1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,600 Good morning everyone. This morning we're reading from 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:12,480 Psalm 137, which can be found on page 627 of the Green Church 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:20,690 Bibles. By the rivers of Babylon we sat 4 00:00:20,690 --> 00:00:22,770 and wept when we remembered Zion. 5 00:00:23,490 --> 00:00:28,010 There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors 6 00:00:28,050 --> 00:00:31,610 asked us for songs. Our tormentors demanded songs of 7 00:00:31,610 --> 00:00:35,000 joy, they said. Sing us one of those songs of 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,080 Zion. How can we sing the songs of the 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,960 Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may 10 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:47,400 my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof 11 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,120 of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:52,520 do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 13 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:57,040 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,000 Jerusalem fell. Tear it down, they cried. 15 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,840 Tear it down to its foundations, Daughter Babylon doomed to 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:08,680 destruction. Happy is the one who repays you 17 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,720 according to what you have done to us. 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,000 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them amongst 19 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:21,000 the rocks. If you're getting the sheets, 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,560 getting those, as you've heard, we're looking at Psalm 137 this 21 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,560 morning. So I just want to say great 22 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,280 beef. Thank you to Richard for that. 23 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,640 It's difficult. It's a difficult passage, isn't 24 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,120 it? And so to get us into thinking 25 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,120 about how we might apply this crazy part of Scripture to 26 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,240 today, what we're going to do, we'll begin by watching a video. 27 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,240 Now, this is a piece of ancient history, OK? 28 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:52,400 This is from the last Millennium. 29 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:56,360 This this video, and therefore to get yourself into thinking 30 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,880 about it, what I want you to do is as you watch and listen to 31 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:03,320 this video, I want you to think about 3 questions. 32 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,320 The first question is the word Babylon. 33 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:10,160 The word Babylon is in Psalm 137. 34 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,840 It's also in the video, but they mean different things when 35 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,400 you're watching the video. What does the video mean by 36 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:22,480 Babylon? Second question, the same the 37 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,080 word Zion, the word Zion is in Psalm 137. 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,640 It's also in the video they mean something slightly different. 39 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,680 So in the video, what does Babylon and Zion mean? 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,400 And final question, as you're watching the video, how does it 41 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,120 make me feel? How does the video make me feel? 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,360 Now we're I'm conscious of time, so we might not play all of it, 43 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,040 but do you want to just play the video? 44 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,480 So we're thinking about Psalm 137. 45 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,480 I'm conscious of time, so we'll make this net bit fairly quick. 46 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,480 But anybody brave enough to shout out what what the song 47 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:02,320 when the when Boney MA German reggae band, by the way, when 48 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,000 they're singing in 1978 about Babylon, What do they mean? 49 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,880 Anybody want to give any offers or rather shy? 50 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:19,040 OK, well, just to give you a bit of a hint, a lot of the the 51 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:24,160 Negro spiritual songs refer to any oppression as Babylon. 52 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:26,560 So they're probably thinking these are songs. 53 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:31,200 Psalm 137 has been sung by originally slaves in the 54 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,880 Caribbean, for example, and Babylon is is any picture of of 55 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:40,560 western oppression. Likewise Zion. 56 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,080 But OK, one key question. How did it make you feel? 57 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,640 Anybody brave enough to call out or didn't it make you feel at 58 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,400 all? Oh, yes, sorry. 59 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:57,920 I'm like, yeah, brilliant. Exactly. 60 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,160 So there there's a sort of a tension, A dissonance there 61 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,120 between quite upbeat. But actually there's a what? 62 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,440 The real deep sadness and pathos in this song, isn't it? 63 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,600 It's making you feel quite sad. Well, we're going to think about 64 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:16,160 that a lot as we start to think through Psalm 137, because what 65 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,160 we need to realise is that Jerusalem is a historic place. 66 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:24,520 There is a city called Jerusalem and Babylon is a historic place 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:27,600 you can go to, I think it's in Iraq now. 68 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,720 Today you can go to where Babylon was. 69 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,000 But in the Bible these two cities take on symbolic 70 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,600 importance. They they represent more than 71 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,640 just the thing. In fact, you could say that the 72 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,000 story if you wanted the various ways to sum up the whole Bible. 