Latest / Reformed Thinking / Glorious Things Are Spoken of You (Psalm 87) | Charles Spurgeon

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Glorious Things Are Spoken of You (Psalm 87) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Hello and welcome back. You've found your way to the
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deep dive, and this is our special segment we call Reformed
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Thinking. It's good to be here again.
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This is where we take a look at classic reformed theology, the
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Confessions, the old books, and see how it all speaks to us
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right now. And today we aren't tackling a
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big systematic doctrine head on like, say, justification or
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sanctification. At least not by itself.
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No, and it's not a biography of a reformer either.
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We're doing something a little different.
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We're doing a textual deep dive. A very deep dive into a very
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short chapter. That's right, we are parking the
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bus on one specific chapter of the Bible, Psalm 87.
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It's only 7 verses long, but well, we're going to find out.
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It packs a theological punch that's pretty hard to match.
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And to help us unpack it, we're leaning heavily on Charles
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Haddon Spurgeon's massive commentary The Treasury of
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David. Which is such a great resource.
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Oh, it's incredible. And for those of you who might
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not know, Spurgeon didn't just write his own thoughts in that
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collection. He was more of a curator.
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He went out and found the best insights from centuries of
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Christian thinkers, the Puritans, the Reformers, even
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some medieval scholars. So because of his work, we get
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to hear from men like Richard Sibbs, the great Scottish
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Divine, Andrew Gray, Robert Hall.
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It's a stellar lineup. It really is now.
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Just to set the table before we jump into verse one, it's good
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to state our own perspective. We're coming at this text as
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Protestant Christians. We hold to the Westminster
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Confession of Faith. Which means we believe that God
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is sovereign over all things, and that includes the salvation
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of individuals and as we'll see in this Psalm, the rise and fall
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of nations. And we think that looking at
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Scripture through that specific theological lens really brings
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out the the color and the depth of the text.
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It helps things make sense in a way other perspectives might
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miss. And Psalm 87 is a perfect
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candidate for this approach because it deals so directly
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with the decrees of God and the election of His people.
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OK, so Spurgeon kicks things off by pointing to the title.
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It's easy to skip, but it says a song or Psalm for the sons of
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Korra and there's a whole story there isn't.
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There, there is a huge story there.
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I mean, if you rewind all the way back to the Book of Numbers,
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you find this man Korra, and he was a rebel.
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A serious. One a very serious 1.
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He led a mutiny against Moses and Aaron.
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His basic argument was, hey, you 2 aren't special.
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We're all holy. We can all be priests.
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He challenged God's appointed leadership.
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And the judgement for that was? Memorable to say the least.
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It was swift and terrifying. The Bible says the earth
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literally opened up and swallowed Korra and his Co
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conspirators alive. Their entire households went
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down into the pit. But here we are, centuries later
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in the biblical timeline, reading a Psalm written by the
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sons of Korra. Which means the line didn't die
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out. In his mercy, God speared the
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children. So whenever you see that title
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for the sons of Korra, you are reading a hymn written by men
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who know on a deep, generational level that they shouldn't even
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exist. They are living, breathing
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monuments to sovereign grace. They are the descendants of
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rebels who were spared by a merciful God.
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And that makes them the perfect authors for this specific Psalm.
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It's unbelievable, isn't it? Because this is a song about
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enemies becoming family. It's about outsiders becoming
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the ultimate insiders. It's about grace to the
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undeserving. They're not just writing
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theology, they're writing their family story.
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So we have a few goals for this deep dive today.
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First, we want to really get to the bottom of what the
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foundation of the church is. Then we want to look at a very
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well, a very spicy Puritan debate about public worship
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versus private devotion. You know, should you go to
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church or is it OK to just worship at home?
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That's a conversation that's as relevant today as it was in the
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1600s. He'll probably step on some
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toes, but it's in the text. It is.
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We also want to look at the doctrine of regeneration, what
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it means to be born into God's city, especially when you come
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from a hostile nation. And finally, we want to find the
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source of all Christian joy. So a lot to cover in seven
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verses. Let's get into the text.
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Verse one. His foundation is in the Holy
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Mountains. Spurgeon, right out of the gate,
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makes this brilliant observation about the grammar, the syntax.
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He points out how abrupt the Psalm begins.
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Yeah, there's no warm up. No.
