These last few days, we have been reflecting on the impact of broken covenants.  Each covenant’s basic structure is, “I, God, will do this and you, humans, will do that.” From Adam to Moses, when a covenant is broken, it is always broken in the same way – people fail. So what good will it do to establish a new covenant? What is the point in God recreating a new covenant when every one so far has fallen to pieces?

The covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 is not only new, it is different.  We begin to get this sense in 31:22 where Jeremiah says:

The LORD will create a new thing on earth—
       a woman will surround a man.

The word for “created” is the same as in Genesis 1:1. Only God is able to “create” something completely new. The cryptic phrase "a woman will surround a man", probably refers to God’s people clinging onto God and not letting go. Since they have let go every time in the past, then this would definitely be a new thing.

Which then brings us to, what some say is the theological high point in the OT: The new covenant:

"The time is coming," declares the LORD,
       "when I will make a new covenant
       with the house of Israel
       and with the house of Judah (31:31)

This new covenant is powerful and world-changing.

1. There is profound reconciliation.
God’s covenant is with both Israel and Judah – two nations divided by centuries of violent and bloody conflict (31:31b). They will be drawn together in harmony, as one new Kingdom before God. This same theme is developed in Galatians 3:

Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (25-28)

2. There is profound regeneration.
God will write his law on their hearts. Jeremiah has already told us what is currently written on our hearts in 17:1:

Sin is engraved with an iron tool,
       inscribed with a flint point,
       on the tablets of their hearts
       and on the horns of their altars.

Now the law will be written in a completely new way:

I will put my law in their minds
       and write it on their hearts.
       I will be their God,
       and they will be my people.

God wants to take possession of our hearts. What God does is to breathe the very spirit of his law into and through our minds and write them on our hearts. If the Holy Spirit possessed our whole being and takes complete control of our minds and our emotions, everything we did and are would be from God. We would no longer be separated from Him. We would know Him completely; for we are no longer on our own when we are one in Christ Jesus.

It is only when we learn to love and obey the law of God, when our heart and life are together and given wholly to the Lord, devoted to Him and His will that God can be to us the altogether inconceivable blessings which these words express, "I will be their God." God is not hard to find… he lives within us. But it is only when we are truly circumcised (in our hearts), that is, by cutting all those things that separate or blocked us from the face of God that we will truly find Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." That includes total surrender or submission to the Lord. Sincere repentance and turning away from our wicked ways is the route to having eyes focussed on Jesus.

3. There is profound intimacy.
We will all know God and no one will need to teach his neighbour about him. Instead of needing to be reminded of God on a regular and daily basis, we will enjoy such intimacy with him that we will be continually in His presence.

No longer will they teach their neighbours,
       or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
       because they will all know me,
       from the least of them to the greatest,"

4. There is profound atonement
This is where we realize what has changed so dramatically with this new covenant.

For I will forgive their wickedness
       and will remember their sins no more.

In his last conversation with his disciples, Jesus speaks of his death and resurrection and says:

This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Suddenly we realise that this forgiveness comes in a totally new way. If previously, the covenant was between God and humanity, now this new covenant was to be between God and Jesus Christ. This covenant cannot be broken by humanity’s sin and rebellion.  It is permanent and inalienable.

The Christian’s salvation is achieved not by keeping a covenant, but by being an undeserving recipient of the benefits of a covenant between two other parties. Christ fulfilled this covenant on Calvary’s tree and now sits at the right hand of God waiting his reward. We receive unlimited forgiveness and grace through this loving act of a merciful self-giving God who has created something new upon the earth.

If yesterday’s passage from 2 Kings 17 spoke of one of the darkest days for Israel and Judah, today’s recounts one of those moments when God acts to bring his people out of exile.  He is a liberating God, although he often works through the most un expected people.

Cyrus, king of Persia, is unconditionally praised by the post-exilic Jews. He later was considered as a messiah sent by God (Isaiah 45:1).  Daniel was a favourite of Cyrus (Daniel 10). Cyrus issued the decree of liberation to the Jews (Ezra 1:1-2), concerning which Daniel had prayed and prophesied. And he approved the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem which marked a great moment in the history of the Israelites.

