SERMON

Psalm 137
18 July 2010

By Jeff Jones

The Bible is not a simplistic book. Far from it. It is the story of Gods dealings
with man, and that story is not warm and fuzzy. This story is real, true, verifiable history,
and history is messy. And like the history of mere men, this story, and the whole Bible, is
downright gut-wrenching at times. The Bible is bloody as well as beautiful, ugly as well
as upbuilding, grim as well as glorious. And we shouldnt be surprised by that. The truth,
especially the truth of Gods dealings with sinful human beings, is often unpleasant.
Because sinners are unpleasant. Were ugly at times, bloodthirsty, savage. We are
sinners, and sin is like that. So the story of human existence is also ugly. If the Bible is
true, we have to expect that it will reflect all of reality, not just the parts we like to hear
about.
This text I just read has certainly been controversial. Ive listened to Christopher
Hitchens citing the end of this text, citing it to support his claim that the Old Testament is
a bloodthirsty and backward book and its God is unworthy of even respect, let alone
worship. Youll probably run into this text offered in that manner, as a way to claim that
the Bible is outdated and cant possibly be the work of a righteous God. Were going to
see, though, that this text hardly can be used this way. Hitchens and his allies
oversimplify the Old Testament, yanking hard texts out of their contexts, refusing to
study them in depth or give them the respect they deserve, and try to stereotype all of
Scripture with it. Its kind of like taking a Monet or a Van Gogh painting and attacking
their work, disparaging their authors, by taking the color of a single brushstroke in one of
their works and trying to describe their work by splashing a can of that color all over a
canvas. There thats what its like. To say that this is missing the point would be
rather mild.
This is a tough text, though. Not tough to understand, once we look at it. But its
tough to read. It makes an impact. It paints an image that is, frankly, horrific. There are
different kinds of hard texts in the Bible, and this one is hard in an emotional or visceral
way. Why preach on this, then? Because this text is one that many Christians are tempted
to run away from. But that would commit the same error Hitchens and his types commit
fastening on our preferred or comfortable texts and pretending the whole story is
monochromatic, one shade of color. The duty of the preacher is to preach the whole
counsel of God, and that means bringing texts like this before the sheep once in a while.
This morning, were basically going to examine this text in three ways. First, the
longest part of this sermon, were going to talk about what it meant when it was written.
The original meaning the human author intended in his own historical context. But as
Christians, we cannot simply leave it there. As Christians, it is so important that we look
at everything in light of the Cross that we will need to look at the text a second time. So
second, we will talk about what it now means in light of Jesus Christ not that the
meaning has fundamentally changed, but that it has deepened and broadened and
expanded. Finally, we dont just open the Bible and read it for our own edification we
are here to be changed by it, to be equipped for service in the Kingdom of God. And so
we will finish by talking about application, about how we must live in light of this text.

