Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: Lord of the Sabbath

  • The Withered Hand

    The Withered Hand

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Lord of the Sabbath” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 27, 1990.

    About this sermon

    The man with the withered hand becomes a picture of our own inability since the fall: a hand the law can expose but never cure. Only Christ, himself ‘withered’ on the cross, can heal it, and the man’s simple obedience in stretching out his hand models the faith that receives that healing.

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    Sermon transcript

    Listen to the Word of God. And it came to pass that He went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day. And His disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day what is not lawful? And He said to them, Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those with him? How he entered the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?

    And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there whose hand was withered. And they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse Him.

    And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Stand forth. And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill? But they remained silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, whole as the other. And the Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

    And then turning to the book of Revelation, chapter 21, the opening verses, the familiar opening verses of that chapter. John says this: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

    Let us pray again. How fruitful your word has been, and in that we rejoice, our God. It has been fruitful in us, for by that word we have been born again. And we know, Lord, to the ends of the earth, even now, you are calling your own. That word is effectual unto salvation for your elect. And we are thankful also for the great company that has been called forth from all the nations and throughout the ages, assembled before you, your church, one and indivisible. We rejoice, our God, in your power and in the strength that you have exhibited through that which the world may have considered weak—the Word, the very Word of God. Now, Lord, may your Word have its perfect work in our hearts. We pray this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

    Today is the Sabbath, and it was the Sabbath then. The Sabbath when Jesus entered the synagogue to worship, as was his custom. Thus the force of the word again, in verse 1 of Mark 3. He entered into the synagogue again. That was the pattern of his life. So it is: the Sabbath, and Jesus enters the synagogue to worship.

    Now at worship with him, there was a man. It seemed that all present were interested, or would indeed be interested, in that specific man. Their eyes turned, their gaze focused upon this individual—this man, this one who is infirm, this man who is disabled, this man who has a withered hand. The encounter that takes place on this Sabbath day is directed from heaven. It is an encounter superintended from eternity. Although the account takes up little space and little ink is spilled on it, it is an event of greatest significance. Consider the dynamics.

    Jesus, this one who has just identified himself at the end of Mark 2, is the Son of Man, bearing a messianic title. This title speaks not only to his humanity and the greatness of that humanity, but also carries within it the features of divinity.

    Here is the extraordinary one, the one who is utterly unique. Just how unique he is is shown by what is said next: Jesus describes himself not only as the Son of Man, but as the Lord of the Sabbath. Had not God given the Sabbath? Yet now there is one who calls himself Lord of the Sabbath. As Jesus comes and meets this man in the synagogue, he is indeed the one who is extraordinary.

    He is the one whose person radiates with a glory unprecedented in the history of humanity. He is one who comes bearing the very features of his divinity. And in meeting this man on the Sabbath, in the synagogue, in the assembly of the people of God, he is meeting him in a place that is, after all, his own. The Sabbath belongs to him, and the assembly of the Lord belongs to him as well. But note the disposition of this one who is the Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath—this one who has become flesh, this one whose glory is unprecedented.

    In meeting this man in the synagogue on the Sabbath, we find Jesus making clear actions, through which he then submits himself to the ordinances and the commandments to which all others must submit. Jesus the Lord submits himself to the commandments of God. That is why he is worshiping on the Sabbath. And he is submitting himself to the ordinances of men. That is why he is present in the synagogue on that Sabbath day. The Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, the One who radiates His divinity, makes himself a servant and submits himself to all the commands and ordinances that God’s people must follow.

    The Lord becomes the servant and enters the assembly of the people of God on this particular Sabbath day. Jesus, despite His greatness, submits Himself to God’s law and honors the rightful authority of human institutions. But now, this one—Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath—faces another individual, a man who is infirm, whose hand is paralyzed. And who is it now that Jesus addresses as He faces this individual? We find this man infirm, yes, but we also find him desirous of honoring God’s law. We have no reason to believe that he is present in the synagogue for any reason other than the best of reasons: to worship his God, to submit himself to the commandments of the Lord.

    This man, too, respects the elders of the people, the elders of Israel. He respects their traditions and their ordinances, and he honors the synagogue and its established worship practices. Can we find the liturgy of the synagogue in the Old Testament, chapter and verse? No. Can we find the institution of the synagogue itself in the Old Testament, chapter and verse? No, we cannot. Then what in the world is this man doing, submitting himself to the synagogue?

    Because it is the right thing to do before the Lord. The leaders of the people have made decisions in wisdom, and the people wisely submit themselves to them. We have no reason to believe that this man with the withered hand had anything but the greatest respect for those who exercised authority within Israel, even for those who were the so-called guardians of the law, identified later in this story in verse 6 as the Pharisees. So while it is true that this man is impaired, and while it is true that he has lost the use of his hand, he is not limited in his ability to praise God as he ought. He is not limited in his desire to wait upon his God.

    That desire leads him to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, where he meets Jesus. But what of the hand? What of the hand? His hand is withered, we are told. Or, if we were to speak in contemporary terms, his hand is paralyzed. He cannot move it. It cannot function. It is nearly useless to him. His hand is powerless. What of the hand?

    It speaks to us of the man’s servile state. Yes, he is anxious and eager to praise God. He is eager to wait upon the Lord, and because of that, he is found in the assembly of the Lord on the Lord’s Day, on the Sabbath. He comes motivated by the desire to freely obey and worship God. Yet he is hampered, limited, restrained, and restricted. No, even more, he finds himself seemingly incapable, unable, bearing testimony in his body of his incapacity and inability.

    We have this remarkable contrast, do we not? The one who has all power meets the one who has no power. The meeting of this pair in the synagogue is a remarkable event. The Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, the One who exhibits in His person the features of divinity, meets a man bearing the mark of humanity’s impairment, mankind’s weakness. Can you see yourself in this man? Do you recognize yourself in this man? As you reflect on this, there is something important that you must keep in mind.

    When this power, resident in Christ, meets the powerlessness, resident in the man, we must not think that we are face-to-face with the contrast inherent between the power of God and the comparative weakness of humanity. We are not viewing here the inherent difference between the Creator, who is all-powerful, and the creature, who lacks power in comparison. It is not the contrast between the infinite and the finite, God and man specifically, that is in view.

    Therefore, the man’s withered hand is not his natural state. It is not his inherent condition. It is not because he is human that he has a withered hand, as if all humans created would have withered hands. It is a condition that has come upon him. His weakness is an acquired condition. We do not know how he came to this state of paralysis. Nevertheless, at some point in his life, this impairment tragically occurred. And now, here he is—desirous of serving God, zealous to worship Him, yet impaired.

    Have you ever lost the use of a limb? Do you know what it is like? The closest I can come to describing it is the experience of coming out of anesthesia after an operation, lying semi-conscious on the recovery table, and wondering if I am covered. I felt anxious, trying to move something to be sure, but unable to move anything. Some of you have known stroke victims and are well aware of the frustration they experience when trying to move their limbs, when they lack the ability to do so. But you see, this man with the withered hand in the synagogue, as I have tried to emphasize this morning, is not so different from us.

    There is a relationship that exists between him and all humanity. Mankind began with limbs that were hindered and paralyzed. Originally, he was fully capable in his service to God. He was not bound or restricted by disease, paralysis, or any form of attack upon his body.

