Turn to Psalm 94. I will read the whole Psalm, 23 verses: Psalm 94 says:
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
This Psalm starts out with the writer of this Psalm—whoever it was, whoever was inspired by God to write this Psalm—pleading for judgment to come, as you read often in the Psalms and in the prophets. You will read often that the writer is pleading or saying, “How long until you judge the wicked?” We read here twice that God is a God of vengeance. He says:
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
He doubles up on that word “vengeance.” Most of you are familiar with a couple of places in the Bible where God says that:
… Vengeance is mine; I will repay, …
(Romans 12:19). He is a God of vengeance. There will be a judgment, and this generation is going to see that judgment. We are there.
Turn back to Deuteronomy 32 (I believe this is the first place you read that), where He says that “Vengeance is mine.” Actually, go back to Deuteronomy 31. Over and over in Deuteronomy, God recounts through Moses what He has done for the Israelites in bringing them out of Egypt, a picture of salvation, in leading them through the wilderness for those forty years, of miraculously feeding them with that manna—again a picture of our wilderness sojourn in this life. And then finally, at the end of that forty-year sojourn, He brings them into the land of Canaan. But in this song, He tells Moses that these people are going to rebel. Very shortly, they are going to rebel against Him. If you look in Deuteronomy 31 and start at verses 16-17, we read:
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
He goes on like that until the end of the chapter. Then He gives Moses this song that we read in chapter 32. But in chapter 31:26-27, He says:
Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
This is Moses speaking; his words are inspired by God. He goes on in verses 28-29:
Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
Then we go on and read this song in chapter 32, and He repeats what He has been saying about how Israel is going to fall away very quickly. In verses 15-17 of 32, we read:
But Jeshurun waxed fat, …
Jeshurun is a word for Israel:
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; …
He is talking about His people that He has just brought out of Egypt, showing these miracles as He completely destroyed the Egyptians in the Red Sea and then miraculously fed them with that manna for forty years. Yet they are very quickly going to turn to other gods, to turn their backs on the God of their deliverance. Go to verse 28 (it is still going along in this same vein). In verses 28-33 of Deuteronomy 32, we read:
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
He is speaking of false gospels here. Verses 34-36 say:
Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
Turn to Isaiah 34. You can read in many places in the Bible where God talks about “Vengeance is mine.” In the first instance, vengeance is going to come upon those people that claim to be the people of the LORD God. In Isaiah 34:1-2 we read:
Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.
He is speaking here about how judgment is going to be brought upon the whole world. (Mr. Camping has been going over this chapter lately for the last week or so.) But we also read about how Edom and Moab and Ammon are actually figures of the unsaved in the church today. Those men were all descendants of Jacob, and very close. Well, they were all descendants of Abraham and should have been the people of God. But verses 3-5 go on to say:
Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: …
This is talking about the end:
… and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, …
Which is Edom, who is Esau, the twin brother of Jacob:
… and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
Verse 6 says:
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, …
Again, another word for Edom:
… and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
But He says in verse 8:
For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
“The day of the LORD’S vengeance.” But the vengeance is going to fall most severely on those who claim to be God’s people. Turn to Luke 21. Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are all similar chapters where the disciples asked how they will know when the end will come, what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass. Christ has just told them about it, but in Luke 21:20-22 (this is Christ speaking now), He says:
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
These days that we are living in now are the days of vengeance that God has been talking about since He brought the Israelites out of Egypt. We read that you shall see:
… Jerusalem compassed with armies, …
Jerusalem is a figure of God’s people. He then says in verse 21:
Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; …
This is the commandment to leave that corporate church because of their turning to idols—they are turning to false gospels—and how they actually oppose the people of God. Let us go back to Psalm 94. This is what we are reading here in the first verse, where he says:
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Again, he is pleading. That word “shew thyself” can be translated “shine forth.” He is asking for God to shine forth, to appear, to bring judgment. In verse 2, He says:
Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
If you turn back to Psalm 44:23-24, we read:
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
Again, this is another plea. You read this in many places in the Psalms and in the Proverbs, where the writer is pleading for God to awake to judgment and end the oppression of the wicked on God’s people. Psalm 94:4 says:
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
This is still speaking of the oppression on God’s people by those in the church, who believe they are the people of God and yet are opposed to the truth. Psalm 94:5-6 says:
They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
The widow, the stranger, and the fatherless are all synonyms for those that are coming to salvation. A widow we know as someone who has lost her husband; her husband has died. Turn to Psalm 146:9. Upon salvation, God becomes the husband of the widow. We read that in Isaiah 54:5, where He says:
For thy Maker is thine husband; …
But in Psalm 146:8-9, we read:
The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: …
This is speaking of salvation:
… the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
There are all three of those words in that verse: the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. Psalm 94:6:
