Psalms 78:1-14″For he established a testimony in Jacob”

Psa 78:1 Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Psa 78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
Psa 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Psa 78:5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
Psa 78:6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
Psa 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Psa 78:8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
Psa 78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
Psa 78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
Psa 78:11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
Psa 78:12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
Psa 78:13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
Psa 78:14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

This Psalm 78 chronicles some of the journeys of Israel and is a template of sorts of what we must go through in the spiritual wilderness of this life as Christians who are likened unto sojourners in this age.

1Ch 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

This Psalm is going to take us through a type and shadow journey of how God is going to establish a testimony in Jacob within the elect of God today. It is of course a very important shadow being shown us in the old covenant that reveals how God has been working with the unbelief and belief both within and outside the body of Christ throughout the ages.

At the heart of our ‘many baptisms’ or our ‘much tribulations’ that we must endure until the end, we are being blessed to come to see more and more clearly that these trials and sufferings that we have to endure are given to us as the body of Christ together, so that we can grow in spiritual vision, and believe and not disbelieve the true gospel message which is able to make us wise unto salvation.

Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

2Ti 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

It is within the many “dark sayings” within this particular Psalm that we will see how easily the heart, which is deceitful above all and desperately wicked, can easily be drawn into darkness, stubbornness or unbelief except the Lord intervene as he did for Israel over and over, to show that if God is working with us in this age, He can and will bring us to know that man of sin on the throne of our hearts, and give us the power through Christ to destroy him by the brightness of Christ’s coming little by little.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The elect are called in this age to go through a process that Israel experienced for us in type and shadow (1Co 10:11), and it is something we must endure until the end of our life and go through by the grace and faith of Christ, which is a chastening process which is going to put to death this part of us that is in unbelief.

That part (the unbelief) must die in the wilderness or lie dead in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified making way for the new man Christ in us to emerge or increase. It is He alone who can enable us to endure these many hardships as we learn to not grumble in our life but see it all as working together as a body for a much greater and good purpose.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This study is focused on the testimony that God is establishing within the body of Christ today and how it is by the grace and faith of Christ that we can heed the admonitions that are being given us so that we can be amongst those who are blessed to endure until the end of our age being found believing and in Christ.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

That ‘means’ that Paul talks about in Php 3:9 is the same ‘means’ that God has devised for each of us in Christ and eventually for all the world. That ‘means’ is through the church and within the safety that is found within the multitude of counsellors within the church (1Co_9:22 , 2Sa_14:14).

Here are the first 3 verses we will look at tonight:

Psa 78:1 Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Psa 78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Psa 78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

If God is going to establish a “testimony in Jacob” (see verse 5), we must “give ear, O my people” to God’s spiritual law of Christ and the words of God’s mouth which Christ spoke, which were spiritual words that are able to quicken us.

Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

These dark sayings of old are illuminated by Christ and shown to be the hidden parables they were in the old covenant that are able to make us wise unto salvation today. Until Christ comes into our lives and destroys the darkness of those dark saying by showing us how they apply to us through Christ today, they exist to cause us to fall back and be broken, and snared, and taken.

2Ti 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Mat 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Isa 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

We hear and know it is not because “our fathers have told us” that we know, but rather because the Lord has revealed what the dark saying mean and brought them out of the darkness and into the light where this precious gold is purified within us.

Mat 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

When we trust the false prophet within or without of ourselves by being seduced by the little leaven of the Pharisees, it is God who is causing this to bring us to see the deceitfulness of our own hearts; and if He is working with us in this age, that revealing of the man of sin will be to his destruction and to our salvation, as these lies of the devil are destroyed with fervent heat (compare Psa 78:14  with 2Pe 3:10-11).

Deu 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Psa 78:14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

The spirit of antichrist is a spirit which does not yet understand the dark sayings or how it is through Christ and his body that this knowledge is revealed.

2Ti 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

1Jn 4:2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It is not revealed to, or by, any stand-alone prophet who is trusting his own heart which is deceitful and desperately wicked, not even Christ who taught with authority (Mat 7:29, Mar 10:18). No, it is not to be revealed or known except through the power of the holy spirit which Christ had without measure, to be sure that he would be more than a conqueror of His own beastly nature just like us (Rom 8:37, 1Jn 4:17). Looking at what the ‘positive’ or ‘light side of the pillar’ of these “fathers [who] have told us” of verse 3 in our psalm, the meaning of these dark sayings is revealed to us through these “fathers” that come to know and “doeth the will of God”.

Joh 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

1Jn 2:13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Psa 78:4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
Psa 78:5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:

This type and shadow testimony that was established “in Jacob” and not hidden from the elect today is shown to us so that we can declare “his wonderful works that he hath done”, unlike those who are still bound by the law and who will, if God has ordained it, live and die in their sins revealed by the law of the lawless and come up in the second resurrection and declare, “Haven’t we done many wonderful works?”

1Ti 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Yes, God established a “testimony in Jacob” and “appointed a law in Israel” which “he commanded our fathers, that they should make known to their children”. Why? Because it is those oracles of the law that are a type and shadow of the greater works that Christ himself said we shall do and would be made possible because of Christ going unto His Father. So the type and shadow is that Christ or Yahweh commanded that our fathers make known to their children this testimony, and today Christ as our Olam Father makes known to us the “before ordained [works] that we should walk in them”.

