Bible-6, Psalms-Song of Solomon
Part 1
LESSON 6
PSALMS – SONG OF SOLOMON
Part One:
By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer
INTRODUCTION TO LESSON 6
David was a “man after God’s heart”, that doesn’t mean David had a heart akin to God’s heart, rather it shows David was always seeking the heart of God. One mainstay for David was Praise, yet we find the word “worship” used more times in the Book of Revelation, than in the Psalms. Why? Praise is thanking God for what He has done, is doing and will do. Worship is a request to be in the presence of God, or have the presence of God among us. David wanted the Presence of God, but he knew there remained a wall, as the fall nature standing between God and man, yet he also knew God would move on behalf of those who love Him. Psalms opens many areas, for the most part the Psalms are prophetic in nature; they speak of things the scribe had no knowledge of, while pointing to events yet future.
Proverbs is a Book of Godly division depicting the differences between the Real and the Counterfeit. When all we have is the counterfeit, it’s nearly impossible to tell it from the Truth, but when we see the Truth, the counterfeit is exposed.
Ecclesiastes is for the Preacher, it will lead us to the Song, showing how we have the advantage to view things from the spiritual, yet carnal man views the same events from the natural, thus drawing two completely different conclusions. Song will take us into the search for the Bride, as She seeks Her lover. With that, let us begin.
LESSON 6
PSALMS – SONG OF SOLOMON
We know the Net has both good and bad fish, we also know Pharaoh was not able to cross the Sea, yet in Romans we find God raised Pharaoh for a purpose. Therefore, we find the problem for the children in the wilderness wasn’t Pharaoh, it was the “works of Egypt”. Those works caused them to build the golden calf, as well as attack the man of God, simply because God was not working with them in the way they wanted. Could they have changed and walked in faith? Yes, they crossed the Red Sea by faith, but it was going to take a decision to believe. The same is true with us, we must make a decision to believe God is always working in our best interest. Courage in many cases for the Christian is being open to exposure, as we are ready for correction, to gain perfection. Of course we must be able to discern, for some find fault in everything, just to find fault.
Jesus builds His Church from the Rock (Body of Christ), not from the world. David, Solomon and the other Old Testament saints who gave prophetic words looked ahead as they spoke of a mystery, thus they prophesied in part, yet we have the evidence in hand so we can believe. We have the knowledge of the Cross and Resurrection, something the people in the days of John the Baptist didn’t have, we are also privy to the greatest Gift granted to mankind in the New Birth. The Bible is a holy book, but it does little good unless we are guided by the Holy Ghost. Some people study the Bible eagerly waiting for the Holy Ghost to bring them truth: others study what others say the Bible says. Lessons are great, but they don’t take the place of our Bible, they merely support it. The Bible does not produce Life, the Word in us does, but the Word in us uses the Bible as a rule book for redemption. Therefore, the Bible gives us Rules, although Jesus never said the history testified of Him, He did say the Psalms did (Luke 24:44). A testimony is something said about someone, it behooves us to read in order to discover the Testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
David was the appointed and anointed king, yet Saul sat on the throne, why didn’t God remove Saul? Wasn’t it God who sent Samuel to anoint David? Saul was the rebellious one, so why didn’t David simply kill him? Saul was no longer appointed by God, thus he lied, attacked the anointing of others, he even killed God’s priests, but God still appointed him to be a Sar (Captain) over the people. David knew the difference between the anointing on a person, and the anointing granted by the position. David didn’t respect the man, he respected the anointing on the position, thus his respect for the position kept him from harming the man. Respect and Honor are the same, if we respect the anointing we honor it. Saul on the other hand was just the opposite, he felt his position gave him the right to harm, vex, or come against others. Saul became David’s test, when David endured he became king. Jesus has made us kings and priests, but each area is determined by a test and training. Saul was tested, yet failed to respect the anointing of his position, thus failed to be secured as “king”. David respected the anointing through his test, he became the established king.
The comparison between David and Saul is seen in the Psalms, Saul being equated to the Wicked, David to the Righteous. The “Just” is not at issue here, since the word only appears a couple of times, but we do have the word Wicked and Righteous (in one form or another) appearing about the same amount of times. The division in the net is between the Righteous and Wicked, with the Wicked being the “workers of iniquity”.
Our look at Psalms and Proverbs will expose the Heart, open the Net, allowing the Spirit of Truth to do a Good work for our souls. Psalms is a prophetic book, yet it’s not. There are some Psalms which are completely prophetic in nature, there are Psalms from the heart of man to God, there are Psalms from man to man, there are Psalms defining historical events, there are Psalms where God exposes the heart of man, thus Jesus separated the Psalms from the Prophets, yet included them in His Testimony.
Proverbs is a definitive Book, as it divides the Net further: Proverbs talks about the strange woman in the high places, as she compares to the Woman of Virtue in the Highest place. Giving us a high place and one higher, some obtain one place, yet the purpose it to gain the Higher. Spiritual wickedness is conducted to high places, not the highest place. Proverbs talks about the Fool in detail, yet Jesus told us not to call anyone a Fool. Could Proverbs be in sin? No, we find Proverbs connects with Hebrews 4:12, displaying the division between soul and Spirit. The “fool” is the old man who planted his deeds and wiles, yet when we came to the Cross the old man became ineffective. It doesn’t mean the old nature won’t entice us, it means it no longer has power over us. The old nature is the fool of fools, when we see the old man as God does, we won’t have any trouble rejecting him as the voice of a stranger.
Proverbs projects a message only understood by those who are seeking God. Proverbs is one of those areas Nicodemus should have known, as it points to the New Birth. Psalms opens many areas of Praise, pointing toward Worship, thus there must be a difference between the two. The word Worship appears 16 times in Psalms, but the word Praise in one form or another appears over 150 times. The Book of Revelation has the word Worship more times than Psalms. Jesus said the Father seeks those to Worship Him in Spirit and Truth, but He didn’t say the Father sought those who could praise in Spirit and Truth (Jn 4:24). In order to worship in Spirit, one must be spiritual in nature; therefore, they must be Born Again in order to worship by the Spirit of Truth. Until the Spirit was given on Pentecost man gave worship, but it was not in Spirit and Truth, rather it was carnal; sincere, but carnal. Some praise the Lord to feel good, but that doesn’t mean it pleases the Lord. In order to worship in Truth, one must have Truth, thus Jesus said He is Truth (Jn 14:6). Jesus also said the Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (Jn 14:17). We have the ability to do what David longed to do, praise and worship God as God desires.
The words Praise and Worship in the dictionary seem close in definition; however, the Bible shows a difference. Man can worship and praise most anything, as some have. Man gives praise to members of his society for various acts, thus praise denotes a Presence of honor; however, for the most part we don’t find man giving Worship to those he praises. For instance, someone may do some work of honor in the world system, which the world considers “good”. The members of the world give the person Praise for their efforts, represented by a plague, or metal, or something else to show their praise, but they don’t worship the person. Of course we know some do worship people, which is termed mentor worship. The Book of Revelation shows all sorts of Worship, they worship the Beast, the image of the Beast, or the number of the Beast; therefore, it depends on where one places their praise and worship, as to whether it’s good or evil.
There are different Hebrew words for the English word Praise, each connecting to the other, yet separated from each other. The Hebrew Shabach means to make a Loud Tone, but it doesn’t mean to out shout down the person next to you: it shows a type of humbleness or homage. Humbleness is not something coming from the Spirit, rather it comes from our soul as a permissive condition based on choice. The Hebrew Yadah means to toss up ones hands, or open the hand to receive the Power, Ability, and Direction from the Lord. The Hebrew TeHillah means a hymn, it connects to another Hebrew word (Halal). The Hebrew Halal means a clear celebration, such as one gives in a marriage celebration. Putting TeHillah and Halal together leads us to what is known as The celebration of the marriage in song. The Hebrew Zamar means striking the strings of an musical instrument. Praise does take emotionalism as well as enthusiasm; it contains the thoughts of Thanksgiving, becoming a tribute of gratitude for benefits. Therefore praise is centered in the benefits of God, whether those benefits are past, in hand, or yet to come. Praise is not a theatrical experience, it is not suppose to be something we use to impress man, or ourselves, nor does it impress God, it’s based on a love and appreciation toward God. It’s for this reason the soul must have the Spirit of Truth as the motivation for both Praise and Worship. Praise and Worship are not forms used to make us feel good, rather we become pleased when we know God has received our Praise and Worship.
In order for one to move into Praise or Worship one must move through the word Benefit. For whose Benefit do we Praise and Worship? We Praise the Lord for All Things, whether we understand them or not, or whether we like them or not. Praise thanks God, but worship seeks the Presence of the Lord, so we can enter the place God has for us. Worship is also an act of giving honor and reverence to God, regardless of the benefits, or lack thereof, at times worship is not put to music, it’s the earnest prayer of a righteous saint, on the other hand worship can be put to music, both are accepted by God.
Praise can be, and often is pleasing to our souls, it’s not wrong, rather we know how we feel in the moment of pure praise, but worship can take on many forms. Worship can bring tears, it can be silent, it can be loud, it can be an expression from our hearts, or it can express the heart of the Lord at the moment. With Worship comes the word Trust, which in one form or another appears some 70 times in the Book of Psalms. If we truly worship we are giving trust to the entity we worship. Trustworthy and Trust are different, it’s our Trust in God making us Trustworthy. There are four Hebrew words used for Trust in Psalms, one is only used once (Ps 73:28). In Psalm 2:12 and other places it’s the Hebrew Chacah meaning To flee for protection. In Psalm 4:5 plus some other places it’s the Hebrew Batach meaning To be confident, or secure as a child would feel secure enough to play without fear. In Psalm 40:3 and other places it’s the Hebrew Mabtach meaning security, or assurance, in Psalm 73:28 it’s the Hebrew Machceh meaning A place of refuge as a shelter. All have slight differences, but really they show how trustworthy the Lord is, we can trust in His protection, knowing He has granted us a Shelter from the storm. This shows why we don’t put our trust in people, if we trust them for protection, refuge, a benefactor to our faith, or a means of security, we’re in trouble; when they will fall, we fall twice as far; becoming the victim of all victims. Leaders assist us, but if we enter Mentor Worship we are not only putting our trust in man, we have made an idol out of a human. We do trust people to do as they should, our mates should do as they should, but we don’t put our reliance in them. If they fail at anything we will either fall apart, to attack them with a vengeance; yet we should be the one able to minister to them. If we put our Trust in God we will be able to stand and minister as an oracle of God.
There are eleven different Hebrew words for the English phrase Cut Off, but one draws our attention, the Hebrew Karath. This Hebrew word will be used by the Prophets as well, but in Psalms and Proverbs we find it in Psalm 12:3, 34:16, 37:9, 37:22, 37:28, 37:38, 101:8, 109:13 and in 109:15; in Proverbs we find it in 2:22, 10:31, 23:18 and 24:14. This Hebrew Word means to Cut Off a body part, each time we find it, we also find a reference to the Broken Body of Jesus. The Greek word Paul used for Broken in reference to the Broken Body of Jesus means to Break off a branch, or Tear something away, as a part of something completely taken away. This wasn’t done at the Cross, since not one bone was broken. Wait, what about the stripes of Jesus? Those where wounds, not pieces of a Broken Body. When Paul told the Corinthians the importance of Communion, he placed the betrayal of Judas in his teaching. Why not say “the night the Lord gave us Bread and Wine in Communion”? When Judas did his act of betrayal it was “night” (Jn 13:30), yet Jesus said He lost none Except the “son of perdition”, for the purpose of fulfilling the Scripture (Jn 17:12). When Judas showed up with the army of religious hypocrites we read how the Scripture was fulfilled regarding the “son of perdition” (Jn 18:9). All that is fine and fits, until we get to II Thessalonians where Paul tells us, “man of sin to be revealed, the son of perdition” (II Thess 2:3). To be revealed? Wasn’t it Judas? Oh my? There goes old Paul again, someone should tie the man down. No, Paul saw the word “Wicked”, connected to the term, “workers of iniquity”. Like Peter, John, James, Jude and others, Paul knew there were bad fish in the net, or tares in the field, but they also knew the Kingdom of God was pure. Jesus builds His Church on the Rock, Jude tells us we cast the net to build the Rock (Jude 22-23). We do not build the Church, we enter the Body so Jesus can build us into the Church, so the Church can become the Bride. Showing there is One Baptism with parts inclusive to the Doctrine of Baptisms. The Greek has several words for the English word One, there is one made up of parts, yet one not made up of parts. There is One Body, but we know it’s made up of parts, so it is with the wording One Baptism.
We water baptize people, but why? Does it save them? No, water baptism is a sign or token of induction into the Body with their acceptance and belief in the premise behind the death and resurrection of Jesus. We in the Body greet the convert by the acceptance of their statement of belief. Water being a metaphor for Mercy, shows the symbol is the sign or token of the person accepting the Mercy of God, as they vow to conduct themselves in continual belief to fulfill the royal Law of forgiveness. The Witness and Report are connected, the Father in the Report connects to the Water in the Witness, the Word in the Report connects to the Blood in the Witness, the Holy Ghost in the Report to the Spirit in the Witness (I Jn 5:7-8). We find we are washed of the Water by the Word, thus the Water refers to Mercy, the Word in us to Grace by the Spirit. The Word is not the Water, but uses it. The Living Water is Living because of the Spirit in us, but the Living Water is not the Spirit, it’s a product of the Spirit joined to the Mercy coming from us as a witness and testimony.
Psalms will make a division by identifying the Wicked, as the Tares. They are not sinners yet to enter, rather they entered the Body because they said they believe in the death and resurrection; however, it doesn’t mean they are the Church. Philip ran into Simon of Samaria, this Simon believed the signs, but belief in signs never lasts long. Nonetheless he said he believed, then he was water baptized. When it came time to lay hands on him, the Lord rejected him. He was told to pray because his heart wasn’t right before God. He in turn told the apostles to pray for him, but they refused. Simon never did pray, he became known as the father of all heretics (Acts 8:4-22). No one is going to make our prayer of faith for us, we make it. Simon was water baptized, said he believed, yet his heart was laced with “wickedness”, which manifested years later in his various heresies. Did the apostles rebuke Philip for water baptizing Simon? How dare he water baptize this Simon? Perhaps he should take Simon back through the water to erase the baptism? No, we are told “Teach, baptize, and teach the more”, we are not told to judge whether one should be able to enter the Body or not. Other than water, the requirement is for the candidate to believe, if they say they do, we in the Body water baptize them (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 8:36-37 et al). The point being we will see Psalms and Proverbs speak of the Wicked, Proverbs of the strange woman as evils within the grouping. We have to put the information in our rememberer, it will come in handy when we run into a walking, breathing Tare.
The Hebrew Karath also means One has made their own covenant, after entering another, pointing to the Wicked, (sons of perdition, or workers of iniquity). They enter the Body based on the conditions of the Covenant set by Jesus, but they also refuse to let the old nature go, thus they attempt to change the Covenant to fit the old nature. The word Paul uses for Wicked means Without Law, which is one of the meanings of Iniquity. They are not free of a Law, rather they set themselves above God’s Laws. How can this be? We are kings and priests (Rev 1:6), as kings we rule our own kingdom realm. It doesn’t mean we dictate or rule over the Kingdom of God, it means we are the ones who are given the keys to our own personal individual kingdom, thus we are charged with enforcement and obedience. If we say, ”well bless God, I am not doing that”, we have set rules in our kingdom. However, in the end we will face the King of kings, who will judge us. We have priestly duties as well, but as kings we can set up princes in our realm. If we allow anger a prince position, it will set up a principality ruling in its realm. However, if we allow Peace, Joy, or any attribute of God a position in our kingdom, they will govern accordingly, identifying the type of kingdom we have. Now we are ready, let’s begin.
PSALMS
The Hebrew title for this book is Book Of Praises, the English title comes from the Greek word Psalmoi meaning Pious Songs, or Music Of Stringed Instruments. Originally it was five separate books, with Psalms 1 through 41 as the first book, Psalms 42 through 72 as the second, 73 through 89 as the third, 90 through 106 as the fourth, and Psalms 107 through 150 as the fifth. Each of the first four conclude with a doxology, the fifth with a key to victory. The Jewish tradition linked the Psalms to the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch to us, or Torah to the Jew. Jesus said the Law, Psalms and Prophets testified of Him, but He excluded the history of the Jewish people. The history of the Jews testified for or against them, not for or against Jesus.
Didactic Psalms give instruction, Messianic Psalms contain prophecy relating to the Messiah, Imprecatory Psalms involve pleas to God for punishment of the wicked, the Penitential Psalms express the feelings of a repentant heart, or an appeal for divine cleansing. Other Psalms are classed by titles, for example, the Psalms of Degrees were sung at the beginning of worship services; the Miktam Psalms deal with atonement. Some Psalms separate Seasons and Times, pointing to various aspects of our Season, or the Season to come. There are some Psalms holding prophetic messages presented as a simple statement or praise, thus we can’t exclude any statement as not being Prophetic in nature, and neither can we stretch them to fit a prophetic content when none exists. The same is true with the Prophets, we may read a prayer by a prophet, yet it can be prophetic.
The Psalms talk a great deal about the Wicked, but any of us can become very paranoid, “Oh I thought about hitting them in the nose, I must be wicked”, or “I really wanted don’t like them, I must be wicked”, or “I really don’t want to extend mercy right now, oh my I must be wicked”. Not so, those are momentary lapses, the wicked hold a nature full of masks attempting to make people think one thing, while they are planning their destruction. The Psalms will give us some insight into the character of the Wicked, yet we will also learn discernment is always a door opener.
Psalm 1:1 begins our praise by giving us direction and purpose, as we read: “blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, does not stand in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful”. There are three “do not’s”, one is walking, one is standing in the way, then sitting in the seat of the scornful. The first is not merely walking, it’s walking in the Counsel of the ungodly, or accepting advice from those who lack God. The next may sound strange, it would seem as if we should stand in the way of the sinner, but if we break it down we find it’s positional. The way of the sinner is worldly in nature, here we find we are not to stand in the same premises as the sinner, which includes using the reasoning of the world, or the wisdom of the world. Next is the seat of the Scornful, the word Seat is from a word meaning “Me” Or “Mine”, referring to a nature. The word Scornful has various meanings, to brag, be arrogant, boast, mock, or deride, thus if we sit in the seat we will use the ways of the Scornful, we will seek to slander others. The word Ungodly is the Hebrew Rasha, it also means Wicked, referring to being guilty of a crime.
The Blessed part shows we mediate in the “Law of the Lord”, at the time this was written all they had was the Law of Moses, so is Moses the Lord? No, this is prophetic verse, pointing to the perfect Law of Liberty, which is the Law of the Spirit (v. 2).
The metaphor Tree in verse 3 points to the Kingdom, it’s planted by Rivers of Water. The Tree of Life is on either side of the River of Water of Life, on either side (Rev 22:1-2)? The context in Revelation shows the Tree of Life is at the Throne, but as one travels the Street (river of life) they find the same Tree in their Heart as the Spirit. This is akin to following the path the Faith of Jesus by the Spirit. The Tree of Life has leaves for healing, here in Psalm 1:3 we find the leaf shall not wither (fade, or lose life). The Fruit of the Tree shall be in “His Season”: the Tree of Life has twelve manner of fruit (Rev 22:2). Blessed is the person who is Born Again, who has the River of the Water of Life in them. The Water being a metaphor for Mercy coupled with the Law of the Spirit points to Living Water. We are being Washed by the Water (Mercy) by the Word (Spirit) in us (Eph 5:26).
Verses 4 through 6 give us the result of the ungodly, or our first clue to the end of the Wicked. They will not stand in the Judgment? How can it be? As it turns out it’s exactly what will happen, they will not stand in the Judgment, they will be in the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). The sinner shall not stand in the congregation of the Righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the Righteous, thus the way of the ungodly shall “perish”. The word Perish is the Hebrew Abad meaning to perish or destroy, it’s akin to the word Perdition, although the Hebrew Lavad equates more to the word Perdition.
Psalm 2 continues with more division, by exposing Imaginations. Like Psalm 1 we find two groups; with a question, Why does the Heathen Rage, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth as “rulers” take counsel against the Lord. This takes us back to “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly”. This also opens up the area of “rulers”; Paul tells us we war against the rulers of darkness of this present world. He then lists them as, anger, clamor, evil speaking, foolish talking, and others of the same type. Whenever an emotion guides us, causes us to speak, or act, they rule us. If anyone can control our emotions, they rule over us.
Verse 4 tells us the evil plan is to separate the cords, meaning to completely separate us from anything relating to God, defining the Second death. The second death lacks any attribute of God, no light, joy, peace, love, or any of the other things man seems to ignore the source of, yet uses.
Verse 6 speaks of David, but prophetically we see Jesus on Zion, which is made clearer in verse 7. “Thou are My Son, this day have I begotten You”, we see this quoted in Hebrews 1:5 pointing directly to Jesus. Here in Psalm 2:7 the word Begotten is the Hebrew Yalad it too has several meanings including, Beget, or To bring forth, the latter is the meaning here.
Verse 8 is a promise to Jesus, not us. The context still connects to “My King upon My holy hill of Zion”. Did Jesus ask? Yes, we’re in the Body, all of us were heathens given to the Son by the Holy Ghost. This doesn’t say the property of the Heathen, it says the Heathen is the property.
The term “rod of iron” is not the same as Staff, iron is a metaphor for bondage, while a Rod is a metaphor for Correction. The Staff is a metaphor for guidance, when we put the metaphors Rod and Iron together, it points to breaking the Bondage. To dash us into pieces is what we want, the brokenness of the Lord is one of the best things to happen to us. Jesus takes, He breaks, He blesses, then He puts us into service.
Verses 10 and 11 tell us as kings, or judges to submit, yield to the brokenness, then Serve the Lord with fear (being aware of who the Lord is) and trembling. Paul told us to work out our salvation by fear and trembling (Ph’l 2:12).
Verse 11 is just the opposite of what Judas did, Judas gave the kiss of betrayal, here it’s the kiss of honor and submission. We also find, “Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him (the Lord)” (v. 12). It’s vital, put your trust in the Lord, not in people.
Psalm 3 is a Morning Prayer, or the beginning of the Day, relating to our Season. There are times when it seems the Wicked have encamped round about, then there are those who look, yet see no hope, no way out, all seems lost. However, if we put our trust in the Lord we can be assured He is our shield, glory, and the lifter (granting hope) of our head (v. 3). With the Lord there is always a route of escape (I Cor 10:13).
Verse 4 connects to 3:6, the Lord is established on heavenly Zion (holy hill), as the Head of the Body, the Anointed One who has set us in His Body keeps us by the Spirit. We will find rest for our souls, the Lord will sustain us. For those who have the peace of Christ in their hearts, they lay down and sleep in peace, then raise and walk the path of righteousness (Ps 3:3-8). Verse 8 tells us why we don’t find the wording, “gift of salvation”, it belongs to the Lord. He grants us Grace to get us through the Justification, so we can become Glorified, at which time we will be the product of Salvation.
The word Salvation in verse 8 is the Hebrew Yeshuah (or Y@shuwah), meaning Salvation by God. In Psalm 27:9 we find the Hebrew Yesha meaning Salvation as well, this word as well as Yeshuah point to Jesus. Other Hebrew words are Tehshooaw meaning Salvation by God, or deliverance by God, plus the Hebrew Molops meaning a trickle of blood, to the Jew it pointed to Moses sprinkling the people and book, to us it means we are sprinkled by the Blood of Jesus (I Pet 1:2). Jesus said the Psalms testified of Him, thus the words used for Salvation point to Jesus; however we also see Grace is our Gift, Salvation the goal, yet Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Psalm 4 is an Evening Prayer, but it has some interesting connections. It begins with a Call recognizing God as our Righteousness. The word for Call is the Hebrew Qara meaning to Preach, Call, or Invite. The topic of the prayer is Mercy, then we find the Hebrew Taphillah for prayer, which means prayer. It reminds us of Blind Bartimaeus who called out to Jesus, “Son of David have Mercy on me”.
