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Post Tenebras Lux

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Introduction

The title of this message is a phrase that has been used to describe the great work of the Spirit in the Reformation, and that Latin phrase means “after darkness, light.” It is the purpose of this sermon to focus on one particular manifestation of that transformation, which was the musical transformation which occurred. Post silentium cantus. After silence, song.

The Texts

“And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20).

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16).

Summary of the Text

We too often assume that this phrase “with the Spirit” means that the Holy Spirit is the substance with which we are filled. A better rendition of this would be “by the Spirit,” meaning that the Holy Spirit is the agent who does the filling, not the substance with which we are filled. But if that is the case, then what are we to be filled with. The answer to this comes from the parallel passage in Colossians, which tells us that it is the word of Christ. Putting this together, we are to be filled with the word of Christ, an action performed by the Holy Spirit, and this has certain observable results which follow. What are they?

The command is to be filled with the word of Christ by the Spirit, and then this command is followed by a series of participles—speaking, teaching, admonishing, singing, making melody, giving thanks, and submitting. The structure would be something like this: Cook the turkey (imperative), keeping the oven at 350 degrees, basting as necessary, and removing when done. The imperative tells you what is to be done, and the participles describe the doing. In this case, we are told to be indwelt by the word, and to allow the Spirit to accomplish this. How do we allow the Spirit to accomplish t his? The answer is not limited to music, but the answer certainly begins with music.

Dwell in You Richly

The word of Christ is something that in its very nature is potent and pervasive. It will dwell in us richly unless we take active steps to prevent it from doing so. In order to remain unaffected, we have to develop some countermeasures, some workarounds, to keep God from messing with our lives. It is unfortunate, but many professing Christians do just this—and the opposite effect happens. That would be the real day the music dies.

The illustration may seem irreverent, but it is not intended that way. Picture the word of Christ in your life as a powerful and aromatic cheese. A workaround would be to wrap it in tin foil and put it in the back of your freezer. It is in your house, but it is not in your house richly. But if you bake a dish in your oven, using that cheese, the cheese is in your house, and it is in your house richly. What is that aroma? In these texts, it begins with the music.

Gospel Reformation

There are a number of things that go together here. We begin with the objectivity and truth of the gospel—it has to be the word of Christ, and not the words of human traditions, or the words of some idol. The imperative has to be observed. But at the same time, the imperative cannot be observed “raw,” with no participles following.

Jesus told us that we were to evaluate whether teachers were false or true by means of the fruit that followed their ministry. This is because an evil tree cannot bear good fruit, and a good tree cannot bear evil fruit (Matt. 7:16). In these texts, what accompanies the work of the Spirit in causing the word of Christ to dwell in us richly? The answer is pretty plain in the text—singing with grace, mutual submission, musical instruction, giving thanks, and singing in your heart to God.

A Little History

Measured by these criteria, the Reformation was clearly a glorious work of the Holy Spirit. It exhibits signs of His characteristic work everywhere, and in particular we see this in the music that came out of the Reformation.

Before the Reformation, there was a sharp divide between the clergy and the laity. The clergymen did all the worship work up front (sometimes behind a screen), and the laity gathered out in the nave of the sanctuary to watch and listen. One of the fundamental movements of the Reformation was that of reincorporating the laity back into the life of the Church. This was done in numerous areas—for example, in the government of the churches, the ruling elders meant that the laity was now included. But one of the biggest and most obvious transformations was the explosion of music, and the inclusion of the congregation. Words were made plain, and put in the vernacular. The melodies and settings were made accessible so that the average Christian could learn to sing them. The publication of psalters and hymnals was extremely widespread. The people found a voice again, were included in the worship of God again, and they used their voice to sing.

When You Say ‘Calvinist,’ They Say . . .?

How did you fill that sentence in? Was it with any words like music, thanks, or grateful submission? In the first century of the Reformation, at least, it was very much that way. But today, too many Calvinists or Reformed theology wonks are without musical soul. Their cry is “O for a thousand tongues to parse my great Redeemer’s decrees,” which doesn’t even scan or rhyme. When the Holy Spirit is present in a work or a movement, one of the first things that happens is a restoration of joy, and a restoration of joy in the music of the psalms. “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 5:13).

