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Scripture Reading: Psa. 87; 2:6; 48:1-2
I. Psalm 87 reveals that God’s heart is set on Zion, the city of God, with Christ within it — vv. 2-3:
А. Zion is central in God’s heart — 2:6; 48:1-2; 50:2; 99:2; 132:13; 135:21.
B. Restoration, salvation, and release from sufferings are the desires of the saints, but God’s desire is for Zion with His Christ — 85:4; 86:2; 88:1-3; 87:2-3:
1. Salvation is not for ourselves — salvation is for God’s purpose and economy.
2. God saves people for His Christ, for His house, and for Zion, the city of God, in order that one day He might gain the entire earth through Christ with His overcomers — 51:18; Eph. 2:4-6, 8, 10, 21-22; Rev. 11:15.
II. “His foundation is in the holy mountains” — Psa. 87:1:
А. This divine foundation, typifying Christ as God’s unique foundation for the building up of His house, the church, is built in the “holy mountains,” which typify the local churches — 1 Cor. 3:11.
B. As the Christ and the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus is the unique foundation laid by God for His building — Matt. 16:16, 18; 1 Cor. 3:11.
C. According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 3, Christ is a living foundation, a foundation that grows:
1. God gives the growth, and to give growth is a matter of growing Christ; the Christ who grows within us is a living, growing foundation — vv. 6-7, 11.
2. The foundation grows in us, and this growth produces gold, silver, and precious stones for the building up of the church — v. 12a.
D. As Christ, the unique foundation, holds and supports God’s building, He dispenses Himself into every part of the building, imparting His element into all the believers — Col. 2:19.
III. “Jehovah loves the gates of Zion” — Psa. 87:2a:
А. Gates are for coming in and going out, signifying fellowship — 1 Cor. 1:9.
B. Fellowship is related to oneness; fellowship brings all the members of the Body of Christ into oneness — 10:16-17; Eph. 4:3-6:
1. The fellowship among the churches is the fellowship of the body of Christ — 1 Cor. 10:16.
2. Fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ — 12:12-13, 27.
C. The fact that the New Jerusalem has twelve gates indicates that God’s holy city will be full of fellowship — Rev. 21:12, 21.
IV. “Glorious things are spoken of you, / O city of God” — Psa. 87:3:
А. Zion is a poetic title of the church in both the universal sense and the local sense — v. 2.
B. Zion was the city of King David (2 Sam. 5:7), the center of the city of Jerusalem as God’s dwelling place on earth:
1. Zion within Jerusalem typifies the body of overcomers, the perfected and matured God-men, within the church as the heavenly Jerusalem — Heb. 12:22; Rev. 14:1-5.
2. As the highlight and beauty of the holy city Jerusalem, Zion typifies the overcomers as the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, the beauty, and the reality of the church — Psa. 48:1-2, 11-12; 50:2; 20:2; 53:6a; 87:2.
3. The overcomers as Zion are the reality of the Body of Christ and consummate the building up of the Body in the local churches to bring in the consummated holy city, New Jerusalem, the Holy of Holies as God’s dwelling place, in eternity — Rev. 21:1-3, 16, 22.
C. For the Lord to do good in His good pleasure unto Zion is for Him to build up the church, fill the church with His glory, and grant the church His rich presence with Himself as joy, peace, life, light, security, and every spiritual blessing — Psa. 51:18; cf. Eph. 1:3.
D. Although the Lord has the right, the title, to the earth, today the earth is usurped by His enemy; yet on this usurped earth there is the mountain of Jehovah, Mount Zion, which is absolutely open to the Lord and absolutely possessed by Him — Psa. 24:1-3, 7-10; 2:6; 87:3.
E. In the new heaven and new earth the entire New Jerusalem will become Zion, with all the believers as overcomers — Rev. 14:1; 21:1-2, 16.
V. “But of Zion it will be said, / This one and that one were born in her, / And the Most High Himself will establish her. / Jehovah will count / When He records the peoples: / This One was born there” — Psa. 87:5-6:
А. In verses 5 and 6 God’s intention is to make a contrast, a comparison, of all other places with Zion.
B. Psalm 87 unveils Christ with all the saints to be God’s house for God’s city and for God to gain the whole earth — 27:4; 36:8-9; 48:1-2; 72:8.
C. This One in 87:6 and this one and that one in verse 5 indicate that Christ Himself and all the saints were born in the heavenly Zion — Matt. 1:20; Gal. 4:26-31; Heb. 12:22-23a.
D. This One is the unique One, Christ, who is the totality of all the saints (Psa. 87:5) as the One who is all the saints and in all the saints — Col. 3:11.
E. In resurrection God begot a Son, Jesus Christ, and in resurrection God regenerated many sons; this shows us that the resurrection of Christ was a great delivery — Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4; John 20:17; 1 Pet. 1:3:
1. Christ was born as the Firstborn, and we were regenerated as His many brothers, the many sons of God; hence, that birth in resurrection was a corporate birth — the birth of the firstborn Son and His many brothers — Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6; 2:10-11.
2. The birth of a new corporate child comprising Christ and His believers was the birth of the new man — Col. 3:10:
a. The corporate man brought forth by Christ’s work in His resurrection is the new man spoken of in Ephesians 2:15.
b. The Head is the firstborn Son of God, and the Body is a composition of all the many sons of God, the many brothers of the Lord — 1:22-23.
c. This child, this corporate new man, was brought forth through Christ’s work in resurrection — John 16:20-22.
VI. “All my springs are in you” — Psa. 87:7b:
А. You is the city of God; all the springs are in Zion.
B. The processed Triune God is the fountain, the springs, and the river of water of life; the Father is the fountain, the Son is the springs, and the Spirit is the river of water of life — John 4:14; 7:38; Isa. 12:2-3.
C. In eternity the Lamb will shepherd God’s redeemed and guide them to springs of waters of life — Rev. 7:17:
1. As our Shepherd, Christ will lead us into Himself as the springs of water of life so that we may enjoy the eternal dispensing of the Triune God.
2. Springs of waters of life refers to the unique water of life in different aspects — v. 17; John 7:38; Rev. 22:1.
3. In the New Jerusalem, the eternal Mount Zion, we will drink of many springs and enjoy many different waters; for eternity we will be able to declare, “All my springs are in you.”