WHAT IT MEANT: Gods People Long to Dwell in Peace with God
The Historical Context
I stressed that the Bible is a record of history. Its more than that, but its not less.
And so to do it justice, to understand what God is communicating through its pages, to
grasp its meaning, we need to read it in light of the historical context. We need to have
some understanding of the things going on at the time, where it was written and what was
taking place there.
This Psalm was written during Israels exile to Babylon. Israel had rebelled
repeatedly and stubbornly against God in the Promised Land. Again and again God sent
prophets to warn the people, foreign armies to punish the people, and they still didnt
listen, still persisted in following other gods and trampling on the poor and downtrodden.
Long story short, in 586 BC the armies of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar,
destroyed the city of Jerusalem with its temple and sent the people off to exile in
Babylon.
The destruction of Jerusalem was catastrophic. The book of Lamentations gives us
a horrific glimpse into the brutal reality of warfare in the ancient world. Sieges could last
years, even decades, as the city gradually starved. Hunger results in unspeakable
suffering and horror Lamentations talks about the starvation in graphic terms:
The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg
for food, but no one gives to them.(4:4) Look, O LORD, and see! With whom have you
dealt thus?Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care?
(2:19-20) Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted
away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have
boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter
of my people. (4:9-10)
And when the defences grew weak, the enemy would enter the city and unleash
themselves in an unrestrained blast of pent-up fury. Armies hated siege warfare. Nothing
frustrated the Babylonian soldiers more than long weeks and months and years, waiting
out their enemies, listening to their mockery, unable to reach them, wishing they would
just come out and fight. The soldiers wanted the plunder of conquest after all, it was a
part of their pay. Siege warfare forced them to wait for it. The soldiers, many of them
conscripts, wanted to go home to their families and their farms. A siege delayed their
homecoming. So when they finally got in the walls, they took out all that rage and anger
and frustration on the populace. They pillaged and raped and slaughtered. Lamentations
gives the grim report as follows:
In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men
have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering
without pity. (2:21) Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah.
Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. (5:11-12)
Thats ancient warfare. That is what the Jews survived a horrific atrocity. And
even though God ordained the Babylonians as a punishment, the Bible is clear in
Habakkuk that the Babylonians lustful indulgence in cruelty was an abominable sin.
Habakkuk says Babylon is a bitter and hasty nation that brings up mankind with his
hook, sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet, mercilessly killing the
nations and building a town with blood and a city with iniquity to the point that God
promises that the cup in the Lords hand shall come around to you and that the violence
they did to their victims will overwhelm you. Even though they were justly punished,
Israel was also legitimately victimized.
So Israel is in exile. And even though they were firmly settled in Babylon in
verse 1, the Hebrew translated sat down has the meaning of settling or dwelling
this settling, however, is forced. They were foreigners in a foreign land, and they knew it.
They were displaced, homeless.

The Literary Form
So first, weve looked at the historical context and had a taste of the horrors that
they had endured and the culturally devastating fact of the destruction of their nation and
exile to a foreign land. The second thing we need to understand, in order to interpret this
text, or any text, properly, is what kind of writing it is. Whats its literary form, its genre?
Obviously it was meant to be sung; its a song meant for worship and instruction and
meditation. Like all the Psalms, its poetry. Ive heard poetry called highly compressed
language it packs an enormous amount of meaning into just a few words. It can paint a
word picture or image in stark and vivid terms, far more quickly than a detailed prose
description. And thats whats going on here the Psalmist is painting a picture with his
words, a picture of anguish and longing and anger.
We can categorize this Psalm further. This psalm is two main things. First, it is a
lament. A lament is a song of sorrow and grief, lamenting a loss or a calamity, expressing
the pain and grief of the people. As weve seen from the historical context, its a lament
for Jerusalem, because it was destroyed specifically, its a lament by those who are far
away, remembering it before it was ruined. But its also an imprecatory psalm. Thats a
fifty-dollar term that means cursing. This is a prayer that curses Israels enemies,
calling for Gods judgment upon them. Many of the Psalms, and in fact many biblical
texts, carry imprecations or curses. So we need to understand this psalm as an example of
this kind of curse writing.
So to completely grasp what this Psalm originally meant, we need to look at each
of those aspects. First, well look at it as a lament for Jerusalem, at the psalmists longing
for Jerusalem. And second, well look at the Psalmists curse or imprecation against his
enemies, at his longing for justice and judgment.

