Revelation 17:18 --- "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."  This is the filthy woman of Revelation 17 and she reigns through the wicked system called Babylon!  She is wrongly ruling.

And Revelation 19:6 --- "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."  Now this sounds right!

Thank God ... "the Lord reigneth!"

These words are usually used when a new King takes over the throne!

Notice.  2 Kings 9:13 --- "Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew with trumpets, saying, Jehu is king." When translated:  Jehu reigneth!  The new King was on the throne!

One day a New Ruler will take over this whole earth!  His Name is Jesus.  When He assumes the Throne of David ... the whole earth will proclaim loudly and joyfully: THE LORD REIGNETH!  In fact, here again are their precise words: "Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

Hallelujah!

What a "nugget!"

(I believe we're going to LOVE this Psalm!)

                                                               --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

PSALM 93 ... LESSON 2:

Look at what I mean:

"The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved."   Psalm 93:1

The verb "is clothed" translates Hebrew "labash" which technically means "to wrap around."  It gives a "perfect" sense of time ... the action is complete.  God does not have to dress every day as we do.  He is clothed and remains so.  The action here is completed ... not still occurring.  (God is not half dressed.  He is fully clothed!  And He expects us to be also!)  See Revelation 16:15 --- "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame."

"Majesty" is "geuth" in Hebrew and means that which mounts up or rises up.  This reminds me of the cloud of Glory in the wilderness during the days of Moses!  In the King James Bible this word is translated "proudly" (Psalm 17:10) and "raging" (Psalm 89:9 used of the waves of the sea as they mount up) and "lifting up" (of smoke in Isaiah 9:18) and "excellent things" in Isaiah 12:5 and "majesty" in Isaiah 26:10 and "pride" in Isaiah 28:1 and 28:3.  (It is only used a total of 8 times in the whole Bible.)

Our verse further adds that God wears "strength!"  This word translates Hebrew "oz." This comes from the verb that means "to be stout."  It means also "might, power, boldness or even loudness!"  It is translated each of those four ways in the King James Version.  (It is "boldness" in Ecclesiastes 8:1.)

God dresses Himself!  "He girdeth Himself!"  The verb is "azar" in Hebrew and means to encompass, to equip or to "belt" oneself.  (I know of a preacher who each morning as he gets up "dresses" himself mentally in "truth, peace, love, righteousness, etc.! Sounds like a good idea!)

We too as Christians are to "gird" ourselves!  We are to be "endued" with the Holy Spirit!  Greek "duo" and Hebrew "azar" have the same word picture behind them!  To wrap!  In Luke 24:49 Jesus told the disciples:  "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."  He was speaking of the Holy Spirit for sure!  Peter added: "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  1 Peter 1:13  Even Paul tells us to: "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness."  Ephesians 6:14

They say that in this old world people get drawn into dress "fads."  They want to dress like some famous person or follow some latest trend!  (These are bad ideas in a worldly sense of course.)

BUT there is One like Whom we Christians are to dress!

It is our dear Lord.

Oh!  To be like Him more and more!

Let me give you a nine word description of what Jesus wore:   "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance ...."  Galatians 5:22-23

Paul's famous "put off" then "put on" passages teach us the same thing.  "But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."   Colossians 3:8-10

Obviously it DOES MATTER what we wear!

I think I got a few "wardrobe" nuggets today!

How about you?

                                                                      --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

PSALM 93 ... LESSON 3:

"... The world also is established, that it cannot be moved.  Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting."    Psalm 93:1b,2

When God reigns ... stability is assured!

Now you might think these words about the world being established are strange in this particular context.  But I believe we have a "cause and effect" sequence occurring here.  BECAUSE our Lord reigns ... the world is established (according to His will and His Word).  Listen to what Paul says about Jesus in Colossians 1:17 --- "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."  (The verb "consist" means to stand together or stick together!)  Truly the earth functions properly because our God rules omnipotently!

The verb "stablished" means made firm, stable or fixed! The "action" here is incomplete!  The earth continues day by day to be established because God continues to reign day by day as well.

"Moved" is the verb "to totter, shake or slip." 

The little noun for world is "tebel" in Hebrew and implies the habitable parts of the earth.  (Not just the beautiful mountains and valleys and plains ... but the people who live therein are upon God's Heart!) In Proverbs 8:31 our word "tebel" is translated (in the King James Version) as "habitable part.  "Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men."

Now we are headed to a day of world-wide planetary convulsions and even a creation of a "new earth," but not until God says so!  He is in control!  (That's why they can tell you exactly when the sun is going to "rise" in the morning, Lord willing!)

But not only is the earth established.  So is God's throne!  (Same verb for "established" here as earlier in verse 1 ... in Hebrew = "kun").  The first use of our verb is in Genesis 41:32 where God has "established" future coming events!

