Christ Church

Expositional

Reading History Rightly (Wise Master Builder) (Living Stone Reformed Church)

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INTRODUCTION

If you’ve ever had the misfortune of assembling a piece of IKEA furniture, you know the challenge of making sure you get each piece in the right spot. There’s no room for imagination when it comes to the parts. You would be indignant if someone had purposefully wrongly labeled all the parts. Unbelieving man has imagined that he can infallibly interpret the story of the world, with no regard for how the Author of the story has structured the story. This is like assembling the furniture with all the pieces mislabelled.

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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he  hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. […] Ezra 1:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Around 100 years prior to Cyrus’ birth, Isaiah had foretold that a king named Cyrus would bring about the restoration of Jerusalem (Is. 44:28). Ezra begins by rooting his record of the Jews’ restoration to Jerusalem in the prophecy of Jeremiah 29:10. The Lord who stirred up the nations against Jerusalem for her idolatries, now stirs up the spirit of Cyrus to shepherd God’s people back to their inheritance (v1). The Cyrus Cylinder is an artifact, discovered in the late 1800s, which is a proclamation promising support for restoring the temples of the peoples which Persia had conquered. This is a wonderful corroboration of the Biblical record found here in our text. God had given Cyrus the nations, and now God stirs Cyrus to be the means of fulfilling the promised restoration of the Lord’s house (v2). Cyrus welcomes the Jews to commence this project of rebuilding the house of the Lord God of Israel (v3). He also sends out a fundraising letter, particularly to the remnant, to contribute to the project by way of free will offerings of silver, gold, goods, and beasts (v4). There are echoes here of the Hebrews’ plundering of Egypt in Exodus.

In response to this summons from a pagan king, a group of Jewish leaders arise, namely, chief fathers of Judah and Benjamin, along with a few priests and Levites. These families were themselves “stirred up” in their spirit by the Lord (v5). Those willing to pioneer the work back in Jerusalem were strengthened by the support of those who decided to stay put (v6). While we might be tempted to look down on those who remained behind, God was laying the groundwork, even in this, for the construction of His house which would fill all the world (Eph. 2:21).

Cyrus commanded that the temple vessels be taken from the treasuries of the gods, where Nebuchadnezzar had stored them, and give them to this contingent of Jews, led by Sheshbazzar (vv7-11). Ezra is clearly fond for detail, and his thoroughness is on display here in recording all that was recovered. Sheshbazzar is very likely the Babylonian name for Zerubbabel, the heir of David’s throne. We learn in the next chapter that Zerubbabel led this first wave of returning Jews (2:2). Ezra invites us to see that in mysterious ways God is moving.

POTENTATE OF TIME

In that wonderful hymn Crown Him With Many Crowns we find a wonderful title for God: the Potentate of time. Ezra and Nehemiah show us this truth quite clearly. The stage is being set for the NT. The scribal tradition of Ezra brought out the best (Paul) and the worst (Pharisaical pride) in Israel. We also see that those Jews who remained in their various settlements prepared the ground for the seed of the Gospel to be cast by the Apostles. The Magi who brought gifts to the Christ child had learned of the star which would hail the birth of the Messiah King from these exiled Jews. Matthew informs us that Zerubbabel is one of the ancestors of Christ (Mt. 1:13). Isaiah foretold Cyrus’ magnanimous work to rebuild God’s house. Jeremiah too foresaw God’s hand upon the steering wheel of world events.

God really is sovereign over all the movements of humanity. History is not the incoherent ravings of a lunatic. History is the display of God’s purposes continually being brought to pass. This is lesson we persistently forget to our peril. So then, if we are to read our own moment in history rightly it must be by beginning with this fact. God is the potentate of time. He is the Lord of History. He is the emperor over every circumstance. Generations come and go. Each getting a short sentence in this epic story. In our pride we presume we can finish the entire story ourselves. But as CS Lewis pointed out “A story is precisely the sort of thing that cannot be understood till you have heard the whole of it.” To read history rightly requires you to live by faith in the God of history. 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).

