Christ ChurchCollegiate Reformed Fellowship is the campus ministry of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church in Moscow, Idaho. Our goal is to teach and exhort young men and women to serve, to witness, to stand fast, and to mature in their Christian Faith. We desire to see students get established in a godly lifestyle and a trajectory toward maturity. We also desire to proclaim the Christian worldview to the university population and the surrounding communities. CRF is not an independent ministry. All our activities are supplemental to the teaching and shepherding ministry of CC & TRC. Students involved with CRF are regularly reminded that the most important student ministry takes place at Lord’s Day worship.
Psalm 132: The Tabernacle of David at Zion
INTRODUCTION
The overall tone of this psalm is unambiguously jubilant, but a number of the details are ambiguous. This is said because my reconstruction of the players is certainly not the only possible one, but I do think it reasonable.
THE TEXT
“Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob . . .” (Psalm 132:1–18)
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
This is another song of ascents, given for pilgrims approaching the Temple. We are not told who the author is, but given the subject matter, my operating assumption is that it was written by Solomon. The plea to Jehovah is that He would remember David, and all his afflictions (v. 1). The affliction was related to his intense desire to fulfill his vow to build a dwelling place for the “Mighty One of Jacob” (vv. 2-5). David had heard of the ark of the covenant growing up at Ephrathah, how it was located in the fields of Jaar—and had an intense desire to worship at His footstool (the ark), which had been at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years (1 Sam. 7:2), and then briefly for a few months at the house of Obed-edom (2 Sam. 6:10-11). David and Solomon both wanted the ark of God’s strength to come into a place of “rest.” David brought it to the tabernacle of David on Zion (2 Chron. 1:4), and then Solomon later brought it up into the Temple on Moriah (1 Kings 8:1), after the Temple was built. In both cases, it was a matter of righteous jubilation (v. 9). Solomon links this placement of the ark as related to the promise made to David (v. 10). Solomon relates the fact that God had made an astounding promise to David concerning the future of his dynasty (vv. 11-12; dlkgj). The Lord has chosen Zion as His resting place forever (vv. 13-14). From that place in Zion, Jehovah will bless the poor with bread (v. 15), the priests with salvation (v. 16), the saints with shouts of joy (v. 16). The horn (of authority) will sprout for David (v. 17), such that his enemies will be humiliated, and his crown with shine (v. 18).
THE MERCIES OF DAVID
David was a dazzling figure in the history of Israel, but we make a great mistake if we overlook how important he was to the Gentiles, how fascinating he was to them. His adultery with Bathsheba, and murder of Uriah, were the two great twin sins of his life, but one of the things that made the murder of Uriah so grotesque was the fact that Uriah was a Hittite, doggedly loyal to David. Even when David got him drunk to help cover up his sin, Uriah stayed true—in that moment, better to be Uriah drunk than David sober.
David rubbed shoulders with Gentiles easily (1 Sam. 27:6). He commanded their respect. Consider the behavior of Ittai the Gittite, a man from Gath (2 Sam. 15:18). who showed up to serve David on the very eve of Absalom’s rebellion, and who then willingly went into exile with him (2 Sam. 15:21) And when David attempted to bring the ark up from Kiriath-jearim on a cart, God struck Uzzah when he touched the ark, and so David stored the ark at the house of Obed-edom, another Gittite. And when the ark was finally safe in the tabernacle, Obed-edom became one of the porters there (1 Chron. 16:38).
At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon prayed that God would remember “the mercies of David” (2 Chron. 6:42). And what did Jesus receive upon His resurrection from the dead? He received the sure mercies of David (Acts 13:34), applying to Jesus the promise of Is. 55:3.
WE ARE THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID
The tabernacle of David on Zion was dedicated with sacrifices (2 Sam. 6:17), but it was not a place constructed for the offering up of blood sacrifices. Rather, it was a tabernacle of music. David was a great musician, and it is not surprising that he built a place for the sacrifices of praise (Heb. 13:15).
