Chris touched on Psalm 46 and how this applies to what we are seeing now as God continues to open up His Word to His people and as He continues to give us the assurance that we have the truth and that we are on the right track. We will go through this Psalm and look at a number of words and phrases in this Psalm that have to do with what is going to happen on May 21st.
We now have a study on Friday nights at Palmyra, NJ. During last week’s study, we looked at Proverbs 22:17-21. Let us just read this before we go to Psalm 46. We read in Proverbs 22:17-21:
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise…
“The words of the wise” are this Book. It continues:
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in JEHOVAH, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
This is how it works. God opens up His Word to His people. We get our assurance of salvation and of truth from His Word. We are then commissioned to take this Word to others. This is the way that this works.
There is one more verse before we look at Psalm 46. We read in 2 Timothy 2:1:
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Then 2 Timothy 2:2 says:
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
This will go right to the end. This applies to any true believer to whom God is opening up His Word.
Let us now read Psalm 46. It says in Psalm 46:1-11:
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. JEHOVAH of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of JEHOVAH, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. JEHOVAH of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
The introduction to this Psalm that is before verse 1 is part of this Psalm. God inspired for this to be written as part of this Psalm. It says in Psalm 46:1 again:
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth…
This word that was translated as “chief Musician” is a word that means “to excel,” “to lead,” “to oversee,” or “to set forward.” This would be speaking of the chief of the musicians. Often when there was an event in Jerusalem, the musicians among the Levites who were skilled would praise God in music.
Look at 1 Chronicles 15. David is preparing a place for the ark. Musicians are gathered and are playing, and we read in 1 Chronicles 15:21:
And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel.
This is the same word as “chief.” “To excel” can also mean “to oversee.” “Sheminith” means “eight,” so this must have been some kind of eight-stringed instrument.
1 Chronicles 25 says this more plainly. We read in 1 Chronicles 25:1-3:
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was: Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king. Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise JEHOVAH.
So prophesying with a musical instrument is part of declaring the Word of God.
Again, Psalm 46:1 starts out:
To the chief Musician…
Who is the “chief Musician”? Spiritually, this would be referring to Christ.
Look at Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is probably the most Messianic of the Psalms. We can see Christ on the cross all through this Psalm. Psalm 22:20-21 says:
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
Then Psalm 22:22 says:
I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Christ is spiritually, and always has been, among His people. There are verses that you can find in the Bible that say that God dwells with His people. Christ is praising God among us. When we read here of the “chief Musician,” I really believe that we can spiritually see Christ as the “chief Musician”; because, again, these musicians praised God.
So Psalm 46:1 says again:
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah…
If we go to Numbers 16, we will read of a rebellion in the wilderness by Dathan and Abiram. Numbers 16:1-2 says:
Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi…
So Kohath was a Levite. It continues:
…and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses…
These men were rebelling against Moses. They were questioning his authority, and so God commanded Moses to assemble everyone on a certain day. The earth swallowed up these men and their families. In this, God was showing whom He had sanctified to come near to Him, which were the sons of Aaron and the Levites. God was showing that these men were in rebellion in what they were doing.
If we go to a passage in Numbers 26, we read something interesting. It says in Numbers 26:10:
And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
This was a spiritual sign and we are to see judgment in this, but this is another study in and of itself.
Then we read in verse 11, Numbers 26:11:
Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.
God consumed the children of these other men. He consumed their whole families.
So I believe that we are to see God’s mercy in this. These were His people, these Levites who were set apart from the other tribes of Israel to serve the Lord; but yet God spared the sons of Korah. I do not think that there is any other Korah that we can find in the Bible; and so in Psalm 46:1, this would have to be speaking of the sons or the descendants of that man Korah. I believe that we are to see God’s mercy in this in that these men were spared and were serving God.
So Psalm 46:1 starts out again:
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah…
Then it says:
…A Song upon Alamoth…
This word “alamoth” is the plural form of the word “virgin.” This would probably be “A Song [for] Alamoth,” because most of these prepositions can be translated into different English words; and so I believe that this would be saying that this was “A Song [for] Alamoth” or for the virgins. All true believers are virgins. We understand this.
If we go to the Song of Solomon, we will also see this word. The Song of Solomon is an exchange between Christ and His Bride, the elect. This is like an exchange of love, and it starts out in Song of Solomon 1:1-3:
The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
This is that same word as “alamoth.”
