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Palm Sunday A.D. 2020

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Matthew 21:1–11, Psalm 118

1-7 The King Enters Jerusalem

Jesus had visited Jerusalem many times before, but this was to be his last visit prior to his arrest. And when he entered, he entered on the back of a donkey, in fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy.

It is important to understand that in biblical literature the donkey was actually a sign of kingship. This goes all the way back to Jacob’s dying prophecy over Judah (Gen. 49:10-11). And throughout Scripture we continually see kings riding donkeys. Remember when David publicly announced that his son Solomon was to be the new king of Israel, he demonstrated this by parading Solomon through Jerusalem on the back of the king’s donkey (1 Kings 1:38, for other examples of rulers riding on donkeys see Judges 5:10, 10:4, 12:14). So it make sense that Zechariah would prophesy that the new king of Israel would arrive in Jerusalem on a donkey, a king who would exercise universal dominion (Zech. 9:9-10).

8-11 Hosanna

This next bit gets particularly hard to understand. The people lay branches in the road before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, and they cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” This seems like a bizarre way to behave. But to understand what is happening here, you need to understand Psalm 118 and that is not easy.

Psalm 118

Psalm 118 is like a confused dream if you just read it by itself. But when you hold it up to the rest of Scripture, especially to the life of Christ, and especially to his triumphal entry, then instead of being this confused dream, it turns into an answer key that helps to make everything else make sense.

Feast of Booths

Remember that in Old Testament Israel there were three pilgrim feasts – Passover, Pentecost, and Booths. At all three of these celebrations, the Jews would sing the Hallel – Psalms 113-118. And as part of the Feast of Booths, the Jews would bring their lullavim, made from the branches of the fruitful trees of Israel, and cast their lullavim onto the altar, while reciting Psalm 118:25. The cry “save now” in Hebrew is Hosanna!

So the people were taking the pieces of their celebration of the Feast of Booths and were applying this ceremony to Jesus. What they had celebrated as a type and a shadow they were now able to actually celebrate in its reality.

The Cornerstone

In verses 22-24, the Psalmist describes a rejected cornerstone, describing the very humble beginning of a building project. This is likely why bits of this Psalm are picked up to celebrate the laying of the foundation of the second temple (Ezra 3:11-13). But in a very early Jewish tradition this passage is understood as referring to David’s selection as king over all his brothers. And so you see all of these elements picked up in Jesus’ triumphal entry.

The Rejection

Over the next several chapters the Jewish leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, the chief priests, and the scribes) all make clear their final rejection of Jesus’ teaching. He makes this the point of his parable of the wicked vinedressers (21:42-45, quoting Ps. 118:22-23). And again, after completing denunciation of the Jewish leadership in Matthew 23, he concludes with 23:38-39 (quoting Psalm 118:26).

Conclusion

One of the greatest vices of the evangelical church over the past century has been our bad habit of attempting to read our Bibles in light of our current events, instead of the other way around, which is to read our current events in light of our Bible. In Scripture you have a firm and certain word. In the world around you, as we have right now, you have a raucous multitude driven by whatever emotion has worked its way to the top of their esophagus. If you go from that raging emotion to Scripture you will have no end of confusion. But if you start with the clear testimony of Scripture you will find that you suddenly have your feet on an immovable rock.

So let’s start with Scripture and the promises of Psalm 118. These things have been promised to us and for us to be obedient means reading our current situation in light of this text.

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Light in the Dwellings of Israel

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The Text

“They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Ex. 10:23).

