Background

"When the first word is repentance, the last word is blessing."
(Eugene H. Peterson)

Repentance

Repentance is both withdrawal and returning. It is withdrawal from sin. It is returning to God. It began with repentance. It began with finally seeing the world around us as it is, and seeking to withdraw from it. It began with recognizing that our only escape was in the salvation God offers.

Isa 30:15 For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, In repentance and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength." But you were not willing,

Ne 1:9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.'

Ac 11:18 And when they heard this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."

Blessing

Blessing bears a different meaning depending upon who is blessing whom. When we bless God, we kneel in adoration, if not our knees, then our hearts are bowed before Him. In blessing God, we are not bestowing gifts upon Him, not giving Him a means of happiness He didn't have before. No, we are adoring our Lord. We are declaring our recognition of the praise, glory, and honor that are His by right. We are praising the One who alone deserves our praises. We are expressing our thanks for His great mercy towards us.

When God blesses us, then it is truly a giving of what we did not have before. And He has the power to make His blessings effective.

Pr 10:22 It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich,
              And He adds no sorrow to it.

Jas 1:17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.

1 Co 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ?

"The blessings connected with repentance are pardon, peace, and everlasting life." (Strong)

What greater blessing can there be than to be allowed a part in the body of Christ? What greater reason can be found to repent than to know that blessing?

Prepared for the Feast

We have been looking at the pilgrim psalms. We have been learning what that pilgrimage is about. We have been preparing for the Feast. Now, we have arrived at the place chosen for that feast. But pilgrims can grow weary. It's a long and difficult journey, as we have seen. Lest we faint just short of the finish line, we are called now to stir up not only ourselves, but each other. We are called not only to take encouragement ourselves, but to encourage others.

We pilgrims have arrived at the threshold of the Feast of Tabernacles. As such, it's worthwhile to remember what the feast is about, so let's review what we learned of that feast at the beginning:

(from the start of our exploration of the Pilgrim Songs)

God enters His Rest, and His goal is that we should join Him in that rest.

Jn 7:11-14 - They sought Him at the feast [of Tabernacles], and found Him teaching in the midst of the temple.

Mal 3:1 - The Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to His temple, the messenger of the covenant, He in whom you delight, He is coming.

This feast marked the successful passage through the desert, full harvest being the sign of permanent inheritance. A day for celebration in the completed work of our Lord!

Recognition / Provision / Worship / Servanthood / Help / Security / Joy / Work / Happiness / Perseverance / Hope / Humility / Obedience / Community / Blessing

The Call to Bless God

1 Behold, bless the LORD, all servants of the LORD,
Who serve by night in the house of the LORD!

Levitical Service

Those who have been so long in approaching have arrived at the sanctuary. They call out to the Levites of the night watch to bear their blessings to God. This was no more than to seek of the Levites the duty that was peculiarly theirs: to bear the blessings of the people to God. To the priests belonged the duty of bearing God's blessings to the people.

It was not that the Levites were failing in their duties, but that they were the ones appointed for the task at hand: to bless God. Theirs was to care for the things of God, and for the worship of God. Around the clock, the Levites were in the presence of the Holy One, caring for His possessions, and singing His praises.

Nu 3:6-7
6 "Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle.

1 Ch 9:33 Now these are the singers, heads of fathers' households of the Levites, who lived in the chambers of the temple free from other service; for they were engaged in their work day and night.

Ps 92:1-2
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
   And to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High;
2 To declare Thy lovingkindness in the morning,
   And Thy faithfulness by night,

Our Service

In this present life, we could almost say it is always night, and that we are all servants in that dark night. The call is for us. The call to bear the prayers of the whole congregation is ours. But we are also His priests, ordained by His will. As such, we are also called to seek His blessings for the whole congregation.

Devotion, not idle talk, is called for in all our service. The Levites were not sitting about chatting through the dark hours. They were busy about God's work. They were not caught out by the pilgrims' arrival. Are we caught out by those who arrive late at God's door? Are we prepared to be of assistance to them, as they seek to convey to God the honors that are His due?

The hour is late, and the night is dark, but this is no time to relax! The work of God continues through every hour. So should our own.

Continual Service

We are before Him day and night. This is the meaning of the Latin phrase "Coram Deo." Before His face. We are before His face when we are attentive to Him, and we are before His face when we have forgotten Him most completely. We are before His face at our best, and before His face at our worst.

We are called into His service. We are those called with a holy calling. As such, we are His to command whenever we are in His house. We are in His house so long as we are in this body. See that you are in God's presence, and conduct yourselves accordingly.

