Our study with Psalm 78 entitled “For he established a testimony in Jacob” is available here.

All of the word of God is written for those who He is judging today (1Pet 4:17), and this particular Psalm reveals how God is establishing the testimony (the “witness” of Rev 11:3) in those who He is dragging to His son (Joh 6:44) to be judged by those fiery words that convict us that we are “the man” of (2Sam 12:7).

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

2Sa 12:7  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

It is because of that judgement upon us that the dark sayings, the parables which our fathers of old have told us, can be understood as we are loosed of the bands of iniquity in our lives by the fiery word of God that sanctifies those who God is working with in this age (Joh 17:17).

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

The first three verses of this Psalm admonish us to incline our ears to those words that have been hidden from the many and revealed to the few who are called to witness of his great power as we grow in grace and knowledge and become comfortable in that fiery word which will one day consume the rest of the world (Jer 5:14 , Dan 3:25).

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Dan 3:25  He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

What comes to mind when reading these first three verses (Psa 78:1-3) is just how great that darkness is within our hearts, and all the world’s hearts until the light of Christ enlightens us (Eph 1:18 , Mat 13:11).

Psa 78:1  Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
Psa 78:2  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
Psa 78:3  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

The testimony being established in Jacob is a symbolic statement telling us what God is going to do within the weak of the world in this age as the kind of first fruits who He is going to bring unto maturity to give hope to the rest of the world, His great power and ability declaring the end from the beginning. Christ is the author and the finisher of that testimony (Rom 4:17 , Heb 12:2).

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.