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Oh Lord, hear my prayer. It just explodes his foundation.
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It's like you've just walked into a room and caught someone
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in the middle of a passionate declaration, Spurgeon says.
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It's as if the writer has been meditating on this for a long
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time. Maybe he's been worried about
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the state of the world, thinking about the glory of Zion, and it
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just bursts out of him. He quotes sudden passion is
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evil, but bursts of holy joy are most precious.
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I like that. I do too and notice the first
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word His his foundation, not its foundation referring to the city
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the foundation belongs to. God, He laid it, He owns.
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It and he's shouting about stability in a world that feels
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anything but stable. Spurgeon immediately contrasts
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this with what he calls the sand of carnal policy and the morass
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of human Kingdom. That's an image that just sticks
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with you, doesn't it? A morass A.
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Swamp It feels very 21st century.
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You look at the geopolitical landscape, you look at the
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economy, the culture wars, and it feels like quicksand.
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You think you've got your footing and then a policy
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changes, or the market shifts, or a new ideology sweeps.
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Through and into all that anxiety and instability, the
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psalmist shouts that God's foundation is different.
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It's solid. It's in the Holy Mountains.
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But we need to be careful here, right?
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When the text talks about mountains, is it just talking
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about the geology of Jerusalem? You know, Mount Zion, Mount
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Moriah, it's a hilly city. It's got a high ground.
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And that's certainly part of the physical picture.
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But if that's all he means, then the Psalm is just plain wrong.
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How so? Because historically, Jerusalem
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has conquered many, many times. The Babylonians flattened it.
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The Romans destroyed the temple. If your foundation is just
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literal dirt and rock, no matter how high up, you're in trouble.
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It's not invincible. OK, so this is where the
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Reformed interpretation really opens up the text.
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We've got these notes from Andrew Gray, the Scottish
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divine. He argues we have to look past
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the physical geology to the spiritual reality.
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Exactly. He says the holy mountains are a
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metaphor. They represent the eternal
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attributes and purposes of Jehovah God Himself.
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So think about what a mountain represents in our minds.
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It's permanent, it's heavy, it's immovable.
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You don't just push a mountain over, right?
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So Gray starts listing them out. He says the Church is built on
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the mountain of God's eternal purpose, the mountain of His
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Divine Mercy, the mountain of his unchanging justice, the
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mountain of His perfect holiness, and then he says the
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highest peak of them all is the mountain of His sovereignty.
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So when we say the church is founded on a rock, we're not
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talking about the Apostle Peter. No, and with all due respect to
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our Roman Catholic friends, this text points in a very different
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direction. And it's also not founded on
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human consensus or a committee meeting or some kind of
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democratic vote. Definitely not.
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The church is not a club that exists because a bunch of us
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decided it would be a good idea to organize one.
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Spurgeon uses this great language.
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He says the Church is laid in the eternal, immutable and
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invincible decrees of Jehovah. Invincible decrees.
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There's a lot of comfort in that phrase.
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There is if the church were built on the cleverness of its
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pastors or the charisma of its worship leaders.
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It would have collapsed a long time ago.
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It would have, or if it were built on its cultural relevance
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or the quality of its programs, it would just sink into that
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morass Spurgeon was talking about.
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But because it's built on what God decreed before the
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foundation of the world, it is absolutely immovable.
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It's safe. The notes also bring in this
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interesting geographical comparison from a historian
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named Arthur Penryn Stanley. He compares Jerusalem to Rome.
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Right. Rome is famously the city on
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Seven hills, and Rome has had its poets and orders singing its
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praises for millennia. They call it the Eternal City.
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It's the pinnacle of human achievement and power.
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But the argument here is that Zion Jerusalem is far more
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glorious. Far more because its mountains
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are not just lumps of Italian rock, they are the eternal
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mountains of God. Its glory comes from its
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founder, not its location. Stanley even calls Jerusalem the
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mountain throne and brings up the name Ariel.
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Which means the Lion of God. It's this picture of a fortress
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that is terrifying to its enemies, but completely secure
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for its inhabitants. A place of royal power.
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But again, to circle back, the safety doesn't come from the
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altitude, it comes from the resident.
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That's the key. It's not about the physical
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height, it's about the fact that God has chosen to place his name
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and His presence there. That's what makes the mountains
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holy. OK, that brings us logically to
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verse 2, which moves us from the bedrock foundation to the city
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itself, specifically to its gates.