We know quite a lot about this man:

A chronicle drawn up just after the conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus, gives the history of the reign of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, and of the fall of the Babylonian empire. In 538 BC there was a revolt in Southern Babylonia, while the army of Cyrus entered the country from the north. In June the Babylonian army was completely defeated at Opis, and immediately afterwards Sippara opened its gates to the conqueror. Gobryas, the governor of Media, was then sent to Babylon, which surrendered "without fighting," and the daily services in the temples continued without a break. In October, Cyrus himself arrived, and proclaimed a general amnesty, which was communicated by Gobryas to "all the province of Babylon," of which he had been made governor. Meanwhile, Nabonidus, who had concealed himself, was captured, but treated honourably; and when his wife died, Cambyses II, the son of Cyrus, conducted the funeral. Cyrus now assumed the title of "king of Babylon," claimed to be the descendant of the ancient kings, and made rich offerings to the temples. At the same time he allowed the foreign populations who had been deported to Babylonia to return to their old homes, carrying with them the images of their gods. Among these populations were the Jews, who, as they had no images, took with them the sacred vessels of the temple.

Not unlike the Romans who would follow him, it seems that he was prepared to be reasonably tolerant (albeit on his terms) of the diverse beliefs and customs of the peoples within his extended kingdom. After the conquest of Babylon, it is recorded that he paid homage at the temple of the Babylonian god Marduk – thereby gaining the support of the Babylonian people and minimizing further bloodshed. In Ezra 1:1-8,  it is "the Lord [who] inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation".

Whereas in Isaiah 1-39, the prophet saw the destruction of Israel as imminent, and the restoration in the future, the later chapters of Isaiah speak of the destruction in the past (Is 42:24-25), and the restoration as imminent (Is 42:1-9). So, for example, Is 39:6-7 sees captivity as being far in the future, whilst by Is 43:14 the Israelites are spoken of as already in Babylon.  So these later chapters help us to understand how God used an unbeliever to achieve his purposes:

Who has stirred up one from the east,
       calling him in righteousness to his service?
       He hands nations over to him
       and subdues kings before him.
       He turns them to dust with his sword,
       to windblown chaff with his bow.

He pursues them and moves on unscathed,
       by a path his feet have not travelled before.

Who has done this and carried it through,
       calling forth the generations from the beginning?
       I, the LORD – with the first of them
       and with the last—I am he."

Isaiah 41:2-4

Then the alliance between Cyrus and the Lord is made explicit:

"This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
       to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
       to subdue nations before him
       and to strip kings of their armour,
       to open doors before him
       so that gates will not be shut:

I will go before you
       and will level the mountains ;
       I will break down gates of bronze
       and cut through bars of iron.

I will give you the treasures of darkness,
       riches stored in secret places,
       so that you may know that I am the LORD,
       the God of Israel, who summons you by name."

Isaiah 45:1-3

Josephus (1st century AD )also mentions that Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and helped rebuild the temple. He also wrote to the rulers and governors that they should contribute to the rebuilding of the temple and assisted them in rebuilding the temple. A letter from Cyrus to the Jews is described by Josephus:

“I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to build the temple of God at Jerusalem on the same place where it was before.

I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country, and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. I require also that the expenses for these things may be given out of my revenues.

Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to Mithridates the treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews, that they may have them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the temple of God.

The priests shall also offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king and of his family, that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my will is, that those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void, shall be hung upon a cross, and their substance brought into the king’s treasury.".

This display of divine grace had created an atmosphere of awe and excitement among the people of God. He was causing them to return to their land.  Yet even as the exiles resettled in Jerusalem and engaged in the work of restoration, we read:

Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counsellors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. Ezra 4:4-5

Incredibly, in spite of the miracles, signs and provisions, simple discouragement neutralized their progress. Scholars say that their work stalled for nearly 20 years!  Discouragement is an enemy that is both subtle in its attack and powerful in its ability to stop us. We must discern it when it comes and refuse to accommodate its influence when it speaks.

Exile was something that everyone dreaded. What would it feel like to you if you were suddenly taken from your home and banished from your country into one you knew very little about, maybe nothing about? Maybe just taken to the nearest port, put on the nearest ship, and told, "Don’t ever come back." You’d be stripped of all your goods, maybe all you had, the clothes on your back. You would have no income any more. You couldn’t work. Maybe you were even separated from your family.

Exile is a form of punishment that God has used from the very beginning. In Genesis 3, we have the first instance of exile imposed by God Himself.

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Gen 3:23-24

The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Gen 4:10-12

The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. . Gen 11:6-7

But God said to him, "Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring." Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. Genesis 21:12-14

Abraham, Jacob and Joseph all had to go through exile at some part of their life to learn the lessons that God wanted them to learn so that they would look for the city that He had placed before them and grab hold of eternal life…….

