NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 42 CREDO
` We give thanks to You, O God '
The title of this Credo comes from the opening words of Psalm 75. This Psalm is to be found in the Third Book of Psalms, and those who regularly read these Newswatches will know that this Book corresponds to the Third Book of Torah, the Book of Leviticus. As such it speaks of the LORD's working in His Sanctuary, for Leviticus is the Book which reveals the righteous requirements He demands for all who would minister in that Holy Place. Those who have believed in the deliverance and salvation to be found in Jesus have had their righteous requirements fully met in Him and are to be found in the Sanctuary of God, meeting in lawful assembly in the Church of the Redeemed, but, unfortunately, carnality within the Body and hostility without all seek to destroy that holiness and righteousness - if that were posible.

Unable to avoid some repetition we mention that the original manuscripts had no Psalm numbers but were separated only by super or postscriptions, which showed that the Psalmist was turning the listener's thoughts to another aspect of the discourse. Psalm 75 (as we understand it) directs our thinking by a superscription with the words, `A Psalm or Song of Asaph'. With our understanding that these two words have been translated from the Hebrew words `Mizmor' and `Shir' we know that we are being directed in our thinking to sing with thanksgiving and to meditate upon the words that follow, coupled with a `Selah' at the end of verse 3 to stop and carefully consider the preceding three verses so that we can joyfully continue to hear the remaining words of Psalm 75.

As always with Scripture, in order to fully understand the spiritual and the natural truth contained within the words, they need to be kept in contextual tension lest we too cut up the Word of God in an attempt to satisfy our emotions. Therefore, if we are called to give thanks we need to know what we are giving thanks for, and so we see that what is known as Psalm 74 is joined with the Psalm we are looking at, and in order to understand and outwork the words of the latter Psalm we need to briefly look at what is being said in the preceding Psalm. We see from the postscription that it is to be entrusted to `the Chief Musician' to be used whenever another similar occasion arises, with the entreaty `Al- taschith' - a Hebrew word meaning `Do not destroy' - and it is that word `Al-taschith' which gives us the understanding as to why we are enjoined to `give thanks (to You, O God)'.

Psalm 74 opens with the superscription `a Maskil (or instruction) of Asaph'. This Psalm is the 9th of 13 Maskils, and with our understanding of Scriptural numerology we know that this Instruction of Asaph is concerned with God's judgement upon rebellion or apostacy within the Sanctuary, set as it is in the `Levitical' Book of Psalms! A brief reading of Psalm 74 will reveal this:

"Why have You rejected us for ever, O God?
Why does Your anger smoulder
against the sheep of Your pasture?
Remember . . . . (this) Mount Zion, where You dwelt.
Pick Your way through these everlasting ruins,
all this destruction the enemy has brought
on the Sanctuary. "
We need not recite the whole Psalm for space restricts us, but a personal reading of this Psalm - particularly in the King James Version - will reveal the enemy as apostacy within the Sanctuary of God and also the enemies without which threaten the very existence of the Sanctuary. In summarizing this Psalm it can be said to be a cry of utter despair, of anguish, at what is happening in the place where the God of Israel dwells, and an entreaty, a pleading, through remembering the past deliverances of God, that He will once again judge the unrighteous acts of men. The Psalmist concludes with entrusting the Word to the Chief Musician with the words `Al-taschith - do not destroy', which leads us into why we are called to `give thanks to You, O God' in the certain knowledge that He will judge rebellion amongst His people who are called to minister in the Sanctuary of God as witnesses to the surrounding nations.

Once again using Scriptural numerology we note that Psalm 75 is the 4th of the 12 Psalms of Asaph - which speaks of a `testing', and yet still believing that God will bring the fulness of His Governance in the lives of His people - and whilst we wait in that time of testing we are to give thanks `for Your Name is near, men tell of Your wondrous works'. Such use of numbers may well be scorned by some, but it is through such seemingly `unspiritual' things that spiritual things are discerned and understood within the context of Scripture and viewed through the prism of current events in order to `understand the times and what Israel ought to do'. Verse 2 gives us an understanding of what is to happen:

"You say, `I choose the appointed time,
it is I who judge uprightly'. "
The RSV translation perhaps puts it more clearly for it records:

"At the set time which I appoint,
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keeps steady its pillars. Selah. "
The invitation to `Selah' at this point it to connect the time of the coming judgement with the Person who determines it, and to reveal that those events will fall upon every inhabitant of the earth - which will indeed be a time of testing for God's people, both ancient and modern. Our standing firm in that testing is in order that God may cleanse the `Sanctuary' of the apostacy that has polluted it and also to reveal the remnant who will declare His wondrous deeds in the face of those terrible times! Such is the Grace and Mercy of God towards those who will `give thanks to You, O God . . we give thanks for Your Name is near' as He cleanses His `Sanctuary' of apostacy and rebellion.

We are not intending in this Credo to write an exposition on Psalm 75 but only to warn in these last few short Newswatches of what lies ahead of true believers in the Lord Jesus, and of the need to be aware of the testing that will come through those events so that we may all stand firm `for Your Name is near'. In conclusion we pick up on the sense of cleansing judgement in verses 6 to 7, and in the NIV combined with the KJV it is revealed:

"No-one from the east or the west
or from the south can exalt a man.
But it is God who judges;
He brings one down, he exalts another. "
We have combined the NIV and the KJV in order to remove the word `desert' in verse 6 of the NIV and replacing it with the word `south' from the KJV. This is more correct for it reveals that the coming judgement is from the north! There is a Scriptural sense in this understanding that the Mountain of God - the place where He dwells in relation to His judgemental actions (as opposed to His Covenant nature with Israel) - is in the north. This, according to `ancient wisdom', denotes the `hidden places' to the north of Israel. It was also the lands of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, the Assyrians and the Medes, all of whom were used by the LORD to bring judgement upon His people for their idolatry and apostacy. We see this Mountain of God in such well-known Scriptures as Psalm 48:2

". . . Mount Zion on the side of the north,
the City of the great King . . . "
and there is also reference to the boast of Lucifer, son of the morning, in Isaiah 14:13:

"I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation (the gods)
on the side of the north. " KJV
and in the following verses we read of the judgement which came upon that rebellion!

The following verse of Psalm 75 shows the intensity of the coming judgement and also reveals those who understand and rejoice with God in His cleansing judgement, those who are found standing in the Sanctuary: (V 9-10)

"As for me, I will declare this for ever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob,
(the God of Grace who met Jacob when he had and deserved nothing).
I will cut off the horns (the strength) of the wicked,
but the horns (the strength) of the righteous
shall be lifted up. "
The Psalm concludes with it being entrusted to `the Chief Musician on Neginoth'. This emphasises the coming judgement for it has a meaning of `smiting' (an old English word not in vogue today) or of `striking freely so as to shatter'. The clear message over a period of time, and through many godly sources, is of a soon-to-come smiting . . a cleansing judgement on the apostacy in the Church, for God requires in the last days a people who will declare His Glory to the surrounding nations. In this Credo we have merely given these warnings a Scriptural basis, which when viewed through the prism of current events reveals an urgency for His people to listen . . and to hear . . and to act . . for there will be righteousness within God's `Sanctuary' amongst His people!

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