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ASCENDING TO THE HOUSE OF GOD
(Our Security - Psalm 127)
Pastor Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438
In Psalm 127 the pilgrim
meditates upon the security of God’s house, as he ascends to it. Here is
our security. — The building of God’s house is his work. — The security of
it is his work. — The children he gives are his heritage. — Knowing these
things, we read, “so he giveth his beloved sleep.”
“Except the Lord build the house, they labour
in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain.It is vain for you to rise up early, to
sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved
sleep.Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord:
and the fruit of the
womb is his reward.As arrows are in the hand of a
mighty man; so are children of the youth.Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed,
but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
The
House
The
house and city spoken of in this psalm is the
church of
God. The title of the
psalm, “A Song of degrees for Solomon,” tells us this. The psalm was written to encourage Solomon as
he prepared to build the temple in
Jerusalem, which was typical of the
church of
God’s elect. It is
Christ himself, our God and Savior, who builds his house and keeps his
city. Were it not for this fact, the labor of
Zion
’s watchmen, the
labor of gospel preachers, would be vanity. But our labor is not in vain
(1 Cor. 15:58; Isa. 55:11). The fact that the building of God’s house, the
salvation of his elect, is altogether God’s work gives us sleep (peace),
assuring us that all is well that concerns God’s church. The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
The
Children
We
know that this psalm is not talking about our physical families, or our
physical descendants, by the simple fact that for many their families and
their children are the causes of great sorrow. The children spoken of here
are the children of God, his gift to Christ, brought forth from
Zion
’s womb. They
are the reward of his soul’s travail, the reward of his suffering and
death (Isa. 53:10-11). God’s children are arrows in the hands of Christ,
our Mighty Man of War, the Captain of our Salvation.
The Happy
Man
The
happy man, whose quiver is full, is Christ. He is our blessedness and we
are his. John Gill wrote, “Christ’s spiritual seed and offspring, who are
the dew of his youth, are strong, and overcome the evil one; and are
serviceable in the defense of his cause and interest.” His children, God’s
elect, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, shall never be ashamed,
confused, confounded, put to confusion, or make haste (Isa. 28:16; 45:17;
Rom. 10:11; 1 Pet.
2:6).
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