Latest / Reformed Thinking / Lift Up Your Hands and Bless the Lord (Psalm 134) | Charles Spurgeon

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Lift Up Your Hands and Bless the Lord (Psalm 134) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, when you think about ancient historical sites today,
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the image that usually comes to mind is this incredibly sterile
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environment. Oh, for sure, very quiet.
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Yeah, you walk into a museum and it is entirely silent.
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The atmosphere is just static. You have these priceless
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artifacts sitting perfectly still behind like half an inch
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of thick glass. And there are those velvet ropes
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keeping you at a very safe distance from everything.
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Right. Everyone is whispering.
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And then, you know, at 5:00 in the afternoon, the security
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guards usher everyone out. They lock the heavy doors, turn
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off the display lights, and the whole place goes entirely dark
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and silent until the next morning.
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It becomes a tomb, essentially, yeah.
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I mean, it is a monument to a civilization that used to be
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alive but now only exists as a subject of quiet observation.
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You were looking at the frozen remains of history.
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But then you look at the historical reality of the Temple
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in ancient Jerusalem and that modern museum comparison.
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Just it. Shatters it.
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Really does, because the lights did not go off at 5:00 in
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Jerusalem. The doors were not all locked up
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while the city went to sleep. This was a massive 24 hour
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operation. Absolutely.
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It was filled with fire, with constant movement, with the
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smell of roasting grain and incense, and there was this very
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specific, continuous kind of noise.
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It was an active breathing center of an entire society.
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I mean, it was the literal pounding heartbeat of a nation
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that did not and take a break when the sun went down.
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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. Today we are taking you on a
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deep dive into a really fascinating piece of ancient
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text. We are looking at Psalm 134.
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And we are using Charles Spurgeon's massive commentary,
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The Treasury of David, as our primary guide today.
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Right, pulling in a stack of historical and theological
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sources along the way, and the mission for our conversation
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today is to give you a shortcut to understanding this specific
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ancient interaction. We are going to examine a
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fleeting, microscopic moment in time, really.
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Yeah, a pre dawn exchange between two very different
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groups of people and we will unpack how it offers a striking
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lesson on avoiding the trap of dead mechanical religion and.
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What is so fascinating here is the specific placement of this
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text. I mean, Psalm 134 is the very
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last of what are known as the Gradual songs or the Songs of
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Degrees. OK, let's unpack that term for a
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second, because songs of degrees sounds like we were talking
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about geometry or maybe temperature, right?
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And that is going to confuse people.
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What does that phrase actually mean in this ancient context?
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Well, think of the word degrees. In its older sense, it means
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steps or stairs. Yeah, geographically, Jerusalem
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sits up on a mountain, so no matter what direction you were
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coming from the ancient world, you have to travel uphill to get
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there. That makes sense.
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So when the Israelites traveled up to Jerusalem for their major
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annual festivals, they were physically ascending.
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And these 15 short psalms, Psalms 120 through 134, well,
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they were the playlist for that uphill hike.
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The ultimate road trip playlist. Totally.
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They were the songs of the ascents.
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The pilgrims would sing them as they climb the dirt roads
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leading up to the city and eventually as they climbed the
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literal stone steps up into the temple complex itself.
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Which means song 134, since it is the final one of the 15, is
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the end of the line. It is the conclusion of the
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festival. The grand finale.
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Yeah, and we need to set the physical scene for you so you
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can really picture what is happening in this specific
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moment. Imagine you are part of a
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massive group of travelers. Just ordinary folks.
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Right, right. You are common folks.
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You are farmers from Galilee, tradesmen, shepherds.
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You have come down to Jerusalem for a major festival, and you
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have spent days in this crowded, chaotic, thrilling city.
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But now the festival is over. It is early in the morning, well
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before dawn. The sky is pitch black, maybe a
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few the brightest stars are still visible.
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And you have a very long, incredibly dangerous dirt road
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ahead of you to get back home. Exactly.
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So you are packing up your camp while the night still lingers.
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You are shaking the cold dew off the canvas of your tents.
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You are tying up the pack animals, you know, trying to
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keep your kids quiet and organized in the dark.
