THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 7 – PSALM 125 – THE UNMOVABLE MOUNTAIN AND THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED
Psalm 125 A Song of Ascents
[A]. THE GREAT SIMILE – THE MIGHTY COMPARISON
{{Psalm 125:1 “Those who trust in the LORD are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.”}}
We take up our next Psalm of Ascent, these Psalms that were sung by the pilgrims who wended their way to Jerusalem on three occasions each year. As they rose the heights to the holy city they sang these 15 Psalms, songs for the ascent. As the pilgrim feet made their way to the sanctuary, their pilgrim eyes look upon the mountainous terrain. Jerusalem is altogether surrounded by mountains – and there is MOUNT ZION!
Our Psalm for today is a shorter one but it contains a lot of teaching. In verse 1 the comparison is that the trusting ones are as Mount Zion. Mt Zion is in the mountain range on which Jerusalem is built and Zion is the most prominent peak. These peaks are small when the great mountain ranges of the world are considered but many of them are important in scripture. There are several of these mountains in scripture but let us look briefly at only one.
[1a]. MOUNT OF OLIVES. Firstly it is the place of prayer – {{Luke 21:37 “Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet.”}} Although we are not told in the scripture we can certainly conclude the Lord spent the night in prayer as he did on other occasions. It was a place of quietness and privacy for Him.
[1b]. MOUNT OF OLIVES. Secondly it is the place of reality. After leaving the upper room on the Passover night the 11 disciples and the Lord went to Olivet where Jesus told Peter he would betray Him three times – {{Matthew 26:34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a cock crows, you shall deny Me three times.”}} Peter would never forget that place.
[1c]. MOUNT OF OLIVES. Thirdly it is the place of greatest revelation – {{Matthew 24:3 “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?”}} It was there Jesus taught the whole truth of the coming Tribulation and His Second Coming to end it.
[1d]. MOUNT OF OLIVES. It is the place of the ascension. {{Acts 1:12 “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.”}} It was on Olivet that Jesus ascended to heaven and then the disciples returned to Jerusalem.
[1e]. MOUNT OF OLIVES. It is the place to which the Lord will descend when He comes again – {{Zechariah 14:4 “And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.” Acts 1:11 and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”}} Yes, He departed from Olivet and will return to Olivet at the Second Coming.
WHAT DOES THIS COMPARISON WITH ZION MEAN?
Those who trust in the Lord cannot be moved, but in what way? Well it means their faith will not be moved but will remain steadfast. Their purpose will remain unshakable also. Mt Zion was chosen because it is an established and secure peak. Those who are trusting in the Lord are as Mt Zion – because it is a solid, unmovable rock. There was nothing more solid than Zion. No way would it be taken out of its place or tremble with uncertainty.
Believers are fixed to the Mighty Rock, the Rock of Ages forever. They will never be moved. The Israelites knew Mt Zion. We know of great rocks even bigger, the great monoliths such as Ayers Rock in Australia and the Rock of Gibraltar. We can stand on the solid foundation and not be moved ever. “On Christ the solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
Christian, you don’t make the Rock. Some think their own efforts are needed to establish the rock and then battle to maintain it. No, not in any way. Jesus is our Rock and all that is required of us is to plant our feet securely on that Rock. He will keep us forever, not we ourselves.
We must consider this verse – {{Romans 9:33 just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”}} We have just been looking at Mt Zion being a rock of defence for the godly, secure, dependable, but as the Psalms are often songs of contrast, so too we have a contrast in Zion, this time from the New Testament. He who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will never be disappointed, but for the unbeliever, the procrastinators and the scoffers, then Zion becomes a rock of offence. It is an application both for the righteous and the wicked. It is support for Christians but a mountain that will crush the wicked.
[B]. SURROUNDED SOLIDLY - SAFE STEADY AND STEADFAST
{{Psalm 125:2 “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.”}}
The imagery here is derived from the view the pilgrims have as they ascend the heights on their way to Jerusalem. Mountains surround the city that is part of the mountainous landscape itself. The strength and eternal suggestion of that land formation naturally depicts the great strength and stability of the Lord. To the human eye the mountains seem unchanging, as is the character of God, so the comparison of these surrounding mountains to the surrounding care of the Lord, is a natural one to make.
