“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia…” (Acts 20:18).

The implicit message to the Ephesian elders is, “You know how I lived. How then will you live?” Well how did Paul live? In short, he did not shrink back from testifying to the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:20–21, 24, 26–27). That’s his implicit call to action here. Don’t shrink back from testifying to the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Well, how exactly did Paul not shrink back? What was the manner of this action? If we can identify the manner by which he did not shrink back, then we can identify some helpful applications for ourselves. And yes, you should apply this to yourself even though you are not Paul and even though you may not be an elder. Paul isn’t exhorting the Ephesian elders or us to replicate his apostolic ministry in all its specific, unique, divinely ordained detail. Rather the principle in play here is simply the imitation of Christlike men (1 Corinthians 4:16; 11:1),

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).

So, Paul’s question to the Ephesians is the same question we must ask ourselves: How, then, will we live? Will we shrink back? And if we won’t, what will a life that does not shrink back look like? To answer that, look at Paul.

Paul did not shrink back from testifying to the gospel in two ways: (1) with his voice and (2) with his life. First he points to how he testified to the gospel with his life,

“You yourselves know how I lived (by) serving the Lord…(Acts 20:18–19).

Second, Paul describes how he testified to the gospel by pointing to how he used his voice,

“You yourselves know how I lived…how I did not shrink from declaring…(Acts 20:18, 20).

And Paul goes on to describes both his use of his life, and his use of his voice, which will consider. Let’s consider first Paul’s voice and apply what we discover to ourselves. Then we will do the same with Paul’s life.

Paul’s Voice and Your Voice

1. Declare and teach the gospel (Acts 20:20–21, 26–27). In vv. 20–21 Paul says that he declared, that is, he told, he proclaimed, he announced the gospel, and he taught the gospel. Christians declare the gospel to one another. This is just what we do. The gospel is our native tongue. Christian, disciple out in the world or in the home or in the proper contexts given your role, declare the gospel and teach it. Fathers and mothers, you must declare and teach the gospel to your children (the highest privilege). Christian man or woman, declare the gospel to your unbelieving friends and neighbors or if God calls you to it, out in the mission field. Men, declare and teach the gospel to your brothers in the church and the younger men, or the church body if the church calls you to it. Women in the church, declare and teach the gospel to the younger women (Titus 2). Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by declaring and teaching it.
2. Testify with your voice in public (Acts 20:20). Paul says he testified to the gospel in public (Acts 20:20). Oh boy, now we’re nervous. The fear of man can hit a little different in public than in the context of the church or your church family. But Peter himself addresses this very reality to the saints,”Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:14–15).You must be ready, Christian. You must anticipate and prepare yourself for testifying to the gospel in public with your voice. Such public declaration and defense of the gospel builds up the church (Acts 18:27–28). Christians testify to the gospel with their voices in public.
3. Testify with your voice in private (Acts 20:20). Paul also says in v. 20 that he went house to house testifying of the gospel. You must also testify to the gospel with your voice in your personal and most intimate relationships. Church member to church member. Believer to believer. Friend to friend. Believer to unbeliever. Husband to wife. Wife to husband. Sibling to sibling. We must practice testifying of the gospel to one another to grow in our gospel fluency. That is, you will find the more you talk about it and ponder it together, the more your affections for the gospel and Jesus increase, and, as a result, the more fluent you are in talking about it. Fan the flame of gospel fluency by speaking of Christ to one another. Christians testify to the gospel with their voices in private.
4. Testify with your voice by warning other believers (Acts: 20:28–31). In Acts 20:28–31, Paul warns the Ephesian elders twice! In verse 28 he says “Pay careful attention!” and in verse 31 he says, “Be Alert!” or “Stay Awake!” And, he tells them to recall that he admonished, that is, he warned or instructively rebuked, every one of them. The rest of the address will make clear that Paul is concerned for their life and doctrine—their personal holiness and their accurate knowledge of the faith. Christians, we should do the same. Christians warn one another regarding our personal holiness and orthodox doctrine. We must give one another license to do this! Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by warning other believers.
5. Testify to the gospel by pointing to promises (Acts 20:32). In Acts 20:32 Paul commends the Ephesian elders to God. That is, he commits them to, he sets them before, he entrusts them to God. And then with his voice, he articulates the promise of the gospel that makes this trust possible: “God and…the word of grace…is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).Christian, you may testify to the gospel with your voice by warning and admonishing but you also must always testify to the gospel by pointing to the promises. God has made you holy—sanctified (Acts 20:32). God and the gospel will build you up into his holy temple, perfectly conformed to the image of the Son (Acts 20:32; Ephesians 2:21; Romans 8:29). And, God by the gospel will give you the inheritance, eternal life and joy with God and your King Jesus together with all the saints (Ephesians 1:18; Hebrews 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4). That promise is what makes the warning mentioned above so potent. Christians testify to the gospel with their voices by pointing to the promises.

Next, consider how Paul testified to the gospel with his life and how it applies to you.

