A Psalm of Asaph — Chuck Smith

Oh, let the sun... Welcome to The Word for Today, the broadcast ministry of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible.

And on today's edition of The Word for Today, we'll be continuing with A Psalm of Asaph as we pick up in the 79th Psalm, beginning with verse 1. And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Jerusalem's Destruction in Psalm 79

This psalm was written at the destruction of Jerusalem, its desolation, graphic pictures. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy holy temple have they defiled, they have laid Jerusalem in heath.

Babylon's Desolation of Jerusalem

The Babylonian army came about 596, totally destroyed the city of Jerusalem. The houses were just left, heaps of rubble. The temple was raised and then burned to the ground. That glorious, beautiful Temple of Solomon, destroyed.

The dead bodies of thy servants, they have given to be meat to the fowls of the heaven and the flesh of the saints to the beasts of the earth. The hyenas, the jackals, the dogs, the wild type dogs, devouring the bodies of the slain.

There was not enough people left to bury the dead. Their blood they've shed like water round about Jerusalem, none to bury them. And we are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

God's Jealousy and Israel's Judgment

How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? Shall your jealousy burn like fire? When God's people were defeated, the city of Jerusalem destroyed, the enemies of God, the surrounding nations, the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites and all that had been sort of the perennial enemies of the Jews, gloated over the fact of the destruction of the city and the destruction of the nation as such.

And this, of course, brought forth from the psalmist that, cry, Lord, how long are you going to be angry? He was desiring God's immediate deliverance, but the immediate deliverance was not to come. This condition of desolation and captivity was to go on for 70 years.

How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever where your jealousy burn like fire? The Bible declares that God is a jealous God, that He is jealous of your worshipping other gods. God looks upon His relationship with you as a marriage.

And if you turn from Him to try to find satisfaction and fulfillment in other gods, as a marriage partner that has been spurned and deserted, so God is jealous of those other things that have taken your devotion, that have captured your heart.

And so, Lord, will your jealousy burn like fire? Pour out your wrath upon the heathen, and that's usually what, Lord, you know, wipe them out, that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

Habakkuk and the Mystery of Babylon

Now, this was a problem, that God would use a heathen nation like Babylon to be His instrument of judgment against His people, Israel. And in the book of Habakkuk, this was the complaint of Habakkuk. First of all, he complained because Israel was so bad, and it was getting worse.

Having an insight into some of the behind-the-scenes episodes that were going on in the government, Habakkuk said, Lord, please, don't let me know anything else of what's going on, because I'm frustrated.

There is such corruption. There is such evil. And, Lord, you're not doing a thing about it. The fact that God would, it would seem, allow and tolerate the evil was a real problem for Habakkuk. And so God said to Habakkuk, I am doing a work that if I should tell you, your ears would tingle.

He said, for I am preparing the Babylonians, and I am going to be using them as my instrument of judgment, and they shall come and they shall destroy this place. And Habakkuk said, Lord, I don't understand that, because it's true that we are bad, but the Babylonians are worse.

I mean, they're the bottom of the pit. And why would you use a nation that is more evil to bring your judgment upon your people? He couldn't understand the workings of God, Babylon, the heathen nation, being used as God's instrument of judgment.

Judgment According to Received Light

But, you see, those that know the will of God and do not according to it are really judged by a higher standard than those that don't know. So that some cannibalistic native in Arian Jaya, who has never heard of Jesus Christ, never known of the love of God, grown up in that pagan culture, knowing only their pagan customs, he will have a better chance before the judgment of God than a person who has sat in church, who has heard the gospel, who knows the truth of God, but who has not walked according to it.

In the 12th chapter of Luke, Jesus speaks of that servant who had known the will of the master and yet didn't do according to it. He said he would be beaten with many stripes, yet that person who did things that were deserving of many stripes because he didn't know will be beaten with few unto whom much is given, much shall be required.

So a person, when he stands before God, will be judged according to the light of God that he has received. And as Peter said concerning many, it would have been better for them to have never heard of the way of truth than having heard of it, reject it.

Once you have heard of God's love and his son Jesus Christ, who because of God's love came and took your sin and died in your place, once you know that truth and you reject it, you stand in greater jeopardy and you will receive a heavier judgment than the person who has never heard.

Mercy, Vengeance, and National Apostasy

And so God often uses the heathen as his instruments of bringing judgment upon his people. I really believe that our nation is in a parallel condition to the nation of Israel prior to its fall to Babylon.

Those same things that existed in Israel, they're turning their backs on God. They're becoming a secular nation. They're stretching out their arms to worship the gods of materialism. The prayer of the psalmist is that God would pour out his wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, but that isn't really the way of God.

He has great mercy towards those that don't know. But he is upset. He wants God to take vengeance against Babylon because Babylon has devoured Jacob and they laid waste his dwelling place because they had so utterly destroyed the land.

The plea is that God would not remember the former iniquities. It's a plea for forgiveness. God, don't remember our former iniquities. Let your tender mercies speedily help us, for we are brought very low.

So that prayer for God's mercy, which is always my prayer. I never pray for justice, unless it's on someone else. Why should the heathen now say, where is their God? Now, in that day, in those cultures, a defeat of a nation was tantamount to the defeat of their God.

