Psalm 132. Psalm 132. This is the 13th of the 15 Pilgrim Psalms. And really, this is kind of the crescendo as they are getting ready now to go to the temple, the Song of Ascents, as they are going to Jerusalem, up to Jerusalem, and then to the temple. And we see the praises, now the last two are really praises to the Lord. But this psalm I called worship and remembrance. And the reason I called it that is because as the children were going to the holy city, they remembered their heritage. And you will see in this psalm that they're praying God's promises or praying what God promised to David in the past, that they realized that they were part of the covenant that God had made with David. And so they are praying and saying, remember David, but whenever the children of Israel said, remember David, David is, it was their heartbeat. Even as we said earlier, they call it the star of David. So everything is around David as far as their national identity is concerned. And so, We see then that he says, remember David, and the reason for that, as we'll see, is the Davidic covenant, where God promised that through him, the king would come, and reiterated a lot of the Mosaic promises, where he said, if you'll obey God's voice, your reign will last forever. Of course, we know that the earthly reign of David's kings have not lasted forever because of the disobedience, but that doesn't stop God from having the Messiah. And that's what we'll see here, is he begins with, remember David, But he ends, the Psalm ends with looking forward to the Messiah. And remember everything in the Old Testament. All prophecy points to the Messiah. All prophecy, even back as far as the first book written, Job. I know my Redeemer lives. And so we're looking forward to the Messiah in the Old Testament. Of course, we look back to his first coming and we look forward to his second coming. And so as we begin reading in Psalm 132, Lord, remember David and all of his afflictions, how he swore to you and vowed to the mighty one of Jacob. Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house or go to the comfort of my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the fields of the woods. Let us go into his tabernacle. Let us worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. For your servant David's sake, do not turn away the face of your anointed. 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. If your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I will teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore. For the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place. This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There I will make the horn of David grow. I will prepare a place for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but upon his crown shall flourish." So we see this psalm now. You can see the how that it turns in verse 13, the pronouns go from us and what we to what God is gonna do. So we see the last 13 or from 13 to 18 is really what the Lord says he's gonna do. But so what I've divided up into three different sections for chapters or verses one through nine, you have remembering God's promise to David. And then in verses 10 through 12, remembering God's promises or promise to Israel. And then in chapter or verse 11, excuse me, 11, verse 13 through 18, you have God's promise for the future. Okay, are we having problems? Okay, let's see. OK, I'm on air. OK, let's see. How's that going? Is that better? OK, let's see. Okay, how's that? I took it off the belt, so maybe that'll do it. Okay, is that good? Okay, sorry about that, folks. So we're looking at this psalm both as historical, we're looking back to the promises, we're looking at the promises of God, and we're looking forward to the promises of God and what he's gonna do in the future. So in verses one through nine, we have David's desire in verses one through five to rebuild the temple. Lord, remember David. Now, this psalm was probably written during the time of Solomon's reign, because we see that it is directly quoted in Solomon's prayer during the temple rebuilding. And that's in 2 Chronicles 6. In fact, verses eight through 10 are a direct quote of 2 Chronicles 6, 41 through 42. And this would be Solomon's prayer. And so we think that it was probably written there, but it's been used throughout the generations now by the Jews on their ascent to Jerusalem. Remember David. Remember your promise to David, and we know that the Messiah is gonna come through him. The Jews still looking forward to that. We know that the Messiah has already come and he's coming again. And so, but we see that his desire, and if you go back to, of course, 2 Samuel chapter seven, you'll see David's great desire to build the temple. But we see that he had many afflictions. The Lord, in fact, he said, because you've had so many afflictions, especially that you're a man of war, I'm going to let your son rebuild or build a temple. And yet David had a great desire for God's presence. He was a man after God's own heart. And we see that he did bring the tabernacle. Now, if you remember your Bible study, you'll remember or your Bible reading, you'll remember that the temple was taken by the Philistines and then it was brought back up by Samuel or by the Philistines released it and it came back and it stayed in a limelight house for decades because of the fact that 25,000 people were killed when they looked into it. And so that put a damper on it. Then when David was moving it back to the temple, you remember that Obadidum, there's that name I like. I don't know why I like Obadidum, but it just kind of rolls off your tongue or something. But Obadidum, it was in his barn for a while. And so that's where they went back and brought it. And you remember the whole chapter seven of 2 Samuel is David praising the Lord. And after all this stuff that went on and looking for, and of course they're getting ecstatic and dancing in the streets and everything as the tabernacle came back to Jerusalem. And then of course, he spent the rest of his life preparing