The God of Mount Zion (Psalm 48)
Summary: Yahweh’s City teaches Yahweh’s strength and faithfulness.
Table of Contents
Point 3: Response B: Gladness 9
Point 4: The Command (v.12–14). 11
Question: How do believers in the church obey these commands? 11
Introduction
Intro Image
Let’s begin with a word of prayer.
This morning, we are going to look at Psalm 48, but before we do, I want us to consider a viral event from a couple years ago. In 2015, an image of a inconspicuous image sparked heated debate. Many of you might remember this. It was just a picture of a dress. This image had not been doctored. But, for some reason, some individuals saw the dress as black with blue stripes, while others saw it as gold with white stripes. Do you remember this?
Well, this dress exploded on the internet, being the subject of 4.4 million tweets in just 24 hours. Individuals were choosing sides, picking teams, getting into arguments.
And many more were just baffled at how people could disagree on something so basic, how there could be different opinions on a matter of fact.
Now, this is a silly example. But we certainly know far more divisive and important topics. There is certainly no shortage of things that can and do divide people.
Well, this morning we will be looking at a much more serious matter of fact. And this matter likewise produces two completely opposite responses. The first response is fear and flight. The second response is refuge and rejoicing.
Where are these two groups responding to? They are responding to the strength of God. This morning, we will be looking at Psalm 48, a psalm that communicates our God’s strength and faithfulness. Some see this strength and are terrified. Others see this strength and rejoice. So, please open your copy of God’s Word to Psalm 48.
Context and Summary
This psalm appears within a group of psalms titled the Songs of Korah, Psalms 42–49. In this context we see repeated reference to three themes. Mount Zion, the King, and God as a refuge. All three of these are present in Psalm 48.
And this context is specifically important because these psalms speak of Mount Zion and the King both as they are AND as they would be. There is both the present reality and the future hope.
For example, consider the theme of kingship.
Ps 48:1 titles Jerusalem as the “city of the great King.” Now, we might say that is great king is David. And Psalm 45:2 calls the King, the most handsome of men. And yet, listen to these references from the preceding psalms
Psalm 44:4, “You are my King, O God…”
Psalm 45:6, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…”
Then, in Psalm 47
v. 2, “For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared, // a great king over all the earth.” [Same wording, Great King]
and v. 6–7, “Sing praises to God, sing praises! // Sing praises to our King, sing praises! // For God is the King of all the earth.”
So, in the context, the Sons of Korah have spoken a lot about God as the King. But there is also a human king. This makes sense in light of Christ in the New Testament, who is both the Davidic King and the Eternal God.
Or think of Mount Zion, the city of God. Psalm 46 4 says
Psalm 46:4, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, / the holy habitation of the most high.// God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; / God will help her when morning dawns.”
Now, what river is the psalmist talking about. Jerusalem had a spring, but that was no river. Rather, this river imagery points back to Eden, with rivers flowing out of God’s presence, and it points forward to the New Jerusalem, where the river flows out of the temple, God’s presence again.
So, what we will see in this Psalm is that Mount Zion is described as it would become, in an ideal state.
Please follow along as I read Psalm 48
What we see in these verses is that the city itself is the teacher. It is the city that communicates truth about God.
The summary of this passage is that Yahweh’s City teaches Yahweh’s Strength and Faithfulness.
We can break this text down into four parts.
1. The Call (v.1–3)
2. First Response: Terror (v.4–8)
3. Second Response: Gladness (v.9–11)
4. The Command (v.12–14).
Our first section, vs. 1–3
Point 1: The Call
This first section contains incredibly rich language about the city of God, with its grandeur and its glory.
The City
And it is beneficial to think for a while on Mount Zion, because if we miss the significance of this place, we will misunderstand the psalm. Mount Zion was indeed unique in all the World. If you are able, turn in your Bible to 2 Samuel 5. This chapter records David being anointed King. And the first narrative that is recorded after David becomes king was his conquest of Jerusalem.
