Psalm 87:1–7 On the holy mount stands the city he founded; 2 the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. 3 Glorious things of you are spoken, O city of God. Selah 4 Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush— “This one was born there,” they say. 5 And of Zion it shall be said, “This one and that one were born in her”; for the Most High himself will establish her. 6 The LORD records as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah 7 Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.”
My brother and I used to do a lot of genealogy research at one time. It was always a thrill to find a birth certificate on which the names of the parents were people we knew for sure were in our family tree. We had discovered a new member of the family! “This one was born into our family,” we could say. Of course, in this kind of work, people sometimes surface that you may rather not be associated with - along with other very honorable names to which it is a source of delight to be linked! But there are records and registers so that we may know who is in our family and who is not.
Turning to the psalm above, we want to see that God has birth records too, and that this is clearly a matter of tremendous glory and joy.
The sons of Korah record the glory of the City of God and of Mount Zion in their day. Founded by God and loved by God, she was known as a place of glory - indeed the shekinah glory was present within the temple. She was referred to as “The Joy of the Whole Earth” (as the same writers refer to her in Psalm 48:2). The psalm talks about the singular honor of having an interest by birth in this city - God’s particular earthly dwelling place - of having the rights of citizens there. I am not sure but it seems to me that those who loved her unashamedly, whether Jews or Gentiles, were spoken of as having been “born there.” There is a famous old song, “I left my heart in San Francisco,” in which the city is said to outshine other great cities of the world, partly because of its beauty but also because the love of the writer’s life was living there. One might say that wherever he was originally born, he had transferred his allegiance now to a new city - he was born there “in spirit”. That is something of the idea in this psalm. The City of God is glorious, not only because of its surpassing beauty but above all because it is His dwelling place!
Taking a broader view of God’s purposes in redemption, we realize that Jerusalem, the City of God and indeed the Temple are all emblematic of the church, and the psalm bears re-reading with that in mind. From this perspective, being “born in her” seems to refer to the new birth - by which we enter into the new Jerusalem. If earthly Jerusalem was glorious, how much more glorious is the church of God! How He loves her, that He sent His Son to die for her! How precious she is to Him! And note that Gentiles take their place alongside the Jews as those who know God - who are citizens of the New Jerusalem (v 4)!
God has books for other things, too - for the tears of His saints, for example (Psalm 56:8), and a book of remembrance of those who feared the Lord and esteemed His name (Malachi 3:16 - thought this may be another way to refer to the book of life).
Shouldn’t we long to have our names written in God’s family register - the Book of Life - to show that we belong in God’s household? What a wonderful thing to have it said of us, “He/She is born of God - they are a child of the living God and a member of the Royal Family of Heaven!” What a badge of honor! Not that we did anything to deserve it, of course - it is all of grace - but isn’t it a heartwarming and comforting thought - since our names are written there indelibly through the work of Jesus?
It is a sad fact that many churches in our day have abandoned the concept of a formal church membership, as a part of which there is a “membership roll” listing all of those who belong. Some say that such a system is too formal and restrictive and that it is not appropriate for a time of gospel liberty. But if God keeps a register of those who have been born into His church, why would we shy away from having our names written in a physical book to show that we belong to His church here? Shouldn’t we long to be identified with Him and His children here in the same way that we should long to be identified with Him by being registered in the Book of Life?
