Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - God's Favorite City | The Writings | Psalm 87

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

Why is God always choosing favorites? Why does God choose Zion as His favorite city? Should Christians today recognize Zion as holy territory? In today's episode, Keith looks at Psalm 87, showing us why God's love for Zion has eternal implications for us today. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 87

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Have you ever wondered why God is always playing favorites? Like early on in the book of Genesis, God chooses to accept able sacrifice instead of Cain's. And then God chooses Isaac, not Ishmael. And before they were even born, he chooses Jacob, not Esau, to carry on Abraham's legacy. God doesn't just choose people.

He also chooses nations. When God rescues Israel from their slavery in Egypt, he chooses them above every other nation. Here's Deuteronomy 7. God says, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Maybe you're wondering why, if God created every human and every nation, then why does Israel get so much love and affection?

What about all the other nations? I think it's safe to say that if God were a modern nation, day parent, he would be criticized for all the overt favoritism he displays in the Old Testament. But it gets even weirder than that. Because God doesn't just have a favorite people and a favorite nation. God even has a favorite city. It's called Zion. We hear about this city in Psalm 87. Here's verses 1 and 2. He has founded his city on the Holy Mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the other dwellings of Jacob. I've lived in Missouri for most of my life. And one of the things I've learned about my fellow Missourians, especially the millennials, is that they love Colorado.

Every millennial I talk to wants to move to Colorado, and to tell you the truth, I don't really get it. It's like the millennial mecca. It's like they think that once you move to Colorado, you don't have to work anymore or go to the grocery store. No, all you do is hike and ski and breathe in clean mountain air. Maybe wherever you're from, there is somewhere else that is the dream place that everybody wants to live.

But in Missouri, that's Colorado. Well, to put it in terms you might understand, Zaiiari. Zion is to God, what Colorado is to Missourians. It's the place to be, the place everyone wants to live. So that begs the question, what the heck is Zion and why does God love it so much? Zion was often used as another name for Jerusalem. However, while Zion and Jerusalem are names for the same physical place, a lot of scholars point out that Zion is a more religious name for the city.

And there's a reason for that. Because earlier in the Bible, we hear about Mount Zion, but it goes by a different name. It's called Mount Moriah. This is the mountain where Abraham bound his only son Isaac and offered him up as a sacrifice to God. And later on in the story, after King David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites, Mount Zion is where David's son Solomon builds the temple. These are some of the most important stories in Israel's cultural and religious history. So when the biblical authors refer to Jerusalem as Zion, they're hinting at the fact that this is the city where God has been at work in and through their nation's history.

But it's even more than that. Because the temple was in Jerusalem, that meant that God dwelt in Jerusalem in a special way. The temple was God's home, a place for God to be with his people. And that's why God loved Zion, which is why the psalmist continues to praise Zion and the rest of Psalm 87. It says, glorious things are said of you, city of God. I will record Rehab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me, Philistia II, and Tyre along with Kush, say, this one was born in Zion. Indeed, of Zion, it will be said, this one and that one were born in her, and the Most High Himself will establish her. The Lord will write in the register of the peoples,

this one was born in Zion. As they make music, they will sing, all my fountains are in you. You see, in these verses, the psalmist lists off all these nations surrounding Israel. There's Rahab, which is just another name for Egypt. There's Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Kush, these nations had eras of greatness. All these nations had power and resources. And yet the psalmist says all of these nations pale in comparison to the city of Zion. Why? Well, because the most high himself will establish her. So what makes Zion great is not the city itself, but the God who is present there, the God who is with them. But why will God establish Zion and not other nations? Why did God choose to be present in Zion and not Babylon or Egypt, or at least not present in

the same way? Why does God show favoritism towards Zion? To a first century Jew like Jesus, this would have been an easy answer. God shows favoritism to Zion because Zion is a mini preview of what God wants to do in the whole world. Think about it. Zion was supposed to be a place where God lived on earth with his people. It was where heaven and earth overlapped. Zion was a place where God's people had their sins atoned for. Zion was the place where justice and mercy would rule alongside each other. God's plan wasn't to stop with Zion, it was to use Zion as an example for all those surrounding nations.

So if Zion is a picture of heaven on earth, why don't Christians recognize Zion as holy territory today? Well, that's because of Jesus. Though Zion was meant to be a place of heaven on earth by the time Jesus came around it was more like hell on earth and there was corruption greed injustice self-righteousness envy anger and all sorts of other messed up stuff going on in Zion instead of being a light to the nations Zion looked like all the other nations this is why Jesus wept over Jerusalem and predicted its downfall this is why Jesus flipped the tables in the temple and this is ultimately why Jesus died on the cross see those Zion contained the power

and presence of God, it wasn't enough. Zion was not the end goal. It was only a sign pointing us forward to Jesus. In Jesus, God brought heaven on earth. Jesus was the temple where God dwelt. In Jesus, God atoned for his people's sins. In Jesus, God rules with justice and mercy. And now, because He has rescued us from our sin,

Jesus has decided to make his power and presence known, not in a building, but in us. As followers of Jesus, we are many Zion's, many temples, because we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We have God's personal and powerful presence dwelling inside of us. See, God's favoritism towards Zion is a small picture of his favoritism toward his church. As followers of Jesus, we are God's chosen people, his beloved children. We are the New Jerusalem, the true city of God, but Jesus doesn't call us to live in one city together. No, he commands us to spread his good news to the whole earth.

Because he's not just interested in a city anymore. He wants to restore the whole world, the whole universe. In the New Testament, Hebrews 12 says this to the followers of Jesus. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. you have come to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word

than the blood of Abel. As people who are indeweled by God's own spirit, we have been called to be hotspots for heaven. You know how Wi-Fi hotspots work, right? When you're near a Wi-Fi hotspot, internet connection is available. Well, in the same way, when you're around a follower of Jesus, you should be connecting to the very presence of God. Is that how other people? people see you? Is that how you see yourself as a hot spot for heaven? As a little place where heaven is coming to earth. Ultimately, God has promised to not just fill his people with his spirit, but to eventually fill the whole world. One day Jesus will return to set up his heavenly Jerusalem right in our midst. But in the meantime, we have been called to be ambassadors of that heavenly

kingdom by loving God and our neighbor in a way that points people to Jesus. So live today knowing that the God of the universe has shown you favoritism that you didn't deserve, that you might be a blessing to the world around you.