An Almighty Mercy of Illumination [Family Worship lesson in Exodus 34:29–35]

What did God do for their prophet to help His people receive His Word? Exodus 34:29–35 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord gave to His people to see light in their prophet’s face in order to help them be receptive to His Word. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.12 Hopewell @Home ▫ Exodus 34:29–35

Read Exodus 34:29–35

Questions from the Scripture text: Who came down from where in Exodus 34:29? What were in his hand? What didn’t he know had happened to himself? Who saw (Exodus 34:30)? How did they respond? So who called them (Exodus 34:31)? Who come near? What does Moses do with them? Who else come near in Exodus 34:32? What does Moses give them? What does he do, when he finishes (Exodus 34:33)? When would he take it off (Exodus 34:34)? Until when? What would he do until he came out? And who would see him again in that shining condition (Exodus 34:35)? Then what would Moses do again, until when? 

What did God do for their prophet to help His people receive His Word? Exodus 34:29–35 looks forward to the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these seven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord gave to His people to see light in their prophet’s face in order to help them receive His Word. 

A Merciful Divine Fright. We’ve already seen in the previous section (Exodus 34:8-28) that the Lord is giving Israel a “do-over” with respect to the covenant. Everything is as before the calf incident, as if it never happened. Now, Exodus 34:29 takes us back to Exodus 32:15. Forty days and forty nights have ended, just as before. Moses is coming down the mountain just as before. The two tablets of the Testimony are in his hands, just as before. 

But there’s a difference this time. Moses’s face is shining. Not for his own sake—he didn’t even know it at first (Exodus 34:29b). It’s apparent that he discovers his shining face when all the children of Israel, including Aaron, are afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:30). They had previously said in a derogatory way, “as for this Moses, we do not know what has happened to him” (cf. Exodus 32:1). Now, the same is true, but in a way that has struck awe into their hearts. They are right to fear the mouthpiece of God, but God has been gracious to us, and the words that He sends us are words of welcome and mercy, and it was so with Moses and Israel (Exodus 34:31). 

What a mercy from God this shining face was, for the sake of Israel! He knew their stubborn hearts, and that they would easily and quickly disregard Moses and God’s own words on Moses’s lips. So, He gives them a visual cue that gripped them through their senses, since they were slow to be gripped through their reason and conviction. Our pastor’s face, or our husband’s or father’s in the home, is not going to suddenly irradiate light. We must see this mercy from God to Israel and seek from the Spirit that He would give us faith and conviction to treat His messenger with respect and receive His Word on the messenger’s lips as the very words of God. 

Merciful Human Wisdom. It seems that Moses understands the mercy of God to the Israelites in this— that God is helping them to honor His commandments (Exodus 34:32) on Moses’s lips. But there’s a problem. Whenever Moses is finished speaking “whatever he had been commanded” (Exodus 34:34), the light would begin to fade (cf. 2 Corinthians 3: 13). 

So, Moses would veil himself when he finished speaking, so that the lasting impression with which he left them would be a divinely shining face and divinely authoritative words. The implication is that when he had delivered God’s message, Moses would leave the veil on and his mouth shut until he had returned again with the light and words of the Lord. 

Those who will be speaking the Lord’s words to others would do well not to conduct themselves in such a way as to weaken or lessen the strength or weight of the Word of God on their lips. This applies to all believers, who do have a ministry of speaking the truth in love to one another. If such speech is interspersed with that which is unedifying, empty, or even coarse or foul, we hinder others from benefitting from anything that we speak from God’s Word. Therefore, Scripture is full of instruction about self-control to speak only that which is edifying, gracious, etc. (cf. Matthew 12:36; Proverbs 10:19–21; Ephesians 4:29, Ephesians 5:4; Colossians 4:6; James 3:9–12; 1 Peter 3:15; etc.). 

And if this is a duty for every believer, how much more for those fathers and mothers who will be speaking God’s words to their children, those husbands who will be speaking them to their wives, and those elders and pastors who will be speaking Christ’s words to His congregation. Let us be quick to listen and slow to speak, weighing each word well, so that as much of our speech as possible will shine with the light of Christ and carry the weight of His glory and authority. 

