BY HAROLD LEE
Where did this week go? Here we are. It’s just about done. In fact, at sunset this evening, the Days of Unleavened Bread 2008 are going to be in our rear view mirror. And it’s just incredible. Actually, I think this year we had eight days of Unleavened Bread since leading up to the First Day, Passover Day was the Sabbath, so. I don’t think anyone was out cleaning their cars out last Sabbath. So really, we had eight days of Unleavened Bread. And, of course, again, I think as you get older, time goes more quickly all the time.
But I have a question. And maybe today is a good time to ponder this. Here we’ve just gone through these eight days. We’ve had—not only kept the Passover but in this case, and probably fewer than normal, or maybe the same—three sermons. I guess we could have up to four depending on how they fell. But with it just about gone, in other words in our rear view mirror and, of course, we don’t keep these just out of routine. It’s God wants us to get some lessons from them. And, of course, I try to in retrospect try to say, “What did we learn? What should we have learned? What should we focus on moving forward that we can take from this past week?” And I think today is a good day to sort of stand back and try to get a broad overview and articulate some of the lessons that God’s Word shows us we should be learning from this very special time that He’s given to us.
And I’m sure in this past week in your own thoughts in your
own Bible studies, every one of us have rehearsed the events surrounding the
Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
The total destruction of the infrastructure of Egypt that led up to the
Passover and the death of all the firstborn that were in Egypt and as equally
miraculous, not only the destruction but the sparing of the firstborn of all
that obeyed God and demonstrated their faith in Him by placing the blood on the
doorpost. They were literally—as we have
heard—they were literally thrust out and left with a high hand, as was pointed
out, while all of
Turn over to Exodus chapter 14 and we’ll start in verse 10.
Exodus 14:10. And when
Pharaoh drew near, the children of
Now them crying out to God was the right thing but notice what they did.
Exodus 14:11. Then they said
to Moses, “Because there were no
graves in
Verse 13.
Exodus 14:13. And Moses said
to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord,
which He will accomplish for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more
forever. 14) “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall
hold your peace.”
When I was coming up with a title for today’s sermon, I thought about “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” but it wouldn’t fit on the tape. The title is You Shall Hold Your Peace.
Brethren, this was not an accident. God wasn’t somehow taken off guard. There was a lesson that God was trying to impress on them and that lesson was not only was He sovereign and more powerful, but He wanted them to understand to the depth of their being that He would save them, that He would fight for them.
Verse 15.
Exodus 14:15. And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to
Me? Tell the children of
Verse 19.
Exodus 14:19. And the Angel
of God, who went before the camp of
We know that Angel of God, which means “messenger of God,” was none other than the Being that later became Jesus the Christ.
Not only did He give the Israelites salvation that day, He gives salvation to His people throughout man’s history.
Just look back at the end of the last chapter in verse 21 of Exodus 13. Notice, it says
Exodus 13:21. And the Lord went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, so as to go by day and night.
And notice this. And I really think personally—this is my opinion—that not only is this historic, it’s prophetic.
Exodus 13:22. He did not
take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
I think today for us He still fills that role as we will see. Just hold your finger there or actually—yeah, just hold your finger there and go over to Revelation chapter 10. Not only was He that, I believe He is now and in the future. Notice how He’s pictured in Revelation 10 and verse 1. He says
Revelation 10:1. I saw still
another [And notice this!] mighty angel
And, again, “angel” means a messenger from God but this is a mighty angel.
Revelation 10:1b. coming
down from heaven, [Notice!] clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow on his head, [And notice this!]
his face was like the sun,
This was Jesus Christ in His glorified state. This was not one of the archangels. This was the Mighty Angel.
Revelation 10:1 cont. and
his feet like pillars of fire.
He was clothed in a cloud. He was the cloud, a covering. And His feet were like pillars of fire. Even in the future that same Being will be seen as a cloud and as fire.
Okay, back to Exodus 14 and verse 20. It says
Exodus 14:20. So it came between the camp
It’s talking about the cloud and the fire.
Exodus 14:20b. it came
between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of
Again, historic, but, Brethren, if you really read this closely and study it and meditate on it, this is prophetic. This is the way God not only dealt with them; it is the way He deals with us.
