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Your Reasonable Service

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INTRODUCTION

We have already covered the 5 main sacrifices in the first five chapters, but the next two focus on specific tasks and duties of the priests with regard to the sacrifices. Here, God is instructing Israel to obey carefully, making distinctions between holy and common, clean and unclean.

REVIEW

Leviticus 1: Ascension/Burnt Offering – God invites us to draw near with all that we are: the whole animal goes on the altar.

Leviticus 2: Tribute/Grain Offering – God provides our daily bread and all things, and therefore, He claims our full allegiance: bread on the altar.

Leviticus 3: Peace Offering – God invites us to have fellowship with Him and one another with a meal: the fat goes on the altar and we eat together in the presence of God.

Leviticus 4: Sin Offering – Sin defiles us and our land, but God takes it upon Himself so we can be clean: the blood goes in front of the veil and on the altar for cleansing, the carcass is burned outside the camp.

Leviticus 5: Guilt/Reparation Offering – All sin requires repentance and sometimes restitution: a ram for the Lord and restoring what was lost or stolen plus twenty percent.

THE TEXT

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering…” (Lev. 6:8-7:38)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While the earlier chapters described God’s provision of sacrifice for Israelites to draw near, here God gives commands to the priests for carrying them out. Instructions include the continual sacrifice, every morning and evening for the Ascension Offering (6:9-14), which portions of the Tribute Offerings (grain) belong to the priests (6:15-6:23), how the blood of the Sin Offering consecrates whatever it touches (6:24-30), how the Reparation Offering is like the Sin Offering and who may eat it (7:1-7), as well as the skin and Tribute grain that belong to the priests (7:8-10).

Peace Offerings may be made on occasions of thanksgiving (with unleavened and leavened bread), or upon the completion of vows, or as a voluntary offering, but must be eaten on the day of the offering (thanksgiving) or on the second day (vows/voluntary) (7:11-18). The meat of the Peace Offering must be kept ceremonially clean, ceremonial cleanness is required for all who partake of the Peace Offerings, and any unclean who partake are to be cut off from the people (7:19-21). While the Israelites may use the fat of animals for other purposes, they may not eat it, especially from a sacrifice, nor drink the blood (7:22-27). Finally, while individual Israelites must bring their own the Peace Offerings, the priests are to receive their portion and see to it that the fat is burned (7:28-36). This concludes the law of all the sacrifices and offerings (7:28-38).

HOLY, CLEAN, UNCLEAN, & CUT OFF

We will have opportunity to consider these categories more as we go on, but just notice how God is requiring the priests and the people to pay close attention to details: clean (6:11), holy (6:18), most holy (6:25, 29), clean (7:19), unclean (7:20-21). These generally correspond to whom the sacrifice belongs (holy/priests, clean/congregation). And those who fail to honor these distinctions are to be “cut off” (7:21, 25, 27). This means they are excommunicated from the presence of the Lord while the uncleanness persists, often only requiring a washing (Lev. 22:3-7). While these instructions are primarily given to the priests, we see that individual Israelites are also responsible to make sure the priests are following the instructions (7:18). The overarching principle here is the holiness of God. On the one hand, one does not just saunter into the presence of God, and yet, on the other hand, the whole sacrificial system was God making a way for sinners to draw near.

These categories were training wheels for New Covenant holiness. In the New Covenant, the holy blood of Jesus has gone into the Most Holy Place and splashed on this planet earth, consecrating the whole world to the Lord. Zechariah foretells this when he described a day when the bells on the horses would be consecrated with “Holiness to the Lord” as well as every pot in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:20-21). This is particularly true of believers who have been sanctified with the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:29). All that we do and touch is now holy to the Lord. In the New Covenant there is only “one baptism,” one washing, but we apply the promise of that cleansing through confession of sin: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7). This is also the goal of all correction (Gal. 6:1, Mt. 18:15).

This requires Christians to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17). And yet, if God saves you in a situation where you are already yoked to an unbeliever, trust Him to use it to sanctify the unbelieving spouse, otherwise the children would be unclean (1 Cor. 7:14). So an unbeliever is not a marital option for believers, but when it comes to friends and business partners, the question is: which way is the influence going? “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 21-23).