Greater, Effectual, Everlasting Mercy. When the apostle takes up this passage in 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:7, there are two great factors that make the difference between the temporary effect of the mercy in today’s passage and the eternal and effectual mercy that God was working through the apostle’s ministry. Those two factors were (1) from where the veil was being removed, and (2) Whose face was seen to shine. 

The veil was being removed not from the face of the speaker but from the heart of the listener, in Christ, by the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14–18). This is something that no amount of careful speech on our part can do for those who hear us. It is a divine work, a Triune work. We use the means that He has ordained, and we pray that He will use them in His own almighty power, but it must at last be He who does so. 

And, when the veil is removed, we see the glory of Yahweh not refracted dimly through a mere man like Moses, but reflected fully in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. When one believes, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ shines upon them, displaying that He Himself is the display of God (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4). 

This is what every evangelizing Christian, caring parent, loving husband, faithful brother or sister, or godly minister wishes: not that his hearer would behold him, but that his hearer would behold that Jesus Christ is the Lord. That the hearer would see Jesus—Yahweh, the Creator, the glorious One Who had proclaimed His own Name to Moses upon mount Sinai (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:5). 

The hope is that in the same almighty power that God exercises when He said “let there be light” (or even better, “Light, be!”), God the Spirit would shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus is brilliantly and fully God in all His glory, and the One Whom God has displayed as that glory (cf. Hebrews 1:2–3) 

Have you seen this about the Lord Jesus, dear reader? Does His glory shine brilliantly in your heart, when you read and hear His Word? 

With whom have you established conversation patterns that hinder you from being able to speak with a credible weightiness in behalf of the Lord? What can you do about that? What must be removed from your own speaking habits, if you are only to speak words that build up, words that come from grace and give grace? Whom has the Lord put in your life that has a special duty of speaking God’s Word to you? What are you doing to maintain an attitude of honor and respect to these mouthpieces, so that you are better enabled to receive God’s Word from them? Whom do you know Christ to be? How do you seek the Spirit to apply this knowledge to you as you “listen” to Him in private Bible reading? In family worship? In public worship? 

Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You and praise You for Your mercy to us, to display Yourself to us in Jesus Christ. Grant that Your Spirit’s work in our hearts would be such that, whenever we read or hear Your Word, we would do so with hearts full of awe and reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we ask it, AMEN! 

ARP110B“The Lord Has Spoken to My Lord” or TPH282 “I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art”

Strength to Endure Suffering in Christian Life and Ministry: Rememberings of Christ that Inflame Motivations of Love [Family Worship lesson in 2Timothy 2:8–10]

How are ministers (and all believers) strengthened? 2Timothy 2:8–10 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the minister of the Word is strengthened by union with Christ through meditation upon Him to Whom believers are united.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.11 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Timothy 2:8–10

Read 2 Timothy 2:8–10

Questions from the Scripture text: What is the command at the beginning of 2 Timothy 2:8? About Whom is Timothy to remember something? What lineage is important to remember? What event is important to remember? In what are this lineage and event preached? What happens to Paul for preaching this gospel (2 Timothy 2:9)? What do people think of him? Even what has happened to him? But what hasn’t been chained? Therefore, what does he endure (2 Timothy 2:10)? For whose sake? So that they may obtain what? In Whom is this salvation obtained? What is obtained with this salvation?

How are ministers (and all believers) strengthened? 2 Timothy 2:8–10 looks forward to the second reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the minister of the Word is strengthened by union with Christ through meditation upon Him to Whom believers are united.

Paul has urged Timothy to be strong, so that he might labor faithfully and fruitfully (2 Timothy 2:1-7). Now, he highlights the source of that strength: Jesus Christ, as He is offered to us in the gospel. It is not enough for believers to know that they should be strong. They must know Who is their strength and the ordinary means by which He strengthens. Resolve to be healthy never did for one’s body that for which Providence has appointed healthful nutrition, exercise, sunshine, fresh air, and sleep. And mere resolve, and even mere effort, does even less for the soul. Christ Himself is the life of the soul. So, to what means does the apostle point his dear son in the faith and ministry?

