“To the Fame of His Holiness”

O sing and make melody, you steadfast lovers of God,

Give thanks to him every time you reflect on his holiness! [Ps. 30.4, Passion Translation]

The Lexham English Bible says that the words “on his holiness” are literally “to the fame of his holiness.”

I like that. The purpose statement of Veritas Church in Fayetteville, NC [my son is a pastor there] is: “We exist for the fame of Jesus.” This seems to me to be a practical working out of Psalm 30.4.

How can we not give thanks every time that we reflect on the fame of God’s holiness? It is a holiness that limits the power of evil in this world, that says, “this far you may go, evil, but no further.” His holiness perfectly balanced justice and love at the cross so that no one can accuse God of acting unjustly (he appropriately punished sin at the cross) and yet, mankind can be set free from their slavery to corruption because God justifies sinners by placing their sin on his own Son at the cross. His holiness made a way so that we who are not holy can have eternal fellowship with him in his holy presence. His holiness is what will bring evil fully and finally to its knees in submission to him, he conquered it at the cross, he is conquering it as his church goes out in love to all the earth, he will conquer it completely when he comes again in power.

Yes! Yes we should be giving thanks every time that we reflect on God’s holiness.

“When He was in Distress”

“And when he was in distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors and prayed to him. And God responded to him and heard his plea and let him return to Jerusalem to his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.” (2 Chronicles 33:12–13, LEB)

Manasseh made a hash of being king.  The Bible says”“And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the Israelites.” (2 Chronicles 33:9, LEB)  His guilt was very great because he was the leader of God’s people and he led the people into very great sin.

That, however, is not the end of the story.  He got taken prisoner by the king of Assyria and sent to Babylon, a very long way away.  There he was in great distress and there he was in captivity.  Then vs. 12: And when he was in great distress he entreated Yahweh his God and greatly humbled himself…

And God forgave him, and also restored him.  This is a beautiful picture of undeserved grace which will be shown perfectly at the cross.  In reality we are all Manasseh.  The Bible says that “we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53.6)  Fortunately for us, we follow the same God that Manasseh followed and his grace is the same as ever.  When we greatly humble ourselves, when we repent of our sins, his grace is extended in the same manner as Manasseh received it.

In the End, God Always WIns

“With him is the arm of flesh, and with us is Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence with the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.” (2 Chronicles 32:8, LEB)

Hezekiah speaks to the people concerning the King of Assyria who at the moment surrounded Jerusalem.  He had already laid waste to Lachish and was confident that he would do the same to Jerusalem.  Sennacherib has an arm of flesh, points out Hezekiah, but with us is Yahweh our God. Sennacherib’s arm was no match for Our Lord.

We need to comprehend that wherever we are and in whatever dire circumstances, that God is greater than whatever stands against us.  As my good friend Webb Smith [battling cancer] keeps saying, “God’s got this.”  Does this mean that God will always deliver us, as he did Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem?”  No, it doesn’t.  God is not constrained to destroy the forces that oppose us every time.  He does it sometimes according to the purpose of his will, other times evil appears to “win,” but that win is always temporary.  God will always win in the end.

They Offered Praise with Joy

Then King Hezekiah and the princes commanded the Levites to praise Yahweh with the words of David and Asaph the seer. So they offered praise with joy, and they bowed down and worshiped. –  2 Chronicles 29.30, LEB

They offered praise with joy.  They bowed down.  They worshiped.  These are actions of dependence.  God’s temple had been neglected and the worship of the Lord had slowly declined,  until Hezekiah led the people back to faithfulness.  The result of that journey is listed here,  a renewed understanding of all that the Lord was for Israel,  and accompanying joy.  A renewed commitment to worship. A new zeal to demonstrate worship in posture.

We could learn a lot from this revival.  We are prone to wander away from the Lord being the pathetic humans that we are.  Let’s pray that God keeps drawing us back to a renewed understanding of Him and his character and care for his people.