Every nation had their own gods. And every nation believed that their gods helped them in battle. And that their victory over other nations proved the superiority of their god over the other gods. And all wars were equated with the gods that they served.

And thus, as we read the Old Testament, as we read the history of Israel, it was the Lord who was going forth in battle. It was the Lord who defeated their enemies. It was the Lord who gave them victory.

Drove out the enemies from before them. And they attributed unto God, the true and the living God, the reason for their strength and for their victory. Now, when they were defeated to the enemy nations, it was a sign that their God was not strong enough to deliver them and to help them.

God's Name and the Prayer for Deliverance

The real reason was they had forsaken God. And the gods that they were trusting in were not strong enough to help them. Because they were trusting in the flesh. They were living after the flesh. They had forsaken Jehovah.

And thus, as the Lord said, if you forsake me, I'll forsake you. But the enemy nations, not really understanding the relationship that God intended between Himself and Israel, attributed the fall to the weakness or the inability of their God to help them and to defend them.

And so, He is praying that God would help us. Oh God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name. Lord, you know, not because we deserve it, but just because Your name is being castigated because of the defeat of the people.

Deliver us. Purge away our sins for Thy name's sake. And so now again, He's pleading unto God on the basis of God's nature. And for God's sake, do these things. Not that we deserve them. But Lord, because people, the heathen, don't understand.

Why should the heathen say, where is their God? Let Him be known among the heathen in our sight by revenging the blood of Thy servants which is shed. So, wanting God at this point to bring vengeance. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee according to the greatness of Your power.

Preserve those that are appointed to die. Even those that have been carried to captive. Many of them were appointed for execution. God preserved them, helped them. Render to our neighbors sevenfold. In other words, give it to them seven times worse, Lord, than what's happened to us.

Because they've reproached Thee, O Lord. And so we, Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give You thanks forever. We will show forth Thy praise to all generations. Sad and tragic thing, the psalmist to see the desolation.

Lamentations and Jerusalem's Rebellion

This whole scene is the background for the book of Lamentations. When Jeremiah sat there in the cave looking over the rubble that was once the great city of Jerusalem. Looking over the ashes and the rubble of the temple.

And there his weeping because of the people's stubbornness, steadfast stubbornness in resisting God. And as a result, this this doom. Even while there was the Babylonian defeat and so forth, lasted over a period of years, several years.

Actually, it was three different sieges. And the first one should have been the warning. And Jeremiah did warn them. He said, God, you know, is saying to you, look, don't destroy yourself. But the people wouldn't listen to Jeremiah.

They had false prophets that were going around saying, hey, you know, let's take them on. You know, God's going to defeat them and all. And they were putting these horns on and running around and saying, so, you know, we're going to push Babylon out of here.

And Jeremiah said, no, no, no. You know, don't resist them. And so Jeremiah was arrested as a traitor. They said, he's demoralizing the people saying, don't resist the Babylonians. Surrender to them so you can save yourself, so you can save the city.

But they steadfastly refused to obey God. They brought it on themselves because of their stumbling continued rebellion. So it had to happen. Psalm 80, again after the destruction, the casting away. Notice that verse 13 of the previous psalm talks about the people, the sheep of thy pasture.

Psalm 80 and the Shepherd of Israel

Psalm 80 begins, give ear, O shepherd of Israel, a tie between the two. You that leads Joseph like a flock, the sheep of your pasture. You that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth. The cherubim are a, they are angelic beings of the highest order of God's creation.

It would appear that Satan at one time ranked with the cherubim. For he is called in Ezekiel the anointed cherub that governed. And it could be that in the ranking of the cherubim he was the chief among this high-ranking angelic being.

When God told Moses to build the tabernacle, the tabernacle was a model, we are told, of heavenly things. And in the most holy place of the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, that sort of inner sanctum, that little 15-foot cubicle that was of gold, gold-plated acacia wood.

In there was the Ark of the Covenant that was covered by what is called the Mercy Seat. And on the top of the Mercy Seat there was carved these two cherubim. And it filled, their wings touched the walls, they sort of filled this little 15-foot cubicle that represented the dwelling place of God.

It was where the high priest would go in to meet with God. A model of heavenly things, these golden cherubim on top of the Mercy Seat. And so the psalmist is declaring, you that dwells between the cherubims, shine forth.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next lesson. As Pastor Chuck Smith continues to guide us through the study of the Psalms, and we do hope you'll make plans to join us.

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That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing prayer.

Redemption and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Father, we thank You again for Your Word, and we thank You, Father, for the sure prophecy of Scripture manifested again in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. How thankful we are, Lord, for Your plan of redemption.

May Your Spirit teach us, Lord, Your ways, that we might dwell in Your tabernacles for Your glory. Amen.

As we look around at an impatient, instant, get-it-now society, we may have those same expectations of faith. Just as Abraham's faith developed as he got to know God better, so your faith will expand and develop as you walk with God.

In his new book, Faith, Pastor Chuck teaches the Scriptures that will help you learn how to increase your faith. To order a copy of Pastor Chuck's new book, Faith, and to preview a chapter for free online, visit thewordfortoday .org or call 800 -272-WORD.

Again, that's thewordfortoday .org.

This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.