As we continue with biblical prophecy and post-millennialism, again, look at historical expectations according to the Bible. This is the fifth part. We're going to finish the Psalms, this is the second part, dealing with the Psalms in particular. Again, question 191 of the larger catechism. What do we pray for in the second petition? In the second petition, which is, I kingdom come, Acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in, the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate, that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted, that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and are reigning with him forever, and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world as may best conduce to these ends. We're going to complete our survey of the Psalms tonight. I'm going to start with Psalm 72. But before we move on to that, I just want to make a note about the Psalter and, again, its significance with respect to Bible prophecy. The Psalter is, in fact, not only giving us prophecy, but it's providing the Church with its hymn book. And in doing that, it's teaching the church to sing with an eye toward the fulfilling of these prophecies. So the Psalms are, in fact, embodying the life, the desires, the impulse of the life of faith. They're designed in the singing of them to help us, as Paul says, help us have Christ dwell in us richly, help us in fact be conformed to his image, and bring about the eschatological realization that eschatological potential that was in his person when in fact he was incarnate and upon the earth He quoted the Psalms more than any other book. It, in fact, reflects that formative personality of the second person of the Trinity, particularly with respect to the purpose and the destiny of the Church. And so just as the particular providence of God has special reference to, we call it the special providence of God, has reference to the church and its well-being, its growth and care, as we see in the confession in chapter six on providence in section seven. In the Psalms, we actually see that desire being formed in our praises, and being drawn out of us as we sing them so that the thoughts, the intents, the desires of our hearts are being transformed into his image through the singing of the same songs or psalms that Christ himself would have been singing when he was in the synagogue or temple and the singing of which continues to this day in all churches that respect the regulative principle. So we have in these Psalms the ingredients needed, spiritually speaking, to instill this desire. So these prophecies are not just telling us programmatically what is going to happen in the future, but these prophecies are in the mouth of the church like leaven. There is a rising up. There is an expansion of this desire. There is, in fact, a connectedness to be observed in all of these prophecies. And with that in mind, we want to begin looking at Psalm 72. And before we look at some of the verses, I just want to note Psalm 72 is called a Psalm for Solomon. That's the title. This is particularly of interest because this is very clearly a psalm that is for the son of David. It's a messianic psalm. It has very clear messianic overtones and undertones. There are both typical elements involved in this psalm. as well as prophetical elements that are expounded in this psalm. As types and shadows, we're led to consider the relation between the Old Testament dispensation of the covenant of grace and the New Testament, particularly in the person of Christ. As prophetical, we're led to consider the growth and organical union of the life of faith as the churches knit together with Christ. So that the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of the Messiah, has to be considered as a kingdom which takes in and in some way undergirds the life, the growth, the progression of the church. The church is the body of Christ. If Christ's kingdom is going to grow, then the church has to be at the center of that. If Christ's kingdom is going to be established in the nations of the earth, then Christ kingdom or Christ Church is going to be established in those nations. You see that kind of language it has reference to and application to what is called the establishment principle. The idea of national establishments of religion. Nations confessing the truth. So whatever is said of Christ and his kingdom is in one sense Theologically, it's reflecting this idea of the growth of the spiritual influence of Messiah in the world, but very practically and eschatologically, it's talking about the expansion of that influence in and through the means of the Church. So we want to look first at Psalm 72 verses 7 through 11 and verses 17 to 19. Psalm 72 verses 7 through 11. In his days shall the righteous flourish an abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river into the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. And verses 17 through 19. His name shall endure forever, his name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. So what do we understand here? What should we understand about the reign of Messiah? Well, we're told that the reign of Messiah is going to be extensive. In his days shall the righteous flourish. and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river into the ends of the earth. You see, there is a universality. