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These Our Tumultuous Mercies

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INTRODUCTION

A little over a week from now, we will be selecting our next president. In preparation for this, because Christ is Lord of everything we do, we need to consider the adverbs that will need to accompany our application of the infinitive of that verb to vote.

This year such caution is more far necessary than it usually is. I am not old yet, but I think I can see old from here. And over all these decades of active political interest, I do not recall any political season that even remotely resembles this one. These are indeed tumultuous times, but God never abandons His people during such times. He shakes what can be shaken (and which needed to be shaken) so that what cannot be shaken might remain. And we are in fact receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:27-29). And that is why we should consider these times to be the times of our tumultuous mercies.

THE TEXT

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Psalm 118:8–9)

“Put not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:3–4).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

There are two places in the psalms where we are instructed not to put our confidence in princes. Psalm 118 is the one where God promised us that Christ, the rejected stone, would be made the head of the corner (v. 22). Because of the Lord’s mercies, I will not die but rather will live (v. 17). The right hand of the Lord does valiantly (vv. 15-16). This is the context of the exhortation not to put your trust in princes. They are not like the Lord. Trusting the Lord is better than trusting man. Trusting the Lord is better than trusting the leaders of men.

In Psalm 146, we are told that God is the one who made the heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything in them (v. 6). Not only is His sovereignty in evidence at the bottom of the deepest sea, it is also plain in the back alleys of the deepest slum (v. 7). He undertakes for the widow and orphan (v. 9), and He takes the way of the wicked, turns it upside down and shakes it. That includes the wicked who happen to be princes. Do not put your trust in princes (v. 3). Do not look to the sons of men, in whom there is no help (v. 3). Why is there no real help? His last breath goes out through his nose, and at that moment he is a spent force.

POLITICAL, NOTT PARTISAN

The Christian church is inescapably political, but this is not the same thing as being partisan. Our elders have had a long-standing practice of not allowing partisan politics a place in our worship services. In other words, it would be completely out of line for us to preach the Word, serve communion, and campaign for Murphy. When worship services are allowed to drift into that kind of thing, the church is being played. This mistake is how evangelicals have slowly become a demographic voting bloc, represented in Washington by lobbyists. In other words, we are represented the same way that Big Tobacco and the gun lobby are represented. But that is not where our true authority lies.

But believing in the separation of church and state (as we do) does not mean that we believe in the separation of righteousness and state. Who could possibly be for an unrighteous state? We do not believe in the separation of morality and state, or the separation of God and state. To believe in the separation of God and state is tantamount to desiring a godless state. And to desire that is to declare war on all humanity.

This means that the Christian church is essentially political. We represent a new polis with a citizenship in Heaven (Phil. 3:20), a new way of being human, and a mission to disciple the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). How could our assigned mission be to teach all the nations to obey everything Jesus taught, and yet not get into political issues? Abortion is evil (Ex. 20:13). Same sex mirage is an abomination (Lev. 18:22). Inflation is theft (Is. 1:22). You get the picture. And Ahab could not cover up his wickedness regarding Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:13) by calling it land reform, or making the rich pay their fair share, or a rezoning challenge.

PREPARE TO PIVOT

In a conservative congregation like this one, I don’t need to wave you off from the perils of voting for the Democratic candidate. That is not your peculiar temptation, or at least it had better not be. Most of you will be voting for the president, and it is not my place to tell you anything about that one way or the other from this pulpit. Remember what I said earlier—no partisanship. But what I can tell you is that you must not put your trust in princes.

Rejecting the left is the duty of every Christian citizen who has an open Bible. We despise all of it—anarchy in the streets, tax policies riddled with envy, arbitrary and capricious government, blood-soaked abortion policies, and all the rest of it. But rejecting this is not synonymous with bringing in the kingdom of God. If the left goes down hard in this election, which should be our prayer, it will not be the case that sin and temptation have gone into retirement. And, as the saying goes, no matter which way the election goes, the government always seems to get in. Christlessness will beckon from the right.

If the left goes down hard, there will be a temptation for those Christians who voted for the president to treat it as an emotional investment, rather than a tactical decision. But on LGBTQ behavior, the president is awful. And on fiscal restraint, he has the same general approach held by a shrewdness of apes that got into a warehouse full of trade gin. You can be grateful for all the conservative federal judges without putting your trust in princes. In short, the leftist threat to us and our liberties could be dealt with entirely, and yet our children and grandchildren will still have to deal with threats to the faith once delivered to all of us. We must be prepared to pivot accordingly.

CHRIST THE LORD

We worship and serve Messiah the Prince. Our first and foundational allegiance is to God the Father. We are Christians, and this means that we are called to a life of layered loyalties. Some of those loyalties of necessity involve people who do not love Jesus Christ the same way we do. We are, most of us, Americans, and so we should love our nation the same way the apostle Paul loved his nation. This is lawful and, I would argue, even required.

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:1–3).