73 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,280 One way to sum up the whole Bible is the Bible is a tale of 74 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:51,000 two cities. And so the first city, as it 75 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,200 were, starts in Eden with God's people living under God's rule 76 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,840 perfectly in paradise. That eventually is looking 77 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:05,800 forward to Jerusalem, also known as Mount Zion, because David 78 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,160 built his city around literally the mount. 79 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:10,800 It's what it's called, Mount Zion. 80 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,080 But I want us to see that that later on points to Jesus. 81 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:18,440 It's fulfilled in some ways in Jesus and in the church. 82 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,520 And then in Hebrews 12 and Revelation 21, it looks forward. 83 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,280 So in the Bible, heaven, we might talk about heaven. 84 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:33,000 The Bible talks about a heavenly Jerusalem, a city coming down to 85 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,640 God's people, which is also a garden, interestingly in 86 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:39,720 Revelation. But the same way as Jerusalem 87 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,360 being this symbol of of God's people living under his rule, 88 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:48,240 equally throughout the Bible, Babylon has the opposite 89 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,280 picture. It is a city of godless people. 90 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:54,600 It's a city of people living without God. 91 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,640 So in Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel is the origin of Babylon. 92 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,600 Then it comes to be a literal city, a city state, which then 93 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:09,720 takes on an empire, conquers the the Jewish people, takes the 94 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,760 Jews off into exile. That's when Psalm 137 is 95 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,640 written. But Babylon takes on a meaning 96 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,160 more than itself. So it's very interesting as some 97 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,560 of the Old Testament writers like Ezra and Nehemiah, they can 98 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,480 talk about some of the Persian kings that followed. 99 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,400 So after the Babylonian Empire, you've got the Persian Empire, 100 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,880 Ezra, Nehemiah can refer to the Persian kings as kings of 101 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,400 Babylon. And then when we move from the 102 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,480 Old Testament to the New Testament, Babylon is applied to 103 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,680 Rome. We've got another city that is 104 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,920 another picture of people living away from God, which is the city 105 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:52,720 of destruction. Now to in order to understand 106 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:54,760 Psalm 137, you've got to get this straight. 107 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:57,920 There's something more going on than just Jerusalem and Babylon. 108 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:00,440 This is really a tale of two cities. 109 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:08,280 And therefore the main point of this Psalm is that to be loyal 110 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:13,440 to Zion, we must be sure that Babylon will fall. 111 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,520 I'll say that again, to be loyal to Zion, we must be sure that 112 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:23,920 Babylon will fall. If you're a believer in Jesus 113 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:28,680 this morning, as it were, you live in Babylon, but you long 114 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,600 for Jerusalem. And as we were hearing that even 115 00:07:32,600 --> 00:07:36,400 the, even the Bony Em's version just gives us attention there. 116 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,160 What does it mean to live in that tension? 117 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,320 How do believers live in Babylon while long Eva Zion? 118 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,760 Well, the psalmist tells us to do three things. 119 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:53,520 Number one, mind the gap #2 keep the faith and #3 long for the 120 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,480 end. So first of all, mind the gap. 121 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:01,080 Notice there's a Corp verse, verse 4 verses, all corporate. 122 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:06,080 This is this is the deep grief of the church, God's people in 123 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,600 exile. And as I say, the first thing 124 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,040 the psalmist tells us to do is to mind the gap. 125 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:14,480 Anyone has ever used the tube knows what that means. 126 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:18,880 But before we turn to what the psalmist means by mind the go, I 127 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,440 just want to like give an introductory thought that we 128 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:25,000 also need to be careful to mind the gap, and that is the gap 129 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,120 between our context and the context of Psalm 137. 130 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,520 What we're going to see is it's fine for God's people today to 131 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,000 sing Psalm 137 to make it our prayer. 132 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:40,720 After all, it was written for God's people to sing it, so 133 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,520 there's no problem at us singing it today. 134 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:47,240 The toing and froing, did you notice between I and we 135 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,640 throughout the Psalm makes it clear that it was written by one 136 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:55,280 person, but they meant God's people corporately to sing it. 137 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,720 But my point is by mind the gap, let's not rush to put these 138 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:04,000 words into our mouths. The Jews in exile had been 139 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,520 literal captives. They were actual slaves. 140 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,280 Jerusalem was not in metaphorical ruins, but in real 141 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,880 ones. So is it OK to use verse 4 as a 142 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:19,000 cry in Leicester today? How can we sing the songs of the 143 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 Lord while in a foreign land? Well, sort of. 144 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,360 We do see increasing secularization. 