The City At The Center Of The World

Psalm 87

A psalm of the descendants of Korah. A song.

1On the holy mountain stands the city founded by the LORD.

2He loves the city of Jerusalem

more than any other city in Israel.

3O city of God,

what glorious things are said of you!

Interlude

4I will record Egypt and Babylon among those who know me—

also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia.

They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!

5And it will be said of Jerusalem,

“Everyone has become a citizen here.”

And the Most High will personally bless this city.

6When the LORD registers the nations,

he will say, “This one has become a citizen of Jerusalem.”

Interlude

7At all the festivals, the people will sing,

“The source of my life is in Jerusalem!”

Some historians are calling the 1900s the “American Century.” To be sure, the United States has spread its influence around the globe through military action, industry, and even the media. This has helped to make English the world’s common language, and in a way people all over the earth are becoming citizens of America, whether officially or not.

In a way that’s the image we find in Psalm 87. The psalmist looks forward to a day when distant nations will come to know the Lord and be considered citizens of Jerusalem. What begins as a nationalistic focus on Israel’s capital city becomes an open invitation, welcoming anyone who wants to know the Lord of this city.

This fantasy is essentially fulfilled in Christianity. Christians have always maintained that they worship the God of Israel, and through the spread of the gospel, Gentiles from around the globe have come to worship a Jewish carpenter and study the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament). Jerusalem stands at the center of the Christian faith as the site of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In this way it has become “the source of [our] life” (verse 7), and we look forward to God’s presence with us in a “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21). Paul says that Christians have been adopted into the Jewish family, so you might say that all believers are citizens of Jerusalem.

With stately towers and bulwarks strong, unrivaled and alone,

Loved theme of many a sacred song, God’s holy city shone.

So fair was Zion’s chosen seat, the glory of all lands.

Yet, fairer, and in strength complete, the Christian church still stands.

ANONYMOUS

Bible Networking

For another beautiful picture of Jerusalem read Isaiah 60.

Notable Quotable

Saint Bernard said of the monastery of Clairvaux: “Glorious things are said of it, because the glorious and wonderful God works great wonders within it!” David says the same of Jerusalem in Psalm 87.