Introduction:
If anyone knew opposition, danger, betrayal, affliction and times of deep depression as well as times of exuberant joy in the LORD it was David. This psalm expresses the desire of David’s heart for the nation in both war and peace. This psalm is believed to have been written after David was recognised as the king over all of the tribes of Israel and this it appears would be indicated in verse two “who subdues peoples under me.” Also it seems even though he sat on his throne there were still more enemies to be conquered as we read in verse five; “Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;” At this time the Philistines were still around and also undoubtedly David had his enemies even within the courts of his palace. In the Old Testament whenever we see one of God’s servants or His people collectively fighting a war against their enemies on earth it teaches us about the war going on in the unseen spiritual realm (Daniel 10:12-14).
Also when we see references to physical assaults on God’s people it teaches us about the reality that as His redeemed people we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the unseen spiritual realm in the atmosphere just above the earth’s surface. Satan is “the prince of the power of the air (atmosphere)” (Ephesians 2:2) (Ephesians 6:12). This psalm applies to David’s situation, it also has a Messianic and prophetic application, and an application to our personal spiritual warfare in our faith walk with God.
Exposition
(Vs.1-2) “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
We can know God’s Word but not really know its power to bring us through hard and difficult times in our faith walk with our Triune God. King David wrote many of the psalms we have in the Spirit breathed Word of God, the Bible and in the psalms he often reflects on past deliverances when God supernaturally intervened in many difficult, trying, depressing and even dangerous situations which David faced on his way to the throne. Even after that, his tests and trials and temptations were not over and we have the situation where he committed adultery and murder. When he missed it big time he did not run from God but to Him and through a heartfelt confession and repentance before God He received forgiveness and cleansing from God which we have recorded in psalm 51. Even though David had to live with the results of his sin, he was still able to complete the will of God in the days ordained for him in God’s record book in eternity even before any of them came to be (Psalm 139: 16).
In this Psalm we see the things that David praised God for and also how they apply to you and me as members of the Body of Messiah. Let’s look at these. In this life we will face many difficult situations, trials, teats and severe temptations and even affliction and persecution if we have been born again and received the Holy Spirit. However, just as King David experienced the God’s power in his experience he came to recognise the character of God which he never would have come to know if he had been spared the trials he passed through. In our walk with God we have one of two choices we can make when faced with situations that weigh us down, test our resolve to stay faithful to God, that tempt us to give into sinful lusts that wage war against our soul, and to doubt that God really loves us and has everything under control. We can keep trusting God and keep confessing His promises that cover the situation we are facing, and keep praising Him even though we do not feel like doing it, but keep going regardless of how we might be feeling, knowing that God will never renege on the promises in His Word because of the blood covenant cut with the Messiah at the cross and which guaranteed for all time the absolute consistency and reliability and perfection of the Word of God. Praise by faith will always drive Satan out of our affairs and slap his mouth shut. As David wrote; “From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger” (Psalm 8:2).
He also wrote concerning God’s faithfulness during a time when the enemy of our souls was accusing him; “You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle, are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will retreat on the day I cry for help. By this I will know that God is on my side. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose Word I praise” (Psalm 56:8-10). How about that! God even puts our tears in His bottle and when we praise Him according to His Word He goes to work and drives Satan off!
All of God’s promises in His Word the Bible are “Yes” and “Amen” in the Messiah (2 Corinthians 1:20). However, there is often a time delay between the “Yes” and the “Amen”. There were times when David just waited on the LORD while continuing to serve Him by faith and in God’s perfect timing the answer always came. Gods is never in a hurry, He is never too early or never too late but He is always on time!
The other choice we have is to just give up and give into fear, despair, despondency, guilt, despondency, self-condemnation and even complaining which is another form of unbelief and into the downward spiral into the pit of depression. When you read the psalms David wrote his experiences in the spiritual life are ours also. There was even a time when he was alone in a cave and when even his own men wanted to stone him and we read where “David encouraged himself in the LORD” (1 Samuel 30:6b). He had no one else but God to whom he could turn to and there will be times when this will be our experience. We see this reflected in what suffering Job said; “When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him. Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:9-10).
When times are tough it is so easy to focus on our circumstances that seem to linger and our prayers seemingly go on unanswered, however, like David we need to look back and reflect on past situations where God did intervene even in those circumstances that we were not aware of at the time but in hindsight now Know that God was with us and to deliver us which He did back then! What then did David praise God for?
