The Holy Hill

Lord, we say with this hymn what Bernard has written here that your truth unchanged has indeed ever stood and that truth is that you saved those that on you call. Lord, I ask that as we turn to your Word now, Lord, you would use me, you would give us good attention and oh Lord would we understand what it looks like to look to Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Psalms are filled with all kinds of imagery. You’ve got wings, you’ve got trees, you’ve got grass, you’ve got a lion, you even have a Psalm that’s got a snail in it, but the wicked dissolve like a snail in its slime. There’s all kinds of images in this psalter, and they’re all meant to grab our attention and each of them carries a certain meaning with that image. It’s meant to point us to something, and the entire Psalter speaks to each one of these images and helps understand what’s being said here. What does it mean that man is life the grass, what does that mean, Psalm 90. Man is like the grass. What does it mean that we ought to take refuge in the shadow of the wings of God, what are wings, what does that mean? Well, there’s an image for us this evening at the center of this Psalm and it’s a hill so follow along in your Bibles Psalm 3.

Psalm 3. A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. “Oh Lord how many are my foes. Many are risking against me, many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for him in God, but you oh Lord are a shield about me. My glory and the lifter of my head, I cried aloud to the Lord and He answered me from His holy hill. I laid down and slept, I woke again for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise oh Lord, save me oh my God, for you strike all my enemies on the cheek, you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord, your blessing be on your people.”

This evening, we have before us a relatively short Psalm, a simple structure, salvation at the beginning, salvation at the end, and then the Psalm is round in the middle, there’s a hill right there in the middle. I would like to bring out one truth in particular from Psalm 3 this evening. I think it’s probably the most important point from this entire Psalm and here’s the big idea. Your experience of peace is continent with your vantage point of Christ or to put it a more simple way, the better you see Jesus, the better you sleep. That’s what I’m gonna try to prove to you guys from Psalm 3 this evening, the better you see Jesus, the better you will sleep. I think this is true, I think the Psalm demonstrates this and I hope that this will become apparent to us as we walk through the Psalm verse by verse and draw out some applications. That’s the game plan. So, Psalm 3 can be divided into four sections. It’s probably laid out in your bibles like so, verse 1 and 2, the enemies accusation. Verses 3 and 4, David’s covenant cry. What’s covenant cry, we’ll go into that. In verses 5 and 6, David’s sleepy response. Then 7 and 8, the Lord’s salvation. What is the Lord’s response to this enemies accusation here in verses 1 and 2. Alright there’s four sections. I want us to look at two fixtures and one salvation. Four sections, two fixtures and one salvation.

Okay, look with me at verses 1 and 2. Verses 1 and 2 outline the enemies’ accusation, alright, and it also sets the stage, it gives us the context for what’s going on here, right, because each Psalm was written into context, it was written by David. This is actually the first Psalm in the psalter that has a superscription. Psalms 1 and 2 just go right into it, alright. So here we see the troubles knocking on David’s door, okay, and it’s got many layers, okay, so David is going through a number of things, it’s never just one thing. I wonder if you can relate. There’s at least four layers to David’s predicament right here. Look at verse 1. “Oh lord how many are my foes, many are rising against me, many are saying of my soul there is no salvation for him in God.” So, notice the word many is said three times in the first one and a half verses. The superscription again referring to Absalom and when Absalom attacked David when he fled from Absalom. This probably refers back to, well certainly refers back to 2 Samuel 15-17, and if that’s true then David is clearly outnumbered in this situation hence the many, many, many, notice that repetition. David probably has no more than 800 men compared to Absalom’s 12,000, okay, so Absalom actually rallied the support of the entire people of Israel for the most part. All that David has are these foreigners who have allied himself with him and David is fleeing. So, first layer of problems for David is that he is outnumbered bigtime. Second layer, I’ve already mentioned it, he is not outnumbered in standing up against any old enemy, he is standing up against his own son, Absalom. Not to mention Absalom recruits Ahithophel who is David’s closest counselor. Ahithophel was kind of like a proto-Judas figure. There’s a lot of interesting parallels in 2 Samuel 15-17 and the life of Christ. We know David is a type of Christ, okay, Ahithophel is a sort of Judas betrayal figure, he’s a close, close advocate becomes adversary to David, Absalom gets him on his side, so he is outnumbered. His own son and counselor are taken.

