Let us turn to God's Word again,
and I direct your attention this morning for our text to words
that we find at the beginning of the 127th Psalm. In Psalm 127, the first part
of the opening verse, Except the Lord's build a house, they
labor, in vain that build it. Except the Lord's build the house,
they labour in vain that build it. You will see in the title
that this psalm is a song of degrees for Solomon. Or as the margin says, a song
of degrees of Solomon. And it was Solomon, of course,
who was responsible in the first place for the building of the
house of the Lord, the building of the temple there at Jerusalem. It was his father, David, who
would have built that house. It was his desire, as we saw
in the portion that we read there in the sixth chapter of the second
book of Chronicles, the prayer that Solomon made on that awesome
occasion when the temple was dedicated. He says in verse 7,
it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for
the name of the Lord God of Israel. But the Lord said to David my
father for as much as it was in thine heart to build a house
for my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart notwithstanding
thou shalt not build the house but thy son which shall come
forth out of thy loins he shall build the house for my name and
we have something of that history of the occasion when David would
set to and build the house of the Lords And it was the prophet
Nathan who came to him and told him that this was not to be.
In 1 Chronicles chapter 17, initially the prophet says, Do
all that is in thine heart, for God is with thee. But then there at verse 3 it
came to pass the same night that the word of God came to Nathan,
saying, Go and tell David my servant. Thus saith the Lord,
Thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in. It was not to be
David, it was to be his son Solomon, as we see there again in verse
11. It shall come to pass, when thy
days be expired, that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that
I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons,
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build thee an house,
and I will establish his throne for ever. It was Solomon then
who was to be given this great honor and privilege of building
the house of the Lord. And how David accepts God's will,
he bows to God's sovereignty, to the words of the prophet,
and then we see how he seeks also to encourage his son in
1 Chronicles 28, take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee
to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it." It was
to be Solomon's work and so Solomon sets to and builds the house
of the Lord there in the third chapter of the second book of
Chronicles and in the opening verses of that chapter Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah,
where the Lord appeared unto David his father in the place
that David had prepared, in the threshing floor of Onan the Jebusite. And he began to build in the
second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign. And the work lasted over a lengthy
period. As we're told in 2nd Chronicles
chapter 6 and verse 38, so was he. Seven years building it. He was seven years in building
that great temple of the Lord. And as we saw in the portion
that we read, that sixth chapter of 2nd Chronicles, we have the
record of the prayer that he prays at the dedication of the
temple. That's of course a repetition
because the event is also recorded in the first book of Kings in
chapter 8. So there's this two-fold reference
to the prayer and the significance of that prayer that was made
that God whom the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot
contain should be pleased to come and to put his name in that
temple that was built by Solomon. In the words that I've read for
our text this morning, do we not see Solomon acknowledging
that it must be the Lord who is in all these things, otherwise
the whole exercise is futile, except the Lord's build the house,
they labor in vain that build it. First of all then, historically
we're to recognize the connection with the first building of the
Temple of the Lords, but this is one of the Sons of Degrees. In fact, there's a whole section,
of course, here in the Book of Psalms that bears this particular
title from Psalm 120 through to 134. They're all Sons of Degrees. and in that sense it's a particular
collection of psalms that we have in this part of the Psalter. They form a unit. If we look
at the previous psalm, the 126th psalm, we see there that there
is certainly some association with the return from exile after
they had been some 70 years in captivity in Babylon, the opening
part of Psalm 126, when the Lord turned again, the captivity of
Zion, we were like them that dream. Them was our mouth filled
with laughter, our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, the Lord
hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again,
our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south. Clearly there is a very specific
reference to that other great event when Jerusalem had been
despoiled, the armies of the Babylonians had come and laid
siege to the city, destroyed the city and razed the Temple
of Solomon to the ground and taken the people away into captivity. All in fulfillment with regards
to what God had spoken by His servant the Prophet Jeremiah,
God's judgment had fallen upon them because of their sins, because
of their gross idolatrous ways. But as Jeremiah says, there were
to be 70 years accomplished in those desolations and there would
be a return again. And so it was, of course, when
