Psalm 87 The True City of Our God

Daily Bible Study for Thursday October 27, 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I will keep it with the New King James Version.

One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Psalm 87

The True City of God

Everyone around the world who knows anything about geography knows about Jerusalem – the holy city. This place was established by God and it was built by Him. Construction, by the way, is still in progress. More on that in a bit. He loves Jerusalem more than all of the rest of Israel. Why is that? Today I invite you to join me to discover what God has to say about this. Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for showing in recent days according to Your word how lovely Your dwelling place is. Truly it is better to dwell in the house of our God than any place else! Father, in this chapter with its rich portion of verses, we are excited to learn about Your favorite place on the earth – the holy city of Jerusalem. Lord, there is always so much more than meets the natural eye in Your word. Today I ask You for the anointing and the utterance to bring Your message of truth and revelation by Holy Spirit power to the hearts of all who will ever read this study. Thank You for increasing this word and multiplying it around the globe. We know that little is much when You are in the midst of it. And You, O Lord our God are the God of Israel and in the midst of her - O Jerusalem! Father, I ask You to send this message across the globe unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Cause us to have a heart change for the good as we study. Remove anything that is blocking our spiritual eyes from seeing what You want this world to see. Thank You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives when we do what You say to do. Father, it is our desire to be doers of Your holy word and not hearers only. Use me to say what You want said by the anointing that is on me, and set the captives free who do not yet know You as Savior and Lord. Show the readers who You want them to share this message with. I ask this in faith and believe I receive it already in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus! Amen.

When I first read this, I had to really pause and let the Lord show me what He wants us to see today. On the surface, we can look at the city of God as a place and walk away saying, “OK, we all know that Jerusalem is the holy city. That is nothing new.” Friends, this is so much more than just a place. Yes, God picked the location and established it for His chosen people Israel. It would be the physical location where Jesus would enter in to be put on trial because He was the precious foundation on which the place was built to begin with. The “builders” of Jerusalem, known as the religious leaders, rejected the foundation, also known as the cornerstone – the first stone that one must have in order to build a house. Let’s look at a verse…

 Isaiah 28:16

¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.

Before the world ever laid eyes on Jesus, God had made Him to be the foundation of Jerusalem, aka, His chosen people. Only God could do this. Only God can build a house that will last, and in this case, the house of God on the earth was to be built starting with Jesus. At first the people had to believe in the promises of the Old Testament to receive their salvation, and finally, in the New Testament we have to place our trust in Jesus as the long awaited, promised Messiah to receive our salvation. Unless God build the house…

Psalm 127:1

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Jerusalem was built and is still guarded by the Lord God as of this day. Many have come against the tiny nation of Israel, but no one has been able to obliterate them from the map, though many have tried and failed. So why does the Lord love Jerusalem more than the rest of Israel? As soon as I read the name Jacob, I could hear Holy Spirit speak to my heart and say, “Israel.” Israel represents all the people that God has called to be His. But Jerusalem, the holy city represents those who have answered the call to actually be His. We will look at this more in a few minutes. There are many Israelites who still reject the Savior Jesus as the true Messiah. As a result, they cannot be saved unless their eyes are opened by God so they can see the truth that will save them from an eternity separated from God. So not all of Israel is the true “Israel”, or people of God…

Romans 9:6-29

⁶ But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ⁷ nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹ For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰ And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac ¹¹ (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), ¹² it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” ²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

²⁵ As He says also in Hosea:

“I will call them My people, who were not My people, her beloved, who was not beloved.”
²⁶ “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

²⁷ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.
²⁸ For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

²⁹ And as Isaiah said before:

“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Friends, it is important to read all of these verses so we can grasp the true meaning of what the Lord is trying to tell us here. The words of truth are here for a reason. And like our Bible Gateway verse of the day says from Hebrews 4:12, His word is living and active. It gives light to our hearts. Not everyone in Israel chose to follow after God and His ways. We can certainly see a whole lot of that in the Old Testament. Reading the entire word of God is extremely important for the Christian to grow in their walk and understanding of the things of God. Giving a Bible to a lost person who will not seek the Lord through Holy Spirit is like giving someone a letter written in a language not their own. No man can interpret scripture without the help of Holy Spirit.

