The Lord loves the gates of Zion
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you,
O city of God!
Selah - Psalms 87:1-3
Glorious things of thee are spoken
Zion, city of our God.
God, whose word cannot be broken,
formed thee for his own abode.
On the Rock of Ages founded,
what can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation's walls surrounded,
thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
I love old hymns. I love some new hymns as well, but maybe because they are what I grew up with, I love the majestic old ‘big’ hymns.
The psalm speaks of Zion, which is a name for Jerusalem, but metaphorically it speaks of heaven, the New Jerusalem. Zion is where God lives.
It is in the presence of God that we find our comfort and strength and assurance and it is where we get the power to keep on keeping on.
John Newton of ‘Amazing Grace’ fame penned the words of the hymn based on this psalm. Each stanza speaks of a different blessing of the presence of God. The first verse, above, speaks of His glorious strength.
In days of darkness and despair we have the glories of our future to sing of. One day we are going to reach our New Jerusalem and we ought to be rejoicing in that truth. Sure, we have to live our lives here, but as we live we need to make sure others know why we have the hope that we have.
There is no better time than now to speak glorious things about our God and our future with Him.
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