The prayer in Psalm 4 is not a “Night Prayer”, rather it’s toward the end of day. Verse 2 is the reply from God to the, “sons of men”, which means those assigned to Mercy; adding, “how long will you turn My Glory into shame?”. Since we know about the Wicked, this Psalm makes sense. The Wicked or Tares entered based on the Mercy of God, but they refuse to give it, leaving God no choice but to form them into vessels of dishonor (Rom 9:21-23). Although they love “vanity”, they seek after leasing, God will still reach out to them right up to the very last moment. Leasing means Untruths, or promoting Fables, which points directly to the Wicked. Jesus will connect the Father’s Mercy with Holiness, here we find the Glory is also connected to Mercy.
Verse 3 reminds us how the Lord has Set Apart, or Sanctified, making us separated from the world for a good work. The phrase “him that is godly” is the Hebrew Chacyid meaning Merciful, among other things, but Merciful fits the context of the verses. This is a division between the vessels of honor, and those of dishonor. Mercy is a powerful instrument granted to those in the Body; so powerful it determines what the hand of the Potter does with the clay.
Stand in awe, sin not, the sin here has to be the refusal to grant Mercy, after we receive it. As sons of men we have the Mercy of God, as sons of God we have the Spirit of Truth (Grace). Jesus was Declared the Son of God by the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection, thus it takes the same Spirit in us to make us sons of God (Rom 1:4). The wording Stand in awe is the Hebrew Ragaz meaning to be Afraid, or to Quake in fear. Since this Psalm is set for the evening we can see why one who accepted the Mercy of God, yet refused to grant it would shake in fear; John called it, “shall wail because of Him” (Rev 1:7). Paul gave us three groups in the Body regarding the change from Day to Night; there are the Dead in Christ as those crucified with Christ, there are the those who Sleep through the Night in Jesus, then the drunk who go into the Night (I Thess 5:5-7). John said before the Night begins there will be those who will partake of the First Resurrection, but another group who will sleep through the 1,000 years, with the third group appearing as the Beast of the Earth, confirming Paul’s teaching (Rev 20:4-6 & 13:11). Our goal is not to be among those who sleep, or the drunken who go into the Night, but to be partakers of the First Resurrection when the change from Day to Night takes place.
Verse 5 gives us the stand of the Godly, we have the Righteousness of God by the New Birth; however, in this verse we find sacrifices (plural) of Righteousness, relating to how Mercy gives us standing before the Father. Again we find “put your trust in the Lord”. Most of our collapses of faith happen because we put our trust in people, when the people fail, we fall twice as far.
Viewing the Wicked we could make the mistake of thinking if they are lost, so are we, not so. The Wicked refuse the New nature, rather they keep the spirit lusting to envy. When we were in the world the spirit lusting to envy controlled us, but when we entered the kingdom of heaven the same spirit became ineffective. Therein is the mystery, the Wicked found they can use the spirit lusting to envy for their fleshly benefit, thus they twist it into the spirit of the world, they have the appearance of righteousness, but inside Satan reigns (II Cor 11:13-14). Rather than be Transformed by God’s Mercy, they become self-transformed, they become the he of the world. It’s one thing to be subject to the spirit lusting to envy, another to use it. The cleaning process is Justifying us, the Record said we are Justified, the Witness is bringing it to pass. Each exposure we go through is for our benefit, since each brings another cleaning in the Process.
To David the “wicked” were those who attacked the kings throne in Jerusalem of the earth, to God the Wicked are those who attack New Jerusalem. Both attacks happen on earth, both are motivated by the darkness. Our goal is not only to discern the Wicked, but remain free of the same fruit they partake of. We don’t want to get paranoid, or think every time we miss it, or make a mistake God is going to form us into a vessel of dishonor. The Wicked have the same opportunity as anyone else, but they love the things of the world, more than they love God. Peter says they promise us liberty, yet they themselves are still in bondage to the flesh (II Pet 2:18-22). We will slip, James tells us every man is drawn away by his own lust, yet if we fall into divers temptations we rejoice. We rejoice simply because we are the only ones on this earth who have the advantage of the Spirit of Truth cleaning us of lusts, darkness, as well as the wiles of the enemy. The conclusion of this prayer shows the confidence of Mercy, we can lay down and rest, the Lord makes us to dwell safely, even in the face of adversity.
Psalm 5 is one of the many areas where the Trinity is seen; it begins with Lord, then King, then God, also there are three areas wherein we communicate to God, Meditation, Voice of our cry, and Prayer. We Mediate on the Word, this goes further than reading the Bible, rather we Mediate on the Word in us, we tone our ears to hear the New Man. We read our Bible as food for the Word in us, but anyone can read their Bible, yet never mediate on the Word (James 1:21-22).
This Psalm is for those of the Morning, recognizing the Report is the Father, Word and Holy Ghost, but they also know the Witness is the Water, Blood and Spirit. We pray with the full expectation of God hearing us, as well as we hearing God. There are conditions regarding God answering us; God hears the prayers of the Righteous, but His ears are closed to the ungodly. Verse 3 has an interesting statement, “I direct my prayer unto Thee”, how many pray to be heard of men? How many invite the devil into their prayer life? No where can we find Jesus praying while carrying on a conversation with the devil, why do we think we are greater than the Master?
Verse 4 tells us how God does not take pleasure in wickedness, the word for wickedness is the Hebrew Resha meaning Iniquity, or Wickedness, which identifies the Wicked as workers of Iniquity, it also defines spiritual wickedness as the failure to be spiritual after receiving the Spirit. The Wicked attempt to impress God, yet they are just as concerned with impressing people and themselves. Verse 5 connects all this, showing how God hates the “workers of Iniquity”. This is one of the few areas where we find God hates, but if we understand what the Wicked do, we can understand why. They place stumbling blocks before Babes, slander members of the Body, they are anti the anointing of God’s Grace in the person, they hold to the he of the world making them opposed to the Spirit which is of God. The Hebrew word for Evil in verse 4 is Ra meaning Thoughts: God has no pleasure in the thoughts of the Wicked, nor in their plans against the called of God. However, if God knows their thoughts, He knows ours as well, thus we can pray within, God hears. Paul said if there is no interpreter we pray in the Spirit within ourselves toward God, he also said we speak to ourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, all forms of prayer (I Cor 14:28 & Eph 5:18-20).
Verse 6 refers to Leasing, it’s the same word found in Psalm 4:2. The word Abhor means to detest in a ritual or moral sense. Unless they change the Wicked will be the ones to hear, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:21-23). Now the good part, “As for me”, I will come into the house in the multitude of Your Mercy (v. 7). Verse 8 asks the Lord to “lead” us, Jesus said the Holy Ghost will teach us all things (Jn 14:26). Yet, if the Holy Ghost is going to teach us, why do we need teachers? It’s how the Holy Ghost teaches us, it would be stupid for the Holy Ghost to appoint teachers, then not use them.
Verse 9 is the point when we discern those who lie in wait to deceive, full of their deception, witchcraft, and trick questions. We also find they will flatter with the tongue when talking to us, but slander us behind our backs. They speak nice, if they can gain the advantage, but they are merely looking for the place to insert their dagger of slander: however, do we war against them, or their ways? Verse 10 seems to lack some Mercy, but then we read God will allow them to fall by their own counsels. They rebelled against God, they used a lower authority in their attempt to overthrow or hinder God’s authority. By their own doing they are classed, thus they had the same opportunity as anyone who enters the Body, they simply refuse to follow the set procedures.
Verse 11 is right back to putting our Trust in God, seems to be a key issue. Then we find if we put our Trust in God, we also gain a righteous standing (v. 12). We can trust people to do as they should, but we never put our trust in people. There is a difference, also we never attempt to out guess God. God gives us a word, we then attempt to find out what God should do if we obey. When God doesn’t perform for us, we get mad, yet we are the ones who formed our own fable. Two areas causing us problems, putting our trust in people, and attempting to out guess God.
David was a king and a prophet, but he was not Born Again. David was in the time of “blessing and cursing”, under the Law of Moses. Therefore, in order to keep us in the Blessing, and free of the cursing, God had the words regarding the Wicked spoken by the Prophets before the Day dawn broke, there is no need for us to pray against anyone. We are told to Bless and curse not, we pray For those who persecute us. We are under a different Law, with different attributes and conditions.
In these Psalms we can see David asking God to avenge him, but we also have the evidence of David respecting (honoring) the anointing. Not many were anointed in David’s day, the priest by the office, the king by the office, the prophet by the office. When Saul was coming against David, it was David who knew better than to come against Saul. However, Saul held a disrespect for the anointing, he proved it by coming against David. David walked in Mercy, Saul did not. Mercy develops an attitude of Mercy, some of us handed the gun to the devil, loaded it for him, then looked down the barrel wondering how fast the bullet comes out. Not a good thing. We need to disarm the old man by not giving him the words of corruption to use against us.
Psalm 6 is a prayer for Mercy in the time of trouble, yet it begins with knowing we’re in trouble, then asking the Lord not to rebuke us, neither chasten us in His anger, but grant us Mercy. No excuse, we know we were weak, we admit it, we recognize it by seeking repentance unto restoration (v.2). Where is the trouble? In the soul (v. 3), we need to be restored, Mercy is how it will begin (v. 4). Repentance means more than turning, one can turn part way, ending in self-righteousness. We turn from the desire or lust which caused us to fall, then turn unto the Kingdom to be restored by the Holy Ghost.
In verse 5 the word Remembrance means The conscious effort to remember. This isn’t the same as no remembrance of the dead for us, but it does connect. There is no remembrance of the Dead, yet we were all the walking dead before we came to the Lord, yet we know He remembered us since He brought us into His Light. This verse points to the time when the final division takes place at the Judgment, the time when the second death becomes the issue, a time when hell will widen her borders to make room for those who couldn’t find their names in the Book of Life. Hell was made for the devil “and his angels”: his angels include the sons of perdition, both are seen in the lake of fire in the end. After the final judgment, those in heaven will have no remembrance of those in hell, regardless of who went there, yet those in hell will have a remembrance.
Verse 6 is a Night reference, the term “all the night”, could read, “every night”, the reference is the misery as their bed swims in tears. Verse 7 continues the thought, the enemies have made the Lord weary, they do mischief to God, by doing it to His people. This is prophetic area, since verse 8 points directly to the workers of iniquity. In the end the workers of iniquity will kill all those who stand for God, then comes the end.
Psalm 6:8 connects to 5:5 where we found God hates iniquity (Heb 1:9), thus His anger is over those who work at iniquity. Here in Verse 8 shows “Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity”, which is a statement relating to the Judgment (Matt 7:21-23). The Workers of Iniquity will do some good things, but they are unequal, they fail to do the will of the Father, which is granting Mercy (Matt 7:21-23).
Jesus prayed for us, but He also prayed in the Garden for those who follow the Judas nature, thus the prayers are said, we grant Mercy, not vengeance. All of us will face our personal Gethsemane, the place of separation when the old nature who seeks vengeance is truly crucified. When Jesus was in the Garden the Rock was the place whereon He fell. It’s far better to fall on the Rock, then have the Rock fall on us. We will have our wilderness experiences, our cave experiences, with our personal Gethsemane, all of which are for our own good.
While in the Garden Jesus had Peter, John and James with Him, yet He didn’t. There are those times when people are all around us, but we’re alone. The place where we learn how to overcome the Wicked, as we move from Young Children to Youngmen (I Jn 2:14). These areas are signs of our growth, never curse the wildernesses experiences, God does some great work during those times.
The purpose of praise is to bring us into worship, yet it’s near impossible to praise when we’re consumed with anger, or bitterness. Adverse events can be a blessing, we can apply Great Mercy in our Sacrifice of Praise to obtain Great Mercy. Praise is an attitude changing experience, Worship a Character builder. Jesus said “go ye and learn what it means, I will have Mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt 9:13). If Jesus called them sinners, surely He doesn’t hate them, thus there is a division between the sinner and the Wicked. Mercy puts the Kingdom of God At hand, Grace puts it In hand. The Good News preached by the disciples prior to the Cross was based in Mercy, at the time they had no concept of the Cross or Resurrection (Mark 9:32).
Psalm 7 is the first of the Imprecatory Psalms, including this Psalm and Psalms 35, 58, 69, 83, 109 and 137, giving us Seven Psalms reminding us Vengeance belongs to God. As we read the Psalms we find the context always shows Vengeance upon the Wicked, not man in general. It’s important to define the Wicked as those who entered, based on being saved from the pollutions of the world, but accepted the spirit of the world, becoming antichrist in nature (I Jn 2:19, 4:1-4 & II Pet 2:19-22 ). Did we say that? It deserves repeating. The Wicked have the ability and opportunity in hand, but reject it for the authority of the world, thus they become the he in the world, while rejecting the Greater He. They are the enemies of Jesus, the sinner is not the enemy of Jesus, or our enemy. John says the Wicked are of the world, yet he equated them to being a “brother” (I Jn 4:1-4 & 2:11). He also said they came from us, but were not of us (I Jn 2:19). Clearly they are in the Body, but they also rejected the purpose for entering the Body.
There are like statements in the New Testament, but with a different purpose (Acts 1:20, 8:20-23, 13:10-11, Rom 11:9-10, and II Tim 4:14). We can’t forget, the Holy Ghost had David pray these statements, then Jesus affirmed them in the Garden at which time they became complete. We are not to pray against anyone, this is the Day of Salvation, the Day the Lord has made. In the Book of Acts the prayers of the disciples didn’t ignore the danger, or the threats, but their intent was to receive the ability to Preach the more by signs and wonders in order to see Jesus magnified, rather then see others destroyed.
Man puts his trust in most anything, but we put our trust in God. If we trust God, we trust Him in all things, good, bad or indifferent (Ps 7:1). The word Trust is an interesting word, it has various degrees of meaning attached to it. One can trust their car will get them from one location to another, but they don’t trust in their car cooking their dinner. One can trust their stove to cook a meal, but they don’t trust in the stove to get them from one location to another. Misplacement of trust is a serious error, one can put their trust in their own ability, talent or gift, one can even put their trust in their ability to manipulate people, or they can put their trust in God, the last is still the best choice.
In Psalm 7 we find the metaphor Earth, pertaining to the Courtyard, or the kingdom of heaven. A man’s enemies are in his own household, but a house divided will fall. A very interesting statement considering the Body will be broken, thus our goal is to be of the Church. The heart of Psalm 7 is the prayer to have our own heart exposed (v. 4). When someone tells us we are prideful, we consider our ways. If what they say is true, God will confirm it, we admit it to be cleaned, but if what they say is not true, God will still judge us according to Righteousness, not lies or slander (v. 8). The Just still live by faith, the wicked by wickedness, we war against entering spiritual wickedness (v. 9). We talk to our soul to determine our standing, or whether or not our communication is corrupt or incorruptible (Ps 7:4). We ask God to judge us by the Righteousness of Jesus, to expose tares in us, to correct us in order to bring us into perfection (Ps 7:5-16). The mirror of God has two sides, one could be accusing us of their fault, or the offense could be exposed in us, we need discernment by the Spirit to determine the truth. When God exposes a tare we don’t run to self-pity, we praise the Lord according to His righteousness (Ps 7:17).
There are many times when we do get angry, but we sin not: we never allow our anger to speak or act for us, lest we give place to the devil. “Well I got mad, and I know it was righteous indignation”, sounds more like self-justification, rather than indignation. When any emotion controls us, we will interpret events and words through the emotion. If it’s anger, or any other out of control emotion, it becomes the filter to our understanding. We will misinterpret the event, or words adding to our frustration, presuming the fable is truth. God will expose the wild imagination, when He does, we usually say, “Not so Lord, I know what I saw”. No we didn’t, we presumed something based on our emotions, not on Truth. Clarity removes all those hindering elements while allowing us to see the Truth, rather than a fable based in deception
Psalm 7:11 shows how God is angry with the Wicked every day, later we will see how God hates their acts (Prov 6:16-19). Here we find why God is angry, they “turn not”, and rather they use envy, slander and deception to come against the brethren. They reject exposure, they reject words regarding how nasty, slanderous or carnal they are. Their Ways, not their Acts tell us who they are. Fruit identifies the tree, the tree identifies the root, the root identifies the source. For those focused on the Love of God, it’s difficult at best to consider a loving God could hate, but here it is. However, understanding why He hates is important. In reference to the Wicked it’s based on the harm they do to the Body, as well as to the reputation of Christ. Their evil will manifest in the Night when they enter an illegal position, presuming they are “prophets”, they end destroying everything in their path. In Proverbs we find God hates things, lying lips and such, but do lips lie? Or the person using the lips? It’s a key, God hated Esau, because Esau sold his birthright, it’s the same principle regarding the Wicked. They barter, or give their birthright to Satan in exchange they use the spirit of the world, their concerns are worldly. Jesus gave Himself so we could have the Birthright, the Wicked reject it for the flesh. Understanding them can have a reverse effect if we’re not careful, we can turn and hate the Wicked all the time, but it’s not the purpose for us. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, He will repay. Awareness belongs to us, we can discern.
The process is also defined, displaying why we need the saving of the soul, as well as telling us why it seems hard at times. The saving of the soul is a travailing work, one taking a heart in love with God. This doesn’t mean to Love God for the benefit, but to Love God regardless of the benefit. The Wicked love God for the benefit, their iniquity is based on the seed of corruptness conceiving mischief, which brings a falsehood (Ps 7:14). They made their own pit, they dug it, they have fallen into the ditch.
Verse 14 points to a “he”, in the mind of David this was Cush the Benjamite (I Sam 24:9 & 26:19), but to us we can see a correlation. In Ezekiel 28:14-15 we find the devil was once the anointed cherub who covered (protected), he was in the Garden, then he found iniquity in himself, causing him to twist his position in a manner it was not intended. The Wicked do the same, they have authority, they have the Unction over the Body, as do all in the Body, but they use the spirit of the world to enhance their own selves, rather than submit to the Holy Ghost to receive the Greater He. Verse 15 shows the “he” has made his own pit, he dug it, he is fallen into the ditch. Jesus said when a man attempts to save his own soul it’s like the blind leading the blind, both the person and their soul fall into the ditch (Luke 6:37-40). Here we find “the ditch”, the same as in Luke, thus it’s not a ditch as one of many, but one ditch. The wording “is fallen” is the Hebrew Naphel meaning to fall as in a violent death, or to fall down prostrate as in prayer; depending on the usage, strangely enough we find another example in the New Testament. In Revelation 17:10-11 we find the phrase “and there are seven kings: five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space”; we could assume these kings are the world, but wait, Revelation 17:9 shows the seven “heads” are “seven mountains”, not seven kings, these seven mountains come from ten, thus we have a division. The Beast of the Sea begins with Ten nations, but ends with Seven, but these Seven Kings are Seven, with Five Fallen, the Sixth is, then comes The Seventh, as well as the introduction of this Eighth. In Revelation 17:11 the word “perdition” defines this Eighth, the one who separated itself from the Seven, becoming the synagogue (gathering) of Satan. These Seven are not part of the Ten, rather we find the Ten went from Ten to Seven, this grouping is much different. What Seven elements does the Book of Revelation talk about in reference to “kings”? The Seven churches, the word Fallen has two meanings, both of importance, connecting to this Psalm. One meaning is to fall before God, the other is to Fall away from God, it’s this latter meaning we find here in Psalm 7:15 (Rev 2:8 & 3:9). The word Synagogue means gathering, thus they gather together based on Satan reigning within them. Five of the churches are gone, the Sixth is when the Eighth begins as the Beast of the earth, but surfaces when the lukewarm Seventh allows the Eighth entry into a place it should not be, the Eighth then is the Beast of the Earth, showing the Earth is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven, not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven has tares planted by the enemy, known as the children of the Wicked in our Season, the Wicked in the Night.
The Wicked have their Mischief return to them, their “violent dealing” shall “come down upon” their head (authority – Ps 7:16). The wording “violent dealing” is the Hebrew Chamac meaning Unrighteousness, or Oppressor; it’s the Unrighteousness connecting to being Ungodly. The metaphor Head refers to Authority, thus they reject the Authority of Jesus, for the authority of the Beast of the Sea (I Jn 4:1-4). The Blood of Jesus cleans us from all unrighteousness (I Jn 1:7). Therein lays the difference, they accepted the Bread, but refuse to submit to the Blood. However, as for us we will Praise the Lord according to His Righteousness (Eph 4:24), we will sign praise by “the Name” (Authority) of the Most High. We operate under the Name of Jesus, the metaphor Name, like Head means Authority; the metaphor Horn refers to power. Authority is the granted permission to do something, Power is the ability to carry out the Authority. Jesus gave the disciples Authority by saying, “Go in My Name”, but He also told them to wait for the Power from on High (Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:8).
Since we operate under the Name of Jesus, we also understand excellent is His Name in the Earth: in Psalm 8 we find another metaphor pointing to the kingdom of heaven. Although the sons of perdition make their plans to deceive, we find the Name of Jesus is Still Excellent. The word Excellent means Mightier; therefore, Greater is He in you, than the he of the world, because we Believe in Jesus, we are Born Again with the Word in us producing Godly Ways (Ps 8:1-3).
Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:16, this has nothing to do with children in the physical sense, it has to do with the Babes in Christ. The Holy Spirit will perfect the praises of the Babes in Christ, our job is to assist, not hinder. We also find Praise is a strength, it will confound the enemies of Jesus.
There is the sacrifice of praise, those times when praise seems like the last thing we want to do. Even if we begin to praise, we presume it’s merely a mind game, but here in verse 3 we find a change in attitude takes place when we enter praise. Therefore, at times it’s a faith issue when we begin our sacrifice of praise, looking to the result of entering His gates of Thanksgiving. If we consider all Jesus has done our thoughts regarding the event begin to change, we begin to see the Precious, changing us in the event, allowing us to see God has a plan for us.
The moon is a metaphor for Zion of the earth, the Stars would depend on a number, or lack thereof. If the number is twelve it refers to the twelve tribes of Israel, especially when we see the number of stars joined to the metaphors moon and sun. However, the metaphor Stars without number refers to us. In the Book of Revelation the “woes” fall on the earth and the sea, they do not effect the heavens. All metaphors are important: God has “ordained” these elements, if we would have seen the wording, “Thou has created”, we would have a different meaning in this verse, but the word Ordained is the Hebrew Kumn meaning To establish, or Fix in place. For us we find Zion of the heavens (Body), coupled to the Stars without number (Church) are established, God has a plan, He is not making this up day by day. The Record is Set, Fixed and Established, the Witness is carrying out the Record in us on a daily basis.
Why would God even pick us? What were we? Did we do some greatness to grab God’s favor? Did we give God something He didn’t have? God having a love for us, sent His Word to save us from ourselves (Ps 8:4-9). The position of the Son of man, means Jesus stood for us in the Form of a man based on the Mercy of the Father, but it doesn’t mean His positions stopped there. Prior to Pentecost the disciples were Jews not Gentiles, they were all subject to the promise, even Judas was subject to the promise. Paul tells us Jesus was made (not created) the Son of man (seed of David) according to the flesh, but declared the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection (Rom 1:3-4). Jesus was still the Son of God before the Resurrection, it was the Declaration by the Spirit becoming of importance, once the Resurrection happened, no one can crucify the Son of God. We are sons of men by the Mercy of the Father, sons of God by the Spirit in us. We must hold both positions as Jesus did, knowing the power and authority of each.
In Psalm 8:7-8 we see the Sheep, Oxen, the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, with the Fish of the Sea plus whatsoever “passes through the paths of the Seas”. These metaphors cover many areas, the Sheep and Oxen are Good Fish, the Oxen are the laborers of the Lord, we know what the word Sheep means. The beasts of the field are the sons of perdition, the fowls their followers picking at the fruit, but the Fish in the Sea are not yet caught, yet all of them belong to God as potential inhabitants of the kingdom. We never make the decision regarding who can enter the Body, or who can’t, nor do we make determinations of who is in the Body, or who is not. All belong to God, not us (Jude 21-23).
The wording Passes Through is the Hebrew Avar meaning To trespass, thus the Sheep and Oxen are protected, but the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air attack the Tree, meaning they are trespassing. The Fish of the Sea are still under the authority, power and seat of Satan: however, O Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is Your Name in all the Earth (Ps 8:9). The Name (Authority) of Jesus is over all in the Body, it’s our protection and authority keeping us separated from the world. We were fish of the sea (Gentiles), or the sand of the sea (Jewish), but Jesus by the Holy Ghost has made us fishers of men.
