WWUTT 1024 God is Our Refuge and Strength?

Boy, the news can be really discouraging, can't it? The way that politicians argue, we have no idea where this country is going to be five years from now.

But be still and know that God is still on His throne when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the

Psalms, picking up today in Psalm 45, another psalm of the sons of Korah.

We started Book Two of the Psalms a couple of weeks ago. Psalm 42 would have been the first psalm of Book Two.

David had written most of the psalms in Book One, but then when we got to Book Two, we were introduced to a new psalmist, and that being the sons of Korah, who have written most of these psalms in Book Two all the way up through Psalm 49, and then they have a smattering of psalms after that.

Who are the sons of Korah? We didn't talk about that when I first started into Book Two. That would have been a good place to discuss it.

Well, Korah was one of the rebellious men consumed by the earth in the

Book of Numbers. Do you remember this story? In Numbers chapter 16, there were some rebellious men who contended against Moses and Aaron and the priesthood positions that they held.

Now, these guys were priests also, Korah in particular, a descendant of the tribe of Levi. So he had jobs and responsibilities that he had to do in the tabernacle, but he wasn't satisfied with them.

He wanted the positions that Moses and Aaron had. Korah was even the one that summoned all of Israel to come to the

Tent of Meeting so that they could be tested to see whether they could offer fire unto the

Lord, which was just as acceptable as anything that Moses and Aaron offered up.

What ended up happening is that God spoke from his glory and said, step away from Korah, get away from his tent,

I'm going to consume him, and all these other rebellious men who are here, they're going to be swallowed up by the ground, and I'm going to consume their tents as well.

And that's exactly what happened. The ground opened up, swallowed these men and their tents, and they were taken down to Sheol.

But not all of their families were swallowed up with them. Sometimes when you see punishment come upon somebody like that in the

Old Testament, it's not just them, but even their entire families will be punished. But God still had a plan for the sons of Korah.

In fact, the prophet Samuel was a descendant of Korah. Samuel, the one who anointed

David the next king of Israel, and then the sons of Korah became such skilled musicians in David's court and in the temple, being responsible to compose such beautiful congregational songs to the

Lord that all of Israel would sing together. That's incredible to think about when their ancestors were unhappy with the jobs that they have in the tabernacle, yet their descendants, the sons of Korah, would be so grateful for the jobs they had in the temple to write songs unto the

Lord that the people of Israel would sing together. So indeed, these psalms have been written by someone other than David, but it was still during the time of David.

David had appointed the sons of Korah to be the musicians in his court. And so these psalms that we've been reading here in Book Two, they are songs of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 42 is probably the most popular of theirs. Of course, it's the one that begins, As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you,

O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God. But then you'll also hear some other phrases in these psalms that we recite, that we will read together, written by the sons of Korah.

Some of these phrases are going to be rather familiar to you. So Psalm 45, to the choir master, according to Lilies, a masculine of the sons of Korah, a love song.

Verse one, my heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses to the king.

My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most handsome of the sons of men.

Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever.

Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty.

In your majesty, ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness.

Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies.

The peoples fall under you. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and casea. From ivory palaces, stringed instruments make you glad.

Daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor. At your right hand stands the queen in gold,

O fear. Here, O daughter, and consider and incline your ear. Forget your people and your father's house, and the king will desire your beauty.

Since he is your lord, bow to him. The people of Tyree will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people.

All -glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.

In many -colored robes, she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.

With joy and gladness, they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.

In place of your fathers shall be your sons. You will make them princes in all the earth.

I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever.

Now this, as we read in the very beginning, is a love song. And what kind of love song did we just read?

Seemed to be the description of a wedding. What kind of wedding? But a royal wedding.

So, functionally, the purpose of this song may have been to be sung by the congregation at the king's wedding.

Now, it may not have been David's wedding. It could have been one of his sons. Or it may have just been a song that the sons of Korah were commissioned to write any time a king of Israel got married.

This would be the song that would be sung by the congregation at his wedding. We also see undertones of some messianic things going on here.

In fact, there was a particular section, if you're familiar with Hebrews, might have sounded rather familiar to you.

When we read in Psalm 45, 6, your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.

Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

Same section that we see in Hebrews 1, and it's said there by the author of Hebrews that this is talking about Christ.

So, as we're considering Psalm 45 being about a royal wedding, prophetically, you're connecting the dots here, this is talking about Christ's second coming.

And that when he comes and he receives all of his saints to himself as a bridegroom returns for his bride.

So, this is a psalm of praise, not merely to be sung at the wedding of the king, but even anticipating the wedding of the king.

The beginning of it almost kind of has a feel like Song of Solomon.

My heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses to the king.

My tongue is like the pen of a steady scribe. You are the most handsome of the sons of men.

Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your thigh,

O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty. Now, at some point today, if you got the opportunity, go to Revelation 19 and read that because we have the description of Christ coming back on a white horse and he's returning as a warrior and he has a name written on his thigh.

He's wielding a sword that he is going to use to strike down the nations and on his thigh is a name that declares him to be the king of kings and lord of lords.

I love also the description of grace being poured upon his lips.

Grace is very seldom mentioned in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, two -thirds of the

Bible, we very rarely ever see that word grace occur in the Old Testament.

It's only like 10 times is the word grace in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, it's over 100 times.

The grace of God is demonstrated to us by the giving of his son,

Jesus Christ, who died for us, a propitiation for our sins, that whoever believes in him will not fall under the judgment of God, but rather will receive everlasting life, forever fellowship with God.