Introduction

There is something glorious here for us. The pagans were struck with darkness and could not rise, could not go out, could not move for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their homes. The text doesn’t tell us exactly how this worked. It doesn’t say if there was some kind of massive cosmic miracle taking place or if the darkness was simply less intense in Goshen, such that the lanterns and candles actually worked or whether there was some other supernatural light being given. But either way, this moment is glorious. There was thick, paralyzing darkness in Egypt, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

The implication seems to be that there was still darkness in the land of Goshen, but that while Israel had to stay home, there was a relative blessing in the midst of the plague. Everyone was stuck at home, no one could go out, but where there was an additional darkness inside the homes of the Egyptians, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Everyone had to stay home, but there were two very different experiences of that darkness. In one experience, there was no variation, only darkness, inside and outside, all the way through, but in the other experience, there was significant variation. The darkness was on the outside, but there was light on the inside. All of the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

It is still unclear exactly what has happened in our land, in our world, and what is happening. Whatever your views of this current moment, whether you are more concerned about the virus, or more concerned about the panic, or more concerned about government overreach and loss of civil liberties, or if it’s some or all of the above, whatever your opinions, whatever your concerns, the message is that for those who know God through Christ, no matter the darkness outside, there should be light in your homes, light in your families, light on the inside. Whatever the darkness, whatever the hardship, whatever the cause, you can say it however you like, but your sentence should end: but all of the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. But all the people of God had light in their homes.

So my question is: if you call yourself a Christian, if you profess faith in Jesus Christ, is there light in your home? Is your home full of light? When the story is told of these days, will it be said of you and your family, that even though the world was full of darkness, the people of God had light in their dwellings? What is your home like? What is your family like? What is your marriage like? Is it full of light? Is it a joyful place to be? Is it a comforting place to be? Or is it fearful, biting, angry, grumpy, cold, or distant?

The Light of the Word 

The people of God should always have light in their homes because they have the Word of God in their homes. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). In Ephesians, it says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light… 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. 5:8, 19-20). Do you want light in your home? Then you must have the Word open, and you must have no fellowship with the works of darkness. You must have no fellowship with the works of darkness on the internet, on Netflix, or in your heart. But rather you must expose them, hate them, repent of them. And instead you must read the word, sing the word, and obey the word. The Word is light. If you put a garbage can over a lamp, it won’t give any light. So open the Word. Open it and read it. Read it out loud. Let it shine. Read all of it. Commit to obeying it. Do whatever it says with joy. And sing the Word, or start learning how if you don’t know how. And notice that singing the word is how it dwells in you richly. That’s how you turn the dimmer switch up to full blast. Do you want the word to shine in your home brightly? Then sing the word loudly. Do it with thanksgiving always and for all things. When the Word is in your mouth and in your heart, your home will be full of light.

The Light of Fellowship

The people of God should always have light in their homes because they have fellowship with God and one another in their homes. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth: but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:5-7). Again, you cannot say you have fellowship with God and walk in darkness. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot love God and love the world or the things in the world (1 Jn. 1:15). If anyone loves the world, the love of God is not in him. And a bunch of church-going people really need to hear this word. You go to church, you sing in the choir, maybe you are even in leadership, but you do not love God. You love the world. You are full of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and you do not know the Father.

How can it be that a land full of so many professing Christians is so corrupt and so thoroughly wicked? How can it be that cities full of so many church going people murder so many babies, by the thousands, every single day? The answer is that there are many people in this land who think they are Christians, but they are not. They are full of darkness and there is no light in them at all. They do not have fellowship with God, and they are walking in darkness. They are liars. And this is evident in their relationships with God and those around them. They have constant bickering with their spouse, tensions with their children and parents and co-workers. Why do they not have fellowship with those around them? Because they are walking in darkness.

But the promise is right here: If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. And many Christian people don’t even know what that fellowship is like. Do you know the joy of Christian fellowship? The peace? The glorious freedom of having no secrets, no bitterness, nothing to hide? Many people have settled for an average American home, which is not the same thing as a Christian home. A Christian home is full of light, full of joy, full of peace, full of fellowship.

And do not misunderstand: Christian fellowship is not sinless, but it is fellowship that is constantly being cleansed by the blood of Christ. And this happens by confession and forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Do you want light in your home? Then confess your sins. Do you want light in your family? Then forgive your dad, forgive your spouse, forgive your brother, your sister. And get back into fellowship with God.

