Amen. If I were to ask you what the most important city in the Old Testament is, immediately there are a lot of cities mentioned by name, but most important, surely that has to be Jerusalem. The most important city in the Old Testament is Jerusalem. It's the place where David ruled as king. It's the place where David's son Solomon built the temple. It's the city to which the Israelites made their pilgrimages for their annual feasts, traveling toward Jerusalem, wherever they lived, even outside the land, going to that holy city. Seated on an elevated region, Jerusalem became known as Mount Zion. And since Jerusalem was such an important city in the Old Testament, it would make sense that when you read the Psalms, you would see on occasion the mention of that city, the importance ascribed to that city. The psalmist would mention it in their songs and celebrate it as a place of joy and as a place of security and blessing. We've seen this city already alluded to two prior Psalms ago. In Psalm 46, the writer said, there's a river whose streams make glad the city of God. When you hear city of God, and then the phrase, the holy habitation of the most high, well, the writer of Psalm 46 is talking about that glorious city. Everybody would know that the city of God is not ambiguous in the Old Testament. It's Jerusalem. There are multiple songs in the book of Psalms that praise Jerusalem like today's Psalm, Psalm 48. The writer holds very high the beauty and security of Zion. And he does this because he wants to highlight the glory and greatness of God. So here's the way this happens. He highlights the greatness and glory of God by talking about the greatness of the city of God. Psalm 48 is ultimately about the glory reign of Yahweh. And the psalmist highlights the reign of Yahweh by saying, behold his glorious city. And this psalm is a psalm of the sons of Korah, these Levitical musicians, these psalmists from the tribe of Levi. And we're told in verses one to three about the great God in his great city. The great God in his great city, immediately the greatness of God explodes in Psalm 48, verse one. Great is the Lord, just so that we're not burying the lead here. Like, great is the Lord. You don't get it later in the Psalm. What's he getting at? Here's what he's getting at. Great is the Lord, and he is gonna talk about the beauty of Zion, and he is gonna talk about the security of the city, and how the kings, when facing the secure city, they flee in absolute anguish. But all of that is to serve the greater purpose of God's greatness proclaimed, great is the Lord. And if we see what the psalmist is seeing here, then the rest of verse one makes total sense that therefore greatly to be praised he is. The greatness of God calls for a response. And that's what the psalmist is saying. God is great. Great is the Lord. So therefore, greatly to be praised he is. He is greatly to be praised in the city of our God because this city was a place of worship. The sanctuary was there. The Ark of the Covenant was brought by David. The temple built by Solomon. Indeed, praise reverberated through the city of God's streets and alleyways echoing from Jerusalem sanctuary and beyond because of the pilgrimages of the worshipers to the city. Indeed, Jerusalem would be a place of worship. The elevation of the city is highlighted in verse 1 when it refers to it with holy mountain. His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth. What a claim to make about the city and in particular its temple Because Mount Zion, and the place of worship, and the joy of all the earth, it's not the city in itself, but what God had revealed in this city, namely that it was a place where His glory dwelled. Therefore, it is a holy mountain. How could it not be? Where God dwells, that place is holy. And therefore, if Jerusalem is the place of the temple and where the worshipers go in light of the glory of God, then a holy mountain it is indeed. His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth. It would be the joy of the earth because not just Israelites would go there, God fearing Gentiles would go to this city and they would praise the Lord. Some lived in the promised land, some lived outside the promised land. But to praise the living God, they would join the procession of the people of Abraham because they wanted to be people of Abraham by faith and indeed were. And therefore, the joy of all the earth, it's a place where God's presence is, his blessing is, his glory dwells, the place from which salvation would come. So surely we can see that this is not a city that should be met with a kind of neutrality, but if people know what God has revealed of himself there, this would bring delight to the nations. This is the joy of all the earth. And what I want you to know then is what God was doing in and through Jerusalem and revealing of himself was for the nations. It says here that it's the joy of all the earth, not just the ethnic Israelites who were living in the promised land at the time, but the goal of all that God did by setting apart a people and setting apart a sacred space and dwelling there in the symbolism and rituals and ceremonies of the system of sacrifices and offerings, the tabernacle and later the temple. The joy of all the earth is a rightful description. Because here, people come to meet their God. Here, people gather together in corporate worship and remembrance and prayer and praise. That place is a place of joy when you know what is happening there. Mount Zion, it's called in verse 2. In the far north, the city of the great king. This could be a reference to Mount Zion being the temple proper and that it would be in the northern reaches of the city of Jerusalem. That's one way to take it in the far