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Psalm 124: Like a Bird in the Bracken

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INTRODUCTION

When you consider the peril our nation is currently in, and you reflect on the fact that this psalm came up as the text for this Lord’s Day purely by happenstance, your conclusion needs to be that it is almost as though a higher power were at work.

In 1582, in Edinburgh, an imprisoned minister named John Durie was released from prison. He was welcomed on the edge of town by several hundred of his friends, and as they walked along, that number soon swelled to several thousand. Someone began to sing—Psalm 124—and they all, much moved, sang it together in four parts, much as we will be singing it later in the service. “Let Israel now say in thankfulness . . .” One of the chief persecutors was said to have been more alarmed by this spectacle than anything else he had seen in Scotland, which is very likely saying something.

THE TEXT

“A Song of degrees of David. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This psalm of gratitude for deliverance begins with a fragmented joy (vv. 1-2). Instead of trying to smooth it out, try reading it this way:

“Had it not been Jehovah! He was for us, oh let Israel say!
Had it not been Jehovah! He who was for us when men rose against us.”

If Jehovah had not been our deliverance, we would have been gulped down quick (v. 3). The wrath of man would have burned us up right now (v. 3). The flood waters would have overwhelmed us, and the stream would have drowned our soul (v. 4) when those proud waters went over our soul (v. 5). Notice that the water is proud water, haughty water. Blessed the name of Jehovah, who took us away from their ravening jaws (v. 6). We escaped the way a bird would dart away from a broken snare (v. 7).

Had it not been for Yahweh, we would have been swallowed, burned, drowned, eaten, and captured. But our help is in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and earth (v. 8).

WHEN MEN RISE AGAINST US

The key to understanding the long war that is human history is found in the first chapters of Genesis. In Gen. 3:15, as God is pronouncing the curse on the serpent, He declares a necessary and permanent antipathy between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. This is the key—this is the antithesisbetween up and down, white and black, righteousness and unrighteousness. It is why the Lord clashed with the brood of vipers when He found them running the Temple.

So what God promised to do through the seed of the woman (Christ), He also promises to do through us who are in Christ. “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen” (Rom. 16:20). So remember this antithesis. The fact of a necessary conflict here is a fact of life. It is not an indicator that something has gone wrong. In fact, the indication goes the other way (Luke 6:26).

And remember that the waters that would drown you are proud waters. This means that they believe that you are the proud one, that you are the fanatic clinging to your obstinate ignorance. Why don’t you believe in science? Why don’t you submit to all the current authorities, who require us to say that a boy can become a girl? But if this is science, why didn’t all of this start in the vet schools, with them turning bulls into cows, thus augmenting our dairy production?

SING LIKE A BIRD IN THE BRACKEN

As I have reminded you before, you must remember also how much God loves cliffhangers. God delights in last minute deliverance because there is no joy like the joy that follows a last-minute deliverance. Chesterton put it marvelously: “The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God’s paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle—and not lose it.”

Imagine a bird in a snare, and how it flutters in the net in a desperate panic. And then imagine that snare broken, and if you blink you will not see the bird darting back into the bracken. But you will hear us back there in moment, singing our hearts out. And you haven’t lived until you hear birds singing Psalm 124.

A UNIVERSAL PSALM

We are not given a particular circumstance that occasioned the composition of this psalm. But because the antithesis is a constant reality in this fallen world, there have been many occasions where God’s people wanted to sing it—and there will be many more. This is a universal psalm, suitable for every age. We would be hard pressed to find a river in the world that did not at some point have the saints of God gathered on the bank, singing about their deliverance in this way. Whether we are talking about the Ohio, or the Ganges, or the Tiber, or the Jordan, or the Tigris, or the Nile, we can see that the proud waters were tamed and humbled. Wherever God’s people have gone, they have eventually had to deal with the fact that their soul was among the lions. And when God delivers, as He loves to do, He delivers us like we were Daniel. Let us trust Him like we were Daniel.

As Alfred Edersheim once noted, this psalm contains sweet doctrine concerning the past, present, and future (1, 2, 8). The Lord was on our side, which is past. The snare is broken, which is the present. Our help is in the name of the Lord, which is going to be true out to the end of the world, meaning that it applies to every possible future.

SO LOOK TO CHRIST

If you are alive and here with us now, that means you were born for this time. And because Christ is constantly at the right hand of the Father, set your minds on the things which are above (Col. 3:2), where He is. Set your minds on Christ, and He will bestow on you exactly what you need for this moment. And unless I miss the mark, that gift will be the triadic outpouring of faith, courage, and joy.

