Introduction: Making Vows
Our passage, Psalm 132, is the longest of the Psalms of Ascent. While most of these 15 psalms are less than 10 verses long, and with some having as few as 3 verses, Psalm 132 has 18 verses. And on the surface it reads like the most complicated of the bunch. It’s the only one that mentions King David and events from Israel’s history with any detail—we hear of David swearing an oath, we hear of his bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, a story told more fully in 2 Samuel 6, and we hear his prayers and we hear the Lord’s answers to his prayers. So just what is this psalm about?
To simplify it, it appears to be about making vows and swearing oaths. We see in verse 2 that David “swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob.” We see in verse 11 that “the Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back.” In fact, Psalm 132 can be easily divided into two sections: verses 1 – 10 and verses 11 – 18. In the first section we have David’s vow and his prayer to the Lord and in the second section we have the Lord’s oath and his answer to David’s prayer.
That David is making a vow to the Lord and that the Lord is swearing an oath to David in return says something about the nature of the relationship they share with one another: it is one that includes responsibilities, obligations, promises, and blessings. At the heart of this psalm is something that lies at the heart of our relationship to God and how God has chosen to relate to us: the idea of covenant. So in part that’s what Psalm 132 is about: covenant. It’s this notion of covenant that we’re going to focus on today.
Covenants and Contracts
Lots of people lump the idea of covenant in with the idea of contracts. They equate them. But in reality the two ideas, while related and similar, are still very different, especially when it comes to the kind of relationship they each envision. In a contract, the underlying principle is individualistic. You make a contract with someone else so that your life will benefit. In other words, you form a contract out of such questions like: how will this benefit me? How will this improve my life? How can I get out of this if I need to? Contracts have exit clauses. A contract can be broken. The kind of relationship envisioned in a contract is completely utilitarian. It’s based on my needs, and the other person is a means to an end.
No wonder seeing marriage as a contract is so disastrous. Can you imagine a marriage founded on the same kinds of questions and priorities as a business contract? What kind of relationship is envisioned when an engaged couple agree to a pre-nuptial contract? These days people approach marriage by thinking to themselves: “Well, we can try it out and see how it goes. And if it doesn’t work, that’s ok. There’s no risk. Let’s just make sure we settle how things will be divided up if we do get divorced.” If a couple enters a marriage with this attitude, how much hope can we possibly have for them?
A covenant is different. A covenant creates a new state of relationship. A covenant is about our willingness to enter fully into a relationship with someone else. It’s not self-centered; it’s other-centered. Like in our psalm, a covenant includes promises. We make vows. That’s why a marriage really ought to be seen as a covenant and not a contract. We don’t enter a marriage only for our own benefit; we’re also there for the other person. You might say that a contract is about convenience whereas a covenant is about commitment.
God of the Covenant
Covenants were widespread in the ancient world. It was a pact both parties agreed to honour. A covenant signifies a relationship based on commitment. It includes promises and obligations. It has the quality of reliability and durability. And the parties who covenanted together were equals.
When we look at the biblical understanding, much of this is the same. One scholar describes it in this way: “Covenant expresses a novel element of the religion of ancient Israel: the people are bound in relationship to the one God, Yahweh, who makes an exclusive claim upon their loyalty in worship and social life. They express God’s gracious commitment and faithfulness and thus establish a continuing relationship.” It was a common form of agreement culturally, but it was novel or unique to the religion of Israel. No other religion could claim a relationship with a god based on a covenant.
When we read the Bible we that God has made several, overlapping covenants throughout history. He made a covenant with Noah that he would never again flood the earth and destroy all life. He made a covenant with Abraham to bless him and make him a great nation and give him many descendants. He made a covenant with Moses in the form of the Law. He made a covenant with David that there would always be a descendant on David’s throne. And all of these covenants tell us at least two things.
First, all of the covenants are rooted in God’s character. While in the ancient world covenants were cut between two equal parties, obviously this is not the case when it comes to a covenant between God and His people. The covenants that God established are never based on the merit of the other party. As Psalm 132:13 says, “For the Lord has chosen Zion.” God has chosen to covenant. God has chosen to establish this relationship. God has promised to bless His people. The covenants of God are based completely on God’s gracious and sovereign choice of Israel. The covenants are based on who God is and not on who we are. God established these covenants as a demonstration of His character—so that all the peoples that were not chosen would stand up and take notice of the sort of God He is.
Second, all of the covenants show God’s unconditional commitment to His people. And while God’s people also have responsibilities and commitments, such covenants are not conditional. There are certainly obligations laid upon Israel. Israel must worship the Lord alone and be loyal to Him in every sphere of life. Israel must be God’s witness to all the nations. However, at heart the covenants are not based on Israel’s response to God, although this is not only expected but also demanded. The covenants of God are based completely on God’s gracious and sovereign choice of Israel. God’s covenants are never, strictly speaking, conditional.
God makes it clear that He will remove His blessings if Israel is disobedient: “But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). But He will never reject Israel or withdraw His loving commitment. God will certainly punish, but only as a result of His love for Israel, not because of any abandonment. When God removes His blessings to Israel, it is not a sign of his rejection but in fact of the opposite!
This comes down once again to the difference between a contract and a covenant. The Lord did not establish a contract with Israel or with the church. He created a covenant, and a covenant is not broken when one of the parties fails to keep his promise. If, let us say, a patient fails to keep an appointment with a doctor, the doctor is not obligated to call the house and inquire, “Where were you? Why didn’t you show up for your appointment?” He simply goes on to his next patient and has his appointment secretary take note of the patient who failed to keep the appointment. The patient may find it harder the next time to see the doctor. He broke an informal contract.
