Worship Founded Upon Meekness

Learning Kingdom Obedience From King Hezekiah

Good Morning!

Our catechism lesson today continues with more on the Second Commandment. Without any more delay let’s get right into it as there is much to talk about this week:

Q. 51. What is forbidden in the Second Commandment?

A. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His word.

Q. 52. What are the reasons annexed to the Second Commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God’s sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He has to His own worship.

Worship, as has been noted, is what we are about as human beings. It is the very essence of our existence. When we are given a peek at God’s redeemed flock in the Heavens in Revelation 7 we see the people gathered around the throne praising the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with their voices:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

No matter where you are from, or who your parents are, or what the provenance of your faith is, in your resting and trusting in Christ the natural response of a redeemed heart is going to be worship. It’s who we are. If you don’t have a burning desire to gather with God’s Church on the Sabbath Day then it’s a moral issue, a sin, full stop, truly worthy of repentance. We bear the fruit of the tree unto which we are a member.

If we are still attached to the date tree of Satan then we will resist the call to worship. However, if we are grafted onto the fig tree that is Christ then we will bring forth praise upon praise, because the means of His grace flows through us as sap in a maple. There isn’t any wiggle room here for there can’t be more than one master under whom we live, as the First Commandment makes clear. We either have the God of the Bible as our Lord, or we have the man-made creation as our idol. Choose this day whom you will serve has implications for this next word given at Sinai.

The Second Commandment is also largely concerned with comforting us with the news that we need not be ignorant either of how or who to bring praise with and to in response to the grace given in love. The same God who has provided a plan of redemption has presented in His perfect Scriptures a witness to the manner of the worship of His people. Just like we could not of our own mind design a more perfect way to salvation than what Jehovah has wrought in the Lord Jesus, we as creatures even if we were given an infinity of time would never manufacture something as perfect as the worship God provides for us in His Word. We deny Him when we do.

In our look at the first two questions surrounding the 2nd Command I gave you Deuteronomy 12:32 as a source verse for what we call the Regulative Principle of Worship, which means that we are not to do anything in worship that God Himself has not expressly declared in His word or by good or necessary consequence can be found among His Scripture. To give some examples this week of what this looks like in practice let’s take a little drive to the future of Israel and the re-establishment of the Temple in the days of Hezekiah.

In 2 Chronicles 29 we are told of the succession to the kingship of Judah of the son of Ahaz. We are told two things about Ahaz that are pertinent to this week’s essay. First from 2 Chron. 28:2, “For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals” and then from 2 Chron. 28:25, “And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.”.  In both of those verses we see blatant and obvious violations of the Second Commandment. Look back up top at our catechism questions. Q.51 notes that we are not to worship God by images or by any other way not appointed in the Bible. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where Ahaz failed. He not only molded images of a false idol, but he raised up altars to the deities of the nations surrounding Judah. While that may sound more like a violation of the First Commandment (and they are) for our purposes they are important to point out, because of what we see his son Hezekiah do in response when he gains authority to do something about it.

The first act of the new king is to “…open the doors of the house of the LORD and repair them.” (2 Chron. 29:3). After that he calls together all the priests and Levites and has them ritually cleanse themselves, in accordance with the law of God found in the book of Leviticus, before they go into the Temple. While they do so we have this curious statement in 29:15, “And they gathered their brethren, sanctified themselves, and went according to the commandment of the king, at the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. ”.  

Notice what is said there.  

They did what the king said, because of what the LORD said, in order that the house of the LORD would be clean. The only thing performed was of the command of God, nothing more, nothing less. We see this even more plainly later in the chapter with v.25, “And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the Lord by His prophets.”.

It could not be clearer. Hezekiah received the blessing of God not because He did that which pleased himself, nor did he do what he thought the Lord might like, but restricted himself in humble reliance upon the wisdom of Jehovah to only put in place what was …the commandment of the LORD by His prophets. This is the message of the Second Commandment in real life. The same has come down to us in the New Testament Church. We are no more free than Hezekiah was to worship God in whatever way we fashion, for we are called by Jesus Christ to bring adoration that is founded upon the spirit and in truth. (John 4:24). Let it not be said we do anything “new” at Bethany, however, let it be known that whatever we do in worship is by the blessed and gracious command of our God, for our benefit and just as, if not more importantly, in light of the glory of our Heavenly Father, forever be His name. Amen.

For a little more on this look here:

https://www.monergism.com/blog/regulative-principle-worship

In the Grace of Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church