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State of the Church 2021

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INTRODUCTION

In these annual “state of the church” messages, we sometimes address our local circumstances here in Christ Church. At other times the message has addressed our national condition. This year, it is (I believe) necessary to do both as the situations are unusually intertwined.

We are living in a time of great uncertainty and turmoil, and in such times, men turn naturally to their gods. In the case of many Americans, jack-secularists, they have resorted to long-neglected temples, only to find that their gods have toppled over like Dagon. They are therefore governed by fear and anger, both right and left. We are not in their position, and so whatever we do, we must not copy or imitate them.

THE TEXT

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Although we have been born again, although we are new creatures in Christ, and although we are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, we still nevertheless have physical bodies that we walk around in. We remain embodied beings. But though we walk around in the flesh, we do not conduct our warfare that way. We wage war, but we do not wage war according to the flesh (v. 3). Paul says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but what he contrasts this with is revelatory. His first comparison is not carnal over against spiritual, but rather carnal over against mighty (v. 4). Carnal weapons are not strong enough to do what is going to be done, which is to cast down imaginations and every lofty, proud thing, and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (v. 5). In order for them to topple statues of generals from a century or two ago, all they need are some cables and a winch. In order to topple principalities and powers, you need something more.

So what Paul has in mind here is not the kind of echo chamber rhetoric that you see on partisan political web sites. “Watch so-and-so drop a bomb on old what’s-his-face. Click here to watch Sen. Taxit own the libs!” He is not talking about casting down devilish imaginations in his head. He is talking about bringing the intellectual world to heel, bringing them to an actual obedience to the Lord Jesus.

PREPARING FOR ONE KIND OF CONFLICT

In the year 2020, Americans bought a record-high 17 million guns. This was on top of all the guns already owned, which is somewhere between 350 and 400 million. For every one hundred Americans, there are about 120 guns. And if you go out there in order to buy some 9mm ammo, good luck. The shelves for 9mm ammo look like the shelves for milk in a socialist country.

Now I only bring this up to note two things. The first is to point to the level of uncertainty in the general population. They should be ripe for hearing a sure word—a word of traction in slippery times. We should make a point of speaking that word.

The second reason is to use it for an illustration—simply to point out that unfortunately the sons of this world are more shrewd than the children of light (Luke 16:8). The worldlings look at their resources, and they make a point to stock up. They at least know they are supposed to do something. But many Christians don’t look at their resources, don’t anticipate the costs of spiritual warfare, and they don’t stock up.

A CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW AMMO BOX

If you are concerned about the state of our nation, you ought to be. If that concern has affected you to the point of wanting to prepare yourself in order to protect your family spiritually, then you are thinking wisely. So what can you do? What kind of spiritual 9MM ammo can you stockpile? What should you concentrate on? We don’t know what is going to happen, but I do know that if you start laying up these things, you will be better prepared for whatever comes, regardless of what comes.

  • Worship—“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve [worship] God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). This is the central thing.
  • Honesty about sin—“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). If you are not right with God, you will have real troubles in any real troubles.
  • Marriage—“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun” (Eccl. 9:9). In other words, love your wife with holy abandon.
  • Music—“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Ps. 22:3). And the psalms are the arsenal and hymnal of God.
  • Hospitality/community—“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality” (Rom. 12:12–13). Notice how the fact of tribulation does not negate the need for hospitality.
  • Christian Education—“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). This is a critical component of what we are up to.
  • Debt-free—“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender” (Prov. 22:7; cf. Rom. 13:8). Your central encumbrance should be the encumbrance of love.
  • Joviality, cheerfulness, laughter—“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). Our weapons are not carnal, but being joyful, are mighty.
  • Family dinners/sabbath—“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deut. 6:7). Church is where your instruction is packed. The family table is where it is unpacked.
  • Study/read—“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). First, read the Word. Second, read a book.
  • Work—“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3:13). In context, this is talking about the work of ministry, but it is a principle that all the people are to imitate.
  • Stories—“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.” (Joel 1:3). Joel is talking about a cautionary tale, but there are great, inspirational tales as well. All the stories.

And you know there is more than this. But there is certainly not less. And the first item—worship of the Father, in the name of Christ, in the power of the Spirit—is the box that will hold all these bullets together.

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Mistaken Faithful Prayer

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INTRODUCTION

As many of you know, it is our custom to have a “state of the church” message around the beginning of each new year, and that message will be coming next week. But, if you like, you may consider this message to a preamble to that state of the church sermon. How so?

