Old Skin, New Wine

“One puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” (Mark 2:22c [NASB])

In Mark 1-2, Mark pointedly recalled for his readers instances of Jesus’ authority and power from the start of His earthly ministry. In chapter one, Mark told of Jesus’ baptism (vs. 9-11) after which a voice from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Being the Son of God meant Jesus had the power and authority of God. Many people did not understand what was said or recognize God’s voice and so, the voice from heaven sounded like thunder to them.  After His baptism, Jesus immediately walked into the wilderness for forty days and faced temptations by Satan, against which He prevailed. After John’s arrest and before Jesus called disciples, He declared His purpose and ministry on earth. He said in 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark continued to tell of Jesus’ ministry and how He spoke with authority and power. He gave examples of Jesus’ power and authority. Consider these excerpts from Mark 1:

·         Mark 1:16-20 Jesus met and called Andrew, Simeon, James, and John to follow Him.

·         Mark 1:20-22 Jesus taught with authority, not as the scribes taught, in the Capernaum synagogue on the Sabbath.

·         Mark 1:23-28 Jesus met a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue. This spirit recognized Jesus and said, “I know who you are-the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and commanded it to come out of the man. With agony the unclean spirit left the man.

·         Mark 1:29-31 Jesus went with Simeon to his house, found Simon’s mother-in-law sick, and healed her.

·         Mark 1:32-34 Many people of the city-town of Capernaum brought the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus and He healed them.

·         Mark 1:39 Jesus went throughout Galilee preaching and healing.

·         Mark 1:40-45 Jesus healed a leper.

In chapter one, Jesus taught with authority and showed His authority and power by healing the sick, calling men to follow Him, declaring His purpose on earth, and casting out demons. Notice in this chapter, He did not face resistance from anyone for what He did. With the start of chapter two, Jesus encountered resistance from the Jewish religious leaders.

People continued to follow Jesus in Mark 2, but none yet believed in Him as the Messiah. The resistance He encountered came from the religious leaders of Israel. The leaders felt Jesus usurped their power so, they challenged Him. Beginning with this chapter, Jesus did more than teach with authority, heal, and cleanse. Consider what Mark wrote in Mark 2:1-17.

·         Mark 2:1-12 Jesus noticed four men lowering a paralyzed man through the roof of a home that contained a crowd so large they could not enter by the door. He forgave the man of his sins. The religious leaders questioned in their hearts how this man, a carpenter from Galilee thought He was God. According to the Law and themselves, this was blasphemy. Jesus challenged them by asking if saying your sins are forgiven is harder or saying get up, take up your mat, and walk. To prove Jesus is the Son of Man, just as Daniel 7 prophesied, He told the man to get up, take up your mat, and walk. By doing this, and the man’s ability to walk, Jesus proved He has the power and authority to heal and forgive sins.

·         Mark 2:13-17 Jesus saw Levi the tax collector and called him to follow Him. Levi invited Jesus and His disciples to eat at his house with his friends. The scribes and the Pharisees challenged His disciples. They asked, “Why is He eating with tax collectors and sinners?” (vs 16) Jesus replied, only the sick need a doctor, not the healthy.

In both passages in Mark 2, Jesus met resistance by the religious leaders. First, they questioned His authority in their hearts. Jesus said He knew what they thought and proved His authority to forgive and power to heal. In verses thirteen through seventeen, Jesus called a conspicuous sinner to be His follower then ate with that unclean person and His friends. The religious leaders would never consider associating with obvious sinners. They wanted to be the standard for holiness and have followers themselves. Jesus proved even sinners are worth His time and attention and can become holy, be healed. Jesus did not stop ministering. He taught the gospel, His purpose on earth, and healed, forgave, and cast out demons because of His love for people and to give examples of His power and authority.

To the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer because He acted as if He was God by forgiving sins and declaring He is the Son of Man. These leaders knew Jesus came from Galilee and was a carpenter’s son. They understood from their reading of the manuscripts, from the oral tradition, and from their training, the Messiah would arise from the tribe of David, be a warrior king, and would re-establish David’s kingdom. This Jesus was not any of these in the religious leaders’ estimation. He must be a blasphemer they decided. According to God’s Law, blasphemer’s punishment was death by stoning. The religious leaders may have at first chose to side against Jesus because He appeared to be a blasphemer. As Jesus’ ministry continued and people decided to follow Him instead of the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders, they became jealous and afraid they would lose their standing among and power over the Israelites. For these reasons, they sought to get rid of Jesus. With these twin emotions flowing through the hearts and minds of the religious leaders, they need not have worried. No one yet believed Jesus was the Messiah. They had not placed their faith in Him as the Messiah.

In Mark 2:18-22, Jesus will again teach by example and will use parables. He will rise to the challenge some people put to Him. Jesus will teach through three common analogies that everyone is unclean, and each person needs a Savior.

In the encounter by Jesus with the Pharisees in 2:12-17, the issue for the Pharisees, besides fear and jealousy, was eating with the unclean, at least the people the Pharisees considered unclean. Under Levitical law, people who were ritually unclean could not be around people who were clean. How was this designation determined? God chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests. He made them the law-teachers, keepers, and givers. They, too, were the judgment-givers God chose to tell the people how to become clean again when a person sinned against God. Remember, Israel was a theocracy, a nation whose head was God. The leaders of the people, the Levites, expanded on the laws God gave. Some of those expansions included not associating with people they considered unclean, sinners. Since the tax collectors took more money than the Roman government required and kept the excess for themselves, the tax collectors were sinners and, so, unclean. Others who the Levites considered unclean were prostitutes and lepers. God had a means by which every person could make atonement for his or her sin daily, the morning and evening sin sacrifice. God told the Levites to take the offering by the people and offer it to Him as a sin sacrifice each day. Until they sinned again, that sin offering for past sins sufficed to make them clean for that time. Yet, the Levites decided for themselves, once a sinner always a sinner, or in their thinking, once unclean always unclean. That is why eating with Levi and his friends was hard for the Pharisees to swallow. It makes the lesson of 2:18-22 difficult for them to grasp, too. Jesus confronts the Pharisees about their religious rituals and what He came to bring and give each person who believes in Him.

