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Psalm 48
February 20
Are you as excited
about the “city of God” as this psalmist is? He was speaking literally about
the Jerusalem of his day, but prophetically, he was writing about the coming
city of God which will descend out of heaven.
“Then I, John, saw the
holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2, NKJV).
“And he carried me
away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,” (Rev. 21:10).
“The city had no need of the sun
or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The
Lamb is its light.” (Rev.
21:23).
There are several
things in Psalm 48 that was not yet true yet of that day, and it is certainly
not true today about the city of Jerusalem. But when we read this psalm with an
eye on the heavenly city of God, it makes us excited about God’s present and future reign.
Prophetically the psalmist wrote that at some point in the future “God will establish it (the city of God) forever”
(verse 8).
This political
season is about the worse I have ever seen. The United States is getting less
and less united and more and more divided. Our world fares no better than our
country. But soon and very soon, we are going to see our King. What does it
take to be a resident of the City of God, the New Jerusalem, that “city” that
now exists in heaven? The final book and final two chapters of the Bible mentions
the city of God 11 times in merely 48 verses.
“Blessed are those who
wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that
they may enter the city by the gates.” (Rev.22:14, ESV).
Are your garments
spotless? Are they white as snow? They only can be if you are among those who
have “washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). The Bible says “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from
all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:7b, 9).