north of the city, the city of the great king. So it could be just reminding them that in this region of the city of Jerusalem, here's this place of festivity. There have been some Old Testament commentators who've suggested another reading that I think is also very plausible. The word north here in the ESV is a quite literal rendering of the term Zephan. Zephan is the name of a mountain of worship in the northern part of the land of Israel. Not a sanctioned place of worship. Zephan was the place where Baal was worshipped in pagan offerings and ritual. And what the nations needed to do is forsake their idolatries. No matter where in the land, east, south, west, or north, but certainly a prominent place in the north needed to be instead a place rejected by the nations, engaged in idolatry, and to see that Mount Zion in the north is the city of the great king. It could be a clever way of them trying to say the true and greater Zion is what is needed, not just a region and not just a city and not just a place where there are altars, but the true living God worshipped, not in the far north, actually, but imagine Zion as that place, the place where the people should stream. So perhaps the temple is being referred to as in the farther north part of the city. Or it could be a clever way of undermining pagan worship in the northern part of the land in a place called Zaphon. They don't need to worship Baal. Yahweh is the living God. And every part of the land and beyond those boundaries should stream to Zion. Zion is the joy of all the earth. Now notice it says in verse 3 that within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress. What is a citadel? Maybe not a word you use every day, but a citadel is a fortress. These are fortified places in a city. Could be along the wall, could be a place like a tower or fortress in the city. And in verse three, excuse me, in verse three, God has made himself known as a fortress, meaning in the citadels, in the fortresses, God is a fortress. There's a play on words here and conceptually as well. Among the citadels, what makes it so strong? Is it because the right construction company was hired and those citadels are just especially impenetrable? If God has made himself known as a fortress, then it's God that makes the city secure. That, I think, is the point of verse 3. It is not how tall the wall is, how thick the wall is, how well it was put together. These citadels are the place in which God has made himself known as the fortress. And God is built by no human hand. So God has made himself known and likely this means in verse three, they understand the security that knowing God brings. They know the blessing that knowing God brings. They know that God is for his people and subdues his enemies and he has made himself known as that because he's a fortress for their people. They have a history with examples throughout the Old Testament of God's delivering grace and his divine judgments upon the wicked. So in verses one to three, what we've noticed is that the great God and his great city is being praised, but that doesn't mean the city lacked enemies. Verses four to seven talks about the defeat of Yahweh's enemies in light of the greatness of this city and God himself being a fortress. It might seem crazy to read what verses four and following say, but it says, behold, the kings assembled and they came on together. And in our study of the Psalms, I wonder if that reminds you of Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage in the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. Psalm 48.4 seems to be an echo of this earlier idea that the kings are assembling and they come on together and this is not a good thing. The kings coming on together and assembling together is to assemble against the Lord and their response to the greatness of God and his city seems to confirm that their plots and their gathering were malicious. Therefore, the people of Jerusalem in that day would know their share of enemies. Even prior to the writing of this psalm in the Sons of Korah, you would have this region of the land engaging in various kinds of warfare, and these kings who assembled together would want more of the same. Their response in verse five might seem unexpected. We're not even given the report of a battle here. We're just told they've come together in verse four, and then all of a sudden in verse five, they see it, they're astounded, and they're fleeing. I think the point in verse five that we can imply is that they are fleeing in light of what they know now to be the greatness of God and the security of the city, and they cannot subdue it. They cannot subdue it. They saw it, its mighty citadels, and knowing that God has revealed himself as a fortress, and they're out of there. We would rather them have repented, but they flee. They're astounded. They're in panic. They take to flight. Maybe reminding us again of Psalm 2 in verse 5, when God says, I will speak to them in wrath and terrify them in fury, saying, as for me, I've set my king on Zion, my holy hill. So the nations who gather together meet the judgment of God, and here in Psalm 48, they gather together and they flee, no doubt in a display of the righteousness of God in his right hand, referred to later in the psalm. They're so panicked that in verse six, the imagery is like trembling itself acting. Trembling took hold of them. That's a very graphic way of saying what's basically, you know, they were afraid, but this is a very eloquent way of saying, imagine trembling as a thing and trembling seized them by the shoulders. And we can imply in the rest of the verse, anguish took hold of them as a woman in labor. There's a distress, there's a pain, there's a bewilderment, there's a fear in