by Rev. A. McPherson
Prefatory Remarks
Of all the facts which confront men in this world, by far the most important is that of the existence and character of God. Comparatively few in this country today believe this, for only about ten per cent. attend any place of worship, and it is to be feared that a much smaller proportion really keep the being of God foremost in their minds. This extraordinary state of affairs in a Christian country may be attributed to the success which several generations of religious teachers have had in promoting the idea that the Bible is not the inspired, inerrant Word of God. In place of the Bible’s testimony to the majesty and glory of its Author, the self-existent God, mere men have had the temerity to substitute their own ideas of what God is. Confusion has resulted because almost the only idea which these “honest thinkers”
hold in common is that He is not the almighty Creator, Preserver, Lawgiver, Judge and Saviour to whom the Scriptures testify.
Those, however, who are not infidels and who realise that God is a great God and King will allow that religion ought to be the most important of man’s earthly activities. We could define religion as consisting of four things. (1) The acknowledgment of God as that supreme spiritual Being whose creatures we are. (2) The admission of our dependence upon Him. (3) Obedience to his revealed will. (4) Worship offered to God as his due.
These elements may all be found in the various forms of fake religion throughout the world. Animists, people of primitive tribes who worship spirits, acknowledge a supreme Spirit, but have little sense of his character. The fertility rites of idolatrous heathens were an admission of their dependence upon Him, but were grossly superstitious. Romanists make much of obedience to God while “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” And the Canaanite worship took its most awful form in the giving of their firstborn into the fiery hands of Moloch, the fruit of their body for the sin of their souls. (Micah 6, v. 7). Only in revealed religion, that taught in the Scriptures, do all four elements exist in their full proportions unmixed with error. The tendency has always been for men to corrupt religion, and only the fact that God has given a revelation of Himself and his dealings with man in written form has preserved true religion on the earth. When we think of religion therefore, we must distinguish between revealed religion and all other varieties, some of which are purely natural while others, like Romanism, are a combination of natural and revealed religion.
In the Bible, God’s self-revelation, He has described Himself correctly so that we may be in no doubt as to what He is. By receiving the Scriptures as the Word of God, we acknowledge that He is and that He has spoken to us in righteousness and mercy. There also we learn the exact nature of our dependence upon Him. Sin has made us still more dependent than what we were in our state of innocence. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,” (Lam. 3 v. 22) and only by divine mercy and grace can we be saved from our sins. In the Scriptures we find the extent of the law binding us to obey God and our failures and inability clearly set forth. There also the one acceptable method of worship is clearly described. God is to be approached through Christ the one Mediator; pardon and justification are to be sought through faith in Him, and God is to be worshipped and served by believing souls in the manner prescribed in His Word.
We in the Free Presbyterian Church are familiar with the components of the divinely appointed worship. They are praise, prayer and the reading and preaching of God’s Word. In view of
our design to try to grasp the meaning of the inspired Psalms, let us bear in mind that they are God’s own manual of praise given to the Church of the New Testament as well as that of the Old. Paul, exhorting the Ephesian Christians, said: “Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” All three terms apply to the one Psalter used in the Jewish Church, and designed also for the use of the Christian Church until the end of time. In public worship the praise of God should be restricted to the Psalms. They are fully suited to the purpose because, like all parts of the Bible, they are a great deep. They are devotional in character and have met the needs of seekers and saints alike in their desires to praise the Lord for His greatness and for His goodness to the sons of men. If the Spirit of the Lord will guide us into the understanding of these sacred songs, they will become the intelligent media of our heart-felt praises, and God shall have the glory.
Psalm One
Verses 1, 2. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
These two verses define the character and condition of a righteous person, given first negatively, then positively. We know that it is a righteous person because the last verse of the Psalm says so. What are we to understand by the term “righteous”? In the Scriptures, when applied to men, it has two meanings. It can mean one whose outward behaviour conforms to the law of God. Paul uses it to describe the men whose conduct is correct while his character is unlovable. “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” (Romans 5, v. 7). And the Saviour said: “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9, v. 13).
More often, however, it means a sinner who has been justified freely through God’s grace, as was Abel who “obtained witness that he was righteous.” (Heb. 11, v.4). Zacharias and Elizabeth “were both righteous before God,” and a host of others in Scripture with them. Faith was reckoned to them for righteousness. So that this Psalm does not describe the merely good-living person as distinguished from the evildoer, but the saved soul with grace in his heart in contrast with the unbelieving impenitent sinner.