“Our Eyes are upon You”

“O our God, will you not judge them, for there is no power in us before this great multitude that is coming against us. Now we do not know what we shall do, for our eyes are upon you.”” (2 Chronicles 20:12, LEB)

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah’s prayer as the nation faces a coalition of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites that is set to invade the land.  Things look very bleak.

There are few other passages in the Scriptures which so clearly demonstrate dependence upon the Lord as the prayer of Jehoshaphat with the nation facing an existential threat in the form of invasion.  “There is no power in us,” prays Jehoshaphat, in comparison to the powers coming against us.  It is a “great multitude,” and let’s face it, victory in battle is normally on the side of those who have the most troops.  Judah is so greatly outnumbered that the situation from a human perspective is hopeless. “We do not know what we shall do,” prayers Jehoshaphat, an honest prayer if there ever was one.

Then the acme of the prayer, “our eyes are upon you.”  When all human hope is lost there is still hope as Jehoshaphat demonstrates here.  Yahweh, their God, the God of Israel, the Creator-God of the universe and all that exists, the God who has specifically and repeatedly told them to trust in him, is alive and hears their prayers: “our eyes are upon you.”

The result:“And when they began with singing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were coming against Judah. And they were defeated when the people of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to destroy and demolish them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, each helped to destroy his comrade.” (2 Chronicles 20:22–23, LEB)

God is our God just as much as he is the God of Judah and he has told us specifically and repeatedly to trust in him.  It remains with us to depend upon him to say with Jehoshaphat, “our eyes are upon you.”

Reliance

“And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “On account of your reliance upon the king of Aram, and since you did not rely on Yahweh your God, therefore the troops of the king of Aram escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with very abundant chariots and horsemen? And because of your reliance on Yahweh he gave them into your hand.” (2 Chronicles 16:7–8, LEB)

Even I, former Marine that I am, can see the importance of the word reliance/too rely in this passage.  Hanani repeats it three times and he is bringing a message from God to Asa so the word is very important.  It should be so for Asa [but is not] and is for we who read and study the passage after 3000 years.

The word means: “rely on, rest in, depend, i.e., have trust and belief in an object to the point of being in jeopardy if the object of trust fails, as a figurative extension of leaning upon a physical object for support” [Dictionary of Biblical Languages Hebrew].  Asa had good reliance upon God in the case of the Cushite army, but for some inexplicable reason he does exactly the opposite in the case of the king of Aram.  A prior spiritual victory does not guarantee spiritual victory in the future.  We must rely upon God daily in order to survive the spiritual difficulties that will inevitably come against us.

The main point here, it seems to me is that both Asa and we who follow in his footsteps ought to be dependent upon, to lean on, to rest in, to have trust and belief in, Our Lord.  We are not to look to answers to our difficulties in the world, or from our own ingenuity or  ability, but to depend upon the Lord.  The Lord in turn, is responsible for our well-being, our shalom.

Strength and Faithfulness in Tumultuous Times

“Nation was crushed by nation, and city was against city, for God threw them into confusion by all sorts of trouble. But as for you, be strong and let not your hands be weak, for there is reward for your labor.”” (2 Chronicles 15:6–7, LEB)

This is a description of the political situation at the time of the reforms of Asa, King of Judah. Some observations:

1. Some times are more tumultuous and unsettled than others politically, economically and culturally. Here the general political situation at the time of the prophecy of Oded was “confusion” and “all sorts of trouble.”
2. God is in control of tumultuous times. Notice that nations were attacking other nations and cities other cities, because “God threw them into confusion.”  God, for his own good and wise purposes was bringing tumultuous times.
3. Followers of God are to be strong in tumultuous times and not weak. This particular instruction is given to Asa, but applies to everyone who follows God.  “Be strong” here means: “to have the ability to accomplish what is intended, implying that an element of resolve is needed as well” [Dictionary of Biblical Languages Hebrew].  Our strength comes, not from some innate characteristic, but from our reliance upon the power and word of God who brings his strength to bear upon the situation.
4. Our faithful labor for God, whether it be in tumultuous times or peaceful times will be rewarded. Here Asa will receive a reward for his faithful labor. This is a general principle that applies to all of God’s people.  Our faithfulness to God will not go unnoticed.

