Expositional

The Wife of Your Youth (Malachi)

Christ Church on May 17, 2020

The Text

Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
¹¹Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The Lord’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
¹²May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being ^[a]awake and aware,
Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

¹³And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
¹⁴Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
¹⁵But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

¹⁶“For the Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“Therefore take heed to your spirit,
That you do not deal treacherously” (Malachi 2:10–16).

Psalm 120: A Lament About Liars

Christ Church on May 3, 2020

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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.

A Message on Plagues

Christ Church on March 22, 2020

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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.

Psalm 2: You Are My Son

Christ Church on March 1, 2020

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Introduction

Psalm 2 is understood to function along with Psalm 1 as an introduction to the Psalter. The blessedness that begins Psalm 1 is picked up again at the end of Psalm 2, which helps you to see the two chapters functioning together. In fact, some Hebrew copies of the Psalms actually just combine Psalm 1 and 2 as one psalm. So Psalm 2 in one sense completes Psalm 1 and it does so by pointing our eyes towards Christ. This Psalm is one of the New Testament authors’ favorite passages because of how much it points to Christ.

1-3 What is a Messiah?

King David wondered why the Gentiles would foment against the Lord and his Anointed. The Hebrew word for “anointed” is the word that we get the title “messiah” from. A messiah is someone who has been anointed, usually for the purpose of declaring them as king. But the king that David is talking about is not himself. Peter and John later understood that David was actually looking forward to the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ (the Greek word for Messiah is Christ). How could the pagan kings stand against the advance of the kingdom of the risen Christ (Acts 4:24-27).

4-9 You Are My Son

The centerpiece of this Psalm comes in the decree v. 7- “The Lord has said to me, ‘you are my Son.’” Notice that the fact that the Lord himself spoke these words is part of the decree (Mark 1:11, 9:7, 2 Pet. 1:17-18). This is the Father’s declaration of the Son’s kingship and his intent for the Son to inherit all things (Heb. 1:5, 2:2-3).

The Davidic throne was a small picture of the true seed of David who was to come and who was to rule as the true king of Israel (Rom. 1:3-4). But Jesus Christ came to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One that none of his predecessors could have been.

He is the eternally begotten (John 1:14), the one born of the virgin Mary, the one whose glory was glimpsed at the transfiguration, who was the firstborn from the dead in his resurrection (Col. 1:18), the one who ascended into heaven and sat down on his throne at the right hand of the Father (1 Cor. 15:25), and the one who will come again at the end of history (Acts 1:10-11).

And so God laughs at any that would stand against this (v. 4-6) because their opposition is simply laughable. Instead, he turns to the Son and asks him, what would you like? And the Son’s answer is “the ends of the earth” (v. 8-9).

10-12 Kiss the Son

Given that this is the case, how should we then live? The answer is simple – kiss the Son (v. 12). And if you rankle at the idea of submitting to the Lord of all because of his great power, stop and remember how he achieved it. He achieved this status through his own selfless suffering and death, through his covenant kindness, and the complete giving of himself in love to a people that deserved none of this. His conquering power is his grace.

Conclusion

The declaration of the sonship of Jesus Christ has implications beyond just Jesus himself. Because we are united with Christ (Gal. 2:20) this sonship is something that extends to us (Rom. 8:16-17). The tree that Psalm 1 described is actually first a description of Jesus. After all, could you really provide the obedience described there? But it is secondarily you, because by faith you stand inside of Christ and share in his inheritance. And so it is with Psalm 2. The decree “you are my Son” is primarily spoken to Jesus. But for those who, by faith, stand inside Christ, that decree is a spoken to you as well. And remember that the decree includes audible spoken words of the Father – “This is my son.”

Psalm 117: The Christ of the Gentiles

Christ Church on February 23, 2020

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Introduction

The Hallel psalms are psalm of praise—they are Hallelujah psalms. This one also concludes with that exclamation of praise. This is a very brief psalm, and is one that many of you can already sing from memory. But although it is brief, it packs a throw weight that is considerable, and is a psalm of praise that encompasses the entire world.

The Text

“O praise the Lord, all ye nations: Praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 117).

Summary of the Text

The psalm begins with an invitation to “all nations” to render praise to Yahweh, to join together with the Jews in saying hallelujah (v. 1). Praise Him, all you goyim. Praise Him, all you tribes (v. 1). And why should we do this? We should do it because His merciful kindness (hesed) is great toward us. We should do it because the truth (emeth) of Yahweh is something that endures forever (v. 2). This is why we must sing hallelujah.

