There is a place where all misery and tears will forever be behind us. It is a place where we will dwell in the sunshine of God's presence, and where nothing and no one can ever drive us out and away from heavenly blessedness. Of that place the psalmist sings in Psalm 46:4,5. He writes, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her and that right early.''
Satan succeeded in getting Adam and Eve out of the place that pictured this realm of everlasting bliss. But he is not going to keep us from entering and living forever in that city of which the garden of Eden was only a picture. And of all this we can be sure because God dwells in that city, and He is our refuge (verse 7). We ought to see this truth much more clearly than the psalmist, for by faith we have seen God's Son come into our flesh, blot out our sins, rise from the dead again the third day, and ascend to God's right hand with power over all things in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).
Who can prevent that King from bringing us to this city and from keeping us there? His enemies God used to bring Him to His cross for our salvation. The grave and death could not hold Him; and now He has power over all our enemies. Satan and his host, the heathen, that is, all the unbelievers, are unable to lift one finger against us. We will reach that city,
If there ever was a safe place, if there ever was refuge for the oppressed, it is in that city of God. Sing it then:
A river flows whose streams make glad
The city of our God,
The holy place wherein the Lord
Most High has His abode;
Since God is in the midst of her.
Unmoved her walls shall stand,
For God will be her early help,
When trouble is at hand.
Read: John 14:1-27
Psalter versification: #126:2
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter number 382
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
1 Kings 5
1 Kings 6
Acts 7:1-29
Psalm 127:1-5
Proverbs 16:28-30
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Quote for Reflection:
"This perversity never ceases in us, but continually bears new fruits - the works of the flesh that we have already described - just as a burning furnace gives forth flame and sparks, or water ceaselessly bubbles up from a spring. Thus those who have defined original sin as 'the lack of the original righteousness, which ought to reside in us' although they comprehend in this definition the whole meaning of the term, have still not expressed effectively enough its power and energy. For our nature is not only destitute and empty of good, but so fertile and fruitful of every evil that it cannot be idle. Those who have said that original sin is 'concupiscence' (the law of sin in our sinful flesh-ajb) have used an appropriate word, if only it be added - something that most will by no means concede - that whatever is in man, from the understanding to the will, from the soul even to the flesh, has been defied and crammed with this concupiscence. Or, to put it more briefly, the whole man is of himself nothing but concupiscence." John Calvin
Additional Info
- Date: 9-June