Reflections on Psalms 87

 Psalms 87(Contemporary English Version)

1. (A psalm and a song by the people of Korah.) Zion was built by the LORD on the holy mountain,
   
2. and he loves that city more than any other place in all of Israel.
   
3. Zion, you are the city of God, and wonderful things are told about you.
   
4. Egypt, Babylonia, Philistia, Phoenicia, and Ethiopia are some of those nations that know you, and their people all say, "I was born in Zion."
   
5. God Most High will strengthen the city of Zion. Then everyone will say, "We were born here too."
   
6. The LORD will make a list of his people, and all who were born here will be included.
   
7. All who sing or dance will say, "I too am from Zion."

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Psalms 87, a psalm of the sons of Korah, is a psalm about Jerusalem which is identified here and elsewhere in scripture as the "city of God." It says that "The Lord loves the gates of Zion (Jerusalem) more than all the dwellings of Jacob." (87:2) It will be known as the birthplace of nations and peoples of the world will seek to have their names in the Lord's record as "one (who) was born there." (87:6)

There is only one reason for Jerusalem to have this status, and that is because the Lord chose it as is also the case with Israel. Otherwise Jerusalem has little else to credit it as a city of status. God did not choose Jerusalem because of any merit it had but very likely because it had very little to its credit. All of its notoriety, therefore, is God's doing. This is true, also, of each of us. God doesn't chose us to belong to His family because of any merit we have but because He has chosen to do so and has made it possible through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The concept in this psalm of Jerusalem as the birthplace of nations and of peoples of the world is a spiritual concept and is a reference to Jerusalem as our spiritual birthplace. All of this points to a time when Christ will reign from His throne in this "city of God" which is spoken of in Isaiah 2:2-3.