Welcome. I'll be teaching these next three Sundays, so I've decided to implement, there'll be an examination at the end of that third Sunday, and also I'm gonna ask for a term paper. I'm gonna do a term paper, choose a topic related to the song, it's eight to 10 pages, double-spaced. Nobody's... Writing this down, so I'm bluffing I'm not going to do that, but I'm excited about this lesson today some is a Favorite book for me. This is lesson 9 Coming to the house of the Lord our key verse will be in Psalm 122 and Our passage is Psalm 121 through Psalm 126, but our focus will be Psalm 122, so you can turn there. Our key verse, Psalm 122, verse one. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. In the superscription, in the title, It says a song of degrees of David. Does everybody's Bible say that? Song of degrees? It's nothing to do with Gary Rutherford's weather report. Nothing to do with weather. Nothing to do with academic degrees. Does anybody know what the degrees are? Song of degrees. degrees, not academic, not weather. You've probably heard the answer. You just filed it away in one of those file cabinets up there in your brain, and after I tell you, you'll say, oh, yes, I remember that. I don't know if you remember, the city of Jerusalem was a mountain city, it was a fortress city. David took considerable effort and actually almost six or seven years into his reign before he was able to conquer the Jebusite city of Jerusalem and make that his capital. So then he had sort of been headquartered in Hebron, but he conquers this city called Jerusalem. It's famous in the Old Testament because Melchizedek is a high priest in Genesis. He's also the king of Salem. There was a city. And it was strategically located high on a mountain and very inaccessible to enemies. And David chose that as his capital city. He would like to have built a temple there, but the Lord didn't let him. But he did build his house there. And he made all the preparations for the day when the temple would be built. He planned the service schedule. He planned for all the choirs, the musicians, the companies of people that would do all that. He gathered all the materials for the building of the temple. He also wrote some songs for when people came to the temple. So you have this city on a high hill and you have people traveling from all over Israel and eventually from all over the world. And as the Jews came to Israel, the city came to the eventual temple site, they would go up this steep hill. They would go up, so now if you're thinking about angles, and what's the angle on this roof, Brother Joe? 5'12? Is it 5'12, Jim? Probably 5'12. Your house is probably what, 4'12? Every 12 feet it goes up four feet Am I going too fast? No, I think I'm just kidding So the steeper the roof the harder is to walk up and so that's that's the way I feel is the steeper the hill the angle of incline So when the people were going up to Jerusalem, it was a pretty good It was not only the distance, but it was a steep hill, probably a winding hill. And there are a lot of songs that are songs of degrees. They would sing them as they ascended the road up to the temple, up to the city of God, up to the capital. And so they would sing songs. and David and others wrote songs that they could sing. Some people said they would stop and sing them. They would be rest stations. There would be places to stop on the hill, and they would sing a song and catch their breath. And some say, well, they sang as they went up the hill. So this is a song of degrees when they would be going up to The temple up to the house of God That David's writing here and David says in Psalm 122 1 I was glad When they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord David never saw the temple that Solomon would build but of course he was very familiar with the tabernacle and They're very familiar with the tabernacle. So this lesson is coming to the house of the Lord. Of course, we're in the New Covenant. We're in the New Testament. The house of the Lord is significantly different than the Old Testament idea of the house of the Lord. And we'll talk about that in a moment. This is the Lego version. of the tabernacle. I've used this with children. Does anybody know what that is? It's a model of... It's not McDonald's farm. What is that? A model of... Something very significant in the Old Testament. Anybody? It's not the temple. Tabernacle. See all the cloth-like portions? This is a rudimentary model of the tabernacle. You have the outer courtyard. Exodus has great detail about the fabrics and the cloth-covered inner tabernacle you might say the holy place and then the most holy place beyond that with all the furniture described in the book of Exodus, but this this would have been the place where Israel went to worship and God gave instructions while they were at Sinai getting the law. He also gave instructions about the building of this tabernacle. In Exodus chapter 40 they complete the construction of this tabernacle which was imminently portable. It was designed to be taken apart and there are very specific instructions about