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust. That's the language of that proto-evangelium. The promise in Genesis 3 that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent. Remember the serpent, he's crawling on his belly, he's licking the dust. That's what the enemies are going to be. They are the seed of the serpent. They're licking the dust and they're going to be made to feel that as this kingdom grows. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles. Tarshish is the grandson of Japheth. Japheth is enlarging the tents of Shem and dwelling in the tents of Shem. So Japheth, in this language of Japheth, is talking about the engrossing of the kingdom, the bringing into the Gentile nations from the far ends of the earth. They're not going to be left out of this picture. This is not simply a Jewish millennium. as a lot of the pre-millennialists would like to assert. Although the Jews have a part to play, it is not a millennial era. We're not talking about a golden age wherein Judaism is going to have some special status. The fact is, it is a messianic age that's in view. that the kingdom of the Messiah is growing until it comes to this point where there's going to be this enlargement. The Gentiles are going to be brought in and all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. You see, there's that national establishment idea. Furthermore, the last few verses here, his name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun Men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. And then again in verse 19, let the whole earth be filled with his glory. What are we talking about? We're talking about, first of all, the kingdom of Messiah. We're talking about the nature of the messianic kingdom. But if we're talking about the nature of the messianic kingdom, that must take in the interest of the church. Christ's interest in the earth is not an interest apart from the Church. It's not an interest that is devoid of relation to the Church. In fact, the interest of the Messianic Kingdom is intimately tied to, revealed through, and made effectual by the Church. And so the idea that kings shall fall down before him and all nations shall serve him, we're talking about nations serving the church. We're talking about kings serving the church. We're talking about a national establishment. We're talking about a kingdom so extensive that his name shall be continued as long as the sun. It was said at one time that the British Empire was so extensive that the sun never set on the British Empire. Whenever the sun was down in one place in the world, someplace else where Britain had dominion, the sun was up. If that could be said of the British Empire, how much more will it be said, or should we expect it to be said, of this messianic kingdom? You know, if men can do it, certainly the Son of God can do it. And that's what this psalm is telling us. He's going to do it in and through the church. It's going to have a relation to the nations. The Gentiles are going to be involved. And finally, the whole earth will be filled with his glory. What kind of glory? Not essential glory, but declarative glory. The purpose of man, man's chief end, is to glorify God, not by adding to his essential glory but by declaring His glory in all of the earth. So that this language again, that the whole earth will be filled with His glory, we're talking about the whole earth being filled with men who are going to glorify God declaratively. We're talking about a nation, not just a nation, a world that has been Christianized. talking about a world that in fact has responded to that Great Commission that we will come to at some point at the end of Matthew's Gospel. We want to look next at Psalm 74 and particularly verses 12 through 14. Psalm 74 verses 12 king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." The language here, again, God is my king of old. What should we understand about God's salvific intention by this? He's not simply come to save people, but to redeem a people unto himself again for the end and for the intent of his declarative glory. And so he talks about dividing the sea by strength and breaking the heads of the dragons in the waters. See, what is he doing? That's talking about the Gentiles. He's talking about the seed of the serpent. He's talking about that language again. The seed of the woman crushing the head of the seed of the serpent. Thou shalt crush his head, he will bruise thy heel. That's the language. What will be the outcome of it? Well, he's going to divide all of this up. Divide up what? everything that belonged to the dragon in the waters. The Jews viewed the waters, the raging sea, as a picture of the Gentiles. They were like the seas. The Gentiles were like the seas, tossed to and fro, driven by the wind and tossed. They had no root. They were unstable. They viewed them as covering the dark deep, the deep. They saw that as the abyss. They referred to the ocean as the abyss. It was a place of terror, fearfulness. The most uncertain thing for the longest time that any man could undertake would have been to travel from one point to another via the sea. It was very uncertain. From a Jewish point of view, the Gentiles were like that. There was a certain disorder on top that they could observe, and underneath all was darkness. Now, Psalm 74 is saying God is a king working salvation in the midst of the earth, and at the end of it is going to be a dividing like the Gentiles in Genesis 10 are divided up, the earth is divided into nations and peoples and languages and tribes. This same earth is going to be divided up and given, the Leviathan will be given to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Who are those people? Now we're talking about Israel. We're talking about Israel, in fact, gaining the possessions of the Gentiles. It's what Isaiah talks about when he said that the Gentiles would bring their forces unto the church. It's the same picture in poetic form here. It's the destruction of the seed of the serpent. It's the conversion of the wealth and the resources of the Gentiles to the benefit of the church. Psalm 76, We want to look at verses 8 through 12. Psalm 76, 8 through 12. Thou that's caused judgment to be heard from heaven, the earth feared and was still. When God arose to judgment to save all the meat of the earth, say, La. