WWUTT 1119 God's Love for Zion?

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Psalm 87 and the Heavenly Zion

Thank you, Becky. Psalms is where we've been doing our Old Testament study, and today we get to Psalm 87. Last week we just looked at one, and it was Psalm 86, which was a prayer of David. That was kind of a break in the Psalms from the sons of Korah, but we get back to the Korah Psalms today.

I'm going to start here by reading all of Psalm 87. On the holy mount stands the city he founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God.

Selah. Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon. Behold Philistia and Tyree with Cush. This one was born there, they say. And of Zion it shall be said, this one and that one were born in her.

For the Most High himself will establish her. The Lord records as he registers the peoples. This one was born there, Selah. Singers and dancers alike say, all my springs are in you. This is a Psalm that exalts the city of God, Zion.

It's exalting of the Lord most definitely. But looking at the city of God as the place where he has put his favor. You understand that Mount Zion has moved up to this point, right? So where was Mount Zion before?

Mount Zion was Mount Sinai. It was the place where God had descended onto the mountain like a furnace. Like smoke going up like a kiln. Lightning and thunder and peals and blasts that sounded like trumpets.

This was God speaking to his people, Israel, in Exodus 19 and 20 when he gave them the Ten Commandments. And they were terrified by what it was that they saw. But this was the place that was referred to as Mount Zion.

But now here in this Psalm, Psalm 87, Mount Zion is where? It's the place where the Temple Mount is going to be. Well, it is the Temple Mount. It's the place where the Temple is going to be built. That's Mount Zion.

So you would think of this Psalm being written after David had purchased the place where God's favor was going to be and his delight would be in a house built for himself on that spot, which would be done by Solomon.

David would not be the person who would build the house of God. That's something that would be passed on to Solomon. But the place had already been chosen. And so, therefore, delight and praise being lifted up from the people to know that this is the place that God delights to dwell in.

This is the place that he has chosen for himself. Mount Zion is now Mount Moriah, the place where the Temple is going to be constructed. And the city and the gates that are being talked about here are Jerusalem.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded, Jerusalem. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Jacob, just another name for Israel, because, of course, that was the name that was given to Jacob.

He was also called Israel. Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God, Selah. Now, verses four through six. This is the second part of this Psalm, and it kind of changes a little bit. It's the second movement here.

Among those who know me, I mention Rahab and Babylon. So, as God is calling out here, he calls out those from Rahab and Babylon. And the interesting thing about this is Babylon is the place where the people of Israel are eventually going to be exiled.

And he says, Behold, Philistia and Tyree with Cush. This one was born there, they say. And of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one were born in her. For the Most High himself will establish her.

The Lord records as he registers the peoples. This one was born there. And then we have that Selah, that pause for reflection once again. So what's being said here in verses four, five and six? Basically, this God will draw his people from even pagan lands, and he will bring them to Zion.

And yet it will be said of them that they were born in Zion, even though the pagans might say, Well, no, they weren't. They were born here. They were born in Philistia and Tyree and with Cush, which was in Egypt.

This one was born there, they say. And of Zion it shall be said, On and on it goes. So the pagans will say, We were born in pagan lands. But God is calling for himself a people even from among the Gentiles.

Now, all of this was spoken about as being mysterious. You go to Ephesians chapter three, and Paul says it was it was a mystery for us to know how God was going to call to himself a people from all over, not just from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles.

The Jews thought it was going to be through Israel, like the nations that blessed Israel would also be blessed. And those who cursed Israel would also be cursed. That's the way they thought this was going to go.

And unfortunately, there's still a lot of people who even believe that today. But God was going to call to himself people from every nation through faith in Jesus Christ by the hearing of the gospel. That's how he was going to do it.

It was mysterious to everyone before Christ came and accomplished this thing before the cross, before his resurrection, before his commissioning the disciples to go out and preach the gospel and before the giving of the Holy Spirit.

But now it has since been revealed to us. Again, Paul talks about this in Ephesians three. So God has called to himself a people for his own possession. Jesus Christ redeeming us from all lawlessness.

