“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.

In Jeremiah, God promises a new covenant. Consider the text, noting, first, what was wrong with the old covenant; second, God’s four promises; and, third, the relationships among the promises.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers … my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband…. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days…: [First promise] I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. [Second promise] And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [Third promise] And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest…. [Fourth promise] For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (From Jeremiah 31:31-34)

What’s Wrong with the Old Covenant

What does God say was wrong with the old covenant? Does He say anything was wrong with the Ten Commandments, or the sacrificial system, or the annual feasts?

No! The problem with the old covenant is that the people broke it! As we have seen in our Core Seminar, all biblical covenants have both promises and requirements. The people violated the requirements.

Now, realize: The problem is not sin in and of itself. Within the old covenant, there is provision for the forgiveness of sins – the sacrificial system. When the people sin, they are to confess, to repent, to return to God, and to offer the designated sacrifice. When they respond rightly to sin, they remain in the covenant.

The people become covenant breakers when they not only sin, but when they reject God, when they despise Him, when they place no value on His Word, His revelation, His promises.

The Logical Relationship Among the Four Covenant Promises

Jeremiah has emphasized the guilt of the people. So there is a need for forgiveness.  Thus the fourth promise is the basis, the logical ground, for the other three promises. Without forgiveness, guilty sinners can’t be the people of God.

Thus, Jesus fulfills the old covenant insistence on sin requiring the penalty of death. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

So the fourth new covenant promise logically precedes the other three. Without forgiveness, sinful people cannot be in relationship with a holy God.

Which promise comes next?

God forgives us, enabling us to enter His presence, to be among His people. But what happens when we sin again?

We know from 1 John 1:9 and other texts that we are to confess. That’s how we should think of the first new covenant promise: God’s writing the law, the torah, on our hearts.

Remember, the torah includes not only statutes and requirements but also instruction. The torah tells us who God is, what He is like, how we are to have a relationship with Him. When that is written on our hearts, when we sin, we repent!

God speaks of leading the people to do this in Jeremiah 31:9: “With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back.”

Just so for us. The law being written on our hearts does not imply that we lead perfect lives. Rather it implies that we see sin for what the torah tell us it is, and we see God as the torah describes Him. We thus recognize sin, know it is the path to destruction and not to joy – so we hate it. Furthermore, we know He offers us forgiveness through Jesus, so we come to Him humbly confessing and repenting. He then cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

Thus, the requirement for staying in the new covenant is not sinless perfection; if it were, there would be no hope for any of us. The requirement is to make use of the new covenant method to restore the relationship with God.

This then leads us to the third promise of the new covenant. When the torah is written on the hearts of all God’s people, they all know Him.

The torah includes this great description of God:

“A God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (From Exodus 34:6-7).

To know God, we must know of these attributes. But knowing Him implies more than knowing about Him. We must respond with joy, with worship, with delight, as God describes in the near context of Jeremiah 31:31-34:

Jeremiah 33:11 Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Jeremiah 31:14 My people shall be satisfied with my goodness.

So the third new covenant promise implies that we respond rightly to the truths God has told us about Himself. As Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Finally, the new covenant culminates in the fulfilment of God’s plan to create a people for Himself: “I will be their God, and they shall be my people,” the second new covenant promise. God’s people are in an eternal, life-giving, joyful relationship with Him, in Jesus, through Jesus, as Bride, as children, as redeemed.

This was the goal of the entire history of redemption, as hinted at in the Garden, shown a bit more clearly to Noah and Abraham, then shown yet more clearly to Moses and even more to David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other prophets. God’s plan has always been to fulfill the old covenant through the perfect seed of the woman, through the perfect offspring of Abraham, through the perfect Davidic king, through the perfect suffering servant – that is, through Jesus Christ. He is the only human who ever loved God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength every minute of every day. He is the only human who loved every person He encountered as He loved Himself. He is the faithful Israel of God.

And through His life, death, resurrection, reign, and return we can be united with Him. We can be God’s people; He can be our God – forever and ever.

Entering into and Enduring in the New Covenant

We must never think of Jesus or His work as a means to achieve a greater goal. For example: Don’t think of Jesus as a tool to cleanse you from the guilt of sin. Jesus is not a tool. Jesus is not a means to an end. Rather, Jesus is the Goal. He is the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in a field. As the Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:18, in everything Jesus must be preeminent.