It was a Jebusite city known for its strength. In fact, when David goes to take the city, the inhabitants mock him in 2 Sam 5:6, saying,
“You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”
They are boasting in the strength of the city, that even the weakest could defend it. And they had good reason to boast. The city was known as a stronghold. In fact, we are told in Joshua that the Judah could not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem (15:63). But look at the next verse.
2 Sam 5:7a, “Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion…”
This was a summary of what follows, David’s strategic victory.
Then, after conquering Jerusalem, we read these verses. They are worth quoting at length.
2 Sam 5:9–12, And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him. And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. And David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
So, right before this narrative, David is made King. However, it is after Jerusalem, the stronghold of Zion, is conquered, and David is ruling from there that, in a sense, his calling from God is confirmed. It is in Jerusalem that David knew he had been established as King. So, David saw this place as significant.
If we think back further in biblical history, the Lord repeatedly mentions in Deuteronomy the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there. God knew that, once Israel was established in the land, he would choose a place where his name will dwell. But he also instructs Israel to eventually seek a place. In Deut 12:5, the Lord says
Deut 12:5, “But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,”
Now, David appears to understand that Jerusalem will be this place. We know this because he proceeds to bring the Ark to Jerusalem and he attempts to build the Lord a house in Jerusalem, a temple. Now, God did not command Israel in Deuteronomy to build a temple. But he does say that the place he chooses is where sacrifices would be made, where the people would come several times a year for feasts. David appears to understand this as a call to build God a house.
This desire to build God a house is the context for 2 Samuel 7, which is famously the Lord’s covenant with David. It is in 2 Samuel 7 that God promises David offspring to reign forever, and where he promises to establish David’s throne forever. As we read through the Psalms, Jerusalem and Mount Zion become symbols of Yahweh’s presence and of the Davidic and divine king.
Psalm 2:6 reads,
“As for me, I have sent my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Later, David speaks confidently about God choosing Zion Psalm 132 states,
132:13–14, “The LORD has chosen Zion; / he has desired it for his dwelling place: // ‘This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, / for I have desired it.”
I give this prolonged history of Zion so that we can see why it was significant. It was centrally located, but it was also known for its strength, as a stronghold. Usually, when it is called Zion, strength is what is in view. It was also the place that Yahweh had chosen to make his name dwell. It was his holy hill, where God’s house was. King David, the man after God’s own heart, had conquered it, had built it up and fortified this city. Here was where God would be known.
If we miss this significance, we fail to read Psalm 48 correctly. Mount Zion was an incredibly important place.
As a brief side note, this backstory also helps us to see why Jesus is grieved in Matthew,
23:37, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.”
God had a deep love for this city, and it was in this treasured city that the Messiah would be rejected and killed.
So, if we turn back to Psalm 48, we should clearly see Mount Zion as significant and strong. The glorious language, piling up phrases in vs. 1 and 2 highlight this.
And yet, the beginning of v.1 and the end of v.3 show that this psalm is not really about the city. It is about the Lord. Mount Zion is great because it reveals God. This is the place where God dwelt, where he was made known, where people came to know him.
And, as this psalm will demonstrate, Yahweh had made himself known as a fortress. He is the strength of the city. If I can say it another way, he is the fortress’s fortress. He is the stronghold’s strength.
[And in the next two sections, we will see two responses to this strength. The first is terror and the second is delight.]
First Response: Terror (v.4–8)
Look with me at vs. 4–8. The Psalmist begins with the word, “behold,” or “look.” The kings had assembled, they had joined forces against YHWH. This kind of event was a common military strategy. We see it in Genesis 14, where four kings go against five kings, and Lot’s family is caught in the cross fire. Or think of Joshua 10. After the Gibeonites make a covenant with Israel, five Amorites kings join forces to attack Gibeon. The point is that the five are stronger together. So the kings join together.
And yet even there collected strength disastrously fails. We are told in v.5–6 that it just took a glance at the city to send these kings and their armies into panic. They were routed by the sight of the city. V.6 describes their anguish like labor pains. This vivid image is often used in Scripture, but we have to understand it rightly. It is meant to communicate, on the one hand, violent surges of pain, and on the other hand, dread of increasing pain. However, when it is used, it is separated from the joy of actually bearing a child, the light at the end of the tunnel. We are only to think of the pain, and the impending doom. This is the experience of the kings, dread at the sight of the city.
