God's Blessings for God's People
Summer Psalms • Sermon • Submitted
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1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! 6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
This is a Psalm of Thanksgiving. It is a being used as a song. Why is it a Song?
In general… in the world we live in… what is a song?
Some songs we sing are silly, some we sing are not really true, some songs we sing express emotion, some songs we sing to help us remember things...
in the church we use songs… These kids just sang a songs that contained a truth found in scripture that they will now know forever...
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
In our gatherings… We use songs to help us understand truth, to help us remember truth, and to remind us to celebrate truth… Truth about Who??? About God and his nature!
When we use songs to help us know truth, we are catechizing ourselves… in other words, we are teaching and training ourselves to know truth about God.
So if this Psalm is a song, then what truth is it reminding us of?
Let’s look at it one verse at a time...
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
Have you ever heard this before? That God would make his face to shine upon you??? Do you recognize it? do know where it comes from? Do you understand what it is saying? What does it mean for God’s face to shine upon you?
What we know from scripture is that God is spirit… Jesus said in that God is Spirit and must be worshipped in Spirit and Truth.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
But the Bible also declares that God is invisible but Jesus is the image of him...
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
So if God is invisible and spirit then why do we see this phrase the face of God? Make your face shine upon us? If God is spirit then he does not have a human body… we have this term anthropomorphism which is a fancy way to say a way of describing God with anatomical or emotional terms so that humans can better understand Him.
Let me give you an example of that… in a lot of ways we see in scripture it says that when God is going to judge someone or something, that “his face is set against them” or how about this...
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
the point isn’t that God has hands and ears, but rather that he can reach us to save us and hear in our prayers...
So back to his face Shining upon us… what would the idea of someones face shining upon you mean? To shine is to illuminate, to warm, to comfort or to be connected to...
This psalm is starting by referencing a familiar scriptural blessing to Gods people. It is a portion of Aaron’s priestly prayer.
22 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
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To the original hearers of this psalm, to those who would be singing this psalm it would be a reminder that God’s favor, blessing, and presence was with them. This was a blessing that God said his priests should pronounce over his people for them to know he was with them and will bless them.
Yet, it is recorded in scripture and passed on to us to declare a truth and remind us of this truth. SO what is the truth found here???
Truth #1 - God is with us!
Truth #1 - God is with us!
and as we read through this psalm we see the word Selah follow this verse.
This word Selah means to Pause… to reflect
For them they would stop and think of how God was with them… they would be singing and would pause to give intentional space to stop and think about what was just sung. Can we pause for a moment and think about how God is with us??? How he makes his face to shine upon us by being gracious to us...
with that thought in mind look at the next verse...
2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
Think about this… God is with us so that his WAY would be made known on the earth… What is his WAY???
God’s way is in reference to, his blessings and presence with his people.
Let me say it this way “God’s blessing on his people, (vs 1.), is for the whole earth to recognize his Power… namely his saving power! What greater blessings are there than to understand that God is able to save us?!
And please notice that it says his saving power among ALL NATIONS!!!!
This speaks of God’s sovereignty over all nations… how he is able to save all. God is sovereign over ALL, not just one particular country. We need to stop it with the God and Country ideas that have replaced the Gospel. The Gospel is not an American promise, it is not manifest destiny, it is not for one nation to lead the way for others… when we believe that, we lose the value that we find in the Gospel in scripture, which is that God is Saving people from all nations to be HIS PEOPLE.
That is why it says “your saving power AMONG all nations”. God is not saving us FROM a nation, and he is not saving us TO a nation, but rather he has saved us from AMONG ALL NATIONS!!!
He is sovereign over all!!! So as they sang this psalm, God’s special chosen people of Israel would sing of something that they had yet to see realized back then, but now in Christ this is exactly what we see as the plan of God unfolded at the Cross.
So the second truth we see from this psalm...
Truth #2 - God has the power to save from among ALL NATIONS!
Truth #2 - God has the power to save from among ALL NATIONS!
Aren’t you glad that you belong to not only a local church but a Global church that reaches through the generations and across foreign lands, into the hearts of people from every nation, race, tribe and tongue!!!
I think today we need a healthy reminder that God’s face is to shine upon his people as a means of the whole earth knowing God’s ways and hearing of his saving power among all nations, is just as necessary now as it was back then.
Moving on, in the next 3 verses, we see something being sung as a prayer to God.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
This phrase “Let the peoples” means, “May it come to pass”. If this is more of a prayer it is as if the psalmist is asking God, that it would come to pass that all peoples would praise him.
And so it is the Psalmists desire for all peoples to praise God. This is something can only be realized in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a prophetic prayer that looks forward to a day when all peoples will be included in the promise made to Abraham and his offspring. In it talks about how that promise made to Abraham and his offspring really points to Christ and those who are in him. And so all kinds of people are being saved in Christ and this prayer is answered by the Gospel...
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Everything that would divide us in this world has been broken down by the sacrifice that Christ made in his flesh for us to be united. What was a far off promise to them is a reality to us in Christ Jesus!
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28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And since we are One in Christ, and have come from all different peoples we are reminding to praise God! that is the truth found here...
Truth #3 - God is to be praised!
Truth #3 - God is to be praised!
No one else is worthy to receive our praise. This is what they were singing and reminding themselves of.
If you are in him, then Praise him for including you in his peoples, AMEN?!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
Why should the nations be glad and sing for Joy? Because God Judges them? No he judges the peoples with EQUITY...
