Saturday of 5 Lent

The Blessing of the Lord From Zion – Psalm 134

“May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”

Psalm 134:3

The blessing of the Lord is that we may dwell with Him.  Zion is the Lord’s dwelling place, His blessing emanates from there, and those who receive His blessing respond to His call and come to dwell with Him in Zion.  “For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it;the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it” (Psalm 69:35-36).  The last line from this final Song of Ascent is not only a petition, “May the Lord bless you…”, but an awesome promise.  We have made the journey out of exile.  We have been welcomed into the dwelling place of the King (Rev. 21:3).  We have been adopted as sons and daughters of the King (Romans 8:14-17).  Now we are called to reign as priests and kings(Rev. 5:9-10), even though we were but dust and ashes (Gen. 18:27).  Now we are dwelling and reigning with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords(1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16).  The God who “made heaven and earth”, the creator of all things including the New Jerusalem and us as the people of God, has made us worthy to dwell with Him.  And He alone, therefore, is worthy of all worship, our King and our God.

Take encouragement from the words that the prophet Isaiah (30:18-21) delivered to those were taken into exile in Babylon.  “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”  And the prophet Zechariah (8:3) encouraged those who made it back to Zion and were rebuilding the city.  He said, “Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.”

Zion, the New Jerusalem, is our home!  God has prepared it for us, and He has prepared us to dwell with Him.  He blesses us from Zion.  His blessing is that we will dwell with Him in His dwelling place forever.