“…the Lord my Rock”; David built his life upon God who was his foundation rock. When he was a bot tending the sheep in the open field he composed songs by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He had the spiritual gift of the psalmist and wrote Spirit-breathed songs which we have today in the psalms of David. God’s word was so real to him in those days that when a bear or a lion circled the flock and tried to take a lamb that had strayed David would use his rod and staff and his sling to kill those predators and rescue the lamb and he did this trusting in the word and in the power of God. When it came to the test with the giant Goliath David took him out big time! His faith was in operation, that same faith he had developed out in the fields. His victories in the fields as a shepherd were preparing him for the challenges, trials and tests he was to face in his life in the future. God’s Word was His rock and upon that rock he built his life. We too will build our spiritual strength upon the rock of God’s Word, the only foundation upon which to build our lives and that will stand in the storms of life that will assail us in this fallen world (Matthew 7:24-26). And then we read…
“…who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle”; Satan and his cohorts from hell are too powerful for us to fight in our own strength. The only way to defeat Him is through God’s enabling power. Only in God’s strength given through the Holy Spirit can we do what is impossible for man to do. What is impossible with man is possible with God, for all things are possible with Him. Nothing is too hard for the LORD (Matthew 19:26) (Genesis 18:143) (Jeremiah 32:17). As David also said; “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze” (2 Samuel 22:35). A powerful experienced archer could bend a very strong bow of strong wood but no human could bend a bow of bronze unless he had some supernatural power to enable him.
With God’s power we can bend a bow of bronze, metaphorically speaking, and hit the bullseye being Satan and everything he throws our way. With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible! As we walk in step with the Spirit of God moment by moment by faith He will teach us from God’s Word and through the experiences of our everyday life how to bend that bow of bronze when we are engaged is a spiritual battle that humanly speaking we cannot win in our own strength. Often God trains us in the everyday circumstances of our lives to prepare us for what He has for us to do ultimately in fulfilling His good, acceptable and perfect will when He has complete control over our body and its contents being the soul and the spirit (Romans 12:1-2). And then we read…
“He is my loving God”; One of Satan’s attacks in a time of testing is to whisper into our ears that God does not really love us and that if He did then we would not be experiencing the trial. David had many things that happened to him that would have caused him to doubt God’s love and benevolence towards him. When you read the psalms this was a very real trial for David many times over. When we are in doubt that God really loves us we need to be conversant with the Word of God which does not change (Isaiah 40:8). Forever it is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). When Satan comes sniffing around we can call out Jesus help me and then launch the Word of God with the trigger of our confession of God’s Word against our adversary and smack him in the nose and drive him off! God will give us His grace to do this if we submit to Him in our temptation and resist the devil and he will flee. After that, we need to draw near to God once again to replenish our spiritual strength and ammunition for Satan’s next assault, and God will draw near to us. Added to this we need to keep working at living in step with the purifying power of the Holy Spirit (James 1:6-7). As we also read in God’s Word; “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name. For the LORD is good, and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations” (Psalm 100:4-5). Notice also that David says the God is “my loving God.” This is a personal awareness that God loves him personally and individually, as He does all of us who are family members of His household. And then David says…
“…my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer”; God is a spiritual fortress and stronghold against spiritual attack. Satan will seek to storm God’s fortifications but because it is God’s fortress and stronghold Satan will never succeed. God’s name is all powerful and all of His power to save and to defend us He has placed in the name of the Lord Jesus by which all things on earth, in the heavens and under the earth must bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God! (Philippians 2:9-11). We are also told that “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). When the enemy attacks us we must run to God not from Him and cry out to Him for help in our spiritual poverty, and He will come to our rescue and deliver us every time! (Psalm 34:6). David knew this very well! And then David writes…
“…my shield, in whom I take refuge”; God is our shield and He has given us His shield in the shield of faith by which we can extinguish all of the devil’s fiery darts. This is why Satan aims at the shield of faith because if he can get us to lower that shield, then he can launch his arrows at our heart even though we have on the breastplate of Jesus righteousness in place. We must put on the whole armour of God being every part of it if we are to resist the devil. A Roman soldier on campaign in enemy territory would sleep fully armed in case the enemy made a surprise attack. Every morning when we have our devotional time with the LORD we need to put on every bit of spiritual armour that God has provided to give us His strength to resist and to overcome Satan (Ephesians 6:10-18).
