Clean Transcript

When God Rises Up

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• Although I'm going to be using Psalm 2 and we're going to be referring to that back and forth, we're going to certainly be looking at a lot of other scriptures. But look in Psalm 2. The title of the message is "When God Rises Up." So notice Psalm 2, verse 1: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."

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• "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

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• "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Sitting has often been identified as a place of ease, comfort, rest, and inactivity. And that is certainly true in relationship to mankind. It's when we rise up that activity takes place.

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• And even as a child, I often heard the adults say this to children and sometimes to other adults, "Get up off your duff and go to work." In other words, sitting down is not helping. You're not doing anything except resting. I know that there are jobs and that there is work that require sitting. However, usually speaking, it's only when we rise up that we're prepared to take care of whatever needs to be taken care of. There's a story about General Nathan Bedford Forrest. I believe it was after the war, he was on a train and the train made a stop. And when the train then began to let on other passengers, another man boarded the train, not having a ticket, not wanting to go anywhere, but when he got on, he had understood that General Forrest was on that train. And so he began screaming for Forrest, telling him that he had come to whip him and he was going to make an end of Forrest right there. When Forrest heard his name and heard the man screaming, Forrest simply stood up and then took a few steps toward the man. And then the unwilling

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• assailant looked at General Forrest, changed his mind, and got off the train. There was no fight. You have to understand that General Forrest was a very, very big man for his day. He stood six feet, two inches tall. He weighed 210 pounds, and he was very imposing for a man at that age. Alice and I have been to many museums, and we were just impressed with the fact of how small many of the officers' uniforms really were, how small the boots were. In fact, we looked at General Lee's boots, and you would be surprised how small his foot really was, because most men in those days did not really reach six foot. And here he was six feet two. You also have to remember that General Forrest personally killed 30 men in battle. He also had 29 horses shot out from under him. He was wounded eight times, which is recorded, probably many more than eight, but eight that are recorded. And so all General Forrest had to do was just simply arise.

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• And that took care of the situation. So here's what I want: If a strong and determined man like General Forrest could easily put fear into a man, put fear into his enemy just simply by rising up, can you even begin to imagine in your mind what it's going to be like when the sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God rises up against his enemies? The Bible tells us he is indeed going to place not just fear in them, but he will indeed destroy them. In Psalm 9 and verse 20, we'll look at it a little bit later, the psalmist said, "Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men." So I can assure you that when God rises up, they will not only be put in fear, but they will be destroyed. I want you to listen to Isaiah chapter 42, verses 13 and 14. Listen to what God says: "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war:

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• he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once." God said, "I've been still. I've refrained myself, but now—but now I'm going to rise up. I will be like a travailing woman, and I will destroy and devour at once." So before this message is over, I hope you will understand that the petition and the prayer for God to arise is one that must really and truly be prayed. Oftentimes we're going to see when believers were in danger, they often cried for God simply to arise. Sometimes it would be like this: "Make bare thy arm, show thyself, lift thyself up." But in each of those instances, they're asking God to arise. Now, I don't know if you are aware of this or not—I hope that you are—but oftentimes in the Bible, the Bible pictures God as sitting.

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• In fact, if you will look in your Bibles at Psalm 2 and verse 4, the Bible says, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." So, let me just give you a few verses that talk about God's sitting, and then we're going to look at a couple as well. But in Psalm 29 and verse 10, the Bible says, "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever." So God is pictured as sitting. In Psalm 47 and verse 8, the Bible says, "God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness." And then when you get to Psalm 99 and verse 1, "The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved." And when you get to Isaiah 40 and verse 22, "He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."

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• And when you come to the New Testament, the truth is exactly the same. You remember in Colossians 3 and verse 1, the Bible said, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God the Father." When you get to the book of Revelation chapter 6 and verse 16, "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." Then of course in Revelation 7 and verse 10, "And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." And lastly in Revelation 7 and verse 15, "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." Now, when you look at Psalm 2 and verse 4, and the Bible said, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh."

