Joshua 24:1-3, Joshua 24:14-25, Psalm 78:1-7, Amos 5:18-24, Psalm 70:1-5, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13
A). RENEWING OUR COVENANT WITH THE LORD.
Joshua 24:1-3; Joshua 24:14-25.
The choice of Shechem as the site for the renewal of the covenant after the conquests under Joshua is significant. This was where the LORD had promised Abram both ‘this land’ and ‘a seed’ to occupy it, and Abram had ‘built an altar to the LORD’ (Genesis 12:6-7). It was also the site where Jacob’s household forsook their idols and Jacob buried the offending items ‘under the oak which was by Shechem’ (Genesis 35:4).
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, descendants of both Abraham and Jacob, and there they presented themselves before the LORD (Joshua 24:1). Joshua recited the history of the dealings of the LORD with their nation thus far: beginning with the call of Abram, right up to their present possession of the land by the grace of the LORD (Joshua 24:2-13). It may take a while, but the LORD always keeps His promises!
After this recital, Joshua called for a response. “Because of all this, give reverence to the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the idol gods which your fathers served before the call of Abraham, and even more recently in Egypt, and serve ye the LORD” (Joshua 24:14). In this way both our references to Abraham and to Jacob are called to memory: forsake the moon worship which Abraham left behind and forsake the impotent ‘gods’ of Egypt which the Almighty LORD so convincingly defeated just one generation ago.
The call of Joshua is not so much an evangelistic appeal, as we might be inclined to interpret it, as a call to recommitment on the part of those who are already recipients of the benefits of the LORD. The choice presented by Joshua is not so much, ‘choose the LORD or these other gods’ as “IF you will not choose the LORD, then choose which of these non-deities you will serve: the gods of the past, which failed - or perhaps the gods of the Amorites, who you have dispossessed.” Put that way, the choice is ridiculous: “As for me and my house, we WILL serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15)!
When it is put like that, the people respond accordingly: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods” (Joshua 24:16). However, the wording of their argument seems to take only utilitarian considerations into account (Joshua 24:17-18). It is easy to make recommitments when all seems to be going well: but what about those other times which may yet befall us?
Perhaps they resented the suggestion, but Joshua stood his ground: “You CANNOT serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:19-20). Remember, it is not just Joshua, but the LORD Himself who is so insistent, for the whole discourse begins: “Thus says the LORD God of Israel” (Joshua 24:2). It is the duty of evangelists and preachers not only to ‘get decisions’ for Christ, but to warn people that they cannot even begin to go forward in the Christian life if they intend to go on in their own strength!
It is in terms such as these that Jesus turned back some of His would-be disciples (Luke 14:25-28). Still, people will persist, and sometimes we must take their professions of faith on face value. It was when the people insisted: “No, but we WILL serve the LORD!” (Joshua 24:21) that Joshua reaffirmed the covenant with them (Joshua 24:22-25).
There are echoes here of the people’s readiness to do as the LORD would command them, even before their receiving of the Law at Sinai. They said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken, we will do’ (Exodus 19:8). When Moses came down the mountain, there they were, dancing around an idol (Exodus 32:19)!
Joshua’s generation fared a little better, but the writing was already on the wall. ‘Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua’ (Joshua 24:31). What then?
Then there follows the book of Judges, in which ‘every man did what was right in his own eyes’ (Judges 21:25). A bit like our own days?
After one mass desertion (shortly after the feeding of the 5000), Jesus asked the twelve, ‘Will you go also?’ Simon Peter replied on behalf of us all: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life’ (John 6:66-68).
B). LEST THEY FORGET
Psalm 78:1-7.
Psalm 78 is entitled a “Maschil” of Asaph, thereby signifying an INSTRUCTION. It is one of the longest Psalms in the Book, not only outlining a history of Israel, but encouraging us to LEARN from this history (cf. Psalm 78:8). Mr. Spurgeon, in his ‘Treasury of David,’ suggests that it should be ‘viewed as a parable setting forth the conduct and experience of believers in all ages.’
Psalm 78:1. The double reference to “hearing” anticipates Jesus’ ‘who hath ears to hear, let him hear’ (Matthew 13:9), and is echoed in Isaiah 51:4. The Psalmist is standing for the LORD, as a teacher before His class. The call is not just for us to incline our ears to the words of Asaph, but to the word of the LORD.
Psalm 78:2. The LORD will open his mouth “in a parable: and will utter dark sayings of old.” This is quoted in Matthew 13:34-35, and is explained by Jesus in Matthew 13:11-13. The sacred history (part of which is reiterated in the body of this Psalm) is written here ‘for OUR admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come’ (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Psalm 78:3. Whether it was our own fathers who told us, or the fathers of the Church, we must tell forth “what we have heard and known” (cf. Psalm 44:1). As we read elsewhere, ‘let the redeemed of the LORD say so’ (Psalm 107:2). Gospel talk beats gossip any day (cf. Acts 8:4)!
Psalm 78:4. It would be to rob our godly forebears if we should “hide” the ‘old, old story’ (the gospel) from their offspring. Let each generation tell the next. “The generation to come” needs to be SHOWN “the praises of the LORD,” His strength, His wonderful works (cf. Psalm 145:4-6).
Psalm 78:5. The LORD has given us His Word, and this game of ‘passing it on’ down through the generations is by the LORD’s command (cf. Deuteronomy 4:9). Fathers are to bring up their children ‘in the nurture and admonition of the LORD’ (Ephesians 6:4). It is possible to lose count of the generations here: to “our fathers” and “their children” is added -
Psalm 78:6. “the generation to come, the children which should be born; who should arise and declare to their children.” We rightly pray for children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and generations yet unborn. But the emphasis here is not on prayer, but on ‘training them up in the way that they should go’ (Proverbs 22:6).
Psalm 78:7. This is all to a threefold purpose: “That they might set their HOPE in God, and NOT FORGET the works of God, but KEEP His commandments.”
1. This is the mystery now manifest to the saints: ‘Christ in you, the HOPE of glory’ (Colossians 1:26-27). This is a hope that will not fail, because of what Jesus has done for us (Romans 5:5-8) - as the hymn says, ‘My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.’ Having experienced it ourselves, THAT is what we want for all our offspring!
2. That they might "NOT FORGET” the works of God. His works of creation, His works of preservation; His works of providence, His works of power; His works of redemption, His works of grace and mercy. The list could go on and on.
3. That they should “KEEP His commandments.” ‘For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous’ (1 John 5:3). The first and greatest command is to love Him (Matthew 22:37-38): and we are enabled to love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16).
Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst’ (John 6:35). ‘I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father but by Me’ (John 14:6). Peter adds, ‘Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).
After the children of Israel had settled in Canaan, and towards the end of his own life, Joshua gathered all the tribes together to Shechem. In the name of the LORD, he recounted their history from Abraham (Joshua 24:2-3), through the exodus (Joshua 24:6), to the conquest (Joshua 24:8; Joshua 24:11) and beyond. All this had been the LORD’s doing (Joshua 24:13).
Now they were the other side of the conquest, wondered Joshua, whom would they serve (Joshua 24:14-15)? The gods of Egypt? Or the gods that Abraham had left behind? Or the gods of the Amorites whom they had dispossessed? So what is it to be?
‘But as for me AND MY HOUSE,’ replied Joshua, ‘WE will serve the LORD’ (Joshua 24:15).
“That they may set their HOPE in God, and NOT FORGET the works of God, but KEEP His commandments” (Psalm 78:7).
C). JUSTICE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS BETTER THAN RITUALS.
Amos 5:18-24.
Historically, Israel had split into two kingdoms shortly after the death of king David’s son, king Solomon. The ten tribes of the north rejected both the dynasty of David, and the worship of the Jerusalem temple, and set up their own places of worship in various historic sites of Israel (Amos 5:5). Amos was a farmer from the southern kingdom of Judah who had been called away from his trade, and his home, to minister mainly in the northern kingdom of Israel (Amos 1:1).
‘The LORD roars’ began the overture to this ministry (Amos 1:2). The emphasis immediately falls upon the LORD. If Amos is doing any roaring it is only as the mouthpiece of the LORD.