Its A Lament: They Longed for Jerusalem
The key to understanding this psalm is to understand what Jerusalem represented
to the Jews, and what its destruction meant for the Jews. The destruction of Jerusalem
traumatized Jewish theology. How could Babylon have destroyed the home of God?
Were the Babylonian gods more powerful, after all? For the Jews, the exile threatened to
call Gods sovereignty into question. Except - at the beginning of the exile, God appeared
to the prophet Ezekiel in a vision. The first chapter of Ezekiel is an awe-inspiring picture
of a massive, glorious sapphire throne, from which come flashes of fire and sounds like
thunder. And what must have given the Jews hope, what must have brought great relief
and renewed faith, was a strange detail. This throne sat on wheels. Wheels within wheels,
that could move in any direction without turning. God is telling his people, I reign over
the whole earth. Wherever you go, I am there. I am still sovereign.
So Jerusalem as the place of Gods protection and rule and sovereignty is not what
they are longing for here. Verse one tells us they wept as they remembered Zion, even as
they sat down, even as they settled, along the rivers and canals that watered Babylon.
They wept, because their captors taunted them, demanding to hear songs of Zion. Songs
from the temple, Psalms, songs that spoke of Gods protection of Israel, Gods
vindication of Israel before its enemies. These songs must have seemed so inappropriate,
like salt in the wound; after all, they had forfeited that protection by their sin. They knew
that; they accepted that. It was too late for protection, and they understood the very fact
of their exile to be an expression of Gods sovereignty. So if sovereignty and protection
werent what they longed for, what was it, then?
They wept for Zion because it was consecrated for worship. It had been a holy
place. How could they sing these sacred songs in a sinful, unclean, foreign place? And so
they cry out in verses 4 and 5 may my right hand forget its skill and my tongue stick
to the roof of my mouth, if they forgot Jerusalem. This is more than mere sentiment.
Jerusalem represented full communion with God, life with God in their midst. The city
was a physical demonstration of Gods covenant promise to live among his people, and
its destruction was a statement by God that this covenant privilege had been lost. He was
still with them and available by prayer, but the presence of his favour, the expression of
his good-will and blessing that the temple and Jerusalem represented, was gone from
them. Its like a rebellious child that a loving but exasperated parent has kicked out of the
house but who realizes his sin and who longs to return. A child who longs not just for
the sake of the four walls and a roof, but for the reassurance and atmosphere of love that
only comes with dwelling physically with the one you love in the same place.
Thats the emotional and spiritual weight behind the temple and Zion theme
running through the Bible: God dwells among his people, in a special and particular and
intensive way. And the Psalmist recognizes that all his skill in worship becomes
meaningless without that close, available access to Gods special presence. What good
would it do to impress the Gentiles with their skill? How could the simplistic pleasure of
music in their ears replace the sheer joy and awe of entering the special place and
presence of God?
And so they began to realize what God had intended for Zion all along that it was
the place of his special favour and blessing and dwelling, his covenant presence, if you
will. Jerusalem was, in a way, the physical expression of the household of God. And its
destruction meant that this adoption, this family relationship, was severed. And we see in
this Psalm that Israel is, in this light, now realizing the full weight of their guilt. It
changed Israel permanently. Before Babylon, nothing could keep Israel away from idols.
After Babylon, Israel never touched foreign gods again. They knew the exile was fair
punishment. And so they longed for Jerusalem, for the temple. They longed for the
restoration of Gods dwelling with men, for the renewed presence of the Lord among
their people.

Its an Imprecation: They Longed for Justice
Many commentators speak about the final section of the Psalm as ruining a
perfectly good lament. Its as if the Psalmist started with a hauntingly beautiful ode to
Jerusalem, only to inexpicably twist it into a savage expression of ungodly hate. Let me
be blunt at the outset. Only people raised in the comforts and safety like those in our
modern Western culture could say something like that. We have never experienced what
this writer did. We never saw the horrors he saw. And when he remembers Jerusalem, not
only does he think with longing of the beauty of its past, but he cannot avoid, cannot
escape, the memory of its savage destruction. The exiles memory of Jerusalem has two
sides, a glorious past and a ghastly end. We cannot assume, we must not think, like those
commentators, that lament and cursing do not belong together. Read Lamentations. Read
of the mothers forced to boil their children, the infants dying of thirst, and tell me that
your thoughts dont move naturally to the topic of justice. The exile from Jerusalem may
have been deserved, but what the Babylonians did to the city was cruel and abominable.
Our Psalmist cannot contain himself; his longing for Jerusalem turns to a longing
for justice. He has remembered Jerusalem and he calls on God to remember her enemies.
Verse 7 introduces the Edomites, who were cheerleading as their sworn enemys capital
was captured. The Edomites were not satisfied with a mere conquest; they called for the
city to be razed, to be flattened and crushed and cleared to its very foundations. The book
of Obadiah records a prophecy made against Edom for this evil; our Psalmist was hardly
alone in calling for a reckoning on Edom. And just before we get into the last verse in
detail, its interesting to remember that the key city in Edom was the cliff-side fortress of
Petra, a city carved out of a rock. When the Psalmist talks of dashing Babylons children
on the rock the Hebrew is singular, not plural it seems to be a double entendre or
wordplay of sorts. Hes calling on God to punish Babylon and Edom together; they are
one enemy as far as he is concerned.
Then comes the roughest part of the Psalm, as the writer turns against the daughter
of Babylon an image used elsewhere in the Bible, the immoral and wicked people of
Babylon personified as a woman. The Psalmist blesses those who will someday repay her
with what was done to Judah . He cites the most horrific crime as an example blessed
shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!
How could he say that? We need to remember three things:
FIRST, the imagery of children being dashed on rocks is common in the Old
Testament.


