As the Lord may graciously help
me, I return your prayerful attention to Psalm 132. Psalm 132, verses
13 and 14. Psalm 132, verses 13 and 14. For the Lord hath
chosen Zion, he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest for ever, here
will I dwell, for I have desired it. Psalm 132, verses 13 and
14. The word Zion appears many, many
times in the Bible. I want to first of all start
by the first time that we read about Zion in the Bible. And
that is actually in 2 Samuel chapter 5. The second book of
Samuel chapter 5 is the first time we read about Zion. And it was when David had just
become king over Israel and he... He was to capture, he wanted
to go to Jerusalem. And if I just read it from 2
Samuel 5, verse six, we read, and the king, this is just after
he became king of the whole of Israel, and the king and his
men went to Jerusalem unto the inhabitants, unto the Jebusites. They were the ones that lived
in that area. The inhabitants of the land,
which spake unto David, saying, except thou take away the blind
and the lame, Thou shalt not come in hither, thinking David
cannot come in hither. And then the next verse says,
Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. The same
is the city of David. So this was the first time the
name Zion is mentioned, and it is a stronghold. So if you remember,
Joshua was commanded to invade the land and to drive
out the inhabitants and they did for the most part do that
but that is some 400 years ago before this time that Joshua
and then you've got all the times of the judges and so on around
400 years between this what we've just read in 2 Samuel 5 and Joshua
entering the land and conquering Jericho. So for 400 years this area of Jerusalem was inhabited
by the Jebusites. They were the part of the inhabitants
of the land. And they were never, up until
this time, they were never conquered. So in the midst of the land of
promise, the land that had been promised to Israel, promised
to God's people, in covenant just as we've read, Rahab, what
she said, I know that the Lord has given you this land. Well,
this was also the land. But for 400 years, that land
still, this particular stronghold in Jerusalem remained uncaptured. And when David became king, This
was one of the first things he did, was to go to Jerusalem.
And as we've read in that verse, in 2 Samuel 5, he was taunted
by the Jebusites. Perhaps it's not clear, I'll
read it again, but in 2 Samuel 5 it says, they said to David,
except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not
come in hither. They were basically saying that we can defend this
city, this stronghold with blind and lame people and you still
won't be able to take it. It was mocking David. It was
saying you cannot conquer us. We're a stronghold and we will
not bow to you as King David. We will stay living in Jerusalem,
living in this stronghold and we defy the King David. That is really what is being
said here. Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou
shalt not come in hither, thinking David cannot come in hither.
They thought it was impossible for David to penetrate this stronghold. It was a very mount, Zion is
a mount. But verse seven, you see, clears
the field. This taunt, this ridicule, this
mockery, that they used against David in verse 7 of chapter 5. Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion. That's the first time we read
the word Zion in the word of God. So there was this impossibility. For 400 years, it had remained
a stronghold of the enemy. It was an area where God and
his people were ridiculed. And yet, you see, nevertheless,
David took the stronghold of Zion. And perhaps in prayer we
say from time to time, and it's scriptural language, that God
would pull down the strongholds of Satan and build up the kingdom
of his dear son. And this is exactly what David
was doing here. David is the anointed king of
Israel, anointed by God, God's choice, a man after God's own
heart. He was going to be, he was the
king of Israel and portraying a greater king of Israel. And
his work, you see, was to, was to, first great task he had to
do was to take this stronghold. Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion. The same is the city of David. So that stronghold of rebellion
and hatred to God, defiance of Israel, that had existed now
for 400 years, those 400 years that Joshua had entered the Promised
Land, but for 400 years, the Jebusites had remained unshiftable. And yet, in that place, this
is what David did. Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion. See, for our text, you see, we
read, for the Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for
his habitation. But what was Zion? Zion was a
stronghold of the enemy. Zion was a place where God was
not honoured, and Israel was defied. And yet, you see, this
is what God has chosen. The Lord hath chosen Zion. He
hath desired it for his habitation. This is the gospel. This place
that was a stronghold of the enemy And you see here, there's
so much gospel meaning here. You see, by nature, we are strongholds
of Satan, living in defiance of God. We
will not have this man reign over us. You see that Zion was
a place where it was part of it. So this stronghold was a
place that was part of Israel and Israel had been given over
to the Israelites. It was no longer to be the land
of Canaan. It didn't belong to the Jebusites really God had
given it to Israel. It was rightly his it was not
theirs. And yet you see they continue.
