Rev. Doug Floyd

Pentecost +12 – The End is Music
Rev. Doug Floyd
Psalm 67

After the dark night of the soul, the morning sun dawns on a beautiful day. The worshiper is refreshed and renewed by the Spirit’s rhythms of grace. The psalmist resists the bland recital of religious rhetoric. David’s doxology draws worshipers out and into thanksgiving and praise. We bless God because we are blessed by God. God’s grace always goes before, blessing the world, and making gospel praise possible. – Douglas D. Webster

As showers which first fall upon the hills afterwards run down in streams into the valleys, so the blessing of the Most High comes upon the world through the church….Despite the gloomy notions of some, we cling to the belief that the kingdom of Christ will embrace the whole habitable globe, and that all flesh will see the salvation of God….Nothing creates gladness so speedily, surely, and abidingly as the salvation of God.— Charles Spurgeon

Psalm 67 fills our hearts with joy. Fills the church with praise. And fills the world with song.

The Psalmist asks the Lord for a threefold blessing: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah” (Psalm 67:1, ESV)

He invokes the Lord to come and renew His people with His mercy and grace; His blessing, and His face upon us. When I first think of these words, I am struck by the image of a mother holding her child. The mother of a newborn may be tired from caring for the baby round the clock. And yet, the baby is part of her. She delights in this child. She looks with favor on this child and provides for his every need.

How much more will our Father in heaven delight in us? He looks upon each of us with favor, delighting in His children. He overwhelms with blessings spiritual and physical. What delights you? I give thanks almost every day for a hot shower, a cool air conditioner, delicious, juicy tomatoes, good friends and long conversations. Every day, every moment we experience God’s overwhelming blessings.

As the Psalm 40:5 proclaims,

O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. (Psalm 40:5, NLT)

This threefold blessing in verse 1 echoes the Aaronic blessing in Numbers.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24–26, ESV)

This image of the Lord shining His face upon us is quite glorious. It speaks of favor, delight, joy, love and light. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul speaks of “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6, ESV)

This speaks of His opening our hearts to truth and life and transformation. As we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV)

We’ve looked back to the Aaronic blessing, but we can go back even earlier to the blessing of Abraham. In Genesis 12, the Lord tells Abraham,

“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”” (Genesis 12:2–3, ESV)

The Psalmist prays for this blessing of God, this light shining from the face of God that it might flow through God’s people to the peoples of the earth.

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1–2, ESV). We also invoke this blessing every week as we prepare to go forth into the world. This blessing flows through us to a world in need.

I love Charles Spurgeon’s response to this blessing in Psalm 67. He writes, “As showers which first fall upon the hills afterwards run down in streams into the valleys, so the blessing of the Most High comes upon the world through the church….Despite the gloomy notions of some, we cling to the belief that the kingdom of Christ will embrace the whole habitable globe, and that all flesh will see the salvation of God….Nothing creates gladness so speedily, surely, and abidingly as the salvation of God. (Charles Spurgeon, Treasury of David, Psalm 67

In verses 3 and 5, we hear the following words sung and repeated, “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” (Psalm 67:3&5, ESV) Hallelujah. All the peoples. I love that Spurgeon says, “Despite the gloomy notions of some, we cling to the belief that the kingdom of Christ will embrace the whole habitable globe, and that all flesh will see the salvation of God.” Praise the Lord!

Verses 3 and 5 surround verse 4, which I would suggest is the central proclamation: “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth” (Psalm 67:4, ESV)

The blessing of God upon the people of God has become song, and all the nations, all the peoples of the earth are singing praises to our God and King. Robert Jenson completes his Systematic Theology with four short words, “The end is music.”

We are longing, hoping, stretching toward the great day of celebration when all creation will join in adoration. What more can I say, except to repeat the call of that glorious nineteenth hymn,

“O come let us adore him.”