Just today as I studied for this lesson, I looked at a different translation. When I read it I heard the Lord say in my heart what the passage meant. Then He said to me, “This is what I say, not what they say (in the translation). Like I have learned and mentioned before, many of the translations we see out there now are just “paraphrases”, not actual translations. This is why the Young’s Literal Translation is a good one because he is the author of a concordance and his study of the word is very rich. 

At least more so than many other one’s we are seeing out there. Many can lead us way off track from what the true meaning of a passage may be. Also, we need to read more than one verse most of the time so we get the entire thought process being conveyed. We have to pray before we study and ask the Father to enlighten the eyes of our hearts as we meditate on His word so we can get what He wants us to get out of our time in it. We have not if we ask not. It is important to ask. Amen.

The reputation of Jerusalem, along with the events that have taken place there are world renown. If we were to ask passersby on the street what they understood about Jerusalem, regardless of their spiritual belief system, they would tell us that it is considered to be the holy city and the place where Jesus was to come to His people. Many go there to see the places where Jesus walked and preached when He was on the earth. It is considered a very blessed event to travel to see inside the walls of Jerusalem. I look forward to going there one day myself as the Lord permits.

When we get to verse 4, we see a man of God declaring to other nations that he is a man of God, born in Jerusalem. Again, this is not just in the physical sense. Anyone who was physically born there could and would certainly tell others where they were from. But this has a much richer meaning than where a person was born physically. It all about being born of God – a true Israelite. Look at what Jesus said about Nathanael when He saw him…

John 1:47

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

Nathanael was a true worshiper of the Most High God – and Jesus, of course knew this. Any man or woman who really does love God is going to want to go tell others, anywhere and anytime they can. Let’s look at a passage that the Lord brought to me today…

Acts 8 (The Entire Chapter)

Now Saul was consenting to his death.

At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ² And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

³ As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

⁴ Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. ⁵ Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. ⁶ And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. ⁷ For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. ⁸ And there was great joy in that city.

⁹ But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, ¹⁰ to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” ¹¹ And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. ¹² But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. ¹³ Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

¹⁴ Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, ¹⁵ who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. ¹⁶ For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷ Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!²¹ You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. ²² Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

²⁴ Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”

²⁵ So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. ²⁷ So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

³⁰ So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² The place in the Scripture which he read was this:

“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.
³³ In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation?
For His life is taken from the earth.”

³⁴ So the eunuch answered Philip and said, “I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?”³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?”

³⁷ Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

³⁸ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him.³⁹ Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

Jesus’ disciples went all over their region preaching the kingdom of God. These were true men of God who really loved the Lord. They had been saved and they wanted to share what they had been given to others. Is this the desire of your heart saints? Love gives to others. Love is not selfish, nor does it hide these truths of the gospel from the world. Look at all the good that came out of their preaching. 

People got delivered from demonic possession and healed of various diseases; a sorcerer got saved and set free of a spirit of bitterness, Samaritans heard the gospel, and a man from Ethiopia (mentioned in our chapter today) got saved and went away rejoicing – hallelujah! Furthermore, Phillip preached in all the cities until he reached a destination in Caesarea. Look at the fruit that was born from just one man who was saved and really loved God – a true Israelite indeed!

When people see us as born again children of God, they will (at least they should) see something very different in us. They should see a people that do not look or sound like the rest of the world. They should see our joy in the midst of a troubled world and when they see how much we are prospering and staying healthy when all kinds of people around us are sick and dying; all of it should cause them to take notice and ask us where we are from. 

When they start asking questions about where we are from and why we are the way we are, we get to tell them our testimony. Just one testimony can win a soul as the Lord steers their heart. It is powerful what God can do through us when we take the time to open our mouths to tell others that we belong to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise His name forever! Look at this…

Psalm 40:1-3

40 I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.
² He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

³ He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.

The bottom line is that people will know we are Christians by our love and the fruit we are bearing for the kingdom of God…

Matthew 12:33

 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

Moving on to verse 6 today, this passage is telling us about the time of the end when the Lord opens the book of life to see whose names are written in it…

Philippians 4:3

And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Revelation 3:5

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 20:12

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Revelation 20:15

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:27

But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Revelation 22:19

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

The Lord has a lot to say about this and we must be careful to take heed, or, in other words, pay close attention to what He wants us to understand. These are matters of eternal life or death and an eternity separated from God. No born again Christian should want for anyone to see this death that will be everlasting torment. We must care for and pray for all mankind to be granted repentance to life, come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. If a person does not care to tell others about what Jesus has done for them, then they might want to do this…

2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

Many today are calling themselves Christians for all kinds of reasons that are false. Some think that because they were raised in a Christian family that they are saved. Not true. One has to personally accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior in order to receive the free gift of the salvation He brings. When we stand before the throne of God, Mommy and Daddy will not be able to stand beside us and say, “Oh well, God, we raised our children going to church.” Friends, this is not enough.

