Behold the Works of God

Introduction: The Call to Behold God's Works in Troublous Times

0:02 I trust if nothing more at the conclusion of our studies in this psalm you will have memorized the psalm simply by the fact that you have faced it on these consecutive Lord's Day mornings and had the words and phrases of the psalm opened in your presence so that long after many of the details of exposition are forgotten there may be laid in our minds and hearts the very words of the living God himself. Will you closely follow as I read again this entire psalm.

1:04 Whereof 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 will help her and that right early the nations raged the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice the earth melted the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come. Behold the works of the Lord 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 chariots in the fire be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nations I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord.

2:06 The Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge what is a Christian to do when living in unusually troublous times what is a Christian to think when the enemies of the church become violent and vocal when the natural order of creation and the structures of society are disrupted and seized with violent convulsions what I say is a Christian. To do what is he to think well among other things he must learn to sing with understanding this song of faith in troublous times the song recorded for us and now given to us as the 46th song in the first stanza we see that great declaration of the being and reality of God a wonderful description of God.

3:10 God's relationship to us and ours to him as refuge strength and present help and then that great deduction of faith in the light of who God is in the light of his relationship to us we need not fear though the most permanent things we know are uprooted and shaken from their positions of permanence nothing in God changes nothing in God's relationship to his people changes therefore. We need not fear in stanza to the focus is more especially upon Zion city of God the church the church in troublous times the church under the figure of a besieged city and in the midst of that God gives us a beautiful description of the provision he has made for his people there is the gladdening river there is the indwelling keeper there is the.

4:10 Timely helper and this commitment of God to the preservation of his church is seen in the proof of history in verse six when the nations raged God's answer was to speak and to melt all of his office opposition and that second stanza closes with that great pronouncement of faith the presence of God as the mighty Lord of hosts and then the preservation of God is the covenant. God of his people now we come to the third stanza in this song beginning with verse eight and concluding with verse eleven and it is a stanza in which the focus now broadens we see the individual Christian in the first stanza and though he looks out upon the world he is able to say no matter what happens I need not fear the vision is broadened in the second stanza to take in particularly and almost exclusively.

5:10 The destiny of the church in the midst of troublous times now the vision broadens even further for you will notice the significant phrase in verse eleven what desolations he had made in the earth verse nine make it worse to cease unto the end of the earth verse ten I will be exalted among the nations exalted in the earth and so the vision broadens from the individual. To the church to the ultimate destiny of men and nations and the created order as a whole however it never wrenches itself loose from its immediate concern namely the attitude of the child of God living in the midst of a great period of upheaval and disruption whatever God says with reference to the state of the world in general.

6:09 It always has direct reference to the destiny of the church we must never read prophecy as though it were dealing with the world simply as the world order whatever God is doing in that world out there he does with reference to the destiny of his church with reference to redemptive history we are to read secular history and anything that God has revealed about it. Now to think our way through this last stanza and it will take us at least two expositions to do so we will consider in the first place a call to a consideration of the works of God verses eight and nine come behold the works of the Lord and then those works are defined and delineated for us in the second place we have a command to a contemplation of the being and purpose of God verse ten.

7:09 Be still and know that I am God I will be exalted and then thirdly we have a cry of confirmation regarding the preservation and protection of God in verse eleven so there is this call to a consideration of his works a command to contemplate his being and his purposes and then a cry of confirmation regarding his preserving and preserving. And protecting presence we shall only have time this morning to consider verses eight and nine this call to a consideration of the works of God come behold the works of Jehovah now let us take a few minutes to examine the precise meaning of this call to a consideration of God's works the word translated come is more frequently translated.

The Meaning of the Call: 'Go Forth and Behold'

8:09 Go for the root meaning of the word is to walk and in such passages as Genesis twenty two five a familiar portion of the word of God relative to Abraham's offering up of Isaac we find this same word used in this context and Abraham said unto his young men abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder we will go out we will go away. We will go forth you find the word used repeatedly in Exodus chapter five verses three and seven and eight with reference to the people of God going forth out of Egypt to sacrifice unto their God and it's one of those words that can be translated legitimately come or go but it's predominant translation in the Old Testament is go and I think in this context the translation go is more warranted.