Paul even talks about this in Titus chapter two, and he has done this through faith in Christ. And we have been born again. No matter where we were born on Earth, we are born again in Christ and we have been sealed by his Holy Spirit for the day of redemption for Zion.

We are citizens of the kingdom of God above where Christ is. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 426, the Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother. So now you take all these mentions here of Zion, you apply something spiritual to this.

Zion is moved. Mount Zion was Mount Sinai. It became Mount Moriah when the temple was constructed there. And that's where God was pleased to dwell. But now Zion is even a different place. It is the city of God above where Christ is.

And everybody who is in Christ is a part of that new Jerusalem. We are his church, which is described as the new Jerusalem in Revelation. And we are of Zion in that sense as well, because we are born in Christ.

We are citizens of Zion, of the dwelling place of Zion. Listen to what it says in Hebrews chapter 12, beginning in verse 18. For you have not come to what may be touched. A blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

What are we talking about here? God speaking to Israel from Mount Sinai, right? That's Hebrews 12 verses 18 and 19. Verse 20. For they could not endure the order that was given. If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.

Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

We're talking about a spiritual Zion here. And we are registered. We're enrolled in heaven. Exactly Hebrews 12, 23. And what do we see here in Psalm 87? The Lord records as he registers the peoples. This one was born there.

Beautiful. I had to lean back from the mic a little bit there. I love this song and I love the connection of this to the people of God in Zion in heaven above where we are free. Verse 7. Singers and dancers alike say, all my springs are in you.

And that's the conclusion of Psalm 87, beginning with a very short third movement. People praising God, knowing that we have been born again citizens of this imperishable kingdom, which we inherit with Christ the Lord.

Of course, it doesn't say that in Psalm 87, but we understand now that fulfillment because that which was once previously mysterious to us has now been revealed through the sun. It's in Ephesians 1, beginning of verse 3, where we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

And we talk about here also being sealed by the Holy Spirit, skipping down to verse 13. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

Once again, the reference to the praise of his glorious grace. It's in Revelation chapter 13 that we read about the people who worship the beast. And in verse 8 it says, All who dwell on earth will worship the beast.

Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who was slain. The Lord knows who are his. He has written down their names before the foundation of the world.

The Lord records as he registers the people. This one was born there. We are born again in Christ into a heavenly kingdom, which is the Zion that is above, the Zion that is heavenly, not a place that's here on earth.

The mountain of God is no longer Mount Sinai. It's not even Mount Moriah anymore. It is Christ. Let's go on. Let's keep reading some other psalms here. This is Psalm 88, a psalm of the sons of Korah to the choir master, according to Mahalath-Lenoth, a maskal of Heman the Ezraite.

Psalm 88 and Trusting God in Deep Lament

Beginning in verse 1, O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you. Incline your ear to my cry, for my soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to Sheol.

I am counted among those who go down to the pit. I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.

You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. You have caused my companions to shun me. You have made me a horror to them.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape. My eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord. I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you?

Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, cry to you. In the morning my prayer comes before you.

O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors. I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me. Your dreadful assaults destroy me.

They surround me like a flood all day long. They close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me. My companions have become darkness. Yes, on that word, this is indeed a very dark psalm.

We don't even resolve it with a happy ending, or even praise that is being lifted up to the Lord. So what is the meaning behind these dreadful 18 verses? Well, even though there is no resolve, even though it doesn't end on a confident note, or expressing some sort of confidence in God, it is nevertheless implied, because this is, after all, a psalm to God.

The person has not fallen into absolute hopeless despair, even though when we go from the beginning to the end, that's probably the way we would conclude, wow, this is just hopelessness. There's no deliverance that's being offered here.

But we know that's not the case for this person, because they're still calling upon God. And one of the things that I think this psalm implies for the people of Israel, and therefore for us, is that even when we're in the darkest of moments, and there looks like there's not going to be any resolve, that we still trust in God, and we still call upon His name, even if nothing we have to express to Him is anything but lament, if our hearts really are in that much grief that we just have nothing but sorrow to express to Him, still the very fact that we call upon Him is trusting in God, knowing I cannot do this on my own, I cannot reach anything on my own, I know that on my own I'm never going to reach an end to this, so I call upon God.