While John’s disciples and the Pharisees fasted, some people (other translators say onlookers or some of the disciples of these men.) asked Jesus, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” (2:18) Again, the question is about rituals. Before that time, the Pharisees instituted more weekly fasts so people would think they were more pious than other people and would look up to them. Those who did not fast as much as the Pharisees, the Pharisees considered beneath them, inferior. Because some of John’s disciples had remained loyal to the Pharisaical traditions, they, too, fasted more often than God required. Fasting in the Old Testament involved abstaining from food and possibly drink for a set period of time to express grief (1 Samuel 31:13, 2 Samuel 1:12 & 12:20-23), or penitence (1 Samuel 7:6 & 1 Kings 21:27), or to prepare one’s self for prayer (2 Samuel 12:16-17 & Psalm 35:13), or to seek the Lord’s favor (Judges 20:26 and 2 Chronicles 20:3). Jewish law required fasting only for humbling one’s self in preparation for and including the Day of Atonement. God declared purpose of the Day of Atonement was so the people could cleanse themselves from all sins before being with Him (Leviticus 16:29-31 & 23:27). In one other place, God commanded fasting as an act of contrition to return to Him with a person’s whole heart/being (Joel 2:12).

The Old Testament did not instruct people to fast two or three times a week. It never told the people to fast so he or she could appear more religious. Jesus confronted that misconception in Matthew 6:16-18. He condemned fasting to draw attention to one’s self and one’s piety. Similarly, Jesus told the people not to give alms or to pray so others would see them do these things. He told them, instead, go into a secret place and let God be the only one who sees you doing these things and He will reward you in secret (Matthew 6:1-8). Jesus did not condemn fasting. He even taught by example when He fasted forty days and nights in the desert in Matthew 4:2 and Luke 4:2. This justified fasting showed a person’s sincere seeking of God. It is a denying of one’s self (one’s flesh) and focusing on God. If we consider the New Testament after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Christian church fasted in preparation to make important decisions (Acts 13:2-3 & 14:23). They sought God while fasting instead of seeking to fill their flesh. The New Testament has no law requiring fasting.

While we do not know for sure who asked Jesus why He ate with sinners, we realize from the question asked, the person still did not believe about Jesus being the Messiah. By this question, we recognize the questioner realized Jesus did not follow the religious rituals. Jesus’ actions and teachings kept rubbing like sandpaper against the rituals the religious leaders set. They tried to force Him to do as they said, but He determinedly chose to follow God’s will and not what man dictated. Jesus, recognizing the unbelief of the questioner and the listeners, taught by using three commonplace occurrences in the lives of the Jews-weddings, repairing cloth, and storage of wine.

First, He asked, “While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they?” This was a rhetorical question. Everyone knew the answer to this was a resounding, “No.” Jesus continued, “So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” (2:18-19) Jesus answered the rhetorical question leading the listeners to His point and alluding to His future-Jesus won’t be with His disciples on earth always. When He is gone, they will mourn and fast during their mourning. Jesus added another depth to this image. In the Old Testament, God is the bridegroom in Isaiah 54:5 & 62:5, and in Hosea 2:19. Since Jesus is the Son of Man, He used this metaphor of the bridegroom to refer to Himself. Now, consider the Israelites culture. When a wedding occurred, the wedding feast lasted seven days. Much rejoicing, eating, drinking, and dancing marked the wedding of a man and woman. Because Jesus has come as the Bridegroom, His followers are His bride and while He is with them, they would eat and drink. When Jesus left, His bride, the church, would mourn. His arrival as the Messiah, the Son of Man, was to be a time of celebration like a wedding, not a time of penitence, atonement, and grief.

Rejoice, the Messiah has come!

In this lesson, Jesus told the people not to use fasting as a marker of a person’s devoutness. When Jesus came, He fulfilled the Law; God required no fasting any longer. He didn’t remove fasting as a spiritual discipline. Jesus wanted the people to realize the gift of salvation came by God’s grace. Salvation requires grace, God’s grace, and nothing else. We cannot gain salvation by doing anything like praying, giving, or fasting. We don’t get more salvation by doing these things. Salvation is salvation. It is complete and sufficient (ample) for each of our sins. Salvation and grace come from God Who is perfect and holy.

Grace + nothing = Salvation

Because people often understand a lesson better by using everyday objects or occurrences, Jesus continued to answer this question using the analogy of a torn old cloth and a new cloth. He said in verse twenty-one, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results.” Read that verse again. Understand Jesus’ concern for the old cloth. His concern was that the tear would be greater than it was before the repair if the person used unshrunk cloth. Jesus came to give a new way to be in relationship, in covenant, with God. That new way is like the new cloth. If you try to sew new cloth onto the old cloth, the old way of living with its old rituals that did not give salvation, then the new cloth won’t stay attached and the old cloth will have a worse tear.

Consider the next analogy. Jesus said in verse twenty-two, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” In that day, a tanner made a wineskin of a whole and uncut skin from a sheep or goat. He would remove first the neck, then each leg. After the tanner removed the skin, he tied off with a cord all but one opening, sheared the hair close to the skin, tanned the skin, and then turned it inside out. By skinning the animal this way, no leak could occur from a break in the skin. When a person put wine into the skins, the fermentation was not complete. During that fermentation, vapors arose. Those vapors would stretch the skin into which the vintner poured it. A new skin had elasticity to expand as the gasses arose from the fermentation process. An old skin was inflexible. If the vintner put new wine that was still fermenting into an old wineskin, the old skin that was rigid could not expand with the resultant gasses and would burst the old skin. The new wine of which Jesus spoke is His Holy Spirit whom He imparts to each believer. The old wineskin was the rituals of religion each of the Pharisees and John’s disciples used to show his piety. These rituals were something from their past of which they didn’t want to let go.

