“Glorious Things” [Matt's Messages] ~ Matt Mitchell

“Glorious Things”

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

January 11, 2026 :: Psalm 87:1-7

I picked Psalm 87 for this morning because it’s so glorious and so...weird. I picked it because I really have never understood it. No matter how many times I’ve read it.

Every evening, I read a psalm to Heather Joy. I don’t know how many years now we’ve been doing that. Maybe twenty? Every night, I read the next Psalm in the Psalter. We start in Psalm 1 and we go to Psalm 150, and then we start over with Psalm 1 again. Some of them take a few nights to get through (like Psalm 119 because it has 176 verses!) but most are just one per night, so we make it all the way through the Psalms about two times a year.

And a few weeks ago, I read Psalm 87 once again to Heather Joy, and she just lit up, as usual. She loves it! She says, “My heart rejoices just hearing Psalm 87!” It thrills her to the core.

And that night I said, “I just don’t get it. I don’t know what’s going on here. At some point, I’m going to have to decide to preach it to really get a handle on it."

What is this psalm, this song, all about?

So, this week, as we’re in between sermon series, I was like, “I don’t know what to preach on this week,” and I found a note I wrote to myself that night. “Preach Psalm 87?” And I took it as a word from the Lord!

So here we are. Psalm 87.

It’s a psalm written by “The Sons of Korah.” There are about 12 of those sprinkled throughout the Psalter. The Sons of Korah were an inter-generational family of worship leaders that spanned many decades. They were a family who wrote worship songs for the people of God. Back during covid we studied a few of the Sons of Korah’s songs like Psalm 42, Psalm 46, and Psalm 84.

And this Psalm 87 was one of their greatest hits of all time.

And it’s about Zion.

This is one of the “Songs of Zion.”

There about seven songs in that EP album (46, 48, 76, 84, 87,122, and 132). Not all of them were by the Sons of Korah, but a few were.

The Songs of Zion are psalms that focus on the City of God. Jerusalem.

But not just Jerusalem as Jerusalem was but an idealized Jerusalem. A Jerusalem as God sees it. A Jerusalem as God wants it. A Jerusalem as Jerusalem will one day be.

I think that’s a lot of what is bound up when we read the word “Zion,” in the Bible. It’s not just the physical mountain on which the geographical city of Jerusalem was built. And it’s not just the geo-political city itself as it was in the time when the Sons of Korah were writing worship songs about it.

It’s more than that. It’s poetic and prophetic.

It’s what Zion stands for and what Zion will one day be.

That’s part of what makes it hard to understand, if you aren’t that into poetry (like me), and also what makes it so glorious because of what shines through as you study it and sing it for yourself.

In verse 3, the Sons of Korah sing to the city.

“Glorious things are said of you, O city of God...”

“Glorious Things!” The song sings to the city encouraging it that there are some wonderful things that are said about the city. Things that are so good that they are glorious. There are things that can rightly be said about this city that must be marveled at and celebrated and rejoiced over. And this city should take it to heart! “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God...”

And I think that as we read it closely, we’ll see that we (you and I right here in this room) can sing these same glorious things about us.

Because though we may not have ever even visited the earthly Jerusalem in the Middle East, we have come by faith, as the letter to the Hebrews says, “...to Mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God...[We have come] to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. [We have come...] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrew 12:22-24)!

And we will one day live in it. We are, and one day will, be the City of God. So these glorious things are in some way about us. No wonder Heather joy lights up when she reads Psalm 87!

Let’s see some of these glorious things. Number one. City of God...

#1. YOU ARE BELOVED!

Church, you are so loved by God Himself.

Let’s read the first three verses of Psalm 87.

“Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.

He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God: Selah”

The word “Selah” probably is a musical notation to indicate an appropriate place to put a rest or an interlude in the song. It probably means, “That’s a good stopping place to take a breath and meditate on what was just sung. Stop, think, consider.” You don’t read the word aloud. You do the thing.

Stop, think, and consider this glorious thing said about you: You are beloved of God.

If you lived in Zion when the Sons of Korah were playing this song on the radio or streaming on your phone into your headphones, you’d be like, “Yeah, it’s so good to live here because God loves this city.”

Why? He loves it because He founded it. God is the “He” in verse 1.

“He has set his foundation on the holy mountain...”