They continued in this rebellion. And so it is, you see, we are walking in rebellion against
God by nature. And you see, this rebellion,
in this case, went on for years. And yet there was a purpose,
you see. The Lord hath chosen Zion. You might say, what a strange
choice. All the places. Israel to choose
to be Zion and yet then through the whole word of God Zion becomes
a symbol first of all as a place and then of a people the people
of God Zion and you see there's something here that shows us
what the the characteristic is of one of the one of the Lord's
people they're people that you see they've been conquered Zion
You see, we don't actually know what Zion was called before David
conquered it. It's never mentioned. We read
earlier of the city of Jabez, Jabez, as in the Jebusites, Jebusites. And it's never called Zion. And yet when David took it, we
read, nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion. Whether
he named it, or God named it through David, We don't know,
or whether it was called that and just the name was hidden
for us. Because the first time words are written in the Bible
has a significance. This was the first time Zion
would be mentioned. And the first time it was mentioned,
it was mentioned in a positive way. Instead of it being the
stronghold of Satan, you see, God gives his people a new name.
They become the people of God. And this is the whole imagery
in the Word of God. This is his great work of redemption,
is to do this, which is impossible with men, but is possible with
God. You see, what we've just been singing, glorious things
of thee are spoken, is taken from Psalm 87. 87 has those words,
glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion of thee, O city of God. And then it goes on to say, I
will make mention of Rahab and of Babylon, that's Egypt and
Babylon. and others and of Zion it shall be said this and that
man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her the
Lord shall count when he write it up his people that this and
that man were born there you see there's a new birth a new
birth and that is why you see Zion is precious to his people
he's purchased them he's redeemed them from the enemy This bastion
of the enemy, which was a stronghold, which laughed, you see, it laughed
at David. And you think of what happened
when our dear Lord and Saviour was seeking to conquer and to
redeem us. He had the enemy mocking at him. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. This man cannot, they felt that
they were impregnable, impossible to overcome. and they mocked,
they mocked. David was mocked. David, they
said, except they'll take away the blind and the lame. If we
had blind and lame people as fighting soldiers, you still
can't conquer us. Nevertheless, it's a wonderful
nevertheless, isn't it? Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion. He took it. he overcame the enemy
and we're told just how that happened if you compare it also
with with Chronicles and it says in verse 8 of 2 Samuel 5 and
David said on that day whosoever get it up up to the gutter and
smited the Jebusite he shall be the captain and the
gutter is it could be translated a channel or shaft and it seemed
that they entered they entered this stronghold, not through
the gates, not from the outside, but they came up underneath.
The water passage, the sewer, it seems that they came up through
that way, a very low way, a very humble way. And when we think
of how the Lord Jesus conquered this bastion of the enemy, it
was in a very humble way. It was in the preaching of the
gospel, which is foolishness to the Greek and a stumbling
block to the Jew. But it was this way that this
Zion was conquered. Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David. And it
was through Joab was that one that went up with his men through
this this water passage, this passageway, this narrow way,
and then slew the enemy. And so for the enemy it was a
time of judgment, but for the stronghold itself it was a time
of liberation, for the stronghold itself. And that's why I think
to start with we think of Zion as a place, because for the people
living in this stronghold it was death. They were killed.