Though they had short periods of obedience to God, it was very soon that Israel would sink into disobedience and God would have to send someone to save them for a time. But it was only a matter of time, a matter of generations before God had had enough and Israel and Judah had to be removed from the promised land and into exile. Unlike his predecessors from the time of Jeroboam, Hoshea neither established the rites of Baal, nor compelled the people to adhere to the symbolic worship of the calves (2 Kings 17). Yet the whole nation had become so completely apostate that God finally moved in righteous judgment.

In 2 Chronicles 36 we see the same thing happen to Judah. Judah was a little better than Israel. They kept the covenant a little bit longer than Israel, but again with them it was only a matter of time.

Judah was exiled for seventy years and still they rebelled. They rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, and they rebelled against the word of God which, through Jeremiah, was telling them to submit to King Nebuchadnezzar; "He’s My servant." And they put Jeremiah in prison because he was speaking treason, according to them. But he wasn’t. God was their King and He was saying, "I have chosen Nebuchadnezzar. Follow him and you will avert this calamity." And they still wouldn’t even listen to that. And so they went into exile.

We see how terrible that exile was in Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
       when we remembered Zion.

This was indeed a bleak moment for Israel and Judah.

The people of Amos’ day really went to town celebrating their religious feasts, they brought the best offerings to the place of worship, they sang their praises of God enthusiastically. And that sounds so familiar!  I recently came across an Amos 5 sermon from Eden Baptist at Cambridge called, “When religion has become a shame, the lion roars”. Indeed, he does!

In Amos 5:21, God speaks to Israel in some pretty uncompromising terms:

I hate, I despise your religious feasts. I cannot stand your assemblies.

God’s people had a  duplicitous attitude to worship. They are bringing their offerings not only to the Lord but to other gods as well. They thought that once they had been through the ritual of worship, they could do what they liked the rest of the time. And God delivers a series of stinging rebukes of their attitudes to justice and righteousness. They might well be bringing to God what the Law of Moses required of them – the tithes, ritual offerings and sacrifices – but their real thoughts are often elsewhere.

The renowned American economist J K Galbraith puts it this way in The Affluent Society

Few things have been more productive of controversy over the ages than the suggestion that the rich should, by one device or another, share their wealth with those who are not. With comparatively rare and usually eccentric exceptions, the rich have been opposed. The grounds have been many and varied and have been principally noted for the exclusion of the most important reason, which is the simple unwillingness to give up the enjoyment of what they have.

To put it another way, people like us – the rich of this world – are generally too selfish to share with the vast majority of this planet – the poor – that which we enjoy as what we take to be our right. For Amos, the two major casualties of such a selfish and grasping attitude are truth and justice.

Truth

The prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil Amos 5:13

This “prudent man” is not the “wise” man of Proverbs and Psalms, but the man who thinks he’s going to get on a bit better if he doesn’t rock the boat. Yet in Amos 5:10 we read:

You despise him who tells the truth.

The people of Amos’s day weren’t too keen on listening to the prophets and those who spoke God’s word uncompromisingly ended up in all kinds of trouble. Those who today try to speak out for the poor, who advocate a more thoughtful and equitable use of the world’s resources, are abused in all kinds of ways. Dom Helder Camara, a Brazilian bishop who has faced all kinds of obstacles as he has tried to help the poor of that vast country, once said,

If I give money to the poor, they call me a saint: if I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist

Steve Turner puts it this way:

No, you didn’t stone the prophet.
You said there were crazies like him
Around in Ancient Rome
But Italy survives.
The official view was
Don’t panic.
You didn’t stone the prophet.
You didn’t even censor him.
You didn’t put him in prison.
You just put him in perspective.

Amos 5 challenges us to make sure that the voice of truth is expressed in every situation. Some years ago, Tony Campolo realised that the practices of a multi-national food conglomerate were highly offensive to those who took what the Bible has to say about justice seriously. So he and a few of his students bought one share in the company, one share that permitted them to go to the annual meeting of shareholders and there they made their point so tenaciously that the company eventually changed its policies.

“All that is needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.”

So Edmund Burke is reported to have said. Once we have decided that we are going to ignore what’s going on around us, that we are not going to face up to the truth, then justice goes out of the window too.

Justice
In this prophecy, Amos says clearly there is no justice. Wrongs that could be righted with the political will are continuing, because the rich like things that way.

“They sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed” (2:6-7).

Jesus died on the cross not just for people like me, but for all people and especially the poor:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news for the poor.”