SECOND, we cannot forget: what hes describing is what was done to Israel.

THIRD, look at how he phrases verse 8, and it all becomes clear. Blessed is he
who repays you with what you have done to us does that sound familiar? What was the
measuring stick used in the Law to determine the severity of punishment? An eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth. Measure for measure. Again and again in the Law of Moses we
find this standard: Exodus 21. Leviticus 24. Deuteronomy 19. The Hebrew looked at an
offence and knew from this law that it deserved retribution in kind measure for
measure. How else was a Jew looking at the events of 586 BC supposed to think? What
other kind of justice could he call for that would be consistent with and faithful to the
Law that God had given? He called for the nation of Babylon to suffer the same fate that
Judah had. Not out of bloodthirsty vindictiveness; no. But out of a conviction formed by
the Law and given form and shape by eyewitness experience, he called for justice to be
done in the most specific and graphic way he could.
Nothing less could do justice to the crime that had been committed. Did he mean it
literally, that he hoped tiny Babylonian babies would be similarly killed? We do know
that he absolutely and positively hoped and prayed that the level of destruction and
calamity that befell his people would fall on those who did these things, measure for
measure. Understanding the Psalmists intent here requires that we resist becoming hung
up on the children here his target, the object of his curse, is the daughter of Babylon.
The killing of the children is a horrific image born out of a horrific experience and are
offered as a horrific exhibit before the divine court, as an example of a horrific crime
requiring the most horrific punishment. His interest is seeing the guilty punished; the
childrens fate is not the point. Justice is.
The Psalmist longs for Jerusalem for the restoration of fellowship with and
blessing from God. He longs to live with His Lord. He cannot, and he should not,
separate that longing from his understandable longing to see justice done to see the
guilty punished, to see them receive the same level of punishment that his people
suffered, Remember: Jerusalem is a type, a shadow, of Gods dwelling with man. But
Gods dwelling with man demands that justice be done. In a sinful world, longing for
Jerusalem means longing for justice. The two cannot be separated. Some commentators
wish they could be. They cant. So the original meaning of this Psalm, what it meant in
the exile, what it meant when it was written, is simple. Israel longed for Jerusalem, to
dwell with God. And they longed for justice, to see the guilty punished, to see peace
established on the earth. In other words: the original meaning of Psalm 137 is that Gods
people are longing to dwell in peace with God.

WHAT IT MEANS TODAY: Gods People Long to Dwell in Peace with God In
Christ
But we are Christians, living on the other side of the Cross. How does Christ affect
our interpretation of this Psalm? Well answer that question by continuing to look at the
Psalm in the two ways of a lament and an imprecation. First, well look at what Jerusalem
means for Christians today, and how the Psalmists longing for Jerusalem translates to the
Christian life. And second, well look at how Christs advent shapes the Christian
understanding of the Laws teaching on justice, and what place imprecation and cursing
may have in the prayers of a Christian. Then well be ready to make some applications.