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• Although God is pictured as sitting, for God it is certainly not—and it does not imply inactivity or unconcern or indolence. Because God is not only pictured in verse four as sitting, he's also pictured as laughing. He's also pictured as having his enemies in derision. And then of course in verse five he speaks unto them in his wrath, and then he also vexes them in his sore displeasure. So he's not sitting idly by while the wicked scheme and connive against him. He is not oblivious to their plans and their schemes. He is not one who is blessed with woeful ignorance. No, he knows every thought. He knows every plan and every scheme.

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• Now, I want you to turn if you would to Psalm 94. We will come back to this Psalm in a little while, but I want you to look if you would please at verses 8 through 11. Because in this passage God is telling us very plainly that he sees, he hears, he knows. So notice Psalm 94, beginning there with verse 8. The Bible says this: "Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?

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• He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." So God not only knows the thoughts, the Bible tells you in the book of Ezekiel, he knows those thoughts before they ever enter into the mind. So God knows what the wicked are going to think before they ever think. He knows what is going to enter into their minds. So he may be sitting, but he certainly is not inactive. He is not unconcerned. He is not unknowing. That's why the Bible said, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." It was Thomas Adams who said this—listen carefully: "The one enthroned in the heavens laughs. They scoff at us, but God laughs at them.

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• Laugh? This seems like a harsh word at first view. But are the derision, the persecution, and the injuries of his saints, and the cruelties of their enemies, a matter of laughter? God laughs. But it is in scorn he scorns. But it is with vengeance. Short is the joy of the wicked." And then he says this: "Oh, what are God's frowns if his smiles are so terrible? If God merely laughs—when you laugh, you smile—and in his laughing, if in his smiling he's vexing them with sore displeasure and speaking to them in his wrath, if that's his smile, what in the world will his frown be like?" And then Charles Spurgeon said it like this: "Note God's derision of the rebellious. What will the King do to those that reject him?

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• Mark the quiet dignity of the omnipotent one, and the contempt which he pours upon his raging enemies. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle with them. He despises them. He knows how absurd, how irrational, how futile are their attempts against him. He therefore laughs at them." Let me give you a little illustration. Alice and I took Shorinji Kempo for 11 years. We both got to be second-degree black belts. One time in my entire life, I had one young man to threaten me. And he happened to threaten me at the time in my life when I was in peak physical condition and working out three and four times a week. And when he threatened me,

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• I could not contain myself. I merely laughed. I laughed in his face. And when I got through laughing, I looked at him and I said, "Son, if you jumped on me, it'd be the worst mistake you ever made in your entire life." Two days later he came back to me and he apologized and he said, "You're right. It would have been the worst mistake I'd ever made." I'm just simply pointing out the fact: I knew—I absolutely knew—I could mash him as quickly as I could mash a bug. And I just merely laughed. Can you imagine the omnipotent God—that's all power—when he sees these rebellious bugs and worms squirming against him, and all he has to do is mash? And he laughs at them because of their ignorance and their stupidity. And let me tell you something: God does not need to arise to dispatch his enemies. In fact, the Bible

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• said, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." His word—listen to me—his word is not only creative power, because he spake the world into existence, but his word is also destructive power. That's why the Bible says, "For he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." And do you remember that passage in Hebrews 4, verse 12, when the Bible says, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Now notice, if you would, he said the Word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword.

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• Let me show you. I want you to hold Psalm 2, but turn in your Bibles if you would to the book of Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19. And I want to begin reading there, Revelation chapter 19, and let's begin reading with verse—oh, let's see—verse 11. Watch this. The Word of God says, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." So this is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 12: "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

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• And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations." Now look at that again: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

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• Now skip down to verse 21. Here it is again: "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh." And so all our Lord has to do is just simply speak, and once those words go out, his enemies are done for. He really does not need to rise up. But when he does rise up, it will be the end of his enemies. So if God's Word is so powerful when he speaks, what will it be like when God does indeed arise against his enemies? Martin Luther said it like this: "Let the Lord but stir his finger only. Let him but look into the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, and they shall be troubled," as in Exodus 14, verse 24. And that's what the scripture said: God looked upon them through the pillar of fire, and all he did was look, and they were troubled. Throughout the Bible, you read the Bible, you're going to find that oftentimes God's people, especially in times of danger, cry out to God and they will make petitions like "Arise,

