I’m convinced that true worship comes from a heart full of the Word
of God, and the purest worship is when we read or sing God’s own words of
praise back to Him. Jesus prayed in John 17:17 “Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your word is truth.”
In verses 1-2, the psalmist is praying for “God to be merciful to us and bless
us….”. Notice the emphasis on “us”. He is asking for God’s blessings
and glory to shine upon his people, the nation of Israel. God planted the
nation of Israel in the “middle” of the Middle East, the center of the world,
to make Himself known to the world through them. As they obeyed His Laws and
submitted to His rule over them, He would bless them with abundance, with peace,
with security, and most of all, with His glorious presence!
Then all the nations of the world would want to know who their God is and accept Him
as their own God (vv. 3-5). “Let the peoples praise You….”. And when
they do, “the nations will be glad and sing for joy.” These three verses
form the heart of the psalm and focus on the Gentile nations worshiping and
praising the God of Israel.
Today, the nations have conspired to dethrone the Lord, and they want nothing of
"his ways" Psalm 2:1-3 describes this: “Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And
the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed,
saying, "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from
us."
But the day will come when all the nations will come to the mountain of the Lord
and worship the God of Jacob This will be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision
and prophecy in Isaiah 2:2-4: “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD'S house Shall be established on the top of the
mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to
it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their
spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.”
When Jesus Christ establishes His kingdom, He will “righteously judge the peoples
and govern the nations on the earth” (v. 4). The prayer in these verses is the Old
Testament equivalent of "Thy kingdom come" in the Lord's
Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). Because there is no king in Israel today, the nations of
the world are doing as they please (Judg. 17:6; 18:11; 19:1; 21:25), but that
will all change when the kingdoms of the world belong to Jesus Christ (Rev.
11:15).
Today, the people of the earth are blinded by Satan to the glory of God and the truth
of His salvation through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul describes this, and how
we can bring the message of hope to them in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6: “But even
if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds
the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For
we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine
out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
My friend, the glory of God dwells in us as believers, and today in the midst of
the darkness of this age, we have the great responsibility and privilege to reflect
the glorious “face” and life of Jesus Christ in “our mortal bodies” (2
Cor. 4: 10-11). We do this as we humbly live in submission to His Word and
will!
God bless!
