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In The City of Our God

             A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah.

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror. Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever.

Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness.

Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments. Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. (Psalm 48)

In today’s passage, the sons of Korah sing the praise of God within their praise of the place where God resided: the holy city of Jerusalem. That is not to say that Jerusalem was perfect, or heaven on earth. There were lots of sinners there because there were lots of people there. Eventually, a temple was erected there, and every year, the high priest and everyone else in the country was supposed to bring a sacrifice because they had sinned. There is no getting around the idea that Jerusalem was not a place of perfection, but God directed them to build a temple to Him there anyway.

Jesus came to the Jews, not because they were perfect, because they were still sinners and at least some of the people of that land conspired to have Him executed. He knew, and He still came, for the sake of the Jews and for ours.

After His death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit came to us and dwelt in us. The Church was established. Neither of these was because we were perfect. If we weren’t perfect, neither was the Church perfect. As it has been said many times, if you find the perfect church, don’t join it. You’ll ruin it. God does not dwell with us, or in us, because we have merited it in some way. If He did, there’d be no reason to praise Him, and every reason to praise ourselves.  

Jerusalem, the Church, and even Heaven aren’t beautiful because we make it so. They are beautiful because of God’s presence. Yes, there may be towers, or cathedrals, or streets of gold, but it is God that makes them special. It is His love that encourages, gives peace, brings wisdom, causes perseverance, and provides grace.

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