In this episode, we sit down with Rev. Ryan Swale, pastor of Immanuel URC in Jordan, Ontario, to discuss his dissertation, The Imprecatory Pastor: A Practical Theology of the Imprecatory Psalms. Swale challenges the church today to reconsider the often-overlooked imprecatory psalms, which call for divine justice upon enemies. He argues that these psalms are not only permissible for Christians to use but are essential for pastoral ministry. Grounded in the character of God and rooted in biblical promises, Swale shows how these prayers for justice play a vital role in counseling, preaching, prayer, and worship.

Swale explains the theological foundations of imprecatory psalms, demonstrating how both the Old and New Testaments affirm their use. He also explores practical applications for pastors, including how imprecatory psalms can be employed in “liturgical warfare,” apologetics, and pastoral counseling. Swale urges pastors to embrace these psalms as a powerful means of confronting evil and injustice, ultimately leading the church in glorifying God’s justice.

Join us as we explore the biblical and pastoral importance of imprecatory psalms and their role in faithfully navigating a fallen world. Learn more about the powerful place of imprecatory psalms in Christian life and ministry.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 05:13 Choosing the Imprecatory Psalms as a DMin Dissertation Topic
• 11:25 What Is an Imprecatory Psalm?
• 14:17 Imprecations in Light of Genesis 3:15
• 23:03 Imprecatory Psalms and the New Testament
• 38:27 Imprecatory Psalms in Corporate Worship
• 45:30 The Judgment of God upon Christ for His People
• 48:21 Psalms for the Age of Rage
• 53:44 Suggestions for Beginning to Use the Imprecatory Psalms
• 57:43 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Ryan Swale

In this episode, we explain the meaning of David’s profession of righteousness. How can David speak about himself as being without guilt, relative to God’s law, when we know he was a sinner? If our salvation is by grace alone, then how can David say that God rewarded him for his righteousness by saving him from his enemies?

Participants: Jim Cassidy, Mark A. Winder, Robert Arendale

What is a Christian to do with the imprecatory Psalms? Are they to be read and sung today, and if so, with what understanding? Jim Cassidy talks about how to situate the Psalms within their redemptive-historical context, instead of reading them in the abstract.

Participants: Jim Cassidy, Mark A. Winder

Psalm 2 speaks of rebellious kings conspiring together against the Lord and his anointed. But the outcome of such conspiracies is clear. The Son will have the earth as his possession. 

Participants: Jim Cassidy, Mark A. Winder, Robert Arendale

We embark on a study through a new book—Psalms. Jim Cassidy provides some important interpretive principles which he illustrates through a consideration of Psalm 1. Written for Israel, a nation under a theocracy, how do the Psalms manifest Christ, and how are they applicable to us today? How may it be said that the Christian today will prosper?

Participants: Jim Cassidy, Mark A. Winder

In this episode, Rob and Bob continue a series on familiar psalms that we are drawn to more than others for one reason or another. This week we bring our discussion of Psalm 69 to a close.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In this episode, Rob and Bob continue a series on familiar psalms that we are drawn to more than others for one reason or another. This week we continue our discussion of Psalm 69.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In this episode, Rob and Bob continue a series on familiar psalms that we are drawn to more than others for one reason or another. This week we begin a discussion of Psalm 69.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In this episode, Rob and Bob continue a series on familiar psalms that we tend to be drawn to more than others for one reason or another. Psalm 2 is one such psalm.

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In this episode, Rob and Bob continue a series on familiar psalms that we tend to be drawn to more than others for one reason or another. Psalm 110 is quoted more than any other psalm in the New Testament. Why? What makes it so worthwhile for the New Testament writers to make use of when writing about Jesus?

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

Participants: Rob McKenzie, Robert Tarullo

In Revelation 5 the apostle John beholds a spectacular vision of worship before the throne of God. He hears the voices of heaven (vv. 11-12) and earth (v. 13) unite in one grand symphony of cosmic praise to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. It is to this glorious end that the entire created order is moving despite the way things may appear today. History is not random or aimless, nor are we captains of its destiny; rather, it moves under the sovereign guidance of our God who will certainly bring it to his appointed end: the universal worship of his name among the nations. But how does it get there? And what role do we play as the people of God in its realization? Luke answers by speaking of three great events that fundamentally shape history.

Thus it is written, that [1] the Christ should suffer and [2] on the third day rise from the dead, and that [3] repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations (Luke 24:46-47).

