A Song of Ascents.
Behold, bless the Lord, all servants of the Lord,
Who serve by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord!
May the Lord bless you from Zion,
He who made heaven and earth.
— Psalm 134:1-3
Here at the end of the Psalms of Ascent, the church as the Bride has made herself ready and is awaiting the Lord’s return. It seems that all of our experiences from the previous Psalms of Ascent are over. The afflictions and difficulties are over. Even the experiences of growth and maturity are over. We are just here in the church life waiting for Him to return. The servants of the Lord “stand by night in the house of Jehovah.” The dawn has not yet come and it is still night outside, because the Lord has not yet come back. We have no other hope in this world. The only thing we can look forward to is for the Lord to return.
At this stage the reality of the church life has been manifested. The maturity of the church life is displayed in full. Yet in such a wonderful situation our only hope is, “Lord, please come back.” Here we see that all the servants of the Lord are standing and waiting for the Lord’s return. To “stand” means to have a diligent exercise. Not one of the saints is at rest. All of the saints are diligently standing, watching, and waiting for the Lord to come back. Our cry for His return is a corporate cry. When we reach this stage all of the saints cry out together, “Oh, Lord, You must come back!”
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 112-113.
Tomorrow: “The Church Life in Maturity” (4)