Touring the Citadel of God

Introduction

A few summers ago our family went on a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield during our vacation. Now, there are a lot of tour companies in Gettysburg! There are walking tours, bus tours, Segway tours, tours on horseback, tours from the Confederate side, tours from the Union side, “ghost-hunting” tours, church tours, self-guided tours, National Park Service tours—you name it. But we were looking for something that didn’t require a reservation, and that had room for all eight of us in the same timeslot. We settled on the “Historic Tours Company” on Steinwehr Avenue. Their photo featured a vintage 1930’s tour bus that they used for their tours, and they said that their tour was geared towards families with children, so that there would be something interesting for all ages.

So the morning of the tour, we headed off to Steinwehr Avenue to find the Historic Tours Company. And if you’re familiar with downtown historic Gettysburg, you know how hard it is to get around—especially if you can’t find the place you’re looking for! Google Lady kept telling us “You have reached your destination”, but we couldn’t see the place anywhere! Finally we turned down a blind alley, and found what looked like an abandoned service station—a low concrete block building, maybe thirty feet long, with a locked door and a faded poster visible through the window that said “Historic Tour Company”. After about five minutes of waiting (and trying to decide if we wanted to leave!), our guide showed up with an apology for running late. He invited us around the back of the building to the bus—which turned out not to be a vintage antique tour bus from the ‘30’s. Instead it was a vintage antique airport shuttle bus from the ‘70’s—which took a few minutes to get started!

At this point we’re all looking at each other with the same thought: “Maybe we better get out while the getting’s good!” But we set aside our misgivings long enough to get settled in the shuttle and Glen (our guide) pulled out into the alley to begin the tour. And for the next two and a half hours, we were treated to one of the most engaging and fascinating tours I’ve ever been on! Glen was extremely interesting, and told story after story about every facet of the three-day battle—from the first shots fired near the Chambersburg Pike to Little Round Top and the infamous “Fish-hook line”, to the massive artillery bombardment on the third day and the desperate Pickett’s Charge—he knew how to tell stories that made you feel like you were there. He even stopped at one point and gave the kids muskets so that they could practice loading and firing!

As we talked to him during the course of the tour, we came to find out his story: He had always been fascinated with Civil War history, and would visit Gettysburg from his home in New Jersey every chance he got. Eventually he moved to Adams County so that he could be a battlefield tour guide full time. And that was what made him so engaging. He was all in—he had centered his whole life on studying the Battle of Gettysburg and sharing it with others. And his enthusiasm and love for his subject more than made up for the dilapidated office and the dingy tour bus!

In some ways, Psalm 48 is a “Tour Guide’s Psalm”. Look at verses 12-14:

Psalm 48:12–14 ESV

12 Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation 14 that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.

This is the third of the “Songs of Zion” that we’ve seen in the last few weeks, and this one pulls out all the stops in its description of the beauty and splendor and magnificence of the city of God. And in reading it, you see that the Sons of Korah never tired of giving tours of the splendor of God—they never tired of pointing out the majesty of the citadel of YHWH to the next generation. You can hear their enthusiasm in verse 8:

Psalm 48:8 ESV

8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God, which God will establish forever. Selah

They loved giving tours of the glory of God because of what they had seen of Him! They had not only heard the stories of His mighty deeds, they had seen His power firsthand! And this is what I want us to learn from this psalm:

A good tour guide in the Citadel of God never gets tired of telling the story of God’s faithful love.

Verses 12-13 give us the map of our walking tour around Zion this morning. We are called to “number her towers, consider her ramparts and go through her citadels”. So let’s follow our tour guides as they take us out around the Citadel of YHWH. The first stop on our tour is:

I. The Towers : God’s Reign

Look at verses 1-3:

Psalm 48:1–3 ESV

1 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God! His holy mountain, 2 beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. 3 Within her citadels God has made himself known as a fortress.

Now, it sounds a little odd at first; almost as if our tour guides don’t know their geography, right? Mount Zion isn’t exactly “in the far north”, after all! But if you have a different translation this morning, you may notice that verse 2 reads differently. The NIV, for instance, renders it:

“Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.”