    But then came the paralyzing effects of humanity’s tragic fall. If man had freedom before that fall, he then, with that freedom, chose to assert himself in order to be free from God, his Creator. And in the act in which he reached out his hand to take the fruit offered to him by his wife, there came upon him a paralysis that seemed impossible to overcome.

    It is struck on that day by a withering, not so much evident to the eye, not so much evident externally, but a withering and a crippling within. Man carries with him now a withered soul. The hand of this particular man in that synagogue is an emblem, a sign, a symbol. We are that man. So now the hand becomes the sermon. The hand itself becomes the sermon. And it preaches concerning the condition of that man, and it preaches concerning our condition, our fallenness, our sinfulness, our inability, our powerlessness. But note also, the man of whom we are talking here is not any ordinary man. Yes, there is that commonality, there is that bond between him and us, but you see, this man is a Jew. This man truly is privileged.

    This man is a part of the people who have received the covenant. He is a beneficiary of Moses’ administration from the Old Testament. He is part of the people who have received the law of God. And he himself is numbered amongst Abraham’s children, a son of the law.

    But in this circumstance, though he would honor the law and though he would pursue it, the law itself has been unable to cure him. The law is as powerless as the man’s withered hand. That law cannot make him whole. It cannot enable him. It cannot release him from the paralyzing effect of his transgression. It can make it all the more apparent to him. Is the law then of no benefit to him? Has the law no value?

    God forbid. For what brought him to that synagogue on the Sabbath day to begin with? It was because of the commandments that he was there. It is because of the commandments that Israel is where it is when Jesus leaves heaven to meet the people along the way. Is there no benefit then in the law? Has it no value? God forbid!

    For it is the law itself that leads this man into the very presence of Christ on that Sabbath day. He has come to the synagogue because of the law and because of what the law teaches him about his reverence for God’s ordinances and for the ordinances of men when they are rightly administered and rightly executed. In this, the law is fulfilling its greatest and highest purpose. It is fulfilling the goal for which it was designed. Are we not told later by the Apostle Paul that the law is a schoolmaster, a tutor? It is what leads us to Christ.

    But note now, note now this one whom this man has been led to, who is present in the synagogue, in the assembly of the Lord on the Sabbath. Have we not already pointed out how all power resides in Him, how we have not already identified Him as He has identified Himself—Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath, the One in whom the very features of divinity can be seen?

    Yet this One, this one, submits Himself to God’s laws and to man’s ordinances. The one who is all-powerful limits Himself so that those who are limited might find deliverance. The one who is all-powerful, powerful, and without any impairment at all, submits Himself to an ordeal in which He will be impaired, so that those who are impaired might be released from their impairment. The Lord makes Himself a servant, that servants might go free.

    This One, then, that man with the withered hand meets that day, will take to Himself that man’s weakness. He will take to Himself that man’s paralysis due to sin. He will literally take to Himself the immobility of that man’s limb when He renders His own limb immobile on the cross. The man’s withered hand is answered by Christ’s nailed hand.

    That is why it is important for us to rightly understand verse 3. Here is one point where the King James Version fails us. They attempt to render it in the vernacular. They say that what Jesus said on that occasion was, “Literally, what it means, what Jesus says, is this: rise into the midst. Rise.” So when Jesus speaks to him and calls him forth, He tells him to rise. This is indicative of the greater rising still.

    For beyond this immediate rising, in which the man stands forth in the congregation on that Sabbath in order to receive this ministry from Jesus, there will be the ultimate rising. At that time, he will stand forth, he will rise in the midst, in the great congregation, and there will be no evidence at all of any infirmity. No vestige of disease, no evidence of impairment of any kind, no weakness of body, no vestige of sin or corruption. You see then why this story is of such great significance, though little space is given to its account or little ink spilled over it. There is a rising to glory, in which all withered hands, all victims of strokes, all crippled limbs, all impaired bodies will be perfectly healed. Among those who now stand forth in the assembly of God with faith, waiting upon Him, in that rising every last vestige evidencing man’s sinfulness and fallenness will be removed forever. And there is absolutely no one who can accomplish this but the Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Son of God, the Lord of Glory. None but Jesus.

    Let’s pray. O Lord, even our worship has become routine and ordinary. May You revitalize our worship through Your Spirit. Let us come as those whose souls have withered, and meet our Jesus. And may our presence before Him mean His ministry for us. Then, having been healed, we will go on our way to praise Him and to live for Him. We look forward to the day when we, together with all Your children, will stand, raised up in the midst of that great congregation. Not only will every trace of sin and fallenness be removed from us, but it will be completely impossible for us ever to sin again. We praise You, Lord, for the certainty that this will indeed come to pass. And we pray that You will hasten that day. Come, Lord Jesus. Even so, come quickly. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Jesus Honors the Synagogue

    Jesus Honors the Synagogue

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Lord of the Sabbath” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 20, 1990.

    About this sermon

    Jesus honors divine authority by reverencing God’s law, and human authority by worshiping in the synagogue. The synagogue’s origins show three ways Christ honors human institutions even as he moves beyond them to the divine authority they serve.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning our scripture reading begins in the epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 10, and we are reading from verse 19. Listen to what God says: “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” And then, turning to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 2, beginning with verse 23. This is Mark’s Gospel, chapter 2, beginning with verse 23.

    And it came to pass that he went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, “Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?” And he said unto them, “Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was not hungry, he and they that were with him?”

    How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him. And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man who had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked around about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

    Pray with me now. Our God, our desire is that your word would have a mighty impact, not just here, but everywhere that it sounds forth today. And that those servants of yours who love you and serve you well might proclaim that word with power, and that there might be a turning, a turning among the children of men, a turning for them from sin, from darkness, from death, to light and life and righteousness. Lord, may our hearts be united to your heart, your heart set upon your children, who are being called to the ends of the earth. We pray this in Jesus’ name.

    Amen. Jesus honors divine authority. Jesus honors divine authority and also human authority. And also human authority. First, the obvious. First with respect to the divine authority that Jesus honors. This is evidenced, is it not, in the way in which he reverences the law of God. The law of God.

    God has given the commandments, and Jesus honors them. In the stories we have read today from Mark’s gospel, his devotion to, his submission to, divine authority is evident in his respect for the Sabbath. His objective is not to abolish the Sabbath, but to ensure it is rightly honored. The Sabbath, in these stories, serves as a representation of the entirety of God’s law and His commandments, as if all the commandments are contained within it. Therefore, whatever insights Jesus brings to the Sabbath or to the law, and whatever changes he may bring about, we know that a change occurs regarding the Sabbath. It will no longer be the last day of the week, as it was among the Jews, but in time, because of Jesus’ resurrection, it becomes the first day of the week. This change is brought about by him. But whatever insights he brings to the law and to the Sabbath, and whatever changes he affects, one thing remains constant: his love for, and his commitment to, the law of God and God’s Sabbath. This is what underlies his statement at the end of Mark 2.

    The Sabbath was made for man, or, if you will, the law—God’s law—was made for man, given to man. In this statement, Jesus affirms the continuing validity of God’s law, particularly of the Sabbath. Since the Sabbath was made for man, it continues to be a blessing for man as long as humanity exists. In other words, as long as people live, the Sabbath is intended to be a blessing for them.

    This is stated differently in the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter four, verse nine. When the writer says, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,” this is a New Testament writer, not an Old Testament writer. This is a New Testament writer saying this: there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. So Jesus, you see, honors divine authority. He honors the law of God and submits himself to it willingly. Must you drag yourself here week by week? Is it a burden for you? Are you weighed down by it? It was not so for Jesus.

