Occasionally I come across people who name the name of Christ who have little regard for the arts when expressed in the church. More frequently I meet people who name the name of Christ who heavily criticize churches for heavy spending on beautiful buildings. Sometimes even I have been critical when I thought such spending was excessive. Yet this chapter and the previous chapters seem to indicate that the Lord really appreciates artistic work. It is part of his glory to create beautiful things. But when is too much too much? Here are some thoughts. The Israelites numbered about 2 million people. The tabernacle and its priests were about the only corporate thing of material essence that they had. People need corporate beauty. The instruction for the making of these things came from the Lord and were to reflect what He is like. HOLINESS TO THE LORD was to be written on the crown of the High Priest. The beauty was to reflect the holiness of God. Other laws were given to the Israelites that were to indicate that the people should take care of the poor and needy, the widows and orphans. It seems to me that it is part of the glory of God for us to create works of beauty in arts, crafts and buildings as long as it does not deter us from reflecting the holiness of God or from meeting the needs of people. After all, He is an artistic God. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 87
My brother once lived in a house that he rented from a farmer. The house did not have a well. It had a cistern. He had to pay to have water regularly hauled out to have his cistern filled. What would have happened if we did not have trucks that could haul the water? He would definitely have to have found another place to live. Life is unlivable without access to water.
The theme of the Psalm is the glories of the city of God, Zion. Something or someone’s glory is usually found in what people often say of it. What do Rahab (Egypt), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia have in common with Zion? They are all nations which at one time or another controlled or sought to control Israel. Geographically, they surround Israel, and relatively speaking, they are close. They are the ones who could give testimony of Zion’s glory. Zion is the place where God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Zion is the place where David offered sacrifice stopping the work of the death angel. Zion is the place where Solomon’s Temple was built, where God’s glory dwelt, where sacrifices were made daily and the annual feasts were held. Zion is the place where Jesus died outside the city gates.
It is interesting to me that Zion does not have a very good physical water source. Water had to be brought into the temple from an outside source. The top of Zion is riddled with cisterns used to collect water so that it would always be available. The pool of Bethesda, north of the temple, was really an ingenious pond built so that flowing water could always be available for cleansing ceremonies.
What is the significance of the threefold repeated statement, “This one was born there?” It is His death and resurrection that made my new life possible. It is His death and resurrection that made our adoption into the family of God possible. In a spiritual sense, I was born there. Metaphorically, everyone who is born again was born there! He is the spiritual source of water.
“My springs come from Zion!” A spring is the source of life. It is the source of a family. It is what makes daily life enjoyable and possible. When we sing, we sing of our joys and our sorrows. We sing of the source of our life. When our springs dry up it renders our life, lifeless. When the springs flow, we are abundant with life. What are the glories of the city of God, of Zion? We are. It is all about His awesome work in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension in order to cause us to be born again into His family! When our lives flow with the joy that springs from the very life of God, the nations and people who surround us stand up and take notice. God is glorified because of the life that flows out of us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
SONG OF SONGS 2
Do you ever feel constrained by this world to pursue its goals and desires, and yet at the same time do you feel unworthy yet drawn away by the Spirit of our Good Shepherd to let go of the things of this world to pursue Him? (1-3)The Shulamite laments that she is just one of the simple flowers on the Plain of Sharon which is famous for its spring flowers. But she remembers how her beloved shepherd spoke of her. She was a flower among thorns, not among other flowers. Thorns bring to mind the curse of Genesis 3:17, 18 where the ground is cursed because of the sin of Adam. Our Great Shepherd tells us that He has made us flowers among cursed of this earth. We are that valuable in His sight. When we learn to delight in Him as He does in us, He becomes to us sweet as a tree ripened apple as we sit in His shade in cool fall evening enjoying His presence.
(4-7)Her shepherd’s banqueting house was the simple outdoors in the shade of a tree. As she thinks of Solomon’s house with its ornate ceiling coverings, wall coverings and banners, she declares that her shepherd’s only banner was his love. Exhausted with the emotional tension of trying to avoid the advances of Solomon, she rallies her strength by calling for raisin cakes (known for their energizing effects on the body) and apples from her shepherd’s tree. She further strengthens herself by recalling His passionate embrace, and she adjures the court ladies to not encourage her to submit to Solomon’s advances. We are constantly wooed and seduced by the attractions of this world. It’s riches and pleasures are constantly beckoning us through our five senses and our pride. Our Shepherd simply tells us of His love for us. He promises and at times gives us His embrace. As our enemy seeks to seduce us through the entrapments of the world, we must constantly call to mind our commitment to Him and His promise that He will receive us to Himself.
