Sermon Central
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The Power Of Praise.
Contributed by Christopher Holdsworth on Feb 26, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it for ever. Psalm 48:8.
THE POWER OF PRAISE.
1. The God of the City.
Before we can talk about the “city of our God” we must recognise and acknowledge the God of the city. The Bible does not begin with Jerusalem, but with God. The New Testament does not begin with the church, but with Jesus.
This psalm begins with a simple statement of fact: “Great is the LORD” and, because of the greatness of the LORD, He is “greatly to be praised” (PSALM 48:1a).
It is God who is known in the palaces of the city as a refuge (PSALM 48:3). It is Jesus who is our city of refuge. He is the sacrifice whose blood atones for our sins. He is the high priest whose death sets us free.
It is God who broke the ships of Tarshish with an east wind (PSALM 48:7; cf. 2 Chronicles 20:36-37).
It is God who establishes the city “for ever” (PSALM 48:8). This is perhaps the key verse in the whole chapter. It is Jesus who said, ‘I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (cf. Matthew 16:18). “Selah:” think on these things.
It is the ‘hesed’ of the LORD, His covenant mercy, His “lovingkindness,” that we meditate upon “in the midst of thy temple” (PSALM 48:9). It is Jesus who established the new covenant in His blood (cf. Matthew 26:28).
It is in accordance with the name of God that His praises redound to the ends of the earth (PSALM 48:10a). It is at the name of Jesus that every knee shall bow (cf. Philippians 2:10-11).
It is God whose right hand is “full of righteousness” (PSALM 48:10b). He is both ‘just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus’ (cf. Romans 3:26). And Jesus is the One who, sitting on a white horse, ‘in righteousness doth judge and make war’ (cf. Revelation 19:11).
“This is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death’ (PSALM 48:14; cf. Psalm 23:4). Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (cf. John 11:25). Jesus leads the way OVER death.
2. The City of our God.
Where is the LORD to be praised? In the place that God has chosen (cf. 2 Chronicles 6:5-6), “the city of our God” (PSALM 48:1b). A city is a place of civilisation. We could speak of the civilising influence of the church, wherever the gospel has flourished. This city is, “in the mountain of His holiness.” Jesus said, ‘a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid’ (cf. Matthew 5:14). True Christians cannot remain hidden for long.
The Psalmist talks about the beauty, or elevation, of Mount Zion (PSALM 48:2). This is the site of the Temple Mount within Jerusalem. Like Zion, the church is founded upon a rock. Jerusalem is both “the city of our God” (PSALM 48:1) and a Royal city: “the city of the great King” (PSALM 48:2; cf. Psalm 2:6). Jesus is the ultimate and final king of David’s descent (cf. Matthew 1:1; Isaiah 9:6-7).
PSALM 48:4-6 may well be a reference to the attack against Jerusalem by the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites during the reign of King Jehoshaphat. On that occasion, the LORD told the king, and ‘all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ that ‘the battle is God’s,’ and that they need not fight, but just ‘stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.’ Jehoshaphat set singers in the forefront, that they should ‘praise the beauty of holiness;’ and ‘the LORD set ambushes’ against the enemy so that they ended up destroying one another (cf. 2 Chronicles 20).
Or it may refer to a later deliverance, during the reign of King Hezekiah, when 185,000 Assyrians were struck down by the LORD, causing the king of Assyria to return to Nineveh where he was assassinated by his own sons in the temple of his ‘god’ (cf. Isaiah 37:33-38).
No wonder the Psalmist exhorts both “Zion” and the “daughters of Judah” (the lesser cities) to “rejoice” and “be glad” (PSALM 48:11). The church, too, will surely rejoice at God’s righteous judgments against our persecutors (cf. Revelation 19:13).
PSALM 48:12-13 takes us on a peripatetic tour around the city. ‘Look at all this,’ the tour guide might say, ‘the towers, the bulwarks, the palaces: all intact despite the wicked intentions of our enemies! Mark it well, count them, and be sure to tell the generation following what God has done.' It is the responsibility of every Christian to tell forth what God has done for us, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
PSALM 48:14. It is THIS God who is OUR God. He is our God “FOR EVER AND EVER.” He will be our guide not only unto, but OVER death!
