The Lord's Eternal Rest
(No. 3294)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 22, 1886.
"This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it"
Psalm 132:14.
THESE are the words of Jehovah Himself concerning the hill of Zion, but
it is clear that He did not intend us to understand them merely in
their literal reference to Zion, because Zion could not be a fitting
place for His eternal rest. Nor has He made it literally His rest
forever, for Zion has been trodden down of the Gentiles for all these
centuries. I have no doubt that the Lord had in His mind the greater
Zion, "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…the general
assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven."
The eternal God, looking down from His Throne of Glory upon all the
creatures He has made, selects His Church–elect, blood-bought, called,
preserved and sanctified, and He says concerning this Church–"This is
my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
We would never have ventured to conceive of God as finding rest in such
puny creatures as we are. However beloved, and however filled with His
Spirit, it would seem too great a thing for the Creator ever to rest in
His creature! Yet it is true that this is where He finds His rest. It
is concerning the redeemed souls who make up the Church of Christ that
He says, "This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have
desired it."
I must, at the outset, confess my inability to dive into the depths of
this subject. I can only, as it were, flit across its surface as the
swallow with swift wings skims over the brook. I am going to ask,
first, about God finding rest in His Church Then about the duration of
that rest And in closing, I want to say a few practical words
concerning our finding rest where God finds rest.
I. First, then, let us think of GOD FINDING REST IN HIS CHURCH.
He does this, in the first place, because in His Church all the three
Divine Persons of the Trinity are honored. A man does not find rest in
anything which gratifies only one part of his nature. Therefore it can
truly be said to Christians concerning this world, "This is not your
rest," for whatever gratification it may yield to the body, it can
never satisfy our soul. If there were in the Church of God honor only
for God the Father, but none for God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
it could never be the Lord's eternal rest. But, Beloved, when the
Father looks upon the Church, He views with delight His own chosen
children and sees His eternal purposes accomplished in them! He thinks
of the Covenant into which He entered with His dear Son on their
behalf, and of the Atonement which He gave for them when He gave His
only-begotten Son to die as their Substitute and Surety. As for God the
Son–when He looks upon the Church, He beholds those for whom He paid
the ransom price on Calvary–every member of that Church He has
purchased with His own blood and, therefore, He looks upon them with
peculiar complacency. As for God the Holy Spirit, He–
" Takes delight to view
The holy souls He formed anew." As He gazes upon them, He sees the
gracious results of His regenerating energy and He rests in holy
contemplation. I hope, Beloved, you will never exalt one member of the
ever-blessed Trinity above either of the rest–it is quite a mistake to
ascribe the work of salvation entirely to the Father, or to the Son, or
to the Holy Spirit. In the first Creation, it is most emphatically true
that God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." The
first Creation was the work of Deity as a whole, and so is the new
Creation! And for both we may most justly sing–
"Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
All are equally concerned in perfecting the Church, the true Zion, and
therefore God, in the Trinity in Unity–Father, Son, and Spirit–says
concerning the Church, "This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for
I have desired it."–
"Arise, O King of Grace, arise,
And enter to Your rest!
Lo, Your Church waits with longing eyes,
Thus to be owned and blest.
Enter with all Your glorious train,
Your Spirit and your Word–
All that the Ark did once contain
Could no such Grace afford." Just think for a minute or two what this
rest of God is. Is it the entire cessation from toil? When we do
nothing, but sit still in listless inactivity, that cessation from toil
may yield us a measure of rest, but it is not rest of a kind that we
could long love–certainly it is not such rest as we should wish to
enjoy forever! We would be in a most restless state if we had nothing
to do! We would soon be worn out with the weariness of living an
aimless, purposeless life. I believe the truest state of rest is when a
man has just as much to do as he can perform with ease. If your mind
does not think at all, it is in a coma or in a sort of fainting fit.
But when it is occupied with pleasing themes, not working out difficult
problems, but meditating upon simple themes which you can easily
understand, then it is at rest! Perhaps you sit down quietly by the
fire and indulge in what we call day-dreams–your mind is active all
the while, yet its activity does not prevent it from resting. Heaven is
a place and state of perfect rest, yet it is not the rest of silence
and stagnation! In one sense, they rest not day nor night, yet they
serve God continually–and that is perfect rest!
