1. The City Is Built by God (vv. 1-3). After the battle of the kings (Gen. 14:18), Abraham met Melchizedek, the king-priest of Salem (Jerusalem, “city of peace”; see 76:2), and Hebrews 7 informs us that Melchizedek is a type of Jesus Christ, our Priest-King in heaven. David chose Jerusalem for his capital city (2 Sam. 5:6-10), and the Lord validated that choice by putting His temple there. The nation of Israel was to be separate from the other nations both politically (Num. 23:9) and geographically. That is why God called Jerusalem “my city” (Isa. 45:13) and “the Holy City” (Isa. 48:2; 52:1) and Zion “my holy mountain” (Isa. 11:9; 56:7; 57:13). It is “the joy of the whole earth … the city of the great King” (48:2). It is His foundation from which He has built His great work of redemption (Isa. 14:32). “Salvation is of the Jews,” said Jesus (John 4:22); and were it not for Israel, the world would not have the knowledge of the true and living God, the inspired Scriptures, or the Savior. Jesus died and rose again outside the walls of Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit descended on the church meeting in Jerusalem on Pentecost, and it was from Jerusalem that the early Jewish believers scattered to carry the gospel to the nations.

The phrase “the gates of Zion” refers to the city itself, a city God loves above all cities in the Holy Land. (See Deut. 7:6-9; 2 Chron. 6:5-6; Isa. 60:11-12; Zech. 1:14.) In Jerusalem was not only the temple of the true God, but also the throne of David, and it would be the Davidic line that would give us the Savior, Jesus Christ. In the end times, Jerusalem will be a center of controversy and conflict, but the Lord will rescue His beloved city (Zech. 12:1–13:1). But the prophets have written some “glorious things” about the future Jerusalem, and the apostles have written even more glorious things about the heavenly Jerusalem!