Dennis Tuuri

The children may be dismissed now to go to Sabbath school. We’ll be reading from Isaiah the 25th chapter, verses 1-9. Isaiah 25, verses 1-9. The message will be on the rejoicing tithe.

Isaiah 25:1-9. “Oh Lord, Thou art my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. For thou hast done wonderful things. Thy councils of old are faithfulness and truth. For thou hast made of a city a heap, of a defense city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee. The city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat. When blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers as the heat in a dry place, even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.

For the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, ‘Lo, this is our God. We have waited for him, and he will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”

Let’s pray. Almighty God, we thank you for your holy scriptures. And we pray now, Father, that you would have us speak forth things from them and open our ears to hear what your scriptures have to say. That the Holy Spirit would teach us from your scriptures. Now, as we pay attention to the words that you have told us to study, they are good for our lives and profitable. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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Several weeks ago, we had a family from Vancouver come and talk to some homeschoolers, the Westside homeschoolers, various groups brought together. And as I was talking to the man, the purpose of this family coming was to speak about Bill Gothard and his approach toward homeschooling.

So I was talking to the man while he was setting up. He talked about having just been to, I believe, a pastor’s or advanced seminar here or maybe somewhere in the area. And he was saying that one of the things that they were stressing in that particular seminar was the dietary regulations, dietary principles. And that piqued my interest since we’ve had some discussion about that over the last several years in this church, and various people have written about that—the reconstruction movement, if you want to call it that.

Anyway, I asked him, “Well, does Bill now teach that the Old Testament dietary laws are binding upon Christians?” And he said, “Binding? Well, they’re a blessing.” And he really—you know, the intent of my question was to see if they were still mandatory. And he must have heard that at the seminar. I think that’s the kind of response. And at first it kind of put me off a little bit because I was just trying to find out what they were teaching. They teach that if it was sin not to follow those Old Testament laws. But in a way the answer that he gave me gave me pause to think, and I thought about it over the last couple of weeks, particularly in relationship to the subject this morning of the rejoicing tithe.

We have spoken here the last few weeks about the requirements of our king. We began by looking at Psalm 22:24 and the atonement of Jesus Christ for his people, the reconciliation affected through the atonement, and then also in Psalm 24, the enthronement of that king in the nation.

And we talked about the necessity of enthroning Jesus Christ as king in this church and our families and our lives and our communities and our civil governments as well. And as a result of that, that led into a discussion of the first of several things we’ll be talking about in terms of obedience to the requirements of the king. We’ve been talking about the tithe. We’ve been making reference to the Sabbath as well. We’ll be talking about education of children. These things are all requirements of our king. They are binding things upon us as it were.

And we could talk about how the tithe and the Sabbath in a certain way are still binding upon us. That is good and proper. We talked, for instance, about how the tithe is still for today. It’s a covenantal obligation and that the tithe belongs to God. We talked last week about the use of some of that tithe in terms of the Levitical tithe in the Old Testament of the Old Covenant.

Now, that tithe was explicitly in the book of Numbers given to the use of the Levites. And so we had that basic teaching there: that the tithe belonged to the Levites under the old covenant administration. And we also looked at First Timothy and saw that in the New Testament, the ministers of the word who are analogous to the Levites are also to be supported with money. Additionally, the tithe in the New Testament normally goes to the elders because they’ve replaced the Levitical functions within the church or the nation that God has called out to himself. And there’s an analogous situation.

For instance, one of the specific verses we can use is where in the Old Testament it was said that the Levites would receive the tithe so that they could devote themselves to the word of God. And in the New Testament, the elders have appointed a number of men who act as deacons so that they might devote themselves to the word of God and be supported in that ministry. And so there’s an analogous situation.

And we’ve talked about some of those requirements. And we ended up last week talking about our time, our tithe, and our teaching as it were being set apart for God. The Sabbath is the first fruits as it were of our time. It signifies that all of our time belongs to God. The tithe is the first fruits as it were of our money. And it signifies that all our money belongs to God. And the elders, or the Levites in the Old Testament—the elders in the New Testament—are a tithe as it were, first fruits of the people, signifying that all the people are priests before God.

