Unprecedented power for unprecedented times — Marius Minaar

Greetings in the Lord's name all the way from little New Zealand. Like Caleb said we are in a different time zone. So it's already 7 a .m. Monday morning. Thank you for the invitation to minister God's Word to the Saints during a most difficult time globally.

I Hope that this session will be as profitable as all the previous sessions in the series. Shall we ask God's help? Father we come to thee or we come into thy presence with a sense of our own weakness and Dependence upon thee.

We thank thee for this unique opportunity To minister thy word to thy people even on a plate online platform such as this. We pray for much help from above. So that this will be a word from God himself To strengthen and to encourage his own.

Bless the reading of thy word. Bless thy people in the worthy name of thy son the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Psalm 114. Psalm 114 1 1 4. Psalm 114 and We'll start reading in verse 1 when Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of strange language.

Judah was his sanctuary and Israel is dominion. The sea soared and fled. Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee? O thou sea that thou fleddest?

Thou Jordan that thou was driven back. Ye mountains that he skipped like rams and ye little hills like lambs. Tremble O thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. Which turned the rock? into a standing water.

The flint into a fountain of waters. And we trust that the Lord will bless the word that we've read together. A newspaper newspaper headline recently stated Pandemics have changed history. Pandemics have shaped history.

Covid -19 will also. Epidemics and pandemics Have violently reshaped civilization over a long period of time. The black death in the night in the 1300s killed about half of Europe's population. The flu pandemic killed millions and millions of people globally at the end of World War one.

No one can know exactly How Covid -19 will ultimately change the world? But as the headline says Pandemics have shaped history Covid -19 will also. And so the world today is looking to science to save the day and The world is looking at politics and governments for economic survival.

Hope in God During Unprecedented Times

Who does the believer look to? For answers for hope. For comfort. I trust that the study of Psalm 114 will give us both the hope and the comfort that we so desperately need and that as we find ourselves in the midst of unprecedented times We may find just that From God's Word today in the Septuagint the Greek version of the Old Testament.

The title for this book is psalmos or psalmoe from which we get the English title Psalms in the Hebrew however. The title is songs of praise. Now this may surprise us because so many of the Psalms are laments or complaints.

However, right at the outset of this message it needs to be understood That the Psalms express in so many ways the life of the believer. Although it will be full of laments and ups and downs the one thing that should always characterize us is praise joy and confidence in God.

Brother and sister is your life a song of praise unto God. Let's briefly look at the context of the Psalm. The book of the Psalm is really a collection of five books. Containing a total of 150 Psalms each book.

Corresponding in some measure to the five books of Moses these divisions Are based on the doxologies at the end of each book of the Psalms. Psalm 114 then is found in the fifth book of the Psalms the Deuteronomy book and therefore this Psalm will reflect the message and the purpose of Deuteronomy.

And what's that message? What's the purpose of that book to remember? To recall God's greatness and his power in delivering Israel from Egypt. The Psalm as all the Psalms were set to music as the most effective way for generation after generation to remember.

To call to mind what God had done for them. God repeatedly told Israel to remember. And not to forget the things that he had done for them. Deuteronomy chapter 8 and 2 says. And thou shalt remember all the way Which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness.

The Egyptian Hallel and the Call to Remember

Psalm 114 is part of a group of Psalms from Psalm 113 to 118. They are collectively known as the Hallel Psalms and We get the word hallelujah from this word. Hallel it simply means hymns of praise hymns of praise.

Each of these Psalms except for 114 and 118 Begins or ends with the word Hallelujah praise you the Lord. These Hallel Psalms were sung at the three great festivals of the Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles.

At the celebration of the Passover in particular Psalm 113 and 114 would be sung before the meal and Psalm 115 to 118 after the meal. Psalm 118 at least was probably the hymn sung by the Lord and his disciples When Matthew says in chapter 26.

And when they sang a hymn They went out into the mound of olives. Now there are three groups of Hallel Psalms in the Psalms. But the group that Psalm 114 belongs to is usually called the Egyptian Hallel.