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And the air is freezing. I mean, nights in the Judean
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Hills usually are. Yeah, you are exhausted from the
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week and you are shivering, and as you step outside the city
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gates to begin the long walk N you look up.
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Above you, dominating the skyline, is the massive
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retaining wall of the temple complex.
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It is a staggering site. And up on that massive
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Stonewall, you see guards walking the perimeter.
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You see the warm, flickering glow of oil lamps shining from
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the sanctuary windows out into the absolute dark.
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And moved by this site, this group of departing freezing
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travelers calls out a farewell to the men working the night
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shift up in that holy shrine. And that specific interaction is
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the structure we are examining today.
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It is unbelievably brief, just three short verses, right?
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Verses 1 and 2 are the departing travelers, these ordinary
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working class people calling out a loud farewell exhortation to
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the elite priests standing up on the wall.
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And verse 3 is the benediction, the theological blessing that
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those priests shout back down into the valet.
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So on the surface we have a simple pre dawn goodbye.
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But here's where it gets incredibly interesting.
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How does a quick goodbye shouted in the dark offer us an
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intricate, detailed theological lesson on the state of our own
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hearts? That is the big question.
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To figure that out, we are going to jump straight into the first
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verse. It starts with a very specific,
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sharp word. The word is behold.
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Let me read it. Go for it.
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Behold, bless you the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which
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by night stand in the House of the Lord.
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So Charles Spurgeon points out that this opening word, behold,
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is not a gentle suggestion. Not at all.
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No, in the original Hebrew the word is hina.
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It functions like an alarm clock.
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It is a shout. It is a shrill cry from the
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travelers down below in the dirt, directed at the night
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watch up above on the stone walls.
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They are stirring up this brotherhood of priests, telling
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them to wake up, pay attention, and constantly adore Jehovah.
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I love that image so much. It is not a polite quiet whisper
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in a library. It is a loud ringing echoing
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Behold. Like a verbal clap of the hands.
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Spot on. But wait, let me push back on
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the scenario for a second, because the dynamics here seem
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entirely backward to me. How so?
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Well, these men up on the wall are the Levites.
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They are the priests. I mean, they are the holiest men
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in the nation, stationed in the absolute most sacred place on
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the planet, carrying out a divine mandate, right?
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Why do a bunch of farmers packing up tents need to yell at
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them to do their jobs? Wouldn't praising God be
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automatic for a priest standing inside the temple?
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You would definitely think so, but that assumption ignores a
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fundamental the reality of human nature, and this is a critical
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insight John Calvin brings out in his commentary on this verse.
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What does Calvin say? Calvin details the relentless
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human tendency to abuse religious ceremonies and to
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default to thoughtless, empty routine.
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He points out that the travelers are actively warning the priests
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not to stand idly in the temple. Ah, I see.
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Think about the danger of their job.
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It is incredibly easy to treat a nightly religious duty as a
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mechanical, industrial chore. Yeah, you clock in.
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You trim the Wicks on the oil lamps, you sweep the ashes off
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the altar, you check the heavy brass locks on the gates, and
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you clock out. Exactly.
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Your hands are doing holy things, but your mind is
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completely elsewhere. That is the trap, isn't it?
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It is Calvin recognized that the human heart can turn even the
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most glorious, awe inspiring worship into a lifeless
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checklist. Behold as a sharp cry to snap
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them out of that autopilot state and bring them to absolute
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spiritual attention. It is the antidote to mechanical
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religion. The travellers are basically
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saying do not just sweep the floors.
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Remember whose floors you are sweeping.
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That is right, and if we connect this to the broader
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psychological picture, the commentator John Mayer makes a
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brilliant observation here. What does he add?
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He says too much familiarity breeds contempt, or well, at the
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very least, it breeds profound apathy.
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When you are surrounded by the sacred all day, every single
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day, the human brain stops registering the wonder of it.
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It just becomes the background noise of your life.
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That makes total sense from a neurological perspective.
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I mean, the brain uses a process called habituation, right?
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If you live right next to a massive roaring waterfall or a
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busy train track, the first week you live there you cannot sleep
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because the noise is deafening. It keeps you awake all night.
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But after six months, you do not even hear the water or the train
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anymore. Your brain filters it out as
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irrelevant white noise so you can focus on other things.
