15:1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider1 he has thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. 4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18 The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.224 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log,3 and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD4 made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Footnotes
[1]15:1Or its chariot; also verse 21 [2]15:23Marah means bitterness [3]15:25Or tree [4]15:25Hebrew he
15:1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying,
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider1 he has thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. 4 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. 7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. 8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ 10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. 14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. 18 The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.224 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log,3 and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD4 made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:
Good evening, everyone. Tonight our reading is from Exodus 15, chapters 1 through 18. It's in the handout if you've got that. Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider, he has thrown into the sea.
Speaker 1:
The lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my god, and I will praise him. My father's god, and I will exalt him. The lord is a man of war. The lord is his name.
Speaker 1:
Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, oh lord, glorious in power. Your right hand, o lord, shatters the enemy.
Speaker 1:
In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries. You send out your fury. It consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up. The floods stood up in a heap.
Speaker 1:
The deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall have its fill of them.
Speaker 1:
I will draw my sword. My hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Speaker 1:
Who is like you, oh lord, among the gods? Who is like you majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed.
Speaker 1:
You have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. The peoples have heard. They tremble. The pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed, trembling, seizes the leaders of Moab.
Speaker 1:
All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them. Because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as stone. To your people, oh lord, pass by. Till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
Speaker 1:
You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, The place, oh lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, oh lord, which your hands have established, The lord will reign forever and ever. This is the word of the lord.
Joel Brooks:
If you would pray with me. Our father, we thank you for your word, and we pray that now through the power of your spirit, you begin working that word deep within us, that the word of Christ would dwell in us richly. Or that we would be a spirit filled people, people who love your word. And I pray now in this moment that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us.
Joel Brooks:
Pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. The last couple of weeks, I've thrown a lot at you. Preach for about 45 minutes or so each time, and we're gonna go a little lighter tonight. I'm not gonna quite preach as long.
Joel Brooks:
It might be a little a little more topical than normal, but I do wanna look at a theology of singing. And I think we could do that when we look at Exodus 15, I think I have warrant to do a little more topical than normal, because Exodus 15 is the first song in the Bible, one of the oldest songs in history that we have recorded. But at the end of our Bible, if you were to go to Revelation chapter 15, you find that they are singing the song of Moses. Exodus 15 is the song of Moses, the first song in the Bible, the last song we have in the Bible, and Revelation 15 is the song of Moses that will be sung. And really, when you have those 2 pieces of bread, the sandwich, if you will, it means that all the singing, all the worship that takes place in between these two things, should be seen in light of Exodus 15.
Joel Brooks:
All the singing in the Bible really needs to flow out of Exodus 15, Revelation 16. Did I say 15? It's Revelation 16. No. It's Revelation 15.
Joel Brooks:
Already, the mind's kinda going. First thing to go. When we look at singing in the Bible, a lot of us think, you know, that's just kind of a good idea. Right? We need that's something we need to be doing, but you can kinda take it or leave it.
Joel Brooks:
I'm I'm looking out at a a number of you as you're singing, and let me tell you, some of you are thinking I could take it or leave it. It's not really something that we have to do. But if you look through the Bible, singing is not a minor thing. You're commanded to sing over and over again. The number one thing that you were commanded to do in scripture is to pray.
Joel Brooks:
You you find a call for us to pray over and over again. The number two thing that you were commanded more than anything else in scripture is to sing. Christians are commanded to sing, to make melody to the Lord in their hearts. Over and over again, you hear this command. So you have things like Ephesians 5 that says, do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit and telling, what does being filled with the spirit look like?
Joel Brooks:
Well, it means addressing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. And when Paul says, songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, he's just saying, with the totality of all music, you're to be doing this. That that's an evidence of being spirit filled. Paul later in Colossians 3, he would say, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing songs, hymns, and spiritual songs. So a sign that the word of Christ is in you, the result is you will begin singing.
