THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

LXVII: God's Blessing Of The Nations Through His Blessing Of Israel

(Psalm 67:1-7)

I. Introduction

A. The belief of Amillennialism begun at the Alexandrian school of theology in the third century holds that the Church replaced Israel in God's program so that this current era is to be marked by the rise of the Kingdom of Christ on earth led by the Church. (John F. Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation, 1976, p. 11-15)

B. However, such an era is not developing, what is taught in the Premillennial view we hold, and it claims that the Church will be raptured out of a deteriorating world before Christ returns to set up His 1,000-year reign.

C. Psalm 67:1-7 counters the Amillennial view in favor of Premillennialism, so we view it for our edification:

II. God's Blessing Of The Nations Through His Blessing Of Israel, Psalm 67:1-7.

A. The introductory remarks in the English Bible comprise the first verse of the Hebrew text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1031), so we stay with the verse numbering system of the English Bible for clarity with this lesson.

B. We thus translate Psalm 67:1-7 as follows:

1. "May Elohim be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us. Selah," Psalm 67:1.

2. "That Your ways may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations," Psalm 67:2.

3. "May the peoples publicly, ritually praise (yadah, B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 392) You, O Elohim; may all of the peoples publicly, ritually praise (yadah again) You," Psalm 67:3.

4. "May they be glad and sing for joy because You make just judgment decisions and conduct-them-along-the-right-path (nahah, H. A. W., Theol. Wrdbk. of the O. T., 1980, v. II, p. 568-569). Selah," Psalm 67:4.

5. "May the peoples of the earth publicly, ritually praise (yadah again, cf. v. 3) You, O Elohim; may all of the peoples publicly, ritually praise (yadah again) You," Psalm 67:5.

6. "[Then] the land will yield its harvest, and Elohim, our Elohim, will bless us," Psalm 67:6.

7. "Elohim will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will revere Him," Psalm 67:7.

C. We note significant observations and applications of this psalm (as follows):

1. The Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 12:1-3 provided that God would bless the nations of the world through Abraham, that Abraham's seed would be the vehicle for that worldwide blessing. (Gal. 3:13-14)

2. Psalm 67 fits this view precisely: utilizing a part of the Old Testament high priest's benediction in Numbers 6:24-27 of blessing on the people of Old Testament Israel, the psalmist THUS called for God's blessing on Old Testament Israel (v. 1) to the end that God's ways might be known on the earth, His salvation among all the nations (v. 2) with all the nations subsequently worshiping the Lord (v. 3, 5).

3. Similarly, the Premillennial view of Bible prophecy that we hold provides for the literal Millennial Kingdom of the literal nation Israel through which the saved Gentile nations will be blessed.

4. The Hebrew verb nahah in verse 4 carries not only the idea of guidance, but by use, God's guidance along a right path in grace (Ibid., H. A. W.), and this ministry together with God's just judgment decisions named in verse 4 are predicted in Isaiah 2:3-4 to occur in the Messianic Kingdom. That guidance will be directed by the Lord at the mount of God in "Jerusalem" and lead the nations to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks with nations no longer practicing war nor learning the art of warfare.

5. Thus, opposite the Amillennial view of Bible prophecy, we hold to the Premillennial view, that the literal physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will have a future literal Messianic Kingdom under Christ at His Second Coming, and that all saved Gentiles will be blessed in that Kingdom through God's blessing of a literal Israel. This leads us to love and to support the Hebrew people, to resist dominion theology and reconstructionism that seeks to establish a Christian empire over the nations of the world in this era as we instead hold to the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church.

Lesson: The psalmist called for God to bless Old Testament Israel in grace that His ways might be known on the earth that the whole world might praise and worship Him with Israel in blessing. Thus, Psalm 67 asserts the literal fulfillment of the Genesis 12:1-3 Abrahamic Covenant, what is held in the Premillennial view of Bible prophecy.

Application: May we hold to the Premillennial view of Bible prophecy and not to the nonliteral Amillennial view that urges us to try instituting a Christian empire over the secular world. Rather, may we live separate from this current godless world and spiritually disciple all men for Christ's coming Kingdom!