And so we sang that song this morning for all the congregation and not for just people involved in special office of eldership. So it’s good to stress these requirements that God places upon his people, the requirements that the king places upon his subjects. But it’s also important, and we want to go directly this week into discussion of the rejoicing tithe, to understand the manner in which we’re to perform these duties.

If we set apart one day in seven, for instance, as a dismal setting aside of one day that we have to give to God, and we can’t have fun in it, we can’t do work and this sort of thing, that is not the correct understanding of the biblical Sabbath. If we tithe and do so grudgingly or with no joy, that’s not biblical tithing. And we want to talk about that today, specifically in relationship to the tithe. We’ll be talking about rejoicing.

But just before we get into that, I wanted to just touch on the Sabbath a little bit. A couple of weeks ago in a used bookstore, I bought a book that is used in Orthodox Jewish congregations. And there’s various readings in here about the Sabbath, for instance. And I wanted to just read a couple of these things about the Sabbath.

“The observance of the Sabbath brings deep and abiding reward to the Jew. It recreates his spirit as it regenerates his physical and nervous system. It brings him into communion with God, links him with the profoundest aspirations of Israel, and draws him into the orbit of Torah, or the teaching of God’s word or law.”

Another reading: “He who feels in his heart a genuine tie with the life of his people cannot possibly conceive of the existence of the Jewish people apart from Queen Sabbath. We can say without exaggeration that more than Israel preserved the Sabbath, the Sabbath preserved Israel.”

Another one: “If I were asked to single out one of the great historical institutions more essential for our preservation than all others, I would not hesitate to declare that this is the observance of the Sabbath. But thou the home and the synagogue, the festival and the holy days, the history of our people will gradually disappear.”

And there’s talk of various the Sabbath day prayers at the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, made reference to the same thing. They saw the Sabbath as important to the nation, not as an obligation necessarily, although it certainly was that, but as a gift from God to his people—to set aside one day out of seven. And we should see it the same way today. The gift of God to us to have us pause for rest one day out of seven and not feel guilty about it. To pause for consideration of the word of God in a fuller way than we do throughout the rest of the week.

These things are gifts from God for our benefit. And so to see the Sabbath in some kind of dismal way is wrong. The same thing is true of the tithe.

In Deuteronomy the 12th chapter, we read the following. Deuteronomy 12:10-12. We’ll also be looking at Deuteronomy 14:22-27. Just briefly, Deuteronomy 12:10-12 makes specific reference to what has been called the rejoicing time.

“But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you the rest from all your enemies roundabouts, that you dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. There shall you bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows, which you vow unto the Lord. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye and your sons and your daughters, and your manservants and your maid servants and the Levites within your gates, forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.”

Then in Deuteronomy 14:22-27: “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks, that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.

And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth, and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household, and the Levite that is within thy gates. Thou shalt not forsake him, for he hath no part, nor inheritance with thee.”

These two passages spell out the basic biblical requirements regarding that portion of the tithe that should be used for rejoicing.

Now, we talked last week about how the tithe is established in the book of Numbers as belonging specifically to the Levitical order. God says, with the Levites to minister in the tabernacle and then also to go through and then the temple later, and also to be sent decentralized into the nation and teach the nation of Israel the law word of God and its application to every part of their lives. That’s specifically set forth in the book of Numbers.

We looked at the historical record of when there was reconstruction and reformation in the nation after there had been sin and apostasy. And in most of those occurrences there are specific references to the reestablishment of the tithe, specifically linked to the Levites again being supported so that they could work again in the ministry of the word of God, studying it and teaching it to people. So we see both by explicit command and by historical example the tithe belongs—the primary use of the tithe is to support the Levitical priesthood and Levitical system.

Now we come to Deuteronomy 12 and 14, and some people who I respect very highly believe that these portions of scripture set forth a separate tithe altogether. So there would be two tithes during the year. I maintain, however, because Numbers establishes the tithe specifically for the Levites, because historical records give it to them as well, and what we read about in the book of Deuteronomy are the specific mechanisms whereby God causes that tithe to be distributed, where it’s to be distributed, in what fashion—that tithe in the years at which these things apply is taken specifically to the place where God will set up his name, Jerusalem, to the temple.

And at that place we’re told that the feast that is to occur can be financed by a portion of that tithe. But I believe that what it’s talking about there is part of that tithe, the one 10% of everything that you get out of the field—that’s the tithe—is to be used to finance that rejoicing before God. I don’t believe it’s a whole separate tithe. I don’t think there’s any necessity simply because there’s a designation that you may eat part of it that this refers to a separate tithe.

Now, an example of this. I was trying to think of an example or analogy of this last night, and I thought, well, probably there’s one in the scriptures itself, and there is—in regards to the firstborn of all the animals of Israel. We see the same thing occurring in Exodus 13. We read the following verses 11 and 12:

“It shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites as he swear unto thee and unto thy fathers and shall give it to thee that thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast. The male shall be the Lord’s.”

Okay? The firstborn are set apart to God. In the book of Numbers, where we read last week the institution of the tithe—the purpose of the tithe rather—not the institution but the institution in the Levitical sense. The purpose of the tithe was to fund the Levites. In the same passage in Numbers 8 we read the following. He’s talking here to Aaron and to the Aaronic priesthood:

“Everything devoted in Israel shall be thine. Everything that openeth the matrix, and all flesh which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of man or beast, shall be thine. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man thou shalt surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.”

And we talked there about the redemption of the firstborn of man, and the replacement of the firstborns of men with the Levitical order. But the point I’m trying to get you to see here is that God says the firstborn of the sheep, for instance, and of the oxen and these things belong to the Aaronic priesthood. It’s totally yours. He said it’s the—it’s your compensation for the work in the temple where they’re going to bring this stuff to distribute it. And yet in Deuteronomy 12 we read the following:

“Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of the corn or the wine or of the oil or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy free will offerings or heave offering at thine hand. But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose. Thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy man’s servant, thy maid servant, and the Levite who is in thy gates, and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God.”

The rejoicing tithe, the passage that speaks to that in Deuteronomy 12, also says that the individual that’s being addressed here may eat part of the firstborn when he goes up to Israel. He says, “You can’t eat the firstborn in your towns, but when you come up to Jerusalem, that’s where you can eat the firstborn and the tithes and all this other stuff.” So we see in another example as well in the scriptures that the firstborn of the flock also are part, as it were, of the mechanism whereby God funds this rejoicing before him on the part of the people of Israel.

Okay. If you’re going to say that because the tithe can be used in part to finance the festival of rejoicing—if you’re going to say because you can eat part of the tithe there and therefore it must be a second tithe—you would have to say also, it seems to me, to be consistent, that there’s a second firstborn. But that’s a contradiction in terms, isn’t it? There’s only one firstborn. Okay? There’s not like one crop of firstborns and another crop of firstborns. There’s only one firstborn, holy to the Lord, given to the Aaronic priesthood.

And yet the believer in the nation of Israel could use that firstborn and eat it when he was at Jerusalem in the time of rejoicing. So I think that what we see in Deuteronomy, in the passages of Deuteronomy relating to what has been called the rejoicing tithe, rather speaks specifically of the manner in which that tithe is to be distributed, and that the distribution of that tithe at the central sanctuary is to be accompanied by the people with rejoicing.

And you see that same principle, of course, in the New Testament where God says that he loves a cheerful giver. Now the context there is not tithes. The context there is offerings. But the principle is still the same. God—what God requires of you—he does not want you giving stingily or greedily. He wants you to rejoice in it. And so it’s a command from God.

Now we talked about the requirements. So we said that the requirements should be stressed, but they shouldn’t be stressed as solely being binding. They should be stressed as being blessings. And that’s being talked about here in relation to the tithe. The tithe is binding, but the tithe is a blessing to us. And if we understand the blessing nature of the tithe and what it supports—as we talked about last week—it should aid us in rejoicing when we give it to God.

And he wants us to assemble to give it to him. I think analogous to that portion of the tithe that was used to fund the rejoicing under the old covenant dispensation, then on the new covenant should be used to fund the love feast that we have here weekly, for instance, where God’s people come together. There’s tithes distributed during the morning service. After that we have a love feast based upon the idea that God has established a community in Jesus Christ. We have communion with God and with each other.

And I think our participation in that—the same way that they rejoiced in Jerusalem—can be funded through a portion of the tithe. Now, how much? Well, it doesn’t say a particular percentage that they could use for rejoicing. The idea, of course, is that most of the tithe goes to support the Levitical order, but certainly a portion of it would be used to fund that trip to Jerusalem. It should be used to fund your trip here for the Sabbath day worship services and celebration we have weekly.

So the rejoicing tithe does not speak of a separate tithe. It rather speaks of our attitude toward that specific requirement of God. It’s very important, although we’re not talking about a separate tithe here, to keep in mind that it is to be accompanied by rejoicing.

Well, you know, I—some people—there are various scriptures that talk about how we should rejoice before God. Rejoice always. Again, I say rejoice. And you could look at it as just one more obligation. You know, you’ve got to rejoice today. You’ve got to put that smile on your face and that good feeling in your heart or you’re not walking in obedience to God’s commands. Well, I suppose there’s some truth to that.

When it says that we’re to rejoice before God, in the use of the tithe, it is an imperative. It is a command from God. But I think that it’s not a command that would come unnaturally. God expects us that command to come very naturally to us if we understand what we’re rejoicing about.

So I did a little study this week of rejoicing, and I wanted to share some of the results of that with you today. And I think that if we look at what we’re rejoicing over, particularly this day, then when we give our tithe and then when we have our Sabbaths, we can call the Sabbath a delight. And we can rejoice when we give God his tithe.

Now today is a day of rejoicing in all Christian—commemorating as we do this particular calendar day the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead at Easter time—and that is good. But it’s a day of rejoicing in—Isaiah 25, the verse we read earlier, talks about the meaning of the reason for that rejoicing of the people.

Now Isaiah 25 can be seen historically. It can be seen in terms of the deliverance of God’s people from captivity, brought back into the land of God’s triumph over those that would hold his people captive, and that certainly has an immediate application in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 25 also, however, can be seen in terms of the future consummation of all ages. He talks about death being swallowed up, for instance, and we know that will occur in the fullest sense at the consummation of the ages when Jesus Christ returns.

So these verses though obviously have application also to the coming consummation of the ages. But I think that a proper focus of this book, this chapter of this book, and indeed of the entire scriptures—that the focal point of history rather is, and the focal point of this passage is, the coming of the Savior King, the coming of the Messiah and the great covenant keeper Jesus Christ to save his people and to accomplish these things.

I think it’s proper then that the church today rejoices in the coming of Jesus Christ, and specifically through the mechanism by which he swallowed up death, by which he removed the veil of understanding that was talked about in Isaiah 25, which was his resurrection.

We read in Isaiah 25, in this mountain in verse 6, shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

Now those words refer specifically to the inclusion of the Gentile people into the mountain of God, into the mount, the holy mountain, Jerusalem unto Zion. It says that there will not be in that day a separation, as it were, between the Jews and the covenant people and the Gentiles and the nations round about them. No, that veil of understanding will be lifted from the Gentiles. They will also be ushered into the kingdom of God. And that, of course, occurred with the coming of Jesus Christ and the coming of the covenant keeper to establish that covenant, to put it fully in place, and to open it up to the Gentile community.

Additionally, in verse 8, he will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it.

Now we know that this will occur ultimately in the consummation of the ages, but we also know that Jesus Christ, on the day that we commemorate today, rose from the dead, the firstborn of all creation, the first resurrection as it were, coming back to life from the dead. And by that resurrection of Jesus Christ, by his payment of the price of the sins of his people, and through his victorious resurrection, he triumphed over sin and death, led forth captives, and created a new race as it were of people, his church, a holy nation, royal priesthood unto him.