Reformational Music

None of this means that the music floats in our midst mystically, or in a way that makes all the joys of earthly accomplishment moot. It is not the case that when Reformation arrives, the tone deaf will suddenly start finding their pitch. The thing that changes is the exuberance of heart attitude. The word of Christ dwells in us richly, and we enjoy the rough and tumble lessons that follow. When the Holy Spirit finds our hearts, we find our voice.

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The Hand of God, Wall Street, and You

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Introduction

When God shakes the nations, or we think He is about to shake the nations, He does so in order that we might return to the basics.

The Text

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:6-11).

Summary of the Text

In this section of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is outlining the basic laws of generosity. First, the one who sows sparingly will reap in the same way (v. 6). The one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. This should proceed from an understanding of the way the world is (because it was made by God, and He is a certain way). This means that generosity should not be grudging or because it is required, because God loves cheerfulness in generosity (v. 7). However your financial future goes, it will never be the case that God leaves you without the means to be self- sufficient, and—this is key—to abound in every good work (v. 8). As Scripture says, God has dispersed abroad; He gives to the poor; His righteousness is not like the stock market (v. 9). God governs the world this way. He gives seed to the sower, and He gives bread to you, and the opportunity for you to multiply your seed sown—through generosity (v. 10). We are enriched through His goodness, and enabled to multiply, which in turn enables us to multiply thanksgiving to God (v. 11). And that summarizes how our life together should be—in flush times and in hard times. We must be a grateful people, and we must be an openhanded people.

Why Is This Happening?

Like the rest of our lives, our financial lives are governed by certain, fixed inexorable realities. God is not mocked, and if a man sows morning glory, he will reap morning glory. If a nation sows morning glory, they will reap morning glory. If financial markets sow leveraged stupidity, then they will reap leveraged stupidity. If giant corporations bet the farm in the hope that the laws of farming will not apply to them, then they will lose that farm. The first principle for us to remember is that this is God’s governance of the world. This is the way He does it, and as His people, we must stand back and say amen. The judge of the whole earth shall do right. It should delight us that He does what is right. Note in our text that His “righteousness remaineth forever.” Delighting in what the Lord has determined to do with us is not masochism. We know that this is a hard providence for many, and we are not without natural affection. But we know that we are a stupid and foolish race, and that there are times when we need hard providences to prevent us from destroying ourselves.

As Nebuchadnezzar knew, no one can stay the hand of God and ask what He is doing.

The Nature of Panic

When financial markets tumble, as they have in recent weeks, the panic is often driven by each person assuming that the disaster looms largest for them. In other words, they isolate and detach themselves from everybody else, assume that the worst will land on them (with whatever happens to others not really being relevant), and then they take (frenzied) steps accordingly. But in our text we see that, as we are called to life together, we will be equipped to weather this and other storms in koinonia fellowship. We are a community.

Near and Clear

We have previously studied the spiritual law that our duties, including our duties in the realm of generosity, are near and clear. And this is qualified, of course, by the recognition that “near” is not necessarily on your street, and that “clear” is not But the principle is that we must start where we live; we must start with our neighbor, which “neighbor” being defined as whatever person God has put in front of us.

Sufficiency for Every Good Work

If you lose your shirt, and you are sitting down to a meal of stewed carrots, and there are not very many of them, you need to remember that God has equipped you to abound for every good work. Now God adjusts according to scale, which means that if your only possession is that carrot stew, you are admirably situated to share your carrots. God sees this; He delights in it.

The Basic of Blessed Wealth Creation

When a believer gives of his substance, in imitation of the God who gives from His bounty, God has arranged the world in such a way that what he has given is treated as seed. If you did not know how crops worked, putting edible seed into the dirt would not seem to make much sense. But putting seed into the dirt is not to be done grudgingly, or of necessity—such a person is just following a formula by rote, and does not know how God delights to govern the world. And when you don’t know how God governs the world, it is perilously easy to lose sight of where you are in that world. Open-handed giving is the best way to have an open hand available when God wants to return to you. Having a tight, closed fist is the best way to have a tight, closed fist when God would be willing to bestow on you.