9:10 You see generally we tell people to come and to look at something when either the thing we want them to see is so small that we can hold it up that we say gather around come together see what I have to show you or it's something so secretive that only a few people are warranted to look at it but the thought of this text is not here is some little thing that was done in a corner here is some phenomena that only the initiate can behold come gather together and I'll show you my secret no no the thrust of the whole passage is go forth and behold God has done something that is patent God has done something that is manifest God has done something that is clear and all you need do is go forth open your eyes and you will see it in its full display and what is it that we are to go forth and to behold we are to go forth and to behold

10:10 the works of Jehovah we are to look upon what God has done in history as a manifestation of who he is his relationship to his people and what he shall yet do on behalf of his people and this whole subject of beholding with perceptive eyes the works of God is one of the major doctrines in Holy Scripture for you see God is revealed himself not only in propositional truth that is God saying of himself God is light but God is revealed himself in the real stuff of history God is revealed himself in the activities of men and of nations and his dealings with them and his government over them we read in Psalm 11 that the works of the Lord are great sought out

11:10 out of all them that have pleasure therein and further in Psalm 111 we read he hath made his wonderful works to be remembered one of the great indictments upon Israel in her periods of declension was this they forgot his works Psalm 106 and verse 13 and that forgetfulness of the works of God became the mother of unbelief and the grandmother of sinful murmuring which provoked the chastisement of God upon the nation of Israel the forgetfulness became the mother of unbelief and the unbelief gave birth to the murmurings and the murmurings provoked the chastisement of God therefore in the light of this command and parallel commands found scattered throughout the word of God we dare to say that the works of God are great

12:11 not be passive or indifferent to this call to a contemplation of the works of our God while mountains may be shaking while seas may be roaring while the city of God is besieged and the enemies are pouring out their venomous hatred upon God's people what are we to do God says you're to go forth and behold the works of God in other words faith learns to feed upon the facts of history it sees in redemptive history the omnipotence the wisdom and the covenant faithfulness of God and learns to reason from that history to the present situation and is thereby enabled to lay hold of God Psalm 48 is a beautiful example of this let me just touch on it briefly to show you that this is a

13:12 no deduction I have made on pure reason the 48th Psalm begins with the description of the glory of Zion city of God but the psalmist knows something about the history of that city he knows that men have assaulted it and he knows that they've looked upon it with jealousy as a very desirable place because of its military defense it says in verse 5 they saw then were they amazed they were dismayed and hasted away trembling took hold of them pain as of a woman in travail with the east wind thou breakest the ships of Tarshish as we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God God will establish it forever he thinks of the efforts of men to race the people of God loose from their stronghold and how God has put forth his power to preserve them and then he reasons from that and says in verse 14 for this God is our God forever and ever he will be our guide even unto death you see here is a believing contemplation of the

14:22 works of Jehovah you and I must train our spiritual eyes to see what we ought to see well you see the eye only sees what it's trained to see and what it wants to see for instance the mother says to the son when your room is all fixed up, you may go out and play ball. A few minutes later, she sees the son outside playing ball and she happens to look into his room and there are dirty socks on the floor. The bed is all disheveled and papers from past homeworks strewn over the desk. And she calls the son in or the daughter and says, so how come? I said, when your room was picked up, you could go out. Well, mom, I didn't see these things. Well, the child may not necessarily be lying. When he walked into the room, all he wanted to see was his basketball over there

15:17 in the corner of his closet. And because that's all he wanted to see, that's all he really did see. He didn't look at the dirty socks and all the rest and say, well, no, no, the eye is trained to see what it wants to see. Again, let me illustrate. Four individuals can come into the room, say into your living room. What will they see? Well, one of them happens to be an architectural designer. And all he sees is that probably the lines of your ceiling come in at something less than right angles to the walls. They're about two degrees off. That's what he sees. The other man happens to be an interior decorator. And all he sees is that you've put two colors together that nobody in his right mind would ever put together. The other person is an artist. And you know what he sees? He sees an arrangement of fruit in the fruit bowl that would make a beautiful

