Preface: Here is an example on what the following post from earlier this year is about. I was simply doing some reading and in the book the 37th Psalm was quoted...."Do no fret because of evildoers....for they shall soon be cut down like the grass....but the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD....He is their strength in the time of trouble." My mind went immediately to the topic in the post below.....the 37th Psalm.....1937. Here's another example from a week ago when my wife and I went to see the film Golda....which is about the 1973 Yom Kippur War where Israel was caught by surprise and came close to losing that war. Psalm 73 begins....this verse 2...."But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped." The 117th Psalm is the shortest....only two verses. The 118th is a messianic psalm....as is the 18th Psalm....and the 119th is a torah psalm.....as is the 19th Psalm. Something is happening here in some kind of chronological form....in that I have no doubt.
'Prophecy In The Psalms'
J. R. Church was a Baptist minister who was the founder of a television ministry....Prophecy In The News. If you are anywhere near as old as me then you would remember the program on Christian television.There are a lot of prophecy teachers who I just glance over....hardly paying any attention to them....and there are others who I have at least have confidence in their intellectual integrity....and give serious effort to reading their books. J. R. Church was one of the latter....even though his dispensational theology weakened other areas of his biblical ministry.
He wrote a book back in 1986 where at first glance at the title it would seem that he was in the former group.....coming up with wild speculations just to sell books and appear relevant. I read the book when it was published. It was not convincing....but then there was something about it that over the years kept nagging at me.
The title is.....Hidden Prophecy In The Psalms....ok so far because there is prophecy all through the Psalms....and prophesy by its very nature is often for a time....hidden....until God reveals it....but J. R. Church came up with a theory that in itself should give an alarm. It's a long story but suffice it to say that in that theory the end of the age is linked to the twentieth century and to the Psalms.....whereas Psalm 1 would have some kind of description to 1901....Psalm 2 to 1902....and so on. Are you still with me or have you abandoned ship already?
Every few years....maybe every five or ten years....I would revisit the book....for although J. R. Church seemed to speculate too much....he also may have stumbled across something.....(I know...poor choice of a phrase....stumbled upon....when God is in control of everything!)
I have to digress a little bit here....or more accurately....fast-forward. In 2015....O. Palmer Robertson....a genuine theologian....wrote another speculative book of the Psalms....The Flow Of The Psalms....Discovering Their Structure And Theology. This book is somewhere near the top on books that I have read because it opened up the Psalms to me. The author is well respected in the most picky of reformed circles. If you are interested....I wrote a post on this book back on June 28, 2018....titled.....The Flow Of The Psalms.
So back to J. R. Church....personal opinion obviously....he was not correct in his theory....but after observing and studying and pulling this book out every so often....it does not seem that he was totally wrong either. The chronology of both books is very structured....but whereas Church's structure is in dates....Robertson's is very clear in its redemptive-historical progression. I recommend Robertson's book but tell you in advance that it is a serious read.
The book....Hidden Prophecy In The Psalms....uses as it basis Psalm 49:4...."I will open my dark sayings upon the harp"....the 'dark sayings' being prophecy....and the 'harp' being the Psalms. The impression that I get today is that J. R. Church....(he went to be with the Lord in 2011)....is considered now to have been wrong....this being 2023...so let's not publicize the book too much....whereas as I see in it that the full story on this theory has not come to a conclusion yet. There are all kinds of possible variables....similar to in O. Palmer Robertson's book....where the 'flow' as he put is surely there....but was there even more that the author did not see? The chronology in Church's book may jump around as it does in the book of Jeremiah. The Psalms....particularly in the fifth book within the Psalms....Psalm 107 to 150....seem to take a very serious turn....building in intensity around Psalm 118....and putting us right smack in the middle of many events going on right now in the world.
O. Palmer Robertson labeled the five books within Psalms....1-41 as 'Confrontation'....42-72 as 'Communication'....73-89 as 'Devastation'....90-106 as 'Maturation'....and the final section....107- 150 as 'Consummation.' The author would surely not agree with this but he may have been inadvertently entering into a chronology of years.
There are various ways to study prophecy. One would be to pick the eschatology that agrees with what you already believe....or one that is so exciting that you make yourself believe it....and then you just memorize as much as you can to defend it. That's the most popular way of doing it. Another would be to have some semblance of humility....firmly believing whatever you may truly firmly believe....but keeping an open mind in that God is revealing His prophecies in Scripture in His perfect time....and thus....'dark sayings'....'upon the harp'....may indeed turn out to be some of them!