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• O Lord. Lift up thyself, O Lord. Make bare thine arm, O Lord." In other words, they're requesting God to rise up to help them because they perceive the danger that they are in. They also want God to defend his own cause. So I want to show you a number of scriptures, and I want you to follow me very quickly. So let's look in our Bibles to Psalm 3 and verse 7. And this is going to be just a smattering of verses. These are not all the verses that have this request. Notice Psalm 3 and verse 7. Here the psalmist says, "Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." Notice what David prays: "Arise, O Lord, save me, O God." God is pictured as sitting. And so David wants God to arise and quickly come to his defense. And yes, he had smitten David's enemies. He had broken the teeth of the ungodly. But David is asking for a full and final salvation.

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• Look, if you would, in Psalm 7 and verse 6. Psalm 7 and verse 6. Again, he says, "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded." So here's another picture: as if God was only sitting, but God is sleeping. So he says, "Arise, O Lord," and then he says, "Arise, O Lord, in thine anger"—the Lord's get upset about this—and "Lord, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies, and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded." So he's asking God to fulfill his word as well. Look in Psalm 9 and verse 19. Psalm 9 and verse 19: "Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight." Look at that: "Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail." Have you ever asked God to arise to overthrow the wicked? That's what he's asking: "Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail. Let the heathen be judged in thy sight." Now look at verse 20 again.

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• I quoted it earlier: "Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men." So, "Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail." Have you ever asked God to arise, O Lord, let not the United Nations prevail? Arise, O Lord, let not the Great Reset prevail. Arise, O Lord, let not the Illuminati prevail. Arise, O Lord, let not the CFR prevail. Arise, O Lord, let not the Trilateralists prevail. Arise, O Lord, don't let the New World Order prevail.

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• You see what I'm saying? This is what David is praying: "Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail." Now look, if you would, Psalm 10 and verse 12. He says, "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble." Arise, O Lord, lift up thine hand. Just raise your hand, Lord, and it will be taken care of. Look in Psalm 12 and verse 5. He says, "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him." So God pictures our enemies as doing nothing but puffing air at us. And God is saying in this passage, because they are oppressing his poor ones, and he's hearing the sighing of the needy, he will arise and he will take us and put us in safety from the one who is threatening us and blowing his breath in our face. Look in Psalm 17 and verse 13. Psalm 17 and verse 13. Here's a good prayer.

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• He prays, "Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword." Notice he asked God to arise and to disappoint the wicked, to cast him down, and to deliver his soul. Of course, that is a wonderful prayer request. Look, if you would, in Psalm 44 and verse 23. Psalm 44, verse 23. Here it is. Here's another one that pictures God as sleeping. He says, "Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever." In other words, "Lord, please do something, please deliver us. We can't keep going like this." Now look in verse 26, same psalm: "Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake." That's amazing: "Arise for our help, redeem us for thy mercies' sake." Now, I want you to turn over to Psalm 68 and verse 1. I want you to mark this psalm because we're going to come back to this psalm briefly, but look at Psalm 68 and verse 1. The scripture says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him." Now the interesting thing is verse 1 is

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• actually taken from Numbers chapter 10 and verse 35. So during the wilderness wanderings, when God's ark was leading the way, whenever that ark set forward, Moses prayed this prayer. So here it is in Numbers 10, verse 35: "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." So Psalm 68 and verse 1 is taken from Numbers 10 and verse 35. Now I want you to turn on over, if you would, to Psalm 74 and look, if you would please, at verse 22. Psalm 74 and verse 22.

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• I love this passage, too. He prays, "Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily." In other words, the psalmist is saying, "God, I don't see how you put up with this. Think of all the reproach. Think of how these men stupidly reproach thee." Think of what I quoted a few weeks back, that Yuval Noah Harari, who said that Jesus Christ is fake news and the resurrection is not true.

