June 29 Your Daily Bible Study

June 29 Your Daily Bible Study



Psalms 13 - 15:

PSALM 13

A psalm of david:  a prayer of distress and faith

      1 How long will You forget me, O LORD? forever? how long will you hide Your Face from me?  (Some think this Psalm was written by David during the time of Saul, with others believing that David wrote it after committing the sin concerning Bath-sheba and her husband Uriah.

        Even though David here cries for help, the far greater picture pertains to the coming sufferings of Israel during the “times of trouble” under the reign of the false messiah [Jer. 30:7].  However, the ultimate portrayal is the Greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for Israel and as Israel.)

      2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?  how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?  (Once again, this pertains to David and also to Israel during the coming Great Tribulation.  As well, it must be understood that these Psalms are applicable to us as individuals!)

      3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God:  lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death (symbolized by David, this will be the prayer prayed by Israel when it looks like the Antichrist will completely destroy them; actually, you are reading the very words here which will precipitate the Second Coming);

      4 Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved (false apostles always rejoice when true Apostles suffer trouble).

      5 But I have trusted in Your Mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your Salvation (perhaps these words were written immediately after the writing of the Fifty-first Psalm).

      6 I will sing unto the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me (the word “bountifully” can be translated “compensated”; it thus reaffirms what so often appears in the Scriptures, that the overcomer will be compensated both here and in the future state for all troubles and sufferings, and that he will learn that perfect wisdom and infinite love will permit and overrule every trial).

PSALM 14

A psalm of david:  The foolishness of men

      1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good (the “fool” is the Antichrist, along with all who will follow him; despite all of their promises to “do good,” they will do no good at all, only great harm).

      2 The LORD looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any who did understand, and seek God.  (During the Great Tribulation, due to the fact that the Church has been raptured away, there will not be many on Earth living for God, at least according to the entirety of the population.

        The word “looked” means literally to bow Himself over to get a better and closer examination of men and their wicked ways.

        Most of these Psalms have a threefold application:  1.  They apply to the matter at hand, whatever it might be; 2.  They apply to every Believer who reads them; and, 3.  They have a prophetic meaning, with many of them pointing toward the coming Antichrist and Israel’s coming problems.).

      3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:  there is none who does good, no, not one (applies to the whole human race, with the only solution being Christ and what He did at the Cross).

      4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up My People as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD (even though “My People” has a general application, more particularly it speaks of Israel in the coming Great Tribulation).

      5 There were they in great fear:  for God is in the generation of the righteous (God’s people cannot be attacked without provoking Him; we are in Him, and He in us; He will assuredly come to our relief).

      6 You have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge (the “poor” pictures Israel and her coming troubles, with the statement presented that Israel will have no help from any other nation in the world, except the Lord).

      7 Oh that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!  when the LORD brings back the captivity of His People, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad (this speaks of the Second Coming, when Israel will then be redeemed [Zech., Chpt. 14]).

PSALM 15

A psalm of david:  who shall dwell in your holy hill?

      1 LORD, who shall abide in Your Tabernacle? who shall dwell in Your Holy Hill?  (The Messiah Alone satisfies the requirements of Verses 2 through 5.)

      2 He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in His heart.  (Verses 2 through 5 pertain to the Perfect Man Who perfectly keeps and perfectly kept God’s Perfect Law.  He lives blamelessly and always did so live; He practices Righteousness and never practices ought.  This is Christ, and Christ Alone!)

      3 He who backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbour, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour.

      4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned (condemned); but He honours them who fear the LORD.  He who swears to His own hurt, and changes not (Christ swore to keep the Law; He did so, and suffered Crucifixion [119:106]).

      5 He who puts not out his money to usury, nor takes reward against the innocent.  He who does these things shall never be moved.  (We were not purchased with such corruptible things as silver or gold, but by the Precious Blood of Christ [I Pet. 1:18-20].

        God’s requirement for eternal life is perfection.  No one except the Lord Jesus Christ has ever met that standard and no one ever will; nevertheless, the moment we accept Christ as our Saviour, He becomes our Substitute in all things.  Then His Perfection becomes our perfection, and we shall sit with Christ in Heavenly Places [Eph. 2:6].)

