The Cosmic Cause of Christ

The Cosmic Cause of Christ

Psalm 66

Main Idea: God’s supremacy and saving power in Christ should elicit our worship and our commitment to spread God’s praise among all the peoples of the earth.

The psalms don’t always follow a logical progression like one of Paul’s letters, where one truth leads to the next truth, which then leads to a conclusion. Instead, interlocking themes come together poetically in powerful ways. We find eleven of these interlocking themes in the form of couplets, or pairs, in Psalm 66. Together these couplets paint a picture of what I call the cosmic cause of Christ. Given, Christ isn’t explicitly named in this psalm, but as with the whole Old Testament, we will see that Psalm 66 finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44).

Eleven Couplets

Singing and Shouting

In the first couplet in this psalm, in verses 1-4, we see the interplay between singing and shouting. The singing in Psalm 66 should inform the singing in Christian corporate worship. To an outsider who is not familiar with the church or with a worship gathering, corporate singing might sound somewhat strange. Why would a bunch of adults gather together for a sing-along? There’s a reason our weekly gatherings include singing rather than only coming to hear a sermon. Sometimes we act as if the sermon is the main event and everything else is just lagniappe. However, singing is a vital, pivotal, biblical part of worship.

To be the church is to be a singing people. We’re a community that can’t help but sing praises to our God. This is one of the primary ways we worship; we sing the glory of his name. We also shout, though shouting is something many churches need to work on. The Hebrew word for “shout” in verse 1 is used in other places in Scripture as a war cry or a triumphant celebration of victory over one’s enemies (1 Sam 10:24) (Kidner, Psalms 1–72, 233). For instance, Psalm 47:1-2 says, “Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with a jubilant cry. For the Lord, the Most High, is awe-inspiring, a great King over the whole earth” (emphasis added). This is the kind of loud cry that “encourages the faithful while striking fear into the heart of the enemy” (Wilson, Psalms, 916), and this needs to be a part of our worship.

What does shouting look like in a corporate gathering? We might sing loudly as we give God praise, or it could be that during a song, or between verses of a song, we shout out praise to God. While singing “How Great Thou Art,” we might shout, “Yes, God, you are great and greatly to be praised!”

This kind of shouting is appropriate not only in our singing but also in the preaching of God’s Word. As God’s glory is being revealed, we should have the freedom to shout! An “amen” here or there would probably help us get out of the spectator mentality where only the pastor is talking and the people are listening. So if the pastor says something that is true or that our heart resonates with, then we should not be afraid to shout out an “Amen!” or “Praise the Lord!” or “That’s right!” And when somebody else does that, we should not look at that person and think, Man, settle down.

Worshiping and Witnessing

There is a constant back-and-forth between worship and witness in this psalm, as the following pattern demonstrates:

A. 1-4: Worship

B. 5-7: Witness

C. 8-15: Worship

D. 16-19: Witness

E. 20: Worship

After the singing and shouting in verses 1-4, we see witness in verse 5: “Come and see the wonders of God.” And after the psalmist calls us to “bless our God” in verse 8, he later says, “Come and listen, all who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me” (v. 16; emphasis added).

The psalmist sings worship to God and then gives witness about God. When he sees God’s greatness, he can’t help but call other people to see what he sees. This is the way it works in our lives as well. When we see something great, we say to people around us, “You’ve got to see this!” Like the psalmist, when we behold our God together in worship—the God who reigns over all nature and all nations, the God who saves us from sin and damnation, the God who reveals himself in his beauty and majesty and love and mercy—we should run to the world saying, “Come and see who God is! Come and see what God has done!” Passionate worship always leads to personal witness. Therefore, if we’re not witnessing, there’s a problem with our worship. We’re not seeing God for who he is. We’re not realizing the magnitude of what he’s done for our souls.

Invitation and Admonition

The third couplet involves invitation and admonition. The psalmist is inviting the people of Israel and the peoples of the world to give glory and honor and praise to God. This is not just a personal expression of worship. The psalmist is inviting people to see the awesome deeds and the great power of God. He is reaching back into biblical history to recount reasons for blessing God, and he’s inviting people to respond.

Alongside this invitation, you also have admonition. There’s a note of warning in verse 7. That was a warning to people in the psalmist’s day, and it’s a warning to us today. Don’t exalt yourself before God. He is watching you, and he knows everything you do. Don’t rebel against him. Don’t set yourself up as his enemy. If you do, you will eventually come cringing to him (v. 3).

General Revelation and Special Revelation

General revelation refers to the ways God reveals himself to all people everywhere. In Psalm 66 the nations surrounding Israel would have been able to see certain aspects of God’s power and authority. Much like Romans 1:20 teaches us, all creation shouts the glory of God: “For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made.”

At the same time, Scripture teaches that general revelation, by itself, is not sufficient to bring us to a saving knowledge of God. It does leave us “without excuse” (Rom 1:20b). Because we are born with a sinful nature, we reject what we know of God through general revelation:

For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. (Rom 1:21-23)

If we only have access to general revelation, we inevitably dispense with what we know of the Creator in order to worship his creation. Responding to God in repentance and faith requires special revelation.

