Psalm 122:1: Let us go to the house of the LORD (where green is the colour)

First homily in the Heaven Scent series.
Presented to Swift Current Corps 28 November 2010
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and in Advent we have the Advent wreath, of course. I don’t know if you know some of the significance of the Advent wreath. One key point is that it is traditionally made from evergreens. I thought the idea of forever green is very appropriate for today. I think that the province at large this year is really getting into the Advent celebrations with the whole ever-green idea. I’ve heard of whole towns painted green this Sunday and look at the number of people wearing green here today; building up to Advent, I have even heard that great ever-green hymn a lot recently: ‘Green is the colour….’ We’ll talk a little more about the evergreen and Advent, a little less tongue in cheek, in a little bit.

First we will talk specifically about Psalm 122, a psalm of David. Psalm 122 is the psalm associated with the first week of advent this year and this is the Psalm that we will be looking at today. Psalm 122:1 records- I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go up to the house of the LORD.”

Let us go up to the house of the LORD: It is always exciting when people wish to go up to the house of the LORD, to go to church, to come to the corps - either new friends from out-of-town visiting with their family at Christmastime or when we have visitors from other churches to do Advent Reader Exchanges and that sort of thing. It is good too when people haven’t been in church for a while decide to come to the house of the Lord again and it is nice too to see people who are just showing up in the morning of the Grey Cup rematch to put in a request: it is good to see them and I am sure many people in the province have that same request. (In staff meeting this week we actually discussed whether or not it was theologically appropriate to pray for the Riders.) It is even just good from week to week when we come here to the house of the Lord, to church (the corps) and have a chance to see our long-term or old friends.[1] Especially great is when people come to the house of the LORD to give their lives to the LORD for the first time. Can anything be better than that? [2] No, so, Let us all go up to the house of the LORD whenever we can. It’s always great to be in the LORD’s house!

Now we know that in the New Testament when they talk about the Lord’s house, we know when we talk about the Church, the Church we are referring to is not a building but rather it’s another name for Christians. We Christians are the Church (we were not even called Christians until at Antioch, Acts 11:26). In the New Testament the church is the believers, not a building. We know this but we also know that in the common vernacular of today, the house of the Lord is simply a euphemism, a synonym, or just another name for the church building: any cathedral, temple, citadel, any church building in this day and age is known as God’s house. But this psalm that we are looking at today was not written in this day and age nor was it written in the New Testament era, it was written well before then by King David, the second king of Israel and he wrote Psalm 122 about 3000 years ago.

Today when we hear the ‘house of the Lord’ we often think of the church building but in the time that David wrote this psalm, does anyone know what was meant by the ‘House of the LORD’? What was by the ‘House of the LORD’ in David’s time? (Home of the Ark of the Covenant; cf. Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4; cf. also Exodus 25-27, 40:21; Deuteronomy 10:8; 1 Kings 8; 1 Chronicles 22:19, 28:2). Remember who built the Temple of the LORD? Solomon: Solomon was David’s successor; he was made king after his father David, just before King David died. Solomon’s Temple hadn’t been built yet when this psalm was written. The temple hadn’t been built when David wrote this psalm; so what is David talking about when he writes in the opening line of this psalm, “Let us go to the house of the LORD” if the Temple of the LORD had not been built yet? In this case the house of the LORD probably refers to the whole city of Jerusalem. [3]
We know about the ancient city of Jerusalem don’t we? It is the city that David made his capital and he moved the Ark of the Covenant to it - after taking the city from its original inhabitants (2 Samuel 5:5-6, 6:1; 1 Chronicles 13, 15). I’ve got a couple of questions for you about Jerusalem and this ‘House of the LORD’ that we are talking about today. These may be a little bit difficult but let’s see how we do on this the first Sunday of Advent?

1) The people of Judah/Israel were not the original inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were? The Jebusites (cf. Joshua 15:63, Judges 1:21)

2) In Genesis, Jerusalem is often referred to by another name, do you know what that name is? Salem (Genesis 14, Psalm 76, Hebrews 7). This is not to be confused with that famous place in the United States where they had those violent witch-hunts. It is not the same place. Salem Mass. was ironically named after Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also called Jebus elsewhere in the Old Testament (Judges 19:10-11, 1 Chronicles 11:4).

3) Who is the first king of Salem / Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible, in Genesis 14 (also in Hebrews 7) at the time of Abraham – Abraham actually gives his tithe to this Canaanite priest-king, who is that King of Jerusalem? Jesus is referred to as a High Priest in the order of this fellow (Melchizedek). Adoni-Zedek is also mentioned as a king of Jerusalem in Judges 10. He isn’t remembered quite as fondly…

4) Who designated Jerusalem as the capital of Judah and Israel? (David; 2 Samuel 5:5-6)

5) What Holy item did King David have brought to Jerusalem after he made Jerusalem the capital of the United Kingdom of Judah and Israel? (The Ark of the Covenant; 2 Samuel 6, 15; 1 Chronicles 13, 15)

6) What was the top of this Ark of the Covenant called? (The Mercy Seat Atonement Cover) Exodus 26:25 in the AV says, “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel” (cf. also Numbers 7:89; 1 Samuel 4:4). The mercy seat is where God will meet them and where He will commune with them. Now, of course, we in The Salvation Army have a Mercy Seat whose named is derived from the Mercy Seat on the Ark. It is this pew up front here and at anytime if someone feels like approaching God they are more than welcome to use our mercy seat for that very purpose: like the Mercy Seat on the Ark, it is meant to be a place where we can commune with God.

