THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XLV. Handling The Unsettling National Divide

(Psalm 45:1-17)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We live in an era of an unsettling national divide, and we need to know how to handle it:

(1) Megan McArdle (“We need to learn to like each other again,” Republican-American, October 29, 2022, p. 6A) reported, “At a . . . panel discussion at Arizona State University, I participated in a lively” discussion “about the state of the media and American democracy . . . (W)e all agreed” that the “country is bitterly divided into two informational bubbles . . . and both traditional and social media simultaneously mirror and exacerbate this divide.”

(2) Evidence of this divide abounds: (a) The October 27, 2022, Republican-American (p. 7A) ran a full-page ad of Dick Morris’ book, The Return: Trump’s Big 2024 Comeback that claims that “crushing inflation, unfathomable gas prices, a devalued dollar, wide-open borders, raging crime, and major wars breaking out” will lead to Donald Trump’s comeback as president, but that “Big Tech, Big Media and the Deep State . . . Alliance wants to stop Trump no matter the cost,” Ibid. The book also asserts that “Hillary Clinton is running” for president in 2024 and is “making her moves . . . attacking both the far left . . . and also demonizing Trump’s MAGA supporters,” Ibid. (b) Also, “(a) bombshell investigative report on the left-leaning website The Intercept” reported October 31 that “the Department of Homeland Security has been working hand-in-hand with social-media bigwigs, including those at Twitter (prior to Mr. Musk’s purchase), to squash information that threatens government-mandated narratives.” (“Democrats lose a powerful tool,” Ibid., November 4, 2022, p. 6A) The Republican-American editorial added, “When Twitter censored The New York Post’s now-confirmed Hunter Biden laptop story and banned users for discussing the eminently (and increasingly) credible COVID-19 lab-leak theory, it harmed American democracy.” (Ibid.)

(3) Even the Federal Reserve is presumably participating in this divide: Veronique de Rugy’s column, “Will ‘experts’ ever learn their lesson?” (Ibid., October 28, 2022, p. 8A) asserted that the “central bankers . . . created and missed the biggest inflation in 40 years” though “(w)e were told for years that the mighty Fed . . . could now use its powers to produce inclusive economic growth, control the climate and reduce inequality.”

(4) Significantly, the root cause of this divide is Marxism: (a) Brannon S. Howse’s book, Marxianity, 2018, p. 9, stated that “Marxism” creates “cultural conflict by generating scenarios that intentionally pit one view of an issue against another, and then proposing a socialistic approach . . . as the solution. The dialectic – two things set against each other – is intended to destabilize the non-socialistic culture and to hoodwink the unsuspecting populace into accepting a socialistic option.” (b) As for the inflation that the Fed “created and missed” according to Veronique de Rugy, “John Maynard Keynes, a socialist” and economist, in his work, Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1920, wrote that by “‘ . . . a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens . . . and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some.’” (Brannon Howse, The Coming Religious Reich, 2015, p. 79)

Need: So, we ask, “How can we live in a positive, productive way in view of our nation’s unsettling divide?!”

I. Though Psalm 45:1-17 is a royal wedding psalm, Revelation 19:6-21 uses its themes to predict Christ’s return with His glorified Church to defeat the world’s evil kingdoms and to set up His unified Kingdom:

A. Psalm 45:1-17 exalted the Davidic king on his wedding day while also admonishing and blessing his bride:

1. The royal bridegroom, being a righteous king, was greatly blessed by God in accord with the provisions of Deuteronomy 17:14-20 in the Mosaic Covenant concerning Israel’s kings, Psalm 45:1-2, 7-9.

2. Consequently, the psalmist urged the king to gird on his sword for battle and to ride on majestically to conquer enemy nations and to rule forever in his kingdom, Psalm 45:3-6.

3. The king’s bride is urged to forget her people and her father’s house and to submit to her bridegroom as she is beautifully adorned in her wedding gown and is led in joyful procession to the king, Psalm 45:10-15.

4. The psalm concludes with a benediction that the couple be blessed in their marital union, Psalm 45:16-17.

B. Then, Revelation 19:6-21 utilized the themes of Psalm 45:1-17 to predict Christ’s return with His glorified Church to destroy His evil enemies and establish His unified world reign, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 828:

1. The Church, the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:26-27), is presented in Revelation 19:6, 7b-8 as glorified, her gown being made ready and being comprised of the godly works of believers that were performed before the rapture for which she will have received reward at Christ’s Judgment Seat. (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)

2. Christ as the Bridegroom, the Word of God personified (Revelation 19:13) and King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16), rides forth to conquer the ungodly world armies, destroying them and setting up His eternal, worldwide, unified Messianic Kingdom, Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-6 with Daniel 2:34-35, 44.

