4/1/2012 8:40:03 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: The nations praise the Lord, and He sends the harvest
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 67:3-7
Message of the verses: Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the end of his introduction to Psalm 67: “God blesses us that we might be a blessing to others. The psalm describes the stages in this sequence.” We looked at the first one in yesterday’s SD and now will continue looking at the last two in today’s SD.
The Nations Praise the Lord (vv. 3-5): “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 will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. 5 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.”
In yesterday’s SD we learned that Israel Blesses the Nations from verses one and two of Psalm 67 and now we will discover how after Israel blesses the nations that the nations will praise the Lord.
The question is when will the nations praise the Lord and the answer is during the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth. According to Psalm 2:1-3 this is not happening now: “1 ¶ Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’”
“1 ¶ The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. 5 Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.” (Isaiah 2:1-5)
Dr. Wiersbe points out that the prayer in the verses of Psalm 67:3-5 is like the section of what is called the “Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9-13 where in that section we read “thy kingdom come.”
In an earlier SD, perhaps it was from the study of Mark that I mentioned that the Kingdom of God has three parts, the invisible part, which is what we are in as Jesus Christ rules from heaven after dying on the cross, being buried and then raised from the dead, and now He sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven. The next part will be His earthly kingdom, which will be the 1000 year rule of Jesus Christ upon the earth after He returns in glory at the end of the tribulation period described in Revelations 6-19. The final part of the Kingdom of God is the eternal Kingdom and this is described in the last chapters of Revelations.
The Lord Sends the Harvest (vv. 6-7): “6 The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. 7 God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”
Verse six is a quotation from Leviticus 26:4, and Leviticus 26 is a summary of God’s covenant with Israel, and it is also found in Deuteronomy 28-30. In that covenant God made it clear to Israel that if they obeyed Him that He would provide the rains so that Israel would have food to eat, but if Israel did not obey the Lord then He would withhold the rains and Israel would not have enough food to eat. In both cases the nations around them would see that God was in control and would fear the Lord. Israel did not do a good job in spreading the Word of God, but as we see in the NT time of Jesus the Scribes and the Pharisees had the religious system turned into something that was all wrong and did not glorify the Lord. It was so wrong that they crucified the Lord of Glory.
Dr. Wiersbe ends his commentary on Psalm 67 with these words: “The application to the church today is obvious: as we obey the Lord, pray and trust Him, He provides what we need, and the unsaved around us see that He cares for us. This gives us opportunity to tell them about Jesus. While verse 6 speaks of a literal harvest, it also reminds us of the ‘spiritual harvest’ that comes as we witness for the Lord (John 4:34-38).
“God blesses the nations through His people Israel and through His church, and all the nations should trust Him, obey Him, and fear him.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is no better time in my life than when I have the opportunity of telling someone what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me in saving me from my sins and giving me eternal life. I cherish these wonderful moments when the Lord gives a “divine appointment” to me and sends someone into my life that is ready to hear the Gospel. The harvest is ripe.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I have been praying for my sick mother that God’s will, will
be done in her life, that the God of all comfort will comfort her and give her peace and rest. I have
been praying that the Lord will prepare my heart for a special Lord’s Supper Service at our church this morning, that my heart will be ready to receive the elements that remind me of what the Lord has done for me when He suffered and had His body broken for me and shed His precious blood that I may become His child. I continue to pray that the Lord will continue to teach me contentment.
4/1/2012 9:22:40 AM
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