Now Psalm 114 may not start or end with a praise the Lord with a hallelujah like the others in the group. But it has a very special place in the Egyptian Hallel. Because it's the very reason why the collection is called such.

Psalm 114 focuses on Israel's Exodus from Egypt which was to be remembered by all generations to follow and so the start of Deuteronomy like the start of 114 it's a summary a review of the Exodus and it reminded the people of God of God's Faithfulness and redeeming them from Egypt.

Psalm 114 is a very brief account of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and they're wandering through the wilderness. It condenses Israel's long history into eight short verses to make it easy for them to Remember.

The deliverance of Israel from Egypt has always been regarded by the Jews as the greatest event in the nation's history. And although this story is repeated in other parts of the Bible It is nowhere recorded in such a concise and unique manner.

Nowhere is so much said in such a few words. It is brief. It is beautiful. It is dramatic and at the same time it is very graphic as you will see If I were to sum up Psalm 114 in one sentence It would be the remembrance of a great deliverance.

If I were to sum up the Psalm in one word It would be simply Simply be remember. Remember. Now for the structure of the Psalm. Psalm 114 divides into three parts and They all answer three questions asked by the reader of the text.

The first question is who were delivered. Secondly how were they delivered. And The third question by whom were they delivered. These questions are all answered by the composer of this beautiful psalm and as we study the psalm together I want you to please note the following in these three sections in verses 1 2.

I want you to note unprecedented times. In verses 3 to 6. I want you to note unprecedented power and Lastly verses 8 to 7 to 8 Unprecedented presence and unprecedented presence so verses 1 to 2. Let's focus on unprecedented times.

Israel as God’s Delivered People

The question before us is Who were delivered? Who were delivered? Since the start of this pandemic The buzzword in New Zealand newspapers news bulletins social media daily government updates was the word unprecedented and the catchphrase was unprecedented times.

It is often used by the WHO as well. What does it mean? Unprecedented refers to something not known before not seen before not experienced before. Psalm 114 recalls the story of a unique and the tremendous deliverance against all odds.

The exodus had always been regarded by the Jews as the greatest event in the nation's history as we've noticed. It was indeed one of the wonders When of history when two million slaves marched to freedom After more than 400 years of captivity.

Those were truly they truly experienced Unprecedented times. Verse 1. When Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language. Judah was a sanctuary and Israel is dominion.

Notice four different designations for the people of God Israel Jacob Judah Israel. They are not mere repetitions. But rather fit in well with the true character of the nation as God intended them to be the first to refer to the people Israel and Jacob and the second to seem to refer to places Judah and Israel.

Israel may refer to the whole kingdom and Judah may simply be singled out because the temple was in Jerusalem. Judah meaning praise was the center of worship. God's Sanctuary. Judah became his sanctuary.

Israel was the sphere of his kingdom God's dominion in contrast to them. Stands Egypt described in verse 1 as a people of a strange language. The Egyptians that proud and sophisticated nation is Here portrayed as a people of a strange language a people of a barbarian language.

In light of how God has dealt with him. They had become like nothing in the eyes of the psalmist. There's no fear for that great and mighty nation of masters. God has reduced them to nothing. But ordinary men and he showed his supremacy and his mighty power over them.

Who'd have thought? That Egypt would be reduced to nothing at that time. Even for them. For Egypt when the Jews were redeemed it was unprecedented times. The loss of two million slaves would have quite it would have had quite the economic impact on the country.

It was unprecedented. Never seen before never heard of before. Our God hasn't changed. He's immutable and he still shows his supremacy and his sovereignty over everyone and everything. We currently see and experience something we've never seen before.

These are surely unprecedented times. But we have a God who is in total control of every situation and he will work things out according to his own will and purposes and so verse 2 says. Judah was his sanctuary or rather Judah became His sanctuary his dwelling place.

There's a dramatic change of status for the nation between verse 1 and 2 in verse 1 They were just a group of foreigners in a strange land. They were surrounded by an oppressive culture as well as a people of a strange language but in verse 2 we move from Egypt to the promised land and Now they are viewed not in relation to Egypt but in relation to heaven.

