Bible Lessons

From: Messages of God's Love: 1931

Psalms 66 and 67.

These two psalms continue the song of praise begun in the 65th. Psalm 66 is addressed to all the earth in view of the Lord’s having come to set up His authority here; He will have put down all that oppose Him. He must reign, 1 Corinthians 15:25²⁵For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:25) tells us, until, He has put all enemies under His feet, though that will not be entirely accomplished at the beginning, but at the end of the millennium. What triumph for the Crucified One when His enemies, who once nailed Him to a cross and now despise Him, come cringing to Him (verse 3)!

Verse 6 refers to the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt at the Red Sea (Exodus 14).

Verses 8 to 12 make known that the afflictions of the remnant were intended by God to be not only a blessing to them, but to the Gentiles who would believe through their word.

“Thou has tried us” in verse 10 is “Thou hast refined us.” (See in this connection Isaiah 48:10¹⁰Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10); Zechariah 13:9⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9) and Malachi 3:3³And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3)).

Silver was the metal used for redemption, a type of a ransom for the soul, in Exodus 30:12-16¹²When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. ¹³This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. ¹⁴Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. ¹⁵The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. ¹⁶And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. (Exodus 30:12‑16). See its use in the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place in the wilderness with His people, in Exodus 36:20-31,²⁰And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. ²¹The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. ²²One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. ²³And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward: ²⁴And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. ²⁵And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, ²⁶And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. ²⁷And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. ²⁸And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. ²⁹And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. ³⁰And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. ³¹And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, (Exodus 36:20‑31) to support the acacia wood boards which formed the sides, and to faith represents the believers brought together by power not their own to form the house of God. (See Ephesians 2:19-22¹⁹Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; ²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19‑22)).

Not in cold, lifeless formality does the renewed heart consider the prospect of going to the appointed place of meeting (verses 13-15); the voice of testimony is heard (verses 16-19), and the psalm closes with praise to God. Such should be the habit of the Christian as he passes on his way to glory with Christ.

In Psalm 67 the song of praise reaches its height, and all the inhabitants of the earth are again before the inspired writer for their blessing.

Truly blessed will be the inhabitants of this world when He reigns, for whom creation waits.

Psalm 68, also a “song,” is of different character to those which have preceded it, a sort of review or reflection upon what has happened, and so we may say that after the short psalm 67 before us, the subject changes, yet praise to our God continues, and will continue without end eternally, for all the mercy and grace He has shown to those who have, all unworthy in themselves, been led to put their trust in Him,—in the Son of His love.

ML 01/11/1931

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