CONCLUSION: YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE

While God raises up teachers and ministers, all believers have priestly responsibilities in the New Covenant: “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ… But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9, cf. Rev. 1:5-6). The Bereans were more noble because they “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

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Christmas for the Blind: A State of the Church Message

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INTRODUCTION

This is something of a Christmas message and end of the year State of the Church sermon all wrapped into one. But the point is that I want to meditate on the covenant curses that are raining down on us in the form of Covid-statist tyranny, the sexual promiscuity and perversion jihad, on top of abortion insanity, fiscal madness, and political imbecility. Christians find themselves caught in the middle of family and culture turmoil. What are we to do? The central thing we must do is recognize all of it as judicial blindness from the Lord. He had done this.

THE TEXT

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Pet. 1:4-9).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

By His power, God has given to His people everything that they need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ, at all times and in all places (1:3). Having escaped the corruption of the world, Christians are to grow in holiness and godliness through God’s great and precious promises (1:4). The broad outline of that growth is listed in seven additional steps added to faith in those promises (1:5-7). With those eight virtues abounding in Christians, they cannot be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus (1:8). But a Christian who lacks these things is blind, near-sighted, and has forgotten that he has been forgiven (1:9).

TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF JUDICIAL BLINDNESS

We know from elsewhere in the Bible, that unbelievers have a certain kind of spiritual blindness: 2 Cor. 4:3-4: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Likewise in Ephesians 4:18, speaking of the Gentiles, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” That is one kind of judicial blindness. But here in 2 Peter 1, we have a different kind of blindness described, what we might call a covenantal judicial blindness. Peter is describing believers who have not progressed as far as they should have as blind and forgetful (2 Pet. 1:9). Jesus calls the church of Laodicea to repent of a similar blindness: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked… anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:17-19).

COVENANT BLINDNESS & CALAMITY

This same covenantal blindness is described in the Old Testament: “If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God… all these curses shall come upon thee… The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness…” (Dt. 28:15, 28). Likewise, in Isaiah’s commission: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed… But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return…” (Is. 6:10, 13). So when God’s covenant people disobey and break covenant, God sends covenant curses and spiritual blindness on them for the purpose of dividing the faithful from the unfaithful: some are proven to be complete unbelievers who die in their blindness, but there are some who struck with some blindness in order to chastise them, and call them to repentance (e.g. Rev. 3:17-19, Jn. 12:37-43).

CONCLUSIONS & APPLICATIONS

While America is fast joining the post-Christian nations of the West, there is another sense in which covenanted nations do not have the luxury of forgetting their Christian past. They may forget their Christian past, but their Christian past cannot forget them. Or to be more precise, God does not forget covenants made and broken. And we have manifestly fallen under covenantal curses. We have murdered our own children, and while we have not yet stooped to eating them, we most certainly have experimented on them and used their bodies for sorcery (what we call “medical research”) (Dt. 28:53-58). We have been chased by tiny minorities of sexual madmen (Dt. 28:25, 32:30), and we have been struck with terror and diseases (Dt. 32:25, 28:59-61).

But it is perilously easy to make light of our sins in the church because they do not seem as bad as the pagans, but that is not at all the same thing as holiness, as godliness and virtue (2 Pet. 1:5-7). It’s said that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, but listen to what it says: “he that lacketh these things is blind” (2 Pet. 1:9). Do you lack any virtue, any temperance, any patience, any brotherly kindness or charity? Those “little sins” of anger, lust, envy, selfishness – they are blindness and near-sightedness. And like the church of Laodicea, we are tempted to make light of them because of how fabulously well-off we are: “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind…?” We think we know what joy is because we have high speed internet, Instagram, and food on demand. But that isn’t joy. Joy is serving the Lord with gladness of heart for all the abundance of things (Dt. 28:47). Joy is holiness.

The only way out of this mess is if Jesus gives us eyes to see. “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Jn. 9:39-41).

Are you blind? Is our land full of the blind? Christ was born so that the blind might see.

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The Shout of a King (A Star Out of Jacob #2)

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INTRODUCTION

This second blessing pronounced by Balaam doubles down on the first, insisting that God is determined to bless Israel because He always keeps His promises. On top of that, God insists that He sees no evil or trouble in His people. This doesn’t seem right to us, and that’s why we need to be reminded how His grace works.

THE TEXT

And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. 23:18-24).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

God address Balak with a “shema” summons to hear, just as Israel is command (cf. Dt. 6) (23:18). God assures him that he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t change his mind like men; what He has promised to do, He will surely accomplish (23:19). Balaam repeats that he has received another instruction to bless; God has blessed and it cannot be reversed (23:20). But this isn’t merely a refusal to curse; God does not see any iniquity in Jacob, no reason to curse Israel (23:21). The Lord Himself is in the midst of Israel, and therefore God only hears the voice of a great king (23:21). God brought them out of Egypt with the strength of a unicorn, so there is no incantation or divination that can come against them and the whole world is impressed with what God has done (23:22-23). Therefore, Israel will be a conquering nation, like lions that devour their prey (23:24).

