WWUTT 1269 Whatever the Lord Pleases He Does (Psalm 135, 136, 137)

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In Psalm 115 we read that the Lord is in the heavens, He does all that He pleases.

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Here in Psalm 135 we read that whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and on earth, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, it just dawned on me how close we are to the end of the

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Psalms. We'll probably be finishing up this month. This is the first Thursday in August, so by August the 27th we'll probably be done with Psalms.

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How long have we been in Psalms? Does anybody know? It's going back all the way to March of 2019.

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That's how long we've been in the Psalms. It's been a year and a half. That's amazing. So we're pretty close to finishing up our study of Psalms, picking up where we left off last week.

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That puts us in Psalm 135. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there.

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This is 21 verses, so I won't read through the entire thing, but we'll start and stop as we go.

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Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Give praise,

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O servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our

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God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing to his name, for it is pleasant.

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For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel, as his own possession.

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Boy, we have just a very jubilant introduction to this particular Psalm. If you were to add music to it, how would you think of the music to be?

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Like what can you hear in your head? Probably really powerful, right? Almost like a mighty fortress is our

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God. How that song always starts really strong, or what would be another one that always has a very powerful introduction, all hail the power of Jesus name, something like that.

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That's probably the way that this Psalm began with that very triumphant introduction.

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We go on into verse five, for I know that the Lord is great, and that our

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Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.

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He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind from the storehouses.

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So what do you think that this Psalm is going to be about? It's going to be about praising

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God for his wonderful works. Now we have that statement here that whatever the

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Lord pleases, he does. That's something that we've heard in the Psalms before.

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Psalm 115 .3 is usually the verse that gets quoted the most. Our God is in the heavens.

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He does all that he pleases. This is whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps.

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So our God is in the heavens. He does all he pleases, and what he pleases, what pleases

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God, he does, and he does it in heaven and on earth. Kind of the other way of saying it, Psalm 135 .6,

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but we have that a very similar statement said here. And interesting to note that it's worded, whatever the

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Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth. What would that make you think of? The way

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Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Whatever is done, it has pleased God to do. Now, that's as far as his decree goes.

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In the midst of the circumstance, can we do things that are displeasing to God?

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Most definitely. So we shouldn't take this to mean that whatever is happening on earth is pleasing to the

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Lord. It's whatever he pleases, he does, and ultimately all things are going to come to an end exactly the way that God had decreed them to take place.

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And it's all to the praise of his glorious grace. That's difficult for us to wrap our minds around now because we're standing on this side of eternity.

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But a day is going to come when we will see everything clearly. As it says in 1

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Corinthians 13, also 1 John 3 too, beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared.

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But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

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So we may not have that perfection yet. And in that perfection, we will see things perfectly as God has ordained them to be.

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But we desire that perfection. And so purify ourselves and walk in holiness, knowing that God is the one who has created heaven and earth.

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He has created all things. That's what we're praising God for even here in Psalm 135.

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And as creator of all things, he has even created time and he holds all time and all things that take place in his hands.

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Where did I finish that up? He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

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Okay, that was verse seven. So now verse eight, he it is who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast, who in your midst, oh,

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Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all of his servants, who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings,

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Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people,

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Israel. So we're rejoicing in God for his wonderful works and and his loving kindness demonstrated to his children, because remember, at the beginning of the psalm, we said the

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Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession. God has taken that which the

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Canaanites possessed and given it to his possession, who is

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Israel. So that land, because of their sin, God took the land of Canaan from the

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Canaanites, judged them with Israel, who came into that area and and conquered the peoples.

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And it was incredible odds for Israel to have conquered that region.

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But God had put the fear of the Lord into the hearts of those sinful nations.

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And Israel became the nation that inhabited that land and all of this by the grace of God, the wonders that were demonstrated on Egypt, punishment upon them because they had enslaved and persecuted the children of Abraham, the the the people that God had chosen for his own possession.

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So verses 13 and 14, your name, O Lord, endures forever. You're renowned,

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O Lord, throughout all the ages, for the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.

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One of the mighty wonders of God that we see displayed is the love he has for his people.

