Well, let us turn to the book
of Psalms. I want to turn to Psalm 46. Psalm 46 was, of course, a great
favorite of Martin Luther's. And his hymn, Ein Festerberg,
is really based on the content of this psalm. and we're told
how often times he would turn to his friend Philip Melanchthon,
when Melanchthon was in the dumps, and say, come Philip, let us
sing Psalm 46. I want to read the whole of the
psalm, Psalm 46, the title to the chief musician for the Sons
of Korah, sung upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof?
Selah. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that
writes early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works
of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He
maketh war to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh
the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot
in the fire. Be still, and know that I am
God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. The theme that I really want
to address this evening from this particular psalm is found
in verse 4. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make loud the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. Here then in Psalm 46 and verse
4, to say something with regards to the river, that is the theme,
the river of God, that is spoken of in this particular verse the
streams whereof shall make glad it says the city of god the holy
place of the tabernacles of the most high it's that same river
that we were reading of there in the opening verses of ezekiel
chapter 47 but looking at this particular psalm and of course
the city being spoken of the city of god is Jerusalem, and
in a very literal sense, it was necessary that there should be
a supply of water there in the city. In fact, we're told, aren't
we, concerning the reign of that good king Ezekiel, recorded in
2 Kings chapter 20 and verse 20, some of the acts of the man
A gracious man, a man that feared God, it says of the act of Hezekiah
that he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city. And then on another occasion
when the city was under siege by the Assyrians, we're told
in 2 Chronicles 32, at verses 2, 3, and 4, how he arranged
to stop all the fountains around the city of Jerusalem that the
Assyrians should not have access to the waters. How vital. Necessary, of course, was a water
supply for the city. And we see it in the actions
of that godly man. But when we read here in the
Psalms of the City of God, or Jerusalem, or Mount Zion, and
the Tabernacle, and the Temple, we know that all of these expressions
really are to be understood in terms ultimately of the Church. All these things are types of
that New Testament Church of which the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Head, And the imagery is taken up,
as I'm sure you're aware, when we come to the very last book
of Scripture in Revelation. There in Revelation 21 and verse
2, we read, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. And he is describing, of course,
that glorified church complete in all its parts. But in the
Old Testament we see this principle time and again how the Lord God
delights in His Church, delights in His people, delights in Zion. The language of another Psalm,
Psalm 132, 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. Oh, it is God's special dwelling
place. I am the Lord Jesus Christ. He's that one, of course, who
is there in the midst of his church. Glorious things are spoken
of thee, O city of God. And so we come to consider for
a little while before we turn again to prayer what is said
here concerning the river of God. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. And dividing the subject matter
into two very basic points, first of all to say something with
regards to the river, and then in the second place to say something
with regards to the streams. The streams whereof make glad
the city of God. But first, the river. And the river is set before us
really in terms of God himself. Ralph Erskine, the well-known
minister in Scotland back in the 18th century declares that
the river represents God himself. And as the river is there to
make glad by and through the streams that come from it, so
in the psalm we see how that God is the one who is very much
in the midst of Jerusalem. In verse 5, God is in the midst
of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that
writes early. And then we have that repeated
phrase in verse 7 and again in verse 11. The Lord of Hosts is
with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. The Lord of
Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah. And God's presence here in the
psalm is represented, as I said, agreeing with what Erskine says
concerning the river, it is a representation of God himself. And it's interesting,
because when we come to examine the Word of God, when we take
account of what we might term the analogy of faith, using that
expression that the old writers so often used, in other words,
taking account of the general teaching the general context
of the Word of God, we see how time and again the persons in
the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are set
before us in this figure of waters. We see it concerning the Father,
God the Father. those familiar words of Jeremiah
2.13, My people, he says, hath committed two evils. They have
forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and knew to themselves
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. The Lord God, the Father, is
that One who is the fountain of living water. But that is
also, in a sense, true with regards to God the Son. Those words that
we have at the beginning of Zechariah 13. In that day there shall be
a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. And isn't that referring
us really to Him who is the only Saviour of sinners? For there
are wells of salvation, spoken of here in the Word of God, the
language of Isaiah. Behold, God is my salvation,
says the prophet. I will trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also is become
my salvation. Therefore, therefore, he says, I will draw water from the wells
of salvation. He speaks of wells of salvation. There's salvation, of course,
in the Son, but there's also salvation in God the Father. With joy, ye shall draw water
from the wells of salvation. And then the words of the Lord
Jesus himself in the course of his ministry as he preaches there
on the record, is left for us in the Gospels, whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, for the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing
up unto everlasting life. The Father is represented to
us by waters to refresh, so too the Son, those waters that cleanse
the sinner from all the filth of his sins. But then also there
is God the Holy Spirit, and we know the Lord Jesus Christ himself
refers to him in terms of those waters. In the seventh chapter
of John, We find the Lord Jesus here in Jerusalem at the temple
and it's the Feast of Tabernacles and there's a great concourse