"Throne" means the seat of authority or the seat of power.  Where the King presides! I am so thankful that for us believers it is a Throne of Grace!  (Hebrews 4:16)

The clause "Thou art from everlasting" is good.  The Masoretic Text (from which the King James Bible is translated) says:  Thou ... from everlasting!  "Min olam attah"

The pronoun for "Thou" is carefully inserted by the Holy Spirit ... indicating great emphasis and honor upon the Name of the Lord here.  (Who else could possibly even make the claim of being everlasting?)

The "preposition" from means: "from, out of, above!"  Go all the way back to the "vanishing point" of time ... and God steps out of that moment, having predated it! He is eternal!

And "everlasting" translates the Hebrew noun "olam," which means exactly "concealed, veiled from sight."  It speaks of the "vanishing point" of time ... either in the past or in the future!  One will never see a second of time without God being right there in the middle of it!  Again, He is eternal!  (So much for the ancient "dynasties" of history!  Or for that matter even of the future!)

What a "nugget" ...  God is in control!  God is eternal.  Without Him creation itself would fall apart!

Praise His dear Name!

                                                      --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

PSALM 93 ... LESSON 4:

Things that oppose His very reign in majesty!

Notice that third verse please:

"The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves."   Psalm 93:3

In all three cases the word "floods" translates the Hebrew noun "nahar."  It means a stream or river.  (In the King James Bible it is translated river 98 times and flood 18 times and stream 2 times.)  Strong's Concordance says the root of the word means "to sparkle" ... hence, the sheen of a running stream!  In the first Bible use of this word (Exodus 8:5) the streams produced frogs to torment Pharaoh and his people! 

I believe that these streams present two thoughts for us.  They teach us that our reigning God is in control of everything ... including the waterways!  (As in Proverbs 21:1 --- "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.")  He even made the seas and rivers!  (Isaiah 40:12)

They further tell us that God is able to subdue all His enemies (pictured by these roaring torrents).  If God is King (reigning on The Throne) ... He is over all!  He is Victor!

Just as the 3 words for "floods" are identical ... so are the three words for "lift up" the very same!  It's "nasa" and means to bear up, to carry, to endure, to sustain or even to take away. 

Listen to Charles Spurgeon for a minute as he comment on this verse:  "The floods have lifted up, 0 LORD."  Men have raged like angry waves of the sea, but vain has been their tumult. Observe that the psalmist turns to the Lord when he sees the billows foam, and hears the breakers roar; he does not waste his breath by talking to the waves, or to violent men; but like Hezekiah he spreads the blasphemies of the wicked before the Lord. The floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. These repetitions are needed for the sake both of the poetry and the music, but they also suggest the frequency and the violence of wicked assaults upon the government of God, and the repeated defeats which they sustain. Sometimes men are furious in words—they lift up their voice, and at other times they rise to acts of violence—they lift up their waves; but the Lord has control over them in either case. The ungodly are all foam and fury, noise and bluster, during their little hour, and then the tide turns or the storm is hushed, and we hear no more of them; while the kingdom of the Eternal abides in the grandeur of its power."

I do notice something small but interesting however.  The verbs (while identical in meaning) do carry a slightly different "time" emphasis.  The first two are Qal perfects, meaning that the action of "lifting up" is complete (already done).   The last use is a Qal imperfect ... suggesting that those floods are still raging!  This teaches us that there is a growing intensity in the raging of the waves!  Things on earth are becoming more violent against God!  (Isn't that exactly what the Bible prophesies?)

Also the very word combinations indicate growing vehemence!  First it's just floods ... then floods with voices ... then finally floods with waves!  The noun "waves" is in Hebrew "dokiy" and means to crush, to break, to destroy!  It's a pretty violent word! ("Crushed, crumbled, bruised!)

I am so thankful today that my God reigns!

He reigns supremely!

He reigns in such a way that no thing (or no person) can dethrone Him!

Hallelujah!

What a victorious "nugget!"

(If our God reigns ... everything is under His Control!)

                                                                   --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

PSALM 93 ...LESSON 5:

"The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea."    Psalm 93:4

The term ("marom") means "an elevated place."  It's translated "high places" 5 times in our Bibles.  It is translated "highest places" in Proverbs 9:3.  Here's some good news and it springs from the first use of our word (in this form) in all the Bible.  2 Samuel 22:17 --- "He (the Lord) sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters."  The Lord is "on high" ... but from thee He can still reach way down and meet my needs!

The adjective "mightier" comes from a stem that means "wide, expanded, great or powerful!"  In our King James Version it is translated (only 27 times) "excellent" 4 times and "nobles" 7 times and "principal" 3 times and "lordly" 1 time!  In Psalm 136:18 it is rendered as "famous."

