Psa 139:1-24 “Thine Eyes did see Mine Unformed Substance;  and in thy Book They were All Written” Part 4 (verses 19-24)

[Study Aired December 12, 2019]

“Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume”  2Th 2:8

Psa 139:19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 
Psa 139:20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 
Psa 139:21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 
Psa 139:22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 
Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

As we look back on this Psalm 139 study, we see how the very first verse confirms  for us how God is searching us out with these words: “O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me” (Psa 139:1). The same searching out is being told of Adam and Eve, who were flushed out of the garden where they thought they could hide from God, as Adam reasoned this way in his flesh: “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”. Those words were really a prophecy of what all flesh would naturally do in our marred condition that is enmity against God and not able to obey the voice of our Creator because of our marred, sinful, or naked, condition (Gen 3:9, Isa 63:17, Rom 9:20-21).

The rest of the Psalm elaborates and expands on how God is going to deal with this marred vessel of clay He made this way to demonstrate His power, which is made perfect in weakness, power that is revealed to so very few at first, and shown unto babes because this “seemed good” according to the mind of our Father as confirmed by these verses and stated in this verse in Jeremiah: “so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it”.

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Mat 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Mat 11:26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Job 8:7  Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

Ecc 7:8  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Job 42:12  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

The word of God, as we’ve discussed, is written in such a way it appears that, not only can we hide from God, but we can also choose to sin of our own volition, outside of any influence from the master Potter who created all things and is before all things and working all things according to the counsel “of his own will”. This way of thinking is the way that seemed good to the vessel of clay and leads to death, as opposed to the “for so it seemed good in thy sight” ways of our Father (Eph 1:11, Pro 14:12, Pro 16:25).

The carnal mind that naturally opposes God is not unpredictably doing what God did not intend it to do in being against the spirit of God, even as God’s spirit was meant to be against the spirit of man, as God had always intended (Gal 5:16, Rom 8:7, Rom 8:13). The carnal mind and all of our actions, as Adam in the garden, has never been hidden from God, not even nearly, and so we started this Psalm by observing how God sees Adam, and by extension how He sees all of His creation made to glorify God as a marred piece of clay IN His hand (Joh 9:3), that consists by Him and is before Him just as all His creation is “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” Col 1:17.

Psalm 139 is a section of scripture that helps us appreciate the grandeur of our great God, who alone can be described with such words as omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, words that help us understand this verse: “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col 1:17).

All of the natural creation that God is before, and all that consists by him, is what is used to reveal the spiritual workmanship He is accomplishing as light comes out of darkness (Rom 1:20, Hos 11:1).

The “any creature” spoken of in Hebrews 4:13 is speaking of all the inward creatures of the sea and on the earth and in the heavens representing everything within the first Adam and everything that God’s omnipotent hand is leading and holding (Gen 2:19), stated this way: “there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” of Psalm 139:10 reminding us God is working all things “after the counsel of his own will” in an arena where “neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Eph 1:11, Heb 4:13).

The third section of this study from last week subtitled “Fear not, thou worm Jacob“, describes how God sees the church, the body of Christ, who are this weak earthen vessel (1Co 1:26) and the first who trusted in Christ (Eph 1:12). We are being fashioned and formed by our loving Father into this new creation that is going through this metamorphosis or process of maturation prophesied in the words: “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD“ (Jer 22:29). That three times hearing of the word “earth” is a symbol of the process of spiritual completion through judgment that God’s elect are experiencing first (1Jn 5:14-15, 1Pe 4:17) as we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge” of Christ (2Pe 3:18 ) in advance of the rest of His creation who are spoken of as “and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold” (Joh 10:16). That other fold does not presently hear the voice of the true shepherd, and within their pasture there is no stay of bread or water, meaning they are not being saved by grace through faith, which is required in order to hear the voice of the true Shepherd, and is a miraculous gift that has been given to the elect in this age (1Jn 4:6 to hear, to see and believe are all saying the same thing Php 1:29, Isa 3:1, Eph 2:8).