It is in His Church that God finds His rest, for it is there that He
finds work exactly adapted to His infinite capacities. The blessedness
of God must consist partly in His activity–what an active Being God
is! There is not a cloud that flies across the sky of which He is not
the pilot. How busily He worked in creating the heavens and the earth
and all that they contain, yet He never rested in them for the visible
creation is too narrow a couch to provide a resting place for the
Eternal! But when He comes to the mightier work of Redemption and
reveals the combined Majesty of His Justice and sublimity of His love
in those whom He forms anew, then He is engaged in a task that occupies
those attributes which He most delights to exercise! And therefore He
says to His Church, "This is My rest forever: here will I dwell." When
He made the earth, "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of
God shouted for joy." But you never read that God sangat the Creation.
It is when He is working in the higher sphere that He says to Zion, the
Church of His choice, "The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty;
He will save, He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest in His
love, He will joy over you with singing." In the new Creation He finds
such rest as the old Creation never could afford Him. We know so little
of the Infinite God that we must speak with due humility and reticence
concerning these great mysteries, yet it seems to me that in the making
of those who shall show forth His praise forever, He is doing a work in
which He especially delights and in which He, therefore, rests and
rejoices as He does in nothing else!
Further, He rests in His Church because He sees, there, His eternal
purposes fulfilled. Whenever a soul is saved, God sees, there, another
of His Divine decrees accomplished. And that affords His heart rest–to
speak after the manner of men–and we cannot speak in any other way.
As, one by one, those who were chosen by Him unto eternal life, those
whom He gave in Covenant to His Son, those who were redeemed by that
Son's precious blood are delivered from the Egyptian bondage of sin,
conducted safely through the howling wilderness waste of this world and
carried across the Jordan of death into the Canaan of heavenly rest,
God sees His eternal purposes fulfilled and therein He finds most
blessed rest! When the entire Church of God shall have been brought,
safe and perfected, to His right hand in Glory, then will He say, in
the words of our text, "This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for
I have desired it." I must confess that I do not understand the
condition of mind of those brethren who are not able to perceive in the
Scriptures a clear Revelation concerning the purposes of God in the
salvation of His elect. It would be strange if the work of Grace were
left to chance. An architect would not permit an important building
like St. Paul's, for instance, to be erected according to the whims and
fancies of the individual workers employed! He would not leave to the
freewill of every laborer the decision as to where each pillar should
be placed, or what stone and other materials should be used in the
building–he has everything done according to the plan that he designed
before the work was commenced! And shall not the Most High, who is
building a habitation for Himself, have it erected in harmony with the
plan that He had prepared from all eternity? I
think, Brothers and Sisters, it is because God has planned what His
Church is to be and because that plan will be exactly followed until
the whole building is complete, that the Lord says concerning it, "This
is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
Then, in the next place, have we not in the Church of God almighty
energies rewarded?God rested on the seventh day because Creation's work
was done. And God rests in His Church in so far as it also is a
finished work. Every soul saved by Grace, every soul brought home to
Glory is the result and the reward of almighty labor. He who spoke and
it was done in the making of the material world made not His Church so
easily. It was with His word that He made this world, but it was the
Incarnate Word that was necessary to the new creation! No blood needed
to be spilt for the making of this earth in all its pristine beauty and
glory, but the new heavens and the new earth could be cemented by
nothing less than the product of almighty suffering! The Church of God
is a most wonderful fabric upon which not only have the purposes of God
been exercised from all eternity, but "all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily" has been at work to accomplish this marvel of marvels which
shall set all Heaven ablaze with astonishment when it is at last
complete and perfect! For many centuries stroke upon stroke from God's
hand and instruments has been telling upon the rough block of marble,
and when the last touch shall have been given to it, and the work
appears in all its Glory and beauty before the eyes of God, He will
rest, just as a skilled workman does in the successful accomplishment
of some great task which he has undertaken and which he regards as his
masterpiece.
Best of all, however, is the next reason why God rests in His Church!
That is because it is the reward of stupendous suffering. We are told
that "the Lord smelled a sweet savor" when Noah offered burnt offerings
after he came out of the ark. The marginal reading is "a savor of
rest." And when God is dealing with sinners, now, He finds no savor of
rest except in the Sacrifice of His dear Son! All the world over the
spirit of Justice flew in search of a righteous man, but the only
result of that long search was the verdict, "There is none righteous,
no, not one." Justice next looked to see if there was any helper who
could deliver the guilty, but none could be found until she turned her
eyes to the Cross where hung the Son of God in extreme agonies. And as
she marked the falling blood, the bowed head and the crown of
thorns–and heard the Voice that said, "It is finished," she rested!