So we enter into the new covenant – as pictured in baptism – by praying something like this:

Father, I gladly acknowledge that I am a sinner. I have closed my eyes to keep myself from seeing You; I have shut my mind to Your Gospel. I deserve Your judgment. But now I confess – that was the path to death, not life. That rebellion was not a pursuit of my greatest joy; rather, it was walking away from my greatest joy. Jesus is worth more than all the world has to offer. You, Father, invite me to be among your people by grace through faith in Him. I believe Jesus provided the payment for the penalty of my sins, and I believe that knowing Him is eternal life. Please accept me into His Kingdom, uniting me with Him and thus with You forever.”

Psalm 51:17 assures us, “a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

If you are not in Him, God calls upon you now: Come to Him, like that. He will incorporate you into His people.

If you are in Him – How do you endure in the new covenant?

Baptism pictures our entrance into the new covenant; the Lord’s Supper pictures our enduring in the new covenant. Jesus says “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). The Lord’s Supper is God’s gift to help us endure.

Note that our Lord uses new covenant language when instituting the Lord’s Supper in Luke 22:20: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” So whenever you partake of the Lord’s Supper, consider all four new covenant promises:

• Through the new covenant, we have forgiveness – as pictured in the bread and the cup
• Through the new covenant, the law/torah is written on our hearts. As you partake, ask Him to highlight part of that torah.
• Through the new covenant, all who are in Christ Jesus know Him, from the youngest to the oldest, from the least knowledgeable about Scripture to the most knowledgeable. As you partake, ask Him to deepen and to personalize that knowledge of Him.
• Through the new covenant, we are His people and He is our God. As you partake, ask Him to satisfy you with His goodness and to delight in the relational shalom He provides to guilty rebels like yourself. And know: He rejoices to do you good.

As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we get a foretaste of the final day described in Revelation 21:3: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”

Then, after reflecting on the new covenant promises while partaking of the Lord’s Supper, commit yourself to reflecting on them daily – and thus to feeding on Jesus daily. For if you are united with Jesus, all these new covenant promises are yours, now and forever. He forgives you; He writes His torah on your heart; you know Him; you are His people, and He is your God. Whatever happens in this life, whatever tragedies and sorrows, whatever triumphs and successes, these promises hold, and are far more important than all the rest.

So delight in that new covenant hope.

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. God weaved the desire to finally make it home to find a warm welcome—the warm glow of the light left on for you, warm bread on the table to nourish and comfort you, and the warm embrace of your family who loves you—into his story and, thus, into the human experience. In order to be properly enchanted by the richness and depth of this story and what awaits us in the new creation, we can’t hurry past the bits and pieces that make up this big story. What is this home for which we long like? Well, hopefully I can unpack that a bit for us through a series of articles. But for now, let’s look ahead at how Scripture describes the New Creation so that we can get just a wee taste of our future home.

And, I summed up the most recent post this way:

Your home with God welcomes you with promises. Your home with God promises warm light to greet your arrival from your sojourn in a dark world. And your home with God promises warm bread on the table to welcome you and satisfy the hunger you worked up on your long journey. Both the light and the bread are your King, Jesus. He, the light of the world and the bread of life, your God and King will say, “Welcome home.”

Also consider the way I summed up the second and third installments of this series, Home—The Mountain of God Part 1 and 2, which had the same conclusion,

“Our home…The mountain of God will be the joy of the earth (Psalm 48:1–2). And Jesus will reign there as our king. And when we finally come home we will come with singing. And everlasting joy shall be upon our heads. And we shall obtain gladness and joy. And sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35:10). And when we get there, our brother, the High King Jesus, will say, “Welcome home.””

Welcome. That is an emerging theme. God welcomes you home. While, as we explored in that recent post, God welcomes you home with light and bread, that light and bread indicates another element of that welcome: joy. God welcomes you home with joy. Consider some of the images Scripture offers us to point to the joy God has over you.

God’s Welcoming Joy In Scripture
Zephaniah 3:17 describes God’s joy over you whom he has saved. God rejoices over you with gladness before you have a chance to do anything. You will be so stunned by his joy over you that you will be moved to silence, Zephaniah says—he will quiet you by his love. And while you try to gather your thoughts, you’re again interrupted by his singing—he will exult over you with loud singing.

Perhaps Zephaniah adds a little color to the joy that we see alluded to Luke 15:8–10. There we see the parable of the lost coin. The woman searches and searches until she finally finds it. And in her joy she calls and gathers all of her friends and neighbors saying, “Rejoice with me!” And Jesus then says, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Notice Jesus doesn’t say that this joy is the angels’ joy, though it is safe to assume that they are certainly joyful. Jesus says this joy is before the angels of God. That is, God whom they behold erupts with joy before their covered faces at the return of a sinner. It’s the type of joy akin to a shepherd who at finding his lost sheep, throws him up on his shoulders rejoicing (Luke 15:5). The return of a sinner, the coming home of the repentant and redeemed prompts powerful joy in your heavenly Father.

