Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

Psalm 10 continues Ps 9. It’s a Lament by David at the prosperity of the wicked, but by the end he comes to a place of confidence, that God will judge righteously. He starts by questioning His apparent inactivity in times of trouble (9:9), in not moving against the wicked. Then v2-12 give a long description of the proud wicked, who mistreat the poor & weak, considered unimportant by comparison. So, he prays they'll reap what they sow (v2). They're filled with self & what they want, boasting they can do as they please, and bragging about their own sins, blessing those like them, and renouncing (rejecting) God (v3). The essence of sin is pride (independence from God). He doesn’t feel any need of God nor seeks Him. God is in none of his thoughts. His proud heart manifests in lofty looks (v4). But he can’t not think of God (v11,13). Then David protests to God that his prosperity confirms him in his pride & disregard of His Word, with His judgments seemingly far away (v5). His rejection of God leads to him to devalue the rights & importance of others, even dehumanising them, as their dignity & value is based on them being God’s image. The 2 main aspects of God's Law are (1) love God & (2) love people. (1) Man's alienation from God causes him to (2) commit evil against those in God's image. So, he treats his opponents with contempt & boasts things will always go his way, his wealth giving him a false sense of security (v6). But God has other plans for him. His evil manifests thru his mouth in cursing (swearing & speaking evil of others), deceit (lies), and oppression (scheming evil things) - v7 (quoted in Rom 3:14). He is violent against the weak & helpless, operating in secret (v8-10). Foolishly, he imagines God does not see his evil deeds (v11). So, he feels free to live as though there's no God, doing as he pleases. No wonder David wanted God to deal with these sinners! So, he asks God to take action to confound them, and rescue the humble, who call on Him for help & deliverance (v12). It points out the great difference between believers, who draw close to God and desire Him to remember them (v1), and sinners who wants the opposite (v11). Then in v13, he asks 'Why do the wicked renounce God?' The answer is: "He says in his heart: ‘You will not require an account.” He delays His judgment, to give him a chance to repent (2Pet 3:9), but he misinterprets this long-suffering as apathy, thinking He'll forget his sin and not judge him, and so hardens his heart, and so stores up greater judgment in due time (Ecc 8:11, Rom 2:3-6). Having started with perplexity from feeling God as far off (v1), he now comes to a place of calm confidence, knowing He does see their works & the suffering they cause, and will judge them. Also, He will help the helpless, who entrusts himself to Him (v14). When we pray, we go from anxiety to confidence, as we rise up higher and see God’s perspective (Isa 40:31). Then He prays for God to help the weak, and bring the wicked to repentance by breaking his power, and seeking out his wickedness, bringing it to the light, until he repents (v15). He concludes by declaring his confidence in God's Kingdom (v16a), and looks to the future when the prayers of the just for justice will be completely fulfilled when Christ establishes His Kingdom on earth and removes all the wicked (v16b). Joshua, who led Israel into the land and removed God's enemies, is a type of Jesus, who'll take possession of the earth and reign as King, in response to the prayers of the humble (v17), for then He will defend, fully vindicate and deliver His oppressed people, and put a final end to the wicked (the man of the earth) and their reign of terror (v18, Rev 3:10, 6:10, 8:13, 11:10, 12:12, 13:8, 12,14, 14:6,17:2,8). He describes God's work of grace in our hearts by His Spirit when we pray: "You prepare their hearts" (v17). He inspires & directs our heart to pray His will. Then He responds and part of His answer is to strengthen our hearts, giving us His peace (assurance) that He’s heard us, imparting confidence to us that He is with us, empowering us to know and walk in His will and stand strong in His strength in the presence of evil. Thus, when we pray, He imparts more grace to our heart, enabling us to trust Him and empowering us to stand strong and be faithful in trials, knowing He'll vindicate and deliver us from all evil. In this way, He completes our spiritual heart preparation, that began by inspiring us to pray. That’s what God did for David in this inspired prayer, as we see him come from despair to confident faith in God's reign over all (v14-18). Prayer is effectual by God’s grace. To desire to pray is His gift, a sign of His Presence with us. Then, when we’ve released our prayer, He strengthens our heart with His peace, giving us His assurance of His full control, and completes His preparation of our heart to walk in His will.