So these verses certainly speak also to the coming of Jesus Christ. They have specific application to that. And indeed, it’s that salvation that was offered through the Messiah and through the covenant keeper in which we’re told to rejoice.

“It shall be said in that day, So lo, this is our God. We have waited for him. He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

And so it is proper to look at this passage on Easter day when we rejoice in the salvation of Jesus Christ and in the Savior who did come 2,000 years ago and through his resurrection saved his people.

In Psalm 118 also we see, in verses 22-24, the same thing. We have a little song that we sing in many of the churches today, a little chorus taken out of Psalm 118. But it’s important to look at the context of that chorus.

Psalm 118:22-24. “The stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing and is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

And we’ve heard that chorus, haven’t we? But the day that the Lord has made refers specifically first and foremost to the day of the visitation of God to his people in the form of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the covenant keeper. That’s the day we rejoice in. That’s the day that the cornerstone was laid, as it were, in Zion, over which some people stumble, which has become to us the cornerstone of the edifice that we build upon it. That’s the cornerstone upon which we build our vocational calling and being prophet, priest and king of the world—Jesus Christ. And it’s in that cornerstone that we rejoice this day, in his resurrection that accomplished that victory that we see talked about in that passage.

Now God’s visitation and salvation is also clearly seen as a reason for rejoicing in various other passages. For instance, in Psalm 53 we read, “Oh that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion. When God bringeth back to captivity his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.” Rejoicing there is related to salvation.

Then again in Zechariah chapter 2, verse 10, I’m going to go through these references very fast. You can write down the reference if you won’t have time to look them up. Zechariah, chapter 2, verse 10: “Sing and rejoice, oh daughter of Zion, for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, sayeth the Lord.” Jesus Christ was Emmanuel, God with us, to dwell in the midst of his people. And so we rejoice in his coming.

And then, of course, in Luke 10 we read, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Jesus Christ, our very Lord of Lords, who said these words, said don’t rejoice over the power you have primarily. Rather rejoice over the fact that your names are written in heaven and that salvation has come unto you.

So it’s proper for the church of Jesus Christ to rejoice this day. However, there is a problem in that. The problem comes in that when we talk about rejoicing in the salvation of Jesus Christ, there are implicit in that a number of things that the present churches in this country tend to deny.

The rejoicing is seen in many churches in our nation today, and on this day, as it were a flight for humanity—as Schaeffer calls it—a flight into neoplatonism, into a second story experience. What we are rejoicing over is having nothing to do with this life. That flight from biblical salvation is manifested in many ways. And we want to look now at a few of the scriptures that talk about the essence of biblical salvation and the call for rejoicing on the part of God’s people in relationship to that salvation.

The truth, the true meaning of the empty tomb this morning is salvation. And the true meaning of salvation is to be found in a biblical study of that term and of the rejoicing that accompanies it. And so salvation in the scriptures is not seen as an escape, as it were, from a world of care and trouble. Rather, it’s seen as the establishment of the covenant between God, the covenant keeper, and his people.

Covenant rejoicing is a common occurrence in scripture, and that is one of the primary things that is omitted from the rejoicing that will occur this day—that the idea that the rejoicing is to occur in the context of a covenant relationship between God and his people.

Now, several weeks ago when we talked about the reestablishment of the tithe, we went through several historical occurrences—the book of Nehemiah, of course, and the reformation and reconstruction that occurred during that time. In Nehemiah, specifically in Nehemiah 12:43, we have the following verse:

“Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The wives also and the children rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even a far off.”

Then also in the time of Asa, the reforms of Asa, the reforms of Joash, Hezekiah, and Nehemiah also—these instances of reform and reconstruction, the reestablishment of the covenant, where there were actually formal covenant signings that took place—these times were times of great rejoicing. And you’ll see that same word that we’ve been talking about—rejoicing—in Isaiah 25, the same Hebrew word occurring in these references as well.

Some of those references are 2 Chronicles 15:15. All Judah rejoiced at the oath, that’s the oath that Asa made, that the people would follow after God.

2 Chronicles 24:10: All the people, the princes of the people, rejoiced and brought in and cast under the chest till he had made an end. It was time of Joash to repair the temple.