the Babylonians were overthrown by the Medes and Persians, and
we read of Cyrus issuing this decree that the Jews were to
be permitted to return to Jerusalem and there was to be a rebuilding
of the Temple of the Lord and a rebuilding of the city. And it is that event, the Restoration,
that is being celebrated in the 126th Psalm. When the Lord turned
the captivity of Zion We were like them that dream. And then, as I said, there was
to be this rebuilding. And so when we come to the 127th
psalm, except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain
that build it, we see a connection also, not only with Solomon's
initial work, but that work that was undertaken after the restoration
of the people. Now, during those years of captivity,
there was, of course, no temple worship. And remember how the
temple was to stand at the very center of the worship of the
children of Israel. The temple became a permanent
structure. It replaced the tabernacle, which
initially, when they came out of the wilderness wanderings
and entered into the promised land. The tabernacle was established
at Shiloh but then it was David who taking Jerusalem from the
Jebusites established his capital there and set up the tabernacle
in Jerusalem and it was because the tabernacle was simply a temporary
structure that David wanted to build a temple, a more permanent
structure there on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. It was always the
center of the worship of the children of Israel, either the
tabernacle at Shiloh or then at Jerusalem and then after Solomon,
that worship that was to be offered to God in the Temple of the Lord. And even In the books of Moses
we see how the males in Israel were required to go to that place
where God established his worship some three times in every year
for the great feasts. In Deuteronomy chapter 16 Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse
16, three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the
Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the Feast
of Unleavened Bread, that is the Passover, in the Feast of
Weeks, or Pentecost, and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before
the Lord empty, every man shall give as he is able according
to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee. So all the miles were to make
the journey wherever they dwelt in the promised land they were
to journey to the place which the Lord God himself had chosen
first at Shiloh and then at Jerusalem and they were to worship on those
great festal occasions and these songs of degrees or songs of
a sense because the word degrees literally means a sense It is
reckoned that these are the Psalms that they would be singing as
they made that journey from the various parts of the land as
they traveled up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, the songs
of degrees. And over those many years, those
70 years of exile, they had not been singing these songs. in association with the worship
of God in the place that he had chosen. The temple had laid there
in ruins. So what a glorious occasion it
must have been as they were restored, as they were able to return to
the land and again temple worship was established. in that 126th
Psalm, in the second verse, then was our mouths filled with laughter,
our tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord hath done great things for them, the Lord hath done
great things for us, whereof we are glad. Oh, they could sing
again, and yet, even at that time, their joy was mixed with
sorrows. And we see that. We see that
even at the rebuilding of the temple
in the days of Ezra. If you turn to the book of Ezra,
there in Ezra chapter 3, we have mention of the rebuilding
of the temple, Ezra chapter 3, and verse 11, in the second year
of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem in the second
month, began Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua
the son of Josedach, and the remnant of their brethren, the
priests, and the Levites, and all that were come out of the
captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites from twenty
years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the
Lord. And then as the work is progressing,
as they're rebuilding, we're told in verse 11, Now they sang
together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord,
because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with
a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation
of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests
and Levites and chief of the fathers who were ancient men
that had seen the first house, Solomon's Temple, when the foundation
of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud
voice. And many shouted aloud for joy. There were those who were weeping
because they remembered the glories that had belonged to Solomon's
Temple. And what was this temple in comparison
with that temple? Zechariah was one of those, of
course, who was God's prophet, ministering to those who had
returned from the exile, and there in the book of Zechariah
we have that reference to not despising the day of smorthing. in Zechariah 4 and verse 8. Moreover the word of the Lord
came unto me, says the prophet, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house. His hand shall also finish
it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the
day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven.
They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through
the whole earth. Who hath despised the day of
small things? They were those who were sorrowful.
