"God and His City" (Ps. 48:4-14)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/23/2012 8:05:32 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus: “God and His City”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                     Reference:  Psalm 48:4-14

 

            Message of the verses:  Just a little review of what Psalm 48 is about before we begin to look at the remaining verses.  The psalm is about Mt. Zion or Jerusalem and it is about God.  Dr. Wiersbe believes that Psalm 48 along with 46 & 47 is part of a trilogy that was written by Hezekiah after the Lord defeated the Assyrians when they were about to attack Israel.  Quoting Dr. Wiersbe from the end of his introduction of this psalm he writes, “The various speakers in this psalm deal with four important topics.”  Yesterday we looked at “God and Their City.”

 

            God and Their Enemies (vv. 4-7):  “4 For, lo, the kings assembled themselves, They passed by together. 5 They saw it, then they were amazed; They were terrified, they fled in alarm. 6 Panic seized them there, Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth. 7 With the east wind You break the ships of Tarshish.”  

“4 The kings of the earth joined forces and advanced against the city. 5 But when they saw it, they were stunned; they were terrified and ran away. 6 They were gripped with terror and writhed in pain like a woman in labor. 7 You destroyed them like the mighty ships of Tarshish shattered by a powerful east wind.”  (NLT)

 

I have to agree with Warren Wiersbe’s thoughts that this psalm was written when the Assyrians were in the process of attacking Judah as described in the books of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and also from the prophet Isaiah who was with King Hezekiah at the time.  The Lord had promised Hezekiah that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, would not enter Jerusalem and as we have written on before as Hezekiah took a letter into the temple of the Lord and laid it down before the Lord telling the Lord of how blasphemous this letter was to the Lord and so the angel of the Lord came and killed 185,000 Assyrians in their camp in one night.  There was also vassal kings of Sennacherib’s empire with him that were going to be involved in the attack as the writer of the psalm says in verse four.  The attack from the angel of the Lord came swiftly similar to when He went through Egypt on the night of the first Passover when He killed all the first born of Egypt.

 

God and Their worship (vv. 8-11):  “8 As we have heard, so have we seen In the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish her forever. Selah. 9 We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God, In the midst of Your temple. 10 As is Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness. 11 Let Mount Zion be glad, Let the daughters of Judah rejoice Because of Your judgments.”

“8 We had heard of the city’s glory, but now we have seen it ourselves- the city of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. It is the city of our God; He will make it safe forever.  Interlude 9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. 10 As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth.  Your strong right hand is filled with victory. 11 Let the people on Mount Zion rejoice.  Let all the towns of Judah be glad because of your justice.”  (NLT)

There is a group of psalms near the end of the book of Psalms that the pilgrims sang as they ascended to Jerusalem during the feast days and as they climbed the hill to Jerusalem they sang to the Lord these psalms in worship to the Lord.  John MacArthur writes from his study bible in the introduction to Psalm 120 these words, “Psalms 120-136 comprise ‘The Great Hallel’ cf. ‘The Egyptian Hallel’ (Pss 113-118) and ‘The Final Hallel’ (Pss 145-150).  Almost all of these psalms (15 of 17) are ‘Songs of Ascent’ (Pss 120-134), which the Jewish pilgrims sang on their way up to Jerusalem (about 2700 feet in elevation) on 3 prescribed annual occasions.  These feasts included: 1) Unleavened Bread; 2) Weeks/Pentecost/Harvest; and 3) Ingathering/Tabernacles/Booths.”

 

It is possible that as the pilgrims came up to Jerusalem after the defeat of the Assyrians that they sang the words of Psalm 48 too.  These four verses are praise to the Lord about Jerusalem and one day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to rule over His 1000 year kingdom pilgrims from around the world will praise and worship Him like these children of Israel did.  If my memory serves me correct I believe that all peoples of the earth will be required to come to Jerusalem on certain occasions in the 1000 year reign of Christ.

 

God and Their Future (vv. 12-14):  “12 Walk about Zion and go around her; Count her towers; 13 Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces, That you may tell it to the next generation. 14 For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.”

“12 Go, inspect the city of Jerusalem.  Walk around and count the many towers. 13 Take note of the fortified walls, and tour all the citadels, that you may describe them to future generations. 14 For that is what God is like.  He is our God forever and ever, and he will guide us until we die.”

 

When the visitors would come to Jerusalem perhaps there would be people there to guide them around the city and see all the great parts of the city, but most of all tell them about the great God of the city and how He had protected them from the Assyrians and other enemies.  It was the job of the people to pass down to the next generation all the good things that the Lord had done for them in the past so that that generation could do the same thing.  The greatest enemy of a nation is not from around them but from within them as they forget to pass on the good things of the Lord and what He has done for them.  This is true with the Church too and we see that the Lord Jesus Christ died for the Church and while He was on earth He chose 12 men to pass this on and then these 12 minus Judas and plus Paul were the pillars of the Church who would pass on to others like Timothy what the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is and they in turn would pass it on and that is how believers today have heard of this truth, and now it is our job to pass it on to the next generation so that they can do the same.

 

We are to do this until the Lord comes in the clouds to take His bride home with Him. (1Thes 4:13-18)

                                                                                                                                   

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is because of my love for the Lord and for the Word of the Lord that I take time most every day and study the Word of God and then to on what I have learned to those who the Lord directs to read it as it goes out on the World Wide Web (WWW).  I take time to pray for those in the different countries of the world who have looked at these teachings, praying that the Holy Spirit of God will guide and direct people to these words and that they might always bring honor and glory to the Lord and that the Scriptures that are in them will not come back void, but do the work that the Spirit of God has intended for them.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Continue to trust the Holy Spirit of the Lord to guide my thoughts as I continue to study the Word of God each day.

2.     Continue to pray for those He has directed to read these studies that the Holy Spirit will accomplish what it is that He desires in the readers life including salvation and growth.

3.     Continue to learn contentment through the circumstances we face each day.

 

2/23/2012 9:03:40 AM