Psalm
Psalm 87
Truly God is good to Israel , even to such as are of a clean heart.
2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5 They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20 As a dream when one awaketh; so , O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
Outline
The Natives of Zion
Psalm 87
By Pastor Clinton Macomber
God Loves His City of Zion
God's foundation is the mountain of Zion, Psalm 87:1
God's love is upon the gates, Psalm 87:2
God's glory is spoken of this city, Psalm 87:3
Mankind Will Love the City of Zion
Mankind will notice those born there, Psalm 87:4-5
God will make a record of the births there, Psalm 87:6
The city will be the place of music and singing, Psalm 87:7
Sermon
The Natives of Zion
Psalm 87
by Pastor Clinton Macomber
God loves Zion. All of Biblical history centers on the city of God. It is a beautiful city. Those who are citizens of the city have proven themselves to be a holy people. They are a happy, obedient and blessed people. It is a privilege to be on the registry of that city.
Mankind has started many cities. Most have failed, and been a complete loss. The glories of the great cities are gone forever. Cities like Babylon, Nineveh, Cairo, Thebes, Jericho, Sardis, Ur, Atlantus, Alexandria, etc. are gone. Some cities manage to keep going, although their glory wanes and rises. These are cities like Jerusalem, Damascus, Shechem, Gath, Memphis, London, Peking, etc.
The first cities were built by Cain to protect himself from those who would seek to avenge the blood of Abel. This is the wrong reason to build a city. The other cities were built to allow the evil generations to hide from justice.
God builds cities for holy reasons. His city is a place for holy people to go to find rest and spiritual benefit.
Man's cities are known for sin. Just saying the names of cities of this day bring to mind all kinds of sin.
Las Vegas: gambling and casinos; and lewd shows.
San Francisco: Homosexuality
New Orleans: lewd parties and gambling
Hollywood: glamor, promiscuity, idol worship
Tahoe: Gambling
Nashville: Country music on drinking, dancing and trucking
Anaheim: Disney Land, etc.
Paris: lewd art and romance
There is no town on earth where there is righteousness. Nor will there be any towns that stand for what is right until the Lord Jesus comes and the city of Zion is established.
There is another aspect that is precious here. God loves Zion. What do we love? Some will answer that very quickly: They love chocolate. Never mind that chocolate is one of the worse foods a person can eat, they don't care any more than a smoker or drinker cares. Some say: fishing, even though the Lord Jesus took 4 fishermen to be his disciples and retrained them to work with people, they would from time to time go back to fishing until they were filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Some say they love traveling, ignoring the responsibilities they have to do at home.
What we love speaks a great deal about us and where we stand before God. God loves those that understand our place and humbly follow Him. He also loves to provide for His own. He loves the city of Zion, because those that love Him love that city as well. God's love is not selfish. It benefits all those to whom it is given.
A God Loves His City of Zion
1. God's foundation is the mountain of Zion
Psalm 87:1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
The Hebrew word for foundation appears only in this verse. Yet, we can rest assured that the God who laid the foundations of the earth, is going to lay something down as the foundation of Zion, an incredible mountain, the likes of which man has never known.
Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
This earth has held together for 6,000 years, and is going to seem like a new earth once is is repaired and restored. God designed and laid the foundations of this earth. It is something that mankind cannot grow tired of examining and learning about. It is an amazing structure, filled with all kinds of benefits for man.
We know that the foundations of the New Jerusalem are made out of twelve different gemstones. It is a wonderful place, and also will never allow us to grow tired of studying through all eternity. Yet the intricate complexity of the atom and the many elements found in this universe, were simply spoken into existence from the mighty mind of God. Nothing can create and produce to any similarity with the power and glory of God.