16:09 subject for a still life production that he would like to work on. The other person is a jealous, quote, friend. And all he sees are those things that you have that he doesn't have. Now, they've all been put in the same room for the same amount of time. When you ask them what they see, they all see something different. Why? Not because the objects are different, but because the eye has been trained to see something that the other has not seen. Now, God says, go forth with an eye that is trained to see what? Go forth and behold, not the subtlety and the ability of the nations to see Zion, city of God. He does not say, go forth and behold all of the factors that create a trembling mountain and foaming seas. He says, go forth with an eye that is trained to see one thing,

17:13 the works of Jehovah.

Beholding God's Works in Desolations

17:16 Go forth and behold. Behold the works of Jehovah. Let your eyes become feet and let them carry you into the pages of Holy Scripture to see what Jehovah, covenant God of his people, Jehovah of hosts, the mighty leader of the armies of God, has done to preserve his people in troublous times. Why? Because his works in the past are an index of his working in the past.

17:48 The present and the pledge of his working in the future. Go forth and behold the works of Jehovah. So much for the meaning of the phrase. Now will you notice the specific things we are to behold of God's works. And we are given three in the text. First of all, and you'll notice the marginal reading in the 1901 edition, who hath made desolations? There is a parallel structure here. Behold the works of Jehovah, the Jehovah. Who has done the following things. Who has made desolations in the earth. Who makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. Who breaks the bow, cuts the spear, and burns the chariots. In other words, we are to behold the works of God in the desolations he has made in the midst of the earth, in the cessation of the acts of war to the ends of the earth, and in the destruction of the world. And we are to behold the works of Jehovah, the Jehovah, and the destruction of the weapons of war upon the earth. First of all, then, we are

18:56 to behold the desolations in the midst of the earth. This word desolations occurs frequently in the Old Testament. Sometimes it is translated astonishment, as in Jeremiah 25, 9, 11, and 18. Other places it's translated desolations, destructions, as we have it here in the text.

19:19 But there is no material destruction. There is no material destruction. There is no material difference. What causes the astonishment is the measure of destruction and desolation after God has brought judgment upon a people. And so the desolation is almost invariably the result of the judgment of God poured forth upon a city, upon a nation, upon a people. Look at several instances in which the word occurs in this context. In the prophecy of Isaiah, in chapter 5.

19:51 For if we are to behold the desolations, we've got to know what we're looking for. We're trying to train the eye to see what God says it is to see. Isaiah 5, the context is the judgment of God upon a wicked people. Woe, verse 8, woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.

20:21 In mine ears saith the Lord, and in mine ears saith the Lord. The Lord of hosts of the truth, many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. And God goes on to describe then what this desolation will be in the outpouring of the judgments of God. Chapter 13, verses 6 through 9. Chapter 13.

20:45 Well, for the day of the Lord is at hand, as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Therefore shall all hands be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt. They shall be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman in travail. They shall look in amazement at one another. Their faces shall be the faces of flame. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel and wrath and fierce anger, to make the land, and here's the word, a desolation, and to destroy the sinners.

21:21 And so this emphasis goes through the prophets when prophesying of God's judgment, either upon the nations, you have an instance of this with reference to Babylon, or upon decadent Israel, when God would bring judgment through the Assyrian, and then finally through the Babylonian captivity, sparing only a remnant of his people, when God's chariots of wrath have come through. What's left? Nothing but desolation. That word, desolation, is a frightening word. We speak of a place as desolate and God-forsaken.

22:00 There is a barrenness, an absence of life and activity, an absence of that which bespeaks the blessing of God, either in special or common grace. Now God says to his people who are seeking to maintain their spiritual equilibrium in troublous times, not only must we focus attention upon the being of God. Upon the reality of his relationship to us, not only must we be confident of that gladdening river, of the indwelling keeper, of the timely helper, but we must look back into the pages of history and behold the desolations that God has wrought in the earth, behold the activity of God in making desolate particularly. those that would dare oppose the covenant community of God's people. Look at the desolations in Egypt. In my own devotional reading a week ago, I was in that frightening section in the book of Exodus and tried to put myself under the skin, as it were, of those passages and to think what it would be like to be a common laborer in Egypt and to live through those days of the plague.