Her long quest was over, for she had found the One who was Himself
perfectly righteous and who was, therefore, able to deliver the guilty
by the full and complete Atonement that He offered for their
Redemption. The Son of God takes delight in His Church because He sees
that in her, all His pains and agonies have yielded to Him a glorious
harvest! And God the Father, who smote His Son so heavily when He took
the place of His sinful people, delights in His Church because He sees
in her a full reward for all that His well-beloved Son endured.
Then do you not think that God finds rest in His Church because of the
relationships there developed?Where do you find rest, dear Friends? You
not only rest in the garden which you have planted, and in the house
which you have with a great effort, bought–but your choicest rest is
found with the children whom you so fondly love. There is no stranger
in the family circle! The door is closed, the fire is burning brightly
and now is mother's time for rest, and father's time for joy, for there
are only loved ones around the hearth. The merchant comes home from the
counting-house where he has been on the watch all day lest he should be
deceived and over-reached. But he can come down from his watchtower,
now, for he has no fear of being deceived in the family circle. The
judge has been sternly administering the law while he has been upon the
bench, but He lays aside all his sternness when he takes off his robes
of office and gathers his children around him. The toiling laborer
wipes the sweat from his brow and gladly rests at home among those whom
he loves. "Perfect love casts out fear," and fear is like a thorn in
our nest–it prevents us from resting. But when "perfect love" comes,
then we are perfectly at our ease. When you are at home, you may say
what you will, and do what you please– there are none to slander and
align you there. You do not say all you feel in the presence of your
servants–they are faithful and true, but you do not tell them all that
is in your heart. It is when you are among your children that you feel
free and unrestrained. So it is with God! Not even among the angels
does God find His rest–bright and perfect beings though they are, they
are but ministering spirits waiting in the great Temple of God to
render service to the saints! But here, where He sees His own likeness
in every blood-bought soul. Here where He sees those whom He has
begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead–here it is that He feels at home and finds His rest! Do
not think that I am speaking too boldly when I use the family metaphor
to illustrate this great Truth of God, for I am but following the
example of our Lord Jesus, Himself, when He said, "If you then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask
Him?" He rejoices over the son who was dead, and is alive again–who
was lost, and is found–and because He is our Father, and we are His
children, He says of us and of the whole company of His redeemed, "This
is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
II. Now I am to speak briefly concerning THE DURATION OF GOD'S REST IN
HIS CHURCH. "This is My rest
forever."
Then this proves that there will always be a Church of God. There are
certain persons who are constantly subject to great fear and their
fears make them quiver and shake–and then they imagine that God's
Church is quivering and shaking, which is a very different matter! They
hold up their hands, and cry, "Alas! Alas! The Church is in danger!"
Well, some particular church, designed by men, may be in danger, but I
do not believe that the Church of God is, or ever was, or ever will be
in danger! It is thought by some that Popery will swallow the Church of
Christ just as the whale swallowed Jonah. But if it should do so, the
Church would come back again as surely as Jonah was cast up upon the
dry land! There is no sword fashioned that can smite the Church of God,
nor will there ever be one! There will be a Church as long as there is
a world–and when this world is burned up, the Church shall shine more
brightly than ever–and it shall keep on shining to all eternity, and
be a rest for God forever–
"Glorious things of you are spoken,
Zion, city of our God!
He whose word cannot be broken,
Formed you for His own abode:
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What cam shake your sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
You may smile at all your foes." Further, there will always be a Church
with God in it, and such a Church as God can rest in. Some people think
that there is no church of which they can comfortably be members. But,
dear Friends, there is a Church of which Jesus Christ is a member, for
He is the Head of it! And if you cannot be members of any visible
church, be not content unless you are members of that Church in which
God rests forever, for that is always a pure Church! You sometimes hear
a great deal about Apostolic succession–it is a gross lie as it is
generally understood, but in itself it is a great Truth of God. The
Apostolic succession may be very clearly traced through the Novatians,
Donatists, Lollards, Albigenses, Waldenses, Anabaptists and Huguenots,
right down to the Christians of various denominations that exist today.
There is a true line that never entered the Stygian bog of Rome! A pure
silver stream which has flowed down to us right from the times of the
Apostles! There always has been a Church in which God could dwell and
there always will be a Church that shall be His dwelling place! You
know that Christ prayed, "Holy Father, keep through Your own name those
whom You have given Me, that they may be one, as We are." And I do not
believe that Christ prayed any prayer that will not be answered in due
time! More than that, I believe that the Church of Christ is one now.
"Oh, but!" says someone, "look at the many divisions and denominations
that there are!" Yes, I know about them, but the only true unity is
that of the spiritually quickened souls that form the Mystical Body of
Christ. Whatever division there may be among them at present is only
external–if we could see beneath the surface and judge as God
judges–we should perceive that in the truly vital matters, they are
one. Being one with Christ, they are also one with each other. We must
look less and less to mere externals, and think more and more of that
which is spiritual, for it is only in the invisible and spiritual
Church of Christ that God finds rest. I do not believe that He finds
rest in the Baptist denomination, or in the Independent, or in the
Church of England, as such–He finds His rest in all the saved to
whatever denomination they may belong! His rest is not in great human
organizations, but in those whom His Grace has called–who are already
one in Christ Jesus!
Another inference that I draw from the text is that the Church of God
will always be secure. "Here will I dwell," says the Lord. And there
would be no rest for Him if the enemy could be continually scaling the
ramparts, damaging the walls and carrying away His people as captives.
A king within his capital could not rest if one suburb after another
fell into the hands of his foes. The rest of a shepherd would be
effectually broken if he heard a lion scrunching the bones of any of
his sheep, or if a wolf seized even one of the lambs of his flock. When
the Lord says, "This is My rest forever," He seems to me
to guarantee the eternal security of every soul that is in the true
Church of Christ. All who are in the Church which Jesus bought with His
precious blood must be perfectly safe forever–
"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
He will not, He will not desert to His foes!
That soul, though all Hell should endeavor to shake,
He'll never, no never, no never forsake!" There may be many in any part
of the visible church who will perish, but there shall never be one who
is truly a member of the Church of the living God who shall be lost! I
started a little, the other night, when a Brother said that once we are
brought into the Church, we are safe forever. But when he went on to
show that by the expression, "the Church," he meant what God means by
those words, I fully agreed with him! This is the Zion of which Jehovah
says, "This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired
it." And it is His rest because He knows that all who are within it are
safe forever! At the last, Jesus will be able to say to His Father, "Of
all whom You gave Me have I lost none."
I also infer from the text that the whole Church will be eternally
glorified, otherwise God could not say of it, "This is My rest
forever." The living stones that are to form the "habitation of God
through the Spirit," are being quarried, fashioned and polished here
below–and one by one they are being transported to the holy hill
above. And so, "all the building fitly framed together grows unto a
holy temple in the Lord." And when it is complete, He will say, "Here
will I dwell forever." The eternal duration of the Church's blessedness
ought to be a theme of greater consideration and rejoicing than it is.
Think of it, Beloved, that the great God will forever find His rest in
you and in others like you who have been redeemed by the precious blood
of His dear Son! Does not this make time seem a mere trifle, and earth
but a tiny speck scarcely worthy of our notice? Then, as you are
forever and ever to be the object of Divine delight, cannot you see
that you must alwayshave been so? Oh, revel in this thought, that every
blood-bought soul shall eternally be the temple and abode of God,
Himself, and that all of them united in one shall be His rest forever!
III. Now we are to close with a few practical words concerning OUR
FINDING REST WHERE GOD FINDS REST.
God finds His rest in His Church. Is that where we find our rest? I
wonder how many here could truly repeat the language of Dr. Watts–
"Let others choose the sons of mirth To give a relish to their wine. I
love the men of heavenly birth, Whose thoughts and language are Divine.
Do you, dear Friends find rest in the company of God's chosen people?
The ungodly do not. If some gracious person should go to their house
and begin talking about the mysteries of the Cross, their impatient
glances at the clock would soon show that such a theme was a weariness
to them. When they go up to the place where God's people meet, to
worship Him, the shorter the service is the better they like it! And
the reason is that they do not savingly know the Lord. A man without
sight would not be likely to be very much charmed in a picture gallery.
