Imagine walking the streets of Rome, Athens, or Constantinople at the pinnacle of those cities’ greatness. Psalm 48 calls our minds to a greater city built on a holy mountain. Mount Zion was the city of the great King over all the earth. Sinai entered the temple in Jerusalem (Ps. 68:16-17), and the Lord made Jerusalem the place of His special dwelling. Earthly Zion in the Old Testament was the joy of all the earth because God dwelt there with His people.
But the prophets speak of an eschatological Zion that eclipses the former in glory, size, and efficacy, Isaiah 2:2, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.” Isaiah 11:9-10, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”
This is the heavenly Mount Zion of which the church, between the first and second coming of Christ, are members (Heb. 12:18-24). This is, in part, why any emphasis on the physical city of Jerusalem today misses the point. Earthly Jerusalem in the Old Testament was a temporary shadow that pointed forward to the heavenly Jerusalem established by the blood of Christ and is consummated in its fullness at His coming. Revelation 21:1-3,
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Psalm 48 points us to this pinnacle blessing that we experience in the New Covenant- God’s presence with His people. Already, God is with us by His Spirit. Jesus promised to be with us till the end of the age, and He is walking among His churches (Matt. 28:20; Rev. 1:12-16). But we wait for the day when the New Jerusalem will come down from heaven, and forever, God will dwell with His people. Until then, look at the walls, ramparts, citadels, and of the heavenly Jerusalem. Marvel at God’s work in building this magnificent city. How can we see the heavenly Jerusalem on earth? Look at the church! The Lord is building us up by His grace into a beautiful dwelling place.
In Christ,
Pastor John