Psalm 122 Part 2

Unity in Relationship—Make it personal

As noted in the previous message, to be closely compacted together, gives us the revelation of how God’s people are to be "united together."  Psalm 122, is an important psalm to understand if we are called His people — He has called ALL of His own to demonstrate this unity in our personal lives. 

Psalm 122:8, 9

      8    For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say—

          “May peace be within you.”

9         For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.  

 

Unity does not imply ‘uniformity’. It does not mean that all Christians will think alike or have the same gifts and or ministry. It does mean a common purpose and inter-dependence within the body of Christ—A fellowship with others of inner unity among believers that expresses itself in co-participation with Christ and one another in accomplishing God’s will on earth.   

Ephesians 4: 1-4, 10-12, 16-17 reads:

 1   Therefore… walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,  

 2   With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

 3    being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

 4   There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope... 

10   So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places;

11  This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,

12   in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 

 

16   That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,

17   So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—and that you… may be rooted and grounded in love…     

 God's word calls us to be in peace with Jerusalem.  Pray for her and her people, that we— all of God's people, may see the coming of God's Holy kingdom and be a part of it, and not be cast out of it.  We pray for the peace of the Jewish people that they may endure the coming days of great pain and struggle.  None of this good will come without great price.   

 

These matters are prophetic revelation, not theological speculation or human reasoning

We do not need to use reason to piece together to figure out what is happening.  It does not refer to secret knowledge that only a few can know. Rather, it means something that has been concealed and is unknowable by human reason, is now being revealed to His Church. The fact that [we] Gentiles would be included is also stated (see Isaiah 11:10; 19:19-25; 42:1-4; Matthew 12:18-21; Romans 15:9-12). But these truths could not be seen with clarity until Christ brought them to us by His Spirit.   

The point is that we cannot arrive at some of these profound biblical truths through human reason alone, and therefore we cannot boast in our knowledge of them. God had to reveal these truths to Paul, who conveyed them to us. Otherwise we could not have understood them. And sometimes, as in the next point that we’re going to consider, we have to set aside our logical objections to the truth and recognize that God has spoken. We can either proudly argue with His revelation or humbly submit to it.  God is powerful to harden the hearts of man and the nations and then to lift that hardening—according to His sovereign purposes. 

The future salvation of Israel is not just a possibility, but a certainty, because God has decreed it. Does this truth burden your heart for those who are outside of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile?  God is still sovereign over salvation history, but He uses those whom He has saved to proclaim the good news to those who need to hear it in order to believe. Understanding God’s prophetic revelation should motivate us to proclaim to all that “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him."     Romans 10:12