Exodus 14:21. Then Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord
caused the sea to go back by a strong
east wind all that night, [so in the darkness] and [He] made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22) So the children of
And remember this is during the dark. They were moving forward.
Exodus 14:22b. and the
waters were a wall to them on their
right hand on their left. 23) And the
Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s
horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Verse 24.
Exodus 14:24. Now it came to
pass, in the morning watch,
So this is after sun up. It was during the morning.
Exodus 14:24b. that the Lord looked down upon the army of the
Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army
of the Egyptians.
It’s interesting this was during the morning watch and it was by design. I believe God wanted the Israelites to witness what He was doing for them. He wanted them to see firsthand what was happening and that He was delivering. He could have done it at night. They could just kind of come up and He could have covered it up or prevented them, but God wanted the Israelites to firsthand, up close and personal to witness that He, the Sovereign All Powerful God who had destroyed Egypt, was powerful enough, but He wanted them to know that He was the Sovereign Powerful God.
Exodus 14:25. And He took
off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians
said, “Let us flee from the face of
He caused them to become bogged down so that they would remain there until He finally destroyed them.
Exodus 14:26b. that the
waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their
horsemen.” 27) And Moses stretched out
his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared [again], the sea returned
to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord
overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28) Then the waters returned and covered the
chariots, the horsemen, and all the
army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29) But the children of
Again, consider there were two purposes. There was a twofold purpose to this. God did deliver the nation of
Verse 31.
Exodus 14:31. Thus
And there’s three key words here.
Exodus 14:31b. saw
the great work which the Lord had
done in
And again, three key words which I think describe our lifelong journey. And I’d like to consider it from a number of angles, those words, “saw,” “feared,” and “believed.”
Look over in Psalm chapter 37.
And remember what we read in Exodus 14:13.
Exodus 14:13b. “Do not be
afraid. Stand still, and see the
salvation of the Lord,
Psalm 37 and verse 39, it says
Psalm 37:39. But the
salvation of the righteous is from
the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. 40) And the Lord
shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and
save them, [Why?] because they trust in Him.
In the past, we were immersed in a society living out our lives pretty much our rules and due to circumstances, Brethren, every one of us were brought into contact with the most powerful Beings that have ever existed. And those Beings called us out of what we were doing, where we were headed, and They told us through various means to trust Them, that we were Their works. We were the works of Their hands and They were going to deliver us and They were going to save us. And we had to commit to Them and to follow Them. And They would supply all of our needs.
But did that happen in a moment? We were called and we started to understand. Think back. How many of us that were baptized were told before our baptism to count the cost? A hundred percent. Hands down a hundred percent. I think that is one thing that you always tell a person. Now the next question is: How many of us today looking back even had the slightest inkling of the road that we were going to travel? The trials that we were going to encounter? I would say, “Zero.” Now perhaps there’s some here that are a lot smarter than all of us, but I don’t think when we start that journey we have any idea. Yes, we counted the cost. And academically we knew it. But academically knowing it is different than experiencing it. And I also hope that a hundred percent of us, even today with the lens we look back and project and know that and understand the journey, would do it again because, Brethren, it’s through the journey and it’s through the trials that we learn that God is with us and He’s going to deliver us.
Look over in Hebrews chapter 11.
We’re in good company with this with where we’re headed because God gave us the information to start the journey but He didn’t give us the information to finish. If we had it, why would we need to trust in God? If He gave us a map and said, “Here’s the way to go,”—remember Christ said, “I am the way.” But He also said, “Follow Me.” He didn’t say, “Here’s the way to go. This, this, this, and this and take a left.” There wasn’t a spiritual “never lost” that we were given at baptism. If we had that, we wouldn’t need God. We’d need the map. We would need the “never lost,” whatever it is. He just said, “Look, I’ll be with you on this whole journey. I promise and I cannot lie. Follow Me.”
Hebrews 11 verse 8. Talking when I should have been turning. It says
Hebrews 11:8. By faith
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive
as an inheritance. And he went out,
[Notice!] not knowing where he was going. 9) By faith he dwelt in the land of promise
as in a foreign country, dwelling in
tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10) For he waited for the city which has
foundations, whose builder and maker is
God.
Brethren, we don’t know where we’re going. I mean we know the vision of where we’re going to end up but we don’t know the path. We don’t know the way. We just know to follow the cloud and the fire, Jesus Christ that’s going to deliver us.