(8-9)The temptation to despair and give into the approach of Solomon was great. The obstacles that were in the way of her shepherd ever being able to come and deliver her from the harem seemed like a mountain too steep and rugged to transverse. Yet she envisioned her simple shepherd as a mountain goat or stag that was surefooted upon the mountain. He could leap over the obstacles. He would come to her to rescue and receive her to Himself. She could envision him looking in through the window lattice to call her to Himself. This world seeks us with false promises and entrapments of ease and pleasure. At times the obstacles that seem to separate us from our God seem to be insurmountable mountains. We may be tempted to despair and give into following the ways of the world. At such times we need to envision our great Shepherd as One who is able to leap all obstacles. He is indeed at the window and the door looking in upon us desiring fellowship with us.
(10-15)The Shulamite recalls a time when her shepherd lover called her out to enjoy the beauties of his field with him. Our Shepherd also is constantly calling us out to enjoy Him and delight in His creations with Him. He longs to see our face and hear our voice. Do we hide from Him strengthening the world’s grip upon our souls? Or, do we passionately turn to Him letting Him delight in us, and we delight in Him. But the world will not let us go. In the midst of his entreaty the Shulamite’s brothers call her back to work at the vineyard. There is work to be done. The little foxes are destroying the vines. She must catch them. There is not time to spend with the Shepherd. The cares and riches of this world are constantly dragging upon us. According to them there is no time to spend with our Shepherd. Yes, work needs to be done, but why does it always call at the same time that the Shepherd calls?
(16-17)The Shulamite declares her love for her beloved in the frustration of the demands of her brothers. The mountains of separation once again seem insurmountable. Her heart’s cry is for Him to come and be with her until the morning when work again calls. She dreams of his presence. Do we dream of the presence of our Great Shepherd? In the midst of our spiritual night do we long for His embrace? In the valleys of the mountains of separation, do we long for Him to leap over the mountains and meet us here? Is his glory more important that the cares of this world? I am convinced He is. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
LUKE 4:31-44
Randy Matthews was a composer and singer of Christian rock in the early and mid 70's. He took a lot of heat in the 70's because of his rhythm and his appearance. He kind of disappeared from my sight at the end of the 70's. I've occasionally wondered what happened to him. I went on line and found out that he is still putting out CD's. I guess they don't get distributed in my circles. I liked Randy's lyrics and his music style in the 70's. I haven't heard any of his new stuff. One of his songs had a line that went something to the effect of, "It took a carpenter to tear down my walls. It took a stronger hand than mine." Of course, he was singing about Jesus. He was singing about how Jesus liberates us from the sin that so easily besets and enslaves us.
I wonder how many of us realize how active the enemy of our souls is today? The enemy still desires to enslave us. There is a tendency among Christians in the U.S. to attribute a lot of the accounts of demon activity in Jesus' day to mental illness or even physical illness. Certainly much, if not most, mental illness and physical illness is not a direct result of demon activity. But it seems to me that attributing what Scripture calls demonic activity to simple mental or physical illness, implies that the writers of Scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit were ignorant of the truth; therefore, they ascribed what they could not understand to a generic title that everyone thought they understood. This would imply then that even Jesus did not understand the nature of people's illness. With a word He silenced the demons, made them come out of the people and healed people. While Jesus as a man only knew what the Father showed Him, Jesus as God's Son knew all things. While as a man, He depended totally upon the Holy Spirit to lead and empower Him, the Spirit did indeed reveal and empower Him. The Spirit of God knows the difference between mental illness and demonic activity.
He silenced them when they were crying out that He was the Messiah. Why? Why didn't He want people to know that He was Messiah? Answers to that question will be conjecture because the Scripture does not give a straight forward answer. But let us just say that even the disciples were not permitted to tell the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration until He was risen from the dead. But another conjecture that I have is that demons have a habit of twisting truth and telling half-truths. If demons were proclaiming that Jesus were the Messiah, they would have probably somehow perverted it. After all, even the Mormons believe Jesus is the Messiah. They will tell people that they believe almost the same thing about Jesus that we do. But close investigation as to what they believe, demonstrates that they violently twist who Jesus is.
Demons can gain the ability to plant thoughts in our minds. When we yield to those thoughts, we become enslaved to those thoughts. Eventually we act upon those thoughts. Eventually people become deeply ensnared and captivated by twisted thinking. We build our own mental prisons by yielding our thinking process to the enemy (John 8:34). We build walls that keep us imprisoned. It takes a carpenter to tear down our walls. It takes a stronger hand than ours. Jesus is that strong hand. With a word Jesus set people free. He is the One who has power and authority and will break even the chains and walls built because of our own sloppy thinking. Sometimes He does that miraculously, completely and instantly. But most of the time He requires that we work with him after He has broken bonds by our renewing our minds. Sometimes it takes a counselor to help us realize where we have wrong thinking and to change it. Sometimes it takes a counselor to help us identify where we have yielded to the enemy so that we may renounce it and gain freedom from the enemy. Sometimes it takes a friend who will listen so that we can be heard and given input. In every case it is only Jesus who sets us free. He is the mighty One to deliver! That is part of His glory! He is constantly looking for people who will let Him set them free. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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