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• And he and Klaus Schwab are claiming to have divine power. "Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish reproacheth thee daily." I've often said, I do not see how God puts up with what he puts up with. And I've also often said, I'm glad I'm not God. For had I been God, I would have killed me and a whole lot more a long time ago. I can assure you. But he's praying, "Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily." Look, if you would, in Psalm 82 and verse 8. Psalm 82 and verse 8. Again, we'll probably come back to this one, but look at it: "Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." So here's a prayer for God to arise and judge the earth. And again, in Psalm 132 and verse 8, let me just quote it: "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength." So again, God is being called upon to arise.

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• Now, if you will turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 68, I want you to pay close attention to verses 1 and 2 and even 3. We could keep going on this Psalm. This Psalm is a wonderful Psalm. But in verse 1, he says, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him." So here is a Psalm of David, and Psalm 68 is a hymn of war. It is a prayer and it is a request for God to arise and to clear the way for his people by destroying his enemies. Because his enemies not only fight against him, they also fight against God's people as well. So this psalm then begins with this wish, it begins with this prayer, that God would indeed take care of all of his foes. And we are praying this and asking that this would be near at hand. Now look at it: he says, "Let God arise." Just let God lift himself up. "Let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him."

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• Here is what Spurgeon said on verse 1. He said, "Our glorious captain of the vanguard clears the way readily, however many may seek to obstruct it. He has but to arise, and they flee. He has easily overthrown his foes in days of yore, and will do so all through the ages to come. Sin, death, and hell know the terror of his arm. Their ranks are broken at his approach."

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• Our enemies are his enemies, and this is our confidence in victory, because no one can thwart, hinder, overthrow, or stop the sovereign God of heaven and earth. Now, one more quote on this, Matthew Henry. It's a wonderful quote. He said, "If God but arise, all his impenitent and implacable enemies that will not repent to give him glory will certainly and speedily be scattered and driven away and made to perish at his presence. For none ever hardened his heart against God and prospered."

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• The day of judgment will be the day of the complete and final perdition of ungodly men, who shall melt like wax before that flaming fire in which the Lord shall then appear. And that is true. So Psalm 68 is not only a war psalm. Psalm 68, of course, is a psalm concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Now, there are certain messianic Psalms in the Bible: Psalm 22, Psalm 23, Psalm 24, Psalm 110, other Psalms as well. In fact, you could just about say every Psalm is about the Lord Jesus Christ in some manner. Psalm 45 is another one. I'm just simply saying. But here in this Psalm, we also have the Lord Jesus Christ in mind. So, if you would look in Psalm 68, verses 17 and 18, I think you'll see this. In verse 17: "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place." Now look at verse 18: "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." And so Psalm 68 and verse 18 is explicitly taken and quoted concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and then expanded upon in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 8 through 16. So Jesus Christ is indeed the Lord of glory. He is the God of judgment. He is indeed the conqueror.

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• He is the victor. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the invincible one. He is the one who's going to be honored and glorified. Now, since this is a hymn of war, it is also a hymn of judgment as well. So Jesus Christ happens to be the judge. So if you would turn in your Bibles to John chapter 5. If you've not read John 5 recently, I would encourage you to do so. John chapter 5 deals with our Lord healing a man at the pool of Bethesda. And the Bible tells you that in this pool lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

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• Because once a year an angel came down and troubled the water, and whosoever first stepped in was then healed of whatever disease that he had. So our Lord walks in among this multitude, and he singles out one individual, and he heals him. He looks at this one man who'd been there for 38 years, and he asked him, "Wilt thou be made whole?" And the man said, "Sir, I have no one to help me get down to the water, but while I'm coming, someone else steps in, and I never make it in time." And our Lord just simply said, "Arise, take up thy bed, and walk." And he did. So here's a good question: Could not Jesus Christ just as easily heal the entire multitude as he did the one man?

