Unity

Unity

Our Psalm this morning is Psalm 122. It is one of 15 Psalms that run from 120 to 134 called the Psalms of Accent. They were sung by Jewish pilgrims as they made their way up the hills to Jerusalem for the High festivals each year. This one is called a Psalm of Accent written by David.

David is very excited to be able to see the House of the Lord, to go there and worship – He can see the Temple gleaming in the light of the morning sun. He is bursting with joy.

• I was glad when they said unto me, ‘let us go into the house of the Lord’. Of course, David only had to get up and go to church three times a year. For Passover, for Pentecost and for the Feast of Tabernacles.

• I was glad when they said to me ‘let us go into the house of the Lord’. Of course, David didn’t lose an hour’s sleep because of the switch to Daylight Saving Time.

• I was glad when they said to me ‘let us go into the house of the Lord’. Of course, David didn’t have to put up with zoom meetings during Covid-19.

• I was glad when they said to me ‘let us go into the house of the Lord’. To be honest, David likely never said these words. The headings before each of the Psalms are not inspired. It is the body of the Psalm that is inspired by God. And the inspired part talks about the Temple – the House of the Lord – at least twice. As many of you will recall the Temple was not build in David’s day. It was left to David’s son Solomon to build the House of the Lord.

So, in all likelihood David never said: I was glad when they said to me ‘let us go into the house of the Lord’. Some overzealous scribe added this heading centuries later. Of course, the other possibility is what Charles Spurgeon, that great London Baptist preacher of the 19th Century suggested. He suggests that David wrote Psalm 122 under the spirit of prophecy. He saw a Temple not yet built and cried: I was glad when they said unto me ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’.

Of course, for Christians it’s a moot point. We know that the Temple of God is not in Jerusalem. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. But the true Temple of God, according to the New Testament lives on in the Body of Christ, the Church.

In the New Testament we are called the ecclesia. The called-out ones. The Assembly. The people who come together because of the call of God. As a side, this is one of the reasons why Covid-19 is so hard on Christians. We are fully the Church only when we are assembled. When we can’t be together in community and worship, we are less than God called us to be.

And so, what are we supposed to do when we come together as the Church, as the new Temple of God? We are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Verse 6.

Now when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem should we take this as the literal city of Jerusalem, or should we take this as the spiritual Jerusalem – the Church? I think we should do both. Jesus had great love for the literal city of Jerusalem. In Matthew 23 Jesus laments over this city: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

And what city has our Lord picked to return to when He comes back to earth in power and great glory? Not London, Not Washington, certainly not Ottawa. Acts 1 tells us that an angel of God said to the original disciples that this same Jesus would come back in the same way as he was taken away – from the Mount of Olives overlooking the old city of Jerusalem. Jesus loves Jerusalem. It is the city of the Great King forever.

Jesus also deeply loves the church. Ephesians 5 says that Christ loves the Church and gave himself for her. He loves the Holy Catholic Church. He loves all parts and expressions of His church. This Psalm talks in verse 4 about the tribes that go up to Jerusalem. Every one of those tribes was slightly different. As the years rolled by, they devolved their own culture and customs. The main thing they had in common was they were all headed to the Temple.

As the centuries have rolled by the various tribes of the Christian church have developed their own culture and customs; the key question is do we really love the Lord and are we obeying him?