    He submitted himself willingly to the law and the commandments of God. And how well he understood the Sabbath, and how perfectly he kept it. And we, looking to him, should do the same. That is the obvious point. I believe we are clear on this, are we not?

    Jesus honors divine authority. If ever there was one who loved the law of God, it was Jesus. But there is a second, and rather startling fact. This will require some development, so please listen carefully. Jesus also honors human authority. We recognize that there are human institutions and human authority, and we have an obligation toward them.

    Jesus demonstrated respect for human authority. You remember him in the court of Pilate? He honored that human authority and submitted himself to it. And do we not hear in Paul’s writings, the thirteenth chapter of Romans, an instruction given to all the saints that we are to submit ourselves to the authorities, to human powers and institutions? This is right in the sight of God. Jesus honors human authority.

    This is an important fact. Why? Because we have lived through the 1960s and 1970s. That is why. The children of this generation, that is why. You know what is happening in the streets. You know what took place. And who did they enlist for their cause? You remember?

    Were there not clergymen out there at the forefront, saying to us, “Jesus was the greatest insurrectionist; why, he was the recalcitrant prophet of Galilee. Jesus was the rebel par excellence, and well we might follow him. He is a political liberator.” That is why we will follow him. But Jesus does in fact honor human authority.

    You are asking me the question now: how is that obvious? And why would that be a point from the passages we have read this morning in Mark’s Gospel? I mentioned one fact: the synagogue. You may be astonished. Well, hang on. We see Jesus’ devotion to honoring human authority through his worship habits in the synagogue. Consider this for a moment. Do we not have specific commands from God concerning the place of worship, coming to us from the Old Testament? Was that place of worship the synagogue? Can you find any mention of the synagogue in the Old Testament? No, you cannot find one.

    What you do find is mention of the tabernacle. You find mention later of the temple. Israel was commanded explicitly to worship at the place where God would cause his name to dwell, the place where he would specially be present according to his promise.

    In light of that, we read about those regular feasts, those special occasions when the people of Israel traveled from throughout the land and went up to the place where the altar of God stood, and there they assembled before his face. In time, from the days of David onward, that altar would be situated in the city of Jerusalem. Now, it could well be that there was the one sanctuary in Israel. But it may well be that on the Sabbath day, the last day of the week in the Jewish calendar, the people gathered together in their cities, towns, and villages throughout the entire land, there locally to worship God and receive instruction from his law.

    But we hear nothing of that, I say nothing, underscore that nothing of that in the Old Testament. There are indications from the time of the exile, when the children of Israel were taken into Babylon for the seventy years of captivity. From that time, there are indications that the practice among the Israelites, both those who were in exile and those who remained at home, was to gather weekly for worship in order to receive instruction from the law of God and to recite prayers. They would gather in assemblies known as synagogues. But you do not find the synagogue mentioned explicitly in any text in the Old Testament.

    Two facts about these assemblies, these synagogues, are that they were under the direction of local elders. These local elders believed they had the right to require attendance by all within their province for the spiritual benefit of those who call upon the name of Jehovah. This was the circumstance. By the time of Jesus, there were synagogues, as you know, throughout the entire land.

    You go to Galilee in the north, and they are there. You go south toward the Negev, south of Jerusalem, and you find them there. But not only in the land of promise, but wherever Jewish people lived. They were in the Middle East throughout. They were throughout the Mediterranean world. In Alexandria, there was a great synagogue. You remember the cities mentioned during the travels of Paul the Apostle. He went first to the synagogue. He found them there.

    Now, although the synagogue lacked an explicit commandment from God, although it could be classified as a tradition of men, Jesus never quarreled with this tradition. He never questioned its validity or its usefulness. And there is no indication whatsoever that he was anything but delighted to comply with the practice of regular synagogue attendance. Here, in this, Jesus honored a human authority, and he submitted himself to it. Why? Why? Let me suggest three reasons.

    First of all, he was pleased to take advantage of whatever opportunity presented itself to worship God with God’s people. That is what drove him. That is what his life was all about. His life was about worshiping God. And Jesus was pleased to take advantage of whatever opportunity presented itself to worship God with God’s people. In the synagogue, prayers were offered. The scriptures were read and commented upon. And these activities undoubtedly brought Jesus the greatest joy. Oh, to hear the word again. Oh, to pray. To pray with God’s people. Oh, to be with God’s people. Why, I can’t wait to get there.

    Secondly, what Jesus found in the synagogue formed a positive expression of the general Sabbath commandment. It was a positive expression of the sense and sentiment of that commandment. For the day, you see, had at its center the corporate worship of God in an environment of rest and peace. And thus throughout Jewry, to those who embraced Judaism, they would assemble together, having at the center of their life this experience of corporate worship in an environment of rest and peace.

    And thirdly, in his faithful synagogue attendance, Jesus demonstrated his respect for the elders of Israel. The elders had said, it is wise and good for us to congregate. And Jesus agreed. Jesus would, in fact, take exception to much of the burdensome and hypocritical impositions visited upon the people by Israel’s leaders. But synagogue attendance was not a custom with which he disagreed.

    And as you know, the synagogue structure and the synagogue institutions over time provided the foundation for the extension of the gospel throughout Israel and throughout the world. The synagogue supplied the pattern for many of the organizational and worship practices that developed within the church. In a very real sense, you are in a synagogue—a Christian synagogue. You can trace many of the practices observed here in this church back to the synagogue. Therefore, Jesus entering the synagogue on the Sabbath honors divine authority and properly exercised human authority. And when we enter the church of Jesus Christ on the Sabbath day, we do the same. It is good to follow His example. But there is something more here. I will not leave you with a lesson in practical matters. I will press on and go deeper. There is something profoundly significant here.

    This takes us beyond the point where all we say is, “Jesus went to the synagogue, and so we, following His example, should go to church.” In fact, His compliance with the tradition of Israel regarding the synagogue and synagogue worship eventually becomes a commandment from God.

    This is so that we are not left free to act as we please. It is so that we cannot separate ourselves from Him, and we are bound not only by His example but also by the form and structure of the command itself concerning our habits in worship. We must not ignore Him, nor set ourselves apart from Him, nor—may it never happen—set ourselves above Him. Given this, as we move from considering Jesus’ respect for human authority to the point where a divine commandment is placed upon us, we see the movement in the history of salvation itself, particularly with regard to the divine law about the Sabbath day and the human tradition about worship in the synagogue.

    And we move from commandment to revered tradition in our journey through the Old Testament times. Do you see it? The command regarding the Sabbath day remained, but as you move through the Old Testament, and as you come to the end of the Old Testament, you are not left merely with the commandment of God regarding the Sabbath day. You are left with the observance in the synagogue according to the tradition of the elders among the people. You move from commandment to revered tradition. But then, at the point when Christ appears, you move from the revered tradition of the time of Jesus to a divine commandment in our time, the time of the Church. Commandment, revered tradition, revered tradition, commandment. That is the progression. And we watch this development unfold before our eyes in the pages of the New Testament. First of all, with respect to the Sabbath, as has already been mentioned, there is a change of days. We do not worship on Saturday like the Jews. We worship on Sunday. We do not worship on the last day of the week. We worship on the first day of the week. Why? Because Jesus rose on the first day of the week.