Paul’s Life and Your Life

1. Testify to the gospel with your life by living as a slave of Jesus (Acts 20:19). Paul began by saying “You know how I lived among you…serving the Lord” (Acts 20:18–19). Paul says he lived as a slave to the Lord (Τhe original Greek is stronger than the ESV render “servant” gets at. δουλεύω: be a slave; δουλος: slave). You will always shrink back from testifying to the gospel with your life (and your voice) if you do not see yourself as a slave to Jesus. The image is meant to be striking. Think of the slave. The master says go here, he goes there. The master says do this task, the slave does it. The master says give this message, the slave gives it. The slave does whatever the master says. Now, what you have to do to ensure the you have the correct image in mind is not import the image of an abusive, unjust, evil master into the illustration. What’s the imagery? Paul says, “being a slave to the Lord.” Put Jesus into the picture. We obey because Jesus is our master and we are his slave. Christian, you must add this mentality into all the images Scripture gives us regarding our relationship with God—God is our Father and we are his adopted children. God is our shepherd, we are his sheep. Jesus is our heroic deliverer, savior, and champion, we are his ransomed and rescued people. Jesus is our King and we are the people of his kingdom. Jesus is our brother. Jesus calls us his friends. Jesus is our husband, and we are his bride…Jesus is our master and we are his slave. And our master says cease this sin, so you cease. He says honor, respect, submit to your husband, so you do so. He says love your wife as I, Christ, loved the church, giving myself up for her. So you do. He says speak here, so you speak. He says be silent here, so you hold your tongue. He says lift your hands in praise, so you lift them. He says kneel before me in repentance so you kneel and repent. He says love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so you love and pray. Trust and obey him because of who he is, and you heart will follow. Testify to the gospel by living as a slave of Jesus.
2. Testify to the gospel with your life by living a life marked by humility (Acts 20:19). Paul says in Acts 20:19 that he served the Lord with all humility. Christian, you don’t testify to the gospel by seeking to gain glory from men. You testify to the gospel by humbling yourself before the Lord to obey him and by humbling yourself before your fellow man to point them to the truth in love. This is reflective of Jesus. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility…” (Ephesians 4:2). God hates pride, but he gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 16:5; Luke 16:15; James 4:6). Testify to the gospel by living a life marked by humility.
3. Testify to the gospel with your life amidst tears and trials (Acts 20:19). Paul says twice, once in Acts 20:19 and again in Acts 20:31, that his ministry among the Ephesians was marked with tears. Living a life that testifies to the gospel will include tears. Christian, you will testify to the gospel to those you love and (1) they may continue to not get it, (2) they may completely reject it, (3) they may walk away from it, or, (4) by God’s grace, they may finally come ’round. Expect to expend many tears no matter what. And know that your tears themselves testify to the gospel. They will be tears that are a sign of judgment on those who reject the gospel and tears that are a sign leading to the salvation of others who accept it. Furthermore, these tears will often be tied to trials. Paul says also in Acts 20:19 that he testified to the gospel with trials. Christian, you testify to the gospel when you walk through trials. The fiery trial is, as Peter says, the crucible that reveals the faith of pure gold that God has placed in you which leads to glory (1 Peter 1:6–7). And, the watching world will see your life in the midst of trials. They will see both your own weakness and yet wonder at the strength the Lord supplies. They will see a life testifying to the worth of the gospel as you cling to Christ and nothing else. And when you suffer through trials for the sake of the gospel itself, you will be a picture of Christ’s suffering for the gospel. Testify to the gospel with your life amidst tears and trials.
4. Testify to the gospel with your life by following the Spirit’s lead (Acts 20:22–23). Paul notes in Acts 20:22–23 that he is constrained by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem, who testifies to him that wherever he goes there are afflictions and imprisonment awaiting him. What is astonishing here is not that the Spirit reveals this inevitable affliction to Paul. What is astonishing is that Paul still goes when the Spirit says go, in spite of it. Paul testifies to the gospel by his obedience to the Spirit. And so you. Christian, you testify to the gospel when you follow the Spirit’s lead. Now we read this and automatically our minds ask: “Where’s the Holy Spirit leading me?” in the most broad sense. Okay, but let’s make it simple. The Holy Spirit, Jesus tells us in John, comes (1) to lead you into all truth and thus sanctify you (John 16:13; 17:19), (2) to bear witness about Jesus (John 15:26), (3) to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). This is where the Holy Spirit is leading you, into the truth of Jesus unto your personal holiness. Start there. The Holy Spirit is leading you to Jesus and holiness. The rest are the details that he will work out. Testify to the gospel with your life by following the Spirit’s lead.
5. Testify to the gospel with your life by not taking but by giving (Acts 20:33–35). Look at Paul’s words in Acts 20:33–35. How did Paul live among them? Like this—”I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (Acts 20:33–35). Paul did not live among the Ephesians like their hometown silversmiths and priests of Artemus who profited off their worship. Paul lived by Jesus’ economic philosophy in order to testify to the gospel by his hard work and caring for the weak. In so doing, he was a living illustration to the Ephesians of hard gospel work that aims not to take but to give to the weak who cannot provide for themselves. And that’s what the gospel is. Jesus did the hard work of the gospel in order to give to you, the weak, who could do nothing to save yourself. This is the way of the gospel life. Christian, do not live a life of consumption and taking and hoarding. Show Christ by working hard in order to give. Testify to the gospel with your life by not taking but by giving.

Christian, imitate Paul. Do not shrink back from testifying to the gospel with your voice and your life. In doing so, you won’t just imitate Paul, but you will imitate the one who never shrunk from testifying to the gospel with his voice and his life, our King, Jesus. And because he did not shrink back, you live now and will live for eternity. Therefore, in that knowledge, testify to the gospel now with your voice and your life. Imitate Paul as he imitated Christ. Don’t shrink back.

You might recall the answer from Pastor I’John’s sermon in 2 Chronicles a few months ago: Roots. The Chronicler is writing to God’s people recently returned from exile, in the land of promise with no temple and no king. Naturally, they are a people wondering if God’s gracious promises to them are still in effect: “What about the kingdom of God? Are we still God’s people? Is God still going to dwell in our midst? Is God still going to reign over us through his promised son of David king forever?” So the Chronicler aims to remind them of their roots as God’s chosen people who have been given a precious promise—the gracious sure promise of the promised messiah, the offspring of the woman would come through them and reign as their king forever.

There are only a few places in the OT that the phrase “These are the generations” and variations of it occur in Scripture. The clause serves as a formula for introducing genealogies. In the original Hebrew, it is even easier to identify because it is actually a verbless clause. So it would read woodenly as, “These the generations…” The Hebrew word we render generations is toledot. Because of the rarity of these verbless toledot clauses, we do well to take note when they do show up.

The highest concentration of these formulaic verbless toledot clauses occurs in Genesis. For example,

“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 2:4).

“This is the book of the generations of Adam…” (Genesis 5:1).

“These are the generations of Noah…” (Genesis 6:9).

And, starting in Genesis 10, the pattern of this formula introducing lengthy genealogies emerges,

“These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth…” (Genesis 10:1, And it keeps going, son after son, for the whole chapter).

Then in Genesis 11, we see where these genealogies were headed. They were driving toward and culminating in Abraham and God’s call of and covenant with him,

“These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad…(All the way down to Terah, Abraham’s father)…When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram…The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 11:10, 26–27, 32–12:1).

Abraham, the recipient of God’s covenant promises is the focal point of Genesis’ verbless toledot clauses. Now back to Chronicles.

The author of Chronicles begins with an extended genealogy, yes, but it isn’t until he arrives at Abraham’s line that he employs the all powerful verbless toledot clause pattern,

“The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. These are their genealogies…” (1 Chronicles 1:28–29).

Why does the Chronicler wait until here to use such a well-known and handy tool for introducing genealogies? Because he wants to remind his wondering, doubting, post-exilic audience of their God-given roots and their God-given promise.

It isn’t until Abraham steps onto the scene that YHWH localizes the promised offspring of the woman (Genesis 3:15; 9:9) in a particular son—Isaac (Genesis 12:7; 13:15–16; 15:3–6, 18; 17:7–14, 15–21). And the last place we see the verbless toledot clause occur in Genesis applying directly to the line of the people of God (which is its very last occurrence in Genesis) is in Genesis 37:9, “These are the generations of Jacob…”. This connects us back to the promised son, Isaac in Genesis 25:19, “These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son…”. Isaac prayed for a child from the Lord and was given two of whom the Lord said, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” Jacob himself, like Isaac, was a child carrying on the promise of God that he would establish a people through a promised offspring.

So with this little grammatical tool, the Chronicler abruptly, without apology, inserts his post-exilic audience—and us—back into the story of redemption at this particular point as if to say, “Remember, God made a promise to Abraham? Isaac is the child of that promise. And God made a promise to Isaac. And Jacob is the child of that promise. God has promised to make you a people. Look how he faithfully did that. And God has promised to bring through you, the promised offspring of the woman that Isaac prefigured. God will do it.”

And so, it’s no surprise that the Chronicler, after reminding us of the roots and the promise, immediately does some chronological gymnastics and fronts the genealogy of David (1 Chronicles 2:1–15) next before ever introducing the tribes of Israel and their respective genealogies. By doing this, like with Abraham and Isaac, the Chronicler puts the promised offspring into sharp focus again.