“And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order” (1 Chronicles 6:32).
These were musical priests, not blood priests. And it is striking that centuries later, the prophet Amos predicted a great restoration of the fortunes of God’s people. He uses the imagery of this tabernacle on Zion.
“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; And I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11).
And then, centuries later again, the Lord’s brother James was presiding at the Council of Jerusalem, where the central point of discussion was how the Gentiles were to be brought into the covenant. And James sums up all their discussion with an appeal to Amos. On the day when the Gentiles are brought into Christ, that glorious day will be a restoration of the tabernacle of David. Just as Zion had migrated up to Moriah, when the times of refreshing came, there would be a return to Zion.
“After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:16).
And this is why we gather as a congregation weekly in order offer up to God the sacrifice of praise. This is why we sing so much. We are the restoration of that tabernacle. Because of the great Son of David, we are all sons and daughters of David.
“And in mercy shall the throne be established: And he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness” (Isaiah 16:5).
Lord of Lions & Lambs
INTRODUCTION
Humanists can only offer unity without holiness, which is unity without wholeness. Humanistic unity, because it rejects God, must ultimately destroy our humanity. But God is determined to heal our enmity through holiness. He is determined to reconcile all things in Christ, and when they are reconciled they will be fully and completely whole. Some of this was pictured in the distinctions Israel was required to make between those clean animals they could eat and the unclean animals prohibited.
THE TEXT
“And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying unto them, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, these are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beast that are on the earth…” (Lev. 11:1-47)
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Following the warning that the priests must be sober in order to teach the Israelites to distinguish between clean and unclean (Lev. 10:10-11), this chapter explains the clean animals that God allowed Israel to eat and the unclean animals they were forbidden from eating (11:1-2). Clean land animals chew the cud and have divided hooves (11:3-8). In the waters, Israel could eat the fish that had scales and fins, but the others are to be abominations to them (11:9-12). Among the birds, a number of specific species are prohibited (11:13-19). Among swarming flying creatures, only the hopping locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers may be eaten (11:20-23). Finally, we learn that all animals that die (except for those killed for sacrifice or eating) become unclean, and whatever their carcasses touch become unclean and the various requirements for cleansing (11:24-43). All of these instructions are given because God is the Lord of Israel, and they are to be holy just as He is holy (11:44-47).
WHAT MAKES THEM CLEAN OR UNCLEAN?
The great question is: what made certain animals clean or unclean? The leading contenders for answers are: A. It’s a mystery only God knows, B. It was hygienic and health related, C. It was symbolic. But I’ll add a fourth option that I lean towards, which is a combination of all three, with C (symbolism) being primary. Many of the unclean animals seem to be associated with predators, eaters of carrion, or in some way associated with death or the serpent that goes on its belly in the cursed dust (Lev. 11:42). But we should always interpret Scripture in light of Scripture, and especially the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament.
One of the clearest and most extended passages in the New Testament on clean and unclean animals is found in Acts 10 where Peter sees a vision of a great sheet being let down to the earth, full of beasts, creeping things, and fowls of the air (Acts 10:11-12). Then Peter heard a voice that said, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). But Peter, being a faithful Jew refused saying, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean” (Acts 10:14). To which the voice replied, “What God hath cleansed, do not call common,” and it says that this happened three times (Acts 10:15-16). Immediately after this vision, Peter is asked to go to the house of a Gentile Centurion named Cornelius, and the Spirit gives the same command “rise” (Acts 10:20). Arriving at the house of the Centurion, Peter explains the vision to Cornelius, explaining that it would have ordinarily been unlawful for him as a Jew to keep company with a Gentile, but he says, “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). After preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, the Spirit came upon all those listening, and Peter called for their baptism (Acts 10:44-48).