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The love that God has for you and me, shown in the cross of Christ, the son of God, who took on human flesh and died for us so that whoever believes in him is forgiven their sins.

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And we likewise have received an inheritance. We have been given a possession. We are the possession of Christ and we receive a possession.

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And that is his eternal kingdom forever in glory. This is for all whom

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God has compassion on. Verse 15, the idols for the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

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They have mouths, but do not speak. They have eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear.

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Nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them. So do all who trust in them.

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Isaiah delivers a similarly scathing rebuke of those who make idols and become like those idols.

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They have eyes, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. In fact, Jesus told his disciples, this is why he spoke in parables.

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He said to his disciples, to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, to the

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Pharisees and anybody would follow the teachings of the Sadducees and the scribes, to them, it has not been given for to the one who has more will be given and he will have an abundance.

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But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why

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I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

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Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand.

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And you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull and with their ears, they can barely hear and their eyes, they have closed less.

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They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn. And I would heal them.

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But blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear why? Because we have the spirit of God dwelling within us.

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We are not worshiping mute idols, but we worship the living God who speaks.

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And we understand because God has given his spirit to us. All who fear the

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Lord and worship him. So going on, verse 19, oh, house of Israel, bless the

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Lord. Oh, house of Aaron, bless the Lord. Oh, house of Levi, bless the

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Lord. You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord. Everybody who fears

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God, praise his name. Verse 21, blessed be the Lord from Zion. He who dwells in Jerusalem, praise the

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Lord. We go on here to Psalm 136, 15 more Psalms left, starting in 136, which is probably the longest of these remaining

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Psalms that we have to look at here. No title on this one. We begin this way.

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Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

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Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever.

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Give thanks to the Lord of Lords for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who alone does great wonders for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who by understanding made the heavens for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who spread out the earth above the waters for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who made the great lights for his steadfast love endures forever.

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The sun to rule over the day for his steadfast love endures forever.

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The moon and stars to rule over the night for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt for his steadfast love endures forever and brought

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Israel out from among them for his steadfast love endures forever. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who divided the Red Sea in two for his steadfast love endures forever and made

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Israel pass through the midst of it for his steadfast love endures forever. But overthrew

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Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who led his people through the wilderness for his steadfast love endures forever.

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To him who struck down great kings for his steadfast love endures forever and killed mighty kings for his steadfast love endures forever.

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Sihon king of the Amorites for his steadfast love endures forever and Og king of Bashan for his steadfast love endures forever.

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And gave their land as a heritage for his steadfast love endures forever. A heritage to Israel his servant,

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For his steadfast love endures forever. It is he who remembered us in our low estate,

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For his steadfast love endures forever, And rescued us from our foes,

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For his steadfast love endures forever. He who gives food to all flesh,

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For his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven,

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For his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the

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God of heaven, For his steadfast love endures forever.

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Give thanks to the God of heaven, For his steadfast love endures forever.

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If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill, Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

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If I do not remember you, If I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

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Remember O Lord, against the Edomites, The day of Jerusalem, How they said,

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Lay it bare, lay it bare, Down to its foundations. O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,

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Blessed shall he be who repays you With what you have done to us.

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Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones And dashes them against the rock.

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Well, that's a difficult verse to stomach. Blessed is the person who kills babies. But when you understand it in context, it makes a little more sense.

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Though it's difficult for us to grasp and embrace, it is nevertheless the justice of God.

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And everything here in Psalm 137 the Lord delights in, just as what we read in 135 and 136.

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Bear with me. Let me explain. So this is probably the oldest psalm, or at least one of the oldest psalms that we have out of all 150 psalms.

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This one very clearly would have been written in the middle of or following the

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Babylonian exile. When the Babylonians came in and conquered Jerusalem and the Judeans were carried away into Babylonian captivity.

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This psalm was as they're sitting even in the captivity by the waters of Babylon.

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So even if it was written afterward, it's still kind of like picturing when we were there in Babylonian captivity and we sat by the waters of Babylon, we wept for what we had lost and we realized it was by our sin that that was taken from us.

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There we sat and wept when we remembered Zion, God's holy hill, where he dwelled and he went away from us and our enemies took us.

