For the Lord has chosen Jerusalem;
he has desired it for his home.
“This is my resting place forever,” he said.
“I will live here, for this is the home I desired.
I will bless this city and make it prosperous;
I will satisfy its poor with food.
I will clothe its priests with godliness;
its faithful servants will sing for joy.
Here I will increase the power of David;
my anointed one will be a light for my people.
I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but he will be a glorious king.”
I’m a literature teacher. In literature we learn that a symbol is one thing that represents another thing. But it also includes the original thing in its meaning. For example, a rainbow is a symbol for God’s promise never again to destroy the earth with a great flood – but the bow in the clouds is itself included in the meaning.
In Psalm 132 there are several symbols. The first is "Jerusalem," which is a symbol and precursor of the church, and both were in God’s mind from the beginning as his chosen possession. The second is "David," who is a type and symbol of Christ, but also included in Christ because he was Christ’s physical ancestor. Next is “David’s enemies,” which would represent the devil, because the same spirit that was opposing David in establishing Israel’s kingdom was opposing Jesus in establishing God’s kingdom.
So God is speaking over us at Hope Chapel that
- he lives here and this is the home he desires
- he will bless us and make this place prosper
- he will satisfy our needs with his provision
- he will clothe us with godliness so that we sing for joy
- he will increase the power of the Lord in this place so that people are drawn to his light
- he will expose the works of the enemy that he has conquered for us
And Psalm 132 is one of the songs of ascent that the people were singing as they walked up to the city of Jerusalem, looking up in hope to what God was going to do there.
Today we’ve been singing “open the eyes of my heart, Lord,” and Steve has described how Isaiah looked up and saw with his inner eye what was not visible in the natural.
So look up! With the eyes of your heart, with the eyes of hope. to what God is about to do for you.