 Jesus showed concerned for the wine and the skins. He doesn’t want the faith of a person to become rigid and caught in ritual just to show one’s piety and prove he or she is better than other people. Jesus wants to give new life to each person. He wants to have His Spirit abide in each person to teach, equip, guide, encourage, admonish, and grow him or her into a closer relationship with God and likeness with Him.

Jesus lived every day with regular people. Some people were mostly good, some were considered unclean, some were sick, others were possessed by demons, all were sinners. When asked a question, Jesus wanted to make sure people understood Him well and so used analogies from every day life. These analogies are parables. Just as groomsmen do not fast at a wedding, but rejoice, Jesus wants us to rejoice with Him by accepting the new life He offers by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8). Grace is God’s gift to us given by sacrificing His Son, Jesus, on the cross to take our penalty for our sins. Nothing we can do would be enough to cleanse us from what we’ve done wrong. Only God’s sacrifice of His sin-free and perfect Son is sufficient. Jesus wanted to make sure people understood this. The new life He gives cannot be added onto old rituals. We cannot and do not have to add any personal works-actions with resultant attitudes-to what Jesus gives us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we become new like the new cloth and the new wineskin. If we just add what Jesus did to what we already do, the patch will tear off and the hole in the old cloth will be worse. Considering the analogy of the wineskins, when Jesus pours new wine into wineskin, He can’t pour it into an old wineskin of old rituals. It will burst. We cannot add the new way to the old way. The old wineskin of old rituals or religion cannot contain the Spirit of God. Keeping the old rituals means a person has not truly given his or her heart and life to God for salvation and His purposes. The person cannot grow and become more like Jesus daily because of the rigidity and bursting of their old wineskin. 

Each of us must look at our lives. We must ask ourselves what we do in our religious moments that are just ritual and what God requires. We cannot add to our salvation. Jesus paid the full penalty for each person’s sins. His sacrifice was sufficient and perfect. Nothing needs to be added, Nothing we, human, fallible created beings can add to it makes Jesus’ gift of salvation more perfect. Perfection is already perfect. So, what do we do? What religious rituals do we have that make us consider ourselves and ways as better? Do we go to church every time the doors are open? Do we make sure we are on every committee? Do we make sure we give the most money to church? Do we say long, rambling prayers in church, Bible study, cell groups, etc. to prove our piety? Do we fast every week and make sure people know it? People consider and do many other rituals to make themselves feel better and appear better than other people. But we must consider, does God require these of us or are we just doing them for show? The other side of this question is, are you making Jesus fit your idea of church? How are we making Jesus fit into our cloth or His Spirit into our wineskin? Do we think we can we even consider tell God where He is allowed in our lives? What arrogance and self-centeredness!

Perfection is already perfect.

Jesus’ offered salvation is already perfect!

Jesus invites us to His feast. He invites us to be His bride, His church. Jesus doesn’t come to fit our mold. He came to make us new and give us a new life. He calls us to rejoice with Him at the blessings of God each day. The people of Israel had trials, but He taught they could rejoice even while facing trials because He was their Bridegroom and was with them.

Today, we can know and believe with our hearts, Jesus is with us now. We can rejoice because of the hope He gives for now and eternity. Our faith doesn’t have to be old, dry, inflexible, torn, and human ritual. It can be alive because of it being in Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His sacrifice because of God’s grace. He gives us salvation and new life.

You no longer have to go to a wedding and fast.

Go to the wedding and rejoice…even during trials.

Jesus is enough. He paid it all.

God’s grace can save us through faith in Jesus Christ.

God offers salvation to everyone.

Will you accept?

¹And you were dead in your sins. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5, 8-9 [NASB])

Lord, I fail often. I am a sinner. I find what I do is not enough to make me feel good about myself. There’s nothing I can do to make my guilt go away and, Lord, I come today to lay it all down at Your feet. Please, take my pain and my shame. Take my heart; it’s all I have. Cleanse me. Make me new. Give me Your loving grace. I accept You as My Savior, Oh Son of God. Forgive me, please. Amen.

Uncircumcision and the Law

Introduction

As we consider Romans 2:25-29, we must look back at Romans 2:17-24. The first word in verse twenty-five, “for,” makes us look back to those verses to understand what Paul said in the final five verses.

Paul told the Jews in verses seventeen through twenty-three they had the name “Jew” because of God’s calling them to be His people, not because of something they had done or were. He told them they bore the name “Jew,” relied upon and boasted in God, knew His will, and approved the things that are essential because of receiving instruction in the Law. Paul challenged the Jews when he said they were confident they were guides to the blind, a light to those in darkness, correctors of the foolish, and teachers of the immature because they had the knowledge of the Law and the truth. These Jews had inflated egos because of their knowledge and circumcision.

Paul challenged the Jews in verses twenty-one through twenty-three. He said, 

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? [NASB]

Paul used rhetorical questions in these verses. Rhetorical questions are a teaching tool used to make a person dig deeper than surface level to search for the true answer. In these verses, Paul challenged them on their sins. By doing this, He pointed out they were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. The Jews who boasted in their circumcision and being called Jews were not better than other people because they broke their covenant with God by sinning against Him.

Paul ended this section with the glaring statement to the Jews in verse twenty-four. He said, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Why? The Gentiles saw the self-righteous Jews were no better than themselves. The Jews sinned just like the Gentiles, so why should the Gentiles honor and follow the God of the Jews? Ouch! This is a pointed charge!