    In addition to this change regarding the Sabbath, we also observe a shift regarding the temple and Jewish synagogues to Christian assemblies. We can trace this development through the Book of Acts. You leave the temple, and eventually the temple doors are closed to the church. Paul moves to the synagogues, but eventually he is cast out of them. What remains standing is the Christian assembly, the congregations of those who adhere to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    Now, I want you to note this. Note this progression. In Acts chapter 20, the story of Paul’s visit to Troas describes a transformation taking place before our eyes. Some of you know this story. Verse seven: He has come to Troas, and in verse seven we are told, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to the saints assembled, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.” I love this passage! I love this passage! Now you know why I love this passage. First of all, the first day of the week is mentioned.

    It is the new Christian Sabbath. On this day, the saints gather together. What do they do when they gather? They break bread. What does this mean? It is the Lord’s Supper. It is the Lord’s Supper. It is the Eucharist. They break bread, they gather together, and they observe the Lord’s Supper. But what else takes place? Paul preaches. You do not have the sacrament without the Word. This is what worship services are all about. Paul preaches.

    I love this passage, not only because it mentions the Lord’s Supper and the preaching of the Word, but because it describes a service at night. Oh, I love it. These people began their Sabbath with worship and ended their Sabbath with worship. They did not attend only morning church; they also attended evening church.

    Now, add to this what you find in 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verses 1 and 2. This is what Paul says here: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.” Verse 2: “On the first day of every week, let each one of you put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections may be made when I come.” In Acts 20, we have the Lord’s Supper and preaching. We also have evening service. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, we have offerings. The offerings were taken on the first day of every week, which is the Christian Sabbath.

    One last passage, the one we read this morning, Hebrews 10. If you lack a commandment thus far, you have only examples thus far of what the church did in Troas and in Corinth. They were gathering on the first day of the week. You may be saying that what we lack at this point is any specific commandment. There is no express command that we are to do this or that. But that is why we have Hebrews 10, verse 25. What does the writer say? “Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.” Do not forsake the assembly.

    Note all the wonderful things that are spoken of in relation to the assembling of the saints. Under divine command, having moved from revered tradition to commandment, note all the wonderful things that are spoken of in verses 19 through 25. You are reminded that you are brought into the holiest place with confidence, and that through the blood of Christ. Not just here. The true sanctuary, the true temple, the true synagogue, the true church above. And notice who greets you there. Not an elder, not your friend, not the minister at the door. Verse 21: The one who greets you in this assembly is the great and final high priest for his people.

    And notice what kind of activities take place in the assembly, why they are the kind of activities that you would expect in heaven. Encouraging one another, being a support, building one another up. Hebrews 10:24 says, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, he says. Hebrews 10:25 says, “As is the habit of some, they have broken ranks; they are disobeying. Do not be like them, please. They are no longer following Christ, but encouraging one another.”

    And that all the more, as you, on the Lord’s Day, see approaching the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is coming. And on the Lord’s Day, you should prepare yourselves. With that in view, you are not put out because you have to go, or because you have to return at night. You are not put out. Why? Because you would be no other place than with the Lord at the end of the world. You want to be no other place than in His house on the Lord’s Day.

    Let us pray. Hear us, Lord, we pray. Your day is glorious, and may we see all the delights that are here for us. Truly, may we meet the great and final High Priest, Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. But also, Lord, may we find in this day such an encouragement that we are well reminded of the coming glories that are surely ours in the day of the Lord. May You help us, Father, when we find the day to be a burden, when we are put out because of the constraint that is laid upon us. Help us, Father, before the command, as we find ourselves chafing beneath that command. Instead, Lord, may we give ourselves freely, positively, energetically to the service of our God, and especially those services that are organized and structured for our benefit, for the well-being of our souls, and that are eternal. Through Jesus Christ.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • The Son of Man Is Lord of the Sabbath

    The Son of Man Is Lord of the Sabbath

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Lord of the Sabbath” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 13, 1990.

    About this sermon

    When the Pharisees accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, he answers with the story of David and the showbread, reversing their assumption that man exists to serve the law. A careful exegesis of Mark 2:28 closes things out: the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

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    Sermon transcript

    We will begin our scripture reading this morning in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 21. We are reading verses 1 through 6. I will be reading from the New American Standard Version this morning. Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter, and he has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you, and with which I have commissioned you.’ I have directed the young men to a certain place.”

    Now, therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. But there is consecrated bread, if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest and said, “Surely women have been kept from us, as previously, when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the presence, which had been removed from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

    Then turning to Mark’s Gospel, chapter 2, verses 23 to 28, it came about that when Jesus was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, his disciples began to walk along while picking heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” He replied to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and became hungry, he and his companions? How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” May we come unto You, Lord Jesus, we who labor and are heavy laden, and may we and all through Your word find You and that promised rest for our souls. So we pray it through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

    When twenty centuries ago, on a particular Sabbath day, a group of twelve men moved through a Capernaum grain field, plucking grain as they went, they were led by Jesus, who either encouraged them or chose to ignore what they were doing. What they did could be considered lawful under ordinary circumstances. The law had made provision: even though one was walking through a field not one’s own, it was permitted, according to Deuteronomy 23, verse 25, to pluck heads of grain to feed oneself. But today is the Sabbath, the day of rest, and Israel’s day of worship. In that field there is not only that group of twelve men with Jesus as their leader, but also the guardians of the law, the Pharisees, who observe Jesus and his disciples. For these Pharisees, the moral command takes precedence in this case—the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. And so the commandment goes. You know how it reads.

    For these guardians of the law, the moral command, this fourth commandment of the ten, carries greater weight and determines the application of the lesser provisions in the law. Lesser provisions, such as the one concerning the eating of kernels from stalks of standing grain in your neighbor’s field.

    Therefore, according to these guardians of the law, the Pharisees plucking grain on the Sabbath day was judged to be labor, work. It was no more permissible than the owner of that field harvesting his grain on that day. The disciples, the Pharisees say, have broken the Sabbath.

    Now the interesting point is that Jesus does not argue with the Pharisees, at least not in the way he does on other occasions. He could have pointed out to them that there is no specific text in the Old Testament that forbids the plucking of grain on the Sabbath. But he does not do that. And even though we might judge that here, as on so many other occasions, the Pharisees have imposed their own traditions on the law, Jesus does not make that observation. He does not raise that objection.

    Rather, he responds, acting as if the Pharisees have a case. They have a case, as far as the law is concerned, and as far as their reading of the law is concerned. So it is in this text, in Mark chapter 2, that the question of whether the Pharisees are actually correct in their reading of the commandments becomes immaterial. For it seems as if Jesus treats their reading as correct. That this is actually the case becomes clear from the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees.

    The Pharisees ask, why are your disciples doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? The important words here are, what is not lawful? But now look down at verse 26. There, Jesus uses a near equivalent of these words in his response to the Pharisees. He says that David and his companions did what was not lawful.

    When they ate that special bread, the showbread—the bread from the table in the tabernacle that was set before the presence of God—you know, and as we have read this morning, that bread belonged to the priests. Only they were permitted to eat it. They were to eat it when it was replaced each week with fresh loaves. It was not to be given to anyone else.

    But Jesus is saying that what David did was unlawful. At the same time, he is also acknowledging the point the Pharisees have made—that what the disciples are doing is unlawful. How can this be? How is it possible for Jesus to endorse what is unlawful? How is it possible for his disciples to stand in opposition to the law and then be defended by Jesus? Did not God give the law? Would not opposition to the law be equivalent to opposition to God? Of course. Or is Jesus perhaps suggesting something like this?