Conclusion: The Light of Christ

Of course, all of this is pointing ultimately to Christ Himself. The light we are talking about, the light we want in our homes, in our families, in our marriages is not some impersonal force, some mystical power, some religious experience or feeling. No, the light we are talking about is the presence of a person. And that person is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Light of God. He is the Word of God, and since He is the Son of God, He is the One who grants us fellowship with God. No one comes to the Father, except through Him

If want light in our homes, we must have Jesus in our homes. And this is not just a nice religious saying. This is not me saying that you need traditional family values in your home. This is not me saying that you need to try harder or turn over a new leaf. No. We need Jesus in our homes. The reason Jesus has been largely banished from our public square is because we didn’t want Him there. And we didn’t want Him there because we have largely ignored Him in our homes.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it… That was the true Light, which lightens every man that comes into the world” (Jn. 1:4-5, 9). You cannot have a home full of light unless you have Jesus in your home. And if you have Jesus in your home, there is nothing that can make your home dark.

This is just another way of saying what Paul says in Romans 8: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuade that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39).

And if you have that kind confidence, then your life will be full of light, your home will be full of light. How can you have that kind of assurance? How can you have that kind of confidence? The only way to have that kind of assurance is to have Christ dwelling in your heart, Christ living inside of you. Christ in you, is the only hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

But how can Christ, a man, dwell inside you? How can Christ be in our homes and in our families? The answer is Christ is risen from the dead. Christ rose victorious over all sin, all death, all decay, all tyranny, all guilt, all shame, all darkness. And He rose with healing in His wings. He rose with endless life and light to bring. He rose to make all things new. He died so that your sin might die in Him, and He rose so that you might rise with Him.

So the free offer of the gospel is that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved. His light will shine on you. His light will fill you. And Christ Himself will come and dwell in you and drive away all the darkness.

This is what we need our land right now. Do we want the public square full of Christian light? Then our homes must be full of Christian light. Do we want the darkness of abortion, the darkness of sodomy, the darkness of economic insanity, the darkness of government tyranny driven back? Then let there be light in our homes. That light is the Light of the Word, the light of fellowship with the Father and the Son, the light of Christ filling our hearts and our homes.

In the coming years, let it be said of these days, that though they were very dark, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. All the people of God had light in their homes. The Christian homes were full of unexplainable joy.

And Amen.

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On Trampling the Courts of God

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Introduction

In a recent press conference, the president said that his desire was to have our country emerge from this crisis in a matter of weeks, not months, and that it was his desire for the churches of our country to be packed out on Easter.

This is a laudable desire on at least two levels, and we should support and applaud it, as I do. But there is something more that still needs to be said about it. Packed churches are better than empty churches, but in themselves are not nearly enough.

The Text

“‘The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.’ Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward” (Isaiah 1:3–4, NKJV).

“Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:10–14, NKJV).

Summary of the Text

As Isaiah opens his magisterial book, he immediately confronts the great sinfulness of Israel. But even though they have been greatly compromised, it is a corrupt nation that has kept up the formalities. They have kept up appearances. So Isaiah begins by pulling back the curtain, stating clearly that they have badly strayed. They are a sinful nation. They are laden with iniquity. They are a brood of evil-doers, corrupters. They have forsaken the Lord, and made the Holy One of Israel angry. They have turned away backward (vv. 3-4).

So hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom on the Potomac (v. 10). Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah on the Hudson (v. 10). What is it to me if the churches are packed out on Easter (v. 11)? Who asked all you people to come in here to trample my courts (v. 12)? Your prayers, your offerings, your songs, your stupid songs are an abomination to me (v. 13). And why? Because God is holy and cannot endure iniquity combined with sacred assembly (v. 13). Our packed churches are a trouble to Him (v. 14), like so much smoke in the eyes.

Amos speaks in much the same way. Away with the noise of your songs (Amos 5:21–23, NKJV). Get them out of my hearing.

The Mystery of Lawlessness

There is such a thing as being hellbent. And when people are hellbent on their sin, God could write His judgments in the sky in big block letters, and they would stare stubbornly down at the ground rather than read such pure words. “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tonguesfor pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Rev. 16:10–11).

