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 8:3-8; Psalm 147 verses 2, 12-14; 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.
We whose hopes are heavenly; how much is the eternal day of glory before us! how much is the admonition in Colossians 3:1-4 effective in our lives? Does the thought that the Lord is coming soon to take His heavenly people away to spend eternity with Him thrill our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory? O, it should!
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