And a man who was stone-deaf would not be very delighted with the
grandest oratorio that was ever performed! In like manner, we cannot
expect that those who have no spiritual sense can find delight in the
company of God's people. But how different it is with the man who is
really saved! He can say, with David, of the saints that are in the
earth, that they are "the excellent, in whom is all my delight." A good
old saint, whom I went to see on her dying bed, said to me, "It always
gives me comfort, Sir, to think that God is not likely to send me to
dwell with the wicked, for I never liked their society here. I believe
He will let me go with my own company and I have always kept company
with His people since I have learned to know Him." I assured her that I
believed it would be so. It is a sign of Grace when we find rest with
those who are really spiritual because they are spiritual. You may love
some saints of God, yet it may be no sign of Grace on your part–there
may be something specially lovable about them so that you cannot help
loving them or you may have received some temporal kindness from them
and, therefore, love them for purely natural reasons. But it is a very
different matter when we can say, with John– "We know that we have
passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." Some of us
can truthfully declare that our happiest hours are those that we
expound with the saints of God! And we can fully sympathize with Dr.
Watts when he says–
"My soul shall pray for Zion still, While life or breath remains; There
my best Friends, my kindred dwell, There God my Savior reigns.
God says of His Church, "This is My rest forever," and we can say the
same. I cannot say that concerning any visible church–I should not
like to have to rest forever in any portion of the church on earth! But
in union with the redeemed in Glory, I can rest! When I think of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When I read the lives of Prophets and
Apostles. When I turn to more modern times and think of Calvin, and
Luther, and Zwingli, and Berridge, and Wesley, and Whitefield, and a
host of others, I can say, "Ah, let me once get into their company and
then I shall feel, 'This is my rest forever.' I do not need anything
more than this except to be in the Master's own company!" Oh, what rest
it will be to be with Him! This is our rest even now–to be with Him!
And to be forever with Him will be the perfection of rest–
"Let me be with You, where You are,
My Savior, my eternal rest!
Then only will this longing heart
Be fully and forever blest"
Do you not think that Abel must have felt very strange when he went to
Heaven? How startled the angels must have been when they saw the first
soul redeemed by blood in Glory all by himself! I think they must have
hushed their songs awhile to ask all about him. Here was a man come to
sing in Heaven, to chant before the Eternal Throne the praises of a
Sacrifice greater than any that he had offered! Yes, but Abel could not
have felt perfectly at rest, for Paul tells us that the Church in
Heaven will not be made perfect without us. When another and yet
another joined Abel in Heaven, I think it must have increased his
happiness. And now, as others keep on going Home, the glorified saints
welcome them with exceeding joy, for they all feel that their bliss
will not be perfect until every redeemed soul is gathered there with
them and the whole of the shining ranks are filled! Then, when all
shall be there, each one of them will say, as God Himself now says,
"This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it."
I wonder if there are any here who will never find rest in the Church
of the First-Born which are written in Heaven? If you want to get into
the Church of God, do you know the way to get in? You say, "I must come
before the Elders." No, no–that is the way to get into our Church,
here, but not into the invisible Church above! "Well, then, I must be
baptized." No, that is the ordinance for you afteryou have entered the
Church of God. "Well, then, how am I to get in?" He whose hand was
pierced says, I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." The only door to the
Church of God is Jesus Christ! Trust to His precious blood sprinkled
upon the altar to give you access to and acceptance with God–and
having that blood sprinkled upon yourself, you may venture to draw near
even to the Eternal, for you shall be "accepted in the Beloved." God
grant that it may be so, for Jesus sake! Amen.
[See Sermon #3287, Volume 58–THE ONLY DOOR.]
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM132.
A Song of Degrees.
1. LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions. God had entered into
an Everlasting Covenant with David, "ordered in all things and sure,"
and in this Psalm either David, himself, or some of his people or
descendants pleaded that Covenant in time of affliction and trial.
"Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions." The Lord would not
forget either David or his people, yet it pleased Him for them to come
before Him in prayer and to remind Him of the Covenant that He had made
with His servant. Using this prayer in a Gospel sense, we bow before
the Lord and cry, "Lord, remember Jesus, the Son of David, and all His
afflictions! Remember all that He endured as His people's Substitute,
and have pity upon us for His sake, as we plead that Eternal Covenant
which You have made with Him on our behalf." That an-
cient Covenant was made with David and the far more ancient Covenant of
Grace was made with great David's greater Son," our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ!