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The text says the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all
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the dwellings of Jacob. Now, if you just read that
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quickly, you might skim right past the tension in that verse,
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but there is a clear hierarchy being established.
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You've got the gates on one side and the dwellings on the other.
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The gates represent the public city, the assembly the corporate
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gathering of God's people for worship.
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The dwellings of Jacob represent the private homes of believers,
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family life, personal piety. And the text says in no
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uncertain terms, God loves the gates.
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More. He loves them more.
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This is a verse that I think really cuts against the grain of
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our modern ethos. We live in a very
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individualistic age. We love the idea of personal
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faith. Oh absolutely.
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The narrative is I can worship God on a hike.
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I can listen to a sermon podcast, will I do the dishes?
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I have my own personal relationship with Jesus, my
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dwelling of Jacob moment. And Spurgeon is very careful
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here. He says God does not dislike the
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dwellings. Of course not.
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God delights in the prayers of a Christian family around the
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dinner table. He loves the family altar.
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He cherishes the secret closet of prayer.
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But he has a special eye and a special delight in the
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assemblies of the faithful. There is a preference.
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So the question is why? Why does that preference exist?
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And this is where Robert Hall's analysis and the source material
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is so helpful. He really breaks down the why
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behind this divine preference. OK, let's walk through his
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points. What's the first one?
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Hall's first reason is what he calls the union of mind.
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Union of mind. He says there's something unique
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and powerful that happens with the consent of hearts gathered
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together in one place for one purpose.
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Think of the difference between a soloist and a choir.
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A soloist can be beautiful, technically perfect.
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Absolutely. But 1000 voices singing the
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doxology in four part harmony that shakes the rafters in a way
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a single voice just cannot. There is a resonance, a power,
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in that united declaration. It's the symphonic nature of the
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body of Christ, all the different parts playing the same
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score. That's a great way to put it.
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The second reason Hull gives is testimony.
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Testimony. The church, when it gathers,
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bears witness to the truth publicly in a way a private home
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simply cannot. That makes perfect sense.
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If I pray in my closet, who knows?
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I'm a Christian, only God. That's good, necessary.
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But if I physically get in my car and walk through the doors
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of a church building on the Lord's Day, I'm making a public
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statement. You are to your neighbors who
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see your car gone every Sunday morning, to your community, and
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theologically, to the spiritual powers and principalities you're
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declaring allegiance. The gates are are visible, the
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dwellings are by their nature hidden, and God loves the
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visible public display of His people's loyalty.
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And that leads to Hall's third reason, which he calls deference
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to authority. OK, this is the one that might
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rub some people the wrong way. The people who don't like being
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told what to do. It's about simple obedience.
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We gather together because God told us to.
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It's really that straightforward.
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Gathering is an act of submitting to the ordinances and
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institutions that He established in His Word.
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So we don't just invent our own forms of worship that suit our
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personality types or our schedules.
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No, we follow the patterns laid down for us, the patterns
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resting on God's authority, not our preference.
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So skipping the gathered assembly because I don't really
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get anything out of it or I feel closer to God in the woods.
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That's actually an act of, well, rebellion.
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It's a rejection of the method that God himself chose for his
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people. It's a form of arrogance, isn't
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it? It's basically saying I know how
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to worship better than God knows how he wants to be worshipped.
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My way is better. And what's the fourth reason
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Hall gives? The 4th is conversion.
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The gathered assembly is the grand means of calling sinners
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to faith. The primary tool.
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The primary tool, historically and theologically, the public
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preaching of the Word in the context of the assembly, is the
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mechanism God has ordained to bring people from death to life.
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It is the net that is cast. People are saved in community.
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There's a fantastic warning about all this in the notes from
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a Puritan named David Clarkson. He talks about what he calls the
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name in Complex. I love this analogy.
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It's so perfect for our modern spiritual but not religious age.
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So for anyone who needs a quick refresher, Naaman is in the Old
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Testament. He's a powerful Syrian general,
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but he has leprosy, A dreadful disease.
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He's desperate, so he comes to the prophet Elisha in Israel to
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be healed, and Elisha doesn't even come out to meet him.
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He just sends a messenger out with instructions.
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And the instructions are go wash in the Jordan River 7 times.
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Now the Jordan is not impressive river.
