Questions…#2
I’m Glad You Asked…..
By Pastor F. M. Riley
“But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear,” 1 Peter 3:15.
Your Question…..In
your recent article, you claimed that Psalm 106 and 107
correlate with the years, 2006 and 2007. How do you justify such
a theory by Scripture?
My Answer…..The correlation
of the Psalms with the years of the 20th and 21st
centuries is not a “theory.” The Word of God commands His people
to “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” 1 Thessalonians
5:21. Most of the truths in God’s Word are set forth in direct
statements, and are to be taken at face value for what the Scripture says.
However, there are truths that the Lord Himself has hidden in His Word,
Proverbs 25:2; Psalm 49:4; Daniel 12:4. These hidden truths
have to be searched out, and are found by what some call deductive
reasoning. In other words, we find the hidden
truths by carefully examining all the Scriptural evidence, setting aside
that which does not apply, and finally coming to the only conclusion possible.
This is the same process that any good detective uses to determine the truth
of a matter. How much more careful God’s people should be in using a similar
process to search out and determine the hidden truths contained in the HOLY
WORD OF GOD.
I know that some of
our readers are familiar with J. R. Church’s book, Hidden Prophecies
in the Psalms. For those who aren’t I would refer you to my previous
article posted on Five Doves on June 26th, the same article that
provoked the above question.
The Unique Psalms
The Psalms are
the 19th book in the Old Testament. Nineteen (19) is the number
in God’s Word that is repeatedly associated with the doctrine of “faith.”
The Psalms are all about the trials and tribulations of the
Jewish remnant as they seek to find their way to “faith” in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now guess which book is the 19th book in
the New Testament? It is The Book of Hebrews. Count them
for yourself. This didn’t just happen by coincidence. The Lord watches
over His Word, and even superintended the very arrangement of the books
of the Bible. But that is another study…..
The Psalms
are quite unique in that they tell the story in advance of God’s
dealings with the Jewish remnant and the Gentile nations during
the 20th and 21st centuries. Now I want to demonstrate
this truth for our readers…..
Hidden Prophecies
in the Psalms
I have repeatedly
told people that The Book of Psalms is one of the greatest
books of prophecy in the entire Bible. In order to prove that, I
could slowly examine every Psalm and point out the correlation
between that Psalm and the events that occurred in the particular
year in the 20th century indicated by the number of the Psalm.
But if I did that, I would need to write a book. J. R. Church has already
written such a book, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to
write a second book on the subject. Instead, in order to answer your question,
I am going to briefly point out some of the more outstanding prophetic correlations
in some of the Psalms. If you are familiar with your
Bible, and with world events, you should easily recognize and understand
the things I point out. Now let’s study together…..
The Birth of Communism
It was the prophet Jeremiah
whom the Lord used to predict the birth of Communism many centuries
ago. In Jeremiah 1:14 the Lord told Jeremiah, “Out
of the north an evil shall break forth upon
all the inhabitants of the land [erets…earth].” Some
2,600 years later it did! The Communist Party was organized in 1914
with only 17 charter members. One of those original members was Joseph
Stalin. Now isn’t it interesting that Psalm 14 begins,
“The fool hath said in his heart, There
is no God”? The rest of Psalm 14 describes “their”
wickedness. Notice that the opening statement is singular, but the
following statements are plural. This clearly suggests a group
of people who follow “the fool.”
All of the
older people living today still remember Joseph Stalin. He was a wicked
and cruel man, starving 15 million of his own people to death in order to
bring the Soviet Empire into submission under Communism with himself as
the ruler. Throughout his reign he persecuted and killed Christians and
Jews in an attempt to remove every trace of God out of the Soviet Union.
But even “fools’ die. Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Now isn’t it
interesting that Psalm 53 begins, “The fool hath said
in his heart, There is no
God”? Coincidence? I think not!
The Deliverance
of Jerusalem
It was in 1917 that
the Lord delivered the city of Jerusalem out of the hands of the Turks.
It was accomplished when the allied forces of Great
Britain and the United States,
under the command of General Allenby, marched against the Turkish forces
entrenched in Jerusalem near the end of the first World
War. On December 9, 1917 [Chanukah on the Jewish calendar] General
Allenby ordered airplanes to fly over the city of Jerusalem and spy out
the positions of the Turkish forces in view of an attack against them.
The Turks had never seen airplanes. The Turks thought the planes were “angels,”
and in absolute terror they fled from the city of Jerusalem heading north
to Turkey in mass hysteria. The
city was delivered into the hands of General Allenby without firing a shot.
This is documented history.
