1. Great is the Lord. How great Jehovah is essentially none can conceive; but we
can all see that he is great in the deliverance of his people, great in their
esteem who are delivered, and great in the hearts of those enemies whom he
scatters by their own fears. Instead of the mad cry of Ephesus, “Great is
Diana,” we bear the reasonable, demonstrable, self-evident testimony, “Great
is Jehovah.” And greatly to be praised. According to his nature should
his worship be. It cannot be too constant, to laudatory, too earnest, too
reverential, too sublime. In the city of our God. If all the world
beside renounced Jehovah’s worship, the chosen people in his favored city would
continue to adore him, for in their midst and on their behalf his glorious
power has been so manifestly revealed. In the church the Lord is to be extolled
though all the nations rage against him. Jerusalem was the especial abode of
the God of Israel, the seat of the theocratic government, and the center of
prescribed worship; thus is the church the place of divine manifestation. In
the mountain of his holiness. Zion was the most renowned part of this city,
mentioned as a synonym for the city itself. The church of God should be adorned
with holiness, her members being partakers of the holiness of God. Only by holy
people can the Lord be fittingly praised, and they should be incessantly
occupied with his worship.
2. Beautiful for situation. Jerusalem was so naturally; the church is so spiritually,
being placed near God’s heart, within the mountains of his power, upon the
hills of his faithfulness, in the center of providential operations. The more
the church is above the world the fairer she is. The joy of the whole earth
is Mount Zion. An ardent Israelite would esteem the holy city as the eye of
the nations, the most precious pearl of all lands. Certainly the church of God,
though despised of men, is the true joy and hope of the world. On the sides
of the north, the city of the great King. Either meaning that Jerusalem was
in the northern extremity of Judah, or it may denote that part of the city
which lay to the north of Mount Zion. It was the glory of Jerusalem to be God’s
city, the place of his regal dwelling, and it is the joy of the church that God
is in her midst. The great God is the great King of the church, and for her
sake he rules all the nations. The people among whom the Lord deigns to dwell
are privileged above all others.
3. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. We worship no unknown god. We know him as our refuge in
distress; we delight in him as such, and run to him in every time of need. We
know nothing else as our refuge. Though we are made kings, and our houses are
palaces, we have no confidence in ourselves, but trust in the Lord Protector,
whose well-known power is our bulwark.
4. The kings were assembled, they passed by together. They came and they went. No sooner together than scattered.
Boastful the gathering hosts with their royal leaders, despairing the fugitive
bands with their astonished captains. This was so remarkable that the psalmist
puts in a note of exclamation, Lo! So shall the haters of the church
vanish from the field. They shall each have their day, and pass on to the limbo
of forgetfulness.
5. They saw it, and so they marveled. They came, they saw, but they did not conquer. No sooner
did they perceive that the Lord was in the Holy City, than they took to their
heels. Before the Lord came to blows with them, they were faint-hearted, and
beat a retreat. They were troubled and hasted away. Panic seized them;
they fled ignominiously, like children in a fright. Glory be to God, it will be
so with the foes of his church; when the Lord comes to our help, our enemies
will be as nothing.
6. Fear took hold upon them there. Where they hoped to triumph, there they quivered with
dismay. They did not take the city, but fear took hold on them. And pain, as
of a woman in travail. They were as much overcome as a woman whose fright
causes premature delivery; or as full of pain as a poor mother in her pangs—a
strong expression, commonly employed by Orientals to set forth the extremity of
anguish. When the Lord arises for the help of his church, the proudest of his
foes will be as trembling women, and their dismay will be but the beginning of
eternal defeat.
7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As easily as vessels are driven to shipwreck dost thou
overturn the most powerful adversaries; or it may mean the strength of some
nations lies in their ships, whose wooden walls are soon broken; but our
strength is in our God, and therefore it fails not; or there may be another
meaning: though thou art our defense, yet thou takest vengeance on our
inventions, and while thou dost preserve us, yet our ships, our comforts, our
earthly ambitions, are taken from us that we may look alone to thee. God is
seen at sea, but he is equally present on land. Speculative heresies,
pretending to bring us wealth from afar, are constantly assailing the church,
but the breath of the Lord soon drives them to destruction. The church too
often relies on human wisdom, and these helps are soon shipwrecked; yet the
church itself is safe beneath the care of her God and King.
8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the
Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.