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It's small, it's muddy, it's underwhelming.
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And Naaman, this great general, is furious.
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He's insulted. He basically says, are you
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kidding me? We have better rivers back home,
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the Ibana and the Farber, the rivers of Damascus, aren't they
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better than all the waters of Israel?
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Can I just wash in them and be clean?
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He wanted a better river. He wanted to be healed on his
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own terms, in a setting that suited his dignity and his
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aesthetic preferences. And Clarkson takes that story
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and applies it directly to the at home religion argument.
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It's a perfect fit, the person today says.
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Can't I just read a good theological book at home?
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Can't I listen to a sermon by the best preacher in the world
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on the Internet? Aren't the clean, comfortable
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rivers of my living room better than the Muddy Waters of that
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small local church with the uncomfortable pews and the bad
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coffee? And the answer from Clarkson is
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a resounding no. You will not get healed because
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God appointed the Jordan. If God has chosen the gates of
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Zion, the sometimes messy, unimpressive local gathered
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assembly, then preferring private worship is to run
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counter to the Lord's revealed will.
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It's to prefer your own ibana and far par over God's Jordan.
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It all comes back to submission to the means of grace God has
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appointed. It does, and William Gernell,
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another Puritan, has a slightly gentler analogy for this.
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In the notes. He says, imagine a father with a
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large family. Of course he loves seeing his
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children individually. He loves having a quiet
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one-on-one conversation with a son or a daughter.
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But when is that father the happiest?
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When does his joy overflow? Thanksgiving dinner, the big
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family feast. Right when they're all there.
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When they are all at his table together, laughing, talking,
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sharing a meal, Girl says the public assembly is the father's
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great feast. So to stay away isn't just
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neglecting a duty, it's to deny the father the specific joy he
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takes in seeing his whole family united.
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Wow, that reframes the whole do I have to go to church question
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entirely. It's not about what I get, but
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about participating in God's delight.
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It changes everything. OK, moving on to verse 3 and we
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get this famous soaring line. Glorious things are spoken of
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the O city of God. This is a statement of
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reputation, of fame. Historically, this likely looks
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back to Jerusalem surviving the overwhelming assault of the
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Assyrian king Sennacherib. While all the other cities in
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the region fell to his war machine, Jerusalem stood.
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That was a glorious thing spoken of her throughout the ancient
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world. But spiritually, of course,
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we're talking about the church. Spurgeon immediately pulls out
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these titles for her from elsewhere in Scripture, The
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Bride of Christ and Hephzibah. Which is from Isaiah, and it
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means my delight is in her. But we have to be realistic
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here, don't we? When you look at the actual
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visible church on the ground, you don't always see glorious
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things. No, you certainly do not.
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And Richard Sibbs, the Great Puritan, has a very necessary
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and helpful distinction here. In the notes, he says the
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visible church is a mixed field. It has wheat and it has tears
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growing right alongside it. So if you look at the visible
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institution with merely human eyes, you see scandal, you see
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power struggles, you see hypocrisy, you see boring
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sermons and off key singing and theological squabbles.
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It can look anything but glorious, Sib says.
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The glorious things are spoken primarily of the invisible
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church, the body of God's true elect, the remnant, the actual
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children of God, scattered throughout the visible churches.
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He calls them the beauty of the Lord.
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And Samuel Horsley adds a great point about architecture.
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He says the glory of the church is not in the physical building.
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It's not the stained glass or the height of the steeple.
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You can have the most magnificent cathedral in the
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world with gold plated ceilings and priceless art, and it can be
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a spiritual tomb, Horsley says. The true glory of the city is
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the presence of the Shekinah. Which goes all the way back to
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the wilderness Tabernacle. The glory wasn't the tent
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itself. It was the pillar of cloud and
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fire, the visible presence of God Himself.
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And Spurgeon ties it all together by noting that earthly
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glories, the glory of Rome, the glory of London, the glory of
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New York are all titular. They're just titles, their
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shadows, their vanity. But the Church's glory is
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substantial because it is the dwelling place of God.
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OK, now this is where the Psalm takes a really sharp and frankly
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shocking turn. We've established the
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foundation, the priority of worship, and the glory of the
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city. Now in verse 4 we get the census
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of its citizens, and the list is astonishing.
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It is, the text says. I will make mention of Rahab and
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Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia and Tyre with
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Ethiopia. This man was born there.