23:19 To have the water supplies turned to blood. To crawl under the sheets at night and find it oozing with frogs. To find my cows and my beef cattle destroyed with the murine. To find my firstborn lying dead.

23:37 The desolations of God. Now God says to Israel, the nations are raging. The kingdoms are being moved. Zion, city of God, seems to be besieged.

23:49 Besieged by the forces of hell. Go forth with the eye of faith. Behold the desolations God has made in the earth against that nation that dared to oppose my purpose for my people. Behold the desolation of the destruction of that entire army of over a hundred thousand in the Red Sea.

24:11 Picture what it was like for moms and children to kiss a father and a husband goodbye as they went out. They went out. After that motley crowd called the Israelites.

24:26 The soldiers said, we'll be back in a couple of days with nothing but our bloody swords to tell the tale of what's happened to that crowd. Lo and behold, the news filters back and in house after house in Egypt. There's no longer a husband. No longer a father.

24:42 No longer a big brother who was the hero as he came home with his military garb. Hundred over a hundred thousand slain. What desolations God hath made in the earth. Behold the mighty city of Jericho with its thick and high walls.

25:01 Impregnable city. Behold the desolations God hath made in the earth. Behold the desolation of that Assyrian army recorded in 2 Kings chapters 18 and following when they came up and defied the people of God and in one night the angel, the angel of the Lord destroyed 185,000 soldiers.

25:28 Behold, behold what desolations God hath made in the earth and particularly the desolations he has made with reference to any individual, any people, any aggregate of people who have dared to oppose his purposes for Zion, city of God. Behold the desolations, the desolations he has made there in Israel. Widen the vision, child of God. Behold the desolations prior to Israel's history as a nation.

26:03 Behold Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities of the plains that were evangelistically committed to inundating the then known earth with their foul and perverse wickedness. Behold the desolation of the city that's left like a smoldering fire. After the winter days have gone, behold the cities of the plains. Behold the whole generation of men in the time of Noah when out of the thousands, perhaps millions of the inhabitants of the earth, there is left but one family, the desolations of the flood.

26:45 Behold what desolations he has made in the earth. Behold the desolation and the destruction of Jerusalem as we look beyond the earth, beyond the history of the nation of Israel as recorded in scripture. When not one stone was left upon another in that city. Behold the desolation of the Roman Empire with all of its might and glory.

27:07 When because of internal wrath, God allows the hordes of the barbarians to come and lay them desolate. God says, look at it. When any nation, any people, dares to oppose the advancing of my cause,

27:26 I'll make them desolate. Then open up your Bible and read in the book of the Revelations, the book of the Revelations, mighty Babylon. See its destruction. See all that man can create destroyed by him who comes upon the white horse with his armies following him.

27:46 Oh dear child of God, by direct intervention or by directing the corrupt passions of men in the midst of war, God has caused these passions to flow in channels consistent with his own eternal decrees. God has made the desolations in the earth. Therefore be careful you enemies of Zion, city of God. If I speak this morning to anyone who is a child of the devil and in that sense your spirit is aligned with the enemies of Zion, be careful for all of these desolations are but previews of that great and final desolation when the earth and the works thereof shall be burned up and all of the enemies of God, all men, systems, philosophies and structures shall face the conquering and returning Lord. Hear the words of Psalm 2. Pay attention ye kings, be wise, oh ye judges of the earth, kiss the sun, lest ye be angry and ye perish in the way. Behold what desolations he hath made in the earth and be careful you enemies of Zion, city of God.

29:04 But the main thrust of the text is be encouraged you citizens of Zion. When it pleases God he can breathe upon his enemies and they melt and flee away and become utterly desolate. Read today 2 Kings chapters 19 and 20. Ponder upon the promise of God in Isaiah 54, 11 through 17.