What Jerusalem Means To The Christian
Weve seen that Jerusalem had special meaning. It represented the special presence
of God dwelling in the midst of his chosen people, the covenant favour and blessing that
only comes in the presence of the Lord. So Jerusalem acts as a type, as a shadow of a
greater reality that, when the Psalmist wrote these words, was still not yet realized.
When we come to the New Testament, everything changes. In John 4, Jesus was
asked the question by a Samaritan woman: where should true worship happen, Mount
Gerizim or Jerusalem? Jesus answered that the day was now coming and is now here
when the location would not matter. Neither on Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem would
worship take place, but God calls true worshippers to worship in spirit and in truth.
What does that mean? The city of Jerusalems special status and importance was
now going to pass away. Why? We see the hints all over Jesus ministry. He cleanses the
Temple, and when challenged on his authority to do so, he refers to himself as a temple.
And so, writing many years later, the Apostle John opens his letter with the astonishing
statement: the Divine Word, God himself, steps down into his own creation, became
flesh, and dwelt among us! The Greek literally reads tabernacled among us. The entire
theology of Jerusalem, this idea that God would come and dwell among his people,
pointed to Jesus. The temple concept, of a place where men can come and enter the
presence of God, was fulfilled in Jesus.
How does Jesus fulfill the idea of Jerusalem and the Temple? Jesus explains how
when he tells the disciples, When two or three are gathered in my name, there I am
among them. Jesus is present in a particular and special way in the gathering of his
people, no matter where on earth it may happen. And so Paul writes in First Corinthians
2:16 and 17: Do you not know that you are Gods Temple and that Gods Spirit dwells
in you? You he uses the plural, not the singular you all, plural, are Gods Temple,
singular. The Church, being the body of Christ, is now Gods earthly temple, not a
structure of stone and wood and gold. And John sees, in Revelation 21, the holy city, the
new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. Jerusalem, like the church, is presented as a bride made spotless and pure for
her husband. Like the church, her twelve foundations are the twelve apostles of the
Lamb. The themes of the Temple and of Jerusalem made one idea, as the dimensions of
the city are cubical the same length, width, and height. The only other cube in all of
Scripture was what? The Holy of Holies in the Temple. So all of this new Jerusalem, this
church, is a temple to the Lord. So there is no temple in the city; its temple is the Lord,
whose body is his church. It is in this new Jerusalem, in the church, that the promise of
Gods dwelling place is fulfilled: Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He
will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as
their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more,
neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have
passed away.
The church is Jerusalem on earth today, brothers and sisters. The idea of Gods
Temple and Gods City are fulfilled ultimately in Christ, and the earthly manifestation of
Christ as the Temple and as Jerusalem is the church because we are His body. When we
read in Psalm 137 of the longing for Jerusalem, for the place where God dwells with his
people, the Psalmist is ultimately longing for union with Christ. This aching, anguished
longing cant be truly fulfilled by a city of stone or a building of gold; it can only
ultimately be fulfilled in Christ. And what the psalmist could only long for and look
forward to, we now already have. Yes, there is a future dimension to this promise still.
The church, the New Jerusalem, has not yet been glorified we are not yet made new and
perfect. But we right now, here, in this room, this morning, enjoy and experience the
special presence of Jesus, the promise that when two or three are gathered in his name he
is among them. God is among his people now, in this place and all over the world! We
are Jerusalem, brothers and sisters, the place of Gods dwelling with his people.