The HOLY SPIRIT, who dwells in us, is our HELPER (John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26, 16:7, 1Corinthians 3:16). He is the Spirit of Truth, who reveals God's Word to us and enables us to hear and know the will of God for us, and He wants to help us to live our life to the glory of God (John 16:13-14). He fills our hearts with God's love (Romans 5:5), and helps us to WORSHIP God (John 4:23-24, Philippians 3:3), and pray effectively, including praying in tongues (Ephesians 6:18, 1Corinthians 14:2,4).

We are Temples of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:19-20). He indwells us and reveals and transmits God's grace to us: “He (the Holy Spirit) will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine (including healing) and declare (communicate, transmit) it to you. All things (such as healing) that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine (healing) and declare (communicate, transmit) it to you” (John 16:14-15). He is our COMFORTER (com-fort = with-strength), and HELPER. He STRENGTHENS us within to help us stand firm and do God’s will, as Jesus said: “He (the Father) shall give you another Comforter (Helper), that He may abide with you for ever, the SPIRIT of truth; you know Him, for He will be IN YOU” (John 14:16-17). He wants to fill us and empower us for ministry (Acts 1:5, 2:1-4). We must cultivate a close fellowship with the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Hilary shares about the Person of the Holy Spirit, our Comforter and Counsellor, who lives in us (John 14:16-17), who enables us to receive God’s love, and to give our love to God: “the COMMUNION (fellowship) of the HOLY SPIRIT be with you all” (2Corinthians 13:14). He inspires and empowers our fellowship with God, and enables us to receive God's grace and to fulfil God's plan and purpose for our life.

We complete our study of Psalm 9, a Thanksgiving Psalm. v11 introduces the 2nd half of the Psalm with a parallel verse to v1, singing praises to the Lord, who dwells in and with His people (Zion), calling them to declare His deeds to all people.The basis for his praise, thanksgiving and declarations is God's justice that He performs on behalf of the oppressed and the humble, who call out to Him. In particular, He is the Avenger of innocent blood, who investigates every crime and hunts down the oppressor (v12, see also Numbers 35:33-34, Genesis 4:10, 2 Kings 9:26). God will remember and avenge the blood of His persecuted people. We discuss the avenger of blood and the cities of refuge in the Old Testament. All have sinned, and the Lord is the Avenger, who will hunt every man down until they pay in full for their sin, but God has also provided a City of Refuge for us - Jesus Christ, to whom we can flee for safety (Hebrews 6:18, Proverbs 18:10). Believers are those "who have fled for refuge to Christ" (Hebrews 6:18). In Christ we are saved from Divine Judgment. We discuss the danger of sitting on the fence as illustrated by the story of Joab killing Abner in the gates of Hebron (a city of refuge) in 2 Samuel 3. Next David asks God to deliver him from those who hate him, who were seeking to kill him (v13), and it is significant that his main motivation for asking for deliverance was that it would result in God getting the glory (v14), which is a great example for us. If our prayers were motivated by the glory of God, we would surely see more answers. He then describes one way God's judgment works in this life - the law of sowing and reaping. Evildoers get ensnared in the same trap they set for others (v15,16). Haman built a gallows for Mordecai, only to be executed on it himself. God can created this universe to operate in a moral way, according to His moral and physical laws, so when people violate His moral order, it will come back to bite them. Moreover, sin carries its own curse, bringing darkness, death and destruction on the sinner. This can be seen as a judgment of God on sin, for God created and ordained things to work this way. "There is nothing that a wicked man does that is not against his own interest. He is continually doing himself harm, and takes more pains to destroy his soul than the righteous man does to get his saved unto eternal life." This is a weighty truth, so the Psalmist adds at this point: "Higgaion; Selah", which means meditate on this; mark it well. Then David goes on to describe final end of the wicked at death and beyond: "The WICKED shall be turned into HELL (Sheol), and all the nations that FORGET God." The essence of sin is forgetting God, living as if there is no God, forgetting the claims of our Creator. Even nice people who forget God are wicked in His sight. Since they forget Him and push Him out of their thoughts, God will forget them – they will be separated from His loving Presence forever. This is their eternal judgment - God gives them up to their choice to be independent from God. Why does the sinner forget God? Because the thought of God (1) makes him afraid, (2) doesn't entertain him enough, and (3) makes it hard for him to carry on in sin. By contrast "the needy (those who know their need for God and depend on Him) shall not always be forgotten (He will remember them forever - they will eternally dwell in His Presence). The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever" (v18). Even if it seems like God has forgotten them, He has not, and soon He will manifest His grace to them, which will continue forever. David finishes with a prayer for God to move into action and judge the nations for their own sake: "Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail (prosper in their evil ways). Let the nations be judged in Your sight. Put them in fear, O Lord (Divine judgments produce the fear of the Lord in people), that the nations may know themselves to be but (weak, frail) men (who need salvation). Selah" (v19,20). David does not ask God to display His judgment upon the wicked from a spirit of hatred. His real hope was that the display of God’s judgment would teach them their proper place before God, so that they would humble themselves before God and be saved (see Psalm 9:12). It is better for them to experience the wake up call of a judgment in this life, than face an eternal judgment of condemnation in Hell.

