Bible Prophecy Update

Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 8th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 43-45

JUDGE me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man (43:1).

David here again is calling out for righteous judgement from God. That God would plead his righteous cause against an ungodly nation. It is sad to see a nation come under the influence of evil. It seems like the voice of evil cry loud. It seems like the forces of evil often times triumphs over good.

I think of the evil causes that are espoused by the ACLU and how they stand for just about everything that I am against. If a school district decides to establish some kind of a moral standard to help the children develop some kind of morality the ACLU steps in and threatens the school district and cows them into relenting from any kind of a program that might embrace some form of morality. It seems like those that are involved in litigation in the ACLU are determined to destroy anything that is pure, holy or good. In the name of freedom they have brought our nation into the worst kind of bondage and slavery, the bondage to the flesh. Yet it seems like they triumph in almost every court case as they present their liberal causes to the liberal judges. The legislature is not really the law making body of our nation always but many times it is the interpretation of the courts that establishes the law of land rather than the legislative processes. David is facing that kind of a situation, he’s asking God to work and plead his case against this ungodly nation. Lord, you take up the cause.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 7th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 40-42

Let’s turn now in our Bibles to Psalm forty as we continue our study through the Bible. Psalms forty is another one of the psalms that which are known as messianic psalms. That is, it is a psalm that has prophecy concerning Jesus Christ that was fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

The New Testament recognizes David as a prophet. It also recognizes the words of David as being inspired by the Holy Spirit. As Peter said, “And David, by the mouth of the Holy Spirit, spake saying” and David prophesized it said. It was recognized that David was a prophet and many of the psalms have references to Jesus as Messiah. This is another one of the messianic psalms and the basic prophecies of this psalm are in verses six, seven and eight. However, there are those that see verses one and two as a prophecy. A prophecy concerning the resurrection where it is, as they see, Jesus speaking.

I WAITED patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (40:1-2).
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 6th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 37-39

As I said, whether or not David was really addressing this psalm to us or addressing it to himself is not really certain. David had a way of talking to himself about spiritual things. About his feelings. He would encourage himself in the Lord. He would say, Look, David, the Lord is able. The Lord will do it. And he would encourage himself. And so it could be that this psalm is one of those places where David is sort of just encouraging himself in the Lord.
But what he is saying is good for us. As he tells us, Fret not thyself because of evildoers (37:1),
Fretting, worrying. There are words that express this common characteristic of man. In the New Testament, the word is translated careful which is actually full of care. Be careful for nothing. That is, “be full of care for nothing; but in all things with prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). So here we are exhorted really not to worry because of evildoers. Evildoers are a consternation. We are prone to fret over those that are troubling us. Maybe someone has got it in for you. They are doing their best to really get you in trouble. To make you look bad. Lying about you. Don’t worry. Don’t fret concerning the evildoers.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 5th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 34-36

The Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed (34:1). The word Abimelech in the Hebrew is of the king. And thus, it is a common name for the Gentile king. It isn’t actually the name of the king himself but it is his title. It’s speaking of the king. The king’s name was Achish and he was the king of Gath. And when David was fleeing from Saul, he fled over to the Philistine city of Gath of which Achish was the king. And when they told Achish that David has come, he said, Is this the David of whom the women of Israel sing when they declare that Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands? Do we want that guy around here?
And David heard the king and he thought, Uh-oh, I’m in trouble. And so he began to, he feigned to be insane. He acted like he had gone mad. He began to scrabble at the gate of the king’s palace and he began to spit and just let it run down his beard. And began to just babble like a crazy man. When the king saw him, here he was, just scratching on the gate and babbling, and the spit running down; he said, We don’t need a madman around here. Get rid of him. And so he sent David away. And so David escaped from the hand of Achish and thus when he had escaped successfully, he sat down and he wrote this psalm (1 Samuel 21:10-15).
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 4th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 32-33

