WEBVTT

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 Psalm 133, a song of ascents of David.

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 This is God's holy and authoritative word.

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 The verse 1 begins,

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 Behold, calling our attention to this amazing reality,

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 how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

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 When it's talking about brothers, it's not a reference to one's biological siblings,

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 but to brothers and sisters in the faith,

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 because this is in the communal context of worship among the people of God in Israel.

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 And so it's referring to the chosen people of God, the family of God.

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 And the psalmist remarks,

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 It is good and pleasant when brothers dwell in unity.

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 And how good and pleasant?

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 Verses 2 to 3 answer that question.

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 And as you're reading verses 2 to 3, again,

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 think about just as summer approaches

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 and the days begin to get hot and humid here in New England.

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 You know, think about the things that you fantasize about to refresh you.

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 Maybe wading into the frigid waters of Boston beaches,

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 eating cold sugary watermelon or sipping iced tea,

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 you know, something that just refreshes you.

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 And I'm sure you can think of some of your favorite experiences.

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 And so imagine something like that

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 as you look at the two similes that are used in verses 2 to 3.

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 It says in verse 2,

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 It is like the precious oil on the head,

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 running down on the beard,

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 on the beard of Aaron,

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 running down on the color of his robes.

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 Now, that might sound a little bit icky and uncomfortable to us

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 because we don't do this nowadays.

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 But in the ancient world,

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 head lice were quite common.

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 And head lice are parasites, right?

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 They live on your scalp and suck your blood.

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 Very unpleasant.

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 And nowadays, we can use permethrin or ointments

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 to kind of kill lice.

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 But people in the ancient Near East didn't have that.

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 Oil, however, due to its viscosity, killed lice.

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 And it also improved your body odor and things.

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 So it's the whole,

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 as a whole, overall, being anointed with oil

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 was a very refreshing experience.

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 And same thing, similarly, verse 3.

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 It says,

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 It is like the dew of Hermon,

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 which falls on the mountains of Zion.

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 So this also is a picture of just life and rejuvenation.

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 God told Israelites in Deuteronomy 11

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 that the land that he was giving them,

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 the promised land,

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 was not like the land of Egypt

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 because Egypt was water from the Nile River

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 via irrigation.

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 But instead, this land, God said,

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 which drinks water by the rain from heaven,

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 he said,

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 is a land that the Lord your God cares for.

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 It's a land that drinks from God's rain.

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 God feeds it water, basically.

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 And so Israel received almost all of its rainfall

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 during its rainy season

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 for only about like half of the year.

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 So for the other half of the year,

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 it was extremely dry.

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 I mean, intolerably dry at times.

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 And so the only moisture the land found,

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 it would be when the moist winds

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 kind of blowing from the Mediterranean Sea

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 would distill as dew throughout the land.

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 And that whenever they, you know,

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 saw, woke up from the night

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 and saw dew distilled on the ground,

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 it was a refreshing experience.

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 It brought life back to the land.

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 Greenery starts to show again.

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 And so that's the kind of image

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 that's in view here.

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 And apparently Mount Hermon was on the,

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 which was on the northern border of Israel,

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 was famous for heavy dew.

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 So he's envisioning this kind of heavy dew

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 falling on God's people in Zion.

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 And so we could, you know,

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 maybe relate to this a little better now than usual

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 because we've been social distancing,

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 you know, with the pandemic and whatnot.

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 And we long to be together

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 and we can talk about how it is good and pleasant

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 for us to dwell in unity.

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 But this is speaking of more than just the joys

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 of, you know, horizontal human connection.

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 You know, the second half of verse three

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 gives us the exact reason why it's good and pleasant

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 for brothers to dwell in unity.

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 And it says,

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 The reason why brothers dwelling in unity

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 is so good and pleasant

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 is that the Lord dwells among them

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 and brothers and sisters in Christ,

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 all of us.

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 And in blessing us

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 and imparting eternal life to us,

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 it's the Lord's presence that makes the difference.

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 They're not just dwelling with one another,

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 they're dwelling with one another

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 in the presence of God.

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 As Psalm 27 verse four says,

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 One thing have I asked of the Lord

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 that will I seek after that I may dwell.

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 Say more, dwell in the house of the Lord

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 all the days of my life

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 to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

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 and to inquire in his temple.

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 And there's a,

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 so there's a vertical connection to God

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 that makes the horizontal connection good and pleasant.

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 And in verse two,

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 the phrase running down is repeated twice,

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 running down, the oil running down,

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 and then in verse three,

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 it speaks also the dew falling down.

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 The phrase falling down is actually,

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 falling on is actually the exact same phrase

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 as the running down in verse two.

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 So there's actually a threefold repetition

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 of the same phrase,

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 all conveying the idea of something

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 coming down from above,

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 all to communicate the fact that

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 blessings come from God downward to us.

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 is like the anointing oil

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 that sets aside Aaron as God's priest,

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 the one who intercedes on behalf of God's people

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 in the presence of God.

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 No other nation had that.

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 No other nation had a priest

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 anointed by God

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 to intercede on their behalf

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 in the presence of God.

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 It marked Israel as God's special possession.

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 It is also like the dew

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 that falls on mountains of Zion

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 coming down from heaven.

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 It's watered by God himself.

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 It is there that the Lord

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 has commanded the blessing,

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 life forevermore.

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 But the Zion,

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 this blessed Zion,

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 where God's people

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 dwelt together in unity

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 in the presence of God,

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 it was not ultimately

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 the physical place

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 in the Middle East.

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 Rather,

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 the land of Canaan

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 pointed to our eternal dwelling place

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 with God.

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 And that's how

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 the author of Hebrews

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 interprets it.

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 Hebrews chapter 12,

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 verses 22 to 24.

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 He says,

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 but you have come,

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 he's talking to believers in Christ,

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 but you have come to Mount Zion

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 and to the city of the living God,

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 the heavenly Jerusalem,

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 and to innumerable angels

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 in festal gathering,

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 and to the assembly

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 of the firstborn

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 who are enrolled in heaven,

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 and to God,

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 the judge of all,

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 and to the spirits

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 of the righteous made perfect,

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 and to Jesus,

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 the mediator of a new covenant,

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 and to the sprinkled blood

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 that speaks a better word

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 than the blood of Abel.

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 It's because Jesus came

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 as the greater brother,

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 the brother that Cain never was

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 to Abel.

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 The blood of Abel

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 could not save Cain

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 from his iniquity,

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 from his sin.

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 However,

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 the blood of Christ

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 speaks not only judgment

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 as blood of Abel did,

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 but forgiveness for us

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 because Jesus died

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 on the cross for us.

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 He speaks forgiveness for us.

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 He speaks God's grace over us.

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 And when we believe in Jesus,

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 as we become citizens of Zion,

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 Mount Zion,

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 the city of the living God,

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 and it is as such people,

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 when we are aligned

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 with the purposes

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 of Jesus Christ,

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 when we are aligned

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 with the agenda

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 of his kingdom,

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 that's when it is good

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 and pleasant

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 for us to dwell in unity.

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 when we are aligned

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 with God,

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 when we are reconciled

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 with God,

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 that's when it is pleasant

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 for us to dwell together

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 in unity.

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 Thank you.

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 Thank you.