Psalm 9 & 10 have a close relationship, so much so the Septuagint treats them as one. The acrostic structure that begins in Ps 9 continues into Ps 10, linking them together. They also have similar terminology & themes. But each stands by itself. Ps 9 is a Thanksgiving Psalm, whereas Ps 10 is more a lament. The title of both Psalms, giving the key to their fulfilment, is 'the Death of the Son' which points to the work of Messiah, the Son of God (Ps 2:7), who was prophesied to become a Man, the Seed of the Woman, to take our sin and suffer death to save us, and then crush the enemy underfoot in His resurrection (Gen 3:15). In this way, He lays the basis for the salvation of those who receive Him, and for establishing His Kingdom on earth. In this way, Ps 9 continues on from the messianic revelation of Ps 8, and this connection is confirmed by the mention of the NAME of the Lord (9:2), as in Ps 8:1,9. Thus the death of the Messiah, the Son of God is the basis for the ultimate fulfilment spoken of in these Psalms. Ps 9 is a Thanksgiving Psalm, but whereas thanksgiving is usually for the Lord's mercies, here it is mostly for His Righteous Judgments, that in a world full of wickedness and oppression, God will set things right, punish the wicked and restore the oppressed, and right all wrongs. David starts by praising God with all his heart, proclaiming all His wonderful works, rejoicing in His salvation and singing praise to His Name or revealed nature (v1,2). He then thanks God for how He'd fought for him in the past and will fight for him in his future battles, acknowledging God's Presence with him was the key to his victories, causing his enemies to retreat, fall and be defeated before him (v3). God had supported David in his cause; judging in his favour as the Judge of Righteousness, only because he had submitted to God and His cause (v4). Likewise, when we first submit to God, He gives us more of His grace (presence), so that when we resist the enemy, he will will flee from us (Jam 4:6-7). Then in v5-6 looks at the bigger picture and declares the future final judgments of the Day of the Lord, just before God’s Kingdom is established on earth. He uses the prophetic perfect tense to emphasise these prophecies are certain to come to pass. He announces the final destruction of the wicked, blotting out their name forever. Once God's Kingdom is established, the wicked and their earthly kingdoms will be forgotten, and the wicked will be blotted out of God's Book of Life. God's enemies, who'd destroyed many cities, will themselves be destroyed, so that they can no longer destroy others. Even their memory will perish. This will be fulfilled when all the kingdoms of this world will be destroyed at Christ's 2nd Coming, when He'll establish His Kingdom on the earth. By contrast with the reign of the wicked, the Lord & His Kingdom will endure forever; He'll judge the nations from His throne (v7). "He shall judge the world in righteousness" (v8) - in Acts 17:31, Paul quotes this verse, claiming it will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ: “He has appointed a Day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the MAN whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by RAISING Him from the DEAD.” This shows Paul understood the messianic nature of this Psalm, as revealed by its Title - that the Lord who will ultimately reign as King & Judge over the whole world, is Christ, the Son of God, who'll first become a man and die and rise again. Then, David offers thanksgiving for the salvation of God’s people, who trust in the Messiah, who is a refuge for the oppressed, who call upon Him in times of trouble (v9). 'Trouble' is a rare word describing being in despair, cut off from all hope. Christ is also our Refuge from the Divine Judgment that we deserve for our sins. In His death, He became our Atonement (Covering), taking God's righteous judgment upon Himself, so that those who trust (take refuge) in Him are saved (as in the picture of Noah's Ark). Then he describes how believers can enjoy a growing intimate personal relationship with the Lord: "Those who KNOW Your Name will put their TRUST in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who SEEK You" (v10). We should be those who continually SEEK Him, for those who SEEK Him will FIND Him (Matt 7:7-8), for He will reward us by revealing more and more of Himself to us (Heb 11:6), so that we will personally KNOW Him more, and KNOW His Name (His nature, love, faithfulness, salvation - Jesus is the ultimate revelation of His Name), and the more we KNOW Him, the more we'll be able to TRUST in Him and receive from Him. We determine how close we are to God and how much faith we have, because it is up to us to SEEK Him (Matt 6:33). "If we draw near to God, He will draw near to us" (Jam 4:8). You show how close you want to be to the Lord by how much you seek Him, and He will fulfil your heart's desire accordingly.