But how does this apply to our text, and to our situation? The 2 trillion stimulus relief bill—quite aside from whether that was a good idea—was held up in part because the secularists wanted it to include relief for Planned Parenthood. And California, which has all non-essential services in lock down, has seen fit to allow pot shops and abortion clinics to remain open as “essential.” You must stay at home unless your job is that essential one of dismembering babies. It is hard to comprehend what is more ghoulish—the fact that they do things like this, or the fact that they think it is not ghoulish.

You may believe that the danger we are confronting is that of the coronavirus. You may believe that the great danger we are confronting is the panicked official over-reaction to the virus. Or you may believe, as I do, that it is a combination of the two, with heavy emphasis on the latter. But if you are a Christian, whatever you believe the threat to be, you must also believe that it is a threat that was delivered to us by the hand of God. “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6, NKJV).

Now, let us suppose that God lifts His hand from us in His great mercy, and by mid-May things have returned to normal. In mid-May we will be just days away from June, designated as Pride Month, a time of LGBTQ celebrations. Wouldn’t it be better to call it Dog Returning His Vomit Month?

Really? Seriously? Do such rebels really think that a respite would not be the mercy of God? They would much rather think of a much simpler explanation—like God running out of ammunition perhaps? This is like Pharaoh thinking, when the plague of frogs was removed, that Jehovah had somehow run out of frogs. “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.” (Ex. 8:15). And though God did not repeat the frogs, it was not because He was out of them. It was because He intended to use the rest of His arsenal.

This is a Godquake

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, keep your eyes on what He is doing, not on what our grand poohbahs think they are doing. And above all, do not look at what your own fearful heart is doing.

“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:27–29

Asking God to Do What It Takes

Moral stubbornness is a great mystery. When the United States obliterated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 with an atomic bomb, it is not often remarked that this one devasting bomb was not sufficient to get the Japanese to surrender. That had to wait for the obliteration of another city, Nagasaki, three days later. Taking this simply as an illustration, what should your prayer in this extraordinary time be? Your prayer should be that God would do what it takes to get us to surrender to Him. We don’t want God to just bomb just one city and then leave us to our corruptions.

“If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Ex. 15:26 (KJV)

Earlier in this chapter from Exodus, the people of Israel had just been celebrating their deliverance from Egypt in the great Red Sea miracle. Three days later they came to the waters of Marah, which were bitter and undrinkable. Moses made the waters sweet by throwing a particular tree into the water, and then he made a statute or ordinance for them, whereby (it says) he tested them. And then he gave them the words of our text, which begin with a series of conditionals. If they diligently hearkened to the voice of God, if they did what was right in His sight, if they paid close attention to His commandments, and obeyed His statutes, then what? Then the diseases of Egypt, which were commonplace enough there to be called by that name, would not be visited upon Israel. We see here that God’s governance of the world is personal. These things are entirely in His hand. The world is not governed by deaf, dumb and blind microbes (Ex. 15:26). Our problem in all this is that we have offended God.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty . . . There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Ps. 91: 1, 10 (KJV)

And in this text from Psalm 91, we see that the Almighty casts a shadow, and in that shadow is a secret place, a hiding place. The person who resorts there is one who must dwell there, he must abide there. And the shadow that is cast there is cast by the great Rock, who is Christ. In that resting place, the plague of self-sufficiency and pride will not come near you. Christ drives all of that away.

The Sum of the Matter

So if this Easter simply sees our churches packed with Americans, that by itself would be the greatest disaster out of this long series of disasters. But we should long to see the churches packed out with repentant Americans. When we look at the corruption centers called our state capitals, not to mention our national capital, the problem is not that these people represent us. Our problem, to be pondered deeply, is that they represent us well.

And so if the Lord lifts His hand from us, then our behavior after that point, unlike Pharaoh, must be different. But it will only be different if we have seen Christ in the interim.