Circumcision’s Value

With this reminder from verses seventeen through twenty-four, let’s learn what Paul continued to say to the Jews in verse twenty-five. He said, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law, but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Wow, did you understand that? Paul told them outright the Jews who sinned were just like the uncircumcised people. They were unclean heathens, too. The Jews who sinned were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. They prided themselves on being good. The Jews had the Law, God chose them, they kept the letter of the law, mostly, and they were circumcised. How much more Jewish could you get, right? Paul said, “Wrong!” The Jews’ circumcision of their foreskin was not beneficial to them.

In verses twenty-six through twenty-eight, Paul turned the Jews’ world upside down. He said,

So, if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. [NASB]

Paul said if the non-Jew, the Gentile and pagan, kept the Law without even having a covenant with God like the Jews, isn’t that Gentile or pagan really circumcised inwardly, in his or her heart, even though his skin is not? Circumcision was a bragging point for the Jews. It was an outward sign of their covenant with God. The Jews used it as a sign to say they were better than other people. If you weren’t circumcised, God didn’t choose you, is what they said and meant with their lofty-mindedness. The Jews of the time that Paul spoke to thought they were the elite because of being chosen by God and bearing the mark of their covenant with Him. Yet, they chose not to keep their covenant with God.

Paul took this idea one step further. Besides saying the physically uncircumcised who kept the Law really were circumcised (in their hearts), he said they would judge the circumcised, the Jew. “What? How dare they?” the Jews would have thought. “They are filthy pigs, rotten heathens. They could not touch my robe because they are so low,” a Jew might have said. Yet, those who kept God’s Laws, though they were physically uncircumcised, showed they were righteous and obedient to God’s Law. They obeyed the Law of God revealed to them and so were circumcised in their hearts and had a covenant with God, too. Therefore, these Gentiles and pagans who obeyed God’s revealed Law, would judge the circumcised Jews who were disobedient to God’s Law given in their covenant with Him.

Judgment and Rhetoric

Paul continued in this passage with verse twenty-eight. He brought a stinging statement of judgment to these Jews. He said, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” A Jew is not someone who has circumcised flesh or who routinely goes through the motions to follow God. Genuine circumcision is not of the flesh.

What is genuine circumcision? Paul brought the biting revelation and the final truth to the Jews and his other readers and hearers with verse twenty-nine. With this verse, he reminded everyone who reads and hears this letter of what he taught in verse four. He said in verse twenty-nine, “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” The Jews, Paul said, got it wrong. They wanted everyone to see they were Jewish, the chosen people. They boasted about it and judged others because they sinned, all the while they, themselves, sinned, too. Paul taught them circumcision, true circumcision that showed evidence of a covenant with God, is not a cutting of the flesh. True circumcision is a circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit. When a person truly is circumcised by the Spirit of God, the old hardness of heart that comes because of sin and rebellion is cut away to make the person new and moldable by God. This circumcision removes sin and the guilt of sin, so the person can walk in newness of life. The person whose heart is circumcised seeks only to please God by obeying Him and growing closer to Him. He or she does not seek the praise of people by outwardly showing and stating how good he or she is. That is a sin.

Verse twenty-nine takes us back to a fact Paul taught with a rhetorical question in verse four. He asked in this verse, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” The initial answer to this rhetorical question would be a resounding, “No,” by the Jews. The more considered answer would be, “Yes.” Paul taught that the Laws of God were to lead people to recognize His kindness and love, and to follow Him in righteousness by faith. Remember, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly” by circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter (vs 29). God’s kindness should lead you to give your heart to Him. He will circumcise your heart to remove its hardness caused by sin.

Conclusions

Doing right acts for the wrong reasons does not make a person righteous. A wrong reason could be doing good things so people see you doing them. It could be giving great sums of money to a charity so you can take a tax deduction. There’s nothing wrong with doing good things. What is wrong is seeking glory for yourself? Who gave you the ability and desire to do the good things, whether giving time, money, or skills? God. So, He should be the One who gets the glory, not you. Right acts with wrong motives is not righteousness. They are good deeds. Right acts will not make you righteous and clean before the Lord. You cannot earn your way to heaven by doing good deeds. Only righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ the Savior will do that. Paul called this being justified by faith. Read what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-30.

Now, apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for these is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. [NASB]

God is the God of all who by faith accept the salvation He offers through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. None of us has anything to boast of in ourselves. We cannot keep the Law 100% of the time because we are sinful. Still, we must remember, God did not create the Law to make us perfect; only Jesus Christ can do that. He created the Law to lead us to Him, to see His kindness and love, and then to follow Him as ones He made righteous by our faith in Jesus. We have every reason to boast of God, to give Him all the glory.

Do you practice moralism, doing right things? This doesn’t prevent your heart from sinning. Being religious is no answer and has no power to keep you from sinning or to remove your sins. It has no power to make you clean and right before God. Does your moralism prevent you or other people from knowing the Lord?

It’s now your time to decide. Are you circumcised in your skin or your heart? Have you accepted God’s salvation through faith? None of us can do enough good works to earn our way into heaven. Only God’s grace and love make it possible. Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today?

God, I am unable to do right all the time. I’m a failure at it. Please forgive me for the wrong things I have done, thought, or said. Please make be clean and right with You. You alone are the only way to salvation and righteousness. I give my heart and life to You, today. Amen.

Justice Like Rolling Water

Introduction

Amos spoke eight prophecies to Israel about the seven nations surrounding them and about their own nation. These prophecies were the LORD’s charges against the nations for their sins and His judgment of them because of their sins. God sought to get the Israelites’ attention because their sins were great. Their sins were against people and God.

