(upbeat music)
- Hi, this is Pastor Tom.
I want to welcome you to our look at Psalm 87
in "Drive Time Devotions."
Psalm 87 is a Psalm about Zion, about Jerusalem.
It's only seven verses.
So let me read it, and then we're gonna look at
what it means for us today.
Psalm 87, one to seven.
He has set his foundation on the holy mountain.
The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are said of you, O city of God.
I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me.
Philistia, too, and Tyre along with Cush,
and will say this one was born in Zion.
Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
this one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.
The Lord will write in the register of the peoples,
this one was born in Zion.
As they make music, they will sing,
all my fountains are in you.
So this is a Psalm all about Zion, and Zion is Jerusalem.
And Jerusalem is a very important city.
And we could take hours talking about the Old Testament
and the New Testament history of Jerusalem,
or about the current political state of Jerusalem,
or about the second coming prophecies about Jerusalem.
But that's not what Psalm 87 is about.
Psalm 87 is about the spiritual truth
that God has given us some things
through this city called Zion.
And for all of us who are followers of Christ,
this spiritual truth of what Zion means for us
is the starting place of any talk about Jerusalem.
There are four truths in this Psalm.
God loves his city, God invites all into his city,
God establishes his city,
and God refreshes us in his city.
And that's what we're gonna look at today
in Drive Time Devotions in Psalm 87.
Number one, God loves his city.
Verse two, the Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Now why?
Why does he love the gates of Zion?
Because it's where the tabernacle of God was,
and then where the temple of God was located.
And the tabernacle of God and the temple of God
is where the presence of God dwelt.
So to go through the gates into the city of Zion
was to approach God's presence.
Now today, for us as followers of Christ,
Zion still spiritually represents
the place where God dwells.
In the New Testament, we're told that God's dwelling place
through his spirit is now in the hearts of his people.
So does that mean that God no longer needs a city?
We have Christ in our hearts,
but we're still living in an evil world.
And we still long for a better place.
That place is the heavenly Jerusalem, Zion.
A place where God's people, filled with God's spirit,
God dwelling in their hearts,
will dwell with God forever.
And God loves that city.
Hebrews 12 22 is the great verse in the New Testament
about this city of Zion.
But you have come to Mount Zion,
to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels
in joyful assembly.
That is what we're looking forward to
as followers of Christ.
You and I need to realize that we are meant
to have God dwelling in our hearts,
but not dwelling in our hearts alone.
We live in community with other believers.
We celebrate and worship with all of these angels.
We're gonna do that forever.
So God loves his city because of that.
And number two, God invites all into his city.
In verse four, he says,
"I will record Rahab and Babylon among those
who acknowledge me, Philistia too,
and Tyre along with Cush."
And we'll say, "This one was born in Zion."
The Lord's gonna write in verse six
in the register of his people,
"This one was born in Zion."
Born in Zion.
If you are a follower of Christ,
if you said to Jesus, "I need you.
I need you to forgive the wrong things I've done.
Thanks for doing it through the cross.
I need you to lead and guide my life.
Thank you through the resurrection
for showing me your power to be the Lord in my life."
If you know Jesus Christ,
your spiritual birth certificate
says that you were born in God's city.
You're not a citizen of this earth any longer.
You're a citizen of heaven.
You're a citizen of Zion as well.
And he says in these verses,
he lists Philistia and Tyre and Cush,
some of the enemies of Israel.
He lists Rahab and Babylon.
Rahab is the Old Testament name for Egypt.
One of the great enemies of the people of Israel
all throughout the Old Testament.
They had to be set free from Egypt, the slavery there.
And then Babylon,
they're taken into captivity in Babylon
later in Israel's histories.
The greatest enemies of Israel are invited.
So all are invited.
Even in the Old Testament,
we're told what a loving heart God has.
He invites all in.
Now, sometimes we can miss that even as believers
and think that somehow the faith
is just for those who already have the faith.
No, all are invited in.
Sometimes we think that the faith
is only for those who are good enough to receive the faith.
And we know it's not by our goodness,
but we also want it for people that are good enough.
