Please turn to Psalm 85. We will just read through Psalm 85 verse-by-verse and see what we can see of God’s plan for this creation in this Psalm. Bible study is a form of worship. Whenever we are reading the Bible, pondering and meditating and trying to understand, it is a form of worship. So let me just read through this Psalm.
Psalm 85:1-13 says:
To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. JEHOVAH, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O JEHOVAH, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God JEHOVAH will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, JEHOVAH shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
This Psalm starts out with the writer being inspired by God to say in verse 1, Psalm 85:1:
JEHOVAH, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
It is so important to understand what the land represents in the Bible. In the seminaries today and in most of the churches, they do not understand how God uses the land. God used the physical land of Israel over there, the land of Canaan in the Middle East, to be a representation of the Kingdom of God, and yet in the churches and in the seminaries today, they are still all hung up on this physical land. They are saying that God still has some plan for this physical land.
As we see these errors, we cannot look down on others with disdain or contempt. We can only glory and thank God that He has shown us these things. We must simply try to teach them to others.
But the land of Israel—that physical land that was given to Abraham and then divided up by lot to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt—is a picture of the Kingdom of God. You should be able to see this spiritually all through the Bible, but let us just look at a couple of verses in Psalm 37, verses that actually tell us this.
In Psalm 37:3, we read:
Trust in JEHOVAH, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed [or shepherded].
Look at verse 9 of this same Psalm, Psalm 37:9:
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon JEHOVAH, they shall inherit the earth.
Now He is talking about inheriting the earth rather than the land. He is starting to relate the physical land of Canaan to inheriting the earth: “the meek shall inherit the earth.” We know it is not this cursed earth. It will be the new Heavens and the new earth.
Then verse 10 says, Psalm 37:10:
For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
In this verse we also see annihilation, but then verse 11 says, Psalm 37:11:
But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
We know that we are at peace with God. Christ has made peace for us in His work and the true believers will “delight themselves in the abundance of peace” in the new Heavens and the new earth.
Look also at verse 18 of this same Psalm, Psalm 37:18:
JEHOVAH knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be…
It will not be the land or the earth:
…their inheritance shall be for ever.
Their inheritance shall be eternal life. Do you see how He keeps relating it and teaching us through these words?
Now verse 22, Psalm 37:22:
For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
Now verse 27, Psalm 37:27:
Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.
Now verse 29, Psalm 37:29:
The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.
There it is.
Next, verse 34, Psalm 37:34:
Wait on JEHOVAH, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
So this is what the land spiritually represents, as we are reading here in the first verse of Psalm 85, Psalm 85:1:
JEHOVAH, thou hast been favourable unto thy land…
He has shown favor to His people, actually, who make up this land, the Kingdom of God.
It continues:
…thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Whenever we see this phrase in the Bible, “brought back the captivity,” it is actually speaking of salvation.
Turn to Psalm 14:7. It says:
Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when JEHOVAH bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
David wrote this Psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. However, during the time of David, the Israelites were not in any physical captivity; and so this has to be spiritual.
We read in the end of the book of Job, in Job 42:10:
And JEHOVAH turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also JEHOVAH gave Job twice as much as he had before.
We know that Job was under the wrath of God in this whole story. As Christ was under the wrath of God, this is what we are to see in Job. But we read that Jehovah turned Job’s captivity in the end.
In Psalm 85:2, we read:
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people…
Again, He is relating salvation to being favorable and bringing back the captivity of His people.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
If your sins are covered, they cannot be seen. Again, the mercy of God has covered the sins of His people by atoning for them through the work of the Lord Jesus before the foundations of the world.
If we turn to Psalm 32:1-2, it opens up with:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom JEHOVAH imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Returning back to Psalm 85:3, He continues on with this same thought. He says:
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
There is no more judgment to the people of God.
But then Psalm 85:4 says:
Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
He has already started out in the first three verses of Psalm 85 speaking of how the Psalmist knows that God’s people have been saved from their sin, and yet now he begins to plead with God to turn His anger away from Israel. I believe what we are to see in this is that the Psalmist is pleading for the corporate body, that God might bless them because they are still in tribulation.
From Psalm 73 to around Psalm 88, some of these Psalms are in the same vein. There are a couple of different writers in this group. Some of them were written by Asaph, some of them were written for the sons of Korah, but several of them are in the same vein. They are speaking of how Israel still seems to be under the wrath of God, though they know that they are saved.
Turn back to Psalm 74. This is a Maschil of Asaph and he begins in Psalm 74:1-3 by saying:
O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old…
Notice that this says “purchased of old,” which is referring to before the foundations of the world.
Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.
This is speaking of the time of tribulation.
Look at verse 4, Psalm 74:4:
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
Our ensign is the Lord Jesus; but they set up their ensigns for signs, which is spiritually speaking of false gospels.
I am not sure and I do not think that anyone is sure of what He is referring to here, whether this is after the temple was destroyed in 587 B.C. when the Israelites were taken into captivity or if this is simply referring to a time when they were in tribulation. The Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians all came into Jerusalem at one time or another and did wreak havoc in there. But this is a very telling verse here in Psalm 74:4:
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.