Beholding God's Works in the Cessation of War

29:29 Look with the eye of faith and take hope and be filled with biblical courage. Come, go forth, behold the works of God in the desolations he has made in the earth. But then secondly, we are told to behold the works of God in the cessation of the acts of war unto the ends of the earth. He maketh war and wars to cease unto the end of the earth.

30:02 Warfare, one of the ugly realities of man's existence in a fallen state. Warfare, that expression at a tribal, national and international level of the greed, the hatred and the kindred sins of human passion and human depravity. Lust for power, lust for land, lust for wealth, lust for glory, lust for goods. And in the case of Israel, war was often an expression of men's lust to be God and to rid themselves of the one vivid reminder upon the face of the earth that there was a true and a living God. As long as one nation given to idolatry knew that it existed alongside of another nation given to idolatry, there was no rebuke to the conscience. But as long as Israel's God dwelt in glory in that special dwelling place, there was the constant reminder there is but one true and living God and all the gods of the nations are but nothings. And so war in the case of this besieging of Zion, city of God, was nothing but an expression at a large and national level of men's hatred of God.

31:24 Let us cast away the yoke of God from us. Israel is the constant reminder that there is a true God in heaven. And yet the text said, it is God who brings the cessation of the acts of war unto the ends of the earth. Since war is an ugly reality of man's existence and since the totality of man's existence is under the control of God, warfare does not operate in a no man's land.

31:56 Warfare is under the control of the living God. And I say those words soberly and carefully. Though I have never had to stand upon a battlefield and see men twitch in the throes of death pangs, and some of you have, and I'm not speaking carelessly, I've seen enough in vivid pictures and I've read enough to know that the very mention of the word war to some of you is enough to bring you to think of absolute nervous exhaustion. And yet I dare to say this text asserts that warfare in all of its ugliness, in all of its heartlessness, is under the control of the sovereign God.

32:41 And when a war ceases, it's because he maketh wars to cease, indicating that he controls them. Now, to what was the psalmist referring in this passage? I'm personally convinced his mind was going back in the history of Israel to 1 Kings, chapter 4, verses 20 and 25. Israel is called upon to behold the works of God in making wars to cease.

33:11 Who was it that brought about the state described in 1 Kings, chapter 4, verses 20 and 25? Listen to this vivid description. And Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt.

33:43 They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour and threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen and twenty oxen out of the pastures and a hundred sheep, besides harks and gazelles and roebucks and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tipsa even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side the river, and had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree from Dan even.

34:24 To bear Sheba all the days of Solomon. Now who brought this to pass? Who made wars to cease in the reign of David's son Solomon? The psalmist says go forth, behold the works of God.

34:39 How did he make the wars to cease? In two ways. By enabling his people to conquer her immediate enemies and by restraining the passion of the remaining enemies so that every man in Israel dwelt safely under his own fig tree. And by his own vine.

34:56 Now who did this? It was God who did this. God who gave power and might to Israel that she might conquer. God who caused Israel to be blessed with such wealth and imposing might that her enemies, perhaps for no other reason than fear of their own hide, dared not stir up opposition against the people of God.

35:15 But whatever the means, the psalmist says go forth and behold the God who makes wars to cease. By way of application we are to understand that what God has done in the past is pledge and preview of what he shall do in the future. We have that beautiful description of what God will do when he's done with his redemption and has brought to pass the new heavens and the new earth. And in Isaiah chapter 2 repeated again in the prophecy of Micah, we have this beautiful description of the God who maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth.

35:56 Isaiah chapter 2, verses 2 through 4. And it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow into it and many people shall go and say come ye and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between nations and will decide concerning many peoples.

36:35 And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Almighty God is committed as the God who maketh wars to cease and therefore when his purpose is with reference to building up Zion and purifying the people of God using even the opposition of our enemies when that purpose is accomplished and he has that complete church for which he shed his precious blood and when it is his set time to perfect it by that final work of glorification he will come and wars will cease literally even unto the ends of the earth. Come behold the works of Jehovah. He maketh desolation in the earth. He causes wars to cease.

