A Glimpse of Israel Today

Berean Baptist on April 10, 2017

Psalm 83

Each week as I prepare to write articles on the Psalms, I read a variety of sources to get their thoughts on the practical applications taught in these scriptures. I do not always read from modern sources; in fact, I prefer old commentators much more than the new modern ones. Since a great number of these psalms deal with God’s relationship with Israel, the old writers have no insight into what is going on with Israel today.

I was reading commentary on the 83rd Psalm from the Expositor’s Bible Commentary compiled at the end of the 19th century, which said, “This psalm is a cry for help against a world in arms. The failure of all attempts to point to a period when all the allies here represented as confederate against Israel were or could have been united in assailing it, inclines one to suppose that the enumeration of enemies is not history, but poetic idealization. The psalm would then be, not the memorial of a fact, but the expression of the standing relation between Israel and the outlying heathendom.”I disagree with some of these comments since I believe there is often too much allegorizing of texts, but if this commentary is correct, we could pick any point in Israel’s history and say there is a general animosity between her and all other people, which leaves the world consistently opposed to any progress Israel might make. The author would then expect that at any point Israel should reassert herself, she would be pushed back down. When this happens the opposition is so strong, it takes divine intervention for Israel to overcome. This author would probably be amazed at how accurate his application of the text is if he could compare it to the current world’s treatment of Israel. The author wrote without the perspective of Israel’s restoration as a nation in 1948. In his lifetime, he had never seen how God and Israel interact.

I disagree with some of these comments since I believe there is often too much allegorizing of texts, but if this commentary is correct, we could pick any point in Israel’s history and say there is a general animosity between her and all other people, which leaves the world consistently opposed to any progress Israel might make. The author would then expect that at any point Israel should reassert herself, she would be pushed back down. When this happens the opposition is so strong, it takes divine intervention for Israel to overcome. This author would probably be amazed at how accurate his application of the text is if he could compare it to the current world’s treatment of Israel. The author wrote without the perspective of Israel’s restoration as a nation in 1948. In his lifetime, he had never seen how God and Israel interact.After considering this commentary, I consulted a newer commentary written by William MacDonald (1989) which begins with a brief synopsis of the 1967 Israeli-Arab conflict. This is referred to as the Six-Day War simply because in only six days Israel defeated the armies of four countries with combined forces nearly twice their own. This was also known as the Miracle War because no one would think Israel could possibly win.

After considering this commentary, I consulted a newer commentary written by William MacDonald (1989) which begins with a brief synopsis of the 1967 Israeli-Arab conflict. This is referred to as the Six-Day War simply because in only six days Israel defeated the armies of four countries with combined forces nearly twice their own. This was also known as the Miracle War because no one would think Israel could possibly win.

It is not often we have an opportunity to stare fulfilled prophecy in the face, but this was truly a glimpse into Psalm 83 which describes superior forces that attacked Israel in the past. In these conflicts, Israel was outnumbered, and yet victory was assured because God’s hand was upon His chosen nation. Because of Israel’s restoration as a state and the modern example of God’s miraculous intervention, many believe the end times are upon us. I do not know if this is true. Israel could rise and fall many times before the Lord comes, so I do not consider any current event as an infallible marker. The only current event that will convince me is the shout of the archangel and the blowing of the trumpet of God.

The contrast of two commentaries, one old and one new, is what piqued my interest in this subject. It shows that God works in all times. The old commentators had only ancient records to deal with. Not until our time have we been blessed to see God actually working with Israel. Since we have seen it, our responsibility to believe is greater than at any time before.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

The Steps of a Good Man

Berean Baptist on February 15, 2016

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. (Psalms 37:23-24)

 On the last Lord’s Day, we read the first seventeen verses of Psalm 37. My remarks on this Psalm were about the hardships of the Christian life and how it seems we always fall behind the prosperity of the world. We are encouraged not to despair because this life is as good as it gets for the wicked. Though the evil man may appear to be prosperous, his prosperity is a mirage. He may clutch his title deed to the earth for a while, but soon all he has will be taken away. The earth belongs to God and is the inheritance of the people of God (v. 11).

This Psalm is filled with hope for the troubled Christian, but none is better than the words of verses 23 and 24. Think carefully on this phrase: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD…” These are the most hopeful words you will ever read. They speak of two great doctrines of the faith—God’s divine providence and His sovereign predestination. There is not a step you will ever take that God did not know you would take. He knows because He is the one that puts one foot in front of the other.

When God formed the world by His spoken word, He knew it would be inhabited by a race that He had chosen for His name. The beginning of man was in the predestination of God and we dare not think that after man was created God abruptly relinquished His divine providence. The fall in the Garden was not a surprise to Him and neither was the means by which He would restore all that was lost in that devastating event. If God should have relinquished control at that awful hour, there is not one soul that would ever have hope of redemption. Through the fall, we became completely corrupted. Every faculty of man was radically altered so that we are consumed with sin through and through. This radical corruption is what we call total depravity, and it left man in such a state that we are wholly incapable of looking up to God and helping ourselves in any way. We will not look because we care not to look. The scriptures say we became the enemies of God and of His righteousness. If God should leave us alone in our depravity, we are hopeless because we do not have the power or will to escape it.

The scriptures do not present a God who has abandoned us. We are enabled to come back to Him for one reason—His marvelous grace. In regeneration, He changes our disposition from hostility against His grace to openness to receive His grace. He orders the steps of repentance and faith. If you trust Christ as Saviour, you owe your trust to a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit. You did not change your mind; He changed your mind. Our statement of faith says accurately: “[He] secure[s] our voluntary obedience to the gospel” (Article 7). God’s method leaves Him alone responsible in all ways for our salvation.

With the tremendous costliness of salvation requiring the death of Christ for sin, how can we imagine that God who purchased our redemption with blood should ever let us go? When we fall, God does not cast us off. In the bleakest hour of our deepest despair, God still has His eye on us. He fully intends to raise us again and put us back upon the solid rock. The timing of His lifting is also His alone. We know it cannot be too long because the time of life is nothing compared to eternity. Our long time is God’s short time.

The promise is providentially intact. He sees with His eye but goes much further—He holds with His hands. We know we can never sink too low to be beneath His tender embrace. We often say, “Keep the faith!” We shall because we are kept by the power of God (1 Peter 1:5).

Pastor V. Mark Smith