PSALM 87

Psalm 87

There are two main parts:

(a) vv. 1-3 – Zion vs. dwelling places of Jacob

(b) vv. 4-7 – Zion vs. other nations 

A. Zion vs. dwelling places of Jacob

Holy mountain – mountain is a higher ground, remember that the first great judgment was the Flood. After the Flood Noah builds the altar – mini-mountain – lifting up or elevating the place of worship above the ground as a remembrance of the Flood.  

  City founded by the Living one – interesting to notice that the first city was founded by wicked Cain, build on a spilled blood of his brother Abel. It should not be surprising for us – the great technological progress needs a sacrifice. So, should Christians leave cities? No, for our city of found by Jesus, who didn’t sacrifice “a brother” but spilled His own blood for our citizenship.  

    The gates are protected by Himself – if the gates are secure, the city/citizens are safe. He is protecting us by His Word and Sacraments – marking the perimeter of the city.  

      City of God is a place where the glorious things are spoken – it is easy to understand the claims of the pagan deities: many sacrifices, lots of smoke (and mirrors). Yet, Jesus has a different glory – dying for the ungodly, see Romans 5:6-8.    

 

B. Zion vs. other nations

vv. 4: 5 geography pointers

Rahab – Egypt (see Isaiah 30:7) – West

Babylon – East

Philistia and Tyre – seashores

Cush – Ethiopia – deep south

Dr. Martin Luther commented on this: it shall be a city as wide as the earth is, and in it shall be born Ethiopians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Philistines, residents of Tyre, and peoples of other lands and tongues. (RPL, p. 206)

v. 4b-6: Zion IS a birthplace for the God of LIFE is the founder of the city. Two things here: first, Zion is a place where the first commandment can be fulfilled – Genesis 1:28a: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth. Second, It is paralleled with the idea that other places are places of spiritual death, as a place of absence/rejection of God.  

 

Conclusion:

v. 7: the words of singers and dancers (!).

Two words about dancers – it might look like a discotheque reading. It reality, we have a dance to perform every Sunday (at least), it’s called Divine Service or Liturgy. When a congregation is standing up in a proper time, when it sits down, when clergy, elders, and laity move in the appointed way – it is a liturgical and biblical dance.  

All my springs are in YOU: Springs are the sources of life in the desert climate: no water – no life, very simple.

Jesus identifies Himself with the springs of the living water – John 7:37-39.

He is the founder of the City of God – Revelation 21:10-14.       

 

Prayer: Thanks be to YOU, our heavenly Father, because You have called us into the Church of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and have begotten us again unto a lively hope through the Gospel. Keep us steadfast in the faith, that we may remain living stones in this Your spiritual temple to our last day, and cause us to rejoice over Your salvation. Amen.  

PSALM 117

All nations praise the LORD.

Only two lines – but such a deep meaning. Allow me to walk you through.

v. 1a. Praise the LORD, all nations!

We have a glorious beginning – Hallelujah “Living ONE”! God is not called by His status; He is called by His name. Israel God is called by the name, but He is called by the Gentiles.

In the light of current political events, it is an important reminder that at the end ALL nations will recognize Jesus as Lord of the world. It will be done because the disciples will bring the Good News to all the nations – Matthew 28:18-20. Baptizing people and instructing them in faith. St. Paul uses this verse as a “proof-text” for the mission of Christ – Romans 15:11 (Let’s read!)   

v. 1b, Extol Him, all peoples!

Psalmist “doubles down” – he encourages all the peoples to extol Him. Exclaim with the loud voices, keep triumphant praise.

Together the unity of all nations and all peoples means everyone with distinction and without exception. The Book of Revelation puts it in four categories: nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. Together with believers from Israel they will worship the Lamb Who sits on the Throne (Rev. 7:1-10). 

What a glorious picture!!  

It is a long-awaited fulfilment of the prophecies:

2 Samuel 22:50 – glory to His name among Gentiles (a psalm sang by king David by the end of his life).

Isaiah 11:10 – the root of Jessy will give a hope to Gentiles. 