how to carry all these The Levites would have been responsible for disassembly of this, and they would carry the Ark of the Covenant, and there was a pillar, a cloud, that hovered over the Ark of the Covenant that would lead them during the daytime if they were moving, and then at night, a pillar of what? Fire. Why was it fire? So they could see it. Some of these answers are really, really easy. So they could see it. And when the cloud rested or stopped, they stopped. That's how God led them through the wilderness. So David would have known this tabernacle. It has a very interesting history, not after its construction, And it was different places before the United Kingdom. It is at one point captured by the Philistines. Remember the Israelites foolishly think that if they take the Ark of the Covenant, it will be some kind of magic. help in the battle and they actually lose it. The Philistines take the Ark of the Covenant and capture it and that's when Eli dies. Later God afflicts the Philistines and they send it back and it's recovered and for many years the tabernacle is at Shiloh. So that would have been considered the place where you went to worship God. Sacrifices would be made once a year. The Jewish people just recently celebrated Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, which remembers the annual time when the high priest would go into the most holy place and once a year he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. This, this is a new picture I found, this is a cutaway model, a cutaway model of Solomon's Temple. Some of the furniture's the same, of course the ark, the table of showbread and all that furniture is the same, but it was much more elaborate. Interior-wise, it looked like a golden chamber. Most everything in there was overlaid with gold because there wasn't a lot of light in there. But the gold was buffed and shiny and a single lamp would reflect off of those golden layers and it would be fully illuminated. It would have been a very bright place. So Solomon builds this temple according to God's instructions. And of course, it was not portable. It was not to be disassembled. It was a permanent construction. Historians say that Solomon's Temple was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was that beautiful, it was that spectacular. The Queen of Sheba comes to see Solomon's Temple and one of the things she saw was this King Solomon's Temple. It's sometimes called the first temple, it says here in the notes. It was a spectacular place. And then this would have been built high on the hill in Jerusalem. That's probably what David has in mind when he's talking about, when he was writing this song, that would be sung as they made their ascent up to Jerusalem, up to the temple. Of course, there's a second temple that's rebuilt after the Babylonian captivity. Ezra and Nehemiah, you read about that. Just before Jesus arrives, there is a reconstruction of the temple that Herod the Great begins. Actually, that construction project goes on for about 46 years. It's still not finished when Jesus comes on the scene, but the inner temple would have been completed before then. Herod was always adding porches and walls and so forth. So these two places, the tabernacle and the temple, would have been considered the house of God in the Old Testament. So the outline, going to the house of the Lord, verses one and two, Jerusalem, the holy city, and then praying for the peace of Jerusalem Song of Degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. The word house in the Bible is used for actually several different things. It's used to represent a place of worship like the temple or the tabernacle. It's also used to represent a nation Sometimes God talks about the house of Israel, so a family could be a house. The Bible also talks about believers, individual believers being a house. of the Lord. That's because the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. You are a tabernacle and the Holy Spirit dwells in us. So, the word house can mean a place of worship. It can also mean a human being. It can also mean a nation. Here he's talking about a place of worship. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together. That means fortified. It means it had defensible walls. It was both strategically and tactically nearly unconquerable. Of course, as the children of Israel disobeyed God, eventually Jerusalem will be conquered. It will be conquered by the Babylonians, and the city will be destroyed. But it was well built. The one thing it lacked during the time of the divided kingdom is a really good water supply. King Hezekiah will build a tunnel that will access water and bring water into the city from the water table below and it will add further to Jerusalem's compactness, its defensibility, will be a well-designed city. Whither or where the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord. Now, what tribes is he talking about here? Anybody name a tribe? Comanche? Apache? Get your mind back on the Bible. The twelve tribes. Anybody know a name of a tribe? Benjamin. Class, speak out. Reuben. First born