The year behind us, 2020, has been quite a year, and it may have occurred to some of you that when 20 turns 21, it might start drinking, and then what shall we do? Of course, we shall pray about it, but there is a particular kind of prayer that we need to understand in times like these.

THE TEXT

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1–8)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This parable goes by various names. For some, it is the parable of the unjust judge. For others, it is called the parable of the importunate widow, or perhaps the persistent widow. With this parable, Jesus gives us the meaning of it right at the front end. He told the parable to a particular purpose, which is that men ought to pray constantly and not to get discouraged (v. 1). In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God, and he did not have any regard for man (v. 2). We should start paying attention at this point because we have that kind of judge in our time, believe it or not. Now there was a widow in that same city who wanted to have her case heard against her adversary (v. 3). She wanted to have the judge grant the justice of her case. For a time, this godless judge just put her off, but after a bit he changed his mind. He acknowledged to himself that even though he did not fear God or regard man (v. 4), he was still able to determine that this widow was going to be a royal pain in the neck (v. 5). The only way he was going to get rid of her was through doing some justice, however little it suited him. And Jesus says that we should pay attention to the lesson of this unjust judge (v. 6). How is it possible that God will not grant justice to His own elect, those who cry to Him day and night, even though He puts them off for a time (v. 7)? This is a “how much more” argument. God will vindicate them later, and when it happens it will happen suddenly (v. 8). God loves the eucatastrophe. But at the same time, why might the Son of man not find faith on the earth when He comes? It would be because the lesson of this parable had not been learned, and people, in the position of that widow, quit coming.

THE NATURE OF PERSISTENCE

Now one of the things we need to do is look straight at this parable, contemplating what Jesus is actually calling us to do. He is actually calling us to be wrong in our prayers, and to be wrong most of the time.

Suppose you have a trouble, and coming out of this last year, who doesn’t? And suppose this trouble weighs on you heavily, and it has come to the point where you are bringing it before the Lord daily. It could be a health problem, or a financial challenge, or a wayward child, or the caliber of the people running our civilization. It weighs on you, and so as required, you bring it to God. To illustrate, suppose you are praying for a significant amount of money, and it is not so that you might spend it on various fripperies. It is a real need. Let us say you bring it before the Lord daily, as this parable requires, and you do so for years.

This means that every day, you believe that today would be a wonderful time for this needed deliverance to appear. You wouldn’t be praying about it if you didn’t feel that way. But every new day that you pray about it, the repetition entails a recognition that your assessment of the situation yesterday was wrong. That wasn’t the best day for the deliverance. Not only were you wrong, but it was an error that the Lord Jesus—by requiring your persistence in this kind of prayer—required you to make. So Jesus wants us to be obediently mistaken.

EMBODIED LIFE IN TIME            

Perhaps some of you women who are mothers know what this is like. Those who just identify as women have no idea. But perhaps you have had this experience. You are six months along, and some well-meaning stranger asks you what it feels like to be past due. You feel like you are, and it is also apparently the case that you look like you are. In this scenario, you know that it is not time yet. But suppose that you were the first woman ever to give birth, and so nobody knew how long a pregnancy was supposed to go. Now pray about it. That is what delayed answer to prayer is like. The gestation times for answered prayer vary considerably.

But when the answer comes, it comes suddenly. It comes in a rush. Is this not what the Lord explicitly says? He will “avenge them speedily” (v. 8).

ON THE MOUNT OF THE LORD

God wants us to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We are to live our lives walking in the will of God, but this is not the same thing as living off a pre-printed agenda. Once in a blue moon God directs His servants explicitly and in unmistakable ways. But most of the time, we are to simply trust Him. Our lives are a mist (Jas. 4:14). We are a wispy bit of fog off the river that you sometimes drive by, and in a moment it is gone.

We should have the humility befitting small wisps of fog, and so we should pray in the way we are instructed to pray. Not only will God answer us suddenly when He answers, but He loves to do it at the moment when we believe that all is lost. He waits until Abraham has the knife upraised over his son. On the mount of the Lord it will be provided (Gen. 22:14). God waited until the Israelites were close enough to the Red Sea to get their sandals wet in it before He told Moses to extend his rod. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord (Ex. 14:13). Jehoshaphat was told the same thing. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord (2 Chron. 20:17).

So we can be confident that there is one thing that the misbegotten year 2020 did not do, and that was to shorten the arm of Jehovah (Num. 11:23).