145 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:29,360 It does feel more and more as if when you turn up on a Sunday, 146 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,600 you are singing songs to the Lord in a foreign land. 147 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:35,800 But let's sort of tone down the rhetoric a bit. 148 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,040 We're, we're not like we're not experiencing anything like 149 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,320 these. The Exiles were in Jerusalem. 150 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,040 There's a huge gap between our experience and that of the 151 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:49,400 Psalm. OK, but what does the psalmist 152 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:51,880 mean by mind the gap? Well, look at verses 1 to 4. 153 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:56,200 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered 154 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,640 Zion. There on the poplars we hung our 155 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:01,760 hearts, for there our captors asked us for songs. 156 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,400 Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. 157 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,440 They said sing us one of the songs of Zion. 158 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,520 How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a foreign land? 159 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,440 Do you do you hear the tension in the song? 160 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:20,560 See, the problem was Zion was in ruins. 161 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:24,240 There they were in magnificent Babylon with the Euphrates River 162 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,280 and the Tigris River, it's wonderful irrigation canals all 163 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:31,480 producing the hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the the wonders 164 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,280 of the ancient world. All of that would look so 165 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:40,600 impressive, just like maybe London or New York does today. 166 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:45,800 Beijing. And rather like as Boney M was 167 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,280 singing about, rather like the slaves in the sugar plantations 168 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:53,120 in the Caribbean in the 17th century, so here too in Babylon, 169 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,880 their captives are demanding that they sing songs as mere 170 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:01,360 entertainment. This is utter humiliation. 171 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,680 The promises of the Lord are being directly mocked. 172 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,320 So do you, do you feel some of that sadness as we listen to the 173 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,800 song? I don't know, maybe some of us 174 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:17,640 here. I know certainly at Knighton are 175 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:20,160 old enough to remember when Melbourne Hall had a Sunday 176 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,880 school of hundreds and hundreds of children. 177 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,600 And yet today we turn on the TV and it's full of comedians 178 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:32,640 mocking the church relentlessly. Have you wept? 179 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,480 See, the word remembered is intentional. 180 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,160 They were doing remembering may maybe, I don't know, maybe they 181 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:45,320 would sing Psalm 46 in exile or or Psalm 48. 182 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,160 They would they would be encouraging other with these 183 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:50,720 words. There is a river whose streams 184 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,360 may glad the city of God, the holy place where the most High 185 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:55,880 dwells. God is within her. 186 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,560 She will not fall. God will help her at break of 187 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:01,560 day. How? 188 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:06,080 How could you say that Psalm out loud in Babylon? 189 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:11,640 It would just seem ridiculous, wouldn't it? 190 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:19,920 But that is the point. The Psalms teach us to feel what 191 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,640 we're supposed to feel. And I wonder this morning, do 192 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:28,520 you ever find, do you ever feel that mismatch in church because 193 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,120 you're supposed to? Are there ever times where 194 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:38,000 you're singing a song and you're just thinking, really I do. 195 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,440 There's lots of times I'm singing a song and I find myself 196 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,640 stopping part way through, not because I don't believe that the 197 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,360 words are true. I know in here they're true. 198 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,840 But my heart is saying, really, my heart is saying, John, can 199 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,880 you with all integrity, can you really sing that? 200 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,880 We always feel that mismatch, and let's be honest about that. 201 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:05,320 And even more so in exile. How can you sing a God to a God 202 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,400 and about a God who heals the leper when he won't heal your 203 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,600 own daughter? How do you sing to a God who 204 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,200 saves but he won't save your father? 205 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,720 How can you sing about a great God whose Kingdom is growing 206 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,320 while church attendance plummets? 207 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,640 Or maybe our particular church is growing, so we we sing those 208 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,840 songs with triumphant gusto. What about the rest of the 209 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,400 church in the UK? Don't we really care? 210 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,920 The psalmist is saying, mind the gap. 211 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,680 It is really healthy to vocalize those questions. 212 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:51,120 I find an about the Richard finds the same, but on a Sunday 213 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,200 at the end of the service, people seem to think that I want 214 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:57,200 to hear like that was a really lovely service. 215 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,080 I've got to be honest, I don't well put it this way. 216 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,080 I would be much happier if people were angry or they were 217 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,800 asking really hard questions because I'm often thinking, 218 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:11,440 look, did you not read Psalm 137? 219 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:14,720 There are huge issues there. Are we not wrestling with this 220 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,760 stuff together? But notice that the psalmist 221 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,520 still expects us to sing these songs. 222 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:24,560 After all, he's written the Psalm. 223 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,200 This is, I want to be clear, this is not advocating some kind 224 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,440 of cynical withdraw from worship. 225 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,880 The opposite, that we engage more in the songs that we sing, 226 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,840 but we reflect on them. We think, do I really believe 227 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,120 this stuff? That's the first thing from 228 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,920 Psalm 137. Mind the gap. 229 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:51,400 Secondly, keep the faith. Verses 5 to 6. 230 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:52,840 Notice it. The voice changes. 231 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,040 It's now an individual speaking, probably the author of the 232 00:14:56,040 --> 00:14:59,880 Psalm. If I forget you, Jerusalem, may 233 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,680 my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof 234 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:05,840 of my mouth. If I do not remember you, if I 235 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:14,080 do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy, the Psalm change is 236 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,000 tack dramatically there, doesn't it? 237 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,240 There's a, there's a generational thing going on 238 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:21,200 here. So the older generation are worn 239 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:25,440 down by exile, but the younger generation are starting to say, 240 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:31,880 is this all true? And the point is that in those 241 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:36,920 situations, we need to face those questions with Scripture 242 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:41,120 and with integrity. Faith is like a muscle. 243 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:47,400 It grows by stretching. It dies, it atrophies through 244 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,880 lack of use. As I've said, I'm in a group 245 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,480 actually with Graham and we often we meet and we read a book 246 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,760 together. And a few years ago we read this 247 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:02,200 book written by the Puritan Richard Sibbs called The Bruised 248 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,480 Read. As it happens, we weren't that 249 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,760 impressed through the way the Richard handles scripture. 250 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:08,680 Richard Sibbs. That is not Richard Brewster, 251 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:17,360 but Sib's is full of Nuggets of gold, wonderful pastoral wisdom. 252 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,440 The book is written for bruised reads. 253 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,880 It's written for people who've been bruised by sin, bruised by 254 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:31,720 suffering, bruised by doubt. And in it he says this. 255 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:38,120 Nothing is so certain as that which is certain after doubts. 256 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:45,040 We wrestle with these things honestly and it confirms our 257 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,880 faith. Putting our head in the sand 258 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:52,600 does not help anything at all. So this individual voice is his 259 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,960 personal loyalty to the Lord and gives an implicit challenge to 260 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,840 everyone. And the Psalm starts with 261 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,880 remembering Zion. And then verse 5 we have the 262 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:05,319 opposite. If you don't remember, then you 263 00:17:05,319 --> 00:17:08,760 forget. And by remember, he doesn't just 264 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,359 mean like remembering, you know, a date of a battle. 265 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,920 He means intentionally recalling God's covenant with his people 266 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,319 or as verse 6 puts it, set Jerusalem as my highest joy. 267 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,839 So when we sing songs on the Sunday, we're not ducking those 268 00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:28,280 issues, We're not dodging questions. 269 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,960 But what we're doing when we sing songs of worship, when we 270 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,800 praise, we are setting our hearts on the heavenly 271 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:40,080 Jerusalem, the place where God's people one day will live in 272 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,800 paradise under God's rule. That's what I mean by keep the 273 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,480 faith. Now, what does that mean in 274 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,000 practice? Well, as we've seen, that 275 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,560 doesn't mean that we think about the historic city of Jerusalem 276 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,400 that's on the news all the moment at the time. 277 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,360 Now the New Testament calls instead believe us, to set their 278 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:02,640 hearts on the heavenly Jerusalem that's coming down from heaven. 279 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:08,400 And that's not the same as just saying believe Now. 280 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,240 It's an act of the will and it evolves the mind. 281 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,120 But it's more of a heart thing, isn't it? 282 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:21,280 The set Jerusalem as my highest joy means that I make heaven my 283 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,080 home, the new heavens and the new earth. 284 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:29,080 It means, as it were, that in my wallet, on my phone, I have a 285 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:33,200 photo of heaven and I get it out regularly. 