In 3, this is all the result of David’s own sin. The prophet Nathan’s words were probably ringing in his ears, right, this is from David’s sin with Bathsheba, I’m sure you remember this.

Here’s what Nathan says to David. “The sword shall never depart from your house, thus says the Lord. Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house.” So, David knew exactly what was going on here. Perhaps worst of all is the nature the accusation. Now this is a sharp gnawing accusation, isn’t it? Look at the verse, look at verse 2. “There is no salvation for him and God.” Okay, so David’s being hurled these accusations by probably multiple people, the one big one we have in 2 Samuel 15-17 is this character Shimei who was a Saul loyalist. He throws rocks and dust at David as he is leaving the city and yeah, he has these verbal accusations right, and it’s not just a small kingdom policy that Shimei is upset with and, no this is, there is no salvation for you David, there’s nothing for you, God has abandoned you. Some Bibles translate this as help, there’s no salvation for you, there’s no help for you. Better translation is there is no saving for you. God is not on David’s side or with his soul. This is what the accusation that is being hurled at David as he is leaving the city of Jerusalem.

Okay, so how does David deal with all of this, these layers of accusation. Verse 3. David’s covenant cry. “But you oh Lord are a shield, you’re a shield about me.” It’s almost as if David has read Paul’s words in Ephesians 6, about the armor of God. Notice the preposition there, about, you our Lord are a shield about me. Usually when we think about a shield the modifier that goes with that is what it’s in front of, it’s before. God, you are a shield in front of me, that will get behind and go into battle with, that’s not what’s being indicated here, is it? The image here is something like what the ancient Roman historian Plutarch described when he was talking about Mark Antony’s war machine, it’s called the Testudo. Testudo is Latin for tortoise, alright so you’ve probably seen this in the movies, or you’ve read about this in textbooks. Basically, a brigade you could say of men who had their shields, and they would put them one on top of the other and it would look like a tortoise and this thing could walk into battle and here’s what Plutarch says, Plutarch was able to watch Mark Antony march his troops into battle. Here’s what he says, “Nothing but shields can be seen in every part of the brigade and all the men by the density of a formation are under shelter from missiles or projectiles, arrows. It looks very much like a roof. Indeed, it is so marvelous that men can walk over it and whenever they come to a narrow ravine, even horses and vehicles can be driven over it so this is a strong structure and this is what comes to my mind when I read, shield about me, covered on all sides. This is more than just David praying big, okay, asking big things of God. It’s a good thing to ask big things of God, that’s not the only thing that’s going on here. It’s very covenantal, alright very covenantal. Why do I say that? Think about the Noahic Covenant. How did God care for his people, he was a shield to them. The people got in the ark, and they were brought safely through water. Think also about the people of God when they’re brought out of the exodus, right, who was a shield for the people of God when they’re brought out of the exodus, right Pharaoh comes approaching from the rear and there’s a cloud of fire, like a fiery cloud that stands between Pharoh and God’s people and what does it say about the cloud, it’s interesting at one point it says that there was an angel who was in the cloud, but then later on when it says that the Lord confused the enemy, it says that He Himself was in the cloud. God is your shield.

Think also about Genesis 15 when the Lord approaches Abraham to establish the Abrahamic Covenant with Him, the first thing he says, it sounds peculiar, right, but he says “Abraham, I’m your shield.” Okay. So, this isn’t merely David praying a big prayer, right, this is David pulling on a rope that is a Covenant promise. The Lord does this for His people. The Lord not only delegates a shield, He Himself is a shield and that was demonstrated for example with God’s people before Pharoh. And what is David’s response about this? Well, the Lord is his glory and the lifter of his head. Okay, David has every reason again going back to the layers of difficulty he has every reason to hang his head, it’s all over for me, I wonder if the most difficult part was the fact that it was because of his own sin. He knew what was happening. I’ll just keep my head down and just bear this and just, ya know, have some pessimistic faith as it were, but no he doesn’t do that because that’s not what faith does. My faith looks up to thee as the hymn says, thou lamb of Calvary looks up. He has every reason to hang his head, but he lifts it, okay, and this lifting of his head, this is not just self esteem talk, okay, no matter how much modern contemporary Christian music might use Psalm 3 to say that, it’s not that, he’s lifting his head not into thin air to look into thin air, what is he lifting his head to. Look at this verse, he’s lifting it to the Holy Hill. You are the lifter of my head. I look to the Lord and he answered me from his Holy Hill and what is the response that David gives after this shield talk, and the Holy Hill elusion. What follows upon that taking hold of God’s promises, verse 5 and 6, sleep. Sleep is the response for David. I laid down and slept, I woke again for the Lord sustained me.