Matthew 13:45-46: “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one Pearl of Great Price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Peter looks at this Parable from 2 viewpoints (1): The Merchant represents those who are searching, and discover that Jesus Christ is the Pearl of Great Price, and are willing to surrender all they have to possess Christ. Only in Him is there PEACE in this world and HOPE in the next world. (2): The Merchant represents Jesus Christ, who loved us and came and gave His all (even His Blood) to purchase us for Himself, that we might be freed from sin and belong to Him forever.

We see how Psalm 8 is fulfilled by Messiah & His people from Hebrews 1-2, an exposition of Ps 8. Heb 1 proves Christ is exalted above the angels, not just from the standpoint of His Deity, but also from His exalted human nature, as a resurrected, glorified Man, the first begotten from the dead, seated on God's Throne above all angels. Then in Heb 2:5-11, it expounds Ps 8, declaring how God is fulfilling it through Jesus. In 2:7, it follows the Septuagint in translating Ps 8:5 as: "You have made him a little lower than the angels", rather than: "a little lower than God." Whereas the latter correctly reflects God's original plan for man, the former correctly describes the situation resulting from the Fall, when the 1st Adam submitted himself & the human race to a fallen angel, so it came under the dominion of darkness (Luke 4:6). Thus both translations are valid in their own way. To rescue us from sin & satan and restore us to our ordained exalted state, Jesus, for a little while, was made a little lower than the angels, by taking a human nature on Himself, to identify with us for the suffering of death (Heb 2:9), to bear our sins & death in our place, so we might be redeemed. Then in His resurrection & ascension, as the 2nd Adam, He was crowned with glory & honour, so now God has exalted Him to the highest place and given Him the Name above every name (Phil 2:9-11), and has put all things under His feet (Eph 1:19-22, 1Cor 15:27), in fulfilment of Ps 8:6. Thus Heb 2:9 shows how Ps 8:4-6 has now been fulfilled in the 2nd Adam. As a glorified Man He is now exalted above the angels. Heb 2 also points out He did all this as the Pioneer of our Salvation, to bring many sons to glory with Him (v10). Those who receive Christ as Lord and Saviour are put in Him, and thru this union, they become born again sons of God, His brethren, from the same womb (v11-18), so He is the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8:29), and their spirits are raised & exalted with Him (Eph 1:19-23, 2:5-6). So in Him, our representative Head, redeemed man is already positionally above the angels (also Heb 1:14). Thus He's already accomplished the 1st stage of the fulfilment of Ps 8. But the complete fulfilment requires all things in creation, including angels, to be put under the feet of redeemed man in Christ as Heb 2:5-8 points out, which concludes by saying: "But now we do not yet see all things put under him (man). But we see Jesus..." Thus although Jesus our Pioneer & Head has received the full manifestation of glory & honour, the whole creation still eagerly awaits the full manifestation of the sons of God at the 2nd Coming (Rom 8:18-19), when all saints of every age will be crowned with glory & honour in their new bodies, and will rule & reign with Christ forever. Then Christ, having brought many sons to a state of glory, with all redeemed men crowned with glory, with all things under our feet, will have brought Ps 8 to fulfilment. No wonder it ends as it starts: "O Lord, our Lord, How excellent (majestic) is Your Name in all the earth!" (v1,9). This expresses its main theme. God began by manifesting His majestic Name (His nature & glory) in the earth thru His Creation, and then by Christ's Coming to earth to redeem us, before being exalted above the heavens in glory, and then finally by returning to manifest His Name to the whole earth. His glory will also shine thru us, His brethren, the manifested sons of God, made in His image to glorify Him by reflecting His glory. So although the 1st Adam fell, bringing the initial Theocratic Kingdom to an end (God ruling the world thru man), through Christ, the 2nd Adam, at His 2nd Coming, God will again establish His Theocratic Kingdom on earth for 1000 years, fulfilling His original plan. The earth will be regenerated to what it was like before the Fall (Matt 19:28). At this time, the Kingdom will be restored to Israel, as chief nation (Acts 1:6), and her Land made like the original Eden, with the Mount of the Lord towering above all others, from which Christ will reign over all the earth. These are the Times of Restoration of all things - restoration to what it was like before the Fall (Acts 3:21). The animal kingdom will come into peace under man's dominion (Isa 11:6, 65:25), and curse (sickness) will be removed. He will reign over a Kingdom of righteousness, peace, joy and abundance. The knowledge of His glory will cover the earth (Hab 2:14), and God will be glorified among the nations. Thus Ps 8 does not just describe God's original plan in Genesis to establish His Kingdom on earth through man (spoilt by the Fall), but it also declares God will ultimately accomplish His plan for man to reign on earth, through Messiah, the 2nd Adam, in the Millennium (Rev 20). At this time, He will reign as King of kings, and under Him, redeemed & glorified humanity will reign with Him as His kings, ruling over the people of the earth, who will still be living in their natural bodies.

