Exactly!

Psalm 70:4 prays to the Lord … “Let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.”

I am thinking that (surely) all of us who are saved by the Grace of God “love” the Salvation He has provided us! If not, we have at least left our first love, or worse.

But the unique Thrust of this verse is that it puts precise “words” in our mouths, Christian friends!

It tells us what to “say,” translating the verb “amar.” Which here means “to speak” … bus especially “conversationally, casually, habitually!”

“Be magnified” is “gadal” in Hebrew. To get bigger and bigger and bigger! To grow and grow and grow! To be greater and greater and greater!

Wait a second!

God is already supremely that big and great!

So what does David mean here?

That MY PERCEPTION of the already Great, Glorious, None-like-Him God grow and become greater!

That I say to my brother and sister in Christ (especially with this being written on Sunday) THE LORD BE MAGNIFIED!

And the little modifier “continually” comes from a root word meaning “to stretch!” Indicating perpetuity! From now on!

“Let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.”

May this Prayer be answered in our lives today, tomorrow and every day God yet gives us to live!

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I was reading Psalm 69 earlier today. This Line spoke to my heart, knowing that it actually happened to my Saviour.

“They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Psalm 69:21

Matthew records the event, Jesus dying on the old rugged Cross … “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.” Matthew 27:34

This phenomenon occurs dozens (maybe hundreds) of time in the Bible. Prophecies about Jesus written many years before His (Virgin) Birth … yet fulfilled exactly as prescribed!

Now the enemies of our Lord and skeptics of the Bible discount anything miraculous surrounding these remarkable Verses of Scripture. They say that the New Testament writers merely fashioned the situations they were describing around the “prophecies,” so as to make them “look” fulfilled.

If so (and it is NOT so), the Bible is simply a “made up” Book of fabrications! And we have attended a masquerade party! The writers of Scripture would have become editors instead of reporters. Novelists, producers!

BUT THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW!

If the same True Author of the Bible (the Holy Spirit of God) penned both the prophecy (like Psalm 69:21) and the historical fulfilment (like Matthew 27:34) … the Bible is indeed a unique one-of-a-kind Book!

Folks, whole Books are written (by godly men of past ages) numerating and expounding the myriads of MIRACULOUS Bible forecasts that have been literally exacted in the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Not counting the many other (not directly relating to Jesus) precious Predictions of Scripture. (About the anti-Christ or the Tribulation or the Battle of Armageddon, or the Millennium, etc.)

I know of individuals who doubted the Bible, sought to disprove its prophecies, and in the end got saved by the Grace of God. Mostly because these Verses are NOT masquerades! They are indeed … Miracles!

Wow!

THE BILE IS GOD’S INSPIRED, INERRANT WORD!

“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” Psalm 119:89

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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And though today’s Text is a rather “mild” such prayer … it is nonetheless quite powerful! “Imprecatory,” they call it.

It is found at the Head (actually Verse 1) of Psalm 68. “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.”

A request that God’s enemies be “scattered,” a Hebrew verb meaning “dispersed, driven away,” and even “broken to pieces!”

Wow!

(Note clearly that this Petition is directed against GOD”S ENEMIES, not my personal antagonists!)

I’d say anyone praying this prayer persistently and sincerely is engaging in spiritual warfare! (Do recall that Paul, in his classic Ephesian 6 Paragraph about battling evil ended that Sequence with the subject of prayer! Just compare Ephesians 6:17 with the following 18th verse.)

The very idea of praying God’s enemies “away,” how thrilling!

There’s nothing violent here, nothing sinister. Just asking God’s Will to be done on planet earth! (Now this is sounding like the Lord’s Prayer a little bit! “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Quoting Matthew 6:10.

Then I remembered that Psalm 68:1 (discussed above, our Text today) is alluding to a prayer Moses prayed time and time again as he led the Jews through the desert wilderness toward the Land of Canaan. Here it is …

“And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and LET THINE ENEMIES BE SCATTERED; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” Numbers 10:35

Wow!

But here’s the question. Can we pray this prayer today? In the Age of Grace, the Church Age?

I think that if God still has enemies … probably more than ever, truth be told … we can (and should) still pray this Prayer!

“Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.”

That, if answered, would nearly empty a lot of American cities, schools and courthouses! Or so it seems.

But really, asking God to deal with His enemies is no more than praying that Line from Jesus’ great Model Prayer … “Lord, Thy Kingdom Come!”

Because once that happens (when Jesus returns to earth) none of God enemies will be left here!

They will be scattered, or worse!

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Psalm 67 is a unique Passage of Scripture. It might be summarized by a single sentence, a condensation:

“When the praises go up … the Blessings will come down!”

But one Line in this Psalm expresses a prayer, quite a big one, that has not yet been fully answered. Look with me at verse 3 …

“Let the people praise thee, O God; let ALL the people praise thee.”

Now no doubt, many people have praised the Lord today. But not “all the people!”

Yet the day is on the horizon (maybe even soon) where that bold petition will become reality!

Where and when “All the people will praise the Lord!”

As in Philippians 2:10 … “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Zechariah 14:16 agrees: “That every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

ALL THE PEOPLE!

In this age when nation after nation is becoming “reprobate” in the Eyes of God … we need a Christian “family” of Brothers and Sisters who will stand strong and genuinely “praise the Lord!”

Will YOU be part of that choir?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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That’s exactly what Psalm 66:1 highlights … “Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.” THE HONOUR OF THE NAME OF THE LORD!

In Old Testament parlance one’s “name” is synonymous to one’s “reputation, character, essence!”

You are what your name says you to be!

Then God’s Name, thrice Holy, is worthy of exceptional, singular Honour!

Look how the Lord Himself feels about His Name … “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7

Wow!

The verb “to sing” in our Text verse today means “to make music,” either with the voice or some type of instrument. It is simply spelled “zamar” in Hebrew.

And “honour” is “kabod,” initially meaning something very “heavy!” Spiritually speaking, allowing God’s NAME to weigh a lot in your estimation, in your thinking,. in your life! Treating Him with heavy respect, ponderous reverence!

“Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.”

Then the noun “praise” (a derivative of the Hebrew word “halal”) suggests joyful exuberance, on a “hallelujah” level, in fact!

And the word “glorious” takes us back to the “kabod” family! Make His Praise a HEAVY PART of your life, of your daily activity.

Amazing!

Two imperatives … “sing forth” and “make glorious!”

Both commands centering around the very HONOUR of God’s Name!

Amen!

Now we’ve briefly studied it, let’s go out and live it this Saturday, this weekend, the rest of our time on earth! We will certainly practice it in Heaven! In New Jerusalem!

Forever more!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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