And if we think of man's soul, our human soul, you see when
King David or Great David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ comes
in, it's the death blow for Satan and his hellish hosts. They're
routed. They've got to leave. They cannot
rain in this stronghold anymore. But God, the Lord, hath chosen
Zion. He hath desired it for his habitation. What wondrous grace, what mercy
that he should take. You see, think of it in the New
Testament. You think of one of the people,
one of the One of the impregnable castles, as it were, strongholds
of Satan in the New Testament. Which was it? In the early church. Surely it was Saul of Tarsus.
A bastion of the enemy. Seeking to destroy God's people. Seeking to hound them into prison
and to death. a tremendous enemy to the church. For the Lord hath chosen Zion,
hath desired it for his habitation. A gracious works, isn't it? And
how that was worked out in Saul of Tarsus' life. This is a chosen
vessel of mercy to show my name amongst the nations. This Saul
of Tarsus, yes, he was a bastion of the enemy, but now he's going
to be translated into the kingdom of my dear son. And you see here
then, this beautiful language, for the Lord hath chosen Zion. I hadn't really before recognised
The connotations here, that Zion was really a stronghold of the
enemy. And yet God takes that stronghold
of the enemy and desires to dwell there. What a gospel message. And what mercy, what grace and
truth for us who come to realize something that we are by nature
the children of wrath even as others, that there is this one
that is able to conquer, one able, when the enemies defy him
and say David won't be able to come up even if the soldiers
are blind and lame, they still won't be able to gain the victory.
Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. He took it. And this, you see,
is a great blessing for us. And then through the rest of
scripture, Zion becomes a symbol of the Lord's presence. But look
what happens next. Nevertheless, David took the
stronghold of Zion. The same is the city of David. So Zion, which was that stronghold,
we don't know whether it was actually called Zion before David
took it. It was not mentioned in the Bible.
It was not as the word Zion. But this place then that was
a stronghold of the Jebusites, a stronghold of resistance, a
stronghold of ridicule against God's people, against that rule. They defied this Israel and their
God. They were strong in their castle.
Is that not such a picture of us by nature? On two fronts, on two fronts. You see, if you look back at earlier in
Joshua, Joshua chapter two, this is Rahab
speaking to the men of Israel. And she said this, Joshua 2 verse
9, and she said unto the men, these were the two spies, I know
that the Lord had given you the land and that your terror is
fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint
because of you. Rahab recognized the truth that
they were destined for destruction. She recognised that. A lot of
them didn't, but she did. I know that God has given you
that. That included the Jebusites in the stronghold. And yet for
400 years, they continued to maintain their hold. They continued
to walk in defiance against this God. Though their king was taken,
we read that when the Gibeonites made friends by trickery with
Joshua, the king of Jerusalem, we read, which would have been
one of the Jebusites, came and fought Israel and was destroyed. And that's the time when there
was a hailstone that came down and killed more people than the
Israelites themselves. And also the sun stood still
in the sky so that there was a completely unusually long day. so that Joshua could prevail.
All these great signs that God was with Israel and God was fighting
on their behalf. But you see, the king of Jerusalem
was killed, but the Jebusites, although they'd lost their king,
they continued to maintain this hold. They continued to maintain
this stronghold of defence and defiance. And of course, you
see, by nature, you see, we're under the curse. The soul that
sinneth, it shall die. There is an edict that man is appointed under death,
that there is to be this judgment day, that sin must be punished.
And you see, there is that one edict. And yet these people living
in this stronghold were defiant of that. No, no, we haven't got
this edict. We're not going to take any notice
of that. And indeed, we're going to ridicule, we're going to ridicule
David and we're going to ridicule Israel. But you see, ultimately,
King David prevailed. The God-appointed King of Israel
prevailed. And so though these men mocked
at him and ridiculed him, yet we read, nevertheless, David
took the stronghold. And David took it despite all
the impossibilities. And you see, this is a picture
of what Christ accomplished. He took, he gained the victory.