And this is all by grace. Ephesians 2, 8, it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

God has demonstrated his love for us, though we did nothing to deserve it and could do nothing to earn it.

Yet he gives us his favor anyway through his son Christ, and that's grace. So you have this messianic picture of Christ coming to receive his bride, the church, and he is even one who is described as one with grace upon his lips.

In your majesty, ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness.

Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies.

The people's fall under you. You have such a blend here of beauty and gentleness and meekness, and then at the same time, a fierce warrior, yet someone who is gallant and graceful, even in his manner of judgment that he would bring upon his enemies.

All those who love him stand and view this in awe. This is a great, handsome, marvelous warrior seated upon his steed as he is carrying out the orders of the king.

And this is how the nations, how the church of God is beholding Christ and knowing that on that day that he returns with a sword to strike down the nations and at the same time is going to be delivering his people out of this world and away from the judgment of God.

We're going to look upon him with this awesomeness, just the way as a bride would look so lovingly and affectionately upon her groom.

So the church is going to be looking that way upon Christ when he comes to receive his people unto himself.

Verse six. Now your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness.

I read that in reference to the Psalms. God has anointed you with the oil of gladness.

So this is showing how the father is so pleased with his son, with the groom, the bridegroom,

Jesus Christ. And of course, this was the picture that was painted for us in Hebrews one as well.

The favor that the father is shown to the son that we may know he is the anointed one.

He is the one whom the father has sent to fulfill the will of the father and that all who believe in him have access to the father.

It mentions in verse eight, your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia from ivory palaces.

Stringed instruments make you glad. So when the when the groom came in for the wedding, he also was decorated with all kinds of fine perfumes.

And we see those references also in Song of Songs. The bride has perfumes. The groom has perfumes.

All of this is just so pleasing to all of the senses. What is seen and heard and even smelled and tasted, tasting to see that the

Lord is good. Daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor.

At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. Here, O daughter, and consider and incline your ear.

Forget your people and your father's house, and the king will desire your beauty since he is your

Lord. Bow to him. So we don't receive salvation justification because of who we were born to or the family that we came from.

We are justified when we are brought into a new family, and that is the family of God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. So here, those who are to be part of that bride who that is going to be brought into and made one with the

Lord forsake your father's house. Don't think that you can be a part of the house of God and still have your foot in the world.

Don't you know that those who are friends with the world are at enmity with God, as James says in James chapter four.

So forget your people and your father's house. The king will desire your beauty since he is your

Lord. Bow to him. You're no longer bowing to any of the ways of this world or any of the people there, but we are in the king's court.

Now he is our God. We read at in verse 12.

The people of Tyree will seek your favor with gifts. The richest of the people. All glorious is the princess in her chamber with robes interwoven with gold.

In many colored robes, she is led to the king with her virgin companions following behind her with joy and gladness.

They are led along as they enter the palace of the king in place of your father's shall be your sons.

Remember the words of Christ in Mark chapter 10, where he said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold.

Now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the age to come eternal life.

So those who give up the things of this world to have the kingdom things of God will receive even more than they had given up.

And so you have that statement even being made here in that in that messianic prophetic sense that we have in Psalm 45 16 in place of your father's shall be your sons.

You will make them princes in all the earth. Remember, we are all fellow heirs of the kingdom of God with Christ.

I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever.

Nothing is forever unless it is in Christ Jesus. Psalm 46.

We've got some time here we can do. I think we can do a couple more. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Remember, once again, this is written by the sons of Korah, another song of the sons of Korah. And it's kind of interesting here that you have this mention of we will not fear, though the earth gives way.

How was it that their great, great, great, great grandfather had died at at the judgment of God?

The earth opened up beneath him and swallowed him up in his tent and his possessions as well.

But we have nothing to fear if we tremble at the word of God. If we fear

God, we have nothing to fear of his judgment. Isaiah 66 to says the following. God says all these things my hand has made.

And so all these things came to be declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom

I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word, we have the fear of God.

We need not fear his judgment. Verse four. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high.

God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.

The nation's rage, the kingdom's totter. He utters his voice. The earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

He is the one who conquers, and he is also the one who protects all those who are in him.

Verse eight. Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am

God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

Kyle Mann, one of the editors of the Babylon Bee, was apparently reading Psalm 46 yesterday because he said the following, not in any sort of sarcastic tone, as you're probably familiar with the satire of the

Babylon Bee, but Kyle said the following. Be still and know that he who melts the earth, desolates civilizations, and ends all wars is

God. Be still and know that I am God is not be still and have warm, fuzzy feelings about God.

Think back to Psalm 2. How did that Psalm start? Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain?

This is basically an answer to that question. Be still and know that I am God. Nations, hey, simmer down.

You can't do anything. I am the Lord. I am the one who builds up and tears down.

I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

Not you who are trying to become great and mighty. You are but dust. You're but a shadow here for a moment, and you're gone.

But the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress, and in him, we will praise

God forever and ever. Tying this back into how we ended Psalm 45.

By the way, it's Psalm 46 that also becomes the great inspiration for a mighty fortress is our

God, a bulwark, never failing our helper. He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe.

His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal.

And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us. We will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim. We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure for low his doom is sure.

One little word shall fell him. We're going to watch the politicians fight all the day long.

They continue to bicker and argue with one another, and it can be kind of discouraging. We don't know which direction the country is going because the political climate can change so much.

My friends have nothing to fear. The nations are gonna rage and plot in vain.

Be still and know that Christ Jesus is the Lord. Amen. This has been

When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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