Joel Brooks:
And we see this as we go through Exodus. God, he delivers his people through the Red Sea. He makes them a new people, and when they get or a new people and they have a new heart, God puts a new song in them, and they burst into singing. But why do we sing? Why is this such an important command that we see throughout scripture, forced to sing?
Joel Brooks:
And I want us to to briefly look at 6 things. Six reasons why we sing. For those of you who've been coming to Redeemer, this is really odd. I never number points, usually it's just kind of all over the place, but but tonight, we're gonna look at 6 reasons as to why we sing. The first reason is to celebrate, And we find this right off the bat in Exodus 15, because the very first line of the song is, I will sing to the Lord for, meaning, this is the reason I am singing.
Joel Brooks:
I am singing for, he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and the rider, he is thrown into the sea. And so singing 1st and foremost is a celebration of what God has done, his deliverance for us. They they just walk through the Red Sea, and so they they burst into song as a celebratory act. It's how we celebrate.
Joel Brooks:
And they're not celebrating God in some abstract principle. They're celebrating God who has done a concrete, real act of salvation in their life. And so they sing, and they sing, God, you've done this. You have delivered me. You have conquered my enemies.
Joel Brooks:
You have become my salvation. So singing is the appropriate response to God's deliverance. Number 2, the second reason as to why we sing is to understand. When the Israelites walk through the Red Sea, and they're, delivered, and they they have this big party, they they don't put on like the normal party music. You know, they're not getting pit bulled.
Joel Brooks:
They're not getting party rock. And, you know, just, just let's just make this a celebration. They sing in a way to bring understanding to what happened. And so you have verse 2, the Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. They're wanting to make sense of what has just happened.
Joel Brooks:
They were weak slaves, but God has shown up as their strength. They were full of sorrow, but Yahweh has showed up and filled them with joy and a song. You read verse 11, and you, you read this, Who is like you, oh Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome and glorious deeds, doing wonders? Well, this was the question they had at the start of Exodus.
Joel Brooks:
Who is the Lord that we should obey him? Who is this? And then they see. And now they're gonna write a song that helps them process and understand what has happened. Who is like God?
Joel Brooks:
He's he's holy. He's awesome. He does wonders. They they reflect on his character. They look at verse 13, and they say, God has has shown us his steadfast love.
Joel Brooks:
And so Moses is writing this song as a way of helping them process the experience that they just had. Now, I mean, Moses, he could have written a paper afterwards, I guess. You know, part of Red Sea is like, you know, guys, here's here's my to this is truth spoken to the heart. It helps your mind and your heart understand what god has done. I've heard it said that all good theology leads to doxology, and that is a true statement.
Joel Brooks:
But I would also say all good doxology teaches good theology, and that's what Moses does. So we sing to celebrate, we sing to understand, and we also sing to remember. This past week, several of us here, we went to a conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and as we are loading up the minivan with a bunch of dudes driving up there, we had to do something kind of cool, because we were feeling really lame. And so we thought, hey, I know what we could do. We can let's let's, you know, this also helped us stay awake, but let's find out what was the number 1, number 2, number 3 songs from when we were a senior in high school, and we'll play those songs.
Joel Brooks:
And, and so I graduated high school in 1991. And so, number 1 was in 1991 was Brian Adams, Everything I Do, I Do For You. And so we we listened to the song and and instantly, I was transported back in time. I remembered every line to that song. Vivid memories came to me.
Joel Brooks:
Lauren and I slow dancing at prom. You're just, you know, when you hear one of those old songs, it's, it's like you relive the moment. Number 3 was Everybody Dance Now, which I also remember every single word. Number 2 was I Want to Sex You Up by Color Me Bad. I have no recollection of that song whatsoever.
Joel Brooks:
But songs are how we remember the past. They're how we're, we remember what God has done for us. Lauren's grandmother died recently at the age of 96, and, and Lauren was able to go and spend some time with her during the last week of her life. And it was both a joyful time and it was a sorrowful time. One of the reasons it was sorrowful, is not, not just because she knew we knew she was slipping away, but she had had a stroke and mentally, she was already slipping away.