Beginning in Amos 3, Amos preached and exhorted the listeners of Israel. God explicitly told the Israelites their sin through Amos. In Amos 3, Amos told the Israelites they were not immune to punishment because they were God’s chosen people. That would not keep them safe from God’s wrath. In Amos 4 and 5, Amos told the Israelites their ritualistic religion would not save them from the LORD’s wrath. God’s judgment is for all His enemies. This point Amos unequivocally pronounced to the Israelites in chapter five.

With Amos 5:18-27, Amos expressed clearly like what the “day of the LORD” would be. He preached against the religious hypocrisy of the Israelites. In the middle of the sermon, Amos called the Israelites to repentance. He made this stand out by using a chiastic structure in the sermon. A chiastic structure helps lead people to focus on the most important part of a sermon, the center part. The chiastic structure denotes itself as A, B, C, B*, A* where A and A* are the same, as are B and B*. The focus for both parts is C, the purpose of the sermon. In this sermon by Amos, the chiastic structure looks like the following diagram.

                        A  Description of God’s Certain Judgment (vs. 18-20)

                                    B  Accusation of Religious Hypocrisy (vs. 21-22)

                                                C  Call for Repentance (vs. 23-24)

                                    B* Accusation of Religious Hypocrisy (vs. 25-26)

                        A* Description of God’s Certain Judgment (vs. 27)

God’s Certain Judgment

People throughout history, when adversity combatted them, cried out to the Lord to hasten the “day of the LORD.” Our inner being recognizes God exists and is greater and mightier than our feeble human selves. The cry for the LORD most often seeks Him to halt or eliminate enemies. Throughout the Bible, the “day of the LORD” calls for God to bring the last days (the end times like Isaiah 5:19, Jeremiah 30:7, Joel 1:15, 2:1, 11, & 31). God will come to earth and judge evil people at that time. Rarely do the people seeking the “day of the LORD” realize he or she deserves God’s judgment, too. Crying out for the “day of the LORD” would bring judgment upon each person on earth not just one’s enemies. People do not think of that in their desperation. In Amos 5:18-20, Amos told the Israelites the “day of LORD” is more than they acknowledge. He said in verses eighteen through twenty,

¹⁸ “Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, for what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not light, ¹⁹ as when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or goes home, leans his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him. ²⁰ Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it?” [NASB]

The word “alas” comes from the Hebrew word howy and means “woe.” Amos proclaimed woe to the Israelites. They were not ready for that. Why should woe and lament come upon them? Israel considered themselves justified. God chose them as His people. They performed the rituals in the temple. The Israelites thought they lived correctly, and God would bless them and extinguish their enemies. He had always been the Protector, so why would He not be now or in their future. The people of the northern kingdom did not understand with their hearts and in their spirits what it meant to be the people of Yahweh, the children of GOD.

“Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD,” Amos said. The people desired, coveted, and craved for the day of God’s return to judge all people. Amos reminded the Israelites what that day would entail. It would not bring joy to each person because God’s judgment would occur then. Only the righteous would rejoice. Amos explained in three ways what that day would be like. He said it would be darkness and not light. This “darkness” is more than night, an absence of light. Amos called that time choshek, a day of gloom and obscurity.  Obscurity means to be unknown, inconspicuous, and unimportant. These Israelites would be unknown by God because their sins removed them from His presence. Their sins would bring judgment upon them like their enemies’ sins would for them. The LORD would cast the Israelites away from His presence forever. Amos explained the true reality of the “day of the LORD” for them. The Israelites sought God only when they needed something from Him–protection, provision, healing, etc.–not for a relationship.

Besides the “day of the LORD” being a time of darkness and the Israelites being unknown by God, Amos said they could not escape God’s judgment of them. Just like he said the Israelites could not outrun God’s judgment in chapter two, he said they could not outrun it in Amos 5:19. Though the unrighteous Israelite outran the lion God sent, he would meet with a bear and suffer defeat. When the Israelite ran for safety to her house, a snake would bite her hand when it rested against the wall. The place the Israelite considered himself most safe, his grand winter and summer houses or ivory palaces, would give no place of refugee from God’s judgment. God would judge all sinners, Amos said.

With verse twenty, Amos described to the Israelites again what the darkness would be like when the “day of the LORD” arrived. He said it would be darkness not light. The word “light” comes from the Hebrew word ‘owr and means light of day, prosperity or life. The “day of the LORD” would bring physical darkness, the absence of light. It would also bring darkness on a person’s life-mind, heart, body, and spirit. The darkness on the “day of the LORD” would cause poverty in these facets of life for the leaders and wealthy Israelites. What the Israelites considered came from their own hands and for which they did not thank God, God would remove. The darkness would be in the heavenly lights and within each person. The darkness would oppress them and cause joy and revelry to cease. Amos continued to describe the darkness. He emphasized the darkness by explaining it again. Amos said it would be gloom with no brightness. This darkness would be gloom, giving no light and creating depression and despondency.

When the day of the LORD arrives, God would judge all His enemies. God’s enemies are the people who sin against Him and His laws of righteousness. Though the Israelites called upon the LORD to bring His kingdom to cast judgment on their enemies, He would administer His judgment to all people on earth, not just their enemies. God’s enemies included the Israelites. The Israelites were not exempt because God called them His own. They had no entitlement. The Israelites’ election by God would not keep them safe from His wrath, as Amos said in chapter three. The people God chose to shine His light to lead other nations to Him broke their covenant with Him continually even after He sent prophets to call them back to Him. Because the Israelites broke their covenant with the LORD, they were His enemies, too. Yahweh would also mete out judgment on them. On the “day of the LORD,” God would defend and establish Himself and His righteousness. Israel was not righteous and God would punish them.

