God raises a banner

The Word for today:
Psalm 60

mark this: Psalm 60:4-5 --
But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.
Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.


Many of the Psalms contain an "ascription" (1) at the beginning. Don't neglect to read these. They are part of the inspired text of the Bible.
The ascription tells us by whom the Psalm was written--or for whom, to whom, about whom, about what.

The ascription for Psalm 60 tells us that this Psalm is "for teaching." So what is it that we are to learn? What is Psalm 60 teaching us?

Psalm 60 presents a battle scene, with Israel in a desperate situation, fighting for their lives. Worst of all, it seems that God has deserted their cause.

But just when the people think that all is lost, God Himself raises a banner way up high (2).

Psalm 60 is teaching us that God hasn't rejected us. In fact, when God seems far away and disinterested in our struggles it's almost always because we have stopped looking for his guidance and direction.

So what does he do when we stop looking his way? He grabs a pole and attaches a banner or flag to it. God himself holds it up high to attract our attention.

He's calling out to us: "No, no; don't go that way! Go this way! I'm over here! Rally around me! I'll lead you to safety."

When God wanted to show us the way out of our ultimate struggles--out of sin and death--he lifted up a banner. But it was not a banner made of brightly colored cloth. God's banner was made of the most remarkable thing!--
His banner over me is love (3).

And what a love this was--the most amazing, mind-boggling, perfect, never-ending love.

The banner called out, "This is the way! Come this way, and I'll get you out of here alive. Don't lose sight of me, and I'll get you home!"

Just before Jesus died on the cross, he told us that he would be lifted up in order to draw our attention and show us the way:
But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself (4).

Look up. See that banner? That's what love looks like.

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(1) also called "superscription"; (2) Psalm 60:4; (3) Song of Solomon 2:4; (4) John 12:32

"to judge, to save"

The Word for today:
Psalms 58, 59

mark this: Psalm 58:11 --
So that men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth."

Q. In the Psalms, David often prays for God to judge his enemies. Is that a bad thing for David to pray?

A. No. Without judgment, there is no salvation. Unless Jesus is Judge, he can't be our Savior.

Q. How's that work?

A. Here's an example:
The judgment of Pharaoh's army, drowned in the sea, was the salvation of the children of Israel (1). The very same thing that was salvation for one was judgment for the other (2).

Here's how Psalm 76 explains it:
From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet--
when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land (3).

But the picture of the salvation of Israel at the Red Sea was just a foretaste of the cross--when God judged Jesus in order to save us. There is no salvation without judgment.

Jesus came the first time as the Suffering Servant (4), in order to save us from our sins. He will come a second time as Judge (5), in order to save us from our enemies.

Whether Suffering Servant or Judge, he's our Savior.

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(1) see Exodus 14; (2) see 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (3) Psalm 76:8-9; (4) see Isaiah 52:13-53:12; (5) John 5:22-27

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

The Word for today:
Psalms 56, 57

mark this: Psalm 56:3--
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.


When you follow God's way, when you stand for his truth, when you live a life pleasing to him, you will encounter enemies and obstacles and opposition. The person who proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ and backs up his words with a life in alignment with Jesus' teachings is a threat to the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness,the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (1).

Psalm 56 shows that David's enemies are relentless:
All day long they twist my words;
they are always plotting to harm me.
They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
eager to take my life (2).

In Psalm 57, David is in the midst of lions;
among ravenous beasts--
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords (3).

In the world's most famous poem--Psalm 23--David, in the presence of his enemies, is walking through a dark, frightening place. But he fears no evil, because God is with him.

You will encounter lions and Goliaths. But they are more afraid of Jesus than you are of them. The Lion of Judah (4) is bigger, stronger, and braver than any lion or giant you will ever face.

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(1) Ephesians 6:12; (2) Psalm 56:5-6; (3) Psalm 57:4; (4) Revelation 5:5

the enemy within

The Word for today:
Psalm 55


mark this: Psalm 55:12-14 --
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God


Psalms 52 through 55 present pictures of the enemies of our souls.

Yesterday we saw that Psalms 52, 53, and 54 were pictures of the deceiver in our midst, energized and directed by the spirit of antichrist.

The deceiver in the midst of the Garden of Eden was in the guise of a serpent.

The deceiver in the midst of King David's court was Ahithophel, the brilliant political strategist who deserted David, joining David's son Absalom in civil war. Like the serpent in the garden, Ahithophel's words were smooth as butter. But war is in his heart (1).

The deceiver in the upper room, at Jesus' Last Supper, was Judas Iscariot. Judas' betrayal was the unkindest cut of all:
If an enemy were insulting me,
I could endure it;
if a foe were raising himself against me,
I could hide from him.
But it is you, a man like myself,
my companion, my close friend,
with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship
as we walked with the throng at the house of God (2).

