Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 83:2 and following. Indeed, at the time of the great tribulation, the coalition nations listed in verses 7–9 will work together to erase the name of Israel from the earth (Isaiah 10:24-27). Among them Assur, the king of the North, will occupy a preponderant place. Faced with this threat of extermination, the most terrible that this people already so tested in history has ever known, the faithful of the residue will turn to God. Their enemies are also His; this covenant was made against Him. And, on the other hand, believers are aware that they belong to Him. They are His “hidden faithful,” like the 7,000 men in Ahab’s time who, despite persecution, had not bowed their knees before Baal (1 Kings 19:13-18). Yes, God cannot fail to intervene since all these peoples, in their blind folly, will be found waging war against Him (Ps 2:1-6; Rev 19:11-21). The faithful refer to the deliverances of the past, to the great dates of Israel’s history (Jg 4:1-24; Jg 7:1-25; Jg 8:1-35).
We believers, who will not have to go through these terrible times, would we have less patience and confidence? The opposition of the world must have the sole effect of rejecting us on the Lord. For this psalm presents us with the same stream of thought: He is a cry from Israel in the last days. The faithful beg the Lord not to remain silent (Ps 28:1); they expose to him the iniquitous actions of their coalition enemies; they sort of say, “And now, Lord, look to their threats” (Acts 4:29). They present this cause as much as their own; and they call upon their enemies a judgment of such rigour that the inhabitants of the world are led to learn righteousness, that is, to realize that there is a God who judges the earth (Ps 58:10-11; Isa 26:9).
Throughout Scripture we see coalitions forming against Israel (Isa 7:8; Ez. 38; Joel 3; Micah 4:11; Zech. 14.2-3). They will be completely dispersed as the ball is driven out of the area in summer. And God’s Israel behaves here according to Isaiah’s exhortation: They do not put their trust in a counter-covenant, but they sanctify Jehovah in their hearts and make him their object (Isaiah 8). The coalition in question here appears to be forming after Israel has become a nation again. Prophets sometimes seem to have such visions before their eyes; and undoubtedly, the events of the last days, when the Lord takes up the kingdom and appears in His glory, will take on a universal scope. God, as someone said, does not only judge the last revolt of the antichrist or the beast, but having made his power felt, the hour of wrath having come, he judges all nations. Scripture cannot be annihilated; this is true and precious, if even our minds can only follow its fulfillment in a fragmentary way. The judgment ends with the exaltation of the God of Israel, Jehovah who extends his kingdom throughout the earth.
For the age in which we live is often characterized as an age of disbelief. This is certainly an age when a lot of disbelief comes to the fore, aggressively; and therefore it is an age of conflict with regard to fundamental truths. The question then arises as to whether the possible God is unknowable. An innumerable army of all tribes, tongues, and nations confesses that the thought of God is the most powerful force in life, the purest comfort in sorrow, the only rock-idea that no storm shakes, as true, as real, as natural, as fruitful as any thought, and more. For them, history without this word is an enigma, being a mystery, life a torment and death a horror. The simultaneous testimony of millions of people affirms the central fact that God is, and the affirmation rests on the experimental knowledge that He is. Fact is reality; knowledge is man’s recognition of reality. Only the unreal is unknowable. However, it is not a question of majorities. Man looks at himself, in himself, and through studied thought processes or sudden jumps of unconscious induction, he comes to a knowledge of himself.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Prayer of the people threatened by their neighbors:
· Enemies of God, their punishment
Ex 15:6 Your right hand, O Lord! signaled his strength; Your right hand, O Lord! crushed the enemy. Dt 32:41 If I sharpen the flash of my sword and if my hand seizes righteousness, I will take revenge on my adversaries and punish those who hate me; Jg 5:31 Thus perish all your enemies, O Lord! Those who love it are like the sun, when it appears in its strength. The country was at rest for forty years. Ps 68:1 God rises, his enemies scatter, and his adversaries flee before his face. Ps 74:23 Do not forget the clamors of your adversaries, the ever-growing tumult of those who rise up against you! Isaiah 1:24 Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Fort of Israel, says: Ah! I will draw satisfaction from my adversaries, and I will take revenge on my enemies.
