The Glad Ascent: Christ Our Jerusalem Text: Psalm 122:1-9
Introduction: The Gravity of Gladness
There is a certain kind of joy that our cynical age has forgotten how to experience. It is not the fleeting happiness of circumstance, which is as flimsy as a paper hat in a rainstorm. Nor is it the manufactured glee of the entertainment complex, which is designed to distract you from the void. The joy described in this psalm is a robust, masculine, covenantal gladness. It is the gladness that comes from knowing your place, knowing your people, and knowing your God. It is the joy of belonging.
Psalm 122 is one of the Songs of Ascents, sung by pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem for the great feasts. This was not a casual road trip. It was an arduous journey, often through dangerous territory. But the destination made the difficulty worth it. The destination was the house of Yahweh, the center of the world, the place where heaven and earth met. And so, the invitation to go was met not with a groan, but with gladness. "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of Yahweh.'"
We live in an era of radical individualism, where the very idea of belonging to anything larger than oneself is seen as a threat to personal freedom. The modern man wants a customized spirituality, a private faith that makes no demands on his time, his wallet, or his Tuesday nights. He wants a god who is a celestial butler, available on call, but who doesn't require him to join a church, sing with strangers, or submit to anyone. But this psalm demolishes that entire flimsy framework. Biblical faith is corporate from start to finish. It is a pilgrimage you make with others. There is no way to come to Christ without coming to His people, and there is no way to be joined to His people without being joined to Him. To love God is to love His address, and His address is the assembly of His saints.
This psalm, then, is a lesson in holy geography. It teaches us where true north is. It instructs us on the nature of the City of God, a city defined by unity, worship, and righteous judgment. And it calls us to a specific duty: to pray for and to seek the good of this city. As we shall see, the old Jerusalem was but a shadow, a type. The substance is Christ, and His body, the Church. Therefore, this psalm is for us. It is our song of ascent as we gather each Lord's Day to ascend to the heavenly Zion.
The Text
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of Yahweh.”
Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, which is built As a city joined altogether;
To which the tribes, the tribes of Yah, go up, A testimony for Israel, To give thanks to the name of Yahweh.
For there, thrones sit for judgment, The thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
May peace be within your walls, And tranquility within your palaces.”
For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, “May peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.
(Psalm 122:1-9 LSB)
The Joyful Summons (v. 1-2)
The psalm begins with a burst of heartfelt joy.
"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of Yahweh.' Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem," (Psalm 122:1-2)
David's response to the call to worship is not resignation or mere duty. It is gladness. This is the pulse of a healthy saint. The prospect of corporate worship, of gathering with the people of God in the designated place, is a source of deep delight. This gladness is not an optional extra for the emotionally expressive. It is a diagnostic tool. If the call to worship on Sunday morning fills you with a sense of weary obligation, something is spiritually out of alignment. Worship is a glorious privilege, a "get to," not a "got to."
This joy is communal. It's not "I decided to go," but "they said to me, 'Let us go.'" Faith is a shared enterprise. We are stirred up to faithfulness by one another. This is why the writer to the Hebrews commands us not to neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). Your gladness is a gift to your brother, and his to you.
Then, in verse 2, the anticipation becomes reality. "Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem." The pilgrimage is over; they have arrived. There is a profound sense of place here. This is not a vague, ethereal spirituality. It is an embodied faith, with feet standing on the ground inside the city gates. For us, in the new covenant, this happens by faith every Lord's Day. When we gather for worship, we ascend to the heavenly Jerusalem, to Mount Zion, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22). We are not just in a building in our town; we are, by the Spirit, within the gates of the true and better Jerusalem.
The United City (v. 3-5)
Next, David describes the nature of this city.
"Jerusalem, which is built As a city joined altogether; To which the tribes, the tribes of Yah, go up, A testimony for Israel, To give thanks to the name of Yahweh. For there, thrones sit for judgment, The thrones of the house of David." (Psalm 122:3-5 LSB)
Jerusalem is "joined altogether," or "compact together." This speaks of unity and strength. It was a well-fortified city, but the unity described here is more than architectural. It is the unity of the people of God. The twelve tribes, often fractious and divided, came together here as one people. This is a picture of the Church, where God takes people from every tribe, tongue, and nation and makes them one new man in Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16). The world is in the business of division, of slicing and dicing humanity into warring identity groups. The Church is in the business of supernatural, compact unity in the gospel.
