Sing Us One of the Songs of Zion

Sing Us One of the Songs of Zion

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

It seems that the Church in America has been in a Babylonian captivity for many years.  Our captivity came because we succumbed to the customs of the world system rather than the commandments of our King.  We have given both tacit and tangible approval of practices that the Bible has warned us are not God’s best for us, i.e. sinful practices.  We have allowed the chains of political correctness to bind us.  We have diluted the Word of God.

The world system, like the Babylonian conquerors of Israel, is crying for the awakening of God’s people. We have become like the ancient Israelites, unable to bring joy into the world.

Consider Psalms 137:1-4: “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive required of us a song, And those who plundered us required of us mirth, Saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' How shall we sing the Lord's song In a foreign land?”

The Lord is calling us out of our captivity in the Babylon of worldliness that has surrounded us in the past years.  It is time for us to take our harps from the willow trees and return to Zion.

When Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem, they did not return to a resplendent nation.  Judea was broken physically and spiritually.  The walls were in ruins; the Temple destroyed.  The returning remnant met opposition at every turn.  The return was difficult.  Yet God blessed them and brought them through to victory. 

That is where the Church in America stands today. 

Isaiah 35 is a messianic prophecy.  However, like all of prophecy, it holds a message for today.

Isaiah 35:1-2: “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.”

When we take our harps from the willow trees and again sing the praises of our Lord as we go about our daily lives, joy will fill not only our hearts, but also our land. 

Isaiah 35:3-7:  “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.'' Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.”

It is time to stop feeding the jackal of fear that abounds in our land. 

We must take our harps from the willow tree and sing the songs of joy.

Purging the Leaven

Purging the Leaven

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Deuteronomy 16:1-4:   "Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. Therefore, you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name. You shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. And no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight remain overnight until morning.”

In scripture, leavening (yeast) is a picture of sin.  One bit of leavening spreads throughout all the dough just as one bit of sin affects each and every area of our lives.  One custom of Passover is to cleanse both our homes and our hearts from leaven.

  During the few days before Passover, observant Jews all over the world set to spring house cleaning in order to purge their homes of any sort of mold or yeast.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the day after Passover and lasts for seven days.  During that time, religious Jews eat only unleavened bread.

Seven in the number of divine completion.  From our Lord’s serving the Passover meal to His disciples, we learn that the unleavened bread pictures the completeness of our His anguish on the Cross.  The price for sin has been paid in full. It is finished.

On Palm Sunday we remember our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  What we don’t often realize is that He was coming to Jerusalem to fulfill the prophetic picture of the sacrificial Passover lamb.  After His entry into the city, Jesus prophesied that the city would be destroyed because the people did not know the time of their visitation from the Son of God. (Luke 19:41-44)

The incident must cause us to reflect upon our own lives.  How much sorrow and desolation have come into our lives because we either have not known or have ignored our need for the Lord and/or His desire to bless us and deliver us.

The next incident is the Lord’s cleansing of the Temple.  Luke 19:45-46: “Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, "It is written, `My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a `den of thieves.' ''

Jesus did some spring house cleaning.  He cleaned His own house, the Temple in Jerusalem.

Likewise, Passover is a time for all Christians to do some housecleaning.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Not only are believers the temple of God, we are also the Bride of Christ. He is coming back for a Bride without spot or blemish (Ephesians 5:27).  John the Revelator said that the Bride has made herself ready (Revelation 19:7).  Therefore, we all have some Temple cleaning to do.

It is important to note that just as Jesus cleaned His own house, it is the responsibility of each of us to clean our own temple.  I am not to take my mop next door to clean yours.  I am not even to peep through the window to see whether or not your house needs cleaning.

A miracle of the purging is that the Lord will show each of us what needs to be cleaned.  May the following be our Passover prayer:

Psalm 139: 23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

Jesus is the Passover Lamb.  Because of the finished work of the Cross, we may walk in the peace of Passover.   We may walk in the the way of the Prince Peace.  Purging the leaven from our lives is a step forward in achieving that peace.

Pesach Sameach. (Happy Passover)