Word of Salvation – February 2026
GOD’S RESTING PLACE
Sermon by Rev John Haverland
Text: Psalm 132
Readings: 1 Chronicles 13:1-6; 15:1-4, v 25-28;
1 Peter 2:4-10
Theme: The psalm recalls David’s promise to find a resting place for the ark, and reflects on God’s promise to David of an eternal kingship for his family.
Purpose: To direct us back to what God has promised in the past and forward to what he will do in and through Christ the King.
There are times in our lives when we reflect back over the past and when we think ahead about the future.
We do this when we transition from one year into the New Year. That is a good time to think about God’s blessings over the past year and to pray for his guidance in the New Year.
We also tend to do this when we celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary.
This psalm also looks back and forward.
It looks back to David’s promise that he would find a resting place for the ark of the Lord,
and it looks forward to the fulfilment of the promise that one of David’s sons would sit on his throne forever.
In this sermon I want to encourage you to look back over what God has already done for you in your life and in your family and in the church in the past,
and to look forward to what God will do for you in Christ in the future as individuals, as families and as a church.
We’ll follow the structure of this very positive psalm which recalls David’s promise to the Lord and and the Lord’s promise David.
- DAVID’S PROMISE TO THE LORD, v 1-10
a) The Psalm opens with a request that the Lord would remember all the hardships David endured as he sought to find a dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord (v 1-3).
David became the king of Judah after King Saul died. But for 7 years there was civil war between the tribe of Judah and the northern tribes of Israel. Eventually that came to an end, and the other tribes accepted David as king, so the people of Israel were all united (1 Chr 12).
After this David was able to put his mind on other matters. One of these was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.
He determined that he would not rest “until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob”. (v 5)
The Ark was a rectangular box or chest that was 1 metre long and 70 cms wide and 70 cms high.
It was covered with gold, and had two cherubim, or angels, on top of it.
Inside the box were the two tables of the law that God had given to Moses at Mt Sinai.
The Ark had been made when the people of Israel were camped at Mt Sinai.
Then it had been carried around the desert by the Levites for 40 years as the people of Israel travelled from place to place.
After the people of Israel had conquered the land of Canaan it was placed in a tent in the town of Shiloh in the tribe of Ephraim.
In the days when Eli was the priest the Ark had been captured by the Philistines in battle. God punished the Philistines with plagues, so they returned it to Israel.
It was then placed in the house of Abinadab in the town of Kiriath Jearim, about 15 kms from Jerusalem, and it remained there for about 20 years.
King David then arranged to have it brought from there to Zion, the city of Jerusalem.
The first journey was interrupted because Uzzah, one of the Levites, touched the ark ,and was struck dead. So the Ark stayed at the house of Obed-Edom for three months.
David then prepared a place for it in Jerusalem and brought it there with a great procession, which is recalled in v 8; “Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might!”
For about 500 years the Ark had been on the move until it came to its “resting place” in Jerusalem.
No wonder that there was great rejoicing and celebration!
b) The people and priests sang (v 9):
“Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy.”
This verse is repeated in very similar words in v 16 and was quoted by Solomon in his prayer at the dedication of the temple 40 years later (2 Chron 6:41).
The Anglican Prayer Book adapts this as a prayer for the ministers and the people of God, which is very appropriate.
If the ministers or pastors of God’s people are righteous and godly men, then the people of God in the church will be glad and joyful.
It is crucial for the church to have pastors who are upright and holy in their lives, and it is wonderful for pastors to have a thankful and joyful people under their care!
We pray that the Head of the church will provide a pastor for you here in this congregation who may have a blessed and fruitful ministry among you.
Sadly, in the last few decades there have been a number of high profile pastors who have been unrighteous and have had to resign their position or have been deposed.
This brings dishonour to the name of Christ and causes great harm to the church. Let’s pray that this does not happen in this church or anywhere in our denomination.
c) This psalm has some similarities with Psalm 78.
That Psalm recalls the history of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of King David and urged the people to teach this history to their children and grandchildren.
We need to do this in our own families, teaching our children and grandchildren, so they too known the Bible and our Triunut God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Psalm 132 does not retell the history of the Ark of the Covenant but it does trigger those memories of the past and brought them back to the minds of the people.
Remember that this is one of the Psalms of Ascent which the people sang as they made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the three important Jewish festivals.
As they walked that path they remembered that King David walked this same route with the priests and Levites as they carried the ark to Jerusalem.
The people of God remembered the past; they recalled their history; they rehearsed what God had done in their minds and actions.
In the same way we need to look back over the past and remember what God has done for us, especially in and through his Son Jesus, especially in his suffering and death, which we remember in the Lord’s Supper.
And every Easter we recall his glorious resurrection from the dead, and we do this every Sunday as we meet together on this first day of the week.
