Nov 2, 2008
Sermon: Psalm 67
Andrew Raynes, speaking on 02nd November 2008 (AM). Find more from this book or this speaker.
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This sermon was part of the series: All people everywhere - God’s world mission.
The sermon was interrupted from as though Israel was the Church. This would be the position of the majority of theologins today. Most commentaries also take this view. When the psalm was scribed, the start of the Church was still a few centuries in the future.
The writer of the psalm would no doubt have in mind the promise of Genesis 12 that through the offspring of Abram all nations would be blessed. It seems to me that whilst the Saviour is in view, this psalm points to the future at Jesus’s second coming when He sets up His Kingdom. He is then anointed King of the Jews, and indeed King of the nations.
The Millennial reign of Jesus is a less commonly held view of the future, but one which fits the Bible’s metanarative (the big picture) better and demands a literal interpretation of the Bible.
The psalm points to a time in the future when God’s blessing to Israel will be seen and understood by the nations. This is not a selfish psalm where Israel wants to blessed primarily, but that Israel wants the God of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob to be praised by all nations. Bless us Lord, not for our sake, but for your glory, is the sentiment.
Do you think that the Gospel would be heard and understood better if we accepted that Israel means Israel? Israel is God’s people and the Church is God’s people, but Israel is not the Church and the Church is not Israel.