Two different fates - eternal life in Psalm 49

In Psalm 49, we read:

This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,

    and of their followers, who approve their sayings.

14 They are like sheep and are destined to die;

    death will be their shepherd

    (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).

Their forms will decay in the grave,

    far from their princely mansions.

15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;

    he will surely take me to himself.

There are two kinds of people: the one who trusts in themselves and the one who trusts in the Lord. These people have different fates: die or live with the Lord.

Everyone wants to live beyond death, but the one who trusts in the Lord wants to be taken to the Lord.

meditate on the Lord's unfailing love.

 In Psalm 48:9, we read: "Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.". 

I have heard many sermons about to belong to the body of Christ (where many different persons unite their gifts), but in practice it is very difficult to create meaningful relationships inside the church. 

Here in Psalm 48:9, the psalmist declares that the congregation meditates on the Lord's unfailing love. I think that this verse is saying to me: "look how the Lord is taking care of you. Praise the Lord for all He has done to you. How He has being taking care of you, your family and the church". 

A better me and a better church is created when we mediate on the Lord's unfailing love instead of meditating on the love received by our brothers and sisters.

nations under the people of the Lord

 In Psalm 47 we read that:

- the Lord Most High is the great king over all the earth (v2)

- the Lord loves Israel (Jacob) and chose its possession. (v4)

- the Lord subdued nations under Israel. He set peoples under the feet of Israel. (v6)

- all nations are called to clap their hands, in honor to the Lord.

As a Christian, I consider that all these verses are true to Christians because Christians are the people of the Lord. .

The teaching of Jesus were contrary to Rome.

Rome subdued nations by its power. Rome killed many Christians.

How did Christians subdue Rome?

They obeyed the King Jesus when He said to love the enemies and pray for them.

Even when Christians were killed, they praised the Lord. This faith and courage were the seeds to convert many other Romans that were looking the slaughter. The Lord's power is very different from men's power.

In Psalm 47, we see that the Lord set nations under his people.

Praise be to the Lord!

The Lord bans war inside me

In Psalm 46:

Attention, all! See the marvels of God!

    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,

Bans war from pole to pole,

    breaks all the weapons across his knee.

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,

    loving look at me, your High God,

    above politics, above everything.”

I retired from my job as a teacher. 

It seems to me that most of my life was at war.

I remember saying to myself as a child: I don't understand how they say that children are happy. I am not happy.

Since I was a child, I had to struggle as I had to prove that I was worthy living. 

It began in school: I had to prove I was a good student and make my way to university.

Then, I had to prove that I deserved my salary.

and more recently, I had to prove that I had some value as a teacher before my students.

Even in home, it seems that I have to prove to my wife that I care for her of for the house.

The problem is that I am always failing, I am always loosing wars.

In Psalm 46, I read that the Lord bans war.

Let him bans the war inside myself.

I don't have to prove anything to the Lord, do I?

He knows me and He knows everything about my failures.

The Lord is calling me to look to Him, to see his marvels.

Let me take a long, loving look to my High God. 

Let me marvel about the Sun, the sky, the plants and the birds that He created.

Let me marvel about the blood that pumps in my arteries, my brain that recognizes Him as my Lord. I myself is His.

He is above everything. He is above my failures. He bans war and bring me peace.

Was it possible to expect a Messiah as the Second Person of Trinity based on the Tanakh?

It is very rare to find texts that point to a future king as the Second Person of Trinity in the Tanakh, Old Testament. Well, in some sense, the whole Bible points to Jesus, I know... but I don't find many prophetic texts that point to a king that should be praised as the Lord, as the Second Person of Trinity. 

Let me illustrate it. Moses says in Deuteronomy 18:15-22 about a future prophet like Moses. 

15 One day, the Lord your God will send to you a prophet like me. He will come from among your own people. You must listen to him. 

We, Christians, understand that Moses was referring  to Jesus, but we see Jesus as much more than a prophet like Moses. By this text, a Jew would not think of this prophet as the Second Person of Trinity.

