REMEMBER JERUSALEM
Edited from a Prayer
Meeting exhortation by bro Sim Yeow Meng on 28 September 2001
“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cunning.
If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth;
if I prefer not Jerusalem
above my chief joy.”
(Psalm 137:5–6)
Suppose there is something unspeakably excellent and dear to your heart. And
this thing is greatly afflicted and in much ruin, so that you are deeply
burdened and weighed down by the thought of it, how would you express such a
burden in words?
In our text, the psalmist is expressing just such a kind of burden. But these
words are so heavy and painful that anyone reading them will, no doubt, wonder
if there is not a hint of exaggeration on the part of the psalmist.
But when we consider the fact that his words are divinely inspired, he being
moved by the Spirit of God as he speaks, we have no doubt that he is expressing
exactly how he felt.
And this being so, it will surely be profitable for us to seek to understand
the cause behind his great burden. If the psalmist is rightfully burdened,
should we also not be burdened as well? And if we should be burdened as well,
what is the thing that should cause us to be burdened? What is the occasion
that should bring about this burden in our heart?
Jerusalem is the Church
Even with a cursory reading of the text, it is not difficult to see that the
psalmist is expressing a great affection for Jerusalem. There are two statements in these
two verses, and both say the same thing: they speak of the great love and care
that the psalmist has for Jerusalem.
But Jerusalem, as you may know, does not refer
to the physical city in the Middle East. It
refers, rather, to the Church
of God, or the people of
God, who made up that city. It is just like when we speak about praying for the
Church, we do not refer to the physical building where believers congregate,
but to the members who make up the church, or the “lively stones, that built up
[the] spiritual house” (1 Pet 2:5). Thus, Jerusalem
is a term signifying the people of God.
The psalmist says, “if I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her
cunning.” In the preceding words, he tells us that he was in Babylon, and
there, the Babylonians required of him and his companions to entertain them
with the songs of Zion. He says in verse 1, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we
sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” Then in verse 3, we read,
“For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they
that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
But how could the servants of the Lord use the songs of Zion for entertainment,
much less for the benefit of those who destroyed their beloved Jerusalem and
are holding them captive. “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange
land?” (Ps 137:4), the psalmist exclaims.
With this in mind, we see that by the words, “let my right hand forget her
cunning” (v. 5), he means losing his skills of playing musical instrument in
accompaniment to the singing of the songs of Zion. And notice that the words
“her cunning” are actually in italics in the KJV, which means that they are not
found in the Hebrew text. They were added by the translators to give us a more
complete sense of the words. Matthew Poole has this to say about the words in
the original:
In Hebrew, it is only forget (i.e.,
let my right hand forget), without expressing what, to intimate the extent and
generality of this wish; Let it (i.e., the right hand) forget or be disenabled
not only for playing, but for every action in which it was formerly used.
In other words, let it (i.e., my right hand) lose its function and all skills
that it possesses. Let my right hand be totally useless.
And not only that, “if I do not remember thee [Jerusalem],” he says, “let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.” That is, let me lose my ability to
speak. This is not merely a handicap of speech, but a total inability to speak.
Let me lose my ability to sing and communicate.
Thus, we see, the great burden that the psalmist has for the Church. Should I
not have Jerusalem fill my mind, let these terrible things befall me!
We may ask: Why does the psalmist have such a great love and care for the
Church? To answer this question is to find out why believers ought to love the
Church.
The answer, I believe, may be clearly seen when we consider several truths
taught in the Scripture about the Church.
We must Love the Church
First and foremost, a believer should love the Church because she is
the Church, not of man, but of God. She belongs not to any man, nor to any
race, people or country, but to God, and solely to Him. Hence, in at least
eight places in the Scripture, she is called “the church of God.” You may find
these in Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 10:32; 11:22; 15:9; 2 Corinthians 1:1;
Galatians 1:13 and 1 Timothy 3:5.