THE ANIMALS ARE PEOPLE
All of this tells us that one of the primary purposes of the designation of clean and unclean animals was to distinguish between Jews and Gentiles. But with the coming of Christ, God was announcing that the salvation offered to Israel in the Old Covenant was now being proclaimed to all of the nations of the earth. This was prophesied in Isaiah: the wolf [unclean] will dwell with the lamb [clean], the leopard [unclean] shall lie down with the young goat [clean], etc. (Is. 11:6, cf. 65:25). The warring predatory nations shall be at peace with Israel and one another.
A great deal of the New Testament is taken up with the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant, and many Jews for any number of reasons (personal preference, ignorance, or fear) continued following the food codes, and so right on schedule there were conflicts in the early churches. Paul notes an example in Galatians 2 where even Peter withdrew from eating with Gentiles when certain Jews came into town, and Paul rebuked Peter openly because he was not walking according to the truth of the gospel – making something more than faith in Jesus Christ necessary for justification and therefore fellowship (Gal. 2:11-16). Later, in Acts 15 a more formal appeal was made to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and their decision made it clear that Gentiles were only to be required to keep themselves from idols, sexual immorality, and the only food restrictions were related to offerings to idols (Acts 15:20, 29).
So the animals represent people, particularly Jews and Gentiles, and therefore, so long as the Jews were the only people of God, the Jews could only eat “Jewish” animals. But once God made himself the God of all the nations, then God’s people were free to eat all the animals. The principle is that we must be holy as God is holy. In the Old Covenant, the primary focus was on distinguishing Israel from the other nations of the earth, but in the New Covenant, the primary focus is on reconciling the nations of the earth. “For [Christ Jesus] is our peace, who hath made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of the two, one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:13-14).
CONCLUSION
Unbelievers promises unity and peace apart from Christ, which means letting sinners keep certain sins and demanding uniformity. When the enmity inevitably increases, they demand to be given more power to enforce more uniformity. But Christ is bringing unity through His holiness. Christ is bringing unity and peace through removing our sins and restoring us to our full humanity. Christ is reconciling the lions and the lambs of the nations by removing the enmity, not by turning us all into generic land animals. Humanists try to pacify our lust for sin and deform our humanity. Only Christ can remove our sin and make us more human. This requires faith in Christ, and obedience to His Word. This means husbands and wives, parents and children, pastors and parishioners, magistrates and citizens trusting and obeying Christ.
Psalm 131: Like a Weaned Child
INTRODUCTION
The writer of Proverbs says that out of many daughters, the virtuous wife excels them all. Something analogous also may also be said of pride, the devil’s oldest daughter. Many sins are indeed ugly, but you surpass them all.
THE TEXT
“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord From henceforth and for ever” (Psalm 131:1-3).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
In this place, David describes the place he occupies as one of great humility. But he does not say this as some kind of humblebrag because in this psalm he describes for us how he was brought to that place, most reluctantly. But first, let him describe where he is now. He tells the Lord that his heart is not haughty, and that his eyes are not lofty or exalted (v. 1). He has decided not to meddle in “great matters,” or in things that are above his head, his pay grade, or his responsibility (v. 1). He has let go of everything. But notice that he has let go of these things. It is not that he was naturally so humble. He has behaved and quieted himself (v. 2), and the process that brought him to this place was like the process of weaning a child. But weaning a child is frequently a rodeo, like it apparently was in this instance. The place David occupies now is a place of exhausted acquiescence. The mother won, and the child lost. His soul is like that weaned child (v. 2). The lesson he has learned is a lesson of hope for all of Israel (v. 3). It is a lesson of hope for all time, for all of God’s people (v. 3). We are to trust in God from this position, having abandoned our own sense of importance, knowing that God is in control.
CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY
Because God opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5), this is the place where we must start. All grumbling, all discontent, all complaining, is basically murmuring against God. The great things that the psalmist has abandoned would be the great questions about God’s sovereignty, which often is inscrutable to us. This is stark and obvious when we are complaining about the weather, or a mysterious disease or ailment, or our height, or the comparative poverty of the family we were born into. All discontent is ultimately vertical, directed against God, but with such things as these it is most obvious—because these are all acts of God. And God takes a dim view of it when He can hear all the Israelites grumbling in their tents (Ex. 16:7-8).
But sometimes, when our complaints are directed against other people, who are sinners (as Scripture teacheth), we think that we are simply being orthodox. The Bible teaches that all men sin in many ways (Eccl. 7:20), does it not, and are we not just pointing out this obvious and most scriptural fact? No, because the Scriptures include you in that number.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Matthew 7:1–3)
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).
But horizontal pride is aimed at God also, just not as obviously. In the passage from Peter cited earlier, Peter says that we are to be subject to one another, and to be clothed with humility (1 Pet. 5:5), and this is precisely how we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Pet. 5:6). Just as a visit to a prisoner is reckoned as visiting Christ (Matt. 25:44), so also is the proud dismissal of a fool counted as a proud dismissal of Christ (Matt. 5:22).
THE PROUD ARE CURSED
“Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments” (Psalm 119:21). God opposes the proud, and curses the proud. But we must remember that pride is a versatile sin, and can show up virtually anywhere. There are many sins that are not welcome here in the sanctuary—porn, drunkenness, blasphemy, and the like. But pride cleans up real nice. Pride specializes in cleaning up real nice. Paul instructs Timothy not to ordain a novice to the ministry “lest he be lifted up with pride [and] fall into the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). We need to remember that the birthplace of sin was in Heaven, in the heart of an exalted celestial being—who wanted to be more exalted (Is. 14:13). And so pride naturally appears in the places that we hold in honor.
Pride can work with any material. We can be proud of how underlined our Bibles are. We can be proud of how beautifully we sing Psalm 131. We can be proud of the fact that we understand the Reformed doctrine that we cannot be proud of anything—as opposed to those semi-Pelagian morons.
THE ONLY PLACE THAT PRIDE CAN DIE
The Lord Jesus was the only perfect man who ever lived. And He came to live and die among a race of diseased and corrupted lepers. And how was He treated in this leper colony of ours—the only healthy man who ever lived here. We stole from him (John 12:6), we got in the way of His mission (Matt. 16:23), we refused to listen to Him (Matt. 13:15), we betrayed Him (Matt. 20:18), we ran Him through a railroaded trial (John 18:12ff), we had Him flogged (Matt. 20:19), we pulled out His beard (Is. 50:6), we spit in His face (Matt. 26:67), we nailed Him to a cross of wood (Acts 2:23), and we taunted Him there (Matt. 27:42).
All our sins were nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ (Col. 2:14). But the sin that was mostly visibly nailed there was the sin of pride, because when we look straight on at the cross, we see nothing, absolutely nothing but divine humility. And that is a humility that can be yours. All you must do is look on it and live. Look in faith, and the gift is yours.
Strange Fire
INTRODUCTION
God is holy, holy, holy, and while He is also love, He will not allow His worship to be trifled with. Those who treat His courts with flippancy or hypocrisy are asking for His judgments. The sons of Aaron remain a terrible warning to us, and yet also in Christ a sort of type or promise.
THE TEXT
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not…” (Lev. 10:1-20).
SUMMARY OF THE TEXT
Shortly after being ordained to be priests, Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire to the Lord, and the Lord consumed them with His fire (10:1-7). Moses instructs Aaron that there is to be no drinking of wine or strong drink in the tabernacle, so that they pay careful attention to the requirements of the law and teach Israel to do the same (10:8-11). The offering of Nadab and Abihu being interrupted, Moses tells Aaron and his sons how to complete the offering (10:12-15). The chapter closes with Moses asking why the sin offering wasn’t completed, and Aaron explaining his reason (10:16-20).
THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE OF WORSHIP
The text does not say explicitly what it was that made the offering of Nadab and Abihu “strange fire.” Since the warning about drinking in the tabernacle is immediately given (10:9), this is one likely thesis, or it may have been a combination of that and failure to follow some of the careful distinctions (10:11). Some commentators suggest that they may have been an attempt to go into the Holy Place or Most Holy Place. At any rate, the foundational problem was disobedience: “strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not” (10:1).
This is one of the key texts for explaining what theologians call the “regulative principle of worship.” All biblical Christians must hold to some version of this, which essentially means that whatever we do in worship must be commanded by God. And the corollary is that whatever God has not commanded is prohibited. The central reason for this is that there is no other way to draw near to God except by faith in His Word. As soon as you begin substituting human traditions or your own bright ideas, you are not drawing near by faith.
Some versions of the regulative principle of worship draw arbitrarily narrow lines, insisting on explicit permission for every detail (e.g. psalms only, no instruments), but for some reason they do not object to women taking the Lord’s Supper or the change from worship on Saturday to Sunday. However, we agree that all of worship must be authorized by Scripture by explicit command or by good and necessary consequence and therefore must be according to Scripture.
And the stakes really are high. Ananias and Sapphira lied about their offering and were struck dead (Acts 5), and many in Corinth were sick or dead because of how they celebrated the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:29-30). New Covenant worship is no less sacred to God. “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:28-29). In other words, the question is not whether we will be consumed, the question is whether we will survive. And so this is why we must only come in and through Jesus Christ, the new and living way (Heb. 10:20).
DRINKING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD
It’s a striking change from the Old Covenant to the New, that God has explicitly commanded His people to share wine in His presence, in the Lord’s Supper. Yet, drunkenness is still clearly forbidden (Gal. 5:21, Eph. 5:18). And the same requirement holds outside of worship, since believers are to be vigilant and filled with the Spirit (Rom. 13:13, Eph. 5:18, 1 Thess. 5:7). While we insist that obedience requires wine in the Lord’s Supper, and that the One who turned water into wine gives freedom to enjoy the gift of wine, we of all people must be known for our carefulness, vigilance, and sobriety. Drunkenness is listed among those sins of debauchery that will not inherit the kingdom (1 Cor. 6:10). We are no less required to pay attention to our lives and our worship, as the priests of old (Lev. 10:10). The same warning applies to other mind-alter drugs. The joy of the Lord is our strength, but this joy is alert and clear-minded, not buzzing and clouded.
FAMILY TIES & THE JUSTICE OF GOD
Our text closes with Aaron’s submission to the justice of God while we assume still feeling the human pain of loss (10:3, 19). This is a tension we often feel in this life, and we need to practice getting our hearts and heads around it in faith. The principles are these: God is perfectly just and in the end, when we see the complete populations of Heaven and Hell, we will be like the saints who witnessed the judgment of Babylon in Revelation, and we will shout Hallelujah! at all of His judgments (Rev. 19:1-3). It will not be pretty good; it will be perfect, glorious, absolutely wonderful. And together with this is the fact that God will destroy the wicked. He will give some over to the Hell that they demand. And some of those may be ones we have known and loved in this life. But Jesus told us this when called us to be His disciples (Lk. 14:26). There is a gleeful acceptance of this that does not know what spirit it is of, but there is sober, joyful acceptance of this in which there is great peace because He is worthy. How can we not trust the One who gave Himself for us for our sins? And finally, precisely because He is a God of great mercy, we plead with Him for the salvation of our loved ones and then rest in His infinite goodness.
CONCLUSION
In many of the Jewish traditions surrounding this story, Nadab and Abihu are presented as something like heroes or saints, representing all sinners. We need not go that far while still acknowledging that they are mentioned again when God explains the Day of Atonement, the one day each year when one priest could enter the Most Holy Place, without dying (Lev. 16:2).
It’s easy to come to church and not really grasp the glorious reality of what God offers: “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; 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. 10:20-22).
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