Look at 2 Corinthians 11, which is where we will find this principle. Any child of God who has been washed by the water of the Word in salvation is chaste and pure before God. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says:
For I am jealous over you…
This is Paul speaking and he is saying that he is jealous over the church at Corinth. Paul, very often, is a figure of Christ, and so he says:
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
This is the principle of what we are seeing in the introduction to Psalm 46. We read again in Psalm 46:1:
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon [or for] Alamoth…
This is really what all the Psalms are for. They are for God’s people.
So Psalm 46:1 starts out:
…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Turn to Jeremiah 17 and we will look at this word “refuge” to see what this is talking about. Jeremiah 17:13-17 says:
O JEHOVAH, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken JEHOVAH, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O JEHOVAH, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of JEHOVAH? let it come now. As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope…
This is the word “refuge.”
…thou art my [refuge] in the day of evil.
The “day of evil” is referring to the Day of Judgment.
Look at Ecclesiastes 11:1. This whole chapter of Ecclesiastes 11 is saying:
Cast thy bread upon the waters…
This whole chapter is telling us to get the Gospel out. We do not know who the elect are, but God will work through this. We are to get the Gospel out and “cast thy bread upon the waters.”
So Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 says:
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it [or him] after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.
We cannot comprehend this judgment. Even though God is giving us much information about it, we cannot comprehend it.
Look at Ecclesiastes 12:1. It says:
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Again, this is speaking of the end. Actually, this is speaking of the beginning of the five months and this is also speaking of the end.
Ecclesiastes 12:2 says:
While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
Whenever we read of the sun or the light or the moon or the stars being darkened, we are reading again of that last day when there will be no more Gospel, when it ends. This is the “evil” that is spoken of in relation to the “day of evil” that we read about in Jeremiah. God will be our refuge and our help in that day of trouble.
Again, Psalm 46:1 says:
…God is our refuge and strength…
Turn to Psalm 86. Let us look at one verse that has to do with this word “strength.” We have no strength in ourselves. We will see again how it is God who has done everything to save us. Our salvation was paid for before the foundations of the world. Any gospel that brings any kind of work and says that we have to do even the slightest thing to bring about salvation is “another Jesus” and it is a false gospel. Psalm 86:16 says:
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
We have no strength in ourselves to save ourselves, as we read again in Psalm 46:1:
…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
The word “found” is actually in this verse, and so this could better be translated:
…very much found to be a help in trouble.
We find this word “help” in Psalm 22. Psalm 22:19 says:
But be not thou far from me, O JEHOVAH: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
This is speaking of salvation.
Psalm 60:11 says:
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
This is the same word again. This verse is saying that there is no help in a man-made salvation:
…for vain is the help of man.
Again, Psalm 46:1:
…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
This word “trouble” can refer to judgment and it can refer to tribulation, but it very often refers to that day, the beginning of judgment, the beginning of God’s wrath.
Look at Proverbs 1. “Wisdom” is speaking, like we read in Proverbs 8 where “wisdom” speaks in the first person, “I wisdom.” Christ is “the wisdom of God,” and so Proverbs 1:20-22 says:
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
This is really saying that the Word of God goes out to the whole world. It continues:
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Most of the opening chapters of the book of Proverbs talk about the Bible and how it is the wisdom and the instruction of God, that the Bible is where we get our knowledge.
We continue on to read in Proverbs 1:23:
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Then Proverbs 1:24-27 says:
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
This word “distress” is the word “trouble” in Psalm 46:1:
…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Let us finish Proverbs 1. It goes on to say in Proverbs 1:27-28:
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
We can anticipate this. We can picture this.
Then Proverbs 1:29-30 says:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of JEHOVAH: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
“Reproof” means “correction.” It continues on in Proverbs 1:31-32:
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Then Proverbs 1:33 says:
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Here is that word “evil” again that we saw in Jeremiah 17:17, Ecclesiastes 11:2, and Ecclesiastes 12:1.
Getting back to Psalm 46:1 again, it says:
…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Chris just went over these verses a little while ago. Psalm 46:2 says:
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
We saw the power of that water in the tsunami in Japan. It was just amazing. Chris mentioned how it was traveling around 500 miles an hour. I think that an earthquake travels over 1,000 miles an hour, and what this great earthquake will do and how it will push the water is just incomprehensible to us. We can see how it will remove or carry away hills and mountains.
But God’s people will not fear:
…though the earth be removed…
This sense of this word “removed” is “changed.” The earth is going to be removed or changed.
We also see this word in Hosea 4. In most of the book of Hosea, God is upbraiding Israel for turning to idols. Hosea 4:6 says:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
We know that Old Testament Israel prefigured the New Testament church.
Then He says in Hosea 4:7:
As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
This is the same word as “removed.” Again, the sense of this is “changed.”
