Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

There are times in life when present circumstances offer us no evidence that God is present in—let alone in control of—our situation.

Psalm 74 was written for just such a time.

Psalm 74 leads us to live eschatologically, to live believing that God reigns “amid circumstances that seem to deny” that reign (McCann 1996:974).

In this regard Psalm 74 is a companion psalm to Psalm 73, as both address the problem of the apparent success of the wicked.1

But whereas Psalm 73 is from the perspective of the individual, Psalm 74 is from the perspective of the community (McCann 1996:972).

[Mark D. Futato, “The Book of Psalms,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 7: The Book of Psalms, The Book of Proverbs (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009), 246.]

Main Thought: “Theme: A cry for deliverance when the temple is defiled by the enemy” (McGee); “Evil shall not triumph for ever” (Scroggie).

Sub-intro:

This is the ninth maschil of thirteen such psalms of instruction.

There is a subscription to this psalm addressed to the chief Musician, with the added note: Al-taschith, meaning “Destroy not!”

The psalm teaches us how to pray when calamity strikes, when it seems as though God is blind and deaf to what is going on.

This psalm deals with disaster of no small measure: the enemy has come into the sanctuary with fire and axe.

[John Phillips, Exploring Psalms 1–88: An Expository Commentary, vol. 1, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ps 74.]

...the central prayer asks, "How long?" and "Why?" (10, 11).

This analysis may be set out as follows:

(a) 1-3 Prayer.

"Remember."

(b) 4-9.

The Profanation of God's Name in the Present,

(c) 10, 11.

Prayer.

"How long?

Why?"

(b) 12-17.

The Revelation of God's Power in the Past,

(a) 18-23.

Prayer.

"Remember."

[W.

Graham Scroggie, The Guide to the Psalms, A Comprehensive Analysis of the Psalms, vol.

2, The Scroggie Studies of the Psalms and the Gospels Library (Kregel Publications, 2014), 142.]

SOME think that Asaph, the penman of this psalm, was not the same that lived in the times of David, but some other of the same name, a descendant of hisk, that lived after the Babylonish captivity, since the psalm treats of things that were done at the time the Jews were carried captive into Babylon, or after; but this hinders not that it might be the same man; for why might he not, under a spirit of prophecy, speak of the sufferings of the church in after-ages, as well as David and others testify before-hand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow?

The psalm is called Maschil, because it gives knowledge of, and causes to understand what afflictions should befall the church and people of God in after-times.

[John Gill, An Exposition of the Old Testament, vol.

4, The Baptist Commentary Series (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1810), 7.]

While we have no certainty about the period the psalm reflects in history, we can be quite sure as to what period it reflects in prophecy.

It anticipates the desecration of a future Jewish temple by the Antichrist.

[Phillips]

Body:

I.

The Painful Question: Why, LORD? (Ps.

74:1-11).

Singing psalms was very important to the Huguenots, those persecuted Protestants who were driven out of France in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

The power of the psalms to bless and fortify them must have been especially feared by their persecutors, for under Louis XIII and Louis XIV many edicts were passed forbidding their use of the Psalter.

Nevertheless, these brave people merely hid their books while carrying on their singing in mountain caves or forests, since they knew the psalms by heart.

One psalm from which they gained particular strength was Psalm 74.

In 1686, one year after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which removed their protection under the earlier laws of France, the Protestants of Vaud were driven from their homes and dispossessed of their property.

They p 617 crossed the Alps, some dying on the way, and at last entered Geneva, the City of Refuge.

There, their voices choked by exhaustion and misery, they sang the opening verses of this psalm, while scores of refugees who had already reached Geneva as the result of earlier persecutions joined in...

Three years later, in 1689, the same psalm was chanted in triumph by seven hundred of these exiles who, led by their pastor, Henri Arnaud, had fought their way back to their homes.

When they met at last in their own homeland in one of their own churches the joy and enthusiasm were inexpressible, and once again Psalm 74 was sung.

[James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 42–106: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 616–617.]

A. A Prayer for God to Remember His People (Ps.

74:1-2).

The terms to denote God’s relation to His people increase in force: “congregation”—“purchased”—“redeemed”—“Zion,” His dwelling.

[Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 1 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 369.]

B. Enemies Have Destroyed the Places of God (Ps.

74:3-5).

The temple of Solomon made lavish use of the great trees of Lebanon.

It was no small feat to hew down one of those giant cedars and saw it into boards.

That called for skill.

But now vandals were hewing down the carved work of the temple to haul away in triumph as souvenirs of their prowess in destruction.

The singer’s lament is all the more significant when we remember that much of the carving in the temple represented palm trees and open flowers (1 Kings 6:29).

[Phillips]

C. Enemies Defiled & Oppressed (Ps.

74:6-8).

This is very vivid poetry, because we can almost visualize Asaph taking God by the hand to lead him through the twisted rubble left by the invaders.

“Look, that is where they broke in,” he seems to be saying.

“Over there is where they set up their military standards.

That is where they attacked the carved paneling, as if they were merely hacking their way through a thicket of trees.

Then they burned the temple.

Look at those ashes.

That is all that is left.

And then, as if the damage to the temple itself were not bad enough, they went through the whole land and destroyed every place where you were worshiped.

They said, ‘We will crush them completely!’

And they have!

Do you see it?

Do you care?”

This is a fierce complaint, bordering just possibly on impropriety as an address to God.

But we should not miss the fact that it is at least addressed to God.

When we complain it is more often the case that we just complain, either to ourselves or to other people.

It is better to complain to God.

[Boice, 618–619.]

It is always Satan’s strategy to get into the sanctuary if he can.

He worked, down through the long ages of the Hebrew monarchy, until at last he managed to bring to ruin that stately temple, built as a tribute to the living God.

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” demanded Paul of the Corinthian saints.

“If any man defile the temple of God him will God destroy.”

Twice, during His earthly pilgrimage, Jesus cleansed the temple which once again graced Moriah’s hill in His day.

Each time the money changers, the merchants, the Sanhedrin with its vested interests brushed aside His cleansing work.

Satan used them to foul the sanctuary.

So God pulled it down as Jesus foretold.

He beckoned to the legions of Rome, commissioned them to work His sovereign will and pull the temple down.

The Christian’s body is the Holy Spirit’s temple; Satan would like to see that temple defiled as well.

He gloats to observe the end result of his work in a wrecked and ruined temple.

He delights to find God’s home, the dwelling place of the eternal Holy Spirit, defiled and then destroyed.

[Phillips]

D. How Long Will God Allow Taunting?

(Ps.

74:9-11).

“Do you have time for God’s Word?

Your attitude should be that of John Wesley, the great Methodist evangelist who wrote, ‘Give me that book!

At any price, give me the the book of God!’” (Boice).

The four questions are:

How long will God allow the adversary to ridicule?