The Geography of His Protection is Impenetrable - Part 2
(Ps 125)

(all major Scriptures are from NASB)

Ps 125 Security

2b So the LORD surrounds His people

Nehemiah's Results (Neh 6:10-14)

 
10 And when I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night." 11 But I said, "Should a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in." 12 Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. 14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.
 

God's Promise (Zech 2:1-5)

 1 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is." 3 And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, 4 and said to him, "Run, speak to that young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. 5 'For I,' declares the LORD,' will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.' "
 

The degree of His protection

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous;
That the righteous may not put forth their hands to do wrong.
 His protection goes so far that He will not suffer His people to remain under a wicked ruler. He determines who will rule, and His determination is to do what is absolutely best for His people. Where there is a national need for discipline, he may, perhaps, allow such a ruler to come for a time. But look at the record. Even when, in His sovereignty He has chosen to use peoples such as the Assyrians to punish His people, He has yet held these punishers accountable for their abuses. So, it seems invariably, the punishers become the punished, when it comes to God's people. This is the divine response to the spite they have toward us.
 Ps 36:10-11
 10 O continue Thy lovingkindness to those who know Thee,
And Thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
 11Let not the foot of pride come upon me,
And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.

Thy will be done.

4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
The LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel.
  Hear the prayer of God's will in this. But, in listening, remember that in all things, God is indeed good. His goodness cannot be set aside, in mercy or in punishment. That goodness requires that His justice also be upheld. It has been upheld for us in the death of His Son, crucified as the penalty for our sinfulness. To those that refuse this gift of life He has offered, His goodness and His justice demand that they pay their own penalty.
 Ps 119:68Thou art good and doest good;
Teach me Thy statutes.
 Isa 3:10-11 
 10Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
 11Woe to the wicked!
It will go badly with him,
For what he deserves will be done to him.
 Ps 11:4-7
 4The LORD is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
 5The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked,
And the one who loves violence His soul hates.
 6Upon the wicked He will rain snares;
Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.
 7For the LORD is righteous;
He loves righteousness;
The upright will behold His face.

Matthew Henry notes that some rabbinic traditions consider these last verses as applying to the days of the Messiah. Messiah, at His coming, would be good to the righteous, and would lead the wicked away to their punishment. This is also in view in the separating of the goats and the sheep, told in Matthew. In this much, they were right. Sadly, they did not recognize Messiah among them. They had largely turned away onto their own paths in Jesus' day. Those that pursued righteousness, pursued a righteousness of their own design, and so reached no righteousness whatsoever. Jesus preached repentance from this idolatrous form of holiness, for much like humanism today, it promoted man's views above God's. He sought to correct, but they refused the corrective. He sought to heal, but the refused the medicine. We will have these same issues as we take Christ to the world. We will meet many that don't want to hear it, many that can't accept it, many that think they are good enough on their own. We will meet all too many who have made themselves their own final arbiter. And in a sad way, they will almost be correct in this. They will have made the final choice, but the final arbitration awaits the day of Christ's return.

  Ps 125:5cPeace be upon Jerusalem,
  Gal 6:16upon the Israel of God.
 Never forget that you are now God's Israel. You are the people of the Covenant in Christ's blood, bought and paid for by God's own Son. You are His Jerusalem, to whom He has promised to be a wall of fire around you, and the glory in your midst!
Lord, let us recognize this great truth! Cast all fear away by Your perfect love, that we might rejoice in obeying Your call upon us! You have called us out so that You can send us out into the world to bring Your lost children home. And all too often, we have shrunk from Your purpose, and hidden away behind what walls we could see. Let us, Lord, see Your blazing wall of protective fire around us. Let that wall shine from us, exposing the darkness to Your marvelous light, burning away the bonds of sin that yet hold us, and that hold those we meet. Let us know Your glory in our midst, not just in Your house, but in our house, on our jobs, and in our city. Your glory, bursting out of devotes lives, to captivate this nation in Your love once more.

  

©2001 - Jeffrey A. Wilcox