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• And the answer is yes, he's omnipotent. He's God. So here's another good question: Why did he not do it? Why did he just single out the one man? Did not heal anybody else, walked right past them. Why? Well, let's look at it. Look in John chapter 5. Begin there with verse 20, and you're going to get the answer. John 5, verse 20: "For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." Now watch this next verse: "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." In other words, the one attribute that demonstrates that God is God is his sovereignty. God did raise up folks in the Old Testament—those whom he chose. He did not raise up everyone. And the Bible says, "Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." So that is why our Lord walked through the whole multitude, healed one man.

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• He was just demonstrating his sovereignty. He can do as he pleases, only as he pleases, and always as he pleases, because he is God. And he's demonstrating the fact that he is the sovereign God. Now look at it, go a little bit further. Watch it in verse 22: "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him." So Jesus Christ is the sovereign judge. So let me ask you a question: If God smiles, if

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• God's laughter is so severe against the wicked, what will his frowns be like? Well, if you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 6, I think you can have a picture of what is really going to be like for the wicked when God rises up. If you look in Revelation chapter 6, beginning there with verse 14, the Bible says, "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty

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• men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" So no one can stand against our Lord.

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• It's not that this is a judicial process and they have no standing. No, they have no ability to stand. They have to flee. They cannot stand in his holy presence. So if you look back at Psalm 68, the psalmist now gives us two very striking illustrations which demonstrate conclusively that the wicked cannot stand when God rises up. So he says in verse 1, "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him." They can't face him. They can't stand before him.

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• And so here's the first illustration: "As smoke is driven away, so drive them away."

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• Now I do not know if you've ever watched a house burn. I've seen several houses burn. And especially when those houses happen to be full of furniture, it is nothing but a rolling thick black smoke. It is so dark, it is so thick. And of course if anyone is in it without a breathing apparatus, you merely choke to death; you asphyxiate because you can't breathe. It'll just kill you. But here's the thing: it doesn't really matter how thick that smoke is. It does not matter how black it is, how dark it is. It does not matter how it is boiling. Just the least little wind will drive it away. Everyone has seen bonfires. When the wind comes along, the smoke is gone. This is just an illustration how easily it is for God to scatter his enemies, just like wind blowing against smoke. They disappear. Just like smoke disappears, it cannot stand before the wind. Now look in verse 2 again: "As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God." Now wax is a more firm substance. Okay? Wax is normally hard, until you get it near flame, till you get it near fire, and then wax melts away just as easily as the wind

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• blowing away the smoke. It melts into nothingness. Spurgeon said this on verse 2: "Easily the wind chases the smoke, completely it removes it. No trace is left. So, Lord, do thou to the foes of thy people. They fume in pride. They darken the sky with their malice. They mount higher and higher in arrogance. They defile wherever they prevail. Lord, let thy breath, thy Spirit, by providence make them to vanish forever from the march of thy people." Then he goes on: "As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. Wax is hard when by itself, but put to the fire, how soft it is. Wicked men are haughty till they come into contact with the Lord, and then they faint for fear. Their hearts melt like wax when they feel the power of his anger. Wax also burns and passes away.

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• The taper is utterly consumed by the flame. So shall all the boastful power of the opposers of the gospel be as a thing of naught. Rome, like the candles on her altar, shall dissolve, and with equal certainty shall infidelity disappear. Israel saw in the ark God on the mercy seat, power in connection with propitiation. And they rejoiced in the omnipotence of such a manifestation. This is even more clearly the confidence of the New Testament church.

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• For we see Jesus, the appointed atonement, clothed with glory and majesty. And before his advance, all opposition melts like snow in the sun. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. When he comes by his Holy Spirit, conquest is the result, and when he arises in person, his foes shall utterly perish." So, I have some exceedingly bad news for the Davos crowd, and the Great Reset crowd, and the New World Order crowd. I have some very bad news for George Soros and for Klaus Schwab and Harari and Zuckerberg and all these others. And here it is: You will fail. You will fall. You'll be blown away like smoke in the wind. You'll melt like wax in the fire when you see and when you face the righteous anger and wrath of a holy and just God. You see, when it comes to God's enemies, it really does not matter how many they are. It does not matter how agreed they are. It does not matter their plans or their schemes. They cannot succeed.