Note the negative description in verse one. Is not this just the way in which one’s attention is first drawn to those who have grace? They are observed not to be doing things which God’s
Word condemns but which are commonly done notwithstanding. At work the righteous person is not given to idling, or slipshod efforts, or dishonest practices, or vain talk, or bad language. In his spare time he does not indulge in sinful pleasures, or keep company with the ungodly. In the appearance of the righteous person there are no signs of extravagance, or slavish following of fashions, or immodesty in dress, and in the case of a woman there is additionally a notable abstinence from the use of age-concealing make-up, nail varnish, and the wearing of short or specially dressed hair. Behaviour of this kind, so contrary to the current of popular fashion, is usually what first attracts attention and hints at an unworthy character. Neither is this general rule annulled by the fact that closer acquaintance with the person may reveal that he or she is merely conforming to the ways of the family or Church while still lacking the faith which makes righteous.
When we examine the details of this negative aspect of godliness as presented in verse one, we find it referring first to the subject of counsel or advice. The blessed man does not order his life by the opinions or advice of worldly men. Plenty is offered if he will take it. He opens his newspaper. He reads of wars and rumours of wars, of crimes and mishaps and follies by the score, of economic problems and national insolvency. Then, turning to reports of political speeches and the pronouncements and advice of experts, and finally to the editorials, he is confronted with the views and suggested remedies and shrewd advice of men of the world. Can the Christian accept these as fitted to cure the sad problems of today? Hardly! They take no account of God, or sin, or the principle of retribution, or the Gospel remedy for sin and its miserable consequences. The advice offered is that of mere men adrift on an ocean of speculation without the benefit of the chart of God’s Word. “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” (Ps. 94, v. 11). With the Bible before him, the righteous man cannot accept such advice, and betakes himself to prayer for a generation that has forgotten God.
It is no different in respect to the world’s advice to individuals on how they should advance themselves in life, and what recreations they should enjoy to recruit their strength for the struggle. Whatever the subject on which they advise, they are sure to omit all consideration of man’s highest needs and God’s gracious provision. Therefore the Christian “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Neither, of course, does he “stand in the way of sinners.” This is a step further than inward agreement with the thoughts and plans of the ungodly. It is open participation in the ways of those who live heedless of many of God’s commands. A person may
hold with the counsel of the ungodly and be outwardly moral and even religious, but consorting with sinners marks one as being careless about the fate of the soul and openly disobedient to God’s law. Therefore the righteous are not to be found among those who absent themselves from public worship and frequent evil strongholds of Satan as the public house, the dance hall, the theatre, the concert, the football stadium and other places of amusement.
The last part of this negative description says that the righteous does not sit in the seat of the scornful. He is not to be found associating with infidels, or atheists, or mockers of religion. “What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” (2 Cor. 6, v. 15). No matter how agreeable, or generous, or learned, or socially acceptable the cornerer may be, he is no companion for any that fear the Lord. Here then in this definite separation from ungodly sinners of all kinds is the first mark of the blessed person, the righteous.
(to be continued)
“MY LAND”
by Dr Leon H. Long, Stoke Hill, Exeter
In aspiring to “wipe Israel off the map,” President Nasser forgot one shatteringly important thing. It so happens that God has more than once referred to the strip of territory at the eastern end of the Mediterranean as “My Land,” and for Nasser to have overlooked this has already proved disastrous. Indeed it is strange that none of the Arab leaders, who as Moslems claim to believe the prophets, appear to have taken this into consideration.
Clearly, God can dispose of what is His in any way He pleases. Before it is possible to have lasting peace in the Middle East, all will need to recognise that nobody will be allowed to wrest this land permanently from those to whom it has been promised. Has God promised it to anybody? Most assuredly! For once when Abraham wandered through the land in perfect obedience, God instructed him to look to the north, south, east and west, declaring: “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever.” (Genesis 13: verses 14-15). That is to say, to Abraham and his descendants. What a promise! But it is only one of many promises.
The descendants of Abraham
But first, who are the descendants of Abraham? Most people know that the Jews trace their ancestry to Abraham as the father of their race, but it is not so well known that the Arabs do like-
wise. So which of them comes in for the promise? We need to look at the Bible if we want to know exactly how God views these things. The answer will surprise many.
God promised that Abraham should be a blessing. Multitudinous nations and kings were to come from his loins, and even the promised Messiah, so that through Abraham all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Genesis 17: 3-8; and 22: 15-18), and all families too (Genesis 12: 3). Looking back over nearly 4,000 years of history since Abraham’s time, we can judge for ourselves regarding the unchangeableness of God and the validity of these promises. And if we find God faithful, does not the existence of other promises about to be fulfilled make our Bible more up-to-date than our newspapers?
In order that God could fulfil these promises, He had to give Abraham a son. But here is the wonder of it. Abraham and his wife Sarah were childless, yet, after Sarah was already well past child-bearing age, God promised them a son — and then kept them waiting twenty-five years before fulfilling the promise with the birth of Isaac. (Oh, how God loves to perform the humanly impossible to confound the wisdom of the worldly wise!). But in the meantime Sarah had become impatient and made the mistake of persuading Abraham to take her maidservant Hagar and obtain a son by her. This resulted in the birth of Ishmael, who was thus the elder half-brother of Isaac.