UNBREAKABLE COVENANT PROMISES

When God says He isn’t a man who changes his mind or breaks his promises, He is pointing back to the covenants He has made and kept. God made covenant with Adam in the Garden after the Fall, promising to one day crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3). God renewed covenant with Noah, saving his family and promising never to flood the world again (Gen. 9). God renewed covenant with Abraham and promised that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 15, 17). God kept those promises by delivering Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 3) and renewing covenant at Sinai (Gen. 19-24). This track record has only increased, as God kept covenant through the judges and renewed His promises to David (2 Sam. 7). All of these promises are being fulfilled in Jesus. This is what Mary and Zechariah sing about at the coming of Jesus (Lk. 1:55ff). All the promises of God find their “yes” in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). God is not a man who lies or goes back on His word. But God is the kind of God who loves men who have.

WHAT GOD SEES

We noted last week that Balaam’s first blessing is already incredible since God pronounced a blessing on a nation full of complaints and unbelief, but God goes even further here insisting that He has not seen any trouble or wickedness in Israel (23:21). On the surface this is outrageous, since the book of Numbers chronicles Israel’s troubles and evil. But the same verse explains how this is possible: God Himself is in Israel, the shout of a king is in their midst (23:21).

What Balaam is prophesying is God’s covenant love and promises. The God who calls light out of darkness and life from the dead, calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17, cf. 2 Cor. 10). God promises the complete remission of our sins, a perfect standing, and His complete approval and everlasting blessing in Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Faith in Christ is being fully convinced that what God has promised, He is able to perform (Rom. 4:21). And when that kind of faith receives those promises, an individual is justified. Faith sees Christ for us, and God simultaneously sees Christ in us. God forgets all our sins in the blood of Jesus, and the status of Christ’s perfect obedience is imputed to us (Rom. 4:22-24).

In the covenant, God declares His love and intention to bless. In the covenant, He declares us holy, saints (1 Cor. 7:14, cf. 1 Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:1, etc.). And when that love is received, when that promise is believed, we are justified, and all that God sees in us is Christ. All He hears in us is the shout of our King. And one of the most glorious things our king shouts is: It is finished. In Christ, He doesn’t see any trouble or evil in you. This isn’t a blind, sentimental love; it’s a bloody, truthful love.

CONCLUSION

Christianity is a militant religion, but what is frequently misunderstood or misconstrued is the fact that our militance is driven by God’s fierce grace. What do we want to see fill Moscow? God’s grace: His fatherly, covenantal affection. So, fathers, are you for your children? Can you pronounce this blessing on your family?

Do you have a critical eye or a covenantal eye? A covenantal eye is not blind to flaws or weaknesses, but it is inclined to overlook them, wants to see them repented of. Love covers a multitude of sins, and love confronts some sins. But God’s grace is lavish, and we are called to give what we have been given.

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Let Me Die the Death of the Upright (A Star Out of Jacob #1)

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INTRODUCTION

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we will spend the next four Sundays looking at four prophecies of the coming hope of Israel from an unlikely source: Balaam, the scoundrel prophet of Israel. Despite the circumstances, these are some of the greatest benedictions of Scripture describing God’s determination to bless Israel through the coming Messiah and in Him, all the nations of the earth.

THE TEXT

“The Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here…’” (Num. 23:1-13)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The backdrop to these verses is famous: Balak King of Moab hired Balaam to curse Israel apparently because he intended to go to war with them (cf. Josh. 24:9). On the way, the Lord’s angel confronted him, but only his donkey could see the angel. After beating and threatening the donkey, the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and he spoke and then Balaam’s eyes were opened to see the angel. Having been severely warned by God, Balaam arrives and instructs Balak to set up an elaborate set of altars and offerings, and speaks this “parable” saying that Balak has called him to curse Israel (23:1-7). But Balaam asks how he can possibly curse whom God has not cursed, and how can he denounce whom God has not denounced (23:8)? Therefore, out comes a great blessing: Israel is a great and mighty nation that can be seen from the tops of the rocky crags of mountains, and Israel is famous among the nations – well known, unique, and not mistaken for any other nation (23:9). Israel is very numerous – who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can even number a portion of the dust of Israel (23:10)? Finally, Balaam insists that Israel is righteous and upright, and so blessed, that there could be no better death than to die among them: let my end be like his (23:10).

