The
Apple of His Eye ... commentary of Psalm 74
The Apple of His Eye
… A commentary of Psalm
74
Verse Twelve
Psalm 74:12: “For God is
my King of old, working salvation in the midst of
the earth.”
“…King…”
King = a monarch
or a sovereign of a kingdom.
The word king, or
kings appears in 2191 verses of the Bible.
A king has a
kingdom.
Kingdom
or kingdoms appears in 369 verses.
And in a kingdom,
there is a king.
The overriding theme
of the BIBLE is one of KINGS and of KINGDOMS!
“For God is my King of old…”
In the First Book of
Moses called Genesis we read in chapter five,
verse thirty-two:
“And Noah was five
hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and
Japheth.” [Genesis 5:32] [B.C.
2448]
Before the Genesis
Flood [in the antediluvian
world] Noah begat three
sons. Noah and his wife, and his three sons
and their wives were bridged over to the
postdiluvian world
by the grace of God.
“But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the LORD.” [Genesis
6:8] [B.C. 2448]
Eight souls survived
the world-wide flood. The number eight
is the number for a new beginning.
Now, let’s trace down
through one of these sons of Noah: Ham.
Go to
chapter ten, verse six: “And the
sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.”
[Genesis 10:6] [B.C. 2348]
Go to verse eight.
One of Ham’s sons
is Cush.
“And Cush begat
Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.”
[Genesis 10:8] [B.C. 2347]
[Again: A king has
a kingdom. And in a kingdom,
there is a king.]
The over-riding theme
of the BIBLE is one of KINGS and of KINGDOMS!
In the First Book of
Moses called Genesis, in chapter fourteen, we
see the first appearance of the word king.
In fact, in the first two
verses we see nine kings listed.
We read: “And
it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of
Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of
Elam, and Tidal king of nations;
That these
made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha
king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber
king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is
Zoar.
All these were joined
together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt
sea.” [Genesis 14:1-3] [B.C. 1913]
Now, four of these
nine kings:
Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar,
Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of
nations, were from the land of Nimrod.
The land of Nimrod
is mentioned in the book of Micah, chapter five,
verse six:
“And they shall waste
the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of
Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he
deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh
into our land, and when he treadeth within our
borders.” [Micah 5:6]
The Assyrians were
the northern inhabitants of the land of
Nimrod.
The Babylonians
were the southern inhabitants of the land
of Nimrod.
Something else: This
land of Nimrod is also called
Shinar.
[See for this the
cross reference which is located in the book of
Daniel, in chapter one, in verse two:
“And the Lord gave
Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of
the vessels of the house of God: which he carried
into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and
he brought the vessels into the treasure house of
his god.” [Daniel 1:2]]
The land of Shinar
is later also called Chaldea:
“And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that
spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the LORD.”
[Jeremiah 50:10]
And today we Gentiles
call this land of Nimrod: MESOPOTAMIA.
Thus, the land of
Nimrod = Shinar = Chaldea = Mesopotamia.
Now these four kings are
the descendants of another king.
[Remember a king
has a kingdom. And in a
kingdom, there is a king.]
The first mention in the
BIBLE of a kingdom is in chapter ten of the BOOK
of BEGINNINGS.
Verse ten: “And the
beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and
Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
[Genesis 10:10]
The land of Nimrod had a
king: NIMROD.
There is more on this
king, go back just one verse to verse nine:
“He was a mighty
hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even
as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.”
[Genesis 10:9]
Mighty = signifies
having great bodily strength or physical
power, not unlike a Superman.
This is the kind of
king that men seek for to reign over them in
this world.
People are always
enamored with mighty men who also have
both beauty and charisma.
This was the case with
King Saul among the children of
Israel in the First Book of Samuel, chapter nine,
verse one and two:
“Now there was a man
of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of
Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the
son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.
And he had a son,
whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and
a goodly: and there was not among the
children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from
his shoulders and upward he was higher than
any of the people.” [1 Samuel
9:1-2]
Saul was the people’s
choice: a choice young man.
The men, and the nations
of this world, seek the mighty, the beautiful and
the proud for their leaders rather than the
mighty God whose name is described in the Book
of Isaiah, chapter nine, verse six:
“For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given: and the government
shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
[Isaiah 9:6]
The people made a bad
choice!
Why? Because men look on
the outward appearance but the inward
is FAR more important. [The heart is what
really matters].
When each of David’s
older brothers filed one by one before Samuel the
prophet, the LORD keyed into the matter of the heart
in the First Book of Samuel, chapter sixteen,
verse six and seven:
“And it came to pass,
when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and
said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before
him.
But the LORD said unto
Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the
height of his stature; because I have refused him:
for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man
looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD
looketh on the heart.” [1 Samuel
16:6-7]
THE LORD SEETH NOT AS MAN
SEETH!
Now, up to this time, the
nation of Israel had no man reigning as king over
them.
This was unlike all
the other nations. For all
the nations had men as their kings except Israel.
Israel had God as their
King reigning directly over them in a theocracy.
Webster’s 1828 dictionary
defines: THEOC'RACY, n. Gr. God, and power; to
hold. Government of a state by the immediate
direction of God; or the state thus governed.
Turn eight
chapters back in your BIBLE to chapter eight, and we
will read verses four through nine:
“Then all the elders
of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to
Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou
art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make
us a king to judge us like all the nations.
But the thing
displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to
judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the
LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the
people in all that they say unto thee: for they have
not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I
should not reign over them.
According to all the
works which they have done since the day that I
brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day,
wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other
gods, so do they also unto thee.
Now therefore hearken
unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto
them, and shew them the manner of the king that
shall reign over them.” [1 Samuel
8:4-9]
Israel rejected
God as King! The people wanted to be
like all the other nations.