Heb 11:6  and without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Php 1:29  For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Isa 3:1  For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

The fourth and final section of our study of Psalm 139 is aptly subtitled “then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume” of (2Th 2:8), as it looks at how we must have a “perfect hatred” toward our old man of sin, “thou worm Jacob”, who has to be brought into subjection day by day as we die daily (1Co 15:31). We learn to keep under our body by mortifying the deeds of the flesh (1Co 9:27, 1Ti 6:12, Rom 8:13) so that we can live the rest of our lives fulfilling the will of God as we come out of Babylon, by not acting out on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which was the corrupt spiritual fuel of our former conversation or walk that we had while we were in the world.

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Psa 139:19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.

The bloody men being spoken about in Exodus 4:25 and 1 Kings 2:9-10 are two characters who were types of God’s elect, and so God is making it very plain to those who have eyes to see that there really is none as blind as His servant, who sees no need to circumcise his son, in Moses’ case, and the other being king David who sees the need to take physical vengeance on all his enemies even to his last breath (Isa 42:19).

Exo 4:25  Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

1Ki 2:9  Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.
1Ki 2:10  So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?

In the positive view of these stories, it is good that Zipporah, who represents the church, circumcised the child, which is a type of being born again; and David, relentlessly wanting vengeance on his enemies until his last breath and even beyond. These accounts reminds us we should fight sin in our members until our last breath and set our spiritual house in order to the glory of God, revealing our convictions by leaving a witness or laying up a testimony that will one day be recalled by others in their day of visitation (1Pe 3:16, 1Pe 2:12).

It is only through the grace of God which destroys our old man of sin, “surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God“, that we can overcome this bloody man who is guilty of the blood of Christ (Mat 27:25, Act 4:26-28). Now we cry out “depart from me therefore, ye bloody men” and understand the way that bloody man within can depart is by not having the sword of God depart from our house (2Sa 12:10, Joh 17:16-17).

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

2Sa 12:10  Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Psa 139:20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 

Everyone who names the name of Christ is to depart from iniquity (2Ti 2:19), even as we are hated by all men for His name’s sake and are thought of as being “strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (Mat 10:22, 1Pe 4:3-4).

It is the spirit of God which bears witness that we are His children in this life, and that spirit convicts us of all which needs to be cleansed from the temple of God which we are, through a lifelong process of driving those beasts out of the temple little by little (Deu 7:22). Our actions also witness to the world around us of the work that God is doing in this age within His children who are being received through the chastening and scourging that the whip Christ used in the temple typifies (Rom 8:16, Joh 2:15).

There is an inward and an outward application to: “For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain“, and that carnal fleshly mind of man is what hates the new creation, a nature that cannot be overcome within (Rev 13:4) except for the grace and faith of Christ that destroys that old man of sin (Eph 2:8).

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? [Who is able to drive him out of the temple that we are?]

It is in the heavens of our hearts and minds that this great spiritual warfare is taking place (Eph 6:12), and where Christ tells us our vain flesh can easily be sifted by Satan and devoured (Luk 22:31, 1Pe 5:8) if not for the faith God gives us through Christ (Luk 22:32, 1Pe 5:9) so we can be more than conquerors through Him in this life (Rom 8:37).

Psa 139:21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 

We are grieved when our old man rises up against us and are easily beset until we are not (Heb 12:1-2). We hate the sins we commit that are against God, “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?“, and are grieved for those paths that are not yet made straight because we are not yet prepared by the Lord (Mar 1:3).

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Mar 1:3  The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Our hope lies in the promise that God knows exactly where Adam-in-us is at all times and that He will prepare a way for us in the wilderness of our hearts and minds, and the bride will be made ready after we go through all we must go through to go unto perfection on the third day (Rev 19:7-8, Joh 11:4, Luk 13:32).

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Joh 11:4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Psa 139:22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 

This perfect hatred starts off with the strong desire that God alone can give us to be eaten up for the zeal of the temple (Joh 2:17, 1Co 3:16), and will conclude with the elect going onto perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32) because of the destruction of the man of sin, who is being destroyed by the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:8), which tells us where and for what reason this “perfect hatred” must be in our heavens that comes from God (Jas 1:17).

Joh 2:17  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

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:

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

That perfect gift from heaven God gives his children in this age is the ability to go unto perfection on the third day as we drink the cup of suffering daily which Christ enables us to endure (Php 4:13) preparing us to be kings and priests through a life-time of much tribulation (2Ti 2:12, Mat 20:23, Act 14:22).