Meditation upon Christ’s grace for us. The initial command is “remember.” What we do with our mind matters. First, we must remember that there was a plan for Jesus Christ to accomplish our redemption, and He has completed that plan. Jesus: the Lord saves. Christ: our anointed prophet like/greater than Moses, our anointed Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and our anointed King the Son of David. The reference to “of the seed of David” reminds us of the plan from eternity that brought Him into the world, fully God and fully man. The resurrection affirms the success and completion of that plan. We can and shall and must be strong because the plan has succeeded. The redemption is accomplished. Christ is risen.

Meditating upon Christ’s grace in us. 2 Timothy 2:1 had commanded strength “in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:10 will refer to the salvation “which is in Christ Jesus.” Christ’s grace not only refers to His actions two thousand years ago in our behalf, but also the wonderful work that He does in us by uniting us to Himself through faith. As we have been remembering in the midweek sermons in Romans 6, the resurrection is not only a finished and ongoing reality in Christ, who died once for all and now lives unto God. The resurrection is also an ongoing reality within the believer, by virtue of his union with Christ, so that the believer has experienced a resurrection and now lives unto God forever—and increasingly so in this life. We can and shall and must be strong because we are united to the resurrected one.

Meditating upon Christ’s example. When 2 Timothy 2:8 reminds Timothy that Christ was raised from the dead, it reminds Timothy of the ridicule and suffering and death that were the path through which Christ carried out His own mission and service in this world. We serve a King Who suffered, and we follow Him through suffering. We deny ourselves and take up whatever suffering the Lord has assigned to us, and live every day. For the believer there is sweetness in our suffering, for we have fellowship with the suffering Savior (cf. Philippians 3:10b). For the believer, there is sweetness and even honor in death, for we are united to a Savior Who died for us (cf. Philippians 3:10c). Not only are we resurrected spiritually, already, in Christ to live unto God, but we will follow His example later in physical resurrection as well. We can and shall and must be strong through the sufferings that come with our Christian life and service, because when all is said and done, we will be resurrected, even as Christ has.

Considering God’s work in great servants who have gone before. Paul reminds Timothy of his own suffering (2 Timothy 2:9a–b). Paul has been faithful in his Christian life and membership and ministry. And what has resulted for him? He’s generally thought of, spoken of, and treated as evil (even by much of the church, cf. 2 Timothy 1:15, 2 Timothy 4:14–16). He’s even bound in chains as an evil-doer. The believer is strengthened to endure by remembering that God has done this before with other servants. The believer is strengthened to endure by being forewarned of the difficulty that lies ahead of him so that he will expect it. The believer is strengthened to endure by the fact that if God has knowingly planned that our course would pass through such difficulties, then it is because the strength that is by His Spirit, in His Son, is more than equal to those difficulties. Timothy was to consider how much good has come to the elect, and honor has come to Christ, through Paul’s suffering. Now, Timothy was to endure strongly through his own suffering, by which the same God would continue bringing good to the elect and honor to Christ. And here we are, two thousand years later, with millennia of history and biography to add to that which is in the Scripture, knowing that our lives are assigned to us by the same Lord Who carries us in the same strength. Let us expect the hardship and endure it by His strength.

Considering God’s unstoppable power and plan. Paul is in chains, but the Word of God isn’t (2 Timothy 2:9c). Though we can be bound, imprisoned, and even killed, this cannot ultimately be done to the Word of God. He has willed His truth to triumph through us. Paul has been given his own part in this word’s unchained success: “my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8b).

Motivation of love for eternal souls. Paul adds a “therefore” here to show how he translates into action all of these truths that Timothy is to remember and consider from 2 Timothy 2:8-9. There are two great motivations that these truths inflame: love to souls’ salvation and love to God’s glory. God has so loved Paul, and so loved Timothy, that He has planned this from eternity, electing them to a salvation that would come in this glorious fashion: by Christ’s finished work, by union with Christ, and by the Word through which Christ effects that union! O, how we who have been so loved should also love! 