the materials for the temple. And then you remember he was about ready to build it. And originally Nathan, the prophet, told him to go ahead. But then the Lord spoke to Nathan and said, no, Solomon, his son, will rebuild, or will build a temple because David was a man of war, and of course, by this time, David had forfeited a lot of God's blessings because of all the things that he had done. But you look at the, notice it says, remember David and all of his afflictions. David was, at best, a tumultuous character in the Bible. Tremendously talented in music, in arts, poetry, a warrior, diplomacy, just all kinds of things a guy could do. He's a good shepherd, all these different things, and yet he was a big sinner too. And so we see that he was a man of war, and yet a man that brought peace because of his strength. And by the time that his son came along, Solomon, then the nation had a generation of peace. It was about the only generation of peace that Israel's really ever known. and that was during Solomon's reign. But here we see that, remember David. And David, of course, is, like we said, the central character of Israel's history. Of course, Moses is the father, or the law giver. Abraham's the father. But just Moses, or Abraham, Moses, and David are really the spiritual leaders of Israel. And so we see that despite as many afflictions, David had strong desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem and build the temple. And when he talks about in verse five, he says, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. And there again, these are the terms that are used that to me and you, or you and me, it's not, It doesn't mean much, but these are terms that are ingrained into children's lives and people's lives, because that's a quote from Moses. And we see that that's resting place, this idea of the Lord coming back. And, excuse me, this idea of the Lord coming back. of his dwelling place, excuse me, Genesis 49, 24. That was the Moses as he pronounced the blessings on Israel. And so these blessings that Abraham gave, and especially he gave to Isaac and Jacob, and then Jacob gave to his sons, and then Moses gave in the last part of Deuteronomy. And these were ingrained in the people's heart. They looked forward to this. They looked back at the promises and the covenants that God had made with his people then. And so these phrases would just kind of roll out of their tongue. This was ingrained in them as they would think, when we say the 4th of July. then we already know what year it is, we know what happened there, all kinds of things, and all we have to say is 4th of July. Well, there'd be something like these catchphrases, the mighty one of Jacob. Oh, that's Moses, we know what he's talking about there. And so we see then that the Lord is making a dwelling place, and of course, this is back after the tabernacle had been built, and after, Moses now had told them they're going to inherit the land. And then he tells them about the ark, wherever the ark goes is the presence of the Lord. And of course, that it's going to settle down. And of course, he didn't say Jerusalem, but we find out later that's where he was, was going to be. And we see that God now has a dwelling place. And it was, and it still is today. It's the holy city. It's the one city in all the world where God says he's going to come back and he's going to rule and reign from there. And of course, even the new heavens and the new earth are called what? The new Jerusalem. And so it's a very special place for the Lord. And so we see then that the ark had been neglected during Saul's reign, but now David had brought it back and it was going to stay there, of course, until Nebuchadnezzar took it away. And the reason he did, because that was part of the covenant. If you don't do what we tell you to do, then you will be scattered and so forth. And so we see then, then verses six through nine, we see the people kind of turning and saying, we, now wait a minute, they weren't in those fields. They weren't in those woods. And as far as going back and finding it, they weren't there, but notice how they're looking at us as a national entity. It's kind of like, again, 1776 is the period, you know, we're patriots. Well, I'm not a, you know, technically I'm not a 1776 patriot or whatever, but you know, that's patriotic. Well, that's a term that would go back to that era of a person who, the birth of a nation or whatever. Well, this was a real turning point in Israel where they brought the tabernacle to Jerusalem and the ark to Jerusalem. And then of course, then they built the temple. Now, if this psalm was written during the time of Solomon, then of course that temple and all of its majesty is there. If it was written, and some people believe it was written after the children of Israel came back and the new temple had been set up, whatever it was, it was God's meeting place. And they looked back at what God had done. and what God was going to do in the future. And so we see then that they were reliving their history as they would sing this song. America, God shed his grace on thee. Okay, that was written back in the 1880s, but we still sing it today as if it's true today. And so we want it to be anyway. And we still, there's a song that we take at heart. Well, these songs were taken at heart. These, as we've said many times now, these were the songs that the kids would learn. And you wouldn't even remember when you learned them because they sang them three times a year as they went to the tabernacles, or through the tabernacle during the feasts of Israel. And so these were ingrained in their hearts. And these catchphrases, these words would be something down deep in their heart because these were national songs. And so we see that he says, behold, we have heard of it in Ephrathah. Now, where's Ephrathah? That's where the Ark had been settled because Ephrathah, of course, was a region around Bethlehem. It was the area kind of like the county of Boone County, and you have Belvedere in the middle of it. Well, this would have