Christian Mission

Old Testament Foundations and New Testament Developments

Stanley E. Porter, Cynthia Long Westfall, Stanley E. Porter, Cynthia Long Westfall, Porter, Westfall

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781608996551, 9781498257169
• eBook ISBN: 9781630879945
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

How did a first-generation Jewish messianic movement develop the momentum to become a dominant religious force in the Western world? The essays here first investigate the roots of God's mission and the mission of his people in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism, specifically in the Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel. The contributions then discuss the mission of Jesus, and how it continued into the mission of the Twelve, other Jewish believers (in the Gospels, General Epistles, and Revelation), and finally into Paul's ministry to the Gentiles documented in the book of Acts and his epistles. These essays reach backward into the background of what was to become the Christian mission and forward through the New Testament to the continuing Christian mission and missions today.

1

“Declare His Glory among the Nations”

The Psalter as Missional Collection1

Mark J. Boda

Introduction

Mission is not immediately what comes to mind when most Christians think of the worship of Israel. Instead, most have images of exclusive access to the tabernacle (later temple) precincts, with admission open to the priestly-levitical personnel and closed to the rest of Israel, let alone the Gentiles. The multitude of ritual instructions and laws suggest a liturgical system that repels rather than invites worshippers.

For the early church, however, the Psalms were filled with evidence of the mission of God through Christ. This is highlighted in the closing pericope of the Gospel of Luke in which Christ reminds his disciples of his teaching: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44).2 What “must be fulfilled” and “is written about me” is then rehearsed: “The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46–47). Here the Psalms are highlighted not only as a key source for the early church’s understanding of the gospel of Christ (the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day), but also for the early church’s understanding of mission (repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem).3 Here, at the end of the Gospel of Luke, the role envisioned for the Psalms is played out in the rest of the New Testament. It is, as Moyise has written, “together with Isaiah—the most extensively used Old Testament book.”4

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate afresh the book of Psalms in order to present its treatment of the mission of God, especially in relation to the nations of the world. This presentation will look to both the thematic and linear context of the book. That is, it will present a theological synthesis of this theme in the book, but also trace the linear development of this theme in the final rhetorical structure of the book as a whole. It will be discovered that the worship of the Psalter is emphatically international in its scope.

Synthesis

The Reign of Yahweh over the World

The vast majority of references to the nations in the book of Psalms are found in psalms focused on the reign of Yahweh in this world. Thus, the belief that Yahweh rules over all the earth is foundational to the theology of the nations in the Psalms and, as a result, all the nations must submit to him. The declaration in Ps 22:27 that “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him” is based on the fundamental belief articulated in 22:28 that “dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”

1. Sphere of God’s Rule over the World

According to the psalmists, God’s rule cannot be limited to the land promised to Abraham, but rather extends over all the earth. Psalm 47 calls him “the great king over all the earth” (v. 2) and “the King of all the earth” (v. 7), while Psalm 97 proclaims him as “the Lord of all the earth” (v. 5). This is why “his kingdom rules over all” (Ps 103:19), why he is “exalted over all the nations” (Ps 113:4), and why he “makes war cease to the ends of the earth” (Ps 46:9). The Davidic king who, as we will soon see in detail, rules as vice-regent of the divine King (Ps 2), has been granted a dominion that extends “from sea to sea . . . from the River to the ends of the earth” (Ps 72:8), an extent that is described in the same psalm as encompassing “all kings” and “all nations” (Ps 72:11). Furthermore, Yahweh’s claim is that he not only owns the world (Ps 50:12: “for the world is mine, and all that is in it”), but also claims the nations as his inheritance (Ps 82:8: “for all the nations are your inheritance”).

2. Centre of God’s Rule over the World

This “Mighty One, God, the Lord,” who “speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets,” does so “From Zion, perfect in beauty,” as we are told in Ps 50:1–2. Zion is Yahweh’s holy mountain and is identified with his sanctuary through which there is access to his heavenly royal throne room.5 Psalm 2 makes it clear that from there his rule extends to the nations. As Ps 99:1–3 declares:

The Lord reigns,

let the nations tremble;

He sits enthroned between the cherubim,

let the earth shake.

Great is the Lord in Zion;

he is exalted over all the nations.

Let them praise your great and awesome name—

he is holy.

It is from his sanctuary that he declares his royal battle plans to defeat the nations (Ps 108:7).

It is also to Zion that all the nations will come to express their submission to Yahweh the king. This submission is demonstrated in the assembling of the nations to worship the Lord in Zion (Ps 102:21–22; cf. 7:7–8). It is to the temple that Ps 68:29 tells us “kings” and Ps 76:11 tells us “all the neighboring lands” will bring their tribute to the Lord. To Zion will come the envoys of Egypt and Cush to express their submission to God (Ps 68:30–31), expressed in imperial imagery that resonates with the descriptions of the ancient empires.6

3. Signs of God’s Rule over the World

Yahweh’s divine rule over this world is displayed in four ways. First, his rule is seen in his ability to subdue the nations in battle. In the ancient Near East in general and Israel in particular, the one who is the warrior is the one who is king.7 Psalms related to the Zion tradition are filled with confident declarations that God’s reign is expressed in his ability to subdue the nations in battle, especially when the nations attack Jerusalem (Pss 2; 46; 48). So also in Ps 10:16, the declaration that “The Lord is King for ever and ever” is the basis for the confident hope that follows: “the nations will perish from his land.” This section of Psalm 10 introduces a second sign of Yahweh’s rule and that is his exercise of justice in this world,8 affirming in vv. 17–18 that: “You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed.” This link between kingship and justice is also highlighted in Ps 146:7–9, which provides an extensive list of the kinds of actions expected of the just Divine King:

He upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

The Lord gives sight to the blind,

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

The Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the foreigner

and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The list is followed immediately by the declaration: “The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations” (146:10).9 Yahweh’s rule is thus not only signaled by his success in battle (divine Warrior), but also by his administration of justice (divine Judge). This emphasis on God’s role as judge of the nations is ubiquitous in the Psalms. His people cry out to him to “Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance” (Ps 82:8; cf. Pss 7:6–11; 9:19–20; 94:2; 96:13; 97:9). “The assembled peoples gather” around the one “enthroned on high,” so that Yahweh may judge the peoples (Ps 7:7–8).10 God’s judgment is to be seen as an exercise of his justice as Ps 98:9 makes clear: “Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to j...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Contributors
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: Christian Mission
• Chapter 1: “Declare His Glory among the Nations”
• Chapter 2: The Book of Daniel and the Roots of New Testament Mission
• Chapter 3: Mark, Matthew, and Mission
• Chapter 4: A Light to the Nations
• Chapter 5: A Cord of Three Strands
• Chapter 6: The Content and Message of Paul’s Missionary Teaching
• Chapter 7: Paul’s Missionary Strategy
• Chapter 8: The Hebrew Mission
• Chapter 9: Bible and Mission