He overcame the strongman and bound him. And so that he could
spoil his goods. and so that there would be a
completely changed use of this stronghold. This stronghold which
was a bastion of wickedness, a bastion of rebellion, now becomes
the very city of David, the very centre point, the very most important
point in David's kingdom. You see there's spiritual lessons
here. You see our text says this, doesn't it? It says, for the
Lord hath chosen Zion. He hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it. You see, this is God's thoughts.
You see, the enemy said, you're never going to come in. The enemy
were fierce and the enemy were ridiculing and of course, as
I said, by nature we're under the curse and people don't always
realise that. But also we, not just under the
curse, we also walk in rebellion, in hatred. It was so on those
two dying thieves, wasn't it? We read they both mocked the
saviour. Both of them cast the same into
his teeth. The two thieves crucified either
side of Jesus. They ridiculed him. And yet,
from that bastion of ridicule and hatred, in such a solemn
place with only hours left to live, nevertheless, David took
the stronghold. You see, Christ conquered that
hard heart that was in rebellion, in mockery, and showed him, does
thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation,
and we indeed justly? For we receive the due reward
of our sins, but this man hath done nothing amiss. You see,
there was a, nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion. This stronghold that was against,
he threw out all Satan and his hellish hosts and this man then
had a new mind. He had a new birth. This and
that man was born in Zion. Born in this place which was
a bastion of unrighteousness and unholiness. And so you see, that is why I
believe it becomes a symbol of the church. the Church of God,
which were once lost and ruined in the fall. Once they were the
true enemies of God. And yet, all because of this
tremendous truth, the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it
for his habitation. You see, God desired to be in
Zion. He desired it. And David, God's
appointed king, took Zion, and it became his. And he made it
the very center of his kingdom. And then what do we read in the
next chapter of 2 Samuel? 2 Samuel chapter six, we read
that that was the very place where the ark of God was gonna
be taken. 2 Samuel chapter 6 we have the
look at verse 16 of 2 Samuel chapter 6 this is this is the
stronghold of the enemy Yes, the idea is that it's the innermost
safe place. You think of, if we can think
of it in our English way of thinking, if you think of Windsor Castle,
you have a whole big area that's all part of Windsor Castle, but
you have the centre turret, the round turret at the centre. That's
the most safe place of the whole castle. The innermost place. And they thought they were impregnable
there. that they couldn't be defeated. But you see, nevertheless,
David took the stronghold of Zion, and he made it the city of David. And he then
desired that the ark would come and be there. And you see, we
have this whole desire that David had. And so in 2 Samuel 6, verse
16, as the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David. It came
into this bastion, this stronghold of resistance, of hatred. This is the very place where
the Ark of God was to come. What a place. Full of grace and truth. You see here, this is a wonderful
gospel. This is a gospel for sinners.
This is where God delights to be. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance, for the Lord hath chosen Zion. Zion
was not a godly place. Zion was not a place that was
for God. No, it wasn't. It had been for
400 years an enemy. And yet, for the Lord hath chosen
Zion. You see, we read in the New Testament,
when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While we were yet
in rebellion, while we were those Jebusites throwing out taunts
at Israel and Israel's new king, David, you can't come in here.
Even if we defend it with blind and lame people, you still won't
be able to overcome us. Yet, David, nevertheless, David
took the stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David.
He took it. He conquered. He built his throne
there. It became the city of David and
he brought the ark there. You see, so it became the very
centre place of the worship of God. And you see that's a picture
of what God does in the hearts of his people. People lost and
ruined in the fall, people who were either on the religious
side or the irreligious side. You think of Saul of Tarsus.
He was religious, all right. He knew his Bible very well.