Special revelation refers to “God’s words addressed to specific people, including the words of the Bible” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1254). Special revelation comes to us today through Scripture, for this is God’s written revelation of who he is and what he has accomplished in Christ for our salvation. People must hear this message, the gospel, in order to believe and be saved. As Paul says, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ” (Rom 10:17).

Psalm 66 looks forward to the day when God’s saving purposes will be known and embraced by all nations. That’s why the psalmist invites the entire earth to see and understand what God has done on behalf of his people: “Come and see the wonders of God; his acts for humanity are awe-inspiring” (v. 5).

These concepts of general revelation and special revelation are important with respect to the church’s mission. Many missionaries go to places and peoples in the world where there is an abundance of general revelation but an absence of special revelation. That is, these peoples can see the glory of God in creation around them, but they’ve never heard the good news about how this glorious God saves. Currently there are about six thousand people groups in the world, comprising over two billion people, who have never heard, not just about God saving his people at the Red Sea but more importantly about how God can (and will) save them from their sins and give them eternal life. Like the psalmist, they need someone to tell them, “Come and see the wonders of God” (v. 5).

This is the same thing we want to say to our non-Christian friends: God has not only created the world, but he has come to us in Jesus, who is God in the flesh (John 1:14). Christ has died on a cross in our place in order to pay the penalty of sin, and he has risen from the dead in victory over sin and death so that we can be saved from sin and restored to eternal life with God forever! That’s worth singing and shouting about!

Life from Death

Psalm 66:8-9 is the primary testimony of the psalmist—that God is to be praised because he has delivered us from death and given us life. Everything we have is owing to God’s power and grace, including our very lives. God’s physical deliverance of the psalmist and of Israel from their enemies anticipated a greater deliverance to come. Here’s how Paul describes this greater deliverance in Colossians 1:13-14: “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Through Jesus Christ, God’s people have been rescued from the enemies of sin and death. We now experience redemption and eternal life.

Trust amid Trial

Verses 10-12 recount how God has tested and tried his people. The psalmist speaks of a refining process, recounting how God—whether in Egypt before he brought Israel to the Red Sea or in the wilderness before he brought them to the promised land—walked his people through trials. Notice the psalmist’s high view of God’s sovereignty: “You lured us into a trap; you placed burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads” (emphasis added).

The psalmist knows that God is ultimately in control of all things. Even amid difficulty, God has ultimate authority over that difficulty. Despite the fact that God let men “ride over our heads” as Israel “went through fire and water,” the psalmist can still conclude, “but you brought us out to abundance” (v. 12). In the midst of trial and on the other side of trial, there’s trust. And not just trust but “abundance.”

This is not some trite faith the psalmist is speaking about, a faith that knows nothing of pain or difficulty. No, the psalmist knows what it’s like to hurt, to feel heavy with the burdens of life. At the same time, the psalmist knows what it’s like for God to bring him through trial to a place of abundance, and that is cause for worship. You can’t help but think about God’s words to his people through the prophet Isaiah:

Now this is what the Lord says—the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel—“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine. I will be with you when you pass through the waters, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you. (Isa 43:1-2)

Past and Present

This psalm recounts God’s past work among his people in order to inspire present worship in his people. In verse 13 the psalmist promises to sacrifice and pay his vows, and then in verses 14-15 he mentions vows he made in the past when he was in the midst of trouble and trial. The psalmist can look back to clear manifestations of God’s power on behalf of his people—the way God brought his people through the Red Sea (Exod 14) and across the Jordan River (Josh 3)—which gives him confidence. God will be faithful to do the same in the present.

This is part of what we do as believers when we gather every week for worship. We read God’s Word and see the stories of God’s faithfulness to his people, and this inspires worship among God’s people. With all kinds of people facing all kinds of different life situations, we find strength by hearing about how God has always brought his people through trial to triumph. So no matter what we’re walking through in our lives, we worship.

Universal and Personal

This psalm progresses from the universal to the personal. It starts with all the earth shouting the praises of God (v. 1). Likewise, verse 8 is a call to all the “peoples” of the world. So we have a universal picture in Psalm 66, but then slowly, subtly, the psalmist begins talking about God’s more personal revelation to his people, Israel, and you see a narrowing in verses 9-12. Notice the words we, us, and our.

Finally, after speaking about Israel with plural pronouns, the first-person pronouns I and my appear in verse 13 and then continue through the rest of the psalm. God has heard “my prayer,” and he has not “turned his faithful love from me” (v. 20; emphasis added). That’s not to say that the “us” isn’t important, because it is. From the beginning, this psalm is calling on more and more people throughout the earth to praise God. But amid the universal worth of God, the psalmist doesn’t lose sight of the personal nature of praise.

When you gather with the church to sing and shout to God, don’t forget that you’re singing and shouting to your God. This is the God you know, the God you love, the God who has worked a miracle in your soul. This is the God who hears your prayer, the God who has not withheld his steadfast love from you.

Speaking with Our Lips and Surrendering Our Lives

When the psalmist starts speaking in the first person in verse 13, he describes the offerings he’s going to bring before God. He mentions “fattened sheep,” the “fragrant smoke of rams,” and the sacrifice of “bulls with goats” (v. 15). This is a picture of an extravagant offering before God.