2 Chronicles 29:36: Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people for the time, for the thing was done suddenly, and all the congregation of Judah with the priests and the Levites and all the congregation that came out of Israel and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel and that dwell in Judah rejoiced at this occasion. Of course, as we talked about last week, this was the rededication of Hezekiah’s reforms, the reestablishment of the covenant, the reestablishment of the tithe and Levitical system, again that people might know the word of God. And the people rejoiced in those times. And then, of course, the time of Nehemiah and Josiah as well.

So rejoicing is a covenant fact. Rejoicing is to occur because we recognize the salvation of God, the reconstruction, the rebuilding of the covenant that is implicit in that salvation. Rejoicing then is a covenant fact, and it speaks first and foremost of our rejoicing in the keeper of the covenant himself, the victorious reigning king who comes as the covenant keeper and establisher.

After all, the rejoicing tithe we just read about in the book of Deuteronomy occurred at the time of the feast of booths, or tabernacles. And the feast of tabernacles was to remind the people of Israel that God had made them booths when he brought them out of Egypt. And so it was again signifying to them the victory of Jesus Christ, the victory of the Messiah to come, and the victory that God had wrought for them in Egypt—which was typological of that victory—bringing them forth out of bondage into salvation and into victory. They were celebrating, as it were, the homes God provided them after his deliverance for them as a victorious king.

And so, for instance, in 1 Samuel 19, we see one of several scriptures that talk about kings reigning and, as a result, victorious kings resulting in rejoicing on the part of the people. In 1 Samuel 19, there’s the occurrence of the people rejoicing at the victory of David over Goliath. And that certainly as well prefigured the victory of the Savior King Jesus Christ over all the enemies of his people.

Again, in the book of Esther, chapter 8, verse 15: Mordecai at the end of that story—let me read this reference. At the end of that story where there are enemies of the people of God trying to put down the people and destroy them actually from the face of the earth, and this is the way it ends up: “And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.”

Again, there we see, prefiguring as it were, of Jesus Christ to come, who defeats the enemies of his people and is placed upon him the robe of righteousness and glory. And he becomes the King of Kings, and that is a cause for rejoicing today as well.

Those churches that deny the victorious King Jesus Christ are not able to cannot—rejoice in this way as we can in this church.

Again, in 2 Chronicles 20, the time of Jehoshaphat, the people rejoiced over the victory that God gave them over their enemies. Again, typological of the victory to come of Jesus Christ. A time of great rejoicing should accompany that victory.

In Psalm 149, we see a specific reference to rejoicing in light of their king.

Psalm 149:2: “Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.”

And so when we see, as we did in Psalm 24, that God calls us to enthrone Jesus Christ in our lives and have him and his law be governing over us in terms of his kingship, that will be a cause of rejoicing for us as we understand his kingship.

In 2 Kings 11, when Jehoiada the priest crowns Joash, the rightful heir to the throne, and usurps, as it were, the crown from the usurper herself, Athaliah, we see the people rejoicing there. Again, when the king is crowned—the boy king crowned by Jehoiada, the truthful heir to the throne—and again, we talked about that in weeks past being prefiguring also the coming of Jesus Christ, the real King, to supplant the king that some people still think rules this world, Satan.

So all these things prefigure the fact that our rejoicing is in the covenant. Our rejoicing is in the coming of the covenant King, the keeper of the covenant, the King of all Kings, and his victory. Those churches that deny that victory in time and space today deny also their means of rejoicing in that victory.

Now, that victory of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, his victory over sin and death, his becoming the firstborn from the dead, as it were, results in several things as well in terms of that covenant that we rejoice in. The first and foremost thing in which all these other things will be classified is the new creation.

We’re to rejoice in the new creation that God has established through Jesus Christ. As I said, he’s the firstborn from the dead, and as we become regenerated in the Holy Spirit to new life in Jesus Christ, we become, as it were, resurrected. We come back from the dead unto life, and that is, after all, resurrection. We share the first resurrection as a result of that resurrection and recreation. We are made prophet, priests and kings before God, as it tells us in the book of Revelation.