If Abraham and Isaac pointed to the promised offspring who was localized in them, then David, in whom the promised offspring is further localized points to the promised offspring even more. Because in David, the promise offspring reemerges with kingly contours. In other words, the promise of a seed in Abraham and Isaac blossoms into the promised messiah in David (1 Chr 17:10–14). Thus, from the very beginning with all his genealogies, the Chronicler casts the eyes of his audience back to the past, to the roots, to remind them that they are God’s people, who have been given a promise. They’ve been given the promise of an offspring, like Abraham, like Isaac. A promised offspring, who was pictured by and would ultimately come through King David. So by having his readers look back at the roots and the promise, the Chronicler ultimately encourages his readers to look forward in hope to the coming of the promised messiah.

Chronicles is actually the very last book in the Hebrew ordering of the OT. It’s no wonder then why Matthew, the first book of the NT, chose to start his book this way,

The book of the genealogy (i.e. generations) of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).

“Home. The story of the Bible is the story of God getting us back home with him. This is enchanting in its own right. Whether a warm home life has been your experience or the elusive dream you’ve wished for but never had, we have all experienced homesickness.”

For this entry, I want to double-click on one half of the qualifying statement before the premise: “Whether a warm home life has been your experience or the elusive dream you’ve wished for but never had. What if you don’t have a home? Some go through this life without ever really having the experience of home. They may even struggle with the concept of “home” because they have never truly had a home to which they felt they truly belonged due to different life circumstances such as constant moving from place to place, being a foreigner in a foreign land, etc. That one might read “the elusive dream you’ve wished for (a warm home life) but never had” and say, “I don’t even understand that idea. I’ve never had a home; therefore, I don’t actually know what to dream or imagine. I just know I want it, I’ve looked for it, but I have yet to find it.” If you are one whose life story has unfolded in such a way that a perpetual feeling of homelessness pervades, then, in God’s mysterious and gracious providence, you’re actually in prime position to cherish the promise of your future home with God as it should be cherished. You are a sojourner and you know it. And you are in good company with other sojourners in redemption history.

In Psalm 119:54, the psalmist writes, “Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.” This is striking. Why? Well, before we answer that, just consider this word sojourning. Who were some sojourners in Scripture?

Abraham was a sojourner. He was a man sojourning in a place that was not yet his home and that would never truly be his home, but it would be the home of his offspring, so the promise goes,

“And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8)

Therefore, Abraham was a sojourner his whole life with God, though the promise was his, he never really had a permanent home.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise (Hebrews 11:8–9).

Abraham was not the only sojourner, though. Jacob also saw his life, along with his father Isaac’s life, as lives of sojourning,

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning” (Genesis 47:9).

Just as Abraham sojourned, so too, according to Jacob, did Isaac and Jacob himself. They did not know a permanent homeland.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all sojourners. They were literal foreigners in a literal foreign land that they never fully owned except for a family burial site, a prophetic plot of the fulfillment to come (Genesis 23:16; 25:9–11; 50:13).

So back to Psalm 119:54. It is striking when we read Psalm 119:54 and the psalmist describes himself as a sojourner. Why? Well, the author of Psalm 119 is anonymous, but there are candidates. David could be the author around the height of Israel’s kingdom (I’m partial to Davidic authorship). Or, it could have been written pre or post Babylonian exile with Daniel, Jeremiah, or Ezra as possible candidates. Keeping these candidates in mind, let’s consider their circumstances.

If David wrote this psalm, then it staggers us to read David refer to “the house of my sojourning” because David is the king reigning over God’s kingdom in the promise land. The land that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the land they longed for. David is not a sojourner, and yet he describes himself as one. However, he does have experience. Perhaps he wrote this during his time or reflecting on his time on the lam from Saul (ie Psalm 57). David knows what sojourning is all about.

If this was written during or after the exile, then it staggers us to recall the loss of Judah’s kingdom “home” and their “sojourn” in exile. If this was the land that God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what does it mean that God’s people are now exiles and sojourners once again after having received it? They had their home. They had their country. But it didn’t last. Even if they have returned, their home bears little resemblance to its former glory. God’s people were once again sojourners. Will God keep his promises?

The takeaway is this: God’s people have always been, in the big scheme, sojourners and have experienced acutely the life of a sojourner. The land of promise itself is simply a picture of the true homeland, the better country that God’s people await. God’s people are sojourners, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on the way to and awaiting their promised land-home with God. God’s people are sojourners like David remembering the house of his sojourning even while sitting in the house of his kingdom, longing for a better home with God. God’s people are like those of Judah exiled to a foreign country or even the returned exiles living in their dilapidated homeland, who recognize that no matter where they are, they are still sojourners and exiles on this earth.

What kept these OT sojourners going even when they did not know home here? The promise of the home to come with God. Consider the archetype of such faith, Abraham. What sustained Abraham in such a “homeless” sojourn? Looking to and longing for his future home with God,

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10).

What Abraham modeled by his faith, the saints of old replicated,

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city (Hebrews 11:13–16)

As Christians, we should indeed consider ourselves sojourners on this earth. And if your life story has made that sense of homelessness and sojourning even more pronounced, then consider the blessing in that. Your lack of home here should give you an even stronger desire for your true home. To trust God with making good on that future promise requires great faith and humility. Great faith and humility in order to quash every prideful desire that would tempt you to not endure in your sojourn but to cease your pilgrimage. Throw in the towel. Make home here. But you are an Abraham in an even more particular way than others and God’s promise to you is that there is home awaiting you. Moreover Jesus’ promise to you is that he will actually take this earth you feel so foreign in, and transform it into your inheritance, your heavenly home, where you will reign with him (Matthew 5:5; 2 Timothy 2:12).

So, sojourner who has no home here, count yourself blessed. For you have been providentially given the grace to know with a little more certainty what many of us can so easily forget in our comforts. What you know with rock solid conviction is this,

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14).

And Jesus will deliver that city, that better country, your true home, to you. Come, Lord Jesus.

by Coty Pinckney

[A few weeks ago I mentioned Solomon’s son Rehoboam as an example of someone who rightly sought counsel but, receiving both good and bad advice, chose to follow the latter. The following devotion from 2010 examines what was behind his choice: he did not set his heart to seek the Lord – Coty]

2 Chronicles 12:14: And [Rehoboam] did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

Why do we do evil?

Rehoboam should have been a godly king. He was the grandson of King David, a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). He was the son of King Solomon, whose wisdom Scripture extols (1 Kings 4:29). His father and grandfather wrote a significant proportion of the Old Testament Scriptures.

And yet, 2 Chronicles 12:14 tells us Rehoboam did evil.

What evil did he do?

The most obvious evil he did was to split the kingdom. 2 Chronicles 10 tells us of his pride and stubbornness. Representatives from the northern tribes ask him to lighten the burdens his father had put on them. Rehoboam instead tries to act tough – and the northern tribes secede.