· Persecution of Israel
2 Kings 16:6 At the same time, Retsin, king of Syria, brought Elath back to power by the Syrians; he expelled the Jews from Elast, and the Syrians came to Elath, where they have lived to this day. Esther 3:13 The letters were sent by couriers to all the provinces of the king, that all the Jews, young and old, grand children and women, be destroyed, killed and perished in a single day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and that their property would be delivered to plunder. Ps 74:8 They said in their hearts: Let’s treat them all with violence! They burned all the holy places in the country. Ps 83:5 Come, they say, let’s exterminate them from the midst of the nations, and let us no longer remember the name of Israel! Dn 3:8 On this occasion, and at the same time, some Chaldeans approached and accused the Jews. Acts 16:22 The crowd also rose up against them, and the praetors, having had their clothes torn off, ordered that they be beaten with yards. Acts 18:2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. He befriended them;
· The duty to Seek God
Dt 4:29 It is also from this that you will seek Jehovah your God and find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and soul. Ps 105:4 Have recourse to the Lord and his support, continually seek his face! Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while He is; Invoke Him, while He is near. Hos 10:12 Sow according to righteousness, reap according to mercy, clear a new field for yourself! It is time to seek the Lord, until He comes, and pours out righteousness for you. Luke 11:10 For whoever asks receives, he who seeks finds, and one opens to him who strikes. Acts 17:27 he willed that they seek the Lord, and that they strive to find Him by groping, although He is not far from each of us,
· One God
Dt 4:35 You have witnessed these things, that you may recognize that Jehovah is God, that there is no other. Dt 32:39 Know, therefore, that it is I who am God, and that there is no God near me; I make live and I make die, I hurt and I heal, And no one delivers from my hand. 1 Ch 17:20 O Eternal! no one is like you, and there is no god but you, from all that we have heard from our ears. Ps 83:19 Let them know that you alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High on all the earth! Isaiah 44:6 Thus speaks the Lord, king of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, and apart from me there is no God. Mk 12:29 Jesus answered: Behold, behold, Behold, Israel, the Lord, our God, is the one Lord; Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and among all, and in all.
From all of the above, we note that Ps 83 requires that we draw the reader’s attention to what makes it the subject, namely the last confederation of nations surrounding Canaan, with Assur helping them in their attack. The name of Jehovah is introduced at the end of the Psalm, although the request is addressed to God as such, for the people are not yet established in the blessing of the covenant. The judgment must be carried out so that the rebellious nations may seek the name of Jehovah. It is not so that they may know the Father, nor that they may know that there is a God, but so that they may know the Lord. When His judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness; they will know that the one whose name is Jehovah, the One who was and who is and who comes, is the Most High, that is, jehovah (the only true God) the God of Israel, is above all, the Most High on all the earth. It is with this name that he takes possession of the earth, as Melchizedek blesses it in the name of the Most High, possessor of the heavens and the earth, and as Nebuchadnezzar, the humiliated leader of the Gentiles, celebrates and blesses the Most High (Dan. 4:34). This is the millennial name of God, the name by which he takes from himself his great power and reigns, true Melchizedek, priest on his throne, the council of peace being established between the two (Zech. 6:13), knowledge between Christ and Jehovah above. This establishes, in a prophetic way, Jehovah the God of Israel, as the Most High on all the earth. His people, now restored to their own relationship, await a full blessing, and the name of Jehovah is used again. Until now the people, not being in possession of the blessings of the covenant, had addressed their request to God, except when they looked back or forward. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the pound for the restoration of Israel, while it is still being persecuted by neighboring peoples. “
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.