Amos could see truth and justice disappearing, along with compassion and unselfishness. What could be done? In 5:5-6 he says that the first thing to do is to “Seek the LORD”. Then he provides a stark contrast with his condemnation of the pious and empty religiosity of the Israelites’ worship: “Let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream.” Here is what you could call the principle and practice of justice

Through the ages it has been the Church’s concern for justice, its care of the poor and dispossessed that has marked it out from other organisations. Senator Barry Goldwater when he was seeking the presidential nomination in the USA back in 1964, said:

“Let me remind you that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

He didn’t win!!  There is still a huge gap between rich people like me and the poor majority of the world’s population. What can we do? The advice of Amos is, “Seek good not evil, that you may live.” Then we might be able to worship God with real integrity.

Bernhard Anderson has best expressed the value of the Twenty-third Psalm when he wrote,

No single psalm has expressed more powerfully man’s prayer of confidence ‘out of the depths’ to the God whose purpose alone gives meaning to the span of life, from womb to tomb.

The Shepherd

Phillip Keller has written a book on Psalm 23 entitled A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, which has many helpful insights. He writes from the background of growing up in East Africa and later making his living as a sheep rancher for about eight years. However as Keller points out,the vantage point of the psalm is from the perspective of the sheep, not that of the shepherd: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

When David spoke of the Lord as his shepherd, he thought of Him not only as his provider and protector but also as his king. Because God was David’s shepherd, he lacked (wanted) nothing. Through the ages Satan has attempted to portray God as a begrudging giver who only provides when He must. For example, Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1), Jesus’ temptations (Matt 4:1-11), and in the warning of Paul concerning the doctrine of demons (1 Tim 4:1-4).

Our whole advertising culture is “want" based. But David tells us that to have God as our shepherd is itself to have everything we want. Him we need nothing else (Ps 73:25-26). But with God as his shepherd David did not have everything he could possibly desire or possess. As David’s shepherd, God provides him with rest and restoration. He does this by supplying him with the necessary provisions of food and water. Rest is certainly related to the required physical provisions of food and water, but rest is also related to restoration.

For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing ground, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God (Ez 34:11-15).

While a shepherd provides his sheep with food, rest, and restoration, God provides His sheep with his Word and Spirit, which are the principle means of giving spiritual nourishment, rest, and restoration.

Guidance is recognised as another task of the shepherd. He leads his sheep to places of nourishment and rest (v2), but he also leads them in the proper paths. God’s guidance is more than leading us in the “right path”; it involves his leading us in “paths of righteousness.” And he does so “for His name’s sake”, for the sake of his reputation. God’s reputation as seen by his care of his people. Yet the “paths of righteousness” are not always peaceful paths. We are never promised there will be no evil. Only that we may “fear no evil” (v4).

The host

No greater security or comfort could be obtained by a traveller in the ancient Near East than to be offered the hospitality of a home. It was understood that this was a provision of shelter and food, but even more it was a guarantee of protection from harm. The table prepared in the presence of David’s enemies was the host’s public announcement to them not to attempt to molest David in any way. The amount of security which any host could provide depended upon his prestige and power. The abundance of his provisions indicated that he was a prosperous, powerful, and generous man. To have the hospitality of such a host was to be secure indeed!

Most significantly, David is not a guest for a few days at the home of his gracious host; he is a permanent part of this household. There is an old Greek saying that goes something like this: “A guest is like a fish … After three days, he stinks.” To be a guest in God’s house is not limited to three days. David is assured that he will “dwell in the house of the Lord” forever.

The Saviour

In order to become the Good Shepherd, Jesus first had to become a sheep—the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (Jn 1:29). Every person who is one of God’s flock (by personal faith in Christ) is individually cared for as one of God’s sheep.

Sometimes we eel that God only cares about us when everything is going well. That God is with us only when we are lying in grassy meadows alongside restful waters. Once we find ourselves in a dark valley, we can question the presence and the care of the Shepherd. In fact, in times of distress, God’s care and keeping is more certain than ever.

God cares for us individually, but normally that he cares for us through others. When human shepherds fail us, we may begin to question the concern of the Good Shepherd. Let us learn that God Himself never fails us, never leaves us, and never will forsake us!

We were thinking about "the gods" just a few days ago.  How we see just how much power they have. We don’t know why the Israelites were at Mount Carmel. Perhaps the people were desperate and would do almost anything if they thought it would end the drought. Whatever was going to happen up there, it was going to be interesting, and many were there to see it for themselves. Initially, the people did not say a word; they did not commit themselves, one way or the other (v21). It is only after Elijah spells out the challenge that the people openly agree that it is a fair contest (v24).