The original Hebrew here is the word zaphon, which is also the name of a mountain (“Mt. North”, you might say) that sits on the Syria/Turkey border (about 400 miles or so north of Jerusalem). It was considered the traditional home of Baal the Storm God of the Canaanites, kind of like the Canaanite version of Mount Olympus (and similar to Mt. Hermon in northern Israel). So what the psalm is doing here is comparing Mt. Zion—where YHWH dwells—with Mt. Zaphon—where Baal dwells!

And the meaning is clear: YHWH’s kingdom supersedes Baal’s! Baal may have his little fiefdom up there on the Syria/Turkey border, but the real “joy of all the earth” is the mountain where YHWH dwells! Even though Mt. Zion is actually about half the height of Mt. Zaphon (2,500’ vs. 5,600’),

The glory and splendor of Mt. Zion doesn’t come from how tall it is, but from who reigns from it!

YHWH is the one who humiliated Baal over and over again in the Old Testament—most notably in 1 Kings 18, when the prophet Elijah faced down 400 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. When Baal couldn’t manage to set fire to the altar they set up (which, as a god of storms and lightning, should have been easy for him!), Elijah taunted the priests, saying:

1 Kings 18:27 ESV

27 And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”

So our tour guides know their history, don’t they? They know that the false gods of the nations are no match for YHWH! Baal was humiliated at Carmel, Dagon fell to pieces in front of the Ark of the Covenant, the gods of Egypt were buried in a reign of blood, ash and darkness at the Exodus—there is no so called “god” or “lord” that can even slow down the purposes of YHWH!

And the Sons of Korah themselves understand a thing or two about idolatrous desires. If you remember the history of their ancestor Korah in Numbers 16, you remember that he was consumed with jealousy over the authority of Aaron the high priest—and his covetous and evil desires led to his destruction when the ground opened up under his feet and swallowed him.

But were the Sons of Korah bound by their ancestor’s wickedness? Did his idolatrous lust for power and prestige continue to enslave them? No—they were free, weren’t they? And so perhaps a little bit of their glee in extolling YHWH’s superiority over the false god Baal comes from their own experience of being set free from their past!

Your bondage to past idols is no match for the power of God to set you free!

From the towers of God’s reign, we move next in our walking tour of Mt. Zion to

II. The Ramparts : God’s Victories

Look at verses 4-7:

Psalm 48:4–7 ESV

4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. 5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor. 7 By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish.

We saw this same kind of description of kings being put to flight in Psalm 46, and we connected that psalm with the defeat of Sennacherib outside the walls of Jerusalem in 2 Kings 18-19, when the Angel of the LORD went out and destroyed 185,000 of them in one night. I think we can make a similar connection here in Psalm 48 to another incident in Israel’s history. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 20 (p. 372). In verse 1, we read

2 Chronicles 20:1–3 ESV

1 After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). 3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

So here we have an “assembly of kings” as it says in Psalm 48:4. In verses 13-17, the LORD speaks through one of His prophets to tell Jehoshaphat and the people,

2 Chronicles 20:17 ESV

17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

So, in obedience to the word of the LORD, the king goes out with his army to face the invaders. But notice how he arranges his forces:

2 Chronicles 20:21 ESV

21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Who did he put in front of the army? The choir! And back in verse 19 we are told who that choir is made up of:

2 Chronicles 20:19 ESV

19 And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

The Sons of Korah were right there in the front row, singing and praising God as the invaders approached! And what did they see? Verse 22:

2 Chronicles 20:22–23 ESV

22 And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. 23 For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

And the Sons of Korah watched it happen! The invading armies never even got close to Jerusalem—

God used the praise of His people as a mighty weapon to defeat His enemies.

And right after that battle, the Sons of Korah came home and wrote a song about it!

Psalm 48:4–6 ESV

4 For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. 5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic; they took to flight. 6 Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor.

