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The Prophecies in Psalms 107-150

By J. R. Church

Twenty years ago, we introduced a new and rather bizarre concept into the study of biblical prophecy. With some trepidation, I suggested that the Psalms “seem” to tell the story of the last generation — including the Jewish holocaust and the rebirth of the state of Israel. The Psalms appeared to be rather cryptic about all this, but the most bizarre twist was that each chapter seemed to relate, in some uncanny way, to the year numbered by its corresponding psalm!

Oh, the prophecies are there all right, but specific dating? Even more bizarre was the fact that the Psalter is the 19th book in our Bible, thus allowing “book 19, Psalm 48” to correspond with 1948! Furthermore, the Psalter is the 48th book from the end of our Bible — suggesting that God placed it within Scripture to reveal the date for the rebirth of Israel — 19 books from Genesis and 48 books from Revelation! Uncanny!

I was convinced that God had laid out the twentieth century in the Psalms, but how was I going to explain all this to a normally skeptical Christian community of scholars who frown on any hint of allegori-cal interpretation.

After much soul-searching, I felt that I had no choice but to publish our book, Hidden Prophecies in the Psalms (1986). To my surprise, the book was well received by those who read it.

The prophetic story in Psalms 39-48 is plain enough to be understood by anyone who had lived during those years. The story of the holocaust was quite vivid in Psalms 39-45, and the birth of Israel is pretty amaz-ing in Psalm 48.

The Torah DesignThe Psalter is divided into five books,

each corresponding with one of the five books of Moses — Genesis through Deu-teronomy. This arrangement of the Psalms has been recognized by theologians for centuries. It was easy to see that the Psalms were laid out in prophetic periods:

The Genesis Period — 1901-1941The Exodus Period — 1942-1972The Leviticus Period — 1973-1989The Numbers Period — 1990-2006The Deuteronomy Period — future? In 1973 Israel entered upon a time of re-

ligious fervor over the fact that the Temple Mount was under Islamic control. Religious Jews began to turn their attention toward preparations for the day when they could rebuild their Temple. In 1973, construction began on a “World Synagogue,” an obvious prelude to their future Temple.

In 1976, the Temple Institute began con-structing the implements for use in a future temple. They have built some 100 “tools” of the Temple, including garments for the priesthood, a brazen laver, musical instru-ments, etc. But they did not build an Ark of the Covenant. Instead, they claimed that the original Ark would be found and returned when the time is right.

The Temple Mount Faithful, headed up

by Gershon Solomon, launched a campaign to pressure the Israeli government into granting them certain rights to worship on the site of the ancient Temple. These and other historical events seemed to be right on schedule with the Leviticus theme resident within Psalms 73-89.

Psalms 90-106 corresponds to the Mosaic book of Numbers and the story of Israel’s 40-years sojourn in the wilderness, prior to entering the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. As surreal as it may seem, Israel has floundered (politically) over the past 40 years, since they gave the Temple Mount back to Moslem control. It seems that God had predicted a wilderness-type experience for these years. If so, then the 40 years is up this year!

In Psalm 90, Moses laid out a prophetic scenario connecting the six days of Creation with six thousand years of human his-tory. The seventh day, wherein God rested, typifies the seventh millennium as a time of “kingdom rest.” Moses wrote: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yes-terday when it is past, and as a watch in the night” (Ps. 90:4). This is what led nine Old Testament prophets to write about the “day of the LORD” — and the establishment of the messianic kingdom. They seemed to imply that the “day of the LORD” would be a thousand years in length. This cor-responds with John’s statement that Jesus would reign over this world for “a thousand years” (Rev. 20:4-6).

Psalms 90 and 91As if right on schedule, Saddam Hussein

invaded Kuwait on the Jewish calendar date of Av 9, in August 1990, thus bringing down the wrath of the United States upon his head. Psalm 91 offered a marvelous de-scription of that war. In fact, since the days of World War II, Psalm 91 had been viewed as a promise of protection in a time of war. A soldier in the Philippines took a Japanese bullet aimed at his heart. The bullet pierced his Gideon Bible and stopped at the verse: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten

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thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee” (Ps. 91:7).

As our troops deployed to Saudi Arabia, groups across America began copying Psalm 91 onto cards and letters and sending them to our soldiers. It was a spontaneous and unorganized effort. To me, it was the most spectacular confirmation of hidden prophecies in the Psalms that I could ever imagine!

Psalm 107 and Beyond!With the conclusion of 2006, I am

convinced that the first 106 psalms were fulfilled in chronological order. David and Solomon had compiled those psalms.

However, Ezra is credited with compiling Psalms 107-150 following the Babylonian Captivity. These psalms don’t have the feel of a chronology, which I think is quite significant. They correspond to the Mosaic book of Deuteronomy, in which Moses repeats certain aspects relating to his previ-ous books and brings Israel to the brink of entering the kingdom.

In like manner, Psalms 107-150 present reflections on the past century, plus various groupings of psalms that seem to explode into a confluence of events running together in order to bring about the establishment of the messianic kingdom.

