Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 2 * BOOK 78
PART 2 of the MESSIANIC PROPHECIES – PART 2
Psalms 22, 23, and 24
You know, from day one I have always stressed that this is an informal Bible study. I’m not going to be a stuffed-shirt. We’re going to keep it simple and have a time of fellowship and search the Scriptures together. So those of you out in television, if you’re ever in the Tulsa area the first Wednesday after the first Sunday of a month, why come in and enjoy the day with us.
All right, let’s go right back to where we left off in Psalm 22. As I said in the introduction of the last program, Psalms 22, 23, and 24 are sort of a trilogy. They all fit together, and we’re going to take them in that order. But here in Psalm 22, we have the first 21 verses—the graphic description of the crucifixion. It is so graphic that there is no mistaking that this is what it was talking about. And yet you want to remember, crucifixion hadn’t even been invented yet. That wouldn’t be invented for at least another 700 years. That’s another one of the miracles of Scripture. That here we have this description of a person on a cross being crucified, even though it had never happened at this point in time.
All right, so let’s finish the first half of chapter 22. We are still dealing with the crucifixion. Then at verse 22, we will break into the resurrection. Verse 16 again:
Psalms 22:16
“For dogs (That is the Gentile Roman authorities.) have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: (We were describing that as the screaming Jews hating Him, even as we know Saul of Tarsus did.) they pierced my hands and my feet.” Now that was something unknown in any kind of an execution before crucifixion.
Psalms 22:17-19
“I may tell (or I can count) all my bones: they look and stare upon me. (Which means that He was in an elevated position.) 18. They part my garments among them, (And we know that that’s exactly what they did.) and cast lots upon my vesture. (They gambled over the robe, remember?) 19. But be not thou far from me, O LORD: (In other words, it’s God the Son crying out to God the Father.) O my strength, haste thee to help me.”
Psalms 22:20a
“Deliver my soul from the sword; (That is from death itself.) my darling…” Now the commentary that I read the other night was, I think, the one that made the most sense. He’s referring to his own physical body. He can’t be referring to the church, because that isn’t even revealed yet. So He’s speaking of His own physical body of flesh.
Psalms 22:20-21
“Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. (That is, again, from the Gentile soldiers around me.) 21. Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” In other words, as He was crying out from the very depths of death itself.
All right, now verse 22—we will break into, as I said earlier, into the graphic description of His resurrection.
Psalms 22:22
“I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” Now let’s stop and go all the way up to John’s Gospel chapter 20 and have the fulfillment of that—to the exact letter. John 20—resurrection morning, when Mary has gone to the tomb and finds it empty. She runs back and finds Peter and John, and they all come together. All right, then Jesus reveals Himself to Mary, remember, in verse 15.
John 20:15a
“Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener,…” We were just talking about that last night in our McAlester class.
Did He look weird in His resurrection body? Did He look like something from outer space? Did He have a pointed head and weird color? No. If He looked like a gardener, He looked very what? Ordinary. Just very ordinary. Now the reason we were talking about it last night is because we were talking about our eternal state when we get our resurrected body.
Well, what’s it going to be like? Like His resurrected body. So, what was His resurrected body? Very normal. Looked like a gardener. Like an ordinary human being. But it wasn’t ordinary. It was supernatural. It was flesh and bone. It wasn’t blood. That was left up there at Calvary. So the resurrected body was flesh and bone. But on the other hand, He walked and talked. He had fish frying on the shores of Galilee. He ate with them. But on the other hand, the supernatural aspect is that He could go through twenty feet of concrete as if it wasn’t there. We’re going to have those same capabilities someday when we get our resurrected body. Well, anyway, that’s all on the side. She supposed Him, verse 15 again, to be the gardener.
John 20:15b
“…she supposing him to be the gardener saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.” She still has no idea that He’s been raised from the dead.
John 20:16a
“Jesus saith unto her, Mary….” You know, I can just hear Him. Can’t you? Almost in disgust at such unbelief. Mary, what’s the matter with you? Can’t you see it’s Me! And then, of course, she responds to almost the extreme. She was just going to, I think, throw herself at Him in a bear hug, and He has to say:
John 20:17
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto my Father: but go to my brethren,…” What did the Psalmist say? “In the midst of the brethren.” So here is the correlation. The same language He spoke back in Psalms in prophecy, here it is in reality. He says to Mary:
John 20:17b
“…but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” All right, just for sake of comparison, come back again to Psalm chapter 22 verse 23.
Psalms 22:23a
“Ye who fear the LORD, praise him;…” Well, now I had to do a little word search. In the Old Testament economy as it’s used here, what did that word “fear” really mean? Shaking in their boots? No. It was a reverential trust. That’s what it meant to fear God. Fear is the beginning of what? Wisdom. And when you’ve got spiritual wisdom, you’re going to do things as it should be done.
