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Category:
General Theology
Psalm 83: Prophetic or Profitable?
written by Charles Cooper
Psalm 83: Prophetic or Profitable?
It is sad to see the ongoing hysteria that some modern so-called “prophets” create and maintain by incorrectly interpreting Scripture. It is almost comical. For the last few months, Psalm 83 has been the whipping-boy for alarmists who see prophetic fulfillment in the Middle East every time the sun comes up. Unsuspecting laypersons lock on to these prognostications and fret that the end of time is about to occur.
Those who see the imminent prophetic fulfillment of Psalm 83 do so on the basis of weak similarities and the abandonment of sound Bible study methods. It is true that some nations that surround the modern State of Israel have a mentality that echoes the sentiments of Psalm 83:4, which states, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!” Certain groups among the Egyptians, Iranians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Philistia chant this slogan on a daily basis. However, this does not mean that Psalm 83 is a prophetic prediction of these events.
The enemies named in Psalm 83:7–8 are known from other references in the OT. Some of the people-groups listed here no longer exist nor hold hostile feelings toward Israel. The list includes:
Edom – south of Israel (Modern day southern Jordan)
Ishmaelites – east side of the Jordan (Modern day Jordan)
Moab – east side of the lower Jordan (Modern day central Jordan)
The Hagrites – a tribe east of the Jordan
Gebal – a Canaanite and Phoenician port some twenty miles north of modern Beirut
Ammon – east side of the Jordan and north of Moab (Modern day northern Jordan)
Amalek – nomadic tribe south of Judah
Philistia – ran along the Mediterranean coast (Modern day Palestine-Gaza)
Tyre – Phoenician city north of Mt. Carmel (Modern day Labanon)
Assyria – the great power that supported hostile nations ringing Israel (Modern day Syria).
The “sons of Lot” – refers to the Moabites and Ammonites.
Even a casual observer should notice that a majority of the names on this list are part of modern day Jordan. Descendants of Edom, Moab, Ammon, the Hagrites, Amelekites, and the Ishmaelites are all a part of the modern state of Jordan. The Jordanians do not call for the annihilation of Israel. In fact, they have a treaty of peace with the Jewish state.
The Assyrians no longer exist as a distinct people group with power to influence their neighbors. For more than 2500 years, these people have not had a significant role in the affairs of humankind. Yet, Psalm 83:8 gives this people a leading role in the hatred of Israel. This fact alone should have given modern interpreters pause.
The false interpretation of Psalm 83 will make for captivating headline news, and people will buy books, tapes, and sermons that create uncontrollable fear, but nothing will come of it. When the truth of these predictions is known, those who taught the false conclusions will have moved on to the next story. Few are held accountable for their false teachings. How sad!
A Day of Visitation
Charles Cooper
For some believers, the timing of the Lord’s return to rapture the saints is more important than any other New Testament study. Much has been written about it and the views are diverse. But even more fundamental questions have not been the focus of earnest discussion: Why have a rapture? Where did the concept originate? What is the Old Testament basis for this idea?
Pentecost – the Incomplete Feast
Charles Cooper
Part II
The celebration of the beginning of the wheat harvest began on Pentecost. However, the end of the wheat harvest was unknown. No one knew when it would end. Several factors regulated when it would end; each year was different. The amount of rain, the temperature, the date of planting, and other intangibles all had an impact on when the harvest would end. No man knew the day and hour when the harvest would be completed. Only the sovereign God of the heavens knows that. As well, the grape harvest would occur after Pentecost and hopefully was complete before Tabernacles.
The harvest is a useful and frequent metaphor for God’s work among his elect. This term describes God’s work throughout the ages and at the end of the final age. In Matthew 9:37-38, the Lord stated, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Notice that the Lord Jesus states three facts about the harvest: 1) the harvest is large; 2) God is Lord of this large harvest; and 3) this large harvest belongs to God. What then is the harvest? One author states,
The huge crowds are therefore very appropriately called “the harvest,” the very extensive field in need of immediate attention. By a legitimate extension of the figure one can say that this harvest, as here viewed, consists of the sum-total of “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:6). The application to present (twentieth century) conditions would, without doing violence to the basic idea, enlarge the scope of the interpretation, so that the reference would be to all those who can be brought within the reach of the gospel….[1]
In essence, what this author and others are saying is that all peoples should have an opportunity to hear the gospel. The harvest refers to the entire world and each person has a right to hear the gospel whether he or she responds or not.
However, we are of the opinion that a much narrower audience is the focus of the Lord Jesus. Lenski would argue that only those “gathered into the heavenly garner,” that is, to “all those in whom the work of God’s grace succeeds,”[2] are intended in Matthew 9:37-38. Calvin agrees and writes, “The limited number of the elect, who were mixed with unbelievers.”[3]
God would never leave the eternal hope of people in the hands of men. If the Lord Jesus indicates here that prayer is necessary to get people to go and preach in order that others might have a chance to hear the gospel – whether they accept it or reject it – then are we to conclude that if people do not go, those poor souls missed the opportunity to be saved because of someone else’s laziness? Will God only save the lost if people go and share the gospel? If a very few people pray and a very few people go, then the lost have no hope, if this line of thinking is correct. These are very logical questions if this passage refers to the world. Surely, that is not the point of this passage. Rather, God requires men to go, but even if a man is disobedient, God’s elect will come to faith.
The correct view of this passage is closer to what Leon Morris adds. Notice,
Jesus does not spell it out, but he is speaking of people who are ripe for inclusion in the kingdom. In that situation, it is necessary that something be done to bring them in. A crop of wheat needs workers to bring the grain into the barn; without the laborers the crop cannot be reaped. Jesus says that in the great harvest of which he is speaking the workers are few.[4]
My ultimate point here is this: the Lord Jesus looked at the salvation of God’s elect as “the great harvest.” Please do not miss the point that the work of evangelism refers to laboring in God’s harvest now. Please understand that the harvest continues until all the crop is gathered into the barn. We are busy with the work of harvesting now. The work begun at Pentecost continues.
In John 5:34-38 the Lord Jesus again used the harvest metaphor to speak of the ongoing kingdom work of God’s laborers in the world. He told his disciples,
“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
The point the Lord Jesus is making is that the wait is over – the harvest time is now. “The saying of Jesus represents the gathering of people into the kingdom of God.”[5] Since we are engaged in the same work, the harvest continues and will do so until the gathering ends. Pentecost is a celebration of the coming harvest, not a celebration of a completed harvest. That is the focus of the Feast of Sukkoth (Tabernacles).
[1] Hendriksen, W., & Kistemaker, S. J. (1953-2001). Vol. 9: Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew. New Testament Commentary (440). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
[2] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., pp. 373, 374.
[3] Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, English translation, Vol. I, p. 421.
[4] Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew. The Pillar New Testament Commentary (239–240). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
[5] Beasley-Murray, G. R. (2002). Vol. 36: John. Word Biblical Commentary (63). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
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