Exodus
“Saw” is from the Hebrew ra’ah. It’s Strong’s 7200. And it means more than just to observe. Let me read.
It means to advise, to appear, to
behold, to consider, to discern, [And notice the next one!] to have experience.
So not only does it mean to observe as one would set off, it means to be immersed in. It means to experience something. So when they “saw,” it wasn’t like sitting on the fifty yard line and watching a football game. They were in the middle of the fray. So “saw” is to experience. Brethren, there is no shortcut because experience only comes through time and through life.
To “fear” that is the Strong’s 3372, yare’. And it does mean to be afraid, to dread. But it also means to have reverence for, to respect, to trust.
And “believe,” Strong’s 539, ‘aman. It means to build up support for, to foster as a parent. It means to establish. It means to be faithful, to remain faithful, to trust. Those are some of the words that is also translated to trust.
As a result of us seeing what God has done, as a result of
us respecting Him, and believing Him, and following Him, and putting our trust
in Him, that salvation is a surety. As
we personally witness what God is doing in our lives, we should develop, over
our lives, a very strong trust and confidence, and through that to come to have
a very deep respect for Him as our God and as our Deliverer.
Look over in Psalm chapter 78. I’m going to spend a bit of time in this because I think no other part of the Bible perhaps illustrates what I’m trying to say today more than Psalm 78. The theme of this song is about the deliverance that God gave the Israelites in their times of need and how even though they were not faithful to Him, He was faithful and He kept His promises to them.
Psalm 78 and I’ve talked about this before, but it starts out as it says “A Contemplation of Asaph.” The King James is “A Maschil.” And remember a maschil is a special psalm of teaching. Again, I’m just repeating myself but when you see and there are thirteen, and again, I don’t know the significance of that. Thirteen of the psalms are considered maschils or songs of teaching. But when we see one of these, we should take special note of that psalm because it is giving us a very important message. Again, I think it’s like when you see “A Contemplation” or “A Maschil” that should be “Heads up! Some important information is going to follow!” And, in fact, not only is this one prefaced with that, A Maschil or A Contemplation, which means something’s coming, notice the very first words.
Psalm 78:1. Give ear, O my
people,
In other words, “Listen up! Make sure you’re paying attention.”
Psalm 78:1b. to my law; incline your ears to the
words of my mouth. 2) I will open my
mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
It’s interesting this starts out in the first person. It’s “I.” “Listen up! Listen, my people to my words and I will do that.” The first two verses are in the first person.
Now set a marker there because let’s see who the “I’ and the “my” and the ‘me” is. And there’s no doubt who that is. Set a marker there. Go over to Matthew chapter 13. On the First Day of Unleavened Bread, Mr. Buchanan mentioned leavening and there was one place in the Bible where leavening was not used directly to picture sin. Matthew 13 and in verse 33.
Matthew 13:33. Another
parable He spoke to them:
So again, it makes a point this is a parable.
Matthew 13:33b. “The kingdom
of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal
till it was all leavened.” 34) All these
things
And again you can read up to that.
Matthew 13:34b. Jesus spoke
to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to
them, [Why?] 35) That it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will
open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation
of the world.”
So back in Psalm 78, that Speaker is the one that became
Jesus Christ. That was the God of the
Old Testament, the Yahweh. Again, there is no doubt. There is no room for, in my mind anyway, for
interpretation.
Okay, go back to Psalm 78 now and we’ll start there. Again, Psalm 78 verse 1.
Psalm 78:1. Give ear, O my
people, to my law; incline
your ears to the words of my mouth.
2) I
And, Brethren, this is the Word speaking directly to us.
Psalm 78:2. I will open my mouth
in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
3) Which we
And now it’s shifts to us. In other words, this is now—the first two verses were His—and now it’s us.
Psalm 78:3. Which we have
heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4) We will not hide them from
their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His
wonderful works that He has done.
Notice not what we have done. Not what they have done. It was what God has done. Sometime if we’re not careful we can start focusing on who we are and what we have done. And as we go through this, as we take the lesson from the Days of Unleavened Bread with us, we will very clearly see it’s not us. We should hold our peace and it’s what God has done. It’s what He has accomplished.