No person can escape from God’s judgment. Wherever a person can run, judgment will still find the person. God’s judgment is evitable and certain. The Apostle Paul said this over seven hundred years later, too. In Romans 3:23, Paul said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each person deserves God’s judgment, not just Israel or our enemies.

·         What wrong have you done that you believe no one will ever know about so you feel safe? Have you taken money from someone’s wallet, spoke scathingly against a person, or told an untruth?

·         Did you truly think you could get away with that wrong?

·         Have you really escaped the guilt of that wrong? That guilt comes from God? He put it there to lead you to seek Him, confess and repent, and receive newness of life?

·         How does knowing this affect you at this moment?

Accusation of Religious Hypocrisy

Amos explained in chapter four God cares about the heart’s intention, not religious rituals. He ardently addressed the Israelites in the next two verses. Amos said in verses twenty-one and twenty-two,

²¹ “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. ²² Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.” [NASB]

God spoke seriously in these two verses. Like Amos did in verse ten when he described the Israelites’ hating and abhorring the righteous in the gate, he doubly described God’s dislike of the Israelites’ religious festivals. Amos said God hated the Israelites’ religious festivals. The word “hate” is the same Hebrew word Amos used earlier in this chapter. It means to hate, detest, and call an enemy. This hate is a mental and heart-felt rejection of the religious rituals the Israelites’ offered in their worship. Remember, the Israelites continued performing the festival rites God established and the ones Jeroboam established for their own gods. When they offered these same rituals to the LORD, He hated them because they did not execute them with singleness of devotion nor bring glory exclusively to Him. The rich Israelites sought glory for themselves by bringing extravagant things to the altar, like leavened instead of unleavened bread. They also gave their offerings and sacrifices more often than God required so they could show off their wealth. It gave them glory instead of God. In Amos 5:21, Amos said God hated their festivals, such as the festivals of Passover and Tabernacles.

Just as Amos said the rich hated and abhorred the righteous in the gate, he used similar terminology for God’s hate of the Israelites’ religious rituals. God hated in His heart how the Israelites worshiped. He rejected their festivals, too. The word “abhor” in verse ten means to despise, detest, and consider abominable. “Reject” comes from the Hebrew word ma’ac and means to despise, refuse, and reject. The Israelites physically turned away from the righteous people in the gate and turned people away who sought justice. God turned His eyes away from Israel’s worship. He turned His face away from them in rejection. The Israelites no longer had God’s blessing and protection.

Isaiah 1:11-16 says God had enough of their burnt offering and took no pleasure in the blood of the lambs they slaughtered. God did not delight in the Israelites’ offerings anymore. The word “delight” from verse twenty-one comes from the Hebrew word reyach and means smell. The Israelites’ sacrifices and offerings no longer gave a pleasing aroma to the LORD. Their actions were just ritual, not worship when they entered the places of worship for sacred and festive meetings. Their hearts were not right with God. God said He detested and rejected their festivals and solemn assemblies. The aromas were not soothing or fragrant to Him. Leviticus 26:31 mentions this. Jeremiah 14:12 says God would not accept the Israelites’ burnt offerings.

With verse twenty-two, Amos explained God’s seriousness. He said though the Israelites offered God the best of their flock and storehouses, whole burnt offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings as God established in Deuteronomy 12 and Leviticus 2 & 7, the LORD would not accept or even look at them. The sacrifices and offerings were detestable to the LORD because they offered them out of ritualistic obedience to the Law. The Israelites did not offer genuine love for and thanks to Him. God said their offerings displeased Him and He would disregard them. Even though the people brought these to His altar, because their hearts did not present them, only their hands, it was as if they never came to Him at all. Genuinely meeting with the LORD requires heart, spirit, mind, and physical action. That is why Moses and Jesus taught the people-Jews and Gentiles-to love the LORD with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5 & Luke 10:27). Worshiping God requires devotedly loving Him with your whole being. The Israelites offered worship with their physical bodies only. Their worship was an abomination and idolatrous. The people’s worship of the LORD was ritually incorrect, which came about because of their desire for themselves and not to love Him with their whole being.

·         What do we worship and what do we offer as worship? Money? Family? Flashy cars or big houses? Kneeling? Singing routinely?

·         Whatever occupies most of your physical time and mental thought processes, and causes hunger and craving in your heart are your gods.

·         Will you recognize these false gods and seek a right relationship with God?

A Command for Repentance

In the earlier verses, Amos told the Israelites what they did to cause God’s judgment on themselves. With these next two verses, the LORD through Amos told the people what to do to get right with Him, to worship Him with righteousness. Amos said in verses twenty-three and twenty-four,

²³ “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. ²⁴ But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” [NASB]

Theologians over the years have debated whether verse twenty-three should go with verses twenty-one and twenty-two or with twenty-four. They said verse twenty-three seems to speak more of God’s condemnation of their false worship. It rightly could be so, but verse twenty-four, a verse obviously calling for repentance, begins with the word “but.” Verse twenty-four hinges on what Amos said in the immediately preceding verse. Besides this, verses twenty-three and twenty-four begin with commands while verses twenty-one and twenty-two are proclamations of fact by God. Personally, I believe Amos, with verse twenty-three’s command, gave one more example of the Israelites’ religiosity without heart, soul, and spirit. It operates as a counterpoint to his command to repent and be righteous.

The LORD commanded the Israelites to remove the noise and confusion of the songs from His presence. He rejected the songs because they were a noise rather than a praise of Him. These songs showed the divided hearts of the singers-divided between their gods and rituals to appease Yehovah and the true worship of the LORD. These songs were for show like their offerings and sacrifices. They were just ritual, not true worship. The command, “take away,” created a void where the antithesis should reside. It left an opening for true worship of God. By commanding a negative action, it implied a positive action should replace it. That is where the command of verse twenty-four enters.