But Rehoboam is guilty of a greater evil than splitting the kingdom. Splitting the kingdom is a secondary evil, an evil that results from something more fundamental.  2 Chronicles 12:1 tells us of that more fundamental evil: Rehoboam “abandoned the law of the LORD.” His grandfather had written that “the law of the LORD is perfect” (Psalm 19:7), but he abandoned that law.

Recall that the word “law” in the Old Testament frequently translates the Hebrew word “torah,” which has a broader meaning than our English word. The “torah” includes instruction: teaching about who God is, who we are, and how we can have a relationship with Him. Rehoboam turned his back on the instruction that had been handed down to him. Though God had created him for His glory, though God had exalted him to be king over His own people, though God had given him a father and grandfather who instructed others in God’s “torah”, Rehoboam rejected God’s instruction.

This is his greatest evil.

Why did he do this evil?

Our text tells us why: “He did not set his heart to seek the LORD.”

Jesus tells us to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). He promises that if we seek we will find (Matthew 7:7).

Yet Paul tells us that “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11). That is, in and of ourselves, we are all like Rehoboam. Though many aspects of God’s nature are clear from the world around us (Romans 1:20) – “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1) – and though many of us have access to His Word and have heard His Gospel, we, like Rehoboam, turn our backs on that revelation. We act as if He doesn’t exist, or as if He is irrelevant. We seek our good as we perceive it, and ignore the purpose for which He made us. We may believe we are doing good, but we, like Rehoboam, do evil unless we seek God.

So Rehoboam did not seek God. And he did evil.

Furthermore, our text tells us that Rehoboam did not set his heart to seek God. Truly seeking God is a matter of the heart. We don’t seek God by outward actions alone – doing religious activities, bowing our heads in prayer, attending worship services, reading the Bible. Someone may look externally to be seeking the Lord, and yet not be doing so. Indeed, this probably was the case with Rehoboam. As King of Judah, he most certainly participated in public worship. He undoubtedly gave large gifts to the priests. Like his father, he may well have offered long prayers in front of the people. But Rehoboam “did not set his heart to seek the LORD.” And therefore he did evil.

What about you? Where is your heart?

We must all confess that apart from God’s work we have hard, stony hearts. Apart from God’s transforming power, we will not seek Him. Apart from His grace, we are rightly condemned.

But God sent His Son to die on our behalf, paying the penalty we deserve, so that all who simply trust Him might receive His pardon and become His beloved children.

So we need to pray, “O Lord, take my stony heart and replace it by Your grace with a soft and tender heart (Ezekiel 36:26). Incline my heart to Your Word, so that I might joyfully seek You (Psalm 119:36). Don’t let me be like Rehoboam – outwardly appearing to follow You, but inwardly having a heart that longs for so much else other than You. Enable me to treasure You above all, to delight in You above all; enable me to set my heart to seek You!”

Will you do this?

God’s promises us: If you truly seek Him, you will find Him. If you humble yourself, He will exalt you. If you look to Jesus, He will save you.

So set your heart to seek Him. And then continue to do so, day by day. This is life. This is joy. This is peace.

Only, we quickly found that our initial plan wouldn’t work. The shearers weren’t around the snake. To remove them and get the snake on the ground would only make it go wild and potentially strike or get away. Neither option we liked. So, we decided to hold it’s tail with a trash-grabber tool in order to entice it to unveil its head for us to strike. Sure enough, with Josh grabbing to tail, it did put its head out to strike, and Josh was able to pin its head to the wall and then I gave it a finishing blow. A few minutes later, we buried it in a secluded spot in the backyard and took time to look for more.

So why would I tell this story in a blog post? How does this have anything to do with God’s Word or what it means to live lives treasuring Jesus?

As I reflected a bit, it occurred to me that the story elicits some pretty good parallels with Biblically slaying our sin.

Theologian John Owen famously referenced Romans 8:13 as the backdrop and key text for his book, “On the Mortification of Sin”. This great Roman verse says this, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” We know death is what we’ve all earned from our sin (Romans 6:23). But as people who have been united by faith to Jesus, we have been brought from death to life (Romans 6:3-4; Ephesians 2:4-6). So as people truly living in Christ, by His Spirit’s power, we’re to, “put to death the deeds of the body,” (Romans 8:13) and all that, “is earthly in you,” (Colossians 3:5).

So what does that snake slaying story remind us biblically about slaying sin?

1. It must be spotted and exposed, by us and others. “11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you,'” (Ephesians 5:11-14). Without Andrew’s sharp eyes looking and Katie’s decisive action to expose the snake and prevent retreat, it never would have been killed. We are to be people willing to kill sin by forsaking it whenever the Lord reveals it. Sometimes this will be revealed by others spotting it in us, then lovingly expressing and exposing it, so we can bring it to the light in confession and turn back to Christ. Other times, God may call us to lovingly spot and expose sin in our dear brother or sisters. This is to be done discreetly and once the log has been taken out of our eye first. But love dictates that darkness be recognized and exposed. Proverbs 27:6 reminds us, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Who is your faithful friend-in-Christ with permission to spot and expose your sin, that it may be brought to the light and forsaken? Who is the friend you’ve given permission to expose your pride that you, by the Spirit, might kill it?
2. Slaying our sin requires a premeditated battle plan. Any fight for the Christian must first include prayer. We’re to abide in Christ and then we bear spiritual fruit that lasts and gives God glory, because apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:4-5). Since the battle is the Lord’s (1 Samuel 17:47), we’d be foolish to not start and end depending on Him and seeking His glory in prayer. Following this, much sin necessitates fleeing (like Joseph with Potiphar’s wife) and subsequently starving it, to replace it with something that the Lord has for us. Ephesians 4:27-28 says, “and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Other premeditated battle plans, like the serpent in my yard, require immediate strikes to eliminate the opportunity of it infecting us further with its deadly venom.
3. A friend for the battle is essential. The snake would have gotten away or bitten me without Josh being there. Many times in our fight against sin, we don’t see what’s lurking in our blind spots ready to strike. We often don’t know what to do when the situation on the ground changes and we need to make adjustments. We need someone else to be praying with and for us and graciously hold us accountable. We need someone to spur us on to not give up and encourage us. This may or may not be the person who first spotted and exposed our sin or the one we opened up to about our own, or lovingly addressed. This is an all-out war, a battle to the death, for the purity of our souls. God calls us to community and especially close friendships. And above all, there is Jesus, The “friend who sticks closer than a brother,” (Proverbs 18:24b) who is victorious in every battle.
4. Victory through the Spirit of Christ brings life. “…if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live,” (Romans 8:13b). When the snake was buried and we knew it could no longer harm anyone, we got a burst of energy and immediately looked for more snakes all over the yard. It spurred us on to more battles. Not only does victory in slaying our sin by the Spirit, keep us from death – it boosts us to move forward in other battles with the unquenchable joy of the Lord’s faithful and kind presence. His presence where there is “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” (Psalms 16:11) is what our souls ultimately crave and desire most.

So when we fight to kill our sin in humility, in His strength, with a battleplan, and a brother or sister by our side, we can be more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) because of Him who loves us and is with us. And we can not only kill our sin, but live with promised hope that, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet,” (Romans 16:20).

“People will board the bus and tell you you’re going the wrong way. But you know the route. Just keep driving the bus.

