UNBLOCKING THE WELL OF THE LIVING WORD

READ PSALM 86-90

SUGGESTED PATTERN Read Psalm 87 with your spouse or household then re-read Psalm 87 again with spouse or household, then spend 2 mins in silence focussing on  Psalm 87 asking the Lord, the question “What does this text mean?” then 2 mins in silence asking the Lord what He is saying to you personally through Psalm 87 and then share together with your spouse or household what the Lord has been saying. Finally one person reads out loud the devotional below and then pray for one another.

Psalm 87:1,2, 7.

“He has founded his city on the holy mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob…. As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.”

When I was at school I studied ‘History’ at A’ level (at 18, for the Americans) and learnt about the history of the industrial revolution. My main take-away was a vivid awareness of  the appalling suffering of the men and women living in the Midlands and North of England, that resulted from  Britain being the first Industrial nation in the world. The misery of living and working in cities a couple of hundred years ago, in England was awful. How could anything good come from cities, I wondered? So when I became a committed Christian I had this unanswered the question for many years why does the bible end with a city.. How can that possibly be a good thing?            

As we have been following Tom Wright’s encouragement to find God by doing more than just reading the psalms but by inhabiting them and living in them, we are now confronted by the frequency of the Psalmist’s reference to Zion, which is a focus of Psalm 87.  Zion is an image of the kingdom of God on earth, as a city and it is abundantly clear that God is guiding the universe, towards a specific end. Zion, the city of God Zion appears 33 times (1) in the psalms  in the NKJV. The psalmist declares, that God loves Zion and chose her as his dwelling place and he even dwells in her for ever.

I had the opportunity many years ago to ask Tom Marshall, (a speaker on may YWAM training schools) why the bible ends with a city. He said that ‘man’ was made in the image of God, and although ‘man’ lived in a garden at the very beginning, it will be necessary  in the course of time, in order to reflect the complexity of the Godhead,  for man to reflect and ‘image out’ the complexity  of the Trinity in the form of a garden city. This began to make sense to me

Dr Atef, in his book, ‘Zion a scriptural study and the vision of ministry’ says  (2)“Zion in the Old Testament was the city which God chose as a city of his reign where he desired to dwell among his people as the invisible king of Israel. Likewise, in all generations, the Lord seeks such dwelling places to reign in and among his believers. When a group of believers live as a spiritual people whose place is heavenly, and according to his Commandments, the Lord dwells among them and his reign is manifested. He is then able to impact those surrounding them, attracting them to himself and causing the earth also to submit to his kingship.” In the Scriptures there is a strong underlying presupposition of  Divine providence. God is working his purposes out, and Zion provides  a focus and vision for ministry and the culmination of God’s purposes in the bible.

Early church exegesis is grounded in divine providence, the understanding that all that occurs in God’s universe happens under his guidance and control. This is very different from the view of Deists who believe that God created the universe but natural laws are being played out. But…It is the deistic world view, which has been  the starting point of Enlightenment thinkers that have so influenced the modern day university and theological and bible training  at universities and colleges in the West.  The vision of the “City of God” that occurs so frequently in the psalms, inspired St  Augustine Bishop of Hippo(3) who was one of the central figures in the history of Christianity. His book ‘City of God’ examines the ancient pagan religions of Rome, the arguments of the Greek philosophers and the revelations of the Bible. Pointing the way forward to a citizenship that transcends worldly politics and will last for eternity, ‘City God’ is one of the most influential documents in the development of Christianity.

As tradition is retrieved and evangelicalism is renewed and early church exegesis is restored, (4) a greater  acknowledgement of divine providence, a theistic worldview and not a deistic world view  should begin to take place. Dr Atef Meshreky in his book “The Bride and the end times” says (5) the time will come when the Holy Spirit gathers ..what he calls  “kingdom units” the spiritual Zion, not necessary physically but spiritually. Through them, He will fulfil God’s final purposes: the final harvest and the preparing (of)  the scene on earth for the return of Christ  the King. The Lord God of the universe has chosen Zion, the city of God, as Jesus Christ’s dwelling place with man.  

Prayer

Lord you have chosen Zion as your dwelling place. May my life line up with your kingdom purposes, as your kingdom comes on earth, as it is in heaven I pray. All my fountains are in you Lord Jesus.

References

(1) Dr Atef Meshreky, Zion, a scriptural study and a vision for ministry, 35 . Psalm 2:6, Psalm 9:11,14, Psalm 14:7, Psalm 20:2, Psalm 48:2,11,12, Psalm 50:2, Psalm 51:18, Psalm 53:6, Psalm 65:1, Psalm 69:35, Psalm 74:2,Psalm 76:2, Psalm  78:68, Psalm 84:7, Psalm 87:2, Psalm  97:8, Psalm 99:2, Psalm 102:13, 16, 21, Psalm  110:2, Psalm 125:1, Psalm 126:1, Psalm 128:5, Psalm 129:5, Psalm 132:13, Psalm 133:3, Psalm 134:3, Psalm 135:21, Psalm 137:1,3, Psalm 146:10, Psalm 147:12, Psalm 149:2

(2) Dr Atef Meshreky, Zion, a scriptural study and the vision of ministry.’

(3) Augustine, Saint. City of God, back cover.

(4) Williams, D.H. Retrieving tradition and renewing evangelicalism (subtitled, A Primer for Suspicious Protestants).

(5), Dr Atef Meshreky, The Bride and the end times.