THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 16 – PSALM 132 – WHAT ARE THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART? DO YOU RECEIVE THEM? JESUS SHALL REIGN ETERNALLY ON DAVID’S THRONE
[A]. ALL ABOUT DAVID THE KING AND HIS EVERLASTING KINGSHIP
Just a recall here as we near the end of these Songs of Ascent. The psalms were sung as the pilgrims ascended the heights to arrive in Jerusalem at the appointed feasts God said they had to attend. A number of commentators say the fervour of the singing grew as they approached Jerusalem, these people who came from throughout Israel.
Today we are looking at a specific Psalm that focuses on David the King of Israel. This is not David speaking but the psalmist recalling David’s desire to build the House of the Lord (the Temple that Solomon built).
{{Psalm 132:1 “Remember, O LORD, on David’s behalf, all his affliction;
Psalm 132:2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
Psalm 132:3 “Surely I will not enter my house nor lie on my bed.
Psalm 132:4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids
Psalm 132:5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”}}
The first five verses are about David’s desire. The next 5 are in connection with the worship in the Temple and the remaining seven verses are about the continuance of the Lord in Zion and the everlasting reign of David’s sons/Son.
These verses are restating the depth of desire David had to build a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant, a House for the Lord. The Tabernacle was still being used and had been operating for about 400 years. It would be good to look at this episode as it was recorded in the Kings.
2Samuel 7:1-7 Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the LORD had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains,” and Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind for the LORD is with you,” but it came about in the same night that the word of the LORD came to Nathan saying, “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in for I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle? Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”}}
{{2Samuel 7:12-13 “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I WILL ESTABLISH THE THRONE OF HIS KINGDOM FOREVER.”}}
[B]. DISAPPOINTMENT FOR A HEART’S DESIRE, GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT INDEED
I think every single person has had a pent up desire and that can cover such a range of events or happenings. Our desires can be very deep and retained even for years. David’s desire to build a house for the Lord was a long one, not a sudden impulse or fanciful whim. He really wanted to do that for the Lord.
David’s desire was correct. His motive was correct and his worship was correct. David was a man after God’s own heart. So many people have a desire that is based on materialism or greed or ambition or self-adoration. Christians are just as guilty of that as the non-Christian but generally the greed is not as great. Some have a burning desire to provide facilities for missionaries and the desire is deep.
Your desires betray your heart’s attitude to the Lord. I know some young men work towards an expensive, fast car and they have this desire for years sometimes. Do they pray God will give them that car? Maybe? Do you think God hears prayers like that?
What if God came to you and stood before you and said, “Ask what you want and I will give it to you?” What would you truly think, and what would you truly say? Would the two match up? Well the Lord did that one night to Solomon recorded here -
{{2Chronicles 1:7-12 In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you,” and Solomon said to God, “You have dealt with my father David with great loving kindness, and have made me king in his place. Now, O LORD God, Your promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. GIVE ME NOW WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” God said to Solomon, “Because you had this in mind, and did not ask for riches, wealth, or honour, or the life of those who hate you, nor have you even asked for long life, but you have asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge, that you may rule My people, over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you, and I will give you riches and wealth and honour, such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed, nor those who will come after you.”}}
In that incident there, Solomon was humble enough to realise he needed the Lord and asked for the Lord’s help implicitly. He did the right thing but we also know the sad story how later in life he turned away form the Lord.
You might say, “That was alright for Solomon. What about me? Will that work for me?” Then you try to recall a verse somewhere in the Old Testament that you can rely on and this is a possibility – {{Psalm 37:3 “TRUST IN THE LORD, and do good. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” Psalm 37:4 “DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD AND HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.” Psalm 37:5 “COMMIT YOUR WAY TO THE LORD. TRUST ALSO IN HIM, and He will do it.”}}
Well, what does this verse 4 really say? Don’t start thinking about your desires. Once you do that you lose the idea altogether. What you must do is understand verse 3. “Trust” is not going to church or reading your bible sometimes. It is an absolute attitude of mind and heart that has a 100% reliance on God. Some of what we desire comes from imperfect trust. A wavering trust is no proper trust at all. Doubt is just as bad.
E. Schuyler English told this story – [[“A man who lived on Long Island was able one day to satisfy a lifelong ambition by purchasing for himself a very fine barometer. When the instrument arrived at his home, he was extremely disappointed to find that the indicating needle appeared to be stuck, pointing to the sector marked "HURRICANE." After shaking the barometer very vigorously several times, its new owner sat down and wrote a scorching letter to the store from which he had purchased the instrument. The following morning on the way to his office in New York, he mailed the letter. That evening he returned to Long Island to find not only the barometer missing, but his house also. The barometer's needle had been right all the time; there was a hurricane!”]]