Not in relation to man, but in relation to God. They are no longer slaves no longer foreigners. They are God's sanctuary. They are God's dominion. They became God's sanctuary in this world, but more than that They became the place in which God alone had the rule.

God's dominion a unique kingdom, you see no nation, but Israel was ever a theocracy a nation ruled directly and only by God and No other nation was ever his sanctuary. Israel's experience was a fulfillment of the promise of God spoken at Sinai in Exodus Chapter 19 verse 5 and I read you that reference Exodus 19 verse 5 Just the middle of the verse.

You shall be a peculiar treasure unto unto me above all people for all the earth is mine and He shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now although it is true that no other nation in the Old Testament has ever been a kingdom of priests a holy nation.

There is indeed a people in the New Testament. The people of God who are God's sanctuary today He being the one dwelling in our midst. They are also they also constitute God's dominion. We being the ones or he being the one ruling over his people.

The question before us for this section was who were delivered? The answer is a divine people. God's earthly people. Israel was delivered. Like Israel We are also a redeemed people. We are a heavenly people and the time when our redemption was wrought with truly unprecedented times as we will see in a moment unprecedented times from verse 3 to verse 6.

God’s Unprecedented Power in the Exodus

We will see in this section Unprecedented power. The question before us now is not who were delivered, but how were they delivered? The expression unprecedented times is today used of our world affected by COVID -19 and These four verses before us verse 3 to 6.

I'd like to draw your attention to something greater than unprecedented times. Something that Israel witnessed in the Old Testament times something that the church witnessed in the New Testament times something that even nature itself witnessed.

Unprecedented power that's something that this world is here to see and experience the unprecedented power of God. The psalmist recalls here how the sea fled and How the Jordan was driven back and how the mountains moved when Israel was delivered?

From bondage in Israel and he uses poetic language figurative language. When we read in verse 3 that the sea saw and fled and the mountains skipped and the hills skipped and We interpret these Expressions in the light of the fact that we are dealing with poetry and not prose.

When we read that God brought Israel out of out of Egypt we read it as history and Believe them to be historical persons involved in a real historical event that is prose. However, when we read in the Psalms that David made his bed to swim We don't take his words literally.

But we accept the truth behind this poetic expression that he was so overcome with sorrow that he cried. Constantly that is poetry. Normal everyday speech is spoken in prose, but here in Psalm 114 We are dealing with poetry.

This is Hebrew poetry at its very best. This is a poetic masterpiece. Charles Spurgeon in commenting on Psalm 114 said true poetry has here Reached its climax. God's way of Accomplishing his deliverance was so powerful that the forces of nature reacted in astonishing ways.

Verse 3 the sea saw it and fled. Jordan was driven back. That's a river. The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills Like lambs. These verses are very graphic and dramatic. The sea had eyes and feet.

The river had the power to retreat. The mountains and the hills had legs to dance and to leap and to skip. These are three references first of all to the parting of the Red Sea. After the flight from Egypt the sea saw it and fled.

The Reference secondly is to the stopping of the Jordan before the entrance into the promised land. Jordan was driven back and Thirdly, it's a reference to the shaking of Mount Sinai when God gave them the law.

The mountains skipped like rams. These physical elements of nature the sea the river the mountains and the hills they all Responded to the unprecedented power of God during the miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the entry into Canaan in just eight short verses.

Psalm 114 sums up 400 plus years of the nation's history. Verse 3 summarizes two things for us. It summarizes the start of the journey When God opened the path through the Red Sea and it also summarizes the end of the journey.

When God opened the path through the Jordan the flooded Jordan the sea saw it and fled. Jordan was driven back. You see nothing could withstand the power of God. No obstacle was too great for God to overcome.

The Red Sea was a real obstacle for the nation. Pharaoh's armies behind him the wilderness beside them and the sea before them. There was simply no way out. However something happened. The sea observed something and it responded.

The sea saw it and fled. A Jordan in flood was another great obstacle for the nation. It stood in the way of entering the promised land again. Something happened. The Jordan observed something and it responded.

Jordan was driven back. The question is what did they see? What did they observe? Oh, they faced and they met with the unprecedented power of God on both occasions. Divine power provided a dry passage for the people of God.