We still use the metaphor Sheep when talking about people of God, we know sheep are cute, but they stink, they’re stupid, they all need help, yet when they’re cleaned up they’re kind of cute; it’s the goats who have intents and desires not conducive to being Sheep. Clean up a goat, it still stinks.
Psalm 9 is a Thanksgiving for God’s Justice; if we don’t understand His Justice, we will never understand His Ways. If for no other reason, when we understand Mercy, we will understand God’s Justice is the result of rejecting His Mercy. Recognition to gain belief begins with, “Praise the Lord with our whole heart for all His marvelous works” (Ps 9:1). When our bank account is minus zero, our house is upside down, the ministry is so inside out, we can’t tell top from bottom, we turn to face God recalling the joy of our salvation, we will be glad and rejoice in God by singing praises to His Name (Ps 9:2-8). If Job’s three friends would have understood this, or the children in the wilderness would have done this, things would have been much different for them.
Psalm 9:6 displays the end of the enemies of Jesus, their Destructions (plural) are come (past tense) to a Perpetual End, the sons of perdition are Judged, but their Justice comes at the Judgment. The word Destructions is the Hebrew Charavah meaning Dry place, or Ruin, it refers to the rubble. The word Perpetual is the Hebrew Natsav meaning To establish; the word End is the Hebrew Tamam meaning To be completed, or Done, thus the course is already set for the Wicked. Does it mean God has an A list and a B list? No, it means God knows all things, we don’t. What is our assurance? The Spirit in us, the very means God has given us to make it. The Wicked either reject the Spirit, or separate themselves (Jude 18-19), it’s not God who causes it, but God will honor their decision (Rom 9:22-23).
In verse 8 we find the Lord “shall judge” the world in Righteousness, but He shall also “minister judgment” to the people who are upright; the word Judgment in this case means Upright, or agreement. The wording “minister” is the Hebrew Diyn (Gen 6:3), or Duwn meaning To plea a cause. Two different methods of judging, but both based in Righteousness, showing Righteousness is connected to Mercy. The wording “shall judge” is the Hebrew Shaphat meaning To vindicate, or punish. The Righteous would be those who used Mercy, defined by Jesus as those who are blessed of the Father (Matt 25:33-46). This is explained in verse 5 as God has Rebuked the Heathen, He Has destroyed the Wicked, blotting their name out of the Book of Life forever and ever. The phrase forever and ever denotes two Ever’s, the first is our Season, the next Ever is the Season to come; however, we are not among the Heathen or the Wicked. During those times when we are oppressed, or in torment because of their lies, or malicious acts, the Lord is still our refuge (Ps 9:9). How do we counter these evils? Praise the Lord by making His Doings (Ways) known, tell of the Good things God is doing, seek the Precious. We will be humble and seek the discernment of the event, without being overcome by the event (Ps 9:11-19).
Verse 17 is one of the most interesting in the text, showing the Wicked turn into Hell, thus showing they are the subtle beasts of the field causing the borders of hell to widen, thus the devil’s angels include the “Wicked”, as messengers of Satan.
To David a heathen was a Gentile, the “nations” were also Gentile, considered the enemies of God. It all changed with the Gospel, the enemies of Jesus are in the same house, the Gentiles become the fish of the sea we are sent to catch. Nonetheless the application of the enemies of God is still seen in the prophetic words. There are times when it appears God is gone on vacation, or simply turned His back on us. The Wicked appear to run wild, without any restraint, the “poor in Spirit” seem to be just as poor in Spirit (v. 10:1-2). However, God has a plan, the Wicked will be taken in their own devices they have imagined to put on others. The more they deceive people, the more they become deceived. The word Devices in verse 2 is the Hebrew Mazimmah meaning the purpose of an evil plot, the imagination defines the intent, the same premise as those who lie in wait to deceive. The word Imagined is the Hebrew Chashab meaning To think, reckon or impute. We impute the old nature dead on the Cross, the Wicked use the same premise only in an evil manner. They impute their plan complete, only in their case they call it “faith”, or “righteousness”, but it’s still based in an evil intent based on a lust to envy.
Verse 3 is an identifying element of the Wicked, they boast in their own desires and abilities. They are full of strife and division, they are covetous (envy) in nature. The verse continues with the same premise defining Pride is their driving motivation. It would seem they wouldn’t speak of God, but it’s not the context, they speak of God, but only to their advantage, or use God as their servant. Their real concern is exalting themselves, thus their Ways are grievous. The word Grievous is the Hebrew Chuwl meaning wounded or to cause pain. The Wicked curse and bless not, their hearts are full of deceit and fraud; from the heart the mouth speaks. We discern the words of a person, to determine the source. Perhaps not at first, but their words will make the source clear if we listen to discern.
Verse 8 defines lying in wait to deceive, they have secret plans in their hearts, tricks to trap the innocent. The word Innocent is the Hebrew Nagiy meaning blameless, thus the Wicked search out the blameless to cause them harm. The Wicked have no position or cause to form any plan of evil, making them Lawless. This is made clearer in verse 9, they lay in wait secretly; the word secretly is the Hebrew Mictar meaning hidden places, or a secret hiding place. The Psalm talks about a “he”, but the reference points to the position of the son of perdition. It’s one position, but with more than one subject therein, making the he the body of Judas run by the spirit of the world. The Body of Christ is made up of individuals, but it’s still One Body, the position of the son of perdition is one position, but it still has members. Verse 11 shows they hide in secret, thinking God doesn’t know what they are doing, or worse they think what they are doing is ordained and approved of God.
Verse 12 defines the “poor” as the humble, but interesting enough James and the Jews of his time defined the Poor as those outside of the Promise, the Rich as those with the Promise, thus we as the Poor humbled ourselves to gain the Rich Promise of Grace.
If we keep the context of the “heathen” in line with the prophetic, verse 16 makes more sense. It makes little sense to send Jesus to die for the heathen, yet destroy them. The heathen in general terms means without God, or without the Promise of God; in the prophetic sense it means one who has rejected the Promise offered by God. The Wicked accepted the Promise of entrance into the Body, but rejected the Promise of the Holy Spirit by retaining the spirit of the world. They also attempt to make God condone to their old natural agendas, while they claim to be the entire purpose of Salvation.
Psalm 11 is termed Trusting in God, it fits what we just read. How do we know we’re not among the Wicked? We have the Spirit, we are at least trying to walk in the Spirit. Our desire is not the same as the Wicked, they seek to carry out their own agenda, usually against the Spirit filled saint, to justify their unbelief. They envy those who walk in mercy, yet they hate those who walk in the Spirit. However, the key issue for us is trust, where do we put our trust? It better be In God, thus “In the Lord put I my trust” ( Ps 11:1). The wording “Put I my trust” is the Hebrew Chacah meaning to place our hope, protection, confidence, and security in God.
Verse 2 talks about the Darts, the attacks coming out of nowhere, the Wicked set their bow, their mind game is set, the trap is ready, they use deception, then shot their dart right at our belief and faith. They seek to remove our belief, damage our trust in God, corrupt our foundation. Faith is a Now condition, based in the unseen, seeking the unseen hope, but it takes Knowledge to know what faith is capable of. Our belief is also a Now condition, but it’s based on past knowledge, or experiences, thus if someone can remove our belief, our faith has no knowledge or confidence, it will fade, lacking a Godly hope.
Jesus said from John the Baptist until “now” the Kingdom suffered violence, but the violent take it by force (Matt 11:12). That phrase relates to these verses, the violence is self-righteousness, Jesus also placed a time element on this. It wasn’t before John the baptism or after John, it was from John until the “now”. The Violent are different, they are strong, but the force is based on an outside energy, they seize the Kingdom, they don’t make it suffer. The Wicked still use self-righteousness, Paul said they come with a mask of righteousness, but inside Satan still reigns (II Cor 11:13-14).
Three words of interest, transfigured, transformed, and translated. Translated means moved from one place to another, transformed is a change on the outside, transfigured is a change on the inside, producing a change on the outside. The Mercy of God will transform us, the Grace of God will transfigure us, so we can be translated from the earth into heaven. The wicked are self-transformed, they have the appearance, but lack the lawful method for change. They cry, laugh, beat their chest, they give a outward theatrical performance to impress man, thinking they are impressing God.
If we put our Trust in God, the Wicked haven’t a chance, if we put our trust in men, the Wicked will take advantage to trap us. The Lord is in heaven, He sits at the Right hand side of Majesty on High, He sees and knows how we try daily to walk the walk, and talk the talk. He also knows those of the synagogue (gathering) of Satan, as well as knowing they love violence (injustice – Rev 2:9). The Book of Revelation coupled with Psalm 11:6 show the Lord shall reign fire and brimstone down on the Wicked. As for the Righteous, they will be protected, because they put their Trust in the Lord, He will deliver them.
David as a prophet often spoke on behalf of the Lord, yet regarding circumstances he was familiar with. As a person his enemies were flesh and blood, but his physical enemies were nonetheless symbols of pride, ego and the self nature, which prophetically pointed to the enemies of Jesus. Our old nature is ineffective, yet it will voice its opinion, pride coming here, ego there, the desire to panic, fear from behind, yet in the midst of those enemies we trust in God (Ps 12:4-5). All the talk about the Wicked leads to Psalm 12:3 and beyond. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, with the tongue speaking proud things (Ps 12:3). There are two elements here, flattering lips are not the same as edifying someone, rather they attempt to exalt the person above measure. The Hebrew Karath is used for the phrase, Shall cut Off, referring to the time when the Body of Jesus is Broken. Pride pops up saying, “there is no God” or “it’s has passed away”, which is the same, but pride is void of Godly Wisdom, yet full of natural intellectual knowledge (Ps 14:1-6).
Psalm 13 is a shadow of a place we’ve all been in, the writer is talking to God, yet asking God “how long will you forget me”? (Ps 13:1). If we can talk to God, He hasn’t forgot us. Similar to asking God, “are You real?”. Why ask Him, if you don’t think He is real? Verse 2 is the product of “self-counsel”, using the soul to counsel the soul ends in “sorrow of my heart”.
There is an interesting statement here, one wherein we gain a hope. There may be times when it appears as if the enemy has prevailed, but God will not allow the enemy to prevail, neither will He allow the enemy to rejoice. Rather God will bring Light and Mercy, then we can rejoice in God’s Salvation (Ps 13:4-5). Verse 5 again points out how Salvation is of God, not man. Nonetheless it shows we are in the hand of God, we must believe God is working for our best interests regardless of the event. During the hard times, good times, and in all times we Trust in the Lord with a Heart rejoicing in His Salvation (Y@shuwah – Ps 13:5). Only the fool says in his heart, There is no God, which is a metaphor saying “God doesn’t see”, in context it shows one who refuses to put their Trust in God.
The very next Psalm answers the question from 13:1 as we read, “the fool says in his heart there is no God”, thus the fool won’t ask God a thing (Ps 14:1). In context the word Fool means one without God, thus if one doesn’t believe in the existence of God, they won’t recognize Him in their thoughts, deeds, or words. If someone “wonders” if there is a God, they are not a “fool”, but a lost soul seeking Truth. God is always looking those one who seeks Him (Ps 14:2), if He sees they have gone aside, or have become filthy, it doesn’t mean God gives up on them, it means He sees them, thus He is seeking to restore the lost. If the workers of iniquity trick the people of God with strongholds or fables, it doesn’t mean God will give up reaching out to both the Wicked and the victim while it is yet Day. It all means God has a plan, He will not forget us, nor forsake us (Ps 14:2-7).
Verses 1 through 3 in Psalm 14 relate to Romans 3:10-12, there is none good, no not one, there is none Righteous until they are Born Again. There was right standing before the Law, but not before God. Goodness is relative to the person, if someone did something “good”, then it was God who gave them the idea, or ability, thus man in and of himself is incapable of doing good, there is none Good but God. The phrase, “call upon the Lord”, is seen in many places, it means one who continually calls on the Lord. It has the same context as Mark 16:16, which is not a discourse on baptism, but a teaching on continual belief. If we are in the Body, we continually believe then the saying, “shall be saved” covers us; however, if we are in the Body, yet fail to continually believe, then the saying, ”shall be saved” doesn’t cover us. Jesus was upbraiding the disciples with their unbelief, He did so by showing it was up to them to continually believe in order for the signs to follow. They took the correction, thus showing belief and unbelief are choices we make (Mark 16:20).
The reference to the Wicked eating up God’s people as they do “bread” indicates metaphorically the Wicked are of the Body, but not of the Blood (v. 4). We are the Bread, thus they never disrupt the Blood, but they do attack the Bread (Rock).
Man has the choice to believe or hold unbelief, for those who desire to believe, the littlest evidence is necessary; for those who desire to hold their unbelief, no amount of evidence is enough. We persuade those who want to know God, we never debate, we never make it personal, if they reject our words, nor do we allow them to make it personal. When a debate becomes personal, hate and anger will dominate.
Trusting in God doesn’t mean we ignore pride, nor pride’s crime partners, it means we don’t relay on mankind for our salvation, deliverance, need, source, or reward. If we ignore any pride in us, especially the wall of pride we become self-deceived, instead of running the enemy out of the camp, we allow another to enter. Pride is a massive wall or a small wall, depending upon our position in the process of the saving of the soul, but one brick can cause us to stumble. Pride uses various shields, when God exposes pride, or any lust we join with God by telling the mountain to, “Go”, then we have faith in God to remove it from our lives. Using the pride of life to suppress some lust isn’t freedom, it’s self-deception. The process will take some humbling experiences, but humbleness will remove the root from the tree of pride, causing pride to dry up and die.
The Lord doesn’t give up easy, He will not be rejected without a fight. We may face many wilderness experiences before we get the idea, a humble heart is far greater, than a puffed out chest full of pride. When we remain humble before those who condone our attitudes, we gain nothing, but when we are humble before those who are attacking and belittling us we gain much (I Pet 2:20).
However, when we use humbleness as a tool to manipulate others, it’s not humbleness, but the pride of life counterfeiting humbleness to gain the advantage by deception. Humbleness is submission, or an attitude which avoids debate, anger and corrupt communication. Neither humbleness or submission ask us to lay down as a doormat, rather it means we avoid debates, the use of anger, or the urge to interfere in the things of God. When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, the finger of God will do the correcting. We do want what is Right in the sight of God, Love those who persecute you, pray for those who caused you harm, never render evil for evil (Rom 12:14-17).
Psalm 14 ends with a Night proclamation, the Lord will bring back the captivity, as Isaiah says, When the Lord sets His hand a Second time to recover the Remnant the Night will begin (Isa 11:11 et al). Paul said it will begin with Peace and Safety, but ends in sudden destruction (I Thess 5:3).
Psalm 15 asks a question, Who will abide in God’s Tabernacle? Who shall dwell in the Holy Hill? The Holy Hill is understood as Zion, but David didn’t have the Tabernacle, he didn’t have the Temple either. Jesus said He would build His Church on the Rock, thus we find two things, the Rock, upon which the Church sits. The Rock upon which Jerusalem of the earth sits is called “Zion”, in the Book of Hebrews we find there is also a heavenly Zion, as our mount of holiness (Heb 12:22). We are the Body, the Body is the Rock, the Mount of holiness from which Jesus builds His Church. The Rock and Head of the Rock are seen typed as the Tabernacle, the Rock being the Holy Place, the Head the Holiest of All. The question is valid, who will abide? The Father seeks those who worship in Spirit and Truth, thus in order to fit the category one must have the Spirit of Truth; therefore we are granted the Spirit of Truth by the New Birth, making “ye must be Born Again” a commandment, not a suggestion.
Psalm 15 answers the question giving us points to consider: “walking uprightly”, working “righteousness”, and “speaking the Truth in the heart”, all three of these take the New Man to accomplish. One could be upright before the Law, even hold a form of righteousness before the Law, but they were not upright or righteous before God, neither were they capable of speaking Truth from a heart based on the fallen nature of man (v. 15:2). It takes a New Heart based in Truth to speak the truth, there are those who say things then add, “well it was the truth”, no it wasn’t, it was their opinion. However, we have a problem, Jesus said from the heart comes no good thing (Matt 15:18-19), yet Paul said we must believe in our hearts God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 10:9), Paul then added from the heart we believe unto righteousness (Rom 10:10). If no good thing comes from the heart, how can we believe unto righteousness? Circumcision of the heart, the cutting away of the Old, the imparting of the New Heart (New Man – Rom 2:29). Therefore, the Righteousness is “His Righteousness” which we obtained with the New Man (Eph 4:24). With true Righteousness we can come boldly to the throne of Grace, without it, we can’t.
True Judgment is merely separating the Precious from the Vile, here in Psalm 15 we find such a division. The vile would be those who do evil with their tongues, or speak evil of their neighbors continually. These are the signs of a bitter heart, one seeking fault while failing to show Mercy, neither do they attempt to show Mercy. Scratch the surface of their mask with exposure, they will retaliate with a vengeance.
Verses 3 through 5 all relate to Mercy, when we add the Truth of the Heart, we find Living Waters, or Mercy applied by the Spirit of Truth.
Psalm 16 begins with the familiar, “for in You (God) do I put my trust”. Then in verse 2 we find the activity of the soul. In Psalm 15 it was the heart, thus the division between Soul and Spirit is taking place. Our Righteousness and Holiness are based in the New Man, who is Spirit, not our souls. Our souls have the right and authority to join, or be engrafted into the Righteousness and Holiness, but our souls don’t generate either.
Our soul has said, “You are my Lord”, but we also find no one can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost (I Cor 12:3). This is a confession of the soul, but it doesn’t mean the person can hear the Lord, thus in order to be a servant, one must hear the Master’s voice. In the days of David God talked to the prophets, but now He speaks by Jesus in us the hope of Glory (Heb 1:1-2).
The context here points to, Who is your God? To those who say the Lord is their God, they rest in the assurance of knowing with Whom they stand (v. 3). However, for those who have another god, their sorrows will be multiplied. We will not drink of their cup, neither do we mix the cup of devils with the Cup of the Lord (I Cor 10:21).
In verse 6 the Lines are fallen, the word Lines is the Hebrew Chebel meaning a rope or a measuring line, the wording “are fallen” is the Hebrew Naphal meaning to fail, to be cast down, or lost, this indicates the protection of evil has fallen. This has to be taken into context with verse 10, showing verse 6 is the breaking of barriers, the destruction, or making ineffective he who had the power of death, that is the devil (Heb 2:14). Regarding verse 10 Peter commented on Pentecost regarding the words of David, as they referred to Jesus and the Resurrection (Acts 2:27-31). Verse 11 confirms this, as the Holy Spirit shows us the Path of Life, the fullness of Joy leading us to Jesus at the right hand of Majesty on High (v. 11). The Faith of Jesus is proven, our faith follows Him by the Spirit.
Psalm 17 begins in a prayer language known to the Jew, the position giving one the right to pray to begin with: having done all to stand, stand therefore. Verse 2 shows us the Right standing is being Equal, in our case it’s holding Mercy and Grace, in the case of David it was being open before the Lord.
Psalm 17:11-17, with Psalms 35, 38, 69, 83, 109 and 137 are known as the “Imprecatory Psalms”, meaning specific prayers to invoke God’s wrath on the Wicked. Two modern thoughts concern this type of prayer, some contend imprecation is proper for the New Testament person, others say under Grace we are not permitted to pray in such a manner, thus these prayers were spoken prophetically to release us from having to make them. Those who contend we should pray show the command to love one’s neighbor was in the Old Testament, they use the thought of Vengeance is the Lord’s, thus we are simply remind the Lord to apply vengeance. The souls under the altar of God pray, or ask the Lord how long will He not judge or avenge their blood (Rev 6:10). However, they are not telling the Lord to attack people, it’s the blood of the saints in question. We can’t use the same premise as those under the Law of Moses, we are under a different Law; thus we are told without question to agree with our adversary (Matt 5:25), to pray for those who persecute us (Matt 5:44), as well as forgive to be forgiven (Matt 6:12). These Jesus called Commandments, telling us if we teach anyone to break them, we shall be the least, the lust to gain vengeance removes us from mercy (Matt 5:17-19).
Others argue some verses in the New Testament indicate such prayers are proper, but the verses used do not support the contention. One verse is Acts 1:20, but it’s the disciples replacing Judas, not praying against him. The act of replacing Judas was out of order, since they were told to tarry, rather than hold a board meeting. Another area is Acts 8:20 where Peter told Simon, “your money perish with you”, but this is not a prayer, it’s a statement of exposure. Peter gave Simon a path to recovery by telling him, “pray God, if perhaps the though of your heart be forgiven”, hardly praying against Simon, rather it’s making a request for Simon to pray. Acts 13:10 is another, but it’s not a prayer either, as Paul moved by the Holy Ghost to take action on a Jew who was a sorcerer. Others use Romans 11:10 were Paul is teaching by using a quote from the Old Testament, but it’s not a prayer either. It would be a terrible mistake to think Paul is saying to pray against someone in Romans 11:10, when in Romans 12:20-21 he said, “If your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head, be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good”. The last one used is II Timothy 4:14 where Paul is talking to Timothy about Alexander the coppersmith, but it’s not a prayer, rather it’s just the opposite. Paul is leaving the reward, if any in the hands of the Lord, he is not telling the Lord to punish Alexander. Spiritual matters are still foolishness to the carnal mind, Jesus gave us Commandments in this area specific for the Body of Christ. Jesus prayed three times in the Garden regarding the Wicked, so we won’t have to. How can we pray for those who persecute us, while telling God to kill them? This was so important we find the disciples never mentioned Judas Iscariot after Acts chapter 1, they never prayed against him either. Many New Testament scribes used Balaam, Korah and Cain as examples of wicked people, Paul mentioned a couple of warnings to Timothy, but we do not find any authorization from any Apostle allowing us to pray against anyone. It would be vital, since the Lord gave the New Testament Apostles Commandments to give to us. The “least Commandments” were given us by the Lord on the Mount of Olives pertaining to Mercy, they are not inferior (least), rather they are the least we can do. Michael the archangel knew better than to bring a railing accusation against the devil, rather he said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9). Carnal minds look for ways to vent their anger, rather than deal with it. The Wicked look for people who want to vent their anger in prayer, then encourage them to do so, which in turn gives the devil opportunity (Eph 4:26-27).
Verse 3 is a New Testament concept regarding the proving of our souls by our heart, becoming a testing of our faith. The measure of faith is in our soul, we can make the decision to use it any way we desire, but the Commandment is “have faith in God”. Verse 4 speaks of the “destroyer”, which is the Hebrew Pariyts meaning Robber, or Destroyer. However, how is it trusting God? When we view the context we gain a mystery, the soul must be one with the Spirit to bring about “that born of the Spirit is Spirit”, it takes testings to engraft us into the Spirit so our souls are Spiritual. The Lord proves our souls, so we can seek the Lord by the Spirit, thereby making the two One, as our souls become more and more Spiritual in nature. The Lord proving us coupled with our knowledge of how the Lord will guide our footsteps shows He is fully able to clean us of all the natural carnal behaviors (v. 5). This is verified in verse 6, “I have called upon You, for you will hear me”. We can’t hear God until He first calls us, thus we hear God by the New Man. Confidence in God while trusting in God, gives us the ear for God in the time of need (v. 6-7).
The wording “I have kept” in verse 4 is the Hebrew Samar meaning To guard the flock, thus the right standing was giving the heritage of God due respect. In David’s case, as well as ours it’s respecting the Anointing.
Verses 9 and 10 speak of trusting God for protection, the wicked are camped about, the enemies are near, but the Lord is our keeper and refuge, in Him will we trust.
When we prayed, “deliver me from evil”, we gave God the right to expose those areas of hindrances. It’s no secret only a few walk with Jesus in White, but it pertains to the Rapture which are those who are Dead in Christ, it doesn’t include those who sleep in Jesus. However, the term “Few” is only relative to the number from which its taken. John shows the Few are so many one can’t count them, thus there is room for us. “Oh my, I don’t walk exactly like Jesus, I guess I can’t make it”, wrong, the purpose of the Gospel, with the New Testament letters show us how the people of God were people, they made mistakes, yet they made it. We all miss it, or make mistakes from time to time, but thank God this is the Day, we are children of the Day. Security in the Lord is found in who we are in Christ (I Thess 5:5-7, Rev 20:5, 20:13 & Ph’l 3:10-11). We don’t want to be so paranoid over becoming among the Wicked we’re afraid to preach, or do the works of the ministry. The Wicked have some very distinctive characteristics, the Psalms will speak a great deal about them, so we can identify the characteristics. If our life style is not the same as the Wicked, then we are either Dead in Christ, or we will Sleep in Jesus, either of those two groups make it.
