Psalm 084

Introduction

In the first part of today’s psalm, the psalmist expresses his longing for God’s house. In the second part, he writes about the pilgrims who were on their way to God’s house. And in the third part, he says that he would rather have one day there than a thousand days somewhere else; and he’d rather be a door-keeper in God’s house than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

And so, this is a psalm about God’s house. For the psalmist, God’s house was the temple in Jerusalem. And so, he’s thinking about the way the Lord’s people would travel up to the temple in Jerusalem for the annual religious feasts. But the temple in Jerusalem was an earthly representation of God’s heavenly temple. And so, it symbolised life in the presence of God in the new heaven and earth, where all of God’s people will live with him forever and forever. And therefore the psalm is about the hope of eternal life which God gives to his people through Jesus Christ.

Verses 1 to 4

In verse 1 the psalmist says that God’s dwelling-place is lovely. The temple was built by Solomon. And it was built to be God’s house or his dwelling-place among his people. God, of course, is present everywhere all at once and he’s not restricted to one place. But he graciously and freely chose the temple as his dwelling-place among his people. And so, when the people went up to the temple, they were going up to visit the Lord. And it was lovely in the sense that it was well-loved. The people loved the temple; and they loved the temple, because they loved the Lord who was there.

And since he loves the Lord’s temple, the psalmist yearns for it. He longs to go there and to stand in the courts or the courtyards of the Lord. Think of a small child who longs for Christmas. He can’t wait for it to come and he’s counting the days until it arrives. And in a similar way, the psalmist is counting the days until he can go up to Jerusalem. His heart and flesh cry out. And his heart and flesh — his whole being — cries out, not so much for the temple, but for the living God who dwells there. If it were not for the presence of the Lord, the city of Jerusalem would have been an ordinary city, just like every other city. What made Jerusalem special in those days and what made the temple special was the presence of the Lord.

And in verse 3 he envies the sparrow and swallow who have made their nest in the temple and are able to live there permanently. And blessed — or happy — are those who dwell there and who are able to praise God always. In the story from Luke 2 of Simeon and Anna, who saw the infant Lord Jesus in the temple, we were told that Anna never left the temple, but worshipped night and day. And so, there were presumably others like her who were able to stay in the temple and who never had to leave. Not everyone could do that, because most people had to make a living on the family farm and they could only visit the temple a few times each year. Like them, the psalmist could only visit the temple now and again and he envied those who could stay there permanently.

Verses 5 to 8

In the next part of the psalm — verses 5 to 8 — the psalmist writes about the pilgrims who are on their way up to the temple.

He says that those whose strength is in the Lord and who have set their hearts on pilgrimage are blessed. So, they’re looking to the Lord to give them the strength they need and to uphold them on the way. And therefore, when they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs. We’re not sure if there really was a valley called Baca, but the commentators suggest that he’s referring to the countryside around the road to Jerusalem, which, at certain times of the year, would be dry and barren. And yet, because of the Lord’s care for his pilgrim people, springs of water appear and showers of rain fall. The commentators also make the point that the word Baca means weeping. And therefore, the psalmist could be saying that God turns their weeping into joy. And so, instead of turning back in despair, the people go from strength to strength. God upholds them and energises them and gives them the ability to keep going until each one appears before God in Zion and not one of the Lord’s people is missing.

And this part of the psalm ends in verse 8 with a request for God to hear the psalmist’s prayer. He’s presumably asking the Lord to help him as he makes his way to Zion.

Verses 9 to 12

Verse 9 seems out of place, because it’s not about the temple. It’s about the king. The psalmist describes the king as a shield, because the king protects God’s people. And he describes the king as the anointed one, because the king has been anointed by God. And he asks the Lord to look with favour on the king.

And so, this verse seems out of place, because it doesn’t appear to be about the temple. However, in a way it is about the temple, because after King Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord, the Lord appeared to him and said that if Solomon remained obedient to the Lord, then the Lord will establish his kingdom. But if Solomon or his sons turn away from the Lord, then God will send his people into exile and he will reject the temple. And sure enough, when Solomon’s descendants were unfaithful, God let their enemies invade the land and they robbed the temple of its gold objects. And when Solomon’s descendants continued in their rebellion, God sent the people into exile and the temple was destroyed.

