GOD WILL PUT AN END TO EVIL PSALM 59 MAIN IDEA One day God will put an ultimate end to evil. I. THE RAPTURE (VS 1-2) On the day God decides to put a final end to evil; he will first rapture believers. First dead believers will rise; then those of us who are alive at the time will meet Him in the air to do battle with all evil. A. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND B. GOD S ENEMIES; EVILDOERS C. GOD DELIVERS AND SAVES HIS CHILDREN II. EVIL APPEARS TO BE POWERFUL (VS 3-10) We are expected to live with faith and hope as we wait for the day of the Lord. A. TRUSTING IN GOD THROUGH PERSECUTION (3-5) B. NO END TO HUMAN PRIDE (6-7) C. EVIL IN REALITY IS PATHETIC (8-10) III. GOD WILL MAKE THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME (VS 11-17) God will dismantle, humiliate, and destroy evil once and for all. We eagerly anticipate that day. A. DISMANTLE, HUMILIATE, AND DESTROY EVIL (11-13) B. EXPOSE THEIR GOALS AND MOTIVES (14-15) C. GOD WILL VINDICATE HIS CHILDREN (16-17)
GOD WILL PUT AN END TO EVIL PSALM 59 This will be my last sermon in the series on the Book of Psalms. Next week we will celebrate Thanksgiving, then we will enter the Advent and Christmas seasons, and then we will celebrate together my final sermon on December 27 when I will retire. As I read and studied through this morning s psalm, it occurred to me that many of the psalms and Old Testament passages and events are Messianic in that even though they may refer to King David, Israel s priests and prophets; they find their final fulfillment in the suffering, death, resurrection, and final return of Jesus Christ. Even though the subtitle identifies the context of this psalm as the incident Saul tried to kill David and David s wife warned him and helped him escape; it also seems to me to be a description of God s final battle with evil when He destroys evil once and for all. Talk concerning the end times can be confusing. For example, after the pastor preached on the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ; one family sat around the dinner table discussing the sermon. The teenage son said, I have a lot of questions concerning the Lord s return. It sounds confusing to me. The father tried to reassure him, We do not have all the answers we would like; but we have enough to encourage us. The best preparation we can make for that day is to simply live each day as if it were our last. The teenager responded, I tried that once and you grounded me for a month. As we see how powerful evil looks in our world, we are often confused as well. However, the main idea of this morning s text is this. ONE DAY GOD WILL PUT AN ULTIMATE END TO EVIL. I m going to include myself in this mild rebuke. Too many times we get angry when we see how evil runs rampant in our society and in our country. As we look at the magnitude and power of evil; it seems as if we are powerless to do or change anything. We can easily see the persecution of Jews and Christians escalating all around the world. It s alarming to see how it has even gotten traction in the United States. It s easy for us to start feeling sorry for ourselves. It s easy to become angry and fearful. It s easy to start playing the victim. However, Jesus will have none of that. Listen to His words to us: 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. Page 2 John 16:33 / English Standard Version We are expected to face tribulation in this world. King David faced all sorts of tribulations and trials during his life time. The way King Saul persecuted him, the way people betrayed him, and a lot of the suffering he brought upon himself through bad decisions; is kind of a model for Christians living in this fallen and sinful world. The Bible is clear that as the end times draw closer, evil will appear to be growing stronger and Jews and Christians will begin to suffer more.