Psalm 17 coupled with Ephesians shows us why we shouldn’t pray against people, we war against the “wiles” of the devil, we do not war against flesh and blood. The Wicked are flesh and blood who use the spirit of the world, but it still doesn’t give us authority to pray against them. In Psalm 17:11 the elements change, these elements have compassed us in our steps, they have set their eyes like as a lion greedy of his prey, as if it were a young lion lurking in secret places, Arise O Lord “disappoint him”, what happened to the “them”? Then we read, “deliver my soul from the wicked, which is Your Sword”. The Sword of the Lord for those who have the Armor of God is the Word (Rhema) of God, yet for those opposed to the Lord it’s the two-edged sword from the Lord’s mouth. The Wicked are not the Sword, they are subject to it, thus this prayer would be akin to “delver me from evil”. The context goes back to delivery from the hands of the wicked, whose life is their belly (flesh). This is still speaking of saving our souls, we must be delivered from the wiles, in order to see what they are.
Psalm 18 is a Song of Victory, connecting to Psalms 19, 20 and 21. Psalm 19 reflects on God’s Creation, Psalm 20 is a Prayer for Victory, Psalm 21 is Praise for Victory, the four of them lead to Psalm 22 which is the seat of Victory.
Above all else our trust in the Lord is voiced when we live by, “I Will Love You, O Lord, My Strength” (Ps 18:1). The key is knowing it’s God’s Strength, not the might of man. More often than not we “hear”, but rather than wait on the Lord, we think we can do it better, producing a sign of our lack of Trust in the Lord. When God begins to do something in our lives we don’t like, we get mad, blame the world, the devil, but it’s because we lack trust in God. A lack of trust stems from the desire to control events and people. If we trust in God it really doesn’t matter what tomorrow holds, but if we don’t in trust God, tomorrow becomes a great concern, so much so, we work today, so we can control tomorrow.
When the adverse event hits, we can be like Job sitting in the ashes, or we can see God has a plan. If we act like Job in the ashes of despair we can count on the carnal minded with their carnal acts of ministry to point out all our faults, yet they have no answers. Accepting the concept of God having a plan allows us to thank God for the plan, which in turn brings clarity in the cleaning whirlwind of God. “You want me to thank God for this, no way, never, won’t do it”. You better, if you want to find the purpose. The soul says, “I will in no way praise God for the event, I will praise Him through it, but not for it”, it’s a confession of being dissatisfied in God’s work, thus our mind says God didn’t do as we wanted, now we’re mad. “Well, it’s not God, it’s the devil”. Really, how do you know? “I don’t like it”. Ouch, it always seems to be the key, if we like it, it’s God, if we don’t, it’s the devil. The children in the wilderness didn’t like the events either, but we know it was God training them. We must discern, even if it is the devil, praising the Lord will give us clarity and ability to gain from the event.
The Lord is the only One who can provide us the strength of His salvation, the only One worthy of praise (Ps 18:1-3). The Lord is our Rock, thus the Body of Christ is still the Lord’s Body, we imputed the flesh dead on the Cross, for the effort the Lord gave us His Body, which is the Bread. The word Salvation is verse 2 is the Hebrew Yesha meaning deliverance, or a place of safety, defining the Body as the Rock.
From the context of this Psalm we also see a preview of the very last days. The Lord heard from His Temple, or place of Judgment (v. 6). The earth shook, the foundations of the hills were removed and shaken because of the Wrath of God (v. 7). This is not the Rapture, but the very last day when the earth turns inside out to become the lake of fire. When the Rapture comes, the earth will shake, the people on the earth will think it’s God’s wrath, which begins the great deception (Rev 6:15-17). In the very end the Hail and Coals of fire fall from heaven (Ps 18:11-13), caused by the false prophet. The false prophet was run by the “spirit of antichrist” in our Season, seen as the false prophet in the next. Why the change? During our Season they are “anti Christ”, but the Rapture removes Christ Like people, thus the challenge for the Wicked will change; instead of iniquity, they will become the doers of sin; moving into a position they have no right to. They simply prove their bitterness by turning their desire of evil in a different direction.
We know the purpose of the Night is to make the enemies of Jesus His footstool, in Psalm 18:9 we find “He bowed the heavens also, He came down: and darkness was under His feet”. This couldn’t mean the Birth of Jesus, since we find the term “bowed the heavens”. Later we will see how the Day of the Lord has a beginning and an end, with a time element between the two called a “thousand years”. The Day of the Lord begins when the Day is done, as the Night begins, when the Night is done, then comes the Judgment. This helps us understand verses telling us “it’s appointed unto all men once to die, then comes the Judgment” (Heb 9:27). Until all men die the first death, the Judgment won’t come, since the Judgment points either unto life, or the second death.
David was both king and prophet, as prophet many of the Psalms show us the Holy Ghost speaking through a man to the Father for the Son, bringing the will of God into the earth (Ps 18:15-50). The Book of Hebrews says, “Then said He, Lo, I come to do Your Will, O God. He takes away the first, that He may establish the second. By the which Will” (Heb 10:9-10). We are sanctified solely by the Will of God through the offering of the Blood of Jesus. Within Psalm 18 we read, “He delivered me from the violent man”, which is a singular usage for the word Man (Ish), referring to the old man, or the sin nature full of the wiles of the devil (Ps 18:48). This is not the Hebrew Adam, but the Hebrew Ish, referring to mankind in general under the fall nature, thus pointing to the old man. On the Cross Jesus took all sin from time past, time present and time future on His flesh, but in order to benefit one must partake of His Flesh by receiving the mercy of the Father. Death by sin came with Adam, sin and death separated man from God, since God is Life. Even Abraham’s bosom was within speaking distance of hell, however, Jesus by the death of His physical flesh, but not the death of the Messiah who can never die; destroyed or made the devil ineffective to those in the Body. It seems like a paradox, Jesus Who is the most innocent, died for those who are guilty. However, it’s the only way it could come to pass. Regardless of who we were, we were guilty; none of us were born into the flesh as “holy and righteous”, we were flesh based, more prone to sin, than not, proven when we did sin the first chance we got. However, by what Jesus did for us, we are now able to impute ourselves dead of the flesh by the Cross, to gain the Spirit of Truth by the power of the Resurrection. Thereby giving us authority over the flesh, meaning over the sin nature which governed the flesh. We became a New Creature, the old is dead, no longer effective. We are not “old sinners saved by Grace”, we “were” old sinners who died on the Cross of Jesus, now we are Raised by the Power of God into a New Covenant proven by the seal of the Holy Spirit. No other organization on earth can make the claim, none have any evidence of a leader being Resurrected.
The old man’s authority was in the flesh, we impute the flesh dead on the Cross of Jesus, thus the flesh, the old man, the devil, the wiles of the devil, plus the darkness are ineffective. We are the Body, those things are under our feet. However, we are not ineffective, since we are in the Body of Jesus, also known as the Body of Christ. Paul said we die daily, in order to be Renewed into Life daily, it doesn’t mean we are saved daily, we are simply remembering what Jesus did for us on a daily basis. We take the Bread first, remembering we are no longer of the Flesh, but of the Body by the Mercy of the Father. Then we partake of the Blood, the Token of the New Covenant cut for us by the Word of God made flesh. Then we remember how we are baptized with the Holy Ghost to become Spiritual in nature, in order to understand the Spiritual things of God.
When we receive the Cross of Jesus, we receive all His flesh endured for us, including the stripes, the beatings, the nails, the mocking, the crown of thorns, the curse of the Law, the Law itself, everything else He abolished on the Cross is abolished in our New lives. Jesus died so we might live, meaning we live by the New Birth through a Spiritual nature unto the fullness of the Christ Character. So does it mean our memory is gone? No, it means we have a new position above the old nature, a newness so new the old is no longer considered. One of the hardest elements for us to consider is the Newness the Cross brings, we have memories, the flesh is still there, yet we have a new Body called the Body of Christ. In essence we merely calling something to be, as a were; thus it’s appointed for all to die once, we merely allowed Jesus to complete it for us.
God’s Mercy places us in a like position as Adam before the fall where death by sin did not reign. However, even Adam couldn’t visit God, nor could he reason with God on God’s level. Mercy is great, it’s the Door opener, it grants us the ability to forgive as we are forgiven, but we must move to the grave, then the Power of the Resurrection in order to be sons of God. If Jesus was declared the Son of God by the Spirit of Holiness as a result of the Resurrection, then the same Spirit who raised Him will raise us, showing we must have the Holy Spirit of Promise.
God granted us His Mercy, so we could walk in it. The Son provided Grace, so we can have it. How can we thank God for the forgiveness of our sins, if we hold or impute sins against others? We can’t, Paul said we obtained Grace as a Gift, not of our own, but in the realm of Mercy, Jesus said in order to be forgiven, we have to forgive. The two don’t make any sense at all, unless they are talking about two different, yet related things. Forgiveness of our sins is a an act of Mercy, the salvation of our souls, or the remission of sin are Grace based. If Grace can’t be earned by any effort on our part, yet we can’t be forgiven unless we forgive, we must be speaking about two things. Amen?
The Wicked gain the Adam nature, then they seek to be like Adam. Some of them even worship Adam by giving Adam more credit, than God did. Adam was earth bound, there isn’t one verse showing Adam used faith, nor was Adam able to leave the confines of the earth. Rather we find Adam was formed of the earth: since his flesh was of the earth, he remained with the earth. James tells us the wisdom of man is earthly, sensual (soulish) and devilish; not a devil, but devilish. The same wisdom Adam used, “it was the woman you gave me”, showing how he handled events. Jesus said, “Father forgive them”, two completely different approaches.
The Wicked don’t want to submit to the Christ nature, but why? Adam controlled his own life, God served Adam, Adam didn’t serve God, but Jesus gave up His life for us. Jesus served the Father, thus it becomes an issue of Service, the Wicked want to be served of God, the Faithful want to serve God. God will deliver us from the “strong enemy” (strongman – Ps 18:17). The Cross gains us many things, it makes the enemy ineffective (Heb 2:14), we have the forgiveness of sins, the breath of Jesus as the power to forgive as we are forgiven, which is much greater then the atonement under the Law of Moses.
Psalm 18:21 points to the Ways of the Lord, it’s known as the Song of Victory. If we hold the Ways of the Lord, we will obtain victory over the ways of the Wicked. As we grow in the Lord our desires change, we will do good by our New Nature. We did things without thinking by the old nature, what makes us think we won’t in the New? Many of our good works are done daily, yet we pay little, if any attention to them. At first we have to think, “What would Jesus do?”, but then we find ourselves doing what Jesus would do. These are the Ways of the Lord as a result of the New Birth, a great benefit indeed.
Verse 24 of Psalm 18 says, “therefore has the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness”, it would seem self-righteousness has a position; however, it doesn’t say self-righteousness, rather it points to Righteousness giving Recompense. The word Recompensed in verse 24 is the Hebrew Shuv meaning To turn back, or To turn around, or To turn to Jehovah, here it shows one has slipped, but Repentance by the Righteousness of God brought them back. Some if not all of us will slip, but the Seed of God in us will fight to get us back onto the path. Who is God save the Rock, who is A Rock, save our God? (v. 31). When God gives us victory, we sing His praises among the heathen as a testimony to the might of the Lord God we serve (v. 49-50). This also indicates the Unction over the Body is of the anointing of Christ, it’s a protection or every member, no matter what type of fish they are.
Psalm 19 has some interesting divisions, the Heavens Declare the Glory of God, the Firmament Shows His handiwork. Metaphorically we are the Heavens, thus in the Book of Revelation there is a Woe on the earth, then one on the Sea, but none in the Heavens. The word Heavens is the Hebrew Shamayim mainly denoting the Air or Sky, or the abode for the stars. The word Firmament is the Hebrew Raqiya meaning the place where the waters above the earth are stored. The word Declare is the Hebrew Caphar meaning to Talk, or Speak of. The word Show (showeth in KJV) is the Hebrew Nagad meaning to declare or show forth. The planets and stars above the earth are there, they openly declare the Glory of God, but the Glory is also in those who are Born Again (Rom 8:18). The place where the Waters are stored is known to us as the clouds in the sky, the salt water in the sea evaporates goes into the clouds, then the clouds move over dry land where the rain falls. However, the metaphoric use is also important, we are the Clouds (Witnesses) who received the Mercy of the Father (Water) when we left the Sea (World), as we were translated to the Earth (kingdom of heaven), then after we obtained the Spirit as we are transfigured by the Spirit into a son of God to produce Mercy for others.
Verse 2 is another division, with more metaphoric symbols. The children of the Day Utter Speech, but the Night has Knowledge. The word Utter (uttereth in the KJV) is the Hebrew Naba meaning To pour out: it’s the same context for both New and Unknown tongues. New tongues is a New manner of speech, but still in the understanding, Unknown tongues is when the Spirit of Truth in us speaks, both show a Pouring Out of the Spirit from within.
Verses 4 through 6 actually speak of the stars, firmament, day and night, but we can also see the Gospel, it has gone out and will go out until the end of the earth. In our Season it’s the Gospel of Peace, in the Night it’s the Everlasting Gospel. In our Season it’s unto Salvation, in the Night it’s Judgment, but still throughout all the earth (Rev 14:6).
The “Law of the Lord”, is the Law of the Spirit, it’s also known as the Law of God, thus the Law of the Spirit “converts” the soul during the Day. In the Night the “testimony of the Lord” will be found in the Law and Prophets, as the Two Witnesses calling for repentance (v. 7 & Jn 5:39).
James said, the engrafted Word is able to save our souls, but he didn’t say the engrafted Scriptures save our soul, there is a difference (James 1:21). The word Engrafted means our souls become part of the Word (Seed of God), as our soul becomes spiritual in nature. John called it the ability of a sinless nature in the seed of God to keep us from continuing in sin, by the change in natures (Jn 3:9). Peter said, we are Born Again by the incorruptible seed of God (I Pet 1:23). Paul said, If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom 8:10). When the Spirit brings forth the Blade by the New Birth we can see with clarity, knowing all things are under the feet of Jesus. We will keep the things of God in order, we will not elevate them above measure, nor reject them.
In verse 9 there is another division of importance, the Fear of the Lord is Clean, enduring forever: the Judgments of the Lord are True and Righteous. The Fear of the Lord is an awareness of the Integrity of the Lord, coupled with a complete respect for the Lord, and His Position. The same Judgments are the basis for the trying of our faith, moving us further and further from the condemnation on the world (v. 10).
Verse 12 defines self-deception, without the Spirit we could be knee deep in sin, yet never know it. Not all sins are confined to murder, some are done by words. Using what the world calls lawful, often is a self-centered way still a sin. Slandering someone is a sin, hindering them in doing what the Lord desires is a sin. Not saying something, when we should is iniquity, leading to sin. All these things the Spirit in us warns us of, or gives us caution, plus a means to correct the source so we won’t do it again.
Verse 14 is the combination of the heart and mouth being acceptable to the Lord, in Ezekiel God said He would sprinkle Clean Water (Pure Mercy) on us, then we shall be clean, then He will give us a New Heart as a New Spirit by taking away the stony heart produced by the spirit of man (Ezek 36:25-26). The Heart is the source of the intent, the Word in us divides thought from intent, thus the thought can seem good, but the intent corrupt. What we think is a “good work” could in fact be corrupt and destructive. The New Heart is the New Man, as the Word in us guiding and dividing. By the Spirit we can know our Heart and Words are connected and acceptable before the Lord.
Psalm 20 is a plea for help in the “day of trouble”, Paul called it the “evil day”, but in any trouble or evil we need God’s help. In verse 1 the word Defend could also mean Set me on a high place, or In a place of security. Verse 2 could also read, “sent Your help from the sanctuary”, which would be a response from God based on the sacrifices, in our case it’s the Sacrifice of Jesus (v. 3). Communion is a matter of Remembering what Jesus did, it is not a faith builder, as much as it is a belief builder (v. 5).
The Right Hand of God is the place of equal power, the same premise is seen in the authority of earthly kings; the queen sits on the left side, no one sits on the right side of the king. However, we find Jesus on the Right Hand Side of Majesty on High, indicting equal power and authority, thus in the Day of trouble we come boldly to the Throne of Grace to Obtain Mercy, and Find Grace ( Heb 4:16). By Mercy and Grace we can not only stand, but know why we are standing.
Psalm 21 is of course David the king, but in truth we find some things mentioned David was not privy to. Jesus has made us kings and priests unto God (Rev 1:6). The purpose of a kingdom is to carry out the will of the king, thus a king is over the subjects in the kingdom. In our case, who are our subjects? I can’t be yours, and you can’t be mine. Things are subjects, if we allow fear to be a prince, it will reside in our kingdom as a ruler. If we allow anger, bitterness, unbelief or any of the other rulers of darkness to reside in our kingdom they take up prince positions. On the other hand, if we allow believe, faith, hope, love and forgiveness positions, they reign as princes. Proper kingdom order brings joy in the Strength of the Lord which is found in His Salvation, they we can Greatly Rejoice (v. 1).
Verse 2 in context with the Salvation of the Lord makes sense, in context with asking for anything from the old heart lusting to envy it doesn’t. Ask anything in the Name of Jesus, it shall be granted; however, the key is in the Name, or within the Authority of the Name. It doesn’t mean anything in general, it’s limited to Mercy and Grace, the foundation of the Name. If we are Rejoicing in the Salvation of the Lord, then we have a New Heart centered on the things of God, not the things of the self. We cannot use this concept to fulfill a lust, then get mad when we don’t get the answer we want. “You lust and have not: you kill and desire to have”, “you ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:1-5). Verse 3 defines this asking as “blessing”, not only has God given us all spiritual blessings, He expects us to be a blessing (Eph 1:3). Then verse 4 narrows it down, we asked for Life, God gave it, even length of days forever and ever, which has to point to the New Birth. In so doing it becomes one of those areas Nicodemus should have known about (Jn 3:10).
We must believe Jesus is raised from the dead, but how can we truly believe in our heart Jesus is raised from the dead, if we don’t believe in the Trinity, or as it was called in the early days the Unity? Jesus said He would raise Himself from the dead, Paul said the Father raised Jesus, both he and Peter said it was the Spirit of God, thus God did raise Jesus from the dead (Jn 2:19 22, Gal 1:1, Rom 8:11 & I Pet 3:18). We can’t truly believe Jesus is raised from the dead unless we have the same Spirit in us allowing us to believe; since the Same Spirit who raised Jesus, will raise us. Verse 6 continues the thought, we are blessed forever, we are exceedingly glad, we Trust in the Lord, we have received the Mercy of the Father (v. 7). Events happen, our attitude in the event determines if we overcome the event, or we are overcome by the event. Often it’s merely casting the hindering element unto the Lord, knowing the event, or attack doesn’t matter, it’s the Lord who matters.
Verse 8 doesn’t tell us to pray against the enemies, it shows we have clarity, as we find our enemies are not flesh and blood. As far as the enemies of Jesus, they will end in the lake of fire (v. 9). Verse 11 shows how they intended evil against “Thee”, not “me”, thus the attacks come because of the Lord. We can’t take attacks personal, or we will form bitterness against the person making flesh and blood our enemy; rather than render Mercy through the Ministry of Reconciliation, we will impute their sins on them personally.
What matters? The Lord be exalted (v. 13). We are saved by the Mercy of the Father from the world. We are being Saved by the Grace of the Son in the kingdom through the New Birth. We must have both Mercy and Grace in order to hear “Well done My faithful servant” (Matt 25:21).
Psalm 22 begins with, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”; of course we know Jesus said this on the Cross, but does it mean the Father forgot Jesus, or rejected Him? Not at all, Jesus said, “believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (Jn 14:10), with, “All things the Father has are Mine” (Jn 16:15). Jesus went to the Cross for us, the statement is prophetic on our behalf, it was each of us who were separated from God by the sin nature: Jesus as the Son of man stood for us, gaining our Victory, something we could not do. The Faith of Jesus is proven, our faith coupled with the New Man guides us on the same path of Victory.
As the Son of man Jesus operated in the Mercy of the Father, thus Mercy is the entry position we all must have. Based on having the Father’s Mercy we are sons of men, based on having the Spirit we are sons of God. Paul’s statement in Romans clarifies this, Jesus was made, not created from the seed of David (Son of man), but He was declared the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness through the Resurrection, two positions, same Jesus (Rom 1:3-4). The Book of Hebrews adds one more position, yet it’s the same Jesus, as Hebrews tells us the Father looked upon the Son and said, “Your throne, O God is forever and ever: a scepter of Righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom” (Heb 1:8). The Holy Ghost calls Jesus God, the Father calls Him God, yet some of us refuse to. Talk about strongholds.
Jesus said, “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness”; yet it’s His Kingdom, established in His Righteousness. The Kingdom of God came to the earth on the Day of Pentecost, if not, you’re not Born Again. When Jesus walked on the earth before the Cross, He did so as the Son of man, when He went to the Cross, He did so as the Son of man, but when He gave the Sacrifice, He did so as the Son of God, the result brought Him back to the position as God the Son, yet in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, three positions (Jn 1:1). Jesus didn’t give up positions, rather He operated in the proper position at the proper time. We operate as kings and priests, but we can mix the ways of the world into our kingly position, or the deeds of the Law of Moses into our priestly position, finding ourselves in error. Positional authority is very important, we are representatives of the Lord, yet it’s by the Spirit we understand which position we operate in for the moment. Are we a priest? King? Minister? Only the Spirit in us gives us direction to the positional authority.
Psalm 22 gives us the incentive to work based on appreciation, rather than seeking some self-based reward, or some self-righteous attitude based on our works. Psalm 22 is classed as a “Messianic Psalm”, over the years some have debated over what makes a Messianic Psalm, some use the three prong test, 1) is the words found in other books which attribute them to a discussion of the Messiah, 2) are there references in the New Testament to the words used in the Psalm, and 3) is there testimony of the Jews or Body of Christ denoting the Psalm as Messianic. Some suggest David was speaking of himself, and not of Christ. Others suggest David was speaking of himself, yet suggesting Christ. However, we must take into consideration the difference between the scribe and the Author. If the Holy Ghost is the true Interpreter of Prophecy, then the Holy Ghost is the Author, not David. The wording in this Psalm points directly to Jesus, it was quoted by Him on the Cross, thus giving us a road map of what He did for us
Whatever Jesus spoke on the Cross, He spoke for us, including “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Stephen had this Same Mind, when the stones were coming through the air he prayed for the Lord not to hold the sin against the people (Acts 7:60). Jesus, Who did no sin, neither was any guile found in His mouth, Who when reviled, reviled not again: when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the Cross, that we, being dead to sins, should live in Righteousness: by Whose stripes we were healed (I Pet 2:22-24). The path of Victory actually began before God said, “Let there be Light”, the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. The Record is complete, the Witness is in the process of carrying it out (I Jn 5:7-8).
Jesus stood from sunset to sunset (day-time), during the rainy season as well (night season) for the just and unjust (Ps 22:1-2). Instead of crying out, “this isn’t fair!” Jesus said, “You are holy, oh You who inhabit the praises of Israel” (Ps 22:3). Who did Jesus come for? The Jews, thus the beginning of this Psalm is still centered on the premise, the Gentile will find the Door opening before this Psalm is finished.
The fathers trusted in the Lord (Jehovah), as Jesus proclaims the trust placed in Him. Jesus didn’t ignore, or avoid the Cross, nor was the Cross some form of suicide. Suicide is an act to escape danger, or to end some assumed misery, but Jesus gave of Himself for others. He faced the danger, took on the hazards, completed the work in Joy to please the Father. From the natural birth of Jesus through the Resurrection, Jesus never did one self-based thing, nor did He speak or act on His own. If Jesus gained one item from the Cross, it would have been self-based, allowing the devil to accuse Him, but the Cross is the ultimate of all self-less acts, something none of us could accomplish. After the Cross and Sacrifice the Father gave Him a Name above all names. Now wait, because of the Cross we come to Jesus,
wouldn’t it be something He did for Himself? No, the Holy Ghost draws us to the Cross, thus the Son gave, the Father received, as the Holy Ghost gathers, One God all in all.
