Gathering With God’s People Series

Gathering with God’s People

Psalm 122

We are studying the Psalms of Ascent together and when we reach Psalm 122 something odd happens. The psalmist arrives in Jerusalem. There are fifteen Psalms of Ascent, and we are only on the third psalm and we’re already there! How can that be?

The Psalms of Ascent have an upward motion. They begin in Psalm 120 with the psalmist crying out in trouble far away from Jerusalem, and they end in Psalm 134 with the psalmist offering up praise in the temple courts.

If you break the fifteen psalms into five groups of three, you notice a pattern in each group of three psalms. The first psalm in each group focuses on trouble of some sort. The second psalm in each group focuses on trust. And then the third psalm in each group focuses on triumph or victory.

For example Psalm 120 begins with the psalmist in trouble in a far away land. In Psalm 121 he puts his trust in God. And in Psalm 122 he gathers with God’s people for worship in Jerusalem. This pattern of trouble-trust-triumph repeats in Psalms 123-125, Psalms 126-128, Psalms 129-131 and then again in Psalms 132-134.

All fifteen psalms together represent one big journey to God, and yet within this larger pilgrimage we find these five mini-pilgrimages as well.

This psalm attributes authorship to David. If the references to God's House (vs. 1, 9) refer to the temple, David couldn’t be the author, because Solomon built the temple after David’s death.

However, the tabernacle was the precursor of the temple. David brought the ark to Jerusalem, and housed it in a tent, as it had been housed in the wilderness wanderings (2 Samuel 6:17; 7:5-7). When Solomon later dedicated the temple (1 Kings 8), he transferred the holy vessels to the temple. So it is possible that the references to Yahweh’s house refer to the tabernacle, and David could most certainly have been the author of this psalm.

And so as you work your way through the Psalms of Ascent, you get a very realistic view of the Christian’s journey in life. It’s not all the way up all the time but very often three steps forward, one step back. It’s progress in fits and starts, but it is progress nonetheless.

Ever ask someone why they don’t go to church? They’ll give you all sorts of reasons. “It’s boring. I have better things to do. It’s my one day to sleep in. We have sports on Sundays. We like to keep Sundays for family time.” People give lots of reasons for not going to church, but there is one overriding reason why we should go and that is God. Psalm 122 is the song of a person who decides to go to church and worship God.”

The weekly gathering of the church for worship should be one your highest priorities and one of the high points of your week. Psalm 122 teaches us it should not simply be your duty but also your delight .

As a Christian you are on a journey, but on your journey you are not alone. In fact, the gathering of God’s people for worship is one of the most important parts of your journey with God. We need each other for the journey. You cannot be a growing Christian without also being an active part of Christ’s church. So, let’s take a look at this psalm and see what it teaches us about church and our journey to God.

I. Look forward to gathered worship each week (1-2)

First of all, Psalm 122 teaches us to look forward to gathered worship each week. Look at verses 1-2: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’ 2 Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.” (Psalm 122:1-2)

A. Look forward to worshiping with God’s people – Hebrews 10:25

There are a couple things we learn from these verses. First of all, we should look forward to worshiping with God’s people. Verse 1 says: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (Psalm 122:1)

Remember the psalmist is on a journey. He started his journey in Psalm 120 surrounded by people who didn’t care about God or God’s ways. Along the way in Psalm 121 he learned to trust in God’s providence and care. And now that he is finally arriving in Jerusalem he thinks back to the beginning of his journey and how glad he was to leave for Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was important because that’s where the temple was. The temple was important because that’s where God met with his people. And so why was he so glad to begin his journey? Because he was going to worship God with His people. The Psalms of Ascent are all about going to meet with God, and the temple is the place where God promised to meet with His people.