Now, we are able to love God, because He first loved us (see 1 John 4:19), and
has shown us His great unconditional and everlasting love, despite our
lowliness and unworthiness. Not only do we have nothing upright in us but, on
the contrary, we were evil and hated Him. Hence, knowing His great love for us,
our hearts melt in a constraining love for Him. And not only for Him, but for
all that belongs to Him.
If a child in poverty is often driven to tears whenever he witnesses his
parents’ many great acts of sacrifices and love for him, and is spurred in his
heart to love them and be filial towards them, then how much more should a
believer be moved by God’s sacrificial love for him?
As we love God, very naturally, we will also love the things of Him, that is,
all things that pertains to Him. And the Church is not just an ordinary
possession of His. She is His treasured possession. To her, it is said: “But ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people…” (1 Pet 2:9).
Again, concerning her, the Scripture declares: “he that toucheth you toucheth
the apple of his eyes” (Zec 2:8). You may know that the apple of one’s eye
refers to the pupil, and the pupil is the most sensitive and most carefully
protected part of a person’s body.
As we love God, very naturally, we will also love His Church. Things that
grieve Him will also affect us. Things that please Him will also bring cheer to
our hearts. Things that are precious to Him will also be precious to us.
Secondly, a believer should love the Church because Christ loves her as
His Bride and gave Himself for her. Thus we read, in the entire book of the
Song of Solomon, of the love between Solomon and the Shulamite, which is a type
of the love between Christ and His beloved Church.
Notice how in the book of Revelation, the Church is both referred to as
Jerusalem and the wife of the Lamb:
… Come hither, I will shew thee the
bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and
high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God (Rev 21:9–10).
Consider how precious she is to Christ! In Acts 20:28, the Apostle Paul said to
the Ephesian elders:
Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Concerning these words, Richard Baxter once quoted an ancient teacher saying:
Oh, if Christ had but committed to
my keeping one spoonful of His blood in a fragile glass, how curiously would I
preserve it, and how tender would I be of that glass! If then He has committed
to me the purchase of His blood, should I not as carefully look to my charge?
What sirs, shall we despise the blood of Christ?
Though to us who are not ministers, God has not committed any congregation to
our charge, yet shall we think that the object for which the blood of Christ
was shed is not worthy of our love?
Moreover, it has been said by Christ, “as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Mt 25:40) and “as ye did it not
to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me” (Mt 25:45). Whatever good we
do to the Church of God, we do it unto Christ. Similarly, whatever needful
things we neglect to do to her, we neglect to do unto Christ.
When the Apostle Paul was formerly breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the church, the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). You see here again, whatever we do to her, we
are doing to Christ. And whatever we neglect to do for her, we neglect to do
for Christ; she is the beloved of Christ.
The psalmist says,
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let
my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy
(Ps 137:5–6).
Finally, a believer should love the Church of God because he is a member
of this body of Christ. The Church is the mystical body of Christ. Writing to
the congregation at Corinth, the Apostle Paul says: “Now ye are the body of
Christ, and members in particular” (1 Cor 12:27).
And as a member of this body of Christ, a believer, together with fellow saints
and the household of God, both prospers and falls with the Church. Hence, when
Haman the enemy of the people of God secured the king’s approval to destroy the
church, Mordecai said to Esther:
Think not with thyself that thou
shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s
house shall be destroyed… (Est 4:13–14).
When the Church of God, during the time of Moses, plunged into great unbelief
through the report of the ten faithless spies, the entire Church was withheld
from possessing the promised land until a long 40 years later. Even Caleb and
Joshua, men of exceptional and unwavering faith who did not join in the
dissimulation of the ten spies, had to suffer the 40 years of wandering with
the rest of the Church.
When the Church of God was in apostasy, what troubles and oppressions could
confront even the faithful believer! During the times of apostasy in the days
of Elijah, even a man of God like Elijah was so downcast that he prayed to God
that he might die (1 Kgs 19:4, 14).