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• It is absolutely impossible. He and he alone shall prevail. Let me show you. Look in Psalm 83. Psalm 83 is a song of Asaph. Now Asaph wrote a number of Psalms, and Psalm 73 is probably the best-known Psalm of Asaph, but he actually wrote a lot of Psalms, and in fact from about 73 on through 83 are Asaph Psalms. But I want you to note what Asaph is talking about: a conspiracy against God and against God's people. So let's begin reading with verse 1. He prays, "Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God." In other words, "Don't sit still. Don't be reclining. For, lo, thine enemies

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• make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head." Look what they've done: "They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones." Just like it is today. "They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation." That is, we'll depopulate the world. We'll get it to where we can control it. "Let us cut them off from being a nation.

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• Let the name of Israel be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent"—or you could say they've conspired together with one consent—"they are confederate against thee." So look who all is teamed up against God: "The tabernacles of Edom, the Edomites, the Ishmaelites, the Moabites, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, the Ammonites, the Amalekites, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assur"—that is Assyria—"also is joined with them.

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• They have holpen the children of Lot." Now look what he says: "Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kishon"—that's where they were killed—"which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna"—whom Gideon killed. All this was when Gideon was fighting against the Midianites, who said—look what they said—"Let us take to ourselves the houses

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• of God in possession." In other words, "We're conspiring against God, against God's people. We're going to conquer. We're going to take everything into our possession. It'll be ours." And then he says, "O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord.

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• Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth." Do you realize that men are going to find out who God really is? They will discover who he is, either in salvation or condemnation, but they will find out who God really truly is. Now I want you to look, if you would, at Psalm 82, because this Psalm is a Psalm against judges. It is a Psalm against rulers. And it's also a psalm of Asaph. Look in verse 1: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods." Now this is not saying that there are other gods other than the one true and the living God. No. If you read John 10, Jesus Christ identifies these gods as rulers, as judges. In fact, the next few verses tell you that that's who they are. He says, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge

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• unjustly"—they're the judges and rulers—"and accept the persons of the wicked?" Here's what they should be doing: "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." That's what they're supposed to be doing, but they won't. They're unjust. Therefore, he says this: "They know not"—that is the judges—"they know not, neither will they understand.

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• They walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course." That is, they turn the world upside down. "I have said, Ye are gods"—that is, you are representing the one true, the living God—"and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." Watch it: "Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations." So all of those who think they have divine power and who think that they are going to win, they shall die like men and find out that they have no divine power whatsoever. Now, here's the truth.

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• Those who are righteous, those who are godly, those who are obedient, desire the end of wickedness. That's why the Bible says, "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just." Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. In fact, we have been commanded in Amos chapter 5 and verse 15 to hate the evil and love the good. You cannot love the good without hating the evil. If you hate the evil, that means you love the good. You cannot love the Lord without hating everything that is contrary to the Lord. Yea, even people. David said in Psalm 139, "Do not I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? Yea, I hate them with perfect hatred.

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• I count them mine enemies." And then in the very next breath, in the very next verse, he said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me." Clearly, if we love the Lord, we're going to want an end to wickedness and we're going to want to see his kingdom. We want to see his rule and his reign. So it's impossible then to love God without hating everything that's contrary to God. Now let me show you another prayer request in this light.

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• Look in your Bibles to Psalm 94. We read a little bit of that earlier. I'll include that now in this reading, but I want you to see it. We're still talking about when God rises up, when God lifts himself up. Watch Psalm 94, verse 1: "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud." Isn't that amazing? That's what the psalmist is asking God to do: to execute vengeance, to show himself, to lift himself up, take care of the wicked. Then he says in verse 3, "Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" Basically, he's asking God, "How long are you going to put up with this? How long shall they utter and speak hard things?

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• And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves. They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." And that's when he says, "Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

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• He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity." Wow. "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud." Yes. When God arises, that is exactly what he's going to do.