The city of Jerusalem did not choose God. God chose the city of Jerusalem. He decided where it would be, and He made it holy. That mountain isn’t holy on its own or because it somehow recommended itself to God. No, it’s the other way around. That mountain is holy because the holy God chose to set His city down there.

The holy God chose to “set up shop” there in Zion. The LORD led David to conquer Jerusalem and make it the capitol of Israel. The LORD led David to set up his throne there (see Psalm 2:7). The LORD led Solomon to build His temple there. Jerusalem became the leading city of Israel and the earthly headquarters of God Himself. That’s where His “home” was.

Now, God is not confined to the temple, amen? God is not confined to an earthly city, amen? He was not then, and He is not now, and He never will be confined. He is everywhere.

But that city was like a symbol of God’s presence on Earth. That temple was a visual reminder that God wants to dwell among His people and rule them. He wants to be at the center for them. In a special way, Zion stood there for heaven.

And therefore (v.2), "...the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”

And, boy, does He love the dwellings of Jacob! God just has a special place in His heart for the gates of Zion.

Now, why the gates? Perhaps because they are the entry way. God loves coming back “home” to Zion, so to speak. The gates of Zion are the front door with God’s name there on the plate. There’s no place like home. But the gates of a city meant more than that in ancient times. The gates of Hebrew cities were where the people gathered to do business and interact with each other in public and where most of the court-cases were held.

The gates were where the people were. And the people are the most important thing about the city. It’s not the architecture that God cares about. It’s not the land or the buildings. It’s who is the city. That’s what God really cares about. He really cares about His city because He really cares about His citizens.

And that’s true for us, too, isn’t it? City of God, you are beloved! You are cherished. You are loved by God Himself. We are loved by God Himself!

Think about that?! What a glorious thing.

We are loved by God Himself. And not because we somehow recommended ourselves to Him.

We are not holy and beloved because we were so great. We are loved by God because God set His love us.

1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Imagine that! In fact, God had every reason to NOT lavish His love on us. We were His enemies!

Which I think is the point of the next section of the Psalm. Verses 4, 5, and 6.

“‘I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me– Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush–and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'’ Indeed, of Zion it will be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.’ The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’ Selah.”

Just think about that.

Stop there and consider this glorious thing. City of God...

#2. YOU BELONG!

You! You belong to God. And there’s no reason for that outside of God.

This is the part of the psalm that I have struggled the most to understand. It’s got all of these names and all of this repetition and staccato syntax. It’s a bit like a freestyle rap in the middle of a song. And even when you get to understanding what all of the names point to, the meaning of it is so fantastical so majestical it’s hard to take in!

The biggest repetition is the word “born.”

“Born in Zion.”

“Born in her.”

“Born there.”

This one, that one. Born in Zion. Born in Zion. I almost titled this message, “Born in Zion.”

What a great privilege it would be to be born in the city that God loves, right?! If you are born there, you’re a citizen with all of the rights and privileges and prerogatives that come with being a citizen of that beloved city. You belong.

That’s what Heather Joy said to me this week when I asked her what all she loved about Psalm 87. She said, “It’s such a hopeful song of belonging.”

“This one was born there.”

You have a place. Safe, secure, happy. And a place from conception and birth. “The one was born in Zion.” You belong!

But what makes the record scratch is that these people in verse 4 don’t belong!

Rahab?

Babylon?

Philistia?

Tyre?

Cush?

Maybe this message should have been called, “Stranger Things,” not “Glorious Things!” (I guess that name was already taken.)

Do these people belong? Are these people “born in Zion?”

According to God, yes. Because that’s Who is singing when we read verse 4. The Sons of Korah locate these words in the very mouth of God.

“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me– Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush–and will say, 'This one was born in Zion.'”

That’s God speaking. “Those who acknowledge me.” “Those who know me will include Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush.”

Now some Hebrew scholars point out that this could be translated as a taunt to those five people groups (see alternate translation in the 1984 NIV, the notes in the NIV Study Bible, and the NET Bible).

And some translations take it in that direction. Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will all one day have to say, what a privilege it would be to be born in Zion. And, boy, don’t they wish it was true for them.

But most translations don’t do go there. And I don’t think that’s what’s going on here. I think it’s just like what you see in the NIV.

God[!] is saying that Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will be recorded as people who know Him and were even born in Zion! They will belong.

And that’s amazing. Because they really shouldn’t.

