Psalms 83:2

SUMMARY OF THE DANGER THREATENING ISRAEL

"For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult;

And they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

They take crafty counsel against thy people,

And consult together against thy hidden ones.

They have said, Come, let us cut them off from being a nation;

That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

For they have consulted together with one consent;

Against thee do they make a covenant."

"They that hate thee (God) have lifted up the head" (Psalms 83:2). The hatred of the whole evil world against God's people is due primarily to the world's rejection of the value-judgments and strict morality of God's holy religion. The Book of Numbers reveals that it was the Decalogue and particularly its command against adultery that outraged Moab and led to the campaign of Moab and the prophet Balaam against Israel (Numbers 25-26).

"They take crafty counsel against thy people" (Psalms 83:3). An example of such crafty counsel is mentioned in Numbers 31:16, which refers to the crafty counsel of Balaam to the Moabites which led to the disaster at Baal-Peor (Numbers 24-26).

"Come let us cut them off from being a nation" (Psalms 83:4). The picture of counsels being held and of purposes being outlined in these verses raises a question of, "Who led such maneuvers?" The answer, of course, is Satan. Not only in the final days, when Satan shall rally Gog and Magog to make war against God's people, but in ancient Israel (as in this chapter), and, for that matter, throughout human history, the inveterate, implacable enemy of all righteousness is Satan. The evil one (the devil) is very angry, "For he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12).

History indicates clearly that many efforts have been made by satanically led nations to destroy God's true religion. The Roman emperors attempted it; and the prophecies reveal that other attempts will be made in the future.

Barnes pointed out that an attempt is now in progress to destroy God's church through, prosperity, radical criticism and denial of the Bible, materialism, humanism, (and recently by Communism). These are the phases of Satan's war against the Truth at the present time. "Whether the Church can be destroyed by such opposition is now before the mind of Satan."[11]

Why does not Satan attempt to destroy the church by murderous persecutions, as in the past? The answer is simple enough; he learned by experience that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.