THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

LXXXIX. Wise Counsel For Current World Decline

(Psalm 89:1-52)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Most people hope for a better year in 2024 than what they faced last year, but the world is currently in decline:

(1) The Census Bureau’s 2023 end-of-the-year estimates of our nation’s population revealed a “rush from the nation’s largest metropolitan areas” in California, Illinois, and New York “and the almost entirely unpredicted population shrinkage in climactically favored California and the Pacific Rim – trends explicable only as the result of dreadfully destructive public policies” of “‘woke’” progressives. (Michael Barone, “Census numbers bring surprises,” Republican-American, December 30, 2023, p. 6A)

(2) Contrary to the belief of many progressives in Western nations, “(w)hen Hamas . . . tortures and murders civilians, that isn’t because of some outsized grievance. It’s because they do not have the same values as Westerners.” (Ben Shapiro, “The lessons of 2023,” Ibid., December 29, 2023, p. 6A)

(3) “(A) recent Harvard-Harris poll showed” that “79% of young Americans (18-24) agree that white people are oppressors and people of color are the oppressed . . . If Americans can . . . be classified as oppressor or oppressed not based on behavior but based on group identity, we will revert to tribalism that destroys nations entirely.” (Ibid.)

(4) “Weakness” by progressive leaders “in the face of America’s enemies” has bred “aggression” by Russia, Iran, China, and illegal immigrants at the southern border who are increasingly demanding of our government, Ibid.

(5) “Incompetence at every level” of leadership due to progressivism is leading people to tire of their leaders and seek “radical change,” but such change is often “more perilous than the incompetence they seek to rectify,” Ibid.

(6) “(A) thread running through progressive ideology . . . explains a lot about the state of our country and the world: the Left doesn’t like laws enforced or people punished for doing wrong.” For this reason, we see rising major crime rates, rising drug abuse, rampant shoplifting, and a relentlessly escalating southern border crisis. (Simon Hankinson, “Chaos continues; punishment vanishes,” Ibid., December 27, 2023, p. 6A)

(7) “Deep-red Mississippi, America’s poorest state, has seen reading achievement scores soar in recent years after adopting . . . a phonics-based reading method, a direct contrast to the ‘whole word’ method touted in liberal states.” (Corey Walker, “Black students are thriving in red states as blue states fail them” Washington Examiner, Dec. 11, cited in “Quotable,” Ibid., December 12, 2023, p. 6a) The phonics-based method was how we were taught in the public schools back in the 1950s, and it worked well for us then, so one wonders why our national education system cannot return to a method that worked better than what we have now with our growing national illiteracy problem!

(8) A letter last month by John Noelke of Torrington (Ibid.) promoted the progressive view that is making the rounds in religious circles – the view that Christians must care for the homeless in society. Mr. Noelke cited Mother Teresa who used Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:31-46 to say, “‘At the end of life we will . . . be judged by, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.’’” However, the Apostle Paul at 1 Timothy 5:8 counters welfare and orders heads of households to work to support their own families. Nevertheless, many religious leaders do not harmonize 1 Timothy 5:8 with Matthew 25:31-46 but put the burden of paying for the costs of the homeless especially on Christians as their God-assigned responsibility.

Need: So, we ask, “This New Year, how does God want us to respond to the world’s current decline?!”

I. Like Psalm 88 that was authored by wise man Heman the Ezrahite, Psalm 89 was authored by another wise man, Ethan the Ezrahite (1 Kings 4:31), and like Psalm 88, Psalm 89 also has a maskil, a “special instruction” for needy people, Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1053; H. A. W., Th. Wrdbk. O. T., 1980, v. II, p. 877f.

A. Psalm 89:1-52 addresses the struggle God’s people have over knowing of God’s great Davidic Covenant promised blessings while witnessing the current opposite of the loss of the Davidic king and hardships:

1. Verses 1-18 extol the Davidic Covenant for Israel’s welfare and the great character of God to uphold it.

2. Psalm 89:19-37 rehearses the covenant in poetic form, including God’s warning of His punishment of the Davidic king if he were to sin, which provision has greatly postponed its fulfillment even to this day!

3. Then, at Psalm 89:38-45, the psalmist lamented the Davidic king’s humiliating defeat in his day due to his sin, so Ethan asked God in Psalm 89:46-51 to recall His Davidic Covenant and to fulfill it for His people.

