Psalms 48:8 - Meaning and Application

We are taught here how God’s people should use his recent, gracious help against their enemies, so that it works for their good. First, our faith in God’s word should be strengthened. If we compare what God has done with what he has promised, we find that, as we have heard, so we have seen (Psalm 48:8). What we have seen should lead us to believe what we have heard.

“As we have heard done in earlier acts of providence, in the days of old, so we have seen done in our own day.” God’s later help for his people, against his enemies and theirs, agrees with his earlier help. It should bring those earlier works to mind. “As we have heard in promise and prophecy, so we have seen in fulfillment.” We have heard that God is the Lord of hosts, and that Jerusalem is the city of our God, dear to him and under his special care. Now we have seen it.

We have seen the power of our God, his goodness, and his care for us. We have seen that he is a wall of fire around Jerusalem and the glory in her midst. In the great things God has done, and is doing, for his church, it is good to notice how Scripture is fulfilled. That helps us understand both the event itself and the Scripture that is being fulfilled.

Second, our hope in the stability and lasting life of the church should be encouraged. From what we have seen, compared with what we have heard about the city of our God, we may conclude that God will establish it forever. This was not fulfilled in Jerusalem, because that city was long ago destroyed and its glory reduced to dust. But it is fulfilled in the gospel church, which will be established forever. It is built on a rock, and the gates of hell will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). God himself has taken responsibility for its establishment. It is the Lord who has founded Zion (Isaiah 14:32). What we have seen, compared with what we have heard, should encourage us to trust that promise.

Third, these works should fill our minds with good thoughts about God. From what we have heard, seen, and hoped for, we should think often of God’s lovingkindness when we gather in his temple (Psalm 48:9). All the streams of mercy that come down to us must be traced back to the fountain of God’s lovingkindness. It does not come from any merit in us, but purely from his mercy and his special favor toward his people. So we should think about it with delight, often, and with steady attention.

What could be more noble, more pleasant, or more useful to dwell on? We should always keep God’s lovingkindness before our eyes (Psalm 26:3), especially when we worship him in his temple. When we enjoy public worship in peace, and meet in his temple with none to trouble us, we should use that time to think about his lovingkindness.

Fourth, we should give God the glory for the great things he has done for us, and speak of them in his honor (Psalm 48:10). “As your name is, O God, so is your praise,” not only in Jerusalem, but to the ends of the earth. By his recent rescue of Jerusalem, God had made a name for himself. That is, he had clearly shown his wisdom, power, and goodness, so that the surrounding nations could not ignore it. In the same way, his praise would spread widely, because some in every place would be found giving him glory.

As far as his name goes, his praise should go too, and in the end it will go there, when all the ends of the world praise him (Psalm 22:27; Revelation 11:15). Some understand his name here especially as the glorious name “the Lord of hosts.” In line with that name, his praise extends to all creation, even to the ends of the earth, because all are under his command. His people, in a special way, must also acknowledge his justice in all he does for them. “Righteousness fills your right hand” means that every act of his power agrees with the eternal rules of fairness.

Fifth, every member of the church should take comfort in what God does for his church as a whole (Psalm 48:11). “Let Mount Zion rejoice,” meaning the priests and Levites who serve at the sanctuary, “and let the daughters of Judah,” the surrounding towns and their people, “be glad.” Let the women, as was usual on public days of joy, celebrate with songs and dances the great salvation God has worked for them.

When we have given God the praise, we may then enjoy the special deliverances of the church and be glad because of God’s judgments, that is, the works of his providence. These works are done in wisdom, which is why they are called judgments, and they work for the good of his church.

Sixth, we should carefully notice the church’s beauty, strength, and safety, and faithfully pass on what we observe to those who come after us (Psalm 48:12, 13). “Walk about Zion.” Some think this refers to a victory celebration, where those in the procession walk around the walls, as in Nehemiah 12:31, singing and praising God. As they do this, they should tell the towers and mark the bulwarks well.

They should do this, first, to magnify the great deliverance God has just worked for them. They should notice with wonder that the towers and bulwarks are still strong and none of them are damaged, and that the palaces are still beautiful and none of them are marred. The kings who gathered against the city (Psalm 48:4) did not damage it at all. This should be told to the next generation as a wonderful example of God’s care for his holy city, since the enemies did not only fail to ruin or destroy it, but did not even harm or deface it.

They should do it, second, to strengthen themselves against fear when the same kind of threat comes again. We can understand this, in the literal sense, of Jerusalem and the stronghold of Zion. Let the daughters of Judah see Zion’s towers and bulwarks with a joy equal to the terror their enemies felt when they saw them (Psalm 48:5). Jerusalem was usually thought to be impossible to capture, as Lamentations 4:12 shows. No one would have believed that an enemy could enter its gates, and they could not have done so if the people had not lost their defense by sin.

“Set your heart on her bulwarks” means that Zion’s main defenses were not things seen by the eye, but things received by faith. They could look at the city’s natural and human defenses, and those were strong enough. Still, its greatest defenses were the special presence of God there, the beauty of holiness he had placed on it, and the promises he had made concerning it.

Consider Jerusalem’s strength, and tell it to future generations, so they may do nothing to weaken it. If danger ever comes, they should not shamefully give it up to the enemy as if it could not be defended. Calvin notes that when they were told to pass on a careful account of Jerusalem’s towers, fortifications, and palaces, this hinted that those things would one day be destroyed and no longer visible. Otherwise, there would have been no need to preserve their description and history.

When the disciples admired the temple buildings, their Master told them that in a short time not one stone would be left on another (Matthew 24:1-2). So this must also point us to the gospel church, Mount Zion in the new covenant sense (Hebrews 12:22). We should consider its towers, fortifications, and palaces, so we may be drawn to join ourselves to it and give ourselves to its cause. See it founded on Christ, the rock, strengthened by God’s power, and guarded by him who never sleeps.

See what rich gifts belong to it, as if they were its palaces, and what precious promises stand like its walls. Tell this to the next generation, so they may willingly take up its interests and hold fast to it. Let us also rejoice in God and in the assurance of his lasting love (Psalm 48:14). Pass this truth on as a sacred trust to your children and their children, that this God, who has done such great things for us, is our God forever and ever. He does not change in his love or in his care for us.

If God is our God, then he is ours forever, not only through all the years of this life, but into eternity. The lasting joy of glorified believers is that God himself will be with them and will be their God (Revelation 21:3). If he is our God, he will also be our guide, steady and faithful, showing us our way and leading us in it. He will guide us even to death, which marks the end of our earthly journey and brings us to rest.

Some understand this to mean that he will guide us above death, so that death cannot truly harm us. Others take it to mean that he will guide us beyond death, bringing us safely to a joy on the far side of death, where there will be no more death. If we take the Lord as our God, he will lead us safely to death, through death, and beyond death, down to death and up again to glory.