And please turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation for our New Testament reading, chapter 21. Revelation 21, and the reading will be verses 9 through 21. Revelation 21, nine through 21, listen to this. This is the very word of God. Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels. And on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east, three gates, on the north, three gates, on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and its walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
The wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second, sapphire, the third, agate, the fourth, emerald, the fifth, onyx, the sixth, carnelian, the seventh, chrysolite, the eighth, beryl, the ninth, topaz, the tenth, chrysoprase, the eleventh, jacenth, and the twelfth, amethyst. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
And then for our Old Testament reading and the text of the message this evening, we’ll just turn together to Psalm 48. Psalm 48, a song, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great king.
Within her citadels, God has made himself known as a fortress. For behold, the kings assembled, they came on together. As soon as they saw it, they were astounded. They were in panic. They took to flight. Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor. By the east wind, you shattered 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, which God will establish forever. We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God, forever and ever. He will guide us forever. That’s the reading of God’s word.
Let’s pray for his blessing upon it now. Father, we thank you for these words, which we have sung and have now read. And we pray that as we consider them together, that you would cause your word to accomplish what you desire and succeed in the matter for which you sent it. We pray that the matter for which you sent it would include our own building up in the faith and the drawing of the nations to yourself. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen. You’ve seen, I’m sure, bumper stickers or maybe t-shirts or other paraphernalia and accessories that have emblazoned on them the letter I and then a heart and the letters NY. Seen that?
I love New York. Anybody who wears something with that on it or puts that bumper sticker on their car has some kind of an affinity for the Big Apple. And I’ve spent some time there. I guess there’s a lot about it to like or there used to be haven’t been there in a while. But you know, there’s this, there’s this appreciation, love, a sense of allegiance, maybe to some extent to this city, this one of the great cities of our nation, one of the great cities of the world. And maybe some people who love New York are people who are from there, live there, or maybe they’re tourists. People have been there, liked it a lot, decided to put on the t-shirt or put the bumper sticker on their car.
And I bring that up because affection for a city, love for a city. Loyalty to a city is really kind of the theme or a central theme of Psalm 48. But not for the Big Apple, not for New York. The theme of Psalm 48 is, if it were to be on a bumper sticker, it’d be I love Zion. Zion being Jerusalem, or more specifically, perhaps the part of Jerusalem, that mountain within the city upon which the temple was situated, the Temple Mount, that’s Zion. And by extension, it can refer to Jerusalem, city of Zion.
Now you’ve heard the psalm, we’ve read it together, we’ve even sung it, and there are serious students of this psalm who make an effort to try to identify some historic deliverance that God’s people in the city of Jerusalem experienced that became the inspiration of this psalm.
So that whoever those sons of Korah were who became the spirit-inspired penmen who wrote this psalm, the scholars wrestle with, well, was there some event in history that they’re referring to as they, the original authors of this psalm said what they said in these words, and I think finding, it seems pretty clear that finding any specific historic event, at least one that we know of, least one that’s recorded in Scripture for us, finding one that fits all the criteria is essentially impossible. So it’s best to take this psalm as not referring to something that human beings had actually experienced, that the people of Israel, the Jews had actually experienced in this geographical place. but rather seeing this psalm as prophetically looking forward to something bigger, something greater, a deliverance, a greater deliverance than that ancient city of Jerusalem ever experienced. And we know that Jerusalem did in history experience some tremendous deliverances, some mighty salvation experiences through the power of God, But this psalm must point to something even bigger than any of those. This psalm must point even to a greater city than that one where David reigned and where Solomon reigned and where those who sat on David’s throne after him reigned.
Speaking of this psalm, Christopher Ashe wrote that the New Testament encourages us repeatedly to understand all that Mount Zion and the temple signified as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his church. And with that understanding in mind, Psalm 48 shows us that Christ’s church praises and rejoices in him as he defends and beautifies her.” Christ’s Church, that’s us. Christ’s Church praises and rejoices in him as he defends and beautifies her.
Just for a few moments here, I want to consider this psalm under three headings. Number one, earthly Mount Zion and Jerusalem foreshadow the Jerusalem above. Earthly Mount Zion and Jerusalem foreshadow the Jerusalem above. Secondly, Christ will mightily and finally deliver all of his elect. And third, God our Savior is worthy of our joyful praise. Be sure to read those back to you as we come to them. But first of all, earthly Mount Zion and Jerusalem foreshadow something.
They point to something greater, something bigger. They foreshadow the Jerusalem that’s above. The thing that we read about in our New Testament passage out of the book of Revelation. And so much of scripture makes this clear. That all the things earthly about Jerusalem, about Mount Zion, are ultimately types and shadows.
