His foundation is on the holy mountains. Sermons
I. TO ISRAEL OF OLD, God's ancient people. That the writer had them in his mind, there can be no doubt, whatever other applications we may make of his words. Like the other psalms "for the sons of Korah," it most probably belongs to the days of Hezekiah. The sons of Korah were the keepers of those "gates" which in this psalm, as in Psalm 84., they celebrate; and the triumph of which they tell harmonizes with the glowing predictions of Israel as to the spiritual power and supremacy of Israel. 1. This psalm speaks of the proud position of Zion, on the holy mountains, so elevated, sacred, secure. 2. Of the Divine delight in her. God was to be worshipped in all the dwellings of Jacob (see Leviticus 23:2); but his chief delight was in the united worship of all the people in his temple on Mount Zion, in the glorious feasts and festivals that were celebrated there. 3. Of her glorious hi story. It may have been, as some have supposed, that the psalm was sung at the public reception into the Jewish Church of a number of converts from heathen nations, and that, as our Lord saw in the coming of the Greeks to him (John 12.) the forerunners of the coming of all the Gentiles - yea, of "all men" - so the psalmist foresees the conversion of all the nations of whom he speaks to the Name of the Lord. And the change for them shall be so great that it shall be as a new birth; whatever their native country may have been, they were really "born" in Zion. And she shall produce many great and illustrious men. The word rendered "man" (ver. 5) denotes one of distinction and eminence, not an ordinary person. In the great day of manifestation and triumph of the people of God, the Lord himself shall own those born in Zion. 4. Of her great joy. The song and the dance and all kinds of mirth shall characterize her; she shall be a gladsome city. II. TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The psalm, read as part of the record of the Church, tells: 1. Of her foundation, which is Christ. He is the chief Cornerstone. "Other foundation can no man lay," etc. 2. Her position - in the holy mountains; that is, she is conspicuous - a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid; the mountain of the Lord's house, high and lifted up, visible from afar and on all sides. Secure, likewise, as a mountain fortress mightily defended. Has not the Church ever been so? And holy. This is her main characteristic; she could not be the Church of Christ without this. 3. The Lord's delight in her. She is the purchase of his blood, the subject of his care, the reason of his providential rule. He who toucheth her toucheth the apple of his eye. 4. The glorious things spoken of her. How all forms of hostility yield to her - Rahab, the proud; Babylon, the cruel; Philistia, the fierce; Tyre, the greedy of gain; Ethiopia, the degraded; - from all such she wins trophies for Christ. The Church's mission is to gather in all nations for him. And see the heroes of the faith that are "born" in her: what a glorious roll call that is? And the Lord himself shall attest all this. What is the Epistle to the Ephesians but a full declaration of what the Church of Christ shall be and do and enjoy? And other Scriptures declare the same. And the history of the Church is evermore confirming this word. 5. Her abiding gladness. Real religion is the most gladsome thing this side heaven; it is a never-failing spring of pure and elevating joy. Finally, this psalm may be applied to - III. THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER. For he, too, is a habitation of God. 1. Founded on the one Foundation - Christ. 2. Is as a holy mountain - openly confessed, not hiding out of sight, secure in God, holy. 3. Is the object of Divine delight. God loves our natural life, but our spiritual life is that which he loves most - to foster and develop and save that is the meaning of all the disciplines, trials, and varied Divine dealings with us. 4. Glorious things are spoken of him. As to the past, all his guilt put away. As to the present, the hostile forces of the world - pride, cruelty, inward corruption, ever worrying the soul, as Philistia did Israel, the lusts of the world, the horde of degrading propensities - all these which war against the soul shall be subdued, and the varied powers they usurped shall be given to God. And as to the future, what hath God not promised for those who love him? And God will make such heart the means of blessing to many others, and will own what has been done. 5. And he willfill such heart with joy. - S.C.