And when we love Him, we love what He loves. What does He love? All of those elect whom He is still saving. So Paul loves them and endures whatever comes to him in his appointed service as God is bringing them to salvation (2 Timothy 2:10a). And so now must Timothy. And so also must you. You have an appointed place in your home. You have a participation in the assembly of the saints, and truth to speak in love, and burdens of others to bear, and all those precious one-another promises. And you have trials that are assigned to you—your very own trials, belonging to your very own course in this world. But there are eternal souls of the elect that God is saving through this overall plan, included your own part in it. Will you not love them, for His love’s sake, and endure in the strength of Christ? You must!

Motivation of love for Christ’s glory. These elect receive a salvation that comes with eternal glory. Our salvation has also come with eternal glory. And all of that glory is in Christ. It is unto the praise of God’s glorious grace in Christ that the salvation of the elect is planned and completed (cf. Ephesians 1:6, Ephesians 1:12, Ephesians 1:14). It is so that He will be displayed as the firstborn among many brethren (cf. Romans 8:29) that we are made glorious with His own glory in our glorification (cf. Romans 8:30). The truth that we remember about our salvation motivates our hearts with love for His glory. 

This is the secret strength of the believer’s endurance: proper employment of the proper mind-fuel to inflame the proper heart-fuel. May the Lord give us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” by heeding the exhortation: “Remember Jesus Christ”!

What hardship have you been given to endure so far? What hardship might you be given in the future? What doctrines need to become woven through your thoughts and emotions, so that you are prepared even for hardships that you cannot anticipate? What are the ordinary ways that God has given, by which these doctrines become the core of our inner life? What use are you making of them?

Sample prayer:  Lord, as Paul commanded Timothy, we are to remember Jesus Christ. But even this sweet command, we so often disobey. We forget His resurrection. We rob ourselves of the confidence of His finished work. We forget that it is His resurrection that is even at work in us, and we foolishly and rebelliously go through life as if it is to be lived in our own strength. When trouble comes, we are unbelieving and despair, rather than rejoicing that Your Word is not chained. O forgive us, Lord, for we have so little love to elect souls, and so little love to the glory of Christ, that we are often at a loss about where our strength will come from. Grant that Your Holy Spirit would so work in us that, being full of love to You and Your elect, we would find that Your grace carries us. Thus, make Your strength to be perfect in our weakness, we ask through our almighty Christ, AMEN!

ARP46 “God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength” or TPH244 “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”

How to Have Wealth Without Sorrow [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 10:22]

Pastor teaches his family a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In this verse of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us how to have wealth without sorrow.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

Filtering Words for Our Lives [Family Worship lesson in Proverbs 10:19–21]

Pastor teaches his family a selection from “the Proverb of the day.” In these three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that restraining our words both makes the words that we do speak more valuable and frees us up to hear the valuable words of other godly.(click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

When Judgment Finally Comes: Going Out in a Series of Rhyming, Boring Whimpers [Family Worship lesson in 2Kings 23:28–24:20]

How did God finally punish Judah? 2Kings 23:28–24:20 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord punished His people by giving them evil kings who not only continued to offend God but were also unskilled leaders, suffering defeat and destruction. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ 2 Kings 23:28–24:20

