“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” – Malachi 3:16-18
Let us now speak to one another.
Due to the coronavirus, the threat of contamination, and mandatory regulations restricting gatherings to 50 people or fewer, tomorrow’s Lord’s Day will be marked by far fewer, and far smaller worship gatherings, than seen in our nation’s history in a long time. Such things do not just happen to be so; it is a providential act of God, and we ought to pray and ask just why this has happened.
Many have not considered what is lost in the absence of the public worship of God. Some have the idea that a church service can simply be broadcast and this will suffice as having met to gather with God. Without going into detail, public worship is always described in Scripture as assembling ourselves together (Hebrews 10). Thus, worship over the internet is not true public worship, and God does not promise to bless it in the same way as the physical gathering of His people. But discussing whether telecommuted worship is real worship, isn’t my goal in this post.
My goal is to prod us to see what is at stake in the loss of public worship, or in restrictions on its attendance.
The prophetic voice of Christ is silent. Public worship in the preaching of the Word is when God speaks to us through His Son. The preacher is a divine messenger, and has authority from Christ to open the Word, explain it, apply it to hearts, in the assembled worship of the people of God. Is it a slip in God’s providence that Christ is not currently speaking, or is there a reason? Any Biblical understanding of providence forces you to conclude that God has willed that in some pulpits Christ should be silent.
Where Christ is not silent, many are restricted from going to hear Him. Again, is it a slip in God’s providence that far fewer are able to gather? Why in providence is the hearing of the Word now limited and discriminatory, rather than indiscriminately accessible?
We have reasons to be concerned when the preaching of the Word is inaccessible or restricted; when on the day appointed for worship, there will be far fewer persons meeting, and far fewer preachers preaching. Consider the following from the Scriptures on the silence of God.
Romans 10 – “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Run through the inferences of the passage. There is no preacher who is not called. There is no call unless Christ calls. Therefore, if there is no preacher then there is no call; and if there is no call, then Christ has not called. Do you follow? The inference then is that where there is less preaching, Christ is hardly speaking.
It then follows that if there is no preaching, then conversions are far fewer. Not only from this passage, but Romans 1:17 that the Gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” Where there is no Gospel, there is no conversion, and there is no power.
Why would Christ go silent? To answer this question you should ask yourself, what is the character of the Gospel? A message of peace. The preacher, and the Christ who sends him, are messengers of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation. It is a beautiful and good message which came at the high price of the blood of God. Those who despise the preacher, then despise the chance to be reconciled to God; and they despise the Messenger, Christ Himself, and His sufferings and death. And their rejection is all the more aggravated by the beauty and cost of the message.
Isn’t this the story of the Jews? They had cried out, “We will not have this man to rule over us!” What does God do? He not only sends the Word away from the Jews and out to the Gentiles, but He scatters the Jews. Christ not only went silent in respect to them, but He scattered them as enemies.
Consider that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ had rebuked Herod for his own sexual sin in taking his brother’s wife as his own. Herod kills John the Baptist. Have you noticed that when Christ stands before Herod, that Christ does not say a word to Herod? At that time, Christ made no effort to turn Herod. Christ was done with Herod.
What is the constant threat in the first three chapters of Revelation? That if the churches do not repent, Christ would put out their candlestick. This would be the appointed judgment. The candlestick is the light of God’s truth as revealed in Christ, as kept and maintained by the messenger of each church, most likely the preacher in this context. In other words, if they would not repent, Christ would no longer speak, no longer make His truth plain, no longer enliven the hearts of the hearers when the Word is preached. There is not a plague or financial crisis that is so dreadful as when Christ no longer speaks, and no longer has a candlestick. It means no more Gospel. It means no more power. It means no more repentance.
Do these things make us afraid? They should.
I am not saying that any church that is not meeting is in sin. Each answers for itself. I am not saying that any church that has restricted its gatherings to a certain limit is necessarily sinning. I make no comment in this blog on whether the state-imposed mandates should be obeyed. God may judge congregations by these providences, or He may simply be testing our responses to see how much we really value His worship, and the opportunity to appear before Him. I have no doubt that for those that fear Him, this will result in a far greater good. Each body of believers answers for itself. I am, in this blog, exhorting us all to look at the big picture: what is God doing in America by this providence?
I propose some possibilities for us to consider, letting judgment begin in the house of God.
We have handed over the Lord’s Day. How many people any longer revere the Lord’s Day? The Lord has mercifully given us the Lord’s Day, one day in seven, to put aside all our cares and busyness so that we may spend time with Him and His people. The Sabbath has never been primarily about cessation from work, but about fellowshipping with our God. But what happens on Sunday? Football games. Sports. Recreations. Going the extra mile or making the extra dollar in our jobs. We think that we’ve obeyed so long as we come to worship once on that day. And when we do come to worship, we draw near with our lips but our hearts are far from Him. Perhaps the Lord is saying, “It’s obvious that my fellowship is not important to you. You aren’t concerned when I ask you to come near to me. I made a covenant through my Son, but it’s plain that this is not important to you. So I will not waste my time. I will not have my Son speak to those who don’t want to hear. If you won’t give me the whole day, I might as well not ask for any of it.” Is this a possibility?