According to the Bible, however, the Lord asks: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15). The Bible indicates the covenant is more like the ties of a parent to her child than it is a doctor’s appointment. If a child fails to show up for dinner, the parent’s obligation, unlike the doctor’s, isn’t canceled. The parent finds out where the child is and makes sure he’s cared for. One member’s failure does not destroy the relationship. A covenant puts no conditions on faithfulness. It is the unconditional commitment to love and serve.
I wonder how many people see God instead as a contract-god, that if they live up to their end of the bargain, then they will get into heaven? How many people believe that because they’re not living lives pleasing to God, there’s no way they could ever step through the doors of this church? How many people think they have to clean themselves up first? How many people think that God has a contract with each one of us that says if you’re good and don’t do too many bad things in the course of your life, then I’ll let you enter heaven when you die?
But we don’t have a contract-God. We have a covenant God, and He establishes the relationship with us based on who He is. This means that our relationship with God is based on nothing more or less than His grace—His steadfast, unconditional love that we could never hope to merit or earn. Nowhere do we see this more clearly than on the cross.
The Covenant and the Cross
We all know enough of the OT story to know that God’s people never did live up to their side of the covenant—well, there were times and periods when they did better, but on the whole the story of Israel is the story of rebellion against God. Yet God persisted. God continued in faithfulness. God continued to be merciful both in promise and in judgment. Eventually we have these words from Jeremiah 31:31 – 34:
“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the last of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”
God promised to make a new covenant—one that would be written on the hearts of His people. “The days are surely coming, says the Lord.” Psalm 132:11 says, “The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back.” Even if we have not kept our promises as God’s people, God keeps His promises. God surely keeps His promises.
And this promise was kept in Jesus Christ. In Christ alone is the culmination and fulfillment of all the promises God has ever made—every covenant finds its meaning and completion in Jesus. God promised Noah that He would never again destroy all life; Jesus is the source of all life. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him; through Jesus’ blood God ransomed saints from every tribe, nation, language and people. God gave Moses and Israel the Law; in Jesus the Law is fulfilled. In our Psalm God promised David that “one of the sons of your body I will set on your throne”; to Jesus God gave the throne of his ancestor David. Every promise, every vow, every oath, and every pledge that God ever made has come true in Jesus Christ.
And they came true in Jesus Christ because he was willing to go to the cross. We already mentioned how Israel never did live in faithfulness to the covenants God established. The Law was broken. Many of the kings of the people of God did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. But God made provision even then. The whole system of sacrifice—especially blood sacrifice—was established by God as a part of the covenant in order to maintain the possibility of fellowship is spite of Israel’s constant adultery and idolatry. Sacrifices had to be continually offered in order to cleanse Israel of its sin.
This system of sacrifice also finds its fulfillment and completion in Jesus Christ. Hear these words from Hebrews 7:27: “Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of his people; this he did once for all when he offered himself.” It says also in 9:26: “He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
It’s interesting that Hebrews also quotes the passage that we read from Jeremiah about God making a new covenant that would be written on our hearts—and that He would remember our sins no more. This reminds us that even the shedding of blood, the need for sacrifice is also a part of the covenant that God has made with us. Hebrews also tells us: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” This is why Jesus says during his last meal with his disciples: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” This is new covenant that Jeremiah prophesied about. This is the promise that God made and kept in Jesus Christ.
A Covenanting Church
Most of you know that right now I am taking a course called “Baptist History and Polity.” It sounds boring, I know, but actually I am learning a lot of interesting things. One of those things is that Baptists are what you might call a covenanting church—Baptists are amongst those Christians who, in assembling together voluntarily as we do, agree to covenant together. This is a kind of covenant that, you might say, exists because of the ultimate one we celebrate through Jesus. It doesn’t cover what we believe so much as how we agree to live together as followers of Jesus. It’s recognition that our life together as a community should reflect what God has done for us in Christ. And most of you know, as well, that Nerepis United Baptist Church also has a covenant. The most recent version is the revised version from 1997. Here is how it reads [Read church covenant].
Much of what our covenant says reflects a lot of Scripture. Here are some examples:
“Love one another with mutual affection” (Romans 12:10).
“Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers” (Romans 12:13).
“Bear one another’s burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4: 1 – 3).
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4: 32).
“And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
“Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received” (1 Peter 4:8 – 10).
These are only some examples. And they are not formal covenants, but exhortations to shape our relationships and our fellowship together after the pattern of Jesus Christ, in whose blood-covenant we stand here today. The covenant of our church is but a reminder of what the whole of Scripture says about what our calling is as a community formed in the image of Jesus. It’s a response to the covenant that God has established with us—and it’s a reminder as well of those things that ought to be inscribed on our hearts.
My prayer for us today is that while we remember the unconditional love that brought us here that we would also remember what “here” ought to look like. My prayer is that the love shown to us will also be the love we show. My prayer is that the forgiveness we have received will be the forgiveness we give to others around us. My prayer is that the sacrifice made on our behalf would translate into lives of sacrificial living and service. My prayer is that the Lord is also saying to us, as He said in our psalm, “This is my resting place forever; here will I reside, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread. Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy.” I hope that this is your prayer also, because, to paraphrase our psalm, “The Lord has chosen Nerepis; he has desired it for his habitation.”