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee. The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Bow and pray unto the Lord your God. Let all that be around about him bring presence unto him that ought to be feared. What is it here that brings the nations into submission to God? God is arising or awakening himself. He's being woken up to judgment to save all the meek of the earth. We're talking about the people of God. So there we see the special providence of God at work. And God, in fact, we were told by the psalmist that God turns all of the general providence to the benefit of the special providence, that is, to the benefit of the Church. But in particular, the thing that brings the nations into submission here, the thing that arouses God to judgment, that gets Him to wake up to bring judgment, is this. vowing and paying unto the Lord your God. When the church vows and when it pays its vows, that is when it covenants and when it keeps covenant with God, that's one of the great mechanisms that is pointed out that will bring about the judgment that will bring the nations of the earth into this submission. When the church does that, we're told that he shall cut off the spirit of princes. Why? Well, he's terrible to the kings of the earth. Thou and pay. If we break covenant with God, we shouldn't expect to see that. But when the church is being faithful, remember that the church is at the center of the stream of providence. The church is, in fact, the beneficiary of all general providence by way of a special providence. And it will be that beneficiary, particularly when it not only covenants with God, but when it keeps covenant with God. That's when we'll see nations coming into submission, because judgment will be poured out. Psalm 82, verse 8. Psalm 82, verse 8. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for Thou shalt prepare all nations. Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt inherit all nations. What promise to the Messiah, it ties what promise to the Messiah to the judgment of God? Well, there is, if you remember, Psalm 2, where Messiah is pictured as saying, God is saying, you know, ask of me and I'll give you the ends of the earth for your inheritance. Well, he's talking to the Messiah that way. Who is he talking to? If there's this identification, this point of identity between Christ and his church, then when Christ is being told to ask and the father would give him the ends of the earth for an inheritance, the church is being told the same. So how is this going to be brought about that the church will inherit, the kingdom of Messiah will inherit all nations? It's going to happen when God arises to judge the earth. And God's going to arise to judge the earth when and how? When nations, when the church, excuse me, when the church keeps its covenant with God, when the church owns and keeps its covenant with God. Psalm 86, verse 9. Psalm 86, verse 9. All nations shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. Yeah, here we see the psalmist again asserting that during the gospel era, during the time of Messiah, not just Israel, but all nations, all the heathen, all the goyim, every nation that God has made. And we see the division into nations after Noah, through his sons, and all these nations, not just the Jews, but the Gentiles are going to come. They're going to come and they're going, in fact, to glorify God. They're going to glorify His name. I believe that in terms of nations, I think that also is pointing out that they will, in fact, covenant because the issue is not augmenting the essential glory of God, but in fact reflecting that declarative glory of God. And the church does that best in and through the act of covenanting. Psalm 87 verses 3 to 6. Glorious things are speckled in the city of God's a lot I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that nearly behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there Zion it shall be said The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there say law Who's he talking about so much Zion? Who is Zion? The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Zion is a church. What can we say about Zion during the messianic age? Well, the church is not simply going to be composed of Jews, right? Rahab and Babylon, to them that know me, Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia, this man was born there. These are Gentile nations. Gentile nations, by the way, that are from both Japheth and Ham being brought together in and under Shem. They're going to praise God. Why? Well, because they're born there. They're said to have been born there. They're going to be born again. They are nations by reason of