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We have to breakdown who these people are because to a modern
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listener, these are just ancient dusty names on a map.
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But to an ancient Israelite hearing this for the first time,
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this list would make your blood run cold.
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Or maybe boil? It's a roll call of their worst
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enemies. It's a list of the nations they
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feared and hated most. First, you have Rahab.
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Not the woman from Jericho. No.
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In the Psalms and prophets, Rahab is often a poetic name for
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Egypt. It carries the idea of
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fierceness, insolence and pride. Egypt was the original
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oppressor. They were the House of bondage,
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the nation that enslaved them for 400 years.
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And here God says he will mention them as among those who
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know him. Unbelievable.
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Then Babylon. Babylon, the city of confusion,
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the superpower that would come destroy the temple, level
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Jerusalem and drag the people into a long and bitter
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captivity. They represent the ultimate
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world system opposed to God. And after Babylon, Philistia.
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The ancient hereditary hate. The neighbor who was always an
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enemy. They were the ones constantly
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raiding the border towns, constantly fighting.
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Goliath was a Philistine. There was a deep, bitter,
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centuries long animosity there. Next on the list is Tyre.
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Tyre represents something different.
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They weren't a military superpower like Egypt or
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Babylon. They were the great commercial
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power, the traitors of Mediterranean.
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They represent materialism, wealth, and a trust in money and
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luxury rather than a trust in God.
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And finally, the list ends with Ethiopia or Kush.
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And this represents distance. They were, to the Israelite
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mind, at the very ends of the known earth.
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They were the slaves of ignorance, people who were
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utterly far removed from the covenant promises made to
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Abraham. So let's just recap.
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You have the original oppressor, the future destroyer, the
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lifelong neighborhood enemy, the greedy materialist, and the
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distant, forgotten heathen. And after listing this rogues
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gallery, the text says of each of them this man was born there
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does. That mean born there.
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That is the key phrase in the whole Psalm born there.
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This is where the doctrine of regeneration bursts onto the
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scene. This isn't about conquest, is
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it? Not at all.
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In the Roman Empire you could become a citizen through
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conquest. Rome would roll in, crush your
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army, and then you were a subject of the empire.
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Or if you are wealthy, you could buy your citizenship.
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But that's not what's happening here.
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These nations are born into the city.
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Which implies A fundamental change of nature, doesn't it?
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It's not just that a Philistine decides to move to Jerusalem and
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starts paying taxes there. Exactly.
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Thomas Horton, in his analysis, says it's a miraculous
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alteration. Philistia itself turns into
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Palestine, the Holy Land. Tyre turns into Jerusalem.
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It is a change from a state of deep corruption to a state of
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grace. This is the reformed view of
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adoption in poetic form. The stranger becomes a sun.
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The Blackamore changes his skin to use the old stark language of
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the commentators. It is a spiritual rebirth.
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Spurgeon points out that this is really a stunning prophecy of
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the fulfillment at Pentecost. It connects so beautifully to
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Acts chapter 2. If you look at the list of
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nations who were present in Jerusalem when the Spirit fell.
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It mentions people from Egypt, parts of Libya, dwellers in
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Mesopotamia, which was Babylon's region.
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It mirrors the list in Psalm 87 almost perfectly.
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JJ Stuart Peron has a great insight on this.
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He says this Psalm is the very first announcement in Scripture
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of a universal common citizenship, but he's careful to
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distinguish it from the Roman idea of citizenship.
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Right. Rome tried to unify the world by
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conquest, by force, by the sword.
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The Church unifies the world by incorporation and new birth.
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It's not about erasing your old identity.
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The Egyptian convert is still an Egyptian, but he is now more
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fundamentally born of Zion. He has a dual citizenship, but
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the heavenly citizenship is the one that defines his ultimate
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reality. It's such a powerful text for
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missions. I mean, it tells us there is no
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nation so hostile, no culture so commercialized, and no people so
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far away that God cannot birth citizens from it for his
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Kingdom. None at all.
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And that leads us right into verses 5 and 6 where the camera
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lens changes. We zoom in from the nations to
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individuals. The text says, and of Zion it
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shall be said, this and that man was born in her.
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The Lord shall count when he write us up, the people.