As the end draws closer God s people will suffer more. Jesus never sugarcoated the life of believers. That s part of our job description as citizens of God s Kingdom. But don t miss the promise. We are not victims. Like Jesus, we willingly lay down our lives for the Kingdom of God because God will one day put a very humiliating and final end to evil. On that day God s children will rejoice. So I will look at David s life of suffering as a type of what Christians will face as the end draws near. I. THE RAPTURE (VS 1-2) The wording in verses 1-2 reminds us that at some point during the end time events; the rapture will take place. ON THE DAY GOD DECIDES TO PUT A FINAL END TO EVIL; HE WILL FIRST RAPTURE BELIEVERS. FIRST DEAD BELIEVERS WILL RISE; THEN THOSE OF US WHO ARE ALIVE AT THE TIME WILL MEET HIM IN THE AIR TO DO BATTLE WITH ALL EVIL. I am not going to get into the timing of the Rapture. Some Christians believe it will happen before the Great Tribulation, some believe sometime during the Great Tribulation, and others believe it will come at the end of the Tribulation. However, all Christians believe there will be a Rapture event. The subtitle to this psalm doesn t contain anything new. We have discussed all the terms in the title. However, the historical event that inspired David to write this psalm was when Saul sent his soldiers to David s house to kill him. That story is found in I Samuel 19 but the whole historical context starts way back in I Samuel 17. The army of Israel was on the battlefield. The Philistine army looked like they had the upper hand and they sent their hero Goliath out to taunt the Israelites and he tried to intimidate them into surrendering. He was a beast of a man. Supposedly he was over 9 feet tall. The Israelite soldiers were paralyzed by fear. But a young David was appalled that this pagan could intimidate and taunt God s soldiers. David went out to fight Goliath without any battle armor because he was too small at the time. David destroyed Goliath and cut of his head. The Israeli soldiers immediately gained back their courage, chased down the Philistine soldiers, and killed them. David was given King Saul s daughter Michal to be his wife. David became Saul s son-in-law. Saul sent David on many military operations. David was so successful that people started to sing, Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. King Saul had disobeyed God and God rejected him as king. God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. David was anointed king. Saul was jealous, paranoid, and crazy. He looked for every opportunity to kill David. For years, Saul and Israel s army hunted him like a dog but were never able to catch him. God miraculously protected David. Saul ordered his soldiers to go to David s house to kill him but Michal, who loved David very much, got wind of the plot and helped David escape through a window. She put an idol in the bed, put goat hair on the head, and covered it up under the covers. She told the soldiers that David was ill. Saul said that he didn t care. He wanted the soldiers to carry sick David on his bed to the palace so that Saul could have him killed. This stalled the soldiers long enough for David to get away. When talking about the battle between good and evil we must make sure we know who God s enemies are; they are the evildoers. David makes it clear that those who are enemies of God are also enemies of God s children. The word used to describe attacking is the word in Hebrew that means to rise up. These evil people are rising in power and status. These people seem to have Page 3
political and military standing. They are powerful enemies. We know in David s case it was the King and army of Israel. He goes on to identify them as evildoers. Literally they are workers of iniquity. Their full time job is to work and become proficient at doing evil. I know there are times when I feel this is a perfect description of our government and governments around the world. They are not interested in doing good. They are only interested in amassing more power, more wealth, more notoriety, and indulging in more pleasure. They do all this at the expense of the people. Further, they try and further their agenda by creating scapegoats. For centuries world leaders and world governments have targeted Jews and Christians to be their scapegoats. I think that is true. However, to put this in perspective, I must remind myself that the president and the US Armed Forces are not hunting me down. To be perfectly honest; I m quite sure they don t even know I exist. I think that I m safe in saying that none of us are facing the intensity of persecution that David faced. I know I ve said this a lot in our study through the psalms but our society and government have perverted justice, morality, and goodness. They call evil good and good evil. The job description of our politicians, major universities, and social institutions is now to cause as much moral chaos as they can. Their full time job is to pervert and destroy the Judeo- Christian ethic. David describes the target of their attacks and reminds us that God delivers and saves His children. David starts out both verse 1 and verse 2 with the word deliver. That is a great word that I think has end time significance. The Hebrew word is natzal. It does mean to deliver and rescue me. But it has the idea of snatching me up out of danger. It s as if the hand of God, reaches down, grabs us by the back of the collar, and yanks us up out of all the danger. In verse 1 we see that God yanks us up out of the danger and sets us up in His fortress. The word for fortress describes a high place that is inaccessible to the enemy. We are set up on the high ground. It s a great position to be in battle. And don t miss the last