2. God's love is upon the gates
Psalm 87:2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
This is not to belittle Jacob's vast wealth and power at the time of the authorship of this psalm. Jacob had to escape the reach of his brother Esau and so was sent to his mother's family to hide out till Esau cooled off. He escaped with nothing, having to use a rock for a pillow that first night of travel. When he came back home, he had 4 wives, and 11 children, and all kinds of interesting looking sheep and goats, and wealth. He had so much he was able to give a huge gift to his brother to help ease his return. From that precipitous growth, things kept multiplying. By the time he went to Egypt, there were 70 people in the family. When they left Egypt, there were millions in his family.
God loves the dwellings of Jacob, and has done amazing things for them. He will continue to do amazing things for them in the future. However, the love God showers upon the children of that lonely man called Jacob, pales in comparison with the love God has for the gates of His own city on earth.
In the city of our Savior, the New Jerusalem, each gate is one huge pearl. Each pearl stands for the fellowship in suffering while living in a world dominated by sin and suffering. If the Son's gates are 12 huge pearls, what will the Father's gates look like?
3. God's glory is spoken of this city
Psalm 87:3 Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.
This little verse has had several hymns written about it. God can see the city today, even though it has not been set up, because of His Omniscience. He knows all things. He can see the future as clearly as the past. He tells us so much about this city, and it is all wonderful, because this is the plan of God that was delayed when Adam and Eve sinned. It has continued to be delayed until all who will come to salvation will come. Then, once God has provided ample opportunity for all to repent and be saved, He will send His Son to organize us to clean up this old world and turn things back to the way of righteousness.
A Mankind Will Love the City of Zion
1. Mankind will notice those born there
Psalm 87:4-5 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.
So why does God mention Rahab? Rahab, though rescued because of her righteous deeds, always had the stigma of having been born in a city that was destroyed because of its evil. Not only did she had the stigma of her old career, she had the stigma of being from a heathen city, where no one was allowed to escape except those with her. Yet, God did not abandon her for those reasons. Her heart was right and she was married into the line that later produced the great King David and even later, the line that bore the Lord Jesus. Just because there will be many who fit the same background as Rahab, her testimony will live to prove that God does not discount us because of our past or lineage. He counts what is there today. He uses all those that come to Him in a mighty way, though we may not know the blessings today, we will learn of them later.
Why mention Babylon? It has been the most powerful city historically, even before the flood. It will again become a city that will have world wide influence and power. Yet, that city will become the home of every vile creature, and it will continue to exist throughout eternity as a lesson to all those born under God's Kingdom that there is a definite and lasting end to all that do evil, and all cities that protect evil. And yet, even the most powerful cities of man cannot compare with the glory of the city of God.
Then we are told of some cities that will remain and survive the ravages of time and the events of the future. Philistia, Tyre and Ethiopia will be told of those that were born in Zion. They will celebrate the even instead of cursing it as they have in the past. Not only will these towns survive, but those in them will be totally committed to loving God and those who celebrate the gifts of God.
2. God will make a record of the births there
Psalm 87:6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.
God will establish His own city, and keep careful records of everyone that is born in His city. The records will be important news. Instead of the record of the murders, rapes, kidnapping, assaults, and such, the news will be about births, weddings, and blessings. Headlines will start with the news from Zion, and then go to local events.
3. The city will be the place of music and singing
Psalm 87:7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there : all my springs are in thee.
There is nothing more glorious than great orchestras and choirs, along the springs of water. Not only does the rippling of the waters conduct sound, the waters add a resonance of their own to help enliven the music.
It is a sad thing that the great orchestras find so much trouble finding funding and instrumentalists today. It is getting harder and harder to go to a great orchestration. God's city will be a city of music. His fountains will run through the city and provide a wonderful haven for endless concerts of good solid and holy music. No longer will one be plagued by some loud boom-box that rumbles down the road or is carried on a shoulder. No longer will one be awakened in the night from the loud raucous racket peeling forth from some renegade driver in the middle of the night. No longer will one be pelted with the sinful and selfish intonations of the noise of this day. Instead there will be holy music everywhere, doing what all music is designed to do, and that is to bring glory to the God that created the ability to make music in man.