As we saw yesterday, this pattern will persist when the Antichrist will betray the nation of Israel. He will pretend to be their friend, he will make a covenant with them, and then he will betray them.

So we see evidence of this pattern yesterday and tomorrow. But what about today?

The deceiver is in our midst today--just as he was in the Garden of Eden, in King David's court, and in the upper room. There are churches with steeples -- even wth crosses atop those steeples -- which deny the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ:
There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them (3);
and which deny the power of God's Holy Spirit:
having the appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof (4).

The most harmful enemies of the church have not attacked from outside her walls. They have craftily, subtly betrayed God from within. That is why we must diligently and constantly study God's Word--or else we, like Eve, will be deceived by smooth words, subtly twisted.

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(1) Psalm 55:21; (2) Psalm 55:12-14; (3) 2 Peter 2:1; (4) 2 Timothy 3:5

guises of the Deceiver

The Word for today:
Psalms 52, 53, 54

mark this: Psalm 53:1 --
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity.


Psalms 52 through 55 contain shadowy references to the Antichrist, a person (1) who will appear and deceive the nations in the days just before the return of Jesus. This person will lie to the people about God and about Christ--exactly as Satan, appearing as a serpent, lied about God to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan's lies and deceiving schemes have never changed.

Through God's Word in the Old Testament, we knew a great deal about Christ before He appeared in person. Just so, the spirit of antichrist, now abroad in the world, is proclaiming Antichrist's doctrine prior to his actual appearance. His word and works are already on display, for all to see.

The spirit of antichrist (2) is just what it sounds like--a pervasive force opposed to Jesus Christ. Persistent and powerful voices in media, government, education, commerce, religion, so-called science, philosophy, law, and the arts are wed in conspiracy to deny God:
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. (Psalm 53:1)

He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)

We will consider more about this matter when we look at Psalm 55 tomorrow. In the meantime, the Bible student should familiarize himself with the following references from 1 and 2 John. The upper and lower case instances of 'A(a)ntichrist' should be visually noted:

(a) Antichrist, the person, has not yet appeared. He is denoted with the upper-case 'Antichrist' in 1 John 2:18.

(b) The spirit of antichrist, now in the world, is denoted with the lower-case 'antichrist' in 1 John 2:18, 4:3 and 2 John 1:7.

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Count on the LORD

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 24

mark this: 2 Samuel 24:10 --
And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."


Numbers. Statistics. How many. How much.

In a disappointing episode--a lapse of faith--David commands that the number of soldiers in his army be counted. When the tally was complete, there were well over a million soldiers at David's command.

David was not counting on the LORD here. He was counting on the might of his army.

But we are to place our confidence in the LORD:
Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight (1).

Years and years before, facing the giant with only a sling and five smooth stones, David trusted in the LORD and not in his own strength. You don’t feel the need of God when you have one million men. When you have only a slingshot and five stones, you know you need Him.

If we're going to count, let's count on the LORD.

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(1) Jeremiah 9:23-24

the bad will come untrue

The Word for today:
2 Samuel 23

mark this: 2 Samuel 23:1-4 --
Now these are the last words of David.
Thus says David the son of Jesse;
Thus says the man raised up on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
"The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me:
'He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.'


There is a storybook quality to the Bible for the child of God--for all who decide to go God's Way (1), following Jesus.

Underneath all of its spiritual and moral heaviness, behind its relentless display of our dark sins, shines a warm, guiding Light:
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (2).

The child of God, turning the pages of his storyook Bible, finds that...

Our Father is kind and compassionate:
As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust (3).

Our eldest Brother is brave and heroic. He went out to search for us when we were lost. He found us and carried us home:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul (4).

And the selfless, whispering Holy Spirit--God's Promise to never leave us or forsake us (5), leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake (6).

Because of Jesus' work at the cross, God has not dealt with us according to our sins, or punished us according to our iniquities (7). The Good News--the gospel of Jesus Christ--is that God has chosen to forget our sins (8) and remember only the good things. He sees just the Jesus in us (9).

David is here called "the sweet psalmist of Israel." God has forgotten David's sins, but recorded his poems in the Bible so that they will be forever read; the story of scripture is that the bad will come untrue, while the good will prevail.

And some day--some golden someday--we will see our fearless and valiant Brother, who found us and carried us home.

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(1) see John 14:6; (2) John 1:5; (3) Psalm 103: 13-14; (4) Psalm 23:1-3; (5) see Joshua 1:5; Matthew 28:20; Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33; (6) Psalm 23:3; (7) Psalm 103:10; (8) Isaiah 38:17; (9) 2 Corinthians 5:21.