Read 2 Kings 23:28–24:20

Questions from the Scripture text: What are written where (2 Kings 23:28)? Who helped whom, where, in Josiah’s days (2 Kings 23:29)? When Necho had to pass through Israel to get there, what did Josiah do? With what result? What did Josiah’s servants do with the body (2 Kings 23:30)? Who took whom to replace him? What did they do to him? Who became king in 2 Kings 23:31? How old was he, and how long did he reign? What was his mother’s name? What did he do, in Whose sight (2 Kings 23:32)? According to what? Who did what to him in 2 Kings 23:33? What did Necho impose on the land? Whom did Necho make king in whose place (2 Kings 23:34)? To what did he change his name? What did Necho do with Jehoahaz? Who paid the imposed tribute (2 Kings 23:35)? How did he come up with the money? How old was he when he became king (2 Kings 23:36)? How long did he reign? Who was his mother? What did he do in Whose sight (2 Kings 23:37)? According to what? Who came up in his days (2 Kings 24:1)? How did Jehoiakim respond to this? For how long? Then what? Who(!) sent whom against him (2 Kings 24:2)? To do what to Judah? According to what word? How does 2 Kings 24:3 emphasize the reason this happened? Whose sin, particularly, had led to this (cf. 2 Kings 21:16)? And what else had Manasseh done (v4)? What wouldn’t the Lord do? What are written where (2 Kings 24:5)? What happens to Jehoakim in 2 Kings 24:6? Who reigns in his place? What no longer happens in 2 Kings 24:7? Why not? How old was Johiachin when he became king (2 Kings 24:8)? How long did he reign? Who was his mother? What did he do in Whose sight (2 Kings 24:9)? According to what? Who came up at that time (2 Kings 24:10)? Against where to do what? Who shows up in 2 Kings 24:11? Who respond in 2 Kings 24:12? By doing what? And what does Nebuchadnezzar do in which year of his own reign (2 Kings 24:12-13)? What did Nebuchadnezzar do to whom in 2 Kings 24:14? Which people in particular? Whom did he leave? Whom else did he take where (2 Kings 24:15)? How does 2 Kings 24:16 catalog this exile? Whom does the king of Babylon make king in 2 Kings 24:17? How was he related to Jehoiachin? To what did the king of Babylon change Mattaniah’s name? How old was Zedekiah when he became king (2 Kings 24:18)? How long did he reign? What was his mother’s name? What did he do in Whose sight (2 Kings 24:19)? According to what? Why did all of these bad kings and defeats and exiles happen (2 Kings 24:20)? Until he had done what? What does Zedekiah do at the end of verse 20? 

How did God finally punish Judah? 2 Kings 23:28–24:20 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these thirty verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the Lord punished His people by giving them evil kings who not only continued to offend God but were also unskilled leaders, suffering defeat and destruction. 

How to read this history. 2 Kings 24:2–4 and 2 Kings 24:20 must control how we read this history. Others may get excited about the decline of Assyria, the rise of Babylon, the last gasp of Egypt, and the smaller players jockeying to fill various vacuums in the midst of it all. But, the Spirit gives us interpretive comments to keep us from getting wrapped up in all of that. It is not geo-politics but God-pleasing that matters in history. Necho and Nebu may think that it’s all about them, but they’re only permitted whatever power will suit the plan of the history of redemption. 

Point of no return. We’ve seen this once, already, when Josiah sought the Word of Yahweh, and the Lord responded that indeed the curses threatened in Deuteronomy were now coming irreversibly, as soon as Josiah died. But here it is again in (2 Kings 24:3); Manasseh was the tipping point. It is dangerous to offend the Lord and take grace for granted. Particularly for churches and nations, there’s a point where God has glorified His patience as much as He is willing and turns instead to glorify the justness of His wrath. Now, Josiah is dead (2 Kings 23:28–30), and the destruction ensues. 

Either a household, a church, or a nation is reforming and repenting, or it is backsliding and hardening. There is no neutral, which the Bible calls lukewarm, and God describes as vomitous. And, frighteningly, if one of these is not reforming/repenting, it cannot know how close it is to that point of no return. It is essential to the life of a covenantal body that it actively seek to please the Lord, in dependence upon His grace. 

For individuals, there is a similar dynamic. There is a point at which the Lord stops giving the mercy of the pricked conscience, the terrors of Hell, the sense/curiosity that God might be desirous and glorious. When there is no repentance and faith, there is the terrible danger that one is reaching the point when God leaves him to himself. Ultimately, nothing matters compared to one’s condition before God.