In 2 Samuel 7 we read the prophet Nathan saying to David:

“‘The Lord declares(AD) to you that the Lord himself will establish(AE) a house(AF) for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest(AG) with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood,(AH) and I will establish his kingdom.(AI) 13 He is the one who will build a house(AJ) for my Name,(AK) and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.(AL) 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son.(AM) When he does wrong, I will punish him(AN) with a rod(AO) wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him,(AP) as I took it away from Saul,(AQ) whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me[b]; your throne(AR) will be established(AS) forever.(AT)’”

At first glance, Nathan was talking about Solomon. The problem with him is that his throne was not established forever. Christians believe that Jesus kingdom was established forever fulfilling this prophecy despite it is written "when he does wrong". All Christianity believes that Jesus was perfect, with no sin. So, again, it is difficult through this text to see the future Messiah as the Second Person of Trinity.

There are other passages in the Old Testament that points to Jesus but I am just stating that it is difficult for a Jew to see Jesus, as God himself, through these passages. It is clear that the pharisees and even the disciples of Jesus were not expecting a Messiah like Him. 

Today I read Psalm 45 which talks about a king. I don't know how the Jews read this Psalm, but I find it is impossible to read without Jesus.

We read:

5 Let your sharp arrows(K) pierce the hearts(L) of the king’s enemies;(M)

    let the nations fall beneath your feet.

6 Your throne, O God,[c] will last for ever and ever;(N)

    a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

7 You love righteousness(O) and hate wickedness;(P)

    therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions

    by anointing(Q) you with the oil of joy.(R)

The Psalmist is addressing the king as Elohim (God) in verse 6. 

Here, I (and I think that all Christianity) see verse 6 referring to Jesus as the Second Person of Trinity.

10 Listen, daughter,(AC) and pay careful attention:(AD)

    Forget your people(AE) and your father’s house.

11 Let the king be enthralled by your beauty;(AF)

    honor(AG) him, for he is your lord.(AH)

Here the Psalmist is talking about a wedding. The bride is said to honor him, but is some translations we see "adore". The bride should bow down to him. Christians identify the bride as the church.

There are other Psalms that refers to a Messiah as the Lord as in Psalm 2 and 110, but I didn't remember about this Psalm that I read today. 

Therefore, I believe that it is not very easy for a Jew to expect a Messiah as the Second Person of Trinity. There some passages, as Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53 that are impossible to understand without Jesus, but still, these passages don't point to a Messiah as the Second Person of Trinity. 

Psalm 45 is a rare passage that points to a Messiah as Elohim in verse 6.

The Lord was merciful to me in my tribulations

 The Lord is my Creator and the Lord is merciful.

He saw me when was suffering bullying, when I was persecuted without cause.

Now, I am retired. I lack nothing (as in Psalm 23). 

The Lord has saved me from my persecutors. 

When I was persecuted, it was difficult or impossible to feel the presence of the Lord. 

Now, looking in hindsight, I know that the Lord kept me safe and alive. 

Let my soul praise the Lord, for what He has done.

Questioning the Lord's justice to the Lord

In Psalm 44:20-22, we read in MSG:

If we had forgotten to pray to our God

    or made fools of ourselves with store-bought gods,

Wouldn’t God have figured this out?

    We can’t hide things from him.

No, you decided to make us martyrs,

    lambs assigned for sacrifice each day.

The psalmist remembers how the Lord was with Israel through his victories, but now, the Lord seems absent in face of so much defeat. Why these defeats are happening? The psalmist doesn't know but he questions what the Lord is doing.

If psalms are a model for Christians to pray, I can't remember of questioning the Lord's justice when praying to the Lord. I have a very normal prayer: Lord thank you for X ; please provide me Y, etc. I want to be more open to the Lord despite looking pious or not. I want to pray as the psalmist prays because I want to see the Lord present in my life. I don't want to see the Lord as a mental abstraction.

Enemies: to be blessed or cursed? Part 2

 Let's talk about justice. Suppose: a man treats another as a good friend. He invites him to eat with him at his home. However, the "friend" betrays him. He explains to thieves how to steal the good soul. Is it just to pray against the traitor? Yes, absolutely like Psalm 41. The Lord has put some sense of justice in our hearts that cry out for revenge.

On the other hand, the good soul could pray for the traitor's benefit as in Matthew. What must be good for him? Repent, die for self and live for Jesus. The divine answer may represent something that makes the traitor to repent from his sins. I understand that a prayer for or against our enemies is pleasing to the Lord and the Lord may answer both in the same way.

