The Lord and His City (1)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 48.1-3
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
In the city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
The joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
The city of the great King.
God is in her palaces;
He is known as her refuge.

Sing Psalm 48.1-3
(Cwm Rhonda: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah)
Great is God, now greatly praise Him in the city of the Lord.
Holy she, His lovely mountain, great and glorious by His Word!
God her King is great within her – He, her Stronghold ever sure!
He, her Stronghold ever sure!

Read Psalm 48 (don’t forget the superscription!); meditate on verse 1

Preparation
1. How is the Lord described in verse 1?

2. How is His city described?

Meditation
The city of God is where God dwells, where His throne is situated, and where He rules to advance His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. In the days of the sons of Korah, that city was Jerusalem, and God’s dwelling place was His temple. In Solomon’s day, when the sons of Korah were serving, Jerusalem and the temple were beautiful, magnificent, and glorious.

But it was a fading beauty and glory. Jerusalem and the temple played an important role in their day; but their greatest contribution to the redemptive plan of God was to point forward to the Church and, beyond that, to the city to come in the new heavens and new earth. God dwells among His people today in the Church, in the Person of His Holy Spirit, with Jesus, exalted in glory, directing the progress of God’s Kingdom according to His Word.

The focal point of God’s city is God Himself. He is great, and therefore, greatly to be praised by those among whom He dwells (v. 1). God is building His city as a holy mountain. Our witness to the world is that God is great, holy, and greatly to be praised; and we bear that witness by our holy lives and our gracious words.

This is surely a theme worth singing about with gratitude and joy.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
The beautiful temple, magnificent and glorious in Solomon’s day, was susceptible to the same ravages of sin as all creation. Its luster was fading. As Jeremiah bemoaned, “How has the gold become dim! How changed the fine gold! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street” (Lam. 4.1).

But as King Lemuel remarked concerning his wife, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised” (Prov. 31.30).

There is a way to bear witness to Christ and skirt the horrible ravages of sin and corruption: Fear the LORD! As Solomon wrote:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Eccl. 12.13).

“Our witness to the world is that God is great, holy, and to be praised”!
Our great God must be praised. And we who are His are tasked with this honor.
We live to be dead to sin and its ravages, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6.11).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice…” (1 Pet. 1.3-6).

Sing of His greatness. Fear the LORD. Inherit an incorruptible and undefiled eternity. Rejoice!

Reflection
1. The ultimate beauty we long to know is God Himself. Explain.

2. In what sense is “God the focal point” of your life? Your church?

3. Why is it important to praise God, not just occasionally, but throughout the day?

There is no limit, you see, to his greatness. What it means, however, is something like this: It is necessary to praise him and sing to him alone, and this to an extraordinary degree; but the need is to sing his praises both for this infinite and incomprehensible greatness of his being and for the excess of his beneficence to us. John Chrysostom (344-407), Commentary on the Psalms 48.1

Closing Prayer: Psalm 48.12-14
Praise God for His Church, for churches around the world, and for your own church. Pray that He will visit His churches with revival, for a great awakening to Jesus throughout the world.

Sing Psalm 48.12-14
(Cwm Rhonda: Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah)
Walk about the blessèd city, see her beauty, see her power.
Count her ramparts, filled with glory, look on ev’ry mighty tower.
Tell her glory to the nations: God will guide her evermore;
God will guide her evermore!

T. M. and Susie Moore

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available by clicking here.