their natural standing in the order of creation. But they are Christian nations, confessing nations, born of God by reason of the grace of God and nationally through not only confessing the true religion, but through establishing the true religion. It's not simply talking about this man and that man, but it literally is referring to this one and that one. A nation is, as a man, we're talking about the nations, not just individuals. We're talking about the nations in the representative capacity as they are corporate persons. they're going to be brought into the church so that we should expect to see a national confession of religion on the part of nations as they turn to Christ and the establishing of the true religion by them. Psalm 89 verses 3, 4, and 27. Verses 3 and 4. I have made a covenant with my Chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah, verse 27. Also, I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. In Psalm 89, we have an account of the covenant with my chosen, that is, with David my servant. This is a covenant of redemption. It's talking about, in terms of typology, it's talking about the covenant between the Father and the Son for the Church. It's the covenant that will, in fact, make the Church the center of the providence of God. It will contain the central purpose. The idea of the seed of David, my servant, the messianic seed, it's the seed of the woman being established forever and building up thy throne to all generations. Now we're talking about the perpetuity of the messianic kingdom and in verse 27, It's underscored, I will make him my firstborn, that is Messiah, higher than the kings of the earth. His reign isn't simply to subdue sinners as individuals, but as noted in Psalm 87, he is come to subdue sinners nation by nation. so that not only will men as individuals profess him, but men in their corporate capacities as moral persons, nations, will confess. And that's how he'll be higher than the kings of the earth, because the kings will fall down before him. They'll be nursing fathers to the church, and queens will be nursing mothers. All this language is trying to impress upon us that the purposes of Messiah in the earth are also the purposes that have been imbued into his church. The church is subject to a special providence because the church is in fact the agent through which the Kingdom of Christ is expanded, through which the Kingdom of Christ, in fact, makes its presence known in any given nation, and to which any given nation that would be in submission to Christ must show itself in submission to the Church, because there is no biblical warrant or justification for expecting Christ to reign for a thousand years in a body somewhere localized in Israel. Those are the fancies of the literalists and the pre-millennialists, and we reject that. That's not what's going on here. It's an over-literalization. We need to be very careful that we don't fall into Too much literal is we don't want to read everything literally if it's not meant to be literal in the Psalms there's a lot of a lot of the Psalms are poetic a lot of the Psalms are telling us to think in different terms than we would if it was simply didactic writing or if it was just simply narrative writing. This is poetry and as such it's asking you to consider the concepts in what we might call word pictures. There are theological concepts being thrown out and ideas juxtaposed, designed to make us think aright about the messianic kingdom. Why? Well, again, the Psalms are designed, the Psalms were given to be the praise book of the church, to teach us how to think about where we fit in and how we fit in throughout history. So that we learn to reconcile ourselves as members of the true church, we become more and more familiar and learn to reconcile ourselves with the providence of God, particularly the special providence of God, respecting the church. In Psalm 90 verse four, For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. What does that tell us about God's reference to time? When we want to think about God, the fact is this, God is outside of time. He's in time, but he's not of time. He's in time because everything, in a sense, is in Him, but it's not of Him. Time is not fashioned out of the divine substance. It's something peculiar to the creation, something that brings a peculiar quality to the creation. A quality that we can only describe as one that takes in chronology or creates history. God doesn't have a history. God simply is. There's no beginning and there's no end and there's no middle. There's no time when he was not and there's no time when he will not be. In fact, he's outside of that whole time consideration. And that's the point of this. And so when we consider these prophecies relating to time, we need to be very, very careful. that we at all times remember, what seems like a long time to us is nothing to God. And so, you know, when people say, well, how can it be that you've been in the last days for 2000 years? Remember, from God's point of view, it says nothing. This whole concept of time has transpired a thousand years and I cider but as yesterday when it's passed so what are two thousand years but tomorrow that's already gone to last days it's not it you know to us it's a vast amount of time but to God it's like days, moments, or less than that. He's just trying to explain to us that the time reference, that time reference point respecting God, we can't gauge based on that. We