Judah. Famous, that's Jesus' family. How come there's no tribe of Joseph? What happened to Joseph? Well, actually, I think it's a double blessing. Manasseh and Ephraim. So, when you read Manasseh and Ephraim, you really should think, sometimes even the Bible calls them the half-tribe of Joseph. Joseph gets a double portion, he's numbered twice among the sons. Levi doesn't get a portion, that's the priestly tribe, but it's a place where the tribes go up. It's talking about the tribes of Israel, the families of Israel. The tribes of the Lord, under the testimony of Israel, to give thanks under the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. There's some foreshadowing in the Old Testament about future kingdom. I believe the Bible teaches there will be a millennial kingdom of 1,000 years. There will be a temple that is part of that millennial kingdom. Jesus will rule and reign on the throne of David from Jerusalem in that millennial kingdom. And there will be Judgment there will be administrations during the Millennium Somehow the tribes will be participating in that Also, the Gentiles will be participating in that Millennial Kingdom as well, but Pray for the peace of Jerusalem Jerusalem is building as a city. Okay, they're set as thrones and the thrones of the house of David. And then the last part of the psalm, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. So here are the Three points. Number one, a call to go to the house of the Lord. God desires worship. Why does God require worship? This is not just a rhetorical question, but why does God tell us to worship? What is the purpose of calling us to worship? There's fellowship with other believers. Fellowship with God. That's probably number one. God desires to fellowship with us. It's not meant to be a burdensome thing. It's not meant to be an ordeal, like a trip to the dentist or something. Like, oh, I've got to go to the dentist. It's necessary. Helpful, but no I dreaded going to the house of the Lord is not meant to be dreaded or Particularly difficult. We're going to see in the New Testament. God has made going to the house of God a much easier than it was in the old covenant. Much easier. Much easier to go to the house of the Lord now than it was then. We go to the house of the Lord for fellowship with God, fellowship with others. We go to the house of the Lord for what else besides fellowship? Instruction. We go there to be taught, to be sit in a Sunday school class or preaching and teaching of the word. It's meant to teach us not just new things, but to remind us of things we already know. Some say, well, once I learn everything in the Bible, I guess I don't have to go to church. Well, the Bible is full of reminding things, helping us remember so we don't ever outgrow the need to go to church or to have instruction. What's something else we can do at the house of the Lord that we're... Praise, singing, music. Sometimes worship is, I think, not correctly thought of just as singing, but actually the whole service is a worship service. Everything we do is an act of worship. Our showing up is an act of worship. prayers are acts of worship, singing, giving, I'm sure you were going to mention that one, offerings are acts of worship. That's always been part of God's means for the tabernacle or the temple or the New Testament church. But it's meant to be a happy thing. David said, I was glad when they said, let's go into the house of the Lord. He didn't see it as a burden or as a guilty requirement. He thought, I was happy about this. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. If our hearts are not encouraged or glad when it's time to go to the house of the Lord, the fault really lies in us, not in the house of the Lord. He spent some time talking about Jerusalem, the holy city, and we want to spend more time here at the beginning of verse six about praying for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. One of the first things I learned about Israel, about Jerusalem, was that for some reason, I can remember in Sunday school, I can remember sermons, didn't really understand what they were all about, but we were told that we should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. Long before I knew where it was and its significance, I was told, Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And if you will love it, God will bless you. Later on, I began to understand some of the things that that means. In my lifetime, I was taught that even the modern state of Israel, with all of them. It's not perfect. It's made up of people. It's actually not a Christian nation. There is some freedom of religion there, but it is not a Christian nation. They have political parties and political disagreements there in the modern state of Israel. But I was taught that we should pray for their peace, which is a very interesting prayer request. Because in my lifetime, I've never really seen a time when Jerusalem had any significant peace. When they were founded as a nation in 1948, there was a terrible conflict with the Arab nations around in 1948. Israel did survive. 