Joel Brooks:
And so, sometimes she would forget Lauren's name, or call her somebody else. She didn't want to be left alone. And Lauren, one time, she, she said, well, let's get out of your room. And so, she, she wheeled her down into a room where somebody was playing the piano and singing hymns. Instantly, instantly, she started waving her hands as she started singing.
Joel Brooks:
A person who's had almost just just very little response, just it, it came alive in her, because she remembered. She remembered. There are songs like that, that we will never, ever forget. And so we need to make sure what we're putting in us is good, because they get so deeply embedded in our hearts and in our minds. You know, I don't want, I don't wanna, you know, my middle child Natalie.
Joel Brooks:
I don't want when she gets old and she's dying for, you know, her last memories to be, you know, woke up in the morning with a bottle of Jack, you know, or something like that. And that's that's her, that's the song that that's playing in her head as she is slipping away. I don't want that. Wouldn't you much rather the song be, and on that day when my strength is failing, the end is near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing your praise unending.
Joel Brooks:
10000 years and forevermore. Behold, bless the Lord. I'm kind of like that deeply embedded in me. And scripture or singing is a way of putting the things we need to remember deep down in us. Moses, he taught the song, Exodus 15, so that the people would never forget.
Joel Brooks:
So that the people would always remember who God is, what he has done, and what their life would be without him. So songs like these are written for both the heart and for the mind. 4th, singing awakens your heart to the reality of God. Singing awakens your heart to the reality of God. Back in, Job 23, when Job and God are having their little discussion, and, and God has to kind of tell Job who's boss and who has created all things and everything that he has done.
Joel Brooks:
God says this, where were you when the morning stars sang, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. That's an amazing line there. God is saying, when when I was creating everything, when I was laying the foundations of the earth, when I was creating the universe, there was music happening. Stars were singing. Angels were singing.
Joel Brooks:
Music has been there from the very beginning. JRR Tolkien, he picked up on this theme. If those of you who are geek here, you could listen in. But, he wrote a book called The Silmarillion, which really is about the the grand story. Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings fits in about here, but he wrote this huge epic story, called the simerillian, and he talks about creation.
Joel Brooks:
And he says that when God created, God created not by speaking, but God sang, and he sang the world into existence. And when this devil figure came in, he would throw in his own dissonant note, and God would take that dissonant note, wrap it in, and make a beautiful chord. Another dissonant note would come in, he'd wrap it in and make a beautiful chord. And God kept making more and more beautiful and complicated music, but that is how he created. It's a beautiful picture, and it's also one that came up in scripture for Tolkien, because he would see that from the very beginning in creation, there was song.
Joel Brooks:
And I think when we hear music, when we hear really good music, it opens up our hearts to the reality of God. It helps us to remember our creator. And we know that God writes songs himself. In Deuteronomy 31, God actually composes a song, and he gives it to Moses. We we read this in Deuteronomy 31.
Joel Brooks:
Says, now therefore, Moses, write down this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths that this song may be a witness for me. So what's happening here is God knows that his people, they're about to go into the land of Canaan, and they've got short memories, and they're gonna forget who he is. They're gonna pick up their idols. He knows this is going to happen.
Joel Brooks:
So one of the ways that God not only wants them to remember, but wanting them to know that there's a God, he writes a song that will witness about him. And it's not just the words that they hear later. It will be the beauty of the song itself, pulling you out to think there is a God. There is a beautiful God, and he loves me. Leonard Leonard Bernstein, when he was talking about Beethoven, and Leonard Bernstein was a was a composer in the sixties, and and he was a secular humanist.
Joel Brooks:
He write he wrote this. Beethoven turns out pieces of breathtaking rightness. Rightness, that's the word. Our boy, Beethoven, has the real goods, stuff from heaven. Beethoven has the power to make us feel at the finish of a symphony, that there is something right in the world.
Joel Brooks:
Something that checks throughout, something that follows its own law consistently, something that we can trust, something that will never let us down. He was a secular humanist, and yet he times he would be so gripped by music. He would say, there's, there's such beauty. There's such order. There's some external rightness here.