We offer polluted offerings. Malachi 1:13 – “Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is [worship]! And ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? Saith the Lord.” We offend God in two ways: one is to come with our hearts being far from Him. How many prepare for worship? How many come into the public worship of God and they have been living impenitent lives? How many come who do not really love God, and are inattentive during the reading, the prayers, the preaching? How many have entertained themselves through the week with filthy entertainment? How many have not guarded their eyes? Is it possible that God looks at the worship of many like offering a torn animal?
We also offer polluted offerings in not worshipping according to His commands. God makes no promise–but rather threatens–the offering of worship He did not command. To many, there is no worship without instruments, without videos, without choirs, without performances, things which God has never commanded the New Testament church, but we insist on bringing in anyway. We have neglected the very words of God in His psalms, and bring our own words instead. Even in churches that say they include the Psalms along with uninspired hymns, the Psalms are hardly ever sung. When we come to the Lord’s Table, we do not fence and admonish. We come in disunity. We come without love. We come not understanding the bread and wine, what they represent, and treat it as though it were any other meal. And we bring in our own ideas into its administration. Is this all worship that Christ is pleased to accept?
It is true that God may bless a sincere people who worship wrongly and mistakenly, as God gave water to the Israelites despite Moses striking the rock rather than speaking to it. Yet that’s not the issue at this time. Why is Christ withdrawing? Why are so many losing access to worship? Don’t dispute–ask if this applies to you. Ask if you know by sincere and honest, God-fearing study what it is that Christ commands in worship, and whether you are doing it. Nothing that Christ has not commanded has a promise of blessing, and is never to be brought, whatever the outcome.
God is mocking our false Gospels. Namely, the health and wealth Gospel that is found everywhere. The Lord will only take so much of preachers coming in His name who say that Christ shed His blood so that in this life you can be health, wealthy and prosperous while Christ Himself had no place to lay His head and the apostles and brothers and sisters in history and around this world suffer grievously for their testimony. Is the Lord perhaps saying, “Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Paula White–“pastor” to the President–what are you going to do about this? Come, show your power! Deliver the United States from the coronavirus! Reverse the stock market! Keep your church services running, if you can.” Is he saying to their listeners, “These false teachers you heap up to yourselves, can they deliver you now? Where is their power? Where is that harvest in return for all those monetary seeds you have sown? Where are the blessings you promised yourself?”
God is mocking our political independence from Christ. The preaching of the Word is not only for the church, but for the nation itself. It is not Republicans and anti-abortionist judges who cause a nation to morally prosper, nor is it prison reform, bailout checks, border walls or anything else–it is the ministry of the Word. Good laws in a wicked country can only restrain wicked people. It is the power of God through the preaching of the Word that makes a people to be righteous. However, our nation is determined that it will not support the church or countenance her in any fashion at all. At least, not any more than any other religious group. Therefore, Christ is no better to our government than is Muhammud or Buddha. Therefore, Christ is despised. Therefore, the only one who can cause a people to be righteous is effectively rejected. So, when Christ is despised, why should He continue to speak? Perhaps Christ will let us scramble to see how well our Republican and conservative capitalist policies help in the face of a small bug whose spread we cannot control, in a nation whose panic we cannot calm?
Were we not promised in Psalm 2 that the nations who despise Christ would be visited with a rod of iron? Can any subject reject their king and not expect vengeance?
We are filling up the measure of our iniquity. God tells Abraham of the wickedness of the Caananites, that their measure of iniquity is not yet full. God may not judge a wicked nation for a time, but there does come that one final sin where God says, “Enough!” And perhaps as we are getting closer to that measure, the signs of judgment are becoming more apparent. Christ speaks less than He used to. Worship is not so accessible anymore. Might this be a cannon blast across the deck to warn us?
How much has the conscience of America been provoked? It has never been so easy to access good preaching and good theology. Anyone who wants to read the Bible may do it. Anyone who is determined to put in some self-sacrifice may still possibly attend a church where there is good preaching. The voice of the church has not been silent on issues such as abortion and sodomy and transgenderism. There have been countless life marches, countless petitions, public statements, public witnesses, public pleas and rebukes.
In my own city, there has been a great deal of evangelism. We have passed out thousands upon thousands of tracts. There have been many open-air sermons. Numberless times have we been at Rosa Parks cicle with a table full of Bibles and tracts, all of us ready to hold conversations and speak with people and meet with them. There have been coffee appointments, openings of the homes, persistent invitations to come hear the Word preached. Some have come. There have been evangelists at Art Prize, at the Pride festivities, at concerts, and various other festivals. We have been present when the streets have been filled with drinkers to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. So many invitations to come to church and to hear the Word! Now many of the churches in Grand Rapids simply won’t be meeting, or will be meeting with only 50 attendants. In some cases, far fewer are actually able to meet. Just like that, the opportunity to attend public worship and draw near to God is cut off. Might Christ be saying to the unconverted in Grand Rapids, “I put seats at the Table, and you did not come and fill them. You saw all these churches. You received a tract. That man or woman spoke honestly to you, and you didn’t listen. Why should I keep a seat open for you now?”
