Dear
Congregation,
How do we
come to be blessed, and how blessed will we be? The answers are bound up in
that wonderful pronouncement from the morning text on the 12th, “Blessed
be Yahweh, God of Shem!”
Shem was son
of Noah and brother of Ham. He couldn’t come to be blessed by doing better than
Ham. He had the same nature as Ham. But just as chapter 6 told us, “Grace found
Noah,” so also now the end of chapter 10 tells us, “Grace found Shem and joined
him to the ever-blessed God.”
How did Shem
come to be joined to God? Through faith in Jesus Christ. What blessing would
Japheth find in the church (the tent of Shem)? The blessing of finding that God
belongs to him, and he belongs to God, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Is that your
blessedness? That God is your God, and you are His through faith in Jesus
Christ? For children of the first Adam, that is the only true blessedness that
we can have.
Christ was
not in the first Adam. Instead, He is a brand new start—an entirely new
humanity. Not only does Jesus have all blessedness in Himself as truly God, but
as truly Man He is also the representative through Whom all in Him have Yahweh
as their God. And their Father!
That answer
the question, “How do we come to be blessed?” But how about the question, “How
blessed are we, when we come to be blessed?” The answer: blessed with the blessedness
of God Himself, precisely according to the worthiness of Jesus, in whom alone
we are blessed.”
The New
Covenant is not in our blood. It’s in Christ’s. Its blessings aren’t secured by
us. Rather, He secures us in Himself, and He secures all of the blessings for
us. Those who believe in Jesus receive not merely some blessing, and not only
great blessing, but literally every blessing in Heaven (cf. Eph 1:3).
“Blessed be
Yahweh, God of Jesus… and may all of us dwell in the tents of Jesus!” He has
given Himself to us, body and soul. He has secured for us all of the blessings
of the New Covenant in His blood. This is what the Spirit represents to us at the
Lord’s table. This is what the Spirit seals to us at the Lord’s table. This is
what the Spirit applies to us at the Lord’s table.
As you
examine yourself in preparation for the Supper on the Lord’s Day, here is the
great thing to ask: is Christ my God, and is God my God through Christ? Have I
turned from serving self to serving Christ? And—since this turning can never
give me Christ Himself—have I turned from trusting in self to trusting Christ?
If the answer
is yes; if you have true (though, of course, deeply flawed!) repentance and
faith; then, come to the table seeking that the Spirit would press into your
heart, “Blessed is the Lord who, in Christ, has joined Himself to me as my God!”
Eager to
enjoy the displaying, sealing, and applying of this glorious reality with you,
Pastor
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