Eternal Jerusalem
Psalm 48
A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain,
2beautiful in elevation, is the
joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
3Within her citadels God has
made himself known as a fortress.
4For behold, the kings
assembled; they came on together.
5As soon as they saw it, they
were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight.
6Trembling took hold of them
there, anguish as of a woman in labor.
7By the east wind you shattered the
ships of Tarshish.
8As we have heard, so have we
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will
establish forever. Selah
9We have thought on your
steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.
10As your name, O God, so your
praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with
righteousness.
11Let Mount Zion be glad! Let
the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments!
12Walk about Zion, go around
her, number her towers,
13consider well her ramparts, go
through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation
14that this is God, our God
forever and ever. He will guide us forever.
In the Bible the
city of God is Jerusalem, but it is Jerusalem on three levels: the earthly
city, the church on earth, and the church in heaven. This psalm praises God for
His presence with us using Jerusalem as the focal point.
The first mention of
Jerusalem in the Bible comes in Genesis 14 when Abraham meets up with
Melchizedek who is the king of (Jeru)Salem. At that point, the city was known
only as Salem. During the time of the Canaanites it was known as Jebus (as in
the Jebusites). It wasn’t until the time of King David that it took on the name
Jerusalem as he added the name of God to the city’s designation. Since that
time the ownership of Jerusalem has been most hotly contested. As we know,
today in the center of this city lays the Temple Mount, controlled by the
Muslims. Jews, Muslims, and Christians all claim it to be a holy site and thus
desire control. But if we are to be students of the Word, we will find that for
God, that clump of dirt is not the main focus. Instead God looks at His whole
Church and the true Jerusalem in Heaven with Him. I need not be in Jerusalem
to experience the presence of God. Instead through the power of the Holy
Spirit, God is ever with me, no matter where I am today.
This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.
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