“Some will threaten to leave the bus unless you go the way they’re telling you. Just keep driving the bus.

“Others will tell you to change gears sooner, or to drive faster, or to speed up to get through that yellow light. Just keep driving the bus.

“You’re a bus driver, Coty. Just keep driving the bus.”

A wise pastor gave me that advice decades ago during a time of difficulty in the church. His advice reflects 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” I’ve shared that advice with many others.

But when does steadfastness morph into pig-headedness?

If I’m a bus driver who makes a wrong turn, I had better listen to those who correct me. If I don’t, I’m not being virtuously steadfast; I’m being foolishly pig-headed.

Scripture tells us again and again to seek out and listen to wise counsel:

• Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel (Proverbs 27:9).
• Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed (Proverbs 15:22).
• The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15)
• Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil (Proverbs 3:7).

That last proverb highlights the difficulty, however. There are wise counselors who help us to turn away from evil, who point us to the Lord. And there are other counselors who guide us in the opposite direction.

Consider Solomon’s son Rehoboam. He actively sought counsel. He received both good and bad advice. He then chose to follow the bad advice – to the detriment of the Israelite people for centuries (1 Kings 12:1-20).

Or consider the Apostle Paul in Acts 21:10-14. He is journeying to Jerusalem. A prophet named Agabus says Paul will be bound by the Jews and handed over to the Romans if he continues. The people there – including his traveling companions like Luke – urge him to change plans. But Paul “would not be persuaded” and continues on his way. Agabus’ prophecy comes about.

Is Paul being wrongly pig-headed or rightly steadfast?

Or consider the earlier “sharp disagreement” between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:36-41. Barnabas wants to include Mark on the next missionary journey, but Paul does not since Mark had returned home when the first journey became difficult. Presumably they seek the counsel of other leaders in the Antioch church since we read that Paul and his eventual companion Silas are “commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.” But Paul and Barnabas do not come to an agreement, instead making separate journeys.

Is one of Paul or Barnabas pig-headed here? Are they both?

Scholars and preachers answer those questions differently – but the bottom line is that Scripture doesn’t tell us.

And that lack of clarity is helpful to us. For we all go through similar situations. We don’t want to be stubborn or pig-headed; we know biblically we should seek counsel. And often we are discerning enough to reject evil and foolish counsel. But most often the counsel we receive is mixed.

• A friend relates a personal experience and applies it to our situation. But is it truly comparable?
• Another friend draws on Scripture to address our situation, but the biblical basis for the advice seems weak.
• Yet a different friend confidently and persuasively tells us the best way to deal with the issue, but we’re not sure he fully understands the problem.

In such situations, what do we do?

We pray for ears to hear; we thank our counselors for their advice and assure them we will consider it; we pray for a willingness to change our ways or adapt our plans; we pray for steadfastness in following God and His ways, trusting His sovereign direction as He works all things according to the counsel of His will.

And then we decide. We go forward. We trust God – whether our decision is the best or not. If it turns out to have been the wrong decision, we confess that to God and admit that to the counselors we should have listened to. But we need not live in regret.

You see, always making the right decision is not the key to living the Christian life. The key, rather, is setting your heart to seek the Lord, trusting Him with all your heart. He then builds us up in the most holy faith, conforming us to the likeness of Jesus, and perfects us together with the entire church. Praise Him!

Psalm 78:7-8 helpfully includes both the words “stubborn” and “steadfast.” Older generations are to teach younger generations “that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

There we have it: Not stubbornly going our own direction, failing to listen to God or counselors who pass on His wisdom. Rather, setting our hearts to seek Him steadfastly, keeping our spirits faithful to God and His Word.

At age 70, I can look back and see times of pig-headedness, times when I should have sought out additional counsel – and also times when I followed poor advice. Praise be to the God of all grace that my standing before Him does not depend on perfect obedience!

I encourage you to examine yourself also. If you discern errors, confess and seek forgiveness, if appropriate. Then set your heart to seek the Lord. And know this: everyone who seeks finds.

Acts 1:4–5—And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:4–5).

The Promise of the Father
This passage is just two verses. But there is a ton of theology packed into these two verses. In fact, there is so much, that we just won’t get to all of it here. But to begin to get a handle on the truths in our passage, we must remember to read in light of the bigger story that Luke continues to tell as a follow up not only to his gospel. Remember the message of Acts…

The risen king Jesus acts through his people of the Word, the church, by the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill God’s kingdom promises through their witness.

And remember the immediate context…

Our two verses point us back to some things we’ve just seen in vv. 1–3, particularly with regard to Jesus’s resurrection and the kingdom of God. That is, if you recall Jesus is the culmination, the climax, and the fulfillment of all the OT (cf. Luke 24:27, 44–47). This is what Jesus told his disciples in the forty days he was with them before his ascension (cf. Acts 1:3). This is what he talked about. Our passage connects with this.

And, our passage also aims at, looks forward to, and anticipates Acts 2, the day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, what our passage also calls, “the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:5). Why is the Holy Spirit coming referred to as, “the promise of the Father?” Where do we see God make this promise? This is our driving question: “What all goes into the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit?”

To answer this, we must also remember the wider canonical context…

To fully grasp all that Luke lays out for us, we must read in light of the OT. Luke continues the story that God started writing through the OT authors and prophets. What they foresaw, longed for, and hoped for, is what our passage anticipates in Acts 2. What they foresaw, longed for, and hoped for, is what you friends are living in because he is living in you.

When we consider the full breadth of Scripture, we find that built into the promise of the Holy Spirit are three promises:

1. The Promise of Purity
2. The Promise of Presence
3. The Promise of Power

Purity. Presence. Power. These are some essentials to the promise of the Father, the coming of the Holy Spirit, that our passage anticipates. The promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit delivers to you unmatched, new covenant: purity (holiness), the very presence of God with and in you (relationship), and power (to overcome sin and be his witness).

For our purposes here, I want to draw your attention the promise of power. Specifically, the promise of power to overcome sin.

The Promise of Power
The third and final aspect to the promise of the Father, the promise of the Holy Spirit is power. God will advance his kingdom through his Holy Spirit empowered people. Now, there is so much we could delve into on this topic, but let’s consider this power specifically with regard to obedience.

The Holy Spirit gives power to increasingly overcome temptation, sin, and the flesh. The Holy Spirit gives power to obey God. Though we have been purified, made holy, and declared justified by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we are still being sanctified. We still battle sinful flesh. We still must overcome sin and join in the Holy Spirit’s ongoing, purifying and sanctifying work. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to do so.

OT prophets foresaw and longed for a day of such unprecedented power to obey God. Ezekiel foresaw and longed for Holy Spirit empowered obedience in God’s people,

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:27).

The reality is, under the curse of Adam we are unable to not sin. Think of that. Every work anyone has ever done no matter how good, apart from the aid and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is stained with sin. Fallen man is a slave to sin. So your work is sinful work. But with the coming of the Holy Spirit a new day has dawned. Those in Christ are no longer slaves to sin to do all that sin commands. Those in Christ are able to not sin. And, more than that, those in Christ—those in whom the Holy Spirit resides—are able to work righteousness. How? By faith in the promises of God. The promise that he has perfectly purified, will perfectly purify, and will provide power through the Holy Spirit to turn from sin and do righteousness.