Do you ever feel alone? I know you do at times. We all do from time to time. Lift up your eyes? What do you see? “Nothing,” you say. Lift up your eyes again and look. What do you see?
May the Lord make you like Elijah who lifted up his eyes and saw the chariots of fire. The prophet prayed for his servant Gehazi that he might see also, and God revealed to him chariots of fire in the great protection of God. We may have spiritual eyes that do not see the mountains that are surrounding us, but by faith we claim their presence and know that the Lord is surrounding us. Lift up your eyes and see the Lord in His strength.
In your heartache and your loneliness that sometimes descends on us all (which is not from God), we need to know that as the mountains surround Jerusalem, then the Lord surrounds us.
In what way does the Lord surround us? With what does the Lord surround us? Let us go to those pilgrims and think how they may have understood all this. Firstly they were surrounded by protection from their enemies on the journey. They sang about that in the previous Psalm. The second truth they knew was the care of the Lord for His own people.
Can people who reject the Lord expect His care, or more pointedly, does the Lord care for those who reject Him and lead a wicked life? This is a vexed question because in a general way the Lord does care for His creation that must include all the bad apples. In this age of grace in which we live, and which is very fast coming to a close, the Lord stays His hand in judgement even against the vile wickedness of mankind, but that won’t last much longer.
However there is a special care and love and concern the Lord has for His own people. I find it comforting that the angels surround us and they minister to us. Here are two verses from the Psalms the pilgrims would have known (and we must embrace them also) –
{{Psalm 5:12 “for it is You who blesses the righteous man, O LORD. YOU SURROUND HIM with favour as with a shield.”
Psalm 32:10 “Many are the sorrows of the wicked but he who trusts in the LORD, LOVING-KINDNESS SHALL SURROUND HIM.”}}
[C]. LIVING UNDER THE CONTROL OF WICKEDNESS IN THE PRESENT TIMES
{{Psalm 125:3 “For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous that the righteous may not put forth their hands to do wrong.”}}
I think in the time of King David, in a general way, this verse was true. When the land is righteous then the reign of wickedness is missing or reduced or limited. In the world today most lands are very unrighteous and the scepter of wickedness rests on them. My own nation almost takes the lead in unrighteousness. The Australian Prime Minister is going to take part in the world’s largest filthy demonstration of homosexuality in the world in the Sydney Mardi-gras and bring homosexuals from all over the world. Government Departments are ramming the filth down our necks. Government ministers are all for it. The Australian Government is adopting aspects of spiritism into our society as well.
Why is all that happening in Australia? It is because the nation is grossly unrighteous with born again Christians no more than about 1% now. The scepter of wickedness rules many nations. If lands were righteous, then wickedness would not be in control (would not hold the scepter), but we are in the last days and this is what the Lord says about the last days – {{2Timothy 3:13 “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”}}
Here are a few more expressions about the last days from that chapter – “arrogant, unholy, brutal, haters of good, treacherous,” and a special message to faithful Christians in these last days – {{2Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”}}
The scepter of righteousness does not rest on our lands. Almost all of us live in a land of wickedness. Nevertheless the righteous must not put forth their hands to do wrong. Extra grace is needed to live among wicked people and the Lord gives that.
Evil will have its day but soon will come the time when all wickedness is defeated by the Lord, and after the devil’s consignment to the lake of fire, and the great white throne, righteousness will hold the scepter forever and ever.
[D]. A PRAYER FOR THE LORD TO SHOW GOODNESS TO THOSE WHO ARE GOOD
{{Psalm 125:4 “Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.”}}
Straightaway there is a verse that ought to come into our minds which is this – {{Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD. There is not even one.”}}
That is a Romans verse but the pilgrims knew that thought very well because Paul is loosely quoting from here, a Psalm of David – {{Psalm 14:1-3 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have committed abominable deeds. THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD. The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES GOOD, NOT EVEN ONE.”}}
Of course, left to himself man will never seek God, so it requires God’s intervention to plan the way of salvation and call man to Himself. The old nature every human being carries is corrupt and remains with him and her until in the Lord’s presence. There is not even one who is good.
