About
Reformed Pavilion
“Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
- Psalm 31:20
Who We Are
Welcome to reformedpavilion.com, website for the magazine Reformed Pavilion.
The purpose of Reformed Pavilion is to sound forth a witness of the Reformed faith over against the ceaseless assaults upon that faith. As a Reformed magazine, Reformed Pavilion must be theological, its pages proclaiming the doctrine that God is God. As a Reformed magazine, Reformed Pavilion must also be polemical, its pages doing battle against the lie that Man is God.
In keeping with its name, Reformed Pavilion will teach theology and engage in polemics in the service of the truth, as that truth gives safety, protection, and rest to God’s people. Safety, protection, and rest! How good they are! What a relief they are for God’s battle-weary people! How necessary they are for the time of trouble! No wonder the psalmist exults in God’s pavilion, for there he is safe. “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.”
Gods Pavilion
God’s pavilion for his people is Jesus Christ. Christ is the rock that is higher than us. Christ is the secret cleft in whom the believer’s life is hid with God. Christ is the tabernacle of God with men. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Christ is a refuge for his people as their savior and deliverer. He is their head and their mediator. He is their shepherd and their guide. In his hand he keeps his people, and no man shall pluck them out. By his blood he redeemed his people, and no man shall dispossess them. By his righteousness he justified his people, and no man shall condemn them. By his love he gathered his people, and nothing shall separate them from his love.
God’s pavilion is his gospel and his truth. The gospel of salvation is a bulwark for God’s people from their accusers. The truth of Jesus Christ crucified and risen is the defense of God’s people from lying lips and deceitful tongues. Though all the world screams the rightness and the goodness of man’s will, God is true, and every man is a liar.
In the gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s people have safety and rest. Being justified by faith they have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Their comfort in life and in death is that they belong to their faithful savior, Jesus Christ. Hidden in the secret of God’s tabernacle, they do not hear the clamor of man. Set up upon a rock above every enemy, they do not fear. Hidden in God’s pavilion, they rest.
Logo
The logo of Reformed Pavilion is based on Chillon Castle (seen here) on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The castle sits on the eastern shore of the lake, opposite the well-known city of Geneva on the western shore. The castle was held by powerful counts during the Middle Ages but was captured by the Protestant canton of Bern in 1536. Although there is no evidence that John Calvin ever visited the castle, Calvin arrived in the city of Geneva on the other side of the lake in 1536. Thus, the year 1536 was significant for the strongholds on both sides of Lake Geneva: John Calvin came to Geneva that year, and Protestant control came to Chillon Castle. The castle has long been recognized as a strong fortress, being located on a naturally defensible rocky islet in Lake Geneva. Chillon Castle’s solid defenses and its connection with Calvin’s Geneva make it an apt logo for Reformed Pavilion. When the psalmist speaks in Psalm 27 of God’s pavilion, he means such a fortress where the child of God finds protection and rest.