I sat with keyboard ready and Psalm 84 opened before me and had to pull my hands off the keyboard 3-4 times while reading this to digest and revel in its beauty.
David has some inspirational affirmations of who God is, of the cry of his heart for God and of God’s wonder and provision, but right here in Psalm 84, the Sons of Korah sing. And they sing good.
Most of you will have sung a song based on Psalm 84. It’s hard not to start singing as you’re reading this declaration of praise and the desperate heart of worship that informs it.
As I read though, it was something new that I think the Holy Spirit was testifying to me. That dwelling place, that temple that the Sons are on about is, through the good news of Jesus, Him and US!
The Jewish worshippers of the Old Testament worshipped God in His Holy Temple; the place his glory dwelt. The ark of the covenant was where his glory resided and that lived in the temple. To get close to God, you needed to get close to the Temple and, better still, get in there. In fact, better was one day in the courts of that temple than a thousand elsewhere.
Jesus came and inaugurated a new covenant in his blood. When he declared of himself, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here,” (Matthew 12:6) and when he told a Samaritan woman that he can give her “living water” (John 4:10-14), we are given a major clue that the authors of the New Testament have reinterpreted the pre-messianic understanding of God’s temple in the light of the coming of Jesus, Israel’s Messiah.
Jesus is the new temple. He is the head of the body and the head of his church of which we are members. Ephesians 2:19 tells us that ‘we are no longer foreigners but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…in Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord’
And now I read Psalm 84 in an entirely different light. For it’s still truth, but its truth is revealed in its fullness through the person of Jesus.
What do I read now?
How lovely is the body of Christ…and what a privilege it is to be a part of this body. Everyone finds a home in the community of Jesus. Blessed are those who find their home in the body of Christ…they’ll be praising Jesus forever for the good news of hope, redemption and salvation has come through Him. Our strength will be renewed and reinforced through Jesus’ work in and through the body and our humble submission to Him. The community of Jesus is a place of honour and glory for it rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
That’s the kind of community that’s irresistible.
– Simon Elliott