Have you ever considered how blessed we are—and remember with a blessing comes a responsibility—that we have to have the testimony of history of the Bible? Think about Abraham. We read about God shows up and tells him to leave Ur of Chaldees and He would show him where to go. And he leaves. Now I am convinced that Abraham knew the Melchizedek that he had a relationship with but there was not this lens of history. He didn’t have—the Bible wasn’t even going to be started for another four hundred and fifty years. All he had was the oral tradition. And, yes, I’m sure he knew about Noah, about those things, but all he had was the oral traditions behind him. He couldn’t go back and look in the Old Testament and see how time after time after time God did that. He came up and said, “Abraham, trust Me. Get out of Dodge and I’ll show you where to go.” And Abraham did it. No wonder He’s called “the father of the faithful.” We, now, can look back on that act of faith and look back on the fact that God followed through. But he didn’t.
What about Noah? God comes and says, “Noah, build a boat. I’m going to destroy the world.” Now Noah couldn’t whip out his Bible and say, “Ah, I know what. This is the Being that always”— He had to trust Him. And, yes, what was his tradition? Less even than Abraham’s. A hundred and twenty years he built a boat and he warned the people.
Abraham did what God promised. Noah did what God promised. Abraham is the father of many nations. And remember when that promise was made, he didn’t even have children. It’s interesting he believed God. He believed God so much that he did everything in his power to bring it to pass. “Oh, okay. I’m going to have children. Well, here’s Eliezer because I’m old. I’m well past—Sarah, she can’t have kids anymore. She’s well past that. God promised it. Okay, here’s Eliezer.” God said, “No.” “Okay. How about Hagar? How about Sarah’s handmaid? Okay, it’s got to be of your own family. Okay. We’ll do this.” Abraham still believed God. He knew it was going to happen. But he was doing all he could to try to help God out. So he had a child. It was his blood offspring. God said, “No.” I’m sure he believed Him but he was doing his best to make God’s promises come true.
I just wonder and this is just my speculation. If God had used Eliezer or Ishmael, would that not have taken some of God’s majesty and His glory and given it to Abraham? “He kept His promise. What I did was I went and got Hagar and we had a child.” He helped. He had figured it out. Brethren, God did it the impossible way. Here was a man just shy of a hundred years old and a woman well past child-bearing and they had Isaac. Brethren, there is no doubt that God did it without any assistance from a man.
Why did all that happen? Verse 5, it says
Psalm 78:5. For He
established a testimony in Jacob,
That Hebrew word for “testimony,” Strong’s 5715, ‘eduwth, it means a testimony. It also means a witness. What happened was for a witness.
Just hold your finger there. Look over in Numbers chapter 17. I say, “Hold your fingers.” Maybe you’ve got a marker set already. Look over in Numbers 17 and verse 7. It says
Numbers 17:7. And Moses
placed the rods before the Lord
in the tabernacle of witness.
It’s the same word, ‘eduwth. Here translated as “witness.”
Numbers 17:8. Now it came to
pass of the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and
behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth
buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.
So again, it was a witness.
Okay, back to Psalm 78. I’ll read that out of The New Jerusalem Bible. Psalm 78 verse 5, it says
Psalm 78:5. He instituted a witness
in Jacob, and appointed a law in
And notice He not only showed them
Psalm 78:5b. that they
should make them known to their children:
They were to be a witness. Not only were they to teach but they were to pass on to their children exactly what God did for them, how He delivered them, how He provided for them.
Psalm 78:6. That the
generation to come might know them,
[that] the children who would be
born, that they may arise and [What?]
declare them to their children,
Brethren, why did God do this? If the purpose was just to save them, it seems like it would have been the toughest way. Why do we rehearse this year in and year out? What is the purpose?
Psalm 78:5. He instituted a
witness in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded [to] our
fathers, that they should make them known to their children; 6) That the generation to come might know them, [that] the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them
to their children,
Verse 7.
Psalm 78:7. That they
And we, Brethren, because those that are born and declared
Psalm 78:7. That they may
set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His
commandments;
Remember the commandments? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart is the first and the great. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And we can do that because we know that God will keep His promise. He will provide for us. He will fight for us. And we need to hold our peace and move forward.
Unlike our forefathers, Brethren, we have a chance to get it
right. We have the historical record of
His miraculous intervention and salvation.