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And these priests live next to the spiritual waterfall, and the
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travellers are worried they've stopped hearing the roar.
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Man, that is a great way to picture it.
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Robert Biller Mean adds another layer to this concept too.
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He focuses on the historical shift in Israel's architecture.
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The architecture, yeah. He notes that the priests in
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this specific era now have a permanent massive stone House of
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worship. Right, the temple.
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But in the older days, centuries prior, during the time of Moses
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and Joshua, the people were wandering in the wilderness.
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The Tabernacle was a tent. It was temporary.
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Made of animal skins and wood. Yes, and it was vulnerable to
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the elements and two enemies. There was a constant edge of
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survival. I mean, you could not fall
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asleep on duty because an Amalekite raiding party might
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come over the dune, or a sandstorm might blow the Holy 10
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over. Right.
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The urgency of the wilderness demanded acute awareness, but
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now they have this staggering stone structure in Jerusalem.
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It has thick walls, massive gates and a sense of absolute
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security. So they get comfortable.
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Bellermine suggests that this kind of physical comfort and
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permanence can lead directly to taking the spiritual reality for
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granted. Yeah, the edge is gone.
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So let's bring this directly to you, the listener, right now.
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Think about your own daily routines, especially your
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spiritual habits. Yeah, that's the real question.
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How often do you go through the motions of your duties without
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truly pausing to behold the bigger picture when you sit in
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your usual seat on a Sunday morning, or when you open a
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familiar text you have read 30 times before?
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Are you mentally actively engaged with the creator of the
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universe or has habituation set in?
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Have you just clocked in? Is your brain on the default
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mode network filtering out the wonder like white noise?
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The travellers are essentially yelling up to the massive walls.
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Do not become a machine. You are in the direct presence
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of the living God. Wake up your mind.
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Shake off the comfort of the stone walls.
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It is a massive wake up call to the professionals from the
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amateurs. The ordinary folks standing in
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the muddy dirt are telling the elite theological guards on the
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high wall to stay spiritually alert, and that dynamic leads us
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to look much closer at who these guards actually were.
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Which is the subject of the second-half of verse one.
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Right. Which by night stand in the
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House of the Lord? Who were these night Watchmen,
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and what did a night shift in the ancient temple actually
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entail? To understand the sheer scale of
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what the travelers are looking at, we have to look at the
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exhaustive historical details provided by the scholar JJ
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Stewart. Prone OK.
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He writes about the customs of the Second Temple period.
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We often picture the temple is just a large church building.
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Like a big cathedral. Yeah, but it was not.
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It was a sprawling multi acre complex of courtyards,
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slaughterhouses, treasuries and sanctuaries.
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The huge footprint. Guarding it was not a job for
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one guy with a Lantern. It was a highly organized,
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regimented military operation involving hundreds of Levites.
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So paint that picture for us. Walk us through the timeline.
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What did the midnight routine look like on the ground?
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According to the historical records Prone synthesizes, the
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pivotal moment happened right around midnight.
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The chief doorkeeper, who was a high-ranking official, would
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take the massive iron key of the Inner Temple.
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He would gather a specific company of priests and they
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would enter the complex to a very specific small entrance
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called the Postern of the Fire Gate.
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The fire gate. That name alone sounds
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intimidating. It was once they pass through
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that small door and stood inside the vast, dark inner court, this
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watch divided itself into two distinct companies.
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Like a modern security detail splitting U to cover the
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perimeter of a campus. Very much so.
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Each company carried a burning torch.
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One group turned W, the other group turned east.
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They walked in completely opposite directions, compassing
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the entire inner court. Walking the perimeter.
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And they were not just walking for exercise, they were
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conducting A rigorous inspection.
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They were checking every lock, every gate and every station to
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ensure that absolutely everything was in pristine
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readiness for the morning worship that would begin at
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dawn. I am trying to put myself in
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their shoes and picture the sensory details of this patrol.
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I mean, you have the freezing cold stone paving blocks under
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their bare feet, right? Because priests had to work
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barefoot. Entirely barefoot.