2-5. Howhe swore unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob;
surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor up into my
bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until
I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of
Jacob. David remembered that he had built himself a palace, but he
wished even more ardently to build a palace for his God–a house for
the celebration of His worship–"an habitation for the mighty God of
Jacob." But where can a worthy house be built for God? Where can there
be made a fit dwelling place for the Most High? He fills all things,
yet all things cannot contain Him! There is but one dwelling place of
God– it is in Christ Jesus, for "in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily." Oh, how we ought to thank God that He has provided
Himself a fitting dwelling place in the Person of His dear Son, in whom
all Believers are also built together for a habitation of God through
the Holy Spirit! As for the Ark of the Covenant, it had long ago in
David's day dwelt in obscurity.
6. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the
woods. [See Sermon #2590, Volume 44–hearing, seeking,
FINDING.] God is willing to dwell in the woods. Many a time He
does so. In many a cottage far removed from the haunts of men, God is
found–and to many a backwoodsman God is as near as He is to those who
worship Him in temples or cathedrals. "We found it in the fields of the
woods."
7. We will go into His tabernacles: we will worship at His footstool
This Psalm is called "A Song of degrees." Notice the steps here
described. We heard of it, we found it, we will go into it, we will
worship in it! It is a good thing when in our prayers and praises, we
ascend step by step–not on the steppingstones of our dead selves which
are pieces of rubbish–but by the living steppingstones upon which the
ever-living Spirit helps us to rise tier above tier, His own almighty
hand helping us continually to rise higher and higher!
8. Arise, O LORD into Your rest; You and the ark of Your strength. Let
us pray that the Lord may constantly find rest in the midst of His
people. He finds rest in them because they are one with His
well-beloved Son. Come, Lord, at this moment, and take Your rest in the
midst of this assembly and make us all rest in You!
9. And let Your priests be clothed with righteousness. This is the best
robe for all God's holy ones who are priests and kings unto Him. This
is better than snow white linen or robes decked with crimson and gold!
9. And let Your saints shout for joy.The worship of God should be very
gladsome and even demonstrative. We may shout. Sometimes the
overflowing of joy demands more than ordinary expression, therefore we
pray, "Let Your holy ones shout for joy."
10. For Your servant David's sake turn not away the face of Your
Anointed. Much more may we ask this for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake. O
God, remember Your Son, our Lord and our King, and for His sake look in
love and pity upon us today,
11. 12. The LORD has sworn in truth unto David, He will not turn from
it I will set upon the throne the fruit of your body. If your children
will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their
children shall also sit upon your throne forevermore. Long did the
house of David reign over Israel. But they proved unfaithful, and
therefore the scepter passed out of their hands. But it is still in the
hand of another Son of David. In a spiritual sense Jesus Christ has a
throne and a dominion that shall know no end–
"Jesus shall reign wherever the sun Does its successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretches from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and
wane no more."
13. For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desiredit for His habitation.
The literal Zion was the Lord's habitation for a time, but the
spiritual Zion will be His dwelling place throughout eternity!
14. This is My rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desiredit.
God rest in His people. The whole company of the redeemed shall be His
abiding place forever!
15. I will abundantly bless her provision: will satisfy her poor with
bread. God sends the necessary provision for His people, and sends His
blessing with it. We are so poor that we have not even spiritual bread
for our souls to eat unless He
gives it to us. But here is His gracious promise, "I will satisfy her
poor with bread." This He will do both literally and spiritually.
ver prayer, but here, in this 16t verse, we have a golden answer. The
prayer of the Psalmist was, "Let your saints shout for joy." The Lord's
answer is, "Her saints shall shout aloud for joy." God always gives
good measure, pressed down, and running over. Often we have not because
we ask not, or because we ask amiss. His command to each one of us is,
"Open your mouth wide." And His promise is, "I will fill it." If you
ask great things of Him, He will give you yet greater things for He is
"able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think."
17. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp
for My Anointed. Oh, that today the horn of David might again bud! May
every Believer in Jesus feel the life of God reviving within Him, and
in many a case where there is no spiritual life at all, may life Divine
begin today! Pray for it, Beloved–and then look for it, and you shall
surely see it!
18. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon Himself shall His
crown flourish. We have no King but Jesus and His crown is always
flourishing. It sits well upon a blessed head. Let us crown Him once
again this day with our gladsome praise and thanksgiving!
.th