need God to tell us, but we're not really going to get the time reference right. When God says, This is the last days as we saw with Joel in the book of Joel. And then we see Peter quoting it on the day of Pentecost in the last days. And he says, this is that. That should be enough to alert us to the fact that we're probably not thinking about these time propositions correctly if we're not submitting our judgment and our inclinations to what the Bible is saying. So we need to be very careful with that. That's going to be something that will be troubling at several points, but we'll have our opportunity to talk about it, Lord willing, in the future. All right, Psalm 95, verse 3. Psalm 95, verse 3. The Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. The Lord is a great God and He's a great King above all gods. What is he saying about God? He's a great God. The Lord is a great God. But God, above all, is what? He is Lord. That's a covenant name of God, the sacred Tetragrammaton, the unpronounced name of God. The Jews would say HaShem, the name, when we read in Hebrew. We don't try to pronounce it. We just say, Adonai, Lord. And our translation very faithfully respects that silence when it comes to the sacred name of God. But it's the covenant name of God. He's a covenant God then. And this is important to our understanding of eschatology because as a covenant God, a God in covenant, He's telling us he's a great king above all gods. That is, he's asserting a sovereign right, not merely over the nations, but over their gods. He's asserting the right to dispossess them of their cultists, and in fact to be considered not simply by nations, but not simply by individuals, but by the individuals collectively as nations, in the place of their gods, there should be a national confession that the true God is the Lord, the God who is in covenant with us in Christ. Psalm 98.3. Psalm 98.3. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth towards the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Psalm 98.3 really gives us, I think, two eschatological events to consider. And they're both talked about in question 191. One is, this idea that he has remembered his mercy and truth toward the house of Israel. The idea of the Jews being called, and what will it lead to? All ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. The converting of the Jews will be, as Paul says in Romans 11, and as we'll discuss more when we talk about this place in Romans 11, but it will be life from the dead for the Gentile nations. The Gentile nations will in fact take great encouragement from seeing the Jews converted. So all Israel will be saved. So the calling of the Jews and the fullness of the Gentiles I think are being linked there. Psalm 102 verses 12 through 16. Psalm 102 verses 12 through 16. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever in thy remembrance unto all generations. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her, yea, the set time is come. Thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth by glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. There's several things here. that are important. There's an expectation here, I think, of the general growth of the kingdom of God, that is, of the church in the earth. And in fact, when we talk about not only the remembrance of the Lord to all generations, and we talk about the fact that there shall always be a church in the earth, in verse 13, I think very importantly, there is this idea that when the Lord arises, that is when he is awakened, and what's going to cause him to arise to judgment on the earth? When the church keeps its vows, when it covenants and keeps covenant with God. Then the Lord will arise and have mercy upon Zion, upon the church. Why? for the time to favor her, the set time has come." In other words, there is here an idea that Zion, even during the messianic age, is not always to be held in great favor. But that there is a time which he calls the set time, and I believe that set time coincides with what Revelation 20 would call the millennium. the set time has come, because the servants which take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof, so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth thy glory." In other words, there's a pointing to, coincident with this idea of set time, there is a pointing to and the idea that all of the kings of the earth, all the political leaders in their subdivisions will fear the name of the Lord and the glory of the Lord. And then in verse 16, again a verse I think has reference not only to typologically to the coming of Christ at the time of his first advent, but all of that time preparatory to the second coming that we would call again the millennium. that when the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." Again, what glory? Are we talking about essential glory? I don't think so. I think we're talking about declarative glory. And how is the Lord building up Zion? Well, He's doing so here, when all kings of the earth fear the name of the Lord and Thy glory. whose glory? The messianic glory. When the kings of the earth are, in other words, when they're worshipping, that is when they fear the name of the Lord, that God in covenant, the Messiah, and they are involving themselves in that glory, That's when the Lord is building up Zion. Zion, the church, is being built as the nations are converting. The nations are converting as Zion is being