Prayer for the World

Pilgrim Prayer: Psalms for the Journey PART V
Dr. Timothy Keller
22 March 2015

Psalm 98: 1-9
1Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2The Lord has made salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God

4Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn--
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

7Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity

Psalm 98: v.9 - He will judge the world
Psalm 97: v.8 - The villages are glad because of your judgement

JOYFUL PROMISE OF JUDGEMENT
--True King comes in judgement and all will sing for joy.
--Inert and latent things explode in their full capacity--like the trees.
--Why are we fascinated with return of the True King?
--Democracy basically checks the worst aspects of human nature, but it's not great at solving them.
--We suppress the knowledge of God in Romans 1
--We have a memory trace of a True King.

PROBLEM OF JUDGEMENT
--Judges are suppose to right all wrongs and all wrongs need to be paid for.
--How can we rejoice over this?
--Postmodernism is about de-privileging meaning; all are equally valued.
--No set of standards for anyone to be judged.
--There's no way to assert any position, so we can't have judgement.
--God's relationship with us is a covenant of promise.
--Since we're always breaking our promise, will God give up and abandon us?
--Or will God accept us anyway, so what of God's judgement and holiness?
--This seems like and irreconcilable relationship.
--Is God's covenant / blessing conditional or unconditional?
--If there's no judgement day, what hope is there for the world?

GOD'S PROVISION FOR JUDGEMENT
--The answer is in v.1-3--It's all stuff from the past.
--The reason we can look forward to judgement day because of the work he's already done.
--God saved Israel out of Egypt through judgement.
--God sends down judgement on Egyptians but also judged the Jews--hence the blood of the lamb.
--Everybody should have died unless their judgement fell on the blood of the lamb.
--Miriam's Song in Exodus 15
--Also sounds like Mary's Song in Luke.
--Essence of Sin is us putting ourselves in God's place
--Essence of Salvation is God putting Himself in our place.
--Judge pronounces the penalty and takes judgement on himself.