So there is still a trust in God here, even though that isn't expressly stated. Plus we have in verses 6 and 14, in verse 6 it says, You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep.

And in verse 14 it says, O Lord, why do You cast my soul away? Why do You hide Your face from me? So this person who is praying recognizes that God is present in their current despair. Now it may be in a negative sense, all of this is coming upon me because God has allowed it, or God has put it upon me, but it's still nevertheless knowing that God is there.

He hasn't turned His back and walked away, and is never to be heard. It's not something like that. Where David prays, for example, in Psalm 86, I'm sorry, Psalm 66, 18, If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

And that doesn't seem to be what's going on here. There isn't an iniquity that's being cherished by the singer. So knowing that God does hear and God will deliver, which is why the person is calling out to Him, again, even though we don't end on a note of confidence.

Verses 8 through 11, I think, are the most telling. Where it says, You have caused my companions to shun me. You have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape. My eye grows dim through sorrow.

Every day I call upon You, O Lord. I spread out my hands to You. Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise You? Is Your steadfast love declared in the grave or Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Are Your wonders known in the darkness or Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? I think one of the things that the singer is expressing here is knowing that if I were to die in despair, would that be it?

Would I go down to a place where you can no longer hear, you would no longer deliver, and there would be no hope for me? So in this glimmer of hope that the singer has, calling out to God now, let me not fall into what Paul calls, in 2 Corinthians, as a worldly grief.

A worldly grief leads to death, but a godly grief leads to repentance and stronger faith. So the psalmist here is essentially asking for that. Give me something, some deliverance, some rest or peace to my soul, so that in the grief that I'm in, I don't go to a place where it therefore becomes just dark hopelessness and I won't even have a prayer anymore because you would have left me.

You would have abandoned me. That's the grief that's being expressed here. I cry out day and night before you. Psalm 88 .1. Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my cry. I'm going to resolve this psalm with Psalm 89 and I won't do exposition to this psalm.

We'll just end with it because this is the conclusion to Book 3. And then next week when we pick up our study of the psalms again, we'll be in Book 4. Here's Psalm 89. A mascal of Ethan, the Ezraite. I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever.

With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast love will be built up forever in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness. You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one.

I have sworn to David my servant. I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations. Selah. Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the Holy Ones.

For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord? A God greatly to be feared in the council of the Holy Ones and awesome above all who are around him. O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you.

You rule the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you still them. You crushed Rahab like a carcass. You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours. The world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

The north and the south, you have created them. Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. You have a mighty arm. Strong is your hand. High your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.

For you are the glory of their strength. By your favor our horn is exalted. For our shield belongs to the Lord, our King, to the Holy One of Israel. Of old you spoke in a vision to your Godly One and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty.

I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David my servant with the holy oil I have anointed him. So that my hand shall be established with him, my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him.

The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.

He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God and the rock of my salvation and I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him forever and my covenant will stand firm for him.

I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.

But I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David.

His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me, like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies. Selah. But now you have cast off and rejected, you are full of wrath against your anointed, you have renounced the covenant with your servant, you have defiled his crown in the dust, you have breached all his walls, you have laid his strongholds in ruins, all who pass by plunder him, he has become a scorn of his neighbors, you have exalted the right hand of his foes, you have made all his enemies rejoice, you have also turned back the edge of the sword, and you have not made him stand in battle, you have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground, you have cut short the days of his youth, you have covered him with shame.

Selah. How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! What man can live and never see death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your Anointed.

Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen and Amen. And I hope that the answer to these questions that the psalmist is asking here is evident. Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? The answer is Christ.

How will David's throne be established forever? How will God affirm his covenant that he made with David? It's through Jesus Christ. That is the response, that is the answer to all of this. Psalm 89. In hopeful anticipation of the Messiah who is to come.

And he has come. King of kings and Lord of lords. Glory. Hallelujah.

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