WWUTT 1264 When the Brothers Dwell in Unity? (Psalms 132, 133, 134)

It is good and it is pleasant when the brethren dwell together in unity.

In Christ we have fellowship with God and we have fellowship with the people of God forever when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky. We come back to our study of the Psalms and today we'll finish up that section of the

Psalms referred to as the songs of the ascents. Whenever the children of Israel went to Jerusalem to worship they went up.

Since Jerusalem was on the top of a hill and the temple itself on Mount Moriah so it was at the highest point.

These were the songs that the Hebrews would sing as they went up to worship. Therefore they are called the songs of the ascents and we're going to begin with the longest of these songs and that's

Psalm 132. I'll start out here reading all 18 verses. Remember O Lord in David's favor all the hardships he endured how he swore to the

Lord and vowed to the mighty one of Jacob. I will not enter my house or get into my bed.

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the

Lord a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Behold we heard of it in Ephrathah.

We found it in the fields of Jayar. Let us go to his dwelling place.

Let us worship at his footstool. Arise O Lord and go to your resting place you and the ark of your might.

Let your priests be clothed with righteousness and let your saints shout for joy.

For the sake of your servant David do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back.

One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne. If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.

For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place.

This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it.

I will abundantly bless her provisions. I will satisfy her poor with bread.

Her priests I will clothe with salvation and her saints will shout for joy.

There I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.

His enemies I will clothe with shame but on him his crown will shine.

This is this was likely written before the building of the temple because you have that statement that's made there arise

O Lord and go to your resting place. It doesn't give credit to David so it doesn't say that this is a song of David and we have seen in the songs of the ascents those songs that were written of David or written of Solomon Psalm 127 was written of Solomon.

Psalm 124 was a song of a sense of David. This one is like right in the middle.

It's between David and it's between Solomon and credit is given to neither one but Solomon was the one who built the house of of the

Lord. He built the temple and then it was by his prayer that he made that the presence of God came into the temple in the cloud and then in the fire and remained there until Judah was exiled to the

Babylonians about 400 plus years later. So that was the that was when

God came into the temple in response to that prayer that Solomon had made.

Maybe this song was a song that was sung as the children of Israel went to that place.

It was it was composed specifically for that reason. So the children of Israel would gather there as Solomon consecrated the temple and ask for God's presence to dwell in it.

So remember O Lord in David's favor all the hardships he endured. David is the one that gathered all the materials that were going to be used for the construction of this temple.

God was not going to allow David to build it but his son Solomon it would be passed to him and Solomon built the temple in peace.

David was a man of war Solomon a king of peace and Israel enjoyed peace under Solomon for 40 years and and so it was in peace that the temple was constructed from those materials that David had gathered and the plans that he set forth for the construction of this place.

David acquired the threshing floor of Ornan in First Chronicles Chapter 21 and that was the place where the temple would be built not by David's hand but by his preparation and then

Solomon would construct it. So we have it stated here at the beginning of the psalm.

Remember O Lord in David's favor all the hardships he endured how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the mighty one of Jacob I will not enter my house or get into my bed.

I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the

Lord a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Now that may not mean that David literally didn't sleep until he purchased the threshing floor the place where the temple would be constructed.

It may just be a figure of speech to be this is my greatest desire right now.

This is what I'm putting all of my energies and efforts toward finding a place where the temple of God would be built and because of God's favor upon David and David's heart for the

Lord we have now well verses six and seven behold we heard of it in Ephrathah we found it in the fields of JR.

These are references to the land where David was from Ephrathah you may have remembered from the prophecy concerning Bethlehem Bethlehem of Ephrathah in Micah 5 2.

So that was that area JR was the other little village that was known in that place.

Let us go to his dwelling place let us worship at his footstool. We heard of this in Ephrathah because that was the place where David was from verse eight and nine verses well verses eight through ten.

This is adapted from the prayer that Solomon prays when he asked for God to come and dwell in this temple that has been built.

Either Solomon is praying something that had been written in this psalm or Solomon was praying something that would be adapted into the psalm is in therefore the psalm 132 we might even consider to be something historical not written between David and Solomon but even after Solomon remembering what was done to build this place where God dwells.

So therefore every time the children of Israel would go up to the place to worship at the temple they would be asking that the

Lord's presence would be there arise O Lord and go to your resting place that we may come to that place where you rest and be in the presence of God.

So we start there in verse eight arise O Lord and go to your resting place you in the ark of your might let your priests be clothed with righteousness and let your saints shout for joy for the sake of your servant

David do not turn away the face of your anointed one so therefore stay in this place where you dwell and don't go somewhere else.

That's the request and God's response to that prayer that Solomon had made is as long as my people turn from their wicked ways and seek my face then

I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land that was 2nd

Chronicles 714 you perhaps know that verse. So that is God's promise if my people are faithful to my covenant

I will be faithful to this covenant verse 11 the Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back one of the sons of your body.

I will sit on your throne if your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.

Now we know that eventually the sons of David turned away from the Lord and the

Lord therefore cut off David's sons from the throne of Israel for a time that was after the exile to Babylon.

Then when the children came back there was not a king in Israel. No one would end up sitting on the throne that was from the line of David.

There was Zerubbabel who was there at the time of Nehemiah but Zerubbabel wasn't considered a king.