It is clear from reading Psalms 107-150, that Ezra was looking toward the future kingdom. He and Nehemiah had brought thousands of refugees back from the Persian Empire and reestablished the government as a vassal state of Persia. But Ezra knew that the messianic kingdom must await the ful-fillment of Daniel’s prophecies. So, Psalms 107-150 were distinctly set for the far fu-ture, not for fulfillment in Ezra’s day.

Seven Inverted NunsIn Psalms 107, the Hebrew text displays a

set of seven inverted or reversed b nuns, the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet (though they do not appear in English versions).

It is not normal for a letter to be drawn upside down, or backward within the inspired text. It seems as if someone was drawing a picture, not of a Hebrew letter, but of seven upturned bowls of wrath being poured out upon the Earth. The context in which these drawings are found implies exactly that. You can read verses 23-40 and see the theme of wrath and judgment for yourself.

The first six inverted b nuns (each placed before one of the verses 23-28) allude to John’s “vials of wrath” (Rev. 16). The seventh reversed b nun (placed before verse 40) alludes to the coming of the Messiah to judge the world in the midst of the Battle

of Armageddon. And, in verses 41 and 42, the Lord establishes the long-awaited mes-sianic kingdom.

Ah, but that is not to say that the vials will be poured out in 2007! This is only an introductory psalm to the entire section of 44 psalms. It is difficult to divide these psalms into groupings, but some divisions are apparent. For example, Psalms 120-134 is a division all its own. These 15 psalms are classified as “Songs of Degrees,” and seem to be organized into five sets of three psalms each — each division correspond-ing with one of the five books of the Law (Gen.-Deut.). As I read the Songs of De-grees, I could see events that took place in the twentieth century.

For example, Psalm 120 says: “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech

(Moscow).“I am for peace: but when I speak, they

are for war” (Ps. 120:5,7). To me, the Songs of Degrees clearly

reflect upon the events of the 1900s. Another example: Psalms 46-150 com-

prise a grand “Hallelujah Chorus.” Obvi-ously, they adorn the coronation of the Messiah and celebrate the establishment of Heaven’s kingdom on Earth.

Return from the WildernessAs Psalm 107 opens, we can see the

children of Israel returning to the Promised Land. However, this is not about entering into the land under Joshua. The context is definitely end-time. Though verse 4 says, “They wandered in the wilderness” verse 3 reminds us that God “gathered them out of the ... east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.” In other words, this is not a reference to Joshua’s crossing the Jordan, but to an ingathering at the close of a future “proverbial” wilderness experi-ence, akin to, but not actually, the original wilderness sojourn.

Some years ago, I gave a lecture entitled “The Wilderness Experience,” wherein I demonstrated how two earlier b nuns had been reversed. The first one points to 1967/68. This first inverted b nun (there are nine of them in all) is located in Num-bers 10:35, which says, “Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered.” This same verse is repeated in Psalm 68:1, thus marking the time when the Temple Mount was returned to Islamic control following the Six-Day War. It represents a prophecy of pouring out the wrath of God. That was the first inverted b nun, whose verse was repeated in Psalm 68. Forty psalms later brings us to Psalm 107:4, and the verse that says, “They wandered in the wilderness.” This tells me that we have entered a new

era in Israel’s history — the days for the establishment of the messianic kingdom.

After Joshua led the people across the Jordan River, they spent the next several years fighting to gain control. In like man-ner, other prophets indicate that Israel will have to face its enemies. There can be no messianic kingdom without the Battle of Gog and Magog, and the great war of Ar-mageddon. Seven vials of wrath are ahead for this world.

Psalm 109 alludes to the Antichrist: “For the mouth of the wicked and the

mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

“Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

“When he shall be judged, let him be condemned” (Ps 109:2,6,7).

Psalm 110 speaks of Christ’s coming:“Thou are a priest for ever after the order

of Melchizedek.“The Lord at thy right hand shall strike

through kings in the day of his wrath.“He shall judge among the heathen, he

shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many coun-tries” (Ps. 110:4-6).

This view of the Savior’s Second Coming is followed by Psalms 111-113, in which we find “Praise ye the LORD” (hallelujah in Hebrew) four times, corresponding to “Al-leluia” given four times in Rev. 19:1-6.

Again, in Psalms 115-117, there are more hallelujahs, followed by Psalm 118 — a psalm referred to by Jesus, as He told the Pharisees that He was going away and would not return until He heard them say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 23:39). That is a quote from Psalm 118:26. Note that this verse directly precedes Matthew 24, the great chapter about the return of Christ and the “end of the world” (Matt. 24:3).

Psalm 118:24 says, “This is the day which the LORD hath made.” This is no ordinary day, as some would have us think. This is the “Day of the Lord” — the seventh mil-lennium!

Well, as you can see, there is a lot to be learned from a study of the Psalms. With Iran threatening to exterminate Israel; with the Hezbollah and Syria digging in along Israel’s northern border; and the Hamas in control of the Palestinian Authority, it looks like 2007 (to say the least) will be a difficult year. May I encourage you to study the Psalms, not just from a practical viewpoint, as most commentaries have it, but from a prophetic view. We may not find any more chronologies in the Psalms, but the prophe-cies are there, nevertheless. u