built. And when Zion has been built, that is when the nations of the earth have established the true religion, that's when the Lord shall appear in His glory. That is, the fullness of His declarative glory will be made during this millennial time. when the nations will yield that declarative glory back to Him. That, I believe, is the point of this, and in fact, this verse goes on to say, the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. That's the idea. It's a future period of time, not only to the psalmist, but even to us, because we don't see yet Zion's set time of mercy. Psalm 103, verse 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over all. What is it here that is essential truth about the kingdom of God but this? His kingdom ruleth over all. When we consider the providence of God, when we think about the unfolding of the mystery of salvation in history, that throne which is prepared in the heavens for Messiah, whereby he's seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, for whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, that throne from which he exerts all rule over the nations, that is in fact the symbol of his kingdom ruling over all. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father. When a monarch is seated, he is in session. Court is in session. When he stands, he's about to give judgment. And so, as we'll see in Revelation, at some point he does stand. But right now, in the history of the church, he's seated while he is in fact subduing all nations under him. He's in the process of subduing the nations. There's a war that's being waged, but we're already told his kingdom ruleth over all. He has the right. He has, in fact, the legal claim to demand the subjugation of the nations. He has a right and he also as we know, has the power. It's just a matter of time until right meets might. And when his right is confirmed by his power, the nations will be made subject to him. That's when Psalm 102, the time of mercy, the time to favor Zion, that set time, that's when it will have come. Psalm 105, verses 11 to 15, as well as verse 44. Psalm 105, verses 11 to 15. Saying unto thee, Will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance? When they were but a few men in number, yea, very few and strangers in it. When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings for their sakes. saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. And, verse 44, And gave them the lands of the heathen, and they inherited the labor of the people. What do we have here? Well, I think we have the idea that church is given certain assurances regarding the progress of the kingdom of God, and they are this, that even when they're few in number. God will preserve them. The church does not stand at all times in the manyest, but sometimes in the fewest. And yet, the promise is they'll be preserved. They'll be kept by the power of God. And finally, in verse 44, we see that unto that few even, Remember, it's not the number, it's the presence of the true Church. Regardless of the number, that Church is identified with Christ, the Kingdom of Messiah. In time, it's going to grow, it'll be augmented, and finally we're told He gave them the lands of the heathen, and they inherited the labor of the people. Who? We're talking about Messiah. How did this come about? Go back and read Psalm 2 again. He asked. Who asked? Well, we know Messiah is asking because we know the nature of that prayer, the prayer of intercession. He's given us some idea of that in John 17. But we also know that it's a duty of the church. And that's, again, why we have in our larger catechism, this kind of direction about the calling of the Jews, the fullness of the Gentiles, and among other things, that the gospel and the church be countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate. We're praying for these things, we're told to pray for these things, because these are all things, in fact, that pertain to the promise and the program God has set before the church. Psalm 108, verse 13. Psalm 108, verse 13. Through God we shall do valiantly. For he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Through God we shall do valiantly. Why? He it is that shall tread down our enemies. Again, it reminds us of that promise that the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the seed of the serpent. This is the language here. What is it? Why our enemies? I thought they were his enemies. Well, remember, his enemies are our enemies if our affections are formed correctly. Again, this is part of the reason for singing the Psalms. We don't want to turn our religion into some sappy sentimentalism like you get from so many of these pathetic hymns that they sing in churches now. We don't want that shallow nonsense that you get from the vain repetition of choruses. The Psalms are designed to give us substantive theology and give us a view not only of Christ but of his kingdom and of his kingdom as it relates to himself that is in and through the church and that by and for Christ and his word. So this idea of the seed of the serpent being crushed by the seed of the woman, that idea is very much a recurrent theme. We see it not only in the prophets, but we can see it actually comes up a lot here. That, again, I want to remind you, that's called the Proto-Evangelium. It's the pre-Gospel promise. It's really the first promise of the Gospel in the Bible, and it shows up either directly or indirectly in the Psalms