When it comes to spiritual matters, and the authority of the Lord Jesus over us all, America is an insensate oaf, a bewildered palooka. We need to be in a position to declare the truth of this to everyone, regardless of who is president.

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The Lord is on His Throne

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THE TEXT

“In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?4 The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord‘s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.5 The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright” (Psalm 11).

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Psalm 120: A Lament About Liars

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Introduction

This psalm is the first in a series of fifteen psalms, called from ancient times psalms of ascent, or psalms of degree. What this means is frankly lost to us, but there have been reasonable speculations. John Calvin thought it had to do with the musical pitch of the psalm. A medieval rabbi said that the temple had fifteen steps, one psalm per step. I favor the view that argues that these are pilgrim psalms. When Israelites went to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, they were going up (Ex. 34:24; 1 Kings 12:27)

The Text

“In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, Thou false tongue? . . .” (Ps. 120:1–7)

Summary of the Text

When a pilgrim left home to go up to the Temple, he was going to worship the God of truth. He was leaving behind the realm of men, the provenance of liars. One likely occasion for the composition of this psalm is David’s recollection of the lies of Doeg the Edomite. The lies, whatever they were, were distressing, and the psalmist cried out to Jehovah, and Jehovah heard him (v. 1). He cries out for deliverance from the evils that come from a lying tongue (v. 2). The lips are soft, but in the service of the devil they are razor sharp. He then asks what the liar will receive in return for all his labors in lies (v. 3). There is ambiguity in the next verse—is it talking about harm done by the liar, or about the recompence that God pays back to the liar? I take it as the latter (v. 4). David did not physically live in Mesech, or in the tents of Kedar, but it was as though he dwelt among an uncouth, and fierce, and barbaric people (v. 5). Against his basic desire, he dwelt together with someone who hated peace (v. 6). Despite his longing for peace, and his desire for peace, no matter what, they wanted war (v. 7). They insisted on unnecessary conflict.

The Liar Fights Dirty

One of the things that is so exasperating about dealing with slanderers and liars is not the fact of conflict with them. Rather it is that they feel free to use maneuvers that the righteous are prohibited from using. They are far more flexible in their construal of facts because they don’t need to go to the library to check them.

But a true man will not even touch the weapons that the slanderers resort to so readily. A true man will not return that kind of fire, trying to blacken the character of someone who is blackened enough already.

Deception and Lies

Having said all this, we must acknowledge that there is a difference between slander where there ought to be comity, and deception where there is already war.

The Hebrew midwives were blessed by God because they misled Pharaoh in his murderous policy (Ex. 1:19-20). And Jochebed, the mother of Moses, obeyed Pharaoh technically by putting the baby Moses in the Nile. The law didn’t say that the baby couldn’t be given a boat too (Ex. 2:2). And Moses asked Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go away from Egypt for a three day journey into the wilderness, not forever and ever (Ex. 9:1). And Rahab deceived the agents of Jericho’s defenses by sending the spies out by another way than she said she did (Josh. 2:4; Jas. 2:25). And, moreover, this is what James identifies as the very moment that vindicated the genuineness of her faith. The strategy that Israel used at the second battle of Ai relied on deception (Josh. 8:2), using a tactic God gave them. And the tactic that God gave to David at relied on deception (2 Sam. 5:23). Deception in time of war is to lying what killing in war is to murder.

At the same time, God will pour out all His fury on liars. The lake of fire is reserved for “all liars” (Rev. 21:8). One of the Ten Commandments prohibits perjury against your neighbor (Ex. 20: 16). We must not lie to one another (Lev. 19:11). Lying is included in two of the seven things that God hates (Prov. 6:16-19). Because we have cast off the old man and his ways, we must not lie to one another (Col. 3:9).

We are servants of Christ, who is the Truth incarnate. This means that we must be men and women who speak the truth accurately. We must be boys and girls who do not lie.

God’s Quiver

The psalm begins with the grateful acknowledgement that God heard the prayer of this man in distress. God heard him (v. 1). This is part of the reason why I take the arrows of v. 4 as the arrows of God’s judgments. The previous verse asked the question, “what shall be done to you, oh, false tongue?” and the following verse answers the question. God will draw one of His mighty arrows out of His quiver—and you don’t want to be one of those condemned individuals that God draws a bead on. The white broom tree of the desert (ratam), rendered by the KJV as juniper, is a wood that burns hot and long.

A Generation of the Lie

We live in time that is dominated by the Lie. The Lie is the coin of the realm. The Lie comes at you from every direction. You are lied to in your Spotify playlist. You are lied to in the movies, in the books you read, and on the Internet. You are lied to by our culture, you are lied to by our political authorities, and you are lied to by the devil.

Keep in mind that it is a sin to believe a lie. That is how our race fell into sin in the first place. God cannot lie (Heb. 6:18), and He told Adam to stay away from that tree. The devil wreathes himself in lies, and he is the one who told them to go ahead. The Fall was the result of believing a lie.

And one of the central ways to immunize yourself against believing lies is by resolving, before God, that you will speak the truth.

 

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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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