He was a very religious person. But he still lived in a stronghold
of Satan. He still was an enemy of the
living God. Well, then you've got the dying
thief, who clearly probably was on the dirty side of the road,
as it were. He was one of the villains. And yet he obtained mercy too. For the Lord hath chosen Zion. What an amazing fact. Amazing
fact that God should choose Zion. Of all the places in Canaan that
he could have chosen, he chose Zion. And God's appointed king,
you see, David, was that one that was going to conquer that
stronghold. And make it the center place
of his kingdom, and make it a place where worship would flow. The
very worship of God, that God's presence would be there. The
ark symbolized God's presence. For the Lord hath chosen Zion,
he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. You
see, here there's an everlasting nature to this Zion. You can
contrast Zion with another city, and that's Babylon. The city
of Babylon, you see, the whole spirit of Babylon, let us make
us a name. Babel and Babylon, they're the
same original word in the Hebrew. Let us make up us a name. the
Tower of Babel and the seeking to, the pride of man. But you
see here, in this city of Zion, where then is boasting? This
is a place where, what had that stronghold to boast
of? You think about it, what had
it to boast of? All it could do was hang its head in shame
to say we have been the enemies of Israel. We're then his boasting, we've
been the enemies. We've been the enemy of Israel
all these 400 years. But now God in his grace and
mercy has delivered us from the rule of Satan and translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. You see, they're
to come with humility. And they're to come with a true
desire to glorify God. So God has put his ark there. You see another psalm that picks
up this beautiful language. It's Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed. Oh, they were taking counsel
against David. They were ridiculing and mocking
him. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. We won't be ruled by David. We won't be ruled by David's
kingdom. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. Lord shall have them in derision. Here there's
the majesty of a king. And as we read, but David took
the strongholds of Zion. He took it with all the impossibilities
that lay with there. But then we read in Psalm 2,
then spake he unto them in his wrath and vexed them in his sore
displeasure. And how the stronghold of Zion
was vexed, yet This is verse 6, Psalm 2 verse 6, Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. That's what God's did. You see, they were laughing,
they were mocking. They were trusting in their own
strength, they were trusting in the strength of this stronghold,
that they would be able to maintain their defiance of David and Israel
and the whole of God's idea of taking over the promised land.
No, we can continue in our resistance to this. Yet, have I set my king
upon my holy hill of Zarah. This is what God has done. Man,
you see, he says what he's going to do. But God has put his king. Yes, of course, you see, there's
such symbolicness here. David became and took the kingdom. It became the city of David.
But David was but a shadow, a typology, a foreshadowing of a greater
than David. David, though he was a godly
man, he was not. It was great David's greatest
son that would be the Lord's anointed, the truly anointed
one with the spirit without measure, the one that would be the son
of God. He would be that one that would be set upon what the
father says, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. This is what God has done. Oh
man, the heathen are raging and the people are imagining a vain
thing. A vain thing is a deceit. It's empty, it's not real, it's
not substantial. They've been doing all this,
the vain thing, the Jebusites. We've got a stronghold. We've
got security. We can ridicule Israel. We can ridicule Israel's God.
We've got a stronghold. And what a stronghold the scribes
and the Pharisees had when they were jeering Christ on the cross. Oh, they were in a strong position,
weren't they? They could laugh at him then.
They could mock at him then. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. Oh, they could mock all they
wanted, but ultimately, he that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Yet have I set my
King upon my holy hill of Zion. You see, here we see man's rage,
a man's pride, a man's rebellion. and God's sovereign, eternal,
loving kindness. For the Lord has chosen Zion.
He's chosen it, and this is true, you see, in the Old Testament,
in the imagery that I've tried to bring out, but this is true
today. He's chosen his people. He's
people that realise their own shortcomings, they realise their
own rebellion, they realise that they are far off from God. What
does Saul of Tarsus say? That of whom I am chief, the
chief sinners. This is a saying worthy of all
acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Of whom I am chief. Wouldn't the stronghold of Zion
be able to say that? The very chief, the very chief
of resistance in Canaan against the rule and command of David
and his God-given command. And yet the Lord has chosen Zion.