been, Ephrathah would have been the region that Obededim and as well as Elimelech had, where the Ark had been. He said, behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the fields of the woods. let us go into his tabernacle, let us worship at his footstool. Now, that's another interesting term because we know that the Ark of the Covenant was really called the mercy seat. Also, in the New Testament, we call it the throne of grace. Now, the thing about it is you look at that mercy seat, You have the seraphim as they have their wings over the mercy seat. But what's missing? There's no one in that mercy seat. When you see that throne of grace in heaven, you see that the seraphim have their arms over the throne, but who's sitting there? The Lord Jesus. So you see how that it's the Lord filled, the Lord is supposed to build this throne as well as court of justice, it's his mercy seat. And even in the sense that he is in heavens, the Jew would look at it as, okay, this is just his footstool, you know, because his throne is in heaven. And so, you know. He's not sitting on the chair, it's his footstool. But so again, these images that would be built and ingrained into the character, into the life of a godly Jew. They would know these things and it would just be part of their lives from birth. They wouldn't know when they didn't know it. And it's like, when did you learn your ABCs? I don't really remember, but I do, you know, there's a lot of other things I don't remember learning, I learned them. And so it is with these things that were ingrained. The cultural that happened is these people, three times a year, and at least, but three times a year that they would go to the temple and they would sing these songs as they, These would be known by heart by the time was, sorry about this, folks. We got a loose problem, but I hope it won't cause too many problems with our people watching us tonight. And we praise the Lord, we are getting quite a few people watching us and I hope that we don't have technical problems tonight. So we see that he's remembering or they're reliving bringing the ark back to Jerusalem. And then let us go into his tabernacle, let us worship at his footstool, his resting place. There's that term again, the term that we use, my faith has found a resting place, not in Devise nor Crete. The idea of this is where God is gonna be now. We know God never slumbers, he never sleeps, but it's the idea that this is where he stops. He didn't rest as far as after six days, as far as he needs, boy, you're spending a lot of time, you know, making that universe is pretty hard. No, he didn't do that. He rested in the sense that he just stopped because it was complete. Well, the same way here, this is his resting place. Not that he's resting, other than the fact that, hey, this is where I'm setting up shop for eternity, really. Well, you say, well, wait a minute, it's not happening today. No, but there's all kinds of activity going around saying it will. It's gonna be, it's being prepared again for the Lord to rest there. And so we see that his resting place, let his priests be clothed with righteousness. Now think about clothing. Now we are priests, are we not? We are a royal priesthood. And what does the Lord tell us over in Revelation chapter 19? We're gonna be clothed in white robes. And those white robes are the righteousness of the saints. And so the whole idea of the priesthood was all that cleansing and the robes and the linen they wore. It was a symbol of purity. It was a symbol of separation to God. It was the idea of identity with God and his presence. And of course the priest didn't always inwardly follow that, but one day we're gonna be pure from the heart. And so this is what they were looking forward to. And they were saying, really, let us priests. Be clean inside and out. And let us, when we go and worship at the temple, that it's not outward profession, but it's something where we've cleansed our heart. We've been singing these songs now for days, and we were 13 or 15, I don't know how many times we'd go through them, but Lord, purify our hearts as we get to the temple. Not everybody would do that. Of course, we know that it would be like the 4th of July for a lot of people. They don't even think about what it means. But for the godly Jew, this meant a lot. And so we see, let his priests be clothed with righteousness. Now, so we see the first nine verses are talking about identifying with David, really going back and saying, Lord, remember David. Well, David is our king. David was our hero. David was the one you promised all these things to. And we look back on it. And so that's who we identify with. That's the one king of all history that we identify with. And then we see remembering God's promise to Israel or his promises in verses 10 through 11. And these promises again, for David's sake, David and Israel inextricably linked. Let your servant David or for your service, David's sake, do not turn away your face from your anointed. Now, we know that God is gonna turn his face away, but it's one of those prayers where, you know, can we say, Lord, don't leave me or forsake me? And we know that he won't because he promised he wouldn't anyway. Well, they're repeating the promises of God. And this, you're anointed, is it? This talk about the next king, is this a coronation psalm? Is this a coronation of Saul, excuse me, of Solomon. No, but it was just the idea of expressing Lord. I know you won't, but it's good for me to say it again. You know, so it's saying something for your service, David's sake, do not turn away your face from your anointed. And we've talked about the face. When you turn your face away from someone or the Lord smiles, his smiling face, frowning face, turning his face was, of course, he did turn his face away from the anointed for about three hours at the cross because he could not look at sin. So we see that for your servant's David's sake, don't turn your face away. But then verse 11, he says, the Lord has sworn truth to David. Okay, we've already known that, but