All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name. Homilist. When all the nations fall down in practical worship before the One all-holy, all-wise, and all-strong, then the golden age will have come, the millennium of the world. Three remarks about this event.I. To all HUMAN EXPERIENCE IT IS MOST UNLIKELY. See what the nations have been through all the ages that are past, and see what they are now. How far away from, and how hostile to, the great God. Judging from our own experience it seems an impossibility. II. To all TRUE REASON IT IS MOST PROPER. 1. Because all nations are His, and they are morally bound to serve Him. 2. Because all nations must worship Him if they would be virtuous and happy. III. To all SCRIPTURE IT IS MOST CERTAIN. 1. Scripture teems with Divine promises of such an event. 2. It is the nature of Divine promises that they must be fulfilled. (Homilist.) II. THE HOPE ITSELF. It is a hope that there will be one universal religion; that however diverse in constitution, temperament, training, experience, sooner or later truth will dominate over all error, and grace rule all hearts, and mankind belong to Christ. It is a great hope. Even the philosopher, the historian, the man of science might rejoice in that; much more we who know the value of each individual spirit in the sight of its Maker. Let us look at it. 1. All the holiest men in all ages have cherished this hope. The devout has never been a narrow heart — never. It enlarges all thoughts when we get into the realm of communion with our God. Moses had breadth of view when he said, "There shall be one law to you and to the sojourner that dwelleth with you," and taught that God was the God of the stranger. David had no narrowness. Again and again in all his psalms you see precisely the same feeling as is exhibited here. You know how Isaiah dwelt in expectation of the distant isles coming to Jehovah, the rams of Nebaioth coming up on His altar, people coming from the north and the south, and the land of Sinim pressing into the house of His glory. You know how Ezekiel had the missionary spirit in him, how he describes the river of the water of life deepening as it flowed, and carrying to every land the life of healing with which it was charged. You know how Paul argued. Through all his epistles there is but one great argument advanced, that the Gospel is to be a world-wide message, that Christ is not second Abraham, but second Adam — head of mankind, and that as death has come upon all men, so the grace of God through Jesus Christ will come upon all men unto salvation. You know John's vision: "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude out of every nation," etc. 2. This hope has been justified largely by past experience. That creed of Israel was once the creed of a single man. It lay in the heart of Abraham, who found it. Although trained as a heathen, as an idolater, as a worshipper of other gods, following the inward voice he found the great God. He gave the creed to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, and these to a few others. In two or three centuries it had received sufficient acceptance to become the living thing about which a nation crystallizes, and which can be embodied in a marvellous law infinitely ahead of anything then existing. It finds more adherence still, better acceptance in the days of David, still more in the times of the prophets, and still larger acceptance amidst the discipline and the furnace of the Babylonish captivity, till in the time of Christ it was the creed of a great people scattered throughout the world, and leavening all nations where they were scattered. That is an instance only; from one man, this creed spread till it animated a people. And the same thing has been going on ever since. The creed of the Church of Christ — that God is love and man should be — is brief and clear. There seemed but little hope of its being accepted. All nations resisted, as you and I did when it first came to us. It was too good news to be true. The Jew despised it, the Roman tried to crush it, and the warlike tribes of the nations turned away from it as something that would enfeeble their manhood. But it passed from heart to heart, from city to city, till it became the creed of the great Roman Empire, and has gone on and on until to-day it is the creed of three hundred millions of people, and these three hundred millions the strongest part of the earth's inhabitants. 3. The welfare of mankind is bound up in its realization. Raise the man and you raise his whole condition. Reform from the heart outward, and you secure an effective reform which you cannot secure if you begin at the other end. All good work is God's work, and will win His reward. But still the great work is that which gives the man his manhood, which sets him free, which gives him an immortal hope. Give him that, and you give him thrift and self-respect, and civil liberty, and the power of mastering everything that is adverse in his condition. The welfare of mankind is bound up in this hope. 4. The realization of this great hope tarries because of our indifference. We decline to be our brother's keeper. We eat our morsel of the bread of life alone. (R. Glover.) People Heman, Jacob, Korah, Mahalath, Psalmist, RahabPlaces JerusalemTopics Foundation, Founded, Gt, Holiness, Holy, Korah, Lt, Mount, Mountain, Mountains, Psalm, Resting, Song, Sons, StandsOutline 1. The nature and glory of the church4. The increase, honor, and comfort of the members thereof. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 87:Library Whether Pain is a Passion of the Soul?Objection 1: It would seem that pain is not a passion of the soul. Because no passion of the soul is in the body. But pain can be in the body, since Augustine says (De Vera Relig. xii), that "bodily pain is a sudden corruption of the well-being of that thing which the soul, by making evil use of it, made subject to corruption." Therefore pain is not a passion of the soul. Objection 2: Further, every passion of the soul belongs to the appetitive faculty. But pain does not belong to the appetitive, … Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica The Ancient Church Our Status. The Golden Calf Vehicles of Revelation; Scripture, the Church, Tradition. The Hindrances to Mourning The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly The Foundation of the Church among the Jews Psalms Links Psalm 87:1 NIVPsalm 87:1 NLT Psalm 87:1 ESV Psalm 87:1 NASB Psalm 87:1 KJV Psalm 87:1 Bible Apps Psalm 87:1 Parallel Psalm 87:1 Biblia Paralela Psalm 87:1 Chinese Bible Psalm 87:1 French Bible Psalm 87:1 German Bible Psalm 87:1 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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