May 30

DEUTERONOMY 3
Jesse and I traveled in Pisgah, modern day Jordan. You probably saw the picture a number of pages back. While travelling, I wished that I could remember all of the significance events that happened around Pisgah. In general Pisgah refers to the ridge of mountains beginning just north of the Dead Sea and running south. The ridge lies east of the Jordan and Dead Sea. Nebo generally refers to the specific peak to which Moses climbed to see the promised land. While Jesse and I were up there, all that I could think of was Moses’ last stop before heaven. Of course, it overlooks where the children of Israel camped before crossing into Jordan. Their encampment also seems to be where Balaam sought to earn the reward of Balak. From Nebo you can see east and west where Moabite and Ammonite kings would have invaded Israel during the period of the Judges. From Nebo you cans see where Naomi would have crossed from Bethlehem to Moab to escape the drought and then crossed back over years later when Ruth accompanied her. From Nebo you can see where David’s army would have crossed the Jordan to begin the siege of Rabbah Ben Ammon. From Nebo you can see approximately where John the Baptist baptized at Bethabara. But the most significant thing is this is where Moses looked into the Promised Land.
At least at the age of 40 Moses fancied himself to be some sort of deliverer. He committed murder to try to accomplish it. His violence was discovered, and he had to run for his life. I would suspect that 40 years of living as a shepherd in the desert caused him to abandon all hope of being a great deliverer. Then he had a face to face encounter with the living God at the burning bush. Now he had learned to let God be God. He no longer wanted the assignment of deliverer. It was too risky, but the glory of God was too great. It compelled him to go. Time and again he encountered problems whereby he learned new and afresh that God glorifies Himself the most when we are the most helpless. Time and again he learned that the LORD is slow to anger, merciful and compassionate. Time and again he heard the audible voice of God and spoke with him as a man with a friend. He even got to see the back side of the glory of God! But he had one slip up where he did not publically acknowledge God. He struck the rock rather than speaking to it as commanded by the LORD. He defamed the glory of the Lord in front of the nation. For that reason, the LORD would not let him enter into the Promised Land. But he does get to see it from Nebo.
It was time for Moses to pass on the mantle to Joshua. From now on Joshua would be the conduit through whom the glory of the LORD would be revealed. Are we first of all experiencing the glory of the LORD? Secondly are we passing it on to someone else. As Moses did, so should we! Hmmm. . . to whom am I passing it on? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 149
Let us rejoice in our Maker. When I study the works of creation, I am astounded, to say the least, concerning the greatness of our Master-Designer. The quantity, quality, complexity and brilliance of all that He has done is staggering to my mind. Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” I like the way the Authorized Version translates it, “And for thy pleasure they are and were created.” He enjoyed creating us! It was thrilling to Him! It was joy for Him to do so! And unbelievably to us, He desires that we be passionate about our joy in Him! Listen to what Col. 1:16 says, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” He receives pleasure in our enjoying Him! It is “for Him” that we are created. When we refuse to delight in the praise of Him, The rest of the obedient creation hangs their head in wonder at our refusal. Satan rejoices.
The children of Zion are commanded to be joyful in their King. It would be easier to approach this passage by saying, “This passage is for the Jews in the land, particularly Zion. Therefore, it does not apply to me.” However, the writer of Hebrews 12:22 (NLT) says, “No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.” The Living Bible paraphrase says, “. . . and to the gathering of countless happy angels.” We then are spiritual children of Zion. As such we are commanded to be joyful in our King!
His name is to be praised with joy! One of the obvious out-workings of joy is dancing. Dancing means to whirl around in circular movements. When I am gone for a long time, my dogs dance upon my return. They will literally run around in circular movements in expressing their joy at my return. In a very real sense the creation dances to the praise of God! Electrons spin around the nucleus of an atom creating the bonds of physics that hold things together. The planets whirl on their axis and around the sun creating life that brings glory to God. The stars whirl around the centers of their galaxy declaring the glory of God! Is there ever such a thing as a dance of sadness? I think we usually refer to it as a dirge, but a dirge is usually just the music. It tends to lack the expression of physical music.
Unfortunately, Satan loves to corrupt that which should bring glory to God. I was raised in an environment that taught that almost all dancing was evil. Indeed the proponents of such teaching have one good point. They purport that the purpose of dancing is to excite sexual passion between a man and a woman. So, if a man and a woman, who are not in a marriage covenant, dance together for that purpose, then it can only lead to an illegitimate expression of sexual passion. I would guess that more often than not, it is true. It is interesting that in Exodus 32:19 when Israel became physical idolaters and spiritual adulteresses with the golden calf, and when Moses came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses’ anger became hot! Israel was to be in a covenant relationship with Yahweh, not a golden calf (probably much like one of the gods of Egypt). She gave what should have been reserved for Yahweh to an idol. Dancing should have been a whirling in celebration of love for Yahweh. In contrast it became a whirling about in celebration of a golden calf.
So is it wrong for a husband and wife to participate together in dance? No it is not because sexual passion was invented by our Creator as a good thing that was to reflect His image. Within the godhead there is this infinite passion between the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That passion led to the creation. The creation in return dances for joy in the presence of the Creator. Indeed, it could be argued that between a married couple, a dance is a good thing, for that dance could create a passion that strengthens the bond between them and produces offspring as well.
But dancing wasn’t the only method of expressing joy in praise toward Yahweh. The timbrel and harp were also called upon for the expression of joy. In the worship wars of today, so many people focus on the style of music and the instruments of music as to what is godly and what is not. It seems to me that they are missing the point. The point is not what style of music but what condition of the heart. From this Psalm it would seem that the Lord wants His praise to be joyful (2&5), humble (4), vocal (6a) and Scriptural (6b). The question for each culture is what instruments can help us best as a group express joy, in humility according to Scripture. That will vary from culture to culture and even with subgroups within those cultures. But one thing is clear from this Psalm, that praise is to be joyous no matter how it is expressed! How dare we approach praise in any other manner! I like Isaac Watts poem that Robert Lowry set to music.

