Singing Garments of Life

“The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.” (Psalm 65:13)
 
This is the concluding verse of the beautiful 65th Psalm, climaxing a remarkable series of testimonies about God’s providential care of His creation. In this final figure, the lands are pictured as clothed in beautiful, living garments—garments that shout and sing in joyful praise to their Maker.
 
The figure would be better appreciated in biblical times or in certain lands (e.g., New Zealand) today where flocks of sheep are so abundant that they literally seem to cover the pasture lands in wool. The flocks first provide a metaphorical garment for the pastures, then literal clothing for men and women. Similarly, the fertile valleys are everywhere arrayed in golden grain, which later provides food for both the animals and human beings.
 
And “the sounds of the earth are like music,” as the song so eloquently expresses it. For those with ears to hear and eyes to see, praise is everywhere being offered up to our great Creator and faithful Sustainer by the very creation itself.
 
Jesus also spoke of the beautiful garments of creation: “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28-30).
 
The verse following our text, therefore, appropriately exhorts, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands . . . All the earth shall worship thee” (Psalm 66:1, 4). HMM

The Creation of Plants

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” (Genesis 1:11)
 
One of the favorite biblical arguments used these days by Christian advocates of an old earth comes from a forced interpretation of this verse. While the verse seems to teach “sudden” creation, old-earth advocates interpret the verse to necessitate an indefinite time period, at least long enough for seeds to grow up into mature, seed-bearing plants. Plants differ widely and are thought to have evolved all throughout Earth history. The third day, then, must be understood as long enough to witness the appearance of all “kinds” of plants and is equated with a vast stretch of geologic time. However, there are many biblical problems with this view—a few of which follow.
 
Scripture teaches that “in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (Exodus 20:11; see also Genesis 2:1-4; etc.), and no meaning other than a solar day is biblically defensible. The “herbs” and “trees” mentioned can only mean small or woody plants that supposedly arrived late on the evolutionary scale, for the same words are used to identify food plants on Day Six.
 
Furthermore, the verb “bring forth” (Genesis 1:11) is also used when God made animals, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature” (v. 24), on the sixth day. It cannot be referring to the growth of a seed out of the ground but rather must imply the sudden creation of both plants and animals in abundance.
 
Such compromises are impossible biblically and are quite unnecessary. There are no true facts of science that are incompatible with the young-earth teaching of Scripture. We can be sure of its teachings. JDM

Things to Be Aware

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)
 
There are three Greek words translated “beware,” all of which stress watchfulness and potential danger. In a world under the control of Satan, there are many of his devices that can deceive and undermine the faith and life of the unwary Christian.
 
Our text cautions against false prophets who appear to be true prophets (or teachers, or pastors) but whose apparent spiritual teachings are subversive of biblical truth. John warns that “many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1), and Jesus said they “shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:11). Jesus also warned that His followers should “beware of . . . the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:12). These sects have their respective modern counterparts in the hypocrisy of legalists and the skepticism of liberals, both of which are destructive of true biblical faith and life.
 
Very relevant to today’s humanistic intellectualism is the warning of Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” This is the Bible’s only reference to philosophy, here evidently equated with “vain deceit.”
 
Finally, the apostle Peter says, “Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” (2 Peter 3:17). In context, Peter is referring to those Christian brethren who have distorted the Scriptures in order to seek an accommodation with the naturalistic worldview of establishment intellectuals (2 Peter 3:3-6, 16). Thus, Peter, John, and Christ Himself would urge constant wariness on our part. HMM

Promised in Writing

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
 
For those of us who have trusted God for salvation, based on the finished work of Christ on the cross, God has already done for us the most difficult and costly thing He could ever do. He graciously sent His only Son to Earth and then to the cross and the grave in order to make forgiveness and eternal fellowship with us possible. We are now adopted children in His family, joint-heirs with His beloved Son, Jesus Christ (vv.16-17, 29, etc.), from whom we will never be separated (vv. 35-39), “whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (v. 15).
 
