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Psalm 132:6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.
In our text today, David is desperately searching for a dwelling place for The Most High God! He wants more than sleep itself to find a place and to build a new temple so that God can “rest”. David feels that there’s no need for him to rest until God can! It is this context in which we see him indicating the location where he “heard” of “the place” and “found” it!
Historically, we know that Mount Zion (the capital city of Jerusalem during David’s reign) wound up being the place where his son Solomon ended up building the first temple. We also know and understand that Ephratah (the place where they apparently heard talk of the temple’s best suited location) is another name for Bethlehem.
Why do I mention this? I mention this because of the prophetic implications of verse six. Just as David heard of the location of the temple of the Lord while at Bethlehem, there were some shepherd boys keeping watch over their flock by night (Luke 2) in the same vicinity, who also heard of the place of The Lord’s temple at the announcement of the Christ Child.
Hear this: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Did you catch that? The Gospel would be to “all people”. And where in this church age is the temple of The Lord? Exactly! It is in “all people” who call upon Him in faith!
Furthermore, our text reads, “…we found it in the fields of the wood.” In the Bible, fields often symbolize the gathering of people or the reaping of souls for God’s kingdom. Wood often symbolizes the cross of Christ, where it can be said that we who are gathered or harvested by the good news of Christ have, in fact, become as the “fields of the wood” or in other words, “the people of the cross”.
How amazing is it that everywhere we look in the Bible, we see Jesus?!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
Psalm 132:6 Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.
In our text today, David is desperately searching for a dwelling place for The Most High God! He wants more than sleep itself to find a place and to build a new temple so that God can “rest”. David feels that there’s no need for him to rest until God can! It is this context in which we see him indicating the location where he “heard” of “the place” and “found” it!
Historically, we know that Mount Zion (the capital city of Jerusalem during David’s reign) wound up being the place where his son Solomon ended up building the first temple. We also know and understand that Ephratah (the place where they apparently heard talk of the temple’s best suited location) is another name for Bethlehem.
Why do I mention this? I mention this because of the prophetic implications of verse six. Just as David heard of the location of the temple of the Lord while at Bethlehem, there were some shepherd boys keeping watch over their flock by night (Luke 2) in the same vicinity, who also heard of the place of The Lord’s temple at the announcement of the Christ Child.
Hear this: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Did you catch that? The Gospel would be to “all people”. And where in this church age is the temple of The Lord? Exactly! It is in “all people” who call upon Him in faith!
Furthermore, our text reads, “…we found it in the fields of the wood.” In the Bible, fields often symbolize the gathering of people or the reaping of souls for God’s kingdom. Wood often symbolizes the cross of Christ, where it can be said that we who are gathered or harvested by the good news of Christ have, in fact, become as the “fields of the wood” or in other words, “the people of the cross”.
How amazing is it that everywhere we look in the Bible, we see Jesus?!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill