Blessing of God's Family

Psalm 133, a song of ascents of David.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

The verse 1 begins,

Behold, calling our attention to this amazing reality,

how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

When it's talking about brothers, it's not a reference to one's biological siblings,

but to brothers and sisters in the faith,

because this is in the communal context of worship among the people of God in Israel.

And so it's referring to the chosen people of God, the family of God.

And the psalmist remarks,

It is good and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity.

And how good and pleasant?

Verses 2 to 3 answer that question.

And as you're reading verses 2 to 3, again,

think about just as summer approaches

and the days begin to get hot and humid here in New England.

You know, think about the things that you fantasize about to refresh you.

Maybe wading into the frigid waters of Boston beaches,

eating cold sugary watermelon or sipping iced tea,

you know, something that just refreshes you.

And I'm sure you can think of some of your favorite experiences.

And so imagine something like that

as you look at the two similes that are used in verses 2 to 3.

It says in verse 2,

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

on the beard of Aaron,

running down on the color of his robes.

Now, that might sound a little bit icky and uncomfortable to us

because we don't do this nowadays.

But in the ancient world,

head lice were quite common.

And head lice are parasites, right?

They live on your scalp and suck your blood.

Very unpleasant.

And nowadays, we can use permethrin or ointments

to kind of kill lice.

But people in the ancient Near East didn't have that.

Oil, however, due to its viscosity, killed lice.

And it also improved your body odor and things.

So it's the whole,

as a whole, overall, being anointed with oil

was a very refreshing experience.

And same thing, similarly, verse 3.

It says,

It is like the dew of Hermon,

which falls on the mountains of Zion.

So this also is a picture of just life and rejuvenation.

God told Israelites in Deuteronomy 11

that the land that he was giving them,

the promised land,

was not like the land of Egypt

because Egypt was water from the Nile River

via irrigation.

But instead, this land, God said,

which drinks water by the rain from heaven,

he said,

is a land that the Lord your God cares for.

It's a land that drinks from God's rain.

God feeds it water, basically.

And so Israel received almost all of its rainfall

during its rainy season

for only about like half of the year.

So for the other half of the year,

it was extremely dry.

I mean, intolerably dry at times.

And so the only moisture the land found,

it would be when the moist winds

kind of blowing from the Mediterranean Sea

would distill as dew throughout the land.

And that whenever they, you know,

saw, woke up from the night

and saw dew distilled on the ground,

it was a refreshing experience.

It brought life back to the land.

Greenery starts to show again.

And so that's the kind of image

that's in view here.

And apparently Mount Hermon was on the,

which was on the northern border of Israel,

was famous for heavy dew.

So he's envisioning this kind of heavy dew

falling on God's people in Zion.

And so we could, you know,

maybe relate to this a little better now than usual

because we've been social distancing,

you know, with the pandemic and whatnot.

And we long to be together

and we can talk about how it is good and pleasant

for us to dwell in unity.

But this is speaking of more than just the joys

of, you know, horizontal human connection.

You know, the second half of verse three

gives us the exact reason why it's good and pleasant

for brothers to dwell in unity.

And it says,

The reason why brothers dwelling in unity

is so good and pleasant

is that the Lord dwells among them

and brothers and sisters in Christ,

all of us.

And in blessing us

and imparting eternal life to us,

it's the Lord's presence that makes the difference.

They're not just dwelling with one another,

they're dwelling with one another

in the presence of God.

As Psalm 27 verse four says,

One thing have I asked of the Lord

that will I seek after that I may dwell.

Say more, dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

And there's a,

so there's a vertical connection to God

that makes the horizontal connection good and pleasant.

And in verse two,

the phrase running down is repeated twice,

running down, the oil running down,

and then in verse three,

it speaks also the dew falling down.

The phrase falling down is actually,

falling on is actually the exact same phrase

as the running down in verse two.

So there's actually a threefold repetition

of the same phrase,

all conveying the idea of something

coming down from above,

all to communicate the fact that

blessings come from God downward to us.

is like the anointing oil

that sets aside Aaron as God's priest,

the one who intercedes on behalf of God's people

in the presence of God.

No other nation had that.

No other nation had a priest

anointed by God

to intercede on their behalf

in the presence of God.

It marked Israel as God's special possession.

It is also like the dew

that falls on mountains of Zion

coming down from heaven.

It's watered by God himself.

It is there that the Lord

has commanded the blessing,

life forevermore.

But the Zion,

this blessed Zion,

where God's people

dwelt together in unity

in the presence of God,

it was not ultimately

the physical place

in the Middle East.

Rather,

the land of Canaan

pointed to our eternal dwelling place

with God.

And that's how

the author of Hebrews

interprets it.

Hebrews chapter 12,

Hebrews 12:22–24

verses 22 to 24.

He says,

but you have come,

he's talking to believers in Christ,

but you have come to Mount Zion

and to the city of the living God,

the heavenly Jerusalem,

and to innumerable angels

in festal gathering,

and to the assembly

of the firstborn

who are enrolled in heaven,

and to God,

the judge of all,

and to the spirits

of the righteous made perfect,

and to Jesus,

the mediator of a new covenant,

and to the sprinkled blood

that speaks a better word

than the blood of Abel.

It's because Jesus came

as the greater brother,

the brother that Cain never was

to Abel.

The blood of Abel

could not save Cain

from his iniquity,

from his sin.

However,

the blood of Christ

speaks not only judgment

as blood of Abel did,

but forgiveness for us

because Jesus died

on the cross for us.

He speaks forgiveness for us.

He speaks God's grace over us.

And when we believe in Jesus,

as we become citizens of Zion,

Mount Zion,

the city of the living God,

and it is as such people,

when we are aligned

with the purposes

of Jesus Christ,

when we are aligned

with the agenda

of his kingdom,

that's when it is good

and pleasant

for us to dwell in unity.

when we are aligned

with God,

when we are reconciled

with God,

that's when it is pleasant

for us to dwell together

in unity.

Thank you.

Thank you.