4793 מִישׁוֹר (mî·šôr): n.masc.; ≡ Str 4334; TWOT 930f—1. LN 1.46–1.50 plateau, plain, i.e., a flat, yet elevated geographical formation of a large area of table-land or steppe-land (Dt 3:10; 4:43; Jos 13:9, 16, 17, 21; 20:8; 1Ki 20:23, 25; 2Ch 26:10; Jer 21:13; 48:8, 21+); 2. LN 1.39–1.45 level ground, smooth ground, i.e., land without potholes or mounds (Ps 26:12; 27:11; 143:10; Isa 40:4; 42:16; Zec 4:7+), see also domain LN 79.84–79.87; 3. LN 88.12–88.23 uprightness, justice, i.e., fairness according to a standard (Ps 45:7[EB 6]; 67:5[EB 4]; Isa 11:4; Mal 2:6+)
this word equity has a few different meanings in scripture but here it is seen as to say God judges us on Level ground, in Uprightness and justice, or fairness according to a standard. SO what is God’s Standard??? His Law!
Example - Michael Phelps swimming example
God law is a high standard and we can’t fulfill it. Jesus did for us and in him we are now judged, and in that way and that way only can the nations be glad and sing for joy!
And notice also it says that God guides the nations upon the earth. Again this psalm reinforces God’s sovereignty as he guides ALL nations through good times and bad. Keep in mind that this is being sung by people who were once slaves that were delivered and will go on to be brought into exile. God is sovereign in guiding nations over all!
This is a great reminder to them and us of truth...
Truth #4 - God will Judge People and Guide Nations
Truth #4 - God will Judge People and Guide Nations
It seems as though this song would remind them of truth that will point them to their only hope in life and death. The God who Judges with Equity and Guides nations.
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
Here is the same thing we saw 2 verses ago… it is repeated. whenever we see the same words repeated it is a literary method meaning to bring attention and importance to something. So what is being emphasized here? PRAISE FOR GOD!
WHY? Because when we praise God it reminds us of God’s proper place and our proper place. We praise him who is over all, we are his subjects and we look to him!
And again, why, “Let all peoples praise you, O God;”
Because God’s people should desire all people to take part in praising God. Our view should be one of desiring everyone to be able to praise God like we now are able to do. That is, if you are able to and if you actually do praise God.
What is praise?
extol, i.e., make a public confession of the attributes and acts of power of a person (2Sa 22:50), (hitp) (2Ch 30:22) note: there is a focus on the content of praise, spoken out-loud, usually in the context of the community;
It is a public confession of God, it is spoken out loud in the context of the community of believers. Hallelujah, Amen, Praise the Lord, etc...
Sometimes I wonder where all the praise is? If you go to a football game you can easily lose your voices from yelling and screaming about a sack of air that is being thrown around, but yet we sometimes barely hear others in our own church give God praise… Why is that?
Do you think that these people sang this song in a quiet somber way? Or in a loud joyful way?
I think we have been hurt by churches that have bad theology because they love to be loud and so they are acting in the flesh and we do not want to be associated with that. But there is a difference between what they are doing and what I would say the Bible is declaring that we should do. They are being emotional about all the wrong things and in all the wrong ways, but that shouldn’t mean that we do not praise God. so here is a helpful working category for you. the difference between hype and praise.
Hype is being loud and emotional before or without any truth being present. Praise is being emotional and sometimes loud after truth is proclaimed. so...
Emotions before Truth is hype, but Emotions that follow Truth is praise!
So as we sing in response later, do not be afraid to Praise the Lord, especially if we are hearing and singing truth!
let’s continue...
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
Now this is when it is really helpful to understand that this was written in a society and times when agricultural terms were better understood.
The Earth is seen a vehicle for God’s blessings. It yields increase for his people, meaning the ground is fruitful and that causes God’s people to be blessed.
But please notice who is the source? The earth or God???
GOD, OUR GOD, SHALL BLESS US!!!
look at how confident the psalmist is in his God...
God is the source! Can you say that? Is God your source?
This is not about “HOW” we are blessed, but by “WHO” we are blessed. It is not about the “LEVEL” of your faith, but the “OBJECT” of your faith, it is not about “GIFTS” but the “GIVER” of those gifts, this is not about the earth but the God who created the earth.
So what is the truth that we see here???
Truth #5 - God is our Source!
Truth #5 - God is our Source!
Listen, your job is not your source, God is your source. You working out and staying in shape is not the source of your strength, God is the Source. Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Tell Eric Lindstrom’s story...
Everyday is a gift, everything we have belongs to God. You need to realize that God is the Source.
7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
God SHALL bless us...
God’s people were singing this song to remember and remind themselves of the source and sureness of their blessings!
Yet the fact that God is the one who blesses should cause his people to be arrogant about their position… instead they should with all of humanity remember to Fear God.
Fear of God for the believer is about Awe, Respect, reverence, and even Holy Terror. The God who created everything is powerful enough to destroy and yet is gracious to us and makes his face shine upon us, but he is still God and we should fear him.
For the unbeliever however, Fear of God is a scary terror and a hopeless agony.
Which brings us to a final truth found in this psalm...
Truth #6 - God will be feared by all the earth and everyone
Truth #6 - God will be feared by all the earth and everyone
When??? I don’t see this in our world today. Most people like to pretend that God doesn’t exist.
There is coming a day in which we cannot deny, some of us wait in anxious anticipation and others will not want to come.
This Psalm gives us great hope for that day, “God Shall Bless Us”, yet reminds us all will fear him on that day.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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The Bible declares that there is a day where the Fear of God will be to the ends of the earth. For those who are in Christ, their names are written in the book of life!
That is the Gospel… Because of the work of Christ we are accepted by a Holy God, our sins are not counted against us because we are made righteous in Christ. And that is the only reason we will find our names written in the book of life.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
in this and this alone our hope is found, we are adopted into God’s family and join with the Saints who have sung these words for millenia before us.
Today we respond by remembering Christ’s work in his body and Blood by receiving from the Lords table together. Let’s pray.