Still others think they can go to heaven after they do enough good works, or say enough “Hail Mary’s” (idolatry!) and that also is no way to get into the presence of God for eternity. Jesus is the only way…

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Yes, Jesus is the absolutely only way one can have eternal life and live with God forever. There is no other way, none. And God knows who are His and who are not. Look at this…

Luke 3:17

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The wheat represents those who are truly born again. The chaff are those who refused to repent and accept Jesus. They will not be a part of the new Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven after the Lord destroys the earth by fire and creates a new heaven and a new earth…

Revelation 21:2

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

What a blessed privilege that John was given the opportunity to see this on the island of Patmos.  We can’t begin to imagine how beautiful the new Jerusalem will be. Oh hallelujah! One thing is for sure; it will be filled with the true worshipers of God – those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Only those born of water and of the Spirit will enter in… 

John 3:5

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

As we look at the final verse in today’s Psalm, we really see the true worshipers who will declare that “all my springs are in You.” Jesus is the spring of Living Water for the born again Christian soul…

John 4:10

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

John 7:38

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Revelation 7:17

for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Did you notice how Jesus referred to the scriptures as He was leading the woman at the well to her Savior (Himself) that day? Jesus is the word, He spoke the word and He lived the word. He knew it inside and out. He studied the scriptures and He set the example for every Christian to follow. As we bask in His presence, we can experience a bit of heaven on this earth before we ever get there. And the next best thing is time in His word. A person cannot walk away feeling sad, depressed or lonely after getting refreshed in His pool of living water – no way! Praise His name forever!

This message is obviously an evangelistic call to those who do not yet really know Jesus as their Savior and Lord. If that describes you, there is no time like this present moment than to stop and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and ask Him to be the Lord and Savior of your life. You can put it in your own words. The Lord knows your heart. When I finally surrendered to Him at the age of 49, after having been baptized and asking for salvation at the young age of 9, I just said to Him one night after church at home beside my bed, “Oh God, I’m a mess. Will You fix me?” After that I was filled with the Holy Spirit and I was very eager to tell others about Jesus.

Which leads us to our final point today. Not only is it an evangelistic message, but it is a call to every believer to get out there and start talking to people. Friends, the time is short. There are plenty of people all around us in our daily lives whom we run into, like waiters and waitresses, store clerks, the gas station attendants, the grocery store clerks, you name it, whom we can tell about how good God is and what Jesus did for us.

I just had an opportunity to share a testimony with a young man in Office Depot. And as I left, I prayed for him. Only God knows what changes that one conversation with him might be made through the power of Holy Spirit for the rest of his life. Glory to God. If we are saved, we should have the heart of God burning within us to share the free gift of salvation with others. Freely we have received – freely we must give. Amen. 

Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father:

Thank You for building my house on the solid rock foundation of Jesus! Lord, I want to have my name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Father, I am asking You to help me to open wide my mouth to tell others. As I have found eternal life and fresh springs of living water in You, I want to be able to shower others with the message of the gospel. Bring me people I can tell Lord. And as You do, open their spiritual eyes to see, their ears to hear Your truth and their hearts to receive because no man can truly come to You unless You draw them. Thank You in advance for Your help as I live my daily life with Your business of souls on my mind. I thank You for the answers to this prayer – I believe I received them already in Jesus wonderful name. Amen.

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

Unless God is the builder of our house, we labor in vain

Being a true child of God causes us to want to preach to as many others as possible

True worshipers of God will worship Him in Spirit and in truth

Questions:

What made the biggest impact on you as you studied this chapter and lesson?

How do you believe it will transform your thinking going forward?

Have you been telling others about what Jesus did for you? If not, explain why and take it to the Lord in prayer.

Will you answer the call and follow Jesus?

Who can you share this study with?

How many people are right in your own back yard that you can tell about Jesus?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

Luke 9:57-62

⁵⁷ Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

⁵⁹ Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”

⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”