[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet

Sun Jun 20 17:36:41 UTC 2021

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From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io [mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io] On Behalf Of Penny Golden via groups.io
Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2021 8:04 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] A Lord's Day Snippet

A Lord’s Day Snippet! !
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church
Pastor Ron Rumburg
265

1 How pleasant 'tis to see
Kindred and friends agree,
Each in his proper station move;
And each fulfills his part
With sympathizing heart,
In all the cares of life and love.

2 'Tis like the ointment shed
On Aaron's sacred head,
Divinely rich, divinely sweet;
The oil through all the room
Diffused a choice perfume,
Ran through his robes, and blessed his feet.

3 Like fruitful showers of rain
That water all the plain,
Descending from the neighboring hills;
Such streams of pleasure roll
Through every friendly soul,
Where love like heavenly dew distills. -Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

Unity Among Brethren Is Good and Pleasant

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his
garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the
mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life
forevermore.”

Psalm 133

Who does not like good and pleasant unity, especially among brethren who
have an affinity of resemblance in the spiritual family of God? In a
world of strife and turmoil these are such precious words among those
related by divine birth. This small Psalm is like an oasis with an
artesian well of cool water in the midst of a massive desert. Spurgeon
said that in this Psalm there “is no wry word, all is ‘sweetness and
light.’”

The Lord gives his servant David, by Holy Spirit inspiration, a
declaration to present, beginning with the word “behold.” This word is
given to sanctify our sight by capturing attention and enlisting
contemplation. The result of such a capture of attention is the resting
of the eyes on how good and pleasant a relationship is when brethren
dwell in unity. Family disharmony is never good or pleasant whether it
be one’s earthly kin or spiritual kin. Oh, the beauty of harmony. The
word “how” in this verse is used to intensify “good” and “pleasant.” So
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is!” “Good” has a sense of that
which is in agreement with God. “Pleasant” is used in the sense of
something lovely or charming to God and for the good of kin. What a
delight both elements are in perfuming the essence of unity. The word
“pleasant” in the Hebrew here is used for harmony in music or the
sweetness of honey or the waving sea of grain in a field. “Dwelling
together in unity” in addition to harmony of relationship proves
edifying. The key word here is “brethren” which meant literally the
sameness of blood or metaphorically of those adopted into the family of
God. “Dwelling” brings with it a sense of permanency of relationship and
a secure place of rest. Being “in unity” refers to a oneness produced by
likeness. “Unity does not mean uniformity; but oneness of heart, and
feeling, and aim” [F. B. Meyer].

One is reminded of Christ Jesus’ high priestly prayer and the words,
“That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee,
that they also may be one in Us: that, the world may believe that Thou
hast sent Me” (John 17:21). The oneness to which Christ Jesus referred
compared His and His Father’s oneness as well as a oneness in the Son
and Father which causes others to believe that the Father sent the Son.

This good and pleasant relationship of brethren dwelling together in
unity receives two comparisons or illustrations from the inspired
writer. One is the anointing of Aaron and the other the distilling dew
on Mt. Hermon.

So, the first comparison to the unity among brethren is the likeness of
“the precious ointment upon the head … of Aaron” that because of the
excessive nature of the costly ointment it ran from Aaron’s head to his
beard and eventually down to the hem of his garment. Thus, this precious
and odiferous ointment went from head to foot. The ointment was composed
of pure myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil (Ex.
30:23-25). This formulary was not for common use but strictly for a
setting apart for God. This was used in a holy anointing that symbolized
consecration to the Lord. The emphasis here seems to be that as the
ointment covered God’s high priest it illustrated the harmonious unity
of all that was represented by the high priest’s relation between the
Lord’s people, the Lord, and each other in the congregation. Christ
Jesus our High Priest was anointed by God the Father with the oil of
gladness (Heb. 1:9; Ps. 45:7). Through Christ our High Priest we are
anointed in the priesthood of believers with “the oil of gladness.”

The second comparison is the dew of Mt. Hermon. It was as the dew of
Hermon which “descended upon the mountains of Zion.” People living in
arid conditions are very aware of the importance of the dew or any form
of moisture. Mt. Hermon which is the highest mountain in Israel is noted
for its excessive morning dew which at times is as a heavy rain. Such a
display of dew was as an abundant blessing in a dry land. It was the
elixir of life. Unity among brethren is as refreshing as the
life-sustaining dew distilled on Mt. Hermon and flowing in rivulets of
life. Thus, the importance of unity which is compared to that which is
as a good and pleasant atmosphere among brethren.

“There the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” “There”
perhaps is referring to Zion that received the benefits of the
refreshing dew which is metaphorical for spiritual Zion. The place where
the Lord God almighty is worshipped. The place where His people are
refreshed spiritually with the “oil of gladness” as the “dew on Hermon.”
Spiritual blessings abound through God’s Son who was anointed with the
oil of gladness above his fellows. Yes, there Jehovah commanded
blessings, “even life for evermore.” This is that glorious life in which
those adopted into God’s family in this life have fellowship with God
and one another; but they shall also have such eternally.

John Bunyan explained: “Christians are like the several flowers in a
garden, that have upon each of them the dew of heaven, while, being
shaken with the wind, they let fall their dews at each other’s roots,
whereby they are jointly nourished and become nourishers of each other.”

George Swinnock (1627-1673) concluded, “The stream of … a spiritual
life, which shall never cease, but still go forward and increase, till
it swell to, and be swallowed up in the ocean of eternal life, ‘even
life forevermore.’”

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