Zion

Berean Baptist on May 14, 2018

Psalm 132

Psalm 132 is most interesting as it relates to the temple built by Solomon and the placing of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. For the previous five hundred years, Israel worshiped at the Tabernacle which at this time was located at Gibeon. When David was anointed king, he vowed to build a house for the Lord God but was prevented because scripture says he was a man of war. Instead, the building of the new magnificent sanctuary that would hold the most holy ark of the covenant was left to David’s son, Solomon.

Solomon’s reign was one of peace as no major wars occurred during his lifetime. At the same time, Israel increased in power and influence throughout the world. Solomon’s days were the most prosperous for Israel leading his reign to be known by successive generations as the Golden Age. In the New Testament, it was Solomon Jesus appealed to for His example of prosperity and notoriety telling the people He was greater than Solomon (Mt. 12:42) and comparing Solomon’s beauty to the loveliest of God’s creation (Mt. 6:29).

In the 13th verse of the psalm, the psalmist speaks of Zion as God’s choice for His holy habitation. Zion is Jerusalem and is synonymous with the city of God. The area was originally the hill on which David built his fortress, but later was expanded to include the temple mount. In the Old Testament when people spoke of going to Zion, they were referring specifically to making the trip to the temple.

Jerusalem is the only place God allowed a temple to be built. In the ancient world, temples for pagan gods were built in various locations such as Paul saw in Athens and Ephesus. However, the one true living God had only one place of worship and one place of sacrifice. In Paul’s time, the ark was long since gone but there was a stone in its place in the Holy of Holies on which the priest put a censor on the Day of Atonement. There were no images allowed and no representation of the ark. Any Israelite that wanted to observe the solemn feast days had only one place to go—he must go to Jerusalem.

Zion’s was further expanded to mean the holy city of the New Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). This is the brilliant city of light in Revelation 21. It is the home of the bride of Christ, the Lord’s church. The New Jerusalem is a city that comes out of heaven and descends to rest above the new earth, possibly touching it at some point. Although all of heaven belongs to God and His presence fills it all, His special manifestation is in the New Jerusalem whose entirety is His temple. Essentially, God’s people dwell within His temple. We are in Christ so that scripture says Christ Himself is the temple.

The beauty of worship in Solomon’s time was unparalleled by any other period of Israel’s history. It most closely models the worship of heaven. When the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she was stunned with the magnificence of what she saw. And yet, Jesus, the one who was a lowly carpenter, said He was greater than Solomon. The real beauty of Jesus is not seen on the outside. It is to be inside Christ to be able to understand how glorious He is. You can see His beauty by faith. Trusting Jesus is to have a glimpse of Zion, the holy city of God.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Count Your Blessings

Berean Baptist on January 9, 2017

 

Psalm 73

Psalm 73 expresses what I am sure are the sentiments of every Christian. This psalm was written by Asaph who makes an affirmative statement of the goodness of God in verse one, but very quickly confesses that he sees a great disparity between the physical, financial, and material character of God’s people and the world.

Who among us has not felt some kind of inequity when thinking about how well off are many unbelievers while we as Christians often face the hardships of life? There are some who see this disparity and they try to compensate for it with a theology that says God intends for all His people to live in financial prosperity and never suffer the physical ailments that are common to man. In other words, God has provided something more in His atonement than their salvation from sin and the effects of the curse. They are determined that all the benefits of the atonement should be immediately realized. They postulate the reason we do not receive them is because of lack of faith in God’s intention.

I do not have the time or space to argue the intricacies of the atonement, but I will say this psalm certainly rejects the idea Christians should be free from suffering because of it. The psalmist may very well lament the difficulties of life, but he overlooks them in favor of the rich spiritual blessings we possess in Christ. God promised to rid us of all inequities in another time while those who enjoy the pleasures of the world now will lose out forever in the world to come.

