Psa 85:1-13 “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise”

Psa 85:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.
Psa 85:3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
Psa 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.
Psa 85:5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Psa 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Psa 85:7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.
Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Psa 85:9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psa 85:11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Psa 85:12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
Psa 85:13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Psalms 85 is about the process of redemption and forgiveness which come about by grace through faith (Eph 2:8).

The first indicator of this process is with the word Korah which has the symbolic numbers ‘three’ and ‘two’ that add up to five; and ‘five’ refers to grace and faith, which is the means by which all the world, all of Israel who represents the world in some instances in God’s word, will be saved. It is a witness of our flesh (of which Edom is a type) that will be destroyed by the combination of the names: ‘three Israelites'(the process), and ‘two Edomites’ which equals five (5), which number symbolizes grace and faith.

Korah^H7141: From H7139; ice; Korach, the name of two Edomites and three Israelites: – Korah.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the firstborn son of Isaac and the twin brother of Jacob. The struggle that they had in the womb is important for us to remember because it is the life-long struggle to which we are called as we die daily and spiritually war against our flesh and the powers and principalities in our heavens through Christ within the church, which is his body and the spiritual womb that we are in today who are promised to go unto perfection on the symbolic third day or first resurrection (Jerusalem above, the mother of us all) (Gen 25:23, Gen 25:34, Heb 12:16-17, Col 1:24, Gal 4:26, Luk 13:32).

The world’s population and borders have always been shaped by God through the decisions that He causes in the lives of humanity and through all the events of this life over which He is sovereign. The life of Esau, who sold his birthright unto Jacob and as such was denied the blessing that his father then bestowed upon Jacob who obtained that birthright through misleading means initiated by his mother Rebekah, is a profound snapshot of one such moment in history that would dramatically affect all nations after it (Gen 27:5-29, Gen 27:30-42). God gives us these types and shadows to remind us that when a nation is born in a day, the same effect will be had on all the nations of the world in time (Isa 66:8, Gen 22:17).

These two brothers (Jacob and Esau) truly demonstrate the severity and the goodness of God for all the world to see (Rom 11:22, Rom 9:13) and their story was written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages is come (1Co 10:11). God let this blessing come upon Jacob in such an underhanded way to remind us that we’re not better in any way shape or form than Esau – that Esau simply represents our flesh over which God either gives us victory or does not. This again demonstrates the severity and goodness of God, and as we will see tonight, God willing, it is God’s goodness which is connected to the repentance (Rom 2:4) which leads us unto redemption and was the reason why the meal prepared for Jacob’s father was very typical of the passover (Gen 27:9).

This theme of the redemption of all of humanity (1Co 15:22), and the means by which it is achieved, becomes louder and clearer for us as we look at the sum of God’s word and understand that these ancient stories are speaking about the very present reality which we are experiencing together as the body of Christ (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 1:12).

In last week’s study, Gale showed me the verses that connect the two swallows of Matthew 10:28 to the Leviticus offerings of two birds in Leviticus 14:48-53, and the Lord used that revelation to remind me that these two goats offered to Jacob’s father in Genesis 27:9, who is a type of God in this case, is symbolic of the two goats being offered in Leviticus 16:8.

Again, we must see ourselves as both goats, the one that is sacrificed on the altar through Christ and the one that must be in the world, but not of it, where we fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ through the evil experience He allows us to go through for the benefit of all the world (Joh 17:15, Ecc 1:13). We live by every word of God (Mat 4:4), and so we are the goat that is sacrificed (Gal 2:20), and we are the goat that is set free into the wilderness as Christ was, to be tempted in all diverse manner (Mat 4:1, Heb 4:15). We are called to bear each others’ burdens in this wilderness, and Christ’s cross becomes our reason for rejoicing once we mature and start to see that this cross, this affliction, is what fills up what is behind of His sacrifice and makes it possible for us to be sealed “with that Spirit of promise” (Mat 16:24, Luk 13:32).