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That phrase this and that man is so interesting that Hebrew is
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very simple and direct. It's literally man and man 1 by
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1. It highlights the individuality
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of salvation. Then we can talk about the
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redemption of nations, and that's a true and biblical
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concept. But salvation ultimately happens
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one soul at a time. It's particular.
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It's deeply personal, and there's a fascinating linguistic
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detail here from a scholar named John Kiddo about the specific
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Hebrew word used for man. Oh, is it?
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The word used here Is ish. Now in Hebrew you have a few
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words for man, you of Adam, which refers to humanity in
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general. From the earth you have enosh,
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which often carries the connotation of man in his
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weakness, mortal man. But ish is different.
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Ish often implies a man of worth, a man of substance, a man
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of Excellency. So the text is implying that
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being born in Zion in God City actually confers a kind of
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nobility on a person. That's exactly it.
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Being born in Zion makes you an ish, a man of eminence.
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You could be an absolute nobody in the eyes of the world.
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You might be poor, uneducated, from a despised people group,
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but if you are born in Zion by the Spirit of God you are true
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aristocracy. The twice born are the royal
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priesthood, the real nobility. Thomas Horton, back in the
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notes, breaks down the different kinds of eminent men, the
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different kinds of ish, who are born in Zion.
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He does, he says. First you have men of natural
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parts, learned men, brilliant thinkers.
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Think of the apostle Paul with his scrolls and parchments.
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Then second, you have men of civil dignity, kings and rulers
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who bow the knee to Christ. Think of King David or Solomon.
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But he he says there's a third and most important category.
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Yes, the men of spiritual accomplishments.
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And what does he mean by that? He means men with broken hearts,
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men of self denial, men who are poor in spirit.
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That is what constitutes true eminence in the Kingdom of God.
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The world looks for the celebrity, the CEO, the powerful
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God looks for the contrite spirit, and those are the ones
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he makes sure to record. Let's talk about that recording
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process. Verse 6 says The Lord shall
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count when he writeth up the people.
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This is the imagery of a divine census, but it's not a human
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census which counts people based on where they live or what their
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economic output is. God counts his people based on
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his eternal election. The source material has his
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great analogy. It compares God's Book to the
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Golden Book of the Old Republic of Venice.
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That's such a great historical touch.
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In Venice, for centuries there was this official registry of
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the noble families. It was called the Libra Doro,
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the Golden Book, and if your family name was written in it,
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you had rights and privileges that no one else had.
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You were part of the ruling class.
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Foreign kings and Princess would pay enormous sums of money just
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to get their names at it as honorary citizens.
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But the Lamb's Book of Life is the true Golden Book.
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And you can't buy your way into it.
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You can't lobby for a spot. You have to be born into it by
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grace, and this connects right back to the Reformed doctrine of
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election. The Lord knows them that are
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His. He Himself registers their names
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by His own sovereign hand. It is not a list that we write,
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it is a list that He writes in eternity past.
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And Spurgeon makes a very sobering point here.
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He says God's census will almost certainly differ from our church
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membership roles. That is a heavy thought.
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He says. God will count many whom we in
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our foolishness would have disowned, and He will leave out
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many whom we would have celebrated as pillars of the
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faith. Our human records in the Lamb's
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Book of Life are not identical documents.
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Because we can only judge by the outward profession of faith.
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You can only see the outside God.
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Judd is the heart. He knows who are truly his.
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OK, that brings us to the final verse, verse 7 as well.
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The singers as the players on instruments shall be there.
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All my springs are in thee. This last verse sets the
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atmosphere of the city of God. And it's not a library, it's not
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a funeral dirge, it is a festival.
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You've got singers, You've got players on instruments.
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The Hebrew suggests flute players, pipers.
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Some translations even imply dancers.
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It's a scene of exuberant, loud public joy.
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I think reformed theology sometimes gets a bad reputation
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for being, you know, dour or overly intellectual or somber.
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The frozen chosen. But here is the text, a
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foundational text about the church saying the assembly, the
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regenerate, is a place of music and singing and celebration.
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Well, if you've really grasped what came before, that you, a
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former enemy from Babylon or Felicia, have been given a new
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birth and your name is written in the Golden Book, how can you
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not sing? How can you be silent?
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The joy is the natural result of the salvation.
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And then we get this beautiful concluding sentence.
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It's the voice of the individual citizen speaking to God.