Joel Brooks:
And music would awaken his soul to that. At its core, I guess you could say, music is evangelistic, because it testifies to the fact that there is a God when we hear it. It's always testifying that there is a God. I got to see this a few years ago. 1 of one of my neighbors is a hardcore atheist, a very angry atheist who's always putting up post that are completely anti Christian, things against ministers and we're Facebook friends.
Joel Brooks:
It's, it's kind of a fun relationship, but just so anti God, anti Christianity. We invited her to 9 lessons and carols. She would never ever normally go to a church, but we had the cute kid card that, you know, when a kid goes to your door and invites you, you kind of feel bad saying no, so she came. And so she came to 9 lessons and carols, and I will remember after an hour and a half of just the most beautiful heartfelt music, I saw her with tears coming down her cheek. There was a softening there.
Joel Brooks:
This is a person who hates the thought of people believing in God, And yet her heart was softened to the reality of something, that we were obviously some there was something real, something right,
Connor Coskery:
and we had gotten it.
Joel Brooks:
So all good music at its core is evangelistic. So singing is how we celebrate. It's how we understand. It's how we remember what God has done, and it also awakens us up to the realities of God. Next, we see that singing is a weapon.
Joel Brooks:
It's actually a weapon that we can use to fight evil. There's a lot of places you can look to in scripture, but probably the most vivid example comes in second Chronicles 20. 2nd Chronicles is the book of the Bible. If you're doing your Bible reading plan that you it's really hard, like it's to stay awake during, because it's just king after king, after king, but there's some nuggets in there. And 2nd Chronicles 20 is one of those beautiful nuggets.
Joel Brooks:
In this chapter, Israel is about to go out to battle, and they're going to battle against a superior foe. And king Jehoshaphat, he already does something unusual. He has everybody in the entire land fast, You know, make yourself weaker right before you go into battle. But after they fast, God raises up a prophet, and it says the spirit of God spoke through this this prophet, and he says this, you will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:
Real quick, do those words sound familiar to you? Stay where you are, be be still and look at the salvation of God. It's Exodus 14. See, it's it's exact words here. And then he says, put the singers out there, and let them lead the way into battle.
Joel Brooks:
So there's a difference between how, you know, Moses, he says those words, you know, be still, stand firm, and see the salvation of God, then God parts the Red Sea, they go to the other side, and then they burst in a song. In this context here, it says, be still, stand firm, see the salvation of God, and then they sing, and then God delivers. And it says that they put they put their musicians on the front lines. They made the musicians the the the marines, And no no offense to these guys here, but I I would if I was doing a battle, there is no way I would want the musicians being the front lines leading us into battle. That's exactly what he did.
Joel Brooks:
He put the singers and they sang of the steadfast love of the Lord, as they marched towards the enemy. You have to wonder like, the the enemy is going, what the heck are they doing if the choir is coming towards us? And they're, they're not even armed. They're just, they're just singing. And it says, when the Lord heard their songs, he set ambushes against them, and the Lord destroyed them before their eyes.
Joel Brooks:
Singing praises is a powerful weapon, and we see that here. You know, often when when I sin, and Satan attacks, and you know, he's throwing you under the bus. He's filling you with guilt and condemnation. Often, I go to song. I begin singing.
Joel Brooks:
One of my favorites that I sing is, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and I see him there who put an end to all my sin, Who put an end to all my sin. Because the sinless savior died, my sinful heart is counted free. For God, the just is satisfied to look upon him and pardon me. And I sing that, and I sing it. And it becomes a mighty weapon in fighting the enemy.
Joel Brooks:
Final 6th point, we see singing as a means of anchoring our hope. We we don't always sing a song that expresses how we are thinking, or what we are feeling. Often, we don't do that. Instead, what we do is we sing in order to take us away from what we currently think and feel, and move us to what we should think and feel. It's moving us to a new place.
