«A Psalm of Asaph.»
“O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place. O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die; And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations,” Psalm 79:1-13.
Once again Israel and Jerusalem are in the news and those who love God’s ancient nation, with dread see a terrible day approaching. That Israel can take care of itself as did David when faced by Goliath, has been demonstrated on many occasions, yet an alliance of enemies is being forged at this present time and it speaks of a day of cruel persecution for Israel in the near future.
Iran, Iraq and Syria are currently active against Israel through their ‘surrogate’ terrorist organisations, Hezbollah, the terrorist arm of Iran, being presently the most active. They occupy large areas in Lebanon, Israel’s northern neighbour and are thus well situated to bombard Israel by artillery and rockets. It has a sizeable body of armed guerrillas under its command. It was announced to the world on Saturday, September 28th, that Israel had killed its infamous leader, by an air strike on his headquarters in Beirut. The BBC headline ran as follows: Hezbollah confirms death of leader Hassan Nasrallah after Israeli strikes on Beirut. Nasrallah, who had not been seen in public for years because of fears of being assassinated by Israel, was considered by many as one of the most influential figures in the Middle East.
Terrorism tends to elevate those guilty of it as it did Gerry Adams, a former barman, whose links with the murderous IRA promoted him to the status of that of a ‘statesman’, at least in the eyes of some ‘eejits’, such as former USA President, Bill Clinton, an openly acknowledged moral deviant!
The Psalm 79 describes scenes that some believe are of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah, following its overthrow and devastation by the Babylonians. Others see it as a report of a later overthrowing of the city by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC.
Encyclopedia Britannica tells us that: ‘He was born in Today’s Iran. His attempts to suppress Judaism brought on the Wars of the Maccabees. 167 BC he took Jerusalem by storm and enforced its Hellenization. The city forfeited its privileges and was permanently garrisoned by Syrian soldiers. The Greeks and those friendly toward them were united into the community of Antiochians; the worship of Jehovah and all of the Jewish rites were forbidden on pain of death. In the Temple an altar to Zeus Olympios was erected, and sacrifices were to be made at the feet of an idol in the image of the King. Against that desecration Judas Maccabeus, leader of the anti-Greek Jews, led the aroused Hasideans (the Pious Ones) in a guerrilla war and several times defeated the generals Antiochus had commissioned to deal with the uprising. Judas refused a partial amnesty, conquered Judaea with the exception of the Acra in Jerusalem, and in December 164 BC was able to tear down the altar of Zeus and reconsecrate the Temple. Antiochus apparently had underestimated the strength of the Hasidean movement, which was behind the success in maintaining an independent Judaean state for about a century.’
Many students of Holy Scripture link the psalm to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah. I would personally view it as entirely prophetic since the psalm comes from the era of David – since the writer Asaph, was a contemporary of David – and no such overthrow of Jerusalem took place in his day!
I. THE PSALM IS ONE OF THE MANY EXAMPLES OF GOD REVEALING FUTURE EVENTS IN ISRAEL
1. That referred to in the psalm is a very important period of the world’s history for it is the time just before the Saviour’s return to the world in glory. Its importance may be gauged by the fact that the events referred to will take place on the eve of the second advent of Christ, but also by the number of times that the Lord refers to that epoch throughout the Bible. Back in the days of Adam, Enoch preached about the return of Christ and the blasphemous character of that future age.
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him,” Jude 1:14-15.
As you read through the Bible, the events of that future age are set before us in typical form.
David’s second visit to the camp of Israel (1 Samuel 17:15-20) just as Goliath was roaring out his irreverent and impious challenge, is just such a picture. David overthrew the giant and his actions instilled a new spirit of courage in the army of Isreal as Goliath and the Philistines were severely beaten. That is a wonderful picture of events at the ‘second visit’ by ‘great David’s greater son’ to the land of Israel.
Many of the prophets tell us in plain speech of the events of that future time. Not only Asaph but Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Daniel, Zechariah to name a few. The Saviour Himself gives us wonderful details of the future events around Jerusalem in Matthew 24 for instance. Then there is Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 and then, last of all, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John,” Revelation 1:1.
I have but mentioned only a few of the more prominent references to the last days in the Bible. There are many more, some merely a few verses. All of these, running as they do like a vivid thread through a woven garment, indicates that the subject was ever before the mind of the Lord and, I think we must conclude, He would have it occupy just such a pre-eminent place in the hearts and minds of believers.
2. The evil cruelty of the enemy is portrayed for us in the first part of the psalm. “«A Psalm of Asaph.» O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them,” verses 1-3.
This cruel spirit is referred to in Revelation 11:7-9. “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.”
Location and Time
The location and the time of these events are given in the above verses. It will be in Jerusalem in the days of the ‘beast’, the Antichrist.
This is the time of the ‘great tribulation’, that period of “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” mentioned in verse 3. The Lord Jesus refers to it in Matthew 24:21. Daniel too spoke of that time. “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book,” Daniel 12:1.
So too did Zechariah. “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south,” Zechariah 14:2-4.
From these verses it can be seen that a most terrible visitation and judgment for their rejection of Christ is to be visited upon the nation of Israel but the Lord will PERSONALLY intervene by His second advent, overthrowing the cruel followers of Antichrist and saving a remnant of his beloved nation.
How important as the Middle East presently stands on the very edge of catastrophe that we understand the reassurance the Lord has given us in prophecy as to HOW IT WILL ALL END!
3. It is during this time of cruel and unparalleled persecution, that the minds and hearts of Israel will begin to turn to thoughts of the Lord. Consider the verses 8 and 9. “O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.”
Here is an acknowledgement of their “former iniquities” and “our sins”. At this present time, the nation of Israel, those who would even admit that there was a person called “Jesus”, blasphemously denounce Him as a charlatan and a fraud and there was no sin committed in Israel rejecting Him and bringing about His crucifixion by the Romans. But that will change.
