The psalm was composed after the return from the exile in Babylon. Those who returned were engaged in the task of rebuilding the city and no doubt they wondered about its prospects.
In the psalm, the author thinks about God’s city and its past, present and future. In the past, he founded the city on a secure foundation – the range of mountains round Jerusalem; and in the present, he loves its gates more than all the other locations in the country. The gates could refer to the several entrances to the city, where people would enter it, and where they would be registered.
Yet it is the future of the city that the psalmist focuses on, and it is obvious that he is moving on from a description of a literal city. The future glory of Zion had already been made known in the prophetic descriptions found in the Old Testament of its coming growth and blessing (by prophets such as Isaiah and Ezekiel). So the psalmist is commenting on their announcements.
The author does not mention all the glorious details in his
description in the psalm. But he does highlight some. He mentions the
inhabitants, their privileged status, and the quality of life.
First, he describes the future inhabitants of the city. Instead of being inhabited by Jews only, the residents would include people from other nations. The countries that he lists were enemies of Israel (v. 4), yet from them would come those who would dwell in the city of God. The fulfilment of this influx of people occurs during the gospel era.
Second, it was the custom for citizens to be recorded in a city register. God is the registrar, and he never makes a mistake regarding membership. Membership was an indication of privileges, and one of the privileges of this city is that the inhabitants are born in it, even although some of them come from faraway. Here we a reminder that identification with this city requires regeneration.
God gives to the residents the right of belonging to the city. His city is established by numerical growth that occurs through conversions. The city is marked by ongoing growth, and there is not a register of those who leave it because that is impossible. Once in this city, people are in it forever (vv. 5-6). Abraham is an example of someone who recognised the permanence of the city (Heb. 11:8-10).
Some might wonder about the connection between the book of life and the registration mentioned here. The names in the book of life have been in it from eternity whereas the names in this record are added when they are born again. This record is still expanding, but the time will come when the names in it and in the book of life will be the same. Calvin commented that ‘God, it is true, wrote the names of his children in the Book of Life before the creation of the world; but he enrols them in the catalogue of his saints, only when, having regenerated them by the Spirit of adoption, he impresses his own mark upon them.’
Third, life in the city is very joyful because the life they have comes from God. Worship will be the dominant activity, and it will be sustained at an elevated level because of the grace given by the Spirit. Citizens of Zion are worshippers in Zion forever.
The church of today was part of the future church described by the psalmist, but we can take his description and anticipate the glories that God will yet give to his church in time and in eternity.
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