Again in verse 4 it mentions the command “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Maybe that is the secret. If I want my heart’s desires fulfilled then all I have to do is delight myself in the Lord, BUT what does that mean to delight myself? That is not an easy question but we will look at some verses that may help in understanding this.
The word “delight” occurs 9 times in the NASB in Psalm 119. This is the first one – {{Psalm 119:16 “I shall delight in Your statutes. I shall not forget Your word.”}} There is a real clue right there. One must have a real love for the bible being infused with the words of God. Love is not an appreciation. It is much, much deeper than that. It is your spiritual food and your whole code of life.
{{Psalm 119:24 “Your testimonies also are my delight. They are my counsellors.”}} Again God’s testimonies are His word and the person is led by the bible’s counsel. We are being told the whole delight of the bible is our means of knowing the desires that are pure.
{{Psalm 119:35 “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments for I delight in it.”}} The whole of Psalm 119 is focused on the declared word of God given for His people and includes both Testaments. The psalmist delighted in walking in the way God commanded.
{{Psalm 119:47 “I shall delight in Your commandments which I love.”}} Delight has developed into love. Each of us must ask, “What is our depth of love for the word of God?” When it says, “DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD AND HE WILL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART,” then it is saying you must be sold out to the bible’s teaching which in turn creates such love for the Lord. When we love Him that way, we find our desires will line up with God’s desire for us.
{{Psalm 119:70 “Their heart is covered with fat but I delight in Your law.”}} The psalmist speaks here about the arrogant who lie against God’s own people as described in verse 69. The Christian has a whole set of different perspectives from the unsaved and chief among these is the unfailing love of the bible.
{{Psalm 119:77 “May Your compassion come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight.”}} There it is again, the delight in the law which equates to the written word of God. The psalmist needed the Lord’s help but all the while the word of God was his delight. Is it our delight even in adversity, and turmoil in our lives? These arrogant liars were still the psalmist’s adversaries.
{{Psalm 119:92 “If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.”}} Here is your prime delight. It is in the bible and is your stability when life’s storms want to sweep you away with all the debris. We surely must gain the idea now that a sincere delight in the Lord’s word where it controls our lives, is what lines us up with God’s will for us so HIS WILL AND DESIRE IS MY WILL AND DESIRE.
{{Psalm 119:143 “Trouble and anguish have come upon me yet Your commandments are my delight.”}} This reference is parallel to the previous one.
{{Psalm 119:174 “I long for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight.”}} The last of these is most important for there is a twofold desire but they are perfectly aligned. We can take “longing for salvation” to be the Rapture when our salvation is complete. Are you longing for the Lord’s coming? Meanwhile the word of God is our delight. They are hand in hand.
What we have seen here is a person delighting himself in the Lord according to Psalm 37:4. God will give the desires of our heart when they line up with His most perfect will for us. Our will lines up with God’s will when we are led, even driven by the word of the Lord. It must be the delight of our soul for there is no other way to have the delights of our heart worthy.
David was a man of the Toreh who knew it, and delighted his soul in it. His desire to build a house for the Lord was correct. The desire was perfect as it lined up with God’s will. It was just that David was not the one God chose to build His house and the reason God gave was that David was a man of war, of bloodshed. He had fought many battles to keep Israel safe, not unlike some modern soldiers in Israel who are fighting for the survival of the nation.
Look at these two verses again – {{Psalm 132:3-5 “Surely I will not enter my house nor lie on my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD . . .”}} I am not being stupid when I ask, “Is this the same attitude that you have towards the bible?” It God speaking to you and instructing you and developing the desires of your heart, so do you hunger and thirst after God’s word? THEN our desires will match up with God’s desires for us.
We move to the next section of the Psalm.
[C ]. THE DESIRE FOR WORSHIP AND DAVID’S THRONE SET FOREVER
{{Psalm 132:6 “Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah, we found it in the field of Jaar.”
Psalm 132:7 “Let us go into His dwelling place. LET US WORSHIP AT HIS FOOTSTOOL.”
Psalm 132:8 “Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.”
Psalm 132:9 “Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness and let Your godly ones sing for joy.”
Psalm 132:10 “For the sake of David Your servant do not turn away the face of Your anointed.