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Again, an orphan is someone who has lost their father. We read in Ephesians 1 that, upon salvation, we are adopted by God. Ephesians 1:5 says:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
So God becomes our Father upon salvation. But Psalm 94:6 says:
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Again, the stranger would have been someone who was outside of Israel. He was not an Israelite. But he would be (if you go back to Ephesians, which is it where it talks about this) brought into the commonwealth of Israel. Ephesians 2:11-13 says:
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, …
Before salvation, we were outside. We were Gentiles. We were not of the children of Israel, who were a representation of God’s people:
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
If you go back in the ceremonial laws, they had laws concerning strangers—those that were not Israelites. They were commanded in Exodus 12 that a stranger could not eat of the Passover; that was only for the Israelites. This again is a picture of how Christ, that Passover, only died for what the Israelites represented—the people of God. But then you read in Deuteronomy 10 that they were commanded to love a stranger. Deuteronomy 10:17-19 says:
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, …
Again, those same three words:
… in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Here they were commanded to love the stranger, the one that was not an Israelite, because the strangers were figures of those that could be brought into the commonwealth of Israel. But we are reading in Psalm 94:6 about the wicked:
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Verses 7-12 of Psalm 94 say:
Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? …
This is God that formed you:
… shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
God chastises His own; we read that in Hebrews 12. Again, this is a principle you are all familiar with. But when you recognize chastisement—that it is coming from the Lord—it is actually a comfort and a blessing. Even though you have fallen into a sin, you know that God is your Father and He is bringing you along with the chastisement. Hebrews 12:4-8 says:
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
If God has given you up—that is a frightening thought—to your sin, there is no chastisement. This is an unsaved person. Let me go on. In Hebrews 12:9-11, we read:
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Let us go back to Psalm 94. In verse 12, we read:
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
God teaches His children out of His law, the Bible. Verse 13:
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
Now that word “adversity” is the Hebrew word that is usually translated “evil.” It is speaking of the judgment that is going to come. Look at Proverbs 16:4; you will see this same word that they translated “adversity.” Proverbs 16:4 says:
The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Or “adversity,” the same word. Psalm 94:13 says, That thou mayest give him rest from the days of “evil,” from the day of “judgment”:
… until the pit be digged for the wicked.
Verse 14 of Psalm 94:
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
That reminds us of a very comforting verse in Hebrews 13:5. Hebrews 13:5 says:
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
But in verses 15-16 of Psalm 94, we read:
But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
There is no one to rise up for us against those evildoers or against those workers of iniquity. Only the LORD God can be our help. And that is what verse 17 says:
Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
The “help” that the Bible is speaking of is salvation. He is our help in “time of trouble.” In the trials and tribulation of this world, only God can be our help. Psalm 60:11 says:
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
There is no help in a man-made salvation. That word “trouble”—if you turn back to Psalm 59:16, it says:
But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
That is speaking of the wrath of God, the day of our trouble. We are in trouble before salvation. We are under the wrath of God. It is only God that can give us help from that trouble. Again, verse 17 of Psalm 94 says:
Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
This word “silence” is only used one other place in the Bible, and it is in Psalm 115:17. Psalm 115:17 says:
The dead …
Or those that are not saved, the spiritually dead:
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
This goes along with what we have been learning in the last several months about judgment, that the dead will simply go down into silence; they will cease to exist. There will not be any place where they will be cursing and blaspheming God forever. Verse 18 of Psalm 94 says:
When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
It is God that holds us up. We are not saved by our own works. We are not held up, we do not maintain our salvation, by our own works. And certainly, we cannot loose our salvation. Look at Psalm 55:22, just to get a little bit of understanding on this word “slip.” Psalm 55:22 says:
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, …
That is the burden of your sin:
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
That word “moved” is the same word that is translated “slip” in verse 18 of Psalm 94:
When I said, My foot slippeth; …
Or move. It is the same principle as in Psalm 121. It is a different Hebrew word, but we read in Psalm 121:3:
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: …
Or slipped. Again, verse 18 of Psalm 94 says:
When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
Look at Psalm 18:35. It uses that word that they translated “held me up.” Psalm 18:35 says:
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
It is God that holds us up in our salvation. We can slip, we can fall into a sin, but it is God that is holding us up. 1 Peter 1:3-5 says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again …
Or made us born again:
… unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
It is God that keeps us and holds us up through faith. Again, it is the “faith of Christ,” not our faith:
… through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Back in Psalm 94:19, we read:
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
It is the thoughts of God. We are comforted and encouraged by His Word, and those thoughts comfort and delight our soul. In verse 20 of Psalm 94:
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
This is speaking of the wicked in the church, or those that claim to be the people of the LORD God. But the Psalmist says, shall they “have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?” What does that mean?