He has desired it for his habitation. This king is going to change
the heart this king is going to change the whole attitude
of this stronghold. That instead of it being a stronghold
against the king, it's going to be a stronghold that loves
the king and labours for the king. And this was so in Saul
of Tarsus, wasn't it? Yet I laboured more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God in me. Paul
laboured, you see, he became a bastion of godliness, of love
to God, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.
Being made conformable to his death, he became a place of worship. For the Lord has chosen Zion.
He had desired it, his habitation. If he didn't desire it, Zion,
or the stronghold, shall we say, whatever it was called before
David conquered it, it would have continued in rebellion until
it would have been overcome. But you see here, it became taken over by David, it became
built up, built up by David, built up to be a glorious kingdom,
built up to be a place where God is worshipped. The very ark
of God was going to come into this city of David. There was
going to be a place where God's presence was. And you see that's
true of the hearts of God's people. Once a bastion of evil, and now
translated into the kingdom of his dear son. So that they're
now hungering and thirsting after righteousness. But they were
far off from God. See, Paul says it, amongst whom
we all had our conversation in time past, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. We were all in this stronghold
in Jerusalem. I won't call it a stronghold
of Zion. A stronghold of Jerusalem. in rebellion against God, until
you see the King comes, the Lord Jesus, and he sends through those
hidden means. He didn't confront it as it were
on the outside, they went in the inside. He touched the heart. He changed the will. And the
whole of this stronghold in rebellion against
God is translated. They're no longer in rebellion,
but they become won over to the Lord Jesus Christ. This happened
to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road. It might happen quickly, it might
happen slowly. It doesn't matter how quickly
it happens. But it needs to happen. It needs to happen. We need to
be translated from being, by nature, children of wrath, even
as others, to being translated into the kingdom of God's dear
son. For the Lord has chosen Zion. What a wonder. The electing love
of God. Oh, would that, would those Jebusites,
would that stronghold ever have wanted to give over to this
king, David, never, never, never. For the Lord hath chosen Zion. That's why they changed. God
chose them. He drew them. He slew the strong
man that was the Jebusites in rebellion and they were cast
out, you see. But if you think of the Jebusites, for them it
was just judgment and death. But for the stronghold itself,
it was liberation, wasn't it? And so we see through the word
of God, Zion is both a place and a people. See, ultimately,
we don't live in Zion, do we? We don't live in Israel. Zion
has become the city of the living God. And he lives in his people. His ark comes and rests there.
He dwells with them. He feeds them. This is my rest
forever. You see, there is no rest saith
my God to the wicked. The Babylon's of this world are
destroyed. We just contrast that with the
words that we have in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 14, we have those
solemn words pronounced against against Babylon really, but really
they also can be taken as against Satan himself. Isaiah 14 verse
12, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exhort my throne
above the stars of God, the spirit of the stronghold in Jerusalem. I will sit also upon the mountain
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High."
This is the spirit of Antichrist, the spirit of Babylon, and the
spirit of Babel, and the spirit of Satan, a spirit of pride. And we read in the chapter before
that, in chapter 13 of Isaiah, chapter 20, it says, it shall
never be inhabited. Babylon shall fall and be never
inhabited. That's your contrast. But what
do we read in our text? The Lord has chosen Zion. He
has desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever. There's an everlasting dimension
to this kingdom. the world with all its pomp and
glory, the Babylons of this world, with their greatness, with their
self-promotion, with their, I will be like the most high, the me
mentality. This is my rest forever. Here
will I dwell, for I have desired it. And you see, as God desires
these things, The Lord's people, the bastions of rebellion are
translated into those that hunger and thirst after righteousness. May we be amongst those who know
something of the preciousness for the Lord hath chosen Zion. For he hath desired it for his
habitation Could ever God dwell here? This is my rest forever. Here will I dwell. For I have
desired it. May the Lord have his blessing.
Amen.