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The Last Generation
“Going around Zion, encircle her,
counting her towers,
You will establish your heart — the ramparts through her palace.
You shall continually write this for the sake of the last generation.”
(Psalm 48:13-14 {verses 12-13 in English})
So the singing is continued (previous verse) and while singing those who are in Jerusalem are to encircle her in songs of praise to our God…filling the air with the sound of their worship. They are to count and number her towers and examine the ramparts (defensive walls built around the city), and establish their heart. Now this phrase (the establishment of the heart) may sound a little awkward to our western ears, but it is a figure of speech that implies that we are to pay close attention to something even to the extent of placing our affections on that something, whatever it may be.
Yet, why would the psalmist command that the people of God place the fortifications of Jerusalem on their heart? The answer seems to be two-fold. First, as we have discussed previously, the focus of this psalm is not so much on the physical, earthly Jerusalem, but on the eternal city of God — the New Jerusalem — that is being kept preserved in heaven until the return of our Lord (1 Peter 1:4-5). The Jerusalem here that is in the experience of the psalmist is but a shadow of what is to come…and with the coming of the New Jerusalem comes the new creation where God and man will once again dwell without separation. There is indeed a reason to set your heart on such things.
The next verse, though, also gives us a clue as to what the psalmist has in mind. He says to the people that not only are they to observe Jerusalem, they are to write down those observations for the sake of the “last generation.” Most of our Bibles seem to translate the term, NOwr≈jAa (acharon) as “next” or “future,” implying that this writing is for those who will follow in the future. Yet, if this writing is simply for future generations through time, then we might expect that the term rOw;d (dor — “generation”) would be plural, not singular. Thus, we should recognize that NOwr≈jAa (acharon) can also refer to the last of something — “the last generation.” Yet, who will be the last generation for whom these people are writing? I would suggest that these writings are to benefit the last generation to see Jerusalem and the Temple standing proud — to remind the last generation what would be lost when the Babylonians were brought in by God to punish the people for their perpetual sin — to remind people of the glory they exchanged for the lusts of their flesh and for the pride of their hearts. Oh, how far we fall when we take our eyes off of God and rest them on ourselves.
We are long past the last generation to see the temple. Even those who rebuilt the Temple realized that the second-temple was a far cry from the glory of the first and from the promised restored glory. Jesus is the greater temple and the temple that Ezekiel anticipates is yet to come. All things revolve around Christ and the Temple and all of its former glory are meant solely to point toward our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. It is his glory, not ours, of which we write.
Greatly is Yahweh to be Praised!
“A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Qorah.
Great is Yahweh and very much to be praised —
In the city of our God and on his Holy Mountain.”
(Psalm 48:1-2 [verse 1 in English])
The greatness of the city of God is not found in the construction of human hands; it is not a work of men. We may admire the works of a man’s hands or the designs of his mind, but if such works drive us to worship, we are idolaters indeed. God has erected his city, kept safe from defilement, imperishable and unfading (1 Peter 1:4) until that time and day when our Lord returns again, condemns the wicked to eternal judgment, and reestablishes the heavens and the earth…then the New Jerusalem of God’s making will descend upon the redeemed earth of God’s remaking (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 21:9-11). Then the Bride — the Church redeemed through the ages — will indeed sing praise to God in the city of our God on his Holy Mountain.
In the meantime, we are given a foretaste. The Sons of Asaph writing praises to God for his redemption even of their own family and indeed, in light of their own service in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. Jerusalem in the days of Solomon was meant as a picture…a foretaste…even a “type” of what this new creation and the New Jerusalem would be like. Yet, like all shadows, they dissolve under the light of day — in this case, under God’s judgment on the people for sin and idolatry.
The sad thing is that many, in their quest to experience the source of the type, fall in love with the type itself, settling for the picture and placing their hope in that which can and will never reveal the glory of God. Indeed, though the city was a special place even to this psalmist, it was not special in and of itself; it was special to him for that is where God dwelt. It is God’s presence that made Jerusalem glorious and that made Mount Zion holy. And when God removed his presence, the glory of the city faded fast.
Where now then does God dwell? Certainly he no longer dwells in temples made of stone or in churches made of brick and mortar — he is the creator of the universe, what house shall we construct to contain him (Isaiah 66:1). No, we are told that the Holy Spirit dwells in believers…indeed, making us even temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). No longer do we need a physical temple to mark the worship of God and no more do we need to make sacrifices — Jesus has done so once and for all time (Hebrews 10:10). Our sacrifices of praise are not constrained to the locality of a building and our lives lived out as living sacrifices, people consecrated to God’s service, take place in all of the world. Our lives are lives to be lived out in worship because God dwells within us as believers in Jesus Christ.
And, thus, when we gather to celebrate as a holy convocation on Sundays, we exalt like the psalmist here not because of the beauty or location of our building, but we exalt because God is with us and in our midst…little mobile Tabernacles and Temples gathering to give praise to God’s holy name and to remember the mighty works of our God. Indeed, Great is Yahweh and greatly is his name to be praised…but no longer just in the holy temple, but whenever God’s people gather in his name and especially when we mark that great and glorious day when our Lord and Savior raised from the dead as a promise and as a downpayment, that we too will also one day emerge victorious from the grave to the praise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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