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• Now, let me make an application or two. The first one is this: So many people think that it is unchristian to pray against the wicked. It's not unchristian to pray against the wicked. In fact, it's not even unbiblical to pray against the wicked. I hope you see that all these verses, David was certainly praying against them. So was Asaph. Through the Bible, and I have not even gotten to some of the stronger verses where David prayed, "Break their teeth in their mouth, O God; break their arms; cast them down, that they rise not up again. Yea, let the wicked be consumed out of the earth." Those are prayers in the Psalms. So it's not only Christian to pray against the wicked, it's biblical to do so. Now, what we do is ask God to deal with them. And God may deal with them in any way that he chooses. He may be pleased to regenerate and convert some of them.

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• And then they would no longer be his enemies or our enemies. They'd be our friends and our brothers and sisters. He could do that. That's up to him. These are his prerogatives. He could also just simply remove their power, remove their money, remove their positions, and they no longer can fight. He could also judge them and remove their lives. He could take them from off the face of the earth.

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• In other words, whatever he decides to do, that is his business. It is our responsibility to pray against them. However he resolves it is up to him. So, you know, our Lord taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come." Have you ever prayed for God's kingdom to come? Have you ever said the Lord's Prayer, or the model prayer, or the disciples' prayer—whatever you want to call it? Have you ever prayed that? Have you ever stopped to think, when you pray "Thy kingdom come," you're actually asking God to destroy the kingdom of man and the kingdom of Satan? That's what you're asking God to do. You cannot even pray "Thy kingdom come" without asking him to destroy the kingdoms which are in opposition to him. Someone says, "Well, what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna pray for the Lord Jesus Christ to return, and that'll take care of everything, and I don't have to get involved in that." Really? Do you know what's gonna happen when Jesus Christ returns? Hmm? Let's see. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, beginning with verse 7 and going through verse 10, says this: "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking

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• vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." You cannot even pray for the return of Jesus Christ without praying for the destruction of his enemies. So the point I'm trying to make is, when we start asking God to arise, when we ask God to lift himself up, when we ask God to show himself, to make bare his arm, we're just asking him to deal with the wickedness in this country. I've got news for you, folks. We have become a virtual Sodom and Gomorrah in this country. I mean literally. People have become absolutely insane. I just found out that the Board of Education in our county is considering hiring an open lesbian as school superintendent.

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• I shall attend the meeting if God allows me, and I will speak against it with some others. But I want to tell you this: if they hire someone like that, they deserve to lose their children. They do, because they're violating every principle of scripture. I'm just simply saying it's time we learn to pray, "Arise, O Lord, make thyself known." We have to understand something else: that God is far above all the malice and all the power of his enemies. They cannot touch God. They are not going to frustrate God. He knows their plots. He knows their schemes. He knows their connivings.

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• He is omniscient and he is omnipotent. He cannot be defeated. Therefore, he merely laughs at them. They're absolutely insane. "Arise, O Lord." If we desire victory, if we desire peace and blessings and prosperity, we must learn to pray and cry and beseech God to rise and deal with these sins and this wickedness in our land, because we cannot do it in and of ourselves. There's not one individual that I can convict, not one individual that I can convert. There's not even one individual that I can control outside of myself. May I remind you that God took notice of Pharaoh and destroyed him and his armies. And God took notice of Haman and had him hang on his own gallows. God took notice of Ahab and had him removed. We just simply need to learn to read our Bibles, to read history, understand that God is immutable. God does not change. And we need to learn to cry as David and Asaph and all these people, "Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered. Let thine enemies flee before thee.

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• As smoke that is driven away by the wind, and as wax that melts by the fire, let them be destroyed. Let them perish. Remove them however you want to remove them. It's totally up to you. But arise, O Lord, and make thyself known." I've got news for you: that would be a real, genuine revival in this land. You cannot have a reviving without dealing with that which is evil and wicked. Let God arise.

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• And its enemies will be scattered. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And we ask, Father, for your divine help and mercy and grace. And, Lord, we do pray that you would impress upon us to pray and to seek thee, Lord, to deal with all the wickedness in our land. Arise, O Lord. Make thyself known. Reveal thyself, make bare thine arm and scatter thine enemies. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. Amen.

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• you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:42:57Z