This is not a conflict so much between Elijah and King Ahab. Despite Ahab is being an exceedingly wicked man, the most wicked king Israel had seen, Elijah’s face-to-face conversation with him is limited.. The real conversation is between Elijah and the Israelites. The Israelites are wavering between Yahweh and Baal, and also between Ahab (and Jezebel) and Elijah. They have been straddling the fence, and it is time for them to commit themselves one way or the other. Pagan theology often welcomes a plurality of gods, but the God of Israel does not. So let the people choose, here and now, whom they will serve.

We are told that Baal was sometimes pictured with a bolt of lightning in his hand: "The people believed Baal to represent the sun-god also and in their epics thought he rode the thunderclouds and sent lightning (as did the Hebrews the LORD, Ps 18:14; 104:3-4).” So, too, we find that God is said to send fire from heaven: "Moses and Aaron then entered into the Tent of Meeting and went out and blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Then fire went out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it so they shouted loudly and fell on their faces (Leviticus 9:23-24)".

I wonder how many people really expected to see fire? If anyone did, they were disappointed. Around noon, Elijah began to call attention to the failure of these prophets and their god.

Donald Wiseman notes: 

Elijah’s taunt is that Baal was acting in a merely human manner. He uses terms known to the people from the Ugaritic Baal myths. Was the god musing on the action to take (deep in thought)? Had he gone aside to answer the call of nature? Or had he left on a journey with Phoenician merchants? Was Baal asleep as Yahweh was not (Ps. 121:3-4)? The practice of self-inflicted wounds to arouse a deity’s pity or response is attested in Ugarit when men ‘bathed in their own blood like an ecstatic prophet.

What a pathetic “god” this Baal is! Elijah was brutal in his attack, but this was no time for subtlety. Either their “god” was God, or he was not. If he was not available at a critical time like this, then he could never be counted on; he should never be trusted, and especially if the God of Israel did respond.

These false prophets think that there is some merit in shedding blood. They have not been able to get their god’s attention in any other way, and so they begin to mutilate their bodies with swords and spears, as though the sight of blood will finally arouse Baal. It is not the blood that men shed that counts; it is only the blood which the Son of God shed on man’s behalf. It is Jesus’ shed blood which should get our attention.

I think the people are looking on all the time that Elijah is rebuilding his altar. Twice Elijah instructs them to pour more water on the sacrifice. It is his way of proving that what happens next is of God and God alone. Elijah prays that God will hear his prayer so that the people will know that Lord alone is God, and so that his people will worship Him alone. He prays that the people will see that he has done all these things at the Lord’s command. He does not pray specifically for Ahab to turn, but rather generally, that this people will hear and turn. He prays that they will know that it is God who has turned their hearts toward Him. Almost immediately, it would seem, God did respond. He sent fire from heaven that consumed the bull and the wood, and the stones, the dust, and the water. The fire consumed everything.

God had won. The people not only reached the right conclusion, they acted on it as they should have. They fell on their faces, acknowledging, “The LORD, is the true God! The LORD is the true God!” (v39). In all the excitement of the contest on Mount Carmel, we almost forget about the rain!

These events follow on the exact same point we saw yesterday: If my people…

Israel’s sin resulted in divine discipline—God ceased to give rain. The confrontation on Mount Carmel, then, was designed to turn Israel away from her idolatry and back to God, in order that God might once again send the rains. It was God who brought them to repentance. It was not Israel that was seeking God; it was God who was seeking Israel, as always.

There is a final lesson here concerning prayer. Prayers to the wrong god are futile. Success praying does not necessarily depend on numbers, fervency, frequency or fame.  It is much more about the righteousness of one who prays (James 5:13-18).

There are few better known verses in the Old Testament than:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

These are words of revival and we can observe a spiritual progression.  Alan Redpath said:

“I would always distinguish revival from evangelism. Although often confused, the two are entirely different. Evangelism is winning the unsaved; revival has to do with the Christian. Evangelism is the permanent duty of the church; revival is a gracious out pouring of the Spirit of God.”

“It is possible to have a measure of success in evangelism without ever having revival, but I do believe that genuine revival in the church would lead to a mighty blessing in evangelism, inevitably. The fact that the fruit of evangelistic witness today may be relatively small in comparison with the effort and money that are put into it is not necessarily the fruit of the evangelist. To introduce young converts into dead churches even though many of them are orthodox in doctrine, is to quench the Spirit and freeze out the fruit of a soul-saving ministry.”

1. “If my people who are called by My name. . .”

This is written specifically to God’s people those who owned, or professed God’s name.

2. “. . .humble themselves. . .”

