A True Promise (Psalm 132)

A True Promise
Psalm 132

INTRODUCTION:
There is a church building in Paris, KY in a small community called “Cane Ridge.” The meeting house is called the “Cane Ridge meeting house.” It was built in 1791 by the Presbyterians. One of their earliest preachers was named Barton W. Stone. Barton Stone decided, while he was preaching at Cane Ridge (from 1796 to 1819), that he needed to stop being a Presbyterian and just call himself a Christian. He decided, too, that he could not preach the Bible consistent with the Presbyterian creed, known as the Westminster Confession of Faith. He would only preach the Bible consistent with what he could determine the Bible taught.

Today, the Cane Ridge meeting house is a museum and many different denominational churches take tours of the meeting house. It is owned and operated by the Disciples of Christ. When Rachel and I lived in Paris, we had a group from Arkansas to come to Paris and door knock in the city and set up Bible studies. While they were there, we took them to Cane Ridge. I asked the curator’s wife to lead the tour as she would give information that I was not familiar with. After we toured the grounds, we were sitting inside this log cabin church building and we were about to sing a few songs to praise God.

The curator’s wife was giving us some information and then she asked, “You are with the churches of Christ, right?’ I said, ”Yes ma’am.” Then she clarified, “You are non-instrumental?” Again, I said, “Yes ma’am.” She said, in front of all these high school students, “Do you know that of all the groups that come through here, you all have the best singing? Do you know why?” I thought to myself, “Yes, because we get a lot of practice singing a capella!” But that’s not what she said. She said, “It’s because your men sing aloud.”

Singing. Praying. Studying God’s word. Observing the Lord’s Supper. Giving from our hearts. What does worship mean to you? How important is worship to you?

The Ark of the Covenant, and subsequently the temple (tabernacle) in which Jehovah God was worshipped, was located at Shiloh in the years prior to King David’s reign. Israel took the Ark into battle with the Philistines and lost it to the Philistines and the Ark ended up in Beth Shemesh. David wanted to bring the Ark closer to home and moved it to a village called Kiriath Jearim. David really wanted to bring the Ark into Jerusalem itself, the city he conquered in order to make it his capitol.

Putting the Ark, and subsequently the temple, in Jerusalem would place God at the center of their national life and it would make Jerusalem the center of worship of Jehovah God.

Here is the point we are wanting to make this morning in this study: At the core of David’s value system is clearly the worship of God. We will see this reflected in the psalm we will study: Psalm 132. As the forerunner of King Jesus, we also note that at the core of Jesus’ value system is clearly the worship of God the Father. The question we will end with is this: Is worship at the core of our value system?

Worship was such an integral part of David’s life and thinking that he wrote a number of songs (psalms) to be used in the worship of Israel and he was known as the “sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Sam. 23:1).

Psalm 132 was written by someone, probably, besides David. You will notice that the superscription above the song identifies it as a “Song of Ascents.” We do not know what that means but scholars suggest it refers to the idea that this was a song that Israelites sang as they were walking up to Jerusalem, to the temple, in order to worship God. Perhaps it was written by one of the men who regularly led Israel in singing praises to God. Let’s take a brief look at it:

“REMEMBER, O LORD, DAVID’S AFFLICTION” - 132:1-5:
What caused David’s affliction? He wanted to find a place for the Lord, a “dwelling place” for the “Mighty One of Jacob” (ver. 5). With that goal in mind, David swore to Jehovah God, he made an oath to the “Mighty One of Jacob” that he would not rest until he could provide a place for God’s temple. Notice the reference to worship in verse 7 and the reference to the Ark of the Covenant in verse 8, the “Ark of God’s strength.”

“LET US WORSHIP AT HIS FOOTSTOOL” - 132:6-9:
David wanted the Ark of the Covenant to have a permanent place to reside; he wanted the tabernacle - the tent of worship - to have a permanent place where Israel could go worship God in peace and in security, in spirit and in truth. The psalmist writes that they “heard” about the desire to find a place for the Ark in “Ephrathah,” which is a reference to Bethlehem, the city of David. They found it - referring to the Ark - in the “field of Jaar,” which is a reference to Kiriath-Jearim.

In this song or perhaps a prayer turned into a song, in verse 9, the psalmist writes that the priests, who lead the worship to God, need to be “clothed in righteousness.” In other words, their lives outside of worship needed to reflect the righteousness and holiness of the object of their worship - Jehovah God. That is, they could not worship correctly if they did not live correctly. You cannot separate pure worship from a pure lifestyle. It takes a holy life to come into the holy presence of God and there’s only one way to live a holy lifestyle, and that’s to have our sins washed away by the blood of Christ and then continue to live a life based on the Gospel of Christ.

The psalmist also calls on the Israelites, the holy nation of God’s people, to “sing for joy.”