    There are, after all, situations in which it is right to break the law. That idea sounds familiar. I recall a movement at one time called situational ethics. I believe some prominent figures, such as Jeb Stuart Magruder and Chuck Colson, referred to situational ethics in their own cases at one time.

    So is Jesus saying that, well, you who are zealous for the law must understand that in certain circumstances, it is right to act in ways that are otherwise wrong? Or is Jesus taking the approach that many people take today? Is he saying that picking grain on the Sabbath day is not serious? I mean, this is such a minor matter that even if it is unlawful, God does not care. Well, I think it is clear to you that we are dealing with a very difficult problem—a complex issue that the Church has tried to address throughout her history, and not always successfully.

    Some, in their response to this text and to the considerations it raises, have gone so far as to create a division, and by that I mean an absolute division, between God and His law. They have suggested, it seems, that in order to choose God, one must reject His law. There are those who are for the law, and then there are those who are for God. But one cannot be for both. After all, the time of the law has passed. That dispensation is finished. Today is the time of grace. And that is the time that belongs to us. So it is. In our time, in our circumstances, we choose God and set aside the law.

    But you know as well as I that we cannot go in this direction, because it introduces such confusion into the matter. You understand as I do that this tears apart the Bible. It literally tears it apart. Understood in this way, it becomes utterly impossible to grasp the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The consequences are so serious that we would introduce confusion into the nature and being of God, and set God against Himself.

    Others in the history of the Church have decided that they must preserve the law at all costs. The plain reading of the text, as we have understood it this morning, seems to place the law in question. It is as if the law is about to be discarded. Therefore, others have taken the course to preserve the law, and suggest to us that this passage is another example of how the ritual and ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Christ.

    Do you remember the threefold nature of the law that we have been taught? There is the moral law, the Ten Commandments. There is the ceremonial and ritual law, which pertained to sacrifices, feasts, cleansings, and purifications. And there is the civil law, which pertained to the administration of the State of Israel. These are the three forms of law.

    And we are told by many and have come to believe ourselves in some respect that the ritual and ceremonial law has been done away with in Christ, to be sure. But there are those who have approached this text in an effort to preserve the law who have suggested to us that this is merely another example of how the ritual and ceremonial law has been done away with in Christ. While the ceremonial law is abrogated, the moral law remains. To be sure, but this is an example of the doing away of the ceremonial law, the Sabbath and its prescriptions.

    Now why is it that we cannot go in this direction? With regard to this text, why is it that we cannot go in this direction? We cannot go in this direction because it was in the interest of the moral law, specifically the fourth commandment, that the Pharisees took the position that they did. It will not help to simply shift the whole passage and the discussion in it to the side of the ritual and ceremonial law.

    This is what the Pharisees said: The lesser matter of eating grain while walking through your neighbor’s field is governed by the greater matter. The greater matter being the moral commandment, the fourth commandment. And in that, they were correct. They were right. So Jesus’ argument with them is not at this point. It is at another. Because you see, the Pharisees were content to leave matters as they were.

    And in leaving matters as they were, they were guilty of a fundamental mistake. And such was the magnitude of that mistake as to countermand and dissolve their position with respect to the law altogether. You see, according to them, the moral law, you understand what I am speaking of, the Ten Commandments, the moral law, was not merely the greater matter with respect to lesser issues like plucking grain in your neighbor’s field. The moral law was the greatest matter, period. Period. So much was this the case that we could translate their position this way.

    Paraphrasing Jesus in verse 27, man was made for the law, not the law for man. The Pharisee’s position is the opposite of what Jesus expresses in verse 27. Man was made for the law, and not the law for man. In this particular instance, man was made for the Sabbath, and not the Sabbath for man.

    This is a fundamental misreading. From a redemptive-historical perspective, it is as if the Pharisees believed that Sinai came first and that afterward the people were created. This reflects a caricature of their position. In their view, the law is so great that man exists for its sake. But Jesus reverses this order. He says, “No. The law was made for man, not man for the law.”

    What Jesus is saying, then, is this: the lesser matter of eating kernels from fields of standing grain does indeed give way, as the Pharisees claim, to the greater matter of the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment stands, but the fourth commandment and the entire law of God must always give way to man himself. The law of God must always be subordinate to the greater concern, namely, man and his circumstances and his needs. Such is man’s significance. The commandment comes after the creation of man. It is meant for man. Such is man’s significance that the preservation of his life through necessary and merciful actions actually takes precedence over the Sabbath command.

    Which of you, seeing your animal in a ditch on the Sabbath, will leave it there? If you will show mercy to an animal, how much more ought you to show mercy to those who are of the household of faith, or to your fellow human being? Do you understand the anger of Jesus recorded for you in chapter 3? As the Pharisees stationed guards to catch Jesus, they wanted to know whether He would heal on the Sabbath day. So He asked them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save a life or to kill? To show mercy or to withhold it? Can you use the Sabbath as an excuse to avoid the demands of love? No. You cannot.

    The Sabbath stands, and how wonderfully the Reformed tradition has maintained that, and how wonderfully the Reformed tradition has also insisted, yes, but also the words of necessity and mercy, and even such things in abundance on the Lord’s Day, on the Sabbath.

    But Jesus has one more thing to say in verse 28. We will never be left at the level of a mere internal Jewish dispute about how one might approach the law. Is Jesus right about the law and its meaning, or are the Pharisees right? You see, it cannot be left at that level. And as the passage concludes, it becomes clear that the real debate is about something else. It is a debate about Jesus Himself.

    You see, the illustration Jesus uses about David and his men in the house of God suggests, in part, a legitimacy for David in taking that bread on account of who he was. And who was David? He was the Lord’s anointed, the one in whom we see the form of the coming promised Messiah. The law, therefore, is not merely in the service of man generally, but specifically it is in the service of the Lord’s anointed, in the service of His promised Messiah. Or as Jesus puts it in verse 28, the Son of Man, who has come, who has appeared, who has arrived, and with His coming, things change. And you cannot view the law the same way ever again. And now, in light of His coming, the law is appropriately set in the service of that Son of Man and those who are joined to Him, His companions.

    So let Him lead. Let Him lead His disciples through grain fields now. Not only in Palestine, but in Europe and in Asia, and in North America and South America. Let Him lead His servants, His disciples, through grain fields—ripe for harvest on any Sabbath day until the end of the world—reaping a harvest, being fed as they go. But also observe Him in His power, for this One makes all the difference.

    Not the old day of celebration, but the new. This One who is the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath to the extent that He will change the day. And the foundation of the message that will go forth into all the grain fields of the world will be that this One who came was as a grain Himself, died, was planted in the ground, was raised, and is now harvested for God, and with Him the grand harvest has commenced. On the new day, the Lord’s day, the day of resurrection, the day of harvest, the day of the proclamation of the word, the day of the Lord.

    Amen. Move ahead of Your servants through the grain fields of the world. May we delight, our Lord, in the fact that not only are they fed on the Sabbath day, but they are also engaged in reaping, in harvesting. And what a violation this would seem to be—a violation of Your law—yet what mercy is mediated through this activity. A mercy which meets the needs of Your people throughout the world.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Ahimelech and the Showbread

    Ahimelech and the Showbread

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Lord of the Sabbath” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, May 13, 1990.