now. We've seen it, I don't know how many times, but it's, I think, quite a substantial number of times when this idea has been repeated. And the reason is we need to believe this. Premillennialism has this idea that the seed of the serpent is going to crush the head of the seed of the woman. You know, the church is going to lose. that history is a disaster for the church. We're going to get to the end of history and everybody has already gone to hell or will go to hell. I'm not denying that there are going to be a lot of people in hell, but I think the biblical picture is there are going to be far more people who will be in glory. We'll see that more as we get into the Gospels. We may live in a particularly bad time, but not every time and every age of the church is like it is now. Do you mean that at the end of time that you'll believe there will be more people in heaven than in hell? Yes. Okay. Yeah. And I think it won't even be close. Really? Yeah. But we'll talk about that as we continue to go through. We want to look at Psalm 110, verses 2 and 3 and 5 and 6 in particular. Psalm 110, verses 2 and 3. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion, rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning. That has to do with thy youth. Verses 5 and 6. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the days Look at this. The end of God's judgments is what? He sends the rod of thy strength out of Zion, that is out of the church, to do what? To rule in the midst of thine enemies. And then he says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. But look again at verses 5 and 6. The Lord at thy right hand Who is the Lord at thy right hand? Who is seated at the right hand of God the Father? Christ. He's seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From whence he shall come, the judge of the quick and the dead. He shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. His judgment is going to be to the striking through of kings. He'll judge among the heathen. He'll fill the places with the dead bodies. This is warfare. He shall wound the heads over many countries. Now what is that language? Again, that's the language of the seed of the woman crushing the head of the seed of the serpent in one nation after another. Psalm 110 is a psalm that is used again and again in the New Testament. Clearly messianic, clearly referring to the messianic reign of Christ. And we're told here that Christ is going to wound the heads over many countries. He's going to destroy the seed of the serpent that is at the head of the nations of the earth. He's going to stamp them out. And how's he going to do it? It's going to be some miraculous thunderbolt from on high? I don't think so. I think this will become clear when we look at the nature of the spreading of the kingdom of God in the New Testament. It's going to come through the preaching of the gospel. It's going to come through the church. Church is a great means, the engine, the agent by which and through which this is going to come to pass. So the end of the judgments of God should be the conversion of the heathen nations. Psalm 115, 16. The earth hath he given to the children of men. God's purpose is concerning man. Remember, this psalm now is taking us all the way back to that dominion mandate. Man was created to have dominion over all the earth in Genesis 1. He was to take dominion. God has given him that. He hasn't revoked that then. In fact, he renewed it after the flood. He hasn't revoked that, but what he has done in and through the church is he has redeemed that purpose to himself. All right, Psalm 117. Praise the Lord, all ye nations. Praise Him, all ye people, for His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord in the earth forever. Praise ye the Lord. Again, what kind of significance do we have here when we think about Bible prophecy? The command of the psalmist is not simply to praise the Lord, but that all nations and all people should praise the Lord. That's what God is demanding to contribute to His declarative glory. Is that going to come to pass? I believe that the answer is yes. I believe, in fact, that that is very much tied up with what was shown in Revelation 20. I also believe that Revelation 20 shouldn't be a huge surprise if you have paid attention to what the Psalms are saying, or what the prophets have said, or what the Pentateuch said, or as you'll see what are said in the Gospels, or in the book of Daniel, or so many other places. You shouldn't be sitting back and scratching your head and saying, how can this be that all nations really will come to do this? So I'm going to jump ahead to Psalm 138, four and five. What does the psalmist say here? All the kings of the earth shall praise thee. You see, in 117 they're told to do it and in 138 what are we told? They shall do it. Should we be surprised at this? I'm surprised that anyone would buy into the stupidity that has formed the backbone of premillennialism. That anyone would buy into the nonsense that has been turned into the pulp fiction called Left Behind series. That people get caught up in this and American evangelicals buy into all this stupidity. Do they read the Bibles or do they not? I think they spend too much time reading these books by unqualified, uneducated, some of them barely literate backwater preachers from the Bible Belt. And they need to pay attention to the Bible and get away from the Belt. God is promising His Church that the