I believe that this is best seen in Hebrews 1:12. We read in Hebrews 1:10-12:
And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed…
He is going to change this universe. It continues:
And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
So this is the sense of this word “removed” in Psalm 46:2:
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
This word “carried” is also translated as “removed” in other places. It is in the same sense here of just the utter devastation of an earthquake that progresses around the world and the damage that it is going to do.
Then Psalm 46:3 says:
Though the waters [of the sea] thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
The end of Psalm 46:2 says:
…and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
All through the Bible, God likens the sea to hell, to His eternal damnation.
Look at Psalm 93. Psalm 93:1-3 says:
JEHOVAH reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; JEHOVAH is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O JEHOVAH…
He is speaking of the sea here and likens the sea to unsaved people. It continues in Psalm 93:3-5:
The floods have lifted up, O JEHOVAH, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. JEHOVAH on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O JEHOVAH, for ever.
So here in Psalm 46, the meaning of this is quite deep. This is actually also speaking of the unsaved. As the mountains are carried into the sea, He says in Psalm 46:3:
Though the waters thereof roar…
This word “roar” is the same word as “raged” in Psalm 46:6:
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Men are going to be roaring and raging. The nations are going to be raging at God as this happens. Again, He likens unsaved people to the proud or “mighty waves of the sea.” This is really very deep, because there are a couple of spiritual principles in here.
So, again, He says in Psalm 46:3:
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
No one is sure what “Selah” means. The general sense of this is probably that this is important, that we are to pay attention to what has been said and meditate on it and ponder it.
Then the vein of this Psalm changes a little bit in verse 4. He says in Psalm 46:4-5:
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved…
This river certainly has to be speaking of the Gospel as it flows out of Zion, the city of God.
Look at Revelation 22:1. This is speaking of the New Jerusalem:
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Certainly, this is the Gospel.
Then verse 2 is speaking of that city, the New Jerusalem. It says in Revelation 22:2:
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
So we read in Psalm 46:4:
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God…
The word here for “make glad” is often translated as “rejoice” in the context of salvation. The “city of God” is referring to the true believers. They are the true “city of God,” which Jerusalem, the land over in the Middle East, represented.
Psalm 50:1-2 says:
The mighty God, even JEHOVAH, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Zion is another word for Jerusalem, and Jerusalem represented the Kingdom of God. So this is the city that “the streams whereof shall make glad” is talking about.
Psalm 46:4 again:
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Then we read in Psalm 46:5:
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved…
God has always spiritually dwelt among His people. He says in Matthew 18:20:
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Turn to Deuteronomy 23. God is telling the Israelites to keep their camp clean. We do not read about latrines here, but He commanded them to carry a shovel when they went to relieve themselves. They were to bury this and keep the place clean. Deuteronomy 23:12-14 says:
Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon…
What He means here is a shovel. It continues:
…and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: For JEHOVAH thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.
The principle that God is spiritually dwelling among His people is all throughout the Bible, and He will literally dwell among them in the consummation.
This is what Psalm 46:5 is saying:
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved…
“Moved” is the same word as “carried” from Psalm 46:2. We see just an assortment of words here in this Psalm that have to do with the devastation of an earthquake.
Psalm 46:5 continues:
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved [or carried away]: God shall help her, and that right early.
Where this says “and that right early,” this is literally translated as “at the turning of the morning.” This word “help” is in relation to salvation and also that He is their refuge in the time of trouble.
When I first read this verse and saw what it was saying, “God shall help her, at the turning of the morning,” I thought that this might contradict the idea of this progressive earthquake, because Mr. Camping has been talking about how this will come at the end of the day. This makes sense and is beginning to come together all through the Bible. It is the end of the day of salvation.
In relation to this, the Israelites had to offer a sacrifice every morning and every evening. The day of salvation is really speaking of the entire period when God was saving from the beginning, when Adam and Eve fell, to the very end, to the last day; and so Christ is the morning. The morning is part of salvation also, but the morning is the beginning of a day. It connotes a new beginning. In the book of Revelation, Christ is called “the bright and morning star” and He is likened to the morning.
Let us look at Exodus 14. In Exodus 14, the Israelites have crossed the Red Sea and the Egyptians are pursuing them. We read in Exodus 14:23-25:
And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch JEHOVAH looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for JEHOVAH fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
Then we read in Exodus 14:26-27:
And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared…
These are the same two words that we find in Psalm 46:5:
…God shall help her, and that right early.
So this is speaking of the turning of the morning.