Psalm 132:11 The LORD has sworn to David, a truth from which He will not turn back, “Of THE FRUIT OF YOUR BODY I WILL SET UPON YOUR THRONE.”}}
Now we can imagine the pilgrims right at the end of their journey seeing the Temple come in sight. The words of their song are raised in the verses above, and later on to conclude the psalm. It is with great joy they sing. The Temple had already been built by Solomon.
Verses 6 and 7 express the desire and delight for the pilgrims to go to the Temple and they do so from all over Israel. I think the Temple must have been recently constructed at that point. It was not just a sticky-beak they wanted but they desired to worship (end of verse 7) and that was the critical thing.
Verse 8 was the call for God’s presence to be in the Holy of Holies for that was the resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. It is called the Ark of Your strength and it was where God communicated with Moses and the Ark led the way into the Promised Land. It was God’s presence among men so of course it was powerful. The Ark is a wonderful type of Christ but we can not do that now. We come into the Lord’s presence no longer hidden behind a veil, into the holiest place.
Verse 9 is paramount because those who serve the Lord must be holy, not reprobates and pretend priests. Putting on priests’ garments does not make one righteous. Righteousness springs from the heart, a work done by God to make a new creation. God’s own people sing for joy. The pilgrims could be meaning themselves for they were godly and they were singing the victorious Psalm with the Temple in sight.
Verses 10 and 11. I asked my bible study group, “Who are the 3 greatest men in the Old Testament.” They got Abraham and Moses correct but most could not get the third and made a number of guesses. They did not register with David. Many times promises were made to David about his throne, especially the truth that the kingly throne will be occupied forever by his offspring. Of course after the Babylonian invasion, no more was there a king on the throne but in a coming day a King will reign forever. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, descended from David who will be King forever, King of Kings, and King of the Jews and King over all the earth in the Millennium – {{Zechariah 14:9 “And THE LORD WILL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.”}}
The Lord will never turn away His face from one of His anointed. That would be preposterous even to think. Even the weakest lamb and the weakest of the struggling sheep are in the everlasting arms of the Saviour. What have we to fear? Neither things on earth nor things to come will ever separate us from the love of our dear Redeemer.
[D ]. THE EVERLASTING THRONE OF DAVID
{{Psalm 132:12 “IF your sons will keep My covenant and My testimony which I will teach them, their sons also SHALL SIT UPON YOUR THRONE FOREVER.”}}
We have a condition here. We know that most of the kings of Judah followed the Lord, some being imperfect, but some like Hezekiah and Uzziah and others were good. The best of all was Josiah, but after him his two sons were wicked and that was the end of the royal dynasty. But that was not the end, for there was one Son who is a descendant of David, who is King forever. Jesus Messiah will sit on David’s throne and many scriptures testify to that fact. That is why David will never lack a son to sit on his throne.
Not one of David’s sons kept the LORD’s testimony and covenant. At least they did not keep it with their whole heart. But there was One who did, and He claimed the right to the throne. That was the Lord Jesus. He was King at His birth; King in His entry to Jerusalem; King on the Cross, and King in heaven. He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[E ]. ZION IS THE RESTING PLACE FOREVER FOR THE LORD – THIS IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE KING WHO WILL RULE FROM JERUSALEM
{{Psalm 132:13 THE LORD HAS CHOSEN ZION. HE HAS DESIRED IT FOR HIS HABITATION.
Psalm 132:14 “THIS IS MY RESTING PLACE FOREVER. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Psalm 132:15 I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her needy with bread.
Psalm 132:16 Her priests also I will clothe with salvation and her godly ones will sing aloud for joy.
Psalm 132:17 There I will cause the horn of David to spring forth. I have prepared a lamp for My anointed.
Psalm 132:18 His enemies I will clothe with shame but upon himself his crown shall shine.”
In the verses above there are many truths.
Verse 13 – No matter what Hamas or the United Nations say, Zion belongs to the Lord. It is Israel’s land forever. God has desired it for His own. It is His habitation forever.
Verse 14 – Do not miss the significance of “forever”. Jerusalem will be where God is forever. Messiah will dwell among His people. This is literal, not figurative.
Verse 15 – There will be no lack for the Lord God is in their midst. No one misses out. God loves His people.
Verse 16 – This goes back to verse 9 but when the Lord dwells among His people all will be without flaw. How the godly will sing in that day!
Verse 17 – The horn of David is symbol of strength and power in rule. Jesus Christ the Messiah will rule, not only in the Millennium, but in all eternity.
Verse 18 – Here is the contrast. Jesus shall reign until all enemies are put under His feet. In the future the time comes after the final judgement of the great white throne, when sin will be no more and eternity is righteous forever.
We end this great Psalm about David and David’s greater Son.
