Psalm 74 was written at the time of the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians. It was a devastating time for the people of Israel, especially those who still served the LORD. Even though the prophets had been warning the people of this very thing for many years, they were shocked and horrified when it actually came to pass. The psalmist starts out by relaying to God all that is happening at the hands of the enemy, then begins to encourage himself in the LORD by speaking about the wonderful works of God! "Go thou and do likewise!" Speak the Word of God back to Him. He is waiting for you to do so!
With so much prophesied in the Word of God, we still see people taking so much for granted today! End time events are playing out right before our eyes! This is the most Scripturally significant time to be alive on earth since the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth! Events all over the world are playing out EXACTLY as the Word of God says that they will! Time is running out to delight our LORD by adding to the Kingdom of God! Be about our Father's business and be instrumental in changing the eternal destinies of the people YOU come in contact with!
Romans 2:28-29:
28 For he is not a [real] Jew who is only one outwardly and publicly, nor is [true] circumcision something external and physical. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and [true] circumcision is of the heart, a spiritual and not a literal [matter]. His praise is not from men but from God.
Did you realize that when YOU received Jesus of Nazareth as your Lord and personal Saviour, you also became a Jew? Not a natural Jew, but a supernatural one! Under the Old (Abrahamic) Covenant, physical circumcision was a sign that a person had accepted God's terms! Our circumcision cannot be seen with the natural eye. The "sign" of our acceptance of God's terms is the Holy Spirit Who recreated our spirits and lives in us as a continual Witness that we belong to God! Remember that the Old Covenant had many types and shadows that pointed toward the New Covenant that WE are living under. That should make YOUR study and meditation of the Word of God much more fruitful!
Leviticus 18:1-5:
1 AND THE LORD said to Moses, 2 Say to the Israelites, I Am the LORD God. 3 You shall not do as was done in the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, nor shall you do as is done in the land of Canaan to which I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes. 4 You shall do My ordinances and keep My statutes and walk in them. I Am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My ordinances which, if a man does them, he shall live by them. I Am the LORD.
God was establishing the Truth with His people that He had ordained them to be separated from the world! Why? Because He wanted to bless them and protect them and bring the Redeemer of all mankind through them! If we will look at the commands in the Word of God with THAT in mind, nothing His Word commands us to do will be that difficult to put into practice! THEY were the ones preparing for the Messiah to come. WE are the ones representing HIM here on earth! I read this in the Bible Exposition Commentary:
We live in a sex-saturated society. It smiles at monogamous marriages, encourages abortion as a means of birth control, promotes and endorses kinky sex as a means of entertainment, claims that moral absolutes don't exist, and really believes that people can violate moral standards and escape the consequences. Fulton J. Sheen was right when he said, "The Victorians pretended sex did not exist; the moderns pretend that nothing else exists."
(from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 . All rights reserved.)
Even in Christian circles there is way too much emphasis put on discussing sexual subjects as preparation for marriage. The MOST important thing to be in complete agreement on when considering marriage is whether or not both people love the Lord their God with their ENTIRE being! If He is not first place NOTHING else will be as it should. If He IS, then He is fully capable of leading and guiding the couple in EVERY area of life! That will require a continual fellowship with Him day by day. Why would you want anything else?
Shalom in Him!