And all they had to do was to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
Brethren, let’s not continue our journey from today and when we face our
Pharaohs and the armies that we’re afraid and we forget who we serve and want
to return to
Verse 8.
Psalm 78:8. And may not be
like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and
whose spirit was not faithful to God. 9)
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the
day of battle.
We’ll see this is mentioned again. I think there’s a lot of importance to this
because it’s mentioned more than once in this Psalm about this and we’ll see it
later. But what this is referring to is
the Ark of the Covenant. Remember it was
initially brought to
But, Brethren, do we do that? Do we sometime with all the armor of God that we have, do we sometimes still turn and run? Do we get overtaken? Do we lose heart at times and see that they are more mighty than we and forget that it’s God that’s fighting for us? And I, at least, personally too often.
Verse 10.
Psalm 78:10. They did not
keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, [Notice!]
11) And forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them. 12) Marvelous things
And that word “marvelous”—you can look it up—it means miraculous or miracles.
Psalm 78:12b. He did for
them in the sight of their fathers, in the
Now during the time the Israelites were in
Verse 13.
Psalm 78:13. He divided the
sea and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters [to] stand up like
a heap. 14) In the daytime also He led
them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
So He protected them. But notice going on.
Psalm 78:15. He split the
rocks in the wilderness, and gave them
drink in abundance like the depths.
So not only did He save them and protect them, He provided for them.
Psalm 78:16. He also brought
streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
God was showing them through these miracles that He was going to provide for them. He was their protection. He was their guide. He was their provider. Without the backdrop of history, God wanted them to experience firsthand the love that He had for them and how He was involved in every aspect of their life on a daily basis to the end that He wanted them to love Him, to trust Him, and to look to Him alone for their needs.
Verse 17.
Psalm 78:17. But they sinned
even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the
wilderness. 18) And they tested God in
their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. 19) Yes, they spoke against God; they said,
“Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
“Now I know He got rid of the Egyptians. I know He split the rock but can He provide a table for us? There’s not much growing out here. There’s not even a bush to burn. And is He going to provide that?”
Psalm 78:20. Behold, He
struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed.
“We know He did that.”
Psalm 78:20b. Can He give
bread also? Can He provide meat for His
people?”
Verse 21.
Psalm 78:21. Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and
anger also came up against
Despite all the miraculous intervention, they still didn’t have the confidence in Him. But you know what? He continued His side of the bargain. He continued to demonstrate His commitment to them.
Verse 23.
Psalm 78:23. Yet He had
commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24) Had rained down manna on them to eat, and
given them of the bread of heaven. 25)
Men ate angels’ food; He sent them food to the full.
You know what? They didn’t have to go out and fight for it. They had to bend over and pick it up.
Psalm 78:26. He caused an
east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south
wind. 27) He also rained meat on them
like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas;
Now did somebody say, “I saw a flock of birds going over and it’s over the hill. Let’s go get them?”
Psalm 78:28. And He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
They had to bend over and pick it up. God gave it to them and they didn’t have to labor for it. They had to bend over and pick it up.
Psalm 78:28b. all around
their dwellings. 29) So they ate and
were well filled, for He gave them their own desire.
Skip down to verse 34. Of course, God was angry and God did punish them. Perhaps—I don’t know—perhaps the more vocal the leaders of it—I don’t know. Verse 34.
Psalm 78:34. When He slew
them, then they sought Him; and they returned and sought [diligently] for God.
Have you ever noticed that the most spiritual growth we have is under times when the future is uncertain? It’s when we have to rely. It’s also, Brethren, when we are corrected.
Verse 35.
Psalm 78:35. Then they
remembered that God was their rock,
and the Most High God their Redeemer.
36) Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to
Him with their tongue; 37) For their
heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant.
So they didn’t keep up their end of the bargain.
Verse 38.
Psalm 78:38. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them.
Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His
wrath. 39) For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes
away and does not come again.
Look over in Psalm 103 verse 13. Keep your marker in Psalm 78. Psalm 103 and verse 13.
Psalm 103:13. As a father
pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. 14) For He knows our frame; He remembers that
we are dust. 15) As
for man, his days are like grass;
as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16) For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers
it no more.