Our present chapter is introduced as ‘a lamentation’ against ‘the house of Israel' (Amos 5:1). Hence the word “woe” at the commencement of today’s reading (Amos 5:18). Amos tells it as it is, and warns Israel against presuming that they can look forward to the day of the LORD as if all was well between them and God - on the contrary, for them “the day of the LORD is darkness and not light.”
Like many people before and since, were they perhaps only going through the motions of worship? Did they really ‘seek good and not evil’ in order that the LORD should be with them (Amos 5:14)? Did they ‘hate the evil and love the good and establish justice in the gate’ in order that the LORD might be gracious to them (Amos 5:15)?
Perhaps they felt that their religious exercises were enough, without a corresponding lifestyle. There was no room for complacency, because even their worship was coming under scrutiny. ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honour me with their lips,’ says Jesus, ‘but their heart is far from me’ (Matthew 15:8).
If it was not so serious, we might detect some humour in the illustration in Amos 5:19. This is one illustration, not two: in the Hebrew, the word “or” is not there, but rather the word “and.” So, we have a man running from a lion only to be confronted by a bear, and as he sought refuge in the house he leaned his hand on the wall (with a sigh of relief, perhaps) only to be bitten by a serpent!
I am painfully aware that it is the LORD who roars like a lion (Amos 1:2). And there will be no escape for the ungodly when the LORD passes through (Amos 5:17). The presence of the LORD is a wonderful thing when we are right with Him but, just as the same pillar of fire which gave light to the Israelites gave darkness to the Egyptians (Exodus 14:20), so “the day of the LORD” shall be “darkness and not light - even very dark, and no brightness (not a glimmer) in it” (Amos 5:20) to those who are not right with God.
Why? because ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Samuel 15:22). So, shockingly, the LORD here announces His total repugnance at the feast days of the Israelites (Amos 5:21). He will not accept their burnt offerings and their meat offerings, neither will He regard their peace offerings (Amos 5:22). (Interestingly, there is no mention of sin offerings).
“Take away the noise of your songs (literally, psalms); for I will not hear the melody of your viols” (Amos 5:23). Worship is reduced to mere noise to the LORD when our hearts are not right, and our lives do not line up with His will. So what does God require? “Rather let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24).
The idea of justice “running” or “rolling” down is a play on words with the name of one of the shrines. Gilgal is mentioned in Amos 5:5, and was so named by Joshua when the post-wilderness generation of Israelites had ‘rolled away the reproaches of Egypt’ by circumcision (Joshua 5:9).
When “justice rolls down as waters,” it is for the benefit of all (cf. Isaiah 1:17). “Righteousness” probably refers here to right relationships, with God and man. “Righteousness as a mighty stream” must prevail in the land, even in barren times.
This should be the overflow from lives made new by Jesus (Ephesians 2:10; James 2:18).
D). THE SHAME OF THE CROSS.
Psalm 70.
I want to speak to you today about the shame of the Cross. This is what we see in Hebrews 12:2, and which Paul elaborates elsewhere by saying that Christ took upon Himself the curse of the Tree that we might be redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13). The Cross represents the tree: the forbidden tree of the Garden from which Man ate (Genesis 3:6); the Pole on which the Serpent (representing the sins of Israel) was impaled (John 3:14); the Gallows on which Haman wished to make a display of his enmity to the godly Mordecai, only to be hanged high there himself (Esther 7:10).
We see this shame, too, in Psalm 70. There David is working out the principle of Psalm 1: separating the righteous from the ungodly. With some urgency he cries, “Make haste, O God” (Psalm 70:1; Psalm 70:5). It is as Jesus upon the Cross (cf. Psalm 22:1) that we make our own desperate appeals to the mercy of God, knowing Him as both “LORD” (Psalm 70:1) and “deliverer” (Psalm 70:5) - because that is who we have experienced Him to be.
There is a shame in the Cross, but nevertheless we undertake with Paul to ‘preach Christ crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:23). This shame is manifested in one of two ways: either we must recognise our own guilt and shame which drove Jesus to the Cross and respond positively to the offer of the Gospel: or we must bear that shame ourselves. This is the meaning of the imprecations in the Bible - such as we find in Psalm 70:2-3.