The word for voice means noise or sound or even thunderings (as well as that of a voice).  In Hebrew it is spelled "qol."

"Many waters" pictures for us the raging waves of a flooding river or a storm tossed sea. That particular "string" of words occurs 14 times in the English Bible (King James Version).  But here again let me use 2 Samuel 22:17 --- "He (the Lord) sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters."  Here's "proof" that our God is mightier than many waters ... He can come down and lift me out of those raging waves!  This truth is repeated word for word in Psalm 18:16!

Here's some more good news about our Lord and the "many waters."  Song of Solomon 8:7 --- "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned."

The adjective "mighty" is identical to the Hebrew adjective ("addiyr") used earlier in the verse of God ("mightier") ... but there in a stronger form!  Here it's singular.  There it's plural!  Here it is a "positive" adjective.  There it's "comparative" (much stronger)! Waves are mighty ... but God is all mighty!

And that little noun "waves" translates "mishbar" which means to burst or break! (The "breakers" of the sea!)  With one little vowel point's difference this is the word for "birth," breaking forth from the womb!  God was mightier than the waves in Jonah's day too!  Jonah 2:3 --- "For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me."  Here Jonah is a type of Christ!

The word for "sea" is "yam" and means literally "to roar."  In Scripture the angry sea is a picture of lost raging mankind!  Isaiah 57:20 proves so.  "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."

Folks, this verse today has shown us a mighty powerful God!

Let us worship Him now.

                                                            --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

PSALM 93 ... LESSON 6:

With almost a sense of sadness I share with you today the last verse of Psalm 93.  It is truly a passage of Scripture that declares "our God reigns!"

Here are the Psalm's last two statements.  They constitute verse 5:

"Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever."    Psalm 93:5

The noun "testimonies" translates the Hebrew word "edah."  It technically speaks of the laws of God ... and as the Bible expands it comes to mean "the Word of God."  The root of the word comes from a noun that means "a witness."  And that noun is derived from a verb that means "to repeat or to duplicate."  (The things God says again and again!)  That would be one interesting Bible study!  "The most often repeated truths of God!"

But ... what of God's testimonies?

They are "true!"  And watch how this little word "true" is spelled in Hebrew:  "aman!" It is literally a "loan word" that has come into English!  We say it every time we go to church!  "Aman!"  It means "truth!"  (That's right, preacher!  Aman!)  In our King James Bibles it is translated in various ways:  faithful, established, verified, steadfast, trusty, and nursed!  Watch what God promises to Israel in yet future days:  "Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." Isaiah 60:4  (Here is a part of speech that means "God's Word" ... and it is nursing His people!)

But just how true are they?

VERY true!

"Very" is the Hebrew adverb "meod."  It means exceedingly, abundantly (words showing magnitude or degree)!  Also:  hot  or vehement!  It comes from a verb that implies a poker or rake that is used to stir hot burning embers!  (What a word picture!)

The word "holiness" ("qodesh") means apartness, separateness!  Hence ... consecrated, dedicated!  One source says it means to be clean!  God is a Holy God!  And where the Holy God is ... the very ground becomes holy too!  (Exodus 3:5 --- the word's first use in exact form)  Even the day on which God "rested" from His creation ... becomes a "sanctified" day!  (Genesis 2:3 --- first Bible use in any form)

Our verb "becometh" here translates "naah," meaning "to be beautiful or to be befitting!"  (To be "comely!")  It is a Qal (simple active) perfect (action completed). The fact is settled.  God has declared and determined that holiness does reside permanently in His House!  It is only used 3 times in the Bible!  It in the other 2 places definitely describes body parts!  Song of Solomon 1:10 --- "Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold."  And Isaiah 52:7 --- "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"  Therefore ... it stands to reason that the holiness that becomes God's House here represents some body (or body part) also!  If one puts a New Testament slant on the word ... it could be speaking of the Body of Christ, the Church, who is supposed to be holy!

The word "house" ("bayith") means habitation or dwelling or abode!  Remember who is the temple of God in this age of grace!  That's exactly why Christians are called "saints" in the Word of God!  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

And the Name of God to whom this truth is addressed?  JEHOVAH Himself!  The Holy God!  (In the Genesis creation account, generally speaking, Elohim says things are "good" ... while Jehovah inspects things for sin or wrongdoing!  Compare Genesis 1:4 with Genesis 2:18 and Genesis 3:9.

And here even the term "for ever" is interesting!  It combines "orek" meaning long or great length with "yom" meaning days.  (Length of days!)

We ought to leave this great chapter awed by a sense of God's greatness!

Don't ever lose the "wonder" of adoring our Almighty God!

What "nuggets!"

                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell