The Heart of the Bible—The Book of Psalms · Pastor Adam Wood · Psalm 48 · November 5, 2025

Transcript:
Let's get our Bible, go to Psalm 48. Psalm number 48 tonight. Our next installment in our study of the Psalms, getting close to the third, the third of the way through point. How do you call that? 33.333 percent. Alright, Psalm 48. We will We will read Psalm 48 together. I would like to draw your attention to something as we read it, because we're not going to spend a lot of time in the Psalm, in this particular Psalm. I want to kind of use it as part of a study. And so we won't spend a lot of time here. But while we go through it, I'd like you to pay attention to and try to find out as you read what the theme of the Psalm is. So what is the main subject matter that the psalmist is speaking of? And he repeats it over and over and over in different ways, because that's really a key thing to what I'd like us to study tonight regarding this Psalm. So Psalm 48, a song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. Verse 3 goes on, God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion rejoice. Let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Walk about Zion and go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that you may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death. Amen. What's the theme? Did anybody notice a particular theme that's repeated over and over in the psalm? Zion. Zion. Zion. This psalm is mostly about Zion. So I want to look at that tonight and just look at it from, of course, the point of view of the psalmist, but also a point of view from our point of view as well. So let's pray together and then we'll get into our study. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity, Lord, for meeting together and studying your word. Thank you for the people of God. What a blessing it is to be with your people, to fellowship, to share good times together and to pray for one another and to see one another's face and study your word together. We know, Lord, that we will be with you in Zion for all of eternity, with one another, and be able to enjoy one another's fellowship forever without the burden and the hindrance of sin at all. We rejoice in that fact. Lord, we also rejoice that you protected Nathaniel and that you kept him, Lord, and you were watching over him. Thank you, Lord, that we have good news tonight. And Lord, we just pray that you bless our study now. We ask you to meet with us and teach us. In Jesus' name, amen. So this psalm is about Zion. And this is not the only one, but where the psalmist is really going on about, he talks about counting the towers and walking about, notice what he says in verse number 12, walk about Zion, go around it, walk around it, tell the towers thereof, and that's the count. And so the emphasis is on Zion. Now why is Zion so important that a psalmist would write a psalm about Israel? Now we know that, I'm sorry, write a psalm about Zion. Now we know there's an association with God because that's mentioned in verse number one, it's also mentioned in the last verse, and there's a connection between God and Zion. Now that's clear, we'll see that in a minute. But in the mind of the psalmist, Zion is an important place. It is an important place to the people of Israel. Now I want to look at a few verses and I want to kind of get a definition of what we're talking about when we're talking about Zion. Second Samuel, second Samuel chapter 5, second Samuel chapter 5, verse 7. This is of course when David will read verse 6, second Samuel chapter 5 verse 6. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, which spake unto David, say, Except thou take away the blind and lame, thou shalt not come in hither, thinking David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. This is the first mention of Zion as a place. And this is before Jerusalem was occupied by the Hebrews. And so this is the first mention of Zion. He took the stronghold of Zion the same as the city of David. Now before there was a temple, before there was a temple, the Solomon's temple, there was of course the city of Jerusalem already existed at the time of David. And David invaded the city of Jerusalem and took it. But the city of Jerusalem was not centered around the temple mount like it is today and like it was later. And so David took the stronghold of Zion, which actually if you look at a map, you have the city of Jerusalem is kind of like a square. And at the top right, mostly the top right, you have the temple mount, but that didn't exist. But you go south of that and there's a ridge that runs down. That ridge is where the city of David was. This was called the city of David to this day. It's called the city of David. And it's a particular section of Jerusalem because that was the original part that David conquered. There was a fortress there. But that was the original location of Zion. That the city of David, that place south of Jerusalem. Now look at look back in the psalm, psalm number nine, psalm number nine. Psalm nine verse 11 says this, Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his doings. So here God dwells in Zion. Look at Psalm 132, psalm 132. Psalm 132 verse 13. Psalm 132 verse 13. For the Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for his habitation. Now you remember in the history of Israel, there was a big thing. Remember even in the law, the Lord said to Moses, you remember in Deuteronomy and in Numbers, he said when you go into the land, paraphrasing, when you go into the land and I choose a place to set my name there. Do you remember that verse, those verses? There are several occurrences of it. The Lord said this is when they were outside of Canaan, before they had gone in with Joshua. The Lord says when you go into this land, I'm going to pick a place and I'm going to set my name there. That place that God picked was Jerusalem. That place that God picked was Zion. Because that's the place where God would dwell. That's the place where God would have his habitation with his people, which is a reference to the temple. Look at the next verse, verse 14. The Lord goes on, this is my rest forever. Will I dwell for I have desired it. So here's what, think about what God is saying here. God is choosing a physical and geographical location on the face of the planet that he will call his habitation. Everybody with me? This is, and of course we know that would later be the Tabernacle and then the temple once Solomon built it. And that would be the place where he would place his name there. And that is the place that God has chosen even to this day. Even to this day. The end of the history of Jerusalem has not happened yet. There is more to come about that city. That's why it's such a hot bed right now and has been for a long time. Look at Psalm 147. 147. You'll see a little bit of a nuance about Zion. We're looking at what is Zion. Psalm 147, look at verse 12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. This is what's called a...