With the command of verse twenty-four God told the Israelites to be just and righteous. The LORD rejected their “worship” songs because they were noise and chaos, which does not come from God, but Satan. Their songs lacked true devotion to God, which comes from the heart, mind, and soul and shows through actions. Amos gave vivid imagery in this verse. He told them to let justice roll down like water. Justice is righteousness in action. Justice is taking care of the orphan, widow, and foreigner. It is putting away violence. Notice this justice is flowing down. When water flows downward, it does so rapidly and with power. It moves stones, unhinges rocks and boulders, and displaces dirt. The justice the Israelites were to let roll down comes from the LORD, Amos implied. When it comes down over a person, the flowing water removed hard places and the stain of sins. A newness of life occurs. Amos commanded the Israelites to let it affect them. He said “let justice roll down.” Do not block the channel flowing from God to your heart, He meant, but let it do its good and righteous work so it will cleanse you and make you righteous.

Besides allowing God to cleanse them and allowing that righteousness to influence their lives and actions, Amos commanded them to let righteousness be “like an ever-flowing stream.” The waters of justice that come from the LORD are not stagnant; they keep flowing. We can and often do choose to stop the flow into our lives when we decide we want to do things our way or “live our own lives.” Amos told the Israelites to let the righteousness of God continue to their hearts as an ever-flowing stream. Let that stream continue through them to the people they encounter and represent in the community. Let their thoughts and actions be righteous. An ever-flowing stream smooths stones, makes a deeper stream bed, creates a more permanent path, and allows people a permanent supply of water upon which they can count for planting, growth, and sustenance. Amos told the Israelites to let God’s justice and righteousness flow on and through them. Be made right with the LORD and let it affect their actions and words. Let its affect cause the community and the people to care for and serve each other.

These metaphors of justice and righteousness being like an ever-flowing and powerful down-flow of water are a foreshadowing, too. It reminded the Israelites of the LORD’s plan to send a Messiah whose blood would flow to bring us salvation from our sins and make us righteous.  For the Israelites it spoke of God’s judgment, cleansing, and continual provision of cleansing, righteousness, and judgment. For their future, it spoke of His promise of cleansing and a continual provision of life and salvation for all people who believe.

The LORD rejected the Israelites’ worship because it was hypocritical and because of their absence of righteousness and justice. He rejects the worship of people today who are hypocritical and unrighteous. Our worship of God should come from our whole being, not just our body. It should not be mere ritual, but should be real and from our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

·         Do we have the continual flow of God’s righteousness in our lives?

·         Does it show in our actions and words each day?

·         Do you need to unblock the water flow from God and let His justice, righteousness, and mercy flow into your life?

Accusation of Religious Hypocrisy (reprise)

Amos resumed his sermon on the Israelites’ religious hypocrisy. The people of the northern kingdom claimed their election by Yehovah as His holy people, but they did not exclusively choose Yehovah as their God. They worshiped other gods. Because they did that, their worship of the LORD was merely ritual. The Israelites had covenanted to have no other gods except the LORD and not to worship manmade images (Commandments 2 and 3). With verses twenty-five and twenty-six Amos directed the Israelites to their sins of breaking these commandments. He stated in verses twenty-five and twenty-six,

²⁵ “Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? ²⁶ You also carried along Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.” [NASB]

In verse twenty-five, the English word “present” comes from the Hebrew word nagash. Nagash means to draw near to God to bring something to Him. Amos asked a question of the Israelites in this verse. Did they draw near to God to bring Him sacrifices? The main part of this question is did they draw near to God. To draw near to God, one must have a repentant heart and genuinely seek Him. God said this to Solomon when He answered his prayer in 2 Chronicles 7:14. The LORD said, “If My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” [NASB] To be in His presence, God said people must pray, seek Him, and turn from their wicked ways. In Amos 5:25, Amos asked the people did they draw near to God with sacrifices and grain offerings. If they did, God would accept their offerings and sacrifices. He promised the Israelites if they genuinely sought Him, they would find Him.  

When Amos asked the question in verse twenty-five, he asked if they did it during their forty years wilderness experience. Many times Moses recorded the worship of idols in the wilderness. Moses, too, was the one who gave God’s laws about worship to the Israelites as they wandered. Some people wonder if Amos asked a rhetorical question. Others say it cannot have been rhetorical because the worship regulations were to begin after the Israelites entered the Promised Land according to Numbers 15:1. (Frank Page) What is important about this question by Amos is not so much the timing of the offerings, but their hearts. Did they during their history truly draw near to God? That required a genuine seeking of God with the heart requiring contrition and love for God, not self. Truthful Israelites would mostly have replied in the negative. Since they did not draw near to God, their acts of worship toward God were false and He rejected them.

In verse twenty-six, Amos reminded the Israelites of their idol worship. This harkened back to the Israelites’ worship of golden calves in the wilderness and the gods of Moab when they camped on the eastern side of the Jordan River before entering the Promised Land. It reminded the Israelites of their worshiping false gods during their current time, too. By naming some gods they worshiped during the 750s BC, it showed their unfaithfulness to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors. Amos said they carried along Sikkuth. “Carried along” comes from the Hebrew word nasa’ and means to bear, lift up, and exalt. The Israelites exalted another god. Sikkuth means tent or tabernacle, but it was also a Babylonian deity like Moloch or Saturn, a war god. Amos said the Israelites lifted up and exalted a Babylonian false god, instead of the One God Yahweh. He said they made a star image to represent their god, Kiyyun. Amos was not the only writer to speak of these gods of the Israelites. Acts 7:42-43, written by the apostle Luke, refers to these gods the Israelites worshiped.

