Coffee With The Lord

What’s your favorite city? Why did you select it… the food, the entertainment, your experience with friendly, helpful people; or perhaps the fact that you lived there once? How about your least favorite city? Why did you select that one? (Let’s not go there, eh?  )

This morning in my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord” I read about “Zion”… favorite city of the ancient people of God – the Jewish nation. For them (and in the Bible) an idealized city, representative of a future city – “the New Jerusalem” – eternal home of the righteous and God’s eternal abiding place! Psalm 48 talks about – a “song of Zion”!!

“Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress… As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah

“We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad! … Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, (i.e. consider her beauty – her qualities) that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.” (From Psalm 48 ESV)

All of this reminded me of some of the words of an old gospel song….

“Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

“Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But children of the heav’nly King
May speak their joys abroad.

“The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

“Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground
To fairer worlds on high.

o Refrain:
“We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.”

-Isaac Watts, 1707

The book of Revelation puts it this way…

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation 21:2–4 ESV)