“…who subdues peoples under me”; David also recognised that Gods had put him into his position of a king and in recognising this he was saying that it was God’s doing, not David’s. Asaph, a contemporary of David wrote; “For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert, but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another” (Psalm 75:7). Also it has a prophetic application to the Messianic kingdom in the age to come when the Messiah our Lord Jesus will sit on David’s throne at Jerusalem reigning over the whole earth (Genesis 49:10) (Isaiah 9:7). From this point on this psalm takes on a Messianic application to the end of this age when the Messiah our Lord Jesus returns in great power and glory, routes all of his enemies and establishes His Millennial Messianic reign. Now let’s look at this…
(Vs.3-4) “O Lord, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.”
Now God cares for all of his creation as David also wrote; “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made” (Psalm 145:8). God is love but also righteous in his judgements and assessments of the thoughts and intents of the human heart. As King Solomon wrote; “The LORD has made everything for His purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster. Everyone who is proud in heart is detestable to the LORD; be assured that he will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 16:4-5). God cares for everyone and everything. God cares for every son and daughter of Adam and this was clearly manifested in His care for His only begotten Son also called the Son of Man because the Lord Jesus was fully man as well as fully God. Before His incarnation in a flesh and blood body He had always existed from all eternity and as God the Son was the co-creator with God the Father and with God the Holy Spirit, three persons in the Godhead (Elohim) who are all One God (Echud) and equal in divinity (John 1:1-3, 10) (Micah 5:2) (Hebrews 1:2; 2:10) (Colossians 1:16) (1 Corinthians 8:6) (Ephesians 3:9). He died as a man and physically rose from the dead as a man, and now sits at the right hand of His Father in heaven as a resurrected man with a glorified body and is our great intercessor, our legal representative before God the Father, who is the judge of all the dead and the living. The author of Hebrews wrote; “But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly befits us, One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens” (Hebrews 7:24-26). God the Son is the one who along with God the father and with God the Holy Spirit upholds everything in the universe by the word of His power as the Triune God. As we read; “But in these last days He (God) has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:2-3). If we want to be upheld spiritually then we need to be living and building our lives upon the foundation of God’s Word.
Having said this God is also the judge, and all of us will have to give an account to Him for the life we have lived down here (Hebrews 4:13). For the unsaved it will be the great white throne judgement at the end of the Millennium where men and women without the Lord Jesus in their life as saviour and Lord, will be physically resurrected to appear before God’s judgement throne for sentencing to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). For us who are saved to the uttermost will appear before the judgement seat of Messiah, not to be judged for our sin, because our sin was judged at the cross, our sins cleansed by the Messiah’s atoning blood, and have had received salvation by faith, but to be judged on our works done when on earth when rewards according to our works will be given out (2 Corinthians 5:10). As for man on earth they are like a breath, a vapour and his life like a fleeting shadow. The length of a man’s life is like a drop of water in the vast ocean of eternity. Man is destined to die once and after that comes the judgement (Hebrews 9:27). Now we see the prophetic aspect of this psalm related to the Second Coming of the Messiah our Lord Jesus. Let’s look at this now…
(Vs.5-6) “Part your heavens, Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy; shoot your arrows and rout them.”
When the Messiah our Lord Jesus comes again it will not be a secret coming but one that every eye of every human being alive on earth will see (Revelation 1:7). It is a divinely ordained appointment that everyone still alive when He comes back will have to keep with no exceptions. The mountains can represent kingdoms and these will be toppled by God’s power and everything He has not established on earth will be shaken and dismantled and every level of society affected by this shaking (Isaiah 24:1-3). In that day wicked men on earth and spiritual principalities in the heavens will all be punished and the constellations affected (Isaiah 24:4-23). His Second coming will be as the lightning that flashes from east to west (Matthew 24:27).
As the prophet Habakkuk wrote; “God came from Teman (Located in modern day Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Islam), and the Holy One from Mount Paran (Near modern day Mecca). Selah (Think on this). His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth. His radiance was like the sunlight; rays flashed from His hand, where His power is hidden. Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps” (Habakkuk 3:3-5). As we read in rabbi, the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian believing community; “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction (not annihilation), away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marvelled at among all who have believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10a). The lightning rays that will come forth from His outstretched arm will scatter and consume all of His enemies and they will all be routed lock stock and barrel and none will escape His fiery wrath! (Ezekiel 38:18-23; 39:1-6) What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah teaches us about what will happen to the whole world at the end of this age when the wrath of God is poured out upon a Messiah hating, Messiah rejecting world.