Perhaps the best image of this joyful welcome is in the familiar parable of the prodigal son. When the long lost, rebellious son finally comes to his senses and decides to return home to his father as a servant, we see that even he couldn’t anticipate the type of joyful welcome that awaited him. Jesus describes it best:

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate (Luke 15:20–24).

Joyful welcome. That is what awaits you when you finally get home with God in Jesus. Or, rather, when Jesus comes to make his home with you. Yes we are journeying home to him through this world in a spiritual, pilgrimage sense. We are exiles now. But chronologically and eschatologically speaking, Jesus is coming back to make his home with us. And Jesus had something to say about that too.

In Luke 12:37, Jesus says that his people who faithfully work and faithfully pilgrimage through this life—people who hope in and await his return—are in for a stunning turn of events. Jesus says this regarding those faithful servants who look for his coming:

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them (Luke 12:37).

The stunning twist in this scene is that the master, King Jesus, will come home and even as you are trying to welcome and serve him, he will welcome and serve you. He will sit you down at his table and he will serve you.

Your God and King rejoices at the prospect of your coming home to him. And when this spiritual reality of being at home with the Lord in Jesus transforms into the eschatological reality of being at home with Jesus in the new heavens and new earth, you will be welcomed with joy. Again, Isaiah 35:10 (51:11) makes for a fitting conclusion:

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.

Christian, you will be welcomed home with joy. King Jesus himself saying to you, “Well done. Welcome home. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).

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. God weaved the desire to finally make it home to find a warm welcome—the warm glow of the light left on for you, warm bread on the table to nourish and comfort you, and the warm embrace of your family who loves you—into his story and, thus, into the human experience. In order to be properly enchanted by the richness and depth of this story and what awaits us in the new creation, we can’t hurry past the bits and pieces that make up this big story. What is this home for which we long like? Well, hopefully I can unpack that a bit for us through a series of articles. But for now, let’s look ahead at how Scripture describes the New Creation so that we can get just a wee taste of our future home.

In that very first post, from which this excerpt is taken, I pointed to C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle and a memorable scene where all the characters are racing to the new Narnia, that is, the new creation to get to at the same point. There, the Unicorn says it best,

It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the ground and neighed, and then cried: “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!”

God intends the elements that he weaved into his story of redemption to draw our gaze and our hearts further up and further in to what awaits us in the new heavens and new earth, our true home. The things we see in this story of redemption that naturally evoke a sense of home shouldn’t be written off as mere coincidence. God intends them to offer us a foretaste of our future home where he dwells with us and us with him. We see some perhaps unassuming, easily passed over pointers to home in Scripture’s description of the tabernacle.

I once had a professor point out that in God’s house, he always leaves a warm light on and warm bread on the table for his people.[1] Let’s consider those elements and what they promise.

Light
Consider Leviticus 24:1–4 (cf. Exodus 27:20–21),

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.”

The High Priest has the responsibility to always keep the lamp of God in the tabernacle burning. Consider what that tells us. The tabernacle sat in midst of the camp of people of Israel. It was the place where God dwelled so that he dwelt in the midst of his people. This camp with this set up, God dwelling in the midst of his people, was the home of God’s people. Imagine being an Israelite at this time who was coming home from a long journey or even just catching up with the rest of the camp to set up your own tent (When millions of people travel together, you have to move in stages [Exodus 17:1]. Thus, not everyone arrives at the same time to the destination). As you get close to camp it’s already dark, what do you see? The light of fires in the distance. Each family of each tribe lighting their fires for cooking and for warmth and lighting their lamps for light. What does it signal to you? Home. We’ve made it. As you get closer, these lights begin to burn out one by one as the people settle in for the night. But, there is one light that stays on. There is one light that beckons to you. There is one light that says, “You’re home.” The lamp of tabernacle, God’s house, remains ever burning. What the burning lamp of God in God’s house would tell the weary Israelite or sojourner among God’s people is this: “I, your God, am home. I am with you, and I’m leaving the light on for you. You are home and you are welcomed.”

