“Truth for Truckers” *May 14, 2014* Psalm 104 “I
will sing unto the LORD as long as I live”
The
Psalmists request stated in (v.35) ‘Let
the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more’
comes as almost a shock to the reader of this ‘The Poets Version of The
Genesis Creation’. The Psalm is given over to the praise of God for His
creation, protection and provision, and suddenly at the very end, this request
almost seems out of order until the context is examined.
The Psalmist, after writing the first (32)
verses exalting the LORD for His great works, engages in full worship of the
LORD in (v.33-35) as a response to what he has just documented:
‘I will sing unto the LORD as long as I
live. I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being. My meditation of
Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD. Let the sinners be consumed out
of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul.
Praise ye the LORD.’
These responses of the Psalmist are filled
with promises of a serious nature. Singing to the LORD for the rest of his days
shows the dedication and devotion of someone who loves their LORD/Jehovah.
Sweet meditation is anticipated and gladness ‘In the LORD’ is also looked forward to by the unnamed Psalmist.
And then, the fullness of communion, the
fellowship and praise to the LORD suddenly bring to the Psalmist the desire for
the elimination of sinful men from the creation which the LORD pronounced ‘Very good’, and the Psalmist longs for
a return to the days when sinful man was not present on the planet earth! This
desire both looks backward and forward. Backward, to the beginning of time,
before the fall, backward to the great flood of Noah’s day when God purged the
earth of sinful mankind, backward to when God judged Sodom and Gomorrah
eliminating sinful man from that region.
But, this request also looks forward to
the day when the LORD will once again bring His wrath upon the earth during His
Day of the Lord judgment described in Revelation 8-19. This time of punishment
and purging of the earth will resemble the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah as
the Lord judges ‘By the fire and by the
smoke and by the brimstone’ (Revelation 9:18)
And, just as in Psalm 104, praise will
ring out from heaven in a hallelujah chorus when the Lord finishes His strange
but necessary work of judgment: ‘And
after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying,
Alleluia: Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our
God...And again they said, Alleluia. And her [Babylon’s] smoke rose up forever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and
worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia...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
reigns.’ (Revelation 19:1-6)
This will be the end of the age answer to
the long ago request of the Psalmist, which was never realized in his day, but
looked forward to by the saints of the ages as we close in on the Lord’s intervention
on His planet, His second coming and the same day start of His Day of the Lord
wrath (Revelation 6:17) upon the earth.
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