Some commentators think this is an exaggeration made for effect; others think this expression means that this was definitely a king writing this psalm, given the amount of wealth needed in order to sacrifice this much. We don’t know for certain, but what we do know is this: the psalmist knows that worship is not just about singing and shouting. Worship is also about sacrifice. It’s about laying down before the Lord that which costs you. We must remember this every single week when we gather together for worship. If we sing and shout but fail to lay down our lives in surrender before God, then we have not worshiped.

We should give God total surrender of our lives in worship. Whatever he wants us to do, wherever he wants us to go, whatever he wants us to give, we yield to him. Our possessions, our plans, our dreams, our days are his to spend however he wants for the glory of his name.

Humble Dependence and Holy Desire

Do you feel the sense of humility and dependence in the psalmist in verses 16-17? He is humble before God. He fears God in a way that causes him to cry out in humble dependence. This man knows he needs God.

This humble dependence is coupled with holy desire. The psalmist cries out to God in prayer, knowing that if he cherishes sin in his heart, his prayer will have no place before God. Obviously, he is not perfect—no one but Jesus is sinless—but the psalmist realizes it would make no sense to worship and pray while cherishing or desiring sin. No, to worship and to pray is to desire God and a life of holiness that honors him. This is the kind of worship that pleases God. It’s the desire reflected near the end of the book of Isaiah, when God says, “I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word” (Isa 66:2).

May both humble dependence and holy desire mark our worship.

Praise and Prayer

Throughout this psalm you see praise and prayer, and it’s encapsulated especially here at the end.

In one sense praise is prayer. Praise to God is communication with God. So as we sing and shout, we are, in a real sense, praying. We’re calling out to God. But praise relates to prayer especially when we call out to God for needs in our lives (or others’ lives). This is what the psalmist is doing at the end of Psalm 66. For when we call out to God for needs, we know God hears us (v. 19). What a thought! This is God, attending to my voice. He hears it, and he responds to it according to his steadfast love.

One Challenge

Earlier I mentioned how the eleven couplets I’ve identified in Psalm 66 come together to paint a picture of the “cosmic cause of Christ.” The name of Jesus is nowhere to be found in this psalm, but that doesn’t mean this psalm doesn’t point us directly to him. Jesus is the epitome of God’s special revelation.

The height of our worship does not revolve around the Red Sea or the Jordan River but the cross of Calvary. This is the place God dealt the decisive blow to sin and death. Through the sacrifice of his Son on the cross, he made it possible for you and me to be reconciled to him, both now and forever. This is cause for singing and shouting, for worshiping and witnessing.

All who know that Christ has come should testify in places and to peoples where Christ is not known. We must invite people to come to Christ, and we must admonish them not to turn away from his gracious gift of salvation. Christ alone can deliver us from death. He alone is the ground for trust amid the worst trials this life brings. What he did on the cross two thousand years ago for us is a picture of his promise to be faithful to us today. And, more personally, what he did for you is a picture of his promise to be faithful to you today.

So sing and shout with your lips to him, and surrender all of your life to him—in humble dependence, with holy desire, praising him as he taught us to pray: “Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:9-10). This is the cosmic cause of Christ. This is the purpose for which Christ came. He came to make worship like this possible in your life and in others’ lives. Ultimately, Christ came to make Psalm 66 a reality, to make God’s praise possible among all the peoples of the earth. In turn, making God’s praise known should be the purpose of every Christian’s life. So in view of the global glory of God and the cosmic cause of Christ, I challenge you: Spend your life spreading God’s praise among the peoples of the earth. Say to the people you live around, the people you work with, and the peoples of the world, “Sing about the glory of his name; make his praise glorious” (v. 2). Say to your neighbors and say to the nations, “Come and see the wonders of God; his acts for humanity are awe-inspiring. . . . Come and listen, all who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me” (vv. 5,16).

Reflect and Discuss

1. What should be distinctive about a church’s corporate gathering? What role does singing play?
2. What is the relationship between worshiping and witnessing? What’s wrong with having one without the other?
3. Many Christians think of worship solely as a personal expression of praise. In what sense should we be warned in our worship? (See v. 7.)
4. The psalmist calls on all nations to come and worship God. What is necessary for a person to know God in a saving way? How does Romans 10:14-17 inform your answer?
5. Why must the truth of the gospel be the central theme of our worship? What are some things that tend to crowd out the message of the gospel in our corporate gatherings?
6. How do trials reveal whether we are truly relying on God? How have you seen this truth demonstrated in your own life?
7. What is the difference between intimacy in our relationship with God and treating God casually?
8. Why do you think we so often doubt that God hears us when we pray? How can we have confidence when we pray, and what does this have to do with the gospel?
9. Psalm 66 doesn’t mention Jesus Christ explicitly. How does this psalm relate to him?
10. Spreading God’s praise to all peoples involves sharing the gospel. Articulate the message of the gospel as if you were sharing it with an unbeliever who was unfamiliar with the Bible. Try to keep your explanation under two minutes.