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A Message on Plagues

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Introduction

The prophecy of Joel is about a coming disaster in Israel, the hope of repentance and reformation, and the promise of international justice. We do not know the full nature of the hardship we are facing, but we know that it is from the Lord. It is for our good, it is for His glory, and it is part of His plan to fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. But one of the great lessons of Joel is the centrality of worship to all of life. Joel confronts our national sin of thinking that worship is not related to plagues, politics, economics, and family life.

A Summary: The Locusts & the Acquittal

The book opens with the word of the Lord describing a locust plague of epic proportions (1:2-4), but by the end of the book the Lord is declaring the condemnation of Egypt and Edom and the acquittal of the bloodshed of Judah (3:19-21). So we need to know how Joel gets from locusts to the judgment of nations. A big clue is found in the canonical run up to Joel. It’s striking that Daniel foretells the coming of four kingdoms (Dan. 2: image dream, Dan. 7: four beasts). In the latter vision, Daniel sees a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a great beast representing four empires (Dan. 7:2-23ff). And Hosea follows also promising that God will be to Israel like a lion, a leopard, a bear, and a wild beast (Hos. 13:7-8). So when Joel tells us that four kinds of locusts are coming, we should take note (Joel 1:4, 2:25). On the one hand, locusts are one of the plagues of judgment that God promises to send on His people if they forget Him and break His covenant (Dt. 28:38-42). Foreign nations are also described as devouring locusts in various places (Jdg. 6:5, 7:12, Jer. 51:14, 27, Nah. 3:17). Putting this together, I take Joel to be describing an actual, literal locust plagues (past, present, or future), but he is also clearly using that to foretell the invasion of foreign nations (1:6, 2:2-11, 20). And this is confirmed by the resolution of Joel’s prophecy being the great judgment of the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (3:2-12, 19). So the judgment of locusts is a sign of an international crisis facing Israel.

Whatever it is that we are facing in this moment – whether it is a plague of a virus or a plague of complete panic or both, biblically literate Christians should ask what is God saying to us? And for that answer, we must look to His word and not the newspaper and not our best guesses.

A Famine of What?

What is striking about the book of Joel is how he connects the judgment of God to the international political situation they are facing. And one way to see that is by noticing what’s missing. There are at least two major things missing in the book of Joel. There’s a great plague coming, and repeated calls to lament, wail, fast, sound the alarm, cry out, mourn, and return, but the prophet does not dwell on “what” they should cry out, mourn, return from. There are a few hints, but the sin of Judah is not described in much detail. So a great deal of the message of Joel is: you know what you need to do. Turn, cry out, repent. You know what you need to do. This is what true repentance and conviction looks like. When God is at work, you know exactly what needs to be done.

Second, the effects of the locust and invading nations are not what you’d expect. Yes, there’s “wasted land” and “food is cut off” (1:10, 16) and the earth has become a “desolate wilderness” (2:3), but that isn’t the worst of it.

“Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the Lord.” (1:9).

“Be ashamed, you farmers, wail you vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley… Gird yourselves and lament, you priests… for the grain offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God” (1:11-13).

“So rend your heart and not your garments return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind Him – a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?” (2:13-14).

Or after the promise of returning the years devoured by the locusts, Joel says: “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God…” (2:26).

The real crucial issue for Joel is not merely the sin itself, nor the material, economic, or political effects of plagues and invasions – the really crucial issue is the lack of worship in the temple, the lack of grain and drink offerings, the lack of praise from God’s people.

“The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain… And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk… a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord…” (3:16-17). Where does healing and fruitfulness flow from? The house of the Lord.

It slowly becomes clear that the real famine, the real tragedy caused by the locusts and invading armies is the lack of worship. It’s not hunger and drought first and foremost – the lack of harvest means a lack of worship. Other prophets dwell on the precise sins (e.g. greed, injustice, idolatry, sexual immorality, etc.).