When we came to Jesus, our concern was not preaching to the nations, rather it was based on being saved from the world. The first small step was the wisest thing we ever did, but it was nonetheless a self-based act. It didn’t stop the Holy Ghost from giving us the benefit of the Cross, yet it shows none of us could have accomplished the act of the Cross, thus until we have life, we cannot present ourselves as a living sacrifice.
Jesus took the trust, prayers, hope and faith of all those who were held in captivity, then proclaimed how God has remembered them (Ps 22:4-5). This Psalm shows how Jesus didn’t act from His positions as the Son of God or God the Son, rather He stood alone as the Son of man, a worm, a reproach of all men (Ps 22:6). Jesus didn’t use some mind game to avoid the pain of the Cross, He felt the pain, since it was for all mankind, it was multiplied. If Jesus would have used anything to subdue the pain, the Cross would have been in vain; He had to take our sins, with the judgment of our sins upon Himself, thereby dissolving them in His innocence.
The harm of sin is never restricted to one person alone, sin always affects others. The Father is more hurt by our sins, than we know. Jesus became the Door between the Father and each of us; He took the pain, suffering, judgment as well as the result of sin, causing the veil to be ripped from top to bottom. As the Son of God Jesus opened the Door for us to heaven by overcoming death, then as God the Son, He is waiting to receive us through the Door at the Rapture. After the Door is closed, then the windows of heaven are opened, but we also know the thief attempts to gain entry some other way. Windows? Some other way? Ahh, the thief presumes material blessing in hand is a sign of holiness. Are we not suppose to be blessed? Jesus said the Things would be added, the point being, having the material blessing in hand is not a sign one way or the other of our holiness, the New Man is a sign (seal) of true Holiness.
Jesus took our place on the Cross, for cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, yet Jesus is not the cursed. Who did He stand for? Those under the Curse, meaning each of us. Jesus Commended (Placed in safe keeping) His Spirit to the Father (Luke 23:46), thus Jesus as the Son of man stood for all mankind who lacked the Spirit. Jesus couldn’t fight the battle as the Son of God, since God wasn’t in need of saving. The Battle had to be in His position as the Son of man, since we needed to be saved. The Cross and Judgment are based on Jesus as the Son of man, not the Son of God, meaning the concept is Mercy. Jesus laid the foundation for the salvation of our souls, the prophecy is found here in Psalm 22.
The pain Jesus suffered was the pain appointed to each of us, thus we seek to know the victory of His sufferings, to gain all He wanted us to have. Jesus destroyed the devil through death, yet prior the devil had the power of death (Heb 2:14). Jesus held Life in the face of death, Life will always overcome death, just as Light will always overcome darkness. The people laughed at Him, scorned Him, mocked Him, joked about Him, while He was dying for them (Ps 22:6-7). Jesus wasn’t on the Cross to deliver Himself, yet the princes of the world tempted Him with, “Save Yourself, make God save You” (Ps 22:8). Jesus recalls the purpose, how He was given a body and grew in the form of a human to bring Reconciliation between man and God.
Jesus always had the ability to say, “That’s it, it’s not worth it, I’m going home”; yet based on His love for the Father as well as for us, He endured, now we endure based on our Love for Jesus. He faced frustration, pain and sorrow, yet they were the emotions of man, being experienced by God for man (Ps 22:10-11). The “bulls of Bashan” marched about the Cross; the bulls of Bashan are the ones who oppressed the poor and crushed the needy (Amos 4:1). The devil with every demon moved about the Cross like ravening and roaring lions, thinking they destroyed God’s plan (Ps 22:13). If the princes would have known the outcome of the Cross, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory (I Cor 2:8). Who are these princes? Those appointed to be kings, yet instead of receiving the Cross, they called out “Crucify Him”.
If the devil could tell the future at all, he would never have made the mistake at the fall, surely he would never have allowed the Cross. The devil’s ability to manipulate the future was found in the Witch of Endor, but it doesn’t mean he foretells the future. Rather it means he works to manipulate it, thus he projects an evil prophecy through one of his own, attempting to use the mind of man to make his evil predictions come to pass, yet the evil prophecy or the event were still known by God before the foundation of the world. We understand even if the event began as evil, God is still able to turn it to Good To them who Love Him, and To them called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
The devil can’t read minds, but in most cases he doesn’t have to, he merely plants the thought allowing the lost to turn it into an action, as if it’s some great intellectual endeavor. One demon plants a thought in someone’s mind, another plants the same thought in someone else’s mind, then the people think they can read minds. A demon bends a spoon, the person thinks they have some great power, the spoon is a formation of man, not a creation of man, it has no life. The conclusion? Big deal, bend a spoon and still go to hell. However, it’s merely a counterfeit of the Manifestation of the Spirit, we have the word of knowledge, wisdom with discerning of spirits, we don’t need to read someone’s mind, just listen to their words.
Psalm 22 negates the thought of Jesus sleeping in the grave, it also rebukes the concept of, “if God can’t die, how come Jesus died”; the earthly flesh of Jesus (the physical seed of David) died on the Cross through the pain caused by us, but His body didn’t see corruption, thus in death Jesus held Life, making it possible for us to have Life (Rev 1:18). The problem is the flesh, not the soul, thus the soul picked up fleshly traits, now the Spirit is washing us clean of the flesh.
The Law of Moses used innocent animals in the acts of death to show the law of sin and death ruled the flesh of man, yet none of those animals came back to life. They lacked the pure holiness to conquer death, but Jesus did conquer death. The example and promise of the Cross proves we can die to the old, yet live in the New. We are the Body of Christ, who are Born Again of incorruptible Seed.
David the prophet then describes the torment of the Cross in a time when the Cross was unknown. This proves the Psalm is not about David, he never died on a Cross; thus his is an example of the prophet making a statement, without knowing what the statement means. Natural man would reject the concept, presuming it was some fable of the mind, but the prophet knows speaking and understanding are different. The prophet speaks as they are moved by the Holy Ghost, to David the concept he is speaking was unknown to him, yet he spoke it, it also shows the manner in which the Cross was used, connecting it to historical evidence. The Cross was not designed to bring sudden death, it was designed to cause the bones in the shoulder to dislocate then slam against the wind pipe, causing the victim to choke to death. The victim would hold their body up by their legs as long as possible, or until the soldiers broke the legs of the victim, but for Jesus to be our Passover, not one bone could be broken. However, in order to open the Door for the Gentile, His death had to be at the hands of the Jew, but by the means of the Gentile. This complex endeavor could only be done by God, since He knew from the foundation of the world.
Looking around the Cross for those who supported Jesus, or who would call out, “Remember the Father” would be useless, for there was none. His mother cried, His best friend hung his head, His other friends ran for cover, there were only the dogs (those who mocked Him) about the Cross with their corrupt communication and temptations (Ps 22:16). Dogs are the mockers, speaking evil of things they know nothing about. We know Jesus said it would be so, this type and shadow displays the feelings we obtain when we are being crucified with Christ. The flesh as the real enemy, yet the flesh of Jesus was so Merciful it became the ultimate holiness in the flesh, then it became the Body of Christ, meaning we under the anointing of the Mercy of God.
The one point in time when there appears no one to help, when we all of a sudden we don’t know who we are anymore, the time when everything seems so out of our control, is the second when we know we are being Crucified with Christ. We can be in the midst of many people, yet alone; however, Jesus knew He wasn’t alone, the Mercy of the Father comforted Him, because He lived the same Mercy day by day.
Is there a metaphoric scene here? Yes, when we enter the wilderness the old nature in us is seen for what it is, we can be in a crowd, yet be alone. It’s the place of separation, the place where we’re not in the world anymore, but we’re not in the Promised Land either. It’s a time the old man fights back with temptations, emotions, suggestions, yet he is ineffective. It’s when we begin to deny the self and pick up our cross when our minds will hear, “There is no God”, “This is crazy, it won’t work”, “who do you think you are?”, “this is mind game, it’s not real”, “I don’t know who I am anymore”. All those questions, imaginations, or temptations begin go flow like birds out of the nest. Then comes the Truth as the New Man tells us, “Stand, this is God”. The New Man is doing a great work, we may not see it, it may not appear so, but our Trust in God knows we asked, our belief is firm in God Is thinking, then our faith holds there will be a beneficial result.
Our wilderness is a change in process, from the old covering of darkness, to the new covering of Light. The Robe Jesus wore at the Cross has many descriptions in the Gospel, yet they all relate. John says it was a Purple Robe; purple is the color of royalty, but it didn’t start out that way. Luke says it was Gorgeous, the word Gorgeous means radiant, or pure White, referring to the White Robe of the Resurrection. Matthew says the Robe was Scarlet or Red in color, Mark uses a word meaning Purple, but denotes a mixture of red and white to reach Purple. All cover the same garment, all speak of the Covering, yet all concur it was one piece without seam as was Aaron’s priest robe. The Robe couldn’t become purple until the Blood of Jesus entered the clothe baptizing (identified) the Robe in Blood as the Royal Priestly Garment for the saints of the New Testament. John heard an elder say those in heaven before the 1,000 years washed their robes in the Blood of Lamb (Rev 7:14). When the soldiers parted His garments, they couldn’t find it in their greed to part the Robe, no one can rip our promised Robe. We find we are the ones who Washed our Robes in the Blood of the Lamb.
Then comes the physical death of Jesus, but physical death is only the first aspect of death, not the result or the completion of death. The physical body of Jesus died on the Cross, yet the body came as result of His humanness, thus Jesus the Christ never died; therefore, He was dead, yet is alive forever more (Rev 1:18). Jesus defeated the second death, yet died in the flesh to provide us a means to be dead to the flesh in order to be alive by the Spirit to avoid the second death. However, for us to be in the Body of Christ on this earth means He had to retain His Body, but it could not be Spirit, since it means we would have to be Spirit to enter. Our baptism in water represents the Mercy of the Father as our token to impute the flesh dead on the Cross of Jesus, based on our belief in the death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus told the disciples, “touch Me and see, a Spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see”. The Body was then given to us, we accept His death when we deny the self and pick up our Cross. The New Covenant begins for us in the Blood of Christ, evidenced by having the Same Spirit of Holiness who raised Jesus. Our Hope is being a partaker in the completion of the First Resurrection before the Night begins, but our foundation for our Hope is knowing we are the Body of Christ.
Through death Jesus destroyed the devil, thus the Life of Christ destroys the works of the devil. Man faces two deaths, it’s the second death with everlasting torment (Rev 20:6). The first death is when the Formed flesh goes back to the earth, for from the earth it came, to the earth it must go. This is called “giving up the ghost”, or out of the body the soul goes (Greek ExPsuche). God formed Adam’s body of the earth for the earth, our bodies are reproductions of the forming process, but our souls are creations.
The first Adam failed, the Second did not. It’s the Second Adam nature we seek, not the first. Whatever God creates cannot cease, for God cannot cease, but things formed from creations go back to the creation. The earth will continue on forever; however, it will continue in a different form (II Pet 3:10). The soul of man is judged, not his flesh, yet it’s the love for the flesh causing the soul to be judged. The flesh was condemned before our birth, but our souls were not. We were born into the fleshly sin nature, but sin took hold when we sinned, then we used the flesh to satisfy the wanton soul, connecting our soul to the flesh. From then on the soul equated everything to the flesh, life, time, pleasure, sorrow, emotions, even salvation. Being under the sin nature means we are more prone to sin, than not. It’s not a devil, it’s a nature favoring disobedience, thus we became children of disobedience as we followed the spirit of man. Once we were sold under sin, we had no escape, the flesh was able to trap us. However, by the sinless death of Jesus we can impute ourselves dead by what He did, thus we can obtain the Spirit of Holiness now, which is our assurance telling us the Resurrection is real. We could not have the Spirit unless the Resurrection of Jesus actually happened, thus the Seal of the Holy Spirit is our assurance of the truth of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Peter quoted David in regards to the Power of the Resurrection by saying, “You will not leave My soul in hell, neither will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption” (Acts 2:27). Peter shows this wasn’t David speaking of himself, rather it was David the prophet speaking prophetically about Jesus. The soul was in hell, yet the flesh in corruption, thus Jesus didn’t “die” in the sense of being inactive, rather He was very active during those three days. Those who are Flesh minded still consider death the time when the flesh returns to the earth, yet their concept is based on the soul being fleshly minded. Man is still faced with the second death, thus if there is second, the first is not a concession of consciences. The created soul goes on without end, the flesh goes back to the earth.
The Psalm continues on the path, Jesus begins to go into the lower parts of the earth, then Psalm 22 tells us, “Deliver My soul from the sword: My darling (only one, or only Son) from the power of the dog” (Ps 22:20). We know Jesus was in the grave three days, then Luke shows Jesus was with the disciples for forty days after the Resurrection (Acts 1:3). It’s fifty days from Passover to Pentecost, thus seven days were unaccounted for, yet they weren’t spent hiding secret books. Those seven days were before the Father, we found in the Law how no one can touch a holy thing and live before it’s sacrificed, thus Mary or anyone else couldn’t touch Jesus until the Sacrifice before the Father was complete. In Matthew it shows they held Jesus by the feet, but the word used shows they restrained Him by their unbelief, confirmed in Mark, rather than physically holding Him with their hands. The Priest waited outside the Holy of Holies for Seven days, then the Sacrifice was given. The Book of Hebrews tells us, when the Father brings the First Begotten into the world He said (past tense) “Let all the angels of God worship Him” (Heb 1:6). The word Angels goes much further than winged beings: the Galatians received Paul as an angel (Gal 4:14). An angel is a spiritual messenger of God, but an evil angel is a natural messenger of Satan.
Jesus told Mary to tell the disciples to wait for Him in Galilee, yet the disciples remained in the house in Jerusalem. The disciples were told by Mary, Jesus was Resurrected, she also told them she saw Jesus. The disciples were told the Resurrected Jesus was seen by two other witnesses, yet they failed to believe until Jesus appeared. Not only did their unbelief keep them Bound, it caused them to rebel. They didn’t go to Galilee as they were told until after they saw Jesus. However, prior to Pentecost none of the disciples were Born Again, none of them had spiritual courage, knowledge or the wisdom of the Spirit, thus they trusted in their own reasoning. Therefore, we are giving examples, we can be a disciple, but without the Spirit we will end trusting in our own reasoning.
The Testimony of Jesus was at stake, the future of every saint was at stake, Jesus proved no man could save his own soul. Did Jesus have to save His soul in this? Not at all, it’s the point, His soul didn’t need saving. At any time in the process Jesus could have called legions of angels down, or taken the entire world by force. He could have, but He didn’t. The purpose for the battle of Jesus was to grant us Grace, freeing us from the confines of the world, thus bringing us to a place to save our souls, not His. Greater love has no man, than to give his Life (soul) for his friends. When Jesus faced the devil there was nothing, not one little thing the devil could accuse Him of, death could not take it’s hold. Jesus stood for us, making it possible to free us from condemnation and judgment; thus, we judge ourselves to the Body and Blood of Jesus, so we will not be condemned with the world. Whenever the devil attempts to accuse us, we stand with Jesus, the same verdict of innocence covers us by the Unction: the accuser cannot accuse those with the Power of His Christ (Rev 12:10-11).
Jesus first preached in the midst of the congregation (Ps 22:22), which would be the Jews. Peter said, Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison, those before Noah, who were sometime disobedient (I Pet 3:20-21). Before Noah there were no Hebrews until the line began with Abraham, neither were there any Jews, since they began with Judah, thus Peter’s comments don’t mean they were spirits, rather it points to a separation between those who entered the Bosom of Abraham and those who died prior, yet held a like testimony of Enoch who walked with God and was not, it points to the potential of them to become spirits, thus God forgot no one. Jesus then preached to the Great Congregation (Bosom of Abraham – Ps 22:25). In all this we must recall these people were not given the opportunity of the Cross when they walked on the earth, thus the addition of Grace also brings in, “to whom much is given, much is required”. The process shows Jesus preached to those in hell, then He went to Abraham’s Bosom which was not in hell, but still within visual distance of hell. Those who received the preaching became a great Cloud of witnesses placed captive under the altar of God (Rev 6:9).
Although natural man may look at the Jews taking the land, and killing people as some great murder spree on the part of God, it was in fact Mercy, for those same Gentiles received the opportunity to hear and join the captivity. Paul tells us, don’t try to pull Jesus down again, it won’t work; there is more then enough evidence to believe if we want to. Jesus need not give us some special personal sign by returning or producing a special Cross just for us. It was done for all mankind, it’s up to us to receive it. When Jesus took Captivity Captive, it closed Abraham’s Bosom, it served it’s purpose.
Under the Altar of God is still in heaven, Paul called it the Third Heaven, as the Second Paradise, thus it’s no longer within the communication realm with hell. We find those under the Altar of God communicate with Jesus, not with the dead in hell. The Parable of the rich man in hell is not some “untruth”, or “cute little story”, it was based on Truth, if not, Jesus lied, which we know isn’t the case. The Parables of Jesus are based on truths, they are not made up based on some imagination. The Parable of the rich man shows if the rich man could leave hell and speak to his brothers, he would never have asked Abraham to send someone. The conclusion is they don’t wander around the earth, the dead speak not to the living. Abraham confirmed it by saying even he couldn’t go back to talk to the rich man’s brothers. Clearly the parable gives us many truths, the obvious is Abraham’s Bosom was not in heaven, rather it was in speaking distance of hell, or yet earth bound, but separated by a gulf. Those under the altar of God don’t even mention hell, they speak to Jesus, yet Jesus sits on the Right hand Side of Majesty on High, showing a completely different local. Next we find it was impossible for those in hell to go back or communicate with the living, devils will, the souls in hell will not; thus, whether it’s Abraham’s Bosom or under the altar of God, the souls could not communicate with those on earth. Next we find the souls of mankind exist after the flesh returns to the earth, thus we know if there is “eternal life”, there is also “eternal judgment”. Next we find whether it’s the first or second death it’s not a cessation of consciousness. Even those who sleep in Jesus will awake at the Judgment to have their works judged (Rev 20:5 & 20:13).
Psalms 1 through 21 tell us about the victory before the fight, thus Jesus had victory in hand before the fight began. Some of us fall into “bragging rights” after the battle, but in truth we know we were shaking like a dog in the midst of it. The truth is, Jesus delivered us, by the deliverance we gained another reason to believe. On the same note, we cannot have victory unless we travel through our own personal Psalm 22, thus we can’t claim Psalm 23 until we learn the lesson of being Crucified with Christ. The Holy Ghost presented every line, word and position of each Book in the order He wanted.
The Kingdom is the Lord’s, He is the governor among all nations (Ps 22:26-28). No matter what the nations of the world do, they will all have to give account to the Governor. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess, Jesus is Lord, but for many it will be too late. No man, great, small or indifferent can keep alive his own soul (Ps 22:29). However, a Seed shall serve Him, the Seed is the Seed of God granted those who are Born Again (Ps 22:30). Those who receive the Seed have the Power to Witness the greatness of Jesus to those who shall be born (Born Again), thus we are the angels sent to those who shall be heirs of salvation (Ps 22:31 & Heb 1:14). The captives were of a past generation who were taken captive by Jesus, here the verse is talking about a present generation causing effect on future generations. This gives us the open Door for the Gentiles, the voice has gone out, the world has heard. Through death Jesus defeated him who had the power of death, that is the devil (Heb 2:14).
With Psalm 22 in hand we can come to our Great Shepherd, we shall not want (Ps 23:1). We sought the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, the things were added, yet we knew better than to seek the things, thinking they were the kingdom. We tend to confuse the promise, if we Seek the Kingdom and His Righteousness, our faith knows the Things will be added, but if we run off to gain the things, we lack faith in the ability of God. Ouch, covenant talk and duties, we have ours, Jesus has His; we seek, He rewards, but if we turn it around we have transgressed God’s side of the Covenant. “Well, I didn’t get the Things I wanted, and old so-and-so isn’t seeking the Kingdom, and he has all sorts of things”. When we get to Proverbs, we will find how material blessings in hand don’t prove one’s position with God. However, the word Things also includes the Things of God, which go much further than material possessions. God establishes us in the Spiritual Things, then we are granted material things when we learn they are not gods. The children had quail coming out their noses; if one assumes material possessions in hand will prove one’s righteousness, they will sit around with a nose full of quail, yet miss God.
The pasture of God is the Bible, the thorns are associated with a curse, but all curses are hung on the Tree; the good sheep know the difference between the good grass and a thorn (Ps 23:2). The word Pastures means A pleasant place, the Bible is purposed as a pleasant place, one where we find our confidence of safety and rest. The Lord brings us to the Living Waters of God (Mercy empowered by the Spirit), where we drink freely of the Water (Mercy) of God to avoid the bitter water (Ps 23:2). We will never be in a position to have Living Water flow from us, if we don’t have both the Spirit (Word) and Mercy in us.
Once we receive the Seed of God unto the growth we can be assured He will “restore our souls” unto their original created intent (Ps 23:3). The word Restore means A conversion unto God, which is more than a turning around, it reflects an encounter with God on God’s level. The word Restore does not mean to make it like it was, it means to make it the way God intended it to be, which is Spirit by the Spirit. The restoration of the soul removes the wiles of the devil, allowing us to walk the path of His Righteousness, rather than going about seeking self-righteousness (Ps 23:3 & Rom 10:1-4). We will walk through this world (valley of the shadow of death) knowing we are free of the second death (Ps 23:4). The biggest fear of mankind is the fear of death, being Born Again is the confidence of things hoped for, our hope is the Rapture where we will be free of the second death (Rev 20:6). By the Power of His Christ, we will fear no evil, for we seek and look for the Rod of God’s correction, as we do His Staff of guidance (Ps 23:4).
We find a Table in the “presence” of the enemies, what? How could that be? Wasn’t Judas at the table? Doesn’t Jude tell us the wicked feast with us? This shows us the Wicked will sit at our Table, but we also find the Blood (Cup) brings victory over the Wicked (Ps 23:5). The Lord has anointed us with oil to be kings and priests unto God, the promise is secure us in the Mercy of the Father, the least Commandments are known to us. Jesus obtained the Kingdom, but we obtained the “oil of gladness”, thus we hate iniquity to the point of not doing it, yet we love Righteousness, because Jesus is our Righteousness (Heb 1:9).
If we have judged ourselves, we shall not be judged, then we can say, “Surely goodness and Mercy shall follow me”, as “I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever” (Church – Ps 23:6). Why didn’t David say “in the Temple of the Lord”? The Hebrew word for House is Baylth meaning A tent, later it became associated with the Temple (I Kings 6:5), but David’s understanding of the word didn’t include the Temple, it reflected to the Tabernacle, or the Holy of Holies. The tenses are interesting as well, we don’t follow Goodness and Mercy, they follow us as signs and wonders. If we are seeking the signs, we are not producing them. Jesus promised the signs would follow those who believe, yet at times we find ourselves chasing signs. It’s far better to produce them, than chase after them.
Psalm 24:1 connects to the Table of the Lord, again we want to keep in mind the metaphor Earth pertains to the kingdom of heaven. Yes there is a Beast of the Earth, but the appearance of the Beast happens after the Wheat are taken in the Rapture. Therefore, the Righteous and the Wicked belong to God, He will reward or repay, as He deems fit. If God tells us to say something, we do so as an oracle of God, but we don’t allow ourselves to say something to the Wicked, when we haven’t heard from God.