Isaiah 2:2-4 (note nations and peoples in v. 4) – do you know where the statue dedicated to this verse is located?

Also psalm 72:11,17 has the same ideas – kings of their nations fall before Him and serve Him (compare to Psalm 2:1-12). 

 

v. 2a, For great is His steadfast love toward us,

Great here has two meanings: (1) it is great in fullness (extended to all nations, see above); (2) it is great in intensity (covering all sins and faults), it is true on global and personal level: Romans 5:20-21 and 1 Timothy 1:12-14.

 Steadfast love – a word [hesed] which is very difficult for translation. We’ve talked about it last time (Psalm 118:1,29). It also can include mercy, grace etc. Most importantly, we need to pay attention “steadfast” aspect of “love” – along with other aspects of the meaning it should include “faithfulness.” God is faithful to His promises, covenants, and prophecies. We can rely on the fact of our forgiveness through Jesus, guidance by the Holy Spirit, and promise of heavenly haven prepared for us by the Son of God.  

 

v. 2b, And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Faithfulness is a good translation; we also see it in Lamentations 3:22-23. It is a background for the hymn “great is Thy faithfulness.”

At the same time, we can add something: this word is related to very famous Hebrew word that all of you know – guess which one?

Jesus uses double of the word 25 times in the Gospel of John (for example 3:3; 5:24; 13:20). Using these doubles signifies that the words of Jesus are “really true.”   

Conclusion: Praise the Lord (Alleluia!)

The term denotes being clear (pure) sound and color, therefore “to show off [in a good sense], shine, or boast”

Think of the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (see the background in Jeremiah 9:23-24).

He is worthy to be praised, to be boasted about! He redeemed us!

Soli Deo Gloria – Glory be to God Alone!

Advent Readings: Luke 15

Luke 15

This chapter is something I’ve been pondering for many years, as many of the Bible readers. Who have not heard about Prodigal Son, or a Lost Sheep for which a shepherd leaves his 99 “good” ones… These are fascinating parables to think about, to dive into, to meditate upon over and over again.

The fact that these parables are one unit can be seen from the fact that the intended audience is the same throughout the whole speech. Luke begins the chapter mentioning that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near Jesus (cp. Leviticus 1:1-2 and 16:1, 27-29), while Pharisees and scribes are grumbling (cp. Exodus 16:2). Then he records three parables: the Lost Sheep (Lk. 15:3-7), the Lost Coin (Lk. 15:8-10), and the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32). And only after the end of the third parable we have a change is scenery – in 16:1 Jesus addresses His disciples…

With this in mind, I was wondering about the order of the parables. Why doesn’t Jesus start with a thing (the coin), then continue with an animal (sheep), and conclude with a man (prodigal son, whoever you think it is, younger or older)? I found one answer in the mathematical progression: Jesus goes from 1/100 to 1/10 to 1/2. Stakes get higher and higher. But still, why a coin over an animal?

Recently, I came up with an elegant answer. It is by no means the ultimate interpretation, but I kind of like it. I think the progression follows up the pattern of the Divine service. In the parable of the Lost Sheep we end up with the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Lk. 15:7).

Even thou the second parable also ends with the statement about repentance, the image of a coin leads me to compare it to the Word (cp. Ps. 19:10). The Word is both the Law and the Gospel, and while the Law pushes us to repent, evaluating our own sinful state, it is the Gospel that brings joy to our hearts and to the hearts of God’s “angels” or messengers – the preachers of His Word. It is a true joy to see someone turning his ways from sin to godliness.

Then the final parable ends with the Feast, leading me to compare it to the Sacrament of the Altar. Like a prodigal son we do not deserve to be at the Table, we are invited. He is the One who orders the food and who sets the Table. For sure, it brings us back to the first parable and reminds us of repentance – as the Small Catechism says: “for where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation” (SC VI:3). At the same time, it relates to the Word, for the bread and the wine do not turn into the Body and the Blood of Christ magically. Pastor can wave his hands as many times as he pleases, but it’s not going to do the trick. Because it is not a magic trick, it’s a mystery. We proclaim the Word of Institution (Verba) over the elements, and by the power of the Word in, with, and under the Bread and Wine we receive the Body and Blood of Christ.      