So Let Him Give

We are still in the early stages of this roller coaster ride. We do not know what will happen to global markets. We do not know what will happen to our stock market. We do not know what will happen to our auto industry, and so forth. We do not know. This means that we do not know where we will be in all this turmoil. At the same time, we can (and should) determine what kind of people we will be in all this turmoil. That means are two basic questions that we should settle in our hearts and minds. First, as individuals and in our families, will we respond to all this with a tighter first, hoarding and grasping? or will we be open-handed and generous? Second, will we navigate this difficult period as members of a community? Or will it be every man for himself, and devil take the hindmost?

Every man, as he purposeth in his heart, without being second-guessed by generosity nazis, should determine to overflow. You may not have much, but you can alway arrange to overflow with it.

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Psalm 50: Rite and Ritual

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Introduction

This is the first of twelve psalms ascribed to Asaph. Mostly likely this is the Asaph who lived at the same time as David (2 Chron. 29:30), although that name does appear later (2 Kings 18:18). This psalm is a wonderful illustration of how thoroughly the godly saints of the old covenant understood true worship.

The Text
“The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come. . .” (Psalm 50:1-23).

Summary and Outline of the Text

According to theme, the psalm should be divided in this way. The first section represents the Lord summoning the entire earth to hear what He has to declare (vv. 1-6). This is a message for all men in all times—the times of the new covenant included. In the second section, He defines the sort of worship that is acceptable to Him (vv. 7-15), and closer to the point, the kind that is unacceptable to Him. The third section outlines the moral misbehavior of religious hypocrites (vv. 16-21). The conclusion then comes with a savage warning (v. 22) and is then followed up with a very gracious offer (v. 23).

The Lord speaks—the Hebrew has “El, Elohim, YHWH says . . .” The entire earth is summoned to come (v. 1). God shines out of Zion, His select city (v. 2). As God comes, a fire and tempest come with Him (v. 3). He will call heaven and earth as His witnesses in the judgment of His people (v. 4). He gathers His holy ones, those who have made covenant by means of true sacrifice (v. 5). The heavens will say amen to His righteous judgment (v. 6). Think on this.

When He comes in the fire and tempest, what does He say? Come, and listen up. I will testify against you (v. 7). They had not failed in the outward requirements (v. 8), and so that is not why they were reproved. God does not want our sacrificial animals (v. 9). He already has plenty of wild and domestic beasts (v. 10). He owns all the wild fowl and the beasts of the field already (v. 11). If God were hungry, He wouldn’t tell us about it (vv. 12-13). Offer thanksgiving to God (v. 14). Pay your vows, sincerely and from the heart (v. 14). Then God will deliver you in the day of trouble (v. 15).

But what does the showboating hypocrite do in worship? First, he declares God’s statutes, and takes God’s covenant into his mouth—and God doesn’t like it (v. 16). He knows the liturgy, and so therefore he hates true instruction (v. 17). He connives at theft (v. 18), consents to adultery (v. 18). He gives his mouth to evil and deceit (v. 19). He slander’s his own brother, a thing not to be borne (v. 20). On top of everything else, he misinterprets delayed judgment to mean no judgment, thinking God to be as fickle as he himself is (v. 21).

Those who forget God need to think about it because God will tear them into little bits (v. 22). But the one who praises God, and orders his life rightly, this person will see the salvation of God (v. 23).

The Great Summons

True worship begins with a right vision of who God is. Isaiah sees the Lord, high and lifted up. Moses saw the glory of the Lord on the mountain. The apostles called upon the one who had made the sea and sky and dry land. If you don’t start there, you have never started. When we look at the disparity between the “fire and tempest” and the complacency of many worshipers, the surprising thing is that more worshipers are not struck dead by lightning every Sunday. The mercies of God are remarkable. Note this: God summons (v. 1); God shines (v. 2); God comes

in tumult (v. 3); He calls heaven and earth to witness (v. 4); He gathers His true saints (v. 5); and the heavens declare His righteousness (v. 6). Now is it possible to talk about rites and liturgy. Anyone who moves straight to liturgics is a fool and a spiritual imbecile.

