Psalms 48 – Jerusalem: The Joy of the Whole Earth
By Bunni Pounds
*This blog is part of our weekly, virtual Bible Study through the book of Psalms. For information on how to participate, please visit this page.
If you don’t believe in God – look at the miracle of the nation of Israel – specifically the story of the city of Jerusalem. God is faithful to His Word regardless of how unfaithful His children are many times. He will have the ultimate reward from our lives – Jew and Gentile, and He will cause us to shine even after enemy after enemy has tried to destroy us. A perfect example of God’s faithfulness and ultimate victory in the end is Jerusalem. As Psalm 48 says – this city will become “the joy of the whole earth”.
In Psalm 48 we see the ultimate heavenly city and the warfare surrounding it, but also the physical city of Jerusalem and the warfare of destruction that has always been around it and continues to this day. Ultimately these two realities and two stories will converge into a beautiful tapestry of God’s faithfulness and presence seen on earth.
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.” (verses 1-3)
Many cities have incredible geography and beauty. I have been to London, England, Bergen, Norway, Prince Edward Island in Canada and they are all beautiful, but no city has made me weep like walking in Jerusalem.
What separates this city from all of the cities of the earth? The story of the faithfulness of God is there.
Psalm 48 declares that this city is different because God is there. It is the “city of our God” and the “city of the great King.” This Psalm is celebrating God’s presence found on the earth.
Physically Jerusalem is high above everything else but this reference to Mount Zion “on the sides of the north” is probably not just referencing a northern slope of the literal city of Jerusalem but connecting it to the heavenly eternal city of God – referred to in Isaiah 14:13 as the “farthest sides of the north”.
God always intended His people to shine and be light to the nations. He didn’t just pick the people of Israel to be an exclusive club, but to be an example to the other nations. Here we see the manifestation of that as Jerusalem is the symbol of the beauty and joy to the “whole earth.”
“For behold, the kings assembled,
They passed by together.
They saw it, and so they marveled;
They were troubled, they hastened away.
Fear took hold of them there,
And pain, as of a woman in birth pangs,
As when You break the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard,
So we have seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God:
God will establish it forever. Selah” (verses 4-8)
Just as in ancient Israel – the kings of the land looked at Jerusalem as a jewel that they wanted to conquer, but they couldn’t. The fear of the Lord overtook them as it relates to this God filled city and they could not take it over. Even now – nations revolt against Jerusalem. Few nations stand in solidarity with Israel. This is manifest on the borders of this land as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the terrorist groups in Gaza and elsewhere look for Israel’s destruction. Also, on many days in board rooms around the world, we see corporations and world leaders try to do everything they can to boycott, sanction, and divest Israeli interests. They want to hinder their light and growth.
Remember the United Nations not so long ago doing everything it could to sanction, to downgrade their authority, and to stop the world influence of the Israeli people. It took a United States UN ambassador who wasn’t afraid to stand up for our greatest ally in the Middle East named Nikki Haley under the leadership of a President named Donald J. Trump to stop that demoralization in its tracks. The United States stood up for Israel when it mattered.
This ancient warfare story seen in Psalm 48 has not stopped. It has just morphed into a global movement of anti-Semitism as nations and ideologies are still trying to take down Jerusalem but GOD….. “God will establish” this city of God forever.
“We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness,
In the midst of Your temple.
According to Your name, O God,
So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion rejoice,
Let the daughters of Judah be glad,
Because of Your judgments.” (verses 9-11)
Even in the middle of conflict – the command is to think of God’s lovingkindness in His presence. The temple is a physical place where people meet with God but also a spiritual symbol of the Spirit of God inside of us.
The right hand of authority of God is “full of righteousness” and causes the city to rejoice and the people in it. The faithfulness of God is seen, and the victory of God is sure. There is nothing to fear when God is there. He will judge the whole earth and His people will be saved.
“Walk about Zion,
And go all around her.
Count her towers;
Mark well her bulwarks;
Consider her palaces;
That you may tell it to the generation following.
For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide
Even to death.” (verses 12-14)
The Psalmist asks us to look around and walk about Zion and notice the strength of the city, its fortresses, and its security. Look at it and marvel at the faithfulness of God to keep it strong. This was the testimony of the city of Jerusalem in the day that this Psalm was written, and it is the testimony of the city today. God has kept this city from destruction and has established His covenant people there again. It is the place where His glory will be seen in the coming days as Jew and Gentile become “One New Man” in the Messiah of Israel.
Ephesians 2:14-16 - “For He Himself (Jesus) is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
Ultimately the warfare over this city will end.
The Overcomer will overcome all enemies and He will forever write His name on the courts of Jerusalem. The light of the Lamb of God will fill the whole city and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the water covers the sea.
Here are promises of the New Jerusalem and its beauty manifested for the world to see.
Revelation 3:12 – “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”
Revelation 21:22-23 – “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”
This Psalm should give us so much hope because God knows the end from the beginning. His plans have always been the same – to redeem His people, to bring the glory His Son – the Lamb of God – to the forefront, and to create a place of refuge and a fortified city for His people to experience His presence forever.
Whether we like it or not – we are all going to end up in the city of Jerusalem. This city will be the “JOY of the WHOLE EARTH”. It will look differently than it does today. It will be completely redeemed.
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