Now, Isaiah 65:18: there’s a reference to this as well. “But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy.”

God tells us in these verses that he’s going to create Jerusalem a rejoicing. God creates what is Jerusalem? It’s the holy city. It’s the royal nation, as it were, the royal priesthood and the holy nation. God creates that nation through his reestablishment of the covenant with his people which they have broken. His covenant keeper Jesus Christ comes, and as a result of that he creates Jerusalem, and in that we rejoice.

Again, in Isaiah 62:5: “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”

We’re told there that God actually rejoices over us. And that’s to be a cause of rejoicing to us as well. God rejoices over us the way he rejoices over the works of his hands, for he has brought us forth from death unto life. We are a new creation in him. And in that we rejoice, and he rejoices.

Jesus Christ rejoiced over his people as well. In Luke chapter 10, after he’d sent out the seventy and they come back and they say that spirits were subject unto them, it says in that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, “I thank thee, oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.”

Jesus Christ rejoiced over the fact that he has called forth a people unto him. Again, he sends those people out and the spirits themselves—the demons—are subject unto his people called forth in his renewed calling to go forth and exercise dominion over the spirits as well. Jesus Christ rejoices in us, and we should also rejoice in one another as we see the new creation that God has wrought.

That new creation is important also in the context of the life that it brings forth—those people who’ve been called back from death to life, or from death to life rather. Those people have cause to rejoice for various reasons as well. And one of the things the church of Jesus Christ is no longer rejoicing over, and which we are in the midst of great reformation and reconstruction in this day—that they will again rejoice over it—is the law word of God, the scriptures, the law of the covenant.

In Psalm 119, and in at least two different verses, we see that the laws and statutes of God, the testimonies of God, are a cause for rejoicing to the new creation in God. And those things are today a cause for rejoicing to us as we think upon the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death and his resurrection. We think of the new creation, the people that he’s called forth to himself. And we think of the law of that covenant which he’s reestablished. And those things are a cause for rejoicing to us as well.

In Psalm 119 also, the law of God is said to be a cause of rejoicing. And again, in Jeremiah 15, the law of God is a cause of joy. For instance, let me read that one briefly.

Jeremiah 15:16: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name, oh Lord God of hosts.”

Today we’ve talked about how in the land there is a refinding of God’s word in terms of its application to everything that we do. And that’s a cause of rejoicing for his people. The covenant, the rejoicing, is a covenant fact. And part of the covenant life of the covenant people that God has called for himself is the law of the covenant. And as a result of that, the result of the keeping of the covenant, the establishment of the covenant again with his people, we have blessings in this life as well.

There are rejoicing passages in Proverbs 5, Deuteronomy 24, and Proverbs 23 relating to the family. In Proverbs, the 5th chapter, we are instructed that men are to rejoice in the wife of their youth. We’re to rejoice in our brides. And then in Deuteronomy 24:5, men are specifically instructed that in the first year that they’re married, not go into war, but stay home and cheer up their wife. And that word “cheer up” is the same word from the same Hebrew word as the word rejoice.

So the husband rejoices in the wife, and he is instructed by our Savior King to set aside the first year of their married life that he might cause her to rejoice in the marriage that God has given her as well. And then in Proverbs 23, we are told to rejoice in wise children. If our children are wise, that is a cause for rejoicing to us. And that’s found in the book of Proverbs, 23rd chapter.

So the covenant reestablished by Jesus Christ also results in a renewed creation, a law of the covenant, and then results in the covenant in terms of blessings and cursings and marriage and family. And the reestablishment of marriage and family built upon the law word of God is a cause for rejoicing in our day and age.

We cannot rejoice in our children if they’re not wise. Our children will not become wise if we don’t teach them the fear of the Lord. Our children will not know the fear of the Lord or wisdom if we withhold the scriptural base for their education and for everything that they put their hand to do. That attempt to create education, to renew education to being founded upon the word of God, will result in wise children and will result in rejoicing for their parents.

Ecclesiastes 5:19: “We read that every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth and have given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God.”