Steve has mentioned several times that we do not know or even appreciate perhaps how many times a day that God intervenes in our lives and we don’t know it. I’m sure we don’t fully appreciate. But I wonder, also, how many times by my actions, my thoughts, my carelessness has provoked God and He’s shown me mercy by not giving me what I deserve and remembered that I am just dust and has spared me.
Look over in Malachi chapter 3 in verse 16. It says, Malachi 3:16
Malachi 3:16. Then those who
feared the Lord spoke to one
another, and the Lord listened
and heard them; so a book of
remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name.
It’s interesting and I’ve not studied this deeply. We know there’s the Book of Life and there’s the Book of Remembrance. And I wonder if times when we’re being very trying to God that He goes and looks at that Book and sees perhaps the times that we were humble, the times that were trying to serve Him, and that causes Him to—again, I don’t know. I haven’t studied it. But there was a Book that He was keeping track of those things and knowing God keeping track were those qualities, those times when we allowed Him to work through us.
Malachi 3:16b. for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name. 17) “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “On the day that I make them My jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 18) Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.
Brethren, we regularly thank God for what He does and provides for us. Do we also thank Him for what He doesn’t do to us? Do we thank God for His mercy when He spares us when we do not deserve it? Again, we always thank Him for what we have, for the food, for the clothes, for one another. But do we thank Him for what He doesn’t do to us? For His mercy? The time that He remembers our frame and He knows that we are just dust?
Let me give you a Bible study topic. Again, in the Psalms alone, the words “His mercy endures forever” appears thirty-two times. Now it appears eight other times in other books. There’s a total of forty times—it was interesting it was forty times—that “His mercy endures forever” appears in the Bible. Study them and realize that if God didn’t abundantly pardon us and extend His mercy to us, we would be destroyed. Yet, how many of us think about that and appreciate that God does abundantly pardon, that He does extend mercy, that we’re not destroyed, that we don’t get what we deserve? And all the time God puts up with that, He still loves us. He’s still with us. Just like the Israelites, He still gave them what they needed.
Back to Psalm 78 and verse 40.
Psalm 78:40. How often they
provoked Him in the wilderness, and
grieved Him in the desert! 41) Yes,
again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42) They did not remember His power; the day
when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43) When He worked His signs in
Verse 58.
Psalm 78:58. For they
provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with
their carved images. 59) When God heard this, He was furious, and greatly
abhorred
And we talked about this a little earlier.
Psalm 78:61. [He] delivered
His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand.
Remember the Philistines took the
Psalm 78:62. He also gave
His people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance. 63) The fire consumed their young men, and
their maidens were not given in marriage.
64) Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no
lamentation. 65) Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. 66) And He beat back His enemies; He put them
to a perpetual reproach.
There’s a lot of information in that verse. I want to—it’s very poorly translated in The New King James. The King James has much more accurate translation of that. Verse 66 from The King James
Psalm 78:66. And he smote
his enemies in the hinder parts: he put
them to a perpetual reproach.
That word is ‘achowr, Strong’s 268, and it means hinder part. It also means behind, their rear end, their back side.
You see,
Remember when they went into the Promised Land—and you can read about this in the Psalms—the houses were empty. All the barns were full. The trees were budding because it was in the spring. And the people were gone. And it was there for their taking. They didn’t labor for it. They didn’t have to get out and sweat. They went in, cut the first shock of firstfruits, gave it to God, and enjoyed the land, and didn’t have to plant a seed. God did it for them and handed it to them on a silver platter.
Here’s a case where God again—1 Samuel 5 verse 1.
1 Samuel 5:1. Then the
Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to
You all know the story. Dagon kept falling down breaking his nose. But there was more. Verse 6.
1 Samuel 5:6. But the hand
of the Lord was heavy upon them
of
That’s hemorrhoids for those of you that…
1 Samuel 5:6b. even
In other words, the whole area. Brethren, there wasn’t a tube of Preparation H. There wasn’t a blow-up donut cushion in all of that country. And these big burly soldiers are going, “Oh, oh, oh.” [Laughter.] God didn’t need an army. “I’ll take care of it.” And He brought them to their knees with hemorrhoids.
1 Samuel 5:7. And when the
men of
And this is the classic.
