ANNOUNCER: One of the favorite verses in Psalms and most comforting as we understand it is, “Be still and know that I am God.” But are we understanding it correctly? What if it really has to do with judgment? You may be surprised as we talk about the real meaning of that verse today on Grace in Focus. Thank you for joining us. This is the podcast and radio broadcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website, faithalone.org. You will find our bookstore there and a number of books, Bob Wilkin’s most recent book, The Gospel Is Still Under Siege. You can also find out about our online seminary. You can earn an MDiv degree, free, if you maintain a 3.0 average. It’s all at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s discussion, here is Bob Wilkin, along with Philippe Sterling.

BOB: Philippe, we’ve been talking about the Second Coming of Christ, and I thought it might be interesting to discuss some expressions that are much misunderstood. For example, one of them is “Be still and know that I am God.” And that’s from what, Psalm 46? 

PHILIPPE: Yes, that’s from Psalm 46 verse 10. 

BOB: Okay, before we look at it, you’re very much a student of what’s called contemplative spirituality, and you’re like me, very concerned about it, and see that as a dangerous sort of practice. But isn’t this a verse that used a lot by people within contemplative? 

PHILIPPE: Yeah, that one small portion of Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God” is one of the key verses that mystics of the ages have used in terms of centering prayers, stilling the mind so that you can go into basically an alternate reality and sense the presence of God with you and be in communion with Him. 

BOB: Right, and that is also where we get a lot of people using this for silent retreats. You know the old joke, by the way, don’t you? 

PHILIPPE: About silent retreats? 

BOB: Well, kind of. It’s about the monk that was a novitiate. He was on a 21 year novitiate and after seven years, he had a vow of silence. So he hadn’t said a word for seven years. And so he meets with the abbot and he says, well, you get two words, what would you like to say, my son? And he said, bed hard. And he says, okay, thank you, my son, go back for seven more years. So he goes and he works for seven more years. And then he meets with the abbot again. And he says, okay, my son, you have two more words. What would you like to say? And he says, food cold. He says, okay, my son, go back and work. So he works seven more years. And then he comes to meet with the abbot and they’re going to make him a full-fledged monk. And he says, okay, my son, you have two more words. And he says, I quit. And you know what the abbot said that day?

PHILIPPE: What did the abbot say?

BOB: He said, well, it doesn’t surprise me at all because you’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here. Okay. You know, but the sad thing about silent retreats and silence and everything else, is people have mistakenly thought that that would somehow produce spirituality. And one of their key verses is a verse that says nothing about what they’re talking about. What does Psalm 46 talk about in its context?

PHILIPPE: Well, in its context, it’s about God being a refuge and strength for the nation of Israel. The Lord is with them and yet the nations are against them. And ultimately, it talks about the fact that the Lord will come back and He will make wars to cease to the end of the earth. He will break the bow and cut the spear in two. This is a Second Coming and the millennial kingdom. 

BOB: You know, all fits in what we’re talking about. 

PHILIPPE: Yes, it all fits with the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom. And then in that He addresses Israel and the nations and saying, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” So it’s a messianic psalm concerning the coming of the Lord to establish His kingdom. And that call will lead to the people of the nations to acknowledge Him and to cease fighting against Him. 

BOB: Would you say that “be still and know that I am God” is directed to Israel or to these nations that are opposing God? 

PHILIPPE: I think it’s to the nations that are opposing God. 

BOB: Based on, look at verse 9, “He makes war cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two, He burns the chariot in the fire.” And so He’s ending war. Well, that that occurs at the end of the Great Tribulation. Right. 

PHILIPPE: And that’s in keeping with Isaiah 2. Well, where in Isaiah chapter two says that they will beat their swords into plowshares. 

BOB: All right. We’ll get there in a second because I want to go to another expression. So, “Be still and know that I am God” is not a contemplative verse at all. It’s basically saying to all the nations of the world, go ahead and send all the armies you want. You’re going to see that I’m God. And ultimately what they should do is put down their arms. Would this be still be telling them to basically, don’t resist, or would this be saying what does it mean for the Gentile armies? 

PHILIPPE: God does call the nations to submit to Christ. 

BOB: And so He’s giving them an offer here. 