Who are these people? These are all people groups.

Let’s start with Rahab.

Rahab is a nickname for Egypt. This is not the Rahab that hid the spies in Jericho in the book of Joshua. That name is spelled a little differently.

This is the Rahab that is a mythical sea monster in the books of Job, Psalms, and Isaiah that stands for the chaos that the LORD in His wisdom and power overpowered and defeated. And that name “Rahab” was then applied to Egypt as is a nickname for the way that that nation was like the sea monster. Both chaotic and powerful and defeated by God.

Were the inhabitants of monstrous Egypt “born in Zion?”

How about Babylon?

Have we learned anything about Babylon in the last twelve months? We started in on the Book of Daniel almost exactly one year ago.

Was Babylon friendly to the people of God? No! Babylon took the people of God into captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ransacked and burned down the city of Jerusalem! The city whose gates the LORD loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Were the inhabitants of Babylon “born in Zion?”

How about Philistia?

That’s closer to home. What do we know about the Philistines? Were they the allies or enemies of the Israelites? Yeah, enemies!

Were the inhabitants of Philistia “born in Zion?” Maybe some of them were born in Jerusalem physically before David conquered it, but they sure weren’t happy citizens of Zion.

How about Tyre?

Tyre was not Israel’s enemy at all times, but they were often a snare to them. Tyre was a wealthy commercial city on the coast full of Canaanites, and it often brought temptation to greed and envy and worldliness to Israel. And the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 is described as the enemy of God in words that remind most readers of Satan himself!

Were the people of Tyre “born in Zion?”

How about Cush?

Cush was at the south end of Egypt, basically Ethiopia. It was considered far away. If you remember, the Persian kingdom of Xerxes in the first chapter of the book of Esther stretched all the way from India to Cush (Esther 1:1).

Could someone who is born all the way in Cush be “born in Zion?”

According to the LORD, yes!

Not every single person in Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush will be citizens of Zion. But some will be.

I think that’s what this song is saying!

People who should not belong will belong!

You belong. Because of God’s amazing grace.

These people were outsiders. They were Gentiles. They were pagans. They were enemies. They were threats. They were offenders. They were hostile. They were trouble. They were on the wrong side of the line in so many ways.

But the LORD Himself sings[!] in verse 4 that they will be included.

“This one was born in Zion.”

“This one and that one were born in her.”

I think He’s going beyond those five nations and throwing in more and more.

He’s saying, “England.”

He’s saying, “Russia.”

He’s saying, “China.”

He’s saying, “Japan.”

He’s saying, “Malawi.”

He’s saying, “Haiti.”

He’s even saying, “The United States.”

He’s even saying, “Pennsylvania.”

He’s even saying, “People from Lanse.”

“This one and that one...”

“This one and that one were born in her.”

And in verse 6 He doesn’t just say it. He says He’ll write it! Verse 6.

“The LORD will write in the register of the peoples: ‘This one was born in Zion.’”

You belong. God Himself will write it! Verse 5 says, “The Most High Himself [El Elyon, the one above all other beings in the universe. The One we saw a few weeks ago Who will have a Son born of Mary, the Most High Himself] will establish her.”

This city is going nowhere. God says so. And you belong to it. God is writing it down.

What a glorious thing that is!

You see how this is about the future? The Sons of Korah were writing not just poetically but prophetically. The song keeps singing about what will happen. “I will record...I will say..It will be said...[He] will establish...[He] will write.”

This wasn’t happening in large part when the Sons of Korah were first singing it. When they were first singing it, Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush were all trouble. They did not belong.

But they could see a day coming when the nations would stream into Zion.

Many of the prophets had the same vision of the future. I think about the second chapter of Isaiah:

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

I think Psalm 87 is singing about that day.

It did start back then. Gentiles like Rahab and Ruth made their way into the people of Zion.

Remember at the end of the Tale of Esther how people throughout the kingdom of Persia “became Jews” because of what happened with her and Mordecai (Esther 8:17).

And pagans from the East like the Magi (probably from Babylon) came and worshipped the infant Jesus some time after He was born.

And then it really picked up steam after Jesus came back from the dead! Jesus told His Jewish followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [He had] commanded you.” And He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

“You belong! And so will the nations who put their trust Me.”

This part of the song reminds us that we have work to do. We have been given a mission to make disciples of all of the nations. Not just the Jews and not just the Americans. All of them.

And that’s why we are expanding our missionary efforts this year. We are in the process of adding at least two new missionary families to that wall back there. Missionaries here in the States and missionaries across the world. Because the LORD says that the nations will belong.

The Son of Man will be given authority, glory and sovereign power and all peoples, nations and men of every language will worship Him (see Daniel 7:14 and also Revelation 7:9).

And people who have no natural right to be there will say, “I was born in Zion. That’s my birthplace. Check out my birth certificate. Check out the city register. Check out the Lamb’s book of Life.”

Even thought I was born in Shelby, Ohio, this book written by God says, “This one was born in Zion.”

City of God, you belong! Isn’t that a glorious thing?

Now, it sounds both amazing and really easy. It’s hard to wrap your mind around but then it sounds like God just says it and it is so.

But we know what it actually took for the LORD to do this. It took the One Who really did belong to be rejected for us who did not belong to become the ones who now citizens of the City of God.

The Book of Revelation chapter 5 says that the Lord Jesus was slain and by His blood purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve God, and they will reign on the earth. (See Revelation 5:9-10.)

By His blood. People who should not belong will belong! And that includes you and me.

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Can you believe that? Isn’t that a glorious thing? Have you turned from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and your King? Then you belong! By His amazing grace, you belong. Zion is your birthplace. And you are a part of the City of God. And one day you will live in it. Or as Paul wrote, “the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother” (Galatians 4:26, see also Philippians 3:20).

“This one and that one were born in her.”

What do you do with something so glorious as this?

You sing! Right? You rejoice. You celebrate. You raise the roof. You marvel. There’s one more verse in this song, and it is all about how the city sings back to God. Look at verse 7.

“As they make music they will sing, ‘All my fountains are in you.’”

The “they” are the peoples. Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Cush and this one and that one and this and that one as us.

As the city of God realizes how good they have it, they will sing, “We are blessed!”

#3. YOU ARE BLESSED!

City of God, you are so blessed of God.

Some of the Hebrew words are a little hard to translate. Some have “singers and dancers.” Some have “singers and pipers.” Anyway about it, this city is soaring with joy.

And they are all singing the same song, “All my fountains are in you.”

I love how they are singing together but they all use the singular “my.” Each one knows that they are blessed. Each one knows that they have it so good. They are beloved. They belong. They have all of the privileges of being a citizen of God, and there is no greater thing.

Because God has given them fountains!

Some of your Bibles says, “springs.” “All my springs are in you.” That’s not the kind that go, “boing, boing.” It’s the kind that goes “whoosh.” The kind that spring up with life-giving water. The kind that refresh you. The kind that the water dances and nourishes and supplies.

Psalm 46 is another Psalm of Zion. It says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells” (v.4)

Psalm 36 says, “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:7-9).

And the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:37-38, see also John 4).

And we sing, “All my fountains are in you!”

We are so blessed. And one day we will know this like never before.

In Revelation 22 (that we looked at a couple weeks ago), it starts like this. John says, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. [The LORD is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear?] And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5).

We are so blessed and we will be so blessed.

In 1779, John Newton who wrote a little song called “Amazing Grace” (which we sang last week) wrote another little song called “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” based on Psalm 87.

It’s hymn #278 in the blue hymnals. And we’re about to sing it. It’s set to the same tune by Franz Joseph Haydn in #9 that we sang at the start of our worship time today.

As you turn there I want to point out where it is in your hymnal.

There’s different places where we could put this song.

You could put in the advent songs about the Old Testament promises longing for fulfillment when the Messiah comes. Because it really wasn’t very realized when the Sons of Korah were writing it.

But our hymnal has it in the section of songs about the church. Johnny Newton knew that Psalm 87 was about us. The church of the firstborn.

Recently, I been using a new hymnal called, “The Sing! Hymnal,” in my devotional times in the morning. And this one is in there, too. But it has it in the back in the songs about the last things, song about the return of Christ and of heaven.

It fits there, too.

Because this Song of Zion is poetic and prophetic of that day when we know just how blessed we are.

John Newton wrote:

“Glorious things of thee are spoken,

Zion, city of our God;

He whose word cannot be broken

Formed thee for His own abode.

On the Rock of Ages founded,

What can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation's walls surrounded,

Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.

See, the streams of living waters,