Then we read in Exodus 14:27-28:
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and JEHOVAH overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
Then we read at the end of verse 30, Exodus 14:30:
…and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.
I thought that this would contradict this idea of the progressive earthquake with it starting at the evening, but it does not because God uses the morning in a different way. The morning gives the sense of the beginning of salvation.
When the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, He brought them into the wilderness for forty years. This was like the beginning of salvation. That forty-year sojourn in the wilderness was a picture of the church age. It was also a picture of the sojourn of a believer’s life in the wilderness of this world.
We can read all through the Bible of Moses or Joshua or Abraham and how they rose early to do this or that. Rising early is in the context of the atonement.
Look at John 20. This is when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. John 20:1 says:
The first day of the week…
We know that this reads “the first of the sabbaths.” It continues:
…cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
God emphasizes all through the Bible that Christ rose early in the morning. We also read of these men rising early to do this or that, and the sense of this expression is in the context of salvation.
Look at Psalm 57. This is a Psalm of David. Psalm 57:7-9 says:
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
Again, this is David, a very prominent figure of Christ, whom God inspired to write these words.
We read this again in Psalm 108. Psalm 108:1-3 says:
O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O JEHOVAH, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
I also want to look at Psalm 30. Psalm 30 is a beautiful Psalm extolling the Lord for His salvation. Psalm 30:3-5 says:
O JEHOVAH, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto JEHOVAH, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
I believe that this is speaking of salvation. The night can be relating to when we are in darkness before salvation or when we are in tribulation, but I do not think that this verse in Psalm 46 contradicts the idea of judgment coming at the end of the day, the end of the day of salvation.
Continuing in Psalm 46, we read in Psalm 46:5:
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early [at the turning of the morning].
Verse 6 continues in the sense of the devastation of the earth in this earthquake. Psalm 46:6 says:
The heathen raged…
This word “heathen” can also be translated “nations.” Again, we can see the sense of the sea roaring as God compares the unsaved to the ocean.
In Isaiah 57:20-21, He says:
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Again, Psalm 46:6 says:
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved…
We see this word “moved” again. This is a word that is often translated as “slip,” as in “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved” or to slip. All of these different words in this Psalm have to do with the earthquake removing or destroying all of the kingdoms and the landscape of this earth.
Verse 7 is comforting us again. Psalm 46:7 says:
JEHOVAH of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
We see this word “refuge” again. Then verse 8 says, Psalm 46:8:
Come, behold the works of JEHOVAH, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
This is again speaking of the time of the great earthquake.
Then verse 9 says, Psalm 46:9:
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth…
This is the idea of Armageddon. It is that final battle. It continues:
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
This is the ultimate victory, again, of Armageddon in that day.
Then Psalm 46:10 says:
Be still, and know that I am God…
“Be still” is a word that is translated other places in the Bible as “cease” or “forsake” or “stay.” The sense of this is that it is entirely God who has won this victory for us and who will come again in the end, in the consummation.
The sense of this is like what we read in Exodus 14 when the Israelites feared as they saw the Egyptians bearing down on them. It is not the same word that we see here, but the sense of it is the same. It also has to do with salvation, because we contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation. Those who are saved were named before the foundations of the world; and, again, God did all of the work of Christ before the foundations of the world. So in Exodus 14, the Egyptians are pursuing the Israelites and they are getting close. Then in Exodus 14:11-12, which is referring to the Israelites, it says:
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?…
Is this not amazing? It continues:
…For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Then Exodus 14:13 says:
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of JEHOVAH, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
“Stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah.” This is the way it works. It is entirely of the Lord’s work, and He gives this trust to His people. They will stand still in that day and watch God work.
So Psalm 46:10 says again:
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Then Psalm 46:11 says:
JEHOVAH of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
This is the third time that this word “refuge” appears in this Psalm. Then this Psalm ends with:
…Selah.
Psalm 46:10 again:
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
This is the bottom line. It is all to God’s glory.
In His mercy, it is still the day of salvation. Salvation will continue for a few more weeks. If we are not sure, we can continue to beg God for His mercy. We can continue to supplicate until that last instant for our loved ones, for our family, for others around us.
Let me just close by reading a couple of verses in Psalm 41. Tom Holt pointed this out a week or two ago. This is just one of those passages that we have read over and over again, and yet it never struck us as to what it was actually saying. We read in Psalm 41:1-4:
Blessed is he that considereth the poor: JEHOVAH will deliver him in time of trouble. JEHOVAH will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. JEHOVAH will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. I said, JEHOVAH, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
This is the contrition of a true believer as he comes before God.
Let us pray.