A Song of Ascents.

1 Remember, O Lord, in David’s favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Psalm 132:1-5, ESV)

The promise of God’s eternal kingdom, God’s house, came to David, but God did not allow David to see its fulfillment. Why not?

6 Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ ( 1 Chronicles 22:6-10)

David was a man of action and a man of blood. He conquered kingdoms in the name of the LORD. He was a man after God’s own heart and his ministry was great indeed! Yet, he remained a man of flesh, a carnal man subject to sin, and the Scripture declares, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 15:50) David could not inherit the Kingdom, but today we can. Why? Because yesterday we made the twelfth ascent, the step into God’s rest. Yesterday we laid down our own plans, our own designs for great ministries for God. Yesterday we quieted our souls before him, determined to hope only in him, and ceased to occupy ourselves with matters too great for us. Yesterday we gave up our guns and our bows and arrows and determined that we would not be men of blood. I will not die with a man’s blood on my hands… will you? I am not a man of blood… are you?

Today we become sons, the prophetic fulfillment of Solomon, son of David.

Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool. (Psalms 132:6-7 KJV)

Ephratah is Bethlehem, the place of our LORD’s birth. We know of Jesus and we know he was born in Bethlehem Ephratah. We always heard that the word Immanuel, which means God with us, referred only to him. But, no, the prophecy concerns us. God is with us, within us, and soon we will become the very habitation of God as the rest of this wonderful psalm makes clear.

8 Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.

When we fully and completely enter God’s rest, then we will literally become his resting place. At that moment of complete rest he will transform these lowly bodies into immortal bodies. At that moment the “ark of his might” permeates our entire being. His Law will become part of our very being and we will be enabled to obey it perfectly. Rather than consuming it any longer, his Word, his manna, will consume us and we will become living expressions of the Word of God. We, now the dead in our sins, a dead tree, will have budded like Aaron’s almond branch into new eternal life!

9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.

It is at this time that God clothes us with righteousness. Finally we will become the priests of the Most High which he has ordained us to be. Our ordination comes not from man, for only God can ordain his priests who arise in the Order of Melchizedek, just as Jesus was of that Order.

10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one. 

This promise is sure because God made particular promises to David concerning the eternal nature of his throne. We who believe in Jesus and have determined to obey the Gospel he has given us are the anointed ones spoken of here. God will not turn his face from us. In fact, the songs of ascent are all about ascending into the very presence of God where we will actually see God’s face. Verses 11 and 12 tell us God’s specific promise regarding this.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath
from which he will not turn back:
“One of the sons of your body[a]
I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
and my testimonies that I shall teach them,
their sons also forever
shall sit on your throne.”

What follows is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting spiritual concepts in all Scripture, which is that God’s people literally become New Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God and the Lamb of God.

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
he has desired it for his dwelling place:
14 “This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
16 Her priests I will clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
17 There I will make a horn to sprout for David;
I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.

This passage also makes it clear that no one is fully “saved” until the time of their glorification, until the time when God has completed his work upon their souls and clothes them with righteousness and salvation. At this time his chiseling upon us, his affliction of us, ceases and takes us and places us into the eternal city, the city we have sojourned toward all our lives. Then we will shout for joy and then our horn, our strength will become evident to all. At that time these overcomers will begin to rule with a rod of iron and will begin to bring the entire earth into the subjection of their King. So, this song ends,

18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown will shine.

The time is upon us. If you do not understand these words, then it is probably too late to avoid tribulation. Nevertheless, the LORD will provide you protection through the overcomers who will soon be glorified. If you just woke up, then pray that God will hide you in the shadow of his wing.