of people gathered together and he begins to speak to them concerning
the coming of the Spirit. He that believeth on me, says
Christ, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. And then John in the following
verse says, But this spake of the Spirit, which they that believe
on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given,
because of Jesus was not yet glorified. It's true on the day
of Pentecost the Spirit is represented by those tongues of fire that
sit upon the heads of the apostles of the Lord Jesus as they gather
together in Jerusalem, but It's not only fire that represents
the ministry of the Spirit, but here also Christ speaks of him
in terms of rivers, rivers of living water. And so we have
that representation of God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost in terms of
the river. There is a river. And what is
that river? that is there in the midst of
Jerusalem. That river that we're to expect
and anticipate even as we come together as a local church. It's
the Lord God who comes to make His special and refreshing presence
known in the midst of His people. We have it, of course, in the
hymn 996. This river is His heavenly love. proceeding from the throne above,
and all its streams, which here are found, with comfort, joy,
and peace abound." Hymn 996, which we will sing at the end
of our service tonight. So, the river. There is a river. It is God that
is the river. But then, In the remainder of
the verse we read these words, the streams whereof, the streams
or the little rivulets that flow from this great river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. So here we have the city of God
We have the tabernacles, we have all of that language that is
so figurative, that represents to us the Church, and there are
streams that flow throughout the Church of God. What are the
streams? Well, the streams, surely, this
is the outworking of God's great purpose. The outworking of God's
purpose of grace. It's that salvation that is spoken of here
in the Gospel. We have to think of the streams
in terms, really, of the whole economy of grace, the unfolding,
as it were, of God's eternal decree. And, strangely, it sits
before us the work of each of the three persons in the Godhead
because when God comes to accomplish his great purpose amongst his
people we see how that all the three persons Father, Son and
Holy Ghost are involved in the unfolding of that that was decreed
before time ever was that great Scottish divine John
Duncan, Rabbi Duncan as he was affectionately called because
of his great Hebrew learning and also his great love, his
great concern for the Lord's ancient people. He was one that
was involved of course in missionary work at one time amongst the
Jews and then later in life a professor in the Free Church College there
in Edinburgh. Rabbi Duncan would say that salvation
is built on distinctions in the Trinity. The streams whereof
shall make glad the city of God. There's the work of the Father.
There's the work of the Son. There's the work of the Holy
Spirit. What of these streams? Well,
we think of the Father, of course, in terms of his eternal purpose,
his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself. There is
the source, there is the fountain from when salvation springs,
that purpose that God purposed in himself from all eternity. All we're told, aren't we, there
is a river, The streams whereof make glad the city of God. And then the words that follow
really in verses, well the previous verses I should say really, what
we have in the opening verses of the chapter. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea? Though the waters thereof roar
and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof?
Selah. And then we come to the words
of the text, there is a river. And the streams that flow from
that river, There's a contrast, clearly, in what we have here. The contrast between what we've
just read in those three verses that open the psalm, and then
what is declared in the fourth verse, the words of our text.
And waters in the opening verses speak to us of the roarings,
the ragings, of the ungodly. It's interesting because when
we come to the book of the Revelation, there in Revelation 17 and verse
5, John is told quite specifically that the waters are peoples,
multitudes, nations, and tongues. And isn't that what we have here
in the psalm? The imagery, as you know, that's
there in the The last book of scripture, so much of the imagery
is rooted in what we have in the Old Testament. And here is
God's church, not to be afraid. Though the earth be removed,
and the mountains being carried into the midst of the sea, the
waters roaring in trouble, Or the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The language that we have there
at the end of Isaiah 57. All the wicked purposes of men. All the devices that are in the
hearts of men setting themselves against the people of God. Remember
the language of the wise man in Proverbs. There are many devices,
he said, in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. Oh, there are all these ragings,
but there is a river, this placid river, which is God himself,
the streams of the river that make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her. Oh, isn't
there a reference here, you see, to to God who will always fulfill
what He has purposed, and He has purposed that from all eternity,
and we're exhorted at the end of the psalm to behold these
things. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations
He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease. Unto
the end of the earth He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear
in sunder. He burneth a chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God. I will
be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
Here is our comfort, the sovereignty of God, the certainty of the
purpose of God. He will fulfill all His goodwill
and pleasure. As we read there in the 115th
Psalm at verse 3, our God is in the heavens. He hath done
whatsoever He will. Here then is the first stream,
as it were, that brings comfort and gladness to the people of
God. And that is the Father's eternal
purpose. And that purpose, of course,
centers really in His Son and what Christ will accomplish
in the fullness of time. Oh, there is such a glorious
fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ? And are we not directed to Him
also, we read, of the waters that proceed from the temple? We read it there, of course,
in that passage in Ezekiel 47, that remarkable portion, really,
and what's recorded there in the opening verses. the waters
that issue forth from beside the altar. And initially the
waters reach to the ankles, and then to the knees, and then to
the loins, and then all of a sudden it's a great river. The river says the prophet to
swim in. But some of the language that's
used with regards to what happens wherever the waters go, there at verse 9 in that 47th
chapter. It shall come to pass that everything
that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live.
