Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1931

Psalm 74.

Plainly this psalm, this pleading prayer will rise from Jerusalem and the Holy land, and the time for which it speaks is when Gentiles as well as apostate Jews are enemies of the godly ones there. For many years Jews have been going to Palestine to make their home in that land which God long ago anointed for Israel (Exodus 3:8⁸And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (Exodus 3:8); Deuteronomy 32:8⁸When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8)), and since the great war, increased numbers of them have been settling there. Just now there is a hindrance to Jewish immigration, but it cannot last long, for God’s Word shows in many passages that the Holy land will be the possession of the Jews when His dealings with them as a nation begin again.

Touching is the appeal to God here; faith addresses Him on the ground of His original purchase of them, and there is not a word of confidence in themselves in the entire psalm. The language employed is the work of the Holy Spirit; it will be the fruit of His work in them. They claim deliverance on the ground of being His, — they are His sheep (verse 1); His assembly or congregation, His inheritance (verse 2); and so it is His place of assembly (verse 4); His sanctuary, the dwelling place of His name (verse 7); His synagogues or places of assembly (verse 8).

From verse 12, God is addressed as He who asserted His authority, and displayed His power of old. An enemy had reproached Jehovah; a foolish people had blasphemed or treated with contempt His name; they were His adversaries (verses 22, 23). Can such an appeal fail?

This psalm adds to our knowledge obtained from other Scriptures of the events of the last days, showing that the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem will be desecrated: everything in it will be destroyed by the enemy (verse 3); they will break down its carved work altogether with hatchets and hammers (verse 6), and set the building on fire (verse 7), will even burn up all God’s places of assembly in the land. Daniel 9:27²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27); Isaiah 10:5, 6⁵O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. ⁶I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. (Isaiah 10:5‑6); Zechariah 14:1, 2¹Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. ²For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Zechariah 14:1‑2); Isaiah 28:14, 15, 1820¹⁴Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁵Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: (Isaiah 28:14‑15); Revelation 13:11-18¹¹And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. ¹²And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. ¹³And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, ¹⁴And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. ¹⁵And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. ¹⁶And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: ¹⁷And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. ¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (Revelation 13:11‑18); Matthew 24:551, and many other scriptures throw much light on the state of things in and around Jerusalem when the Church of God, composed of all true Christians, shall have been called away by the summons of Christ to the heavenly scene (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17¹⁵For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: ¹⁷Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17); 1 Corinthians 15:51-57⁵¹Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑57)), and God by the Holy Spirit will take up Israel again for blessing (Ezekiel 37).

Verse 4 speaks of signs and wonders of the last days (Matthew 24:24²⁴For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24); Revelation 13:13,¹³And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, (Revelation 13:13) etc.). No signs will be given by God to meet these Satanic signs (verse 9); we know from Revelation 11:3-6³And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. ⁴These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. ⁵And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. ⁶These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Revelation 11:3‑6) that there will be signs given by chosen witnesses of God, but they are essentially different in character and limited in display.

There will be no prophets then (verse 9), but if these saints have the Scriptures before them, they will learn that the day of the Lord’s return for their deliverance is set (Daniel 9:27; 12:6, 7, 11-13²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:27)
⁶And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? ⁷And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:6‑7)
¹¹And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. ¹²Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. ¹³But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:11‑13)). It will be 7 years from the beginning of the seven-year agreement for carrying on the Jewish system of religious observance in the Holy land, or 3 1/2 years from the time that the false prophet-king takes that important step of assuming God’s place as the object of worship—the “abomination” that will bring the Assyrian desolator (Matthew 24:15¹⁵When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matthew 24:15); 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9³Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; ⁴Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. ⁵Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? ⁶And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. ⁷For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. ⁸And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: ⁹Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑9)).

In this the Christian hope is distinct; there are no “times and seasons” (1 Thessalonians. 4:15-18; 5:3) for us who have been led to own ourselves lost sinners and to claim the guilty sinner’s Saviour in this wonderful day of God’s grace. O, that we were more constantly looking for Him to come!

Saviour, come, we long to see Thee, Long to dwell with Thee above,

And to know in full communion

All the sweetness of Thy love.

ML 02/22/1931

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