Those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus will be rescued just before this happens, just as Lot and his immediate family was rescued from Sodom. The very same day that Lot and his family were rescued the fire fell from heaven and came up out of the ground to engulf and consume those wicked cities on the plain. The Lord Jesus related this event to his Second Coming when He said; “It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30). God’s arrows (missiles) will have a deadly effect on all of His enemies arrayed against Him. He is actually seen fighting the armies of Islam (Isaiah 63:1-6) (Isaiah 34:5-7). Edom is located in Southern Jordan but sweeps down into Saudi Arabia, the very centre of the Muslim world today. God is going to judge the Islamic world for its persecution of the Jews and the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel. As the prophet Isaiah wrote; “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion (God’s people collectively). Edom’s streams will be turned to tar, and her soil to sulphur; her land will become a blazing pitch (oil). It will not be quenched—day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever again pass through it” (Isaiah 34:8-10). Our rescue as the Body of Messiah is alluded to in this next part of David’s psalm…
(Vs.7-8) “Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. “
King David had enemies that had it in for him big time! Not only from without but also within the royal court, some of whom confessed friendship and allegiance but were set on betraying him to his enemies. He wrote about this in Psalm 55. “For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, Then I could bear it; Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, Then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my familiar friend; We who had sweet fellowship together Walked in the house of God in the throng…He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him; He has violated his covenant. His speech was smoother than butter, But his heart was war; His words were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords” (Psalm 55:12-14, 20-21). At times David’s afflictions came upon him to make him feel as if he was a drowning man, engulfed by a flood of water. Those who were ‘foreigners’ were David’s enemies from without but can also be applied to those who were part of Israel’s inner cabinet and the royal court but enemies of their fellow Jews, aliens and foreigners to their own covenants of promise and were not for David. Prophetically the time will come and is rapidly approaching when the flood waters of persecution from the secular world and from the religious world will sweep over the faithful Body of Messiah and over the nation of Israel. The mighty waters will be the armies of the nations coming against Israel and by extension the Body of Messiah spiritually grafted into Israel. In that day God will reach down and rescue the remnant of Israel and the faithful Body of Messiah. God’s ‘flood’ will sweep everything He has not established. It will be a deluge of fire, not water. Having said this it is written in the prophet Isaiah; “So He will repay according to their deeds: fury to His enemies, retribution to His foes, and recompense to the islands. So shall they fear the name of the LORD where the sun sets, and His glory where it rises. For He will come like a raging flood, driven by the breath of the LORD. “The Redeemer will come to Zion (God’s people collectively), to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD” (Isaiah 59:18-20).
Once the Messiah has destroyed all of his enemies, purified the world of evil by the fire of His wrath and established His Messianic Millennial reign over the nations that have survived His Second Coming, the regeneration of the whole planet earth will begin. In that day the people of God will be the head and not the tail of the nations. In that day we are told in the prophet Isaiah; “So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee” (Isaiah 51:11). The redeemed will co-reign on earth with their Messiah and the Millennial reign in Jerusalem on earth pre-figures and is a foreshadow of the New Jerusalem that will descend from heaven to earth ushering in the final and eternal state of the whole universe expanding into eternity!
(Vs.9-11) “I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you, to the One who gives victory to kings, who delivers His servant David. From the deadly sword deliver me; rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are Deceitful.”
In these verses David concludes his psalm reflecting on the reality of his deliverance from his enemies from without and from within and repeats verse 7-8. It is repeated because it was a great relief for him, knowing that the God who had delivered him in the past would also deliver him in the future. He had the assurance of his deliverance and we see this reflected in the prophet Isaiah many years later who wrote; “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17). This promise is for you and me today. We may be oppressed, afflicted and even persecuted by our enemies both within and without Christendom, and also be experiencing spiritual conflict in our relationships, our circumstances, our finances, our health, our place of employment, or fighting conflicting emotions within and fears from without, however, it is also written; “The LORD is near to the broken hearted; He saves the contrite in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:18-19). At one time David pretended to be insane before Abimelech so that the king would drive him away in order to save his own life. It was a life or death situation that David faced yet he said; “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul boasts in the LORD; let the oppressed (afflicted) hear and rejoice. Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:1-2). These last two verses 12-15 describe the future millennial reign of the Messiah who will sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem and the conditions that will prevail in the earth.