Consider our state when all this was being done for us. It is easy to love a beautiful baby who needs someone to care for it; but we were not at all attractive. We were filthy sinners, born in sin and habitually choosing to offend God’s holy nature by succumbing to “the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). Furthermore, we were even “enemies” of the cross at the time “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). Outside of His eyes of love and grace we would have appeared more like a repulsive maggot than a beautiful baby.
 
It stands to reason that He who has already done the most difficult, yea, infinitely difficult thing for us out of His great love will continue to manifest that love to us, especially now that we are of His family. As our text tells us, He will “freely give us all things.” With our best interests at heart, He will see that “all things work together for [our] good” (Romans 8:28).
 
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). JDM

The House of the Lord

“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)
 
The theme of the house of God is prominent in the book of Psalms. The phrase “the house of the LORD” occurs seven times, plus once each for “the LORD’s house” and “the house of the LORD our God.” There are three references to “the house of God,” one to “the house of my God,” and one to “the house of our God.” Then, “thy house” is mentioned 11 times, making a total of at least 25 explicit references to the house of the Lord in the book of Psalms alone.
 
Many of these passages refer, of course, to the actual temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand, since it was in the temple’s holy place that the Shekinah glory dwelled and where the high priest met once each year with God on behalf of the people, there naturally follows a personal metaphorical application with the house of the Lord referring to the spiritual presence of the Lord in the life of each believer.
 
In our text, the psalmist expresses as his highest desire that of continually dwelling in God’s presence all the days of his life. A number of the other references express the same holy desire, and the New Testament response is that, indeed, “ye are the temple of God, and . . . the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
 
It is wonderful to “dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,” but that is not all we can look forward to. The glorious concluding assurance of the 23rd Psalm is even greater. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever” (Psalm 23:6). HMM

Blind Hearts

“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” (Ephesians 4:18)
 
It is a tragedy for a person to have blinded eyes but infinitely worse to have a blinded heart. No one ever willfully chooses to be sightless, but spiritual blindness is a product of the human will.
 
After Christ had given sight to the man born blind, the Pharisees still refused to believe, so Jesus said to them, “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. . . . If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9:39, 41).
 
Like these ancient intellectuals, it often seems that modern intellectuals are incurably blind. They profess to teach science and philosophy of the highest complexity, but their understanding is darkened and their hearts are blinded when it comes to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. As Paul says: “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
 
Even very religious people, people who believe in God as Creator, may blind themselves when confronted with the truth that the Creator must also become their Savior. “But their minds were blinded . . . even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart” (2 Corinthians 3:14-15).
 
Nevertheless, Christ came as “the light,” and when anyone will simply in faith “turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16), and the gospel will “shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4). HMM

Never Like This

“And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.” (Matthew 9:33)
 
In His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was fully human (except that He did no sin). He probably looked and acted very “average,” yet He continually performed works of healing and other miracles that were utterly different from those magical deeds attributed to the many conjurers of the day. When the man “sick of the palsy” was instantaneously and completely cured, he “went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion” (Mark 2:12). It was no wonder that Nicodemus, Israel’s greatest teacher at the time, acknowledged to Jesus that “no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2).
 
It was the same with His teachings. When officers were sent to arrest Him because of these teachings, they came back empty-handed, reporting simply that “never man spake like this man” (John 7:46).
 
His words and deeds were uniquely from God, and those who saw and heard Him should have known this. It was appropriate that when the time came for Him to fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy concerning the coming of Israel’s King, entering Jerusalem on a donkey, He had to “find a colt tied, whereon never man sat” (Mark 11:2) to serve as His kingly chariot. Others before Him had come into the city on donkeys but never like this, on an unbroken colt.
 
And when He died, He had to be buried in “a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid” (John 19:41). His birth was different, as were His life and death and burial, from those of other men, and “there is none other name . . . whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). HMM

That Which Endures Forever

“But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.” (Psalm 9:7)
 
This world will eventually pass away. The law of entropy assures us, in fact, that everything decays and dies. Atheistic scientists have even calculated that the very protons of which matter is composed will eventually disintegrate. And the Bible itself also tells us that the present earth and heaven “shall wax old as doth a garment” and “shall perish” (Hebrews 1:11).
 