You would have the Herod's that would assume the throne they were appointed there by the Romans but the

Herod's were from the the line of Edom. They were not from the line of Judah.

Therefore they were not the rightful heirs to those thrones. They assume the throne over Israel out of political appointment because the

Romans again were the ones that put them there. So this is a prophetic reference to the coming of Christ.

That's what's being talked about here. The son of David that would be put on the throne that would fulfill this covenant forever would be the one who is eternal himself and that is

Jesus Christ. Jesus who is enthroned in heaven now is the fulfillment of that Davidic covenant.

I will establish your kingdom forever on your throne. I will establish my kingdom forever was the promise that God made to David.

And so sure enough from the line of David comes the Messiah and Jesus sits enthroned on high in heaven forever.

So on David's throne God's kingdom is established forever.

We go on in verse 13 for the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place.

This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it.

Now this is of course a reference to a physical place as we read about it in this Psalm. But as we've talked about previously

Zion is wherever God dwells. We're not just talking about a physical landmark at a certain place on earth for Zion moved wherever God moved when

God was at Mount Sinai. That was Zion when God came to Mount Moriah.

That was Zion. Now Christ is enthroned on high and that is Zion. When we sing with Isaac Watts we're marching to Zion beautiful beautiful Zion.

We're marching onward to Zion the beautiful city of God. We're talking about going to heaven.

We want to be in that beautiful eternal city where Christ is forever.

So wherever God dwells that is Zion. We're having a reference to a physical place here in Psalm 132.

But this is pointing us to a spiritual reality that we will have forever with God in glory.

This is my resting place forever. God says here I will dwell for I have desired it.

I will abundantly bless her provisions. I will satisfy her poor with bread her priests.

I will clothe with salvation and her saints will shout for joy there.

I will make a horn to sprout for David. I have prepared a lamp for my anointed his enemies.

I will clothe with shame but on him his crown will shine and this is in reference to the people of God.

That's us his church who will dwell with God forever. I will abundantly bless her provisions.

I will satisfy her poor with bread. These are all spiritual realities that we experience as the church of God.

So dwell in Christ be in Christ forever as he dwells with us.

We were talking about this yesterday when we were studying in Romans chapter 8 what it means to be in Christ to dwell with him forever and he will dwell with us forever.

That is the promise of God that we have from him in scripture. Let's go to Psalm 133.

We've gone from the longest song of the ascents to the two shortest that would be 133 and 134.

So here we go. The first one is a song of a sense of David. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.

It is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard on the beard of Aaron running down on the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion for there the

Lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore. There is a family that we've had come sing at our church several times the

Spencer family and they've taken this song and put it to music. It's beautiful. I'm actually going to play it for you here in just a little bit but we have it starting out behold how good and pleasant it is when the brothers dwell in unity in Proverbs chapter six.

It says there are seven things six things that the Lord hates a seventh that he abhors and the thing that he abhors is when one sows discord among the brethren.

God hates that but how good and pleasant it is when the brothers dwell in unity.

We have so much division going on right now even within the church over the whole social justice movement and black lives matter and things like this when the church starts to engage in and adopt race politics.

It actually keeps people divided. It does not Unify anybody. What is the word that we have in Ephesians chapter four right at the end of the chapter starting in verse 30.

It says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice be kind to one another tender hearted forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you that is how we are to be not bitter with one another but forgiving each other as God in Christ forgave you.

We dwell in unity when we dwell in the spirit of the Lord. That's the way that Ephesians chapter four begins.

There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one

Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all we have unity in Christ.

We cannot create unity for ourselves. Sociology is never going to create unity for us.

It is Jesus Christ that unifies that unity that we have when the church is together is one like this.

It's like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard on the beard of Aaron running down on the collar of his robes and that oil was fragrant too.

So you have the beautiful perfume of the oil that just fills that place.

It treats the senses in every way. That's what unity is like.

It's enjoyable in everything in our members in the body of Christ. Everybody gets to enjoy that together.

It is like the dew of Herman which falls on the mountains of Zion that place where God dwells for there the

Lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore this unity that we experience together is a church together at Zion that place where God dwells this unity that we experience is not temporary.

It's not tertiary. It's not just as long as the earth endures. It is forever eternally with God in glory.

Let's do this last one Psalm 134 a song of a sense come bless the

Lord all you servants of the Lord who stand by night in the house of the

Lord lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord may the

Lord bless you from Zion. He who made heaven and earth so if there's one theme that you see in all three of these

Psalms it is a reference to Zion that place where God is and we will be in the place of God when we are in Christ Jesus.

We are there together with God in fellowship because of the reconciliation that we have in Christ and we also have fellowship with one another because we are reconciled to each other in Christ.

Here is the Spencer family closing us out. It is good. And it is pleasant when the brethren dwell in unity.

For the brethren to dwell in unity.

Then when all the Lord's anointing just like he anointed

Aaron long ago. It is good.

And it is pleasant. For the brethren to dwell in unity.

It is good. And it is pleasant.

For the brethren to dwell in unity.

Then when all the Lord's blessing like the dew of hermine falling on the hills.

It is good. And it is pleasant.

For the brethren to dwell in unity.

It is good. And it is pleasant.

For the brethren to dwell in unity.