And So We Ascend

“A Song of Ascents.

Those who trust in the LORD
Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.
As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the LORD surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever.

For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,
So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.

Do good, O LORD, to those who are good
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
The LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.

Peace be upon Israel” (Psalm 125).

As the pilgrims ascend to Jerusalem, drawing near to the LORD for feasting, the climb up the hills draws them toward this great truth. The city and temple exist as an illustration to what is real in the life of the believer: God keeps you firm who trust in Him alone.

When the wicked rule over us, we are tempted to wrong. But with King Jesus ruling over us, we are Spirit-filled to do the Father’s purposed works. We are good and upright in heart only by the good and upright One Who indwells us, we who are His eternal Temple.

A focus on the mountains, the city, and the temple must be a focus on the believing people who live and move to communion with their God the Lord. Peace be upon them. Not merely a peace that is an absence of war, but a completion, a wholeness, a fullness that is theirs in Christ…a satisfaction that comes only by being in that space-less space, that spiritual and heavenly reality that we taste here, that fellowship with our God.

Every day we ascend to new Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem, drawing near to the LORD for feasting. As we climb, we look up and long for that City which is untouchable by the troubles of the earth-bound, unchanged by cancerous Time. We look to that which is eternal and unshakeable, that which is in us by the indwelling Spirit Whose realm that is.

And so we ascend, Home soon.