The important point Amos made in these two verses is the Israelites did not worship God exclusively. They worshiped other gods and, thus, the ritualistic worship they gave to the LORD was not worship. The people of the northern kingdom did not draw near to the LORD seeking Him with their whole being. Their worship included several gods. For that, Yehovah ‘Elohyim rejected the Israelites’ worship and judged them. They were unrighteous and unjust. The Israelites practiced hypocritical worship. Their election as God’s holy nation would not protect them from the wrath of the One Holy God who is righteous. His righteousness required justice on His enemies. When the Israelites or anyone broke His just laws, judgment would occur.

·         What wrong have you committed that you refuse to admit to yourself? Possibly you keep stuffing it down hoping it will go away. We each have at least one of these wrongs because we are all sinners and are ashamed of our sins.

·         What have you done to try to appease the guilt and make it alright? Did that work?

·         Have you sought God, repented, and found Him and His mercy? He told Solomon about it in the Old Testament and made it a reality for all humankind with the death of His Son, Jesus, in the New Testament.

God’s Certain Judgment (reprise)

Amos prophesied to the Israelites several times about God’s judgment of them for their sins. In Amos 3:12, 4:2-3, and 5:5, Amos said the people of the northern kingdom of Israel would go into captivity. Lest the Israelites not believe him as they did not believe the other prophets who proclaimed God’s word to them, he said it would certainly come because God swore by His own name (Amos 5:8). With Amos 5:27, Amos again spoke God’s word of judgment on the Israelites. He said in verse twenty-seven,

 ²⁷ “‘Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,’ says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.” [NASB]

With the word “therefore,” God explained something would happen because of Israel’s sins of the preceding verses. His judgment proclaimed they would go into exile beyond Damascus. This told the Israelites which nation would subdue and capture them, the Assyrians. No nation had ever subdued and captured the Israelites. The LORD had fought their battles for them. The Israelites had remained a theocracy, a nation chosen by God and ruled by His laws. Notice this time when an enemy came to the gates of Israel, it would happen because the LORD allowed it. How would the Israelites know this prophecy would occur? Amos stated, “the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts, said it.” Yehovah (the existing One, the I AM), whose name is the ‘Elohiym (the ruler and judge) of hosts said it would happen. ‘Elohiym, the ultimate judge and ruler, would carry out this judgment, not an intermediary. By removing His hand of protection, He willed the Israelites’ conquer and capture. Because there was no justice or righteousness in Israel and they worshiped idols, they would not survive God’s judgment. His judgment would affect all the Israelites of the northern kingdom.

·         In the past when you did something wrong and knew it was wrong, but refused to stop, did you feel God’s censure of your actions and attitudes, of pulling away from Him and what is right? Hardened criminals and addicts show this and we can easily discern it.

·         What did you do to stop feeling the guilt God put in your heart and mind because of your wrongdoing? Did that make it go away and you feel better?

·         Is your life now not what you would like because God allowed it since you would not repent and return to a right relationship with Him?

Recap

Amos spent four chapters expanding for the Israelites of the northern kingdom their sins of which God specifically charged them. In Amos 5:18-27, Amos used a chiastic structure to help the Israelites and later readers understand the message of this sermon. God wants all sinners to return to Him, and let His justice and righteousness cleanse them. The Lord wants His righteousness and justice lived out in our lives through our words and actions. God said Israel did not do that. In this section of Amos 5, the Israelites did not worship the LORD with their whole being-heart, soul, mind, and strength-only with empty religious ritual. God said they worshiped false gods and did not worship Him solely. For this, Amos prophesied God’s judgment would certainly happen. If a person ran from a lion, he would meet a bear. If she ran to the safety of her home, a snake would bite her. There was nowhere the Israelites could go where God and His judgment would not find them. It would certainly happen. When the Israelites cried out to the LORD for His day to come upon their enemies, they would realize they, too, were His enemies. The “day of the LORD” would not be the day of celebration they wanted, so they needed to return to a true relationship and worship of God.

Conclusion and Relevance

Though Amos spoke to people who lived in the Middle East over 2800 years ago, we can still apply this lesson to us today. We all sin against other people and God. When we hurt someone, we break one of God’s commandments. Breaking a commandment shows lack of love to God. When we break one of these commandments, which God gave humanity for its orderly and respectful functioning and to lead us to keep our focus on Him, we break all His commandments. James made this point in James 2:1-13. Specifically recall James 2:10,

¹⁰ “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” [NASB]

No one can keep the letter of the law perfectly. We are all sinners and keep sinning. Yet God made a way for us to receive cleansing permanently from our sins and guilt. That way came through the death of His Son, Jesus, who took on human form and did not sin in his 33 years of living on earth. Though Jesus faced temptation, He did not sin. Because of God’s love for us, He died a sinner’s death on a cross. Jesus’ crucifixion paid our sin penalty that God’s judgment requires. Romans 6:23 says, 

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Death while one remains guilty of sin is permanent, eternal separation from Yehovah, the existing One, I AM. Yehovah is the One who created you and has provided the redemption price for you to live with Him eternally in heaven. He wants to have a relationship with you and so sent His Son to die for you and all people. When you accept Jesus as the Savior of your soul who takes away your sins and believe He is the Son of God, you become a child of God. Paul stated it this way in Galatians 3:26,

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

When we become children of God, we fellowship with Christ. Romans 8:16-17 says this,

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if we indeed suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” [NASB]

If we live as the Israelites did, we would remain sinful. Our worship of God, if we worshiped Him, would be in vain. Our lives would be fraught with guilt and shame. Our deaths would be permanent. It would be eternal separation from God,

the One who loves you

the One who paid the price for your sin so you could be in a loving relationship with Him

the One who keeps calling to you

Pray

Seek Him

Turn from Your Sin

He will hear You from Heaven

He will forgive Your Sin

He will welcome You to an Eternal Relationship with Him

Let justice flow down like waters

And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.