Lesson #11/P3

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RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

PSALMS 82
Lesson 11/P3
GOD JUDGES THOSE WHO JUDGE HIS PEOPLE

• MEMORY VERSE: PSA 82:8

 

• THIS IS A FREQUENTLY MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISUSED PSALM. FOR THAT IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE UNDERSTAND IT IN ITS JEWISH CONTEXT.

 

• READ PSA 82:1-8

 

• “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.”

 

(1)
• WHO ARE THE “GODS” ?
  • THIS IS A TITLE USED FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE THE JUDGES IN ISRAEL’S SOCIETY. THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT GOD DIRECTLY.
    • BACKGROUND:
      • THOSE PEOPLE THAT GAIN A POSITION OF POWER AND AUTHORTIY RULE OVER OTHERS IN EITHER OF TWO WAYS.
        • THEY RULE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SENSE AS SERVANTS, OR
        • THEY RULE IN PRIDE AS DESPOTS, SERVING THEIR OWN ENDS.
      • THE JUDGES IN ISRAEL USED THEIR POSITION OF AUTHORITY TO PLAY GOD OVER THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE. IN THAT WAY THEY WERE CALLED “GODS”.
        • IN THIS WAY WAS THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES OVER WHOM JESUS PRONOUNCED CURSES.
        • READ MAT 23
          • IN MAT 23 WE SEE THE FOLLOWING CURSES PRONOUNCED OVER THESE LEARDERS IN THE FORM OF 8 WOES:
            • =1= THEY SHUT UP THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND PREVENTED THE PEOPLE FROM FINDING GOD. (MAT 23:13)
            • =2= THEY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF WIDOWS. (MAT 23:14)
            • =3= THEY DECEIVED THE GENTILES WHO CAME TO JUDAISM TO FIND GOD AND MADE THEM CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL. (MAT 23:15)
            • =4= THEY BLINDLY GUIDED THE PEOPLE, BUT NOT INTO THE TRUTH OF THE WORD OF GOD. (MAT 23:16)
            • =5= THEY PAID TITHES ACCORDING TO THE MOSAIC LAW BUT OUT OF LEGALISM AND NOT OUT OF LOVE FOR GOD. (MAT 23:23)
            • =6= THEY OUTWARDLY APPEARED REIGIOUS BUT THEIR PERSONAL LIVES WERE FILLED WITH SIN. (MAT 23:25)
            • =7= THEY CLAIMED TO BE PEOPLE OF LIFE BUT WERE INSTEAD PEOPLE OF SPIRITUAL DEATH. (MAT 23:27)
            • =8= THEY CLAIMED ALLEGIANCE TO THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS BUT THEIR FOREFATHERS KILLED GOD’S PROPHETS. (MAT 23:29)
• THE GOD, JEHOVAH, IS THE ULTIMATE GOD WHO WILL JUDGE THESE PEOPLE FOR THEIR MIS-PLACED DESPOTISM.
  • THIS EVENT OF JUDGMENT WILL OCCUR IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM WHEN JESUS CHRIST WILL REIGN AMONG HIS PEOPLE FOR 1000 YEARS.
    • HE WILL PURGE HIS PEOPLE OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WHO JUDGED HIS PEOPLE LIKE DESPOTS, LIKE GODS. THEY WILL ALL BE DESTROYED AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM ON EARTH.

 

• “How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.”

(2)

 

• THE “SELAH” MAKES THIS VERSE IMPORTANT. IF WE STOP AND CONSIDER THE EMPHASIS OF THIS MUSICAL REST, WE WONDER HOW LONG GOD WOULD ALLOW THE CORRUPT JUDGES IN THE FORM OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES TO EXPLOIT GOD’S PEOPLE?
  • IN REALITY GOD PERMITTED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD IN 70 AD WHEN THE ROMANS DESTROYED THE TEMPLE AND THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
  • IF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES WERE DESTROYED IN 70 AD, WHY WOULD GOD MENTION A JUDGMENT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MILLENNIUM OVER THIS PARTICULAR GROUP?
    • IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD OF SEVEN YEARS THAT OCCURS BEFORE THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM, THE JEWISH PEOPLE WILL FALL UNDER THE DECEPTION OF THE ANTICHRIST AND THE FALSE PROPHET. THE LEADERS OF ISRAEL WILL FACILITATE THIS DECEPTION JUST AS THEY FACILITATED THE REJECTION OF JESUS CHRIST AT HIS FIRST COMING.
    • AT CHRIST’S SECOND COMING, HE WILL ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH, AND MAKE SURE THAT THERE WILL BE NO DECEPTIVE LEADERS LEFT IN ISRAEL.
• CHRIST WILL REVERSE THE CONDITION OF THE POOR, THE WIDOWS, AND THE ORPHANS. INSTEAD OF LETTING THE LEADERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE DEFENSELESS GROUPS OF PEOPLE, CHRIST WILL PROMOTE THE POOR IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM. (3-4)