In Psalm 8:3-4, David declares that even though man seems small compared to the vastness of the universe, man is important to God. In the remaining verses, he expounds this further by declaring God's purpose for man, to be the crown of His creation, as revealed in Genesis 1-2, especially Genesis 1:26-28, where man is (1) created in God's image and (2) given dominion over the whole earth and all its creatures. In v5, he even says: "For You have made him a little lower than ELOHIM." The primary translation of Elohim is God, although it sometimes can be translated 'angels' or 'heavenly beings.' The fact David is declaring the truth of Genesis 1 strongly supports the translation of 'God.' But since this is such a strong statement, the Septuagint and any translations translate it as 'angels'. Previously in the Psalm, David had established the infinite gap between God above and man below, so in v5 he was emphasising the balancing truth that God has created man to be the highest of His creatures, who, being in His image was made to be as close to God as it is possible for a creature to be to His infinite Creator. Moreover, God crowned man with glory and gave him the honour (authority) of ruling under God over all his creation (v6). Psalm 8 was written 3,000 years after the Fall of Man, when man submitted himself to God's enemy, and lost much of his glory and honour. Yet amazingly Psalm 8 speaks as if the Fall never happened! This can only mean that God still intends to fulfil His original plan and purpose for man, to crown him with glory and honour and give him dominion over all His Creation. This requires the Coming of the God-man Messiah to save man from sin and the kingdom of darkness, and restore him to his high position as ruler in His Kingdom over His Creation - crowning him with glory and honour (v4, Genesis 3:15). Thus David is declaring that God's ultimate purpose for man will be fulfilled through the Messiah. We see that the New Testament confirms this Messianic interpretation in Hebrews 2:5-11, which quotes Psalm 8, and declares that it has been initially fulfilled in the 2nd Adam, Jesus Christ, who was crowned with glory and honour in His resurrection and ascension, and who will also bring Psalm 8 into complete fulfilment by bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10) - even God's New Creation of redeemed humanity in Christ.

Psalm 8 is a majestic Praise Psalm of David declaring the Glory of God in the heavens and earth, and even above the heavens in God's Heaven (v1), as well as God's purpose for mankind (v5-9). Praise is declaring and demonstrating the excellency of His Name (His manifested nature). God created man to be His image-bearers to rule on earth under His Lordship, for His glory, which means we are called to praise Him with our life and lips. God has ordained that when we praise Him, we release the Glory and Presence of God through the Holy Spirit, who then becomes our strength within and our fortress without, protecting us from the enemy. Praise also has the power to silence our enemies (v2). To praise the Name of the Lord is a vital weapon in our spiritual warfare, which even the youngest and weakest of believers can use effectively. Indeed, "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1Corinthians 1:27). To draw upon God's grace, we must become like little children, humbly trusting in God, rather than in our own strength and wisdom (Matthew 18:3, 15:25-26), and then through our mouth we can release God's power and strength, which overcomes the enemy. Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:15-16, to endorse the praises of the children, and in doing so He affirmed His claim to be God. The New Testament follows the Septuagint in translating 'strength' as 'praise' (v2) confirming that "the joy of the Lord is our strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). In Psalm 8:3-4, we imagine David, the shepherd, spending a summer night with the sheep staring at the moon and stars, and meditating on how great God must be that He created this universe with His fingers (v3). Compared to the vastness of Creation, man is seemingly insignificant, but David knew from the Scripture that man, created in God's image, was the crown of God's creation (Genesis 1-2), and that God was deeply interested in him and has a great plan and purpose for him, and even planned to visit him in the Person of the Coming Messiah (Genesis 3:15). Indeed, the Messiah would be descended from him. David is amazed at this truth, that God should care for us and be so involved with us.