this imagery. Trembling and anguish seized them. And as a woman in labor, we might say, okay, well, the fruit of this would be a child to celebrate. That aspect of the image is not the emphasis. The aspect of the image emphasized here is the distress and the agony. That means anguish as of a woman in labor is meant to portray the negativity here of what they're going through. How dominant is the power of God on display? In verse 7, an image is given of the ships of Tarshish. These would be mighty sailing vessels. These ships would be impressive. These ships would be cargo carrying. These ships would be large. These ships would not be easily destroyed. And it seems that these mighty kings, these impressive rulers, are being compared here to what would be not easily subdued by others, like mighty sailing ships filled with cargo for trade. And it says in verse 7, by the east wind, you shattered the ships of Tarshish. Now I don't think our instinct here should be to say, now what narrative did that happen in earlier in the Old Testament? Certainly the victory of the Lord over his enemies has all sorts of narratives showing these things in the Bible. But this is meant to make a point in a poetic way. I don't think we're to say, well, when in David's reign or Solomon's reign were the ships of Tarshish destroyed by the wind. It's a poetic description of the might of God that nothing can withstand. This is not a ship that develops a leak. This is not a ship where you're on it and you say, oh, you know, our ship is taking on a little water. The ships are shattered. This is not my boat has a leak. This is my, I have no boat. I have no ship. Like it's been shattered. My ship is over there and it's over here and it's over there. This ship has been completely shattered. It's to speak of the power of God. And it's to show why the kings flee in panic and in anguish. Now we know up to this point, that this seems to speak of a very secure situation in Jerusalem. If you follow the Old Testament storyline, What you will notice is that the people of God grew very spiritually complacent where they were living in the city of Jerusalem in particular, and the presence of the Jerusalem temple that was there. And they began to imitate the immorality of the nations, and they took on idol worship. And the Lord raised up various prophets to say to them, this city where you dwell, I will destroy it. the temple that you're treating as a kind of talisman, a kind of superstitious symbol, that as long as we're around the temple, nothing's gonna happen. He said, I'll destroy the temple too. My glory will vacate that place. And prophet after prophet warned them. And this place of Jerusalem that would seem so impenetrable to the covenant people worshiping their covenant God became a place destroyed by the Babylonian army in 586 BC. The Babylonians overcame this city and they took the southern part of the land into exile. And this was brought about not against God's judgments, but as an expression of his divine fury and wrath in the land of promise. There's an irony then if you're an initial reader of something like Psalm 48. Because in the historical record of the Old Testament Israelites, we recognize the importance of that city. And we recognize the danger of spiritual presumption that's set deep within the hearts of the people and where that led. In verses 8 through 11, they are going to speak with a glad testimony of what they've heard and seen. Though the later historical record of the people of God will speak of Jerusalem's downfall, here in this song, in this very ideal and lovely and exalted picture of Jerusalem, in verses 8 through 11, the testimony of the people of God is glad and loud. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Which would make us wonder, with that last line, if he's going to establish this city forever, why is it that it was destroyed by the Babylonian army? What about this city should we understand? And is there some larger purpose for that Old Testament Jerusalem that would become clearer later on? And he's saying here, the psalmist, as we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. I think what he's saying is we have heard of the greatness of God. And now these kings fled in panic. So what we have heard, we have now seen. He's trying to draw attention to the fact that we have heard the testimony of those who preceded us of the greatness of the power of God and what we've heard. Now we've seen it. We can now testify and we can bear witness to. So as we've heard, so we've seen in this city and the city of our God, which God will establish forever. As long as God is in that city, he seems to be saying you're safe. Reminds me of Paul writing in Romans eight. It's as if he's saying in Psalm 48, if God is for us, what can be against us? You can bring this against us or this against us and ultimately the prevailing power of God is our song and joy. We've heard it and we have seen it. And then in verse nine, he moves from what they've heard and what they've seen to what they're thinking. Various aspects of the human person emphasize then hearing and seeing and thinking. We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. We bring the temple into the foreground here then in verse nine. Why is Jerusalem significant? Because the king and the sanctuary are the place of God's reign and representative rule through that king and here the sanctuary's place of worship and offerings is no doubt meant here by the word temple. We've thought in the midst of your temple on something. The midst of the temple is where they're doing the thinking. So here they are, they're in the temple, and when they gather in the temple, they're not alone. The temple was buzzing with activity all the