Why will the nations “be glad and sing for joy”? In Part 2 of our study of Psalm 67, we explored the first of three reasons offered by the psalmist: “For you judge the peoples with equity.” Despite the fallenness of our world, God, through the visible church on earth, showcases his just and righteous rule in the justice and righteousness that characterizes the people called by his name. We are to be lights shining in the darkness, pointing the way to him who rules and judges in equity and who will bring everything into visible subjection to him at his second coming.
In this final article of the series, we will explore the second and third reasons why the nations will come and join themselves to the people of God and participate in the chorus of praise.
2. God’s Guidance of the Nations
Like the psalmist’s first reason, this second reason for the nations drawing near feels foreign to us because, as we look at the nations around us, they are anything but submissive to the guidance of (or governed, according to) the Lord.
Of course we know that God has guided an earthly nation before (viz. Israel under the old covenant), that he has hand-picked every civil ruler over us (Rom 13:1–4), and that he is sovereign not only over their various stations but their every decision—“The king’s heart is a stream water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Prov 21:1). So, while it is right and good to say that God guides the nations of this world now by way of providence—by his holy, just, and powerful preservation and governance of all his creatures and all their actions (Westminster Shorter Catechism 11)—the psalmist has more in mind than just ordinary providence. He is envisioning a special blessing upon the nations that is a direct result of God’s face shining upon and being gracious to his people. So what is in view?
At this point, Vos’s Already v. Not Yet distinction proves quite useful. When we read the Psalter with Christ as its zenith, we see that the psalmist is describing, in part, the gospel age wherein we live. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this psalm anticipates and images the blessings of the new covenant and the extension of the gospel to the nations beyond Israel through the missionary endeavors of the apostolic church. And though the impact of Christianity upon the many nations wherein it has spread is neither uniform nor consistent over time (e.g., Christian influence in the UK during the seventeenth century vs. today), the state of affairs globally is better now than it was before.
But, as great as this expansion of the gospel’s influence upon the nations was and is, believers know that the truth of this verse will only grow and come to full bloom in the eschaton. For one day, when the Lord Jesus returns, he will bring the rebellion of the nations to nothing—“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev 19:15). One day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The nations who rebelled will be subdued.
But even more gloriously, the redeemed of the Lord, those called out from among the evil peoples of the earth, will live forever in Immanuel’s land, a land where God himself will be the light of their path, guiding them forever—”And the city has no need of the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (Rev 21:23–24).
For now our experience is akin to that of the wilderness generation, minus the cloud, the fire, and the manna. And yet, the church is no less guided by its sovereign and loving God. Despite the wickedness of the nations around us, let us never despair or give up hope that God will guide, that he will rule the nations. Today may not be that day, but it is coming. So continue looking to and following the Lord as we journey closer day by day.
3. God’s Provision
There is a friendly debate about what precisely verse 6 means: “The earth has yielded its increase. . . .” It could be, as Derek Kinder writes, that it refers to “the promise of still better things to come; perhaps even as a picture of them, as it is in Isaiah 55:10f. And in, e.g., John 4:35; 12:20–24.”1 In other words, the “increase” would be the nations themselves. They are the harvest of the earth, brought in by the efficacious word of God that does not return empty. On the other side, there is H.C. Leupold who argues that the increase refers to a literal harvest in Israel.2
Though I wholeheartedly look forward to the day of Isaiah 55 along with Kinder, I find myself inclined to Leupold’s interpretation because it reminds me that God’s blessings to his people are not just spiritual, but also material. Remember, Psalm 37:25–26: “I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.” Because I am so prone to forget in this industrial age, marked by prosperity and ease, that God really does give me my daily bread, the words of verse 6 are a fresh reminder to me that whatever increase comes of the earth is a consequence of God’s own working.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus told his disciples to be anxious for nothing, what they would eat, or what they would wear. And the reason they were not to worry was because “the Gentiles seek after all these things, and [but] your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matt 6:32). Our God knows our needs, material and immaterial, and by his grace provides for his precious children. The gentiles do not enjoy this same certainty. They do not know this comfort of being God’s child. They are anxious because, as far as they can see, they need to fend for themselves. But when God pours out material blessings on his church, whether it be a ripe harvest as he did in the fields of Israel or gainful employment at just the right time, the nations are forced to ask, “How can they be so at peace? How can they be content and joyful when I have more than they do?” We can because better than the increase of the earth is the love of him who gives us that increase. God has blessed you, dear believer. He has given you more than you deserve and has blessed you in ways that you may not even be aware of. God has given us his increase, so let us with thankful hearts, steward our material gifts and give greater glory to God.
Notes
- Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, Kidner Classic Commentaries (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 256.
- H.C. Leupold, Exposition of the Psalms (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1972), 488.
©Stephen Spinnenweber. All Rights Reserved.
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Stephen Spinnenweber
Stephen has been the pastor of Westminster PCA in Jacksonville, FL since 2019. Stephen earned his Masters of Divinity from Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and is a General Council member of the Gospel Reformation Network. Together with friends he hosts several podcasts on the Westminster Standards (The Shorter and Larger for Life podcasts) and is also the author of a forthcoming book from Christian Focus Publications on the three uses of the Moral Law, set to be released in 2025. Stephen and his wife, Sarah, are high school sweethearts and have been married since 2013. They are proud parents to four covenant children.
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