notice how they're repeating it. This is because they're coming to something where they're going back through what God has promised. And so they look at the positive before they look at the warning. And so we saw the condition. So he says, for he will not turn from it. The Lord has sworn truth to David and he will not turn from it. Why? Because a covenant is different than a contract. And we say that God was a covenant in God. There's the Abrahamic covenant, there's the Mosaic covenant, there's the Davidic covenant, there's the New Covenant, which is, of course, the New Testament. But these covenants were something where it was unconditional. And a contract is if you do this, I'll do this. A covenant is I'm gonna do this regardless of what you do. We have broken our covenants with God, but God has never broken his covenant with us. And when God promised David that his throne would last forever, even though man has broken it, broken God's covenant, and although God had to deal with David and with the kings of Israel as he has, yet God has promised that that throne will last forever. Where's the throne now? It's in heaven, the Lord Jesus. And so we see that in one day that throne is gonna come back and the Lord's gonna rule and reign for a thousand years and from Zion or from Jerusalem for forever. And so we see that the Lord has sworn the truth to David. He will not turn from it. I have set your throne upon the fruit of your body. And that's an interesting statement, a different way of putting it. But what is the fruit of our body? Our children. And so, of course, you're saying the throne now is gonna be passed on through generations. And that's why we emphasize both in the book of Ruth and now in the book of Samuel and the book of Matthew, we keep going back to everything is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ coming. And that's the reason those genealogies are so important, because it's a proof from Abraham to David and David to the Messiah, that God kept his promises. And so, I have set upon your throne the fruit of your body, in your sons will I keep my covenant. And we see that God exactly did that, even though some of them, Joseph was not a king. because of course he could have been a king. He should have been in line to be the king, but he wasn't the king because of the monarchy had been done away with. But if your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore. So David, as long as your people and your sons and the people are righteous, the kingdom's gonna last. And I promise you that, and I'll teach them, and I'll be their God, and they'll be my people. And that would be true, and David's throne, and there would be a king on that throne today, if Israel had not sent. So it's like, oh, Adam, I keep looking back on that. You know, the Bible says that, Adam, if you use a tree, you're gonna die. Thousands, if not millions of trees, zeros on that one tree. And then the Lord later on says, they talk to one another, it's the Trinity, if we don't understand times in the Bible, we see that they talk to one another, but yeah, they're three different people, persons, I'm sorry. But they said, if we leave them here, if he eats of that tree, he'll live forever. And so he cast them out of the garden and then they put the angel at the gate. Yeah, I keep looking back on that and saying, what if he had eaten of that tree rather than the tree of good and evil? He would still be alive. 6,000 years later, he'd still be alive. And I really believe it's only about 6,000 to 7,000 years that this earth has been around. I know that makes me... an evolution denier or whatever, but praise the Lord, I am a denier of that, but science denier. I'm not a denier of science, but I am of evolution. But there again, the things that God says as man would have done, he would live forever or his throne would be forever. And yet man didn't, and yet God kept his promises. Because God, when he makes a covenant, he doesn't break them. Now he has to rearrange some things to keep his covenant with man. And as we see those genealogies, even though the children of Israel went to Babylon, the Lord preserved those genealogies to prove that the Messiah was directly from David. So all these things that God did, why? Because it's his word. and his word won't return void and his word will never pass away. And so he made sure that this promise to man, man knew that it was kept. And so he says, if your sins will, if your sons will keep my covenant, verse 12, there's the big if. If they will keep my covenant, and my testimony, which I shall teach them, their sons shall also sit upon your throne forevermore." So this is God talking to David. And of course we know they didn't. So God kept his covenant, but he had to rearrange some things as far as the Messiah coming, as far as what happened. But I wonder, you know, if that's the case, if Joseph was the, legal heir to the throne of David. I wonder if he knew it. We don't see where he says that he did. But I wonder, these people, obviously they had the genealogies. It's kind of like, one thing I don't like is, these genealogies. And there's so many people that go back and they could trace their lineage back to the Mayflower. Now, wait a minute. After a while, there was only about 100 people on that Mayflower. Not everybody of the 300 and something million people could come from the Mayflower. We know they didn't. And yet, boy, there's, I mean, there's thousands of people now, possibly, that can trace their lineage back to the Mayflower. Well, okay. I mean, I'm chasing a rabbit there, but it's just one of those genealogy things. But here we know that God, there was meticulous effort to make sure that so-and-so knew so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so, right on down the line to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see that, and that was preserved by God. So we see then that remembering God's promises, that the fruit of his body, that David's offspring was going to be the kingdom. And of course, ultimately that was gonna lead up to