1956, the year I was born, there was another major war with Israel and her neighbors. Britain and France were somehow involved in that through surrogates there in the Middle East. I, of course, didn't know much about that one. But in 1967, I'm sure all of you are old enough to remember 1967. Anybody? I don't know. Eric may not. Eric does. Well before Eric's time up here. 1967 is the first time I really was paying attention to current events and the Six-Day War. Israel defeated her enemies in six days. Egypt and Jordan and Syria. And Russia, through surrogates, had attempted to destroy Israel. And Israel was able to defeat them in six days. That's when she regained the Sinai. She regained the Golan Heights to the north. And the West Bank, which is much in the news now. Before that time, Israel was even smaller than she is today. She's not very large geographically. But I remember being told we should pray for peace in the Middle East. 1973, there was another, the Yom Kippur War. Israel was attacked on her most holy day. It's a little bit like the October 7th attack. It was a broader attack, but it was a surprise. Israel was caught off guard, which is hard to do, but she was caught off guard and very nearly was defeated in the Yom Kippur War. Russia and the United States exchanged military threats, Russia was backing the Syrians and the enemies of Israel. The United States stood by Israel and God spared Israel. But I remember being told we should pray, pray for Jerusalem, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. All of our lifetimes we've watched the Middle East rage, from one war to another. In the late 70s, the early 80s, the conventional warfare, like 48, 56, 73, Israel's enemies gave up conventional warfare to the extent that they shifted to terrorism, acts of suicide bombers, Their weapon today is missiles and rockets. Very few days go by that Israel doesn't experience rocket fire from Lebanon to the north or from Gaza to the south. in a very strange way. The United Nations and others are constantly telling Israel to show restraint because, well, for the most part, the United Nations is on the side of Israel's enemies, which is a very peculiar thing because if you just took a dispassionate view of it, why would one nation be more allowed to defend itself than another nation. I'd like to think that if Canada was lobbying missiles at us, I'd like to think that we would say, stop it. I'd like to think that we would stop it. Don't you? I mean, we're not that far from Canada. So if Canada was lobbying missiles and rockets, Across the border, I like to think that our nation would stand up and say, just stop that. Don't do that. But Israel is constantly bombarded and is rebuked for self-defense. Sometimes people quickly point out and say, well, Israel's not perfect. Israel's made some mistakes. Israel did this, and their response here was not. And I get that. For some reason, there is a terrible, profound anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment that has been the dominant worldview all of my life. All of my life, I've listened to people who want to see Israel destroyed, who want to see the Jews driven into the sea. and the state of Israel eliminated. In contrast to that, I've always been taught that I should be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. There are some different kinds of peace. Peace within thy walls, prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, verse 8, I will now say, peace be within thee. Despite the constant military threats that Israel faced, yet she has prospered. From 1948 to the present time, she has prospered financially. Some of the recapturing of the desert and Israel's success as a modern state. She has tremendous technological advances. Some of the greatest scientists in the world are Israeli scientists. The Israeli stock market is one of the strongest stock markets in the world. in the very setting of constant military attack. All my lifetime, America has been an ally to Israel. And I have been led to believe that one of the reasons the United States has prospered financially is because She has been an ally to Israel. She has been a friend to Israel. I mentioned the other day, I just finished a biography of Harry Truman. I didn't know much about his presidency. I knew the big things. But I just read a biography about Harry Truman. And one of the most interesting Storylines in that was the debate within his administration about whether to recognize Israel as a nation or not. When Israel declared itself a nation, Would the United States recognize and grant legal status to Israel as the nation? There was quite a controversy about it. Within the Truman administration, within the United States, there were people on both sides of that arguing for and against it. Some people were just afraid that he was going to launch World War III, no matter what, if we said they thought the Russians and the Syrians were going to go to war. And we were just three years from World War II, which is catastrophic and cause incredible suffering. But because of the discovery of the Holocaust, And yet it