STRANGERS BELOW AND CITIZENS ABOVE
G Allan Brown
Psalm 137: 1-6; 122: 1-4; 150: 1-6
The people that we have read about in Psalm 137 were the people of God, but they were captives and they were in a foreign land. No doubt they would feel that they had had part in the departure which had brought about the captivity, but nevertheless they had right thoughts in their minds. They were thinking about Jerusalem; not the Jerusalem that was in ruins at that time but as it was in the mind of God. That has its own reference to Israel, but to give it an application to us, dear brethren - which is why we are here - it impresses me that we are in this situation. We have had part in the breakdown, and we find ourselves at this time on foreign soil. By that I mean, we have to live in our daily duties and relationships down here, all these things that relate to this world in which we are; the world’s system, we might call it, not necessarily the wickedness of it. But the fact is that it is not our home; it is a foreign soil. I feel exercised as to this, dear brethren, as to how much we actually feel that we are strangers and foreigners in this world through which our path is set.
We could apply what I have in mind to other meetings, but I am thinking particularly of how we gather for the Lord’s supper . I feel it particularly as walking to the Lord’s supper. Most arrive by car, but those of us who walk pass by and see people are buying their Sunday papers, and talking about the sports results from yesterday, and they have loud blaring music. I just feel I do not belong here; I am in a foreign land. Perhaps they would want us to join in with their music and so on. That is what it says here,
For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song; and they
that made us wail required mirth, saying,
Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How should we sing a song of Jehovah’s
upon a foreign soil?
Brethren, we do not belong there. We can have no part actively in any of the ongoings of this world; we are strangers below; but we are citizens above.
If I forget thee, Jerusalem …”,
then it says,
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to my palate: if I prefer not
Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Let us have the assembly, dear brethren, as it is in the mind of God, whatever the public breakdown may be, (and how grievous all that is); let us have the divine thought constantly before us.
Now this involves movement. I am thinking again of the Lord’s supper and in Psalm 122 we have, “A Song of Degrees. Of David”. It is a song of returning captives. He says,
I rejoiced when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of Jehovah.
Does that not fill your heart? Your heart leaps with joy when you think of what it is to come together with the dear brethren and sit down in assembly. Think of the dignity of that occasion. It is a wonderful thing just to watch the brethren gathering for the Lord’s supper. It says here,
Whither the tribes go up …
Consider the saints coming from their various backgrounds, different families, different places, perhaps, but they have a glorious objective before them and that is Jerusalem; that is, for us, the assembly as it is in the mind of God. Think of it: our gathering on Lord’s day morning is a gathering of assembly character. We often think of a meeting of assembly character as having to do with discipline, which, alas, sometimes it does, but we have a meeting of assembly character every Lord’s day. Paul says that: “when ye come together in assembly” (1 Cor 11: 18); that is the character. We are not claiming anything, but that is the character in which we come together and so -
Our feet shall stand within thy gates,
O Jerusalem.
Think of what it means when the saints gather, leaving all this foreign land behind us. We can put it out of our minds because as David says here,
I rejoiced when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of Jehovah.
Our feet shall stand within thy gates,
O Jerusalem.
What a thing it is to be actually gathered in all the dignity of what it is to be “in assembly”! We gather in the wilderness; we break bread in the wilderness; but when the Lord comes in, He floods the whole scene with His glory! What a place it is to be! Where else would you want to be?
Jerusalem, which art built as a city
that is compact together.
There is nothing big outwardly; it “is compact together”, but it is something that is according to the mind of God. Let us hold on to that, dear brethren; the divine ideal is what is to be before us and to fill our hearts as we gather, and the Lord comes in and takes possession of the whole scene, and our feet are standing there on heavenly ground. We are home; we have come home; we have been away from home in captivity but now we are within our own sphere, the sphere where we belong:
Strangers below and citizens above,
(Hymn 284)
as we sometimes sing. This is where we belong.
Well, as the assembly functions in response to the Lord Jesus, all these different aspects, His brethren, His assembly, the blessed Spirit responded to, the Father having received His portion, there is this glorious outburst of praise in Psalm 150,
Praise God in his sanctuary.
That is where we are! We are in the divine presence, the divine realm. I have nothing to say as to the detail of this psalm but it just lifts your spirit as you read these precious words, “Praise him … Praise him … Praise him”
Let everything that hath breath praise Jah.
Hallelujah!.
This is the great climax of the Psalms. I think in New Testament terms it is Ephesians 3, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”, v 21. What a God we have! What a portion we have, dear brethren! Let us enter into it fully, not only just for our enjoyment but for the pleasure of our God.
Let everything that hath breath praised Jah:
hearts and voices blending in adoration to our glorious God, and in appreciation of the way He has come out and worked to secure us and bring us into this, the very best and greatest of things. I trust the Lord may bless these few words.
Word in meeting for ministry in Grangemouth
12th June 2018