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You have the flickering chaotic orange light of the torches
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casting these massive, shifting shadows against the towering
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limestone walls. Oh, the shadows would have been
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huge. And you have the absolute heavy
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silence of the sleeping city outside, sharply contrasted with
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the quiet, rhythmic footsteps of these guards echoing inside the
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colonnades. It is a highly atmospheric
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scene, and as these two companies walk their opposite
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semicircles around the court, their paths would eventually
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cross again on the far side. Where did they meet up?
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Peron describes how they would meet at a very specific
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location, the bake house. The bake house.
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What were they baking in the middle of the night?
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This is where the high priest's daily offering, the mincha, was
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prepared. OK, the mincha.
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Now, older English translations sometimes call this a meat
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offering, which confuses modern readers who picture a steak.
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In older English, meat just meant food.
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Right, like meat and drink. Yeah, dementia was actually a
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grain offering. It was fine flour mixed with oil
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baked into bread or cakes. Oh, that completely changes the
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sensory picture. So they are walking through the
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freezing dark and they arrive at a place that smells like a
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bakery. The warmth of the ovens, the
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smell of baking bread at 2:00 in the morning.
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Yes, and when the two torch bearing companies met in the
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warm glow of that bake house, they would formally greet each
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other with the all clear cry. What did they say?
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They would shout all well. All well, so it is a status
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report. It was a very strict military
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protocol, yeah. And meanwhile, as the patrol
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finished, the rest of the priests who were scheduled for
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the morning shift would arise from their stone beds in a
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designated sleeping chamber. Getting ready for the day.
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They had to bathe themselves in ritual water, put on their
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intricate official white garments, and gather in a
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specific stone room there, under the superintendents of a
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commanding officer. Their specific duties for the
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coming day, like who would clean the altar, who would arrange the
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wood, who would slaughter the sacrifice, were assigned to each
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of them by drawing. So while the rest of the world
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was entirely unconscious, totally oblivious in their beds,
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there was this massive hidden society operating under
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torchlight. But let's look at the mental
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state required to actually pull this off night after night.
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I mean, the commentator Samuel Martin makes some really keen
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observations about the psychological perils of working
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this specific night watch. He does, and this cuts right to
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the heart of why the travelers needed to shout Behold.
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Why is that? Martin points out that while the
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rest of the city slept, these barefoot priests face dual
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dangers. The first danger is the obvious
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physiological one, physical slumber.
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Right, falling asleep on duty, yeah.
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In a military context, sleeping on watch is a severe offense.
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But the second danger Martin identifies is far more
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insidious. He calls it mental idle reverie.
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Idle reverie. I love that phrase.
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It basically means just letting your mind detach from reality
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and drift into a state of absolute nothingness.
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Yes. Think about how much time and
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energy is wasted in wandering useless thoughts when the mind
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is entirely unoccupied but the physical body is required to
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stay awake. It happens to all of us.
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You are standing in the dark. The adrenaline of the initial
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midnight patrol has worn off. The bake house inspection is
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done. You're just standing there,
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shivering, waiting for the sun to come up over the Mount of
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Olives. I can relate to this on such to
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fundamental level. I mean, it is the exact same
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psychology as someone working a graveyard shift today.
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Oh, definitely. Say you are a security guard at
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an empty corporate office building, or you are the night
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auditor at a quiet hotel. You have completed your rounds.
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Now you just have to sit at the desk from 3:00 AM to 6:00 AM.
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The worst hours? The natural, overwhelming
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instinct is to zone out just to pass the time.
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You pull out your phone and scroll endlessly.
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You stare blankly at the wall. You let your brain power down to
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standby mode just to survive the sheer boredom of those hours.
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But contrast that natural human instinct to zone out with the
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active, vigorous mental engagement required in spiritual
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matters. Right?
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Martin highlights that these guards were not called to just
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stare blankly into the dark and wait for dawn.
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They were called to actively fill that dead silence with
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praise. Oh.
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The travelers outside the wall were shouting up.
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You have this incredible, unprecedented privilege of
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standing inside the sanctuary while everyone else is asleep.
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You are guarding the House of the Creator.
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Do not waste these hours in idle daydreams.
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Actively bless Jehovah. It is the stark difference
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between passive physical presence and active mental
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engagement. Just having your body inside the
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building is not enough. You have to involve your mind,
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you have to direct your intellect.
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And I know Charles Spurgeon takes this historical reality of
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the Temple Night Watch and extends it to talk about
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something much broader out guarding church history.
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He. Does, and it is a breathtaking
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connection. Spurgeon, drawing from the notes
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of a commentator known as the Village Preacher, connects this
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physical night watch in ancient Jerusalem to metaphorical dark
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periods in human history. Dark periods.
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Yeah, the overarching theological principle is that
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God always has his guards. Always.
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Even when the night of ignorance or persecution or cultural decay
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settles heavily down on a society, there are always
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watchers stationed on the wall, keeping the truth safe.
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Give us some tangible historical examples of that.
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Who were the night watchers when the lights went out in history?
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Well, think of John Wycliffe in the 14th century.
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He is translating the Bible into English during a period of
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intense spiritual and intellectual darkness in Europe
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facing immense opposition. He was awake while the church
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was asleep. Totally.
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Or consider the Waldenses, a group of pre Reformation
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Christians hiding in the freezing remote valleys of the
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Alps. They were maintaining their
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faith, memorizing Scripture, and holding on to the Gospel while
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facing severe, brutal persecution from the established
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authorities. So they functioned as Sentinels.
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They did. They were praising God and
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holding on to the core truths of the faith during the darkest
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hours of history, faithfully waiting for the morning light of
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the Reformation to break. That is a staggering concept,
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the idea that even when things look incredibly bleak, you know
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when it feels like the culture has gone completely dark and the
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truth is lost, there is always someone awake on the wall.
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There's always a torch burning somewhere in the courtyard.
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And our job, just like those travelers leaving Jerusalem, is
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to encourage those watchers. When we see someone holding the
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line in a dark time, we are supposed to shout up to them.
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Keep going. Do not fall asleep.
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We see you. And that encouragement leads us
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directly into the physical actions the travelers demanded
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of the priests. We have established the cold,
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dark setting. We have established the
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precarious mental state of the guards fighting off idle
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reverie. Right now we move into verse 2,
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where the travellers give a very specific physical instruction.
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Let me read verse 2. Lift up your hands in the
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sanctuary and bless the Lord. OK, I just have to pause here
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and point out the social dynamic again because it is wild.
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You have common travellers, people who work with their
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hands, guys who smell like sheep in dirt, instructing the elite,
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highly educated, ceremonially pure temple.
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Guards on exactly how to conduct their worship.
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It takes a lot of nerve, doesn't it?
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It takes so much nerve. It takes nerve, but it
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demonstrates a beautiful shared ownership of the faith.
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The ordinary travelers recognize that the priest up on the wall
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are not just doing a private job, they're acting on behalf of
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the whole nation. I see.
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So they feel completely justified and telling them lift
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up your hands. And according to the commentator
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Samuel Isles Pierce, this lifting of the hands is not just
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an empty, theatrical physical motion.
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What is it then? It carries a specific twofold
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theological meaning in the ancient Near East.
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What are the two sides of that meaning?
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First, it is an intimation of expecting to receive blessings.
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Think of the posture. An empty hand held out, palms
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up, waiting to be filled by someone greater.
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Yeah, open hands. It is a physical demonstration
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of absolute dependence. You are showing that you bring
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nothing to the table. And the second meaning?
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Second, it is an acknowledgement of blessings already received.
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It is a universal gesture of surrender and gratitude.
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You lift your hands to show you've dropped your weapons, you
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have stopped fighting, and you are yielding to God.
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I love how the physical posture of the body is so tightly bound
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to the internal reality of the soul.
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But there is a linguistic detail in this verse that adds so much
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depth to this command. Let's look at this specific word
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sanctuary. Yes, the scholar Henry Hammond
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observes something fascinating about the original Hebrew text.
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Here. The Hebrew word used for
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sanctuary is kodesh. Kodesh and kodesh can also be
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translated as holiness. So.
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Depending on how you read it, the verse could be translated as
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lift up your hands in holiness rather than just referring to a
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geographical location. Precisely, and Hammond ties this
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translation into the strict physical requirements placed on
21:59
the priests. What requirements?