And so here they are giving us our our walking tour of the Citadel of YHWH--they stop by the ramparts of God’s victory over His enemies and we see their eyes light up as they recount watching the invading armies self-destructing! We’re standing there outside the ramparts as they point out to the horizon where the battle took place, not merely describing a battle that they read about or heard about from others, but giving their first-hand account of the way God delivered His people! No wonder they love to sing praises to YHWH—their praise songs are a mighty weapon in His hand!

And then they turn to us and say, “We’ve saved the best part for last! We’ve shown you the tower of YHWH’s reign, we’ve shown you the ramparts of His victories—and now we’ll show you

III. The Citadel : God’s Steadfast Love

Psalm 48:9–11 ESV

9 We have thought on your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. 10 As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments!

Now, a tower is a place where you go to keep watch—it’s a place where you are stationed in order to do a job. Likewise, a rampart is an outer defensive wall—soldiers and guardsmen would be deployed there as part of a defensive strategy. But a citadel is more than just a place to be stationed—the citadel is the place where you live! It is the secure place, the well-guarded and fortified dwelling where no enemy can penetrate, where no threats or dangers can touch you!

Beloved,

The steadfast covenant love of God is your safe refuge!

The Sons of Korah write that they have “thought on” God’s steadfast love—and it makes them glad!

Psalm 48:11 ESV

11 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments!

You see, it is this promise of God’s covenant love that makes all of His other attributes good and beautiful. Knowing that His love for you is unchanging is what keeps His reign from being just another tyranny. Knowing that He will never stop loving you, and that you will never be His enemy is what makes the ramparts of His victories beautiful and not terrifying. The “daughters of Judah” can “rejoice” over His judgments because His judgments are in their favor and not against them! The praise of His Name reaches the ends of the earth, and Mount Zion is glad because He stretches out His right hand to bless them with righteousness, and not to condemn them for their sin! To live in that place—in the center of the steadfast, unbreakable covenant lovingkindness of YHWH Sabaoth—is the most secure place you can ever be! No wonder the sight of it makes the Sons of Korah break into song!

Now, in my day job I give tours of the campus from time to time. And I have learned over the years that there is a very important question that I always ask the students and families who take a campus tour with me: “Is there anything else that you wanted to see here on campus that I haven’t shown you?” Unfortunately the Sons of Korah don’t ask that question on our walking tour around the Citadel of YHWH, because there is one part of the city that they haven’t shown us—the one part of the city that makes all the difference in the world. They have shown us the towers of YHWH’s reign, the ramparts of His victories, the citadel of His steadfast love—but they have not shown us

IV. The Gate : God’s Son

Look back through the psalm—it praises the mountain, the towers, the ramparts, the citadel, the fortress—but nowhere does it mention the gates of the city, does it? The Daughters of Zion have reason to rejoice in those things, but if we can only see them from the outside, then we have no reason to rejoice, do we? Because the most important thing we can learn from this walking tour of the Citadel of YHWH is how do we get inside?!? How can we become children of Zion, so that we can live secure in the faithful covenant love of God?

The walls of this Citadel are massive and impenetrable with the righteous requirements of God, and it sits on the top of the highest mountain of God’s holiness, out of the reach of any of our own attempts at goodness. There is no mere mortal strength in all of creation that can budge those Gates even a millimeter—there is only one Man in all of history who has the strength to swing those Gates open for you: The one who says to you,

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Only Jesus can open the gate to God’s covenant love for you.

Beloved, every single one of us here in this room were born outside that Gate. By our deeds and by our very nature, we were enemies of God, aliens and strangers to His covenant love. We stood outside that Citadel, gazing up at those towers and ramparts not in awe or wonder but with contempt and fear. But the marvelous Good News for you is that while you were still a sinner, hopelessly guilty before God, dead in your trespasses and sins, the King of the Citadel sent His own Son to die outside the walls of the city so that you could be given His place in the city!

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Christian, your place in the Citadel of YHWH is eternally secure because the blood of Jesus Christ purchased your place there! YHWH Himself has swung the Gates of the city open to receive you in the name of His Son, and no one can ever question whether you belong there!