Topic Study
Zion in Scripture
by Pastor Clinton Macomber
Zion is the City of David
2 Samuel 5:7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.
Zion is the home of the virgin daughters
2 Kings 19:20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 22 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Zion is a permanent and eternal city, much like the child of God
Psalm 125:1 They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
Zion is where God will dwell
Isaiah 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
Zion will be humbly recognized as the City of God by all those that despised her.
Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Zion will be the place of deliverance
Obadiah 1:17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Zion is different than the New Jerusalem, Zion being the earthly city of God and Jerusalem being the Heavenly city.
Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Zion is where the Lord Jesus will meet with the 144,000 Jewish people.
Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
Quote
All my fountains are in Thee. (R.V.)
Psalm 87:7
“All my fresh springs,” the Prayer-book version has it. Perennial freshness! This is our portion. We have only to abide in Christ in daily, hourly faith, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, for where that is secured there need be no further effort; naturally, perennially, plentifully, there will arise in us the fountains whose source is God, and the ultimate destination of whose waters are the wildernesses and deserts around. Do you want freshness in your love? The vintages of other years cannot provide you with the ruddy clusters and the wine of sacrifice required for present day needs. You want new enthusiasm, tenderness, and interest in those around you. Deepen your union with God by faith and prayer. Your fresh springs are in Him; He will Himself be in you a spring of living water, rising up to everlasting life and love. Do you want freshness in your views of truth? There are such constant demands made on your teaching powers, that you are sometimes fearful of exhaustion. But if you keep your heart open to God, and your soul perpetually nourished by Scripture, you will find that God's thoughts will come freshly and brightly to you—new as each morning, fresh as spring. Do you want freshness in your religious life? This, too, is his gift, because the life we live in the flesh is, after all, not our own life, but his. Jesus is in us, the Hope and Fount of the true life. All He wants is to have orifices, channels, openings in the rocky soil, and He will arise in us heavenward and God-ward, as fountains in the sunny air. Rise up in us, Thou Blessed One, who art evermore the resurrection and the life!
F. B. Meyer, Our Daily Homily (Redding, California: Pleasant Places Press, 2004; 2004). Volume 3 page 87.
Devotions
Monday, Psalm 87:1 and 1 Corinthians 5:1-2
God's foundations are in mountains of holiness. Sadly, human foundations are often in immorality, greed, and selfishness. How we react indicates where we belong. Do we mourn over sin? Does sin grieve us? Or are so we involved in sin that we are blinded and unable to see our wretchedness? A foundation in God will cause us to cleave to all only that which is pure and clean in God.
Tuesday, Psalm 87:2 and 1 Corinthians 5:3-5
There are some deeds that do not need to have a trial. There is simply no way that those involved are doing it for righteous reasons. In our world of apparent relativity, we seem to think that what we are doing is fine unless there is a judge that condemns us for doing it. The fact remains that there is little that needs to have a trial to examine the “facts” and to reach a determination. God's law is simple principles. It does not need to address every little issue to determine a position. Holiness is clearly stated and indicated. Anyone can clearly determine if God would accept a circumstance or not.
Wednesday, Psalm 87:3 and 1 Corinthians 5:6-7
When God does things, the glorying we do is appropriate and even necessary. It is important we notice the work of God and praise Him for it. Our glorying in sin is evil, and completely wrong. It is very important that we get rid of all sin and learn to glory, not in sinful activities, but in the power and glory of God. Praising people, things, ideas, or such worldly things is sin, and keeps us from growing in God and preparing for an Eternity with God.
Thursday, Psalm 87:4-5 and 1 Corinthians 5:8-9
God loves for the people of the world to come to Him at His city. Anyone that is born there is announced publicly and held in remembrance. But the way to God's heart is to keep His feast days and follow Him implicitly. In doing so we learn that everything that causes formation in this world, must be gotten rid of regularly. We cannot have supper with the Lord Jesus, if there is anything that puffs up in us, our food, or our lives. We must separate and learn to use holy vessels, maintain holy lives and keep holy friendships in this world.
