Today, Sunday June 11
The Invitation Psalm
Psalm 67:1-20
To the Chief Musician. A Song. A Psalm.
Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You. All the earth shall worship You And sing praises to You; They shall sing praises to Your name." Selah
Come and see the works of God; He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land; They went through the river on foot. There we will rejoice in Him. He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations; Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
For years I have called Psalm 66, “The Invitation Psalm”. In verse 5 we are invited to “come and see the works of God”. In verse 16, we are again invited to “come and hear, all you who fear God”. First, come and see God’s awesome works. God’s mighty deeds on behalf of Israel is a testimony to us concerning the power of God to deliver us from the enemy of death.
Second, come and hear about what God can do for an individual soul (v. 16). Creation and history reveal to the world that there is a sovereign God Who rules supremely over all the earth. History is His story! We can see the hand of God throughout the centuries especially in His deliverance of the nation of Israel from Egypt. Over and over again we read in Scripture and also see how He protected them from their enemies.
The title of this Psalm does not reveal to us who the specific writer is. Some commentators, like Spurgeon believe that David is the writer because of the style and the way it reads. Others believe there are good reasons for thinking that it was written by godly King Hezekiah after the final overthrow of Sennacherib before the gates of Jerusalem. They believe this event was the Lord's miraculous defeat of Assyria (Isaiah 36-37) and that the individual speaking in verses 13-20 was King Hezekiah, whose prayer the Lord answered (Isaiah 37:14-20).
Whoever wrote this Psalm is encouraging and exhorting the Gentile nations to praise the Lord (vv. 1-7). Then in verses 8-12, he moves to Israel and their praise for His deliverance from Egypt. And he concludes with the individual believer praising the Lord and inviting us to join him (vv. 13-20). As we read in the title it is a song to be sung or a Psalm to be read, and probably both, as we remember how awesome our God is!
But there is more to it than that. If this psalm has its roots in history, it has its realization in prophecy. It looks on to the coming millennial reign of Christ. It thus stands shoulder to shoulder with the Psalm which precedes it and the two which follow it. The four Psalms—65, 66, 67, and 68—form a quartet of prophetic utterance extolling the coming golden age. We shall see this constant mingling of Israel's yesterdays and bright tomorrows as we read this happy Hebrew hymn.
In verses 1-7, the psalmist invited all the Gentile nations to praise God for what He had done for Israel! Why? Because through Israel, the Lord brought truth and salvation to the Gentiles. Jesus said, "Salvation is of the Jews" in John 4:22. This is a missionary psalm showing the importance of taking the good news of Jesus Christ into all the world. God's purpose is that all the nations shall praise Him (Psalm 98:4; 100:1; Rom. 15:9-12), but they can't do that until they trust Him (Romans 10:l0-20).
It's tragic that the nations today attack and persecute Israel instead of thanking God for her spiritual contribution to them. But the nations don't know the Lord, and Israel has been blinded and hardened by her unbelief (Rom. 11:25-36). When Israel sees her Messiah and trusts Him, then the world situation will change (Zechariah 13-14), and all the nations will worship the Lord. One day there shall be universal praise lifted for Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:10-11; Rev. 11:15-18).
The writer reviews some of the miraculous history of Israel: the Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Jordan, and the defeat of the nations in Canaan (vv. 5-7; Ex. 15:18). The Exodus was the "birthday" of the Jewish nation and has always been Israel's main exhibition of the glorious power of the Lord (Psalms 77:14-20; 78:12ff; 106:7-12; 114; 136:13; Isa. 63:10-14).
What the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to believers today, the Exodus was to Israel (Eph. 1:15-23). The Jews remember the Exodus at Passover, and the church remembers the death and resurrection of Christ at the Lord's Supper and every Sunday that we go to church!
God bless!