ASCENDING TO THE HOUSE OF GOD

(Our Prayer - Remember Christ - Psalm 132)

Pastor Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438


Psalm 132 sets before us that which ought to be our prayer as we come to the house of our God. This rich gospel psalm gives us blessed views of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many are of the opinion that Solomon wrote this for the dedication of the temple. Without question, the historic person of whom it speaks is David, but a greater than David is here! As is the case throughout the Psalms, when we read this piece of sacred poetry, let us not be so focused on the shadow that we lose sight of the Substance, our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom David was a type (1 Chr. 28:1-10; 2 Chr. 6:41-42).

Remember His Sorrows

“Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions” (v. 1). — Coming to the house of God, we should ever have our hearts fixed upon our Savior’s afflictions as our Substitute, putting God our Father in remembrance of them for our souls’ good (Isa. 43:26). What a comfort it is to our hearts to remind our God of our Savior’s sorrows as our Surety. The sorrows he endured upon the cursed tree were our sorrows (Isa. 53:4). Sinners coming to the mercy-seat, the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16), obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need, because Christ, who once suffered for our sins, has put them away by the sacrifice of himself.

Remember His Oath

“How he sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob” (vv. 2-7). — Our Lord Jesus Christ stood as our Surety before the worlds were made and pledged himself to build his church, the house and temple of God, and was straightened until he accomplished the work. It was to great David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus, our Surety, that the promise was given, “ I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:12), to whom the Father said, “He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my Son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever” (1 Chr. 22:10).

Far too often we read the Word of God with only a carnal eye, dwelling too much on the letter of the Word and missing the spirit, the message of the Spirit in the Word, — dwelling too much on the literal and missing the spiritual application to our souls, — dwelling too much on the type and missing Christ. Multitudes miss that which a passage is intended to teach, because they are consumed by a desire to define and understand the words by which the person and work of Christ are set before us in the Book of God. It is Christ of whom the Scriptures speak. We should always look first for him as we read the pages of Holy Scripture. When we open the Book of God, or come into the house of God, we come into his tabernacles who in the fulness of time came into the world at Bethlehem-Ephratah to redeem and save his people.

Remember to Visit

“Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength” (vv. 8-18). — The Lord has chosen Zion for himself. He has desired the church of his elect as the place of his habitation, the place of his rest, his dwelling place (vv. 12-14; 1 Cor. 3:16). As often as we gather as the family of God in the house of God, we ought to crave and earnestly seek that the presence of God be manifest in the fulfillment of the promises he has made to his Son as our Surety, particularly the fulfillment of those promises recorded in verses 8-18. — That his priests (his people – 1 Pet. 2:9) may be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and his salvation experimentally (vv. 8, 16). — That his saints, those sinners made holy by his grace, may shout for joy (vv. 8, 16). — That we may be made to experience the triumphs of Christ in the experience of his grace, reigning with him as kings unto God (vv. 11-12; Rev. 1:5-6). — That he would abundantly bless the provisions of his grace to us in Christ, feeding and satisfying our poor souls with the Bread of Life. — That he might make Christ’s horn to bud forth with plenteous fruit, cause his light to shine, clothe his enemies with shame and cause his crown to flourish in our midst (vv. 17-18).

It was to Christ, our covenant Surety, that all these promises were made and in whom they are fulfilled. All the blessings of them flow to us from him, in his name and for his righteousness’ sake alone. In him they are all “yea and amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). That makes them sure to us. Yet, the Lord God says, “I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel , to do it for them” (Ezek. 36:37).