kings of the earth will praise Him, that they shall sing in the ways of the Lord. Alright, moving on to Psalm 148, verse 11. Psalm 148, verse 11. Kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth. When he's talking, the psalmist is talking about praising the Lord, the command again is kings of the earth, all people, princes and all judges of the earth. God is commanding the magistrates of the earth to praise his name. And this is very important. It's important because it's telling us again, the gospel is not simply being sent to men as individuals. It's going to men as they stand in relation to their nations. They have something to do with the governing They stand in a representative capacity. They hold the nation at a point at which they are, in fact, representatives of the moral person that is that nation. And so when the psalmist says that kings of the earth, all people, princes, all judges, that they should be praising God, these aren't simply commands to them as kings. as though we talk about a king simply as an individual. You see, that's a very Americanized, very narrow, and very uninformed way of thinking about this. When they're told to do it as kings, they're being told to do it as the appointed, authorized, lawful representatives of the nation. When they're doing it as princes, same thing. When they're doing it as judges, same thing. They bear a representative capacity with respect to the moral person, and it's a command not only to the individuals who fill those slots, but it's a command in and through them to the whole of the people to praise God. And that, again, has great bearing on so many of these prophecies, which on the one hand say that this is what should happen, and on the other hand say that it will happen. All right, so finally, according to Psalm 149, 6-9, we want to look at what promise God makes to the church during the gospel era. Psalm 149, 6-9. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. to execute upon them the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord. by the Word of God, the two-edged sword in their hand, the praises of God in their mouth, the two-edged sword in their hand, the Bible, the Word of God is the two-edged sword. They're going to execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people. How? We're going to see this again. This idea comes up in Revelation 11, the two witnesses calling down the judgments of God. You know, if we are in fact at the center of God's purposes in history, providentially, that is if we're the true Church, if we are in fact at the center of that, we're in a position to call down the judgments of God upon men. How? Because we have a right to ask God to fulfill His promises, to In his promises, we have in fact promises of judgment against those who are disobedient, walking contrary. And so what can we do? Well, not only will he execute vengeance upon the heathen, punishments upon the people, but to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. We're not talking about a literal binding. We're not going in and trying to wrap chains around the chief magistrate. But by the Word of God, we do bind, and the Church, when it's serving its purpose and preaching the Gospel, is binding these men to do what is right and good and just, or else suffer the consequences. The Church doesn't avenge itself. The vengeance of the Church belongs to the Lord, and He will avenge His people. Remember, again, remember the story of Paul on the road to Damascus. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who art thou? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. You know, when we persecute the church of God, we're persecuting Christ, and he takes it personally. His personal interest and the vengeance is there. To execute upon them the judgment written, this honor have all his saints. You see, it's the privilege of the church to bind and to loose. It's important then that we stand in right relation to the true church, that we seek to be as close to the center of the flow of all history, so that we might be closest to that stream of special providence, so that we might take hold of it in order that we might make our appeals to God unimpeded by any kind of party spirit or any kind of pettiness that isn't to be found in the Word of God. Our theology matters. It matters not only what we believe, but what we believe matters because it's going to affect how and what we pray for. We need to pray that God will execute vengeance upon the heathen, that He'll bind the kings, that His Word will bind them, that they will in fact submit and bow before Him, that the people will be made willing in the day of His power and that he'll crush the heads of his enemies over all countries. That's what we're looking for. That's what we're hoping for. That's what we're praying for. And the Psalms are designed to teach us to enter into that spirit. Anybody who doesn't like to sing the Psalms is never going to really enter into that spirit. And if they're unwilling to enter into that spirit, I think there's reason to question whether or not they're any part of the true church of God. With that, next time we want to begin looking at the book of Daniel. For much more information on the Puritans and Reformers, including the best free and discounted classic and contemporary books, MP3s, digital downloads, and videos, please visit Still Waters Revival Books at PuritanDownloads.com. 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