By no means I intent to say that Jesus followed the order of the service the Lutheran churches ended up with in XVI century. I think it’s vice versa – even if they didn’t read the chapter of Luke as a reflection of the liturgy, they intuitively understood the proper flow: from repentance, through the Word/instruction, to the Lord’s Supper. The feast is the ultimate place for the fellowship with the Lord, as He intends for us to meet Him at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-10; 22:16-17). 

Revelation

 The Revelation of John

Title: The title of the book has its own interesting story. Most of the older books has something like The Revelation of St. John the Theologian. The last years there is a tendency to abrogate and adjust the title into either The Revelation TO John or simply Revelation. In reality, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ (1:1) for transmission to His servants. The first level of transmission was completed by the angelic intervention to St. John.        

Date of writing: As of right now there are three main theories on the date of writing: around 300 AD, 96-98AD, and 64-65AD [or 68AD]. The first one is based on the idea that it was not an apostolic writing but was written based on the celestial events being presented symbolically to the Roman Imperial Community. The second view was held by many godly people – Martin Franzmann being one of them and the editorial board of TLSB (p. 2195 – 95AD). It is based on the notion that John should be old (cp. 2 and 3 John) and the life of the Church was mostly disturbed by Romans. The last [the correct one :)] is based on the understanding that the great tribulation is not a persecution of Roman on Christian, but a persecution Christian Jews endured by non-Messianic Jewish community during The Jewish War (66 – 70AD).   

Structure: (for a possible structure see the insert on Leviticus).

a. ch. 1, Introduction in the Revelation

 b. ch. 2 – 3, 7 Churches 

  c. ch. 4 – 5, Ascension of Jesus

   d. ch. 6 – 8:5, 7 Seals

   d’. ch. 8:6 – 12, 7 Trumpets

  c’. ch. 13 – 15, Ascension of the Church

 b’. ch. 16 – 17, 7 Bowls

a’. ch. 18 – 22, Conclusion of the ministry

Main themes: Most often Revelation is taken as a scary and depressing book full of tragic or traumatic description. For sure, there are pages and pages of martyrdom stories. At the same time, Revelation is the book of hope and comfort. As usual, one needs to read it to the End. The Church – represented by the seven churches – is enduring the troublesome time of great tribulation. To a point everything looks bad, devastating, and even ruined. Yet, at the very end the wave of repentances begins (ch. 18) which leads to the everlasting marriage feast of the Lamb.      

Main Characters: Jesus, John, representatives of the 7 churches, 24 elders, 4 living creatures, beast of the sea, beast of land etc.

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: To fully comprehend the content of Revelation the listener/reader need to have a deep understanding of the previous 65 books of the Bible. Apart from seeing Jesus as the King of kings and the LORD of lords, one needs to see the mese of creation (1:17 – Gen. 2:21); sacrificial system with its ministers, calendar, and sacred spaces; role of angels; symbolism of land and sea etc.    

Lutheran teaching: The Book of Concord uses 12:9 – Satan, ancient serpent – as a description of rebellion against the ministry of the Word of God [SA III, VIII:5; LC III:65; 111].

The usage of Sunday as the Day of the Lord – worship day – is based on Rev. 1:10 [AC XXVIII:60].

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 676 – Behold a Host, Arrayed in White.

LSB 395 – O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright

Relevancy of the Book: Reading the Book of Revelation has many benefits for a believer. First, we always need to remember that the Judgement will begin from the Church – Jesus addresses 7 churches and only after that His judgement goes into the world. Second, this judgement/evaluation process is eminent. Regardless of our level of symbolic readings into the meaning of the Book, He is coming, He is coming for sure. Third, however troublesome, scary, and dangerous the great tribulation looks like, the faithful ones will be delivered. Sometimes they will be delivered from troubles, sometimes God will stay with the believers through persecutions and will greet us at the entrance to the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.   

Memory verses: 1:17b-18: When I saw him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, “fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forever more, and I have the keys of Death and Hades”.