Though there was great rejoicing, their mouths filled with laughter,
as it says there, in the previous 126th Psalm, yet there were some
who were sad at the sight, because surely this could not be compared
at all with the glories of that temple that had been destroyed. And then, in the words of our
text, except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that
built it. Well, we've sought to say something
with regards to the context of these things. We have to think
in terms of Solomon, this 127th Psalm, a song of degrees for
or of Solomon. There's certainly some association
with what he did as the one who was to build that first great
temple. And then also this association
with the restoration after the temple had been destroyed, and
they were to rebuild it in the days of Zerubbabel. But when we come to the Old Testament
Scriptures, surely our primary concern is to see what is the
spiritual significance of these things. And might we not say,
Behold a greater than Solomon is here. Solomon of course is
a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon is David's
son. Christ is David's greatest son. Solomon's name means peace and
the Lord Jesus Christ is him who is called the Prince of Peace. Solomon then is evident indisputably
a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then also we
take account of the fact that the Psalms are messianic. When we come to the Psalms, we
are to seek, are we not, to discover what they say in the prophetic
way concerning the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who said, search
the Scriptures. These are they that testify of
me." Now besides this 127th psalm we have another psalm that's
very much associated with King Solomon. I think in terms of
the 72nd psalm. Again there we see in the title
that it is a psalm for Solomon. And what do we read? in Psalm
72 and verse 7, in his days, that's in Solomon's days, shall
the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon
endureth. He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea and from the river onto the ends of the earth. And
we're familiar, are we not, with the paraphrase of that Psalm
by Isaac Watts in which he brings out the Christian significance
of those words, Jesus shall reign, where'er the sun doth his successive
journeys run, his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moon
shall wax and wane no more. Psalm 72 is speaking of the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that kingdom which is not of this
world, that spiritual kingdom that extends to all nations and
all peoples. that all company of the election
of Christ, who are to be brought unto the Lord, who are to experience
that great salvation. Jesus shall reign. Now, in this
day of Christ, the Lord Jesus is that one who does indeed reign. Well, coming then to these words
that we've announced as our text, the beginning of the 127th Psalm,
let us consider what they tell us concerning Christ and his
kingdom. Except the Lord build the house,
they labour in vain that build it. And the very simple truth
that we see here, of course, is the truth that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the one who builds his church. He says in the Gospel
when Peter makes his great confession at Caesarea Philippi upon this
rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Now what is the rock upon which
the Lord is building his church? It's not what the papist would
say when they speak in terms of Peter as the foundation of
the church. It's not Peter. It's Peter's
confession that is so significant there. What did Peter say? The
Lord had asked, whom do men say that I am? and his disciples
had told him the various things that were being said, and then
the Lord asks them directly, whom say ye that I am? And it
was Peter who made that great confession, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Here is the foundation. Another
foundation, can no man lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11
really gives the key to our understanding, our interpretation of what the
Lord is saying back in Matthew 16. Here is the foundation. No other foundation can be like
it except Jesus Christ. And how important then is that
confession that Simon Peter made? How hard is the Christ? the Son
of the Living God. And it was not something that
he had simply deduced himself, it was that that had been clearly
revealed to him, flesh and blood, hath not revealed it unto thee,
says the Lord, but my Father which is in heaven. All the importance
of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we
not see the work that he came to do when he is referred to
there as the Christ? Thou art the Christ. The promised
Messiah. The one who has come to establish
his kingdom. The one who has come to redeem
his people. But who is this one who is the
promised one, the anointed one? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. Not only the great work that
the Father has given Him to do in the eternal covenant, but
also His own person. He is the eternal Son of God,
very God of very gods, begotten, not made, of one substance with
the Father. Here is the foundation then,
upon which the Lord Jesus Christ will build His Church. except
the Lords build the house, they labour in vain that build it."