What Justice Means To The Christian
But what about the second dimension of this psalm, it being an imprecation, a
curse? How does that relate to us today? Jesus directly addressed the lex talionis, measure
for measure, in his Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:38-41, we read: You have heard
that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I say to you, Do not
resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other
also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as
well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the
one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Is he
setting aside or annulling the Mosaic Laws standard of justice? No, for he came not to
abolish the law but fulfill it. The examples he cites all have this in common: they have to
do with personal and private conduct, not with the right of the community to enforce a
standard of justice. The word resist in verse 39 elsewhere refers to legal proceedings,
and verse 40 also describes a lawsuit. The slap in verse 39 was a common Jewish form of
insult. Forcing someone to go a mile in verse 41 refers to the right of Roman soldiers to
force Jews to carry a load for a mile Jesus here is saying go further.
Jesus is not saying measure for measure is a bad standard of justice. Hes saying
that citizens of Gods Kingdom are called to give others mercy and grace rather than
judgment. Why? Because every member of the Kingdom is a recipient of grace and
mercy rather than justice. Think of the parable of the ungrateful servant. That servant did
not get what he deserved from the king at first imprisonment and slavery. Instead, he
received grace and mercy as his debt was forgiven. But the slave then had a fellow
servant thrown in jail for his small debt he might have given that man what he legally
deserved under the law, but his problem was that he was hypocritical. He applied a
standard of justice and judgment to others debts while keeping a standard of mercy and
grace for his own debts. God will not tolerate that; he gives grace and mercy, and expects
us to be gracious and merciful in turn. The punishment for those who dont imitate God
in this way or in any other is to have law and justice and judgment applied to your case
without mercy, as the king does to the ungrateful servant at the end.
So Jesus point in the Sermon on the Mount is to say that Christians are to apply
mercy rather than judgment to others in personal and private contexts. We are to
remember, after all, that vengeance is the Lords. Our sins have been graciously and
mercifully covered on the cross; who knows if the one who wrongs us does not have his
covered as well, and will come to faith in Christ? And if so, who is it that condemns? It is
God who justifies. Now this does not mean that the standard of measure for measure in
the Law of Moses is now set aside, because elsewhere in the New Testament God
continues to apply that standard to sinners in judgment. In the very same sermon, in
Matthew 7:2, Jesus warns that we are to be careful in judgment because God will apply
the same standard we use for others when he judges us. If we wrong someone and harm
them in the way we judge them, we will receive the same from God measure for
measure. And Revelation 18:6, speaking again of a woman named Babylon, declares,
Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
So what do we make of this prayer in Psalm 137? Is it a model for us? The fact
is that prayers of imprecation and cursing are found in the New Testament as well. Jesus
curses the scribes and Pharisees in the harshest terms in Matthew chapter 23. Paul curses
false teachers in Galatians, saying let him be anathema let him be cut off. The saints
slain for the Gospel in Revelation 6:10 cry out from under the altar for God to avenge
their blood that was shed. So imprecations and curses still have a place in the life of the
church. The Psalmist, Ill point out, does not take the law into his own hands, but cries
out instead. Similarly, we, like the saints in Revelation, can cry out for God to vindicate
his righteousness and holiness on the earth. But we must never forget that on the Cross,
God demonstrated for all time his righteousness in passing over the sins of his elect,
punishing them in Christ. And at the end, when he casts the wicked into hell, his
righteousness will be vindicated in delaying their judgment here and now. So even as we
cry for justice, we need to recognize that justice has been done and will certainly be done
in the future. We cry for justice in the assurance that our prayer will be answered.
The major change is not that we cry for justice. The major change from Old
Testament to New is that, in light of the mercy and grace of the Cross, we who have
received mercy are now obligated commanded! to pray for our enemies as well. We
cry for justice because it is the longing of our hearts to see God glorified in his holiness
and righteousness on the earth. We also cry for mercy and grace for others because of our
compassion for the lost and, more importantly, that God would be glorified in
graciously turning bitter enemies into faithful servants.
So the standard of justice hasnt changed at all. But the Cross gives us two
things: first, the assurance that justice has been done and will be done; and second, the
obligation and compulsion to intercede for our enemies and ask that they receive the
same mercy we enjoy. We pray for God to punish the wicked, like Psalm 137 this still
applies for us today. But we pray also that God will count that punishment spent on Jesus
Christ and that they would be saved as we are, confident that either way God chooses,
justice has been done and will be done. That is the Christian view of imprecation and
cursing. That is what justice means to the Christian.

APPLICATIONS
So how shall we now live? What are we to do in light of Gods teaching here this
morning in Psalm 137?

We Look for Jerusalem in the Church
First, like the Psalmist, you need to be longing for Jerusalem. Not in the same way,
though. His Jerusalem lay in ruins and the comfort of dwelling in Gods city with access
to the place of his favour and blessing was distant and gone. Thats not us. We, in this
church, in all the church of Christ, are the new Jerusalem. It is still imperfect, yes, and
parts are in ruins, but the most important thing is that Christ is in our midst. So, Psalm
137 calls you to long and yearn for the company and fellowship of the saints.
The sad thing is that many believers exile themselves from Jerusalem. Church
becomes a chore and an obligation rather than a joy. Perhaps that is some of you.
Examine yourselves, brothers and sisters. When you are sick and cant be with the body,
do you long for that fellowship? When youre traveling and cannot be with your local
church, or any church of true believers, do you miss this? When you are with your
church, are you joyful and encouraged or is your spirit distracted and already leaving
for Babylon?
What are your idols? What things or activities make Jerusalem seem small and
expendable? Psalm 137 exalts Gods place as better than the finest music, better than the
proper function of our bodies. Do you treasure your church, the universal church, the
same way? Even if it is in ruins, would you rather be there than on the beach by the river
or something? O, that God would have mercy on us! We are far too easily pleased. I wish
I could say that my desires are pure, but they arent. Are yours?