Yet the psalmist prayed that God will do good to those who are good. How can that be? It is all about substituted righteousness. Christians can especially rejoice in this because Jesus made our filthy unrighteousness His, and died for sin so now He gives to us the righteousness of God. He sees us as good. In the Old Testament it came about through the animal sacrifices.
The prayer in this psalm is that God will do good to the good and the upright. Does that means He does evil to the unrighteous and bad people? It could mean that because God can’t do real good to the wicked. God wants all to repent so He is longsuffering waiting for the ungodly to turn to Him.
In this message I will not enumerate the ways God does us good but I want to raise this responsibility which we have - {{Galatians 6:9-10 “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary, so then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to ALL men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”}} In pursuing that we certainly need God’s help.
In the next verse after telling us to do good things to our enemies, Paul writes this – {{Romans 12:21 “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”}} Good can not come from evil, but evil will continue until chapter 20 of Revelation and then will be no more.
[E]. BACK TO THE RECURRING THEME IN THE PSALMS
{{Psalm 125:5 “But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel.”}}
Again the contrast comes starkly to us between good and evil. In verse 4 the request was that the Lord will do good to those who are good; the ones who are good in God’s sight. In verse 5 the wicked ones, those who have turned to crooked ways, will be led away with all those who do iniquity. There is never any middle ground in scripture and Psalms is abundantly uniform on that.
This verse will take us back to the first Psalm that sets out the contrast so clearly between righteousness and unrighteousness. It is a psalm of blessing on one hand and perishing on the other. All human beings are in two groups determined by faith and obedience.
The expression in Psalm 125:5 is “those who turn aside to their crooked ways,” which indicates a deliberate choice. When Jeremiah was setting out the charges against Judah he spoke with the inspired severity of the Lord, for Judah had pursued the vile sin of idolatry and was corrupt through and through. One thing said to them was this – {{Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD, “Stand by the ways and see, and ask for the ANCIENT PATHS where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls, but they said, ‘WE WILL NOT WALK IN IT.’”}}
The nation had turned aside to crooked ways but they did it deliberately. All men will be held guilty who have sinned because their choice was to turn aside. All sinners will be led away with the doers of iniquity and will end in the lake of fire.
There is an expression in the Jeremiah verse that is very important in our current wicked times – “ancient paths”. The ancient paths are those mapped out by God when he said, “Walk in them,” and they are paths of stability and certainty because they are God’s paths for His creation. Our nations have bulldozed out the ancient paths that were set for us by more decent legislators and leaders in the past. Every moral statute of God has now been trashed – marriage, creation, birth, sexuality. The ancient paths have been obliterated and wicked men have replaced them with crooked paths. We live in a civilisation waiting for judgement and it is very fast approaching.
Proverbs puts it another way – {{Proverbs 22:28 “Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set.”}} Those boundaries were set by God through their fathers. It was such a criminal offence in ancient Israel to remove the boundary pegs or relocate them. God affirmed that – {{Deuteronomy 19:14 “You shall not move your neighbour’s boundary mark which the ancestors have set in your inheritance which you shall inherit in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess.”}}
Today “criminal men and women” have removed the boundary marks/pegs that God set as the standard for behaviour and righteous living. The filth of homosexuality is being rammed down our necks especially in Australia. Children’s sexuality is being destroyed. Marriage has been perverted. Unborn lives are being murdered. What will God do about it? Well, just for the present, very little because the storehouses of God’s wrath are almost filled and very soon will overflow. Then the Rapture will happen, after which the storehouses of wrath will be emptied. That will be in the Tribulation.
The rulers of Judah did it, the same turning to crooked ways and this is what Hosea said – {{Hosea 5:10 “The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary. On them I will pour out My wrath like water.”}}
“Peace be upon Israel” is what concludes this Psalm. It is a prayer for the faithful to bear in mind. Israel is the apple of God’s eye and we all know how painful it is when there is an irritation in the eye. “God’s eye” is badly irritated by the sin of the nation, by those who turn to crooked ways. Let there be peace in the nation. We know in these day there will not be peace until the Lord returns at the Second Coming. However this we have – {{Psalm 122:6 “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”}}
May the Lord enable us to live in a crooked and perverse nation and fill us with the goodness of God.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