Let’s turn now in our Bibles to the thirty-second psalm. This is a psalm of David. It’s called a Maschil which means instruction. One of the psalms of instruction. It is believed that David wrote this psalm after his experience with Bathsheba where he first tried to cover his guilt. Thinking that he was successful in hiding his sin and yet the prophet of God came and exposed his sin. David knew that he had not hidden his sin, God knew what he did. And David cried out to the prophet Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And the prophet said unto him, The Lord has forgiven your sin. For a long time, David had sort of held this sin. Been troubled in his consciousness by his sin. But now he has received the word of God’s forgiveness. And so David wrote,
Blessed (32:1) The word in Hebrew is, O how happy or O the blessed happiness of he, whose transgression is forgiven (32:1), David’s experience with Bathsheba was more than just sin, it was a transgression. A transgression is something that is willful. It is a defiant rebellion against the law of God. Sin is missing the mark. It could be accidental. It could be by ignorance. It could be really against your will. There are many people who sin who try not to sin. They are struggling with sin. They are struggling with the weaknesses of their flesh.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 3rd, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 29-31

Let’s turn now in our Bibles to the book of psalms beginning tonight with the twenty-ninth psalm. The psalm begins with an exhortation to give unto the Lord the ascription of glory and strength. The call is to the mighty. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength (29:1).
It is good for us to be reminded of the greatness of God. It is so easy for us to become overawed with the greatness of our problems. The difficulties of life. The hardships that we face. The mountains that we must cross. And we become so involved in ourselves in the situations of life that we oftentimes lose perspective and our problems become overwhelming for us. And we forget the greatness of God. We forget the power of God. We forget the glory of God. And so this giving unto the Lord glory and strength or ascribing to God that glory and strength helps us to deal with our own situations. Because I begin to see then my problems in the light of God’s power, rather than in the light of my own ineptness. My own weakness. And it is always strengthening, faith building, to spend time just in praising the Lord for the glory, the strength, the power of His might.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 1st, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 24-28

As we continue our study through the Bible, it is thought that the background of the twenty-fourth psalm was David’s preparation to bring the Ark of the Covenant from the place of Obededom on to the tabernacle that David had built on mount Zion in Jerusalem. David’s first endeavor to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem ended in disaster. David had a good idea. The ark of the covenant had been captured during the reign of Saul by the Philistines. It was nothing but problems for them and so they decided to send it back to Israel. And they made a cart and they hitched up a couple of oxen or actually cows to it, and the cows came back to Bethshemesh in a direct line mooing all the way. The people of Israel, when they saw the ark of the covenant, rejoiced and they took it to Kirjathjearim, where it stayed.
But then David decided he would bring the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem and rather than inquiring of the Lord and seeking the law of God in how the ark of the covenant should be moved, he followed the pattern of the Philistines. He just got a cart, set the thing on the cart and started to bring it back to Jerusalem. The cart began to tip, one of the fellows, Uzza, reached out to steady it but in touching the ark of the covenant, God took his life and David feared the Lord. He said, Don’t bring it any further. Leave it right here. They were at the house of Obededom, and so they left the ark of the covenant there.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 1st, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 21-23

Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Psalm 21 as we continue our journey through the Bible beginning with the twenty-first psalm. In Psalm 20, David offered a prayer unto the Lord. He asked the Lord to hear him in the day of trouble. To send him help. To strengthen him. To grant unto him according to God’s own heart, to fulfill the counsel. And the prayer was, Lord, fulfill all of my petitions. Now it is felt that Psalm 21 was written in response to the Lord’s answer to David’s prayer. If Psalm 20 was a prayer out of trouble, he was needing help, crying unto the Lord. The Lord helped him and so Psalm 21 is a psalm of acknowledgment of the help of the Lord. The answer to the prayer. And thus, The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation (21:1) Notice back in Psalm 20, “There are some who would trust in chariots, some in horses: but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and we stand upright. Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call” (Psalm 20:6-9). So now God has answered and the king is rejoicing in the strength of the Lord. The hand of the Lord has delivered. In His salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice (21:1)! All of us have prayed in the time of trouble. It’s almost a natural response when we’re in trouble to call unto the Lord.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on September 1st, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 17-20