It isn’t that Joel doesn’t care about those things, it’s just that he knows the root problem is the lack of true worship of the true God. Joel says that it’s lack of true worship that leaves them prey to the nations (2:19). It’s lack of satisfaction in God’s good gifts that leaves people vulnerable to sin. But when He sends the rain and the fruitful harvests, it is precisely so they will remember the Lord and rejoice in the Lord and so not be overrun by their enemies (2:21-27). The worship of God is their fortress.

The Spirit of God & Calling on the Lord

Joel’s description of God’s salvation is really quite striking. And what’s striking is the order of events recorded in chapter 2, leading up to the pouring out of the Spirit (2:28). There was a very clear historic fulfillment of that promise in Acts 2 as Peter noted – which incidentally means that the “wonders” of earth, blood, fire, and smoke are symbolic of the great cataclysm of the end of the Old Covenant era, culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD (e.g. Is. 13).

But Paul quotes this same passage in Romans 10: “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved… For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Rom. 10:9-13)

This teaches us that Joel not only had a historic fulfillment at Pentecost, but Paul teaches us that Joel also gives us general description of Reformation and Revival. But what’s striking is that when the people mourn their sin and turn to the Lord, the joy of the Lord fills their hearts and it’s in that moment that they know that the Lord is their God – and then after that, the Spirit is poured out in power. First, the Spirit is poured out then people call on the name of the Lord to be delivered from their enemies (2:32). In other words, people don’t call on the name of the Lord in order to receive the Spirit; they call on the name of the Lord because they have received the Spirit. This is true in the moment of conversion and the whole process, but it is also true for Reformation and Revival – the cataclysmic cultural and political turning of nations back to God.

The order of reformation and revival according to Joel is this: Mourning/repentance — Joy — Worship — Knowledge — Spirit — Deliverance — Justice.

The Spirit is poured out because God’s people have turned to Him and rejoiced in Him and in His good gifts and come to know Him. Of course God’s Spirit is at work in every step of the way – we can do nothing apart from God, but there is the work of conversion and there is great deliverance from enemies.

Conclusion

The Spirit is not a genie that we summon up. The Spirit is poured out with power on those who seek God with all their hearts, who rejoice in Him, who study His word and His ways. Joel teaches us that when God’s people turn away from Him, the central thing they have turned away from is worship of Him. And so He removes His blessings from their midst, and the central sign of that judgment is the removal of public worship from their midst. If we were ever in any doubt about whether we are under the judgment of God, let there be no mistake: we are under the judgement of God because we are not worshipping God together this morning. He has taken away the grain offering and drink offering from the house of God.

But if we will call on the name of the Lord. If we will turn back to Him with all our heart, and seek His word and seek His ways, He will pour out His Spirit upon us once more and deliver us from all our enemies.

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Notes on Reformation

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Ezra & Nehemiah

Introduction

Many of us recently read through Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible Reading Challenge, and these books have a lot to say to us about the work of Reformation, which is what we are about.

The Text

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia… Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah…” (Ezr. 1:1-2)

Summary of the Text

Ezra and Nehemiah take place after the 70 years of exile foretold in Jeremiah (Jer. 29:10), beginning around 539 B.C. While modern Bible commentators tend to date Nehemiah much later (100 years!) because he calls the king “Artaxerxes,” I’m inclined to read that as a throne name (like “Caesar” or “Pharaoh”) because Nehemiah refers to Ezra the Scribe being there with him (e.g. Neh. 8). Ezra also references Nehemiah (Ez. 2:2), which verse incidentally also mentions Mordecai, strongly suggesting that the “queen” in Neh. 2:6 is none other than Esther (making Ahasuerus, Darius, and Nehemiah’s “Artaxexes” all the same king). Regardless of how one takes the chronology, the books record the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra) and the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah), the blessing of God on their work, the challenges they faced, and provide us a number of lessons on the work of Reformation.

Worship First

The goal in both books is the rebuilding of the temple and the city (Ez. 9:9, Neh. 12:27, 40), but both books make it clear that worship is central and drives the whole project. This is why we have said for years that worship is at the center of what we are about, but the reestablishment of faithful worship is always related to (re)building cities (Tit. 1:5, Rev. 21:2).

