Psalm 132 is the praise of David in his going up to Zion concerning Jehovah’s habitation and rest in Zion. God desires Zion and He finds rest here, and David also desires God’s dwelling place! The place of God’s rest is Zion, the overcomers.
There must be brothers and sisters in whose being Christ Himself can rest. These ones have been willing to pray daily and cooperate with the Lord to make Eph. 3:16-19 their reality. Lord, make Your home deep down in my heart and fill me unto all the fullness of God! When God gains some of these overcomers, He rests in Zion!
Lord, arise, and return unto Your resting place!
David saw that the ark of the covenant was separated from the tabernacle, and he desired to find a place for God to rest. He even said that he will not give slumber to his eyelids nor sleep to his eyes until he found “a place for Jehovah, a tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psa. 132:5).
For God to fully rest, there’s the need for the full recovery of ark of the testimony – it needs to be in Zion, in the place of God’s rest. We need to love the Lord so deeply that our care and concern would be for God’s house – we would not rest until the house of God is built and God has a place to rest!
“Arise, O Jehovah, unto Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your strength” (Psa. 132:8). Our prayer to the Lord is that He would arise and return, He would fully recover the proper church life and come to the ark of His strength. Christ is the center and focus of the church life, and we need to recover Christ as everything to us in the proper church life with all the saints. Lord, arise; return unto Your resting place in all the local churches all over the earth!
Jehovah has chosen Zion for His habitation
In verse 13 David says, “Jehovah has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation“. Zion is the choice of God, the desire of God, the place where He wants to dwell. God confirms what David said in verse 14, where He says, “This is My resting place forever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it“. God desires Zion and He wants to gain His resting place!
We as simple and crazy lovers of our Beloved desire what He desires – we are here for God’s building, for Zion! We need to tell the Lord, Lord, build Yourself into me and work Yourself into me for Zion! Permeate me, Cristify me, and deify me for the Body, the Bride, and the kingdom!
For God to rest is a great thing. God can rest only when the desire of His heart has been satisfied. We see this in Genesis 1 – once God gains a man in His image and dominion, He is happy and He can rest. In order for us to know God’s will, God’s purpose, and God’s good pleasure, we need to know what causes Him to rest.
If you can find out where God rests, you will know what is His good pleasure. God rests and finds pleasure in Zion, the overcomers. If we are only in Jerusalem, in the church life in the local churches, neither us nor God is fully at rest. We rest where God rests – our rest is in His rest, in Zion!
The situation of the overcomers in Zion
What is the situation of the overcomers in Zion? What do they enjoy and what do they do there? In Psa. 132:14-18 we see that God will abundantly bless Zion’s provision and He will satisfy its poor with bread. God will clothe its priests with salvation and the saints will shout with a ringing shout! He will cause the horn of David to shoot forth, and He has prepared a lamp for His anointed One. Here, in Zion, God will clothe with shame the enemies of His Anointed One but on Him His crown will shine! What a glorious situation the overcomers have in Zion! God here is everything to them and He takes care of all their needs as they are His resting place!
In the top church life today we have a foretaste of all these items of the situation of the overcomers in Zion. When we are at the top of the church life – living in and by the mingled spirit daily – we rest with God and in God, and God is our dwelling place. Here God is our food for satisfaction – He is the living bread and the living water.
In Zion we have glorious clothing – we are approachable persons, clothed with salvation! We have a horn of victory – the absolute victory of Christ over His enemy. In the top church life we have the enlightening lamp – the Lord shining on us. Also, we have a shining crown – we reign in life with Christ!
How we need to be open to the Lord that He would make us His overcomers today… The overcomers are living in the reality of the Body of Christ – this is their being, and they actually ARE THE REALITY of the Body, they ARE ZION! Yes, they are in the local churches, living the church life like everyone else, but in their inner being they are in a reality that not many can touch…
We don’t need to be ambitious to be overcomers but we need to allow the Lord to kill and even annihilate our ambition. We need to allow the Lord to nurture our aspiration to become an overcomer – through many short and living prayers of this matter back to Him.
Lord, make us Your overcomers. We desire Your dwelling place, Your habitation, the place of Your rest. We can rest where You rest – Lord, gain us and many others as the ones who live in the reality of the Body of Christ today. Kiss us with the kisses of Your mouth, draw us and embrace us in love that we may follow You and be one with You! Build Yourself and work Yourself into our being. Lord, permeate us and deify us for the Body!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother Ron’s speaking in the message and, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms (ch. 21), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 21.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Recall how David swore, / “I’ll not come into my house, / Nor go up to my bed, / Give slumber to mine eyelids, / Until I find a place for Thee, / A place, O Lord, for Thee.”
# Thy dwelling-place, O Lord, I love; / It is Thy Church so blessed, / It is Thy joy and heart’s delight / And where Thy heart finds rest.
# This is My rest forever; / Here will I dwell, / For the Lord hath chosen Zion, / He hath desired it for His habitation.
# Zion is God’s habitation. / Sing praises in Zion, / The city of our King. / Zion, the place of His choosing / Where saints are rejoicing. / Here God is their salvation. - Picture source: entering into God’s rest.
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