II. The way believers can live positive, productive lives today is figuratively depicted in the Bride’s gown:

A. Since Revelation 19:7b-8 explains that the Church’s good works that were completed before the rapture comprise the Bride’s wedding garment, believers in Christ today are to perform God’s ministry assignments.

B. As the Holy Spirit in believers today is the Restrainer of the progress of evil in the world until He is removed with the Church at the rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7), by relying on the Holy Spirit to perform godly works, believers not only construct the Bride’s wedding gown, but God uses them to restrain evil in the world!

Lesson: Believers in Christ comprise the Bride of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom Who will return in victory over the world’s evil powers, so believers are to rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit in preparing the wedding gown of godly works while also being used of God toward spiritually restraining the progress of evil in the world.

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) To handle our unsettling national divide, may we (a) live by the Holy Spirit (b) to keep performing God’s assignments and (c) for Him to use us to restrain the progress of evil.

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

We specify HOW we believers in Christ today can be used of God to prepare for Christ’s worldwide, unified Kingdom as well as the retarding of the progress of evil in the world (as follows):

(1) Daniel 2:41-44 predicted that the Revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation era to come, with the United States and other Western Civilization nations being culturally connected to that empire, will become partly strong and partly weak, like iron mixed with clay, Daniel 2:41. (a) This mixture implies a division between the initially strong Western Civilization (iron, Daniel 2:40) and likely the weak clay of Marxists with their intent to create social chaos so as to institute socialism, an economic arrangement that has been shown in many nations to be inferior! (b) Also, the failure of the “iron” to adhere to the “clay” indicates divisions in people groups in Western Civilizations, Daniel 2:43.

(2) Thus, God has predicted that this strong-and-weak divide will occur, so, instead of trying to reverse it opposite what God predicted WILL occur up until Christ’s return (cf. Daniel 2:44), we need to adjust to it in wisdom!

(3) To adjust to this reality in a positive and productive way, (a) we need to have our sins as believers confessed up (1 John 1:9) that we might come under the Holy Spirit’s control, and then (b) rely by faith on the Holy Spirit to produce in us the fruit of the Spirit with His characteristics of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, Galatians 5:16, 22-23 NIV. (c) In functioning this way, we can practice Biblical unity in the local church as a witness to a divided world of the availability of true unity in the Lord, John 13:35. (d) Since Marxism is at the core of our national divide, and that ideology promotes covetousness and stealing in violation of Exodus 20:15 and 17, may we live in contrast to these vices by (i) being content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5-6), (ii) by working for our livelihoods (2 Thessalonians 3:10) (iii) independently [especially from the government] that we not materially lack and that we might have a good testimony before the world (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12). (e) To counter inflationary pressures, we can invest in business ventures either directly or indirectly (stocks, mutual funds, ETSs, real estate, etc.) for the long-term with adequate diversification and keep adding of our income to these ventures for long-term gain as Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches. (f) Since Marxism attempts to create social chaos in order to introduce socialism, we should rely on the Holy Spirit to example just the opposite of the efforts by Marxists – to (i) live in a fitting and orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:40), and (ii) to be law-abiding, peaceful citizens (1 Peter 2:11-17), the sole exception being to disobey man’s laws when they call us to disobey God (cf. Acts 5:29). (g) Since Marxists often work in secret ways to lure people into divisions, we must rely on an omniscient God (Psalm 139:1-6) Who discerns all such deceptions to (i) work in us to make us desire to do what is His will for us that is opposite what Marxists try secretly to manipulate us to do (ii) and to perform God’s will in our actions beyond the influence of deceptive Marxists, Philippians 2:12-13. (iii) Also, Scripture itself guides us believers to avoid being deceived by evil Marxists (cf. 2 Timothy 3:13-17), so we should expose our minds and hearts daily to Scripture reading and/or study in countering the deception and malicious manipulations of Marxism, Deuteronomy 17:18-20.

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 handle the unsettling national divide by realizing that God predicted it would occur in Western Civilizations, that we thus rely on the Holy Spirit to perform God’s ministry assignments and live in righteous ways that God can use us through the Holy Spirit’s influence to restrain the progress of world evil.