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On the willows there we hung up our liars. We didn't sing the songs of joy, the songs of Zion, for there are captors required of us songs and our tormentors mirth saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion.

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See, they're they're like, this is like cultural appropriation. They're like, we want to hear the songs of the

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Hebrews. What did you Hebrews used to sing? Entertain us because we want to we want to show ourselves to be like culturally a vast.

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We want to behold all these different cultures and see all these different works of art that were done among the people.

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So let us hear one of your songs. But these songs were not sung for entertainment. The Hebrews wrote and sang songs to worship

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God. So they're not singing these songs to entertain. And this was something when

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I worked in Christian radio, I remember Psalm 137 striking me in a particular way.

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Am I enjoying this music because it entertains me or do I desire to truly honor God with what

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I listen to and what I play? And even when I had a band, what I go out and sing, if this is not for God, if I'm doing this in vain, if I'm doing it for myself, then let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.

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If I do not remember God and the goodness that he has shown to me in Christ and hear the highest joy for the

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Hebrews singing this song is Jerusalem. If I do not remember you, if I do not set

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Jerusalem above my highest joy, why Jerusalem? Why not

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God? Well, it's because Jerusalem was where God dwelled. So to say Jerusalem is to say God and the people of God together.

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That's what's being stated there. That's what I desire the most. And if that's not what my heart longs for, then may my right hand forget its skill.

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And may I not even be able to sing. It would be worth nothing to sing or play these songs if it was not for the glory of God in the midst of the people of God.

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Verse seven. Remember, oh Lord, against the Edomites, the day of Jerusalem, the Edomites were the descendants of of Jacob or of Isaac rather.

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It was Jacob's brother, Esau. The Edomites were descended of Esau and they betrayed the

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Israelites and turned them over to their enemies. They betrayed Judah. So remember, oh

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Lord, against the Edomites, how they said, lay it bare, lay it bare down to its foundations.

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They were cheering for the enemies that came against Judea. Oh, daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us.

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And what was it the Babylonians did when they when they took the Judeans? They killed a lot of people, including their infants.

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They dashed babies against the rocks. We saw Egypt doing that at the start of the book of Exodus. They were killing the children of Israel that way, which was why

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Moses' mother hid him in a basket and put him in the bulrushes so that Moses as a baby wouldn't be killed by these bloodthirsty tyrants.

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Well, the Babylonians were the same way. Isaiah foresaw it, that that was going to take place. And that's indeed what happened.

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The Babylonians killed these Hebrew babies. And so what's being asked for here is that the judgment of God would come upon this people and the same thing would be done to them, that their children would be dashed against the rocks.

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And where it says, blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock. What that means is that they're doing the

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Lord's work. The Babylonians were doing the Lord's work when they came and attacked

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Judea. That's what it said in Isaiah. They were an instrument in the hand of God to punish

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Judea because they worshipped idols instead of worshipping God. However, the Babylonians gleed in destroying

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God's people. It was not in righteousness that they conquered Judah. And so God was going to pay back on them the evil that they had done.

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Even through the prophet Isaiah, that was prophesied. So whoever God would use as the instrument to bring that judgment against Babylon is considered blessed.

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Not that they're righteous, but they are the instrument that God would use to take the little ones and dash them against the rock, doing the same to the

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Babylonian children that the Babylonians had done to the Israelites. Now, as Christians, it is not to us to take matters into our hands that way.

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As Jesus said, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. And in Romans chapter 12, vengeance is mine, sayeth the

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Lord. So we do not take those matters into our hands. But the judgment of God does indeed come upon those who do such evil things.

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And in this way, God will be vindicated. And in this, he takes pleasure when the righteous judgment of God comes down upon those who do unrighteousness.

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Turn from your sin, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Let us pray.

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Heavenly Father, forgive us our sins. Thank you for your son. Your steadfast love endures forever through the promise of your son who has died for our sins that all who have faith in him, we are forgiven.

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And we have everlasting life with you, the new Jerusalem, Zion, heaven above, where we will dwell with God forever.

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May we not forget your goodness that has been demonstrated to us in your word.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the

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Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.