line in verse 2. This rescue has to do with salvation. You remember that the word for salvation is the same word that is the first part of the Name Jesus. Jesus is the One Who saved us, He continues to save us, and will save us in the future. Here is the nice little twist. These evil ones are after David s blood. They don t ever get David s blood. However, we know that the evil one was after Jesus blood and got it on the cross. However, through the blood of Jesus we are saved, delivered, rescued, and placed on high ground. In regards to the rapture that will happen in the end times, the Apostle Paul describes that event that will precede the final battle like this: 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 / New Living Translation As we see our society, our cities, our country, and the world deteriorate and become more evil; we should not be afraid, confused, or feel like victims because Jesus promised us this would all happen as the end draws near. ON THE DAY GOD DECIDES TO PUT A FINAL END TO EVIL; HE Page 4
WILL FIRST RAPTURE BELIEVERS. FIRST DEAD BELIEVERS WILL RISE; THEN THOSE OF US WHO ARE ALIVE AT THE TIME WILL MEET HIM IN THE AIR TO DO BATTLE WITH ALL EVIL. II. EVIL APPEARS TO BE POWERFUL (VS 3-10) Passages like these are important for us to ponder and meditate on lest we get confused. Verses 3-10 reminds us that evil appears to be powerful. WE ARE EXPECTED TO LIVE WITH FAITH AND HOPE AS WE WAIT FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD. Here is an interesting statement that Jesus made to the disciples that is often overlooked: 4 Dear friends, don t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. 5 But I ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he s the one to fear. Luke 12:4-5 / New Living Translation Jesus was telling His disciples not to fear the religious leaders and the government who could only kill their bodies. They have no eternal powers. But since they can persecute us and ultimately kill us, the evil in this world looks formidable. However, as verses 3-5 exhort us, we should be trusting in God through persecution. This section is broken down into two portions, 3-4a and 4b- 5. The first portion talks about the ruthlessness of evil people and institutions. They plan on doing evil. They plan carefully to destroy all those who are truly following God. And in the end, they are really not persecuting us because we have done anything wrong; they simply want to stamp out anything that looks like Judeo-Christian morality. They can t stand to see people living morally upright lives because it seems to accentuate their own bankrupt immoral views and lifestyles. The second portion is a confident cry from David. We know that governments and institutions have no love for Jews and Christians. They are not our salvation and deliverance. We know that only God is our salvation. David asks God to arise and rouse Himself. God does not sleep nor does He slumber. He watches over His children night and day. We can cry out to God anytime. David is simply asking God to act on his behalf. The language in verse 5 is powerful. He piles up the Names for God. In Hebrew, it is a string of God s Names; Yahweh, Elohim, Sabaoth, Eloi Israel. That translates as Yahweh God of heaven s army, my God of Israel. David is serious. He is calling on Israel s personal, passionate, and intimate God. This God is the Commander and Chief of all the armies of heaven. All the war angels are ready at His command. He is the God of Israel. We have to remind ourselves what real power is. Evil may look big and powerful now but when Jesus leads the heavenly armies, they will look weak and impotent. They will look like flies. It is no wonder David shouts Selah after this. David looks at Saul and his army. Then he looks at God and His army. David asks God to give the command to attack. That calls for a loud crash of the cymbals and a loud shout of hallelujah!! Selah!!! And yet verses 6-7 describe the fact there is no end to human pride. It s interesting David describes them as a pack of dogs. When referring to humans, the word dog is never good. He is calling them male whores, bloodthirsty scavengers, gangs who find their power in numbers and the fact they have no moral limits. They are menacing and they look dangerous. If they were to bite you, you may get rabies. Make no mistake; they can do a lot of damage. Page 5
But this is what makes them so dangerous. In Psalm 14 and 53, the poet told us that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Because of their pride, they think that God is impotent. Even if He could hear them, He was not able to do anything. They believe they can think, speak, and act any way they choose. They mistakenly think there is no power that can stop them. But the fact is that God sees every deed they do, hears every word they speak, knows what they are thinking and planning. These dogs think they are untouchable. When we see the actions of political, institutional, and academic institutions; we can easily see they have no fear of God. They are evil and even though they think they will never have to answer for what they do because they have made themselves gods in their own eyes; there will come a day in which God will demand an accounting from them. Their pride may have deluded them into thinking they are really something; but they will find out the hard way; at the judgment seat of Jesus. At that time, as described in verses 8-10 they will see the truth that evil in reality is pathetic. At the final judgment, God will have two attitudes: one that He shows towards the righteous and one He shows to the evildoers. Remember these politicians, world leaders, academicians, and societal rulers have come to think of themselves as righteous, good, and noble. They have become