Psalms 122-124
Jerusalem rightly comes next in the songs of degrees, for there the hopes of redeemed Israel will be centered; to it they will earnestly hope to come. (See Zechariah 8:3-83Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. 4Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 6Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts. 7Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. (Zechariah 8:3‑8); Psalm 147 verses 2, 12-14; Isaiah 2:2,32And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2‑3); and 45:18, 19). Jerusalem once was and will be again the city of God’s earthly dwelling place, and to be there while the long rejected, once crucified and slain Messiah reigns, will be the bright hope of the godly while waiting for that day.
The brief Psalm 123 is very precious; here the tried and troubled Israelites have, we may say, made another advance not only in the way to Jerusalem, but in the experience of their souls, for how could Jerusalem’s coming splendors satisfy the heart unless Jehovah be there? To Him they now address themselves; to Him they look; for Him they wait until He shall have mercy upon them. Not yet are their sorrows wholly past; the scorners and the proud have not been put down, nor the lowly exalted.
Psalm 124 follows the destruction of the last great enemy, the northern army of which Joel; Micah; Isaiah in chapters 10 and 14; Zechariah in chapter 14; Daniel in chapter 11:40-45, and Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 treat.
Quickly after the Lord has destroyed the western or Roman power at His coming, but before He has taken the throne of David; the king of the north, or the Assyrian, appears in the land of Israel with an immense army. It appears beyond any doubt to be the Russian power or influence that controls, but all the nations of eastern and northeastern Asia will be joined together, bent on making Palestine their own. But it will be a vain effort, and the king of the north will be put to death like the Beast or head of the Roman empire; and the false prophet of the Jews; but not at the same time.
It is at the end of these momentous days that Psalm 124 has its place, evidently. The deliverance of the godly remnant of Judah and Israel is owned to be all of God’s power.
ML 12/20/1931