Psalm 122 - Let us go up to the House of the Lord - Fraser Leach
This psalm talks about “the house of the Lord”, “Jerusalem” and “a city”
In v1 and 2 it is described as a good place to go to. It is an analogy of God’s presence. When we come into God’s presence there is a journey to make - a pilgrimage. It’s not that God Is trying to make it difficult for you. Hebrews 4v16 says “Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
He has made the way open to us through Jesus but sometimes we have to make ourselves ready (go on a spiritual journey) so that we are in the best position to receive. If we can come away from all the pressures and demands of this world, all the noise and quiet ourselves so we can really tune into God.
In v3 the city is described as a stronghold which is “bound firmly together”. This speaks of safety and strength.
Therefore in v4 the people go to it. In fact it says that it was “decreed” that they would go “to give thanks to the name of the Lord”. ie that was it’s purpose. We worship God in the sanctuary where we are safe.
A decree is an official order that has to be obeyed. God made it that way, not to force us into his presence to worship but so we could do it and benefit. The way has been made open and it will not be shut, nothing can stop us from entering in. As it says in Romans 8v31, “if God be for us, who can be against us?”
An alternative translation of decree is “as a testimony for”. No hint of coercing here, just something that would testify of God’s goodness to his people and they would be drawn to it.
In v5 it talks about “the thrones of judgement of the House of David”
Why were thrones of judgement set? Which judgement was it? I would like to suggest that it was a good judgement. People would not be attracted if they were going to receive condemnation. It was a throne of judgement of David, who was described as a “man after God’s own heart”. When he got things wrong he was forgiven and the things he got wrong were when he was too harsh, not when he was too forgiving, eg he was told by God that he had fought too many wars.
David was the archetype of Christ; the “Son of Man” was called the “son of David”, which is a name given to the Messiah. The Messiah came to forgive and to save, not to judge and condemn and therefore I believe that the judgement in the house of David was one of :
Forgiveness
Well done
Come and receive
You are worthy
Acceptance
Restoration etc
And immediately after that, in v6 - 9, we are praying for good things
V6 tells us to pray. What for?
Peace (v6-8), protection (or security) (v6,7) and prosperity (or goodness) v9. These verses have both a sense of immediacy and of ongoing effectiveness about them. In our troubles we can look to God for peace whilst still in the situation, we can look for protection/security from the situation, so it can’t harm us , and then we can look for goodness/prosperity as we overcome the situation.
But why do we need to pray when we’re already there, where all that we need is to be found? Well perhaps in one sense we don’t. There is great benefit to be had in just being in the presence of God and in not worrying about what we say or do. In another sense, however, it is precisely because we are in the place of blessing that we can pray and receive the blessing. We still need to do something ourselves so that we can receive them ourselves.
We actively come into God’s presence (we go to the city), but once there we also actively pray for the good things. Jesus said “whatever you ask for in my name, you shall receive” and “ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find”.
Finally this psalm is part of a group of psalms (120 - 134) called ‘songs of ascent’ or ‘psalms of pilgrimage’, which were sung by travellers going up to worship in the temple in Jerusalem.
Therefore the themes of this psalm are often repeated and emphasised in the other psalms as well. They are all about coming into God’s presence and the love, joy, peace, security etc to be found there.
For example
Psalm 123 talks about mercy and grace
Psalm 124 says he is our helper and defender
and Psalm 125 talks about peace and prosperity and his surrounding (wrap around) presence.