We “count them mine enemies” that speak things contrary to sound doctrine and that do not demonstrate a pattern of sound words (2Ti 1:13). First and foremost, this man is the man I have to overcome within my own heavens by keeping my body in subjection to Christ, which is done by keeping under myself and holding fast to the words of life we’ve been given (1Co 9:27).

2Ti 1:13  Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

It is with that mindset of self-examination (2Co 13:5) that we will be able to be watchmen in the house of God who look well to the flock by looking well to ourselves, always being ready to defend and hold fast to God’s word once it has been established in our own hearts (1Th 5:21).

2Co 13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
2Co 13:6  But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

By not despising the correction that is part of the process every son has to endure in order to be cleansed of sin, we can zealously hold fast to Christ and His body and overcome. It is the trial of our faith that grafts us deeply into the body of Christ so we can be nourished by the vine and provide comfort to others through the comfort we receive through the process of being grafted more deeply into the vine (Rom 2:6-7, Heb 12:5, 2Co 7:11, 2Co 1:4-5).

Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7  To them [To them who are going through this process of being judged today (1Pe 4:17)] who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: [Luk_21:19].

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

2Co 7:11  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. [Col 1:24]

It is very revealing to see how many times the holy spirit inspired the use of the word “hold fast” or the equivalent thought, reminding us how easily we can walk away from that perfect law of liberty, “Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:2), and forget what we’ve already known. Here are just a few examples to this point.

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: [hold fast].
1Pe 3:16  Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

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

Act 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so [hold fast].

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

[1 – wavering at first (Jas 1:6), 2 – precious trial of faith (1Pe 1:7), 3 – sea of glass (Rev 15:2)]

2Th 2:15  Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. [hold fast]

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

My thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and my ways are not God’s ways, says the Lord (Isa 55:8-9), but if He tries me, the Lord will know my thoughts and a conversion will happen that will bring about the mind of Christ which the initial natural man could never understand (1Co 2:14-16).

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.
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

It will be by our being dragged to Christ that we will be purified by the light of God’s word which convicts us of those things that need to be repented, if we are being worked with in this age (Joh 6:44). Nothing and no one can prevent that process from unfolding if it has been written in our books from the foundation of the world to be so (1Jn 1:7, Eph 1:4).

To be led into “the way everlasting” is to overcome the “wicked way in me“, and that is a life-long process of overcoming and dying daily which can only happen by the Lord who can “search me” and “know my heart” and “try me” and “my thoughts” because nothing is hidden from him and all things are before him “and he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” including having preeminence in bringing God’s elect to give an accounting of our sins so that we can become those saviours who will then be used to ask Adam once again, “Where are you” (Gen 3:9), which is another way of saying, “Give me an accounting of your actions” which is exactly what Adam did right after Christ asked him, “Where are you?” (Col 1:17-18, Oba 1:21, Ecc 12:14, Gen 3:10)

It is only by the grace and faith of Christ that this dragging can occur (Joh 6:44), and the reason God does this for His children today is to show us the ways that need to be made straight within us so He can “lead me in the way everlasting.“

The entire construct of God’s word from the old covenant to the new covenant is a work of God’s hand demonstrating His power, His omnipotence and His ability to take that marred vessel of clay and turn it into something new. It is the best of the best who are sacrificed for us, that is what God’s word tells us; John the baptist, for example, of whom the least in the kingdom is greater than him (Mat 11:11).

How humbling to know, and how reassuring at the same time, to see God making His strength perfect through the weak of the world. We could have been anyone else, but God called us to be who we are, called to this blessing (1Pe 3:9) that is fulfilled in the suffering of Christ, the communion into which we are called that nourishes each other so that we can endure unto the end (1Pe 2:21, 1Co 10:16, 2Th 2:14).

1Pe 3:9  Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

2Th 2:14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are called His bride (Rev 19:7), His body (Col 1:24), a kind of first fruits, His inheritance in the saints (Jas 1:18), the apple of His eye (Zec 2:8), and many other such things to remind us of how precious these jewels are whom God has predetermined from the foundation of the world (Mal 3:17). These promises have all been stated so we can say with full assurance, “Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; and in thy book they were all written.“