Psalm 17, a prayer of David. This is a prayer thought to be offered to the Lord at a time when he was being pursued by Saul. From the style of the psalm, it would seem to be one of David’s earlier psalms. In the earlier psalms, David was asking the Lord to bless him for his righteousness’ sake. Now in David’s early life, he had a tremendous faith in God. You remember the stories of his exploits because of his faith in God. Killing of the lion, the killing of the bear, his willingness to go out against Goliath because of his trust in the Lord. And that early trust in the Lord was manifested by his response to Goliath when he said, Am I a dog that you would send a child out to fight me and he said to David, Go home before I cut you up and feed you to the birds. And David expressing that kind of faith and confidence that he had in God said, You come against me with a sword and with a spear. But I come against you in the name of the living God that you have defiled. And I will cut you up and your whole army and feed you to the birds. He had that kind of confidence in God (1 Samuel 17). He was very respectful of God’s anointed. Though he had every reason to turn on Saul, and even opportunity to do so, to take vengeance upon Saul who had been pursuing him without a cause, David did not lift a hand against Saul because he recognized that God’s hand of anointing was upon him. God had anointed him to be the king over Israel and he refused to touch the anointed of God even though the anointed had long left Saul, David would not put his hand against him.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 30th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 10-16

Shall we turn to the tenth Psalm. This tenth psalm speaks about the wicked. Mistakes that wicked people often make in their thoughts concerning God. The psalm begins with the cry of the psalmist. Why do you stand far off, O LORD? why do you hide yourself in times of trouble (10:1)? God, the Bible says, is slow to anger. He is plenteous in mercy. He allows people to go a long way before He does anything. And oftentimes as the wicked are going in their ways, we wonder, Lord, why do You just stand off and let this person get by with it? Lord, why don’t You act? Why don’t You bring judgment upon them? I with the psalmist many times have wondered why God was so patient with people. Why God didn’t just cut them off immediately, as I would do if I were God. And then he begins to talk about the wicked. The ones that he wanted God to take care of. The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined (10:2). Lord, don’t stand off. They have set the poor up. It’s really a tragic and unfortunate thing that the poor people are many times the victims of the charlatans. There are people who prey upon poor people. They run advertisements for their schools and so forth and, Learn the trade and make fifty dollars an hour and all. They get the poor to sign off their houses and everything else with the thought in mind that I’m going to be able to really advance and get ahead and they take advantage. So David says, “Let them be caught in the devices that they have imagined.”
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 29th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 6-9

Tonight we begin with the sixth Psalm. It is a Psalm that is entitled to the chief musician on Neginoth which is a stringed instrument and thought to perhaps be a lyre. Upon Sheminith, which in Hebrew is octaves. So its on a stringed instrument that is to be played in octaves. And it is a Psalm of David. It is a Psalm in which David is conscious of his guilt. He has done something wrong. He knows he’s done something wrong. He knows that he is deserving chastisement from the Lord. So he begins the Psalm with a petition to the Lord Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger. Neither chasten me in your hot displeasure (6:1). Its always great when my dad would chasten me after he had cooled down. IF when a parent, and unfortunately so often a parent grabs the child in the moment of emotion and the parent is still shaking with fear over what the child has done. They have done something, their life was in jeopardy, and you are so shook, you grab them, and quite often you overreact to the situation, and thus the punishment is quite often more severe than really the situation would dictate. So David understanding human nature and carrying it over unto God. And of course God doesn’t do that, but we so often attribute to God our own feelings and emotions. He is saying, O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger. Neither chasten me in your hot displeasure (6:1).
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 28th, 2010