It is not clear if the psalmist has a specific event in mind. But its mockery certainly echoes Psalm 2, from which we have already quoted. There, we read
Psalm 2:1–4, 1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
The point of Psalm 2 and Psalm 48 is to demonstrate the supremacy of YHWH over all kings and kingdoms. Even if armies join together, they cannot stand against the Lord’s city, the place where he dwells.
Our minds should go to the power displayed by YWHW when Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah. Sennacherib and his Assyrian armies threatened Jerusalem with overwhelming force and they mocked King Hezekiah. But Hezekiah turned to the Lord and prayed,
Is 37:20, “So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord. And what happened? 185,000 troops were killed overnight by the angel of the LORD. The most powerful army on the planet was humiliated. That is power to make an army panic.
V.7 again reminds us that we are talking primarily about YHWH. The ships of Tarshish would be no where near Jerusalem, a completely land locked city.
Tarshish famously is the distant city that Jonah seeks to flee to. It was probably somewhere in modern Spain, and both the distance and the sea are meant to demonstrate strength. Israel was not a sea faring people, and the sea was seen as a realm of danger and chaos. So, a boat that can conquer the sea from such a distance is a real display of power.
It might be similar to the Japanese response when a swarm of American B-29 airplanes flew through their skies toward the end of World War 2. The planes were massive, but the distance itself communicated strength, and drove fear into their hearts. If the allies could conquer such distances to reach mainland Japan, where couldn’t they go?
That is likely how this ship would be seen. But YHWH destroys it with the wind, with a storm.
V. 8 serves as a conclusion to this section, and a bridge to the second response. The people of Israel had heard of the strength of God. They had been taught about the Plagues in Egypt, the conquest of Canaan. But now they have seen. They have seen God defend the city, with his power and might.
And we know the difference, don’t we. In many ways, it is the difference between thinking about the sweetness of honey and tasting it. The experience does not change the reality, but without the experience, we could never understand the reality.
We do not understand Yahweh’s strength and faithfulness until we have experienced those qualities. And, once we have, we are able to turn and delight, to be glad in him, to take refuge in him.
This experience helps them to believe the truth that God will establish his city forever. Here again we see hope in the New Jerusalem. The Old Jerusalem was not established forever. It was destroyed, both by Babylon in 586 BC and by the Romans in 70 AD. But there will be an eternal city, a New Jerusalem, built forever. And God’s defense at that time demonstrated his character, his faithfulness.
[vs.4–8 primarily show one response to this city. Terror. The next section shows a very different response: gladness.
And these two responses can make such clear sense. For example, think of David as a shepherd. Full of tenderness toward his lambs, full of violence toward the lion or the bear. A terror to one, a protector to the other. That is what God is like as a King. He is a good and great king, meaning he protects his people, and destroys any who would harm them.
Now, look at how the protected delight in the LORD, vs.9–11]
Point 3: Second Response: Gladness
This section illustrates the joy of God’s people in him. This joy is found in his presence, as v. 9 demonstrates.
v. 9, “We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.”
And as we have seen, Zion is not only the political capitol, but it is also the religious capitol. God had covenanted with Israel, that he would be their God, that they would know him by name. And that love was best remembered in that temple. The temple was Jerusalem’s source of life. It was the physical place where God resided.
These verses also elaborate on why Mount Zion rejoices in YHWH. There is symmetry at the end of vs 10 through vs. 11. There are four lines, and lines 1 and 4 match, and lines 2 and 3 match. These lines communicate the reason for Jerusalem’s rejoicing. It is because of the Lord’s righteousness and because of his judgments.
Now, this might seem to come out of nowhere. What does the protection of Jerusalem from attackers have to do with righteousness?
The answer is that we can see Mount Zion rejoicing in who God is. It is because of who God is that they can have comfort and can praise him. His righteousness and his judgments highlight his moral purity, but they also highlight his faithfulness. It is because God is righteous and holy that he will never break his promises. He is upright, and therefore, he will never walk away from his people.
