"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together; Where the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, for a testimony unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you. Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good." (Psalm 122:1-9)
One great mistake that many make in reading the Scriptures is that of supposing that the writers of the Bible were as ignorant of Divine things as are the majority of people in these days.
People do not put it in just that way, but that is what they think, nevertheless. They do not seem to think that the patriarchs and prophets saw anything above or beyond their immediate surroundings, and what their eyes could see. And that is why so few learn what they ought to from the Bible.
They do not realize that the holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that by the Spirit they saw things that are hidden from the natural vision. These writings are designed to open our eyes, to give us spiritual sight, so that we may see what those men saw--the reality of things.
Since the fall of Adam nothing on this earth has been as it should be, nor as it will be when righteousness shall have wrought restoration.
"The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Now the Bible deals with eternal things, with things that are real. Through the veil that is spread over the face of all the earth, the prophets of old saw the world to come, even as we should. So all their calculations were made with reference to eternity, and not with reference to a few short years.
The changing seasons were, as they should be to us, only evidences of the power of God, by which He will change this earth and all of its inhabitants who are willing to be changed into His image. "Now we see through a glass, darkly." (1 Corinthians 13:12)
This earth, with all that pertains to it, is but a shadow of real things. But if we walk in the light as God is in the light, we shall have fellowship with Him, and shall see the inheritance of the saints in light. (1 John 1:7; Colossians 1:12)
The tabernacle built by Moses, as well as the temple afterwards built in Jerusalem by Solomon, was only a feeble representation of real things in heaven. From between the cherubim upon the ark of the covenant, the glory of God was revealed, and from there He spoke unto the children of Israel. "And there I will meet with you, and I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give you in commandment unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 25:22)
But, "The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven." (Psalm 11:4)
The true sanctuary is one built without hands, "which the Lord pitched, and not man." (Hebrews 8:2) "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." (Jeremiah 17:12)
It was to this place that God designed to lead the children of Israel immediately on their deliverance from Egypt. In the song of Moses after the crossing of the Red Sea, we read, "You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established." (Exodus 15:17)
But Israel did not believe, and would not trust the Lord. In their hearts they turned back to Egypt, so that they never gained what the Lord had designed for them.
• Instead of coming to the reality, they had only the shadow.
• Instead of coming to the real sanctuary, they had all their lives only a pattern of it, and one in which they were not permitted to enter at all.
• Instead of being a kingdom of priests, every one of them entitled to minister before the Lord in the secret places of the Most High, only one family of one tribe were permitted to serve as priests even in the typical sanctuary.
Yet there were always some who saw beyond the shadow, and who lived in the joy of the reality. Such were the prophets and holy men of God. They well knew that the temple in which they worshiped was altogether too small to be a real house of God, "[Who] dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; what house will you build me says the Lord; or what is the place of my rest?" (Acts 7:48-49) "Thus says Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will you build unto me? and what place shall be my rest?" (Isaiah 66:1) "But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27)
Consequently when they spoke of the temple of the Lord, they had in mind the final temple and not the mere shadow which their natural eyes saw. Not only so, but they saw a new Jerusalem. Old Jerusalem was never large enough to hold the new temple of the Lord. That temple contains more angels waiting for the commands of the Lord, than there were ever inhabitants in Jerusalem. "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." (Revelation 5:11)
So when the prophets spoke of Jerusalem, and praised its beauty, it was the Jerusalem restored and made new, that they had before their sanctified vision. True, there was a promise from the Lord, that if the people would serve Him in truth, keeping His Sabbath, the city should stand for ever "And it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken unto me, says the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever." (Jeremiah 17:24-25)
But that very promise carried with it the promise of restoration; for no city built by man could stand for ever. It was a part of the promise made to Abraham, to which we "look for new and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." (2 Peter 3:13)
It was with this in view that the psalmist wrote: "But You, O Lord, shall endure for ever. You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come. For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory." (Psalm 102:12-16)
The stones in which the servants of the Lord take pleasure are not the old, moss-covered stones of the old Jerusalem, but "all manner of precious stones," (Revelation 21:19) with which the real city is garnished. "And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst." (Revelation 21:19-20)
Isaiah had a vision of this restored and beautified city, when he wrote: "O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. And all your children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness shall you be established; you shall be far fromoppression; for you shall not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come near you." (Isaiah 54:11-14)
This is the city, and these are the stones, in which the servants of the Lord take pleasure. It is this city, and not the Old Jerusalem, some remnants of which are still standing, that the psalmist always had reference to when he broke forth in transports over its beauty: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge." (Psalm 48:1-3)
This city is the home of God's people: "Our citizenship is in heaven." (Philippians 3:21)
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "looked for a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God." (Hebrews 11:10)
Therefore they "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared for them a city." (Hebrews 11:13-16)
The city is already prepared, and only waits for the preparation of its inhabitants. To it all the faithful now come and worship. For: "You are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the first born, which arewritten in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, which speaks better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12:22-24)
Toward this city and sanctuary we are to turn our eyes when we pray. We are to "Lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens," (Lamentations 3:41) even as David, when he said, "I lift up my hands toward your holy oracle." (Psalm 28:2)
It is to this city that the tribes go up; for on the twelve gates are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. "And [the city] had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel." (Revelation 21:12)
In it there is perfect unity; for where in our version we read that: "Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together," (Psalm 122:3) the Jewish translation by Rabbi Leeser has it: "Jerusalem, which is built as a city wherein all associate together."
In this city, this real dwelling-place of God, there is joy: "Blessed are they that dwell in your house; they will be still praising You. ... For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I had rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psalm 84:4-10,margin) "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish inthe courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat andflourishing." (Psalm 92:13-14)
Then come to the house of the Lord. There we may abide, not merely for a day, nor occasionally, but from now throughout eternity. "He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)
Here there is safety. Here also there is joy, "fullness of joy, [and] pleasures for evermore." (Psalm 16:11)
Peace is within its walls, and prosperity within its palaces, so that we may be rich and happy even though we are poor and afflicted.
Faith makes us inhabitants of that glorious city even now, although our bodies are confined to this sin-cursed earth. But soon the Lord will come, to take us to himself, and then, our bodies made spiritual, we shall with our eyes see that which these natural eyes are not able to look upon. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne; mercy and truth shall go before your face. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance. In your name shall they rejoice all the day; and in your righteousness shall they be exalted." (Psalm 89:14-16)--Present Truth, September 21, 1899--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--Psalm 122:1-9.