Joh 14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Joh 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

So, that type and shadow “testimony in Jacob”, that “law in Israel which he commanded our fathers”, is made known to their children; and what we make known to our (spiritual) children, as they are able to receive it, is that Christ was a reformer and is the new bread that comes down from heaven reforming our hearts and minds with living waters, real life.

Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Psa 78:6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
Psa 78:7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
Psa 78:8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

We pray that we can be that ‘generation’ which these verses are speaking about in type and shadow. Every part of these verses is speaking about what can become of those who are granted to overcome that “stubborn and rebellious” heart that we all have at first until the Lord makes it possible to “set their heart aright”. If our spirit is not “stedfast with God” it is because he has denied us access to the tree of live, Jesus Christ, who quickens us and gives us the living waters that we need so that we can set our hearts aright which is to “hope in God” (not in ourselves) and “not forget the works of God” which he has accomplished within us by the law of Christ in our members who enables us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Php 2:13). If we are of that generation, we will indeed see how we must live by all the words spoken by God which speak of much tribulation as demonstrated in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. All are saying the same thing.

1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Luk 11:51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

Psa 78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed^H5401, and carrying bows, turned back^H2015 in the day of battle.
Psa 78:10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
Psa 78:11 And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

This is akin to telling us what happens when God takes away our ability to believe all things and try to go forward in spiritual battle.

Jer 17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Jer 17:6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

The arrows are the word of God that we need to labour for and have in our hearts and minds so we know how to be ready to give an answer for the hope within us, properly armed and carrying bows to be enabled to quench all the fiery darts of the adversary (Eph 6:16).

The Spiritual Meaning of Words (see the word “arrows”)

1Pe 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

This verse, Mat 10:18, is the testimony that God is establishing in Jacob today, not Jacob of old, but God’s elect the Israel of God.

Mat 10:18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Luk 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

If we don’t keep the “covenant of God” (of verse 10), we are simply not keeping the words of God which are the words of eternal life (Joh 6:68) which are our sword (Eph 6:17), which do quicken us (Rom 8:11) and give us victory in the day of battle because it is the Lord doing this (Php 2:13).

When we forget “his works” (of verse 11), and start to look at our own efforts or listen to a false prophet whose leaven will puff us up and cause us to think above what is written, we are being deceived of the Lord (1Co 4:6, Eze 14:9). That deception is most fertile on ground that has no memory of how all that we have and know has been given to us of God and how we are yet unprofitable servants doing that which is expected of us (Luk 17:10). As God mercifully shows us these leprous spots on Christ’s body, we must prayerfully take the steps outlined in His word to deal with all such spiritual diseases of Egypt to bring healing in the land (Deu 7:15). This is the loving way that God has called us unto, and is preparing us as kings and priests in the making who will judge all the world (1Co 6:2).

Psa 78:12 Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
Psa 78:13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
Psa 78:14 In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

We see in these verses the imagery of God’s faithfulness through this process that takes us out of the “land of Egypt” as He works with us in “in the field of Zoan”^H6814 (see Isa 19:11).

That field is the world (Mat 13:38) the earth, earth, earth process that is being judged in this age if we are Christ’s bride (Jer 22:29).

He divides the sea (our deceitful hearts mentioned above) and makes a way where there seems to be none for us to walk and “pass through” (Isa 43:19). He piles them up and causes them to stand “as an heap”. He “made the waters to stand as an heap”, and gives us the Word line upon line precept upon precept so that the Egyptian within us can be drowned in his chariots^H7393 (Deu 11:4, Luk 17:2).

chariots^H7393

1. a team, chariot, chariotry, mill-stone, riders
a. chariotry, chariots
b. chariot (single)
c. upper millstone (as riding on lower millstone)
d. riders, troop (of riders), horsemen, pair of horsemen, men riding, ass-riders, camel-riders

– Origin: from H7392
– TWOT entry: 2163a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine

– Strong’s: From H7392; a vehicle; by implication a team; by extension cavalry; by analogy a rider that is the upper millstone: – chariot (upper) millstone multitude [from the margin] wagon.

God was faithful to lead our forefathers “with a cloud” which is a type and shadow of how the elect will lead the world as a whole when the church is resurrected and ruling the nations of the world under Christ (Rev 11:15, Rev 19:16).

God was also faithful to give Israel “light of fire” “all the night”, which again is a shadow of how God will give the world continual and abundant revelation during the millenium which will serve as a testimony against the flesh of man which cannot receive the truth within unless the Lord softens our hearts and the Father drags us to Christ and grafts us into the Vine, Jesus Christ.

This leads me to this last verse for this particular study with Psalm 78:

Rom 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at another installment on this lengthy Psalm 78 and consider yet again how all these things that happened to Israel are types and shadows for our learning. It is incredibly encouraging to not only see God provide physically for Israel of old, but also to be a Father who demonstrates His faithfulness to deal with the unrighteousness and seven symbolic times falling that we all must live in this life.

https://youtu.be/xMa7I28uFyQ (video on Threshing, Sifting, & Winnowing Wheat)