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Sola Fide | Reformed Basics #4

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So if you put your faith on a slide for a microscope, and stare at it for hours, perhaps muttering exhortations to it, the one thing you can be sure of is that it will not grow. But if you learn to look away, if you learn to look to Christ, and if you turn to Scripture, you will find that your faith-precisely because you weren’t paying attention to it—has been quietly growing.

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Advent and Angels

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INTRODUCTION

One of the more obvious things about the Christmas story as Scripture records it would be prevalence of angels in it. The angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah to tell him about the birth of the forerunner of the Christ (Luke 1:11). Six months later Gabriel again appears to Mary, to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of the Highest (Luke 1:26-27). An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream in order to tell him that Mary had not been unfaithful to him (Matt. 1:20). The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, and then the entire heavenly host appeared as well (Luke 2:9,13). An angel in the form of a star summons the wise men to come to Jerusalem in the first place, and that same angel identifies the right house in Bethlehem for them (Matt. 2:2,10). And Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel to flee down to Egypt, in order to escape from Herod’s wrath (Matt. 2:13). Angels all over the place. What is the significance of this for us?

THE TEXT

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:26–35).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to Zechariah, also came to Mary, who was in Nazareth at the time (v. 26). She was betrothed to a man named Joseph, who was of the line of David (v. 27). He greets her with a general blessing, but one that was also very high (v. 28). She was troubled by it, and tried to figure it out (v. 29). Gabriel reassures her, telling her that she had found favor with God (v. 30). He then said she was going to conceive a son, and He would be named Jesus (v. 31). He was going to be very great, the Son of the Highest, and He was going to inherit the throne of His father David (v. 32). He was going to reign over the house of Jacob, and His kingdom would be a never-ending one (v. 33). Mary asked, reasonably enough, how this was possible, given that she was a virgin (v. 34). Gabriel answered that it would be because the Holy Spirit would come upon her, that the power of the Highest would cover her, such that her Son would be called the Son of God (v. 35).

A FEW RANDOM THINGS

In the next verse, Elizabeth is called Mary’s cousin (v. 36), but the word might better be rendered as kinswoman. This is interesting because Elizabeth and Zechariah were both from the tribe of Levi, but the Lord was from the line of Judah. There are different ways this could work, but it is suggestive. Because Elizabeth was elderly and Mary was not, I think it is likely that she was something like Mary’s aunt.

Second, in the Old Testament, angels do not go by their names. In fact, when the father of Samson asks an angel’s name, he is rebuffed. “And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?” (Judges 13:18). But in the inter-testamental period, it became more common to identify angels by their various names. But still, in the Scriptures, we are given the names of only two angels, Gabriel and Michael.

And then third, what are we to make of all these angels? Remember that the primary job description of angels is that they are messengers. The word angelosmeans messenger, and does not necessarily entail a celestial being. Humans are called angels at various times, depending on the task they have. John the Baptist is called an angel (Mark 1:2). He was a messenger, preparing the way of the Lord. And the pastors of the seven churches of Asia are called angels (Rev. 2:1,8,12,18;3:1,7,14). They had a message to deliver.

SIGNS AND MESSAGES

Now throughout Scripture, angels do remarkable things. But they are not called wonder-workers. They are called messengers. The signs that they give are the seal on the message. The contents of their messages are the important thing; the seal on the letter simply says that the message is authentic. “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him” (John 10:38).

It was the same way with the prophets. Foretelling the future was not their main vocation. That was simply their authentication for what was their main purpose, which was forthtelling the truth.

“And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lordhath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:21–22).

“Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: Yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together” (Isaiah 41:23).

The main thing is to believe the message, as Mary did and Zechariah did not.

It is noteworthy that in Scripture, there are three periods of clustered miracles—the time of Moses, the time of Elijah/Elisha, and the time of Christ and the apostles. This is because these were also times when revelation was being given in bulk (law, prophets, gospel). We should note the miracles because we are bent on accepting the message they authenticate—whether the law, the prophets, or the gospel.

BECOMING HIS MESSENGERS

The angels declared the message to astonished shepherds. The shepherds declared the message to astonished passers-by. This is a metaphor that can indicate to us how that particular torch has been passed from angels to men.

“For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels” (Hebrews 2:5, NKJV).

No, that world has been given to the sons of men, those who are in Christ, and so we have been charged to be the central messengers of this peace on earth, good will to men (Matt. 28:18-20). We are the angels being sent out to gather God’s elect from the four corners of the world (Matt. 24:31).

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