I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
A pious patriot
I. Rejoicing in the opportunity for assembling for public worship (verses 1, 2).
1. One of the grandest social duties of religious men--to invite their neighbours to religious worship.
2. The delight that may be expected from the right discharge of this duty.
II. Highly appreciating the various advantages of his country (Psalms 122:3-5). He rejoices in it because--
1. It was a scene of material beauty.
2. It was the scene of religious worship.
3. It was the scene of civil justice.
III. Earnestly desiring the prosperity of his fatherland (Psalms 122:6-9).
1. He invokes for it the highest good--peace and prosperity.
2. For the strongest reasons.
(1) Personal (verse 6).
(2) Social (verse 8).
(3) Religious (verse 9). (Homilist.)
The communion of saints
I. Before worship (verses 1, 2).
1. The joy of a common purpose. Men cannot help approaching one another in approaching one common object.
2. The joy of a common hope.
II. During worship (Psalms 122:3-5).
1. The exceeding beauty of unity.
2. The secret of this admirable unity.
(1) One object of worship.
(2) One priesthood.
(3) One ruler and king.
III. United worship itself (Psalms 122:6-9).
1. The invitation. “Jerusalem which now is” is not without faults, nor yet without foes. All the more need for her true children and friends to pray for her “peace.” It is part of their duty. It is part, also, of their wisdom. “They shall prosper that love thee.” When we meet to say “Our Father,” let us say also, “Thy kingdom come.”
2. The response to the invitation--to its request--to its reasonings.
(1) The request is right, and we will gladly accede to it. “Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.” May all be right internally and externally too.
(2) The reasoning also is sound, and we are prepared to act on it. “For my brethren and companions’ sakes,” and because I feel that good to them is good to myself as well, “I will now say, Peace be within thee.” “Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God,” in which house and its common worship this feeling is so especially realized, “I will seek thy good.” (W. S. Lewis, M. A.)
The Christian’s pleasure at being invited to God’s house
Probably this psalm was composed for the use of the Israelites when journeying up to worship at Jerusalem on the great annual solemnities. We stand in one of the valleys of the Promised Land, whilst it yet flowed with milk and honey, and the children of Abraham had not been exiled for their sins. We see a company approaching: they are a band of one of the distant tribes, and they are hastening to be at Jerusalem on one of the grand anniversaries. As they advance, we catch the sound of their voices: they are beguiling with psalmody the tedious pilgrimage. We listen attentively, and at length we can distinguish the words, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.” Louder and louder grows the melody: the thought of the glories of the city, in which Jehovah specially dwelt, cheers the weary travellers; and the surrounding mountains echo the beautiful invocation, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.”
1. Now, it is not required of us to undertake any wearisome journeys: we are not called to incite one or the other by holy melodies to the leaving of our homes, that we may seek the Lord at some distant shrine. But, nevertheless, we are still bound to the duty of public worship; the privilege is left us, though graciously freed from inconvenience; and it may be as necessary as ever, seeing that the removal of difficulties is not unlikely to produce indolence, that men should exhort one another with the words, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” We know, of course, that there is a sense in which the Almighty “dwelleth not in temples made with hands”; “heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him;” how much less the houses which His creatures build l But, nevertheless, just as He may be said to dwell especially in heaven, though, in virtue of His omnipresence, He is equally everywhere, because in heaven He manifests Himself with greater brightness than in any other scene; so may He be said to dwell specially in our churches, if He there give extraordinary tokens of that presence which must indeed be the same in all departments of creation. And when a true servant of God goes up to the sanctuary, it is in the humble but earnest hope of gaining greater knowledge of doctrines which concern his salvation, of gathering fresh stores of that manna which “cometh down from heaven,” and of drinking a fresh draught of “the water of life.” Neither is it only on account of the advantages derivable from the preaching of the Word that the sincere Christian is earnest in attending the sanctuary. There is a charm and a power to him in public worship, in the being associated with a multitude of his fellow-men in acts of prayer and praise, which would draw him to God’s house. It is an inspiriting and elevating thing when numbers loin, with one heart and voice, to ask Divine protection, and celebrate Divine love. There is more of the imagery of heaven in such an exhibition than in any other to be seen on this earth. But we must not omit, in our survey of reasons, why a Christian is glad, when invited to the house of the Lord, that in this house are administered the Sacraments, those mysterious and most profitable rites of our holy religion.
2. We have hitherto enlarged on the motives to joy which are furnished by the ordinances of religion: we will now examine whether there be not also motives in the finding that others associate themselves with us in those ordinances, yea, incite us to their most diligent use? And what more evident than that, if it be a joyful thing to the Christian to go up to God’s house, it must be yet more joyful to go up with a throng? Anxious himself to obtain spiritual strength, it will delight him to mark the like anxiety in others. For there is nothing selfish in genuine religion: on the contrary, it enlarges and throws open the heart, so that the safety of others is eared for in proportion that one’s own seems secured.