A PROVERB IN THE MOUTH OF THE KING

The word translated “parable” or “discourse” is the word for “proverb.” And while this word can sometimes refer to a “byword,” a sort of cautionary tale, clearly something more “proverbial” is going on here: there is deep kingly wisdom at work here. But it isn’t Balak or Balaam. Notice the layers of irony: Why in the world would a pagan king hire an Israelite prophet to curse Israel? Apparently Balak knows that Israel has the upperhand and he wants that mojo. Balaam would apparently be willing to curse, and yet all that can come out is a blessing on Israel (four times). Add to this the fact that Israel is not really in great shape. Remember the unbelieving spies and all the complaining in the wilderness (Num. 13-14), and even though Balaam couldn’t curse Israel, he was involved in the relatively successful plot to seduce the Israelite men with Moabite women (Num. 25, 31:16). This is all high octane providence, which is just another way of saying God is King over all. Sometimes people object to the doctrine of providence because they think that God will be harsh, unfair, or petty, but this story illustrates God’s abundant patience, overwhelming kindness, and amazing sense of humor. Left to ourselves, we seek and deserve cursing, but God the Wisest King works all things according to His counsel because He is determined to bless (Eph. 1:11).

Balaam is hired to pronounced curses, but the only thing that can come out is blessing: “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or who shall I defy, whom the Lord has not defied?” (23:8). And so it is in all things in this world: Joseph: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). This same providence was at work in a Roman census that sent a young couple to Bethlehem, and an evil king’s plot to kill a young child (Mt. 2, Lk. 2). The center of this doctrine of providence is the Cross itself: “Him [Jesus], being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay” (Acts 2:23). God is King, and this world is His proverb.

THE DEATH OF THE UPRIGHT

The final benediction of this first prophecy is really striking. One suspects layers of irony here as well. Many of the Israelites will be dying shortly after they fall into sin, and Balaam will die in battle (Num. 31:8). But the straightforward meaning of the blessing is that there is no better way to die than being among the tribes of Israel. Death is a curse (Gen. 3:19), and death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:25-26). And yet, the Bible also says that when a man puts on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ (1 Cor. 15:54).

Balaam’s blessing is that all would die the “death up the upright,” that all might have his end (Num. 23:10). This is Jesus, the seed of the woman, the descendant of Eve, the seed of Abraham, who came to crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Jesus is the upright one, the Righteous One, and in His death, He crushed the head of the serpent, the devil. He destroyed his power by taking all the accusations he could bring against us and they were nailed to His cross, taking away the fear of death (Col. 2:14, Heb. 2:14). The death of the Upright Man took away the sting of death (the law and our guilt) so that it is only “sleep” for those in Him.

CONCLUSION: TAKING UP HIS CROSSES

The call to follow Jesus is the call to take up His cross. He calls us to die, but if we can see that summons from the tops of the mountains where Balaam prophesied, we can see that call to die with Him as the greatest honor, the greatest blessing. Jesus was born to die, so that we might die with Him, so that we might rise with Him.

It has been said that everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help mom do the dishes, which is just to say, the really hard part is choosing the right death. “Everyone dies, not everyone truly lives” is just another way of saying not everyone chooses the right death. You can lay your life down by helping with the dishes; you might also need to lay your life down to lead your family in cheerfully doing the chores. Your car might need fixing, but so might your five year old’s heart. You may be burdened with many cares, but have you considered that your cross may be to lay them down? This death is a blessing. Maybe not easy, but it’s always good.

Fundamentally the right death is the obedient death. Many of these deaths are straightforward (repent), but when it gets really gnarly, trust Christ our wise King who knows how to turn all things for our good. This is His story, and He knows the way out of every grave.

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Sing Because He is There

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INTRODUCTION

Living as we do in insane times, we need to be reminded regularly of what we’re supposed to be doing. Otherwise, it is easy to get distracted by the next kamikaze clown car that pulls into town. We have said, and we will not get tired of saying, that our central duty is to worship the Lord, centrally here in corporate worship, but the point is for that gladness and thanksgiving to pour out into our homes and work. And it’s fitting that we take time periodically to make a point of that, as we do in our country for Thanksgiving. So this is a message about celebrating Thanksgiving in the presence of our enemies, Thanksgiving for insane times. Psalm 98 gives us glorious words to sing, to meditate on, to believe, and to live.