And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these
waters shall come thither, for they shall be healed, and everything
shall live whither the river cometh. Oh, what a remarkable
scene is set before us here. And when we think of the words
of the Lord Jesus to his own disciples, how he will make them
to be fishers of men. And here we have a river that's
full of a great multitude of fish. There are those, you see,
that are yet to be saved. As we see in the following 10th
verse, it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand
upon it from Engidae even unto Eniglaum. They shall be a place
to spread forth nets. Their fish shall be according
to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea exceeding men. The imagery is that of the Gospel
and the success of the Gospel. And this of course the effect
of the blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but not only that
that brings life in the sense of all the fishes but also what
is upon the banks of the river there in verse 12 of that 47th
chapter and by the river upon the bank thereof on this side
and on that side shall grow all trees for meat whose leaves shall
not fade neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed it shall
bring forth new fruit according to his months because their waters
they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be
for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." And I'm sure you
will recall how that figure is taken up again right at the end
of the Scriptures, there in the opening verses of Revelation
22. John says, he showed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of
the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree
of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded a fruit
every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. Are we not then being directed
also here to the Lord Jesus Christ himself? He is one of these streams. It's
interesting, there is a river, the singular, but then the streams,
the plural. There's not just the purpose
of the Father being worked out in the whole economy of grace,
but there's the blessed work of God the Son, the one who comes
in the fullness of the time. For we please the Father, that
in Him should all fullness dwell. In Him, we are told, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. And then John tells us, doesn't
he, of His fullness, of all we received and grace for grace,
the streams that make glad the city of God, the holy place of
the tabernacles of the Most High. But it's the three persons of
the Godhead. It's the Father, it's the Son,
and it's the Holy Ghost. And as we have here, as it were,
the purpose of God the Father, and that that was procured and
purchased by God the Son, and all that fullness of grace that
is laid up in Christ. So we're also directed to the
blessed workings and operations of the Holy Spirit. Christ says,
Verily, verily, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. How are we saved? We're saved by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's how
we're saved. It is the Spirit's work to make
known the things of Christ, to bear testimony to Him. And he
works, of course, he works mightily, effectually in the new birth. That work of the Spirit in the
new birth is clearly likened to the circuits of the wind there
in John chapter 3. The wind blowing where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it
cometh, nor whither it goeth. The sovereignty of the Spirit
in the work of regeneration But there's also that association
with water. A man is born of water and of
the Spirit. There's the washing of regeneration,
as well as the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And furthermore, it's the Holy
Spirit, of course, who inspired the Holy Scriptures, and how
the Scriptures are made use of, really. when he comes to that
blessed work of regeneration. Remember the language that we
have at the end of the opening chapter in that first epistle
of Peter. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever and ever. for all flesh is as grass and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass the grass withereth
and the flower thereof falleth away but the word of the Lord
endureth forever and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you from whence has come that word that is to
be preached it's the preaching of that holy scripture of which
the spirit himself is the inspirer and that word that always bears
testimony to the Lord Jesus. Now born again, it says, not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God. And there
it is, the Word Logos, the same word as we have in the opening
verses of John's Gospel. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But then, it's
not the same word that we have at the end of verse 25. This
is the Word. The reference here is not to
Logos, but to the word preached, the word of truth in the Gospel.
This is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. And so we see how that the streams
speak to us of Father, of Son, and of Holy Ghost in the outworking,
the outworking of that great salvation purposed by the Father, and then in time accomplished, purchased by God
the Son, and then in our experience supplied by the blessed work
of the Holy Spirit. Oh, it's the Trinity, to comprehend
the Great Three One, more than our highest angels can or what
the Trinity has done. from death and how to rescue
man. But all true Christians, this
may boast a truth from nature, never learn that Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, to save our souls, are all concerned. There is a
river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the
holy places of the tabernacles of the Most High, or the river
of God. and that river as it comes and
flows even into our very souls. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word. We're going to sing the hymn
932 which speaks of the streams which
make glad the city of God, the scripture that the head of the
hymn. 932. The tune is Triumph 691. See from Zion's sacred mountain
streams of living water flow. God has opened there a fountain
that supplies the plains below. They are blessed who with sovereign
virtues know. 932 and the tune 691. See from Zion's sacred mountain
Streams of living water flow God has opened there They are blessed. Through ten thousand channels
flowing Strength of mercy find their way Life and health and
joy bestowing Making all around okay O hear, O hear, O hear, O hear,
O hear, Gladdened by the flowing treasure,
all-enriching as it goes, over desert smiles with pleasure,
odds and awesomes, Seek for joy where it befalls. Trees of life, the banks adorned,
Yield their fruit to all around. Those who eat are safe from mourning,
Pleasure comes and hope is found. Well, the Lord help us now in
prayer.