3. It is one of the predictions of Isaiah in reference to those days when the dispersed Jews are to be restored, and Jerusalem made “a praise in the earth,” that “many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountains of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” Who would not be glad to have it said unto him, “Let us go into the house of the Lord,” when the saying implied that God had at length fulfilled His mightiest promises, that His banished ones were gathered home, and that there had broken on this creation days for which kings and righteous men had longed, days when “out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” till earth, in its remotest tribes, yield homage to the Christ? We may not live to hear the summons thus applied; but we may show our desire for the glorious triumphs which Christianity has yet to achieve, by the earnestness of our endeavours to promote its diffusion. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Gladness about worship
These words show us that the psalmist was thinking--
I. About worship. “The house of the Lord.” That, to the pious Hebrew, was the scene and symbol of worship. There are two aspects of worship, both of which are right. One is, that in the house of the Lord we get from God what, as sinners and sufferers and suppliants for others, we seek. The other is, that we give to God the adoration and praise He condescends to receive.
II. About social worship. “Let us go.” The solitary worship in “the still hour ‘ and in “the quiet resting-place” is good. But prayer has special promise attached to it when “any two agree”; and praise has special glory when “young men and maidens, old men and children” blend their hallelujahs.
III. About invitation to social worship. There are times when, to the neglectful, or the depressed, or the sinful, this human invitation seems an echo of the Divine welcome. There is gladness
(1) because God may be worshipped.
(2) Because others are worshipping God.
(3) Because others are caring for us. (U. R. Thomas.)
Gladness in the prospect of Divine worship
The house of the Lord suggests such subjects of thought as these--they may not come to us in this order, but they are such as these:--
I. Thoughts of the Lord Himself. The house of the Lord. A gladdening thought this to David, and to every man who knows God as Jesus Christ teaches His disciples to know the Father. There may be very little gladness through simply saying “there is a God”; but surely joyfulness must spring up in the soul when a man can add “O God, thou art my God.”
II. Thoughts of the various glorious manifestations of God.
III. Thoughts of His mercies.
IV. Thoughts of the exercise and the act of worship. How pleasant to praise! What relief is there in the confession of sin! How soothing is prayer!
V. Thoughts of meeting God as He is not met elsewhere.
VI. Thoughts of receiving special blessings from God.
VII. Thoughts of the communion of saints.
VIII. Thoughts of enjoying a privilege in the performance of duty. (S. Martin, M. A.)
The good man’s joy in the engagements of the sanctuary
I. There he is warranted to expect the peculiar enjoyment of the Divine presence. To an affectionate friend nothing is so delightful as his friend’s society. To a fond child nothing is dearer than the embrace of his father. He delights when absent to return to him. Such is the emotion with which a sincerely pious mind welcomes the coming of the Sabbath, and the returning solemnities in the house of God. And this is a state of feeling that must continually increase in proportion to the increase of his spirituality and piety.
II. The gratification thus expressed on approaching to the house of god, springs also from the happiness of a near and intimate association with our brethren in all the exercises of united devotion.
III. The truly pious man will rejoice in approaching to the house of the Lord, because of those sacred and solemn employments so congenial with his best feelings there awaiting him. For there may he freely, and in concert witch his brethren, engage in those avocations, and delight himself with those pleasures, which are to be his business and his felicity for ever.
IV. We shall rejoice to enter again into the house of God, because of the progressive improvement in all our character there constantly experienced. And in order to the attainment of this advance in the Divine life, derived from all the engagements of the sanctuary, meditate much on their importance. Seek to approach in a state of sacred preparation. Think not of man, but of God. Remember that you stand immediately before Him. Call frequently to mind the account you must render hereafter, and ask with solemnity of spirit how you would be able even now to render it. Be not satisfied, unless you can discern, after each season of devotion, some benefit experienced; some grace attained or strengthened; the soul melted into deeper humility on account of sin, or else kindled into loftier exultation, and conscious of a purer love for all the joys of pardon, and the hope of glory. (R. S. McAll, LL. D.)