Back in Psalm 21 it was the king, but here we find this Psalm entitled The King Of Glory, or the King of kings. Two things are evident, the earth is the Lord’s, but so is the world. Very interesting, considering some think the devil is the god of the world. Paul does talk about the “god of this world” (II Cor 4:4), but in the same context he tells us the Law of Moses has veiled the Jews as well (II Cor 3:16). If the Law has power and authority, it rules, so much so it will be used to judge the Jews at the Judgment (Rev 20:12). The Law of Moses is also a principality, a ruling element within a nation, thus it can bless or curse, making it a god over the world as the Judging agent. The world and the earth have to belong to the Lord, or He couldn’t judge them. It doesn’t mean the world is “holy”, since God is not dealing with the world
as children, it merely means the Law of Moses is the god of the world, yet there is the spirit of man hovering over mankind, explaining the purpose of the Law of Moses being a written conscience. Paul said the spirit of man knows the things of man, but is completely ignorant of the things of the Spirit of God (I Cor 2:11). Then he added how the spirit of the world is opposed to the Spirit which is of God (I Cor 2:12-13). The Spirit which is of God is the Spirit of Truth, thus the he in the world is run by the spirit of the world; indicating there could be no spirit of the world until there was a he in the world as the spirit of antichrist, which didn’t appear until there was a Spirit of Christ.
The Law of Moses judges the world, finds it in sin, pronounces it guilty, yet it’s what the Law of Moses is suppose to do. It was designed by God to accomplish those acts, thus it’s power and authority are designed to neither curse or bless. The Law of the Spirit is much different, designed for a different people; if we can’t accept the Lordship of Jesus, then we won’t be able to truly trust in Him. The Law of the Spirit saves us, preserves us, then presents us to the Lord of our Salvation, it’s designed to, it also has a power and authority to accomplish the task through the New Man.
Verse 1 talks about the earth and world, but verse 2 talks about the “it”. Which it? The earth or the world? Has to be the Earth, since He established it on the “Seas”. The metaphor Sea points to the Gentile world, but the Earth is above the Sea. The word Established is the Hebrew Kuwn a primitive root with several meanings, one fitting this context is To be set up, or fixed. The Body of Christ is fixed on the Earth, but the Church is fixed on the Body.
Verse 3 asks a question, who can ascend into the Hill of the Lord? Into the Hill? How about on the Hill? No, this refers to heavenly Zion, which is the Body. We are not above the Body, we are in it. James tells us “clean your hands you sinners, purify your hearts you double-minded” (James 4:8). This is reference to using the spirit lusting to envy, rather than submitting to the Word in us. Here in Psalm 24:4 we find the same context, only it shows we did wash our hands when we obtained a pure heart, we have “not lifted up our soul unto vanity, or sworn deceitfully”. The word Vanity means Pride, the source of pride is the spirit lusting to envy. The word Deceitfully is the Hebrew Mirmah meaning deceit, or subtilty, the same context as we found in Genesis 3:1.
Verse 5 has to speak about the New Birth which produced the New Earth as the Kingdom. The Blessing of the Lord is the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the Righteousness from God relates to Salvation. The generation seeking His face, and the generation obtaining are different. Here we find Jacob, not Israel, thus Jacob refers to the person, Israel the nation. Each person should have sought the Face of Jesus, but some did not.
The Gates and Doors are seen in verse 7, the Gates are not the gates of hell, these are the Gates around Jerusalem, the Doors are plural and Everlasting. There is the Door to the house of David, which no man can open or close, but there is the Door where Jesus stands and knocks, if any man opens the Door, He will enter (Rev 3:8 & 3:20). If no man can open it, how is Jesus tells us to? Different doors, John made entry into heaven through the Door by the Spirit (Rev 4:1). The metaphor Door points to the entrance of the heart, but we also find it’s the method of entrance into the House. The thief comes in through the Window, unless of course we have lost our “keys”, but if we lost our keys we are an unfaithful servant who no longer belongs to the House.
Who is the King of Glory? The Lord Strong and Mighty. Paul prayed we might know the exceeding greatness of the Power of Christ , and how the working of the mighty power of Jesus is doing battle for us by perfecting us on a daily basis. How do we reach it? “Unto You O Lord do I lift up my soul” (Ps 25:1). The wording Lift Up is the Hebrew Nasa, also seen as Nacah in Psalm 4:6, meaning to give in respect, it was also translated as Armor bearer 18 times. We give our souls to the Lord, He takes, He blesses, He breaks, then He gives back ready for service. Verse 2 again tells us to trust in God; it’s clear God has the power to either allow our enemies to triumph over us, or not. However, we also find if they do, it’s because we have failed to Trust in God. Here we find if we trust in the Lord, our enemies will not triumph over us. In our case our enemies are the wiles of the devil, which connects all this to Ephesians with the Armor of God.
There are some translations today negating the Faith of Jesus, or make it appear as if our measure of faith is more than enough. However, if we Trust in the Lord, we must also acknowledge our measure of faith is incapable of producing its own path, as good as we might think it is, it is still not enough to gain the promise (Heb 11:39). The Faith of Jesus has accomplished the goal, He sits at the right hand side of Majesty on High. We are in the Faith, yet we moved from faith to Faith, thus our measure of faith is vital, but it still isn’t enough to accomplish what the Faith of Jesus has. By our faith is in God coupled with the New Man we can follow the tracks the Faith of Jesus has established.
In order for the translation to be correct it must not change gender, it must not change tense, it must not change possessive quality. The changing of one small word can change an entire context: for example, if we change “His faith” to “my faith” we have removed our confidence in Jesus, we have also changed trust in God, to a trust in the self. It’s difficult to face a cultist who says, “I believe the Bible as far as it’s translated correctly”, when we keep changing the Bible to suit our theology, rather than change our theology to fit the Bible. In Psalm 25:5 we find a progression, lead me in Your truth, to Teach me, You are the God of Salvation, then to On You do I wait. These four areas show the pathway of Faith, sign posts Jesus left for us. Waiting connects to Patience, meaning we stay the course, we don’t attempt to make our own path, we follow the one established.
In Psalm 21 the word Salvation is the Hebrew word Yeshuwah (or Y@shuwah), which points to Jesus as our Salvation; however, in the Hebrew it means Deliverance, Safety, or Being Secure. When we Trust in the Lord we know He is fully able to Deliver us, as He keeps us Safe and Secure. If we Trust in God, then the event is simply a learning experience, it’s not destruction on wheels. This same Hebrew word is used in Psalm 21:5, taking us back to Psalm 20:5 we are told Rejoice in “Your Salvation”, it’s the same Hebrew word, thus in order to enjoy and endure our path, we rejoice In Jesus because we put our Trust in Him.
Verse 4 speaks of the Ways of God, it’s the Ways teaching us to identify Path, as we remain thereon. The Path is Truth, Jesus is Truth, the Armor of God has Truth (v. 5). To David it was waiting for Salvation to be presented, for us, who are the children of the Day it’s the path of Grace leading us to Salvation.
Verses 7 through 21 give us some insight, God’s “tender mercies” forgives the sins of our youth, our youth is the time we were in the world. The same context was used by Jesus in John 21:18 when Peter was being converted.
We seen to spend great time on Grace and Faith, but Mercy and Belief are just as vital. The Stripes of Jesus came on the way to the Cross, not after it. The Mercy of God heals the physical body, Grace saves our souls.
The Paths of the Lord are Mercy and Truth, they lead us to Grace. Since Jesus is Truth, we find verse 10 relates to us. The Covenant of God is not the Covenant of Moses, the Covenant of Moses was given to Moses, then Moses gave it to the people. The Covenant here is based in Mercy and Truth as direct influences on our lives; therefore we find, “pardon my iniquity”, which was done when we came to the Cross of Jesus (v. 11). The process moved from forgiveness of sins, to the Covenant where we are cleaned of by the Blood of Jesus, as well as the washing of the Water by the Word to enter a Spiritual state to find the remission of sin (Matt 26:28 & Mark 14:24).
Once we are taught of the Lord, we will also find our souls at ease (v. 13). The word Secret in Psalm 25:14 is the Hebrew Sod meaning A friendly conversation, it equates to resting. If our Trust is in the Lord, our eyes are toward Him, He will move us from the Net into the Kingdom (v. 15). Verse 16 is a great hope, but it became a stumblingblock to the Pharisees and religious leaders. The people kept saying, “Son of David have Mercy on me”, none of them said, “Son of David, give me Grace”. The context of the Psalms shows only the Lord can grant forgiveness of sins by the direct application of God’s Mercy. The people asked, Jesus granted, but the religious leaders had a fit. The evidence didn’t matter, they knew only God can forgive sins. Jesus responded, what does it matter if He says raise up and walk, or your sins are forgiven, the result was the same (Luke 5:23-24). Jesus as the Son of man healed the people, thus we as sons of men we must walk in the Mercy of God.
Verses 20 and 21 give us the reason for trusting in the Lord, rather than in people. The Lord can keep and deliver our souls, man can’t. The Lord has the integrity and righteousness to preserve us, man doesn’t. The spirit of man trusts in mankind, but the result is failure, or destruction.
Once in a while someone will tell us we are prideful, or we are weird, or off base, but we never cast those words off as “words out of the darkness”, rather go to the Lord allowing Him to discern. When we judge ourselves we shall not be judged, but there are times when we become self-deceived, or in need of judging by the Lord. It is far better to ask the Lord to judge us, than force Him to (Ps 26:1 & I Cor 11:28-32). Psalm 25:21 talked about the Integrity of God, here it’s the Integrity of the person. Different Hebrew words? No, they are both the Hebrew Tom or Tame meaning Perfection or Completeness. It depends on whom the Integrity applies, in reference to man it would be “having done all to stand”, in reference to God it would mean we are completely Honest, Perfect and Open, without masks, deception or false fronts before Him. The word Examine in Psalm 26:2 is the Hebrew Bachan meaning To prove, or Test, connecting to the Book of James. Here we find the Asking is asking God to test us, or prove us, or examine us, thus we ask in Faith, knowing the purpose is to hone us into perfection. If we have true Faith, then the testing brings the works of faith. James points out if someone came to our door in need, would we say one thing, yet do another? The same is true with the testing of our faith, do we say one thing, yet do another? Do we say we trust in God, yet get mad if God doesn’t perform for us? If so we need our faith tested and proven. “Well, I’ll tell you one thing, I love God no matter what”, great, but when “the no matter what” happens we will see.
All of us will face the judgment seat of the Lord, but it’s far better to face the Lord at His table while it is yet Today. When we walk in God’s integrity we have a trust in the Lord so firm it can’t be shaken by the influence of the spirit of man.
Psalm 26:5 defines the Synagogue of Satan as the Congregation of evil doers, or the gathering of the Wicked. The word Congregation is the Hebrew Qahal meaning A congregation of people within the called, but it doesn’t mean they are Chosen. The word Wicked is the Hebrew Rasha meaning Lawless, it has the same meaning and context as Paul’s reference to the Lawless One in II Thessalonians 2:8. The word Lawless doesn’t mean they are not subject to Law, it means they refuse to submit to God’s Law, they make themselves without a Law by establishing their own. Would it include someone who goes back to the Law of Moses after entry into the Body? No, it would include someone who accepts the Cross, yet rejects the Law of the Spirit.
The concept of the Broken Body of Jesus is seen in many Scriptures, but it’s also seen in the actual land of the Jew. The nation was divided into the land of Judah and Israel, thus we find two divisions in the division. For Judah the division will be between the House and the Tents (Tabernacles), for Israel it will be between those who are truly Israel, and those who say they are of Israel, but are not. Being of Israel and being a Jew are different, Israel is a place, a Jew is a person. A “true Jew” is one who is circumcised of heart as they follow the Law of the Spirit, but someone who is of Israel is called an Israeli, since they live in the land known as Israel.
The Testing by our Faith brings forth Faith, then Faith brings forth Thanksgiving and Wondrous Works (Ps 26:7). We pray Deliver me from evil, in verse 8 the same theme is seen in the phrase, Let not our souls be gathered with the sinners. The word Gather is the Hebrew Acaph meaning To destroy. This prayer has two points, first we pray not to be associated with the Synagogue of Satan, next if we are, we pray to be delivered. The Synagogue doesn’t mean the Synagogue of Satan is Jewish, the word Synagogue means Gathering, the word Church means Called out ones. Members of the Synagogue of Satan were called, but gathered with Satan by rejected the calling.
The Lord is our Light, our Salvation and Life, we shall not be afraid (Ps 27:1). When the Wicked come to devour us, they will stumble, if we fight the good fight of faith. When the rulers of darkness, the lusts of the flesh, the wiles of the devil come upon us, they will fail because the Lord is our Light, He has given us the Strength of Christ.
In the Psalms as well as in the Prophets we find the use of the word “Law”, to these people it means “Law of Moses”, but why didn’t they say “Law of Moses”, rather than simply “Law”? The Holy Ghost is the Author, thus to these people it was the “Law of Moses”, but to us it’s the “Law of the Spirit”, showing the Holy Ghost simply had them write “Law”. To David his enemies were flesh and blood, to us we don’t war against flesh and blood. We view the enemies much different than David, yet to us and David they are real.
The Place we seek is the House of the Lord, the Purpose is to view the beauty of the Lord, the Method is to give our sacrifices of joy and thanksgiving, singing praises unto the Lord at all times, continuing to believe as we enter the Land of the Living (Ps 27:1-14). The word Beauty points to being a Doer of the Word, if one is a Doer of the Word, it doesn’t mean they do the Bible, it means they are seeking to walk as the Word (Jesus), by allowing the Word to be Engrafted (James 1:21 & Heb 4:12).
Psalm 26 is called A Prayer For Protection, Psalm 27 A Prayer of Praise, Psalm 28 A Prayer for Help, Psalm 29 is called The Voice Of The Lord, they all relate. In Psalm 28:1 we find the Lord is the Rock, yet Jesus said “Upon This Rock”, thus we find the we are in the Anointed Body of the Lord. A hard concept, but when we imputed the flesh dead, the Lord gave us His Body as our protection. The Rock is not the Church, the Church is on the Rock, thus we find independent rocks after the Rapture, who raise up as the Beast of the Earth. They were unable to hold to the Spirit when Christ like people are taken at the close of the Day. Neither will they sleep in Jesus, rather they are the drunken who go into the Night.
No one is going to be established in the Church, unless they are first of the Rock. We cast the net, Jesus builds the Church. The word Supplication means To Supply, or asking for the Supply, going much further than material items, although it includes the material. There are times when we need the Supply of Joy, or Peace, more than we need the Supply of the Material. Psalm 28:4 is a request for the Lord to deal with the Wicked by rewarding them according to their endeavors. This removes the chore from our hands, it’s the same concept Paul used with Alexander (II Tim 4:14).
The Wicked regard not the Works of the Lord, which is the same as failing to hold respect for the Workers of the Lord, thus when a devil is cast out, they give the devil credit. When someone is healed, they seek the evil in the event, rather than give God the glory. They treat the Cross as their personal property subject to them, or something to give them personal benefit without being responsible to the purpose of the Cross.
There is a difference between our trusting in God, and trusting in people. When we trust in God the storms will not rock us, if our trust is intellectually based, but not In God, the storm will rock us out of the boat in a second. In Psalm 29:1 we find the word “mighty” reflecting to the Mighty having the ability to give unto the Lord Glory (recognition). Hold it, don’t we get glory and strength from the Lord? Do we give back what God gave us? The word Mighty is the Hebrew “Ben-El” and Ben means “son of”, and El means God (JP Green renders it “Give glory to Jehovah mighty ones, sons of Jehovah”), Oh my, this is pointing to a “son of God” giving Glory to God. Romans 8:18 says the Glory is in us, thus we have the ability to give God the Glory from the Glory within. Verse 2 is one of the few places where we find the word Worship in the Psalms, thus it relates to being able to worship God in Spirit and Truth by being Born Again. Another place Nicodemus should have been aware of (Jn 3:10-11).
The voice of the Lord is upon the Waters, the Lord is upon Many (Great) Waters, the Voice of the Lord is powerful, full of Majesty. In Genesis 1:9 God called the Waters to be gathered together unto One Place. The metaphor Water points to Mercy, but Waters points to people upon whom (not in whom) the Mercy of God sits; whether the world knows it or not, in this Season the Mercy of God is still reaching out to mankind. In the Book of Revelation the Woman is seen sitting on Many Waters (people), then we find the Many Waters as the Beast, indicating the Beast is made up of people (Rev 17:1-2). A flood is water in rebellion, it leaves the place where it should be, traveling into places where it should not be (Rev 12:5). This is different from having the Water in us, this area explains how God could raise Pharaoh, yet Pharaoh was cruel. It doesn’t mean the people have Mercy in them, it does mean the earth is sustained for now because of the Mercy of God.
The breath of life is the soul, the soul has many God granted attributes, the Agapao (not Agape) love in which man can love darkness or light (Jn 3:19), the measure of faith given to all men, the ability to apply mercy, of course the ability to invent. Man nonetheless shows signs of mercy in forgiving, compassion, and carrying for the needy; of course the nature of fallen man takes those attributes adds pride then steals the glory, nonetheless the Mercy of God keeps the world and earth from blowing apart.
The Lord’s Voice can also break, it can break even the powerful cedars of Lebanon. The word Voice is the Hebrew Qowl meaning Voice or Proclamation, thus we find the Voice of the Lord will break (Ps 29:5), divide (Ps 29:7), and shake all that can be shaken (Ps 29:8). What does He shake off? Kadesh of course, what? Who? The word Kadesh means A frightened person, it’s a metaphor for the “spirit of fear”. When the shaking begins the spirit of fear is exposed, then cast off leaving us with confidence in the Lord.
Psalm 29:11 says the Lord will bless His people with Peace; Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you” (Jn 14:27); as an inheritance. The wording “leave with you” is a phrase one would use in a will. Then Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you” (Jn 14:27). After the Resurrection Jesus said “Peace unto you” more than once, thus the promise and presentation are complete, we have it now. The Peace of God is stable, it is never moved by the events of the world. If the world’s events, or the cares of this world shake us, we are minding the wrong things, we have yet to receive the Peace of Jesus.
Psalm 30 is A Prayer Of Thanksgiving, but Thanksgiving for what? This prayer comes as the result of the battle, the time when the Lord proves He is able. Battles don’t prove our holiness, they prove God is active in our lives. On the mountain top we praise the Lord, for He lifted us up to high places. This is not a high thing, but high places (Ps 30:1-2). The high places in this context are the highest, not the place where the strange woman dwells, but higher. The prayer of faith healed us, the Lord brought us His faith to fortify our praise (Ps 30:2 & James 5:13-15). The Lord raised us by forgiving our sins (Ps 30:3-4). Jesus said we take Communion to Remember, here we find we also Remember His Holiness (v. 4).
There are various forms of prosperity, but perfect prosperity is the saving of the soul (Ps 30:5-6). Psalm 30:9 shows the blood of man, even a man like David wasn’t able to atone for sin. In the same verse we find “shall the dust praise Thee?”. The metaphor Dust refers to the flesh of man without the soul, since it was formed of the dust of the earth; therefore, flesh and blood cannot truly praise God, much less worship Him, we must come to Him in Spirit and Truth, by the Spirit of Truth.
This is the same context is the “grave”, when man is in the grave can his flesh praise the Lord? No, so the time to praise the Lord is before death. The Cross is where we imputed death to the flesh, but Jesus gives us Life, so we can have it more abundantly.
Psalm 31 is called The Commitment To God, thus when He has delivered us, it’s time to make a Commitment. Many are delivered, but fail to make a Commitment. When the “time of decision” comes, it’s a shaky thing, a time when we wonder “who am I?, What am I?, What is going on?”. This one area is a place of separation, the place when the Eye on the entry curtain to the Holy Place is searching out our hearts. Some see an image looking like it came right out of hell, others see their self nature, others see darkness, but they are merely the wiles and traits of the old nature the Lord is exposing so they can be removed. Don’t panic, be joyful, the time of cleaning is at hand. Guilt is a dark cloud, conviction is Light: condemnation is a dark cloud, repentance is Light. The darkness is a sign of something not of God, however it doesn’t mean it’s the devil; more likely it’s something demonic based on the spirit of man. Faith activities light, yet if we operate out of fear, anger, bitterness, or rebellion we will interpret events and Words through those areas of darkness missing the Truth, Faith, Hope, or Love. Mercy sees the events in the Light, gaining from the event or gaining from the Word of the Lord.
Some of our wilderness experiences are testing our Love for God, do we merely say it? Or do we really love Him? When we end in the valley, or the cave we still praise the Lord as we search for the good in the event (Ps 31:1-24). Psalm 31:1 is in opposition to the Law of Moses, since the Law of Moses called for a form of self-righteousness, yet in Psalm 31:1 we find “deliver me in Your Righteousness”, leading the way to “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness”. Not only is the Body of Christ the Rock, but Jesus is the Fortress (not a stronghold – Ps 31:3). This is an area where the word Fortress doesn’t correlate to Paul’s use for Stronghold, here Jesus is our Fortress; our minds form strongholds, Jesus gives us a Fortress built upon the Rock, to remove the Strongholds of corrupt thinking, unbelief, rotten theology, and imaginations.
When God’s Mercy forgives us we know, “blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven” (Ps 32:1). We gained the mountain top by discerning the event, through discernment we know the Lord is working with us, thus we stop looking to place blame on people or events. The devil goes about seeking whom he May devour, so why give him a whom? In order for the dart of the Wicked to find its target, there must be a target. The New Man is cleaning away targets by brining us into perfection so our souls will not fall into “trouble” (Ps 31:9-10).
Psalm 31 has some areas relating to the Cross, Jesus was left alone by His disciples, yet His enemies gathered around Him to take His Life (v. 10-13), yet He trusted in God. This is just another area showing why we trust in God and not man. Did Jesus trust in Peter? No, in John? No, but He did entrust His mother into John’s care, much different.
Verse 14 relates to Thomas when he saw the marks on the Body of Jesus, and said, “my Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28). Here in verse 14 of Psalm 31 we find “O Lord: I said, You are my God”. It may seem somewhat vague, but if we look at “I trusted in You, O Lord”, then we can see how Thomas repented for his lack of belief and trust. This is even clearer when we see Thomas didn’t say, “I believe”, but Jesus said, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jn 20:29). The tenses show one Has believed without seeing, trust in God is often based on not seeing, yet believing.
Verse 16 shows we are saved from the world by the Mercies of God, but Paul points out we are being saved by God’s Grace. We were delivered from the world into the Kingdom, to be saved, thus it’s a Process (or did we say that?).
The Wicked are defined in part in verses 17-18, they are hardly ashamed now, but in the grave, or at the judgment they will be. They lie in wait to deceive, their lying lips not only tell lies about people, they lie about their commitment to the Lord. They entered saying they would serve the Lord, yet they serve their theology, natural intellect, religious pride, or speak hard things against the righteous.
Verses 19 and following gives our protection, the Wicked seek to do harm, but the Righteous and Just still live by faith, even when they are persecuted or attacked. The phrase “sons of men” points to those who walk in Mercy, showing Mercy is always the main weapon against any attack. We speak words of Grace, but we respond in Mercy. No matter how bad things look, God is faithful. It may not appear as if God isn’t anywhere near us, but we know He hears our supplications (v. 22). Courage is an attitude of trust, when we are of good courage the Lord will give us the Strength to endure (v. 24). Courage for a Christian is based in how they stand in the face of adversity, if with God, then courage is a factor, if with the self, then it’s not.
Psalm 32 is called A Psalm of Confession And Forgiveness, Psalm 33 is called Praising God, giving us another progression. The Earth is full of His goodness (Mercy), why then do we find the Wicked therein? They don’t reach for His goodness, nor do they use Righteous Judgment, they refuse to apply Mercy, meaning Mercy is the division between the Good and Bad. When someone slanders us, yet enjoys it, we have a choice, to apply Mercy, or use the same weapons they use; however, we know the opportunity to render Good for the Evil is our gain in Christ. Mercy and tolerated someone is different, we tolerate them, but do we forgive them? Mercy refuses to impute sin on people.
Psalm 33:12 is interesting considering what the word Nations means, it’s the Hebrew Ghoy, or Goy, which is a Jewish term for any nation not of Israel. To the Jew, the Gentile is a Goy, the Gentiles live in the various Ghoy. This one verse is a promise to any Gentile nation who makes God their Lord, which goes much further than printing His name on their money. It also goes much further than using the Law of Moses as a basis for their laws of the land, it means they not only say they Trust in God, they do it.
The context given to us here is not “in God we Trust”, rather it’s “God is our Lord in Him do we trust”, thus no one can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. This doesn’t mean they can’t mouth the words “Jesus is Lord”, rather it means they can’t live up to them. The carnal mind is its own lord, regardless of the words spoken by it.