B. The solution to the tension God’s people face in the contrast between God’s Davidic Covenant promises and His character to fulfill them and the humiliation of the Davidic king in Ethan’s era is patiently to hope in God:

1. Psalm 89 hosts seven appearances of the Hebrew word ‘olam, “long duration” (Ibid., Kittel, p. 1053-1055; B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 761-763; R. B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 316-317) and one appearance of netsah, “constantly” (Ibid., Kittel, p. 1054; Ibid., Girdlestone, p. 313).

2. The word ‘olam is used only POSITIVELY in its seven appearances in Psalm 89 to describe God’s perpetual loyal love to David (v. 1, 2 [2 times]), God’s promise to establish David’s line perpetually (v. 4), that God’s loyal love would perpetually be administered toward the Davidic king (v. 28), that his line would exist perpetually (v. 36, 37 [2 times]), and the call that God be perpetually praised (v. 52).

3. However, at verse 46, Ethan once NEGATIVELY asked if God would constantly (netsah) hide Himself from fulfilling His Davidic Covenant due to the long humiliation of the Davidic king in Ethan’s era.

4. Thus, the lesson that the wise man Ethan in Psalm 89 taught is that God’s people must wait patiently for the Lord to fulfill His Davidic Covenant and to establish the Davidic king’s reign with great blessing!

II. Though God will fulfill the Davidic Covenant in Christ’s Kingdom, we read in Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 that Christ promised to give the overcomer(s) in our Church era the influence of His future earthly reign that he (they) might nurture those who face our current mini-Great Tribulation with Bible exposition!

Lesson: Though God’s Davidic Covenant promised that His loyal love would not depart from David’s line, but that He would establish the Davidic king on David’s throne with eternal blessing, the fulfillment of that covenant is a long time coming due to the sins of Davidic kings! Similarly, God’s fulfillment of a modified application of that pledge in our Church era in giving an overcomer(s) great nurturing impact on earth calls us also to wait on God.

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 wait on God to raise up the overcomer(s) for our era.

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

As we wait on God to provide the overcomer(s) for our era, here are Bible truths that the overcomer(s) will typically use to nurture believers in our mini-Great Tribulation era on the issues of concern in our introduction:

(1) On the massive U. S. internal migration from politically liberal states to conservative states, James 4:13-17 directs that we follow God’s lead on IF we should relocate, and IF so, WHERE, and WHAT we should do when we get there! God wants us to follow His lead in this matter!

(2) On the fact that Hamas commits atrocities not because it has outsized grievances in society, but because of its different value system, Ephesians 5:11-12 directs us to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. To that end, we cite Robert Spencer’s authoritative work, The Truth About Muhammad, 2006, p. 180, that cites Muslim tradition Sahih Muslim, book 41, no. 6985, with the following statement made by Muhammad: “‘The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them.’” Hamas is an Islamic terrorist organization that heeds this statement by Muhammad, so it has a different value system than what Westerners have.

(3) On the view of many American youths that whole classes of people are either oppressors or the oppressed, 1 Peter 2:17 calls us to honor all men, not arbitrarily to assign merits or demerits to entire classes of human beings.

(4) On the problem of weakness in officials that foments aggression by evil dictatorships, as Romans 13:1 with Acts 17:26-28 direct, we must rely on God’s permissive use of who is raised up to rule to accomplish His will.

(5) On the incompetence in leaders and the harmful reactions of people to it, 1 Peter 2:13-16 with Acts 5:29 call us to heed rulers except if God’s orders of us contradict man’s orders of us so that we must obey God over man.

(6) On the contempt that progressives have for law enforcement and punishment, Romans 13:2-5 calls us to submit to those who enforce the laws of the land as God’s ministers sent by Him to punish the evildoers of society.

(7) On deep-red Mississippi’s use of the better phonics way to teach reading versus the “whole word” way of blue states, Deuteronomy 17:18-20 calls us to read Scripture, but if we need to learn how to read and the phonics way is better than the whole word way, we should heed Proverbs 4:26-27 to make level paths for our feet and use phonics.

(8) On the claim that the Church should support all the homeless in society as allegedly based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, that passage applies to Tribulation era Gentiles after the rapture who are to give evidence of their faith in Christ by housing homeless Hebrew believers who are pursued by the antichrist [like Premillennialists and Dispensationalists apply it]. The passage does not apply to the Church era [like Amillennialists errantly apply it] (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Matthew 25:32). Also, 1 Timothy 5:8 that calls heads of households to care for their families versus relying on housing welfare programs applies to believers in the Church era before the rapture!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. As we wait on God to supply nurturing teaching overcomer(s), may we heed nurturing Scriptures.