In the New Testament we find at least one case where a man is cursed by Paul. We could say that since Paul saw him as an enemy, he should pray for him, for his benefit, but this is not what we read in Acts 13:

6 They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer(Q) and false prophet(R) named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was an attendant of the proconsul,(S) Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer(T) (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul(U) from the faith.(V) 9 Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,(W) looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil(X) and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?(Y) 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you.(Z) You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”(AA) Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul(AB) saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

I understand that we cannot generalize the rules of the Bible. It could be argued that Paul was actually doing the sorcerer good because, through his blindness, he could "see" the Lord's power and repent.

In short, I am considering that I myself can pray for or against my enemy. The key is to pray, to let the Lord do justice. If my Lord is my friend, I have to be very sincere with Him expecting that He listens to my prayers. Ultimately, let the Lord be glorified by my actions and modify my heart due to my prayer.

Enemies: to be blessed or cursed?

I am still searching for a better explanation on: "are enemies to be loved (Matthew) or hated (Psalms) ?".

I tried to reconcile Matthew and Psalms saying that some enemies are to be hated (or at least avoided) and some are to be loved. I said that even in New Testament some people are to be avoided: mainly the ones who deserted Christian faith. I compared them to Judas Iscariot who walked with Jesus searching for his own interest. 

It is one way of thinking but there must be more. It is still a shallow thought because, even the other disciples were walking in hopes of being great leaders over Israel, sitting besides Jesus. So, it seems to me, that in a sense, I myself, am following Jesus for my reward. This is not bad at all! This is approved by Jesus! A son that obeys his father is, in a way, seeking his benefit because the father wants the best to his children. The problem is what a man treasures more.

Judas sold Jesus in order to get money. He made a terrible deal: he exchanged the great pearl for a tiny pearl. However, other disciples didn't do the same. They were almost loosing hope when they saw Jesus nailed at the cross. They got lost and went back to fishing wondering how much injustice had been done to the One who fed people, who walked on the sea of Galilee, who made them see the Lord of the Universe. 

The Lord is good. He created us to be his people, his chosen ones. He wanted to share his creation with us. In fact, He subjected his creation to the dominion of men, but the men rebelled against the Lord, and became evil, sinner, against the will of the Lord. 

Men are to subject themselves to the Lord and care for creation like a gardener who aligns his will with the owner of the garden.

However, men decided to take the garden and use it to themselves for their evil desires. By doing so, they rebelled against the Lord, becoming his enemies. Corrupted men became slaves of money, sex, power. In some sense, instead of having dominion over the creation, the creation had dominion over them. Men treasured more the creation than the Creator becoming his enemies.

Are enemies (Lord's enemies) to be blessed or cursed?

In Ephesians 6, we read:

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

According to Ephesians, it seems to me that we should pray for everyone, even to some "Judas Iscariot" that we may encounter in our lives because our fight is against the spiritual forces of evil. Is it a good conclusion? 

In Psalm 139 David says that he hates the enemies of the Lord, that he sides with the Lord against some people. Should this people include Saul or Absalom? Saul and Absalom were loved by David even though David killed many people like Philistines and the Canaanites. Saul and Absalom were much closer to Judas Iscariot than the Canaanites. 

Well, I am still wondering: are there some human enemies to be hated? How to proper read Psalms? I don't think there is an easy answer to this question, but let the Lord guide me when reading Psalms. I want to read it according to his will and I want to see how Matthew and Psalms complement each other. 

Love is the great commandment because it reflects our Lord. He is a loving God. Let me love as the Lord wishes. 

However, let me also hate as the Lord wishes (as I am trying to understand Psalms). I will continue showing people that were cursed in the New Testament. 

What is wrong with Brazilian Christians compared to Japanese non-Christians?

 According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_country , 90.2% of Brazilians are Christians, while only 1.1% of Japanese are Christians.

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate , the intentional homicide rate in Brazil is 22.5 intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, while in Japan it is only 0.3.

In conclusion, a nation of unbelievers seems to be an example for a nation of believers.

According to the Bible, we are born sinners, enemies of God. It is only through Jesus that we have our hearts transformed. This goes for the Brazilian and the Japanese. However, in practice, the Japaneses are behaving much more in accordance with the teachings of Jesus than the Brazilians, despite their evil hearts, at least when we talk about homicide rate.

My explanation begins with:

• - the 90.2% of Christians in Brazil are clearly wrong. It is more convenient to profess the Christian faith in a Christian country. This is particularly true for Catholics: many people are baptized in a Catholic church but do not attend any religious services.
• - in Japanese culture, society comes before the individual. In Brazil it is the opposite.
• - Japan went through famines, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. These difficulties shaped Japanese society to expel those who do not work. Society obliges everyone to contribute, to work. Brazil has not faced problems like this.

