Psalm 132 Images

 

 

09_02_2018_Psa132_DonRuhl

 

 

Moved to Worship God

What it means to have a heart for God

Psalm 132

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • September 2, In the year of our Lord, 2018

Prelude:

  1. As I told you last Lord’s Day morning,
    1. Psalms 120–134 are Songs of Ascent.
    2. The children of Israel sang, prayed, or recited these psalms
      1. as they ascended the hills toward Jerusalem
      2. as they went there for worship or a feast day.
  2. Let’s see at what part of the journey Psalm 132 pictures.

Persuasion:

  1. Psalm 132.0 | Ascending to Worship

    0 A Song of Ascents.

    1. Psalm 132 reads as though
      1. the pilgrims have just arrived within view of
      2. Jerusalem and the temple.
    2. You can hear their excitement in the psalm.
  2. Psalm 132.1–5 | David Swearing to Find a Place to Worship

    1 LORD, remember David
    And all his afflictions;
    2 How he swore to the LORD,
    And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
    3 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,
    Or go up to the comfort of my bed;
    4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
    Or slumber to my eyelids,
    5 Until I find a place for the LORD,
    A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

    1. David had many afflictions, nevertheless,
      1. he remembered the Lord and
      2. he wanted the Lord to remember him.
        1. This is why David is a hero in the Bible.
        2. It did not matter what was going on in his life,
          1. he always remembered the Lord, and
          2. he always wanted the Lord to remember him.
    2. What David wanted the Lord to remember
      1. was how he swore to find a dwelling place for the Lord.
      2. And David knew of the seriousness of making a vow – Ecclesiastes 5

        2 Do not be rash with your mouth,
        And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
        For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
        Therefore let your words be few.
        3 For a dream comes through much activity,
        And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
        4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
        For He has no pleasure in fools.
        Pay what you have vowed—
        5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
        (Ecclesiastes 5.2–5)
      3. Solomon implied:
        1. Be sure that you can keep your vow.
        2. Be sure that you will keep your vow.
    3. David would give up
      1. home,
      2. bed, and
      3. sleep
        1. until he found a place for the tabernacle.
    4. Up to David’s time, the tabernacle had been all over the place.

      5 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? 6 For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’” (2 Samuel 7.5–7).

      1. It traveled many places in the wilderness.
      2. It crossed the Jordan.
      3. It was at Bethel.
      4. It was at Mizpah.
      5. It was at Shiloh.
      6. The Philistines captured it.
      7. It went to Beth Shemesh.
      8. It went to Kirjath Jearim.
      9. It was in Gibeon (1Ch 21.29).
      10. 10.It went to the house of Obed-Edom when David moved it incorrectly.
        1. David had a permanent house.
        2. The children of Israel had permanent homes.
          1. Therefore, David wanted one for the Lord.
  3. Psalm 132.6–9 | Let Us Worship

    6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
    We found it in the fields of the woods.
    7 Let us go into His tabernacle;
    Let us worship at His footstool.
    8 Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,
    You and the ark of Your strength.
    9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
    And let Your saints shout for joy.

    1. Here is where you sense their excitement
      1. to arrive at the place
      2. that David had made for the Lord’s House.
    2. They heard of it, but then
      1. they saw it with their own eyes.
      2. Our first trip to Klamath Falls.
      3. Approaching Machu Picchu
      4. Traveling with my Dad across the Midwest and then seeing a big city.
    3. Ephrathah
      1. Was either Bethlehem or a part of it,
      2. probably named after one of the descendants of Caleb.
        1. First Chronicles 2.50

          50 These were the descendants of Caleb: The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, were Shobal the father of Kirjath Jearim… (1 Chronicles 2.50).
        2. Micah 5.2

