THE church's security IN GOD.
Ps. xlviii. 12 — 14. Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the towers thereof: mark ye ivell her bulwarks ; consider her palaces ; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever : He will be our guide even unto death.
MEN read the Bible in order that they may know what they are to do ; and this is well : but they should read the Bible also in order that they may know what they are to expect : for that blessed book is no less a record of their privileges, than of their duties. It is of privileges that our text speaks. The psalm evidently celebrates some triumph over confederate kings "^ : and it was probably written on the occasion of Jehosaphat's deliverance from the confederate armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir ; who^ through the special providence of God,
turned
' ver, 4.
367.] THE church's security IN GOD. 163
turned their arms against each other, and left Jeho- saphat nothing to do but to collect the spoir. That, as might be expected, was a season of very exalted joy to all Judah : and the circumstances altogether correspond very exactly with the intimations given in this psalm. The security of Zion under the Divine protection is that which is particularly speci- fied in the text : and we are called to notice it for the benefit of future generations.
Let us consider, I. The survey proposed — -
Whatever strength might be in the fortifications of Jerusalem, the writer of this psalm evidently looked beyond them to God, who alone is the security of his people. Moreover, Zion was a type of the Church of God, which is indeed " the mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation, and the joy of the whole earth ; and in whose palaces he is well known for a refuged" Let us then "walk about her, and tell her towers, and mark well her bulwarks." Let US mark the bulwarks,
1. Of the Jewish Church —
[This was founded on the purposes, the perfections, and the promises of God ; and from them derived her strength and her security.
In a season of great alarm and terror, the prophet being asked, '^ What shall we answer the messengers of the nation," who come to apprise us of the approach of the Phihstine armies ? His answer was, " Tell them that the Lord hath founded Zion, and that the poor of liis people shall trust in if^." To this St. Paul adds, " The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his ^." God had determined from all eternity that he would have a Church and people in the world : and hence it vvas that neither Pharaoh in Egypt could prevent, nor all the nations of Canaan could ob- struct, the establishment of Mount Zion : for " God's counsel must stand ; and he would do all his will V
For the preservation of his Church, every perfection of the Deity vvas pledged. Whilst his wisdom was engaged to discon- cert, and his power to defeat, all her enemies, his truth and faithfulness formed a barrier that could not be broken through :
so
'' 2 Chron. xx. 22—25. ^ ver. 1—3. ^ Isai. xiv. 32. I 2 Tim, ii. Jg. ' Isai. xlvi. 10.
164 PSALMS, XLViir. 12 — 14. [367.
so that, till by the iniquities of his people he was constrained to depart from them, he was " a wall of fire round about them, and the glory in the midst of them^ :" and every attribute of his was " a chamber in which they might lie down in perfect peace ".
Often it appeared as if his promise in relation to them would fail : but not a jot or tittle of his word ever did fail : for " he was not a man that he could lie, or the son of man that he could repent." And, after the people had been forty years established in the land of Canaan, Joshua appealed to them, that '^ not one good thing had failed of all that God had spoken concerning them, but that every thing had come to pass according to his promise'."]