If we only think of God’s justice and righteousness as the attributes that condemn us, we miss a part of who God is. The glory of the gospel is that, through the death of Christ, God justly takes away and pays for our sins. His justice is not our enemy, but our sin is our enemy. Once our sins our paid for, his justice becomes our friend. Think of 1 John. John rejoices that, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us. Believer, praise the Lord for his righteousness! His righteousness is our hope, because it teaches us he will never forsake his people. It is not only that which once condemned us. It is also the ground for our hope and gladness
Now, look briefly at the beginning of v.10. This wording lines up with v.2, that Mount Zion is “the joy of all the earth.”
We have already mentioned that this Psalm is communicating Mount Zion in its ideal state. But, we might ask, with so much focus on the city and the temple and the covenant, why are there two comments about all the earth rejoicing in God and in Mount Zion? If so much of the reason for Israel’s rejoicing comes through the covenant and through Israel’s specific history, why would all the nations rejoice?
To understand this, we have to remember that the response of the nations in v.4–7 was never what God intended. These kings come to fight the LORD and are terrified and flee. But God’s plan from the beginning was to bless the nations through Abraham and his offspring. He promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed in Abraham. And that blessing would come through Mount Zion, because Mount Zion is where God dwelt with his people.
At the time this psalm was written Mount Zion was not the joy of all the earth. But this psalm expresses hope that Mount Zion would be the light to the gentiles that is consistent with the hope of the prophets.
In other words, though Israel has great reason to rejoice, their joy was not completely exclusive. Those who desired to seek the Lord could be brought in. That was part of Israel’s original mission, to be a light to the nations. And God’s blessing Zion was purposed to draw in the nations to himself. It will be in the New Heavens and New Earth that God’s praise will reach the ends of the earth.
Gospel Call
So the delight in these verses is offered to all people. This psalm teaches us that there are two responses to the living God. To fight and flee on the one hand, or to take refuge and rejoice on the other. There are indeed only two ways to live, only two roads to travel down. So, if you are here and you do not follow Christ, I ask you, how will you respond? Will you see the greatness of our God and seek to fight or to flee? Or, will you rejoice and take refuge in this God. All who fight will be judged, but the one who takes refuge in God will never be turned away.
[With two responses outlined, this Psalm closes with our final section, the command. four commands. They are actually the only commands in the whole Psalm.]
Point 4: The Command (v.12–14).
These verses contain the only five commands in this psalm, and the appear back-to-back. We are called to take a detailed look at the walls. To consider their height and breadth, to consider the towers and ramparts. All of these things demonstrate the strength of the city.
But notice v.13–14. We are called to look at the walls so that we can tell something to the next generation. But what are we to communicate? That this city is great? No, but that our God is faithful forever! Again, we see that this psalm, which is so concerned with the city, is more concerned with God. If we primarily think about this city when we look at this city, we miss something.
Now, I want us to briefly consider this question:
Question: How do believers in the church obey these commands?
My parents and grandparents are here with me this morning, and back in 2022 Abigail and I got the joy of traveling with them and my hometown church in Washington state to Israel. During that trip, we traveled around Israel and we specifically got to spend a couple days in the Old City of Jerusalem. At different times, we got to see and consider different parts of the walls and the towers. I am so thankful I got that opportunity
But I have a question: in that trip, were we obeying Psalm 48:12–13? Is Psalm 48 calling us to go physically to Israel and look at the walls? At face value, that is what it sounds like, but I don’t think that is right. I say this for one major reason.
While going to Jerusalem was certainly an encouraging experience spiritually, I did not come away from looking at those walls with the lesson that Psalm 48 says I should. In Psalm 48, the walls of Mount Zion communicates God’s faithfulness. But present day Jerusalem does not teach that message.