time. Priests were there, sacrifices were being offered. But even throughout the year, a place like the temple is a place of procession and festivity. That means we've thought, in the midst of your temple, about your steadfast love. They're gathering with others to do this. They could certainly, apart from the temple, think on God's steadfast love. The psalmist is not celebrating the individual thinking here. He's thinking together about the corporate remembrance in verse 9 of the steadfast love of God. This is good news. Here are the covenant people gathering together in the midst of the temple and what are they thinking about? God's steadfast love for them. It's what they're meditating on. We do this. We gather together as the covenant people of God to think on and remember together the greatness, goodness, love, saving grace and mercy of God. They gather to do this. The temple would have people all around it and streaming to it. And the priests and those Israelites and Gentiles who stream to the temple, what is on the forethought of their mind? The love of God for them. The covenant love, His steadfast love. Yes, the city is established forever, but that's because of God's covenant promises. His steadfast love toward them. They will be a steadfast people held by their steadfast loving God. In the midst of the temple, they're there. How important it is to gather together and remember. In verse nine, they're doing it. We've thought on your steadfast love. They are deliberately orienting their thoughts and their minds, their hearts together in worship and praise to the great love of God. He has shown them. Now, how do they know he loves them? Because he's redeemed them. Think about what their songs are filled with and what their prayers remember and what the prophets point backward to over and over again. God has redeemed them and he has brought them. He has given them his inheritance of the promises. He has made them not only a people for himself, but his steadfast love never ceases. When they are remembering this, they are strengthened. Though the kings assemble together and though the nations might rally against them, it is the steadfast love of God that occupies their minds. They remember when they get together that we are loved by God. In the midst of the temple, he says, we gather together to think on this. And in verses 10 and 11, as your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. A hand filled with righteousness and the word judgments at the end of verse 11. These are related words. God demonstrating righteousness or God pouring out judgment. These are ideas that are connected. So if the right hand of God is filled with righteousness, how has he shown such justice for his people? He's delivered them and sent away their enemies. They've just talked about this in verses four through seven. The psalmist is remembering how those kings came on together and assembled together and then they fled in panic. God's right hand is filled with righteousness. And what's a response to the people of God? Rejoicing. In verse 11, let Mount Zion be glad. The city represents the people, you see. Mount Zion. I mean, what is the city without the people? It's just a ghost town. That's not the point. The point is that praising the city and the beauty of the city is about the security of the people, the blessing on the people and the rejoicing of the people. So calling Mount Zion to be glad is the same thing at the end of verse 11. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice. It's a call for the covenant community to respond with joyful praise at the righteousness of God who has shown his justice and his saving grace. He's once again delivered his people. His steadfast love is on display. His enemies tremble before his might. And so the people of God say, well, that sounds like time for a song of joy. I don't know about you. So he rejoiced because of the judgments of God. How far and wide should such praise extend? Well, remember in Psalm 46 10, the Lord says, be still and know that I am God. And that's not just for the jurisdiction of the promised land. He says to the nations to acknowledge and respond to his greatness. And the Psalmist says, as your name in verse 10, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Baal is no God. And so any who are in the farther north of the promised land should instead direct their worship to Zion, to the living God. No other Canaanite deity, no shrine outside the borders of Canaan, no other God but God. And therefore from Zion to the ends of the earth, the praise of God should echo and resound. His right hand has righteousness. The people of God respond with joy. Let Mount Zion be glad. In chapter 47 of the Psalms that we saw last week, it says in verse 1, clap your hands all peoples. Shout to God with loud songs of joy. Not only are the daughters of Judah sounding songs of joy, his praise is to go to the ends of the earth, just like Psalm 47 said. So it's as if the psalmist is saying in Psalm 48, nations, will you obey Psalm 47, please clap your hands, shout for joy, join the people of God, flee from idolatry, turn and repent, exalt God in his great name. As his name, so his praise to the ends of the earth. His name. representing his character, his glory, his excellencies, his attributes, his perfections, his renown. The name of God made known stands above and beyond all other of the gods of the nations, which are no gods at all. And therefore, God in verse one is greatly to be praised, and he's greatly to be praised throughout the earth he's made. He's the sole creator of the heavens and the earth, the sole redeemer of the nations of the earth, and therefore all praise belongs to the God who makes and redeems. In verses 12 to 14, the psalm ends