The City of God

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Psalm 48

Psalms 45-48 celebrate God’s reign over the earth.  In Psalm 45 we learned God has anointed the King Who reigns in Jerusalem with His bride, which pictures Christ and the Church for us today.  Psalm 46 asserts that God Himself is our Mighty Fortress pictured in the city of Jerusalem with its splendid Temple, walls and gate.  Psalm 47 reveals the Lord Most High and His reign over all the earth.  And, Psalm 48 calls upon us to survey magnificent Zion and marvel over the great city of God!

Psalm 48 is the climax of this grouping of Psalms which celebrate God’s righteous reign over the earth.

Pilgrims would come to Jerusalem to pay homage to Yahweh during the Feast of Tabernacles. 

The F.O.T. commemorated the provision of God for the Children of Israel during the Wilderness

Wanderings.  Psalm 48 calls upon its readers to envision themselves standing at the foot of the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem, being invited to “Walk around Zion,” observing that great city and celebrating the God who rules over them both.

Let us come to survey this great Celestial City so we may worship and celebrate the God Who Reigns there! 

1. A Celebration of Glorious Mount Zion in Verses 1-3
   1. A Theocentric City—”Great is the Lord…The City of our God” The Lord is great therefore the city is holy.  God’s presence in the city endues it with a very special character.  The City does not inform us of Who God is, rather God informs us of what the city is and shall be.
      1. Illustration:  The 1939 film “Wizard of Oz” was an adaptation from L. Frank Baum’s children’s fantasy novel entitled; “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” written in the year 1900.  Mr. Baum himself was a political reporter in the 1890’s while living in South Dakota.  Over the years, many have speculated that Baum’s work in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was essentially a political allegory…—Genevieve Carlton 
      2. Application:  Unlike the Wizard of Oz, the Great King’s power and influence is not an illusion.
   2. A Supreme Entity—” Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.”-Psalm 48:2 NIV.  The Hebrew word for “north” is actually the word “Zaphon”.  This mountain is identified in Ugaritic and other Canaanite myths as being the dwelling place of the storm god Baal-Zaphon.  The Canaanites believed this particular location was where the god Baal-Zaphon assembled at the top of the mountain with the other gods.  In the Baal Cycle of stories from Ugarit, Baal sends a message to Anat, goddess of war, bidding her to come to him: in the midst of my mountain, the divine Zaphon, in the sanctuary, in the mountain of my inheritance, in the pleasant place, in the hill I have conquered. The concept of the “gods” dwelling atop mountains was very common amongst the ancient peoples of the near east.
   3. Explanation:  The Israelites also believed their God Yahweh dwelled on the mountain, except the mountain upon which Yahweh dwelt was Zion, the city of Jerusalem…Here, the Psalmist employs the word to imply that Yahweh’s position as the highest God of all the gods.
   4. Application:  When was the last time we took a pilgrimage to Mount Zion to behold the Great King of the City?   
2. A Celebration of Indestructible Mount Zion in Verses 4-8
3. A Celebration of the Congregation in Verses 9-11
4. Take a Walk Around Zion in Verses 12-14—Pilgrims were invited to walk around the city of Jerusalem and “count her towers…consider her ramparts” in verses 12 and 13.  And following the meditations of the great John Owen, we shall consider 5 great ramparts which we have in the New Covenant:
   1. The Great Rampart of Christ as King of the Church and Zion
   2. The Great Rampart of God’s Innumerable Promises—
   3. The Great Rampart of God’s Watchful Providence Over the Church—
   4. The Great Rampart of God’s Presence—
   5. The Great Rampart of God’s Covenant—