The feeling of being shortchanged in the present life is at times common to us all. I feel it at times as I travel. I love to travel but I do not have the resources to do it often nor to travel in luxury. I wait to board an airplane with the cattle call with great feelings of inferiority as I enviously pass through first class and its soft seats looking at those who board first. On my last trip, I took my place in the last row next to the restrooms where I sat for 5 ½ hours in a seat that would not recline.

I took the flight magazine out of the seat pocket and began reading an article about how increasingly common it is for Americans to have second homes in places like the Hawaiian Islands. This particular article told of a family that had a vacation home in a community with 180 degree views of the ocean. They were in a planned housing development where the lots start at five to ten million dollars. The article stated it like this, “Why don’t you own at least two of these?”

I am the guy sitting in coach with my knees under my chin, so why let me read something that makes me feel like a total loser? I refinanced my house four times just to keep up. So, I put the magazine away and took out my Bible. I read Psalm 73 and relived the agony of the psalmist. But then I came to the last part. By far the majority of the extremely wealthy know nothing of life and peace with God. The Psalmist said these people are far from God and they will perish. Jesus said, “What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” I decided a $10 million lot in Hawaii is nowhere near worth what I have in Christ. So, I sat in coach and counted my blessings. After all, I could have spent my vacation in Bakersfield.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Incomprehensible! Unexplainable!

Berean Baptist on August 17, 2015

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalms 22:1)

It would be best that we tread lightly with these comments because we approach the holiest ground of any passage of sacred scripture. Here is the tree of Calvary prodigiously portrayed by the pen of David nearly one thousand years before the actual event. The mystery of scripture’s inspiration is opened before us with stunning accuracy as the death of the cross is foretold.

The first sentence of the 22nd Psalm is too high and holy for human comprehension. As Jesus hung on the cross bearing the sins of the world, He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Martin Luther read these words and was completely perplexed. He wrote, “How can this be, God forsaking God?” This question was not speculative hyperbole. This was truly God the Father turning His back on God the Son, the only begotten darling of the Father. He was forsaken as a vile criminal with no offer of compassionate support. Why would God do this? How could He do it?

The “why” is explained throughout the entire canon of scripture. Sin lives on nearly every page of your Bible. We are infected with it from head to toe. It saturates our minds and fills even the smallest crevice of our bodies. It is impossible to speak of humans unless you also consider the corruption of our nature and our abhorrence of God. Scripture says all have gone the way of sin—there is none righteous. We are so consumed that we are spoken of as spiritually dead. The “why” of God’s forsaking Christ becomes clear when we realize the stench, the sewerage, the disgusting filthiness of our vile nature—every repugnant vulgar sin was placed on Christ as He hung on Calvary. The “why” is because God in His holiness, in His perfect righteousness is incapable of looking on sin.

As Jesus hung on the cross, the Father did indeed turn His back on Him because Christ became everything that God is not. Fellowship with the Son must be cut off because in those hours of suffering He was doused in the corruption of the sins of the world. He was paying a ransom to God by suffering the pangs of Hell for His people. The “why” is the theology of the atonement. He suffered to bring us to God, and the only way He could do it was by separation from the Father. He could not become sin for us and at the same time remain in fellowship with the Father. The reduction of truth here to our level of understanding is that He was shut off from the Father so that we would not have to be. The marvelous truth that shines through for us is the love of the Father and the Son that caused both to break eternal harmony to rescue the wholly undeserving. The “why” of Christ’s rejection is profound, yet the whole history of redemption provides the explanation.

The other question is much more difficult. In fact, I cannot explain it. “How” did the Father do it? How can the invisible, immutable Holy God condescend to the fabric of the creature and then have all sin placed on Him? None of this is comprehensible to the mortal mind. It happened and we know it did, but we are left to gaze upon it and marvel at its reality while at the same time only thanking God that in His infinite wisdom He knew it was the only way our redemption could be accomplished. We marvel but we cannot explain.

This Psalm is mostly a mystery. I do not know how God did it, but thank God He did!

Pastor V. Mark Smith