 

• “…all the foundations of the earth are out of course

.” (5)

 

• THE JUSTICE OF THE WORLD SYSTEMS IS NOT JUSTICE IN REALITY. THE PUNISHMENT FOR A CRIME IS NOT THE SAME FOR ALL ECONOMIC LEVELS OF SOCIETY.
• IN CHRIST’S MILLENNIAL KINGDOM, THERE WILL BE PERFECT JUSTICE. MAN WILL SEE WHAT PERFECT JUSTICE IS LIKE
  • ONLY BECAUSE CHRIST HAS PERFECT WISDOM WILL HE BE ABLE TO IMPOSE PERFECT JUSTICE OVER HIS PEOPLE. HE WILL KNOW THE HEARTS AND MOTIVES OF ALL MEN.
  • THE JUSTICE SYSTEM OF THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM UNDER CHRIST WILL CONSIST OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. (ISA 66:23-24)

 

• “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

(6)

 

• WHAT DOES VERSE 6 MEAN?
  • JESUS QUOTED THIS VERSE WHEN THE JEWISH LEADERSHIP QUESTIONED HIS DEITY.
    • READ JOH 10:33-37
      • THEY ACCUSED JESUS OF MAKING HIMSELF GOD.
      • JESUS’ ANSWER WAS THAT IN THEIR LAW WAS THIS VERSE. HE INDICATED TO THEM THAT THEIR POSITION AS ISRAEL’S LEADERS MADE THEM ACT LIKE GODS OVER THE PEOPLE, AND YET THEY ACCUSED JESUS OF CLAIMING TO BE GOD.
  • BECAUSE EVERY LEADER IN A POSITION OF AUTHORITY OVER GOD’S PEOPLE STANDS AS A DIRECT REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD, IN THAT WAY HE IS A GOD.
    • THEREFORE, HE SHOULD CONSIDER SERIOUSLY HIS POSITION AND HIS ACTIONS SO THAT THEY CONFORM TO THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD.
  • WHEN A CHRISTIAN BEGINS TO JUDGE OTHER CHRISTIANS, HE IS ACTING LIKE GOD.
    • READ 1COR 4:3-5
• HOWEVER, THESE LEADERS LIKE THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES AND JUDGES OF ISRAEL ARE ONLY MEN AND WILL DIE ONE DAY. (7) THEN THEY WILL STAND BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY GOD AND BE JUDGED FOR THEIR LIFE.

 

• “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.”

(8)

 

• ISRAEL’S LONG-STANDING PLEA IS THAT GOD COME AND JUDGE THE NATIONS AND RULE THEM AS THE ALMIGHTY GOD.
  • AS WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN, THIS PROPHECY WILL OCCUR AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHIRST AND FULFILLED IN THE MILLENNIAL KINGDOM OF CHIRIST’S RULE ON EARTH FOR 1000 YEARS.

HOMEWORK
PSALMS 83
This is  self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• APPLICATION OF PSA 82
  • IF YOU ARE A LEADER OF GOD’S PEOPLE, IN WHAT MANNER OF STYLE DO YOU LEAD AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD?
  • IF YOU ARE NOT A LEADER, DO YOU FIND YOURSELF SITTING IN JUDGMENT OF OTHERS WITH YOUR CRITICISM AND NEGATIVISM? IF SO, YOU NEED TO REPENT AND CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD OTHERS.
• PREPARATION OF PSA 83
  • READ PSA 83:1-18
    • WHY WILL GOD NOT PERMIT VERSE 4 TO OCCUR? (TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION, YOU NEED TO CONSIDER, WHAT IS ISRAEL’S VALUE IN GOD’S PLAN?

MEMORY VERSE: PSALMS 83:18