Revival does not come to the proud.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. 
And what does the LORD require of you? 
To act justly and to love mercy 
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
James 4:6

And, of course, our model is Jesus who, ". . . humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."

3. “. . .pray. . .” 
To pray selflessly, earnestly and constantly is the key to revived relationship with God. Charles Finney say that he prayed all night, not because God was reluctant to hear him but because he had to get his heart ready for what God had to say. As the old timers spoke about “praying through”. So to George Mueller who said:

I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming.

4. “. . .seek My face. . .”

According to Avery Willis, the situation of 2 Chronicles 6 and 7 involves a “Solemn Assembly” that is a where the whole nation seeks the Lord’s face and favour.  To support his view, Willis cites several passages; for example, Asa in 2 Chronicles 15:2; Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20; Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 29-31; Josiah in 2 Chronicles 34 and Joel in Joel 1:14; 2:1,12-17.

5. “. . .turn from their wicked ways. . .”

Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:7).

We so need revival. it’s so easy to lose a passion for God and a passion to walk according to his ways. Therefore there must be a turning from everything that is not of God. The great hymn by B. B. McKinney picks this out:

Send a revival among Thine own,
Help us to turn from our sins away,
Let us get nearer the Father’s throne,
Revive us again, we pray.”

6. “. . .Then I will hear from heaven. . .”

To hear means to listen to a point of action. This is no different to Jesus who was moved into action at the sight of those who were ”sheep without a shepherd". God was promising to respond to their cries. Evangelist Dwight L. Moody said of the God’s response to our confession: “It brings heaven within speaking distance.”

7. “. . .I.will forgive their sin. . .” 

God’s mercy to sinful people is coupled with his patience towards his forgiven people, with you and me.  For 1 John 1:9 reminds us, Christians, that “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

8  “. . .I.will heal their land.”

Avery Willis writes, “Make the connection. If we will not heed God’s warning through His Word, He’ll speak to us through His world. He will allow disasters to come upon us. . .to get our attention.”  But once our attention is grasped and confession made, then God can pour out his revival. For God will heal the land and sending down the showers of Holy Spirit rain.  He promises not only to cleanse their land but to cause the seeds to burst forth bring wider blessing. 

In many of the Great Revivals, these was a positive impact on the surrounding area. So during the Welsh Revival, early in the 20th century, the local courts closed as there was no crime, drunkards were reformed and pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many. It was reported that the pit ponies failed to understand their born again colliers who seemed to speak the new language of Zion – without curse and blasphemy! Even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the converts.  The Revival storm that hit the hills and valleys of Wales in the dying months of 1904 soon became a hurricane that affected the world. International visitors came and as they caught the flame, they passed it on to new countries. Welsh communities throughout the world felt the effects and news of God’s powerful work soon had many other churches praying that God would visit then as well – the Khasia Hills in Indi being a good example of prayer answered.

The same happened in Lowestoft in the early 1920’s when many people in the town became Christians. It was said that the presence of God was so real that criminality was suppressed. People lived at peace because they had peace with God.

This is a story about getting too big for our boots and how God still manages to achieve what he wants. In verses 1-3, David is referred to as the king, but when God refers to David, He calls him My servant David (v5). In relation to the people of Israel and beyond, David is the highest authority in the land. But to God, David is merely a servant. David is living in a palace, and God is living in a tent. David almost appears to be wanting to give God a helping hand! So God reminds him that David maybe a king but he’s still God’s servant, and says to him, “Who are you to be building Me a house?”

The value of a temple, compared to the tabernacle, appears in the NT:

"The Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:  ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?  (Acts 7:44-50).

Stephen argued that God gave Israel the tabernacle, and that the temple was David’s idea. He then went on to show that the God who created all things surely cannot be confined to a dwelling made by human hands. In short, God did not need a temple, and He did not ask for one. He allowed David’s son to build the temple because David wanted it. It wasn’t wrong; it just wasn’t God’s idea. God did not need a temple, and for some, a temple would give the wrong message.

God explains to David why He does not need a temple made by him:

1. “If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.” The tabernacle had functioned flawlessly. When the people moved from one place to another, the tabernacle and the ark went with them. God was with his people wherever they went. He gave them victory over their enemies. He gave them the possession of the promised land. There was nothing to fix; the tabernacle did the job!

2. “I didn’t ask for one.” God instructed the Israelites to build the tabernacle; He did not ask for a temple. It was not necessary.