“THE SON OF DAVID WILL SIT ON HIS THRONE” - 132:10-12:
The psalmist asks Jehovah God not to turn His face away from David and from his descendants (ver. 10).

Why? Because God has actually made a promise - yeah, He has sworn an oath - a truth from which He will not turn back - that David will have a son always sitting on the throne over God’s people (ver. 11). The promise was first made to King David back in 2 Samuel 7:8-17. This is the promise that is the foundation on which is based the designation of Jesus as the “Son of David,” a designation used of Jesus 16 times in the NT. This is one of the many prophecies which Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled to prove to us that He was the Messiah promised by God in the OT.

In the immediate future, of course, the promise refers to King David’s sons. The psalmist recognizes that they need to stay faithful to the Commandments of Jehovah God if they will sit on King David’s throne (ver. 12). They would sit on David’s throne “forever.” Of course, they did not stay faithful to God’s covenant and testimony and they were deposed from David’s throne.

But Jesus Christ did not sin. The NT is explicit that Jesus never sinned (2 Cor. 5:21, for example), so that once He sat on the throne of King David, King Jesus will never have to leave that throne. He will reign forever, leading His people in worship to God throughout eternity.

“GOD HAS CHOSEN HIS DWELLING PLACE” - 132:13-18:
“Zion” in verse 13 is the city of Jerusalem, specifically “Mount Zion” on which Jerusalem was built. It was the place where God had chosen for His temple to be built; it was the place He chose for His “habitation.”

God, through King David, chose Jerusalem for the “resting place” of His Ark of the Covenant which symbolized the presence of Jehovah God (ver. 14). It was chosen by God Himself, not just David.

Using the city of Jerusalem as a metaphor for the Israelites themselves, in verse 15, God says that He will “abundantly bless her provision.” He will “satisfy her needy with bread.” In other words, God will take care of the needs of His people.

The psalmist had spoken of the priests being clothed with righteousness in verse 9; here God states that He will clothe the priests with “salvation.” The way to be saved is to be “right” and the way to be “right” is to obey Jehovah God. Again, the psalmist states that God’s “godly ones” will sing for joy. King David wanted worship to be the core value of his people. Here, the psalmist wants worship to be the core value of Israel.

In Jerusalem, in the temple which would be built by King David’s son, King Solomon, Jehovah God will cause the “horn of David to spring forth” (ver. 17). “Horn,” as in the horns of the bull, was a figure of speech for strength or power. So God will cause the strength of David to spring forth from Jerusalem. It is very possible that this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ and His life and ministry in and around Jerusalem. The “lamp for God’s anointed” is also likely referring to Jesus Christ.

The priests of God will be clothed in righteousness and salvation, but the enemies of God will be clothed in shame (ver. 18) - because they refused to worship God.

But God’s crown will shine on the head of King David and his Son, King Jesus.

WORSHIP WAS AT THE CENTER OF JESUS’ VALUE SYSTEM:
Doesn’t it go without saying that worshipping God was important to Jesus?

From the time Jesus’ momma brought Him to the temple at 8 days old, worshipping God was an integral part of Jesus’ life. At 12 years old, consistent with what His parents were teaching, they all went to Jerusalem “according to the custom of the Feast” (Luke 2:42).

Of all the worship feasts and festivals God required in the Law of Moses, we have Jesus celebrating most of them: the weekly Sabbath, the annual Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles.

Of all five acts of worship we recognize in the NT, Jesus Himself engages in all of them or He at least discusses them: praying, singing, giving, the Lord’s Supper, and studying the written words of Jehovah God.

Yes, worship was at the center of Jesus’ core value system…

A man dreamed an angel escorted him to church one Sunday. There, he saw the song leader leading with gusto and the crowd singing vigorously. But the man did not hear any sound. It was entirely muted. When the preacher got up to speak, his lips moved, but there was still no volume. The man turned to the angel for an explanation.

The angel said, “This is what your worship sounds like in heaven. You hear nothing because there is nothing to hear. These people are engaged in worship, but their thoughts are on other things and their hearts are far away.”

IS WORSHIP AT THE CENTER OF OUR VALUE SYSTEM?
Peter describes the church as God’s spiritual temple which “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

The influence of King David on Christian worship is seen in that we continue to sing “psalms” in our worship written by King David, of course under the inspiration of the Spirit of God: Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 14:26.

Jesus tells us that God seeks true worshippers (John 4:23-24). Jerusalem is no longer the place where Jehovah God “rests” nor is it the place where God’s children worship Him. Rather, God dwells in those who keep His word (John 14:23) and it is where Christians are assembled together in worship that God dwells.

So, is worship important to you? How do you know worship is important to you? What can you do in your life to make worship a “core value” for you, as it was for Jesus and for King David?

Take home message: We evangelize because people are not worshipping God, through Jesus Christ, as they should.