Yet Jesus upon the Cross did not give full voice to these imprecations: He is not vindictive, as we have said before, but merciful. His prayer is, ‘Father forgive them, for they know what they do’ (Luke 23:34). The chief priests and scribes and elders mocked Him, and the criminals crucified with Him ‘cast the same in His teeth’ (Matthew 27:41-43). However, by the time the day was through Jesus had responded to the repentant thief on the cross, ‘this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43).
So yes, Lord, “Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek my life” (Psalm 70:2). Yes, “Let them be turned back.” Let them, Lord, not just be “appalled” (as in the Syriac translation) - but let them be “turned back” in repentance, for isn’t that what repentance means: turning away from our sins, and turning back to God?
The Psalmist even goes so far as to say, “Let them be turned back BECAUSE OF their shame” (Psalm 70:3). David says in the previous Psalm ‘the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me’ (Psalm 69:9); but Paul applies that to Jesus (Romans 15:3). We do not have to bear our shame ourselves when Jesus has already borne it on the Cross!
There will always be those who will still be saying, “Aha, aha!” (Psalm 70:3) and shooting out the lip in ridicule (Psalm 22:7). However, Jesus’ prayer for those who seek God is for their ultimate joy; and for those who love His salvation that they will worship and magnify the LORD (Psalm 70:4). It is good for us to embrace His means of salvation, to take up OUR cross and to follow Him (Luke 9:23); then to return the praise to Him, who Alone made it possible.
In difficult times we might view ourselves as “poor and needy” (Psalm 70:5). However, when we know the One who is both our “help” and “deliverer,” we can fire our prayer darts in the full knowledge that He will respond. We can wait in confidence for Him in the full knowledge that, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12).
As for Jesus, His vindication came. The grave could not hold Him: He arose from the dead and is seated even now, His work completed, at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2). There He forever makes intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).
E). THE RETURN OF JESUS.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Jesus taught that the “day and hour” of His return is known only to His Father (Mark 13:32). However, the new believers in Thessalonica seem to have got the impression that His Coming was imminent. As a result of this misunderstanding, a question inevitably arose concerning the status of their fellow-believers who had died.
1 Thessalonians 4:13.
Christian preachers are in the business of imparting salvation information, and have no desire to keep their people in ignorance. Paul referred to his readers as “brethren,” and gently counselled them against the type of excesses in mourning which were more appropriate to the hopelessness of unbelief. The Apostle referred to death itself as a “sleep.”
The metaphor of sleep describes the stillness of the body after death, but it does not imply that death is a state of unconsciousness (cf. Luke 16:23; Luke 23:43). Jesus also spoke of death in terms of sleep (Mark 5:39; John 11:11-14). In both of these instances, our Lord demonstrated that death is temporary, and is followed by a resurrection.
1 Thessalonians 4:14.
The Christian dead, says Paul, sleep in Jesus. They will rise at His coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and He will bring them with Him. The paradigm for their resurrection is His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
One of our more compact creeds states, ‘Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.’ Just as surely as this, argues Paul, “God will bring those who sleep in Jesus with Him.” This is evidence of His triumph over death (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:54).
1 Thessalonians 4:15.
Paul’s use of the expression “by the word of the Lord” is puzzling. If he is quoting Jesus, it is not a saying that we know from the four Gospels. (The Apostle similarly quotes an otherwise unknown saying of Jesus in Acts 20:35.)
“We which are alive” does not imply that Paul expected to remain alive until the Coming of Jesus. The Apostle also indicates the possibility of his death (1 Thessalonians 5:10). It is a figure of speech which any one of us might use.
Death is often seen as a separation, but for the Christian it is a going home. Paul says elsewhere, “to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). When our Lord returns, neither the living nor the dead shall “prevent” or “precede” one another: it shall be a blessed reunion.
1 Thessalonians 4:16.
The return of Jesus will be a visible and personal event. It is “the Lord Himself” who will “descend from heaven.” This is a reversal of His ascension, in fulfilment of the prophecy given at that time (Acts 1:9-11).
It will also be a noisy public event. The Lord’s descent from heaven will be accompanied with a shout, a voice, and “a trumpet blast.” And just as Jesus called forth Lazarus from his tomb “with a loud voice” (John 11:43), so the dead in Christ shall now rise.