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Rebekah, the mother of Jacob, represents the called-out elect church who has to be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove against an enemy who wants to take our crown (Esau wants the crown some other way – Joh 10:1, Mat 10:16, Rev 3:11), so she tells Jacob to hold fast to the commandments that she is going to give him, as our Lord does of us (Gen 27:8, Rev 3:11, Joh 14:15), to set the stage for her son Jacob so that he can receive this birthright.

On the other hand, Hagar, who despised Sarah (Gen 16:4), is very much alone as a type of the spiritual Gentile church we are at first, as we try to defend our birthright in the flesh (Gen 21:14-18, Joh 8:33). She is cast out and rejected and goes into the wilderness, which is where we all must first go before we can become the type of the church of which Sarah is a type (Gal 4:30). Again, Jacob is assisted by his mother Rebekah through and through, and she is a type and shadow, as is Sarah, of how the church, the mother of us all, along with each joint that makes up our spiritual mother (Jerusalem above – Gal 4:26), supplies our needs so that we can endure until the end and receive this birthright (Eph 3:10, Eph 4:16).

The introduction of the study this week starts with these stories with which we are all very familiar, and I noticed the great significance of God inspiring 1 Corinthians 10:12, which tells us to “take heed” right after He tells us that all these stories we just looked at were written for our admonition. So by heeding the stories, we can, through Christ, do all and stand (Eph 6:13).

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.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

We are sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, as it is called, and have been blessed to come to know that it will be through a lifetime of coming out of Babylon and having the seals, trumpets, and vials poured out upon our first man Adam (Rev 6:1-17, Rev 8:1-13, Rev 16:1-21) that God is sealing us with the promise of becoming a new creation through a process that we, as God’s kind of first-fruits, first witness to all the world (Jas 1:18, Rev 11:3).

Psa 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Psa 53:6 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Jer 30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.

Jer 33:26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.

Eze 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

It is through this blessed life of much tribulation (Act 14:22) that God destroys the first foundation of the elect and demonstrates to the world the incredible spiritual and physical energies (a peculiar people, zealous of good works – Tit 2:14) that this Spirit of promise will accomplish through the church as Christ works in us both to will and to do just that (Rev 19:7, Mat 20:23, Php 2:13).

Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

The following verses in Ephesians are very connected to this week’s study, and it is where we find tonight’s study title: “in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise“.

Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Psa 85:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LORD, thou hast been favourable^H7521 unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

It is God’s land to do what he wills, and He wills to be favourable unto His people, His land, that will be worked with first as the weak of the world, to demonstrate all glory and honour our His to do what He determined from the foundation of the world to do (Eph 1:11).

This brings us back to our types and shadows of the old covenant, and in Romans 9 we see that God’s plan must unfold in a decent and orderly way as per the mind of Christ, to reveal His true nature and the purpose He has purposed for all of humanity (1Co 14:40, Rom 9:1-21).

That is why it is favourable^H7521: because it is God’s hand that is accomplishing it all to a perfect and glorious salvational end for all of His children (1Ti 4:10).

H7521 râtsâh raw-tsaw’
A primitive root; to be pleased with; specifically to satisfy a debt: – (be) accept (-able), accomplish, set affection, approve, consent with, delight (self), enjoy, (be, have a) favour (-able), like, observe, pardon, (be, have, take) please (-ure), reconcile self.

He brings us back from the “captivity of Jacob” which symbolizes the bondage of sin that only Christ can set us free from (Rev 13:4, Joh 8:36).

Psa 85:2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

God speaks of things that are not as though they were (Rom 4:17) and such is the case in this verse. It takes the sum of God’s word, line upon line, percept upon precept, to see and be reminded that we are being saved, and that the blood of Christ, is was and will be, applied unto our lives that are being saved.

Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Again we see the connection in (1Co 6:11) that it is “by the Spirit of our God” that “you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” of (Eph 1:13).

There is a great pause (“Selah”) here before the verses that follow, and this reminds us to reflect on where we have come from and how it is that God uses His “wrath” and “the fierceness of thine anger” to set us free from the bondage of sin.

Psa 85:3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.
Psa 85:4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Ultimately, God will take “away all thy wrath” and turn away “the fierceness of thine anger” which will lead to our salvation in this age.