Whether we serve God in a time of peace and prosperity or a time of tumult and upheaval, God calls us to rely on his strength and to go on laboring faithfully before him.

Severe Mercy

“And I will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor, and they shall take refuge in the name of Yahweh.” (Zephaniah 3:12, LEB)

The Lord promises to bring judgment on the people of Judah because they were unfaithful to him, but in the midst of this judgment, there is a proclamation of mercy.  The Lord “will leave in your midst a people afflicted and poor,” however, this people will be different from the people who have been arrogant and unfaithful, they will “take refuge in the name of Yahweh.”

The ESV Study Bible says here:

God will especially provide a place for the humble and lowly (2:3) who, unlike the arrogant (3:11), know that they are in need. They not only call on God’s name (v. 9) but also seek refuge in his name (see the same term in Isa. 57:13; Nah. 1:7).

It would behoove we who follow the Lord in our own day and time to pay particular attention to remaining faithful to him despite the pressure from the broader culture and even some so-called followers of God who would have us compromise and act unfaithfully.  God can and often does bring severe mercy, but far better to never stray from him in the first place.

“With Respect to the Foreigner”

““And also, with respect to the foreigner, he who is not of your people Israel, but comes from a distant land, for the sake of your great name and your powerful hand and outstretched arm, when he comes and prays to this house, then may you yourself hear from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner asks of you, so that all peoples of earth will know of your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that your name possesses this house that I have built.” (2 Chronicles 6:32–33, LEB)

This is a good perspective of the Old Covenant approach to “evangelism.”  We can call it “Come and See.”  The Jewish people weren’t proselytizers per se; they had more of the philosophy that the temple was open for any and every foreigner to come and see the worship of Yahweh and to pray to Yahweh.  In this way “all the peoples of earth will know your name and fear you.”

In the New Covenant the philosophy [as commanded by Jesus himself] becomes: “Go and Tell.”

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

Here’s the thing.  Whether the philosophy is “Come and See” or “Go and Tell,” the purpose does not change at all.  God’s name is to be known by every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, because [and this is the real takeaway] God loves the foreigner.  Why else would he invite them to come and see, and why else would Jesus say to go and make disciples of all the nations? There is a pretty straight line between Jesus’ love for the foreigner and our own attitude towards the foreigner/immigrant/alien. Love, dear reader, it’s love.

“From the Presence of Yahweh”

“But Jonah set out to flee toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. And he went down to Joppa and found a merchant ship going to Tarshish, and paid her fare, and went on board her to go with them toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.” (Jonah 1:3, LEB)

One of the first principles of observation in Bible study is to look for repeated words or phrases in the section that you are studying.  We have a good example from Jonah here where the author of Jonah repeats “from the presence of Yahweh,” two times in quick succession.  This raises the question, “why does he do this?”

My argument is that the author really wants to emphasize what Jonah was doing.  God had told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach [which oh by the way was at the time Israel’s worst and most vicious enemy] and Jonah obviously did not! want to go to Nineveh so he catches a ship going in exactly the opposite direction from Nineveh “toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.”

Here’s the funny thing.  The Bible is pretty clear that one cannot flee “from the presence of Yahweh.”  Here is a good example from my favorite Psalm:

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:7–12, ESV)

The author of Jonah certainly understood that God was present everywhere [omnipresent for seminary studs]. yet he writes that Jonah fled from the presence of Yahweh, what is going on?

What is happening here is that Jonah is fleeing from obedience to the Lord’s command and therefore getting himself out from under the authority of the Lord and therefore out of his presence.  In effect by his actions Jonah was saying, “you are no longer my God.”  Jonah was finished with the Lord at this point.

Of course, the problem for Jonah was that the Lord was not finished with him.  This would be painful and miserable for Jonah, but it is a beautiful picture of grace.

Our own choices, like Jonah’s choices, often lead us into misery and difficulty, thanks be to God that he is not finished with us when we choose to do exactly the opposite of what he has commanded us to do.  God is present even when [especially when!] we are making poor choices.