1 Thessalonians 4:17.
The dead in Christ shall rise “first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) is momentary, and is immediately followed by what happens to “we which are alive…” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52). This is a momentous event. The Greek word which this expression translates speaks of a sudden “snatching away” - (the same verb is translated as “taking by force” in Acts 23:10.)
The “meeting” is a technical term for a deputation in Hellenistic times going out to welcome a returning dignitary. One is reminded of another occasion when a crowd met Jesus (Matthew 21:8-9). Or of the Roman Christians going out to meet the Apostle Paul on the Appian Way (Acts 28:15).
Clouds may represent the glorious presence of the Lord: whereas the meeting “in the air” is a further triumph in the enemy’s own domain (cf. Ephesians 2:2). Those who are living when the Lord returns, will be caught up in the clouds, together “with” the resurrected Christian dead - whom the Lord will have brought “with” Him. And so we shall all be forever “with” the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:18.
Remember that Paul is comforting the bereaved with these words. Now he exhorts us to similarly comfort one another. There is hope for the Christian, and for the Christian dead: a sure hope that we will be reunited at the return of the Lord - both with one another, and with Him.
F). A CALL TO ACTIVE WATCHFULNESS.
Matthew 25:1-13.
The parable of the ten virgins comes on the back of a call to watchfulness, which is illustrated by the faithfulness of a dutiful servant as opposed to the unfaithfulness of an evil servant (Matthew 24:42-51). The contrast is shifted into the plural, but the basic idea is the same: now there are ten (Matthew 25:1), but still half of them are not in the programme as far as preparedness for the master’s return is concerned (Matthew 25:8). Addressed to the disciples (Matthew 24:3), it is a warning for all who would be followers of Jesus (Matthew 25:13).
This is a parable, a “likening” of the kingdom of heaven to something tangible and familiar to Jesus’ original hearers (Matthew 25:1). The ten virgins represent the visible church of Christ. They are “virgins” because considered pure: made pure in the blood of the Saviour.
Each of these virgins has a “lamp” (Matthew 25:1). Jesus said, ‘Ye are the light of the world’ - so do not hide your light under a bushel. Our good works, whilst not being done in order to be seen, should nevertheless flow from us so naturally that men would see them, and glorify our Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).
The idea of “oil” for the lamp speaks to me of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 25:3-4). All our gifts and giftedness flow from His presence in our lives. Are we nurturing our relationship with Him - or, more specifically, our relationship with Jesus through Him?
“The bridegroom tarried” (Matthew 25:5). We do not know the day or the hour when the Son of man is coming, so the call to watchfulness is repeated (Matthew 25:13; cf. Matthew 24:42). While He tarried, all ten virgins slept.
However, there are two types of sleep, and two levels of preparedness. There is the sleep of the slothful, but there is also the contented sleep of those who are truly resting their faith in Jesus (Psalm 127:2; cf. Matthew 6:27). There is a preparedness which finds us at peace at midnight, as opposed to anxiously watching by the door, twitching at every rustle or movement arising from the direction from which we expect Him to come.
Then the cry goes up, at a time we least expect (Matthew 25:6; cf. Matthew 24:44). Are we ready to meet Him? For the wise, they only need shake the sleep from their eyes, trim their lamps, and top-up the oil.
For the foolish, the lack of watchfulness reaches beyond a mere drowsiness, to a total unpreparedness for what the Lord is about to do (Matthew 25:8). Not everybody in the church is ready for Jesus’ coming, no matter what they may tell themselves or one another. Be careful what you deem unnecessary to your Christian walk (cf. Acts 19:2).
When the bridegroom appears, it is too late (Matthew 25:9). You cannot borrow someone else’s faith or faithfulness, riding on the back of a parent’s profession of faith, or boasting of your affiliation to this or that church. It is even too late to apply to your store of unsaid prayers (Matthew 25:10).
We are left with the sad picture of five virgins standing outside the closed door, pleading with the Lord to open to them (Matthew 25:11). Their self-made purity is shown-up for what it is by those awful words: “I never knew you” (Matthew 25:12). Not everyone who boasts the name of ‘Christian’ has ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ - only those who have been ‘justified by faith’ (Romans 5:1).