The Holy Spirit gives power to overcome sin and power to obey God. So how do we properly respond to this grand reality? In two ways: repent and run.

First, repent. Are you harboring sin? Let God’s Word examine you. Ask God to search and reveal to you any grievous way within. Where you find unrepentant indwelling sin, repent and begin the process of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance by killing it (Luke 3:8). Don’t harbor sin. To refuse the rebuke and offer of forgiveness in the gospel by continuing in sin is to quench and grieve the Holy Spirit in you (1 Thess 5:19; Eph 4:30). Does the power of the Holy Spirit seem to allude you in your life? He is not dodging or juking you, but you may be delivering blows against and striking him with your unrepentant sin.

Second, run. Run in the Holy Spirit obediently. The psalmist proclaims in Psalm 119:24, I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart. With the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the hearts of God’s people were enlarged. With the coming of the Holy Spirit into your heart at your conversion, your personal Pentecost, your heart was enlarged to obey God, to run in the way of his commandments. So run in obedience to him. And run to the ends of the earth with the gospel. And by the ends of the earth, that could mean the end of your street or the end of the row of cubicles in your office.

Here is what the power of the Holy Spirit in you leads to. Repentance and running in obedience. There is no other plan to make the gospel of Jesus known. This is it. God’s people running in the Holy Spirit with the gospel. So go and do. Make disciples. The Holy Spirit working in and through you is the means by which King Jesus will change lives and the world by spreading his kingdom and glory to the ends of the earth.

If you could stand outside the door of the new heavens and new earth—if you could stand outside God and his peoples’ home—what would you hear?

You may recall the last post in this blog series considered the joyful welcome that awaits those who come into their everlasting home in God’s presence. Some key verses for us were Zephaniah 3:17,

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

and Isaiah 51:11 (35:10),

“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

It is clear that God joyfully welcomes his people home and his people enter into that joyful homecoming with joy themselves. God’s joy produces and is his peoples’ joy. But notice how that joy manifests: singing.

God sings over his people, and his people enter into Zion with singing. In fact, singing is just a part of the joyful expression that marks our eternal home with God. What naturally goes with singing? Nothing better than music and dancing. Yes, your eternal home with God, who comes to make his home with you, will be a home of music, singing, and dancing.

One of the best characters of Scripture to consider to get an idea of God’s heart is David, the man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). While not a perfect man, David joyfully delighted in and obeyed God. Furthermore, David as King and worship leader of God’s people offers us a type of or pointer to the greater David, King Jesus. When we look at David, we see something of Jesus. Thus if we want to know what home with God and Jesus his Son will be like for those who have been made like God and conformed to the image of his Son, we can look at David to learn a bit.

David was a man of music. When God sent a harmful spirit to torment Saul, it was David, full of the Holy Spirit, who was called upon to refresh Saul with his music (1 Samuel 16:23). David invented musical instruments for the sole purpose of praising God (1 Chronicles 23:4–5; 2 Chronicles 7:6). David sang to the LORD his thankfulness (2 Samuel 22:1) and wrote psalms for God’s people to sing to the LORD, thus earning the moniker “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1). David, the sweet psalmist, wrote Psalm 150,

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

So it’s no surprise when David envisioned and organized corporate worship for the temple he was drawing up plans for, he dedicated 4,000 people to be musicians—with all kinds of instruments he had invented, as well as lyres, harps, and cymbals—and singers (1 Chronicles 25:1, 5–8). And, when all of these finally played and sang to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” at the dedication of the temple under Solomon, God’s glory filled the house (2 Chronicles 5:7–14). God dwelled at home with and sat enthroned amidst the music played by and the praises sung by his people (Psalm 22:3).

If music and singing filled the home for the Old Covenant people of God who worshiped under a Davidic king who was a type and pointer to the true Davidic king, then it’s safe to assume that the New Covenant people of God who worship under the true Davidic king, Jesus, will also have a home filled with music and singing. Indeed, this is what we see in Scripture.

Jesus himself was a singer. He led his disciples in singing a hymn after instituting the new covenant meal at the last supper before going to the cross (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). This singing of hymns was likely a regular occurrence. Jesus’ people have always been singers. Paul and Silas sang to God while imprisoned in Philippi (Acts 16:25). The early church penned hymns and songs to God like Philippians 2:6–11 and Colossians 1:15–20, that they likely sang on the regular. Paul exhorts the churches to “[address] one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:19) and to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Colossians 3:16). And the glimpses of the heavens and the new heaven and new earth that we get from John’s revelation is filled with music and singing to God and the Lamb (Revelation 5:8–10; 14:1–3; 15:1–4). It is clear, God’s people are a people of music and singing and his home with his people is a place of music and singing. Music and singing belong to the church. They are hers. Home with God is, right now in Christ and his Church, and will be in the new heavens and new earth filled with music and singing.

But what about dancing?

Well, let’s go back to the man after God’s own heart, that charismatic figure and type of Christ: King David. Recall David’s royal response to seeing God come to dwell with his people again when they finally brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem,

“And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn” (2 Samuel 6:13–15).

David, the man after God’s own heart, arguably the type of all types of Christ in the OT danced before the Lord. God’s people and indeed God’s King will be people and will be a King of the dance. Recall one of the ways King David exhorted God’s people to praise God in Psalm 150—not just with music, not just with singing, but with dancing,

“Praise him with tambourine and dance…”

Elsewhere David writes,

“You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sack cloth and clothed me with gladness” (Psalm 30:11).

“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” (Psalm 140:1–3).

Jeremiah also spoke of dancing when he prophesied of the new covenant days when God’s people, finally home with him again, would dance before him like David both did himself and exhorted the people to do,

“Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself with tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers” (Jeremiah 31:4).

“For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry” (Jeremiah 31:11–13).

God’s home, your home, will be a home filled with music, singing, and dancing. When you find yourself walking up to the home of God here on earth now in the people of God, the Church, and one day in the new heavens and new earth, don’t be surprised when you hear what the returned prodigal son’s wayward older brother heard,

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing” (Luke 15:25).

That is the sound of joy you are hearing. Your home with God here and now should be filled with music, singing, and dancing as it will certainly be in the new heavens and new earth. Don’t find yourself standing outside the door now as the older brother did. Now is the time to come on in to the house of your Father and your King, a home filled with music, singing, and dancing. Come on in that you may both find yourself at home with God now and home with God then. Come on in and join the joy.

Psalm 84:11: No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Is that true? Has God withheld something good from you?

Or state the question this way: Haven’t you experienced loss?

We all have lost something we value and treasure, something that is now gone and unrecoverable. A serious example: a wife loses her husband to a rare disease. He is a good man, a good father; theirs is a good marriage. She understandably asks: Isn’t their future life together a good thing that God has withheld?

We also experience loss when we realize that some good thing we have desired and worked for is now unattainable. Our hopes are dashed. Here’s a trivial example from my life: I was a serious runner for many years, and ran personal best in the marathon at age 29. An injury at age 30 set me back; a set of more serious injuries at age 38 prevented me from running even 10 miles again, let alone a marathon. Running is good. Did God not withhold that good from me?