And do we not therefore see the great significance of those words
of the Prophet Zechariah, that we've already referred to Zechariah
ministering there in the days after the restoration from Babylon,
and he speaks of the great work that Zerubbabel is to undertake. in that fourth chapter verse 9 remember the hands of
Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall
also finish it and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath
sent me unto you for who hath despised the day of small things
for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel with those seven They are the eyes of the Lord which
run to and through through the whole earth." He's not only speaking to those
of his own day, engaged in that great work, but it is a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have there in Zechariah. The one who is spoken of is a
rubber bull, of course, is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his name appears therefore in Christ's genealogy in the
very first chapter of the New Testament Scriptures. In Matthew
chapter 1 we have that genealogy and there amongst those who are
Christ's ancestors we read of of Zerubbabel. In verses 12 and 13 we find the
name Zerubbabel and in fact he is one of the principal antecedents
of the Lord Jesus Christ when we see how the generations are
counted. Verse 17, all the generations
from Abraham to David are 14 generations and from David until
the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations, and from
the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations. And this man is associated, this
man is probably associated with the period of the captivity.
And the generations are from Abraham to David, David to Babylon,
and then Babylon to Christ. He's one of Christ's principle
antecedents is this man Zerubbabel. But then also, is a Zerubbabel
a remarkable type, just as Solomon? Zerubbabel, the name literally
means a shoot out of Babylon. And so, we read of this shoot
or this branch in Zechariah 3 verse 8, My servant the branch. But that is a name that is given
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one who in Isaiah
chapter 11 is spoken of as a rod out of the stem of Jesse and
a branch out of his roots in the opening verses of that 11th
chapter in the book of Isaiah, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ
who is being spoken of. Now, the language is taken up,
of course, in the New Testament, in the book of the Revelation,
where, in chapter 22, Christ is spoken of as the root and
offspring of David. Jesse being David's father, There,
back in Isaiah 11, is a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
out of his roots. And in the New Testament, as
I say, in the book of the Revelation, right at the end of the New Testament
Scriptures, this is Christ, who is the root and offspring of
David. It's irrevocable. A shoot, or
a branch, out of Babylon. is the one who points us to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there again in Zechariah
chapter 6 and verse 12 we read, "...the branch shall grow up
out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord."
He shall build the temple of the Lord. It is the reference
to Christ who shall build his church. I will build my church, you see.
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." How significant
then is that that we read in the fourth chapter of Zechariah,
the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. The plummet in the hand of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that plumb line that is used in the course
of building to ensure that the walls are straight and vertical
as the work is undertaken, as the work is proceeding. It is a reference, is it not,
to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is that One who must accomplish
all this great work. It is Christ who builds His Church. We are reminded, are we not,
of the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ as He undertakes
the redemption of His people that work that the Father has
given Him to do in the eternal covenant and He will be about
His Father's business and He will accomplish all the Father's
goodwill and pleasure by His obedience unto death even the
death of the cross. Here he is laying the great foundation
then of that temple of the Lord. And of course there in Zechariah
chapter 4 we also read of those seven, the eyes of the Lord. And again we see from the New
Testament how that the reference there is to the Holy Spirit. This is the sort of imagery that's
again taken up in the book of the Revelation and there right
at the beginning of the Revelation when John sends the greetings
on to the seven churches John to the seven churches which are
in Asia he says grace be unto you and peace from him which
is and which was and which is to come and from the seven spirits
which are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and
the prince of the kings of the earth." It's a Trinitarian greeting,
of course, that John sends to those churches. He speaks of
the Father, which is and which was and which is to come. He
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first
begotten, of the dead, and he speaks of the Holy Spirit, but
he speaks in terms of the seven spirits. And then later, of course,
in the Revelation we have the seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God. And so, going back to those words
of the prophet in Zechariah chapter 4, the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel,
it says, with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord
which run to and through the whole earth. How does the Lord
Jesus Christ build his church? He has laid the foundation by
that great work that he accompanied. But he sends forth the Holy Spirit
there on the day of Pentecost. How Peter in the course of his
preaching makes mention of Christ as that one who is now exalted.
