Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 87:1 and following. Indeed, the contrast is complete between Zion, the holy city founded by God Himself, and the powerful nations of the earth: Egypt, Babylon, Tyre… empires built by man to his own glory. The time comes when “the Lord will register the peoples” and give everyone his right of city. Two origins, two citizenships, are in a way recognized to men according to whether or not they have gone through the new birth. The believer’s is in heaven (Phil 3:20-21). He is for eternity a citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem and God considers him born in it (verse 5). The other belonging is that of the world. It is ephemeral because “the figure of this world passes,” while “the solid foundation of God remains” (1 Cor 7:28-33; 2 Tim 2:19-21). Thus, it will be said of the men of the earth, including the most illustrious: “this one was born there” (verse 4).
“All my sources are in you, “sing the redeemed (verse 7). We who are by grace citizens of heaven, would we go to draw our joys from the sources of the world? May the Lord instead give us the power to sing in all truth: Source of light and life; Source of grace for faith… Source of love always new… We found them in you. For this psalm sings the praise of Zion: Zion characterizes Israel established in grace and freed from the law (Ps. 78:65-72). As a result, his memory is a blessing before God, like the name of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3). And it is proclaimed here that this mountain is the place of his strength or his firmly established kingdom – the place of his delights – and also the place of his glory. As encouraged by these statements, Zion then seems to sing her own praises, like the mother of God’s family, presenting Jehovah himself as the witness of this dignity which is his.
And so it will be when the time comes when Zion knows the new covenant and makes it known around it (Isaiah 2; Ezekiel 37; Joel 3). For the new covenant is Sarah, the mother. In the present dispensation, there is no system or place on earth that can be called our mother, because the blood and the Mediator of the new covenant are in heaven. This is why Jerusalem, the mother, is still “above” (Galatians 4). But in the next dispensation, she will be in Judea, and then the Zion of our psalm will be able to look right and left, to Egypt and to Babylon, and recognize her children everywhere. Jehovah himself seems to sanction such statements, and the psalm ends with the expression of the joy of Zion, and His own delights in it. But a precious truth is suggested here.
Jerusalem was the cause of its own ruin; but in God is his help. It is stained with blood; but she will be cleared of this filth (Joel 3). She is now sorry and rejected because she rejected Jesus; but it will soon be hailed as “dwelling place of righteousness, mountain of holiness,” and called “the Lord is there” (Jer. 31:23; Ezekiel 48:35). Jesus has known it so far as the place where he shed tears and tears (Luke 19); but it has become the place of the living springs where he drinks in the company of those who sing with him.
‘Its foundations are in the holy mountains.’ Those who conceive that Jerusalem is meant here, as if one were saying to be founded on the holy mountains, have been mistaken. Someinterpreters explain foundations as denoting the theme or subject of the poem, because it deals with the holy city of Jerusalem, which was located on the mountains. Because it is quite common among the Hebrews to put a parent without his antecedent, this way of speaking is not strange. The name of God is mentioned soon after; and we know that he is everywhere represented as having founded Jerusalem.
Some by the mountains include Morija and Zion, which were the two peaks of a mountain split in two, but this is exaggerated: As the land was mountainous, we must rather understand the prophet as having in his eye several neighboring and contiguous mountains that formed a chain around Jerusalem; for we will see that Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains, (Ps 125:2). The true and natural meaning is then that God chose the holy mountains in order to found and erect his city in their midst. Soon after, in the rest of the subject, these words arise: “The Most High himself will establish it.” He is indeed the founder of other cities as well; yet we do not read it with regard to another city, “This is my rest forever; here I will live; for I have desired him” (Ps 132:14.)
For there is this fact that while other cities were founded and built by the direction and power of God, for the sake of civil government, Jerusalem was its special sanctuary and royal seat. Isaiah also uses a similar form of expression, (Isaiah 14:32). “The Lord founded Zion, and the poor of His people will trust in it.” Moreover, although the whole land of Judea was consecrated to God, it is said that he had rejected all the other cities and that he had chosen this one for himself to reign. Here, the question is not about earthly politics, but about spiritual government; for pure religion, and the true worship of God, and the doctrine of piety, were then found nowhere but in Jerusalem.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Zion, true homeland of all peoples:
· The Spiritual Foundation brings perfect security
Isaiah 28:16 This is why the Lord speaks, the Lord: Behold, I have laid upon upon foundation in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a cornerstone of price, firmly laid; Whoever takes it as support will not be eager to flee. Mt 7:24 Therefore, whoever hears these words that I say and puts them into practice, will be like a prudent man who built his house on the rock. 1 Cor 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid, namely Jesus Christ. 1 Tim 6:19 and thus amass for the future a treasure placed on a solid foundation, in order to grasp true life.
· Sacred places
Dt 15:20 You will eat it every year, you and your family, before the Lord your God, in the place he chooses. 1 Ch 22:1 And David said: Here shall be the house of Jehovah God, and here shall be the altar of holocausts for Israel. 2 Ch 7:15 My eyes will be open from now on, and my ears will be attentive to the prayer made in this place. Ps 78:68 He preferred the tribe of Judah, the Mountain of Zion that he loved.
· Sion
2 Sam 5:7 But David seized the fortress of Zion: it is the city of David. Ps 87:2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Rom 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The liberator will come from Zion, and he will turn the ungodly from Jacob; Rev 14:1 I looked, and behold, the lamb stood on the mountain of Zion, and with him one hundred and forty-four thousand people, who had his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
· Source of life
Ps 36:10 For with you is the source of life; By your light we see the light. Jer 2:13 For my people have committed a double sin: They have forsaken me, who is a source of living water, To dig cisterns, crevicted cisterns, Who do not retain water. Zec 13:1 On that day, a source will be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. Rev 7:17 For the lamb in the midst of the throne will graze them and lead them to the springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
From all the above, we note that this change in Zion’s position and circumstances is most precious: “Zion, whom no one seeks” (Jer. 30:17), such was his opprobrium; “the joy of the whole earth” will be his praise. And in all this, Zion is the type of the earth. For if the latter has hitherto been a cause of affliction and repentance for God (Gen 6:6-12), it is destined to become the stage where He will find His joy and glory (Ps. 8:25, 104:31). For Ps 87 considers Zion as founded by God, as a city that has foundations. Men owned cities and were proud of them, but God had a city that he had founded in the mountains of holiness; even here it is not about Joseph, or the riches of nature; the wealth of Zion is God; its place, the holy mountains, which is consecrated to God himself! For in the power of the Spirit, the faithful need not be ashamed of Zion, in the presence of all the vaunted places of the earth: what is said of it are glorious things. Egypt and Babylon boasted in vain, as well as Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia, all of which had their day. The faithful can talk about these places without fearing comparison. Zion is held to be the birthplace of the man of God, the birthplace of Jehovah’s beloved. The Most High will establish it. “When jehovah registers the people, he will count: This one was born there.” There was joy, the celebration of praise, and all the fresh sources of the Lord. They are the children of the one who was once desolate (Isaiah 49:21, 22). Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and for centuries of ages. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “because of David, the Lord will bless Zion.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.