You are a sojourner on this earth looking for a better country, a heavenly home, the city God has prepared for you (Psalm 119:19; Hebrews 11:10, 16; 12:22; 14:14; 1 Peter 2:11). In this world, there will be darkness. But Jesus is the light of the world that leads you to life (John 8:12). And when you finally make it to your eternal home with God, you will not find a dark, cold house, shut up house. The warm light of our King will greet and welcome you:

“And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Bread
Consider Leviticus 24:5–9 (cf. Exodus 25:30),

“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”

The High Priest had the responsibility of always ensuring there was fresh bread sprinkled with fragrant frankincense on the table of the Lord in the tabernacle every week. Again, imagine if you were an Israelite in the camp. You’ve finished a hard day’s work, and you are on your way back to your family tent. You decide to walk past the tabernacle. As you walk by the pleasant smell of fresh baked bread, spiced with frankincense greets you. In fact every time you walk past the tabernacle—every time—this is a smell that greets you from the house of the Lord—warm bread, frankincense. While it may promise to cause your already hungry stomach to rumble, what else does this perpetual fragrance promise? You won’t be hungry much longer. It’s the promise that in the house of God, you will always be provided for, your hunger will always be satisfied. God welcomes you home with fresh bread and the promise of provision.

While you sojourn in a world of uncertainty, your king promises to provide you with your physical daily bread (Matthew 6:11). And, in your sojourn through this life you will not only find your physical hunger satisfied by your king, but he will satisfy your hunger for righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous world (Matthew 5:6). Indeed, your king is the bread of life that nourishes and satisfies your hungry soul in the life of your sojourn (Luke 22:19; John 6:33, 35, 48, 51). And when you finally make it to your eternal home with God, your King welcomes you and promises you will hunger no more:

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore (Revelation 7:15–16).

Home: Light and Bread
Your home with God welcomes you with promises. Your home with God promises warm light to greet your arrival from your sojourn in a dark world. And your home with God promises warm bread on the table to welcome you and satisfy the hunger you worked up on your long journey. Both the light and the bread are your King, Jesus. He, the light of the world and the bread of life, your God and King will say, “Welcome home.”

[1] Jason DeRouchie offered this insight during a lecture.

1. God chose you (Acts 13:17; Deuteronomy 7:6–8; Ephesians 1:3–5)
2. God has made you a people, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and his treasured possession (Acts 13:17; Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 2:9)
3. God redeemed you from slavery, giving you freedom (Acts 13:17; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Exodus 14)
4. God has patience with you (Acts 13:18; Romans 2:4; Romans 3:25)
5. God destroys your enemies (Acts 13:19; Colossians 2:15; Revelation 20:10, 14)
6. God is giving you an inheritance (Acts 13:19; 1 Peter 1:4)
7. God has given you a prophet and king, who speaks God’s Word, gives you ears to hear, and rules and judges justly (Acts 13:20–22; Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15–20; 34:10–12; David)
8. God has given you the promised offspring who crushes the serpent’s head (Acts 13:23; 2 Samuel 7:12–16; Genesis 12:1–3; Genesis 3:15)
9. God has given you repentance (Acts 13:24–25; Romans 5:19)
10. God has given you salvation (Acts 13:26; Romans 1:16; 5:17)
11. God has given you the perfect substitutionary sacrifice (Acts 13:28–29; Hebrews 10:12–14; Genesis 22:1–14)
12. God has given you a perfect, risen great high priest (Acts 13:30; Hebrews 4:14–15; 5:5–6; 10:11–13; Psalm 110:4)
13. God has given you witnesses (Acts 10:31; Romans 10:14–17; Hebrews 11; 12:1–3)
14. God has given you his the good news of his written Word (Acts 10:31–32; 2 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:12–13; Isaiah 52:7)
15. God has given you His Son, a risen, eternal, holy king (Acts 13:33–35; John 3:16; 1 John 5:12; Psalm 1–2; 2 Samuel 7:12–16; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14; Psalm 16:8–11; Psalm 72; Psalm 110; Isaiah 52:7)
16. God has given you an eternal covenant with all its blessings (Acts 13:34; Isaiah 55:3; 2 Samuel 7:13–16; 1; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14)
17. God has given you forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38; Colossians 2:13–14; Hebrews 10:17–18; Jeremiah 31:34)
18. God has justified you (Acts 13:39; Romans 3:21; Galatians 2:16)
19. God has made you his new covenant people of grace, purified and unified—the church, conformed to the image of his Son (Acts 13:40–42; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:4–22; Habakkuk 1:5; Isaiah 29:14)
20. God has given you to suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 13:49–50; Mark 8:35; Romans 8:18; Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 1:6–7; James 1:3–4; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Romans 5:3–5)
21. God has given you eternal life (Acts 13:46, 48; Colossians 2:13; John 3:16; John 4:14; Romans 6:23)
22. God has made you a light (Acts 13:47; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 60:1, 2–5; Isaiah 66:10–14; Philippians 2:15; Matthew 5:14)
23. God has given you joy (Acts 13:51–52; Psalm 16:11; Romans 5:3; Psalm 16:11)
24. God has given you hope and purpose (Acts 13:51; Matthew 28:18–20; Romans 5:1–5; 8:28; Ephesians 1:5; 2:10; 3:10; 1 Peter 1:3)
25. God has given you the Holy Spirit, adopting you as his own (Acts 13:52; John 7:37–39; Acts 2:1–4; Romans 5:5; Galatians 4:6; Numbers 11:29; Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28–32)