God is blessing His people to be able to endure until the end (Mat 24:13) through the fiery trials of this life that we will eventually no longer think of as being strange (1Pe 4:12), but rather, we will understand that they are needful and necessary for “thine anger toward us to cease”; and the means to the end that God is accomplishing with those few jewels of His that he is perfecting ‘today’ for the rest of the world.

Zec 9:16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land (Psa 85:1).
Zec 9:17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Isa 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger (Heb 12:26-27, Eph 6:13).

Psa 85:5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?
Psa 85:6 Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?

These rhetorical questions do away with the false doctrine of eternal torment: “will thou be angry with us for ever”, for this age or any lasting period of time, and remind us that there is perfect and just weight, and perfect and just measure with our Father who will draw out his anger to all generations, but that anger will cease, and He will “revive us again”, and His people will “rejoice in thee” again.

Pro 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

Deu 25:15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land (Psa 85:1) which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Isa 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Psa 126:5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Psa 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

Psa 85:7 Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

No greater act of mercy can be shown on this earth today than the one that God is showing to His people by not only showing mercy by giving us eyes to see and ears to hear the true gospel, but by also letting us be part of that mercyful process of redemption or reconciliation that an unbelieving world will come to believe in through the church.

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;

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

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,

These two literal translations below of this verse 7 show what is hidden in the ‘mood’ of the KJV, proving again the process toward that end result that God promises to all. It is by what we can bear to be shown (“show us O Lord your mercy/kindness/lovingkindness”) that we understand what is being granted or given to us:

Psa 85:7 Show us, O Jehovah, thy kindness, And Thy salvation Thou dost give to us. [YLT]

Psa 85:7 Show us, O Yahweh, thy lovingkindness, And, thy salvation, wilt thou grant us. [Rotherham]

Psa 85:7 Shew^{H7200 [HGH8685]} us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant^{H5414 [HGH8799} = Mood -Imperfect H8811 which expresses an action, process or condition which is incomplete… These relate not so much as to one occasion, as to a continued condition..The kind of progression or imperfection and unfinished condition of the action may consist in its frequent repetition…] us thy salvation. [KJV]

Psa 85:8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

There is no greater folly than the sin of conceit, to think that we have gotten where we’ve gotten by our own accord, or to look down on a sinful world in bondage and not identify with every sin of this world, and so we are warned in this verse to “not turn again to folly”.

This section of Romans (Rom 11:16-20) demonstrates our proclivity to forget how we have become who we are and where we have come from, and so we pray that we can continue to be a people humbled under His mighty hand who “will hear what God the LORD will speak” for as it goes on to say “he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints”.

Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Rom 11:18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Psa 85:9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

When we do see that God’s salvation is near, and we have a proper fear of him, then His glory will dwell in our land/earth (Rom 11:20).

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Psa 85:9 Moreover^G4133 [² is near^{G1451 3}the ones^{G3588 4}fearing^{G5399 5}him^{G1473 G3588 1}his deliverance];^{G4992 G1473} so that^G3588 [²may encamp^{G2681 1}his glory]^G1391 in^{G1722 G3588} our land.^{G1093 G1473}

Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth^G1093 [“land” in ABP+], as it is in heaven.

Conversely, if we lose our respect for the commandments of God and don’t see each other as Jesus Christ and become “highminded” thinking that we can strike out on our own and don’t have need of the many membered body of Christ that we are, then that too will be of the Lord and His glory will no longer dwell in that land.

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Psa 85:10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Psa 85:11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Psa 85:12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

Mercy and truth meet together in Romans 11, and it is only by God’s righteousness through Christ that we can truly have peace with our King of peace ruling and reigning in our hearts.

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:

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Truth in the inward parts is what God is forming within the body of Christ, and that truth is the good and perfect gift that comes from above.

Psa 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Psa 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Pro 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

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.
Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The LORD will give good, and He alone can give the increase as we are caused to decrease.

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all [Jas 1:17-18].

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Psa 85:13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

These last few verses show us where true righteousness comes from, and that it is what God uses to “set us in the way of his steps”; and it will be through a lifetime of believing in, growing into, and enduring this relationship until the end, that we will finally experience the fullness of this verse in Ephesians which we are living out today “in the way of his steps”.

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.