Now, the whole city of Jerusalem is set apart as holy during the time of the psalm that we are looking at today because the Mercy Seat on this Ark of the Covenant – where one meets God - is here. Charles Spurgeon says, “It was most natural that they should sing of Jerusalem itself, and invoke peace and prosperity upon the Holy City, for it was the centre of their worship, and the place where the Lord revealed himself above the mercy seat.”[4] The Ark of the Covenant and its Mercy Seat, where we can meet God, is kept in the House of the LORD (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17, 22:19; 2 Chronicles 5-6; cf. also Exodus 25-27, 40:21; Deuteronomy 10:8; 1 Kings 8; 1 Chronicles 22:19, 28:2). The House of the LORD then, in essence, simply refers to where the LORD is. We know that the LORD is not contained by walls (as did most people in Old Testament times). In the time of David’s writing this psalm, Psalm 122, people would expect to see God at the Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant which was in the Holy City of Jerusalem and today when we come here to the building that contains the church (remember that the church is us Christians, the bride of Christ), we should also come here expecting to see God. And Christmas is especially a time when we celebrate the coming of Jesus, Immanuel, who is ‘God with us’.

Today, we are here in the house of God surrounded by the fragrant aroma of the evergreens of Advent: these evergreens we remember what they represent, right? These evergreens and Christmas intentionally and officially represent eternal life. We are surrounded by these evergreens of everlasting life and we are surrounded here by Immanuel who is God-with-us. And this brings us to the other piece that I want us to look at today.

Susan has decided that this advent as well as going through the psalms we are going to link each Sunday to a different smell, a different aroma. The aroma that we are concentrating on this week is that of the evergreen and the evergreen –like we just said - stands for everlasting life! The Advent wreath, which we have before us today, is an old Germanic tradition and it is a circle of evergreens. The circle itself is a symbol of eternity and a reminder that God has neither a beginning nor an end. The evergreen wreath is a symbol of eternal life and it is a reminder to us that God is immutable and unchangeable.[5]

This is very important when we are considering Psalm 122 today here in the house of God. We spoke earlier about Psalm 122:1 that records “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” We also spoke about how much we can rejoice whenever we see people coming here to the Lord’s house.[6] It is always exciting to see the number of people here and this year as a congregation we pledged to concentrate on each of us trying to invite one friend at least to join us here on a regular basis. That way by the time a year is up, we should have double our numbers. And even more important than just coming to the church and inviting our friends into the church, is when we invite people here in the spirit of the evergreen, which is the spirit of eternal life. As exciting as it is to see all of us here, how much more exciting it is when people come up to the house of the Lord, seeking eternal life (cf. TSA doc's 6,7,10,11).

Now, I don’t want to embarrass anyone – so I won’t mention any names until they tell you – just this week someone came into the church and told me that their daughter was coming up to the church, the house of the LORD, to give their life to the LORD. She came here and Susan led her in a prayer of repentance and joined here in the expectation or acknowledgement, as the case may be, of the Holy Spirit’s regeneration. In the spirit of the evergreen, she grasped the wreath of eternal life. Can there be anything better than that? In that spirit, I think we can all say with King David, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’” And indeed when we are wearing our green today at our Grey Cup parties and around town, let us not forget this time of year, the true symbolism of the evergreen and let us all be reminded of the joys of eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us pray.

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[1] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK V: Psalms 107-150/Psalm 122: May There Be Peace in Zion!/I. The Pilgrim's Joy (122:1-2), Book Version: 4.0.2: The choice of verbs is significant, as the psalmist is reflecting on the many times that he has heard the call to go to the house of the Lord. Verse 1 may well be translated as "I rejoice whenever they say to me." At this point he is standing in Jerusalem and rejoicing—with the thousands of other pilgrims—that he has arrived at the goal of his pilgrimage. His feet are standing in Jerusalem!”
[2] Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1975 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 16), S. 469: “The Christian’s equivalent to this progress and arrival is finely expressed in the doxology of Jude 24, offered to ‘him who is able to keep you from falling’ (cf. Ps. 121) ‘and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing’ (cf. Ps. 122).”
[3] Willem A. VanGemeren, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Psalms/Exposition of Psalms/BOOK V: Psalms 107-150/Psalm 122: May There Be Peace in Zion!/I. The Pilgrim's Joy (122:1-2), Book Version: 4.0.2.
[4] Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 2’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, page (Overview): available on-line at http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/treasury-of-david/psalms-122-1.html
[5]Cf. ‘Advent Wreath — Background and How To Make Your Own Wreath’ Catholic Culture.org, http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=954
[6] cf. for a discussion of this, Charles H. Spurgeon, ‘The Treasury of David Vol. 2’, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers: available on-line at www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/treasury-of-david/psalms-122-1.html