    About this sermon

    The story of David, Samuel, and the priest Ahimelech gives three reasons why God did not condemn Ahimelech for giving David the showbread. Ahimelech carries Messianic significance, and Matthew 12’s use of the episode reveals something of Christ himself.

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    Sermon transcript

    Chapter 12, verses 1 through 8, and then we will return to the Old Testament again to examine the story of Ahimelech in more detail. This is Matthew 12, verses 1 through 8. At that time, Jesus was walking on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and his disciples became hungry. They began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

    When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” But he replied to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those with him entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but only for the priests.”

    Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what this means—’I desire mercy, not sacrifice’—you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

    Then turning back to 1 Samuel once more, chapter 21, verses 1 to 7. This is 1 Samuel 21, verses 1 to 7.

    Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David. He said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?” David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter, and he has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you, or about which I have commissioned you.’ I have directed the young men to a certain place.”

    Now, therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread, if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us, as previously when I set out, and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the presence, which was removed from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away. Now, one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg, the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

    Then turning to the twenty-second chapter, beginning with verse eleven and reading through verse twenty. This is chapter twenty-two, verse eleven. Then the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob, and all of them came to the king. And Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the sons of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise up against me by lying in ambush, as it is this day?”

    Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who is captain over your guard and is honored in your house? Did I just begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me.”

    Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing at all of this whole affair. But the king said, “You shall surely die, Hamilech, you and all your father’s household.” And the king said to the guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand also was with David, and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the Lord. Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and attack the priests.” And Doeg, the Edomite, turned around and attacked the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. And he struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants, also oxen, donkeys, and sheep; he struck them with the edge of the sword. But one son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.

    It was virtually impossible for me to pass from this morning’s message without further comment on what we have read out of 1 Samuel. A number of things deserve further comment, two of which are the figure of Ahimelech himself, as he is described for us in 1 Samuel, and also what we might observe from the parallel passage in Matthew 12, verses 1 through 8.

    Ahimelech is one of those remarkable figures from Scripture. One that is liable to fall through the cracks simply because we so quickly pass over the reference to him, or because we are unwilling to spend the time reflecting upon him and his significance. Well, here he is, this fellow Ahimelech. Maybe you do not remember hearing much about him before today. You might have noted that in the New Testament texts, the figure of Abiathar is mentioned, who is actually Ahimelech’s son.

    We have read of Abiathar here at the end of our scripture reading this evening, in verse 20 of 1 Samuel 22. But here is this figure—a priest named Ahimelech—who appears in the context now of David’s flight from King Saul. Ever since David triumphed over Goliath, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of 1 Samuel, the tensions between Saul and David have been clearly evident, and they have been growing throughout this time to the point that David flees from the presence of Saul. Saul’s anger has now reached its peak, and David, with Jonathan’s help, has fled for his life. This is recorded in the twentieth chapter of 1 Samuel. Thus, David, whom God has chosen and secretly anointed by Samuel, is a fugitive from the king’s anger.

    He, with his companions, has fled from Saul’s court, which has been established in Saul’s hometown of Gibeah, a town in the territory of Benjamin, just north of the territory belonging to Judah. But now David is moving southward into the territory of Judah, and he comes to the sanctuary in the city of Nob, N-O-B, a mountain town east of Jerusalem.

    This town may have further significance; I am speculating here. Some have suggested that the town of Nob is located at the site of the New Testament town of Bethphage, the town mentioned in connection with Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and from which he traveled on the day of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This place is most likely on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives, lying to the east of Jerusalem itself. As for Jerusalem at this time, it remains unconquered. It is still in the hands of the Jebusites, a Canaanite tribe, and will not pass into the full possession of the Israelites until David himself accomplishes that mission.

    The sanctuary is now at Nob, and this city has become a refuge city for the priests of the Lord at this time in Israel’s history. It was established as a refuge city for the priests of the Lord because of the destruction of the previous site where the priests had gathered. That site was Shiloh, where Eli had conducted his ministry. Now, prominent among the priests at Nob is Ahimelech, who may well be the high priest, the chief priest among the priests at Nob.

    He is the son of Ahitub, who is the son of Phinehas, who is the son of Eli. This is his family tree. You can trace it yourself by checking 1 Samuel 14, verse 3. Ahimelech and the other priests, as we see from 1 Samuel 22, were many in number. They were executed by Doeg. Ahimelech and the other priests were carrying out their prescribed service to the Lord, for the tabernacle had been set up there. It is clear that the table for the showbread was present, because that is the table from which the bread was taken to give to David. Thus, the tabernacle and the services related to the tabernacle were located at Nob with the priests, and Ahimelech was serving as the chief priest at this time.

    There are indications in the text, specifically in 1 Samuel 21, a passage we have read, that David’s arrival at Nob is connected to the Sabbath day. This is an interesting detail in itself. The connection becomes evident in relation to the consecrated bread. We are told that the consecrated bread was due to be removed from before the Lord, as stated in verse 6 of the passage. According to the law, as recorded in Leviticus 24, verse 8, the bread was removed weekly from before the Lord on the Sabbath. Every Sabbath, new bread was brought in, and the old bread was taken out. The old bread then became the provision given to the priests, who ate the bread that had been removed from the presence of the Lord.

    Also we have this figure, Doeg, and it may well be that this man, although an Edomite, is mentioned in verse 7. It may be that his presence there was due to being detained before the Lord in Nob. The reason may be that he found himself in the region of Nob, or at Nob, the city of Nob, on the Sabbath day. He was caught there on the Sabbath and could not continue his journey. The practice of the Jews was that one was permitted only a limited distance to travel on the Sabbath, so there he was, detained. Not because he was a worshipper of the Lord, but because he was within the territory of Israel and served as a servant of the King of Israel, he was obligated to follow the laws and statutes of Israel. Now, if it is the Sabbath, and that seems likely, David’s presence at Nob is very interesting.

    For he may have planned his flight in such a way as to arrive at the house of God on the Sabbath day. He may have fled to the house of God in order to seek the Lord. He may have gone to the house of God in order to seek encouragement and receive rest, to have peace provided through God’s presence, as God had promised to be especially present at the sanctuary. As David says elsewhere, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Now, the haste with which David has fled has left him without provisions. He has no food for himself or his companions. So he comes to Nob, the city of the priests, not only on the Sabbath, but hungry.

    You could reflect on that a little. He comes to the house of God and into the presence of God in order to be fed and nourished. But in any case, having arrived, he is greeted now by a priest. You know how I like to reflect on the meaning of names.

    The name Ahimelech means “brother of the king.” Brother of the king. Therefore, his name emphasizes his faithfulness, which could be directed in two ways at the same time. It could be directed toward Israel’s king, and in this case, Saul himself. Ahimelech, the priest of the Lord, is a brother to the king, and his heart is united with Israel’s king, Saul. But of course, we can also consider another direction. The king could be God, so that the intention of Ahimelech, the priest of God, is aligned with God, Israel’s true king.

    In either case, Ahimelech’s loyalty is emphasized. His faithfulness is evident; he is faithful to the King, whether Saul or the Lord. His loyalty to the King’s house may explain the exchange between him and David. Note how the account begins in the first verse of chapter 21.

    It appears that Ahimelech is cautious. We are told that he comes and greets David, trembling. He may be suspicious because he notices that none of the king’s attendants are with David. There were others present, but none of the king’s attendants are with him. He asks, particularly with regard to this matter: Why is this the case, David?

