THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

CXXXII. Hoping For God’s Promised Good Leadership

(Psalm 132:1-18 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We face a great need in today’s world to obtain and secure good leadership:

(1) We face it in our presidency: (a) President Trump’s former contacts with Jeffrey Epstein is proving to be tough political baggage for him. Many voters had been led to think that Epstein kept a client list of famous, powerful men who were sexually involved with the underaged girls Epstein trafficked so that he was murdered for threatening to blackmail the men on the list. However, a memo by the Trump Administration’s DOJ and FBI stated there was “‘no incriminating ‘client list’ . . . no credible evidence . . . that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals’” and that he simply “‘committed suicide’” (Ben Shapiro, “What happened with the Jeffrey Epstein case?” (Republican-American, July 12, 2025, p. A6). Columnist Ben Shapiro wrote that he tended to trust the Trump Administration is not covering up “the mass rape of children” though admitting, “I could be wrong . . . ” (Ibid.) The Wall Street Journal reported Donald Trump once sent Epstein a salacious birthday card with the drawing of a naked woman, but the President vigorously denies it and has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the journal and Rupert Murdoch (Jonathan Edwards, Emily Davies, “Trump sues Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch over Epstein letter story,” July 19, 2025; msn.com). To the President’s credit, attorney Bradley Edwards, who represented over 70 victims of Epstein “and is largely credited with helping to bring the child sex offender to justice,” said of Donald Trump, “‘(W)hen I served a lot of subpoenas against a lot of people . . . he is the only person that picked up the phone and said, ‘let’s just talk, I’ll give ya as much time as you want, I’ll tell ya what you need to know,’ . . . (he) gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever.’” (Kaye Smythe, “FLASHBACK: Lawyer for Epstein Victims Says Trump Was The Only Powerful Figure Who Helped Him With Investigation,” January 2, 2024; dailycaller.com)

(b) Then, former President Obama may be prosecuted for treason: Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations reported that “an ‘intelligence community assessment on Russia ordered by President Obama after the 2016 election’ was framed to portray Trump as beholden to Putin. A US intelligence official ‘alleged the outgoing administration weaponized’ Russian intelligence ‘to sabotage President-elect Trump’” (The New York Post, July 21, 2025, p. 27) and the “Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused former President Obama and some of the top officials in his administration of ‘treason’” (Will Tanner, “‘It’s Time for Revenge’: Calls For Prosecution of Obama, Others Grows After Tulsi Reveals Their ‘Treason,’” July 20, 2025; theamericantribune.com). She later asserted, “(T)hey conspired to subvert the will of the American people . . . working with their partners in the media to promote the lie . . . to undermine the legitimacy of President Trump . . . enacting a year’s-long coup against him” (Julian E. Barnes, “Gabbard Releases New Documents Targeting Obama Administration,” July 23, 2025; nytimes.com).

(2) We face it in Congress: “James Madison, the father of the U. S. Constitution, had this to say about a plan for Congress to provide federal aid to French refugees in 1794 . . . : ‘I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents . . . (but) Walter Williams, a hawkish syndicated columnist, wrote in 2006: ‘Today, at least two-thirds of a $2.5 trillion federal budget is spent on ‘objects of benevolence’” and “$2.5 trillion in 2006” has “spiked to $6.8 trillion as of 2024” (“Defund more than Planned Parenthood,” Republican-American, July 12, 2025, p. A6).

(3) We face it in evangelical circles: Prominent evangelical leaders have fallen from grace, men like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church due to sexual harassment, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle due to an abuse of authority and Ravi Zacharias due to sexual misconduct” (Bobby Conway, “4 reasons why there are so many abusive leaders in the Church,” May 21, 2024; premierchristianity.com). Longtime research journalist and observer of the evangelical movement, Warren Cole Smith, last year wrote, “Today’s evangelical movement is a mess . . .” (Warren Cole Smith, “Editor’s Notebook: A Review of Shepherds For Sale,” August 3, 2024; ministrywatch.com)

Need: So, we ask, “Is there any hope of our obtaining and securing good leadership in today’s world?”

I. Psalm 132:1-18 was composed when Israel’s throne lacked its rightful Davidic king and the nation likely suffered oppression under some other ruler (Joseph A. Alexander, The Psalms, 1975, p. 523).

II. Thus, Israel asked God to recall His Davidic Covenant and to restore the Davidic king to Israel’s throne:

A. In pleading with God to restore their Davidic king to the throne, Israel’s people reminded the Lord of what had initially moved Him to reward David with the Davidic Covenant to give him a lasting dynasty, Ps. 132:1-10:

1. The people asked God to recall for David’s benefit David’s desire to build a “house” for God, Ps. 132:1-5.

2. David’s townspeople had heard of God’s ark in Ephrathah, the ancient name for Bethlehem, that the ark was in the fields of “Jaar,” literally the “wood,” referring to Kirjath-jearim, what literally means “City of the Woods” where the ark had long resided before David brought it to Jerusalem, Ps. 132:6 (Ibid., p. 524).