Most all of us can say: It sure seems as if God has withheld something good from me.

Now, perhaps the end of the verse gets God off the hook: “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (or, in other translations, “have integrity,” “are blameless”).

So if I have suffered loss – am I the reason, not God? In my trivial case: If I had lived a more obedient life, would I have had decades more of serious, enjoyable running?

If we are to rightly understand Psalm 84:11 – or any Scripture – we must examine it in context: both the immediate context and the context of the entirety of Scripture.

Note that Psalm 84 is part of book 3 of the psalter, Psalms 73 to 89. These were all written during a time of trial, loss, and grief for God’s people. So our key verse cannot mean, “All is going wonderfully for us because we have been walking uprightly!”

Instead, we’ll see that the psalmist is saying: if we continue to walk in His paths, He will be our sun and shield, He will bestow favor, honor, all good things. So whatever loss you have experienced, whatever worries you many have, God will give you Himself – and that is the greatest good imaginable.

Let’s now turn to the psalm.

The Greatest Joy and Security: God’s Loving Presence (verses 1-4)

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.  (Psalm 84:1-2)

What is the psalmist’s desire in the midst of pain, loss, danger? Not the end of pain. Not the restoration of loss. His desire is for the living God. Indeed, God is his greatest joy; he longs for Him with all his being (soul, heart, and flesh).

So, because He longs for God, he longs for God’s courts, God’s dwelling place, saying it is “lovely”. For us, “lovely” implies primarily physical beauty. But the underlying Hebrew word emphasizes how much it is “loved.” Indeed, every other occurrence of this word in Scripture refers to God’s beloved people – and His people were so often not acting beautifully!

Thus, the psalmist loves the temple because it is a picture, a pointer to God’s great love for His people. He is present in midst of His people, and provides way for them to approach Him in worship.

Do you feel that privilege?

The equivalent for us is saying: “How I love worshiping the one true God thru Jesus!”

Verse 3 then speaks of security

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, at your altars,
O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

Sparrows are common. They are not worth much. But even such birds feel secure enough to make the temple their home. So if even sparrows are secure in God’s house, how much more His beloved people!

The psalmist underlines the security that is ours by then calling God “Lord of Hosts” – that is, the God who is Himself armies – and declaring that mighty God to be “my king and my God.”

Verse 4 then concludes the first section with the first of three “blessed” statements:

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!

That is, blessed or happy are those who are secure in Him, who praise Him, who are loved by Him and so love Him. They thus praise Him forever.

When God Seems Distant (verses 5-9)

So the temple reminds the psalmist of God’s presence and love.

What about those who don’t have such a reminder when they suffer pain, loss, weakness, or depression? This section of the psalm speaks to such people.

Verse 7 tells us they are travelling to Zion – that is, to His temple courts, and thus to God Himself. But verse 6 tells us to get there, they must travel through valley of Baca. We don’t know the specific location referred to, but the underlying Hebrew word implies it is a place of weeping. Thus the image is of traveling through a dry, bare valley.

So imagine that you are on a long journey on foot. You thirst, so descend into a valley hoping to find a stream. But you only find rocks and sand. Now your situation seems hopeless. If there is no water in the valley, where can you possibly find any?

The psalmist tells us in verse 5: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

Why are these blessed and happy? Because their strength is not in what is around them, but in God Himself. Because of that strength from Him, the driest valley, the most depressing place, is refreshing. They know these hard paths are roads that lead them to God’s presence. And so they are refreshed along the way. By God’s indwelling strength they make the dry place of weeping a place of sustenance and joy – indeed, a place covered with pools.

The Lord Jesus exemplifies this. On the way to the cross, He is scourged and mocked; He stumbles and falls. He is nailed to the cross. He suffers God’s wrath for all our sins. This is the driest valley anyone has ever experienced. Yet His strength is in God. He knows He is on the highway to God the Father’s presence, to God the Father’s glory. So Jesus finished His work and entered into that eternal joy.

The psalmist knows that truth. And so in verse 7 he promises us:

They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

Thru Jesus, God strengthens each one of us for the road ahead, and so we all make it! Not one is lost!

The Apostle Paul highlights the same truth in Romans 8:29-30: Exactly the same ones who are foreknown are then predestined, called, justified, and glorified. None are lost.

So realize: If you are in Jesus, whatever trial, whatever trouble, whatever hardship, whatever loss you may face, God will enable you to go from strength to strength by His grace. There will be weeping. There will be weakness. You won’t feel strong. But in Jesus, the Father will never let you go. He will bring you to Himself.

In verses 8 and 9 the psalmist, confident in God yet in pain, cries out to Him:

Hear mighty one! Give ear!
Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed

What does “shield” refer to?

God’s “anointed” is the king. So the psalmist identifies God’s anointed king as his shield, saying, “Bless us Your people, strengthen us, give us security through Your chosen ruler, the descendant of David.”

For us today, this has an even deeper meaning. We are weak, we are not blameless, we are indeed rebels. But we pray to God: “Look upon Your anointed One, upon Your Son, upon Jesus who suffered, who went through that dark and dry valley, for us. We are in Him by faith, and so, work for us His Bride, His Body, Your People!”

When God seems distant: In Christ go from strength to strength, and He will provide what you need in the valley of weeping, in the valley of hopelessness.

In Christ, We Don’t Lose (verses 10-12)

We have seen that in his sorrow, the psalmist cries out to God to hear him and to bless the people through their anointed king. He then says in verse 10:

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere

Think about this: A thousand days is a bit under three years. Consider all the joys of the last three years. Food. Friendship.  Family. Vacations. Gifts you gave or received. Kisses and hugs. Conversation and laughter. Accomplishment and worthwhile effort.

Now: Take God out of those three years.

The psalmist is saying: One day with God has more good in it than three years worth of good without Him.

Or put it this way: If you were to lose all the possible joys of three years without God and then had God for one day – you wouldn’t lose.

So the psalmist goes on to say in the second half of verse 10:

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness

A doorkeeper has little status. In our parlance, think “janitor.” For those who “dwell in tents” don’t think of campers! Rather, these are the most prominent, the most honored, those who live a life of ease.

So the psalmist is saying: “I’d rather serve You, Lord God, Lord Jesus, as janitor than to have a life of wealth and ease without You. I’d rather have a life devoted to You than to have all that I could possibly get through working 24×7 and having nothing to do with you.”

In effect, this is the question Jesus asks the rich young ruler in Mark 10. The man asks Jesus what he must to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments – that is, to walk uprightly. The man says he has done that.

Now, the man is mistaken. He has not loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day. But that failure is not what keeps this man from eternal life. Nor does that failure keep us from eternal life! So Jesus, rather than pointing out where he has failed, tells him to go, sell all he has, give the proceeds to the poor, and come, follow Him. Only in following Him will the man find eternal life.

You see, Jesus asks: “Is a day with Me worth more than all your possessions? Is even an eternity with Me worth more than all your possessions?”