gods in their own eyes. The problem with their righteousness, goodness, and nobility; is that they are based on their perverting God s laws. What God calls evil they call good. What they call moral, God calls immoral. What God calls righteous, they call unrighteous. But they will find out the truth. God will laugh and scoff at them. I don t want you to miss the use of the word nations. That is the word goyim. It referred to all those who were not Jewish. It referred to outsiders who did not worship the God of Israel. The problem is that the people who are persecuting David are Jews by birth. They hold Israeli citizenship. But God looks at them if they are pagans who worship false gods. On the other hand, God looks at those who have been faithful to Him with love. Look at the phrase in verse 10 that says on whom I can rely. The word for that phrase is Ḥesed. That is one of the themes of the entire Psalms. We have been translating it as unfailing and everlasting lovingkindness. Because of God s passionate love for us, He will judge those who have lied about us, gossiped about us, tried to harm us, persecute us, silence us, or marginalize us. He will judge those who have harmed us and done evil to us. God will make sure we have the last laugh as he tortures and punishes those evildoers; especially those who have used their power to harm others. Because of God s lovingkindness, it seems as we will have satisfaction in seeing God disarm, dismantle, and destroy evil. God will right every wrong. Knowing and living towards the end ought to fill us with faith and courage. WE ARE EXPECTED TO LIVE WITH FAITH AND HOPE AS WE WAIT FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD. III. GOD WILL MAKE THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME (VS 11-17) But that s not all; David s not done and neither is God. In verses 11-17 we will see that God will make the punishment fit the crime. GOD WILL DISMANTLE, HUMILIATE, AND DESTROY EVIL ONCE AND FOR ALL. WE EAGERLY ANTICIPATE THAT DAY. Page 6
Listen to the way it will go for those who refuse to submit to Jesus as Lord in this life: 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. Revelation 19:19 / New Living Translation 8 He will go out to deceive the nations called Gog and Magog in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. 9 And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. 10 Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:8-15 / New Living Translation 8 cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Revelation 21:8 / New Living Translation I want us to understand that when people are sent to hell; it is by their own choice. Everyone is given a chance to receive Jesus as Lord. The only reason people end up in hell is because they make that choice for themselves. Remember evildoers have made themselves gods in their own eyes. They have made their own rules for living. But at this last judgment, there is only one God and He is the One Who enforces the rules He made. In verses 11-13 David asks God to dismantle, humiliate, and destroy evil. In an earthly sense, David doesn t want God to kill them quickly; he wants them to suffer and be humiliated like they caused others to suffer and be humiliated. He asks God to publicly break them, humiliate them, and do it all publicly so people can see that he was right and just while they were simply evildoers. David is asking for public vindication. He wants the public humiliation an example to others who are thinking about doing evil. These people have been spreading lies, starting rumors, gossiping about David and making him out to be evil. After they have suffered enough humiliation, David asks God to wipe them out and consume them in the fire of His wrath. Again, as fire, humiliation, and destruction fall on these wicked people; David will again shout Selah and clap his hands as he is vindicated. Page 7
God will not only punish them; He will expose their goals and their motives. This is a repetition of verses 6-7. They are out to get more power, wealth, notoriety, and pleasure; even if it comes at the expense of others. They may try to look good; but in reality God will expose them for the evil dogs they are. God will vindicate His children in verses 16-17. If you have ever been vindicated after being falsely accused; you know how you want to gloat after the accusers have been proved wrong and humiliated by God. There will be some of that on the final Day of Judgment. However, I think there will be much more singing and rejoicing over the fact that God loves us with His incredible unfailing and everlasting kindness. God is the One Who brings us safely to our heavenly homes where we will live with Him in joy forever and ever: 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, Look, God s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, Look, I am making everything new! And then he said to me, Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. 6 And he also said, It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. Revelation 21:1-7 / New Living Translation GOD WILL DISMANTLE, HUMILIATE, AND DESTROY EVIL ONCE AND FOR ALL. WE EAGERLY ANTICIPATE THAT DAY. David lived a life filled with unfair treatment, undeserved suffering, and undeserved persecution. As we approach the end of time and the Second Coming of Jesus; we too will be faced with increased unfair treatment, suffering and persecution. But like David we will have to continually remind ourselves and one another that God is far greater than any evil Satan can muster up on this earth. God will one day reward the righteous and punish the wicked. ONE DAY GOD WILL PUT AN ULTIMATE END TO EVIL. Let us keep our love, our eyes, our faith, and our hope squarely fixed on Jesus. Lectio Divina Psalm 59 Page 8