May 25 Your Daily Bible Study

PSALM 1 THE GENESIS BOOK: THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRIST 1 Blessed (happy) is the Man (Christ Jesus, Who is our Representative Man [I Cor. 15:47]) Who walks (orders His lifestyle) not in the counsel of the ungodly (but according to the Word of God), nor stands in the way of sinners (doesn’t trod the evil path of sin), nor sits in the seat of the scornful (but rather evidences Faith in God. All 150 Psalms point to Christ, with the exception of the parts that point to the Evil One and his followers. As the Gospels proclaim the Acts of Christ, the Psalms portray His Heart, in His Atoning, Mediatorial, or Intercessory Work). 2 But His (our Lord’s) delight is in the Law of the LORD (God’s Word [119:97-108]); and in His Law does He meditate day and night (this was the manner of Christ as our Representative Man in His Earthly sojourn; as our example, it is meant to be our practice as well). 3 And He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water (symbol of the Holy Spirit [Jn. 7:37-39]), that brings forth His Fruit in His Season (Jn. 15:1-8); His Leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever He does shall prosper (“His Leaf” corresponds with the “Tree of Life”; everything that man does dies; everything Jesus does lives forever and is blessed). THE MISERY OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS 4 The ungodly are not so (speaks primarily of the Antichrist; however, it includes all who follow Satan): but are like the chaff which the wind drives away (no matter how rich, famous, or powerful the ungodly might be, the Lord refers to them as “chaff”). 5 Therefore the ungodly (the Antichrist) shall not stand in the Judgment (will not be able to pass muster, so to speak), nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous (only those who follow the “Blessed Man,” Who is Christ, are judged as righteous). 6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous (Christ and all who follow Him): but the way of the ungodly (the Antichrist) shall perish (it’s either Christ or the Antichrist!). PSALM 2 A PSALM OF DAVID: MESSIAH’S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM 1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? (This is the great gathering of the mighty armies of the Antichrist against Christ in Rev., Chpt. 17.) 2 The kings of the Earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed (the Lord Jesus Christ; this is the Battle of Armageddon), saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us (man has ever tried to disassociate himself from God; the first organized effort was the building of the Tower of Babel [Gen., Chpt. 11]; this last great organized effort will be the Antichrist, who will seek to overcome Christ once and for all; as the first failed, so will the last). 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh (man’s great efforts against Christ only produce a “laugh” on the part of the Creator): the LORD shall have them in derision (holds them in contempt). 5 Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure (this pertains to the Second Coming). 6 Yet have I set My King upon My Holy Hill of Zion (which will take place immediately after the Second Coming; the “Blessed Man” of Psalm 1, and the “Crowned King” of Psalm 2 are the One and Same Divine Person, the Messiah, the Son of Man, the Son of God; in both Psalms, He stands in contrast to the first Adam as Man and King in the Earth and over the Earth). 7 I will declare the decree (the Father gives the Son sovereign power over the Universe): the LORD has said unto Me, You are My Son (the Lord Jesus Christ); this day have I begotten You. (What day? The day this was decreed in Heaven, even before the foundation of the world. It speaks of the Plan of God to redeem humanity, by God becoming Man, and going to the Cross [I Pet. 1:18-20.) 8 Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your Inheritance (speaks of two things: the defeat of the Antichrist at the Battle of Armageddon, and the evangelization of the world), and the uttermost parts of the Earth for Your possession (Christ will rule the entirety of the world in the Kingdom Age, and not the Antichrist). 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel (meaning that the Kingdom Age will come in with great violence; it pertains to the Second Coming, when the Lord will smite the nations [Ezek., Chpts. 38-39; Dan. 2:34-35]). 10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the Earth (in other words, let this be a warning to you; don’t side with the Antichrist). 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling (the idea is, the Lord is going to win out). 12 Kiss the Son (the Lord Jesus, meaning to embrace Him), lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little (once again, it speaks of the coming Battle of Armageddon). Blessed are all they who put their trust in Him (which holds for all people for all time). THE PROVERBS CHAPTER 1 (1000 B.C.) TITLE 1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel (the Wisdom in this Book is not human sagacity, cleverness, or ability, but the application to the smallest details of human life of the Wisdom that built the heavens and the Earth and maintains them in being); PURPOSE OF THE BOOK 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding (the theme of this Verse is “to know”; that which we are instructed to know could be categorized as “the Bible,” which is “Wisdom”); 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity (the theme of this Verse is “to receive”; therefore, if we “know” the Bible, we will then “receive” its instruction); 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. (If we “know” the Bible and then “receive” its instruction, we will then be able to “give” the benefit of our knowledge to others.) 