Psalm 74.
Plainly this psalm, this pleading prayer will rise from Jerusalem and the Holy land, and the time for which it speaks is when Gentiles as well as apostate Jews are enemies of the godly ones there. For many years Jews have been going to Palestine to make their home in that land which God long ago anointed for Israel (Exodus 3:8; Deuteronomy 32:8), and since the great war, increased numbers of them have been settling there. Just now there is a hindrance to Jewish immigration, but it cannot last long, for God’s Word shows in many passages that the Holy land will be the possession of the Jews when His dealings with them as a nation begin again.
Touching is the appeal to God here; faith addresses Him on the ground of His original purchase of them, and there is not a word of confidence in themselves in the entire psalm. The language employed is the work of the Holy Spirit; it will be the fruit of His work in them. They claim deliverance on the ground of being His, — they are His sheep (verse 1); His assembly or congregation, His inheritance (verse 2); and so it is His place of assembly (verse 4); His sanctuary, the dwelling place of His name (verse 7); His synagogues or places of assembly (verse 8).
From verse 12, God is addressed as He who asserted His authority, and displayed His power of old. An enemy had reproached Jehovah; a foolish people had blasphemed or treated with contempt His name; they were His adversaries (verses 22, 23). Can such an appeal fail?
This psalm adds to our knowledge obtained from other Scriptures of the events of the last days, showing that the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem will be desecrated: everything in it will be destroyed by the enemy (verse 3); they will break down its carved work altogether with hatchets and hammers (verse 6), and set the building on fire (verse 7), will even burn up all God’s places of assembly in the land. Daniel 9:27; Isaiah 10:5, 6; Zechariah 14:1, 2; Isaiah 28:14, 15, 1820; Revelation 13:11-18; Matthew 24:551, and many other scriptures throw much light on the state of things in and around Jerusalem when the Church of God, composed of all true Christians, shall have been called away by the summons of Christ to the heavenly scene (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57), and God by the Holy Spirit will take up Israel again for blessing (Ezekiel 37).
Verse 4 speaks of signs and wonders of the last days (Matthew 24:24; Revelation 13:13, etc.). No signs will be given by God to meet these Satanic signs (verse 9); we know from Revelation 11:3-6 that there will be signs given by chosen witnesses of God, but they are essentially different in character and limited in display.
There will be no prophets then (verse 9), but if these saints have the Scriptures before them, they will learn that the day of the Lord’s return for their deliverance is set (Daniel 9:27; 12:6, 7, 11-13). It will be 7 years from the beginning of the seven-year agreement for carrying on the Jewish system of religious observance in the Holy land, or 3 1/2 years from the time that the false prophet-king takes that important step of assuming God’s place as the object of worship—the “abomination” that will bring the Assyrian desolator (Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-9).
In this the Christian hope is distinct; there are no “times and seasons” (1 Thessalonians. 4:15-18; 5:3) for us who have been led to own ourselves lost sinners and to claim the guilty sinner’s Saviour in this wonderful day of God’s grace. O, that we were more constantly looking for Him to come!
Saviour, come, we long to see Thee, Long to dwell with Thee above,
And to know in full communion
All the sweetness of Thy love.
ML 02/22/1931