A Word in Season: Springs for the Soul (Psalm 87:7)

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In Psalm 87 and verse 7, the sons of Korah sing that the singers and the players on instruments say all my springs are in you.

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Now in order to understand precisely what they mean and what or of whom they're singing, we need to go back to the beginning of the psalm.

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His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

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Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. The psalm talks about the peculiar privileges, the distinct blessings that belong to those who are born in Zion, born in Jerusalem, because the

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Most High himself establishes her. The Lord records when he registers the peoples, this one was born there.

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For the sons of Korah there could be no sweeter privilege and no greater honour than to be born in the city where God had made himself known in a distinct way, the representation of God's dwelling with his people.

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The tabernacle came to Jerusalem. The temple was established in Jerusalem.

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That was the environment, that was the location where God showed himself to be with and among his people.

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Spiritually sensitive Israelites knew, of course, that God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, but there was a representation and a reality as God said in effect, this is where I come near to you.

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This is where I make myself known. This is the picture of what it means for me to dwell with my people.

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And that's why the singers and the players on instruments sing with rejoicing, all my springs are in you.

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It's not so much the place as the person who's in that place that makes the place itself a pleasure and a beauty to them.

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It's the fact that this is the city of God that makes the

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Zion of which they sing so precious and pleasing in their sight.

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As far as they are concerned, this is where God is known. This is where God is seen.

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This is where his glory is manifest. This is where his word is heard. This is where his sacrifices are celebrated.

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This is where people come to bow down and worship God in distinct ways and enjoy communion with him as their most high

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God and their Redeemer. And it is the exclusive source then of their joys and delights.

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It is the place from which they draw all their sustenance and their help. Now if that's how the sons of Korah could think and sing under the old covenant, how much more ought we to think and sing this way under the new covenant in which we have

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God dwelling in us and among us? Do we think of the church of Jesus Christ in this way?

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Do we think of the Christ of the church in this way? Now remember, we're obviously not speaking about a building.

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The church of Christ is a people, not a place. The place is simply where we happen to gather.

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The promise is that Christ will be with us when we gather by his spirit to make

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God known to us. And that's why we say that when it comes to our spiritual sustenance and help, when it comes to our deepest pleasures and privileges as the people of God, we look exclusively, we look dependently to the place where God makes himself known, to his word spoken, read and preached by faithful ministers of the gospel, to the ordinances that he has appointed, to those seasons of prayer, to that one great once and for all sacrifice by which we come into his presence.

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That's why we long for the Lord's day. It's why we long for the restoration of the gathering of the saints if we're still cut off from that.

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It's why we are eager to be amongst God's people in God's presence.

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Is that then the expectation and the declaration of our hearts as we come to worship

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God on the first day of the week, that we come together with the other living stones into the very presence of God, the spiritual temple that is being built for the glory of his name, and we come to praise him and to express our dependence upon him, saying again, all my springs are in you.