The Captive Heart

The Songs of Ascent

Text: Psalm 132

Title: The Captive Heart

Introduction

In this longest of the songs of ascent the central theme is God’s covenant of grace. The pilgrim is approaching the city of God, and as he prepares to worship the Lord he pleads with the Lord to remember His faithfulness. The covenant of grace began as soon as Adam sinned. In pronouncing a curse upon satan in Genesis 3:15 God says, And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The calling of Abraham and the promise to establish David’s throne forever are events that culminate in the fulfillment of the original promise. The seed of the woman will bruise the serpents head. I John 3:8 says, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. This was done by our redeemer through His atoning death on the cross. There the blood that sealed the eternal covenant was shed. There He crushed the serpent’s head. There we find the ultimate, the final deliverance and the fulfillment of the covenant promise, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” It is impossible to worship the Lord unless we come to Him pleading the blood of the covenant, the blood of Christ. In an Old Testament form that is what this Psalm is doing. The Psalm contains a plea, a pledge, a prayer, and praise.

I The Plea

The Psalm opens with the plea in verse 1, O LORD, remember David and all the hardships he endured. The hardships or afflictions of David have a special significance. Many in the Bible and in our lives experience severe afflictions, but the hardships spoken of here have special reference to God choosing David to be the king after God’s heart, and the ancestor of the Messiah who would sit on the throne of David in glory forever. He was afflicted because he was chosen, as indeed Israel was afflicted because it was chosen. That is why the plea is amplified in verses 10-12, For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed one. The LORD swore an oath to David, a sure oath that he will not revoke: “One of your own descendants I will place on your throne—if your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them, then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever.” The plea for God not to reject His anointed one is a contrite plea for God not to reject the worshippers. As God did not reject David, and as God could not reject David’s greater son, Jesus Christ, so may he accept us because we come in the basis of His covenant grace. This is the heart of our worship as we plead the sacrifice of Christ as the ground of God accepting us. In Revelation 1:4-6 John writes, Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. The word “kingdom” should be translated kings. The idea is that God made us royal priests, not just priests but kingly priests. Thus, because of the redemption we have in Christ the anointing is upon us as it was upon David signifying God’s blessing and the fulfillment of His faithful covenant promises. This is what we ask God to remember anytime we come to worship.

II The Pledge

The pledge of David in verses 2-5 is our pledge, He swore an oath to the LORD and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or go to my bed— I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” The foundation of the covenant is, of course, God’s pledge to us, but in response we vow to serve Him as David did. Vows are a legitimate exercise in worship. We make vows when ordained, vows when joining the church, vows when we are married before God, and vows when we sing the hymns of Zion. The Psalms were the song book of Israel and they are filled with such promises. Even gospel songs reflect this thinking and comprise vows such as, John Bode’s “O Jesus I Have Promised.” It declares, “O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end; Be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend; I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side, Nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my Guide. O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee That where Thou art in glory there shall Thy servant be; And Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end—Oh, give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend.” What is important here is the depth of David’s vow. Nothing else mattered as much as the worship of the true and living God. He as a king and yet his own comforts were set aside for the sake of the Lord. So many “Christians” are satisfied with Sunday religion. They actually think that they can rest assuredly, although they are carnal. But worship with a plea and no pledge is empty and vain. Israel tried it. God responded to their uncommitted worship in Isaiah 1:11-17, “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them…wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Let us examine ourselves whether we are in the faith and let us give diligence to make our calling and election sure, and then we will truly worship as the psalmist reminds us.

III The Prayer

The psalmist reflects on the prayer that accompanied David’s worship, and should be in ours in verses 6-9, We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar: “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool—arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy.” The heart of this prayer is for the Lord to arise and come to meet us. The historical background of this prayer is important. The Israelites carried the ark of the covenant from the tabernacle into battle. It was captured by the Philistines. Eventually it was rescued and brought to the house of Abinidab, probably a levite who lived in Kiriath Jearim. In our Scripture the place is referred to simply as Jaar. David brought the ark up to the tabernacle on Mt. Zion from the house of Obed-Edom where it had been taken after a misstep in the journey from Jaar. There was great praise and rejoicing as it was brought in. We must remember that the ark was God’s throne and the place where he manifested His presence in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple. It was also the place of atonement on the mercy seat that covered it. Thus the prayer, arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. In our experience it would be equivalent to asking God to be present in our worship and to meet with us. Although he has promised to, be with us, this is an appropriate plea in worship and in fact, historically, most worship services started with an invocation which is the same as what the psalmist says, entreating the Lord to be with us. And as he does this we ask that he might clothe his people with righteousness and fill their hearts with songs of praise, May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy.

IV The Praise

And now the psalmist turns to the praise in worship that is based on the promises of God in verses 13-18, For the LORD has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling: “This is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it—I will bless her with abundant provisions; her poor will I satisfy with food. I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints will ever sing for joy. “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent.” Here the promises of God are quoted with a desire to exalt the Lord as the gracious giver. All our blessings come from Him and as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28-32, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. what, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? The psalmist as a prophet reminds us of the same truth as he says, “Here I will make a horn grow for David and set up a lamp for my anointed one. I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown on his head will be resplendent.” This is speaking of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ. In Luke 1:69 we read the words of Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham. So Jesus is the horn of salvation of which the psalmist speaks and He is the one whose enemies will be clothed with shame and who receives the resplendent crown because he has become Lord of all through His death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, and all authority is given to Him in heaven and earth. Our praise rises in Christian worship just as the psalmist’s praise arose because God’s promise to David is fulfilled in our Savior. This is the cause of all our praise in worship and our song is recorded in Revelation 5:9 and 10, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”