One of the gifts that God gives to his covenant people is the ability to rejoice in one’s work, to see it as a holy calling before God. And that again is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the covenant. So once again our vocational callings can be seen as holy callings to God, and a cause for rejoicing for us.

Civil government itself is talked about as a cause for rejoicing in the scriptures. Proverbs, the 29th chapter, says that when the righteous are in government, when the righteous reign, the people will rejoice. And we saw a result of that, for instance, again in Mordecai—when you have the righteous in power and reigning, the people rejoice greatly.

The civil government itself then is to be seen as a cause of rejoicing as it’s also renewed through the power of Jesus Christ and through the power of his resurrection.

The scriptures command us to tithe. The scriptures command us to rejoice, and we should do that. But rejoicing becomes a natural result if we understand the meaning of what we’re tithing to—the God, King of Kings, that we come to worship today.

If we understand the true meaning of Easter, what we’re talking about is the resurrection of Jesus Christ being the firstborn of all creation. On the basis of that, calling forth a people in himself in covenant faithfulness to serve, to reign over them through his law word, to bring them forth in newness of life to walk in obedience to his every word, and as a result of that to be ushered into a land of milk and honey, as it were, in terms of blessings and fulfillment of prophecies.

Those things are causes for rejoicing. As we understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ and its covenant faithfulness exhibited in that by God, then we’ll rejoice. As we understand that we’ve been made a new creation, we will rejoice with God. As we understand that he has given us, on the basis of that new creation, a law word to walk in obedience to, we should rejoice.

As we apply that law word and have godly marriages and wise children and rejoicing men and women in our households, we’ll also rejoice. As we see our vocational calling as being established by God and established through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and therefore allowing us to be prophets, priests, and kings in the workplace, we will rejoice in our work.

As we see our civil governments once again become the seat, as it were, of the righteous, and when the righteous again begin to reign in this country, we’ll rejoice. And we can rejoice because we know that Jesus Christ has accomplished all these things through his death, through his payment of the price of the sins of his people, and the resultant curse from God, turning that curse into a blessing. That’s the attitude that should characterize our entire lives as covenant people.

We’ve been called into a joyous thing—the covenant of Jesus Christ. We’ve been called into a time of rejoicing and great delight before him. And therefore, when we bring forth our tithe and acknowledge God’s ownership of all our wealth, we should rejoice because we know that he is going to use it for his glory and for our good as well.

When we set aside one day out of seven, recognizing God’s sanctification of the entire calendar and his ownership of it, we should rejoice. And then we’ll do, as it said in Isaiah 58, which we read last week, then indeed we’ll call the Sabbath a delight, holy to the Lord. It will no longer be seen as a burden or binding upon us in that sense, but as a cause for rejoicing and great happiness.

That’s the manner in which we’re to tithe. That’s the manner in which we’re to perform all our work before God—rejoicing in the hope of Jesus Christ established by his resurrection from the dead.

Let’s pray. Almighty God, we thank you for yourself. We thank you, Father, that out of thy great love and grace and mercy, you have called us forth to be a people that were not a people. We thank you, Father, for removing the veil, the covering of our understanding, and calling us forth into salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of your word.

We thank you, Father, for Jesus Christ swallowing up death in victory and his resurrection. Help us, Father, to understand what has been accomplished, that you continue to work it out as we look forward in hope to the glory to come as we receive incorruptible bodies. Father, we thank you for yourself. We thank you for the great truths of the covenant that you sent your son to be the covenant keeper and our covenant King.

Help us, Father, to walk in rejoicing before you, rejoicing in the new creation that you have created. We know you do, Lord God. Help us to rejoice as well in those around us as they manifest the new life given to them on the basis of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. Father, we thank you for yourself. We thank you for calling us forth into obedience to your law word. But we thank you also, Lord God, that obedience is to be characterized by our rejoicing of the many gifts and pleasures that you’ve given us.

We thank you, Father, for yourself. We thank you, Lord God, that all these things work together for our good and for our rejoicing before you. Help us to do that this day and in all the days to come. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.