Even better

Psalm 132

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

¹ Lord, remember David
and all that he suffered.
² He made a solemn promise to the Lord.
He vowed to the Mighty One of Israel,
³ “I will not go home;
I will not let myself rest.
⁴ I will not let my eyes sleep
nor close my eyelids in slumber
⁵ until I find a place to build a house for the Lord,
a sanctuary for the Mighty One of Israel.”

⁶ We heard that the Ark was in Ephrathah;
then we found it in the distant countryside of Jaar.
⁷ Let us go to the sanctuary of the Lord;
let us worship at the footstool of his throne.
⁸ Arise, O Lord, and enter your resting place,
along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.
⁹ May your priests be clothed in godliness;
may your loyal servants sing for joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David,
do not reject the king you have anointed.
¹¹ The Lord swore an oath to David
with a promise he will never take back:
“I will place one of your descendants
on your throne.
¹² If your descendants obey the terms of my covenant
and the laws that I teach them,
then your royal line
will continue forever and ever.”

¹³ For the Lord has chosen Jerusalem;
he has desired it for his home.
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever,” he said.
“I will live here, for this is the home I desired.
¹⁵ I will bless this city and make it prosperous;
I will satisfy its poor with food.
¹⁶ I will clothe its priests with godliness;
its faithful servants will sing for joy.
¹⁷ Here I will increase the power of David;
my anointed one will be a light for my people.
¹⁸ I will clothe his enemies with shame,
but he will be a glorious king.”

This psalm has something I love and something that makes me sad, and out of that comes something I love even more.

I love both David’s passion to provide a house for God, and God’s response that he would build a royal house for David instead (2 Samuel 7:11-12). But it makes me sad that David’s descendants rejected God’s covenant and so the hope expressed here became shame, with Jerusalem and the temple destroyed and the nation taken into exile.

But I love even more that David’s descendant, Jesus, has done and is doing so much more.

Jesus, alone, was faithful to God’s covenant and so he reigns forever over a much better kingdom than David’s (v11-12). He sits on the throne of God’s kingdom forever.

And he is building a temple that is much better than Solomon’s temple. Jesus is building his people, together and individually, to be the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:17, 6:19). Much better than God living amongst his people in Jerusalem, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to be God living in his people wherever they are.

Jesus is the “anointed one” (Messiah) who is a light for God’s people (v17, John 1:1-5). He is our great high priest who is clothed with “salvation” (v 16 NIV, Hebrews 4:14).

I love you, Jesus – my light, my glorious king, my high priest, my Messiah. Live in me today.

Written by David Cornell