Psalm 87

This Sunday, we’ll open worship with a responsive call to worship from Psalm 87. Then, we’ll sing “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.” John Newton (also the author of “Amazing Grace”) wrote this hymn as a reflection on Psalm 87. So I thought it would be good to prepare you with a couple thoughts on what this psalm means.

Psalm 87 is divided into three stanzas by the word “Selah”–vv. 1-3, 4-6, and 7.

On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
the LORD loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah

Zion/Jerusalem/the city of God are all used in the psalms to designate the place of God’s worship. In the Old Covenant, the highest worship happened on the Temple Mount in the city where the people would gather periodically to perform their duties. Of course, there were synagogues throughout the land of Israel, and the people worshipped each Sabbath in these smaller settings. But notice what the psalm says, “The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.” The people’s synagogue worship was certainly accepted by God, but the fullest and best expression of worship occurred in the Temple.

In the New Covenant, these terms are redefined. The temple is now the body of Christ and the people of God (Eph. 2:21). When God’s people gather, they themselves constitute the temple. This is why the author of Hebrews can say that we have “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22).

So Psalm 87 takes on new meaning in the New Covenant. It is still true that the LORD loves Zion more than the dwelling places of Jacob, but Zion is no longer bound to a physical hill in Jerusalem. Zion is the weekly gathered worship of God’s people. This also means that, although it is good to worship God privately and in our families, the pinnacle of our worship, the most important time of our week, is weekly Lord’s Day worship. This, of course, makes this psalm particularly appropriate for our call to worship. When we read this together, we are proclaiming the value of the worship that we are about to engage in. Our weekly worship is the thing that most delights God in this life, and it should also be the thing that most delights us.

Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush–
“This one was born there,” they say.
And of Zion it shall be said,
“This one and that one were born in her”;
for the Most High himself will establish her.
The LORD records as he registers the peoples,
“This one was born there.” Selah

In the second, we get a catalog of some of the nations that surround Israel. Each of these nations is praising the one who is born in Jerusalem. The word “born” here can mean physical birth, but more generally, it refers to any “bringing forth.” Those who are born/brought forth in Zion have a special distinction of belonging to the LORD who makes note of them.

Of course, in the New Covenant, one element of salvation is the new birth–we are born again to a living hope. To borrow Jesus’ words from John 3, we are born of the Spirit. Verses 4-6, then, are a picture of the nations coming to God’s temple to rejoice with his people, which is ultimately fulfilled in the church.

Singers and dancers alike say,
“All my springs are in you.”

The spring (some translations, “fountain”) is the source of water. In the same way, the public worship of God among the people of God is the source of life. When we ascend Mount Zion each Sunday morning, we are going to drink from the well of living water. We call these springs the means of grace: the Word, sacraments, and prayer.¹ It is in these things that God has promised to meet us, and they are found in their most potent and concentrated form in public worship.

So as we worship this Sunday, let us delight in the streams of living water God offers us, the streams that flow from his holy temple, the people of God.

Updates

1. The floors are getting closer, but we’re not quite there yet! We’ve got one more week out of the Fellowship Hall, and one more week of adult Sunday school in the sanctuary.

2. Keep in mind that we’ll have a special installation service next Sunday, April 14th, at 5pm. Be sure to join us to welcome our guests and celebrate our elders!

Your friend in Christ,
Reid