    David, not wishing to reveal that he is fleeing from Saul, and knowing this would be especially significant if this man is completely devoted to the king, pretends to be on a secret mission. He claims this mission is one about which even his traveling companions are unaware.

    He then asks for provision, and he asks for five loaves of bread. Ahimelech tells him that no ordinary bread is available, only the consecrated bread. As his name suggests, Ahimelech is one who is faithful to the king. He stands to place even this bread—the bread of the Presence, the consecrated bread—at David’s disposal. He does so because he believes that David is an extension of the king himself. David is the emissary and the ambassador of the king. The bread will not be denied him. So loyal is Ahimelech to the king and to the king’s purposes.

    Now he says that this bread is available to David for Saul’s sake, provided that David and his men are ritually pure. That is, they have been kept from women. David assures Ahimelech that his custom is to maintain ritual purity even in the course of ordinary missions. How much more, then, in the case of this extraordinary mission, this secret mission upon which Saul has sent him. Therefore, Ahimelech gives the bread to David and to David’s companions. This is an astounding, if not shocking, act for an Israelite priest. At least, that is how it would seem.

    For this action of giving the showbread to David, as we have seen, stands contrary to the expressed commandment of the law. Yet, it is an action that is not condemned, but rather praised. And Ahimelech is not judged, but rather commended. So how is it possible for Ahimelech to perform this act, to give the showbread that belonged to the priests, and that according to the law of God, and yet remain uncondemned, and actually be commended for his position? How is it possible?

    First of all, as we have already suggested, Ahimelech is acting out of his loyalty to the king. And who is the king? The king is the Lord’s anointed. Even though that person be Saul, he is the Lord’s anointed. In his action, Ahimelech is actually giving place to the one who bears the stamp of God’s promised Messiah—the coming great and final king.

    Ahimelech is not then remiss in his loyalty, but with his loyalty he is demonstrating his devotion to the true king, God himself. But the circumstance is deeper yet, because you see Ahimelech unwittingly exhibits his loyalty to David. The truly anointed king, the one upon whom the stamp of messiahship truly and really is impressed, is none other than David, the one before whom he stands. So there is then this messianic dimension, this dimension of messiahship, in this entire transaction.

    But note, note the consequence of Ahimelech’s action. Ahimelech will pay for his loyalty to the Lord’s Anointed One. He will pay for his loyalty to the Lord’s Messiah. He will pay for his loyalty to the Lord’s Christ. And he will pay the ultimate price. He will pay with his life. And that is why I have read to you 1 Samuel 22.

    Ahimelech pays with his life for his loyalty to the Lord’s Messiah, and that at the hands of Doeg, the Edomite. Now in this, Ahimelech becomes the picture of that iron that is so peculiar to Israel. On the one hand, he will exhibit what is best in Israel, but on the other hand, he will be destroyed by Israel. Ahimelech then will portray for us faithful Israel in the service of Israel’s true king. But in being faithful Israel in the service of Israel’s true King, he will become the victim of faithless Israel, as so many in Israel were. How many of the prophets were executed? How many of those who served God truly, honorably, loyally, were executed? Not by foreigners, not by Gentiles, but by Jews. Is that not the indictment that Jesus brings upon Jerusalem finally?

    The streets of Jerusalem have run red with the blood of the prophets, the blood of those who have stood with him and his cause. So in Ahimelech, we see that irony. That irony rises again and again in Israel, while exhibiting the best in Israel, Ahimelech is destroyed by Israel.

    I once had a professor of mine tell me that the enemy always comes from outside. For the life of me, this man whom I respect, this man from whom I have learned a great deal, somehow speaks as if he has not read the Bible at all. Not from outside, but from within. From within. And that is why it behooves the people of God to always be on guard, to always watch. Please, do not be naive. And do not become sentimental when it comes to theology and doctrine. Please. These truly are matters of life and death.

    The first thing we see in this passage is the remarkable feature of loyalty to the Lord’s anointed. But there is another feature that is equally compelling. You see, this person possesses a merciful spirit. Such a merciful spirit that will not allow him to use the law as an excuse for heartlessness. Let me say that once more. This person possesses a merciful spirit—the spirit that will not allow him to use the law as an excuse for heartlessness. He sees David. David is hungry. His men are hungry. David and his men have nothing. They have no bread. So Ahimelech sees David and his men in need.

    And Ahimelech responds to that need with kindness. And in doing so, he does not fear that he has violated the law or attacked its precepts. In this way, the law is properly understood and applied, in line with what we saw this morning in our exposition of Mark chapter 2. And I want you now to take note of the quality and depth of this mercy shown by Ahimelech.

    What did Ahimelech do when he gave the bread to David and David’s men? Whose bread was it? We could go that direction. It was priestly bread. It belonged to the priests. The bread was his by law, by statute, by right. There is no other bread available.

    So when a priest gives away the bread, he is not merely responding to David’s need, to the fact that David is hungry and requires some form of provision. What Ahimelech is doing is meeting David’s need in such a way that it leaves him without. He gives what is his to David in order that David might have, even though it means he goes without. Isn’t that what the text says?

    There is no other bread in Nob. There is no other bread available. So the bread that Ahimelech gives is all the bread that could be given, and when it is given, there is none left. Ahimelech has impoverished himself in order to enrich David. We know how costly that was for him. Ultimately it meant not merely going without bread for a time, but, as we read in 1 Samuel 22, his death. So what is it, then, that Ahimelech is giving? Not just bread, but himself. Ahimelech gives himself. Ahimelech gives his life today. The priest, the high priest gives his life for David and David’s men.

    Therefore, in Ahimelech we see not merely the pattern for devotion to Christ, as if David were Christ and Ahimelech were merely a servant of Christ. Much more. In Ahimelech, we see Christ himself. For Christ will not be merely a king, but also a priest. There comes a priest after the order of Melchizedek, but also one after the order of Ahimelech.

    This priest takes from an eternal table in a heavenly tabernacle, one not made with hands, such bread that is able to answer the hunger of all the souls of God’s children. And this one responds mercifully to all of his own who cry out to him in their need. Learn about Christ from a priest. A wonderful priest, a great priest of God. For his mercy, of course, Christ will pay with his life.

    And in time, the Pharisees will do to Jesus for the mercy found in him what Saul did to Ahimelech for the mercy found in him. It is this message of mercy that is picked up and amplified so well in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees over the disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath day. Jesus says to the Pharisees in the Matthew account, “If you had known what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.” The point then is that the Pharisees lack what Ahimelech possessed. And what Ahimelech possessed reflects Christ. We too are to reflect Christ. And before need, we are to give and give ourselves in order that the need may be met, as Christ has met all of our needs.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

  • Harvest on the Sabbath

    Harvest on the Sabbath

    This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Lord of the Sabbath” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, April 22, 1990.

    About this sermon

    Christ’s Sabbath walk through the grainfields carries rich harvest imagery. The Lord harvests his grain, his people harvest the Word by faith, and in the end the cross harvests Christ himself. That depth of servanthood compels us to follow him into the house of God.

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    Sermon transcript

    If also to those who were with him. And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And he entered again into the synagogue. And there was a man there who had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill?

    But they remained silent. And when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored, whole like the other. And the Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Closing.

