Summary: 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.

PRAISING THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS.

Psalm 48:1-7.

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).

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, who is ‘the rock of our salvation (cf. Psalm 95:1), is the ultimate and final king of David’s descent (cf. Matthew 1:1; Isaiah 9:6-7).

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.

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,’ (2 Chronicles 20:15) and that they need not fight, but just ‘stand still and see the salvation of the LORD’ (2 Chronicles 20:17). 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 20:21-22).

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).

It is God who broke the ships of Tarshish with an east wind (PSALM 48:7; cf. 1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:36-37). It is God who scatters the army of the enemy (cf. Job 27:21). ‘Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:57).