And that’s true of so much of what we read about, what we see in the Old Testament, including, for instance, the animal sacrifices. We haven’t yet read through the book of Leviticus on Wednesday evenings at prayer meeting. Maybe we’ll do that. It might be a stretching, a growing experience for us if we do that.
But all the different sacrifices that were described in the book of Leviticus in detail, they all point to Christ and His death on the cross. His death, which is the one sacrifice that actually could atone for sins. And in the same way, Jerusalem as a city, as a physical, geographical city made of bricks and gates and bars of iron, and then Zion and the temple, all of those things really symbolize Christ, and they symbolize the church. In other words, us, you and me and Christ’s people throughout the church age.
And just as testimony of that, and to validate what Christopher Ash said, that the New Testament repeatedly encourages us to think in this way, consider Galatians 4.26.
As Paul is just talking about an allegorical application of Mount Zion and Mount Sinai, And comparing the two women who bore sons to Abraham, and there was Hagar, she was the slave woman, she gave birth to Ishmael. And then there was Sarah, who was actually Abram’s wife. She brought forth Isaac, the child of the promise.
And he speaks of these two. And in that context, Paul in Galatians writes that the Jerusalem above is free, the Jerusalem above, not the one on earth, the Jerusalem above is free. And he says, and she is our mother. And as he was saying these things in that same context, he said that the actual physical city of Jerusalem, the one that you could look at with your eyes, the one that whose gates you could enter with your feet, that city was actually in slavery. And he compared the physical Jerusalem to Hagar, the slave woman, because that city is in bondage.
Similarly, The writer to the Hebrews said in chapter 12, verse 22, but you, Christians, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal gathering. And keep in mind that the writer to the Hebrews was writing to Christians, but he was writing primarily and principally to Jewish Christians. and pointing them away from that city there in Palestine and pointing their eyes to a city above. Keep in mind what Jesus said to Christians in the city of Philadelphia in those letters at the beginning of the book of Revelation, writing, To the church at Philadelphia, he said to the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God, in the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven. So you see how the whole orientation of the gospel is away from the earthly and the physical Jerusalem. And it’s pointing us to the Jerusalem above. Verse two speaks of the city of our God. It says it’s beautiful in elevation. And even that must have meaning beyond this present earth.
Because yes, the city of Jerusalem was situated on a mountain. It was a very fortified and defensible position. And then even within the walls of the city, there was a hill or a mountain where the temple was built. And if you were approaching in the flesh, if you’re on pilgrimage going up to the city of Jerusalem, and you could see it from afar, it no doubt would have been a majestic thing to see. And if you were a faithful person, as you approached it, your heart must swell with love and admiration and awe at this strong city, situated high, elevated as it was.
But the thing is, that mountain upon which the city of Jerusalem was situated, it wasn’t by far the highest of the mountains, even in the immediate area. In fact, you remember how Jesus and his disciples would go over onto the Mount of Olives? They’d leave the city even during Holy Week, and after Jesus would be teaching the temple all day, then they’d go across, they’d go through the Kidron Valley, they’d go up to the Mount of Olives. All of that was higher than the city of Jerusalem. So it’s not that Jerusalem was the highest of all the that Mount Zion was the highest of all the mountains.
Hermon and some of the others whose names you know from Scripture, they were all had actual physical elevation that was higher than Jerusalem. So there again, this superlative cities, the superlative mountain that we read about in Psalm 48 must be pointing to something else. Maybe the New Jerusalem that we read about in Revelation 21.
Did you catch the dimensions? 12,000 stadia, 12 by 12 by 12,000 stadia. What that means is, if you really put it literally on earth, the top of the city walls would be above the altitude where weather satellites orbit the earth. It’s a pretty big city, in other words.
And the Psalm speaks of it as the joy of all the earth. which is also very telling. It’s not just the joy of Israel. It’s not just the joy of the Jews. It’s the joy of all the earth, because Christ’s gospel is filling all the earth and it’s filling as it does as Christ draws men and women to himself in every nation.
He fixes in each of their hearts a love for this city. And if you look at verse eight again, says God will establish this city forever. And whereas earthly Jerusalem, even just in the history of the people of Israel was decimated not once but twice, first by the Babylonians in 576, or 586, excuse me, BC, and by the Romans in 70 AD. but the New Jerusalem will abide eternally, and Christ will reign eternally, sitting on his throne in the city of our God. And so this image of New Jerusalem, which of course is highly symbolic, what does it represent? It represents Christ’s church. Because each one of us is being built up like living stones into a house that God himself is building, a spiritual house.