Zechariah tells us that at the sight of the returning Saviour, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon,” 12:10-11. This truth is repeated at the beginning of the Book of the Revelation.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen,” 1:7.
4. We are told that the prayer of Israel for the Lord to “Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen” will be answered.
Those Gentile nations, which will amalgamate and advance upon Jerusalem at the close of this age with the express objective of wiping out Israel, will be the subjects of such a prayer. The spirit that will be manifested then has been seen many times in history. The Philistines and the Canaanite tribes, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Muslim nations, aye, and nearer to home, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, sought that evil objective — most unsuccessfully!
All of these, and more, “Said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land,”Psalm 74:8. “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance,” Psalm 83:4.
Prayer will be the Jews’ final weapon for rockets and artillery and warplanes will not be of help in that future time, even if Israel will possess them, which some doubt. But they will have access to the greatest of all weapons, “The LORD . . . a man of war,” Exodus 15:3.
The Jews will pray: “Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place,” verses 6 and 7.
II. WE ARE TOLD SPECIFICALLY OF THE NATURE OF ISRAEL’S REPENTANCE
1. A great ‘sighing’ will break out amongst those persecuted Jews. “Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die,” verse 11. The word ’sighing’ means a ‘crying, groaning, lamenting’. It is an expression of a deep anguish of mind and heart and soul! It is hard, stout-hearted Israel breaking under the distress that the Lord, in mercy, has sent upon them. It is that spiritual state depicted in the story of the ‘prodigal son’. “And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” Luke 15:15-17. To be ready to eat the food of pigs shows how low this Jewish lad had been brought by his circumstances. It was then he thought of his father!
The Jews had once rejected the Saviour’s promise of freedom through His Word by angrily crying out against Him. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” John 8:31-33.
In truth, they have been in bondage of one form or another since AD 70 in particular and will remain so until Christ returns. The present ‘independent nation of Israel’ is under siege. It really has to have the approval of the USA in particular to use the weaponry which has been chiefly given them by America. There is a very definite ‘limit’ to their independence. There will truly feel that to be so in the day depicted here in psalm 79, when they pray unto Jehovah as ‘prisoners’!
2. There is an awakened concern for the honour of the Lord. “And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord,” Psalm 79:12. Presently, they are chief amongst those who dishonour the Lord. Many of them will not even take His name upon their lips, they hate it so much!
In that they differ little from many who profess ‘Christianity’! When His name is spoken it is as a blasphemous curse!
It is little wonder that their mourning is described “as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.” That is a reference to the death of godly Josiah, of whom it is written, “Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness, according to that which was written in the law of the LORD, And his deeds, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah,” 2 Chronicles 35:26-27. We are told that faithful soul, Jeremiah, was greatly distressed at his death. “And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations,” 2 Chronicles 35:25. There will be a return to that degree of grief amongst the Jews referred to in our psalm in that day of brokenness.
3. As already noted, as they did in former times, they will urge the Lord to go forth against their enemies. There was a day when “the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against” Judah to battle. Jehoshaphat was the king at that time. His prayer is recorded for us in 2 Chronicles 20:4-13 and it is very well worth a read, Christian.
In that prayer, the king humbly pleaded: “O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee,” verse 12.
It is evident from Psalm 79, that Israel will one day return to that humble dependance upon the Lord. “And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord,” verse 12.
There is not a boastful dependance upon their own might and power but rather a requesting of the Lord to ‘render’ or ‘pay back’ the reproach which they have heaped upon Him.
III. ISRAEL WILL ALSO HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT VIEW OF THEIR FUTURE
“So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations,” verse 13.
See how they define themselves henceforth! Before, many Jews led the world in a denial of the very existence of God. It is said of Karl Marx that he was born, ‘the son of Jewish parents. He was baptised at the age of six. While he had no Jewish education and he embraced atheism, he continues to be identified as a Jew, and his Jewish ancestry influenced his thinking.’
Among today’s Jews there are those in the ‘world of entertainment’ and the ‘arts’, and who thereby are very influential amongst those who rejoice in such, who are noted for their atheistic or agnostic, ‘anti-God’ stance.
Names
Stephen Fry, an ‘entertainer’ and openly a sodomite. Marilyn Monroe, an actress, who converted to Judaism. David Baddiel, considered by many to be a ‘funny man’! Larry Adler, an American musician. Irving Berlin, composer. Larry King, US television and radio host. Arthur Miller, an American playwright. Harold Pinter, Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, and deemed one of the most influential modern British dramatists!
There are many other Jewish names listed on the Wikipedia site: List of Jewish atheists and agnostics.
Anti-semitism
Now I do not display a spirit of ‘anti-semitism’ by compiling such a list. I am one who seeks to obey the command of the true ‘Messiah’ of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, given us in Psalm 122:6. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” believing that they that do so out of love “shall prosper”.
I simply draw attention to this prominent feature of that race which is by God’s sovereign choice, a people separate from all other races. “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 with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth,”Exodus 33:16.
Yes, separated by God yet defiant and unbelieving for over 2000 years and are marked by giving the world those who lead in the denial of God’s existence.
But that will radically change in the future “day of the Lord”. The straying ‘prodigals’ will be recovered by the grace of God and truly become the sheep of the Lord’s pasture and will begin to give Him “thanks for ever” and shew forth His praise to all generations, verse 13.
Thus Christian, while the world frets and panics about global warming and fanatically glue themselves to the road and throw soup at paintings in art galleries, we can study God’s Word and see with clarity and with joyful confidence, reassured that “God is still on the throne” and all that He has planned will come to pass “for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed,” Jeremiah 51:29.
Praise the Lord!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
1st October 2024