286 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,760 And I say to myself wistfully that that's home, this is good, 287 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,400 this is good, but that that's home. 288 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,040 That's the place that I was made for. 289 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:51,000 That's what my heart longs for. So as I look forward, not 290 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:56,600 backwards, that's what the Reform Party, William Blake, all 291 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,360 those people painting St. George's crosses, that's what 292 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:00,720 they're getting wrong at the moment. 293 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:06,200 Followers of Jesus are not trying to recreate a Christendom 294 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:09,040 of the past, as if that was even possible. 295 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:14,080 Followers of Jesus instead, they're not looking backwards, 296 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:20,600 they're looking forwards to the heavenly Jerusalem that is our 297 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:26,160 home. Mind the gap, keep the faith, 298 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:32,000 then finally smash the babies. Well, that's what it seems to 299 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,520 say, doesn't it? But my last point is long for 300 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:37,720 the end. Is that because I'm bottling it? 301 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,200 Am I, Am I sort of domesticating God's word? 302 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:43,520 Am I sort of watering down the heart? 303 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:46,480 I mean, it is. Verse 9 is so brutal, isn't it? 304 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:49,920 I've read it many times in preparing, but when I heard it 305 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,880 again this morning, I just winced. 306 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,000 Remember, Laura, the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell? 307 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,440 Tear it down, they cried. Tear it down to its foundations. 308 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,680 Daughter Babylon, doomed to disruption. 309 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,880 Happy is the one who repays you according to what you've done to 310 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:09,880 us. Happy is the one who seizes your 311 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:12,320 infants and dashes them against the rocks. 312 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,960 There are so many questions in those verses. 313 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,000 Let's just take them really quickly. 314 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,960 What's so bad about the Edomites in verse 7? 315 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,480 Well, the short answer is, read the book of Obadiah, the 316 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,160 Edomites, cousins of Israel, because they were familial, as 317 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,760 it were. Their betrayal of Jerusalem when 318 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:37,800 it fell was that much more painful that they had when 319 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,960 Babylon attacked Jerusalem, The Edomites had sided with Babylon. 320 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:50,560 So listen carefully, though, in response to that bitter, bitter 321 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:55,440 action, what the psalmist says in verse 7, notice he does not 322 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,400 call for revenge. He merely asked the Lord to 323 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,840 remember what the Edomites has done. 324 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:06,760 He prays, he does not curse. Yes, this was a terrible 325 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:08,360 pretrial. This was the treachery of a 326 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:10,760 brother, like the betrayal of Judas. 327 00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:16,400 But he doesn't call for revenge. Similarly, verses 8 and 9, 328 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:20,720 they're not a curse either. The only curse in Psalm 137 329 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:27,480 comes in verse 6 on himself. If he does not remember what he 330 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,160 is instead doing, he's not calling for revenge. 331 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,080 He is expressing a confidence that God will judge the wicked, 332 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:41,600 that heaven is only possible if the wicked are removed, that 333 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:45,920 Zion can only rise if Babylon falls. 334 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,920 Now the word translated happy in verses 8 and 9 is normally 335 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,480 rendered blessed. Blessed in the sense of doing 336 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:57,920 God's will. So he's not praying for revenge. 337 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,840 He's simply saying that God's will be done. 338 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:05,560 Now that might seem like a pedantic distinction, but it's 339 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:10,640 not. He is trusting in the justice of 340 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,200 God is what he's doing. Because it might be tempting to 341 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,840 write this Psalm off as well. This is an Old Testament 342 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,480 reality, and Christians don't live like that anymore. 343 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,640 But unfortunately, as we've seen already in Revelation chapter 344 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,000 18, the apostle John applies exactly that. 345 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,840 He takes Babylon as an image and applies the same things to Rome. 346 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,200 So the message of the New Testament is the same as the Old 347 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:42,720 Testament. Zion can only rise if Babylon 348 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:47,320 falls. And so we come to these really 349 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,720 hard words in verse 9 that we shouldn't be glib. 350 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,040 What does he mean? What is going on? 351 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:02,520 Well, it's the main point that the self regenerating power of 352 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,520 Babylon will one day be finally gone. 353 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:11,640 Is Psalm 137 saying that Babylon will only keep on spreading her 354 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,120 wickedness across the globe until the day where God stops 355 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,960 Babylon from ever reproducing anymore? 356 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:24,240 That there is patience, but that God's patience will finally 357 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,160 stop? That the only way to be saved is 358 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:30,840 to cease being a Babylonian, an Edomite. 