And although we didn’t read those particular, yes, or did we? I’ve been spending some time in Revelation 21, and I can’t remember which parts of it were included in our reading tonight. But when the angel comes to John, says, Come, I will show you. He’s about to show John an image. Yeah, we read it. He’s about to show John the city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. But how does he introduce it? He says, Come, I’m going to show you the bride. the wife of the lamb.
So somehow or another, that city represents us. It represents the church of Jesus Christ, which he is beautifying. Remember what we sang this morning, in one of our hymns, when I stand before the throne, dressed in beauty, not my own. Christ is not only building his church, but he’s beautifying it. And he deserves our praise for that. So, that’s point number one. Earthly Mount Zion and Jerusalem foreshadow the Jerusalem that it’s above.
Secondly, Christ will mightily and finally deliver all of his elect. Verses four through seven speak of a failed failed offensive, an aborted assault on the city of God. It says in Psalm 48 that the kings assembled, very reminiscent of Psalm 2. It tells us the kings of the earth have set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.
They’re unified. They’re gathering in league against God. which might cause us to reflect on this. There are forces of evil that work in the world, spiritual forces. There are also spiritual forces of good that work in the world. There is a warfare going on. Even now, it’s going on all around us. It’s going on throughout the earth. In the spiritual realm, And that spiritual combat that’s constantly taking place and which will continue to the end of this age finds expression and has manifestations through human agency.
I don’t know about you, but as I read the news these days and see strife increasing apparently in our own country and throughout the world, it reminds me that what’s going on in the physical realm, it’s really just a manifestation of something that’s going on in the spiritual realm. And sometimes I find it frustrating that the forces of evil seem so united, they seem to walk in lockstep, whereas the forces of good just can’t seem to get it together. They’re so divided, so ununited. Why is that?
Well, part of the reason really comes down to the fact that the world, by that I mean that this present age and it’s the evil forces that dominated the world is united in its basic refusal to do what God commands them to do in Psalm 2. which is what? He says, kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. The world doesn’t want to kiss the sun. The world does not want to bow to Christ.
And they’ll do anything but that. And so they can unite. Even if their particular causes aren’t aren’t compatible a common enemy will unite against a common foe. People who have a common enemy will unite, even though they may be very diverse in their particular interests. But when it comes to any actual conflict. What this psalm really describes is a battle that wasn’t. Because the psalm says the enemies of God fled at the sight of this great city. As soon as they saw it says in verse five, they were astounded. They were in panic. They took to flight. Trembling took hold of them there.
So there never really was a battle, which reminds me of another part of Revelation. Would you turn with me to Revelation 19? These things are recorded in God’s word to encourage us, to embolden us, to cheer us, to assure us that Christ gets the victory. And so look with me at Revelation 19, starting in verse 19.
Here’s another battle that wasn’t. It says, I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. Now you pause right there and you imagine another one of those epic battle scenes in one of your favorite movies, you know, huge armies arrayed against each other. And then they, they join in combat. And then the next 5-10 minutes of the movie are people just hacking at each other and the battle rages on and you’re never quite sure who might win. But how does this battle go?
There the armies are, the beast and the kings of the earth arrayed against the Him who was sitting on the horse and His army. And what happens? Verse 20, the beast was captured. And with it the false prophet, who in his presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. What about that gigantic army? What about the kings of the earth and their armies? Verse 21, the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse. And all the birds were gorged with their flesh. Christ gets the victory, and it’s not even hard. he will mightily and finally deliver all of his elect because he’s going to be victorious over all of his and our enemies.
I wonder then if it could be that the prophet who composed Psalm 48, maybe got a glimpse, slightly different perspective, but a glimpse of the same thing as what John saw in Revelation 19. This city that he loves has fortifications. We read about them in verses 12 and 13. As he encourages us, walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels. He’s describing here an invincible fortress and that invincible fortress is Christ’s kingdom.
That’s meant to encourage us. It’s meant to encourage us about the success of the gospel. It’s meant to encourage us about the advance of Christ’s church. Just as Christ himself assured us the very gates of hell will not prevail against his church. And that is what we should be teaching to our children. That is what we should be teaching to the next generation. We need to teach our children that they’re sinners, that they need grace, and that they need to turn to Christ, and they need to believe in him. They need to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we also need to encourage and teach them that Christ gets the victory.
Consider the ramparts, the citadels, the towers of the city of our God. The ESV and other versions use the word citadel a couple of times, verse 3, verse 13. Other versions maybe that you’ve looked at use the word palaces. I think of a citadel as something like a fortress, a palace, a little bit different. But the fact is that the Hebrew word there can mean or can be translated palace, but it refers specifically to a fortified palace, a fortified palace.
And so with fortified palaces and towers and ramparts, it’s a reminder to us that brothers and sisters, you and I, in this present life, we are the church militant. Why are we called the church militant? Because we’re at war. We’re engaged in spiritual warfare. We’re constantly doing battle, spiritually speaking. And Christ, our champion, will destroy all of his and our enemies, and he will finally and mightily deliver all of us.