A few nights ago, I was working late at the office. I tend to do that, like you know a good protestant, you know late night work ethic, getting it done. I was actually working on this sermon as a matter of fact, okay, however, a friend texted me, drove by and said, “What are you doing working so late, why are you doing that, you know you need to get home.” And I was like, I kind of brushed it off, ya know whatever, but then very shortly after I go to this verse and I was in my study I laid down and slept. I woke again for the Lord sustained me. You might think that I went home by the way, and I got some shuteye, just so you’re aware. You might think that this is okay, sleep, sleep’s important, okay, maybe this is just a one-time thing here in the psalter, maybe it’s not alluded to very many other places, that’s just not true, the very next Psalm, look at Psalm 4, “For you alone of Lord make me dwell in safety. In peace I will lie down and sleep.”

In the first four Psalms, there are two Psalms that want to settle into our minds as Christians that God cares about how you sleep because it is a reflection of how at peace we are with His watchful care. Not only in the first four Psalms do we see this theme of peace, but think about the Psalms of ascent, Psalm 127, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for he gives his beloved sleep.”

Psalm 121. “I lift my eyes up to the mountains.” Psalm 121 is in many ways actually a parallel to Psalm 3. “I lift my eyes up to the mountains”, same mountain. “Where does my help come from, it comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved, he keeps thee will not sleep, he keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Implications so that you can sleep, right, so that you can sleep, because there’s somebody else who is not, who has a watchful eye. Could it be that sleep is more spiritual than we think? God is very concerned with your peace and your sleep. Again, it’s a reflection of our trust in Him. So having slept, knowing that God is David’s refuge, David cries out for the Lord to act on his behalf.

So, the next verses here, verses 7 and 8. “Arise oh Lord, save me oh my God and notice the violence dealt to the enemies on the cheek, you break the teeth of the wicked.” This actually harkens back to the previous Psalm. If you look at Psalm 2, Psalm 2 kind of creates the context for what is actually part 2 of a prologue to the entire psalter. That’s another story, but it does create the context for this imbrication, this call to God’s judgement on the wicked, right. Look at the parallel in Psalm 2, the next page to your left. “Why to the nations rage and the people’s plot in vain. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision, and he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying as per me I have sent my king on Zion my Holy Hill.”

And look at verse 9. “You will break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” So, David is harkening to promises that he got in Psalm 2. This is the Psalm that is describing the Davidic Covenant, God’s promises to David how He will protect him and He’s invoking that and he’s taking God at His Word, right, you shall break them with a rod of iron. Psalm 3, “For you strike all my enemies on the cheek, you break the teeth of the wicked.” He’s taking God at his Word, at his Covenant promises, okay. Okay. Now I have a question for you, how did David get from help, I need your help God, I’m accused to knocked out cold asleep on his pillow? How does he get from verse 3 lifter of my head, to verse 5 head on pillow? Okay, what happened that got him from his being anxious about this enemy, this Shimei, and the situation with Absalom his own son driving him from his city, the city that God promised to him, to all the sudden he is at rest. Isn’t there a big flip there? We’re meant to see that there is a big turn happening here and what stands in the middle of that turn? It’s an appeal to the Holy Hill. It’s an appeal to this Holy Hill. What is the Holy Hill, right, because if the Holy Hill helps David sleep and experience the peace of God, I wanna know what that is, right. You should want to know what is it that got him a good night’s sleep.