 Romans 3 - 4:

Chapter 3

(A.D. 60)

THE JEW

        1 What advantage then has the Jew? (This proclaims the Apostle asking such after he has shown that the mere possession of the Law does not exempt the Jew from Judgment.) or what profit is there of Circumcision?  (The rite of Circumcision symbolizes the entirety of the Law.)

      2 Much every way (proclaims tremendous advantages, but none which could save their souls, other than simple Faith in Christ and the Cross, which all the Sacrifices of the Law symbolized):  chiefly, because that unto them were committed the Oracles of God (presents the title for the Old Testament as given by the Holy Spirit).

      3 For what if some did not believe? (This proclaims the unbelief which rejected the Bible, but by no means nullified its Truthfulness.) shall their unbelief make the Faith of God without effect?  (The unbelief of Israel in no way affected the Great Plan that God has provided for humanity, which is built on the premise of Faith.)

      4 God forbid (proclaims Paul’s answer to the questions of Verse 3):  yes, let God be true, but every man a liar (shows us that the problem is always of man, never of God); as it is written, That you might be justified in your sayings, and might overcome when you are judged ([Ps. 51:4] this statement is from David’s Repentance regarding the matter of Uriah, in which David absolves God from all blame and takes the blame on himself; this is a pattern for True Repentance).

      5 But if our unrighteousness commend the Righteousness of God, what shall we say? (In no way does this mean that God places an approval upon sin of any nature.) Is God unrighteous Who takes vengeance? (The answer is “No!”) (I speak as a man) (This is meant apologetically in that only a foolish man would ask such a question.)

      6 God forbid (once again serves as Paul’s answer to the preposterous question of the previous Verse):  for then how shall God Judge the world?  (This is the Great White Throne Judgment [Rev. 20:11-15].  The fact that this Judgment cannot be avoided means the hypothesis of man is foolish indeed.)

      7 For if the Truth of God has more abounded through my lie unto His Glory (is meant to be answered in the negative, for such a thing cannot be done); why yet am I also judged as a sinner?  (This is meant to portray the foolishness of such thinking.)

      8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? (This presents the reason Paul is addressing this subject.  Because of his strong teaching on Grace, his detractors were slandering him by claiming he was teaching something he wasn’t.) whose damnation is just (proclaims the Apostle saying that those who report such slander are liable to a just damnation).

GUILT

      9 What then? are we better than they?  (Are Jews better than Gentiles?)  No, in no wise:  for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin (points to the supposed claim of the Jews of superiority, which is refuted);

    10 As it is written (Ps. 14:1-3), There is none righteous, no, not one (addresses the complaint of the Jews and clinches the argument with the Scriptures, which the Jews could not deny):

    11 There is none who understands (proclaims total depravity), there is none who seek after God (man left on his own will not seek God and, in fact, cannot seek God; he is spiritually dead).

    12 They are all gone out of the Way (speaks of the lost condition of all men; the “Way” is God’s Way), they are together become unprofitable (refers to the terrible loss in every capacity of wayward man); there is none who does good, no, not one (the Greek Text says, “useless!”).

    13 Their throat is an open sepulcher (the idea is of an open grave, with the rotting remains sending forth a putrid stench); with their tongues they have used deceit (speaks of guile, deception, hypocrisy, etc.); the poison of asps is under their lips (man cannot be trusted in anything he says):

    14 Whose mouth is full of cursing (wishing someone evil or hurt) and bitterness (bitter and reproachful language):

    15 Their feet are swift to shed blood (the world is filled with murder, killing, and violence):

    16 Destruction and misery are in their ways (all brought about by sin):

    17 And the way of peace have they not known (and cannot know until Christ returns):

    18 There is no fear of God before their eyes (there is no fear of God, because unbelieving man does not know God).

    19 Now we know that what things soever the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law (is meant first of all to inform the Jews that Verses 10 through 18 apply to them as well as the Gentiles):  that every mouth may be stopped (the Gentiles were claiming ignorance, while the Jews were claiming exception from Judgment), and all the world may become guilty before God (states the case exactly as it is, meaning all need a Saviour).