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Before officiating any duty, before they could ever lift
22:03
their hands in worship, the priests were legally obligated
22:06
to physically wash their hands and feet in a massive bronze
22:10
basing called the brass labor. Let's explain what that labor
22:13
was. Because it wasn't a small sink
22:15
in a bathroom. This was a massive, heavy bronze
22:19
reservoir of water sitting out in the open courtyard, Very
22:22
heavy. And remember the setting we
22:24
described? It is the middle of the night.
22:26
It is freezing cold in the mountains of Judea.
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Plunging your hands and feet into that freezing water was a
22:32
physical shock to the system. It was a severe physical
22:35
requirement, and it intricately links physical cleanliness with
22:40
spiritual readiness. How so?
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The theological point Hammond is making is that you cannot lift
22:46
up filthy, unwashed hands in the holy place.
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The external washing of the skin was a constant physical lesson,
22:53
pointing to the internal need for a clean conscience and a
22:57
holy life. OK, I'm gonna challenge this
23:00
idea for a second because we need to get to the bottom of how
23:02
posture works. Let's talk about the
23:04
relationship between physical movement and internal focus.
23:07
Sure, if God is a spirit, and if the heart is what truly matters,
23:11
you know, if God is looking at the internal state of the
23:13
priest's soul, why do the travellers command a physical
23:17
action like lifting hands? That is fair question.
23:19
Does the physical action of lifting your arms actually
23:22
matter if the heart is already in the right place?
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That is a phenomenal question, and it raises A crucial point
23:28
about human anthropology. We are not just floating,
23:31
disconnected minds trapped in meat suits.
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We are embodied creatures, right?
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Our theology recognizes that God created both the body and the
23:41
soul, and they are intimately connected.
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Often our physical posture dictates our mental state.
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It calls to mind that psychological phenomenon called
23:50
proprioception. Oh yeah, Where your brain
23:53
constantly monitors what your body is doing to understand how
23:56
to feel. It is like the trick where
23:59
psychologists tell people to force themselves to smile even
24:02
when they are miserable. Right, because it works.
24:04
The sheer physical act of engaging those facial muscles
24:07
sends a signal to your brain. Your brain registers the muscle
24:10
movement and actually starts releasing dopamine and
24:12
serotonin. The physical action jump starts
24:15
the chemical reality. That is a brilliant modern
24:17
analogy for what is happening on this ancient wall.
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The physical action can lead the spiritual reality.
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So they use the body to wake up the mind, Yes.
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When the freezing, exhausted priest forcibly lifts his heavy
24:29
hands up into the cold night air, he is physically breaking
24:33
his body out of that idle reverie Martin warned about.
24:36
Oh wow, the bodily movement demands mental attention.
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He is using his physical frame to shake off the mental
24:43
sluggishness. So when the travelers shout lift
24:46
up your hands, they are offering a practical strategy.
24:49
They're saying force your entire being, body and soul, into
24:53
alignment with your purpose. Use your body to wake up your
24:57
soul. It is a posture of total
24:59
undivided attention and the. Beautiful thing is, it works.
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The priests, having received this enthusiastic, slightly
25:06
audacious charge from the common travelers down in the dirt, do
25:09
not react with pride. Not at all.
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They do not get defensive. They do not ignore the shout
25:14
from the valley and go back to zoning out.
25:15
No, they do not. They engage.
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Yeah. And this is where the entire
25:18
narrative shifts across the valley.
25:20
The camera angle moves from the travelers to the wall.
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The priests respond. Which brings us to verse 3 for
25:25
mutual benediction. Let me read it.
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The Lord that made heaven and earth blessed thee out of Zion.
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To fully appreciate this response, you have to picture
25:34
the acoustics of the moment. The commentator Robert Nisbet
25:38
paints such a vivid picture here.
25:39
Yes, Nisbet's imagery is incredible.
25:42
Picture the words of the priests shouted from the very top of the
25:46
towering temple walls. Yeah, sound travels
25:49
exceptionally well in the cold, still night air.
25:51
It really does. The shout floats out over the
25:54
sleeping, tightly packed stone houses of the city.