We live in an anxious world, all of us have deadlines, all of us have things we need to do, and we need to be at peace, and this isn’t just David trying to figure out how to get a tight seven and a half hours in, right, or hit that extra 90-minute REM cycle or something like that. No, this is peace, this is the fruit of the spirit of peace, right. Okay, so what stands between his trouble and his peace, if it’s his appeal to the hill. What is the hill? First of all, what is the hill not, what isn’t the hill? First, it’s not for its majesty that David is at peace. In other words, David’s not standing here at the foot of Mount Everest feeling really small, overwhelmed by the transcendence of the breathtaking mountain. In fact, the majestic peaks that would be in David’s area, that would be Mount Hermon, which is in the north and that one stands about 9,000 feet prominence, it’s a very big mountain range. The ones around David are nothing more than some Appalachian bumps, not much larger than 2,500 feet, this is not an impressive mountain that he is looking at, so it’s not for its majesty that he looks to the hill, he looks at the mountain and says, wow I’m just at peace. Look at how big this mountain is and how small I am, but that’s not the impression here. Second, it’s otherwise for its anticipation nor is this to be understood as a kind of military anticipation as if to say, help is just over the mountain. Does that make sense? So, David is not looking to the mountain thinking, okay I’m hoping to see some spears over the bald of that hill, right, I’m hoping to see some hope coming from over there. This is not David looking to the mountain or looking just around the river bend to see what’s there. I hate to say it, but this is not Gandalf arriving at Helm’s Deep on the first light of the fifth day, it’s just that it’s not the image here. So, what is it? What is this appeal to the hill and what is the hill that he’s looking at. Again, we get our help from the context, which is in Psalm 2, verse 4. “He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision, then he will speak to them in his wrath, terrify them in his fury saying as for me I have set my king on Zion, my Holy Hill. It’s not the mountains themself that give David peace, nor is it the help on the other side of the mountain or that which the mountain is hiding, but to that which is perched on clear display atop the mountain”, okay, or who, who is at the top of the mountain and that look is what brings David from help me to I can sleep. This is an appeal to Zion the Holy Hill to Jerusalem.

Listen to Psalm 11. This is in many ways another parallel Psalm to number 3. “In the Lord I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, flee like a bird to your mountain for behold the wicked bend the bow, they have fitted their arrows in the string to shoot in the dark at the upright and heart. If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do? And what is David’s response to this flee to your mountain talk, what is his response to that? His response is “The Lord is in His holy temple.” The Lord is there, that’s what gives David peace. It’s God’s presence atop the mountain, that’s David’s comfort. So, what is it that’s on top of the mountain that gives David comfort, what gives him sleep? That’s what I want to spend the rest of our time with doing in the few minutes we have left. There are two things that are significant about the top of the mountain in Israel, this mountain in Jerusalem, Zion, okay. The first thing is the temple, the second is the throne, okay. The temple and the throne. These are the two fixtures that we have alluded to, I think, in Psalm chapter 3. So, the temple symbolizes God’s dwelling with his people as you know, good reason to look to the mountain right. God is with us, good reason to look to the mountain.

Second, the throne of God in Jerusalem represented his anointed king, but plot twist, the temple hadn’t even been built yet. It was still in promise form. Remember David wanted to do all that was in his heart which was to build this temple for God, he saw that he lived in this nice house and he wanted to make God a house and we learned in Chronicles that God did not want David to do that because David had shed too much blood so that would be Solomon’s job. Okay. That comes later. We’re in Absalom time right now, so there is no mountain, no stone temple on the top of the mountain. So, first the temple hadn’t even been built yet. Second, David the anointed king from Psalm 2, the reassurance is given to David, he’s fleeing from the throne, in fact, I said that this is somewhat of a parallel with Psalm 121 with the Psalms of Ascent. It is actually somewhat of a foil, because this is really the Psalm of descent. David is having to gain encouragement looking back at the Holy Hill. He’s looking back at Jerusalem. He’s not approaching it for a feast with joy, he’s looking back at it for encouragement because he’s being driven from his throne.

The physical temple and the throne were always, even in David’s time, meant to point to something else or another person as a matter of fact. So, let’s talk about these two fixtures. Temple, what is the importance of this temple? I want to look at a few chapters in John. Okay. A few chapters in John, a few sections about what we can learn about what the true temple is. John 2. “After cleansing the temple, Jesus was approached by some of the religious leaders. What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken 46 years to build the temple, and you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body, temple, Jesus, his own body.

