Have you ever wondered what’s the connection between “a broken and contrite heart” and “Zion”? It looks like if we have such a spirit and such a heart, we are qualified to pray such a prayer, and we desire what the Lord also desires – the good of Zion (Psa. 48:2)!
enjoying and ministering Christ as the sin-dealing life to bear away the inquity of God’s people
It is only after we enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life that we can also minister Him as such to others. In Leviticus the priests were to eat the sin offering in the holy place that they may make expiation for the people of Israel before Jehovah(Lev. 10:17). As we enjoy Christ as the sin-dealing life, we have an enlarged capacity to bear away the iniquity of God’s people – by learning to minister Christ to the dear saints who are in sin
our repentance and confession marries God’s forgiveness to produce something for God’s building
In a way, if in our Christian life we didn’t have a great failure – something that we do which makes the other saints shake their head when they think about it – we cannot say we have experienced a great repentance matched by God’s forgiveness… No, we don’t want to say, Let us do evil so that good may later come. We don’t want to tempt God nor do we desire to willingly fail, but we may fail and commit a great sin – we may have a great failure – and there will be a deep repentance that will follow.