Aug-04-0482-The city of the great King
482_The city of the great King Psalm 48 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. 3 Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress. 4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. 5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor. 7 By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah 9 We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. 10 As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! 12 Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation 14 that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever. In 1952, the British explorer and mountaineer Eric Shipton led an expedition through the remote mountain ranges of the Himalayas. During this journey, he stumbled upon a breathtaking valley that few eyes had ever seen. Towering peaks encircled the land like guardians of a hidden treasure. The sunlight poured over the snowy summits, and a river meandered gently through the center of the valley, sparkling like liquid silver. As he stood there, Shipton reportedly murmured to himself, “This feels like a place fit for a king.” Throughout history, humanity has longed for a perfect city—a place of peace, majesty, and permanence, where justice reigns and beauty abounds. Great empires have risen and fallen, magnificent cities have been built and destroyed, and yet the yearning continues. We feel there must be something more than this broken, fleeting world. And Scripture agrees. Psalm 48, often referred to as a prophetic psalm, lifts our eyes beyond the ruins and decay of this earth to show us something lasting—the city of the great King. The psalmist begins with an outburst of praise: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, his holy mountain.” (Psalm 48:1). This city is no ordinary city—it is Zion, the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem was chosen by God to be the home of his temple. In it was the ark, the ark of the covenant of the God of the whole earth. It foreshadowed something greater: the eternal dwelling place of God Himself, the joy of all people. Psalm 87 echoes this reality when it declares: “On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the Lord loves the