The Citizenship of Heaven: Psalm 87
Introduction: A Tale of Two Cities
The world is a story of cities. From Babylon to Rome, from London to New York, men have always gathered together to build their monuments, establish their power, and define their identities. The city is where culture is forged, where commerce flows, and where man declares, "This is who we are. This is what we have made." The spirit of Cain, the first city builder, is a restless spirit, always seeking to establish a name for itself apart from God. The spirit of Babel is the same, a frantic attempt to build a tower that reaches to the heavens, a unified humanistic project that God must come down and confuse.
But the Bible tells a different story. It is also a tale of two cities, but the conflict is not between Rome and Carthage, or Athens and Sparta. The central conflict of all human history is between the City of Man and the City of God. It is the story of Babylon versus Jerusalem. And in Psalm 87, the sons of Korah give us a glorious, Spirit-inspired song about the true capital of the world, the city of Zion. This psalm is a postmillennial bombshell. It is a confident, prophetic declaration that the City of God is not a quaint, provincial town for one ethnic group, but rather a global metropolis, the mother city of all the redeemed.
In our day, we are tempted to think of the church as a beleaguered minority, a small outpost in a hostile world. We are tempted to a theology of retreat, a theology of the bunker. But Psalm 87 will have none of it. This psalm is unapologetically triumphalistic. It looks out at the great superpowers of the ancient world, the Egypts and Babylons, the Philistias and Tyres, and it does not see them as threats to be feared, but as future provinces to be annexed. It sees their citizens not as permanent enemies, but as future converts who will one day boast of a new and better citizenship. This psalm teaches us to see the world not as it is, but as it will be, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
This is a song about the love of God for His people, the glory of the church, and the global reach of the gospel. It is a song that redefines what it means to belong, and it tells us where our true citizenship lies.
The Text
His foundation is in the holy mountains.
Yahweh loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.
“I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born there.’ ”
But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; And the Most High Himself will establish her.
Yahweh will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah.
And singers, just like the dancers, will all say, “All my springs are in you.”
(Psalm 87:1-7 LSB)
God's Firm Foundation and Fierce Affection (vv. 1-2)
The psalm begins with the bedrock reality of the church's existence.
"His foundation is in the holy mountains. Yahweh loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwelling places of Jacob." (Psalm 87:1-2)
The first thing to notice is the pronoun: "His foundation." This city is not a human project. It is not built by a committee or a denominational board. It is God's city. He laid the foundation. And where did He lay it? "In the holy mountains." This is plural. While it certainly refers to the literal hills of Jerusalem, it points to a greater reality. The church is founded on the unshakeable, mountainous truths of God's own character and His covenant promises. The Apostle Paul picks up this theme when he says the church is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20). This city is not built on the shifting sands of human opinion or cultural fads. It is founded on the rock of God's revelation, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
Verse 2 then reveals the heart of God toward this city. He "loves the gates of Zion." The gates were the center of public life, of commerce, of justice. It is a way of saying God loves the corporate, public, visible expression of His people. He loves the church gathered. But the psalmist goes further: He loves her "more than all the dwelling places of Jacob." This is a staggering statement. God loves His people individually in their homes, in their private devotions, in their family worship. But there is a special, covenantal affection He reserves for His people gathered as one. He loves the church as a body, as a city, as a bride. This is a rebuke to all forms of radical individualism that plague modern evangelicalism, where faith is seen as a purely private affair between "me and Jesus." God's love is directed toward a people, a corporate entity, His city on a hill.
A Glorious Reputation (v. 3)
Because God has founded this city and loves it, it has a glorious reputation.
"Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah." (Psalm 87:3)
Who is speaking these glorious things? God is. The prophets are. The apostles are. The Scriptures are filled with glorious descriptions of the church. She is the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the pillar and buttress of the truth, the household of God, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. The world may speak slanderous things of the church. The world may mock her and persecute her. But that is not the true report. The true report comes from the throne of God Himself. And what He says about His church is that she is glorious.