John 4. “The woman of the well said to him, “Sir I perceive that you are a prophet.” Verse 20. “Our Father’s worshipped on this mountain, but you say in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know, we worship what we know for salvations from the Jews.” The woman said to him a couple verses down, “I know that the Messiah is coming, he was called the Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

For this section I relied heavily on a book by Michael Morales. He is a professor at Greenville Presbyterian Seminary. Excellent book, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? Okay, it’s a boring looking academic book, it’s actually quite accessible, it’s deep, but it’s a wonderful book. I would highly recommend you read it, it’s actually going to be in the book nook next week, I know a guy, I would highly recommend it, $18.00. Here’s what Morales says when talking about John 14 and this dialogue with the samaritan woman and how it relates to temple. He writes, Place is substituted by person, the son. Okay, so notice the woman is dialoguing with Jesus so Jesus calls the woman out very uncomfortably right, there have been five men that she had been with and this current one is not her husband, so she’s trying to shift the conversation, right, like hot take of the day Jesus, ya know, what is the right place, what is the right mountain on which to worship, and what Morales says is that when she asks for a place, Jesus responds with what, person. She asks for a place, he says person. In fact, one other thing Morales points out which is very interesting, so she had five husbands, the sixth one that she was with, that is not her husband that she is currently living with, he’s a seventh one. The seventh husband would be Jesus himself. She didn’t need a place; she needed a person.

John 14, you all know this passage, “Let not your hearts be troubled, in my Father’s house are many rooms.” In my Father’s house. We’ll time out here. Okay so when Jesus was cleansing the temple, remember in John 2, and he says, well what does he say, what is the verbiage he uses when he’s talking to these money exchangers, right, he says, “You have turned what into a den of thieves, you’ve turned my father’s house, okay, this is temple speak, he is referring to the temple. In this passage that we are all probably quite familiar with like I am the way of the truth and the life. So, this is in the context of the true temple. In my Father’s house are many rooms”, talking to his disciples, “If it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and listen again to what Morales says, substitution of place or person. In my Father’s house of many rooms I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself, I will take you to myself that where I am you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, “Lord we don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way.” Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Place Jesus, way he says, person. Morales writes, “Through the resurrection he himself, the new temple of his resurrection body becomes the place prepared to whom we will return his disciples.”

After all, how does the Gospel John even start. John chapter 1. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” Dwelt. Eskenosen. Okay, that’s not just ordinary he stayed with us. Eskenosen is tabernacle, right, so if we had Jewish ears to hear this account in the Gospel of John it would be shouting at us, Jesus sang I am the temple. The temple in Jerusalem was the ultimate Jesus juke. Not a deceptive Jesus juke, ya know like, ya know those t-shirts that have John 3:16 baked into John Deere or Mountain Dew or Jesus died or something like that, it’s not a malicious Jesus juke, after all God really wanted to dwell with his people which is why he sent them to temple on top of the mountain to be with his people and yet that temple was one big sermon illustration teed up for like 1500 years in the making so that the red carpet would be laid so that when it came the time for Jesus to say, the temple was my body, it would either click for a few select people or the majority of people would say, no way, there’s no way. In fact, Pastor Kevin on Good Friday preached from Matthew 27. It’s interesting there’s two indictments that the people hurl at Jesus when He’s on the cross, right, well the fist one’s before He was on the cross, but the second one is when He’s on the cross. It’s when these people are walking by Him and hurling blasphemies at Him saying, what, what were they so upset about? What He said about his body, he said that He could rebuild the temple in three days. Again, they knew far more than they thought they knew. The irony is stinging there. He was the temple and He was in the process of rebuilding the temple, being raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father and what was that first indictment from Good Friday that Pastor Kevin preached on when they were mocking Jesus, put a reed in His hand, put a crown of thorns on His head and mocked Him. They hit Him over the head with the reed. You’re a king, really? What was the significance of the mountain. Again, going back to David, what was the point of him looking to the mountain. One, it was the temple; second that’s where the king was, that’s where He lived, that’s where He dwelled and could see His people. Second significance, second fixture as it were, is this throne. Using the apostle to the Hebrews, I wanna talk about this for just a quick second.