STIRRED UP

In this first wave of rebuilding Jerusalem, we see God stirring up both a pagan king and His own people. God had shaken the entire world through the various conquests of Assyria and Babylon and now the Persians. But because God is governs history, He also governs the men in history. He stirs up men to accomplish his purposes. From our perspective this looks messy. He stirs up great men and small men. He stirs up His people. He raises up kings and brings them low. To us the world is a sea full of billows and waves. From heaven, that sea is calm and clear as crystal. Here on earth wicked men seem to go unchecked, unhindered, unimpeded. The Word, however, assures us that the Lord will avenge His elect speedily. God is at work in history to make all things brilliantly shine with the glory of the Lord Jesus who died to redeem us from the wreckage which sin brought into this world.

THE WORK BEFORE US

Consider the work which God stirred up His people to do. It was hard work. The sieges had left the city in wreckage. The exiles had become rather prosperous in their new home, and uprooting was a significant sacrifice. The poor had been left to suffer in Jerusalem, so the returning exiles would have to labor to care for these impoverished saints. The economy of Jerusalem was in shambles. The culture disorganized. The city itself a crater. The worship of Jehovah was neglected. Every sphere of life in Jerusalem––religious, political, economic––was about as bad as it could get. Yet God had purposed to build His Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, and He would not be thwarted. Thus, God moves in quite unexpected ways to bring His purposes to pass. A pagan king nurtures God’s people and sets them to work building God’s house.

We are at a similar moment. God has been shaking our nation, in order that only that which is unshakable may remain. As God’s people, we must be prepared to follow the mysterious movements of God as He stirs the events of history. This is a summons to be ready to rise up and build. It is a summons to plead with Jehovah to move upon the hearts of our civilization magistrates, from President to Mayor, to defend the Church of Christ. It is a summons to  devote yourself and your family, with sacrificial courage, to build the house of the Lord.

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Singing the War Songs of the King (Psalms | King’s Cross) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Worship is warfare, and the Psalter is the inspired collection of our battle hymns. The Psalter is the meditations of the “blessed man” on the law of God – the war-songs of the “happy man” who is like a tree always fruitful in every season, who stands against all evil (Ps. 1). But this means that the Psalms are the songs of Jesus (Col. 3:16). He is the happiest warrior, the most fruitful wise man, our King, who came to destroy the seed of the serpent. He began this conquest by cleansing the temple, and so we join that warfare by singing the war songs of King Jesus.

The Text: “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves…” (Jn. 2:13-17).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

It is likely that Jesus cleansed the temple at least twice, since John seems to put this at the beginning of Christ’s ministry and the other gospels put a cleansing at the end. This may echo the multiple inspections of leprous houses in the Old Testament, which culminated in destruction (Lev. 14). Here, Jesus drives out the money changers who have crowded out the central purpose for the temple: prayer (Jn. 2:14-16, cf. Mk. 11:17). And when He does this, the disciples see Psalm 69:9: “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.” When Jesus cleansed the temple, His disciples see

Him acting like a zealous King David in establishing faithful worship and the only path for political stability.

A SHORT HISTORY OF SONG

We are not told exactly when God’s people began singing in worship, but given the entirety of Scripture, it seems likely that it began in the Garden of Eden. Adam’s poem about the beauty of his new wife (“this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”) was likely a song of love and thanksgiving (Gen. 2:23). One Jewish source from the Middle Ages suggests that Adam began singing Psalm 92 (“It’s good to thank the Lord!”) right after he was confronted with his sin and granted forgiveness in the Garden. Whether or not that’s true, it would certainly fit with the broader biblical witness. God’s people were made for music, singing, and worship. And in a fallen world, worship is a war cry of defiance against sin.

The first explicitly recorded song of worship is the triumphant hymn that Moses and Miriam composed after God’s decisive defeat of the Egyptian forces at the Red Sea (Ex. 15). And of course, worship led the conquest of Canaan, particularly at Jericho with the sounding of trumpets (Josh. 6).