(Vs. 12-15) “Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision. Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; our oxen will draw heavy loads. There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets. Blessed is the people of whom this is true; blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.”
“Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.” The young men and women will be free from sin and temptation and the very life of God will prevail in their lives and be spiritually fruitful for God in his Messianic kingdom. There will be no bars, nightclubs, strip joints, drug parties, porno videos and other works of Satan that can incite the lusts of the flesh. He will have been removed from human contact altogether (Revelation 20:1-3). The physical resurrection of all of those martyred during the reign of the beats empire of the Antichrist will occur (Revelation 20:4-6). In the Millennium a generation of young men and women will be born who will need to be taught the Torah and about what the Messiah did for the salvation of humanity in the previous age and that will be enjoying the benefits of the sacrifice the Messiah made. As the prophet Micah wrote; “In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law (the Torah) will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Then He (the Messiah) will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation, nor will they train anymore for war… For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Micah 4:1-3) (Habakkuk 2:4).
The sacrifices and offerings offered in the Millennial Temple will not be to atone for sin but offered as memorials to what the Lord Jesus did on the cross when establishing the everlasting covenant (Ezekiel 45:13-25). People will not be perfect of course except the redeemed in their glorified bodies intermingling with those born in the Millennium. People will still die but longevity will be the norm (Isaiah 65:20). Some will say how could those with glorified immortal bodies intermingle with those who do not have the same sort of bodies? Well our Lord Jesus after He arose from the dead had a glorified body and was able to interact with His disciples who did not at that time have glorified bodies. In the Millennial kingdom we who have been redeemed will have the same resurrected indestructible immortal bodies the same as the Lord Jesus has, and we like Him will also be able to interact with those born in the Millennium who do not have glorified bodies. As Rabbi the apostle Paul wrote; “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Messiah, who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body “ (Philippians 3:20-21).
At the end of the Millennium Satan will be loosed from his imprisonment and will lead a rebellion of all who reluctantly submitted the Messiah’s rule but in their hearts remained rebels. Satan will incite them to rebel but the rebellion will be swiftly put down. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire to join the antichrist and the false prophet to be tormented for all of eternity (Revelation 20: 7-10). After this those who have died physically without saving faith in the Messiah and those born in the Millennium who physically died will all be physically resurrected to stand before the Great White throne and if a person’s name was not found in the Book of life they were cast into the lake of fire for all of eternity (Revelation 20:11-15).
As a personal reflection, looking at the text I think that there will be those born in the Millennium who will be saved but physically die. At the Great White throne judgement when the unsaved that physically died in the previous age will also be physically resurrected, those resurrected from the Millennial age who did believe and follow the Messiah, will have their names recorded in the Book of life. Those whose names do not appear in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire for all of eternity. In this age if a person does not get saved then they have already been condemned because they did not believe in the Lord Jesus (John 3:18, 36). They will in God’s Law Court for sentencing, having already been judged and found guilty on all counts. Some might say what if I make it to the Millennium? Well there is no guarantee that you will! You may be alive today but dead tomorrow.
“Our barns will be filled with every kind of provision.” The earth’s economy will flourish under the economy of Israel and the redeemed saints of God both Jew and Gentile as one new man in Messiah will govern the nations and the economy.
“Our sheep will increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields; our oxen will draw heavy loads.” Even the fields will be full of animals both the lions and the lambs dwelling together, an Eden reborn where animals do not kill each other as in the previous fallen age. Work will not be a burden.
There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, and no cry of distress in our streets. Blessed are the people of whom this is true; blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.” David wrote in the Holy Spirit the Spirit-breathed Word of God and like the prophets he wrote about prophetic events to come and the psalms are full of Eschatology and references to the Messiah. They did not understand fully what they were predicting including especially about the Messiah or when He would come, but heard from the Spirit and wrote down what they heard and proclaimed. The apostle Peter wrote about this. “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Messiah in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Messiah and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:10-12). It was not so important to them to understand all that they prophesied concerning the future related to the Messiah and the last days but they were obedient to what the Holy Spirit told them and spoke the Word of the LORD faithfully. In the Millennial kingdom age to come there will be no breaching of walls by hostile enemies or satanic entities, but peace reigning on earth, no crying related to distress will be seen or heard on the streets of Jerusalem. Blessed will be the people in that day whose God is the LORD!