The phrase “sons of men” in Psalm 33:13 still relates to Mercy, the Lord looks from heaven, but He also fashioned their hearts, as He considers their works. There is no king who can be saved by the people of his kingdom, no man can deliver himself by his own strength, yet the Eye of the Lord is upon the sons of men who fear Him, as they Hope upon His Mercy. This is another area defining the term “sons of men”, showing how it relates to Mercy granted, so they can give Mercy to others.
The word Fashion in verse 15 is the Hebrew Yatsar meaning To form, not Create, thus this is a Forming process, not a matter of creation. In verse 16 the word Host doesn’t refer to angels, it’s the Hebrew Chagil meaning Might, Strength or Power; here it’s in reference to kings. The purpose for a kingdom is to carry out the will of the king, this is an area where God places whom He will in various leadership roles, for a purpose, yet leaders can’t save us, but they can point us to Salvation, even teach us about it, but they can’t grant it.
Psalm 34 is called Praising God For Deliverance, yet when we enter Deliverance we can count on opposition. Deliverance brings us to the truth of “All Times”, there are times when we don’t need deliverance, as well as those times when we do. It’s just as important to praise the Lord when we don’t need deliverance; yet how can Praise be continually in our mouth, if we are going about slandering others? How can praise be continually in our mouth, if we blame the devil for every event wherein we are not pleased? In the pit, or in the cave, or in the wilderness, or in the valley, or on the mountain top we will “praise the Lord at all times” (Ps 34:1). Whether we like the event or not, we will continually praise the Lord to gain the fullness of the Spirit (Ps 34:1-2). Praise is an element of Faith, praise gains the attention of the Lord, He will deliver us from fear, danger as well as the snare of the enemy (Ps 34:3-18). Many are the afflictions of the Righteous, this is a promise, but the affliction produces a Precious Perfection, if we understand the process and purpose. The Lord loves us, He brings affliction to purify us in the justification, so we can be glorified (Ps 34:19-22). Verse 7 doesn’t say The Angels, it says The Angel, we found God sent an Angel before the people, thus we find this Angel still has a Message from God, in our case we are the Angel with the Gospel of Peace as our message.
The young lions in Psalm 34:10 are not Lions from the tribe of Judah, they are suppose to be with Him, but they are kittens with loud voices. The young lions go about seeking the blessing, but they have no desire to be a blessing. As strange as it mean seem, the metaphor Lion means one who devours, or one who renders judgment, thus the Lion from the Tribe of Judah will Judge, but the devil goes about As a roaring lion, two different things. During the Day the devil goes about judging and causing judging, but the Day is of Salvation, not Judgment. The devil counterfeits the judgment, attempting to bring it before its time, thus we find As a roaring lion, not Is one. Jesus will Judge, but He will do so Righteously in the proper time in the proper Season.
Psalm 34:13 is a warfare verse, “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile”. The wording Cut Off in verse 16 is the Hebrew Karath again, meaning To cut away a part of the body, it’s a metaphoric reference to the Broken Body of Jesus. The Righteous cry unto the Lord, the wicked bring the affliction causing the Righteous to cry. This would seem strange, considering Affliction comes from within, but here we find it’s the case, it’s produced from those in the Body who remain in the Courtyard, refusing to enter the Holy Place. When the time comes the Courtyard will be left behind, those in the Holy Place will be lifted to the Holiest of All. Verse 20 supports the concept of the Broken Body, not one bone of Jesus was broken at the Cross, yet the Bread (Body) was broken. When will this Breaking take place? At the Rapture, not until.
Psalm 35 is a Prayer For Rescue, as the word Plead begins the process. The word Plead is the Hebrew Riv meaning To conduct a legal case. The evidence is before the Lord, have we done wrong to deserve this? Have we done some evil? If the Lord says, Yes, we repent, if not, we Plead our case, but to the Lord, not man, thus when we plead our case before man it ends as self-justification. This plea does not mean we tell the Lord, “it was the woman you gave me”, or “the serpent made we do it”, it means we come to the Father based on what Jesus did for us to ascertain if we did wrong, or not. Many times we may be surprised, we have not done wrong, it’s a test to purify us.
When the enemy sees we are about to receive the salvation of our souls, or we are on the very edge of freedom, he will send his floods (messengers of Satan) to disrupt our course. However, instead of running to war, we first go to the Lord to gain the battle plan (Ps 35:1-10). We ask God to remind us how He is our Salvation, He is our Power, He is our Guide, and Source. The false use rumors; some of those rumors involve things we don’t even know about, of course they also dig into the dead bones of the old man to find things we do know about, but their intent is still Slander based in their self-exalting envy. They come to destroy, not build, they come to accuse, not edify, discern their ways, reject their words if they are laced with evil, wicked, self-based slanderous motives. We did what the Lord wanted, now they come with their corrupt communication, but what do we do? When they are sick, we put on sackclothe, we prayed for those who persecute us, we don’t kill them (v. 13). They rejoice in iniquity, theirs and others, but God’s love doesn’t rejoice in iniquity; therefore, if one joys in the iniquity of others, they lack the love of God. Discern their ways, as well as their body language, the puffed out chest is still a sign of pride in the heart. Whenever anyone attempts to use a confessed sin against us, they are condemned by the same sin (Ps 35:11-26). Why get mad? Why seek vengeance? The sin they speak of is no longer against us, it became part of our testimony of deliverance. Most of the sons of perdition have no idea what type of person we are, really they are so self deceived, by using deception they consider they are the only ones doing God’s service. They come to accuse in order to exalt their own souls, instead of fighting them with the same weapons, discern the source. The concept of “turn the other cheek” doesn’t mean we say, “okay go ahead hit this one”, it means we don’t use the same type of weapon being used against us. They use slander, we use Mercy. They use lies, we speak the Truth in Love.
Before there can be a lie, there must be a truth; therefore, seek the truth and gain. If someone uses a confessed sin against another, the Lord takes the sin then applies it to the accuser; instead of being a “watchdog for Jesus” they end a “worker of iniquity”. As the victim is praising the Lord for His Mercy and Goodness, the accuser is being condemned, thus those who accuse are condemning their own selves. (Ps 35:26-28 & Luke 6:37-38). As a result we learn to always apply Mercy, we have a ready state of mind to forgive before there is a cause.
Psalm 36 is called The Wickedness Of Man, pointing to the vessels of dishonor. They are those who go about looking for evil, since the intent started in their own heart, it’s where the evil is found. They will interpret events, words and people through the evil in their heart, while thinking they found evil, we find they are evil. The Pharisees went about looking for fault, they assumed they found fault in Jesus, did they? No, but they thought so, thus the fault was in their own hearts. When we find ourselves seeking fault, it’s time to discern our own heart, of course there are times when the Lord will have us rebuke, but the intent is much different.
The Wicked flatter themselves, but their own iniquity convicts them before God (Ps 36:1-4). When we reach for God’s Mercy, His Mercy reaches for us (Ps 36:5-7). The Foot Of Pride ends under the Feet of Jesus as His footstool (Ps 36:11). Pride is the mother of the Wicked as they work iniquity (v. 12). Here we find they “Shall Not Be Able To Rise”, which means the same as Jude told us, they are unable to hold to the Spirit at the Rapture (Jude 19). They go into the Night becoming the Beast of the Earth, thus they will move from being the Beasts of the Islands, to the Beast of the Earth, but Beasts nonetheless.
How do we fight this battle in the Courtyard? Are these really dogs of darkness? Or dogs of the shadow? Are they merely Babes who don’t know any better? Or are they the enemies of Jesus? Psalm 37 tells us God Takes Care Of His Own. Instead of rendering evil for evil, we give Mercy to gain Mercy (Ps 37:8-12 & Luke 6:36-38). When the evil doers come against us, we don’t fret, rather we trust in the Lord (Ps 37:1-3). Our delight is not in our works, but in what the Lord has done. No matter what they say about us, they are saying it against the Lord, He will repay (Ps 37:3-6). This doesn’t mean we take joy in the destruction of the enemy, rather it means the repaying, method, and timing are in the hand of God, not ours. We are in the Body of Christ, words spoken against us are spoken against the Body of Jesus, we are dead, thus dead people can’t be insulted.
We often think the word Meek means to crawl around on our belly, but meekness is ceasing from anger or wrath, it’s akin to Submission or Humbleness (Ps 37:7-1 & Eph 4:29-31). When the messengers of Satan attempt to disrupt our Peace it’s for several purposes; they seek to make us feel inferior, or to make us use uncontrolled anger, or for us to enter self-justification, or for us to simply give up; thereby causing us to fall from Mercy, thus if we fall from Mercy we fall into their snare. Anyone who is carnal, or allows the spirit lusting to envy to motivate them, they will send darts toward us. However, the Armor of God is fully able to quench (take the fire out) of any dart, Mercy is fully able to heal our wounds, if any. Once we learn the power of Mercy we will not suffer from the attacks of the Wicked, we learn our real battle is our own flesh, the place where the wiles of the enemy lurk.
The Wicked are the birds who pick at our fruit, or sit in the shadow of the tree, they use Bible principles in reverse, or strictly for self-benefit, they are the Balaams who take advantage of the saints, or the Jezebels as the self-appointed who come against the appointed of God (Ps 37:16-21). If we believe in the Lord, we are among the Righteous; although the Lord orders our steps, we will still fall from time to time, but when we fall, the Lord is there to lift us “in His hand” (Ps 37:22-24). It may surprise us to find along the path the Lord has placed areas to cause us to trip, but the purpose is to see if our feet are still shod with the Preparation for the Gospel of Peace. Testings hone our faith in the Lord, bringing us deeper and deeper into the place where Deep calls to Deep.
We don’t have to beg for the Bread of Life, Jesus gives it freely. The Bread of Life brings our condition of Mercy, leading us to the Blood to establish us in the Kingdom of God (Ps 37:25-40). It’s obvious we have two elements for Communion, whether we dip the bread into the wine, or the wafer into the grape juice, or keep them separate as Jesus did, there are still two things, the bread, and the cup. It has to tell us there is the kingdom of heaven relating to the Mercy of God, and the kingdom of God relating to the Grace of God. The Rock is the Bread, the Church is the Blood, but we need both in order to be of Christ.
Psalm 37 also gives us two areas concerning the Meek, the metaphor Earth is still the kingdom of heaven here on earth, not the planet. The first group who inherits the earth also have the evil doers to contend with (Ps 37:9), but the evil doers shall be Cut Off, this is the same Hebrew word meaning To cut a part of the Body off. This first group of Meek know to Wait on the Lord, waiting entails patience, the sister to faith.
When we first came into the kingdom we made all sorts of confessions, some good, some bad, some stupid, but Grace filtered out the bad, ignored the stupid, allowing us to live in the good. Some of those good confessions were, “I want to serve the Lord”, “I want to do something”, “I think I’m called”, “I love the Lord so much, I want to do something for Him”. Each of these brought about something called, “secured by the tongue”. We said it, God received it, then He began to operate off our confession. At the same time the enemy said, “no, I’ll stop it”, then he sent messengers of Satan to discourage, hinder, slander or attempt to stop what God had ordained, often he attempted to use the flesh. We are the treasure of this battle, the prize of the conflict, the crown of victory, the jewel of the Lord, He is not one to give up easily.
The first group is told In a Little While the Wicked shall not be, we Must at all times consider the Place where the Wicked end on the day of Judgment, as we pray to have God keep us from being self-deceived, or falling into the hands of the Synagogue of Satan. For the most part we did pray this in the phrase, “deliver me from evil”, yet at the time we had no idea what the phrase stood for, but we were nonetheless “secured by the tongue”, as God began a work to keep us from the Synagogue of Satan. However, whether we received it or not is still a matter of our choice. Of course there is the phrase “hung by the tongue” as well, those times when someone displays their unbelief, or lack of trust in God by their words, thus we discern their words to detect the source.
The second group of Meek come after the Wicked are Cut Off, they have the Abundance of Peace, or the Time of Comfort. The Peace they acquire is not the same as the Peace we have in the New Birth. Jesus said the Peace He gives us is not like the peace the world gives, yet Paul said those in the Night will say Peace and Safety, of course then comes sudden destruction. When Jesus said, “Peace I give you”, it was a Gift related to the Kingdom. The phrase “I Give” entails a Covenant promise, it was also part of our inheritance. We must receive the words spoken, before they can take root in our lives. The Peace of Jesus removes all the barriers, curtains, hindrances and obstacles between us and God. We can come boldly to the throne of Grace to obtain Mercy, and find Grace in the time of need. The high priest went once a year into the holy or holies, but trembling; hardly bold. To truly Prosper one must be at peace with God, we enter Peace by submitting to the New Man as we remain Meek. Giving us another view of Meek, easily entreated, or teachable.
With these two groups we find a mystery concerning the Day and Night, the First Group are the Body, the Second the Remnant. During the Season of the Night the Wicked appear as the Beast of the earth; as they plotted against the Just, they plot against the Woman (Ps 37:12). The “just life by faith”, thus the Just are those who are being Justified, who believe unto the saving of the soul, meaning the Just are of the Day of Salvation, not the Night of Judgment.
In verse 21 the context is not money, but how the Wicked borrowed the gift of Mercy, but never granted Mercy to others. It’s important to see how the context is Mercy, not money, thus showing the Steps of a Good (Merciful) man are ordered by the Lord (v. 23). The word Ordered is the Hebrew Kun meaning To Stand, or To be established, thus the Steps relate to faith. If there is none Good, but God in order to be among the Good, one must have God in them of a truth. This is a prophetic verse pointing to being Born Again in order to produce Living Water, another area Nicodemus should have known.
Verse 24 shows we will fall, even the Good fall, but the Lord is there to uphold them With His Hand (v. 24). The goal of the Meek is to endure, maintain, stand in faith while waiting on the Lord. We Keep His Way, but in the keeping we know the Wicked watch the Righteous in order to slay them (v. 32-34). Here it’s “seek” to slay; we know the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, his children are no different. The word Slay is the Hebrew Muth meaning To bring to death, thus their goal is to drag us from Life to Death, yet Death and Life are found in the power of the tongue.
Psalm 38 is A Prayer Of Penitence associated with the Lord chastening us, but don’t forget the Lord chastens us to keep us from being condemned with the world, if we are not chastened, we better consider our position. On the same note, we don’t want the Lord to wait until His wrath is moved to hot displeasure before He rebukes us, we want to be open and ready for His correction now (Ps 38:1). It’s far better to hear the suggestion of correction, than feel the rod of correction. Being open for the discernment, makes us open for offense, the offense brings us into correction unto perfection. It was once said, Offense will get us off the Fence, how true. The false reject offense, yet God will still use the vessel of dishonor, not for their sake, but for the sake of honing the vessel of Mercy into the vessels of honor (Rom 9:21-23).
Sickness has become a touchy subject at best, there are times when sickness is a sign we have missed the mark, but there are times when it’s not, it still takes discernment. Some of the Wicked are never sick, yet some of the Good are never sick, it takes discernment; however, when our bodies are full of wounds from the sin nature, or filled with loathsome disease, there is a way out (Ps 38:3-8). God’s hot displeasure brings sickness, we can’t ignore this as something under the Old Covenant alone, for Paul said, ignoring the table of the Lord produces sickness, weakness, and death (dead works – I Cor 11:30-32). If we are in the hand of the Lord, then we are free of the devil, instead of justifying ourselves by blaming the devil, we first discern the event to determine if it’s affliction or persecution. In either case we praise the Lord, we Jump for joy, we don’t climb into the pit, or enter self-pity through self-justification. Whether it’s sin, iniquity, the sin nature, rebellion, failure to forgive, cursing the darkness, talking evil about things we know nothing about, being a victim under carnal leadership, being a victim of an attack we took personal, or just some sickness, it doesn’t matter, what matters is finding the cause by trusting in God (Ps 38:8-12). We tend to focus on the sickness, yet ignore the cause. There has been so much attacking comments regarding sickness, the victim becomes paranoid. Sickness is either flesh centered, or mental, in either case there is a cause to be discovered. Whether the Lord tells us to go to the doctor or not isn’t the issue either, it’s obeying what we hear. Faith allowed to be turned into condemnation for being sick is not faith at all. Faith looks for the Hope set before it, but it’s based on the unseen. James tells us to call for the Elders, they will anoint us with olive oil representing mercy as we pray our prayer of faith to obtain the Wisdom of God in order to deal with the event, or person. The oil isn’t going to heal us, just as the water in our water baptism didn’t save us. Nonetheless it’s representative of the Mercy of God being applied by the Elders, a symbol, but effective.
Here we find one cause of sickness maybe the displeasure of the Lord, yet there are those who wait for us to get sick, so they can mock us (Ps 38:12). There are other areas causing sickness as well, one such cause is a result of not hearing the Lord, or not seeing the lesson He is presenting (Ps 38:13-15). James says one cause is conflict between the brethren when allowed to fester into a sickness (James 5:16). We also find sickness has many purposes, in the New Testament we find some sickness is purposed as a sign of showing God’s glory (Ps 39:13-40:1 & Jn 9:1-3). When the Lord does heal us, we don’t forget the lesson, rather we praise Him for the healing, even if the healing resulted from a rebuke (Ps 40:1-5). In any case we know the Will of the Lord is more important than someone condemning us for being ill. However, we could be simply refusing to do something the Lord told us to do, thus battling the Authority of the Lord. Therefore, Wisdom will show us the error, then we can clear our iniquity by repentance (Ps 38:18-39:1). The Lord does rebuke us for our iniquity, it’s better to be sick in body, than a vessel of dishonor carrying iniquity to the grave (Ps 39:3-12).
Psalm 39 is called The Vanity Of Life pointing to the unsaved, or rebellious soul. It’s a request to discern the Mirror of God. Is the vanity ours, or are we looking at others? Is what we see, or what we are? Is God using the Mirror to expose our soul which is effecting our heart? Or are we discerning the other person’s soul or heart? If it’s our soul are we seeking Deliverance through the Lord (v. 8). It’s God rebuking or correcting us, what’s the purpose? It’s to form us into the Image of His Son, so we can produce the Fruit of Righteousness. Once we find deliverance, then comes Psalm 40, A Song Of Deliverance.
Jesus is the volume (fullness) of the Bible; the Scriptures Testify of Him. When we ignore any aspect of our calling or venture off into an area we have no business, we are open for the Book to rebuke us (Ps 40:1-17). The word Horrible in verse 2 means A pit of noise, there are times when the Noise of Unbelief is louder than the song of faith. There are also times when we get a Word, a Vision or a Sign, then believe God for a whole day, when it doesn’t come to pass as we want we say, “oh well, I guess it wasn’t for me”. If we have faith, we have patience leading to endurance (Ps 40:1). If we are meek, we are patient (Ps 40:2). If we believe, we trust in the Lord (Ps 40:4). A New Song is the Song of praise for a Promise, whatever the promise may be.
When those like Job’s friend’s come around us saying, “oh really, I’ll believe it, when I see it” or “Right, I suppose God is going to drop it out of the sky”, or “do you mean faith is the problem?”; we tend to say, “I come against you in the Name of Jesus”, but we don’t want to act too hastily. God will allow unbelieving people to bring words of discouragement for the purpose of honing our faith. If we are seeking the Precious we can learn from any event, even an attack. When Paul was attacked his found Grace was sufficient, it always is. Paul found the attack kept him from being exalted above measure, it’s different from being exalted at all. When we exalt anyone or anything above measure we form an idol, thus Paul saw how the attack kept others from exalting him above measure. Whatever the situation we must Praise the Lord for His benefits, as He moves us deeper into the Faith.
Psalm 40:6 is a clue to being able to discern the “Pharisee mind”, and how it works. Jesus gave homework assignments to the Pharisees, yet they refused to consider what He said, or the assignment, they ended yelling “Crucify Him”, rather than “Praise ye the Lord”. Jesus will give us assignments as well, the Spirit may ask, “what does this mean?”, it behooves us to find out. In Matthew 9:13 Jesus told the Pharisees, “go you and learn what it means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice”. The phrase “go you and learn” is a homework assignment, thus God gives us homework assignments. Later in Matthew 12:7 we find they failed to do their homework, then in Hosea 6:6 the phrase, “for I desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings”, but the key is still Mercy, something the religious rulers during the earthly ministry failed at.
Ears attached to a willing soul are more important than our sacrifices of labor: the Lord tells us to apply Mercy, yet we run all over doing “deeds” thinking one will balance the other, assuming we don’t have to apply Mercy. It’s still iniquity, the failure to do what we are told to, while doing other things. The Pharisees feared change, feared losing their positions because they envied Jesus. Faith comes by hearing, thus if we refuse to hear, faith can pass us by like a train in the night. If we asked for God’s Wisdom, we must also be easily entreated (teachable). Some seek truth, some seek conformation of their heresy, some seek support for strongholds, the Pharisees sought support for their strongholds, yet failed to receive the truth. A teachable mind is looking for truth, it may have to bend, or cast out some points of view, but truth will set us free.
Psalm 41 is called David’s Prayer In Sickness, it relates to our Prayer of Faith. It begins with, “blessed is he who considers the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” (Ps 41:1). Taking care of the poor is a matter of Mercy, thus we find Mercy is product making us the blessed. The people during the earthly ministry knew this concept, as they cried out to Jesus, “Have Mercy on me”. Mercy heals our bodies and clears our minds. At times we keep fighting to find Faith, but we should be giving mercy.
The Lord will heal our bodies, heal our souls, and keep us from evil diseases (Ps 41:4-13). When the Lord heals our soul, it’s because we know our soul needs healing. We have no problem in running to the Lord, or to a doctor when our flesh is “at dis-ease”, but when our soul is “at dis-ease” we tell others, “I’m handling it”. If we were handling it, our soul wouldn’t be at “dis-ease”. We pour out our soul to the Lord, He pours out His Mercy to us (Ps 42:1-4).
When we find ourselves in the pit of despair, our soul needs to be edified in order for us to raise above the event. The word Edify means To charge up from an outside source, often the outside source is the New Man inside. By the Spirit we say to our soul, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? and why are you disquieted in me? Hope In God, for I will praise Him for the help” (Ps 42:5). Can we talk to our soul? We better if we are walking in the Spirit, the soul needs to be reminded it’s a servant, the New Man as master.
When the world hears us talking to our soul, they may think we belong in a special room with padded walls, but when God hears us telling our souls to get right before God, He considers us worthy. When we are in those times of hardship we know Deep still calls to Deep, it’s the Deep things of God bringing revival to our souls (Ps 42:7).
If our soul is still looking for the bed of self-pity, or the chair of self-justification we again say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? why are you disquieted within me? hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him” (Ps 42:11). On the other hand we may be in the process of exposure, if so we praise God for caring (Ps 43:1-3). If our soul is still disquieted (lacking peace) we say again, “Why are you cast down, Oh my soul?” (Ps 43:5). This isn’t strange, we are asking our soul, “Why?”, which means we want discernment, not self-pity, thus our soul has to calm down so we can hear the Spirit. It may take more than twenty seconds, but endurance produces ears to hear, as the soul learns to remember all the Lord has done (Ps 44:1-26).
Psalm 43 is very short, it’s called A Man In Exile, displaying a separation from the Light. John tells us if we say we are in the Light, yet hate (slander) our brother, we are in darkness even until now; however, here the text shows we accepted a fable, or self-induced prophecy from the Wicked, or an attack from an unbeliever as personal causing us to turn off our Light. God is Light, but He gave us the switch. Again it takes discernment, or a spiritual ability by the New Man not to take the attack personally. Without the Light we feel as if God has left us, it’s almost like being Exiled to a strange and dark land, but if we call out, God will hear. Then we need correction for the soul, our own minds assumed the words from the darkness were better than the Light, which shows us for a moment we stopped listening to the Spirit (v. 5). We are still in the Kingdom, still able to be recovered and restored: leading us to Psalm 44, a Prayer For Protection.