Moses later wrote two songs that became Deuteronomy 32 and 33. Another song is quoted in Numbers 21 that is said to be from the “book of the wars of the Lord,” which may have been an early collection of hymns. Joshua 10 and 2 Samuel 1 also reference songs from “the book of Jasher,” apparently another early Israelite hymnal. It is also possible that these are all names for the same hymnal begun by the patriarchs, added to by Moses and Joshua and Samuel, and substantially expanded by David. Many believe that Ezra may have been the final editor of the Book of Psalms as we now have it.

SONGS OF THE KING

Michael LeFebvre points out that the Old Testament associates the songs of Israel not only with wars and battles, but they were also led by their leaders and ultimately their king. If Moses was the first official war-song leader of Israel, it appears that Joshua took that over as the leader of the conquest of Canaan (Dt. 32:44). While the period of the judges languished without a clear song leader, David’s zeal finished Joshua’s conquest of the Canaanites and restored the tabernacle on Mt. Zion with a significant increase in singing and music (1 Chron. 15-16, 23-25). Political wisdom and success are never possible apart from the right worship of the true God. It doesn’t seem like an accident that the very first book printed in the United States was the Bay Psalm Book (1640). A Psalm-singing culture built our country.

If Ezra was the final editor of the Psalter, it’s striking that the Book of Psalms is a book of songs for the King in a time (post exile) when Israel had no king. Many of the Psalms are titled “For the Choir Director or Chief Musician” and while the kings of Israel certainly had musical assistants, the king was the lead singer, and at least symbolically, the “Chief Musician.” Thus, when Jesus came as David’s son, part of the confirmation that He really was the Messiah, was the fact that He came singing the Psalms (e.g. Rom. 15:8-9, Heb. 2:11-12) and fulfilling them (Jn. 2:17). As LeFebvre emphasizes, “the New Testament authors want us to recognize Jesus, not simply as one who fulfils things about Himself in the Psalms, but as the song leader who leads us in singing them.” As we join His songs, we join His zealous conquest of sin, death, and the devil.

CONCLUSION

The Apostle Paul says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Notice that the Psalms are called the “word of Christ” – Christ is the main singer of the Psalms. And when we sing the Psalms, we are singing with Him. The Psalms are the wisdom and grace of our conquering King. What is that wisdom and grace?

The Book of Psalms consists of 150 prayers broken into five books: 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150: many Psalms are songs of praise and thanksgiving; many are prayers of lamentation and penitence and pleas for help and deliverance; and many are meditations on wisdom: the character of the wicked and the righteous and the law and judgments of God. Some Psalms are also called “imprecatory” because they call for God to curse and destroy the wicked, which is one of the ways we “leave vengeance to the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). The Psalms are wisdom and grace because they give us a vocabulary for how to talk to God about every situation we may face.

Why do we put such emphasis on Psalm singing and musical education? Because worship is the tip of the spear in our battle against evil. The battle begins with naming accurately. Why do we have choirs and singing schools and music camps? Because singing the Psalms is how the war songs of our King dwell in us richly.

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Episodes in Ephesus (Acts of the Apostles) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

Ephesus was one of the places where the apostle Paul invested a goodly amount of time. On this occasion, he was there for two years, and you should recall that he had visited earlier in Acts. It was a port city in western Asia Minor, and the temple to Diana there (Artemis) was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was a notable city. We know it as Christians from the riches found in the book of Ephesians, and from the exhortation to return to their first love that is found in Revelation 2.