The first two—Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection—have been accomplished once and for all. It’s the third event—the church’s proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth—that is fundamentally driving and shaping history today. You’re not going to read that in any newspaper (which instead deifies the election process as if its outcome is all-determining for the course of history), but it is the reality we live in according to God’s infallible Word. The Missionary Heart of Psalm 67 With that wide-lens view of history now before us, we can consider Psalm 67. It teaches us that God brings the created order to participate in the worship of Revelation 5 by blessing his people (v. 1) so that through them his blessing might extend to the ends of the earth (v. 2). This psalm is the natural overflow of a heart jealous and passionate for God’s name to be praised by everyone everywhere. The opening words are probably very familiar to us as our worship services often close with them as the Benediction: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us” (v. 1). This is the Aaronic blessing that the priests would declare over God’s people in the Old Testament (Num. 6:24-26). But that blessing itself was actually grounded in God’s earlier covenant promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. God graciously comes to Abraham and says, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. … [I]n you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The psalmist is then appropriating God’s promise, his certain and trustworthy Word, which gives rise to his confidence at the end of the psalm that God will bless them. It is too often the case that many of us live as if Psalm 67 is just one verse. We receive God’s blessing each Lord’s Day, but leave worship without considering why we have been blessed. But the psalmist reminds us in verse two that we have been blessed so that God’s way may be known on earth, his saving power among all nations. We’re blessed to be a blessing. God’s blessing is never meant to terminate upon us, but to extend through us to the world. This means that the fuel that is to drive us and the goal that we are to aim at in our witness to the world is worship. We are to long for God to be worshipped as he ought. A passion for missions, then, arises when we can say with Isaiah to the Lord, “Your name and your renown are the desires of our hearts” (26:8). God’s people are to be jealous for God’s fame among the nations, so that wherever his fame has not yet reached (including your neighbor’s house), there we will go bearing joyful witness to it (Isa. 52:7; Rom. 10:15). In Romans 1 Paul says that there are those who worship the creature instead of the Creator. But God exists to be worshipped alone. This disparity is what gives rise to missions. As John Piper has said, “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” Missions aren’t ultimate; worship is. Remember, the cosmic praise of the Lamb is the end toward which all of history is moving. The Inauguration of Psalm 67 Psalm 67 is looking to the future when God will bless his people and the nations will come to know his saving ways.[1] With that in mind, the ending of Luke’s gospel is astonishing as it transitions us into his second-volume, Acts. Jesus, having now been raised from the dead, must ascend into heaven. But notice what he does in his ascension: “Then [Jesus] led [his disciples] out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them” (24:50). In his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ secured for the nations the Abrahamic blessing the psalmist anticipated:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith (Gal. 3:13-14).

Jesus can now say to his church empowered by his Spirit poured out on Pentecost, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). As a result, the nations have come and will continue to come to know his ways and his salvation. Through the church the nations are being blessed and praising the one true God as the Lord had promised Abraham. The apostle Paul sees the day longed for by the psalmist with the Gentiles now praising God as he states in Romans 15:8-11 and Ephesians 1:3-14 (note the triple mention of praise in vv. 6, 12, and 14). By blessing his church Jesus has inaugurated the day envisioned in Psalm 67. The light of that day has dawned and is growing ever-brighter as Christ continues his mission to the world through us. What a privilege to live in this day of fulfillment! Let us then press on in God’s mission with a zeal for his name to be worshipped by everyone everywhere! [1] Calvin notes that ancient Jewish commentators apply this psalm to future times, to the world to come, and times of the Messiah. He comments himself, “Here we have a clear prophecy of that extension of the grace of God by which the Gentiles were united into one body with the posterity of Abraham.”

I regularly preach lectio continua. When we start a new series at my church, we open to verse one of that book and work through it week by week, passage by passage, verse by verse until we complete the book. I enjoy this practice for several reasons. It forces me to preach difficult passages I would not otherwise choose. It gives me a greater sense of a particular book and its place in redemptive-history. It also saves time once I have a feel for the book and a sense for its grammatical-historical context. This works well for most books. But what about the Psalms? Seeing that there are 150 of them, if I preached an entire psalm per week, it would take me roughly three years to finish. And if I broke down some of psalms into smaller pericopes (think Psalm 119), it would take even longer. There’s nothing wrong with long sermon series, but given the nature of the psalter and the similarities between many consecutive psalms, this approach might not be the wisest option for the life of your congregation. One minister friend of mine has practiced preaching the psalter lectio continua but only through the summer. Whatever series he was working through, he takes a break in the summer and picks up where he left off last time in the psalter. This has worked well for him in a couple of congregations. I have taken his example and modified it slightly. Instead of triggering the change by the calendar, I switch to the psalter for four or five sermons whenever I finish a series. For example, when I finish my evening sermon series in Micah in October, I will pick up where I last left off in the psalter at Psalm 15. I will preach Psalms 15–18 on consecutive Lord’s Day evening services and then begin a sermon series in a new book. When I complete my morning sermon series in Mark sometime in January, I will pick up with Psalm 19 and continue the pattern. This method seems to work well for me and my congregation. It allows us a little time to become situated in the psalter again without carrying the sense of embarking on another long journey. These brief excursions give us a respite from longer series. Each time we open the psalter, it is refreshing—as many of the psalms so beautifully are.