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.

Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heav’nly King
May speak their joys abroad.

The men of grace have found
Glory begun below;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground
To fairer worlds on high
--Verses by Isaac Watts and Refrain by Robert Lowry

Can we declare His praise in any manner other than joyously? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 60
We could see the silhouette of the mice scurrying back and forth across the log beams of the cabin. The missing chinking in between the logs permitted a pale light from the fading dusk to leak into the room. The only things visible were the silhouettes of the mice, which now felt the courage to come out of hiding in the darkness. We were vacationing at a wilderness cabin in the mountains west of Mt. St. Helens. There was no electricity and no running water. Once dusk came, our flashlights really did not produce enough light to do anything. So we went to bed to await the rising sun when we could start afresh. It was somewhat entertaining to watch the mice run back and forth on the logs, but soon even that amount of light was gone. Later in the night, the novelty of camping out in the cabin began to wear off, especially when I could not sleep. Darkness, it can envelope you like a blanket. Soon one longs for the rising sun.
Sometimes a spiritual darkness can be similar. At first the novelty of it can be entertaining, but eventually it wears off. One begins to long for friendly light, something which can make life meaningful or at least entertaining. We bump and rattle through life looking for meaning. When we fail to find it, we at least desire to entertain ourselves. Eventually the entertainment fades, and we are left with just darkness. We long for some spiritual light that will arise and provide some meaning, but we can’t make it rise.
Jerusalem and Israel were to be lights in a world lost in the darkness of sin. But her sin had brought her destruction. When her light went out, it went out to the whole world. But in His mercy God did not leave her wallowing in her sin and darkness. He gives this one command/promise:

1 Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the LORD will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.

The command is given to Zion, to Jerusalem, to Israel. The promise is that all the rest of the world will seek her because of the Light that is within/upon her. That light will give meaning to vanity of the rest of the world, but what is that light? That light is the glory of the Lord. He is the One who brings meaning to our meaningless existence. He is the One who satisfies when our entertainment wanes old. When He comes, there is no need of sun or moon. His very presence will illuminate our lives. Who is this One? It is the Lord Jesus Messiah! John says of Him:
Revelation 21:23 (The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. Revelation 22:5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
Jesus is the light of the world, the light the darkness cannot overcome, the light of life. In Him we see life. He brings meaning to my empty existence. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

JOHN 11:28-57
Have you ever had disappointment with God? Sure you have. You thought the Lord's glory was such that He would intervene in a certain way if you requested Him to intervene. Then He did not intervene. What happened? For some, the disappointment is so great that they walk away from the situation in disbelief. Mary and Martha were disappointed in Jesus. They had sent to Him for help when their brother Lazarus was sick and dying. Jesus delayed. Lazarus died. Mary expressed her disappointment with Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." It’s your fault God! If, if, if, if!!!
Jesus was not untouched by the emotion. Verse 35, the shortest verse in the Bible, says, "Jesus wept." Why did Jesus cry? After all, He had purposely delayed so that Lazarus could die. I think there are various reasons why Jesus cried:

1. He was pained by the fact that even His closest friends could not see beyond the terror of the moment and grasp His glory.
2. He really felt the agony of Mary and Martha as they mourned the deep loss of their brother.
3. He mourned that He was going to have to call Lazarus, His friend, back out of paradise into this world of pain. He knew that Lazarus would have to travel through the experience of dying one more time.
4. He cried for joy knowing that they would have opportunity to learn that He could raise them from the dead.

So, there are at least 4 reasons why Jesus wept. I think they were all part of this deeply emotional moment. Our Lord is deeply emotional. Have you ever thought of Him as having strong emotions and that those emotions are part of His glory? I tend to think of Him as a very stoic--what will be will be. But Jesus was alive with emotions. No, they did not over rule His intellect or His spirit but He felt strongly what He felt. The next time you are grieving over a loved one, remember He grieves for your loss probably more strongly than you do. But He also knows the joy that person is experiencing-if they knew Him. He simultaneously rejoices with them as He grieves for you. He strongly desires that you to see His glory in this situation. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John