Happiness and worship
To know a real and undying happiness, the soul must be bent away from earth and bound back to God. This is religion. But how few know it to be so in this mammon-worshipping world. How few can catch at the sentiment of this text, and breathe it through the heart--“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” Tell the world it will find happiness anywhere but in religion, and it will go anywhere, and will never give up the hope under its vain Search. But tell it that the springs of abiding gladness are here, in the house of the Lord, that they are within the reach of all, and you will immediately find its credulity changed into incredulity, and its activity into idleness. Now, why is this? The more I search into it, the more am I convinced that what is wrong are the false conceptions that have been steadily growing up in our midst as to what the Church is, and the mistaken relations we have been entertaining to it. To a great many people who have enough of religious sentiment left in them to forbid them wishing to see the Church entirely effaced, it is anything but gladness to be told to go into the house of the Lord. They have no inclination to be in the sanctuary, but a very strong desire to be anywhere else. All this is the fruit of a mistaken notion of what the Church is. They regard it very much as a schoolboy regards compulsory attendance at school, not as a privilege, but as a hardship; not as offering untold benefits, but only as so much restraint and drudgery that ought to be escaped from as much as possible. And so, when they do go, it is under a sense of constraint or decency, to bestow favour and not to expect good. But if these are glad to escape church attendance and to be let alone, there are also those who are really glad when the Sabbath invitation summons them to the church, but of whom it can, nevertheless, be said that they are not worshippers; they are simply sermon-hunters. But if people are glad to go to church sometimes because they hear clever sermons, just as if they are drawn to a hall to listen to some great political orator or candidate, so are there some who enter church neither to be instructed nor amused, but to bear themselves as critics and judges, and to take no other part in the service. This also grows out of a false conception of the Church. For it is not a place where man is at liberty to sit in judgment on his fellow, or where the instrument is greater than the hand that wields it; but the place where men ought to be humble and not presumptuous, and where they ought to serve and not judge. But if the influence of the Christian Church has been hindered and impaired because of the false notions with which we have so often entered it, we have also weakened it and prevented its power by the wrong relations we have borne to it. It has been to us too long no more than an earthly temple of stone and timber, with a human voice sounding in our ears, and human creatures like ourselves our only companions. It has been to us the resort of habit, and the place where by inherited faith we have been trained from childhood to repair to. But the stone and timber of the sanctuary are no more than the stone and timber of any other building, neither are those we meet with here other than those we meet with in the world, nor yet is the habit acquired nor the faith inherited which carries us to the sanctuary of any value. Our true and sole relation to the place is not in the visible, but in the invisible. When we repair to it we ought to see nothing, and feel nothing, and desire nothing but God. For it is “the house of the Lord.” We have to please God, and this is how we will please Him, by remembering, when we are in the house of the Lord, that He is there, to receive our praises, to hear our prayers, and to instruct us not after our own choosing, nor with the words of man’s wisdom, but in the simplicity of the truth. This is worship therefore when we sing, and when we pray, and when we listen for spiritual edification, and not because we have an itching ear. Then shall carping criticism be dead, and the small shall become really great; for the poorest sermon shall have much in it then, and the best sermon shall have more spiritual momentum, and all the Church’s service will be worship, and the Church shall awake and put on her strength, and God shall be glorified; and we shall find enduring happiness and salvation in the harmony of the new life. (R. Sinclair.)
Inducements to public worship
It should be a source of joy to us, even as it was to David, to be regular and punctual in our attendance upon the public means of grace--
I. With a view to God’s honour and glory. If, on the one hand, the devout and humble worshipper contributes, as he most undoubtedly does, to that great end, then, I ask you whether it does not follow, upon the other hand, that his unnecessary or inexcusable neglect to attend the services of the sanctuary positively dishonours God?
II. For our own spiritual refreshment and edification. We have our own individual cares and anxieties, and our own hard struggles in the race of life, and ofttimes we feel so worn and fagged with the hurry and bustle of the world that we are well nigh ready to sink beneath the pressure upon us, and we experience an intense yearning for rest, an earnest longing for something--perhaps some of us scarcely know what--but something that certainly we find not in the whirl of business or the excitement of pleasure. Ah! thank God, that peace which the world cannot give is to be found here, here in the house of prayer. Every time these doors are opened for public worship, God awaits His hungry, and thirsty, and fainting people, and whispers to each poor, needy, longing soul, “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.”
III. That we may become examples for good to those around us. Let me assure you that when you give up for a time the sweet converse of friends and the cheerful glow of the bright fireside, and turn out, it may be, into the blinding snow, or the pelting rain, or the dismal fog, that you may go into the house of the Lord, you do far more by these your silent, but practical, examples than we can hope to accomplish by any amount of persuasion. It was a noble answer that an old saint of God who had been for years very deaf once gave to her minister when he asked her why she was so constant in her attendance at church:--“Though I cannot hear, I come to God’s house because I love it, and I love the service, and I wish to be found in His ways, and He gives me many a sweet thought upon the text when it is pointed out to me. Another reason is because I am in the best company, in the most immediate presence of God, and among His saints, the honourable of the earth. I am not satisfied with serving God in private; it is my duty and privilege to honour Him regularly and constantly in public.” (J. F. Haynes, LL. D.)
Gladness of God’s house
Why glad?
1. That you have a house of the Lord to which you may go. David’s zeal for God’s house. The incident with Araunah. Removal of the ark to Jerusalem. His reasoning about a house for God. His large liberality toward building the Temple. That which costs us nothing we do not prize. When our money and labour and brain and heart go into God’s house, we are “glad when,” etc.
2. That any feel enough interest in me to say, “Let us go,” etc.
3. That I am able to go to God’s house. That my Sabbaths are my own. Sabbath and government and capital--the right of the working-man. That I have bodily health. That I have mental health. Able to-day, may not be to-morrow.
4. That I am disposed to go. “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Many excuses, but true of the mass of non-church-goers, that they have not the will. (J. G. Butler.)