Joel Brooks:
When you see Paul and Silas in jail, they're beaten, they're put in stocks, they're sitting in prison, they don't feel like singing. There's nothing that they, that they are experiencing, that's like, wow, they want to either pass out, or they want to scream in pain, but what they do instead is they sing. Not because that's what they feel like doing, but because they know that's what they want to feel. They want to feel the joy in the Lord. They want to see hope in the deliverance in him.
Joel Brooks:
And so they begin singing the songs into the night, and singing made their hopes real. I experienced this and I've shared this before, but in a very real way when, the day that my dad died, I was I was a junior in college and when I was, when I was at school, I got the phone call that my dad had got a heart, had a heart attack and so Lauren and I, we got in the car and we were rushing home and instantly the Lord just, he just kind of told me in a moment of prayer, he's like, I've taken your dad. No need to rush. There's no, no reason to speed home. And I began singing.
Joel Brooks:
I sang for about an hour and 45 minutes, just the entire trip there, just him after him after him. Just singing with just just tears coming down my face and it's not because I felt like singing at first, but I knew I needed to sing And the more and the more I sang, the more and the more those those truths about the hope I have in God really began to seize my heart. And by the time I pulled up into that possible, I was in the throne. I was in the throne room of God. Just worshiping.
Joel Brooks:
He had become so real. It anchored my hope. We see Jesus doing this the night before he died. You know, after his last meal with his supper that we looked at, his his last meal with his disciples, the the Passover meal that we looked at 2 weeks ago. After he had this meal and he knows he is going to the cross, Judas has already left him to betray him.
Joel Brooks:
And it says, they sang a song. They sang a hymn on the way to the garden of Gethsemane. Do do you think Jesus really like at that moment, as he is just giving the most vivid example, my body's gonna be ripped. Blood is going to pour for me. Friends are already starting to betray me.
Joel Brooks:
I'm about to take on the entire wrath of God. Do you think he wanted to sing at that moment? Let's sing a hymn. He he get he doesn't wanna do that, but what he's doing is he's anchoring the reality of God in him. Is giving him strength for what's to come.
Joel Brooks:
Because he knows a time is coming when God is going to seem distant. God is gonna seem so far away, he's gonna feel utterly forsaken. And so he is trying to anchor those things deep within him. And he does. He does.
Joel Brooks:
And because Jesus was able to absorb that wrath for us, because Jesus never lost hope. That's the reason that we are given the new song in our heart. A few months ago, we looked at Psalm 22, which is where Jesus gets the line, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus quotes that from the cross, which was a Psalm or a song, And I mentioned whenever you you you quote, like, the introductory part of a psalm, you're alluding to the entire psalm. And the author of Hebrews picks up on this.
Joel Brooks:
We we read this in Hebrews 2. I love it. He's talking about Jesus here. This is Hebrews 2:10. He says, for it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory, should be the should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Joel Brooks:
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers saying, and now he quotes Psalm 22. I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. I love that.
Joel Brooks:
Even as Jesus is crying out in despair, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The reason he is doing that and enduring the cross, is because he knows at some point after the resurrection, sometime when his kingdom comes, he will be the firstborn among many brothers, and he will lead us in song. He will be the singer. He'll be the tenor there, that we all listen to. I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation.
Joel Brooks:
I will sing your praise. So when he sang that hymn, going to the garden, it anchored his hope, knowing that he will sing again. And all the Bible moves us towards that moment, towards that day. Pray with
Connor Coskery:
me.
Joel Brooks:
Lord, I pray for those here who kind of listen to this, and they think, well, you know, that's kind of good, and I know probably should sing. Well, I I pray that you'll put a new song in their heart. Do that in all of our hearts, that you would set our hearts on fire. You would fan the flame, the embers that are there, Lord, and that we would sing Lord, sometimes it's a celebration and it's easy when you have just acted and you delivered, and sometimes deliverance seems so far away. But may we sing as a way that anchors our hope.
Joel Brooks:
And may we sing in such a way, so loudly, so beautifully with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength, that when the world looks and listens to us, it would testify that there is a God. Lord, we pray that would happen in this moment, in this time. The strong name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.