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Bible Study: Psalms 1-5

Let’s turn now in our Bible to Psalms and today we begin with Psalm 1. In the Hebrew, it was called praises. It was their prayer and praise book. It was their hymnal for the people. It is called one of the books of poetry. But Hebrew poetry is different from ours. When we talk about poetry, we think of rhyming words. And we think of a rhythm or a meter in our poetry. But we use their thinking of in terms of words rhyming. I understand that the shortest poem is on the subject of the antiquity of microbes. The poem is “Adam had ‘em.” There is the rhyming and so we think of the rhyming. I like the rhyming along with the meter and styles of rhyming. That is why I am a particular fan of Robert Service. I like the way he rhymes within the line and then he rhymes every other line. That’s the type of rhyming and meter that I like. But there are all kinds of meters and rhyming.
In the Hebrew, it isn’t the rhyming of words. You think, “Well, that must rhyme in the Hebrew.” No. Hebrew poetry doesn’t rhyme. It’s thoughts and it is the repetition of a thought in a little different way with a little different emphasis. They saw the beauty in the thought itself. And in the repetition of the thought. So, many times you’ll read “The Lord is my refuge and my strength. The Lord is my helper. The Lord is my deliverer.” And it is the building of the thoughts concerning the Lord.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 26th, 2010

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Bible Study: Esther 7-10

Let’s turn to the book of Esther, and it’s, of course, turning to the book of Esther, it’s always good to know that God has His hands upon our lives, even in things that may seem disastrous at the moment, and yet God is working, God is positioning, God is on the throne, and all things are working together for good to those who love God, and are called according to His purpose, and it will work to the glory of God, I am certain. But we’re in that portion of the chapter right now where it looks pretty grim and pretty dismal, as you see the thing from this partial vista. We cant’ see the whole story, yet. In the book of Esther, there are places where things look pretty desperate, pretty sad; but God had positioned the people in those right places, in order that He might manifest His power, and His work.
So, if you remember in our last lesson, Esther had gone in before Ahasuerus, contrary to the law of the Medes and the Persians. She had gone in with great hesitancy, but the king raised the scepter. She went up and touched it, and he said, “Ask me what you want to the half of the kingdom.” And Esther said, “I want you and Haman to come to a dinner that I will prepare for you.” And so, the king and Haman went to the dinner, and the king after the dinner said, “Oh, ask whatever you want, and I’ll give it to you to the half of the kingdom.” It could be that at this point, Esther was still just a little hesitant, reluctant, frightened to really say what was on her heart. So she put it off, as we often do some of those decisions; “Well, tomorrow,” she said, “I’d like you to come to dinner again, and then I’ll tell you all that’s in my heart.” And so, it was arranged that Haman and the king should return the next day for the dinner that Esther would prepare, for the banquet that she would prepare for them.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 25th, 2010

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Bible Study: Esther 4-6

In the third year of the reign of King Ahasuerus, his wife Vashti refused his command to come in to the banqueting feast that he was having for his lords and his noblemen. Her stubborn refusal to obey created a crisis of sorts. He consulted his wisemen. They said, “If you let her get by with this, the women will be out of control throughout all of the kingdom. We go home, and our wives will be giving us a bad time. You’ve got to handle this, man, you’ve got to handle it now. You’ve got to handle it decisively.” And so, it was suggested that she be deposed from being queen, which she was.
He then sort of became involved in some skirmishes with Greece, and coming back victorious. Four years had transpired, and he began to miss Vashti; and so, it was suggested that they make an announcement throughout all the provinces of Persia, that the beautiful young virgins should be brought in, have beauty contests, and bring in the most beautiful of them to go through the twelve months of purification by the bathing in oils and in perfumes, that they might come before the king, and whichever of these beautiful young gals that pleased him could become the queen, the rest would become a part of his harem.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 24th, 2010

