Introduction: The city of Jerusalem had ancient beginnings. We first read of it in Genesis, as the home of Melchizedek, King of Salem. Salem means peace, and was the original name of the city. Melchizedek was also God's priest, and Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek. That took place 4000 years ago, around 2000 BC.
In the time of Moses and Joshua (1500-1400 BC), the Jebusites lived in Jerusalem. They made a strong fortress on one of the hills in the Jerusalem area, and called it Zion (fortress). When the Israelites conquered and settled in the Promised land, they were not able to dislodge the Jebusites from Zion (Joshua 15:63).
When David became the King of Israel (1000 BC), one of the first things he did was to launch a war against the Jebusites in Zion. David conquered the Zion fortress, and called it the City of David (2 Samuel 5:6-10). He made Zion his home, and the words Zion and Jerusalem gradually became synonymous. He brought the Ark of the Covenant into Zion, and thus the word Zion began to take on religious overtones, as God's city (2 Samuel 6:12-15).
Eventually Zion, Jerusalem, and City of God became synonyms. Finally, these terms took on a symbolic meaning. Zion came to be a code word for the people of God, the Church. We often use "Zion" that way in our hymns, for example "O Zion haste, they mission high fulfilling, to tell to all the world that God is light." The Church (Zion) has a mission to spread the Gospel.
There are four facts about the Church that are emphasized in Psalm 48:
I. The Church is inhabited by God (Ps. 48:1,3).
Psa 48:1 Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain.
Psa 48:3 God is in her citadels; he has shown Himself to be her fortress.
God is in His Church.
1 Cor 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
2 Cor 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
Jesus promised that where two or three were gathered together in His name, He would be there, too. God is here this morning in our worship service. God is in His people.
Because God indwells us, the Church is stronger than we think. Satan, that old deceiver, wants us to think that the Church is too weak and powerless to impact this sinful world. He wants us to give up. He wants us to just circle the wagons and quietly wait for Jesus to come and rescue us.
Jesus wants the Church to get to work!
Luke 19:11-13 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
The word "occupy" is pragmateusasthe, from which we have our English word "pragmatic." None of my Bible versions has a good translation. The word literally means "be busily engaged doing practical business deeds."
Do you remember the cowboy show "Rawhide?" Every week Mr. Favor the cattle boss would shout: "Head em up! Move em out!" That's what Jesus calls to the Church. Get to work! We must not allow Satan to trick us into cowering in a corner.
Mat 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to ME.
Mat 28:19 Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Jesus has all authority. He tells us to go. Make disciples everywhere. Baptize converts. Teach them to obey all My commandments! I am with you! Go for it! We are strong because Christ has all authority, and CHRIST IS IN US.
II. The Church is at war with the forces of evil (Ps. 48:4-6).
Chapter 17 of the Second Helvetic Confession (1566 in Zurich by Heinrich Bullinger, very widely accepted Creed prior to the Westminster Creed) reads:
"The Church is divided into different parts or forms; not because it is divided or rent asunder in itself, but rather because it is distinguished by the diversity of the numbers that are in it. MILITANT AND TRIUMPHANT. For the one is called the Church Militant, the other the Church Triumphant. The former still wages war on earth, and fights against the flesh, the world, and the prince of this world, the devil; against sin and death. But the latter, having been now discharged, triumphs in heaven immediately after having overcome all those things and rejoices before the Lord."
Psa 48:4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together,
Psa 48:5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.
Psa 48:6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.
Consider also Song of Solomon 6:4, 10
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners....Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrifying as an army with banners?
Listen to Matthew Henry's commentary on these verses....(Quote)
Don't you know that millions of Christians going to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" strikes terror into hearts of unbelievers?
Don't you know that if every Christian in America would stand up and demand justice, honesty and morality that our politicians would take heed and vote the right way?
The Church in the world is "The Church Militant." But we have allowed Satan to make us fear the battle and to feel defeated. We have not even turned to prayer, the most powerful weapon we have. Christ challenges us all to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and then to do our part to make it so.
We should be running for office. We should be electing God-fearing politicians. We should be infiltrating the public schools. We should be infiltrating corporations. We should be strengthening our marriages. We should be starting Christian schools. We should be writing editorials in newspapers and magazines. We should let our influence be felt. We should be preaching the Gospel in our churches, and sharing the Gospel with our friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors. There is so much we can do that we have not done yet.
III. The Church is beautiful (Ps. 48:2).
Psa 48:2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.
The Church is beautiful to me (and I don't mean the building we meet in), and it is even more beautiful to God. In the Old Testament, the Church Israel is called by God His wife. In the New Testament, the Church is called the Bride of Christ. We are beautiful in His eyes.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her
Eph 5:26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
Eph 5:27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In God's eyes, the Church is like a beautiful bride on her wedding day. She is holy. She is clean. She is radiant. She is perfection. God beams on the Church like the Groom beams on his beloved bride coming down the aisle.
Think about the beauty of the Church. The Church is the most beautiful thing on the face of the earth. It is the Church that has given beauty and substance to all of Western Civilization for the past 2000 years. Apart from Christendom, what would the West have to show for art, for music, for literature, for education, for science and technology, for hospitals and other works of charity? Not much! Western Civilization would be a barbaric howling wilderness. But the existence of the Church within it has beautified the Western world. If America casts off Christianity, America will lose its beauty, but the beauty of the Church will remain.
IV. The Church will never be abandoned by God (Ps. 48:8, 14).
Psa 48:8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.
Psa 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Psalm 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
Psalm 94:14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Conclusion: Finally, Psalm 48 says that the older generation must teach the truth about the Church to the younger generation (Ps. 48:12-13).
Psa 48:12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers,
Psa 48:13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.
What shall we teach our children about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Amen.