    O Lord, there is a harvest of your word, and your people are fed, and not in this place alone, but throughout the world. And Lord, may we, your people, be appreciative to the depths of our hearts for that which we receive. And may we understand afresh that you, by your word, preserve us in our lives and nourish us truly. We pray this through Christ. Amen.

    The fields in Palestine. The fields stand ready. The harvest time has come. But in Israel, on this day, the grain from the field will not be gathered. It is the Sabbath. But even though on this day, this particular day, the grain from the field will not be gathered, there is nevertheless a harvest. It is a different kind of harvest.

    For the people of the Lord are his grain, his harvest gathered on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath, the Lord gathers his grain into his granary. They come into the assembly of the Lord. And in this circumstance, in this setting, into the synagogue. You note where Jesus is headed. Verse 1 of chapter 3. He moves through the field to the synagogue.

    God is at work collecting His crop, a crop for Himself, on this day, His day, the Sabbath day. But the people, God’s people, are not His only harvest in this setting. For there is another type of harvest that is reaped. These people will themselves be fed from a harvest, a harvest from the Word, made with spiritual grain. On the Sabbath, then, the Lord’s people do not harvest from their fields. They harvest from their faith. On the Sabbath, the Lord’s people do not harvest for gain. They harvest for God.

    The other nations may well work their fields today for the grain. They may well set out into their fields worrying about the possibility of lost opportunities, anxious about daily provision, concerned about catching the market at its peak. But in Israel, there is reaping of a different sort on the Sabbath. Israel reaps from the Lord a harvest from His Word today.

    For these people are instructed that they do not and that they must not live by the bread of this creation alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. On this particular Sabbath day in Israel, Jesus and His disciples are walking through a field of standing grain on their way to the synagogue. It is a most remarkable scene. Consider it.

    For who is this one who walks through the field on His way to the synagogue? He is none other than the one who made the field. He is none other than the one responsible for the grain and for the harvest. If the people of God are as a harvest themselves, gathered by God on His Sabbath, then Jesus, as He moves through this grain field, is also like grain, becoming, as it were, part of the harvest. He, too, the one so great, is now made one with His people.

    He, as it were, is gathered with them into that granary, the worship assembly, the synagogue that stands on the far side of the field. Think once more about who this is. Who moves through the field on his way to church? Is he not the one who is to be truly honored, even worshiped in the synagogue? But today, on this Sabbath, he will be numbered among those who make their way to worship. And he too will pay homage; he too will worship with all God’s people as one with them. But not only is he like the grain of the harvest, like all other children of Israel.

    He will be fed on this Sabbath from the harvest of God’s Word, which consists of spiritual grain. Is it not true that this one is the very center, the kernel, the substance of that Word which will be declared and proclaimed once he arrives at the synagogue? Yet on this Sabbath day, the one who is the Word itself is as one in need of the Word, for so he has made himself to be.

    For our sake. If the children of God must walk by faith, then this one who has cast his lot with them will also walk in faith. He will share their humanity, and he will be judged by the same standard that judges them. And as it is not fit that man should live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, so it shall be for him. Jesus on the Sabbath is harvested from God’s field and gathered into his granary for the corporate worship of God. And Jesus on this Sabbath will be fed with the spiritual increase of God’s Word that comes to all God’s children.

    This one who is none other than God. This one who has the title Son of God, this one who is called Lord, appears as a servant. He is servant of and subject to God, as God’s children are. And as God’s children are subject to and servant of God’s commands, so Jesus now appears to be. He who gave the commands to begin with. How marvelous! How marvelous His humility! How magnificent this chosen route, this humiliation. You can see the cross of Jesus in Jesus as He walks through grain fields on the Sabbath day.

    For will He not humble Himself even to the point of death in His identification with His people, that His love might be manifest and they might be saved? Who then, who are called to be servants of and subject to God’s commands, find in Him one who was servant of and subject to the will of God and God’s commands.

    But as we take stock of ourselves, do we not continue to be gathered as God’s harvest into His granary, His church, week by week, for the purpose of corporate worship on the Sabbath? Do we not continue to be fed, Sabbath by Sabbath, from the Word, that bread which God has prepared for us? At your Savior once again.

    Jesus in the fields on the Sabbath is preaching to you His servanthood. In those fields, as it were, proving to you that servanthood which is at the very center of what He is. And if He, the Lord, so behaved and so submitted Himself, how much more we, that we might be servants indeed. Jesus in the field on the Sabbath is not only on His way to the synagogue in order to worship the Lord there.

    He is out in front of His disciples. He is leading them in their service to God. How will they follow? We know how they follow—behind Him, their destiny, His destiny, they then gathered as He was gathered unto the assembly for the corporate worship of God, that they, in fact, might be fed.

    But what of us? Are we not also following Jesus today? Is not Jesus still moving through the grain field, and are you not moving behind Him? And is not the destiny on this Sabbath day, God’s house of worship, where you might be fed? A true spiritual harvest from the Word. And if the Lord Himself in Christ has set the pattern, how can you say no?

    I will not go. I will not follow. I will not obey. I will not submit. I will not be a servant as He was. But have you not said no? And that is why you are here. Did you know that you were following Jesus when you came here today? And do you not understand that as He demonstrated servanthood for your sake, now you are manifesting servanthood for His sake?

    Consider the magnitude of that servanthood. When we consider its immensity, what joy is ours! Can it be a burden for us to follow behind Him and to be where He is? What joy there is for us! Since this One we follow in His servanthood to God has kept God’s commandments and has proved Himself a servant for us to the uttermost, giving Himself for us, even for us who have failed to keep His commandments as we are. And therefore, what the commandment itself alone, weak as it was through the flesh, could not do, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, condemning sin in the flesh, that the very requirement of the commandment might be fulfilled in us. So that we might in Him have the perfect fulfillment of all of that Sabbath beatitude. Is your Lord unhappy on His way to the assembly? Is your Lord grieved that He has to go, that He has to surrender the time? Is your Lord grieved that, yes, there is this commandment, this requirement that God expects fulfilled?

    It is a joy, a delight. Jesus moves happily through the field. Not that He does not meet some who are sorrowful along the way. How great is our joy! For the joy of our Lord has become our joy. Not that we are perfect, not that we do not stumble and fall, not that we do not struggle with our passions and the tendencies of our hearts. But we have in Jesus Christ the triumph of our God with respect to all the commandments, and a delightful service. And it is to Him that we are joined, and into Him that we have been incorporated. So it is not merely the fact that you followed Jesus on your way to church today. You have been incorporated into Him. And His joy is made your joy. Your sins are forgiven. The violations of the commandments are laid aside because of His sake. He has taken them upon Himself so that you might go free. If worshiping God, even apart from our sins, should be a joyful occasion, how much more now that our sins have been removed? Will you, if in your heart you are not following Him, gladly join the band of His disciples today? And if your conscience troubles you about the Sabbath or about God’s commandments, will you turn to your Savior and find in Him not only forgiveness, but also power to walk in the Spirit as you follow your Lord into the assembly for worship and into His church on the Christian Sabbath?

    Let us pray. O God, may our delight show itself. May it not be grounded in pride. May it not be the product of arrogance or haughtiness. But may it be, Lord, the product of Your grace, that we, not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, think highly of Your Son. The one who was made a servant for us, the one whose servanthood means our salvation, the one whose death and resurrection means our joyful celebration of Your goodness, and that especially on the Sabbath, which You have ordained and established. We pray this through Christ, the Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath. Amen.

    The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.