And that brings us to our third and final point. And that is, because of all these things, God, our Savior, is worthy of our joyful praise. He’s worthy to be praised. He’s worthy to be praised joyfully. That’s how the psalm begins. And that’s how the psalm ends. Verse one, great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. Verse 14, this is our God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.
He’s worthy of praise. So before marveling and elaborating upon the splendor and the strength of Zion, the city of God, the psalmist gives praise to God, great praise. He’s worthy of praise because he’s the one who builds the city. It’s his great city. He’s the victor who defends and delivers his city and his people. So the psalm ends with these, these heartwarming and encouraging words. This is our God forever and ever. This is Christ our King.
Verse nine says, we have thought on your steadfast love. Oh God, steadfast love. Do you see those words in your ESV? That’s Hebrew chesed. That’s the word that occurs in every single verse of Psalm 136. God’s steadfast love, His mercy, His loving kindness, it endures forever. Think on that. That’s what the psalmist did. We have thought on your steadfast love, O Lord. Reflect on the unending steadfast love of God. Praise him for it and carry that praise to the ends of the earth.
That’s our mission. And remember, Once again, the psalm says that the city of our God, in other words, Christ’s church, is the joy of all the earth, all the earth. Why is it the joy of all the earth? Very simply because the gospel is this present world’s only hope.
Verse 10. where it says, your right hand is filled with righteousness. What does that mean? Well, the right hand is this strong hand. And when the scripture speaks of God’s right hand, it’s speaking about what God does. It’s speaking about his mighty acts. It’s metaphorical, obviously, but. God’s right hand to be filled with righteousness means that His mighty works are always done in full and perfect justice. He always acts with perfect equity and righteousness.
And if I may quote once again, our brother Matthew Henry, he gives this exhortation. Let us give to God the glory of the great things which he has done for us and mention them to his honor.” In other words, praise God for what he’s done. Praise God for what he’s doing. That’s our duty. He’s worthy to receive our praise and to receive joyful praise. This reminds me of a former colleague of mine from my school teaching days.
And I remember Anytime we were praying together as a faculty or group within the faculty, when she would lead in prayer, especially she’s asking for big things, if we were seeking God to do great things for us, I remember a phrase she used to use in her prayers. After asking great things of God and expecting great things from God, she would say, and we will be careful to give you the praise. That should be our aspiration, to bring all of our requests to God, to lay them at His feet. And then when He answers us, and when He grants our desires, or when He answers according to His wisdom, whatever that answer might be, our duty and our aspiration ought to be to give Him praise.
So this psalmist, whoever he was, obviously loves the city of God. And if in his days, he had a chariot, and if in ancient Israel, they put bumper stickers on their chariots, his bumper sticker would be I love Zion. He loved, and he spoke for a people who loved the city of their God, and we should too. We love Christ as we we should love. And if we do, we’ll love his church.
Despite the imperfections of his church in this present age, in this physical realm, despite the failings of his church in this present age. And I want you to be encouraged and to have ever-increasing happiness to know that we have a place within the mighty walls of this great city.
It should give us great joy and ever-increasing happiness to know that we belong to Zion. Zion isn’t just a city that existed long ago. Zion isn’t a present political movement. Zion is the city of our God. It’s Christ’s kingdom. And we have citizenship in New Jerusalem. We have citizenship in a heavenly country that will abide forever.
Remember that tribune in the book of Acts with whom Paul had conversation. They got to, onto the topic of Roman citizenship. The tribune says, are you a Roman citizen? Paul says, yes, I am. And this tribune says, I purchased this citizenship with a great sum. Remember that? He paid out big bucks so that he could be a Roman citizen.
Someone paid a great sum for you so that you could be a citizen of heavenly Jerusalem. And he paid far more than that Tribune did if our greater price was paid to purchase your citizenship in New Jerusalem. One would assume that anybody has an I love New York sticker or t-shirt or whatever would be glad for the opportunity to go back or to visit again.
Should we not yearn for heaven and for home, for the city that we love, where the Lord is in her midst? Let’s encourage one another to do that. Let’s pray. Lord, we do pray that this psalm in particular would stir us up with love for your church, and with eager anticipation of when our Lord will come again, when he’ll return to take us to himself. And we’ll enter into the place, the city, the country, the realm of our true citizenship. And Lord, as we continue on as the church militant, we pray, O God, that you would help us to be zealous for your church, to love your church, to love your people, and to serve them, and so doing, to serve you. And we do pray that you would get all the glory and that we would be careful to glorify you for all that you’ve done for us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.