That word “frame” means to “form” or “fashion.” The word “potter” is actually the same word, because he uses his hands as that clay is spinning on that wheel to form that pot or vase or jar or whatever he is making. But this is speaking of sinners, wicked, among the corporate people of God who form mischief. The sense of this word is misery or pain through labour, through oppression. Look at Deuteronomy 26:6-7, which says:
And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage: And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
That word “labour” is the word that they translated “mischief” in Psalm 94:20. It is an oppressing labour. What it can be referring to is how most corporate Christians today try to instill a works gospel in their people. They try to convince their people that they are saved by their works. They try to cause them to do all kinds of works to be right with God, and this is actually oppression. We are still looking at this word “mischief” here in verse 20 of Psalm 94:
Shall the throne of iniquity …
These sinners, these wicked people among the corporate church:
… have fellowship with thee, …
With the true God:
… which frameth mischief …
Form mischief or misery or oppression through labour:
… by a law?
What does that mean? It means they do it by twisting the Scriptures. The law in view there is the Bible. If you look at Isaiah 29, that is the principle here. Isaiah 29:13 is again speaking of all those Israelites who claim to be His people, yet they are not. Isaiah 29:13 says:
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
That is what it is talking about in verse 20 of Psalm 94:
Shall the throne of iniquity …
Shall these sinners:
… have fellowship with thee, which …
Form misery or oppression:
… by a law?
By perverting the Word of God. Look at Isaiah 10:1; I believe it is the same principle there. Isaiah 10:1 says:
Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
I believe that word “grievousness” is the same word that they translated “mischief” in Psalm 94:20, where it speaks of the misery or the oppression of those that are adding to the law of God or perverting it in that they are exhorting people to do all this work to be saved and are not teaching a Gospel of grace. Again, one more time, verse 20 of Psalm 94 says:
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?
It has to do with those that are perverting the Word of God. It is wickedness when you pervert the Word of God and teach works gospels. They teach that you must speak in tongues as a sign of your salvation, that you have to get water baptized, or that you have to do this or do that. They are framing “mischief by a law,” by that law of God. Verses 21-23 of Psalm 94 say:
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
We are living in the time now when God is bringing His vengeance, and most of that vengeance will be falling on those that claim to be His people. Again, in verse 22, that word “defence” it is translated “high tower” in Psalm 18:2. This is David’s Psalm of thanksgiving after the Lord had given him deliverance from all his enemies. It is repeated from 2 Samuel 22, I believe. Psalm 18 starts out:
I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
All those words describe God and how He is our defense. The last word there, “high tower,” is the word that is translated into the word “defence” in Psalm 94:22:
But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
Again, verse 23 is speaking of the judgment that will come on the unsaved:
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
This word “cut off,” He doubles up on it. He uses it twice in this verse. The sense of this word is that there will be nothing left. It is actually translated “vanish” in Job 6:17. Look at Job 6:17. Job 6:15-17 says:
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: …
That is the word that is translated “cut off” twice in the last verse of Psalm 94. Again, the sense of this verse is that there will be nothing left. In Psalm 119:139, they translated this word “consume.” Psalm 119:139 says:
My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
One more verse. In Psalm 73:27, they use the word “destroy.” Again, it is the same word though, and the sense of it is that there is nothing left. This is how judgment is going to come. There will be nothing left; there will be no place for the wicked. Psalm 73:27:
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
There will be nothing left. Psalm 37:10 says:
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
This is another place where God doubles up on those words. The sense of those words is that there will be nothing left, absolutely nothing. There will be no place where the wicked are going to exist forever.
This is a beautiful Psalm. A lot of it is speaking of judgment, and of course the sense of it is the Psalmist pleading for the Lord to come in judgment. But again, it also speaks of the mercy and the grace of God in verses 18-19, when He says:
When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
Could it be that this could be the testimony of each one here. And the mercy of God, it still is the day of salvation, and we still can come to Him pleading and begging to Him for this salvation.
Judgment is almost here. We are seeing these days of vengeance; they have begun. It is going to be a horrible thing, a horrible thing beyond our comprehension, but we can still cry to God for His mercy. He does not delight “in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11), and He delights in mercy. He is not obligated to save any one of us. But here, this book is from the mouth of God. We are listening to God speak to us as we read out of the Bible, speaking of His salvation. We cannot stand before Him in that judgment, except in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Shall we pray.