He has shed forth his which he now see and here it is the Spirit,
of course, who calls, effectually, the whole church, those for whom
Christ had shed his precious blood. For he is to save the
travail of his soul and his precious blood shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God is saved to sin no more. All the work is to be accomplished
and the whole company of the elect are to be brought in except
the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it. Christ says that he will build
his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But then also, in the course
of this building, what do we see the Lord doing? Well, he
measures. Does he not measure his people? The imagery that we have in Zechariah
is interesting. We have not only the rubber ball,
with the plummet in his hand, but we also read of a man with
a measuring line in his hand. In chapter 2, the Prophet says,
I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold, a man
with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest
thou? And he said unto me, To measure
Jerusalem. to see what is the breadth thereof
and what is the length thereof. The measuring line. We have something
similar in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 40, in verse
3, we read of a man with a measuring reed. Remember again that Ezekiel
is there ministering, of course, at the time of the exile, ministering
to those who are in captivity. It's a measuring line that we
read of in Zechariah. It's a measuring wreath that's
spoken of in Ezekiel. And again, how this imagery is
taken up, this is so often the case, is it not, when we come
to the New Testament, when we come to that last book of the
New Testament. The book of the Revelation is
full of so much of the imagery that we find in the Old Testament
Scriptures. And so we have the key there in the New Testament,
in the very final book, to so many of these things that are
written here in the Old Testament. In Revelation chapter 11 and
verse 1 John says, It was given me a reed like unto a rod, and
the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God,
and the altar, and them that worship therein. Now that everything
is to be measured, concerning God's worship there in the temple,
and is to be measured by this reed like unto a rod. Is it not a reference to the
Word of God that measures everything? That is to govern everything,
to govern every part of the worship of God. But we're thinking more
particularly in terms here of the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he is calling out his people, as he is building his
church. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain
that build it. Now we know that in the course
of his own ministry the Lord's preaching was ever a discriminating
and a separating ministry. He would measure the people as
it were. And now, as he measured them, there were those who were
offended at his ministry. Repeatedly in John's Gospel we
have that expression, there was a division among the people.
In chapter 7 and verse 43, there was a division among the people
because of him. Or as it is in chapter 10 and
verse 19, it's because of these sayings. There's a division because
of him, there's a division because of these sayings. The person
of Christ, and the words of Christ, they're an offence. Now the Lord
comes, you see, and He measures His people. He measures them
by His word, He measures with that measuring rod. how he tries
and tests them by his plummet. It has been observed that when
applied, the plummet shows nothing but crooks. When the Lord comes
and applies the plummet to the lives of those that he is dealing
with, what he's discovered, not straightness, but that that is
crooked and perverse. Oh, there is that ministry, you
see. whereby the Lord will show his people themselves and show
his people their sins. This is part and parcel of the
way whereby he will build his church. There is that ministry
of the Lord of God. What thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now the Lord
comes, you see, and he uses his instruments, the measuring rod,
the plummet, and he makes application, as it were, of his word, and
he shows us our true condition, and we don't measure up. This
is the Lord's way of working, is it not? Except the Lord build
the house they labour in vain, and rebuild it. But there's not
only that negative aspect. What does the Lord do? He also
saves His people. This is the great work that He
came to accomplish, is it not? He was made of a woman, He was
made under the law for them. He has stood in their law place,
He has honoured the law in their place, magnified it by His obedience,
and then made that great sacrifice whereby He has paid the penalty
for all their sins. And so he calls his people and
he plants them. He must do the work. It is the
Lord's work to build his church. And how vain in comparison is
that work of man. Except the Lord build the house
they labour in vain that build it. For how many think that they
can make themselves acceptable. that they can work so as they
imagine they will be presentable to God, not so. It must be the
Lord Himself who does all the work, from first to last, for
He is to have all that glory. He will build His church, He
will measure His people, He will save His people, He will call
them, He will bring them even to Himself. And that building
shall stand and stands for all time to His honour and to His
glory. Oh, isn't this our comfort? Even
in a day such as this, a day of small things. We are not to
despise a day of small things. Even in such a day, the Lord
is calling out to people, as many as He ever purposed from
all eternity to save in our day and generation, let us rest assured
He is saving. That doesn't mean that we become
complacent. That doesn't mean that we become
fatalistic, not at all. All we have to look to Him, we
have to plead with Him. As we sang in the magical psalm,
that the Lord would yet again favour Jerusalem. The time to revive her is come. Accept the Lord's Build the house,
thy labour in vain, that build it. The Lord bless his word to
us. Amen.