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All my springs are in the. It's just a perfect metaphor in
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the dry, arid landscape of the Near East.
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A spring, a fountain that was life itself.
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A city was built around its water source.
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If you didn't have a spring, you had to build a cistern, which
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was just a plaster line hole in the ground to catch rainwater.
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And cisterns can crack, they can run dry.
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But a spring just keeps bubbling up with fresh living water.
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And the commentator Ralph Robinson gives a really direct
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Christological interpretation of this.
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He's as Christ as the fountain. He is Robinson argues that
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angels and men combined cannot give one single drop of true
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comfort or spiritual life without Christ.
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All my springs means the springs of faith, the springs of grace,
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the springs of life and pleasure and hope.
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Everything we need for life and godliness flows from Him.
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This connects directly to the doctrine of total depravity, or
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maybe better total inability. Doesn't It absolutely does.
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If you have to say all my springs are in thee, that
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carries the massive implication that no springs are in me by
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nature, without God's grace. The human soul is what Spurgeon
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calls a dry well or a mocking cistern.
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It promises water, but it's empty.
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We cannot generate our own holiness.
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We can't work up our own joy. We can't produce our own
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spiritual life. It has to come from an outside
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source. It has to come from God.
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The notes mentioned that John Calvin translates this phrase
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slightly differently. He does, He renders it something
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like all my lookings are in the meaning that the eye of faith is
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fixed constantly on God is the only source of help, but the
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idea is the same. It is total moment by moment
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dependence whether you see it as water flowing down to you or
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your eyes looking up to Him. The source of all your
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sufficiency is entirely outside of yourself and located in God.
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There's also a poetic illusion here, contrasting this spring
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with the famous springs of Greek mythology.
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Yes, the Pyrion spring or the Castalian found on melt
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Parnassus. The ancient Greeks thought that
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if you drink from those waters, you would receive inspiration
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from the Muses for a poetry and art.
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And the psalmist is essentially saying you can keep your melt,
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Parnassus, you can have your Greek myths.
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Zion has the true water of inspiration, real joy, real
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creativity, real life. The source code for all of it is
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found in the City of God. A much deeper, much purer
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spring. So we have traveled quite a
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distance in this very short Psalm.
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We started with the immovable, eternal foundation of the Church
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in the decrees of God. Then we moved to the priority of
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public corporate worship at the gates of Zion.
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We saw the glorious reputation of the city, not in his
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buildings, but in God's presence.
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Then the miracle of conversion, where hostile nations are not
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conquered, but their people are born again as sons and
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daughters. We saw the individuality of that
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salvation with the Lord Himself counting each person and writing
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their name in His census. And finally we ended at the
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fountain, finding all our satisfaction and joy and
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sufficiency in God Himself. So remarkably comprehensive
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theology of the church, all packed into just a few lines.
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It really is. And for you, the listener, the
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reformed application here I think is twofold.
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First, your security as a believer does not rest in your
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own strength or your own stability.
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It rests in the holy mountains, in God's unchanging attributes
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and eternal purpose. You are safe because the
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foundation is His, not yours. And second, there is a clear
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call in this Psalm to value the gates of Zion.
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In an age of isolation, of digital Church, of radical
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individualism, this text calls us back to the physical,
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sometimes inconvenient, often imperfect gathering of the
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Saints. We should learn to love the
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gates because verse 2 tells us God loves the gates.
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Before we sign off, I just want to leave you with one final
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thought to chew on this week. Go back and look at that list of
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nations in verse 4 again. Rehab, Babylon, Tire, Philistia.
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These were the hard cases of the ancient world.
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They represent a pride, confusion, greed and violence.
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The worst of the worst. If God can birth citizens for
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his Kingdom from Babylon and Philistia, if he can make them
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new and teach them to sing, what does that say about the scope of
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His grace in our world today? That's a good question.
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Is there anyone in your life, or any group of people in our
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modern world that you've privately written off as too far
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gone, too Babylonian, too lost in confusion, too consumed by
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the commerce of Tyre? If the springs of new life are
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all in God, and the register of citizens is written by His hand
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alone, is there really anyone who is too far gone to be born
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in Zion? It's a question that should undo
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our cynicism and drive us to our knees in prayer and give us a
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much bigger, more hopeful view of God's work in the world.
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into Psalm 87.
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This has been reformed thinking. We'll see you next time.