3. Psalm 132:7 records a call that may have occurred when David urged Israel to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem (Ibid.) and Psalm 132:8-9 borrows again from Solomon’s dedicatory prayer in 2 Chronicles 6:41 to emphasize the people’s intense desire to worship the Lord in the Lord’s temple!

4. In conclusion, the people asked God for the sake of their forefather David not to reject His current anointed royal descendant that the Davidic kings’ rule might be established once again, Psalm 132:10.

B. God responded to the people’s prayer by reaffirming His Davidic Covenant to them, Psalm 132:11-18:

1. The Lord spoke of His ancient oath to David, one that was sure and would not be revoked, that He would place one of David’s descendants on Israel’s throne, that if the Davidic king kept God’s Word, his descendants would sit on the Davidic throne forever, Psalm 132:11-12.

2. God claimed that He had chosen Zion as His dwelling place for ever, that there He Himself (in Christ) would sit enthroned forever to bless Zion with great provisions, to feed the poor, to clothe her priests with salvation as mentioned in Solomon’s dedicatory prayer at 2 Chronicles 6:41, that God would make a horn (strong one, king) grow for David and set up a lamp (abundant life) for His anointed king while clothing David’s foes with lasting shame and keeping the crown on the Davidic king’s head glorious, v. 13-18.

Lesson: Facing affliction under an ungodly ruler, Israel asked God to recall His Davidic Covenant that the nation might see God set a Davidic king on Israel’s throne. God heard this prayer and reaffirmed His Davidic Covenant.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) [Based on one’s faith in Christ for salvation, Psalm 132 with Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 has a special application to believers in our era of the Church. We explain this below.]

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message and/or provide additional guidance . . .)

(1) We have noted in past sermons that Revelation 3:14-22 is Christ’s message to believers in our era of Church History – from about 1950 to the Rapture. At Revelation 3:21 in that passage, Christ promised to grant an overcomer of the world system to sit with Him “in” His earthly Davidic throne like He overcame the world system (John 16:33) and is set down with His Father “in” His Father’s heavenly throne.

Revelation 7:17 explains how that rule on the earth for our era will occur, for Christ’s action there “in” the throne is like what a servant of God can do now. Specifically, as Christ in Revelation 7:17 will shepherd those who are saved and come out of the future Tribulation Period, today’s overcomer will be used of God to shepherd those who come out of what must be a “mini-Great Tribulation” of our era that is similarly marked by abusive leaders full of intrigue who oppress subordinates for selfish gain similar to what the antichrist will do in the Tribulation Period! This explanation clarifies why we face such serious problem leadership issues that we mentioned in our introduction!

We thus should obey God’s directives in Revelation 3:14-22 as we have explained in lessons on that passage to qualify as overcomers that God might use us to edify many people as He promised in Revelation 3:21 with 7:17! [We expound Revelation 3:14-22 in the series, “Christ’s message to contemporary evangelicals” on our home page!]

(2) Scripture also provides believers who need guidance in avoiding the pitfalls of leaders noted in our introduction (as follows): (a) President Trump is plagued today by his past association with wicked Jeffrey Epstein, so we best rely on the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16) to discern ungodly people (1 Cor. 2:14-16) that we might avoid their company (1 Cor. 15:33). (b) Former President Obama was allegedly involved in an effort to undermine a duly elected President in violation of the law, so we need to submit to current rulers, heeding the law of man to stay out of trouble (Romans 13:1) with the sole exception being our need to obey God over man (Acts 5:29). (c) Congress has splurged taxpayers moneys on “objects of benevolence” in violation of the Constitution, so we leaders should not pressure subordinates for money in obedience to 2 Corinthians 9:7. (d) As for the “mess” of the “evangelical movement” mentioned by Warren Cole Smith, Christ predicted this crisis in Revelation 3:17b – that evangelicals would be largely “wretched” (living by their sin natures), “pitiable” (worldly), “poor” (lacking faith in God), “blind” (spiritually blind)” and “naked” (compromised with errant ministries)! The solution is for believers to confess their sins (1 John 1:9) and rely on the Holy Spirit for behavior control (Galatians 5:16) to obey Scripture (1 John 2:3-4) for blessing!

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God’s gift of eternal life. May we trust God to fulfill His Revelation 3:21 with 7:17 promise and obey His Word for blessing.