Moreover, when the Church of God faces persecution, very often her ministers
and teachers are killed or taken away. Stephen was killed (Acts 7:59), so was
James (Acts 12:2). Overnight, congregations lost their ministers, and were left
with no one to care for them and instruct them. Believers who were previously well-taken
care of suddenly became like sheep without a shepherd. Formerly they were fed
with sound knowledge and teachings of God, but now, suddenly they were deprived
of all these, left to be “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind
of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness” (Eph 4:14).
A believer should love the Church of God because he is a member of this body,
and he prospers and falls with the Church. Like Moses, who “[esteemed] the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,… [having]
respect unto the recompence of the reward” (Heb 11:26), a believer’s lot is
cast with the Church of God. The believer should feel the same loyalty as Ruth
did for Naomi. What Ruth said concerning Noami, the believer says to the
Church:
Intreat me not to leave thee, or to
return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where
thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me,
and more also, if ought but death part thee and me (Ruth 1:16–17).
Unless the Church progresses in the spiritual realm, a believer could hardly
expect much progress for his soul, and those of his children. We either prosper
with the Church of God or fall with her.
Seeing then how dear the Church of God is, should we not constantly bear in
mind her good and well-being?
Directions for Remembering the Church
First, pray then for her! How needful it is for us to bring her before
the throne of God always. Prayer for her is something that we ought not to
neglect, especially when we gather together. Consider the intimate relation she
stands to God: she is the Church
of God and the Bride of
Christ. And consider the intimate relation she stands to us, we prosper and
fall with her. If we find it needful to pray for individual believers, what
more the Church
of God, the body of
believers?
When you look at her today, do you not see how needy and distressed she is? She
is often afflicted by the world in all the corners of the world. Wherever she
is found in purity, she is in the minority, small and despised. In many places,
she is hated and persecuted. And where there is no persecution, then she faces
deception from grievous wolves of false teachers, and starvation from a lack of
under-shepherds.
Can we watch in silence as she bleeds? Can we hold our peace when we see her,
who is purchased by the blood of our Lord, being afflicted with every evil in
the world?
She is one of the most principal things we ought to pray for. We ought to pray
for her safety, for her strengthening, for her prosperity and for her purity.
In praying for her, we are bringing her good help, for then we call upon the
Almighty hand of God to act for her, to bless her, and to prosper her. As we
supplicate for her, we may wait to expect blessings and assistance from heaven
to be poured down unto her, for our supplication is to a God who hears prayers
and who has the power to bring all favourable things to come to pass in her,
and is pleased to do so for He purchased her.
Then we shall see the Bride of our Lord, of which we are part, prospering. We
shall see her growing in strength, in understanding and in faith. We shall see
her increasing in consecration, in devotion and in love for her God.
Secondly, pray, pray for her. Pray for the families in her too. For
there is no prosperous Church without prosperous Christian homes. When
Christian families break down or decay, the Church degenerates accordingly.
Richard Baxter observes:
We must have a special eye upon
families, to see that they are well ordered, and the duties of each relation
performed. The life of religion, and the welfare and glory of both the Church
and the State, depend much on family government and duty. If we suffer the
neglect of this, we shall undo all.
Pray for a good government of her families and a diligent instructing of them
on the Holy Scriptures, “which are able to make [them] wise unto salvation” (2
Tim 3:15).
Thirdly, what shall we say, but pray, pray, and pray for her. Pray for
her members too. They are the “lively stones, [that are being] built up into a
spiritual house” (1 Pet 2:5). Pray for the perfecting and edification for them.
It has rightly been said that the strength of the Christians is the honour of
the Church.
As her members are built up in evangelical knowledge, understanding and faith
in God, the Church will inevitably be strengthened. Every spiritual muscle of
knowledge, understanding and faith that her members attain will add to the
health and wealth of the Church. Blessings from God for the Church may then be
expected and prosperity near.
Conclusion
“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do
not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer
not Jerusalem
above my chief joy” (Ps 137:5–6).
Brethren, even as we assemble week after week to pray, may we learn these
lessons, and apply these lessons in our prayers. Let us remember to pray for
her.
—Edited by J.J. Lim