was a very near thing. Many people said there were six million Jews that were killed during Hitler's anti-Semitism, his final solution. And that did cause considerable sympathy in Britain and Western Europe and the United States. But not the amount of sympathy you might think. Some people said, oh, that's too bad. Not our problem. Not our business. Too bad. But there were apparently enough people in the Truman administration that said we should recognize them. It's the right thing to do. Truman eventually made the decision himself. It's probably not as famous as his decision, World War II, but it is famous because for a while America was Israel's only political ally. If you've ever seen the film Cast a Giant Shadow, it's historically more or less movies, but I recommend it to you because it tells you how difficult it was for that nation to launch and how important it was for the United States to at least give some aid and help to Israel. So Israel has become in our, in the last century, a nation again. Not everyone thinks that's a good thing. There are actually some Christians who argue against it and say that was a mistake. It should not be a modern state of Israel. I would disagree. I think it's a good thing for Israel to be a nation. And the only explanation I can have for the hatred for Israel is anti-Semitism. I believe it's satanic. And because the Jews are the people through which Christ came into the world, through Mary, Jesus came to earth as a Jew and I think that the devil hates Jesus and hates the gospel and I think the true source of all anti-Semitism is ultimately satanic. It is certainly, anti-Semitism is still with us today, it's very It's very unsettling to see universities, colleges where students, I think they're poorly taught, poorly educated, not to understand what's really happening in the Middle East. Here we have very specific instructions to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to expect that God will prosper us if we love Jerusalem. Let me quickly add that we do believe that Jews need to hear the gospel. We need to take the gospel to the Jews as well as the Gentiles. We're not saying that Jews are going to heaven because they're Jews. You only go to heaven because you agree with God that you're a sinner and Christ died for your sins. That's the only way you can be saved. But God does have some eternal purposes and some eternal plans for the nation of Israel. I think in the tribulation that follows the rapture, there will be a severe testing of Israel. That seven years of trouble will be especially poured out around the nation of Israel. Israel will face absolute extinction at the end of that seven years. And unless Jesus returns, at the end of that tribulation and delivers them, they would be utterly destroyed. They will not be destroyed, but there will be a great awakening, many Jews will be saved at the end of the tribulation period, and we need to be praying for the peace of Jerusalem. I think we should pray for the protection of Israel now, because I think it's morally right. I think it's the right thing. I think Israel has a right to exist among the nations of the earth. They have a right to self-determination, a right to be a nation. And I think we should also be praying ultimately for the spiritual awakening of the Jews. And that will require the return of Jesus Christ. What is this to do with the house of the Lord today? Well, I mentioned that today we are much blessed. We do not have to travel out into the desert and follow some tabernacle around to worship God. We do not have to make a long journey from somewhere in the world and walk up the hill to Jerusalem. God's covenant with the New Testament was to make the place of worship, to scatter it among the peoples of the world, to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Baptize those who believe and have them assemble and organize together in local, visible assemblies. And each one of those assemblies, like a colony of heaven, be a place where we could go and worship God. And that's what we're doing today. We've gathered in a specific place where Addis Ababa's church meets together. And I hope you were glad when someone said to you, let's go to church. I know the church is people, I know the church is born again baptized believers, but churches have to assemble somewhere. Sometimes it's in a cave, sometimes it's in a dungeon, sometimes it's in a house, and sometimes God gives us a facility like this, and we can be thankful for that. We need to be glad when we can gather in the house of the Lord. Let's bow, we'll be dismissed in prayer, and prepare for the worship hour. Next Sunday, we'll look at the promise that God makes to David, some of these very, very things. Brother Jim, you have dismissed us in prayer, and I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Father, we again thank you for what you do today, what you do in this whole time. You've come out of your house, and you've created us a service, a father service, a sister service, a brother service, a sister service, a pastor service. I thank you for everything you do each day.