Romans 8:31–32 ESV

What then shall we say to these things? 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 with him graciously give us all things?

And so now, as a citizen of this city, you look on the towers of His reign over the gods of this world and you rejoice that He has set you free from their power! The old gods of lust, of anger and bitterness, of hatred and jealousy and greed have no more power over you! Jesus Christ has broken their bond over you once and for all!

Now, as a citizen of this city, you sing songs of praise that He uses as a mighty weapon to confound and rout His enemies! There is no opposition from this world against the Citadel of YHWH that will not degenerate into self-destructive chaos, and He uses the praise that comes out of your mouth on Sunday morning to do it!

As a citizen of this city, you are eternally secure in the citadel of the steadfast covenant love of YHWH through the New Covenant of the blood of Jesus Christ shed for you! There is nothing in all creation that will ever separate you from His love!

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So Christian—if all of these things are true of you in Christ (and they are), then what kind of tour guide should you be? Please note:

The question isn’t whether you should be a tour guide in the Citadel of YHWH—if you live here, you are commanded to be a tour guide!

You don’t get to pass your role as a tour guide off on someone else—you are required to “tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever!” (v. 14) You should be looking every day for an opportunity to give a tour of the Citadel of YHWH, to say to people you meet, “This is God! This is what He is like!”

Do you feel like you’re ill-equipped to give a tour today? You look around at other tour guides and they all have the fancy, air-conditioned tour buses, snazzy tour-guide uniforms and state-of-the-art presentation equipment—and all you have is an old ratty airport shuttle and an old cassette deck to play recorded segments between stops!

But what counts isn’t how sophisticated or polished your presentation is! What counts is how passionate you are about the tour! When you take someone by the hand and draw them to consider the towers of God’s reign, you tell them “I used to be enslaved to my anger and bitterness—I was a brawler and a thug, and my life was completely out of control: But when Jesus saved me, He freed me from all of that anger! And now He reigns with peace and love and joy in my life, instead of hatred and fighting!” That’s a tour that your friend will remember!

When you come here to praise God in worship, when you attend to His Word and pray for one another and exalt His Name together, you are arming the ramparts of His victories with the mighty weapon of your praise! The prayers that you offer in worship are His weapon to pull down the strongholds of pride! There is no hard heart that He cannot melt, no atheist attitude He cannot put to flight, no depth of scorn or contempt for the Gospel that He cannot shatter when His people pray and praise Him! And someday when the battle is over and that dear soul lays down their weapons of pride and submits to Jesus, you can bring them up for a tour of the ramparts of His victories and say, “See how God’s people prayed for you! See the victory He won over your pride to save you!”

And if you are here today and you are outside the walls of the Citadel—I have Good News for you this morning: The Gates of the city are standing open for you today! You tell yourself differently, but you know deep down that there is no way you can breach the walls of the righteousness of God on your own, no way to scale the heights of the mountain of His holiness in your own strength! You know that if you stood before God tonight for His judgment that none of your attempts to be “good enough” for Him could even come close—that He would be eternally just and righteous to send you to Hell for eternity—then this is your chance!

Those Gates stand open for you today, for you to come away from your pride, to be released from the bondage of this world’s false promises, to have healing and forgiveness and restoration and peace! Call out to Jesus Christ and confess your sin, believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved! He has prepared a place for you in the Citadel of His faithful love, and He has promised to be your God forever and ever, throughout this life and for all eternity! Come through the gates into the Citadel today—come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Jude 24–25 ESV

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Questions for Reflection:

How has God broken the power of sin in your life? What “false gods” has He defeated for you? How can your joy in your freedom from the power of sin glorify Him as you tell others about Him?

Who are some people in your life who are particularly antagonistic towards Jesus Christ and the Gospel? What encouragement do you have from this psalm as you pray for them?

Think about some times in your life when you have particularly seen God’s reign in your life, His victories, His steadfast covenant love. Take some time this week with your family or friends to “walk about Zion” together, sharing how God has guided you, and that He will guide us forever.