And here is, then, God’s consolation, the sum total of these twenty-five gospel consolations, for you—The God of glory gives you himself (Act 13:52; Romans 1:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:18; 2 Peter 1:3–4; Revelation 21:3–4; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 84).

So, when the cares of your heart are many, let God’s consolations for you in the gospel cheer your soul (Psalm 94:19).

There have been millions of such martyrs over the centuries. Here is the story of two from the 1930s with a tenuous but genuine link to our local church.

John and Betty Stam met at Moody Bible Institute in the 1920s. Betty had grown up in China as the daughter of missionaries. Sensing a call, John left a promising career to prepare for the field. Betty graduated a year before John and left for China, having been accepted by China inland Mission. Though they desired to marry, they delayed engagement, not knowing if John too would be accepted by CIM.

He was – and proved to be an adept student of the language and a passionate witness for Jesus. He preached a sermon in Chinese less than a year after entering the country. John and Betty then married in October 1933. Betty gave birth to their daughter Helen Priscilla the following September.

At the time Mao Tse Tung’s communist forces were rebelling against the nationalist government. By early December 1934 the communists were near the Stams’ residence. John and Betty made plans to evacuate if necessary, but the rebel army arrived much sooner than anticipated. John responded to their banging on the door by inviting  them in and offering tea. That initially calmed the situation. The rebels told John to write a letter to his superiors demanding a ransom – he communicated their request, concluding the letter by saying, “As for us, may God be glorified whether by life or by death.”

The letter was never sent. Evidently, the communist general found out that the nationalist forces were approaching rapidly. The following day John, Betty, and Helen Priscilla were taken 17 miles away and imprisoned in an abandoned farmhouse. By this point certain that they were to be killed, John and Betty hid their three-month-old daughter as well as they could, placing extra diapers and ten dollars near her.

At 10am December 8, the communists proclaimed, “Come and see the foreign devils killed!” They then stripped John and Betty to their underwear and marched them through the town. A shopkeeper who pleaded for their lives was killed. The rebels then forced Betty to watch while they nearly beheaded John. They then did the same to Betty.

What about Helen Priscilla? Some townspeople had pleaded for the baby’s life. We don’t know whether those pleas were effective or somehow in the excitement of the executions the communists forgot about her. But in any event, God sustained her through more than 24 hours alone in that house. A man named Lo Ke-chou then found her. He brought her with the bodies of her parents miles away to safety. On December 14 at long last John and Betty’s families in the US received the hoped-for telegram: “Stam baby safe.”

Five years previously, Frank Houghton of China Inland Mission had written the words we sang a few weeks ago – words that apply to the testimony of the Stams:

We bear the torch that, flaming,
Fell from the hands of those
Who gave their lives proclaiming
That Jesus died and rose;
Ours is the same commission,
The same glad message ours;
Fired by the same ambition,
To Thee we yield our powers.

O Father who sustained them,
O Spirit who inspired,
Saviour, whose love constrained them
To toil with zeal untired,
From cowardice defend us,
From lethargy awake!
Forth on Thine errands send us
To labour for Thy sake.

What is the link to Desiring God Community Church?

The first few years we held Perspectives on the World Christian Movement courses in Charlotte, one of our speakers was Pete Stam who lived in Wilmington. Then in his late 80s, Pete had served as a missionary in the Congo and for decades as Executive Director of Africa Inland Mission. We had several long conversations, and I much enjoyed getting to know him. John Stam was a brother of Pete’s father. Only 10 years younger than John, Pete was seventeen when he heard the news of the martyrdom of his aunt and uncle in China. He knew his cousin Helen Priscilla well.

Our God is at work, in life and in death. His power is overwhelming. His love cannot be stopped. His victory is certain. As Frank Houghton wrote, may we realize that we share the same commission, that we have the same glad message, and that the same Lord empowers us to complete the task He has given to us, His church. May we share the Stams’ certainty that Jesus is Lord, and that He is worth more than all the world has to offer.

[By Coty Pinckney. You can read more about John and Betty Stam at this link.]