Rite and Ritual

In a remarkable turn of events, I believe this is the first time I have ever quoted Ambrose Bierce in two sermons running. That able lexicographer defined rite as “a religious or semi-religious ceremony fixed by law, precept or custom, with the essential oil of sincerity carefully squeezed out of it.” And as for ritualism, he said this: “A Dutch garden of God where He may walk in rectilinear freedom, keeping off the grass.” However much we might want to chafe under such definitions, Asaph would have grasped this point immediately.

God does not rebuke them for messing up on the externals (v. 8). Notice that God is bringing a case against them, an accusation (v. 7). The spiritually stupid think that God requires certain things of us because He somehow needs them, which is crazy (vv. 9-13). What does He really want? He wants gratitude and integrity (v. 14). If you have those, you may use a formal service to call upon God—and He will hear (v. 15). If you don’t have those, then save your breath for something else.

Whited Tombs

God asks the wicked why they came to think that He wanted them to talk about His word (v. 16). God never asked thieves, homos, or adulterers to become chancel prancers. Neither did He ask them to become covenant theologians. What is their problem? First, they are unteachable (v. 17). Second, they consent to thievery and adultery (v. 18). Third, they love to lie (v. 19). Fourth, they slander their own relatives (v. 20). And last, they reveal that they worship a god created in their own image (v. 21). Over all of it is a beautiful white robe and stole, like two inches of snow on a dung heap.

God Under Glass

The hypocritical liturgist believes that he has God under glass, God in a box, God under control. He knows the magic words, many of them in Latin. He knows the magic dance steps. He has flowing robes, and greetings in the market place. He loves religion, and all the trappings of religion, but he forgets God Himself. A man in such a position is in for a rude awakening. Like Belshazzar, he does not know what his cup contains until it is full and about to overflow. The only alternative is gratitude and thanksgiving, coupled with honest Christian living.

This Word For Us

We are involved in the work of liturgical reformation, and we thank God for it. But never forget God in the service of God, and never forget that the characteristic sin associated with this form of worship (over millennia) is going to magically disappear in our day.

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Psalm 49: Wealth and Death

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Introduction

We come now to a very potent expression of the biblical take on blind wealth in the face of inexorable death. As we treat the subject of our riches, let us take care, first, to remember the whole counsel of God on this subject, and let us take even greater care to not allow the whole counsel of God to dilute the force of the text before us.

The Text
“Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding . . .” (Psalm 49:1-20).

Summary of the Text

An invitation to the entire world is extended—give ear to this (v. 1). The teaching applies to all, whether high or low, rich or poor (v. 2). The words to follow are words of wisdom and understanding—the understanding that is lacking in v. 20. The psalmist will hear a parable, and will open up a dark saying as he sings (v. 4). Why should the godly fear when a supplanter is right behind him, right on his heels (v. 5)? There are those who trust in wealth and in the multitude of their riches (v. 6). Not one of these guys can redeem or ransom any of the rest of them (v. 7). The price of immortality is way more than they have (vv. 8-9). Anybody can see that everybody dies, and that everybody leaves their possessions behind (v. 10). But their inward thought is otherwise; they are vain all the way down. They think they can secure a posterity for themselves (v. 11). Nevertheless, rich men still die, just like dogs do (v. 12). But even though this keeps happening, the next generation doesn’t learn a single blessed thing from it (v. 13). Think about this. Death gathers them; death is their shepherd, and the upright will replace them (v. 14). The godly are not claimed by death in a final way at all (v. 15). This also is worthy of meditation. When some fool grows wealthy, and the glory of his house increases—don’t worry about it (v. 16). He is not going to be taking all that with him when he goes, and he will go (v. 17). While he was alive he got a lot of praise, which is to be expected (v. 18). Everybody flatters the rich guy. Nevertheless, he will still descend to join his fathers in darkness (v. 19). An honorable and wealthy man, one who does not understand the wisdom of this psalm (vv. 1, 20), is like the beasts that perish.