Let me tell you something. You have nothing to fear in this world. Not the sea. Not the rivers. Not even this virus. My brother and sister be encouraged. That same power is still working in the life of the believer today.

There are mighty powers that are working against God's people in this world, but we are kept by a greater power. Unprecedented power. Peter says we are kept by the very power of God. Please observe with me the order in which these details are given in verse 3 and verse 4.

The Red Sea symbolizes symbolizes the Exodus from Egypt and the Jordan symbolizes the entrance into the promised land and. The events at Sinai happened between these two events. However, the order in verse 3 and 4 seems to be incorrect.

Yes, Sinai followed the river. But we know it actually happened between the sea and the river. Why is the order reversed? Why is the sequence changed? The sea and the river. Began and closed the Exodus journey in verse 3 but here in verse 4 It's followed by something of much greater importance something that mattered to God more than anything else.

Verse 4 follow these two events as the climax as the most significant event between the watery beginning and the watery end between the sea and the River, it says the mountains skipped like rams. Referring to the quaking in the moving of Sinai at the giving of the law.

Why is it put after these two the events if it's as a climax? What does the changing of the sequence teach us? It teaches us that obeying God is what God really values. Obeying God is what really matters to him.

The crossing of the sea was important and great. The crossing of the river was important and great. Sinai was of greater importance as it was about Obedience to God and Samuel reminds us to obey is better than sacrifice.

And therefore the mountains skipped like rams. Sinai trembled verse 5 and 6. These verses are not just a repetition or a summary of verse 3 and 4. The psalmist in verse 5 and 6 now turns to nature and it demands an explanation for the debate for their behavior.

He as it were interviews them he interrogates them these elements of nature as to this strange Reaction he says in verse 5. What ailed thee? O thou sea that thou fleddest? Thou Jordan that thou was driven back.

Ye mountains that is skipped like rams and the little I am hills like lambs. How could it happen. Why did it happen? The psalmist was asking what did the sea observe that it fled? What made the Jordan reverse its flow?

What did the mountain see. A better question perhaps is Who did this? Who was behind it all? Although God is implied as the one behind their deliverance so far. He had not been mentioned by name. My brother and sister if ever we're going to use the term unprecedented.

This is it this had never happened before. Regarding viruses man has seen many viruses before. Some viruses have have killed millions more than Covid -19 so far and like before they will eventually be a cure a vaccine for it.

But a path through the sea the stopping and the driving back of a river in flood. The skipping of mountains. Who's ever seen that before or ever since? Those were real examples of unprecedented times and unprecedented power.

Fast forward almost 1 ,500 years. I wanted to think of a virgin giving birth. The dead being raised. Lepers being healed. Those were the real unprecedented times of unprecedented power. Think of a man without sin.

Unthinkable. Think of this man dying on behalf of those who hated him and Then rising from the dead from the grave in his own power. Those were unprecedented times of unprecedented power never seen before or ever since.

And so versus five to six present us with Question after question after question and you'll find four questions in the space of two verses. Questions were important tradition of the Passover celebration.

Traditionally a set of questions were asked by the youngest child and In answering it the story of the exodus was repeated for a continual Remembrance. However, the questions in verse five to six are left unanswered.

It's as if they are and there were no answers to them. The psalmist is looking at the sea. The sea has buried the armies of Egypt and is now rolling Back rolling its waves in its consistent manner. No answer.

No explanation. He turns to the Jordan and he noticed that the Jordan continued his flow down its steep valleys as If nothing ever happened. No answer. No explanation to the psalmist question. He turned to the Mount of Sinai, which is now settled and solid and secure as it's always have been.

Again, no answer. No explanation to these questions whatsoever. All is silent now. Let's use the silence to meditate on another deliverance of God God's ultimate redemption. Not now by a lamb, but by the Lamb of God his own Son.

And again nature responded in remarkable ways. Darkness descended over all the earth as the Sun was affected. This was no solar eclipse. A Solar eclipse can last seven and a half minutes at the most for the first time ever.

Darkness overcame the light of the Sun that was unprecedented. The veil of the temple was rain was rain from the top to the bottom as the temple was affected. The earth quit and the rocks rent and it affected the graves.