Boring destruction. Ostensibly, this history is full of intrigue. Necho prefers Eliakim to Jehoahaz, and renames him Jehoiakim, so that even his identity will remind him that he’s Egypt’s choice. Then Nebu prefers Mattaniah to Jehoiachin, and renames him Zedekiah, which has the same effect. Everyone’s got an agenda. But in the end, we just have four reigns in a sing-songy pattern of 3mo-11yr-3mo-11yr with the above parallels already mentioned. It’s all ho-hum, given in fairly rapid-fire narrative. Like when the northern kingdom was going down in chapter 15, now it’s Judah circling the toilet bowl. They go out not with a bang, but with a series of boring, rhyming whimpers. 

What is the most important part of the history of your household? Your church? Your nation? Your life? Why is it so dangerous to “coast” either in the Christian life, or in the life of a household, church, or nation? How are you currently participating in reformation/repentance in each of these spheres? 

Sample prayer: Lord, we thank You for Your marvelous patience. We see how patiently You bore with Judah for so many generations, and we know that You have been similarly patient with us. Forgive us for how we have taken that patience lightly. We see how Egypt, and Babylon, and Judah were all concerned with their interaction with one another, but disregarded what was most important: how they interacted with You. Forgive us for when pleasing You, in dependence upon Your grace, isn’t the great and all-encompassing concern of our church and our households. Have mercy, and do not let us decline into the repetitive pattern of those who spiral away from You. Grant to us, instead, to return to You with all our heart and always be reforming and repenting by the grace of Jesus Christ. We rejoice at the infinite value of His atoning blood, and come to You through Him alone, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP80 “Hear, O Hear Us” or TPH80B “Great Shepherd Who Leadest Thy People”

God, in Christ, the Heavenliness of Heaven, and Heaven on Earth for Those Who Are His [Family Worship lesson in Psalm 89:1–18]

What is the believer’s greatest happiness? Psalm 89:1–18 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the believer’s greatest happiness is God Himself—and that God has given Himself in Christ to be both their salvation and their reward. (click here to DOWNLOAD mp3/pdf files of this lesson)

2023.05.09 Hopewell @Home ▫ Psalm 89:1-18

Read Psalm 89:1–18

Questions from the Scripture text: Whose song of instruction (where NKJ says “contemplation”) is this (superscript)? What does he sing that he will do (Psalm 89:1a)? Of what will he sing? Whose? For how long? What will this singing do (verse 1b)? To whom? What shall be built up (Psalm 89:2a)? For how long? What will God establish (verse 2b)? Where? What has the Lord made (Psalm 89:3a)? With whom? Who is this chosen one (verse 3b)? What will God do for David (Psalm 89:4, cf. 2 Samuel 7:11–13)? What offer praise in Psalm 89:5a? What do they praise? What else do they praise (verse 5b)? Where? What does Psalm 89:6a ask? What is the expected answer? How does verse 6b ask the question? How does the assembly of these others think of/treat the Lord (Psalm 89:7)? How does Psalm 89:8a–b ask the question? What data point does verse 8c add? What is it that only Yahweh can do (Psalm 89:9, cf. Mark 4:39–41!)? What has He done to Egypt (“Rahab,” Psalm 89:10a)? And to whom else (verse 10b)? What belong to the Lord in Psalm 89:11a? And what within them (verse 11b)? How does Psalm 89:12a restate this? How does verse 12b express the height of this ownership? What attribute does Psalm 89:13 praise? What attribute does Psalm 89:14b praise? What pair of attributes, commonly held together, does verse 14b praise (cf. Exodus 34:6, John 1:14)? Who are the happiest people (Psalm 89:15a)? What is their living like (verse 15b)? What do they do, when (Psalm 89:16a)? What raises them up (verse 16b)? What (Who!) is the glory of their strength (Psalm 89:17a)? How is their strongest faculty raised up (verse 17b)? What, of theirs, belongs to Whom (Psalm 89:18)?

What is the believer’s greatest happiness? Psalm 89:1–18 looks forward to the opening portion of morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eighteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that the believer’s greatest happiness is God Himself—and that God has given Himself in Christ to be both their salvation and their reward. 