3.  God did not need a helping hand! As Peterson puts it:

The message that Nathan delivers to David is dominated by a recital of what God has done, is doing, and will do. God is the first-person subject of twenty-three verbs in this message, and these verbs carry the action. David, full of what he’s going to do for God, is now subjected to a comprehensive rehearsal of what God has done, is doing, and will do for and in David. What looked yesterday like a bold Davidic enterprise on behalf of God now looks picayune [small change].

4. God has so much more to do!  God promises to appoint a place for his people where they will be planted. They will have a place of their own (as David intended to give God a “place of His own”), and they will dwell in peace there because the wicked will no longer afflict them. It won’t be like it used to be, from the time of the judges till the present. God will give David rest from all his enemies.  This prophecy, like many others, has a near and a distant fulfilment:

a) At the near end is Solomon, David’s second son by Bathsheba. It is he who will take David’s place and reign over Israel after his death. We know that Nathan’s words must refer to Solomon because they include the fact that David’s “son” will sin, and that God will correct him.

b) God calls Jesus his “Son” at His baptism (Luke 3:22) and at His transfiguration (Luke 9:35). Peter makes mention of these words, linking these words to the transfiguration (2 Peter 1:17). The writer to the Hebrews also makes use of these words as proof that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah (1:5; 5:5). In 5:5, the author of Hebrews specifically refers to this passage as having been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

c) The word “son” or “sons” is also used of those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. When we are saved by faith, we become the “sons” of God. This term “sons” not only means we become a child of God, but that we become those who will reign with Him (Rom 8:18-23).

d) When Christ returns to this earth and we are raised from the dead, we are adopted as sons in Christ, and we shall reign with Him for all eternity.

Some applications!

1. Even our highest, most noble ambitions and goals are flawed by sin.

2. No matter how high and lofty our goals and plans may be, God’s plans are greater.

3. The greatness and glory of God’s presence and power are not to be interpreted in the light of how spectacular the surroundings and setting are. God is “enthroned upon the praises of His people” (Psalm 22:3). God has chosen to dwell in a very different “temple” these days; it is the “temple” of His body, the church.

4. We do not need a ‘temple’ in order to worship God. In fact, David is drifting away from worship when he proposes the construction of a temple. All true worship begins, not in a spectacular building, but in focusing on the greatness and the grace of our God.

5. However mature and wise a Christian might become, that does not insulate us from sin. David is in more danger in his palace than he was fleeing from Saul and hiding out in some cave. Every spiritual success is a gift of God’s grace.

I blogged on this passage last year, but let’s return it it again!

Martin Luther King Jr. begins his autobiography:

Of course I was religious. I grew up in the church. My father is a preacher, my grandfather was a preacher, my great-grandfather was a preacher, my only brother is a preacher, my daddy’s brother is a preacher. So I didn’t have much choice.

He did have a choice, and he made it with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

Joshua has summoned the people to Shechem to renew their covenant with God. He recounts the history of this relationship. He begins by remembering their distant past, "long ago," literally "from eternity," when the ancestors of the Israelites lived "in the land beyond the river," that is, the Euphrates. He then tells what God did for their ancestors: he gave them descendents and good land; defeated their enemies and brought them out of slavery; brought them to a new land and gave them victory over the Amorites.

Joshua does not follow the normal recalling of their ancestors "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob". Instead, he goes even further back in history to Terah, Abraham’s father, and includes the lesser known Nahor, Abraham’s brother. In doing so, Joshua shows that from the story’s beginning, there have always been examples of the Israelites’ faithlessness. Terah and Nahor "served other gods" (24:2).  When Jacob and Laban make their covenant at Mizpah, they swear by the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor (Gen 31:53). 

People did have a choice and from the beginning of history, there are those who did not choose to serve the Lord.

Against this background, Joshua exhorts the people to fear and serve God in complete faithfulness (Joshua 24:14). "Serve God" becomes the core message. He repeats the word twice in verse 14, and it appears three times in the subsequent four verses. The NEB translates the word as "worship;" other translations render it as "serve." The link is, of course, Romans 12.1; to worship God is to serve God. "

"Worship" emphasises that we should worship only God and not bow down to other gods.

"Serve" reminds the Israelites that whilst they have been freed from slavery in Egypt their freedom is not absolute. Rather than being Egypt’s servants they have become God’s servants. In Egypt there was no choice, now they must choose to serve God (24:15). To some this option is more than just "undesirable" (NIV) rather it appeared be "evil in your eyes," (ESV) and it seemed "evil unto you" (KJV).

If it is a choice — perhaps undesirable, perhaps even seemingly evil — to serve God, then why would they make it?