The graves were open which affected the bodies. The dead arose affected by his resurrection as they only came out of the graves after he arose unprecedented. What tremendous power was on display when he died and rose again?

The Jordan River that river of judgment the judgment that he took upon himself. Jordan was driven back again. The mountain skip and the hill of Calvary moved because of that skipping. The question before us before us in this section was how were they delivered?

The answer is they were delivered by divine power again like Israel. We were also redeemed redeemed by divine power. Unprecedented power. And we also ask the questions just like the psalmist. Why did nature respond in such a remarkable way at the death of a man?

Never before was there an agreement between the brightness of the sky the Sun and the darkness of the earth. Between the powers of Mother Earth Earthquakes and the power of the grave. Between the power of life and the power of death.

Why did they all work together to put on such a display of power when he died? Nature can't answer that question. Nature is silent. Man can't answer the question no one can. And Again, we are met with a differing silence.

No answer whatsoever. That's where the last two verses verse 7 and 8 coming if no one can answer that the Word of God can and The Word of God has the answers to those questions. And so when we come to verse 7 and 8 we come we see an unprecedented presence.

The Presence of the Lord as the Psalm’s Climax

The question before us this time is by whom were they delivered? Instead of waiting on nature to respond to the questions Questions they were unable to answer the psalmist knows the answers. The psalmist provides the answer to his own questions.

This is the climax of the psalm. Everything in the psalm built towards this the answers are finally revealed. Verse 7 says. Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob.

Which turned the rock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters. More than just the elements of nature are being addressed now the whole earth With all its inhabitants are now called upon to tremble as Nature had trembled before.

Why should they tremble? This verse verse 7 says because of the presence of the Lord because of the Unprecedented presence of God the word presence literally means his face to tremble before his face.

When the sea fled and when the Jordan turned back and when the mountain skipped the psalmist now revealed reveals that they simply responded to an awesome and unprecedented presence of their Creator. The sense is what else could they do in such a presence?

This is the first time that God has referred referred to by name or title verse 7 the Lord the God of Jacob. Up to this point the psalmist has asked questions. Who is it? What caused it? What could have caused nature to respond in such remarkable ways?

Or with the one behind it all is now revealed. The one in whose presence nature trembled. He is the Lord the Mighty One whose omnipotence and Unprecedented power over nature was shown when he made the solid rock and that stone the flint he made it fluid.

Just as he changed the fluid sea and river and turned it into a solid wall Jehovah's presence went before his people and nature responded to his unprecedented presence. His presence caused these elements of nature to do what is contrary to their very nature the immovable sea the consistency of the waves were broken.

A Jordan River in flood was stopped in its tracks and More than being stopped it flowed back. It was driven back. It was forced back in Joshua chapter 3 the immovable mountains. Those steady pillars of the earth they skipped like animals and now in verse 8 their hard impenetrable rock and Dry rock it turned into fountains of water.

What a tremendous presence is The presence of the Lord. My brother and sister, how do we conduct ourselves in that awesome presence? The psalmist is in verse 7 tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord.

Unbelievers have only heard of this unprecedented power and they trembled. The first person that Joshua's spies Encountered when they entered into Canaan was the woman Rahab. And in Joshua chapter 2 verse 9, this is what he says about the presence of God.

Joshua 2 verse 9 and she said unto the men. I Know that the Lord had given you the head the land and that your terror is fallen upon us. And that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when he came out of Egypt and What he did unto the kings of the Amorites verse 11 and as soon as we heard these things our hearts did melt.

Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you for the Lord your God. He is God in heaven above and in earth below. He is an awesome presence. Something the nations of Canaan that never heard of never seen before.

Unprecedented presence. His presence was a tremendous Value to Moses. It was very important to Moses and God comforted Moses in Exodus chapter 33. Verse 14 Moses said to him my presence. God said to him my presence.

I'll go with thee and I will give thee rest. And Moses responded in verse 15 if thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight.

Is it not in that thou goest goest with us. Scripture is all about God's plan to be with his redeemed people both then and now. That's what he intended in creation to be with him. That's what he accomplished in redemption.