What is heaven like? What is eternal blessedness like? The first four verses of Psalm 89 make it clear that it is answering this question. The singing is forever (Psalm 89:1a). The declaration of praise is to all generations (verse 1b). The building up of covenant love is forever (Psalm 89:2a). The provision of faithfulness is in the heavens (verse 2b). The provision of the Christ King is forever (Psalm 89:4a). The building up of His throne is to all generations (verse 4b). This is a Psalm about joining now that praise that will be forever in heaven.

Heaven is not like a highly refined version of earthly pleasure, or an exceeding quantity of earthly pleasure. 

It is altogether different. The Lord Himself, is the pleasure of heaven. 

In heaven, we find the throne of Christ forever (Psalm 89:3-4). 

In heaven, we find the worship assembly of the saints (Psalm 89:5, Psalm 89:7).

In heaven, we find the incomparable glory of God (Psalm 89:6, Psalm 89:8).

In heaven, we find that Christ has this very glory that belongs to none other than God (Psalm 89:9). No wonder the disciples were more terrified of the One Who stilled the storm than they had been of the storm itself (cf. Mark 4:39–41)!

In heaven, we find no enemies, for they have all been conquered and destroyed (Psalm 89:10).

In heaven, we find that all things (Psalm 89:11a)—in every part (verse 11b), to the distant riches (Psalm 89:12a), and the greatest heights (verse 12b)—all things are from God and to God and through God, and to Him belongs all the glory!

In heaven, we find the praise of the character of God: His power (Psalm 89:13); His righteousness (Psalm 89:14a); His covenant love and faithfulness (verse 14b). This is that glory in which He abounds (cf. Exodus 34:6). This is that glory which we behold most of all in Christ Himself (cf. John 1:14) as the brightness of His glory (cf. Hebrews 1:3).

Finally, in heaven, we find a people especially suited to heaven. What makes them happy (“blessed” in NKJV) is the joyful sound of all this praise (Psalm 89:15a). Their whole life is an enjoying of the shining of God’s face upon them (verse 15b). His name is what they rejoice in, not just sometimes, but continually (Psalm 89:16a). His righteousness is what raises them up (verse 16b). His glory is what makes them strong (Psalm 89:17a). Heaven is where we find the people who know the Lord as their very own, and who know Him as all their blessedness. This is the sort of person we find in heaven.

But what is heaven most of all? Heaven is where Christ is. It is where God has made Himself known in His Son. He is His people’s horn (their greatest strength, verse 17b), His people’s shield (Psalm 89:18a), and His people’s King (verse 18b). 

The next section of this Psalm (Psalm 89:10-37) is taken up with the promise about Christ from 2 Samuel 7. Great David was a type (a sort of foreshadowing) of his even greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Whose throne would be forever. Then Psalm 89:38-52 cry out under current king, in current chastenings, for the fulfillment of those promises to come.

So this first section prepares us to do similarly in our own circumstances—to embrace Christ as the heavenliness of heaven. Then, we will be prepared to nourish our hearts upon the promises concerning Him as our King, that we might biblically and heartily sing and pray, “Thy kingdom come.” Christ is the heavenliness of heaven!!

What do you think of heaven? How does this Psalm help reshape those thoughts? How often does Christ fill your thoughts now? What use can you make of this Psalm to fill out how you pray the first three petitions of what we commonly call “the Lord’s Prayer”?

Sample prayer:  Lord, we rejoice to join heaven in singing of Your mercies and making known Your faithfulness. We thank You that You have made Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and King of righteousness to be our Great High Priest. In Him, we gather to the throne. And it is He Who sits upon the throne. With the angels, we join by faith those souls of the just who have been perfected, to praise God our Father and Christ our Mediator Whose blood speaks better than Abel’s. There is none like You, O Lord our God, to Whom heaven and earth belong. You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. Now, O Lord, we are the happy people who have come before You to know the joyful sound of Your praise. Give us to walk, in this worship service, in the shining light of Your face. Make us to rejoice in Your Name. Indeed, make us to rejoice in Your Son, Whom You have given to be our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we come, and in Whose Name we pray, AMEN!

Suggested songs: ARP89C “Behold How Blessed the People Are” or TPH89B “My Song Forever