1 Samuel 5:7b. for his hand
is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
God got the
1 Samuel 5:8. They sent
therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said,
What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of
Israel be carried about unto
What’s that about us now? Not in my back yard. They moved it. “This is terrible. Let’s take it to the neighbors.” And the neighbors they got sick. And finally people said, “You’re not going to bring that here.”
1 Samuel 5:9b. and he smote
the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods [Where?] in
their secret parts.
Brethren, God didn’t need
Psalm 78 and 66.
Psalm 78:66. And he smote
his enemies in the hinder parts: he put
them to a perpetual reproach.
Verse 67.
Psalm 78:67. Moreover He
rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
And you can look. The
Psalm 78:68. But He chose
the tribe of
Remember David was the one that brought it in there.
Psalm 78:69. And He built
His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has established
forever. 70) He also chose David, His
servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71) From following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd
Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.
72) So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and
guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Remember, Brethren, this Psalm is a maschil. It contains instruction and wisdom. God continually provided for the Israelites to show them that He was there for them. And they didn’t appreciate it or want to serve Him.
In this Psalm, we saw how God took them out of
What about us? What about our needs? What about our journey? What about our deliverance? Is God with us?
Matthew 28 and verse 18. Matthew 28:18.
Matthew 28:18. And Jesus
came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth. 19) “Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20)
“Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you: and lo,
And you can underline this. You can highlight it.
Matthew 28:20b. I am with
you always, even to the end of the
age.”
And then it says, “Amen.” In other words, let that be so.
Brethren, God, who cannot lie, has promised us He will never fail us or never forsake us. And, Brethren, we have a six thousand year history of the written record to back that up. We all have to take this journey. It’s going to take all of our life, a symbolic testing of forty years, to experience that God will deliver us. And we can have absolute trust in Him and His Word. Just as He was all things for them—John tells us that He was the Light that came into the world. He’s our Light, Brethren. He’s our refuge as David said. He’s the rock that followed them and gives them water. He follows us and He gives us the living water that we’ll never thirst again.
As we heard on the first Holy Day, He’s the manna that feeds us, that gives us nourishment. Brethren, God wants us to learn the lesson that we can absolutely trust Him for all of our needs regardless of the circumstances. There’s nothing too tough for God.
It’s interesting that the Israelites were called the
children of
We came together a little over a week ago for the Passover. Remember—look over in John 13—remember how He viewed His followers? And again, these were big burly fishermen, the Sons of Thunder. How did He feel about His followers? John 13 verse 31.
John 13:31. So, when he had
gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in
Him. 32) “If God is glorified in Him,
God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33) “Little children, I shall be with
you a little while longer. You will seek
Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I
say to you. 34) “A new commandment I give
to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you,
You see God saw the apostles, the disciples, as “little
children.” Remember Christ said, “It was
of the little children are such as the
When a child is frightened, where does that child go? When a child is hungry, where does that child go? When they’re hurt? When a child is happy and they want to share, where do they go? That’s the relationship that God wants us to have with Him. He wants us to look to Him for all things. And He wants us to look at history that He was always there and if there was a failing, it wasn’t on His part.
As we move forward from this day, the final Day of Unleavened Bread, let’s not forget the lessons of a loving Creator that, as was mentioned, to take us on His wings, to teach, to coach, and to ultimately deliver us. As we go through life, we’re going to experience trials and tests and seemingly insurmountable objects. But, Brethren, those are for a purpose. They’re not just to hurt us. They’re not there just to be an obstacle. They are there for part of our human experience to see that we personally—not just reading about—but we personally can experience God’s intervention and His salvation and through our life’s experiences to come to have absolute faith and absolute trust in Him.
Psalm 34, final Scripture, and verse 11. Psalm 34:11.
Psalm 34:11. Come, you
children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12) Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days that he may see good? 13) Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips
from speaking deceit. 14) Depart from
evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15) The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. 16) The face of the Lord is against those
who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17) The
righteous cry out, and the Lord
hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18) The Lord
is near to those who have a broken
heart,
He’s with them on their journey.
Psalm 34:18b. and saves such
as have a contrite spirit. 19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
And, Brethren, it’s not for their hurt. It’s for their training. And it’s so they can absolutely come to know that God is there on that journey with them and He’s powerful enough to deliver them.
Psalm 34:19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of
them all.
Transcribed by kb