25:58
It travels down the steep incline into the quiet, dark
26:01
basin of the Kidron Valley. It acts like a giant geological
26:05
megaphone. And those words hit the ears of
26:08
the freezing travelers as a benedictory farewell.
26:10
It is a massive, authoritative blessing echoing in the dark.
26:14
It is a staggering moment of connection between two totally
26:17
different classes of people, and the theological weight packed
26:20
into this single sentence is immense.
26:22
How so? The commentator Enema Michael
26:25
breaks down the dual character of God presented in this one
26:28
brief response. Let's walk through that dual
26:30
character. What is the first aspect of God
26:32
they mentioned? First, God is described
26:33
primarily as the Creator. The priests shout the Lord that
26:37
made heaven and earth. This highlights God in his
26:40
aspect of infinite strength, unsearchable force, and total
26:44
sovereignty over the material universe is the God of nature.
26:48
Michael points out that leading with this title proves logically
26:51
that God can bless you because he spoke the galaxies into
26:55
existence. He has infinite resources at his
26:57
disposal. There is absolutely no limit to
27:00
his supply chain. This is such a critical
27:03
distinction for ancient people. They're not praying to a local
27:06
tribal deity who only controls the weather over one specific
27:10
mountain. Definitely no.
27:11
The priests are declaring that the God they worship made the
27:14
distant stars the travelers are navigating by and he made the
27:18
dirt Rd. they're about to walk. On yes, His jurisdiction covers
27:21
the entire cosmos, but then the priests introduced the second
27:25
aspect of God's character. What is that?
27:28
He is described as blessing them out of Zion.
27:30
Zion represents his chosen dwelling place among his
27:33
covenant people. This is the God of grace, the
27:35
God of redemption. OK, so there's a contrast.
27:38
Yeah, well the first title, Maker of Heaven and Earth,
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proves he can bless because he is powerful.
27:44
The second title out of Zion proves he will bless his people
27:48
because he is relational. He has bound himself to them in
27:51
a covenant. OK, I have another logistical
27:53
question here, and this actually comes directly from Abraham
27:55
Wright's commentary. If God made the entire universe,
27:59
if his force spans the cosmos from end to end, why localize
28:04
the blessing out of Zion? That is a great question.
28:07
Why not just shout the Lord bless you out of heaven?
28:09
Why restrict the Infinite Creator to a specific dusty hill
28:13
in Jerusalem? That is a fantastic tension to
28:16
highlight, and it gets to the core of how God interacts with
28:19
humanity. Wright addresses this by
28:21
explaining the concept of the flow of blessing.
28:23
The flow of blessing. Yeah, while all spiritual and
28:26
physical blessings originate primarily from heaven, from the
28:29
throne of God, they flow immediately from Zion.
28:31
Immediately, meaning they travel through a medium, they are
28:34
routed through a specific channel.
28:35
Yes, Zion represents the gathered body of believers, the
28:39
instituted ordinances, the reading of the Word, the
28:42
specific place of covenant worship.
28:44
Ah. I see.
28:45
The theological point here is that God uses ordinary means.
28:49
He channels his vast, cosmic, uncontainable blessings through
28:53
this specific local communion of the Saints.
28:56
The untold benefits of heaven are distributed through the
28:59
local gathering on earth. So it pushes back against the
29:02
modern, highly individualized idea where someone says, you
29:05
know, I have the God of heaven and earth out in the woods.
29:07
I do not need Zion. I do not need the church.
29:10
Exactly. Or well, spot on.
29:13
The scriptural model says the blessing of the Creator is
29:16
specifically and deliberately routed through Zion.
29:19
It is a package deal. That is an excellent way to
29:22
frame. It.
29:22
And to add to that, there is a crucial, easily missed
29:25
grammatical detail in this verse that we absolutely must point
29:29
out. What is that?
29:30
Both JJ Stewart Peron and Franz Dillich, who are absolute
29:33
masters of the Hebrew language, note a shift in the pronouns
29:37
that completely alters how we understand the emotional impact
29:40
of this blessing. What is the grammatical shift?
29:43
Look at the pronoun at the end of the sentence.