Ezra describes the reestablishment of worship in two stages: first is the altar (Ez. 3:2-6), then the rest of the temple (Ez. 3:10, 6:15). In the New Covenant, the altar roughly corresponds to evangelism and conversion (Mt. 28:19). True worship is in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:23), which means that the only kind of worship that God receives is the kind offered with clean hearts and lips (Heb. 13:5). And the only way to have a clean heart is by the blood of Jesus Christ washing it clean (1 Jn. 1:9). The temple roughly corresponds to corporate worship (1 Pet. 2:5). When people gather together for worship, there must be an order that everyone can follow. We see in Nehemiah’s covenant renewal service many of the same elements of worship we use: there is a platform/pulpit where the Scriptures are read (Neh. 8:4), there is time for explaining what the Scriptures mean (Neh. 8:7-8), all the people stood for the reading (Neh. 8:5), the people respond with “Amen” (Neh. 8:6), and worship includes lifting hands as well as kneeling/bowing down (Neh. 8:6). Worship is ordered according to Scripture not according to our preferences.

Expect Enemies & Detractors

“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the LORD God of Israel; then they… weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in the building, and hired counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose…” (Ezr. 4:1, 4-5). There is also a progression of resistance in Nehemiah: from grief (Neh. 2:10), to scorn (Neh. 2:19), to indignation and threats of violence (Neh. 4:1, 8). They not only sought to work political trouble, but they also successfully turned some prophets against the work (Neh. 6:10-14), including the corruption of the High Priest (Neh. 13:7-8). Jesus told His disciples to expect the same: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake” (Matt. 5:11). “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Lk. 6:26). Paul warned the Corinthian elders that “savage wolves will come in among you” (Acts 20:29). “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Heb. 12:3, cf. 1 Pet. 4:12). The presence of enemies is not a sign something has gone wrong; it’s a sign we’re doing something worth fighting.

Varying Degrees of Understanding

In the work of reformation there will be those who don’t fully understand what we are up to, but who are still trying to help. “And next unto them the Tekoaites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their lord” (Neh. 3:5). This is like the time the disciples saw someone casting out demons who was not with them, and Jesus said to leave him alone: “he who is not against us is on our side” (Lk. 9:50). Likewise, Paul rejoiced that the gospel was being preached even by those who did so out of envy and strife and selfish ambition (Phil. 1:15-18). Others will really put their backs into the work: “After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest” (Neh. 3:20). Paul was a Johnny-come-lately, but he saw that God had allowed him to far outstrip all the other apostles in terms of work accomplished (1 Cor. 15:10). We should glory in our varying gifts, and not worry too much about the messiness of people.

Marriage

Both Ezra and Nehemiah end addressing marriage problems (Ez. 9-10, Neh. 8:23-31). Marriage and family are not just one of the things that Christians do, it is right at the center of human civilization. It is always high stakes, but when you are trying to rebuild a civilization, you cannot be working off of different sets of blueprints and this relates more broadly to the problem of worldliness (Js. 4:4, 2 Cor. 6:14-18). Many people object to the idea of applying biblical law to society, and they often point to Old Testament laws that sometimes allowed for the death penalty for adultery (Lev. 20:10) or a rebellious son (Dt. 21:18-21). The problem with this objection is that it assumes the relative insignificance of the family. But marriage and family are like a civilizational nuclear plant, and God’s sanctions match that volatility.

Conclusions

Ezra and Nehemiah remind us that our task is to build on Christ the solid rock, the only foundation stone that can never be moved. But another way to say this is that Christ is the Chief Builder. We want to build what He is building, and nothing else. Otherwise all of our work is in vain (Ps. 127). But if the blessing of God is on it, nothing can stop it. How do we seek that blessing? Clean hearts, full of joy worshiping the Lord. That joy is only possible if we are walking in the light of forgiveness and fellowship (1 Jn. 1:4-7). And that joy is our strength (Neh. 8:10).

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