Even the worst, even the Egypts
and the Babylon of this world, of your life,
they're invited in.
All are invited in.
Number three, he tells us in this wonderful Psalm
about Zion that God establishes his city.
He has set his foundation
in verse one on this holy mountain.
And in verse five, the last half says,
"The most high himself will establish her."
He establishes, he sets the foundation.
Now in a foundation,
the most important stone was the cornerstone.
It was the stone upon which everything else rested.
And the foundation for God's spiritual city of Jerusalem,
it's as clear as a bell.
He doesn't want us to miss this.
First Peter two, four to six says,
"As you come to him, Jesus, the living stone,
"rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him,
"you also like living stones
"are being built into a spiritual house
"to be a holy priesthood,
"offering spiritual sacrifices
"acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
"For in scripture it says,
"See, I lay in Zion a stone.
"I lay a stone in Zion,
"a chosen and precious cornerstone.
"And the one who trusts in him
"will never be put to shame."
Jesus is the cornerstone.
God establishes his city through Jesus,
through Jesus's incarnation,
through Jesus's teaching,
but more powerfully through Jesus's death on the cross
and his resurrection from the dead.
That's how God's city is established.
That's the foundation that it rests on.
So all of eternity,
we're gonna be in this city together
and the foundation of that city
is gonna be the cross and the resurrection of Christ.
That's what we look forward to.
And then verse four,
I mean, verse four and number four,
the fourth truth he tells us is
that God refreshes us in this city.
In verse seven,
"As they make music, they will sing,
"All my fountains are in you."
All my fountains,
only in you can I find the living water that I need.
We are able to look forward
to being refreshed and renewed in God's city
throughout all eternity.
That's what the scripture tells us.
The last part of the book of Revelation,
which looks forward to eternity,
Revelation 21, two to four says,
"I saw the holy city,
"the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
"prepared as a bride,
"beautifully dressed for her husband.
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men
"and he will live with them and they will be his people.
"And God himself will be with them and be their God.
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
"There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain
"for the old order of things has passed away."
This picture of fountains, of living water,
refreshing us forever,
it's a part of this holy city that God talks about here.
This holy city that's gonna be this place of God's dwelling
that we're in forever.
This is the city we're gonna live in forever.
This is what we look forward to.
And in that city, I am refreshed forever.
In Revelation 21, we're told
that it's the place of God's presence.
In Revelation 22, we're told about the refreshing water
of God's presence in that city.
Verses one and two.
"Then the angel of God showed me the river
"of the water of life."
That's the clearest crystal.
"Flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb
"down the middle of the great street of that city,
"on each side of the river stood the tree of life
"bearing 12 crops of fruit,
"yielding its fruit every month.
"And the leaves of the tree
"are for the healing of the nations."
That's what we have to look forward to.
A simple way to think of the message
of the book of Revelation.
And in one sense, the message of Psalm 87
is that it's about two cities in this world.
The city of man and Revelation,
that's represented by Babylon.
And we can see it still in our world today.
The city of selfishness, the city of evil,
the city of getting our way.
But there's also the city of God.
And that is represented by Jerusalem, by Zion,
which will stand forever.
The city of man is dying.
And the city of God is being established
and will last forever.
So where are you gonna recognize that you live today?
That's the question.
Let's pray about it.
And our Father, as we pray,
we see that because we're surrounded
by the things of this world,
it can sometimes be tempting to think
that we're a citizen of this world.
We take a moment with you right now
to recognize that we are not.
We are a citizen of this city of Zion,
of this new Jerusalem.
Our name is written on the register
of those who live in this city.
We will dwell with you forever.
And we dwell with you now.
By your spirit, we can be reminded of this truth,
even in this world, even before we get there,
that this is not only our destination,
but it is our hope today.
So Lord, I pray that we would live with that hope.
Let us be people of hope
because the world around us needs hope.
The world that's dying around us
needs to know that there is life.
There is a place of refreshing
that we can have right now in our hearts
and we can look forward to in eternity.
Let us live with that hope and share that hope today.
I pray it in your name, Jesus.
Amen.
Well, join us tomorrow.
We're gonna look together at Psalm 88.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music)