Immovable People

[0:00] Psalm 125 A song of ascents Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

[0:18] As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people, from this time forth and forevermore. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.

[0:39] Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts. But those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead away with evildoers.

[0:51] Peace be upon Israel. So, the main point of this psalm is that those who trust in the Lord will be immovable, even under the pressure of wickedness.

[1:08] And it begins in verses 1-2 this way, Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forevermore.

[1:24] Mountains are a great image and symbol of stability, right? And a kind of unchanging presence. If you guys know of, if you had mountains in your area, hometown where you grew up, you know that whenever you go back home, mountains are still there, right?

[1:41] The shops change, houses change, things get broken down and rebuilt, but the mountains are always there. So, that's the kind of idea it's getting at. The Mount Zion abides forever.

[1:53] And then it says that, not just the Mount Zion, but it also mentions mountains that surround Mount Zion. Jerusalem sits on Mount Zion, which is actually one of the smaller mountains in the area.

[2:06] So, there's another mountain, the Mount of Olives that you guys know of. It was 66 meters taller than Mount Zion. Mount Scopus was 76 meters taller.

[2:17] Ras al-Mekabir was 53 meters taller. So, it really is like Mount Zion. This is this little mountain out in which Jerusalem, the city sits. And then around it, it really is surrounded by taller mountains.

[2:29] So, it has a visual effect of like a wall or a fortress that surrounds a castle. It's quite a powerful image.

[2:43] And so, for people of faith, then that became a lasting symbol of God's protection, that God surrounds his people like these mountains. He envelops them, he protects them. And this is really helpful in light of, helpful truth, spiritual truth to remember in light of all that's going on.

[3:02] I read New England Journal of Medicine's article, which was not encouraging. And I think this was published last week.

[3:14] So, so far the guidance we have received about the COVID-19 or the SARS-CoVirus is that it travels six feet in respiratory droplets.

[3:27] But then they, according to their study, it's, it contradicts CDC, WHO's guidance, but it's, it could live in the air for up to three hours or more.

[3:41] If that's the case, then you really can't get away from it. It's like literally in the air everywhere you go, everywhere there's people that's affected by it. So like, I mean, that's like still to be, to be, you know, determined whether or not official guidance will change because of that or not.

[3:58] But, so like, think about that, right? And now, and now, like I know, people can actually fear and respond to things, threats that they can't see because that's what people are doing, right?

[4:11] So it's, it's a lie when we'd say that, well, if you, people are never going to believe in the devil or you'd be afraid of what he can do or sin or whatnot. But it's a, this is literally in the air, it's everywhere and it's almost unavoidable and this strikes fear into people's hearts.

[4:27] But the, the truth that we have to remember is that the virus is not the only thing we can't see with our eyes, right? We can't see the Lord with our eyes. But his word tells us that as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people.

[4:44] We are surrounded by the presence of the Lord, by the protection of our Lord. He's all around us. He envelops us in his love.

[4:55] His protection over us is like an immovable mountain range. And, and so that's the, that's the promise for us. And, and, and the reason why we can hope in this, even in a wicked world, it says in verse three, for the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.

[5:20] So, people debate, you know, in what context this psalm was written. Some people think that this psalm was written at the time of, maybe one of the wicked kings of Israel.

[5:31] So, it's speaking of their scepter, the scepter of wickedness. And, basically, this is expressing faith that, that kind of wicked rule will not rest for long on this land which was given, allotted to the righteous.

[5:47] It was supposed to belong to God's people. Some other people think it's, it was written in the context of exile, basically, when there's a foreign ruler. And, and over, with authority over Jerusalem, saying that this scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.

[6:08] If that state of, of wicked's, wicked's rule continues, even the righteous might stretch out their hands and do wrong. And so, they, and so the psalmist is expressing his trust in the Lord and saying that that situation will not last.

[6:23] And then, verses four to five transitions to a prayer. It says, do good, O Lord, to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts. But those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead away with evildoers.

[6:36] Peace be upon Israel. And so he's saying, may those who continue to be faithful to you and seek you, do good to them, keep them in the land, but judge those who turn aside from you, lead them away with evildoers among God's people.

[6:52] And this promise is fulfilled like all love scripture, ultimately in Jesus. I don't know if you guys remember the Jacob's blessing of his sons.

[7:07] This is a famous prophecy when he says in Genesis 49, 9 to 10, when he is blessing his son Judah, he says, Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

[7:18] He stooped down, he crouched as a lion and as a lioness who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

[7:35] So he speaks of the scepter not departing from Judah. So he's prophesying that a ruler will come from Judah and that there will be, the reign will continue from a king from the line of Judah. And so that's the, that's fulfilled in Jesus.

[7:51] And so here it talks about the scepter of wickedness shall not rest. So there will be a scepter of righteousness established and it's established with the coming of Jesus who we know is from the tribe of Judah as it says in numerous places in the New Testament.

[8:06] He was the one that was prophesied of Judah's descendants and he's described as the lion of Judah in Revelation chapter 5, verse 5 where he says, weep no more.

[8:17] Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And we ask, how did he conquer?

[8:29] How did this mighty lion conquer wickedness, wicked rulers? How did he conquer evil? How did he conquer sin? And then it continues in Revelation 5, verses 9 to 10.

[8:40] Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

[8:56] The lion of Judah conquered by becoming the slain lamb of God who died on the cross for the sins of his people and by his death he killed death, he defeated death and it's by his resurrection that he bestows that new life on all those who put their trust in him, repent of their sins and believe in him for salvation.

[9:21] And as people who are living in the era of fulfillment of that promise, we can live with even greater assurance that we will remain, that we can be immovable like a mountain range, like Mount Zion, because the Lord surrounds us, he is with us, he has established us as his people, we are the new Jerusalem, as the Bible calls us elsewhere.

[9:50] And so because of that, as we live in light of what Christ has shown us, it's ironic, right, that the slain lamb of God is the lion of Judah.

[10:01] In the same way, we are the victors but we are called to be like sheep among wolves. We are called to be suffering servants. And as we continue to live in the pattern of Jesus Christ, we will find that we too are immovable and that we will endure even under the duress of wickedness and sin in this world and bring glory to God.

[10:23] in the other 말 among us who can you is the home hill until we temperature is the home of whatever the ice is appealable.

[10:42] This way, you can see what you really took during the Passion