Minister of the Circumcision

The Gentile world mission, of which Paul was the most notable representative and emissary, was not the point at which God changed His mind about the Jews. Rather, the Gentile world mission was the point at which God fulfilled one of His great promises to the Jews, and at which the Jewish leaders changed their mind about Jehovah. That particular apostasy is one that we need to understand a bit better than we do.

The apostle Paul defends his mission to the Gentiles in Romans 15, and in the course of that defense he quotes our passage. Let’s see how he uses it.

“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:8–13).

Christ was made a deacon of the circumcision, a servant or a minister of the circumcision. He was born in the tribe of Judah, as a fulfillment of the promise made to David. And Paul says here that Christ was made a deacon in this way in order to confirm the promises made to the fathers (v. 8). Everything that follows supports that, and everything that follows is also about the gathering in of the Gentiles. We do not just have an exhortation to the Gentiles that they ought to praise the Lord, but we know they probably won’t. No, we have a prediction that the Gentiles would in fact glorify God for His mercy (v. 9; see 2 Sam. 22:50; Ps. 18:49). In the next verse (v. 10), we have a command that was issued to the Gentiles in Deuteronomy (Deut. 32:43). And then again, we see the same thing in Paul’s citation of our text (v. 11; Ps. 117:1). And then Isaiah prophesied that the root of Jesse would spring up, and He would rule over the nations, and the Gentiles would hope in Him (v. 12; Is. 11:10). They shall not hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain, and the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is. 11:9).

In this context, the Roman Christians (largely Gentiles) had a benediction declared over them, that the God of hope might fill them with joy in believing (all of this), that they might abound in hope, as the power of the Holy Spirit works in them.

**Gentiles Were Not the Non-Christians of the Old Testament**

We have to distinguish the universalization of the priesthood in the New Testament (which actually happened) and the universalization of salvation (which is not what happened).

We know from the New Testament that Christ is the only way. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). And so, as the Westminster Confession puts it, outside the Church there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

Now if you assume that the Jews were the Christians of the Old Testament, this creates enormous problems. In the Old Testament, salvation was not limited to just one nation. Rather, the priesthood was limited to just one nation.

How could we say that salvation was limited to the Jews? We can say that salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22, ESV), but far too many Gentiles are saved in the Old Testament to simply equate “Gentile” with “unbeliever.” Melchizedek was a Gentile (Heb. 7:3), and Abraham paid tithes to him (Heb. 7:4). When Ezekiel named three of the godliest men he could think of, two of the three were Gentiles (Ez. 14:14). Noah lived before there were any Jews, and Job was an Edomite. The inhabitants of Nineveh repented (Jonah 3:5; Matt. 12:41). Naaman the Syrian became a true worshiper of God (2 Kings 5:17; Luke 4:27). Jethro was a priest in Midian, and a servant of the true God (Ex. 18:1). The Queen of Sheba was taught by Solomon (1 Kings 10:5). (1 Kings 8:60). And Solomon built the Temple with a provision for Gentiles in view (2 Chron. 6:32-33).

So the time of the new covenant is a time when salvation explodes into the world, but this is not something that erases a former boundary. Gentiles can be saved now, but they could always be saved. The glory is that Gentiles can be priests and Levites now (Is. 66:19-21). The priestly nation has been universalized, and that is why the division now is between Christian and unbeliever.

The Covenant Lord

Over the centuries, the Jews had been praising Yahweh, praising Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel. Christ came as a minister of the circumcision in order to confirm His promises to them. Not to abrogate them, but rather to confirm them. When He came—lived His life as a perfect Jew, was crucified, was buried, and raised again—this was a confirmation that He was in fact the Son of God (Rom. 1:4). As a result of all this, the fundamental Christian confession is that Jesus is Yahweh. This means that He is the covenant Lord of Israel. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered (Joel 2:32). This is quoted in Romans 10:13, using the Greek word kurios for Yahweh. And just a moment before this, Paul told us that the fundamental confession was that “Jesus is Lord” (kurios).

And never forget the fact that because this priesthood is universal, it must of necessity include ethnic Israel. Their disobedience is only temporary, and they will be brought back in again (Rom. 11:23). Anti-Semitism is about the most anti-gospel frame of mind that can be imagined. And among professed worshipers of Jesus ben-David, it is also the silliest.