Our fathers’ stories are reproduced before our very eyes. We heard the promise,
and we have seen the fulfillment. The records of Zion, wonderful as they are,
are proved truthful, because present facts are in perfect harmony therewith.
The Lord is first spoken of as Lord of hosts, a name of power and
sovereignty, and then as our God, a name of covenant relation and
condescension. The Lord deals with us in his lovingkindness, and in
faithfulness to his promises. God will establish it forever. That which
God establishes endures for all eternity. Selah. Here is a fit place to
pause, viewing the past with admiration, and the future with confidence.
9. We have thought.
Holy people are thoughtful people; they do not suffer God’s wonders to pass
before their eyes and melt into forgetfulness, but they meditate deeply upon
them. Of thy lovingkindness, O God. It is well to think of past
lovingkindness in times of trial, and equally profitable to remember it in
seasons of prosperity. In the midst of thy temple. Where God is most
seen he is best loved. The assembled saints constitute a living temple, and our
deepest musings when so gathered together should have regard to the
lovingkindness of the Lord, exhibited in the varied experiences of each of the
living stones. Memories of mercy should be associated with continuance of
praise. Hard by the table of shew-bread commemorating his bounty should stand
the altar of incense denoting our praise.
10. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the
ends of the earth. The glory of Jehovah’s exploits
overleaps the boundaries of earth; if men are silent, yet all the unseen
spirits are full of the divine praise. As in a shell we listen to the murmurs
of the sea, so in the convolutions of creation we hear the praises of God. Thy
right hand is full of righteousness. Thy scepter and thy sword, thy
government and thy vengeance, are altogether just. Thy hand is never empty, but
full of energy, of bounty, and of equity. Neither saint nor sinner will find
the Lord to be an empty-handed God; he will in both cases deal out righteousness
to the full: to the one, through Jesus, he will be just to forgive, to the
other just to condemn.
11. Let mount Zion rejoice. As the first of the cities of Judah, and the main object of
the enemies’ attack, let her lead the song. Let the daughters of Judah be
glad. Let the smaller towns join the chorus, for they join in the common
victory. Let the women, who fare worst in the havoc of war, be among the
gladdest of the glad, now that the spoilers have fled. All the church, and each
individual member, should rejoice in the Lord, and magnify his name. Because
of thy judgments. The righteous acts of the Lord are legitimate subjects
for joyful praise. However it may appear on earth, yet in heaven the eternal
ruin of the wicked will be the theme of adoring song (Revelation 19:1, 3).
Justice which to our poor optics now seems severe, will then be perceived to be
perfectly consistent with God’s name of love, and to be one of the brightest
jewels of his crown.
12. Walk about Zion.
With leisurely and careful inspection survey her. And go round about her.
Encircle her again and again with loving perambulations. We cannot too
frequently or too deeply consider the origin, privileges, history, security,
and glory of the church. Tell the towers thereof. See if any of them
have crumbled, or have been demolished. Is the church of God what she was in
doctrine, in strength and in beauty?
13. Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider most attentively how strong are her ramparts, how
safely her inhabitants are entrenched behind successive lines of defense. The
security of the people of God is not a doctrine to be kept in the background;
it may be safely taught, and frequently pondered; only to base hearts will that
glorious truth prove harmful; the sons of perdition make a stumbling-stone even
of the Lord Jesus himself, so it is little wonder that they pervert the truth
of God concerning the final perseverance of the saints. Consider her
palaces. Let the royal promises which afford quiet resting-places for
believers be attentively inspected. See how sound are the defenses. We should
be best acquainted with our own home, and the church is our dear and blest
abode. So far from telling the towers, some believers scarcely know what or
where they are; they are too busy counting their money. That ye may tell it
to the generation following. We have received and we must transmit.
14. For this God is our God for ever and ever. A good reason for preserving a record of all that he has
wrought. Israel will not change her God so as to wish to forget, nor will the
Lord change so as to make the past mere history. He will be the covenant God of
his people world without end. There is no other God; we wish for no other.
There are some who are so ready to comfort the wicked that for the sake of
ending their punishment they make for ever and ever mean but a time;
nevertheless, we exult in the hope of an eternity of bliss. He will be our
guide even unto death. Throughout life he will graciously conduct us, and
even after death he will lead us to the living fountains of waters. We look to
him for resurrection and eternal life. This consolation is clearly derivable
from what has gone before; hitherto our foes have been scattered, and our
bulwarks have defied attack, for God has been in our midst; therefore all
possible assault in the future will be equally futile.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