A primary task of the night watch was to ensure that the fire never went out on the altar. As I said, we are all on the night watch. We are all on continual service in the House of the Lord. Our primary task MUST be to ensure that the flames never die out on our own altar. We must be diligent to ensure that the fire of our passion does not cool.

Continue in your work, even when the service is over, when it's night and none are there to notice. We have dealt with servanthood, with pride, with obedience. The servant dare not shirk his duties. His attention must never be distracted from his Master. The work we are called to do for Him may not be the kind that gets great recognition from our fellow servants, but that's not the point. If recognition were the aim, then pride would not be such an issue. Our obedience is not optional. It is the requirement of service to Him. It is the key to our unity with His children. And it is the foremost ingredient in the sacrifices our altars were made for.

Lifting the hands is symbolic of lifting the heart, and of the lifting up of our prayers to God. Thus, the call to the Levites was to lift our prayers up to God. We have been greatly blessed by Him, to be able to lift up our own prayers. We no longer depend on another's attentiveness to bring our prayers before Him. Yet, our prayers still require a lifting up. Our words and thoughts are not yet perfected. We are still weighed down with the body of sin. But God has prepared for that. He has given us the great Mediator, who repairs our broken prayers, and bears them before God, shining as a proper gift to Him ought to shine, every imperfection taken away.

The lifting of hands It is also a recognition of the holiness we are supposed to have: our separation unto God's purposes. The sanctuary was the earthly representation of that holiness, the reminder of our purpose in the sight of all. But how shall we acknowledge that holiness, if we have not established unity?

1 Ti 2:8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Do you see how each step has been taken to prepare us for this? How every necessity is dealt with? Not one of the steps that have been described in these Psalms can be skipped. We can't cut a single class, for each one is absolutely essential to our being prepared for the coming wedding feast!

The Call to Bless Others

3 May the LORD bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.

The call of the pilgrims was that their prayers might be born up to God. But the answer is that an more. The priest has come, and pronounced God's blessing upon those who bless Him. This is the response of those who habitually serve God: to pronounce His blessings upon those who approach Him by the appointed way.

Oil of Anointing

Though it is the priest who pronounces, yet it is God who blesses. He alone is the Creator. He alone sustains His creation. All that is is at His disposal. Whereas our blessings simply declare the truth of His nature and essence, His blessings are strong and effective. What He declares in blessing us, He is able to bring to being. In this, He is the opposite of all we are. We are weak and needy. He is strong and able. We are servants challenged by obedience. He is a most capable Lord. We cry over our own needs. He cries, too, but His tears are also for our neediness, for the long time we've refused to seek His help.

Ps 120:1 In my trouble I cried to the LORD,
               And He answered me.

Ps 121:2 My help comes from the LORD,
               Who made heaven and earth.

Those in Unity with the Church

Ps 133 - The blessing was commanded where brothers dwell in profound unity.

The blessing comes from Zion, from the Church. That blessing cannot be handed out to the world at large. It cannot be handed out to those who are not united in obediently seeking and following His will. We saw that in the last Psalm, and we see it echoed here, in the close of the long pilgrimage. The feast is reserved for those who are both invited and prepared.

He Alone is Able to Bless

When we bless God, holding Him in the honor He deserves, serving Him in the holiness He deserves, He will bless us. His blessing is our happiness. In His blessing is everything that we could possibly need or desire for our happiness. And every blessing that can so fulfill us is at His disposal.

But we can't be selfish in seeking His blessings. We are called to seek them for others, as well. We are called to serve others, to consider all as of greater worth than ourselves. Scripture tells us that the lesser is blessed by the greater (Heb 7:7) Yet, it is the duty of the lesser to pray for the greater. It is the duty of every member of the church to pray for their ministers, just as much as it is the duty of the minister to bless each and every member.

God's Blessing Upon Us

The blessing that closes this Psalm is a shorter version of the priestly blessing commanded by the Lord Himself.

Nu 6:22-27
22 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23 "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

24 The LORD bless you, and keep you;
25 The LORD make His face shine on you,
     And be gracious to you;
26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
     And give you peace.'

27 "So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them."

The Feast of Tabernacles is the celebration of God's rest, the peace He gives to us. It is time to enter in to God's rest, to join Him in the house He and we have been preparing together. It is time to rejoice, to celebrate, to know His blessing upon us as never before!

There can be no better way to end this study than to know God's blessing is declared upon us, and that the blessing He declares, He will bring about! Rejoice daughter of Zion! Your redemption is at hand! Your Bridegroom has come! Rejoice!