This applies to what is going on today and how the enemy has come into the congregations with signs.
Look at Psalm 77. We read in Psalm 77:4-9:
Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
Again, this seems to be speaking of a time when God has forsaken the whole land, His corporate people of Israel.
Look at Psalm 79. Actually, this whole Psalm reads like this. Again, this is speaking in verse 1 about the heathen coming into the inheritance. We read in Psalm 79:1-4:
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
The whole Psalm goes on in this vein, and Psalm 80 reads this same way. We read in Psalm 80:4-7:
O JEHOVAH God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
We read this also in Psalm 85:4:
Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
Also in the last verse of Psalm 80, Psalm 80:19, we read:
Turn us again, O JEHOVAH God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
This is the way in which salvation works. It must be God who turns us. We are commanded all through the Bible to turn to Him and to seek His righteousness, and yet we cannot do this of ourselves. The Bible teaches this also.
This principle is made clear in Jeremiah 31. Here, He is speaking of Ephraim particularly; but the whole book of Jeremiah is speaking of the falling away of the Israelites. They turned to idols, they perverted the Word of God, and they cast His Law behind their backs, as it were. But in Jeremiah 31:18-19, He says:
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke…
This is speaking of bringing Ephraim back now and chastising him.
…Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art JEHOVAH my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
This is the way in which salvation works. It is God who opens our eyes and turns us, and then we will begin to seek Him.
Returning to Psalm 85, it goes on in Psalm 85:5-6 to say:
Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
This is also speaking of the affliction that most true believers do suffer. Christ told the apostles in John 16, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” The 40-year sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness was a picture of the sojourn of a believer in this life, as we do suffer tribulation.
Look at Psalm 30. I think that we see this same principle in Psalm 30. This is a beautiful Psalm. It starts out praising and thanking God for His salvation. Psalm 30:1-5 says:
I will extol thee, O JEHOVAH; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. O JEHOVAH my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
This is salvation language. It continues:
O JEHOVAH, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto JEHOVAH, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
This is a Biblical principle. We are still going to suffer tribulation. It is as if He is still angry with His people as they suffer affliction.
It says again at the end of Psalm 30:5:
…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
The morning is associated with the renewing, with the completion of our salvation, with Judgment Day also.
Back to Psalm 85:6, it says:
Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
This word “revive” means “to give life.”
We read next in Psalm 85:7:
Show us thy mercy, O JEHOVAH, and grant us thy salvation.
This can also be looking at the completion of our salvation. We know that our salvation is not complete. There is usually a point in time for most true believers when they understand that God has saved them, and yet our salvation is not complete and will not be complete until the consummation when the true believers will be taken up, which is when they will receive their resurrected glorified spiritual bodies. It is then that our salvation will be complete.
Let us read Romans 13:11 before going to the next verse in Psalm 85. Romans 13:11 says:
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep…
This is speaking of our day, especially since we know the times and we can apply this knowledge to what is going on. It says again:
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
This is exactly what this is saying. The completion of our salvation is nearer now than at the point when we first believed.
Next, Psalm 85:8 says:
I will hear what God JEHOVAH will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
I believe that this is an admonition not to return by the way that you came, not to go back into your sin. This could also be speaking corporately of Israel, of God’s people. We have come to a time now when God has given up the corporate church because of their folly.
Look at Ecclesiastes 10:1. We looked at this last month [Ointment of the Apothecary]. This is actually speaking of the folly of those who claim to be God’s people. Ecclesiastes 10:1 says:
Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.
This word “folly” means “foolishness” and it applies to sinners. All through the book of Proverbs especially, it speaks of “the fool” or “the foolish,” which is speaking of the unsaved. But here we are looking at those who are “in reputation for wisdom and honour,” which are those who call themselves Christians or the Jews from the Old Testament.
This is referring to those who associate themselves with God and say that they are the people of Jehovah God. These people are “in reputation” or associated with “wisdom and honour,” the wisdom and honor of God. They have, as it were, that holy anointing oil on them, which is a picture of salvation. It is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
The apothecary was a Levite whose job it was to make this ointment. No one else was allowed to make this and the Israelites were not allowed to use this personally. It was a picture of God’s salvation and how He is jealous of His salvation. This oil has now become rancid and has begun to stink when it should have been giving forth a beautiful odor. You can read about the spices that are in this ointment back in Exodus 30. But now this is beginning to stink because of the foolishness that is among those who are supposed to be God’s people.
This is what is being spoken of here in Psalm 85:8:
I will hear what God JEHOVAH will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
This “folly” is the foolishness of the teachings, the false gospels, all of the things that we can see among the corporate church today that do not line up with the Bible. This is referring to the salvation plan that they are bringing, as well as the other things that they believe are to be seen in a believer: signs and wonders, the evidence of speaking in tongues, the evidence of having the Holy Spirit, and all of the other foolishness that is seen in the church today. We are admonished here not to turn to these things because we are saved, because we are the people of God.
Then Psalm 85:9 says:
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
This is again a reference to the land. The glory is the glory and honor of God the Father.