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels (if we know the Bible, the Holy Spirit then considers us “wise,” and we will, thereby, continue to “increase learning” through His wise counsels): 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. (The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit [I Cor. 2:14]. Therefore, we are told in the following Verse how this understanding can come about.) A WARNING 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (So, the beginning of this God-breathed road is “the fear of the LORD.” Men do not fear Him because most do not believe Him.) 8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto your head, and chains about your neck. (The Book opens with a double statement that fear of God [Vs. 7] and obedience to parents form the foundation of a just relationship to God and man. Chains of gold about the neck indicate political dignity; therefore, the sense of the Passage is that rulership of men must be preceded by fidelity to God’s Commands, showing consecration of parents to God’s Word, and submission by children to Godly parents.) 10 My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not. (This tells us that if parents have not been properly guided by the Word that they may properly instruct their sons and daughters, then the enticement of sinners will be successful in its allurement; this, sadly, is the lot of most.) 11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause (Verses 11 through 14 suggest the evil enticement fomented by Satan that lurks in the path of every young man and young lady. To be sure, these enticements are deadly, characterized by the words “blood,” “grave,” and “the pit”): 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those who go down into the pit (as a result of lacking the Wisdom of God, the land is filled with blood, the graves cannot be dug fast enough, and Hell opens her mouth without measure): 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil (Satan lies, and men love to believe his lies; he is the master of deception; there is no precious substance that can be obtained by such measures; and, if there is, it brings no satisfaction): 14 Cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse (this “purse” carries wages of sin, which is death): 15 My son, walk not you in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path (the reference is that it is impossible to make the right decision concerning the right path unless the solidity of the Bible is our foundation): 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood (the spirit of this Passage ensconces itself in the heart of every Bible rejecter). 17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird (the argument of this Verse is that as a bird with its eyes open flies into a net spread for its destruction, so evil men rush with their eyes wide open into death). 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives (they seek to kill others for ill-gotten gain; in the killing of others, they also kill themselves). 19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners thereof (the far greater majority of the world is “greedy of gain,” and will do anything up to and including murder to accomplish their purpose). WISDOM SPEAKS 20 Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets (in Lk. 7:35, the Lord Jesus says, “Wisdom is justified of all her children”; the Wisdom who speaks here to Solomon and to all men invites them to become her sons): 21 She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying (although Righteousness is not nearly as proliferated as evil, still, the crying of Wisdom which God gives is ample enough that it will appeal even to the “simple”), 22 How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? (The terms, “simple,” “scorner,” and “fool,” mark regression. The man who treats Wisdom with good humor and polite inattention presently becomes a mocker and finally a hater. So it was with the Pharisees and the rulers of the Synagogue. At first, they politely permitted the Lord to read the Scriptures in the Synagogue and to preach; but very soon they began to mock Him; and, finally, they hated and crucified Him.) 23 Turn you at My reproof: behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My Words unto you. (Wisdom speaks and pleads with the frivolous, the mockers, and the hostile, promising them that if they would “turn,” she would abundantly enrich them with her own spirit and with understanding. But such is conditional upon conversion, and conversion is repugnant to man, because it humbles him.) 24 Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded (the whole of humanity is set apart in two camps: those who follow God-given Wisdom, i.e., the Bible, and those who reject God-given Wisdom); 25 But you have set at nought all My counsel, and would none of My reproof (the implication is that man willingly and deliberately sets aside “God’s counsel”; then the “reproofs” come; they are but signposts directing our attention to the coming catastrophe; most mock and continue on): 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes (this Verse does not mean that Wisdom will actually deride her rejecters; it is the language of idiomatic argument; the rejecters laughed and mocked at Wisdom; when, therefore, calamities came upon them, which Wisdom predicted, their laughter and mocking turned upon themselves, and so Wisdom may be justly said to deride their calamity); 27 When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you. (Some may argue that such does not come to all who ignore God; however, they are only looking at the physical and the material. Spiritually, it is definite.) 