But God Himself is eternal! As our text confirms (and many other texts agree), “the LORD shall endure for ever.” And that is not all! His glory will remain! “The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31). And His great name will never change. “His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him” (Psalm 72:17). That also means that His righteousness will never change. “His righteousness endureth for ever” (Psalm 112:3).
 
Then also “his mercy endureth for ever.” All 26 verses of Psalm 136 end with this wonderful assurance, and the same promise occurs 16 other times as well. If God’s perfect righteousness will last forever, then His great mercy must also endure forever, and we shall continue to thank Him for His everlasting mercy in all the ages to come.
 
Next, God’s Word will endure. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Peter 1:25).
 
Finally, because God is forever, we also shall live forever. “His seed shall endure for ever” (Psalm 89:36). “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:17). HMM

Fruitless Trees and Fruitless Lives

“He was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Many detractors of our Lord have pointed with glee to what on the surface seems like a fit of petty anger on Christ’s part, spawned by His selfish appetite. In reality, it was probably unrealistic to expect figs at that time of year, a fact that He must have known quite well.
 
Perhaps the key to the whole passage is in the fact that “his disciples heard it.” When we look at the surrounding passages, we see that Christ was using the barren fig tree to teach His disciples something they desperately needed to know. This might be called a living parable.
 
Our Lord had just come from His triumphal entry into the city, having been proclaimed as King by the multitude (vv. 7-11), knowing their shallow adoration would soon turn into cries for His death. Leaving the fig tree, he drove the money changers from the temple grounds, having recognized that they were not only exploiting all the Jews who entered but had taken over the court of the Gentiles, using it as a shortcut through town (v. 16) and a place of business (v. 15), thus denying the possibility of true worship to all, both Jews and Gentiles.
 
The fig tree was an object lesson on barrenness, typifying the Jewish nation’s condition in spite of their privileged heritage. This type of hypocritical fruitlessness receives condemnation (vv. 20-21), exhibits a lack of faith (vv. 22-23), and hinders our prayers (vv. 24-26).
 
Our desire must be to bear much fruit in our worship, in our faith, in our prayers, and in our lives. JDM

Life in Christ

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)
 
A host of biochemists and other scientists have tried for over a century to determine how life evolved from non-life. Such a quest is absurdly impossible, for the simplest imaginary self-replicating system would be infinitely more complex than the most elaborate machine ever designed by man. Life can come only from life. The first human life, indeed the first living system of any kind, could only have come by special creation from the living God. “For I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
 
Thus, “in him we live, and move, and have our being,” and He is “not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:28, 27). The Lord Jesus Christ is the one “by whom also he made the worlds” and who now is “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:2-3). The beating of our hearts, the breathing of our lungs, the very atoms of our bodies are continually sustained by Him. Were He to withdraw His power for a moment, life would cease and all light would become darkness. Even those who reject Him and blaspheme His name owe their very existence to His power and grace.
 
“As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26). Life is “in him”; He alone can conquer death and raise the dead. “As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (v. 21), for as “the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45).
 
Thus, “he that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). Through faith in His sacrificial death and resurrection life, “ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Henceforth is Christ Himself “our life” (Colossians 3:3-4). HMM

Who Gets Weary?

“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.” (Isaiah 40:28)
 
Everyone gets weary, and everyone must rest. Even in Eden before sin came into the world there was a weekly day of rest, and each day of work in the Garden was followed by a night of rest in sleep. The Lord Jesus Christ, in the days of His sinless human flesh, occasionally became “wearied with his journey” (John 4:6) and had to rest. On one occasion, He was so weary that during a violent storm on the Sea of Galilee He was “asleep on a pillow” (Mark 4:38) while the disciples tried to keep their ship from destruction. He once advised these fretful and busy disciples to “come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while” (Mark 6:31). We sometimes need to come apart before we fall apart!
 
In the New Jerusalem, with our new bodies, we perhaps will not need rest and sleep, for “there shall be no night there” (Revelation 22:5). In our present frail tents of clay, however, we do need rest, for God made us so. In one area of life, on the other hand, we are twice admonished to “not be weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:13).
 