Why do the tribes go up? For two central purposes: worship and justice. First, they go "to give thanks to the name of Yahweh." Jerusalem was the center of worship. This was God's command, a "testimony for Israel." Worship is not a human invention; it is a divine summons. And the content of that worship is thanksgiving. A church that is not characterized by gratitude has forgotten the gospel.
Second, they go up because "there, thrones sit for judgment." Jerusalem was also the civil and judicial capital. The "thrones of the house of David" were there. This is crucial. Worship and justice are not separate categories in God's economy. Right worship leads to right living, and right living requires a standard of objective justice. A society that abandons the worship of the true God will inevitably see its thrones of judgment become instruments of tyranny and corruption. When you get your worship wrong, your politics will follow it straight into the ditch. The reason we can have peace and prosperity is because we first have the righteous judgments of God. Righteous judgment is the precondition for peace.
The Prayer for Peace (v. 6-9)
Because of what Jerusalem is, the psalmist calls us to a specific action and offers a concluding rationale.
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, And tranquility within your palaces.' For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, 'May peace be within you.' For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good." (Psalm 122:6-9 LSB)
The command is to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, which means far more than the absence of conflict. It means wholeness, completeness, flourishing, and prosperity. We are to pray for the total well-being of the city of God. And there is a promise attached: "May they prosper who love you." Loving the Church, investing in her, praying for her, is the pathway to true prosperity. This is not the health and wealth gospel of television charlatans. This is the covenantal principle that when you align your heart with God's central project in the world, which is His Church, you place yourself under the firehose of His blessing.
The prayer is specific: peace within her walls (security from external threats) and tranquility within her palaces (internal stability and order). This is a prayer for the Church to be protected from the assaults of the world and from the foolishness of internal division and strife.
David concludes with two motivations for this prayer and action. First, "for the sake of my brothers and my friends." He seeks the good of the city because his people are there. This is love for the saints. Our prayers for the Church are not abstract; they are for our brothers and sisters, our friends, the people we sing with and take communion with. Second, and most fundamentally, "for the sake of the house of Yahweh our God." The ultimate reason we seek the good of the Church is because it is God's house. It is His project, His dwelling place, His glory in the world. Our love for God is demonstrated by our love for His bride.
Christ, Our New Jerusalem
As Christians, we read this psalm through the lens of the entire Bible. The old Jerusalem, with its stone temple and Davidic king, was a magnificent foreshadowing. But it was still a shadow. The old Jerusalem became a harlot city that killed the prophets and crucified the Lord of Glory (Matthew 23:37). That city was judged and dismantled in A.D. 70.
But God was not finished with His city. He raised up a New Jerusalem, a heavenly one, which is "the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:26). This New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ, the Church (Revelation 21:2, 9-10). When we come to worship, we come to her. Christ Himself is our temple, our king, and our peace. He is the one who has broken down the dividing wall and made us one (Ephesians 2:14).
Therefore, the commands of this psalm apply directly to us. We are to be glad when the saints call us to worship. We are to rejoice in the unity of the body of Christ. We are to gather to give thanks and to celebrate the righteous judgment that was executed at the cross, where God judged our sin in His Son, and the judgment that is now dispensed from Christ's throne in heaven.
And we must pray for the peace of the Church. We must seek her good. This is not a sentimental wish. It is a battle cry. To seek the good of the Church in a world that hates her is to engage in spiritual warfare. It means defending the truth, loving the brethren, practicing discipline, and working for her purity and strength. It means seeking her prosperity, which is the advance of the gospel and the discipleship of the nations.
So let us be a people of the glad ascent. Let us love the invitation to gather. Let our feet stand with joy in the assembly of the saints. And let us labor and pray for the peace and prosperity of our mother, the Jerusalem above, until her peace fills the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.