There are some who think God doesn’t need to speak to God, but Jesus said, “How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? For David himself said by the Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit You on My Right Hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. David therefore himself called Him Lord; how is He then his son?” (Mark 12:35-37). David was God’s choice to sit as king, but the “son of David” is King over all. David appointed Solomon, but the Father appointed Jesus. The son of the king takes the seat of the king when the king dies, yet Jesus as the “son of David” lives forever more. If Solomon was the next king, how could Jesus be the “son of David”? Prophetically, David is speaking of the Son who reigns as God’s choice. In the mystery we find Solomon was appointed by David, but the true son of David is Jesus. The Holy Ghost spoke through David, thus many things were said by David as projected prophecy regarding the forthcoming son of David (I Pet 1:10-11 & II Pet 1:20-21
If God gives us direction on earth by prophecy, it seems prophecy would be moot when we face Jesus, the Spirit of all prophecy. If knowledge is the understanding of God for the earth, it seems we wouldn’t need knowledge when we see God sitting on His throne; however, until that time, we speak with the tongues of men and angels, respect prophecy, and receive knowledge to grow by. What does this have to do with Psalm 44? We have Heard how God worked with those in the past, showing God was fully able then, what makes us think the world is able to overcome God now? (Ps 44:1-3). Truly, if God delivered them who were in the darkness, we in the Day have a better Promise. We have the knowledge of God, experiences with the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ in us, a Better Covenant, surely we have the advantage. If God was able to deliver us from the snare of the devil by the Cross, surely the Power of the Resurrection is able to save our souls (vs. 4-15). Even if we fall for the voice of him who blasphemes, or allow our faith to slip, we can still speak to our soul, then praise the Lord for He is still able to deliver His own (vs. 16-17).
We found our error, we need deliverance, our soul is bowed to the dust, we made a dumb mistake, but Mercy is still Mercy, it endures forever; above all, God is fully able to restore the repentant heart (v. 26). Once we are delivered, we are ready for A Royal Wedding Song, which is the basis for Psalm 45. Grace is poured on our lips, we speak with the tongues of men and angels (Ps 45:2). Psalm 45 explains the term spiritual eunuch: in times of yesteryear a man was made a eunuch to guard the queen. One who is not a spiritual eunuch will violate the daughters of the King as well as the Queen (Ps 45:9-15). The evidence is how the Wicked invade the Woman, causing her to become the “Whore”. They are the cause of fire coming from heaven to destroy the earth; they refuse to protect the King’s possessions, rather they bring Sudden Destruction.
Instead of the fathers bringing the promise we find the children with the new promise, we are the children of the Most High (Ps 45:16-17). Jude said, “But you beloved, building up yourselves (edifying yourself) on your most Holy Faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). Jude doesn’t say, beginning your faith, rather it’s building On our faith in order to deal with the masses as we cast the Net (Jude 21-23 & Acts 4:29-31).
Psalm 45 is about the Bride and Jesus, it begins with our tongue being the Pen of the Writer (v. 1). The Psalm makes a separation between the Bride and the “children of men” (Adam Like – v. 2). The Truth, Meekness and Righteousness by the New Man teaches us the Ways of the Lord (v. 4). The Lord looks at our hearts, He knows we loved Righteousness, yet hated iniquity (wickedness), whether in us, or others (v. 7 & Heb 1:9). The Daughter is warned not to forget Her own people, or Her father’s house, this would be after the Bride is taken (v. 10). It’s when the Bride descends they shall see Her in all Her Glory, She made Herself ready, yet at the same time on earth the Daughter of the nation is seen as the Woman (v. 12-15).
The purpose for the wilderness experiences, or the times of exposure prepare us to receive the Character of Christ in fullness. When we have the spiritual nature we will profess, “God is our refuge and strength” (Ps 46:1). It’s those who hear and obey who sit in the holy place of the Most High (Ps 46:4). It’s those with ears to hear, who hear, “be still and know that I am God” (Ps 46:10). It’s the Believer who knows “The Lord of hosts is with us” (Ps 46:11).
The devil is ineffective, yet some think he attacks us at his will. Misconceptions regarding affliction produce bitter hearts, thus the root of bitterness will always defile us (Heb 12:15). The Lord Most High is a Great King over all the Earth, He shall subdue the nations under our feet (Ps 47:2-3). Sounds like we’re going to be able to beat up the secular press, not so, this means they have no authority or power over us. All things are under the Feet of Jesus, we are His Body (Eph 1:22), yet if we think evil forces are over our heads, where does it put us? If we are of the Body of Christ, then all things are under us, not over us.
When Jesus ascended He gave gifts unto men to assist the Body until the time when we meet Him in the air. God has Gone Up with a Shout, with the Sound of a Trumpet (v. 5). The wording Gone Up is the Hebrew Alah meaning To Ascend, or To Bring, here it means both, Jesus Ascended, yet He will Bring us up to Him, then we will sing praises Face to Face with the Lord (Ps 47:6). Those who sing Praises also have Understanding (v. 7). Then God will judge the heathen and the princes of the people, even the people of the God of Abraham, who must pass the books, then find their names in the Book of life (v.9).
Psalm 48 is called The Glory Of Zion, referring to the Remnant. The Psalm begins with the City of God, which is Jerusalem of the earth, showing the knowledge of the Lord will go out from Jerusalem in the latter days by the Sixth church. The Jew understands Zion is the mount upon which the city of Jerusalem sits, thus when Jesus said, “On this Rock I will build My Church”, the entire Jewish mind went “tilt”. To the Jew it was suppose to be built on the mount of the city, yet Jesus didn’t point to earthly Zion, He pointed to Heavenly Zion known as the Body of Christ. The Church is established upon the Rock, not under it. Here we find earthly Zion, upon which the City sits as a She (v. 3); in verse 8 the word Hosts means People of war, not people of peace. Verse 9 and following points to the Night, as we see the “temple”, Mount Zion, and the Daughters (not tents) of Judah, all metaphors. The Psalm ends with Forever and ever, pointing to time without end, then the phrase “He will be our guide even unto death”, denoting the phrase, “loved not their souls unto the death”.
The warning is found in Psalm 49, entitled Trusting Riches Is Foolish. There is a knowledge pointing to the foolishness of man, displaying how man is engrossed with the deceitfulness of riches, or how some of us become overly concerned with riches (Ps 49:1-5). Some trust in wealth, assuming wealth will spread the Gospel, wealth may print Bibles, wealth may get us to one country or another, but only the anointing of God can preach the Gospel with effectiveness. We preach and a thousand people receive the Lord, then we take the credit, or worse we give the credit to humans; however, the Holy Ghost brings people to the cross, He can do it in spite of us, or with us (Ps 49:6-20).
Asaph also wrote many Psalms, he was also noted as a prophet. The name Asaph means Collector, or one who gathers for a purpose. The first part of the Psalms points out our goal, setting us in the direction of Worship, as it points to the Glory of the Lord. Asaph tells us about the time when Jesus returns to the earth at the sound of the Great Trump. The Last Trump and the Great Trump are different: the Last Trump is the last of two, the First announced God wanting to be among His people. The Last Trump proclaims the opening of the Jewish Year, or the restoration of Israel, but it also proclaims the Rapture. The Great Trump proclaims the second coming of Jesus for judgment at the conclusion of the works for the Son of man (Matt 24:37).
There are two Days of the Lord: Jesus will come to the Air to gather us at the Rapture, then later after the 1,000 years is finished He steps on the Earth. Jesus will place one foot on the Sea (world), and one on the mount (Jerusalem of the earth), none of us want to be here then. It’s still appointed unto all men once to die, then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27). There will be no judgment until all mankind has died the first death, thus the Judgment is the place between the first death and second death, with the Judgment Seat as the escape for those who find their names in the Book of Life.
The First coming of Jesus produced Salvation, yet His Resurrection isn’t complete until Jesus receives us in the Air above the Altar of God. The Second coming brings the Judgment of God when Jesus is Revealed, as every eye sees Him.
To the Jew, God’s Mercy is His Justice, His Justice is His Mercy, thus they can’t separate the two, or the purposes for each. Mercy removes us from the Justice of God, Grace from the Judgment of God. Many sayings in the Prophets point to two events, not one, but if one can’t discern the two events, they will mix them into one, bringing confusion, rather than clarity. The history of the Jewish people gives us a preview as we find the prophets speaking of the same event, but in a different light, thus the prophets speak of an event in their time, yet it’s also projected to a future event as well. It doesn’t mean history or the prophets are wrong, rather it shows God framed the events long before He said “Let there be Light”, the Plan has the previews of what will be, to assure us what must be, will be.
Asaph says God will come with fire, as He gathers the saints for the judgment (Ps 50:1-5). Then we find what it takes to pass the judgment, and why so many of us have been tricked into situations where we end cursing ourselves. Some of us make the mistake of confusing a vow with faith, a vow is something we promise to do, faith points to what God will do. It’s better to say, “if the Lord wills, I will do this or that”; then find ourselves out on some limb attempting to excuse some vow we made. How would we like it if someone just told us “I wanted to buy a car, so I signed your name to the contract, don’t mind do you?”. Making a Vow then attempting to trick God into taking care of it, is not faith, it’s presumption. We can’t say, “Oh, I did it by faith”, since faith comes from hearing. Did we hear first? “No, I did it, then I told God to back me up, isn’t that faith?”. It may be stupid, but it’s not faith. This lesson keeps us from making foolish vows on the spur of the moment, then blaming God when we can’t keep the vow (Ps 50:8-14). This also connects to the “the Word God spoke”, but then we devised the reward for our obedience. When the reward didn’t come to pass, we got mad, it’s still presumption. God will reward us, but we don’t decide what the reward will be, God does.
God doesn’t need our assumed great sacrifices; rather He seeks those who will believe in what He has done. We give our souls, but in truth when we accepted the Cross we found Jesus paid the price for our souls (Heb 10:38-39). If we do give our vows unto the Lord, we must keep them with praises of thanksgiving (Ps 50:14-23). Whether it’s a missed vow, or a failure to maintain a vow, we first acknowledge our transgression, rather than make the same mistake fifty times. Restoration promises us a foundation from which we won’t keep tripping over the same failure time and again.
After the warning, what now? Psalm 51 is a repentance Psalm, showing we don’t blame anyone, including ourselves (Ps 51:4). Psalm 51:1-19 is among the greatest of the passages concerning exposure unto repentance, to gain forgiveness. It came after David’s folly with Bathsheba just after Nathan the prophet exposed the sin to David. Would David had known his sin if Nathan wasn’t obedient? Who knows, it remains Nathan was obedient, and David did repent. The word Lovingkindness is close to the word Grace, but it’s closer to the true meaning of Mercy. The Hebrew word for Lovingkindness is Chesed, to a Jew it’s one of the most important words in the Old Testament. Accordingly it stems from God’s eternal principles, once God establishes a principle it remains, thus the Mercy of God endures forever, but His Grace is for a Season on the earth, yet forever in heaven. First John shows us how many Heard the Commandment, but lacked the ability until they received the Spirit, thus Lovingkindness to David is much different from Grace to us. Mercy extended for the moment, is different from a heart walking in Mercy. God’s Mercy is ready, it’s prepared to forgive the wrong done. Mercy in its pure form as a constant state of mind to forgive completely, or better not to impute sin on people, being a close definition of the word Lovingkindness.
We can also see David isn’t the only scribe used here, there are other scribes, including Moses. However, we must consider they were praying to the Lord. All Scripture is God breathed, thus in one way or another the Psalms point to Jesus. Jesus explained it when He said “for David himself said by the Holy Ghost….” (Mark 12:36), thus David and others penned the words, but the words came from the Holy Ghost speaking about the Spirit of Christ. So, why does Mark say “Holy Ghost”, yet Matthew says “by the Spirit” (Matt 22:43)? Mark shows ability to speak (Holy Ghost) Matthew about the words spoken of (Spirit of Christ).
Psalm 51:2 has two areas, Wash and Cleanse, the word Wash is the Hebrew Yasar meaning to Chastise, which is the Washing of the Water by the Word, but the word Cleanse is the Hebrew Naqah meaning To be guiltless, referring to the result of the Cleaning of the Blood of Jesus. Verse 3 displays how David Acknowledged his sin, or transgression, the word Acknowledge means To perceive, or Understand, thus it’s not merely saying he had sinned, but understanding what the sin entailed. Did David sin against the Commandment? Yes, why then didn’t he give a sacrifice as the Law of Moses dictates? David was more concerned regarding how he sinned against God, his sin hurt his friend, by causing pain in the heart of his God. Verse 4 makes no sense at all, if it wasn’t for verse 3. Didn’t Bathsheba have a husband? Didn’t David arrange for him to be killed? Wasn’t there others killed as well? Yet, here David says his sin was against God and God alone. This explains why David didn’t give a sacrifice, his concern was God, not the Law of Moses. It doesn’t mean the Law wasn’t good, it means David’s heart sought after God. David knew he used his position in a wicked manner; he sought to satisfy his lusts through his position. How close was David to becoming among the Wicked? One step, but his repentance was also his step to restoration.
God told David, “I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel, and of Judah, and if it been too little, I would moreover have given unto you such and such things” (II Sam 12:8). God gave David whatever he wanted, and more, so why did David take what God didn’t give? The spirit lusting to envy, then God tells David it was the Commandment of the Lord being despised, thus the act of David’s sin was akin to telling God he despised God (II Sam 12:9). David’s sin also caused his child to die, but God didn’t “kill the baby”, rather the sin of David would have placed the baby and David in the hands of the enemies of God, thus God took the baby to save it (II Sam 12:14 & Isa 57:1). Paul warned us of spiritual wickedness, the word Wickedness has the same meaning as we find here in Psalms; it’s Iniquity, or the failure to become Spiritual, but it also entails using our position in wrong manner. David used his position in manner not in line with the provisions, or anointing of the office.
Truth in the inner parts is birthed in Mercy, the Hidden Part is the New Man, thus at this point we are entering prophecy. Verse 7 is a type and shadow of the Cross, the greatest element of God’s Mercy toward man. In verse 7 we find Purge and Clean, the word Clean is different from the one we found in verse 2, this word is the Hebrew Taher meaning To purify, or Justify. The word Purge is the Hebrew Chata meaning To atone for, or Condemn: it can mean a breach of civil law, a breach, not respecting the rights of another, or falling short of God’s standard, all of which point to a failure to do something we have the ability to do. It’s equivalent in the Greek is Anomos meaning Lawless. As noted, the word Lawless doesn’t mean one is free from the Law, it means one has no respect whatsoever for the Law they are under. From the two words we find the Cross has two elements, Salvation and Judgment, thus we rightly divide the Word to understand them.
The reference to Hyssop is a direct connection to the Cross; when the Hyssop and vinegar were placed to the mouth of Jesus, He said “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). Vinegar is sour wine often used as a sedative, but the Hyssop goes back to the Law of Cleansing in Leviticus 14:1-5. On the Day of Cleansing the priest would go into the camp looking for the plague of leprosy, thus leprosy was a sign of one who was rebellious toward God. The priest would use live birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop as cleaning agents (Lev 14:4).
Did God break David’s bones? No, but verse 8 makes reference to Broken Bones, what Broken Bones? (Ps 51:8). The Broken Body of Jesus yet to come, one would think Broken Bones would be a cause for grief, but here we find Rejoice. God’s judgments are just; we praise Him for His judgments, just as we do for His Grace. The Broken Body of Jesus will bring about a time when the enemies of Jesus will be made into His footstool, then all “God’s children” will soon be in heaven, where there is no remembrance of the dead.
When the Body is Broken those who Hear with Joy and Gladness will Rejoice as they will see their Maker face to face. Later after the Judgment, , many will join New Jerusalem, then it will be Done and Complete. This is clearer in Psalm 51:18 where Zion and the Wall to Jerusalem are noted. Jesus marks the 144,000 on Zion (Rev 7:1-4), but the Wall of New Jerusalem is established on the “12 stones” granted in the New Testament apostle positions (Rev 21:14). The Remnant are noted as Pearls and Gates, but before the Gates are fixed the Wall must be complete (Rev 21:18-21).
Verse 10 is asking God to Create in us a Clean Heart, but God isn’t in the business of recreation, thus the verse doesn’t ask for a recreation, it asks for a New One. The word Create is the Hebrew Bara meaning A entirely new element, one made from nothing, something only God can do. This verse explains the New Birth, the heart of man is the fall nature seen as the spirit of the man, but if we are circumcised of Heart, we obtain a New Heart, called the New Man, meaning we are Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Our manner of thinking begins to change from flesh to Spirit.
Verse 11 relates to the New Covenant as the word Restore in verse 12 is the same one used in Psalm 23; here it’s Restore the Joy of Salvation, but it doesn’t say, “my Salvation”, rather it shows “Your Salvation”, thereby showing Salvation belongs to God, it’s not a Gift, but the goal. Psalm 51:11 is the first place in the Bible where we find the title “Holy Spirit”, again the word Create is the Hebrew Bara. The New Birth is It’s not restoring some old heart or spirit, rather we are circumcised of heart as the flesh nature is cut away, then a New Heart is created after God’s true holiness and righteousness (Eph 4:24). Can God take the Holy Spirit away from us? Yes, but the only time the Bible indicates it will happen is if we separate ourselves from the Spirit (Jude 19). The Holy Ghost delivered the Seed, the Seed is the Holy Spirit of Promise (Jn 7:39 & Eph 4:13). The Parable of the Sower shows the Seed is given to all sorts of grounds, thus we are the Ground. Nothing can take us from the hand of God, nothing can separate us from the Love of God, but we can separate ourselves from the Grace of God. David made a terrible error, he misused his position, caused the death of others, yet repentance placed him back on the right path of his calling. It doesn’t excuse what he did, but it does show God is forgiving and merciful. It’s also obvious David had no idea at the moment what he was doing was sin, to him it was the exercise of his kingship. When Bathsheba appeared with child, David attempted to cover his folly, showing then he became aware it was wrong, but lacked knowledge of it being sin. It took the prophet to bring clarity to the event, the second David became aware of Who he sinned against, he honestly repented.
Psalm 51:14 is a specific request to be delivered from the guilt of murder, here David admits the death of Uriah, knowing he misused his position and calling. Verse 15 is David asking the Lord to open His lips, so David can open his, showing words without repentance fall to the earth. However, a repentant heart isn’t one of self-pity, or self-imposed guilt, it’s one knowing the effects of sin, as it’s willing to turn unto God.
Verse 18 points to Zion and the Walls of New Jerusalem, which we talked about prior. All this still relates to us, we ask to be forgiven, if God will forgive David, surely He will forgive us when we ask.
It’s obvious most of this Psalm relates to ministry, the steps mentioned are those leading to the ability to minister. We can’t minister until we enter the Joy of Salvation by obtaining the Spirit, then we are able to “teach transgressors” the Ways of God (Ps 51:13). Any other means ends in the misuse of the position, or the feeble attempt to use natural means to define spiritual matters, which always ends in failure.
What about the person who loves the feeling of darkness? They can end as a servant of wickedness, as did Doeg the Edomite who killed all but one priest to please Saul (I Sam 21:3-7). Saul misused his position in a much different manner than David, these two Psalms show us the difference. David made a mistake, when his sin was revealed he repented. Saul on the other hand wanted to kill the exposure of his sin. Doeg is a type and shadow of those who kill the just to please the wicked. Doeg devised the destruction by his own mouth; he reported the actions of the man of God (David) to Saul, but Doeg’s heart wasn’t right, he loved evil, gossip (slander) and rumor, he wanted to be exalted in the eyes of Saul (Ps 52:3). Doeg wanted to please people, thus he justified his acts, much like Judas did, until his plan fell apart.
There is no gift called the watchdog gift, but this Psalm is the Watchdog Psalm defining how some go about looking to devour the anointed people of God to satisfy a wanton ego, or feed their lust to envy. “Well, I’m not too sure they are anointed”; well it doesn’t matter, unless God gives us a word of rebuke, we leave them alone. “Yeah, but how do you stop their heresy?”, by preaching the truth in love. It’s one thing to point out error, another to present Truth allowing it to expose the error. Doeg assumed David and the priest were wrong, yet Saul was right. The evidence showed Saul was in error, with David the chosen one. The desire to please men caused Doeg to draw his own conclusions of right and wrong. Although Psalm 52 doesn’t appear to have mercy attached to it, it does. Psalm 52 speaks of God’s Judgment, not one of us hasn’t at one time or another used the might of our own hand as if we were God applying Judgment (Ps 52:7). Mercy removes the stains, but the New Birth based in Grace gives us a New beginning, so New it makes us appear New.
Verse 8 shows how we fight the battle, we are the Green Olive Trees, not the fig trees. We trust in God’s Mercy, rather than our own natural ways. The word Wickedness in verse 7 could also read Substance, it goes further than material benefits: it includes using a position for self-gain regardless of who it hurts, much like the world does “business”.
Iniquity or envy will cause us to attack others, both are based in the wrong spirit. The same is true when we assume our denomination is the only one with “the truth”, or our sect is the “highly exalted” part of the Body; we end with idols in the mind, leading to a desire to belittle other members of the Body. Instead of seeking God, the watchdog seeks innocent blood, as did Judas. While the watchdogs are about killing the Just with slander and opinion, the faithful are praising the Lord (Ps 52:9).
The fool sits in a corrupt tree claiming there is “no God”, or blames God for their own ineffectiveness (Ps 53:1). This doesn’t mean the person thinks God is a non-concept, rather the person assumes they can do as they please, yet God won’t do punish them. Verse 2 shows the “children of men” (Adam like), pointing right to the wicked ones, thus they believe there is One God, they simply refuse to submit to Him, or live in the purpose of His Name. For if they did, they would follow Him. Verse 4 shows this group as the workers of iniquity, Jesus showed us they will use the Name of Jesus, but reject Mercy (Matt 7:21-23). The “sons of men” are those who walk in mercy, a different group then the children of men, God looks down from heaven upon the “children of men” to see if any have understanding, or if any really seek God, every one of them have “gone back”, but Gone back to what? The use of the spirit of the world, or perdition, yet the Just live by Faith, but if any man Draw Back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who Draw Back to Perdition, but of them that Believe to the saving of the soul (Heb 10:38-39). We pray, “take not Thy Holy Spirit from me”, giving God the absolute right and authority to do what it takes to keep us in a spiritual position. We may not like the method, but it’s the best for us.
Psalm 54 is called A Prayer Of Relief, it’s a Psalm of David during the time when the Ziphims came to Saul, thus it also relates to the Good and the Wicked. The Name (Authority) of Jesus is based on Saving us, yet it’s one thing to say “By the Name of Jesus”, another to say “In the Name of Jesus”. The first doesn’t denote the speaker as being In the position, the second does. When we are Baptized In the Name of Jesus, it has nothing to do with words spoken, rather it points to the position of authority. We vow not only to Believe in the Name, but to be changed into what the Name stands for. Now wait, you just said there are none Good but God, but here you say there is a division in the net between the Good and Wicked. True, it’s the point, the Good become Good because they have the Mercy of God. When we operate from self-imposed conclusions, or presumptions of good works we are self-deceived. To do “good works” one must operate from the Mercy of God. Grace is the inner ability, but the ability to apply Mercy comes with the measure of faith, even if we are not Born Again, we can do the Least Commandments of Mercy.
In this case the Strangers have come against the anointing, the word Strangers is the Hebrew Zur meaning Pressed together, or To bind. We either bind ourselves, or loose ourselves. The premise of “binding and loosing” will be discussed in accordance with the Scriptures later, but for here we find they Bind themselves to evil, by using it.
Once a person accepts the Cross of Jesus the spirit of man is no longer effective, it can no longer rule, but if the person likes the effects or feeling they get from using the spirit or man, they will use it. The result is operating from the wrong spirit, John called it the he in the world, Paul called it the spirit of the world. The difference between the Wicked and sinner is position, when we were in the world we were the children of disobedience, controlled by the rulers of darkness. However, when we came to the Cross all those elements became like their father the devil, ineffective. In the world we had no choice, in the Kingdom we do, thus to refuse the Seed of God, yet receive the spirit of the world means the person has rejected the Holy Spirit for the spirit of the world; therein lays the reason they become the enemies of Jesus. The enemies of Jesus have the opportunity to deny the self, pick up their cross, and walk in the Spirit, but they make the choice to use the ways of the world against the Christ nature. They become religious, legalistic, natural in thinking, yet use the protection over the Body for their own personal benefit, without regard for the rest of the Body, thus they become lawless.
Let’s move on to Psalms 55…
By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – s.b.i. les6Rev 10/2003
