IS THERE ANY HOPE OF PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

 Posted at Reformation Scotland:

Published October 26, 2023

Songs written thousands of years ago take on renewed relevance as we respond to the recent outbreak of vicious hatred in the Middle East. Psalm 87 was written in a time of despondency as the sheer scale of the necessary rebuilding effort sank in, complicated by the hostility of the surrounding enemies and the weakened condition of the people. However, in his commentary on this psalm, David Dickson identifies reasons to take comfort and be encouraged even in the midst of this grim situation. People from Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon as well as Israel will be spiritually reborn into the family of the covenant Lord, bringing them into a position of the highest honour as well as eternal safety, and displaying the Lord’s wonderful love and power. The promise that He will do this in His own time gives us hope for solid peace eventually.

When God loosed the captivity of the Jews by Cyrus, few of them returned from Babylon. The work of repairing church and state, temple and city had few to assist it. Their enemies were many, they were straitened with poverty and famine, and the hearts and hands of the godly were weakened. They were on the point of fainting, and despairing of church or state ever flourishing any more amongst them.

Psalm 87 was fitted to bring comfort in such a time. It leads the Lord’s people to live by faith, and to keep on going in the work of building the Lord’s house and repairing the city, looking to God the builder of His church and the maintainer of His people. Here are six comforts to the Lord’s people from Psalm 87.

THE SOLID FOUNDATION GOD HAS ALREADY LAID

The first comfort of the afflicted Jews, troubled over how the building of God’s temple was being hindered, was that God had by His decree and promise already made the mountains of Sion and Moriah the place of His rest amongst His people. “His foundation is in the holy mountains” (v.1). They would remain till the Messiah would come, for He would fulfil these types, and they would be preserved for His sake until He would come. It is the Messiah who is the only solid rock on which the church is built.

When the builders of the Lord’s church are few and weak, His people need to be comforted against their fears and doubts, and the way to get comfort in such a situation is to look by faith to God as the builder of His own house. God has laid the foundations on a solid basis, so that every believer who trusts in Him will be like Mount Sion, which cannot be moved.

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