Friday, Psalm 87:6 and 1 Corinthians 5:10-11
When God makes up the records of what is done in His city, He includes the birth of anyone there. He loves his work of giving the gift of a new child to people that serve Him. There is so much to enjoy and look forward to in the new life. On the other side, we have the problem of those who call themselves Christians that live in sin. We cannot afford to have any contact with such people after we warn them. However, we want to encourage those who are unsaved in this world to change their behavior and take note of God's Word to them. When anyone gets saved, and declares their salvation to others, there is great rejoicing in heaven, just as there will be on earth when one is born in Zion.
Saturday, Psalm 87:7 and 1 Corinthians 5:12-13
In the worship of God with other people, the service is to be made up of those who serve God in their daily lives and are seeking to obey all they know. All those present should be concerned that their group does not become infected by those who would bring sin into their midst. As a result of there being a collection of of saints, there can be holy music and a powerful time of praise in song and music, as we all work to learn to praise God appropriately.
Puzzle
Word Find Puzzle
Psalm 87
| E | D | N | Y | B | E | Z | R | A | H | I | T | E | O | G | H | C | T | N |
| F | S | E | V | M | H | U | O | M | E | N | T | I | O | N | T | F | L | S |
| F | W | T | K | V | N | C | I | G | A | T | E | S | S | B | A | M | B | P |
| H | F | W | A | U | P | P | H | U | E | O | B | W | O | S | L | L | O | R |
| T | Y | R | E | B | I | H | N | I | A | L | E | S | N | S | A | A | R | I |
| G | H | I | P | H | L | O | I | I | E | S | P | I | S | B | H | S | N | N |
| H | M | T | C | W | I | I | P | L | R | F | A | O | A | Z | A | P | N | G |
| E | S | E | O | Z | T | O | S | E | I | T | T | B | E | V | M | O | Y | S |
| M | C | T | L | N | I | I | Y | H | N | S | Y | S | P | P | I | J | N | P |
| A | O | H | N | H | N | A | E | U | P | L | T | S | E | T | A | A | K | K |
| N | U | T | T | E | L | A | O | H | O | K | G | I | A | H | I | G | D | E |
| W | N | E | O | P | M | M | E | N | I | N | M | D | A | C | G | W | N | S |
| V | T | H | E | R | E | U | K | L | I | M | N | A | I | M | E | I | U | K |
| H | N | E | K | O | P | S | R | H | W | U | S | S | S | L | F | O | H | H |
| V | B | O | C | A | J | Y | T | T | O | B | U | E | L | C | I | T | B | A |
| S | I | N | G | E | R | S | Y | F | S | M | A | I | L | R | H | L | M | R |
| V | E | H | O | S | I | K | L | M | Y | N | N | H | O | F | M | I | J | O |
| W | H | T | E | V | O | L | O | C | H | G | I | L | A | A | N | Z | L | K |
| S | E | L | A | H | G | W | H | H | S | U | G | B | M | R | I | J | P | A |
| BABYLON | HOLY | PSALM |
| BORN | INSTRUMENTS | RAHAB |
| CHIEF | JACOB | SELAH |
| COUNT | KORAH | SINGERS |
| DWELLINGS | LEANNOTH | SONSA |
| ESTABLISH | LOVETH | SPOKEN |
| ETHIOPIA | MAHALATH | SPRINGS |
| EZRAHITE | MASCHIL | THERE |
| FOUNDATION | MENTION | THINGS |
| GATES | MOUNTAINS | TYRE |
| GLORIOUS | MUSICIAN | WRITETH |
| HEMAN | PEOPLE | ZION |
| HIGHEST | PHILISTIA | |
| HIMSELF | PLAYERS |