THE TEXT

“O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory…” (Ps. 98).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This song calls out to everyone and everything to sing to the Lord a new song because God has done wonderful things right out in the open for everyone to see: the pagans and the house of Israel and all the ends of the earth have seen it (98:1-3). Not only should all the people sing, but all the earth should rejoice loudly, with strings and horns, because the Lord is King (98:4-6). Let the sea churn with loud praise and everyone on the sea and on the coastlands, and let the rivers clap their hands and the whole congregation of mountains should shout at the same time (98:7-8). All of this is “before the Lord” because He is there, and therefore He is judging the whole world in perfect justice (98:9).

A NEW SONG

While it is certainly fitting to write and compose new songs for praise, like Israel did on the banks of the Red Sea (Ex. 15) or when Mary did at the approaching birth of Jesus (Lk. 1), the fundamental point is that our gratitude and praise need to be new. Our hearts need to be new. This psalm is gloriously generic: “for wonders He has done.” Perhaps the psalmist is thinking of the Exodus or maybe other victories in battle or deliverances, or perhaps even creation itself. While this psalm does anticipate new acts of salvation, the emphasis is on new praise, new gratitude because God is there. A constant search for novelty often leads people away from Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). God’s mercies are new every morning not because God changes in the slightest but precisely because He doesn’t. New hearts sing new songs of thanksgiving because they see what’s right in front of them.

A PUBLIC SALVATION

As we have noted, this psalm doesn’t give any one particular historic moment for this call of praise, but do not miss the fact that this is a psalm of praise for past salvation in hope of ongoing and future salvation. “… his right hand, and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory. The Lord has made known his salvation…all ends of earth have seen the salvation of our God…” (Ps. 98:1-3). But then, having called everyone and everything to celebrate that, the final verse says, “Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity” (98:9). This is a song of praise not for a moment where there are no dark clouds in the sky. This is a psalm of praise for when God’s people need justice and vindication. Why should we sing this new song of praise? Because God has acted in the past to judge and save (98:1-3) Because He is King (98:6), and He is there (98:9) and He comes to judge the world (98:9). This is not merely the justice of the end of the world (although it includes that). The kind of salvation this psalm is celebrating and anticipating is the kind He has done before, the kind that is “openly shown” and “all the ends of the earth have seen.”

THE RIVERS DO CLAP

While we know that all of creation groans in eager expectation, waiting for the redemption of mankind (Rom. 8:19-23), nevertheless, all of creation has always and will always still declare the glory of God (Ps. 19:1-2). While it will one day be completely free of the curse of sin, the sea roars right now in praise of the King. The rivers clap their hands together now because Jesus is King. The mountains do shout joyfully in allegiance to their Maker. In other words, we call on the whole creation to sing with us right now, but they are singing already and the Bible says that in general, it’s people who need to catch up. Creation is telling the glory of God every day, and it’s people who tend to miss it, ignore it, or willfully suppress it (cf. Rom. 1:18-20). Thus, the existence of the glory and majesty and beauty and order of creation proclaims to us and the whole world that God is King: He is present and at work judging the world now.

CONCLUSION

If Israel could sing this song having creation, the patriarchs, the exodus, the judges, and some of the kings and prophets, how much more do we have reason to sing? We have all of that, plus the rest of the Old Testament, and the fulfillment of all those promises in Jesus: His birth, life, miracles, His teaching, His courage and compassion, His love unto death, His public trial, beatings, mockings, and crucifixion, His resurrection from the dead, ascension into Heaven, and the pouring out of His Spirit. We have the ministries and testimonies of the apostles, the early church fathers, the martyrs, the evangelists and missionaries for over two thousand years: His forgiving, saving, delivering, comforting, blessing – the wonders He has done.

What do you do when the world has gone mad? What do you do when it is dark? You smile and you sing before the Lord. That means you know He’s there. He’s present. And if He is here, then He sees and He is judging until everything is right. The central way you know this is because He sent His only Son into the world: that was the greatest victory, the greatest salvation, His full righteousness in the sight of all the nations. He remembered His mercy and truth at that point in history as the most public display that He will never forget His mercy and truth to His people. He came in person so that we (and the whole world) might know that this is His world.

So sing. No really: you have to sing. I don’t care if you can’t carry tune in a bucket full of holes. Neither can the mountains. Make a joyful noise. Men, sing. Sing in your homes. Sing around your table. Practice. Learn. Keep trying.

God’s goodness towers over the current darkness. Do not be distracted. Keep your eyes fixed on the King. And make a point to celebrate His towering goodness this week. Let your tables be filled with good things and laughter and singing before the Lord. He is King, and He comes.

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