We are to believe God's report. When we look at the church in our town, with all her warts and blemishes, with the petty squabbles and the manifest sins, we are tempted to despair. But we must look with the eyes of faith and hear with the ears of faith. We must hear what God is speaking of His city. He is the one washing her with the water of the Word, that He might present her to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:26-27). The glory is not yet fully visible, but it has been spoken, and God's Word does not return to Him void.
The Great Reversal of Citizenship (vv. 4-6)
Here we come to the missionary heart of the psalm, the prophetic vision of the triumph of the gospel.
"I shall mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me; Behold, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia: ‘This one was born there.’ But of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; And the Most High Himself will establish her. Yahweh will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah." (Psalm 87:4-6)
God Himself is speaking here. He says He will "mention" or "record" these foreign nations. And what a list it is. Rahab is a poetic name for Egypt, the great oppressor. Babylon is the future great oppressor. Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia (Cush) represent the surrounding enemies and the distant lands. These are the Gentiles, the outsiders, the nations raging against God's anointed in Psalm 2. And God says He is going to count them "among those who know Me."
But the truly radical statement is what follows. Of these converted Gentiles, it will be said, "This one was born there." Born where? The context makes it clear: born in Zion. This is a prophecy of the new birth. To be a citizen of a great city in the ancient world was a point of immense pride. A man from Rome was a Roman. A man from Athens was an Athenian. But God says a day is coming when men from Egypt and Babylon will no longer boast in their earthly birthplace. Their true identity, their true citizenship, will be heavenly. They will boast that they were "born again" in the City of God.
Verse 5 intensifies this. It will not just be a few token converts. "This one and that one were born in her." The picture is of a great influx, a multitude from every tribe and tongue and nation. The church will become the true mother of nations. And this is not a fragile human enterprise; "the Most High Himself will establish her." The success of the Great Commission is guaranteed by the sovereign power of God.
Verse 6 is the divine census. God is keeping the official registry of citizens. And as He writes down the names of the peoples of the earth, He makes a notation: "This one was born there." Your true passport is stamped not by a secular government, but by the King of Heaven. Your true place of birth is not a hospital in America, but the church of the living God. This is what it means to be born from above. This is the great, global expansion of the Kingdom of God.
The Source of All Joy (v. 7)
The psalm concludes with a burst of joyful worship from these new citizens.
"And singers, just like the dancers, will all say, 'All my springs are in you.'" (Psalm 87:7)
The worship in the City of God is not a somber, funereal affair. It is filled with singing and dancing. It is exuberant joy. And what is the content of their song? "All my springs are in you."
A spring is a source of life, of refreshment, of sustenance. The world seeks its springs in all the wrong places. They dig their cisterns in the cracked earth of materialism, hedonism, and self-worship. But those are broken cisterns that can hold no water. The citizens of Zion, the men and women born from above, have discovered the one true artesian well. All our springs, all our sources of life, joy, meaning, purpose, and salvation, are found in the City of God. They are found in God Himself, who dwells in the midst of His people. All our fountains are in Christ. He is the one who offers the living water, and whoever drinks of it will never thirst again.
Conclusion: Your True Hometown
This psalm forces us to ask a fundamental question: Where is your citizenship? What city defines you? Do you find your primary identity in your nationality, your ethnicity, your political party, or your career? Those are all dwelling places of Jacob, and God loves them in their proper place. But He loves the gates of Zion more.
The glorious promise of the gospel is that citizenship in the City of God is open to all. The gates are not closed. Through faith in Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of this city, anyone can be "born there." Your past does not disqualify you. Whether you come from Rahab or Babylon, from a place of open hostility to God or from a place of respectable paganism, the census is still open. God is still registering the peoples.
And this citizenship is not just a future hope; it is a present reality. The writer to the Hebrews says, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" (Heb. 12:22). This is our current location by faith. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Therefore, we are to live as citizens of heaven. Our laws are God's laws. Our King is Christ the King. Our culture is the culture of the kingdom. And our mission is to proclaim the glories of this city to the nations, inviting them to come and be born there, so that they too might join the joyful song, "All my springs are in you."