The Glorious City of God

Psalms 87:1-7
A Psalm of the sons of Korah. A Song.

1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.

2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God!

Selah

4 "I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to those who know Me;
Behold, O Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia:
'This one was born there.'"

5 And of Zion it will be said,
"This one and that one were born in her;
And the Most High Himself shall establish her."

6 The LORD will record,
When He registers the peoples:
"This one was born there."

Selah

7 Both the singers and the players on instruments say,
"All my springs are in you."

This psalm of praise by the priests of Korah who served the LORD magnifies the celestial city of God.  The earthly Jerusalem was founded on a mountain made holy by God choosing among people chosen by Him as a nation, while the heavenly New Jerusalem will be made by God and brought down from Heaven to be founded on the Lamb as it sits on the new earth.  The psalmist sang of the love of the gates of the temporal city where His chosen went in and out to serve and worship Him, while the new gate is the Lord Himself (John 10:7-9).  He loves our dwelling with Him more than our places where we currently live, just as He loved the earthly city’s gates more than the peoples’ cities and homes then.  Glorious things were certainly spoken of concerning that temporal town, but the shadow of that to come, the eternal city of God to come, is of infinitely greater glory because God will be ever present there as will we to worship in spirit and in truth.  Stop and dwell on that new dwelling for a while.  Selah.  Then remember those faithful in the lineage of Christ like Rahab who rescued God’s people and helped defeat the enemy, becoming a link in the physical line of the Messiah to come, along with many others as Hebrews chapter 11 mentions.  The blessing to be remembered forever is to be born in God’s land, which kingdom we are born into through Christ.  That is the true and lasting birthright to be remembered and of honor.  The LORD Himself records us in the Lamb’s book, registering us as His from before the founding of the earth itself (Philippians 4:3, Revelation 3:5, 21:27, Ephesians 1:4).  We are born again in Him (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23) because we are registered in His book and made holy in His righteousness because we are there (Isaiah 4:3).  Think on that grace for a while, then acknowledge as the psalmist did here in the final verse that all we have springs out of our Lord and His grace for His glory, honor, and praise.  We earn none of it, for grace is a gift, not a wage we earn; the only wages we earn are from sin to death apart from Him.  How we then anticipate the glorious city of God foreshadowed in this psalm and in other scriptures!  Amen.