Hebrews 1. “Of the angels he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire, but of the sun he says your throne oh God is forever and ever. The scepter of a brightness is a scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness and to which of the angels has God ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a foot stool for your feet.” Who is the one who was on the throne? Again, David’s not on the throne at this point. When he’s looking to the hill for help, David’s not the one who’s there, it’s somebody else, it’s the son of God. The end of Hebrews also has this throne discussion, this throne illusion. Hebrews 12. “So, the call to look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despite the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Then we already read this earlier in our congregation of the New Testament reading. Hebrews 12:22-24 is the main point of this entire sermon, okay. This is all that I am trying to say to you guys this evening from Hebrews 12:22-24. Here’s what he says, the author of Hebrews to Christians, “But you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to enumerable 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.” When you read Psalm 3 you see all throughout the Psalms this illusion to the hills, to the mountains. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, that’s not just nostalgic Old Testamenty talk, this is written to Christians, this is written to you and me. You have come Christian to Mount Zion to the city of the living God. And then what is the climax of the end of that mountain there in Hebrews 12, “You have come to Jesus. Jesus himself is on the throne on the mountain.” So, there’s a temple who sits on the throne, right, Jesus himself the true temple is sitting on the throne and His blood, His sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel and the blood of Abel calls for vengeance, it calls for judgement, it calls for justice. The sprinkled blood of Jesus is sprinkled upon the mercy seed. Everything that mattered at the top of the mountain, which David was looking at in Psalm 3 was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s the point. It was fulfilled in Christ because of that sprinkled blood and it was because of another hill, right, it was because of another hill that we see that sprinkled blood. It was not a hill that was not Mariah or Mount Zion, it was a hill that was outside the city gates, Golgotha, place of the skull. Calvary, Latin for the same.

I want us to finish by looking back at Psalm 3. My conclusion for the last few minutes. Verse 8, “Salvation belongs to the Lord, your blessing be on your people.” So, at the beginning of the Psalm, right this is the bookend, remember the beginning of the Psalm, what was the accusation, there is no Yasha, there is no salvation for him in God.” And how does David bring it full circle? Salvation belongs to the Lord. Many of you have the habit of singing the doxology at night with your kids before they go to bed. I know this because I am friends with many of you and we’ll be hanging out when the kid’s bedtime comes around, you’ll be right back because you’ve gotta go sing the doxology, put the kids to sleep. When I was young my mom had the same tradition except it wasn’t the doxology, it was the Aaronic blessing, the Aaronic blessing from Number 6. What is that blessing? “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” We all, me and my two brothers, we stayed in the same room. I don’t know why we all slept in the same room, we had more rooms around the house, I think it was something about building character or something, but my mom would go to each one of us and, to this day I’m grateful for it, she would sing, sometimes we would pretend to be asleep, I don’t know why we would do that, but she would sing the Aaronic blessing to us every night. She was sweet. But it was more than just a sweet thing for a parent to do, it’s actually probably one of the best ways that you can obey this Psalm, right. What better way to get a good night’s sleep than by taking one last look at the mountain. That’s a good association for kids to make I think before they close their eyes to think, what’s gonna make you able to sleep and what’s gonna give you true peace before you go to bed, remember, somebody on the throne, right, Jesus is on the throne. It’s not only an association for kids to make, it’s for all of us to make. We need this before we go to bed. We need to know that somebody will stay awake and cover us. We need to look to the mountain, but when we look to the mountain we see something a little bit different than David saw. We see the true temple, but in a resurrected body. We see our exalted king who sits on the throne, but the difference is that this time we look at the mountain, what we learn this Easter is that we see scars from the King, and we can with David silence the accusations. Salvation is not with him, for there is no salvation for him in God and we can say by faith salvation belongs to the Lord, the one who made the payment. Let’s pray.

Lord, we ask that you even would stay with us. Lord, we ask that you again with Bernard of Clairvaux that you would make all of our moments calm and bright. Would you chase this dark night of sin away, would you shed over the world your holy light for the only way that we can have peace is if we know that you are on the throne. Would you give us the eyes of faith to see this and would we be reassured this Easter. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.