The Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Verse Six
Psalm 74:6 “But now they
break down the carved work thereof at once with axes
and hammers.”
“But now they break down”
There is a time to
break down. There is a time to build up.
We can read for the veracity of this truth in the
book of Ecclesiastes in chapter three, verse three:
“A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to
break down, and a time to build up;”
[Ecclesiastes 3:3]
God himself, is
not adverse, to breaking things down, yea,
even commanding Israel that it be done to all the
gods of the nation’s surrounding them.
We see instances of these
commands in the Second Book Moses called Exodus,
chapter twenty-three: “Thou
shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them,
nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly
overthrow them,and quite break down their images.”
[Exodus 23:24] Break them down!
And again, located in
same book in chapter thirty-four, verse
thirteen: “But ye shall destroy their altars,
break their images, and cut down their groves:”
[Exodus 34:13]
Break them down!
Also, in the Fifth Book
Moses called Deuteronomy, chapter seven, verse five,
and chapter twelve, verse three: “But
thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their
altars, and break down their images, and cut down
their groves, and burn their graven images with
fire.” [Deuteronomy 7:5]
Break them down!
“And ye shall
overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and
burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down
the graven images of their gods, and destroy the
names of them out of that place.”
[Deuteronomy 12:3]
Break them down!
But
when Israel fails to obey these commands … in
breaking down the alters, in breaking down
the images and in breaking down the groves
from these other nations that surrounded them, then
the corruption [in the eyes of the LORD] reaches
the point of no return. That’s when God
pulls the trigger and moves in to correct the
situation by inviting these other nations to
invade Israel and to bring them judgment, including
breaking down the carved work in the
temple of God.
If they won’t cleanse
themselves and their own people and their own land,
then God will get the cleansing operation done
through their enemies.
Now, why does God
command such a thing?
Here the is reason why;
it’s for the purpose of the cleansing the
people and for the cleansing of the land,
so that they, and their land, and
their God can be in agreement, and in harmony, in
accordance with God’s word.
·
God is Holy!
·
The people need to be holy!
·
The land needs to be holy!
“For thou art
an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy
God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
himself, above all people that are upon the
face of the earth.” [Deuteronomy
7:6] also [14:2]
“…dwell among”
God wants to dwell
among HIS people Israel!
Exodus 29:45: “And
I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will
be their God.”
“…dwell in”
God [in the New Testament
salvation] is to dwell in the heart of the
believer in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 3:17: “That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love,”
…the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.”
Now, back to this matter
of breaking things down. It is sad, sad
story when things got this bad when the carved work needs
to be destroyed. Think about it. To
build something large, or intricate, or both is
a process that:
·
Requires A Vision
·
Requires A Design
·
Requires
Engineering/Calculations
·
Material Procurement
·
Requires Construction Skill
Building
is a beautiful, and noble endeavor, but it takes TIME,
PATIENCE, and FOCUS.
It took seven years to build the first temple in Jerusalem.
“And in the eleventh year, in the
month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the
house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and
according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven
years in building it.” [1 Kings
6:38]
It took years to
re-build the city of Jerusalem [after seventy-year
captivity of Israel by the Babylonians was over].
[Nehemiah 2:17]
Now, fast forward to our
time – to the body of Christ – the church.
The building of a believer in Jesus Christ takes grace, sanctification and time to grow. Acts 20:32:
“And now, brethren, I commend
you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is
able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified.”
God’s word of his
grace is able to build you up! Go
for it!
Look at this: We are built on a
sure foundation, according to the Epistle of
Paul to the Ephesians: “And are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone;”
[Ephesians 2:20].
It takes studying
the word of faith, and the preaching the word
of faith, and
teaching the word of faith, and much prayer to be built up in the
LORD: “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished
in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving.” [Colossians 2:7]
We are as lively
stones built up as a spiritual house:
“Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”
[1 Peter 2:5]
But what took years of
careful building in the Christian can be lost
in the Christian by being
beguiled, by being snared, or suffering loss, or even result
in being castaway because of the flesh, the
world or the Devil.
“…beguiled”
Colossians 2:4: “And
this I say, lest any man should beguile you with
enticing words.”
“…snared”
1 Titus 6:9: “But they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown
men in destruction and perdition.”
“…suffer loss”
1 Corinthians 3:15:
“If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by
fire.”
“…castaway”
1 Corinthians 9:27 “But
I keep under my body, and bring it into
subjection: lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
… But we will never be broken down!
Break down is the term only used in reference to Israel and to the Gentile nations [never to a believer in Jesus Christ].
Watch this thing roll out
before our very eyes [of faith] to Israel in the
book of the Prophet Jeremiah, chapter thirty-one,
verse twenty-eight: “And it shall come to pass,
that like as I have watched over them, to
pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and
to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over
them, to build, and to plant, saith the LORD.”
[Jeremiah 31:28]
NOTICE and HEED:
The building and planting positive operations are
located in
the same verse along with the negative
operations of to pluck, to breakdown,
to destroy, or to afflict.
Again, in chapter
forty-five, verse four, we find this:
“Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith
thus; Behold, that which I have built will I
break down, and that which I have planted I will
pluck up, even this whole land.”
[Jeremiah 45:4]
Note this: The divided heart
will be found out! Hebrews 10:31: “It is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.”
Hosea 10:2: “Their
heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he
shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their
images.”
Thus far, we have found
this break down operation is to be performed
by:
1.
By Israel – Israel was to break
down the idols in the land to cleanse the
land and the people of the land. It is
really a matter of the heart.
2.
By Israel’s
enemies - when
Israel failed to obey God concerning the idols,
images and groves existing in the land and vying for
the people’s hearts.
3.
By another person
who is very much interested in breaking things
down. This is the BEAST that is soon to be revealed in
the upcoming Tribulation that is coming to this
earth.
We read of this beast in the book of Daniel, chapter seven. See verse twenty-three:
“Thus he said, The fourth beast
shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall
be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the
whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it
in pieces.” [Daniel 7:23] Look at
what the beaat wants to do. This beast
wants devour the whole earth. He is a
destroyer!
4.
By Jesus Christ: And
lastly, we have a happy ending. The
LORD HIMSELF will break down the
implements of war as HE ushers in the Kingdom of
Heaven … the one-thousand-year kingdom on
this earth.