          2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
          Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
          Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
          The One to be Ruler in Israel,
          Whose goings forth are from of old,
          From everlasting.”
          (Micah 5.2)
    4. They were then ready
      1. to go into the tabernacle and
      2. to worship at His footstool.
    5. Then they spoke to the Lord:
      1. They told Him to arise and go to His resting place.
      2. They wanted Him to bring the ark of His strength.
        1. The Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Lord,
        2. this is where the priest met with the Lord and
          1. sought mercy for Israel and
          2. sometimes received messages. 
      3. Therefore, they wanted the priests to wear righteousness and
      4. for His saints to shout for joy.
    6. They had all this excitement for worshiping God.
      1. Why did worship thrill them?
        1. They recognized God as the Creator.
        2. He saved them from Egyptian slavery.
        3. He delivered them from all their enemies.
        4. He blessed them with abundance.
      2. Has not the same Lord so blessed us?
        1. He created us.
        2. He saved us from the slavery of sin.
        3. He delivers us from all our enemies.
        4. He blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
      3. Dwell on those blessings and
        1. it will change your view of the worship service.
        2. You will have the same zeal as the ancient Israelites.
        3. You will know that the Lord has clothed you with righteousness.
        4. You will shout for joy.
  4. Psalm 132.10–12 | The Lord Swearing to Bless David

    10 For Your servant David’s sake,
    Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.
    11 The LORD has sworn in truth to David;
    He will not turn from it:
    “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.
    12 If your sons will keep My covenant
    And My testimony which I shall teach them,
    Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”

    1. Considering how they thought and felt about the Lord,
      1. they asked Him not to turn away from His anointed.
      2. They either referred to David or to Israel.
    2. They reminded the Lord of His promise to David,
      1. which was something from which He would not turn away, but
      2. He would take from the fruit of David’s body and
        1. put him on the throne.
        2. The Lord would continue to put the descendants of David on the throne,
          1. if they kept the Lord’s covenant and His teachings.
          2. Some of them did and some of them did not.
            1. Therefore, the Lord eventually quit putting anymore of them on the throne,
            2. ending all that with the Babylonian Captivity.
    3. This all showed man’s failings.
      1. Later God put another descendant of David’s on the throne and
      2. He has never sinned and so
        1. continues to sit on the throne,
        2. which is now in heaven.
    4. Acts 2.30

      30 “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne…” (Acts 2.30).
  5. Psalm 132.13–18 | The Lord’s Dwelling Place

    13 For the LORD has chosen Zion;
    He has desired it for His dwelling place:
    14 “This is My resting place forever;
    Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
    15 I will abundantly bless her provision;
    I will satisfy her poor with bread.
    16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation,
    And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.
    17 There I will make the horn of David grow;
    I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.
    18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
    But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

    1. Of all the places in the land of Israel, and
      1. of all the places on the earth,
      2. the Lord chose Zion, one of the hills in Jerusalem.
        1. Why there?
        2. In my opinion, this would make for easier spread of the Gospel later.
    2. If you see pictures or video of Jerusalem, you may not see its significance.

      “Geographically, topographically, geologically, Jerusalem isn’t very remarkable. The Lord didn’t choose Jerusalem because it’s a special place. But because He chose it, it became special. That’s just like us. We’re nothing special. But because the Lord chose us, we are becoming special, indeed” (Jon Courson, page 158).
    3. Since He had chosen Zion, look at what He promised to do:
      1. He would dwell there.
      2. He would abundantly bless Zion’s provision.
      3. He would satisfy Zion’s poor with bread.
      4. In answer to verse 9, He would clothe Zion’s priests with salvation.
      5. In answer to verse 9, He would cause Zion’s saints to shout for joy.
      6. He would make the horn of David grow.
      7. He would prepare a lamp for His anointed.
      8. He would cloth the enemy of the anointed with shame.
      9. He would cause the crown of the anointed to flourish.

Exhortation:

  1. Hebrews 12.18–24

    18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12.18–24)
  2. Ephesians 2.21–22

    21 …in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2.21–22).
  3. First Corinthians 3.16

    16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3.16).
  4. First Corinthians 6.19–20

    19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6.19–20).