Now notice that in Psalm
17 the Psalmist specifically asked the Lord to “hide me under
the shadow of Thy wings.” Psalm 17 also speaks of two
lions, “a lion that is greedy of his prey,
and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.” Isn’t
this interesting? Some 3,000 years in advance the Lord knew that
the symbol of Great Britain would
be “a lion.” The Lord also knew that the United
States would not adopt the lion as their national
symbol, yet they were indeed “a young lion” that had come
forth from Great Britain. You
might also read Isaiah 31:4-5 in connection with the deliverance
of Jerusalem in 1917.
The Jewish Holocaust
It was in 1933
that Adolph Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany. He immediately began
the persecution and oppression and enslavement of the Jewish people in Europe.
Hitler kept the Jews in “bondage” for 12 years, one year for each
of the 12 tribes of Israel. The
Holocaust extended from 1933 through 1944. Now is it just coincidence
that Psalms 33-44 describe, often in intimate detail, Hitler’s
attempt to enslave and eradicate all the Jews in Europe? Study it for yourself
and behold the correlation that Almighty God placed in His Word some 3,000
years ago.
Keep in mind as you study,
the Jewish years overlap the Gentile years. In the Psalms
the Lord is primarily concerned with the Jews. Understanding this truth
will help you to understand why some world events are mentioned in the Psalm
that immediately follows the Gentile year in which they occurred. For example,
World War II ended in Europe in 1945, but it is Psalm 46
that tells us that the Lord “maketh wars to cease unto the end of
the earth.”
The Atomic Bomb
It was in 1946 that
the second World War was brought to an end by dropping the atomic
bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Now look at Psalm 46…..
“The heathen [Gentiles;
nations] raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the
earth melted,” 46:6. Why did the Lord bring that war
to an end at that specific time? Because He was watching
over His chosen people, the Jews. “The Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge,” 46:7. Then
in the next verse the Psalmist wrote, “Come, behold the works of
the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth,” 46:8.
Every adult living today has seen photos of the terrible desolation
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese government even left one building
standing as a constant reminder to Japan
and the world of the terrible destructive force of the atom bomb. Folks,
nuclear energy is nothing but a snake that is ultimately
going to bite “the fools” that are playing with it. Whether some of our
readers like it or not, or want to believe it or not, the Psalmist attributes
what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the Lord. He permitted
it to happen! And some want us to believe that the Lord doesn’t bring
judgment on people, or cities, or nations, in this present dispensation. Well, I’m not going to tell
the inspired Psalmist he was wrong. Are you?
Then the next verse says,
“He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the
bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire,”
46:9.
Yes, He did!
The Lord brought the second World War to an end
with fire, and for a brief time there was not a battle going
on anywhere on the face of the earth. “Be still, and know that I
am God: I will be exalted in the earth,” 46:10. Glory!
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
The Days of Egypt
The Lord said in Micah
7:15 that in the end-times He would deal with the Jews “According
to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt…..” Now isn’t
it interesting that the Jews in Europe spent 12 years in bondage
to Hitler and his Nazi regime, then being freed they spent the next three
years [1945-47] in a mass exodus from Europe, crossing the Mediterranean
Sea just like their fathers had crossed the Red Sea in ancient times? Most
of them had nothing left in Europe, and so headed for “the promised
land.” Glory!
Notice that Psalm 47
specifically states that “God reigneth over the heathen [Gentiles;
nations]: God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness,” 47:8. No
matter how important the world’s political leaders think they are,
it is Almighty God who impresses His will upon their minds. It was
the Lord who moved the leaders of the United Nations in 1947
to partition the land of Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs, and bring
to an end the British Mandate. And when it was clear that the British were
going to pull out of the Holy Land, the prominent and influential leaders
of the Jewish people formed a “provisional government, and informed the
world that when the British left they would declare an independent nation
of Israel. And they did! Now isn’t that interesting? But it is old
news! Nearly 3,000 years old, for it was already foretold in Psalm
47:9, “The princes of the people are gathered together, even
the people of the God of Abraham…..” And some
today who claim to be “Christians,” and even some
Jews, want to tell us that the establishment of the nation of Israel
was not the will of God. Sic! If it wasn’t why did Almighty God
predict it in His Word 3,000 years in advance?
Israel
Becomes a Nation
Psalms 48 and
49 describe in detail Israel’s
war of independence. Glory! What a God we serve, who can write history
in advance of its fulfillment. Glory! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
I could write several pages
on Psalm 48, going into intimate detail about the events of
Israel’s war of independence, and how those details correlate exactly
with what is recorded in this Psalm written some 3,000 years
ago. Ditto for Psalm 49.
But what I
really want to call to the attention of our readers is that the establishment
of the nation of Israel on May
14, 1948 was the exact beginning of the last generation.