Beholding God's Works in the Destruction of War's Weapons

37:40 Thirdly the Psalmist says behold the work of God in the very destruction of the weapons of war. Notice how he describes them. He breaketh the bow. That instrument which shot the arrows of war comparable today to our weapons of missiles and bullets and rockets and shells that somehow take the instrument of destruction to find its mark upon the object of hatred.

38:10 He breaketh the bow. He cutteth the spear in sunder another mighty instrument of war. And then he burneth the chariot in the fire. The word chariot referring either to the dreaded horse drawn battle wagon or more likely to the baggage wagons which carried the supplies to the front and without which no war can long be sustained.

38:32 It's a known fact of military strategy if you can cut the supply lines you've conquered your enemy. God says I'll burn the very instrument that feeds the supplies. He will consume with the fires of his judgment all of the weapons of war. Now that's precisely what happened in the days when God was conquering his enemies through the victories given to Joshua.

38:57 For we read in Joshua chapter 11 verses 6 and following that Joshua hucked the horses of his enemies and burned their war chariots in order that his enemies might no longer wage war against him. And the greater than Joshua has committed himself to do the same. But not in terms of some real estate over there in the Middle East but unto the ends of the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the earth.

39:26 He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. If someone asks pastor when has this been done? When will it be done so that these words are not an embarrassment to us?

39:42 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. Not just unto the end of the boundaries of the people of God in the days of Solomon. Not just in the Roman Empire as he did at the time of the coming of our Lord when there was a brief period with no open warfare and the bloodshed of war. But literally to the ends of the earth.

40:06 Well the answer is it has been done relatively at periods when God was pleased to do so. It may be done extensively at some future period of great gospel power and blessing. I don't know. There was a vision our forefathers had of a latter day glory.

40:24 I don't share it as yet but I can't mock it. I don't share it but I cannot rule it out. But it shall be done absolutely when our Lord returns and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth because he has said there shall be wars and rumors of wars but the end is not yet. The end is not yet.

40:48 And so whatever periods of glorious gospel expansion may be before us whatever influence that expansion may bring in terms of the cessation of war for greater or lengthier periods of time this I will not debate. I'm not competent to debate it but this I assert. There will be no absolute cessation of war until he comes and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth then the scripture says there shall be no more crying. No more tears.

41:22 No more death. No more sorrow. When men sign their treaties while the ink is barely dry on the treaties they are amassing greater weapons of war against a future conflict. But when the living God says Zion city of God is complete all of the inhabitants have been brought in I have purified them I have disciplined them by suffering by tribulation by the assaults of our enemies it is time now to usher her into the eternal state then then he will make war cease unto the ends of the earth the weapons of war shall utterly be consumed never to be used again. This I say is the meaning of the words this call to a contemplation of the works of God now in closing let me give you three simple conclusions and exhortations that arise out of the text this has been almost pure exposition up till now application here or there in between but I want to clinch the word that I trust has been God's word to us with these exhortations number one consider the necessity of a constant perusal and the word perusal means close examination and I have chosen it purposely

Conclusion 1: The Necessity of Perusing Historical Scripture

42:52 consider the necessity of a constant perusal of the historical sections of the word of God have you ever thought how much of the Bible is pure history hmm Genesis most of Exodus not Leviticus a little history but most of that is connected with the worship of the old economy the book of Numbers some of Deuteronomy all of Joshua Judges Ruth first and second Samuel first and second Kings Chronicles some of the Prophets pure history now if God's only going to give us one book to guide his people through all the ages why so much history why the Gospels why the book of the Acts why so that when he says go forth and behold the works of God you've got plenty to look at it's a terrible thing to have God say go forth and behold his works and have to scour around to find something to behold you know he's given us all of this history why that we might fulfill the mandate of Psalm 46 all scripture including the historical sections are given by inspiration of God and are profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness and I dare say it would be embarrassing if I asked some of you how long it's been