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Bible Study: Esther 1-3

Let’s turn now to the book of Esther. The events in the book of Esther cover a period of about twelve years, and it is a fascinating book. It gives to us the historic setting for a Jewish feast called the Feast of Purim. The Feast of Purim is something that the Jews celebrate to the present day. It’s celebrated in the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar, which is equivalent to the month of March on our calendar. And to the present time, over in Israel in the month of March, they still celebrate Purim: much different, I’m sure, than they did originally.
Purim has become sort of the Jewish equivalent to our Halloween, in that, all of the children dress in costumes for the Feast of Purim. They have a special cookie that they bake called the Hamantasch which has sort of the shape of an ear, and it has a poppy seed filling in it: a delicious cookie, but they are called “Haman’s Ear,” Hamantasch. The villain’s, the little boy villains, dress up as Haman. And, of course, the girls dress up as Esther. And it is quite a sight to see the children over in Israel during the Feast of Purim and their celebrations of this particular period of history when God, in His providence, spared them extermination from this descendant of Agag, the Amalek. And so the interesting thing about the book of Esther is, even though the word “God” is not mentioned in the book of Esther, His hand print is seen through the whole book. We can see how that God is preparing in advance for what He knows is coming.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 23rd, 2010

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Bible Study: Nehemiah 6 and 10-13

Let’s turn to Nehemiah six and it seems that we did skip this on the Sunday evening. We used this as a basis of a Sunday morning message but we haven’t covered it in the Sunday evening commentary. So, Nehemiah chapter six. When Nehemiah sought to build the wall, there were those enemies who sought to hinder the building of the wall. They knew that the building of the wall would mean a strengthening of the defenses. The enemy always keeps to seek you in a weakened position and thus whenever you begin to develop practices that will strengthen your position, you could be sure that the enemy is going to fight you. He sought to fight against Nehemiah in the building of the defenses in the city of Jerusalem.
When you start going to church, studying the word, fellowshipping together, Satan is going to seek to hinder that. He knows that in these practices there is strength. Your defenses are being strengthened; there’s strength in numbers, there’s strength in fellowship, there’s strength in the word. The enemies first sought to discourage the work of the rebuilding of the wall by ridicule. This is one of Satan’s powerful weapons he often uses against a child of God. That weapon of ridicule. None of us like to be made fun of. We don’t like to be ridiculed, our flesh rebels against that. Thus the enemy seeks to use ridicule as a discouragement to seeking God, to spending a lot of time in the word, spending time in prayer. When that did not work, then they sought to hinder it by these sneak attacks. So Nehemiah took certain measures to protect against these sneak attacks.
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 23rd, 2010

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Bible Study: Nehemiah 7-9

Let’s turn now to Nehemiah as we continue our study in chapter seven. Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed (7:1). That is they were fulfilling their function now in the ministry in the temple. That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many (7:2).
Now it was this brother of Nehemiah who had come to Nehemiah in Persia. Nehemiah was inquiring of him the condition of Jerusalem, the people that were there. It was this brother of Nehemiah that told him of the fact that this place was a shambles and that the people were demoralized. He was the one that really brought Nehemiah up to speed on what was happening, which caused Nehemiah’s tremendous burden and desire to go back and lead in the rebuilding of the walls. Nehemiah has now finished the task and he makes his brother ruler of the palace and in charge over Jerusalem because of his faithfulness and because of his fear of God above the others. And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house. Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded (7:3-4).
Bible Studies, Chuck Smith

Posted on August 22nd, 2010

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Bible Study: Nehemiah 4-5

Let’s turn now in our Bibles to Nehemiah chapter four. Nehemiah has been appointed by king Artaxerxes, the Longitimus of secular history, as the governor over Judaea. He comes back to Jerusalem with the decree of the king and the commission of the king to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem. As he first returns he does not reveal to the people what his full mission is but at night he goes out and surveys the walls and he establishes his plan for the rebuilding of the walls. Then he informs them of the fact that he has the authority of the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He establishes then which families will work on which section of the wall so that the whole wall will go up at once all the way around the city, with each group being assigned a certain section of the wall and the various gates are to be built by the certain groups. It’s gonna be a project that’s gonna move on rather rapidly because it’s well designed and well planned.
As the whole program is set out, the people began the building of the wall and immediately the enemy’s roundabout them are upset and they seek to hinder and they seek to oppose the rebuilding of the wall. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat (5:1). Who is one of the leaders of the opposition. But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth [angry] and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews [think they’re going to do]? Will they fortify themselves? Will they [offer] sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? (4:1-2).
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