PHILIPPE: Yes, if they will submit to Him and acknowledge Him, those who do, those who believed and those who submit to Him will be saved. 

BOB: So if they’re believers, they would have eternal life. And ideally this “be still” would be a step toward, well, then putting down their arms, but also a step toward believing in the Messiah. Because why would you “be stil”l unless they were convinced that the Messiah indeed is God and that the Messiah indeed gives eternal life to those who believe in Him? 

PHILIPPE: Yes, and that’s part of the reason for some of the Tribulation judgments are to bring people to repentance and also to believe in Him for everlasting life. 

BOB: Yes, now Revelation 9 and Revelation 16 both say that the people did not repent of their evil deeds, but they were given the opportunity to repent, and if they had the judgments would have lessened and they would have been more likely to come to faith, assuming they haven’t taken the mark of the beast yet. 

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BOB: Well, let’s go to a related expression. This past Sunday at church, we sang a song at your church, and you remember the chorus that goes, “let the weak say I am strong,” right? Whenever I’ve been in Bible churches that sing that song, people think what it means is something like, okay, I may be a believer that thinks, “Woe is me,” but I’m really strong in the Lord, right? So let the weak say, I’m strong you know, I’m really in the Lord, the Spirit of God lives within me, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13, that’s kind of how they interpret this idea, “let the weak say I am strong.” But where does that come from? 

PHILIPPE: It comes out of the book of Joel, Joel chapter 3 verse 10 goes, “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears, let the weak say I am strong” in verse 11, “assemble and come all you nations and gather together all around. Cause your mighty wants to go down there, oh Lord.” So it’s the nations that are preparing to go against Israel, to oppose Christ at the Second Coming and so the Lord in essence is saying, if you’re going to rebel against Me in and oppose Me, well, then in essence prepare yourself for war, for battle. “Let the weak say I am strong” is addressing the nations who are in opposition to put up their dukes, just to come and do your best against me and I want to show you. 

BOB: So this isn’t directed toward believers saying, I am strong, it’s directed to unbelieving armies to say, go ahead, put your best— 

PHILIPPE: Make my day. 

BOB: Like Dirty Hairy would say or put up your dukes, right, let’s fight, because we don’t sing, “Beat your plow shares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, let the weak say I am strong.” We don’t sing the first part of that, because it wouldn’t fit with the song. But what’s interesting about this Joel 3:10 verse, it’s the polar opposite of what we see at the United Nations. Don’t they have Isaiah 2:4 on a plaque at the United Nations? PHILIPPE: Yes, I think it’s on a plaque that’s there right on entering. 

BOB: And what does Isaiah 2:4 say? Cause it’s the opposite of saying, beat your plowshares into swords, beat your pruning hooks into spears, in other words, you’re making weapons of war. Now in Isaiah 2:4 it says, take your weapons of war and make them implements for agriculture. 

PHILIPPE: Yes, it says, “He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” 

BOB: So even though in Joel 3:10 it tells them to take their agricultural implements and turn them into weapons of war, to the Gentiles. That’s during the Tribulation essentially. The polar opposite occurs after the Tribulation. They’re going to now take those things and turn them back into the implements for agriculture and for good. 

PHILIPPE: Yes, so the Prince of Peace then will establish the peaceable kingdom for the millennial period. 

BOB: Politicians today are looking to establish justice and righteousness and peace on earth. And the truth is for the most part they reject the One who can give that and will give that. And we’re not going to find it. You know, I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, a Republican, an independent. We all should know that we’re not going to find the true kingdom until Christ comes. We’re not going to really get what we want until Christ comes. That’s why we should be saying, “Come quickly Lord Jesus,” right? 

So I would just encourage all of you to realize, “Be still and know that I am God” is not a contemplative verse. It’s inviting the Gentile armies to recognize that God is in control. This is during the Tribulation and He is going to be victorious and they should ultimately come to faith and the part about “let the weak say I am strong,” that’s also a Tribulation verse dealing with God telling the armies to come on, the fight’s about to begin. Let’s join in battle. 

All right, well, thanks so much Philippe, and thank you all and let’s keep grace in focus. 

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Well, thank you, friend, for being with us all this week on Grace in Focus. We hope you have a great, restful weekend. Come back again and join us next week for more Grace in Focus.