There are two answers:

The first one comes in verse 17. The reason to serve God is because of what God has done for them. The history that Joshua himself recounted in detail for them proves this.

The second reason comes from the first. If God has done this for us, then he is our God. In verse 15, Joshua points to the availability of other gods—the gods of the Amorites, the gods of their ancestors, or the Lord. But the people rightly acknowledge that the Lord is their God. It would be absurd to serve other gods, and to forsake God, when this God is ours!

Joshua has laid out the challenge — choose to serve God — and the people have responded, "We will serve God!" Not content with this, Joshua lays down the gauntlet, telling them that they cannot serve God, and warning them of the consequences for forsaking the Lord. To this, the people once again sound the chorus, "We will serve the Lord" (24:21, 24). The people "are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord" (22).

Jesus also recognises the necessity of "choosing to serve God," even though it will be difficult. In response to Jesus’ hard teachings, some do not make it. But, in reality,

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

We can leave, but why would we? Jesus has brought us this far, and he is our God, with the words of eternal life.

Loving God is the first part of our church’s mission statement because it simply is the first priority of every Christian. 

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment” (Matthew 22:35-38).

Because the worship of God is primary, false worship is one of the greatest evils man can practice. Idolatry is a serious problem. The final sentence of John’s first epistle (1 John 5:21) is a warning against idolatry. Idolatry is dangerous because it involves the worship of demons (1 Cor 10:20), and because we can do it thinking that we are actually worshipping God (Exod 32:1-6; 1 Kings 12:28-30).

Herbert Schlossberg notes:

But anyone with a hierarchy of values has placed something at its apex, and whatever that is is the god he serves. The Old and New Testaments call such gods idols and provide sufficient reason for affirming that the systems that give them allegiance are religions.”

WHAT ARE GODS?

1. “gods” are the object of man’s worship and service.

2. “gods” are superhuman beings, possessing powers much greater than men.
The powers which the gods possess are restricted to certain aspects of life. A given god may have control over fertility, while another over the rains or agricultural productivity, and yet another over war (as when Goliath cursed David in the name of his gods (1 Samuel 17:43). Most gods operate within certain geographical boundaries (often, the boundaries of a nation or empire, Judges 10:6; 2 Kings 17:27-31; 18:33-35). In the Old Testament we find “mountain gods” distinguished from “plain gods” (1 Kings 14:23, 28).

The gods are capricious and worshipped to appease their anger and to avert the outpouring of their wrath. The relationship between men and the gods is closely akin to prostitution. A price is paid and a service is rendered, but there is certainly no love between the two parties.

This is precisely why Israel needed but to trust in God alone and worship him for who is is rather than what could be gained from him. God is in control of every aspect of the life of his people, no other god is needed in addition to Him.

3. “gods” are seldom worshipped alone, but in plurality.
Pagan worship almost always involves a plurality of gods. More than one god is assumed. Thus, the Philistines assumed that Israel was delivered from the Egyptians by her gods (plural, 1 Samuel 4:8), rather than by her God (singular). Today, a polytheistic people will often gladly add another “god” to their pantheon of gods.  But there is no other god than the one true God of Israel. Israel’s confession therefore was:

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (Deut 6:4).

4. “gods” are man-made. The gods of pagan worship as having the stamp “man-made” on them, for they are the creation of man, shaped in his image, defined according to man’s preferences and desires.

"In India, it is not surprising to find that the gods of the peoples of the tribal areas are cobra, monkey, or tiger gods. In these interior areas you do not expect to find primitive tribesmen worshipping a shark god, for example. (You will not be surprised to find a sea-going people worshipping a shark god, however.) The gods which men worship are thus those which reflect their hopes and their fears. A brief review of the gods of ancient Egypt would show the same tendency."

WHAT ARE IDOLS?

Since the gods are man-made, false worship almost always employs idols.

1. An idol is used to represent a god. 
An idol is almost always made by men and has image of some part of creation (the sun, stars, a rock, a bull, a fish, a snake). The idol may depict some characteristic of the god (the bull might represent the strength of a god).

When God appeared to Israel on the mountain, he did not take a given form, and he cannot be represented by any form. God reveals himself through his word, through His people, and through His actions, and his final and complete revelation of himself is in Jesus Christ (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-4).

2. Idols are often the focus of the presence and power of a god. 
The idol becomes more than a means of worshipping a god, it becomes the object of worship — the god itself (Isaiah 42:17). Thus, the Ark of the Covenant was taken to war as an almost magical instrument, which could try to assure the Israelites of military victory (1 Samuel 4:3; 2 Kings 18:4).