44:21 since you carefully plowed through those historical sections with your eye trained to see one thing the works of God in the vindication of his purposes and in the destruction of his enemies this portion of the Psalm lays upon us this necessity of a constant perusal of the historical sections of Holy Scripture and when you read them look for two things number one the positive activity of God in fulfilling his covenant promises look at the promises he makes and then see what he does to fulfill them in history and having just come through that section in the Old Testament dealing with the deliverance from Egypt and then so sure was the old patriarch he could say before they even went down into Egypt when you come out bring my bones with you God's gonna fulfill his promise 430 long years and it seemed as though God had forgotten his promise and the people of God were at wit's end corner crying out for the cruelty of those Egyptian taskmasters and then when God sends a deliverer it seems as though Pharaoh is determined that he'll not heed him but right on time God got his people out come behold the works of God

45:47 read that history with this perspective in view what has God done positively to fulfill his covenant promises and then secondly not only look at the positive activity of God but look at the desolating activity of God in destroying everything that would hinder the fulfillment of those promises the world becomes so wicked that it seems impossible there should be the preservation of a godly seed God says I'll just judge that whole world and I'll start afresh with one godly man and his wife that's what God's doing the flood is not there willy nilly haphazard as you read the history look at the desolating activity of God and then child of God come back to Psalm 46 here you and I are part of Zion city of God the enemies besieging the church and the opposition coming from the intellectual level from the practical level the immorality the bestiality the perversion the media the... the...

Conclusion 2: The Desirability of Studying Church and Secular History

47:02 what does the newspaper the arts the science everything amassed against the purposes of God righteousness holiness godliness what are we to say go forth and behold the works of God behold Sodom and Gomorrah lying in the ashes of God's desolating work behold the mighty Roman Empire lying in the dust and the rubble of God's desolating work child of God here lies the necessity of a constant perusal of the historical sections of Holy Scripture secondly consider the desirability not necessity but the desirability and benefit of studying church history and secular history with a believing eye you see there were godly men who took seriously this command go forth and behold the works of God and believing that God did not cease to work at the closing of the canon he ceased to reveal himself directly as he did to apostle and prophet but he did not cease to work he said I will be with you to the consummation of the age and so godly men such as the great historian of the reformation period Merle d'Aubigny have written that which enables us to go forth and behold the works of God

48:27 and I tell you there are times when reading his history of the reformation in Europe or in England when you've got to put the book down and shout or if you're not given to shouting at least you've got to you've got to squeak out a little hallelujah a little praise the Lord you see the works of God doing what? not raising up a Luther so that somehow we could have protestant saints at whose shrines we could bow it was his cause at stake the cause of Jehovah God of hosts the cause of his beloved son now go forth behold the works of God see the desirability and the benefit of studying church history and secular history with a believing eye and this is particularly needed I speak to you students you live in a day when history has been downgraded and you know why? there are so called educated people with advanced degrees I'm not talking about undergraduate degrees but with graduate degrees who are ignorant of the bare rudiments of our own national history of world history and of church history because they've been schooled by people who don't believe there's any significance to history there's no wise powerful gracious sovereign God unfolding his purposes it's all time plus space plus chance

49:53 and history can teach us nothing there's an indifference to history but no Christian can adopt that godless mentality it's a truism it's a trite cliché but it's true history is his story not only in the church but in the world because the church is being formed in the midst of the world we were struck with this at our family worship last night Paul would have gone into Bithynia but the Holy Spirit suffered him not he would have gone to Ephesus but the Lord suffered him not he brings him to Macedonia the word of God finds an entrance and there at Philippi God opens a heart and from there the gospel spreads into what we now know as Europe and from Europe it goes to the shores of Great Britain and from there to us all who cannot help but read the history without falling on his face and saying Lord, you had me in mind why am I not bound today in the pagan darkness that has gripped other continents for centuries it's because God saw me as one of those who was going to be a city a citizen of Zion city of God go forth and behold the works of God