the Messiah. And the big if was, that wasn't gonna be on earth. But of course, we know that the Messiah came in spite of what man did on earth, because God promised he would through David. Now, in verses 13 through 18, we notice that the pronouns, and how many times we stress the idea of the pronouns, change to I. So now notice what God says I will do. And God's promised for the future. Notice what God says in verse 13. The Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place. Then he starts quoting, this is my resting place forever. Now we've already seen the resting place, but now he's saying, yeah, David picked it and he even picked the threshing floor where the temple was built. And all that was divinely inspired, even though David didn't know it at the time. But this is gonna be my dwelling place forever. This is my resting place. And I will dwell for I have desired it. When God desires something, then his wishes always come true. Why? Because he's always got. And so whatever God desires, he has a way of working it out. And so even though even today it's a battlefield, and even though we see all kinds of things happening, we see that Jerusalem stays in the mix of things. Just recently, just in the last five or six years now, that President Trump recognized Israel or Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Why? Why is it so important? Because again, it's ingrained into the heart of the Jew, that this is what God has said. And of course they're blind to the Messiah already coming, but one day God's gonna reconcile that, reconcile them to himself. He says, this is my resting place forever. I will dwell for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation. There's that idea of clothing priests. And when God clothes us with righteousness, then of course that's inward as well as outward. And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. So obviously we're talking about the coming Messiah and how he's gonna bring peace to earth. I will make the horn of David grow. Now, whenever you see the horn of David, whenever you see David's horn or someone else's, that's talking about power, brute strength. And of course, you think about the horn of an ox or whatever, it says be the strongest of the farm animals. But it would be the idea of the horn of David would grow. I will prepare a lamp for my anointed, capital A, my anointed. Now, we know the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And what did he call himself? I am the light of the world. Was he a good lamp? We behold his glory full of grace and truth. And so he was the lamp. He was the light of the world. His enemies, I will close with shame, but upon himself, his crown shall flourish. Now that's an interesting term for crown. It's not diadem, or the Hebrew word for diadem, but it's the word for the priest's miter, or the thing that he wore. Well, the Lord Jesus, of course, was king, but he was also prophet, and he was also priest. And so as he sits on the mercy seat, what kind of crown will he be wearing? Is it gonna be the priestly crown because he's forgiving us of our sins? And so we see that his enemies, I will clothe with chain, but upon himself, his crown shall flourish. So here we have his horn, his lamp, and his crown. And so we're looking forward to the Messiah coming. We know that he shall flourish and that we're gonna flourish with him as his dear children and that we're gonna rule and reign with him forever. And so again, these Psalms, these Psalms of ascent, we're always looking forward. Okay, we know we're going to the temple and this is God's dwelling place, but it's gonna be forever. And so you can imagine what it was to watch that temple be destroyed. And yet, and Jeremiah, as he walks through there and he sees all the things destroyed, and yet his hope is still there. And though his wrath endures for a season, there's mercy, the Lord will come. Great is thy faithfulness. And so we see that, again, the Jew was looking forward to the Lord coming. Now, of course, today, they still go to that wailing wall. And what are they looking forward to? The temple being rebuilt and the Messiah coming. Of course, like Paul would say, he would go to hell himself if he could get the nation of Israel saved. But the whole idea of remembrance, And you go back to Leviticus chapter 26, in the last few verses there, we see that the Lord says, he talks about all the things gonna happen if this happens, or if this happens, and how that, but I will remember my covenant with Jacob, verse 42, and my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham. So he goes, he's reversing order there, but he's saying, I made a promise to them, and I will remember the land. Verse 43, the land also shall be left empty by them and will enjoy its Sabbath while it lies desolate without them. So even without them, I still remember. And so this is what he says before Israel ever even went into the land. In verse 44, yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor will I abhor them to utterly destroy them or break my covenant with them. For I am the Lord, their God, and for their sake, I will remember. the covenant of their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God, I am the Lord." So God remembered. It's interesting, that's a good study. What did God remember in the Bible? He remembered Sarah. He remembered Rachel. He remembered Israel as they were in Egypt and under bondage. It's also a good study just of how that God remembered people. He remembered Hannah. It's a great study that God remembers where we are. God remembers you. No matter how bad it gets, God remembers. Aren't you glad you have a God who has a selective memory? He remembers you in his mercy, but as far as the East is from the West, he will remember your sins no more. That's a great selective memory, isn't it? To have a covenant God like that, that will not forget his promises and even his promises to forget. Tremendous, isn't it? You have a great God. Okay, any questions or comments about what we looked at this morning or this evening?