And when we do get weary, and perhaps are not yet able to stop and rest, we can draw on God’s strength, for He “fainteth not, neither is weary.” “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30-31). HMM

Dark Sayings of Old

“I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.” (Psalm 78:2-3)
 
Most people do not think of parables—especially the parables of Christ—as dark (i.e., hidden) sayings but rather as figurative illustrations to help people comprehend some spiritual teaching. But Christ used parables to conceal truth, not to reveal truth! “Therefore speak I to them in parables,” He said in response to the disciples’ question as to why He was speaking in parables, “because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). The principle is this: a person must first believe and obey the light he has already received before God will give him further light. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (v. 12).
 
Thus, the parables of both Old and New Testaments are not of any obvious interpretation. They require study, meditation, and obedience to comprehend, but then they bring great blessing. “Every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (v. 52).
 
The “dark sayings” of Scripture are not to be associated with occultism or darkness, of course. The word in Greek simply means something hidden from the world but transparent to eyes of faith and love. “We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. . . . Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. . . . But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 10). HMM

Those Who Depart

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)
 
One of the most hurtful experiences in the life of a Bible-believing fellowship is when an ostensibly Christian leader, teacher, or pastor decides to abandon his faith and even to teach against it. This sort of thing does happen all too often, and it obviously raises difficult questions.
 
Can a true believer, a teacher of the Word, a soul-winner, actually lose his salvation? Can a born-again Christian go back and be unborn? Can one who has received everlasting life through faith in Christ not really have eternal life?
 
If so, what about the many promises that have assured us that “ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13) and that we “shall never perish” (John 10:28)?
 
The answer to this vexing question is apparently in our text verse above. When such people, who once seemed to be genuine Christians, become apostates, denouncing the truth they once taught, it is because “they were not of us” at all, no matter what they professed at one time.
 
This fact implies a sober warning. When professing Christians fall away, assuming they have truly understood the facts and evidences of the Christian faith, it is impossible “to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6).
 
How important it is, therefore, for all professing believers to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). We must be “rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:7), “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). HMM

Deliverance from Fear

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4)
 
There are many things in such a world as ours that can bring fear into human hearts—fear of want, fear of war, fear of rejection, fear of the dark, and a multitude of others. Some fears are rational, some are foolish, but all are very serious to those who experience them.
 
The good news of the gospel, however, can set us free from every fear. Remember that fear entered the world when sin entered the world. “I was afraid,” Adam explained when God found him hiding in the garden after eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:10). The second reference to fear in the Bible, on the other hand, was when “the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1). The Lord protects us and provides for us; we have His Word and need “fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4).
 
At least 19 times in the New Testament we hear the words “fear not” or “be not afraid” on the lips of Christ. Whenever phobias beset us or fears discourage us, deliverance is ours when we seek the Lord. Then “we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6). Even if we must sometimes “suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled” (1 Peter 3:14).
 
Perhaps the greatest fear of all is the fear of death, but the Lord delivers us even from this fear, for He has conquered death. In His glorified body, He has said, “Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:17-18). HMM

Earnest of the Spirit

“Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 5:5)
 
This is a fascinating concept and a wonderful reality. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is said to be an “earnest”—that is, a pledge or deposit—on an ultimate fulfillment of a magnificent promise from God Himself. The word translated “earnest” (Greek arrhabon) is essentially a transliteration of its Hebrew equivalent (arabown), translated “pledge” in the Old Testament (see Genesis 38:17-20).
 
Now if the guiding presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, is merely an earnest payment, the fulfillment must be glorious beyond comprehension. This “selfsame thing,” as our text calls it, is a wonderful “house which is from heaven,” the spiritual body we shall receive when we go to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-2).
 
The phrase also occurs in 2 Corinthians 1:22: “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” In context, the earnest payment here is associated with the “sealing” of God and the assurance that “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen” (v. 20).
 
The third and last use of this word in the New Testament is in Ephesians 1:13-14: “In whom also trusted . . . after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” We are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), and He is to inherit all things.
 
Thus, the Holy Spirit, a present possession of all who have received Christ as Savior, is also God’s pledge of a glorious future—a perfect body, a great inheritance, and the certain fulfillment of all of God’s gracious promises. HMM