Conclusion 3: The Necessity of Developing a Biblical Philosophy of History

51:20 and then my final exhortation is this in the light of the teaching of this passage consider the necessity of developing a biblical philosophy of history oh you say but Pastor I have philosophy I ain't got nothing to do with philosophy I can hardly spell the word oh my friend all of us lives by a philosophy oh yes we do all of us views life with a philosophical bent we may not describe it as such but we do and I urge upon you this consideration do you see the necessity of developing a biblical philosophy of history behold in the desolations of war what are we to see? not the military genius in the near madness of a Napoleon we are to see what desolations God has made in the earth what are we to see when we behold the atrocities of what has gone on in Southeast Asia are we to justify? are we to encourage? no but we are to see that the activity of Almighty God is to be found even in those things that are so distasteful to us as men and doubly distasteful as Christian men and women who knows what judgments God has poured out upon some of those lands

52:47 for their inveterate attachment to heathen gods how does God feel when he sees people bowing down to Buddhist shrines when they've had Christian missionaries some of them there for dozens of years could it not be that the smoking of God's nostrils in anger against heathenism is in part the answer of some of the bloodshed in war in these other lands you see dear ones we've got to view what happens not from a humanistic standpoint but develop a philosophy of history that is rooted in the principles of the word of God who knows how much sin God has judged in nations that have been to us the objects of unbelief unjust wars who knows what national pride God has crushed by allowing a nation to be brought into the dust of military defeat you begin to read the history of Nazism in this light you begin to read the history of Russia in this light you begin to read the history of China in this light and dear ones someone will read the history of the United States in this light oh this is the man that made not God his help we shall become an astonishment and a hissing why

54:12 because we told God we didn't need him to hold together the fabric of our national life kick him out of our schools kick him out of our universities kick him out of our halls of learning kick him out of our courtrooms we can do it by ourselves and can you read what's happening in our own day the man in the street is suspicious why he's lost confidence in the president he's lost confidence in the oil leaders nobody's honest why because he knows he's the same man who when he sits down to fill out his income tax form next month will cheat the government and the deception of his own heart he projects upon the nation and he knows he's part and parcel of a nation that's lost its moral fabric because in its pride it says God is not a necessary ingredient ingredient to the life of our nation I would not be over simplistic in describing our present woes but that lies at the heart of it or pretty near to the heart of it oh dear Christian develop a biblical philosophy of history nations rise and fall not in terms of matters that men assess to be significant but in terms of those principles that God sets are significant for righteousness exalteth a nation

55:40 but sin is a reproach to any people the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that don't keep up enough armament no no all the nations that are not concerned enough about ecology no no all the nations that forget God all the nations that forget God that's the biblical philosophy of the rising and the falling of nations oh dear child of God let me close now with that positive note of the text ringing in our ears what are we to do as we think of the state of our own world as we look out at the upheavals on every hand and the increasing and overflowing violence of opposition to all that is godly and sacred well you need to go forth making your eyes to be feet and behold the works of God behold those works and then remember the words of Jehovah host who said lo I am with you always even to the end of the age as thou hast given authority over all flesh the reigns of the government of the world have not slipped one hundredth of an inch in the mighty sovereign hands of the son of God

57:09 he holds them right now he holds them though the nations may be like a wild horse trying to get that bit in the teeth they'll never be able to he's got it firmly pressed back against the soft folds of its headstrong mouth and he holds them and he makes desolations and when it pleases him he's going to make wars to cease to the ends of the earth and when it pleases him he's going to destroy every weapon of war and in the new heavens and in the new earth righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea take hope child of God God who's written the pages of the past has told us what will be written of the future let us trust him let us not be found like leaves shaking in the crosswinds of men's foreboding predictions let us go forth and behold the works of God let us pray oh God we praise you this morning we worship you we magnify you we render praise and honor and worship because you are the God

58:38 that we have contemplated this morning thank you that you're the God who makes desolations in the earth who makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth who breaks the bow who cuts the spear in sunder who burns the chariot in the fire oh Lord forgive us for looking down forgive us for failing to go forth and to behold your mighty works forgive us when we've ignored the historical portions of your word help us to return to them with renewed sight and clarity of vision oh Lord for those who constitute enemies of Zion who are your enemies show them the folly of continuing in that state of enmity for they shall one day be made desolate unless they repent oh God bless this word to our hearts in the diversity of our needs according to the plentitude of your own grace hear us and receive our thanks that you are such a God through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen