Christ Church

The Priesthood of Christ & All Believers (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

The central message of the Bible is God’s victory over death through resurrection. As the ministers of God in the Old Testament, the priests of Israel were required to picture God’s coming victory over death in a number of ways. While some of the particulars have changed in the New Covenant, the principles really have not. What the Old Testament pictured, Christ has accomplished as our High Priest, and He has made us a holy priesthood for God.

THE TEXT

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel…” (Lev. 21-22).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

These instructions are given to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and they begin by forbidding touching dead bodies and being defiled and imitating the mourning practices of the pagans (21:1-6, 10-12). Their marriages were to be pictures of purity, and their children were to be faithful (21:7-9, 13-15). Priests who served in the sanctuary were to be physically whole (21:16-24). The priests were to honor the ceremonial cleanliness laws and follow the purification instructions just like the rest of Israel (22:1-9). The privileges of the priesthood belonged to the priest and his household, not visitors or daughters who married out of the priestly tribe (22:10-13). Accidental profaning of holy things required restitution with 20 percent added to it (22:14-16). All offerings were to be males without obvious reminders of the curse of death – no blemish, bruise, spot, or deformity (22:17-25). God required His people to practice a measure of compassion and reverence for new life and motherhood even with animals, permitting newborn animals to be offered only after a week old, and a mother and baby could not be offered on the same day (22:26-28). Sacrifices of thanksgiving were to be offered and eaten on the same day because God is holy and He brought Israel out of Egypt (22:29-33).

DO NOT SORROW LIKE THOSE WITHOUT HOPE

What the priests were required to practice in the Old Testament with regard to death really is wonderfully fulfilled in Jesus and the principles that continue to apply to us are glorious. The central application of these laws to the New Testament Christian priesthood (all Christians) is that we may not sorrow over death like pagans, like those who have no hope: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (1 Thess. 4:13-14). The death and resurrection of Jesus has radically altered the world and death itself.

This language of “sleeping” is also related. After Jesus conquered death, those who die in Him are not said to really die anymore, only sleep (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:6). Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (Jn. 11:26-27, Jn. 6:40-58). When Jesus came to the house of the little girl who had died, He said, why are you making such a commotion with all your weeping, she is not dead but only sleeping (Mk. 5:39). Then putting everyone out of the house except her parents, he took the little girl by the hand and told her to arise (Mk. 5:40-41). Did Jesus, our Great High priest touch a dead body? No, because in the presence of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, His touch is life. To Him, and to all who are in Him, death is merely sleep. So neither do we defile ourselves when we are in the presence of those who die, and we do not mourn as those without hope. We may certainly weep as Jesus did at the grave of Lazarus, but it is not a grief of hopeless despair. And our memorial services do and should reflect that. Because Jesus had not yet come, the priests were required to keep themselves from dead bodies (Lev. 21:1-5, 10-11), and all that resembled the curse of death – those with diseases and deformities could not serve in the tabernacle (Lev. 21:17-23). But now in Christ, those born with disease or deformities are reckoned whole in Him and therefore most welcome in worship and in the worshiping community.

ONE BAPTISM & ONE SACRIFICE & ONE PRIESTHOOD

In the Old Covenant, there were many baptisms (Heb. 9:10). In fact, that was how you became ceremonially clean, you had to be baptized repeatedly, every time you became unclean before coming to the sanctuary for worship (Lev. 22:6). This is part of the glory of “one baptism” (Eph. 4:5). And Hebrews says that it wasn’t just the washing that purified but it was also the offering (Heb. 9:13). This is why the offerings of the Old Covenant had to be without blemish (Lev. 22:19-25), but if God accepted the blood of bulls and goats without blemish as faint shadows for purification, “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:13-14). Jesus is the priest, and Jesus is the sacrifice.

CONCLUSIONS

And notice what you need to be cleansed from: dead works. Dead people do dead works. Outside of Christ, people are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1-5). Outside of Christ people are not sick, not merely confused, not merely on life support. Outside of Christ, people are dry bones scattered on the ground (Ez. 37). But people do not think this is what they are since they can still go to church, sing in the choir, vote conservative, and lead small groups. But what they are offering is their own dead works full of blemishes, spots, bruised, crushed, broken, and cut (Lev. 22:24) because they are dead themselves. And therefore, your works will not be accepted by God. This is why you often need to be forgiven for what you think of as being your virtues. Even your righteousness is like filthy rags, full of death (Is. 64:6). You must be raised from the dead and cleansed from your dead works.

Many people have pointed out that Jesus never did funerals. Jesus attended or showed up in the midst of funerals, but they never stayed that way. Whenever Jesus shows up in the gospels where someone has died, death never has the last word.

In the New Covenant, all Christians are priests, and we all offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2). And what you do all week long is what you are bringing to offer, and that will either be the perfection and purity and resurrection life of Christ or else dead works. What do you have? What is in your hands? What is in your heart? If you call on the Lord, you will be saved.

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In the Land Which God Gives You

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THE TEXT

These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods . . . ” (Deuteronomy 12:1-8)

INTRODUCTION

Many saints don’t know what to do on earth. They view life on earth as something like a train station at which they’re waiting. They have a ticket to ride to heaven upon death. But in the interim, there is not much to do here at the train station, at least there’s not much to do that has any relationship to the final destination. They need to be holy in this train station, they understand that much. And they need to read their Bibles and pray to the God who awaits them at their final destination. But they don’t have a strategy for life at the train station. And they have no sense that the glory of the heaven to which they indeed are going is coming upon the train station. The good news is that the glory of that heaven is indeed coming upon the train station. That is why we pray in faith, “Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Once you realize that the kingdom of God is coming upon earth, coming upon this train station, then the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 12 can make sense. Moses delivered marching orders to Israel who was soon to cross the Jordan River to conquer and possess the Promised Land. And the marching orders that he delivered to them are the same marching orders we have today. Some things have changed. But the marching orders have not changed. Let’s consider a survey of the text.

SURVEY OF THE TEXT

Moses tells Israel that they must observe and do the statues he was giving them when they entered the land. And it was the LORD God who was giving them the land to possess. The statues Israel received were to be done “on earth” (v. 1).

Israel was to utterly destroy all the places where the adherents of Canaan served their gods: the high mountain places, the hills, and under every green tree (v. 2).

Not only the places, but the altars also had to be destroyed. Their pillars had to be broken, their groves torched with fire, their graven images cut down. The destruction of these idols resulted in the “names” of these false gods being destroyed and erased from “that place” (v. 3).

Moses ordered the opposite concerning the LORD God. His “name” was to be put in a special place of his choosing. This place would be his habitation, where he would dwell in the midst of Israel. And Israel would routinely come to this central place (v. 5).

When they came, Moses instructed Israel to bring a variety of sacrifices and offerings: routine burnt offerings and sacrifices, tithes, and heave offerings (which were a certain portion set aside for the priests), vows and freewill offerings (which were offerings freely given over and above the required ones), and the firstlings of their herds. Moses had already instructed Israel back in Exodus 13 regarding these first born offerings. When Israelite children asked why the firstborn of the herds and flocks were sacrificed, parents were to tell their children about God striking down Pharaoh and the firstborn of Egypt.

Israel was to eat before the LORD, which is a pattern we see many times in Scripture when Israel gathered for covenant renewal. Israel was to rejoice in their work with their households, whatever it is was they laid their hand to do (v. 7). As they lived in the Promised Land, they were not to live as they had before, every man doing what was right in his own eyes (v. 8).

THE SAME MARCHING ORDERS

The marching orders from Moses to Israel were clear. So many years later when the Israelites heard that Dagon, god of the Philistines, had fallen down before the ark of the Lord, and his head and hands were cut off, they knew that the LORD had cut down an idol. We must read our times in the same way. In the New Covenant, some things change: The Old Testament saints ate Passover, we eat the Lord’s Supper. They circumcised their children, we baptize them. But the substance of things stays the same. God cut down idols back then, and charged his people to do the same. And none of that has changed.

So the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade was an idol that God cut down. Planned Parenthood clinics are the altars where the sacrifices are offered. The unborn children are the sacrifices. The whole operation is simply modern day Molech worship.

After God struck down Dagon, the Philistines picked him up off the ground and set him up again to be worshipped. And, in the same way, many will attempt to keep up abortion. But the fact that they will offer their blood sacrifices in California and across the border in Washington State does not negate what God has done in our midst. The battle rages on, yes. And that is the point. You must heed God’s commands for life and battle in the land that God, the God of your fathers, has given you.

THE LAND WHICH GOD GIVES

In Moses’ day, God gave Israel the land of Canaan. And many make the mistake of thinking that God has only given us heavenly real estate. They think the train station in which they find themselves belongs to the devil. But as Jesus was headed to the cross he said, “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). Moreover, Christ has told us to baptize the nations, teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. He speaks as if the nations belong to him, and that is because they do.

Our new covenant terrain has not been diminished or unrealized. Rather it has been expanded. Israel of old stood on the banks of the Jordan and Moses told them how they were to live in Canaan. And you stand in the world that has been promised to Christ. Indeed, it has not only been promised to him. It has become his possession. The Apostle Paul shows just how this point shakes out for the saints when he says, “All things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

DESTROYING IDOLS

How then should you live in the world that is yours in Christ? You should destroy idols like Israel of old. There is nothing wicked or fleshly about doing so. Paul says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

When idols pop up, that is not a time to be afraid. That is a time to do your job. All of the idols will be gone one day. And then Christ will return, having made all of his enemies his footstool. In the meantime, you’re not allowed to sit back and think that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket. You’re to put hell in a hand-basket. Cut down the idols, and deliver them over to Christ. That operation can only be done by the Word of God.

Now where do you start cutting down these idols? You look around and say, “Boy they’re all over.” Yes, they are. So start right at home. Start with your idols. John says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). And then intercede for your children. And then your church. And then the Moscow Christian community. And then the whole kingdom of God. And then the idols manifest outside of the kingdom of God like Roe v. Wade, and Obergefell, and all of the other pillars that state legislators are toiling away at right now in the wake of Roe’s fall. 

WORSHIPPING GOD

Another duty you have, here in the land God has given you, is to attend the LORDs house to worship him. Moses told Israel there was to be one place, a central place. And we hear the same language when the LORD spoke to Solomon after he completed the temple in 2 Chronicles 7. The LORD told Solomon that he had chosen this house and his name would remain there forever.

But like with the increase of land, so with the increase of our place of worship. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that the Church of God is now this holy temple. And we are being “built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). Every baptism is the addition of another brick in this temple. And God’s “name” is upon us.

You assemble here to offer sacrifices to God. And the sacrifices that you offer are yourselves. You present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice (Romans 12:1). If you feel “stretched out,” that is because you are. If you feel cut by his Word, that is because you are. If you feel “poured out,” then praise the Lord, you are right there alongside the Apostle Paul.

As you have heard before, worship is the central engine that drives cultural reformation. People struggle to see this because they have either become pragmatists or pietists. The pragmatists can’t understand the point because he wants to rig up and run the reformation according to humans blue prints and ingenuity. The pietists can’t understand it because he wants to worship God in a sky theatre with no earthly manifestation of God’s name.

But the Christian way is to worship, knowing that while Baal cannot send the rain or the fire, Yahweh can. And Yahweh does. He really is building up his kingdom on earth. And you baptized, covenant people, are his kingdom. If the kingdom grows, and it will grow, then pagan temples fall.

What this means is that the worship of the Triune God was the central driver to the fall of Roe. And there are many other idols that need to have their “name” destroyed. So keep up the public worship of our Triune God. 

REJOICING IN WORK

Moses said that Israel was to rejoice in all that they put their hand to do. And they were to do rejoice in their work as households. I do not have to tell you that such joyful work is going on around here. The saints in Moscow are known far and wide for covenant households and joyful labor. So this is a reminder to keep it up and grow not weary in doing good.

What kind of works ought you to lay your hand to? The answer is: any kind, all kinds. Laundry and writing and teaching. Cleaning teeth and learning and building. Legislating and marketing and painting. Coaching and kid-transporting and a thousand other things: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,” remember.

Some think that work is too big. And others think the promise of Christ’s worldwide conquest is too good to be true. But the Apostle Paul has already addressed this and we should take it to heart: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?

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A World Without Roe

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INTRODUCTION

On Friday, June 24th, the United States Supreme Court handed down its Dobbs v. Jackson decision reversing the 1973 ruling Roe vs. Wade. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court had claimed that a woman had a constitutional “right to privacy” which included the right to abortion up to the point of viability (the baby could live outside the womb). While constitutionally and morally States had an obligation to ignore and defy Roe, they did not, and this led to one of the most permissive cultures of abortion in the world, rivaling communist countries like China and North Korea.

The Dobbs case originated in Mississippi with a 15 week ban, directly challenging the “viability” standard. Justice Alito’s majority opinion argues that there is no right to abortion in the Constitution and therefore, the issue must be decided by the states. This is a most welcome reversal, but for Christians, it is not yet the full-throated defense of pre-born life we are working toward. The constitution and declaration of independence everywhere assume the right to life granted directly from God, and therefore, it really should not be a matter of democratic vote. But we rejoice in this great deliverance, and we look to Christ to drive this bloody scourge fully from our land.

THE TEXT

“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Ex. 21:22-25).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While there is some ambiguity in the text, this biblical law is not ambiguous about the fact that the child in the womb is endowed with a right to life and protection from its Creator (21:22). There are a couple of questions: in the first scenario the child is born, but does it live or die? Jewish tradition takes it to be an early miscarriage, and the Septuagint furthered that interpretation by translating it as “unformed child.” The other question is who/what does “no mischief” refer to? If it refers to both the woman and the child, then it could mean that the child is born healthy and there is no serious harm done to either one, and therefore the fine imposed would be for minor medical costs or loss of time. If the correct interpretation is an early miscarriage, the fine is imposed because it wasn’t obvious that the woman was pregnant. Greater knowledge implies greater responsibility.

In the second scenario, serious harm has come to the woman or the child, and the potential punishment ranges from life to limb to wound to stripe (Ex. 21: 23-25). Again, here, the Septuagint refers the harm specifically to a “fully formed child.” Some modern commentaries try to translate this law as though it is only talking about harm done to the woman (but then why bring the child up at all?) or else try to argue from the Greek translation, that the law is only protecting fully formed babies and somehow allows early abortions for an “unformed child.” But the fact that a fine is imposed even in the case of an early miscarriage demonstrates legal protections from the earliest days of life, and if the principle is knowledge, how much more culpable is a modern person, taking some hormonal forms of “birth control” or morning after pills designed to prevent implantation of a newly fertilized egg?

Commenting on our passage, John Calvin wrote: “…the unborn, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is an almost monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his most secure place of refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy the unborn in the womb before it has come to light.”

THE SANCTITY OF GOD & THE RIGHT TO LIFE

Properly speaking, we do not believe in the “sanctity of life,” as though life all by itself is sacred. We believe in the sanctity of God and the holiness of His Word, and because we hallow the Triune God and His Word, we are duty bound to protect the right to life of every human being according to God’s Word. But it is this same standard that permits the wise and judicious taking of animal life for protection, food, and as consistent with taking dominion of God’s creation. It is also this same standard that requires the death penalty for murder and allows for it in some other cases, when due process has been followed (Gen. 9:6, Dt. 19, cf. Lev. 20).

There is a fundamental divide between those who believe that certain rights are directly bestowed by God and those who believe that the state gives and takes those rights according to its own whims. The founders of our nation believed the former: “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…” (Declaration of Independence). “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” (Ninth Amendment). Securing fundamental rights is not at all the same as creating them or bestowing them. We are in struggle over this fundamental issue, and it extends from life to the nature marriage, parenthood, family, private property, and from there to all of society.

SCATTERSHOT POINTS & OBJECTIONS

Never forget that we confess the beginning of life at conception every single Sunday when we recite the Apostles’ Creed “… conceived by the Holy Ghost…” When did God become man? When He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the virgin Mary. When did Jesus begin to exist as a human being? When He was conceived by the Holy Ghost. That is when human life begins.

In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, some pro-aborts have been weeping and gnashing their teeth saying that the next thing on the chopping block is birth control. If by that they mean chemicals designed to prevent and disrupt implantation, yes, those are abortifacient drugs that should be outlawed. While the Bible says nothing about other faith-filled planning for children in order to maximize fruitfulness, Christians should reject all laws/rulings that divorce fruitfulness from marriage, as though you might enter marriage planning to be sterile.

Some, desperate for a text, have said that Numbers 5:11-31 allows for abortions. But Numbers 5 is a jealously rite that God allowed Israel to perform when a husband suspected his wife of adultery. Despite one bad translation, the text says nothing about causing abortions, only that in the case of a guilty woman, God will cause the woman to become barren (Num. 5:27-28).

You have no doubt heard by now that you cannot be pro-gun and pro-life at the same time. But this is nonsense. This is about as logical as saying that you cannot be pro-surgery and pro-life at the same time. The accidental or intentional misuse of something is not at all equivalent to the intentional murder of an unborn child. Related to this objection, is the occasional comeback that if you are pro-life, you must support every state-funded program the liberals have ever dreamed up. But that’s like saying that if you object to the thugs killing, you must at least hire them to take care of you. Absolutely not. If a lifeguard saves somebody from drowning, he doesn’t owe them food, housing, clothing, and a college education. We cannot get tired of insisting that health, welfare, and education are the primary responsibility of the family, and where there is no family, the church is the backstop, not the state (Eph. 5-6, 1 Tim. 5).

Incidentally, you’ve probably also heard lamentations about Christians not caring for orphans, but the stats prove that Christians are routinely twice (or more) as generous in charitable giving, and more likely to participate in foster care and adoption than unbelievers. And do not forget the thousands of pro-life pregnancy resource centers that have popped up over the last 50 years. Not ready for this moment? Not hardly. God has made us ready.

The common exceptions you will hear are for rape or incest or the life of the mother. We should outright reject the first two since we should never punish an innocent party for the crimes of another. And like other hard providences, God can bring blessing out of great tragedy and hardship (this same point applies to babies with disabilities). With the life of the mother, Christians need to be very careful since it can sound correct and be used for evil. In the very rare instances of an ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilized egg has actually implanted in the fallopian tube, procedures to remove the implanted egg are not an abortion since the goal is not to kill the child, even if we do not yet have the medical technology to save the life of the child. Therefore, we do not support abortion in cases where the life of the mother is threatened since we must always do all in our power to preserve life, and never take it intentionally.

CONCLUSION

We do not take this Supreme Court decision as proof that America has repented. No, that clearly must still take place, but we should take this decision as a demonstration of God’s power and goodness. We should be sitting on the edge of our seats, eager to see what God will do next, redoubling our prayer, singing, giving, voting, and sharing. And above all else, we should be rejoicing in the Lord. Those Christians who cannot or will not rejoice are not looking to Christ, but at men. We do not trust in horses or chariots, politicians or voting or judges, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Remember, at root, the unbelieving heart hates Jesus, and therefore we will also be hated. But we must not fear this sharp divide; this is where the light of Christ shines the brightest.

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The Eternal House of David (How God Builds #4)

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INTRODUCTION

Because you’re confronted with it each Sunday, it might be easy to think that our musical style is high up on the list of important Christ Church distinctives. In actuality, it’s further down the list in importance. Not unimportant, but not of first importance. You could hang around for a good while without knowing the first thing about our eschatology, which actually looms large over much of what we do around here. This text is an instance of both distinctives being woven together, providing an opportunity to highlight why we worship the way we do, and what that has to do with the end of the world.

THE TEXT

The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David… (Zech. 12:7-13:3).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Zechariah, along with the other later prophets, encourage the returning exiles in the work of rebuilding Jerusalem. Though enemies threatened the work, those dwelling in tents wouldn’t be more vulnerable than those in the more secure habitations (2:7). Jehovah would defend His people; the feeblest would be like David in the height of his greatness, and the house of David would be as God, an angelic warrior of the Lord (2:8). With such a warrior within her, no enemy shall overcome this New Jerusalem (2:9).

Upon the house of David, God’s spirit of grace & supplication would be poured out; they would look upon a pierced Warrior-God, whom they pierced, and greatly mourn Him (2:10, Cf. Jn. 19:37). They’d mourn as Judah had once mourned for the death of good king Josiah (2:11, Cf. 2 Kg. 23:29, 2 Chr. 35:22-25). Every family & household––royal & priestly, great & small, husband & wife––would mourn (2:12-14).

In that day, a cleansing fountain would rain down on the house of David, cleansing sin & all uncleanness (3:1). This fountain will wash away both idolatry & false prophecy (3:2-3).

THE HOUSE OF DAVID

It isn’t a stretch to say that David is the central character of the Old Testament. His reign is the crescendo of the OT narrative, and after his reign, Israel falls into a sad decline. The centuries after David are filled with nostalgic yearning for that Golden Era. The prophets foresee that Davidic glory returning. Later Psalmists are both students & conservators of David’s musical brilliance.

Zechariah is no exception to invoking Davidic imagery. He uses the term “house of David” because of how laden it is with historic significance, liturgical bearing, and Messianic meaning. The historic significance which is used here is to remind the exiles of David as Israel’s champion. The House of David was the undisputed Royal household, so it would be quite natural for the regathering Jews to look there for God’s deliverance.

But Zechariah also draws out one of David’s other significant contributions. David brought musical worship into a prominent part of the religious life of Israel. His preparations to build the temple were motivated by an insight that is expressed throughout many of the Psalms: behind God’s command for burnt offerings, was a greater desire for contrite sacrifices praise (Cf. Ps. 51:16-17, 69:30-31). One of David’s most important episodes was the building of the tabernacle of David on Mount Zion, in order to bring the Ark of Covenant to a permanent resting place. This tabernacle wasn’t identical to the one which the Levites offered animal sacrifice in (that was in Shiloh, and later in Gibeah). This tabernacle of David, in the stronghold of David, in the city of David was full, not of the smoke of burnt offerings, but with the sound of Psalms. Zechariah’s prophesies that the Spirit of true prayer would return to the lips of David’s household.

Finally, we cannot miss the Messianic hope latent in this reference to David’s house. God’s promise to David was that he would not fail to have an heir sit on the throne (1 Ki. 2:4). Zechariah picks up on this promise and foretells that David’s house would arise like the avenging Angel of the Lord; a real  boon of hope to the feeble regathering exiles then dwelling in Jerusalem. The Messianic promise was that David’s Son would conquer all enemies, wash all the people, cleanse them from their idolatry & false prophets. This Messianic Angel would be pierced in the battle, but still He would wash the entire house of David & Jerusalem clean.

A SERVICE OF SONG

Zechariah expresses the Messianic promise as a renewal of a spirit of grace and supplication. This Spirit would rest in a particular way upon the house of David.

Matthew Henry makes a wonderful comment on this passage: “When God intends great mercy for his people the first thing he does is to set them a praying.” It’s no small matter that a large portion of our worship service is comprised of spoken & sung prayers. An enterprising 5th grader might tally up 19 prayers in our service.

This is a service of prayer. We bring our supplications to the Lord, and it is fitting that we do so with glorious music. The casual air of our age has led many to misinterpret what it means to come before the throne of grace with boldness. We slap indie-band chord progressions on the lyrics of a High School cheerleader’s diary, and think it a worthy offering to Royal David’s heir. We come boldly, not impudently.

Singing is a peculiar feature of the Christian faith. We owe that heritage to David. When God sets out to grant revival and reform, it is always accompanied by His Spirit. That Spirit energizes us, to come by the blood of David’s heir, to bring our pleas to the Father. It does no good just to have songs. We must have the Spirit. And if we have the Spirit, we will also recover the singing of Psalms with joyful reverence (Ps. 105:2, Eph. 5:19, Jam 5:13).

WEEKLY RENEWAL OF AN ETERNAL COVENANT

Weekly worship in the Lord’s house shouldn’t be viewed as merely an activity to entertain religious people. Rather, this is a weekly ratification of a vow which God made to David. But that vow is older than even David. It was a covenant more ancient that Moses. It predated Abram. God’s covenant mercies existed long before the bow was hung in the sky for Noah to behold. For the covenant of grace was in the heart of God even before He promised a skull-crushing heel to the Serpent.

Christ gathers up all these iterations of the covenant of grace in himself, and by Him we order our service to follow that pattern of covenant renewal. He calls us by His Word. He convicts us of our sin, commanding us to confess our sin. He consecrates us as His own, by His Word preached. He communes with us in a feast of bread & wine. He commissions us to walk in our covenant duties by covenant grace. Our worship is the dawning of New Covenant glory (Jer. 31, Ez. 36:25-27)

FOLLOWING A DAVIDSON TO CONQUEST

The worship of the saints isn’t a peripheral aspect of Christian faith. The Son of David has bought the world. The kingdom is His. Look on Him who was pierced. We now sing His praise. We render worship to him.

Are there idols in your own heart? The Goliath-slayer will not tolerate mixing praise for idols with His praise. Are you besieged by great enemies? The Lord pours out His Spirit of grace and supplication. So call upon God to deliver. The mighty, Angelic Messiah, the Christ, the Lord’s anointed Messenger shall conquer all His enemies. He conquers by filling the house of David with David’s songs. Bending before the rightful King, singing His praise, is how we overcome.

A Davidson has taken up the world’s government by taking His rightful place upon the Israel’s throne. We worship & serve Him, and this praise shall crescendo until all His many enemies fall. Our worship each Sunday foretells the end of the World: Jesus shall reign.

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Death Penalties & the Cross

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INTRODUCTION

Modern man prides himself in not being violent and savage, and yet we have butchered 60 million babies and counting. We have high rates of drug and alcohol and porn addiction, suicide, incarceration, and so on. We sacrifice babies to our Molech, and we sacrifice millions more in the slow cooker of government programs and prisons. We have rejected Jesus and His easy yoke, calling it harsh, and we have demanded the demented yoke of humanistic hubris and tyrannical government. And the only way out of this mess is through the Cross of Jesus.

THE TEXT

“And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Again thou shalt say to the children of Israel, whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death…” (Lev. 20:1-27).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The text opens with a prohibition against offering children to Molech and against turning a blind eye to it, as well as all idolatry, since the people are to be holy and keep God’s statutes (Lev. 20:1-8). Seven crimes are listed with death penalties (20:9-16), and five additional sins are listed, with the community sanctions of being “cut off from among their people” and “bearing their sin” (Lev. 20:17-21). “Dying childless” could imply the possibility of a civil penalty, but it is probably a direct sanction from God since it identifies one of those instances as being “unclean,” which is a ceremonial status (20:21). God reminds His people that He is giving them life and blessing in a good land through His law, which is why they must remain separate from the other nations (20:22-24). The daily sign of the distinction was their diet (20:25-26), and that was to remind them to remove all idolatry out of their midst (20:27).

COMPARED TO WHAT?

“Molech” is related to the Hebrew word “melech” which means “king.” The fires of Molech are most likely a generic reference to the various cults of the nations. Dedication of children to Molech seems to have included both child sacrifice as well as temple prostitution. And right on schedule our nation is actually debating the appropriateness of Drag Queen story, so-called gender “transition,” and the furies are out in full force demanding abortion as “health care.”  This is nothing short of the new dedication of children to Molech.

You can always tell the god or gods of a culture by where coercion and violence are accepted and obedience and submission are required. Even in relatively conservative churches, if a woman says she must obey her husband, she will sometimes get concerned looks and questions about whether everything is OK (same with obeying a pastor or elder). But if you mention a court order or taxes (with threat of violence/prison), the assumption is that you better just submit. The fact that many modern Christians are embarrassed that God would require death penalties for certain crimes but just shrug when our civil government sends thieves to prison for decades, tells you who our god is, who we see as holy.

In these laws we see God’s requirement that we hallow Him particularly in our families and sexuality. Over the centuries, acts of treason and desertion from an army in time of war have been punished with death, subtly insisting that civil loyalties are the most sacred. Instead of accusing God of harshness, we ought to assume that He is warning us and the world about the potency and sacredness of marriage and family (Heb. 13:4). Jesus also makes it clear what cursing father or mother looks like: “For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightiest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother” (Mk. 7:10-12). Jesus is clearly implying that certain forms a high-handed neglect of elderly parents are the kind of cursing of parents that might be tried as form of murder.

CRIMES & SINS & JUSTICE

This text distinguishes between crimes that require a civil penalty (20:9-16), and sins that require a ceremonial or familial penalty (20:17-21). The distinction between crimes and sins designates different jurisdictions: the state, the family, and the church. Sins are to be adjudicated and addressed by individuals, families, and churches as appropriate, while crimes have civil penalties and are the proper jurisdiction of the state. God has given the civil magistrate the sword of vengeance, which means that the state is only good at violence and coercion (Rom. 13). This is why the Bible requires a fiercely limited civil government. In a Christian land, all crimes would also be sins, but not all sins are crimes. In a pagan land, it’s more of a Venn diagram, and not all crimes are really sins.

It’s worth noting that only murder required a mandatory death penalty; all of these death penalties are maximum sentences (Gen. 9:6-9, Dt. 19:11-13). We can see this in another law regarding Sabbath breaking which also called for a death penalty (Lev. 24:11-22, cf. Num. 15:32-36), however in the days of Nehemiah, he suppressed Sabbath commerce but didn’t institute a death penalty (Neh. 13:19-21). We see something similar with the death penalty for homosexuality in our text (Lev. 20:13), but the good kings Asa and Jehoshaphat exiled the sodomites from the land (1 Kgs. 15:12, 22:46), and Josiah tore down their houses of prostitution (2 Kgs. 23:7).

CONCLUSION

In the New Testament, we do not see the apostles lobbying for death penalties. What do we make of that? Paul does say after listing a number of crimes and sins, “that they which commit such things are worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32), and elsewhere he says the law is good, so long as it is used lawfully, to prevent lawlessness and everything that is “contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel” (1 Tim. 1:8-11).

Therefore, we conclude that the law (with its death penalties) remains the perfect standard of justice and reveals God’s wrath against our sins and crimes. We affirm the goodness of the law for public policy and all morality, but we affirm it first and foremost as that which drives the world to Christ and His glorious gospel. There is no life outside of Christ, and all who hate His wisdom love death. The world says believe in yourself, re-invent yourself, find yourself, and the end of that road is nothing but sadness and death: rage and shame, sickness and scars, mutilation and murder. And the law drives sinners to despair.

The law drives sinners to the cross, to the place of execution and there the gospel proclaims: Christ died for guilty sinners. Christ died for lawbreakers. Christ died for the unclean, the profane, the obscene, the sodomites, the pedophiles, the prostitutes, the liars, the idolaters, the proud, and all who have dishonored their parents. The law cannot save, but what the law is powerless to do, God has done by sending His Son. Christ has received the death penalty for us. And this is why it is only those who know their guilt who are the ones who are in.

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