All right, so here we have the same connotation. Now, not all of Israel had that kind of trust in their Messiah. That was evident by the rejection of Him at His first advent. And all the way up through Scripture—I’ve done this over and over now. Even as we travel in my seminars and other parts of the country, I’ve got to remind people. Listen, even though they were all children of Abraham, yet the vast majority of even the Jews did not have a saving faith. They practiced idolatry. They were weak in faith.
In fact, to make my point, turn with me to Isaiah chapter 1. We’ve used this more than once, but I’ve got to keep hammering it home. God has never had the multitude. Never. Always the few. Because it’s just mankind’s bent to reject God’s offer of mercy. All right, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 9, which was 700 B.C. About 300 years beyond the writer of this Psalm, which was David. And look what the spiritual climate in Israel was.
Isaiah 1:9
“Except (or unless) the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” But what kept God’s wrath from destroying them? That little, small percentage of believers. And so it’s always been. All right, back to Psalms once again. Here we have this small percentage of Jews who feared Him with a reverential trust.
Psalms 22:23-24
“Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. (But they didn’t. Most of them did not. All right, now verse 24.) 24. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.” In other words, when the Lord cried unto God the Father, He responded.
Psalms 22:25
“My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.” See, now this is a constant reference that this will take place only amongst the true believers. The rest will care less.
Psalms 22:26
“The meek (Looking forward after His resurrection—and again, as we’re going to see in chapter 24, when He brings in that glorious Kingdom.) shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.” All right, again, let’s jump up to Isaiah, so that we see that all these things fit together.
That’s what makes Bible study so exciting—that it’s not just one man writing at one point in time, but all the way through the whole period of time the Scripture is brought together and from all these different writers. Isaiah chapter 11 and start at verse 1. And again, this is prophecy. This still hasn’t been fulfilled, but it will be. Everything that prophecy states will come to pass. We just don’t know when.
Isaiah 11:1
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, (Now who are we really looking at? David. David was the son of Jesse, and out of the bloodline of David would come the Branch. Capital “B”—so it’s another term for the Son of God in the Old Testament.) and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” Now here’s when He comes in and establishes the Kingdom.
Isaiah 11:2
“And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;” Now, I call that the seven spirits of God who become the very person of God the Son Himself. All right, now as a result of that being a member of the Godhead and King over this Kingdom, verse 3:
Isaiah 11:3
“And they shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he (speaking of this Messiah King that’s coming) shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:” Well now, when you look at something like that, you’ve got to stop and make an illustration.
Put yourself in the White House. Just put yourself in the White House. There is no way that one man can keep his thumb on every segment of our nation. It’s utterly impossible. Look at all the diverse sections. You’ve got the mining community, the manufacturing community. You’ve got the medical community. You’ve got the farmers, and you’ve got the ranchers, and you’ve got the coal miners, and you’ve got the oil people, and you’ve got the merchants. I could just go on and on and on and on and on.
Those are all segments of society that are looking to the head of government for whatever reason. So what does the poor man have to do? Well, he has to have advisors. They have to gather their information and bring it to him in their own designated time. They have to explain to us if we’re behind the desk, well, this is what these people really have to have. The next guy comes in. Well, this is what this segment of society needs.
So the only way a president can function—he has to have good advisors. No one man can cover every base. But this One! He won’t need them. He won’t need them, because He’s the all-knowing God Himself. And that’s what I like to point out here. He will not judge after the sight of His eyes. He’s not going to make decisions based on what He sees. He’s not going to be making decisions on what some advisor says. But in His all-sufficient knowledge and in His omnipotence, verse 4:
Isaiah 11:4a
“But with righteousness he shall judge (or rule) the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth:… ” That’s what brought me back here. That’s what the Psalm is talking about. That He would rule with equity over the poor and the meek in this glorious Kingdom that’s coming. There will be no disadvantage. There will be no grumbling of those that haven’t got as much as someone else. Okay, back to Psalm chapter 22 and verse 26.
Psalms 22:26
“The meek shall eat and be satisfied: (They’re going to have nothing to complain about.) they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.” It’s the beginning of eternity when this Kingdom does finally come in. Now verse 27:
Psalms 22:27
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.” Has that ever happened in the last 6,000 years? No. When will it happen? When He finally sets up His Kingdom.