Then in Psalm 85:10, it says:
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
“Mercy” is translated in other parts of the Bible as “lovingkindness.” This is speaking of the salvation of God, of His mercy in salvation. This is speaking of “mercy and truth” and we know that God is truth; His Word is truth.
Look now at Psalm 119:160. These four words in Psalm 85:10 are all attributes of the Lord Jesus in the first place: mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace. Psalm 119:160 says:
Thy word is true…
This is the same word as the word “truth.”
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
This is speaking of the importance of the Word of God.
We read again in Psalm 85:10:
Mercy…
This is speaking of the lovingkindness of God.
…and truth…
This is speaking about the truth of His Word. Thy Word is truth.
…righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
When we read about a kiss in the Bible, it is not so much a display of affection as it is a symbol of coming into union.
We can see how He repeats these two phrases in Psalm 85:10:
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
God teaches us in this way in the Bible. Often in the Proverbs and in the Psalms, as well as in other places in the Bible, He will repeat a phrase but use different words. It is so if we cannot understand the one, the other one helps us.
He says again in Psalm 85:10:
Mercy and truth are met together…
And then He says:
…righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
A kiss really suggests a union.
Look at Psalm 2. We know that at the end of a wedding ceremony, the couple will kiss; but this is looking more at a union than at a display of love or affection. Psalm 2:11-12 says:
Serve JEHOVAH with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way…
“The Son,” of course, is the Lord Jesus. “Kiss the Son”; make your peace with God. Seek His salvation. Try to be in union with Him.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
So again, Psalm 85:10 says:
Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
This is referring to the righteousness of Christ and the peace that God’s people have with Him in salvation. Before salvation, we were the enemies of God; but Christ made this peace. Anyone who is saved has been at peace with God since before the foundations of the world when that atonement was made.
Then in Psalm 85:11, it says:
Truth shall spring out of the earth…
Again, this is referring to the truth of God’s Word.
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
In a sense, truth sprang out of the earth when the Lord Jesus came; but He is also speaking of the truth of His Word.
He says again in Psalm 85:11:
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
And the Lord is our righteousness.
Then it goes on to say in Psalm 85:12:
Yea, JEHOVAH shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
The increase that the land should be yielding is the fruits that come forth from a true believer as he serves God and others are brought into the Kingdom. We read about all of these fruits that we should see in a believer in Galatians 6.
So again, Psalm 85:12 says:
…and our land shall yield [or give] her increase.
Look at Habakkuk 3. Habakkuk is a frightening book. It is speaking of the end. In Habakkuk 3:17, this is speaking of the end and it is also speaking of how the church, the corporate body, is dead. It was looking at the Israelites back then, too.
This is why the Bible is a living Book. It applied to the Israelites back then and we can see that it applies to the corporate church of our day, but this is only one reason why the Bible is a living Book. In Hebrews 4:12, we read:
For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword…
It is living. It is the living Word of God. Christ is the Word of God and the Word brings life, and yet I cannot adequately explain how the Bible is a living Book.
Before we read the verse in Habakkuk, let us first read Psalm 119:50. It says:
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
We must hear the Word. This is part of our salvation, as it says:
…for thy word hath quickened me.
We can also see this in other verses in Psalm 119. Psalm 119:93 says:
I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
But Habakkuk 3:17-18 is looking at the end, and it says:
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in JEHOVAH, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
I believe that it is the word “fruit” in verse 17 that I am looking at.
Habakkuk 3:17 again:
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines…
This word for “fruit” is the same word that was translated “increase” in Psalm 85:12. There is no fruit in His corporate body. There was not then and there is not now; but yet, among God’s people, truth has sprung out of the earth and righteousness looks down from Heaven. As it says in Psalm 85:12:
…and our land shall yield her increase.
God’s people will still continue to bring an increase as He works in them until the end.
Then we read in the final verse of Psalm 85, Psalm 85:13:
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
I am not sure how this verse is to be translated. The Interlinear translated it one way. The King James translates it another way.
Righteousness shall go before him…
This is speaking of God in judgment when He comes. This could also be speaking of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus and how He comes, as we read in Malachi. “Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD,” He comes. He brings the Word which judges.
Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. In Malachi 4:5, He says:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of JEHOVAH:
We can also look at Malachi 3:1, which says:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me…
This is literally speaking of John the Baptist, but this is also speaking of how God brings the Word. The Lord Jesus comes as the Word personified before this judgment.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
I believe that this is the principle here in Psalm 85:13:
Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
There is another translation in Jay P. Green’s Interlinear Bible, which says:
Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make a way for His footsteps.
Either way, we can see the principle in this:
Righteousness…shall make a way for His footsteps.
I believe that this is referring to God in judgment.
But again, we get our life from this Word. We must hear this. It is part of our salvation.
One more verse that we could read to close which speaks to how the Bible is a living Book—this Word is living—is John 6:63. It says:
It is the spirit that quickeneth…
Or brings life.
…the flesh profiteth nothing…
Our works or the flesh can do nothing in salvation.
…the words that I speak unto you…
This is referring to the Bible. Christ is the Word personified and made manifest.
…the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
To God be the glory. We will close here.