“And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her” (Psalm 87:5).
TEXT — Psalm 87:1-7
Message
On the doorpost of an old building in Jerusalem, Israel, is a German inscription, “The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob”. Culled from Psalm 87, it was etched on the structure in 1948 when the modern Jewish nation came into existence after centuries of statelessness of the descendants of Jacob. The psalm itself is believed to have been composed after the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon.
While it is a solemn celebration of the power of the Lord to restore hope to the dispersed, it also reveals God as the supreme Deity who sits in the “holy mountains” with a firm foundation that cannot be rocked by the moves of man. Man must, therefore, speak of Him and His habitation in exalted terms. Prophetically, the writer says although He has picked Zion as the point of His earthly reign in the future, He will, in His mercy, accommodate the Gentiles (Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia) in the final spiritual Zion in heaven.
The record-taking of the nations and their citizens in this heavenly abode of the Trinity and the holy angels will be done by the Lord, “the highest himself”. He shall do the enumeration. “He shall count, when he writeth up the people”. These are those who have sought the forgiveness of their sins and have been washed clean for entry into the palace of the King of kings. Nothing that defiles or offends shall be allowed to walk on its golden routes.
The psalm closes with a mention of the presence of “singers…players on instruments” in this final home of the saints of God. To be sure, there will be great joy in heaven to usher in the chosen servants; but the celebrations would be of the Scriptural prescription: “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).
Thought for the day
Endeavour to work out your salvation with trembling and fear.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