This is not because God has been unfaithful, but because the people have unfaithful. The majority of the people there do not worship the living God. The temple mount has been desecrated with pagan worship. Even most of the Jewish people living there have tragically rejected their own Messiah, the only way to Yahweh. The Messiah is not reigning there currently. And God is not dwelling there. This city does not make one confident if Yahweh’s faithfulness. So much of the reason why Mount Zion is great in Psalm 48 is not in present day Jerusalem. So, we do not obey these commands by going to present day Jerusalem. The application of this sermon is not to go and buy plane tickets.
We have also already seen that this psalm speaks of Jerusalem as it will be. All of what has been said in Psalm 48 will be true after Christ’s second coming, and specifically in the New Heavens and New Earth. As beautiful as Mount Zion looks in Psalm 48, it is only a little glimpse of all that is said in Rev 21–22. At that day, Jerusalem will be truly a joy to all the earth, and that Yahweh’s praise will reach all of the ends of the earth, and that the city will truly be established forever.
Though Jerusalem was destroyed, it will be restored to an even greater glory. All that was hoped for will be realized.
And, in that day, we will all have the joy of going about the walls, considering the ramparts and the towers. Seeing the glory of the city.
So, it is clear to say that Christians will obey these commands, in the New Jerusalem, which will be truly established forever.
However, between the Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem, scripture also refers to another Jerusalem, a “heavenly Jerusalem.” This comes in Hebrews 12. In that passage, Hebrews is contrasting the fear and terror of Mount Sinai with the better experience of the Christian. And he says:
Heb 12:22–24, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”
Hebrews states the believers, in the church, have come to Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. What does this mean?
Well, this recognizes that, while we hope in a New Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ will physically dwell with and reign over his people, many of the realities described in Psalm 48 are spiritually present in the church. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have access into God’s heavenly kingdom in the Church.
For example
- Though the church has not physical temple, it is called a temple of God, and God is present with his gathered people.
- Even more, Christ reigns from heaven over and among his people. He is there head and their source of life.
- Another example is that, as God was the fortress to Jerusalem, so he has also promised to protect and preserve his church. Jesus promises in Matthew 16 that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, a promise that he will keep them.
- Perhaps, most notably, the church is also currently serving as the joy of the nations and the entity who is known by God’s name. As Jerusalem revealed God in Psalm 48, so the church reveals God now.
All of this is to say that, though the church is not the final fulfillment of the hope of Psalm 48, much of what made Jerusalem glorious is present in the church. We participate in the heavenly Jerusalem, through the Church. Thus, as we sang in Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken, we are also Zion’s Children. Between the Old Zion and the New and eternal Zion there is a heavenly and spiritual Zion, and we are members of that city.
Because of this, I think that it is right to see the command to look at the walls of Jerusalem as a command to also look at and consider the church. As it was the city that demonstrated God’s glory in that day, and the city pointed to a new and better city, the new Jerusalem, so the church also demonstrates God’s glory and points to the new and better city.
It is in the church where the blessed experience of delight that Psalm 48 is known to the New Testament believer. It is here we come into God’s presence, where we rejoice with his people, and where we truly get to see God’s works in the lives of others.
This is further reinforced because looking at the church also communicates the lesson in Psalm 48:14, that the Lord will guide us forever. We think of the manifold persecutions and enemies who have risen from outside of the church with the attempt to extinguish her, and yet, the bride of Christ remains. As we consider the church, we get a clear picture of God’s good and sustaining hand. He will never forsake his church, and as she remains, we know confidently that he is faithful.
Conclusion
Psalm 48 teaches us about a city that we never saw. But it also points our hearts and minds to a city which all of us who believe will see.
We come together to take the Lord’s supper today. One of the purposes of this meal is to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. In that, we eat this meal looking forward to the future marriage supper of the lamb and the New Jerusalem. And again, the glory of that city will not be the amazing structures, but the presence of God. God will be there!
If you are here, and you count yourself God’s enemy, Christ offers you himself. We were all Christ’s enemies, but Romans 5 teaches that was while we were his enemies that he died for us. He reconciled us to God by his blood shed for us. Every enemy who comes to Christ in faith is made a friend and a son.
But believer, those who have been invited into God’s people, eat with joyful hope that one day, we will always be with the Lord.