Was it any wonder when the Lord was born that the angel told Joseph that he would be called Emmanuel God with us. John confirmed that very fact when he said that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

That word dwelt in John 1 and 14 is the word tabernacle a Reference to God's presence in the tabernacle in the temple. It is indeed a tremendous presence again. Are we conscious of that presence? When we gather together How do I behave myself in this presence, how do I value how do I regard his presence?

In verse 7. Verse 7 tells us that the person of this presence is the Lord the God of Jacob. Verse 8 tells us not only is it the person of his presence But it speaks of the unprecedented power of this presence not now who he is.

But what he has done in verse 8. What has he done? Which turned the rock into a standing water. The flint into a fountain of water. We know that the rock brought forth water in the Old Testament. But in view of this unprecedented power of this unprecedented presence.

The rock became something completely different. The rock was changed into a pool the flint that hearthstone into a fountain. And now both the names of God in verse 7 the Lord and the God of Jacob are used in relation to these two miracles of providing water in the desert to these thirsty pilgrims.

Verse 8 recalls for us two specific occasions during the wilderness journey when God miraculously provided life-giving water in the first day of the journey when Moses struck the rock and In the last day of the journey when Moses was to speak but struck the rock twice.

But God provided on both occasions because he is the Lord in verse 7. He is the mighty sovereign. However Omnipotence is always closely linked with gracious care for his people. He's not only the mighty Lord the mighty sovereign.

He's also the covenant-keeping God of Jacob who had a deep concern for his own. You see the remarkable story of Psalm 114 is that this great and omnipotent and sovereign Lord has Has identified himself with a people as the God of Jacob.

What an assurance for the people of God today. God's mighty power and presence always work for us. Never against us. He provided for them in the wilderness as he does for us during our wilderness journey.

If God therefore is for his people. Are there any obstacles too big? Any obstacles big enough to stop him to oppose him. While Egypt couldn't. The surrounding nations couldn't. The sea and the river couldn't.

The mountains and the hills couldn't they were powerless against the mighty unprecedented presence of God. Now it's even more foolish to think that mankind Whether individually or together can stand against God's mighty presence.

To this we may add this virus in spite of its global reach. Will never stand in God's way and can never upset God's plans and purposes for his own children. My brother and sister God is not worried. Neither should we be worried.

God has got this. The grand fact is that nothing at all can stop the purposes of God that he has in store for his own. The words in verse 8 are quite interesting. The words that he uses for rock or for the two rocks are very prophetic the rock and the flint.

The first word is for a low-lying rock and the second word has the idea of a high cliff. Both rocks with types of Christ in the low-lying rock. He is seen in his humiliation but in the high cliff he's seen his exaltation.

A Remembrance of the deliverance naturally led to the worshipping God for who he is and what he has done. And therefore no mention is made of the benefits that Israel enjoy. The focus especially in verse 3 to 8 is on the awesomeness of God's power and God's presence that is worship and Occupation with God.

And Enriching the climax. In verse 7 to 8 the focus you will notice is not on Israel. It's not on nature with all its mighty physical elements. The focus is on God. The victory is not that of God's people.

It's the victory of God himself. God was going before his people and before him. The sea fleet the Jordan was driven back the mountain skip. Israel's deliverance from Egypt was good enough reason for them to recall what God has done.

To remember his mighty power his presence and then worship him for it. We are likewise called to constantly remember and to celebrate what God had done. When he redeemed us not only by power, but also by the precious blood of God's land.

The question before us was By whom were they delivered? The answer by a divine Presence. And What was true of God's earthly people is also true of God's heavenly people today. We are delivered people.

We were delivered by divine power and we were delivered by a divine presence as we close. In remembering the mighty deeds of God on behalf of Israel, what are we to learn from their experiences? First of all To leave things in God's hands.

Trusting God Through Obstacles and Difficulties

You see Israel had nowhere to turn at the sea and they were advised to follow Moses. And They had nowhere to turn at the river and they were advised to follow the ark. When you turn your problems and your fears and your anxieties over to the Lord he acts.