All true Arabs descend from Ishmael, while those who are Jewish by race descend from Isaac via Jacob and Judah. (The very name ‘Jew’ is a contraction of ‘Judah’). It is now important for all nations to understand that specific divine promises were made to both Ishmael and Isaac, but that the promises were entirely distinct and different in the two cases. Will not God perform these, whatever the United Nations may think to do?
The promises made to Ishmael
The blessings promised to the Arabs through Ishmael came about in this wise. After she had given birth to Isaac, Sarah recognised her earlier mistake on seeing Ishmael mocking and demanded of Abraham that he cast out Hagar and her son. “For,” she said, “the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son.” Abraham was grieved. But God did not contradict Sarah. Rather He told Abraham to listen to her, telling him clearly that “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” At the same time God promised to make a nation of the son of the bond-woman, because he also was Abraham’s seed (Genesis 21: 9-13). Indeed, God had already said as much before the birth of Isaac, when Abraham had pleaded with God on account of Ishmael: “As for Ishmael,
I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17: 18-20). And to Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, the angel of the Lord had said, “I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.” (Genesis 16: 10).
Surely this helps us to understand why the Arabs are such a large people numbering many tens of millions today. God has not forgotten His promises to Ishmael.
The promises made to Isaac
Clearly, such a large people as the Arabs were due to become would need territory — and plenty of it. But in all the promises made to Ishmael there is, as we have seen, no mention of any specific territory. The territory which they could call their own would therefore have to be outside the bounds of the territory which God designates as “My Land,” since this territory, originally given to Abraham, was to pass to his son Isaac as the child of promise. Isaac and his descendants inherited the promises made to Abraham. Ishmael, by contrast, was not the child of promise, so that all the promises made to Ishmael were quite separate from those made to Abraham.
But to Isaac God said: “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; . . . and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 26: 3-4). These are precisely the promises already made earlier to Abraham. And in the next generation God again renewed the promises to Isaac’s son Jacob, and in very similar language (Genesis 28: 13-15 and 35: 10-12) concluded by saying: “And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.” Jacob became the father of twelve sons, and in due course of time these became the progenitors of twelve tribes.
As he was dying, Jacob called his twelve sons before him and prophesied what was to befall them in the last days (Genesis 49). We only have space to note that it was prophesied of Judah that his hand should be in the neck of his enemies (verse 8) and that he should have the sceptre (verse 10). The sceptre, of course, signifies the line of kings promised to Abraham which in due time commenced with David and therefore includes also the Messiah, Who is of the line of David (Luke 1: 32-33). We need to understand everything in divine perspective, and the scriptures challenge us to do just that.
How will peace come to the Middle East
Surely, then, lasting peace will only come to the whole area when all concerned recognise God’s plan and intention as repeatedly proclaimed in His word. Any settlement which falls short of that will at best be temporary. The descendants of Jacob are to be a blessing to all nations, including the Arabs, so that the latter (if they but knew it) would find the greatest blessing in collaborating wholeheartedly with the Jews, recognizing that the land promised to Abraham and his seed extends from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15: 18). There is, however, more than a hint in prophecy that they will not do this, if only because of the nature of Ishmael. While he was yet unborn, it was said of Ishmael by the angel of the Lord: “He will be a wild man: his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” (Genesis 16: 12). We now see clearly that although the Arabs will not succeed in wresting the land from the descendants of Isaac, the latter will not be able to drive out the Arabs, because Ishmael is to dwell in the presence of all his brethren. In this lies the divine solution to Arab rights and the plight of the Arab refugees.
The city of Jerusalem
That Jerusalem would again pass into Jewish hands was also prophesied. Jesus Himself, in warning His disciples of the coming destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (which was duly fulfilled by the hand of the Romans in A.D. 70), went on to say: “And they (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (Luke 21: 24). Thus the Jews were to undergo a period of scattering, which was, however, to be temporary. Now for the first time in over 2,000 years, the Jews are in complete and unfettered control of the old city of Jerusalem; and if they do not surrender it, then there can be no doubt that this verse in Luke’s Gospel has now been fulfilled in every detail and that the long prophetic period called the times of the Gentiles is finished. The year 1967 may thus turn out to be of immense importance in prophetic fulfilment.
The stage is now set for the fulfilment of Zechariah 12, which also foretells a time when Judah will be back in Jerusalem: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of
the earth be gathered together against it.” (Zech. 12: 2-3). The United Nations would do well to study this chapter, as would the Arab nations in particular, for it is God Who is speaking. In the latter part of the same chapter, we see that the Jews will at long last recognise their Messiah. Within the borders of His land, God especially chose Jerusalem and put His name there (I Kings 8: 29). The city is moreover linked with Abraham and his descendants, for it was on Mount Moriah, on which Jerusalem is built (II Chronicles 3: 1), that Abraham prepared to offer up Isaac (Genesis 22). Is not the whole world now challenged to try and understand the meaning of the divine expression: “My Land”?