359 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:36,640 This is a hard cry for Babylon to be no more because everyone 360 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,080 in the world experiences the salvation of Jesus Christ. 361 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:45,360 At least that's the offer. So there's something 362 00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:47,920 uncomfortable that we have to wrestle with this morning. 363 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:52,520 Yes, this is not about revenge. Yes, in the New Testament, Jesus 364 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,440 redirects this Psalm on the cross. 365 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,080 Of course he prays for forgiveness. 366 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:01,480 So of course, when we pray for Gaza and Ukraine, we pray for 367 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:05,520 peace and reconciliation. We don't pray for revenge and 368 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:11,480 further bloodshed. But as we pray that, what do we 369 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:16,960 pray for those who refuse ever to stop living like this, who 370 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:24,280 refuse ever God's mercy? The crime writer PD James in her 371 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,880 novel Original sin, she's there's a in, in the novel, 372 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,760 there's an interaction between 2 characters. 373 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,480 One's a, a Jewish colleague and the one character says, says to 374 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:38,320 her friend, it, you know, she's basically not really sure there 375 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,480 is a God. But if I had a God, I'd like him 376 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:43,360 to be intelligent, cheerful and amusing. 377 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,560 And a Jewish colleague replies, Well, I doubt you'd find him 378 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,680 much of A comfort when they herded you into the gas 379 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,640 chambers. Then you might prefer a God of 380 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,360 vengeance. And that's the issue that 381 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:02,200 Christians have to wrestle with as we think of heaven. 382 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:06,800 We all long for heaven, but we don't like to think about what 383 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:12,200 is necessary for heaven to be heaven, that for heaven to be 384 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:18,160 heaven, all evil one day must be removed, including those who 385 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,360 refuse ever God's mercy. So disturbing though it is, 386 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,920 verse 9 points us to the doctrine of hell. 387 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,360 What is God supposed to do with those who refuse ever to accept 388 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:35,080 Him? A few months ago, I won't go 389 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:38,880 into all the details. I was talking to someone who who 390 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,920 was living in eastern Ukraine until the war forced him to flee 391 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,280 with his family. And now he's he's in the UK and 392 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,040 he finds it really hard because every week he's getting phone 393 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,280 calls from his church members back in the church in Ukraine. 394 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,920 What is he supposed to say to comfort the one particular 395 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,160 woman? She lives in a house that shares 396 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,120 a wall with a cafe. So next door is a cafe. 397 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:07,400 And she says, how do I sleep at night when most nights, 398 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:12,080 certainly every weekend, all I hear is the screams of women. 399 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:21,200 How is the Lord going to make Ukraine and Russia part of the 400 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,960 new heavens and new earth without removing one day all 401 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,040 wickedness? Yes, the Lord is patient. 402 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,440 Yes, he's slow to anger. Yes, he wants all people to save 403 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:33,800 and come to knowledge of the truth. 404 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:39,320 But eventually, for the New Jerusalem to come down, Babylon 405 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:44,160 must give way. Therefore, if you're a follower 406 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:51,000 of Jesus, you long for the end, not with Glee, not with hearts 407 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:56,880 full of revenge, but with a sad resignation that eventually this 408 00:26:56,880 --> 00:27:00,320 will mean the destruction of all those who reject God. 409 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,200 This is the end result. When you pray your Kingdom come, 410 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:08,920 your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 411 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,680 Psalm 137 has to at least be in the background. 412 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,880 But if you set Jerusalem as your highest joy, then your heart 413 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,600 will always be restless to some degree until you get there. 414 00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:28,080 Too much contemporary Christianity, I think is is 415 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:36,520 satisfied with the present. Instead, let's long for paradise 416 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,640 while realizing that for Jerusalem to come, Babylon must 417 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:45,280 be destroyed. So mind the gap, keep the faith 418 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:50,280 long for the end. Let's pray. 419 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,920 Heavenly Father, these are really difficult words of 420 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:01,040 Scripture for us to wrestle with, and I pray that You will 421 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:07,120 take Your Word and work it out in our hearts by Your Spirit. 422 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,160 Help us to wrestle with it with integrity this morning. 423 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,880 Anything that I've said that's distracting and unhelpful, may 424 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:20,680 we forget that quickly. But whatever is a true 425 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:27,400 explanation of Your Word, Lord planted as a seed in our hearts, 426 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,760 watered by Your Spirit, that might grow to full faith in 427 00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:36,720 Christ as we long for the heavenly Jerusalem. 428 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:38,760 Amen.