It’s a sad commentary
because that’s what all the nations of the world
desire: They want to govern themselves
without the GOD of Heaven and Earth interfering in
their matters.
Rebels are what we
are!
Now the story does not
end here in the gloom.
The story ends well!
In the First Book of
Moses called Genesis, in chapter forty-nine we have
a foretelling:
“And Jacob called unto
his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that
I may tell you that which shall befall you in
the last days.” [Genesis 49:1]
“…which shall befall you in the last days.”
For Asaph [in this verse]
sees forward to a time not yet. Asaph
foresees Israel, the apple of His eye,
proclaiming, “For God is my King of old” in the
last days!
This “King of old” hearks
back to the time which is located in the Book of the
Judges [B.C. 1406] when God directly reigned
over the people of Israel in a theocratic
kingdom.
Asaph foresees
Israel, the apple of His eye, proclaiming,
“For God is my King of old” in the soon coming
Kingdom of Heaven where Jesus Christ will
visibly reign over Israel and over all the nations
of the earth.
Look down to verse ten,
the prophecy continues:
“The sceptre shall not
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall
the gathering of the people be.”
[Genesis 49:10]
Now for the last half of
verse twelve: “For God is my King of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
[Psalm 74:12]
“…working salvation in the midst of the earth.”
In the First book of Moses called Genesis,
chapter forty-nine, we will continue with
Jacob’s prophecy concerning his twelve sons
[the twelve tribes of Israel].
Jacob [or Israel] wanted to tell them by
the Spirit of God what will befall them
in the last days.
Now come down to verse eighteen. Read:
“I have waited for thy salvation, O
LORD.” [Genesis 49:18]
Notice, the word: salvation.
It is the very first mention of this word in
the Bible.
Now, salvation involves the act of
saving or of preservation from certain
destruction or from great calamity.
HUMP DAY
What are these last days?
First, consider our seven-day
week. Halfway through our week is:
Wednesday. Wednesday is the fourth day.
It is HUMP DAY!
[The following is quoted from the
message: God Tells End from The Beginning,
Richard St.James, 2014]
We live in “the last days.”
The Spirit of God [through the Apostle Paul]
characterized the times that we all live in [the
last days] as “perilous times”.
“This know also, that in the last days
perilous times shall come.” [2
Timothy 3:1]
Can you not see what is happening all
around you? Yes, you can.
Read this Scripture in Second Peter, chapter
three, verse three: “Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts,” [2 Peter 3:3]
Do you not see that this is so?
Yes, you can. We are indeed living in
“the last days.”
From Hump Day [30 AD] on through
the end of time, the Bible has defined
the last two thousand years of time as “the last
days.”
Notice for this what Scripture says in the
book of Hebrews, chapter one, verse two: “Hath in
these last days; …” [Hebrews 1:2]
Next, we need to consider the next
thousand years ... into the future. In
the future millennium we will have the “the
latter years.”
The “latter years” are “the
latter days,” and they are also called, “the
last days.” For this, look in the
prophecy of Hosea:
“Afterward shall the children of Israel
return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their
king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in
the latter days.” [Hosea 3:5]
It will go well for Israel in
“the latter days.” See the book of Acts:
“And it shall come to pass in the last
days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon
all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and
your old men shall dream dreams:”
[Acts 2:17].
This is a prophecy which will be fulfilled
in “the last days,” which days will come
after “the times of the Gentiles” are over,
and after the seven years of Jacob’s trouble
[The Tribulation].
“Alas! for that day is great, so that
none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's
trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.”
[Jeremiah 30:7]
The “last days” also coincide
with the seventh millennium of time. In
“the process of time”, the events
described by the prophets will come to pass.
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
[Matthew 6:10]
[Acts 3:21: “Whom the heaven must
receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all
his holy prophets since the world began.”
In “the process of time,” THE
KINGDOM of HEAVEN will come to this:
“And it shall come to pass in the last
days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall
be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall
flow unto it.” [Isaiah 2:2]
“I have waited for thy salvation, O
LORD.” [Genesis 49:18]
To recapitulate: salvation involves
the very act of God saving or preserving
from a certain destruction or from a great
calamity … a person, a people, a nation, or nations,
or even the whole creation.
Sin hurts, sin
maims, and sin destroys: SIN brings Death!
Look at what it has done to all that has
been created in God’s creation in
Genesis. Just look at this statement located
in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, chapter eight,
in verse twenty-two:
“For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”
[Romans 8:22]
·
The creation is
waiting for the REGENERATION [Matthew 19:28].
·
Israel the apple of His
eye is waiting for the REGENERATION … for
the restitution of all things.
·
The Gentiles waited for
salvation by the
GRACE of God through the blood of the Lamb of God at
the CROSS [Romans 11:11].
In this reference to the ascension
of Jesus Christ in the book of the Acts of the
Apostles, chapter three, verse twenty-one:
“Whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hath
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since
the world began.” [Acts 3:21]:
We see the promise of salvation
coming to the apple of His eye.
Now, see this marvelous thing here
in the book of Isaiah the Prophet, chapter
sixty-two, verse eleven:
“Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto
the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of
Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his
reward is with him, and his work before him.”
[Isaiah 62:11]
This is the same salvation spoken of
in the First Epistle of Peter, chapter one, verse
ten:
“Of which salvation the prophets have
inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you:”
[1 Peter 1:10]
We read from the Gospel according to
Matthew:
“And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save
his people from their sins.”
[Matthew 1:21]
From all the foregoing, we see God has been
working out a sure SALVATION in the midst of the
earth over all the millennia of time.