28 Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me (while it is certainly true that God will hear any and all who earnestly cry out to Him, still, the sense of this Passage is that a late call cannot undo the irreparable harm done in a misspent life): 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD (there is a “choice” that everyone has to make; those who “choose” the wrong path do so because they “hate knowledge,” i.e., “the Bible”): 30 They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. (The almost identical repetition of this Passage from Verse 25 is not by accident, but by design. If men reject the “counsel” of God and “despise His reproof,” then the following Passage must come to pass.) 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. (Man’s problem is “his own way” and “his own devices.” It is either God’s Way, which brings life, or our way, which brings death.) 32 For the turning away of the simple shall kill them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. (The “simple” turns away from God and is, thereby, destroyed. Likewise, the “prosperity of fools” does not bring the gain that they anticipated in Verse 19, but instead destruction.) 33 But whoso hearkens unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. (In this First Chapter of Proverbs, written by Solomon, we are given the blueprint for living: God’s Way versus our way. Those who listen to Him shall “dwell safely” and shall have no “fear.”) I Cor. CHAPTER 13 (A.D. 59) LOVE 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels (actually says in the Greek, “If it were possible to speak with the tongues of men and of Angels”; as well, Paul is not denigrating speaking with Tongues, as some have claimed [I Cor. 14:18]), and have not charity (love), I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal (does not refer to our modern musical instrument which we call by that name, but that which made no more than a clattering sound). 2 And though I have the Gift of Prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains (tells us that the Gifts of the Spirit can be had by less than perfect people, as should be obvious), and have not charity (love), I am nothing. (We now see the basis on which everything must be built — it is love. If not, we are nothing!) 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned (shifts from Gifts to “Works”), and have not charity (love), it profits me nothing. (As commendable as the acts may be, they bring a grade of zero unless God’s Love motivates them.) CHARACTERISTICS 4 Charity (love) suffers long (refers to patience), and is kind (represents the second side of the Divine attitude toward human kind); charity (the God kind of Love) envies not (does not want that which belongs to others); Love vaunts not itself (is never a braggart), is not puffed up (is not prideful), 5 Does not behave itself unseemly (is forgetful of self and thoughtful of others), seeks not her own (is unselfish), is not easily provoked (is not embittered by abuse, insult, or injury), thinks no evil (takes no account of evil); 6 Rejoices not in iniquity (never gossips about the misdeeds of others), but rejoices in the Truth (proclaims that which the Word of God identifies as Truth); 7 Bears all things (never complains), believes all things (takes the kindest views of all men), hopes all things (keeps believing for the best), endures all things (puts up with everything). ETERNAL 8 Love never fails (because love cannot fail): but whether there be Prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be Tongues, they shall cease; whether there be Knowledge, it shall vanish away. (This refers to the fact that the Gifts of the Spirit will not be needed in the coming Resurrection, as well as many other things we could name.) 9 For we know in part (pertains to the “Word of Knowledge,” which is just part Knowledge), and we Prophesy in part (falls into the same category). 10 But when that which is perfect is come (refers to the Rapture of the Church, i.e., the Resurrection), then that which is in part shall be done away (as should be obvious). 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (The Apostle is comparing our present state, “as a child,” to that which is coming, symbolized by a mature adult. That is the difference between the present state and the coming Resurrection.) 12 For now (before the Resurrection) we see through a glass, darkly (can only see the dim outline); but then (after the Resurrection) face to face (we can look and see openly and clearly): now I know in part (have some knowledge); but then shall I know even as also I am known (then everything will be perfect and complete). 13 And now (before the Resurrection) abides Faith, Hope, Love, these three (all three will abide forever); but the greatest of these is Love (it is the greatest because Love alone makes us like God [I Jn. 4:7]).