    20 Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight (should read, “by works of the Law”):  for by the Law is the knowledge of sin (the Law in itself was only meant to define sin, it in no way delivered from sin, nor was it designed to do so!).

THE REMEDY

    21 But now the Righteousness of God without the Law is manifested (should read, “apart from Law”, i.e., “from works of merit”), being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets (Testimony of the Law to the Divine Principle of Justification by Faith is found in Gen. 15:6; the Testimony of the Prophets in Hab. 2:4);

    22 Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ (concerns Imputed Righteousness, and tells how it is obtained) unto all and upon all them who believe (the criteria is believing, and believing in Christ and Him Crucified):  for there is no difference (Salvation is by Faith, whether the person is a Jew or a Gentile):

    23 For all have sinned (presents all men placed in the same category), and come short of the Glory of God (the Greek Text infers that even the most Righteous among us continue to come short of the Glory of God on a continuing basis);

    24 Being justified freely by His Grace (made possible by the Cross) through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus (carried out at the Cross):

    25 Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation (Atonement or Reconciliation) through Faith in His Blood (again, all of this is made possible by the Cross), to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past (refers to all who trusted Christ before He actually came, which covers the entirety of the time from the Garden of Eden to the moment Jesus died on the Cross), through the forbearance (tolerance) of God (meaning that God tolerated the situation before Calvary, knowing the debt would be fully paid at that time);

    26 To declare, I say, at this time His Righteousness (refers to God’s Righteousness which must be satisfied at all time, and is in Christ and only Christ):  that He (God) might be just (not overlooking sin in any manner), and the Justifier of him which believes in Jesus (God can justify a believing [although guilty] sinner, and His Holiness not be impacted, providing the sinner’s Faith is exclusively in Christ; only in this manner can God be “just” and at the same time “Justify” the sinner).

    27 Where is boasting then? (This refers primarily to the Jews boasting of themselves as a result of the Law of God given to them, but the principle is true for modern Christians as well!)  It is excluded (not only means that God will not accept such boasting [outside of Christ], but that it actually serves to keep one from Salvation).  By what Law? of works? (In a sense, this tells us where and how the boasting, God will not accept, originates). No:  but by the Law of Faith (refers to trust exclusively in Christ and what He did at the Cross; Faith in Christ and Him Crucified is more than a principle; it is a Law, meaning that God will not deviate at all from this proclamation).

    28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith (and only by Faith, with the Cross ever being the Object of such Faith) without the deeds of the Law (faith in works is out).

    29 Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles?  Yes, of the Gentiles also (it is one Salvation for all, and all gain this Salvation by Faith):

    30 Seeing it is One God, which shall justify the Circumcision by Faith (places the Jew on the same level as the Gentile), and uncircumcision through faith (Jews and Gentiles are all Saved alike, through Faith in Christ and what Christ has done at the Cross).

    31 Do we then make void the Law (Law of Moses) through faith? God forbid:  yes, we establish the Law (the Law ever pointed to Faith in Christ).

Chapter 4

(A.D. 60)

ABRAHAM

        1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found?  (Having stated that the Old Testament teaches that God justifies the sinner on the Faith principle as opposed to the merit principle, the Holy Spirit now brings forward Abraham.)

      2 For if Abraham were justified by works (which he wasn’t), he has whereof to glory; but not before God (the boasting of Salvation by works, which God will not accept).

      3 For what says the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for Righteousness ([Gen. 15:6] if one properly understands this Verse, he properly understands the Bible; Abraham gained Righteousness by simple Faith in God, Who would send a Redeemer into the world [Jn. 8:56]).

      4 Now to him who works (tries to earn Salvation or Righteousness) is the reward (Righteousness) not reckoned of Grace (the Grace of God), but of debt (claiming that God owes us something, which He doesn’t!).

      5 But to him who works not (doesn’t trust in works for Salvation or Righteousness), but believes on Him Who Justifies the ungodly (through Christ and the Cross), his faith is counted for Righteousness (God awards Righteousness only on the basis of Faith in Christ and His Finished Work).