In Psalm 48:12-13 the Psalmist instructs the Jewish people
to walk around the city of Jerusalem [48:12] and “Mark
ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it
to the generation following.” Now get out your Concordance
or Hebrew Lexicon, and look up the word “following” in this
verse. You will find that it is translated from the Hebrew word, “acharon,”
and that it literally means, “hinder, as opposed to former; last;
at last; lastly; hindermost; uttermost.” See Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee
Lexicon, page 33, Strong’s No. 314. A literal translation of this latter
statement would read, “that ye may tell it
to the last generation.” Glory! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
May I suggest that our readers keep this fact in mind when they study Matthew
24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32, and related passages. We are
living in the last generation of this present dispensation.
Israel’s Wars
During the following 19
years [the number for “faith”] Israel
fought three wars against overwhelming odds, and defeated their enemies
with a humiliating defeat every time. It is obvious that God was revealing
to Israel that He was fighting
for them. These three wars are described in Psalms 48-49, Psalm 56,
and Psalms 67-68. At any time during those 19 years
Israel could have turned to the
Lord and entered the Promised Kingdom. But they didn’t because…..
They had as their leaders
faithless men [secular Jews] who did not believe in the God
of Israel, or in the inspiration of their God given Bible, men who were
not qualified to lead the people back to God and into the Kingdom.
When God gave them a stunning victory in what is now called The Six
Day War, their wicked, faithless commanding General [Moshe
Dayan], so feared “world opinion” that he turned the sacred Temple Mount
back over to Israel’s enemies, in a repetition of the faithlessness
of the wicked spies sent out by Israel in the days of the Exodus. And right
then, June 7-8, 1967, just as in ancient times, modern Israel
began forty years of “wilderness wanderings.” Before these
forty years are concluded in 2007, every unfaithful, unbelieving,
and disobedient Jew [that was living in 1967] will have “left
their carcasses in the wilderness.” Their gracious Lord will take
their children into the promised Kingdom, just as He did in
the days of Joshua. Only those Jews living in 1967 who believed
in the power of the God of Israel [even like Caleb and Joshua] will survive
to enter the Kingdom. Glory!
The Unsealing
of The Book
In Daniel 12:4 the
Lord told Daniel, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal
the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
There are many prophecy preachers
and teachers today who point to the great advances in human technology that
have occurred over the past sixty years to emphasize that “knowledge”
is being “increased.” Point to it all you want, but
such is not in keeping with the context of the prophecy given. It
was God’s Word that was being “sealed up,” and it is
God’s Word that is revealing its hidden secrets today. And
when did this start? When Israel
had won their war of independence in 1949!
In Psalm 49:1-4 the
Lord calls for the attention of the whole world. Are you
listening? In verses 3-4 the Psalmist said, “My mouth
shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be
of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I
will open my dark saying upon the harp.” We already
know that “a parable” contains a hidden truth. We
study parables to decipher those hidden truths. But look up the words “dark
saying” in your Concordance or Hebrew Lexicon. This literally means
“hidden sayings.” Folks, it was not until Israel
had become a nation again, in their own land, that
the Lord began to “open the book.”
Isn’t it true that revelation
after revelation from the Word has come to God’s people over these
past 58 years since Israel
became a nation? Most of these revelations were hidden in the Word,
right in plain sight. But remember, insight into God’s Word doesn’t depend
upon the brilliance of men. The Word is understood only by the enlightenment
of God’s Holy Spirit, John 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:7-14. During
all those centuries from the days of Daniel right to the reestablishment
of Israel as a nation, the prophetic
Scriptures were sealed. But once Israel
was back in their land, functioning as a nation, the Lord mercifully began
to open His “dark sayings.” And it was all predicted some
3,000 years ago right here in Psalm 49, the very Psalm
which correlates with 1949.
Conclusion
I must stop! There is
much more that I could point out, but I am physically exhausted. I
have been studying and writing for hours. I think I have given you enough
evidence to understand the correlation. I will continue this study [the
Lord permitting] at some future time. May God bless His Word is my prayer.
I need your prayers.
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Notice: Permission
is granted to any true believer or to any Bible believing
Christian ministry to forward this Bible study to others, or to reproduce
it to share with others, or to quote from it, always keeping it in context
as written.
If you have questions relative
to God’s Word, salvation, or the Christian life, that you would like to
ask me about, or if you have comments or other correspondence,
I can be contacted via email or by regular postal mail at:
Last Call Gospel
Ministry
3305-D Clark Lane
PMB 147
Columbia, Missouri
65202
Pastor F. M. Riley
Fmrglbd5@aol.com