(5) Kent Lassman's piece, "It's time to retire Earth Day" (Ibid.) lamented, " . . . (W)e have a global class of professional activists committed to . . . depopulation and decarbonization of the economy" who spend "billions . . . every year to shape public opinion in favor of more government restrictions on economic growth and mobility." Yet, these are "obstacles" to "most people" who "seek to save and invest, create food and housing security for themselves and their communities, and avoid drastic restrictions on the ability to travel for work, play and to visit family."

(6) This problem is especially noticeable on the climate change issue: Mr. Lassman added, "With each passing year, activists place greater emphasis on models predicting catastrophic environmental outcomes decades in the future," but "when real-world data collected during the last 20 years are fed into these models, they fail to predict current observations about the climate, the seas or the behavior of the upper atmosphere. The evidence does not support radical policy prescriptions that would reshape society and impoverish billions of people." (Ibid.)

Need: So, we ask, "In view of current events, is there any reasonable assurance of security about our lives?!"

I. In Psalm 21:1-6, David praised the Lord for providing him manifold blessings as Israel's king:

A. Stylistically referring to himself in the third person (Ibid.), David rejoiced in the exercise of God's strength in his behalf, noting the Lord had granted him his prayer request for blessings [in battle], Psalm 21:1-3.

B. David had asked for life, what God had granted and given him glorious victory, making him happy, v. 4-6.

II. Then, in Psalm 21:8-13, the people of Israel addressed their king David, expressing their anticipation of God's continued blessings on David because of God's blessing in his life and ministry as king:

A. The people expressed confidence that David would keep defeating his foes since God helped him, v. 8-12.

B. Accordingly, the people praised the Lord for exercising His own strength in David's behalf, promising to sing and praise the Lord for His might, Psalm 21:13.

III. However, at Psalm 21:7, David revealed the actual BASIS of the SECURITY of God's blessings:

A. David had trusted in the Lord for the blessings he had desired from God, Psalm 21:7a.

B. David also held that "through the mercy of the Most High" he would "not be moved" (KJV). We explain:

1. The word "mercy" translates hesed in Hebrew, God's "loyal love." (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 991; H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, vol. I, p. 305-307)

2. The term "Most High" translates the Hebrew noun 'Elyon, and in the context, it is packed with meaning: (i) The term "El Elyon," translated "Most High God" appears as names of specific deities in ancient pagan Gentile texts, Zon. Pict. Ency. Bib., vol. Four, p. 177. (ii) Yet, godly Melchizedek in Genesis 14:19 said "El Elyon" was the "creator of matter, the cosmos . . . a concept foreign to the polytheistic religions of the ancient Near East which did not distinguish spirit from matter and therefore worshiped the elements of the cosmos" (Ibid.), so Melchizedek "came into possession of the truth concerning God by way of the" truth "that still prevailed . . . after the Flood," H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 1974, vol. I, p. 465.

3. Since even Gentiles who fought against David and Israel knew that "Elyon" was the Creator and Supreme Being, and He was loyal to His covenant with Israel to bless those Gentiles who blessed Israel and to curse those Gentiles who cursed her (Genesis 12:1-3), David found great security in the God of all Gentiles and Israel, the "Most High" 'Elyon and His loyal love to Israel to give him victory in fighting Gentiles!

4. The verb behind "not be moved" is mot, and here in the Niphal stem it means to "be shaken, moved, overthrown." (B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 556-557) David implied that he would not be shaken, moved, or overthrown by Gentiles enemies in his role as king in Israel.

Lesson: Since David and Israel's people trusted in the Creator God Who was sovereign over ALL people, Hebrew and Gentile alike, a God Who had loyal love toward Israel in line with the Abrahamic Covenant, they were assured of security in all of the conflicts they faced with Gentiles providing they trusted in the "Most High" for blessing!

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) May we trust our Sovereign Creator Who is over all peoples and armies throughout the whole world for the security we need in our lives!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

We apply Scriptures on our Most High Creator's provisions of security for us regarding the issues mentioned in our introduction:

(1) On the threat of nuclear weapons possibly being used in war in our era, nothing in Scripture implies either that they will or that they will not be used. Indeed, two nuclear bombs have already been used in World War II! However, if such weapons will be used in our era today, they will still not produce the end of the world, for the Church must yet be raptured, and after the rapture there will be the Tribulation (Rev. 6:1-19:21) followed by Christ's earthly reign (Rev. 20:1-6)! The world still has to be populated by nations of peoples for all those events to occur!

(2) On asteroids hitting the earth, Revelation 8:10-11 predicts an asteroid will hit the earth in the Tribulation after the Church is raptured, and it will pollute 1/3 of man's drinking water sources. Asteroids have crashed into the earth in its past, a fact noted by conservative Christian scientist Andrew A. Snelling, Ph. D., in his article, "Dinosaur Killer," Answers, Jan.-Feb. 2020, p. 68-73. This could occur in our era, but not to the extent that it kills all humans!

(3) As for the Biden administration's transforming more crops into fuel, allegedly creating a world famine, Revelation 6:5-6 predicts a worldwide famine in the Tribulation period after the Church is raptured in Revelation 4:1-3. Any food shortage that occurs in our era must not be as great as that which will occur in the future Tribulation!

We must recall that the issues of the use of nuclear weapons, asteroid collisions with the earth and worldwide famines and other notable catastrophes cannot be nearly as catastrophic in our era of Church History as they will be in the coming Tribulation when God punishes the world for rejecting Christ! We have repeatedly announced for several years that we now face a "Mini-Great Tribulation" period predicted in Revelation 3:21 with 7:17, so the trials we witness are but small samples of what is to come. Meanwhile, God wants us to respond to the current trials the world faces by being vigilant to fulfill His assignments for us in discipling troubled people with the Biblical truth.

(4) On the drain of the state employee unions on the state's coffers and taxpayers coupled with promoters of Earth Day who desire to push their radical ideologies to the cost of billions of dollars to many people, we have several encouraging testimonies in Scripture of God's provisions for the godly amid severe material and livelihood shortages: (a) In 2 Kings 4:42-44 during a famine (4:38), God used His prophet Elisha to multiply a donor's meager gift of barley loaves and ears of grain to the school of the prophets so that 100 prophets could be fed and still have leftovers! (b) In 2 Kings 6:1-7 when the men in the school of the prophets were felling trees at the Jordan River to build a bigger building, and one of them lost a borrowed axe head in the river, what debt could result in his becoming a slave to the creditor, Elisha caused the axe head to float so it could be retrieved! (c) In 2 Kings 6:24-7:20, God used Elisha to end a famine in Samaria that had been caused by the besieging Arameans. He ended the famine by making the Arameans think they heard a large army in pursuit of them, so they fled, leaving an abundance of food behind for Israel's people!

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 then trust our Sovereign Creator's loyal love to us as His people to provide the security we need to fulfill His will in our lives regardless what foes we face who challenge our security in life.