      6 Even as David (both Abraham and David were progenitors of the Promised Messiah, and as such they held a unique place in the Faith and veneration of the Work of God) also describes the blessedness of the man (a blessed man), unto whom God imputes Righteousness without works (works will never gain the Righteousness of God),

      7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven ([Ps. 32:1-2] iniquities can only be forgiven by Faith in Christ), and whose sins are covered (the Cross made this possible).

      8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (the Lord will not impute sin to the person who places his Faith solely in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross).

      9 Comes this blessedness then upon the Circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? (It comes on all alike!) for we say that Faith was reckoned to Abraham for Righteousness (presents Faith alone as the ingredient).

    10 How was it then reckoned? (This may be the greatest question of all time.) when he was in Circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in Circumcision, but in uncircumcision (because of his Faith, Abraham was declared Righteous by God before the Covenant of Circumcision [Gen. 15:6]).

    11 And he received the sign of Circumcision (Gen. 17:9-14), a seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being uncircumcised (plainly states that his Righteousness was by Faith, and was received long before Circumcision):  that he might be the father of all them who believe (Jews and Gentiles), though they be not Circumcised (places the ground or Foundation of Salvation squarely on Faith instead of works); that Righteousness might be imputed unto them also (Righteousness has never been imputed on the ground of works, but always on the ground of Faith):

    12 And the father of Circumcision to them who are not of the Circumcision only (presents Abraham as being the father of all Believers, whether Jews or Gentiles), but who also walk in the steps of that Faith of our father Abraham (refers to him simply believing God, and God accounting his Faith to him for Righteousness [Gen. 15:6]), which he had being yet uncircumcised (clinches the argument and opens up Salvation to all who come by Faith in Christ, irrespective as to whom they may be).

THE PROMISE

    13 For the Promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the Law (the Law of Moses, which had not even been given during the time of Abraham), but through the Righteousness of Faith (when Paul uses the word “Faith,” without exception, he is speaking of Faith in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross; in fact, Christ must never be separated from the Cross, as it regards His Redemptive Work).

    14 For if they which are of the Law be heirs (only those in the Law), faith is made void (Salvation cannot exist in both works and Faith; either one cancels out the other), and the Promise made of none effect (faith in works cancels out Christ and all that He has done for us):

    15 Because the Law works wrath (Law has a penalty, so it must work wrath):  for where no Law is, there is no transgression (Christ has satisfied the Law, thereby, taking away all transgression).

    16 Therefore it is of Faith, that it might be by Grace (Grace functions only on Faith, and we speak of Faith in Christ; otherwise, Grace stops); to the end the Promise might be sure to all the seed (refers to the whole of humanity, at least those who will believe); not to that only which is of the Law (Jews), but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham (everything is by Faith); who is the father of us all (proclaims the Patriarch being used as an example of Faith [Gen. 15:6]),

JUSTIFICATION

    17 (As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations [Gen. 12:1-3; 17:4-5],) before Him Whom he believed, even God (refers to Abraham believing God), who quickens the dead (makes spiritually alive those who are spiritually dead), and calls those things which be not as though they were (if God has said it to us personally, we can call it; otherwise, it is presumption).

    18 Who against hope believed in hope (a description of Abraham’s Faith, as it regarded the birth of Isaac), that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken (the Promise of God), So shall your seed be (Gen. 15:5).

    19 And being not weak in Faith (strong Faith), he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old (no longer able to have children), neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb (placed her in the same situation as her husband):

    20 He staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief (he did not allow difficulties to deter him from the intended conclusion); but was strong in Faith, giving Glory to God (his Faith came from the Word of God);

    21 And being fully persuaded (no turning back) that, what He (God) had Promised, He was able also to perform (whatever it was, God could do it!).

    22 And therefore it was imputed to him for Righteousness (simple Faith in God brought Abraham a spotless Righteousness).

    23 Now it was not written for his sake alone (his struggle of Faith was meant to serve as an example), that it was imputed to him (serves as the example of how we receive from God, whether it be Salvation or anything else);

    24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed (we can have that which Abraham had, a perfect Righteousness), if we believe on Him Who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead (proclaims the condition for Salvation);

    25 Who was delivered for our offences (had to do with Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins; He had no sins), and was raised again for our Justification (we were raised with Him in newness of life [Rom. 6:4-5]).