Psalm 87 (Second) [Psalm Meditations]

Psalter selection 87B. Rev. Parnell, in Psalm 87, explains that the psalm reveals God's purpose to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth, beginning with His covenant love for the Jewish people, symbolized by His love for Jerusalem and His presence in the temple. God loves Zion because it is the city of His people, where He met with them and provided grace through the temple sacrifices, to which the people responded in worship ("all my springs are in you"). The middle verses were show that God's love also extends to non-Jewish peoples—including Israel's enemies such as Egypt (Rahab), Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia—who are counted as "born" in Jerusalem among God's people. Rev. Parnell connects the census imagery to God recording and saving individuals by name, and points forward to Jesus Christ as the one who, through his sacrifice, brings people into the people of God. The meditation closes by referencing the Lamb's Book of Life as a final census still open to those who trust in Christ.