The psalmist explains why that day with God is worth more in verse 11:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor

• God is the sun – He gives brightness, light, love, an honor, shining through the darkness of life in this fallen world.
• God is the shield – providing protection and security.
• God grants grace and favor, honor and glory.

The second half of verse 11 then states the promise we focused on in the beginning:

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

He concludes in verse 12 with the third statement of blessing:

O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.

This psalm tells us: Do what Jesus did: Depend on the Father. Value Him. Follow Him. Trust Him. Be that janitor, or whatever God asks of you, because He gives you what is best: He gives you Himself.

In Jesus, you are conformed to His likeness. Jesus – your shield, your anointed one – will be glorified in your life, and you will get to bask in His glory. Jesus – through whom the God all grace grants favor – will give you strength to endure to the end, to become like Him. The Father will shine the light of His glory on you in the face of Jesus – and so you have all good.

You will experience loss. Indeed, eventually, you will lose all good in this world. But you have Jesus. You have God. In Christ You are welcome in the household of God. Not only as a guest, but as a beloved child. Your cup overflows.

Conclusion

Think of the rich young ruler again. Would he have lost if he had obeyed Jesus? If he had sold all and followed Him? By no means!

Now, you might respond: “Coty, the ruler’s riches were keeping him from following Jesus. In your trivial example in the introduction, running wasn’t in the way of your following Him. More seriously, the good husband who died surely wasn’t keeping the wife from following Jesus! It still seems to me that God withholds good things from His people.”

That’s an excellent question. What’s the answer?

In this life, from our perspective it often seems as if God is withholding good. Similarly, from a two-year-old’s perspective, it often seems as if her parents are withholding good. But parents are always doing more than two-year-olds can understand. And God is always doing millions and billions more than we can understand

He occasionally gives us glimpses of why we experience loss. But most often He does not.

Thus the psalmist concludes in verse 12:

O Mighty One, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Trust Him for salvation. Trust Him with your issues today. Trust Him with your future in this world. Trust Him with eternity.

You will rejoice, today, in this life, in the presence of loss, and then in eternity when there will be no more loss.

Jesus trusted Him to the cross. Because of that cross, we too can go from strength to strength. Because of that cross, we have God’s unchanging love. Because of that cross, we have God Himself – now and forever.

And if we have Him, we have all things.

Blessed is the one who trusts in Him!

The King’s Cup of God’s Salvation

And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.  Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:22–25).

The first cup we’re introduced to is the King’s cup of God’s salvation. Jesus describes the cup at the Last Supper with his disciples as, “my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 12:24). Jesus speaks into redemption history the salvation promise that the Mosaic covenant pointed to when Moses on Mount Sinai sprinkled the blood of a sacrifice on the people. Jesus says, his blood, which the cup points to, is what will lead to salvation. His blood secures the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and the everlasting covenant of peace in Ezekiel,

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).

I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them (Ezekiel 37:26).

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you (Ezekiel 36:25).

This is what God’s sovereign plan of salvation was always driving toward. Every sacrifice, every Passover Lamb, every covenant, finds its fulfilment in the man Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is God’s promised salvation that will cleanse his people from all their uncleannesses and sins. And King Jesus holds in his hand, the cup of God’s salvation for his people. And here he gives that cup to his people, all his people, to drink. And notice again that it is for many. That is, the all, is ultimately many—from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. King Jesus’ cup of salvation is for many. There is only one requirement to sit at this table of God’s salvation and drink from the King’s cup. You must be a sinner, who recognizes your only hope is not in yourself but in Jesus because this cup is for the forgiveness of sins.

The Sinner’s Cup of God’s Wrath

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:35–36).

Here we’re introduced to the second cup, the sinner’s cup of God’s wrath. Jesus goes farther than his disciples, who being of Adam’s race are not able to drink this cup and live, into the darkness of the garden. How distressing is this moment? Distressing enough that Jesus asks of God that it might pass from him. He cries out intimately to his Father—his Father with whom he has walked more closely than any man. His Father, with whom he is one in his divinity. He cries out, “ABBA FATHER! You can do anything. Take this cup from me!” How much did Jesus in his humanity endure temptation and testing and suffering? More than any other man the author of Hebrews tells us. He endured the full weight of it and never sinned. Thank God he never sinned. And this was the perfect opportunity to. But he says instead,

“not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).

Jesus is obedient to his Father, even unto death. He resists sin to the point of shedding his blood, a reality Luke alludes to as he describes this moment saying that Jesus sweat became “like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Does Jesus anticipate the torture and death that awaits? Sure. But the true wrath he sees is the forsakenness that awaits him. He will be forsaken by his Father. And the reality is, he is he Son of God. He is the King. At any moment he could call down twelve legions of those angels (Matthew tells us) that are peering down. He could call—do some math—thirty-six to seventy-two thousand angels to come and wipe out all humanity so that he can take his throne. But this is not the Father’s will…so he stands fast. He submits himself to the Father’s will.

Consider the contrast with Adam’s helpless race. While Jesus prays what evangelist Leonard Ravenhill said is ” the most wonderful thing human lips have ever uttered,” Peter and James and John don’t hear it. At least not all of it. Why? Because they are sleeping! They are not strong enough in their physical flesh, let alone in their sin-sick flesh, to even stay awake and pray. They can’t even obey Jesus’ command to, “Watch and pray” for the sake of their own souls. While Jesus endures and resists temptation for the sake of all.

The picture Mark offers here is one of completion. This scene illustrates the complete weakness of Adam’s race. Three times Jesus comes and finds the disciples asleep. Three times they fail. Adams’ race, sinful man, is completely lost. The cup of God’s wrath, not the cup of God’s salvation awaits their lips…if not for Jesus. He is their hope. They’re not strong enough to drink it and live, and yet it is their destiny. If not for Jesus, the last Adam. The new Adam does what the old Adam and his race could never do. He trusts God completely. He trusts his Father, and he gives up his life for the sake of the kingdom of God. And he drinks the cup reserved for sinners.

The Cross and the Great Exchange
At the cross, Jesus drank to the dregs the full cup of God’s wrath so that the cup he gave us to drink, the cup of his perfect blood, truly is the cup of God’s salvation.

Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath, tasting the poisonous agony of every sin, small and great, mingled with the fiery torment of God’s wrath crying out, “My God, God, why have you forsaken me?” And the cup had its full transforming effect. The man who knew no sin, became sin for us.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin…(1 Corinthians 5:21).

And at the cross, King Jesus gave to us, sinners, his cup of God’s salvation. He was the only one who deserved to drink from this cup, and in his death, he gave it to us. And because of the cross, the cup of God’s salvation has its full transforming effect. We become the very righteousness of God in Jesus.

…so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (1 Corinthians 5:21).

No man in history ever perfectly loved, trusted, and submitted to the Father even when he promised him life. But Jesus perfectly loved, trusted, and submitted to the Father even when he promised him death. He knew his Father would not abandon his soul, though all others would. This was a death leading to life. And Jesus, our champion of the faith, the true disciple of God the Father, our King invites us into his reward of eternal life.

This Good Friday remember that at the cross, our King took our sinner’s cup of God’s wrath and gave to us his King’s cup of God’s salvation. Long live the King.