All right, now another verse comes to mind. We’ve used it before. A lot of this is a repeat. I just had a letter again yesterday. “Les, repeat, repeat, repeat. It’s finally soaking in.” So here we go, Zechariah chapter 14, I won’t take any more verses than I have to. Verse 9 and this is all prophecy that’s going to come to pass. That’s why it gets so exciting, because we’re getting so close. I don’t know whether it is six months or a year, or it might be ten years. I don’t know. But nevertheless, we know that this whole thing is finally coming together for the appearance of His Second Coming and the establishment of this glorious Kingdom.
Zechariah 14:9
“And the LORD (God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament) shall be King over (Israel? But what?) all the earth: (It’s going to be a complete, pole-to-pole, from east to west glorious earthly Kingdom. He’s going to rule from Jerusalem.) in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”
Now we might as well flip back to the one I’m sure you’re all aware of. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 16. This is the Second Coming that introduces the Kingdom. And that’s when it will come about—at the end of the Tribulation, after the Battle of Armageddon has been fought and won.
Revelation 19:16
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, (And what’s the name?) KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Absolute power and rule and authority. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And how did Zechariah say it? “And he will be King over all the earth.” My, Christendom hardly knows anything of this. What a pity. But it’s primarily for Israel until the Kingdom comes in. Then, of course, the Gentiles will become involved—although they will certainly be in a minority.
Now in that light, I guess maybe I should qualify that statement. On your way back to Psalms stop at Isaiah chapter 42. Because even though all these are dealing primarily with Israel, and it was Jew only for the most part—once the Kingdom comes in, Gentiles will be part of it. They will be the minority, but they’re going to be there. And here it is.
Isaiah 42:1
“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, (It’s the same One we’re talking about in Psalm 22—the crucified, resurrected, ascended, and coming again Lord of Glory.) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he (this coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords) shall bring forth judgment (Or rule, or government—to what people?) to the Gentiles.” God hasn’t left the Gentiles out of the picture. We know they’re going to part and parcel of that glorious earthly Kingdom. All right, back to Psalm 22.
Psalm 22:27-28
“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28. For the kingdom (See how plain this is.) is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations.”
I think I’ve got time enough. Let’s look at another one in Isaiah. Come back again—this is repetition for some, but for some it’s probably brand new. Isaiah chapter 9. But remember, before any of these things could happen, He had to go the way of the cross.
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us (Now again, we always qualify. Who’s writing? The prophet Isaiah. And who’s he writing to? Jews. Israel. There’s not a word of this for Gentiles, except as we use it. But it wasn’t directed to us. It’s directed to the Nation of Israel.) a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government (Now what does the government speak of? Well, a Nation or a Kingdom) shall be upon his shoulder:(singular) and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Now, some of those are known names of God the Son, and some of them are names of the Father. But what’s it indicate? They’re one. One God. In three persons.
Isaiah 9:7
“Of the increase of his government (over this world-wide kingdom) and peace there shall be no end, (Because it’s going to slip right on into eternity—even after the 1,000 years have run their course.) upon the throne of David, (See, that’s why David is so involved in all these Kingdom promises.) and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” Oh, it’s going to happen. Don’t worry, it’s going to happen.
Back to Psalms again, chapter 22, maybe we can finish the chapter in this half hour. Verse 29:
Psalm 22:29-31
“All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. (He’s going to have total dominion.) 30. A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. 31. They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.”
Now, let’s go back up to fill out the last couple minutes here. Come up with me to Amos. That’s right after Hosea, if I remember right. And, fortunately, we did a series of programs on this a while back—on this coming glorious Kingdom. So for most of our listeners, hopefully, this is just a review. But now in Amos chapter 9 we have exactly what the Psalmist is talking about in chapter 22. How that all the people of the earth are going to be well-fed. There’ll be no poverty. There’ll be no shortage of food.
Here in Amos chapter 9—these are all descriptions of this glorious, coming earthly Kingdom. Verse 13:
Amos 9:13a
“Behold, the days come, (Has it happened yet? No. Is it going to? Yeah, I’ve got you convinced. Yeah, it’s going to.) saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper,…” In other words, it’s going to be continuous production. And it will be light labor production. No insects. No weeds. No drought. No need of irrigation. It’s just going to be a fabulous time of food production. Without having the sweat of the face.
Amos 9:13b-14a
“…and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. (That’s just speaking of intense production of all these good foodstuffs.) 14. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel,…” Now what does that mean? Oh, the Jews being scattered into every nation under heaven these last 2,000 years, they’re all—who are ending up as believers, of course—they’re all going to end up in this glorious earthly Kingdom under the rulership of their Messiah.
Amos 9:14b
“…of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards,…” Now we’ve already seen the beginning of some of this. My, how the little land of Israel has blossomed like a rose in the last 30 to 40 years. It’s just unbelievable. And they will inhabit it.
Amos 9:14b-15
“…they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.”