with a tour. Might seem like a strange way to end a psalm. It's been very triumphant up to this point. Kings are fleeing, people of God are praising. And then in verses 12 to 14, it's like the psalmist says, while I have you here, can I show you these buildings? And we just look on some things together. And it's like, wait, what's going on with you just pointing out some aspects of the city's structure? And in verses 12 to 14, he invites us in the theater of our minds to engage in a tour. He says, walk around Zion. So you're just gonna do that in your mind, walking around this city of Jerusalem. Go around, number her towers. And so you're looking at the greatness of the structures and the towers that are so fortified and strong. He says, try to count those. And I think the point is, number them so that you'll be amazed. And then in verse 13, consider well her ramparts. A rampart is a barrier, a protective barrier, something that obstructs what would be on the other side from invading. So consider well her ramparts. You're looking at the barriers, you're looking at the towers. These are things that denote security. That's the point. The towers, the ramparts go through her citadels. Again, those fortresses. Take a tour, count them, look at them, marvel at them, tell others about them. In verse 13, you're to do this that you may tell the next generation that this is God. Wait, the towers are God? The ramparts are God? The citadels are God? No, no, no. The point that I think he's drawing is that the greatness of the city displays the greatness of, power of, God. That this is God. The strength of the city is to point us. The towers and the fortresses and the ramparts are to suggest something greater about God. And if they're going to make this tour of the city and he's saying you go and do that and then you tell the people coming after you of the greatness of God. What about God are they to tell? Well, we've already heard of his judgments in verse 11. We've heard of his right handful of righteousness in verse 10. We've heard of his steadfast love there in verse nine. So tell the next generation what you know of God. Speak of his covenant love, his great power, his perfect justice, and his unfailing righteousness. And one of the ways that you can take a cue to do that is looking at the greatness he's displayed in his great city. Tell the next generation, bear witness, so that they will also hear. You know, earlier the psalmist said, as we have heard, so we've seen. How did they first hear? Well, someone told them, the previous generation did. The previous generation passed on the works and wonders of God by telling of the greatness of God. And he says, now it's your turn, pass the torch, keep telling people of God. This is God, our God. But for how long, psalmist? Forever and ever. He is our God and shall never cease to be. He is our God forever and ever, our guide. He will guide us forever. Think of a shepherd. That's the metaphor here. The metaphor of a shepherd is the twofold role of the shepherd to guide and to guard. Surely the psalm displays both. He has guarded his people. The security of the city is undeniable. The greatness of God that it displays, and certainly the guidance of the people, even highlighted here, he will guide us forever. They're in the land because of his guidance. They're out of Egypt because of his shepherding care. They have received the inheritance because the God who redeemed them has guided them. He is their shepherd. But for how long? Forever. All the way, my Savior leads me all the way. He is our shepherd forever, our unfailing guide, our covenant God with steadfast love and perfect righteousness. Now, when readers of Psalm 48 and other songs that mention Jerusalem, when they read songs like this, there's a there's a an instinct that is understandable to draw a straight line from Old Testament Jerusalem and this secure city and these mighty ramparts and fortresses, a straight line from that to modern day Jerusalem. And I want us to do something different. Because the question is, do the later biblical authors draw a straight line from Old Testament Jerusalem to modern day Jerusalem? Or do they take the modern day Jerusalem in a different direction? And the reason I want to ask this question is because the Psalms highlight the importance of Jerusalem and the biblical authors speak about the hope that is to come and the people of God and they do so in ways that remind us of the old city. So here's the way to think about this. The Old Covenant had all sorts of realities like sacrifices and ceremonies and kings and prophets and priests in the temple. And yes, even the city of Jerusalem as part of the Old Covenant section and package of shadows and types that forward point. a people and a place, sacred space and a covenant people. And when you read in the Gospels, I want you to hear Jesus in Matthew 5, 14. He says, you are the light of the world, he says to the disciples. And then he says, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Now I want you to think about in the ears of Jewish listeners, not just Jewish, but people who especially knew of the region of the land. When you speak of an elevated city, what would you naturally think of? Well, you would think of Jerusalem. That's the city on a hill. That's Mount Zion. And in verse 14, he says to the disciples, you're the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The disciples are a kind of populace, a set-apart nation of nations, shining gospel light for the world. So I want to draw a line, not from the Old Testament city of Jerusalem to modern day Jerusalem, I want to draw a line in the way I think the biblical authors draw the line, from the Old Testament city of Jerusalem