A Dark Saying

The third verse here is striking for several reasons. “I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.” It is very similar to Psalm 78:2, which Jesus quotes in Matthew 13:35. This is important for several reasons. Jesus tells dark parables—His teaching was not accessible to the educated, the wealthy, the secure, and the well-established. Psalm 78 is about their failure to understand the meaning of their history, and their failure pass a true understanding on to subsequent generations. This psalm addresses one of the principal reasons for men forgetting their God that way. And Jesus applies it both ways. He is teaching Israel on their threshold of their great judgment, at the climax of their history, and He was doing so while reminding them of the deceitfulness of riches (Matt. 13:22). The Pharisees loved their covenant position, which they misunderstood, and they loved their money, which they also misunderstood. Jesus once told them that they could not serve both God and mammon. “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him” (Luke 16:14; cf. 12:19). Money is one of the great hermeneutical blinders of men.

The Final and Funniest Folly

In his Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defines a mausoleum as the “the final and funniest folly of the rich.” The sentiment expressed lines up nicely with the theme of this psalm. You have heard it expressed many ways, many times. You can’t take it with you. There are no hitches for the U-Haul behind a hearse.

But being able to rattle off a proverb like this is not the same thing as understanding it. As one Puritan put it, “speaking bad words of worldly riches doth not exempt us from trusting them.” Saying it and getting it are quite different.

This psalm makes the point bluntly enough. A rich banker will rot just as quickly as a dead cow (vv. 12, 17, 20). There is no mutual insurance company that will accept premiums to enable you to forestall death (v. 7). All your goods are simply leased, and death ends the tenure (v. 17). The clown and the sage both die, and they both leave their stuff behind (v. 10). The idolatrously wealthy follow the way of folly, and that is why their posterity build them monuments, and put their sayings in brass (v. 13). The more gold you have, the faster you will sink into the darkness (v. 19). And so we must always remember that all of us must swim the river of death naked. Look at your right hand—in a matter of time, no one knows how long, that same hand will no longer be clothed in flesh. It will be whited bones, and that is all. On that day, all your other stuff—house, car, china, silver, savings accounts, furniture and more—will be in the possession of others. Those others will either be foolish like you, or wise like you. Those are the only two options.

Groundlings

In verse eleven, they call their manicured grounds after their own names. But verse twelve can be rendered, “But the groundlings, in the midst of splendor, do not endure.” Worldlings are of the world. Groundlings are of the ground, and return to it. When someone is a groundling, their thoughts are vain clean through (v. 11). Their inward thoughts make no sense. Like the rich fool in the parable, they talk this way to themselves (Luke 12:19).

High and Low Alike

This psalm is directed to all of us (vv. 1-2). Everyone that breathes needs to hear it. You don’t need to have money to be centered on it, or absorbed by it. Even the wealthy idolater is more absorbed by the money he doesn’t have than the money he does. Rockefeller was once asked how much money he needed, and he said, “Just a little bit more.” If the wealthy can be distracted by money they don’t have, how much more can the poor be? After all, they “don’t have” a lot more.

The God Who Goes Poof

As providence would have it, this message on Psalm 49 is being preached a week or so after a trillion or so dollars in the U.S. economy went poof. Some god. But we do not say these things out of some kind of christoplatonic disparagement of material things. Not in the slightest. The issue here is understanding (v. 20). As for the meek, who will inherit the earth, this is promised us. “The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning” (v. 14). The grave awaits the believer also, but the grave does not triumph over us (v. 15). This is because we have been redeemed, not with silver and gold, but with the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:18).

If your heart is wrong on money, on economics, on wealth and poverty—you cannot be right with God. If your eye is dark, your whole body will be full of darkness. If your eye is light . . .