God knows that we are not concerned if the preaching stops for two weeks. This is more serious than it sounds to you. What was your response when you heard that your church was not meeting for two weeks? “Well, we can get through it. It’s only a short time.” That’s a dangerous response. It shows that something or other is devalued. It shows that it’s not much to us that the brothers and sisters may not physically gather and be with one another when Christ loves to be in the midst of the congregation (Hebrews 2). It shows that we can bear to be separate for a time from the special presence and spoken prophetic word our husband and head, Christ. It shows that the time of worship on the Lord’s Day is not that important to us. It shows that we don’t value the ordinances and primary means of grace as we ought to.
Perhaps in two weeks the restrictions will be lifted. Perhaps they will continue. This all could be a warning shot, or it could be the beginning of a judgment. But still, if we are not concerned when the preaching of the Word and public worship stop for two weeks, what is to make us think that Christ will not suspend these ordinances for even longer? If we despise them for two weeks, perhaps an extended absence will be necessary, so that we may find ourselves spiritually dried up, and to make us value them again. Then again, if we are content not to hear from Christ in the preaching of the Word for two weeks, then Christ who knows all hearts knows that He would be wasting His breath to speak. So why should He speak?
Is this a judgment?
It is in some measure a judgment for Christ to speak. The extent of it is yet to be seen. God will make it plain. In Israel’s history there was a famine that came upon the land for Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites, and it took an extended length of suffering in that famine for them to consider that they ought to inquire of God why it is that the famine had come. However, had they inquired sooner, the famine would have been over sooner. The failure of the crops at the beginning were as much a judgment as the failure of crops at the end. How long do we really want to wait to inquire and examine ourselves? How content are we for Christ not to speak to us?
Concluding Remarks and a Promise for Speaking to One Another
I am not saying any one church is in sin for closing or limiting attendance, or that they themselves are under judgment. I am not denying that true godly churches are honestly providentially hindered. The coronavirus is suspected to be dangerous, and love to our neighbor demands that we are careful. And none of this is all that can be said. Perhaps there are more positive things to be said than I have said here.
Nevertheless, Christ intends to be rather silent over the next two coming Lord’s Days, and we ought to ask why. Consider again Malachi 3:
Malachi 3:16-18 – ““Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” – Malachi 3:16-18
The Lord had spoken through Malachi of many facets in the life of Israel’s public worship and social life he was displeased with. Not all listened, but those who feared God took the words of Malachi to heart. They examined themselves. They spoke to one another. They asked how it is they could repent and turn to the Lord. And so, while Christ would then be silent toward Israel for 400 years afterward, these penitents were commemorated by God, and the measures of spiritual judgments to fall upon Israel would not fall upon them.
There may truly come now, as Jeremiah speak about, a famine of the hearing of the Word of the Lord. However, those who fear the Lord, who examine their own hearts in light of these providences, and repent, and cast themselves upon the mercy of Christ, will be spared judgment. Whether the public worship resumes sooner, or if it resumes later, these ones will find favor with God.
This is my part in helping us speak to one another. I can say I have looked in my own heart, and I see ways in which I myself have not valued the preaching of the Word, the public worship, and the gathering of saints as I ought to. I remember many times where I have been inattentive, have forgotten sermons, and not improved them as I ought to. I have not expected the Triune God to meet me there, and have not cherished the voice of my Mediator. The Lord is right to withdraw blessing from me as a chastisement, if He decides it is the right thing for Him to do. But I can rest in Christ, knowing that whatever wrath the Lord brings, He will remember mercy. For the time being we can meet, and we will continue to meet, and if we are hindered from meeting at all may the Lord put His Spirit on us that we repent, humble ourselves, and from a posture of longing for our Beloved, we cry out and give Him no rest until the public worship resumes.
When other arguments and motives produce little effect on certain minds, no considerations seem likely to have a more powerful tendency to counteract this deplorable propensity in human beings, than those which are borrowed from the objects connected with astronomy. They show us what an insignificant being— what a mere atom, indeed, man appears amidst the immensity of creation! Though he is an object of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet he is but as a grain of sand to the whole earth, when compared to the countless myriads of beings that people the amplitudes of creation. What is the whole of this globe on which we dwell compared with the solar system, which contains a mass of matter ten thousand times greater? What is it in comparison of the hundred millions of suns and worlds which by the telescope have been descried throughout the starry regions? What, then, is a kingdom, a province, or a baronial territory, of which we are as proud as if we were the lords of the universe and for which we engage in so much devastation and carnage? What are they, when set in competition with the glories of the sky? Could we take our station on the lofty pinnacles of heaven, and look down on this scarcely distinguishable speck of earth, we should be ready to exclaim with Seneca, “Is it to this little spot that the great designs and vast desires of men are confined? Is it for this there is so much disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so many ruinous wars? Oh, the folly of deceived men, to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to decide a point of earth with the sword!” Dr. Chalmers, in his Astronomical Discourses, very truthfully says, “We gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance, when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf, than the glories of this extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon, ‘and all that it inherits, should dissolve.'”
Cleansed by Coal 