to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the new creation. I want you to listen to where I'm getting this. Because Galatians chapter 4, 26, Paul says, the Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother. They spoke about the Jerusalem below as representing the old covenant law and the subjection and the enslavement. And he talks about freedom in Christ and not works of the law and God's grace and work in the Lord Jesus and the Jerusalem that is above. The old city points forward to the new city and its people. Remember, what's significant about the city? A lack of people and just the place of it? It's both people and place. The destruction of the city of Jerusalem by Babylon took place through the exile of the people. So in the Old Testament, both people and place are significant. So also in the New. We don't gather in the temple of the Lord. We gather as the temple of the Lord because the temple of the Old Testament points forward to Christ and his relationship with the church. So we gather as the temple of the Lord to meditate on the steadfast love of God and to remember his covenant faithfulness and to behold, once again, great wonders from his word. But we don't gather in the physicality of a place in the emphasis that the temple held. We are the people of God. And when the people of God gather as the temple and dwelt by the spirit, well, there is locale that is emphasized. There is place that is evident because here we are at an address. And when the people of God think about their hope that is to come, it's not disembodied. It's not merely spiritual. We have raised bodies as our hope and a new heavens and new earth to come, both people and place. So when the Old Testament emphasizes the security of Jerusalem, the line to draw is the security of the people of God in Christ. and the new Jerusalem that is in store, both people and place. In Hebrews 12, 22, the writer says, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. I want you to know there, that's the line. The line that the writer draws, he says, you've come to Mount Zion, city of the living God. When you sing Psalms, you praise that city. And then you're waiting for him to continue. Explain to me, Hebrew's writer, what is this? The heavenly Jerusalem, he says. So the line again is not from old city to present day city. The line is the security of the people of God as they dwelled with God in covenant to the people of God in Christ as they dwell with him in covenant. Because in Revelation 21 and 22, when John has a vision of the people dwelling with God, he wants to speak about a glorious, impenetrable, secure city. And in Revelation 21, he says, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And to one of the seven churches earlier in Revelation chapter three, verse 12, Jesus says, the one who conquers, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out. I'll write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem. So the line the writer is drawing, looking and reading the Old Testament, is the security of the people of God and covenant with God to how we live now in Christ. The writer says in John, John rather, as the writer and revelator, in Revelation 21.9, he says, come, I will show you the bride. the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit, John says, to a great high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem. So you have blending there together both people and place. And we need to see that this is the way the later biblical authors are reading the earlier cities' significance and standing. So when we think about a secure city and we think about an upheld and sustained people, that good news is now found in Christ Jesus in the new covenant he has established by his body and blood, the new Jerusalem. And we are citizens already awaiting the full display and work of that place. Something has begun. We are the citizens now of the heavenly Jerusalem, Galatians 4.26. Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. And when John sees the bride coming down out of heaven and speaks of it as a city, he says it's coming down having the glory of God in its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal, a great high wall and many gates. So he's speaking about the people of God with both personal and place-like terms, but borrowing imagery of the security and beauty of the old city. And when we read in Psalm 48 that God is greatly to be praised and the holy mountain, beautiful and elevation is the joy of all the earth. I think the line now to draw with that is the people of God in Christ have the gospel message, which is the joy of all the earth. We shine forth as a city of nations, if you will, a people redeemed by Christ Jesus with glorious news for the nations. And we say to the nations, come to Christ. We say to the nations, come and worship as the temple of God and dwelt by the Holy Spirit. And when we see these kings assemble and they come together against that city, we think about how Jesus said, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. I will build my church. And because Christ builds his church, not one stone shall be dislodged and lost. The security of that Old Testament city foreshadows the security of the people of God in Christ. And therefore, we gather, like in verse nine, to think on God's steadfast love. to praise his name and that to the ends of the earth, the great commission through the disciples of Jesus in the message of the gospel would be to call the nations to recognize the mercy and justice of God. That God is our God forever. That God is our God forever and shepherd as long. our shepherd forever and our guard, our secure and firm foundation. And therefore we tell the next generation, come and worship this God with us. Let's pray.