THE TEXT

“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism . . . ” (Acts 19:1–22).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul came to Ephesus, where Apollos had been, and found disciples of some sort there (v. 1). He asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit, and they replied that they hadn’t even heard of Him (v. 2). So he asked what their baptism was, and they replied that it was John’s baptism (v. 3). These are pretty clearly disciples made by Apollos before Priscilla and Aquila helped him out. Paul informed them that John’s baptism was pointing to Christ (v. 4), and so they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (v. 5). Paul laid hands on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied (v. 6). There were around twelve of them (v. 7). Paul went to the synagogue, and spoke, disputed, and persuaded for about three months (v. 8). Some of them got hard-hearted, and began to speak evil, so Paul moved his operations to the hall of Tyrannus (v. 9), teaching there daily. He did this for two years, such that everyone in the province of Asia Minor, Jews and Greeks both, heard the word of the Lord Jesus (v. 10). Power to do miracles was with him (v. 11), such that even articles of his clothing could heal diseases and cast out demons (v. 12). Itinerant Jewish exorcists began to use the name of Jesus, the one preached by Paul (v. 13). One example was the band of Sceva’s seven sons—Sceva being a Jew and self-styled chief priest (v. 14). The demon replied that he knew Jesus, and Paul, but “who are you guys?” (v. 15). He jumped on them and thrashed them, such that they ran away naked and hurt (v. 16). Word about that got around all of Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks both, and they all feared. The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified (v. 17). Those who believed began to confess their deeds (v. 18). This included their occult books, which they all agreed to burn together—and which one calculation into modern terms puts at about $6M in value. So the Word of God grew and prevailed (v. 20). After this, Paul decided to go west to Macedonia and Achaia, then to Jerusalem, and on to Rome (v. 21). So he send Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia as his advance team (v. 22), but then he remained there in Asia for a bit.

DISCIPLES OF APOLLOS

We learned earlier that when Apollos came to Ephesus, he taught the Word accurately, but only up to John’s baptism (Acts 18:25). Pricilla and Aquila brought him up to the speed, but he had apparently made some disciples that Priscilla and Aquila didn’t get to. They were distinguished from others in some way (perhaps by clothing?) such that Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit. They were disciples of some sort, but something must have seemed off. So they received Christian baptism, and when Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. Since they spoke in tongues and prophesied, this showed that God was declaring their solidarity with Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:44-45), as well as their unity with the saints at Pentecost (Acts 2:4).

TRYING TO GET A PIECE OF THE ACTION

There was a lot of excitement in Ephesus over this. Healings and exorcisms began to occur on the strength of handkerchiefs and aprons that Paul had used. The power of God was present, and so certain Jewish exorcists tried to get a piece of the action. You recall that Simon Magus tried to buy his way in (Acts 8: 18-19), but these folks just assumed they could just barge in. They started conjuring in the name of this “Jesus that Paul preaches.” That’s a bit of reflected glory, but apparently less potent than one of those handkerchiefs. They got beat up for their pains, and this caused all of Ephesus to fear. The name of Jesus grew in authority.

THE HALL OF TYRANNUS

So the response there in Ephesus was robust. After three months of weekly meetings in the synagogue, Paul side-stepped the hardened opposition by moving to a rented hall, where he taught daily for two years. The upshot of this was that all of Asia Minor was affected.

This gives us a glimpse into how a consistent, steady, drumbeat of a godly ministry has a gathering and cumulative effect.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF GRACE

Now in the next verses we are going to see a full-scale riot caused by the economic impact of Paul’s gospel preaching. Turning to Christ threatened the sale of idols. In this section, we see the warm-up act for this reaction. The people who were turning to Christ from their superstitions took up a collection of their occult materials, and made a bonfire with them. The worth was 50K pieces of silver, likely a drachma. One drachma was on average a daily wage for skilled worker, which means that the amount was enough to catch the attention of the Ephesians. The Christians were making a difference. Sin has economic ramifications, as does forgiveness and righteousness.

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The Wicked Pride of Good Intentions (Psalms | King’s Cross) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

This Psalm is a cry for justice for the poor and helpless in the face of the arrogant violence of the wicked. But the justice of God and this prideful wickedness is a line that runs through our world and right down the middle of every human heart. And it is a line that is often hidden in the secret places of “good intentions.”

The Text: “Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?…” (Psalm 10:1-18)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The psalm begins with a plea in the form of a question of what the psalmist feels – it feels as if God is far away and ignoring the trouble he is facing (10:1). And the psalmist cries out, “why?” Of course, God is not actually far away or hiding, otherwise, how could David pray at all?

The first half of the psalm describes the trouble of the wicked as a continuous and arrogant hunting of the poor (10:2). This flows from the wicked man’s commitment to doing whatever he wants, not seeking the Lord, and all his thinking assumes there is no God (10:3-4). He ignores God’s judgments while appearing to prosper and without any fear of trouble (10:5-6). You can tell the wicked because his mouth is full of cursing, which multiplies lies, fraud, and misery as he sets ambushes, lurking like a lion for prey (10:7-9). And the result is the helpless are crushed, and the wicked think there is nothing to worry about (10:10-11).

The second half of the psalm renews the plea for God to arise and act (10:12). Since God actually has seen all of it (answering the initial cry), he asks why God seems to be allowing the wicked to get away with their taunts (10:13-14)? The psalm asks God to break their arms and bring them up on charges (10:15). Finally, the psalm ends in confidence, proclaiming that the Lord is king forever, and those who hate Him cannot remain (10:16); God hears the prayers of the afflicted, and therefore He will strengthen their hearts and do justice for the fatherless and helpless (10:17-18).

ARROGANT IGNORANCE

One of the marks of evil men is their arrogant ignorance. He persecutes the poor in his pride (Ps. 10:2, 4). Part of this pride is the denial of God’s existence and knowledge (Ps. 10:4, 11), but this often takes the form of a kind of “benevolent” pride. The unbelieving heart reasons that since there is no God, human beings and our programs and solutions are all we have. Religion is seen (at best) as a quaint superstition, and therefore, if we really want to help the poor, we have to “do” something but it cannot be a solution found in the Bible Ps. 10:5). This is his pride: he will not seek after God or God’s ways.

Therefore, often, in the name of helping the poor, the wicked are actually persecuting the poor. While there are some wicked who literally lurk in secret places to hunt down the helpless (e.g. human trafficking, terrorist attacks), a great deal of evil is perpetrated in the “secret places” of good intentions. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked load them with the chains of welfare. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked load them with medications to mask their follies. In the name of “helping” the poor, the wicked destroy their agency by blaming others and propping up their victimhood. These are often the “lurking places of the villages” (Ps. 10:8).

C.S. Lewis described this well: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

This can happen in public policy, but this also happens in hearts and homes. C.S. Lewis again: “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can always tell the others by their hunted expression.” It is perilously easy for Christians (of all people) to hide their wickedness in the secret places of what we consider our virtues. This can be a woman who has determined to “live for others” or “to be a servant of all” but refuses to allow God to define for her what that means. His judgments are out of her sight (Ps. 10:5). And in her pride she is actually persecuting everyone around her, all in the name of being helpful. And of course men can do this too.

LOOSE LIPS

The old saying is that “loose lips sink ships,” referring to the care that soldiers and citizens needed to have during certain wartime conflicts in order to protect the mission. But the principle stands: words are potent and powerful because we are made in the image of the Triune God who spoke the world into existence and whose Word became flesh.

The wicked man has a mouth full of cursing, but it doesn’t stop there: the cursing is friends with treachery, and the treachery lives right next door to oppression (Ps. 10:7). And under his tongue can be found trouble and misery (Ps. 10:7). James says that the tongue is like a flame thrower, that defiles the whole body and can set whole worlds ablaze (Js. 3:5-6). He says that these kinds of destructive words flow from hearts full of “bitter envy” (Js. 3:14). He also says that these words are often a counterfeit “wisdom” that is earthly, sensual, and devilish (Js. 3:15). But the wisdom that is from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (Js. 3:17).

CONCLUSION: WHY GOD HIDES

So we return the opening question: why does God let evil grow? Why does it seem that He is far off in times of trouble? At least one answer to that question is so that we will learn to pray, sing, worship, and think like this psalm. Like a faithful Father determined to grow His children up, God sometimes “leaves” us some space to grow up into this wisdom. Do you see evil for what it really is? Are you desperate for God to come down and break its evil arms and see it fade away? Do you see it out there in the world? Good. And now, do you see it in your own heart? And do you see that you are often the problem? And what you often think of as your virtue or your good traits need to die.

Now hear this: The Lord Jesus is King forever and ever, and He must reign until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. This includes the wicked machinations of globalists and jihadists, and this includes the plots and scams of your devilish flesh. Christ is King forever and ever. He will hear your cries, and He will always save.

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