We Pray for Justice on the Earth but Also for our Enemies
Second, like the Psalmist, pray for justice. Jesus did not tell you to pray, Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done... for no reason. We should long for justice. To see sin
and rebellion and wickedness should move us to respond. The Psalmist did not sit back
passively and clinically and say, Its evidently Gods decretive will that evil exist in this
world until the eschaton or something like that. He knew sin was a part of life, but he
fought against it. He called for justice. So should you. Do not be passive. As Christians,
we see injustice and sin and rebellion and hatred of God everywhere around us. Youve
probably become desensitized to a lot of it. I know that I have, and thats wrong. We
should see sin and cry out for God to avenge, to establish justice on the earth. The next
time you see something wrong pray. Ask God to bring justice to the earth.
But pray that in the knowledge that God already has done this at the Cross, and
will certainly answer your prayer at the end of all things. Pray with confidence! Pray with
assurance that God hears and has promised to answer that he already has! But dont
forget mercy. If you are here and you believe this Word, you have been shown mercy.
Great, unimaginable mercy. What the Psalmist wished upon his enemies was nothing
compared to what you deserve for your sins against a holy God. And yet this God has
forgiven your debt. He has nailed it to the Cross. So do not cheapen and disparage the
priceless grace of God by trying to seek only wrath and judgment upon others. You
received mercy; are you any better than they are? God will have no boasting. God takes
no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, and neither should you. If you do, God will
judge you by that same measure. And this requires that you pray for mercy and grace for
others. It is Gods to give; he will do as he pleases. But you have a duty to God and your
fellow man to plead for mercy for others. Pray for your enemies, that God will punish
their sin in Christ and redeem them for himself to his own glory.

We Look At Sin With Unrelenting Hatred
Finally, dont simply shake off the shock and discomfort you may feel reading this
text. The Psalmist has laid out the brutal, ugly reality of human sin, and the equally ugly
and brutal reality of what it deserves. When we read passages like this, we dont like it,
and that isnt necessarily a good thing at all. The real problem that too many Christians
have when they read Psalm 137 is not that the writer judges sin too harshly; the real
problem many of us have is that we read the account of sin in the text and see it in our
lives but we dont judge that sin harshly enough. We dont see sin as God sees it as
filthy, ugly, reprehensible, abominable. We all too often see it as mere mistakes or
foibles, as minor or inconsequential.
Brothers and sisters, Gods holiness is not minor. He is holy, holy, holy. Gods
holiness is not inconsequential, for a consequence of the clash of his holiness with our sin
was the sacrifice of his only Son at Calvary. You need to see sin for what it is. Look at
Lamentations and consider the sin that prompted God to visit such destruction on his
people. Look at this psalm and the extent that the Psalmist goes to in order to articulate
the proper penalty for Babylons sin. Sin is terrible. It kills people. It kills every man,
woman, and child who does it. It rips apart families and ruins marriages. It sickens and
poisons our bodies and ruins creation itself. It is the source of all the pain and anguish
and grief and sorrow and frustration you have ever experienced.
Do you look at sin for what it really is? Or do you indulge it, tolerate just a little,
keep one as a pet? Do you see the sinful tendencies in your own life the way you would
see cancer or plague? I assure you that it is far more deadly, for those things only kill the
body. Your sin will kill your soul if you are not truly a believer, and may even deceive
you into thinking you are saved when youre not. You cant afford to take sin lightly.
You are called to hate, brothers and sisters, to hate sin and sinfulness.
Love the church. Pray for justice, and for your enemies. Hate sin with a passion.
And look to Christ, who changed everything. Look to Christ, who gives the comfort that
the Psalmist could not yet clearly see. He dwells in our midst to comfort and to bless. His
death paid for all the sins of his people and assures us that God will one day establish
true, lasting peace in the earth. Do you long for peace? Do you see sin and despair? Jesus
is the answer to your pain. Jesus is the answer to Psalm 137. Cling to Jesus, believe in
him, and find peace and joy again.