So, the existence of the temple depended on the faithfulness of the king. And in that case, it makes sense for the psalmist to pray for the king. So, look with favour on him. That is, be gracious to the king and help him to remain faithful to you, O Lord. Help him to remain faithful to you, so that nothing will happen to the temple.

And the psalmist can’t bear the thought of being separated from the temple. He says that one day in the courts of the Lord is better than a thousand days in another place. And he says that he’d rather be a lowly door-keeper than dwell in the tents of the wicked. He doesn’t want to be anywhere else than in the temple of the Lord.

And that’s because the Lord is there; and the Lord is a sun and shield to his people: he shines on us to bless us; and he shields us from all evil. And he bestows favour and honour — grace and glory — on his people. That is to say, he is gracious and kind to his people; and what an honour it is to come into the temple of the all-glorious Lord, who rules and reigns over heaven and earth. What an honour it is to be part of his people and to know him and to be loved by him.

And the Lord will withhold no good thing from his people who walk blamelessly before him. Walking blamelessly doesn’t mean being sinless. The person whose walk is blameless is the person who can’t be accused of anything scandalous. It’s the person who walks humbly and obediently before the Lord; and when he does sin, he confesses it immediately and prays for forgiveness. And God will withhold no good thing from such a person.

The reason the psalmist wants to be in the temple is because the Lord is there and the Lord is good. And so, blessed — happy — is the man or the woman who trusts in the Lord, because they are able to come before the Lord in his temple.

Conclusion

The psalmist longs to go up to the temple, because the Lord is there. And he knows that God will help him on the way to the temple. And being in the temple is marvellous, because the Lord is there and the Lord is marvellous. And access to the temple is dependent on the king’s faithful obedience.

And since the temple in Jerusalem was an earthly representation of God’s heavenly temple, then we can say that the whole of this psalm is about the great hope which God gives to his people through Jesus Christ of eternal life in his presence in the new heavens and earth.

Our access to God’s presence depends, not on anything we have done, but it depends entirely on what Christ our King has done for us. Because he offered up his life for us in obedience to his Father in heaven, our sins have been paid for in full; and we receive the right to eternal life through faith in his name. And so, the way into God’s presence is open to us only because of the perfect obedience of Christ, who is God’s Anointed King.

And while we go on living in the world, the Lord our God gives us the help and strength we need to persevere in the faith and to keep going along the narrow way that leads eventually to life in God’s presence. Though there are many troubles on the way, and though we have to walk through many valleys of tears, and though the Devil tries to make us stumble, the Lord our God shields us every day by his mighty power; and Christ our King has promised to keep us to the end.

And though our life in this world will end in death, death is no longer for the believer the penalty for our sins, but it’s the doorway into God’s heavenly temple, where we will join with the angels in heaven and the saints who have gone before us to worship the Lord day and night and to await the resurrection of our bodies and the time when we will come in body and soul into the new heavens and earth and where God will dwell with his people forever.

This psalm is about the hope of eternal life which God gives to his people through Jesus Christ. In the chapter on ‘Hope’ in Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes about the desire we all have which nothing in this world can satisfy. We long for something, but nothing we experience in this life satisfies that longing. He refers to someone with a good wife and who enjoys good holidays and who has an interesting job. And those are excellent things. But the person who has them still longs for something else. And no doubt you’ve had that experience of longing for something, which you think will make you happy and which will give you contentment. But when you eventually get it, you’re disappointed. True contentment has alluded you once again. And so, Lewis says that if I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation for it is that I was made for another world.

And we were made for another world, because the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden held out to us the promise of a higher and better life than life in the Garden. It held out to us the promise of eternal life in the presence of God. By his disobedience, Adam forfeited for us the right to eternal life. But by his perfect obedience, even to death on the cross, Christ our King has won for us the right to eternal life, where we will see God in the face of Christ and where our desire for God’s presence will be completely satisfied.