29:45
The priests shout, The Lord that made heaven and earth bless
29:47
thee. In the original language, that
29:49
pronoun is singular. It is not bless you as in a
29:52
plural generalized crowd. But wait, we set the scene
29:55
earlier. There is a huge multitude of
29:57
travelers down in the valley. There are hundreds, maybe
30:00
thousands of people packing up their tents and loading their
30:03
animals. Which makes the use of the
30:04
singular pronouns so striking and intimate.
30:07
Even though the priests are addressing a massive multitude,
30:11
the blessing is applied deeply. Personally, de Lich suggests it
30:16
treats the whole group as one unified body, but Peron adds
30:20
that it places the massive weight of the blessing
30:22
intimately on each individual listener.
30:25
It operates just like the famous ancient High Priestly blessing
30:28
from Numbers chapter 6. The Lord bless thee and keep
30:32
thee. The Lord make his face shine
30:33
upon thee. It is always singular.
30:35
Yes, the priests on the wall are not just throwing a generic
30:39
blanket blessing over a faceless, nameless crowd, right?
30:42
They're looking down at a sea of tired, shivering people and
30:45
saying may the infinite Maker of the universe bless you
30:49
individually, personally, specifically, as you walk your
30:52
specific dangerous Rd. home today.
30:54
That brings such an intense, sudden warmth to the freezing
30:58
cold morning we described earlier.
30:59
It really does. You are standing in the dark,
31:02
shivering in the mud, stressed out about the long trek ahead,
31:05
worrying about highway robbers or running out of food, and
31:08
suddenly a booming voice from the high wall cuts through the
31:12
cold air and tells you that the Creator of the cosmos sees you
31:17
and is specifically aiming his covenant blessing directly at
31:21
you. It is a massive reassurance and
31:24
it is the perfect grace filled response to the traveler's
31:28
initial shout. Let's summarize the entirety of
31:31
this beautiful exchange we have been looking at.
31:33
We started with ordinary, tired people standing in the dirt,
31:36
looking up at the elite theological guards on the wall.
31:40
The ordinary people take the initiative to encourage their
31:43
leaders. They yell up at them to stay
31:45
awake, to fight off mechanical routine, to lift their hands and
31:48
actively engage their minds and their faith.
31:50
And the leaders on the wall do not respond with pride or
31:53
annoyance. They do not tell the farmers to
31:55
mind their own business. They receive the instruction
31:58
with humility. They lift their hands.
32:00
And they respond by passing down a massive universe spanning
32:04
blessing. They take the infinite resources
32:06
of the Creator and hand them directly to the freezing
32:09
individuals in the valley. It is a perfect picture of
32:12
mutual benediction, the watchers on the wall and the travelers in
32:15
the valley, feeding each other, keeping each other awake in the
32:18
dark, and relying on the same covenant God.
32:21
Which leaves us with a final thought to Mull over as we
32:23
close. What is that?
32:25
We've spent this whole time talking about the physical dark,
32:27
the night watch and the towering stone walls of the temple.
32:31
But here is the historical reality that temple is gone.
32:34
Oh, right. In 70 AD, the Roman army under
32:38
Titus came in and completely leveled it.
32:40
The walls fell, the stones were thrown down into the valley.
32:43
The physical sanctuary where those priests stood guard
32:46
literally cease to exist. The physical structure vanished.
32:49
So the question for you to consider is this.
32:52
What happens when the wall you were supposed to be guarding
32:54
collapses? What happens when the familiar
32:57
structures of your life, your health, your career, your steady
33:01
routine, the things that made you feel secure are dismantled?
33:05
That is a heavy question. When the architecture of your
33:07
life falls apart, do you abandon the watch?
33:11
Or do you realize that the God who made heaven and earth
33:14
doesn't need a stone building to maintain his covenant?
33:18
Even when the stones fall, the call to stand in the dark, lift
33:22
your hands and bless the Lord remains.
33:25
How do you maintain the night watch when the structure is
33:27
gone? Such a challenging framework to
33:29
examine our own routines and our own responses to the dark
33:32
seasons of life. Thank you so much for joining us
33:34
on this deep dive on reformed thinking.
33:36
Keep your hands lifted, stay awake on the wall and we will
33:39
talk to you next time.