Despite this explanation, I am sure that the percentage of Christians in Brazil is much higher than in Japan. Does Christianity have any influence on the Brazilian soul? I will continue saying that "sin" can not be measured by intentional homicide rate alone. Brazilians are more open to Jesus because their sins are different.

• - According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate , the suicide rate is 6.4 deaths per 100,000 population, while Japan has a higher suicide rate of 12.2.
• It is evident to me as a Brazilian, of Japanese descent, that Brazilians enjoy life much more than Japanese people. I think that, in general, a Brazilian is happier than a Japanese. You could argue that since Brazilians haven't gone through the Japanese adversities, they are happier, but I think it is something more profound. 
• - Brazilians are more open to other cultures. Although I was bullied when I was young, I think Japanese society is much more prejudiced than Brazilian society.
• - Pharisees behave better than prostitutes and tax collectors, but Jesus came to save the lost. Suddenly, the Brazilian people have the notion that they are even more lost. Brazilians need Jesus more.
• - Some sinners are more transparent than others. For instance: an adulterer is more transparent than an arrogant person (because his sin is more scandalous). I think that Japanese people are very proud but they seem humble. It is very difficult to understand what goes in a Japanese mind. For me, a Brazilian, people here are much more transparent and humble. 

In resume, Brazilians Christians seem to be much worse than Japanese non-Christians and in a shallow reasoning, it seems an argument for the failure of Christianity. However, in a more deep reasoning, Jesus changes individuals and society. Jesus came to the sick, for who that recognizes their sickness (because Brazilian and Japanese societies alike are ill). Jesus changes our eyes. The world is beautiful with Jesus. Brazilian society is more open, transparent and happy than the Japanese society. 

Are enemies to be despised (Psalms) or loved (Matthew)?

I read in Psalm 139:22. 

I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

and in Matthew 5:44:

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

David curses his enemies in many Psalms. In fact, I don´t know of any psalm that says something similar to "love your enemies". Some say, that David is searching for the Lord's help when persecuted and that despite his hate for his enemies, he is searching for the justice of the Lord. According to this view, it seems that after praying to the Lord, David could love his enemies. I agree on it, but I think that it is a very shallow view.

Expanding a little more Psalm 139, we are informed that David considers himself aligned to the Lord because he hates the enemies of the Lord:

Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Jesus must have read the Psalms many and many times. In fact, many Psalms, notoriously Psalm 22, prophetically reflects Jesus. So, are Jesus teachings pro or against Psalms?

Some people see Jesus as one who loved his enemies. In fact, Jesus prayed in favor of his enemies that were killing him in the cross. However, it doesn't mean He will send everyone to heaven.

Jesus says in Matthew 7:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’(V)

In Matthew 7, Jesus calls 'evildoers' people who see themselves as Jesus followers. He sends these people away from him. Certainly, we can qualify these people as enemies of Jesus. They are hated by Jesus.  

Judas Iscariot is portrayed as a disciple who sees in Jesus a way to conquer what he wants: money. In John chapter 12, he uses the argument of helping the poor as a cover for more access to money.

In Psalms 41:9-10 New Century Version (NCV):

My best and truest friend, who ate at my table, has even turned against me. LORD, have mercy on me. Give me strength so I can pay them back.

I believe that Jesus could have said the very same thing against Judas as David because it is evident that some psalms are really prophetic.

In conclusion, Psalms and Matthew walk together and complement each other. The problem resides in identifying the correct enemies to be loved or to be hated. 

The enemies to be loved are the ones who, clearly, don't belong to God's people, who need God's grace and understand this lack of God's grace on their own lives. A Christian must love his enemy and has power to do so when he understands how graciously the Lord has been to himself. Let me love the one who hates me because the Lord has loved me first when I myself was his enemy. 

The enemies to be hated (at least, avoided) are the ones who should be our friends because they claim to love the Lord, but in fact, they are using the Lord as means to serve their false gods (notoriously money). 

In the last supper, the disciples questioned themselves when Jesus told them that there was one traitor among them. In some way, I must study myself: am I using the Lord? or do I serve Him? It is really difficult to know the answer based on my effort. Let the Lord answer this question and correct me before it is too late, as David said:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.