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Psalm 48: Walk About Zion

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Introduction

This jubilant psalm is not credited to any particular writer, but the tone and content make it likely that it was written in the aftermath of the great victory over Ammon, Moab, and Edom in the reign of Jehoshaphat—the time he sent the choir out in front of the army.

The Text
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation . . .” (Psalm 48:1-14).

Summary of the Text

First, here are just a few reasons for placing this psalm in Jehoshaphat’s time.
“And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high . . . For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another . . . And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much . . . And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongeber” (2 Chron. 20:19, 23, 25, 36).

God is great, and is to be praised on the mountain of His holiness (v. 1). The city of Jerusalem is beautiful, and is the joy of the whole earth (v. 2). Her rulers, those who dwell in palaces, know that God is a refuge (v. 3). Confederate kings gathered, and were thwarted (v. 4). The reason they were defeated is because they panicked (vv. 5-6). God broke up the ships of Tarshish (v. 7). As we have heard of God’s faithfulness, so we have seen (v. 8). God has been remembered in His temple (v. 9). God is praised according to His worth; His right hand is filled with righteousness (v. 10). Let the city sing, let her daughters rejoice—because of God’s judgments (v. 11). Walk around Zion and look at it (v. 12). Reflect on the glory, so that you might tell the next generation all about it (v. 13). For this God is our God—the one who will lead us beyond death (v. 14).

In the Mountains of His Holiness

God is certainly great, and we ascribe this to Him by definition. How could He be God and not be great? But if we leave it at the level of theological definition, we will wither as a people. We also must take care to rejoice in the fact that God’s greatness is manifested in His deliverances of His people. He is praised in the city of our God (v. 1). Notice also that He is praised on the mountain of holiness. The city from which He is praised is the joy of the whole earth, and is the beautiful city of the great king (v. 2).

Known in Her Palaces

Notice that this was a time when Israel’s rulers feared God. And not a generic deity either—the palaces of Jerusalem were a place where God was known as a refuge. “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (2 Chron. 20:3). Jehoshaphat was the king, and he humbled himself. He lived in a palace, and he humbled himself. Compare this to our situation—rubes and cornpones in the red states may believe in Jesus, but what about our great urban centers, what about our leaders, what about our sophisticates?

The Glory of Panic

One of the things that God promises us, as one of the terms of the covenant, is that when we are out-gunned, out- maneuvered, out-generaled, and out-classed—and we turn to Him in faith—He will give the gift of panic to our adversaries. This is what happened in 2 Chron. 20:23. These great armies came marching against Zion, and though they came and saw, unlike Caesar, they did not conquer. They assembled, but when they saw the city of God, they were troubled, they fled, and a fearful panic took hold of them—like a woman in travail (vv. 5-6).

God delivered Jehoshaphat this way, and this is referred to in Psalm 48. God delivers us in this way. “This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee” (Dt. 2:25). “And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword” (Lev. 26:8).

But this is not just an “old covenant” thing. “And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them” (Acts 5:12-13).

Walk About Zion

Scriptures are full of the covenant duty that we have to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Walk around Zion—and study her turrets. Examine her palaces, and her walls and bulwarks. And why? So that you can tell it to the next generation. We are to bring up our children in such a way that they have a knowledgeable pride in, and loyalty to, the city of their God. They are not to be shipped off to a boarding school in Babylon so that they can study their turrets.

This God is Our God

Although the first Zion, the earthly Zion, no longer occupies the place it once did, the God of Israel has not changed. All His promises are yea and amen, and they are fulfilled in Christ, the Lord of the New Jerusalem, the new Zion. And this means that all these promises are still in our hearts and mouths, and then some. If the old Zion was to be holy, how much more the heavenly Zion? If her rulers and leaders took refuge in God alone, how much more should this be the case for the ministers and rulers of the new Zion? If God delivered His people in the old covenant by means of sending panics in among their adversaries, why would He stop doing that? And if they were to teach the next generation faithfully, how much more should we be doing so? This is because “this God is our God for ever and ever.”

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