These great events of the past give us anchor points. Remembering what has happened in the past guides our decisions and actions in the present and in the future.
A good knowledge of the events and teaching of the Bible will give you a memory bank that helps you avoid repeating past sins and help guide you in the future.
Eugene Peterson wrote, “A Christian who has David in his bones, Jeremiah in his bloodstream, Paul in his fingertips, and Christ in his heart will know how much and how little value to put on his own momentry feelings and the experienced of the past week.” That is very nicely expressed!
The first half of this psalm remembered the past and the promise David made to the Lord.
- The second half, in v 11-18, anticipates the future and remembers THE LORD’S PROMISE TO DAVID and his descendants.
a) Some biblical scholars believe that this psalm was written for the dedication of the temple of Solomon.
David wanted to build a temple for the Lord, but God had told him that he was not the man to do this; rather his son would build a temple for the Lord and for the Ark.
For the first seven years of his reign Solomon had large teams of craftsmen building the temple.
Then it was dedicated in an elaborate ceremony and with many sacrifices to the Lord (2 Chronicles 5-7).
b) v 11-12 recall the oath or promise that God made to David that one of his sons would always sit on his throne. This promise looked forward to King Solomon and the future kings of Israel.
This promise was conditional; there was an “if” to it.
Children, it would be like your parents saying,
“We are going to take all of you to McDonalds for lunch on Saturday morning, if all your rooms are tidy by then.”
There is a promise, but also a condition.
The condition of God’s promise to David was that his son had to “keep my covenant and the testimonies that I shall teach them” (v 12).
God made an agreement with them – he would keep his side of this agreement, but they had to keep their side.
Sadly, Solomon began well but later on turned away from the Lord. He married many foreign wives and they turned his heart to worship their gods and idols.
David had served the Lord with his whole heart but Solomon was half hearted in his worship of God.
Solomon’s son Rehoboam was even worse. The kingdom of Judah had some good kings such as Jehoshaphat and Joash and Hezekiah, but many of the kings turned away from the Lord and did not obey his commands.
c) But v 13-16 assured Israel that the Lord chose Zion, the city of Jerusalem, as his dwelling place, or resting place.
This is where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, which was a symbol of the presence of God with his people.
Of course, God was not confined to the Ark or to Zion. His throne is in heaven, and from there he rules over the whole world, and over the entire universe!
The Lord God is omnipresent – he is present everywhere at the same time – he is in heaven, and he is with all his people on earth, through his Holy Spirit, everywhere and all the time!
This seems impossible to our human minds and experience, but this is the teaching of the Bible.
This is a great comfort for all of us who trust in the Lord, that he is always with us no matter what is going on in our lives.
Sadly, the people of Israel and Judah did not keep God’s covenant and they disobeyed his commands.
After 100s of years of warnings from the prophets the Lord punished the northern ten tribes and sent them away into exile, and later on he did the same to the southern tribe of Judah.
The temple of God was destroyed by the Babylonians and the people were taken away into exile.
The temple was later rebuilt by the returned exiles, but was destroyed again by the Roman army in 70 AD and has never been rebuilt. The Ark of the Covenant has gone and no one knows what happened to it.
d) But in this New Testament age we don’t need an ark of the Covenant, or a physical temple, because we are the church are the temple of God, the New Testament people of God.
We are living stones being built up into a spiritual temple.
God is among us and with us through his Spirit.
God’s “resting place” in the New Testament is with his people in the church.
We ought not to refer to the church building as ‘God’s house’, because we, the people of God, are God’s house.
We are “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:20-21).
The language is that of bricks and stones but the picture is that of people, Christians, fitted together in the church of the Lord Jesus!
“In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit”.
(Eph 2:22; cf. 1 Peter 2:4-8).
This describes us as members of this church.
e) Verses 17-18 are a concluding word of assurance for the people of God. It is a response to the requests of v 1 and 10 for God not to refuse their prayers.
The Lord assured them that he will remember David, his anointed one, and that he will answer his prayers.
The promises of these closing verses are fulfilled in the Son of David, the Lord Jesus, who was the One Anointed to be the eternal King of his people.
v 17. “I will make a horn to sprout for David”.
A horn symbolised a mighty ruler, a powerful king, which has been fulfilled in our great King Jesus Christ.
Verse 17 continues, “I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.” We know that Jesus himself was the light of the world. If you follow him you will not walk in darkness but will walk in the light of life!
The priests of God will be clothed with righteousness but his enemies will be clothed with shame! (v 16, 18).
This hasn’t happened yet, but it will one day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again and we see God in all his glory!
It is easy to get depressed about the state of our world – the ongoing war in the Ukraine, the devastation in Gaza, and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, and the unbelief and sin in our own country.
But one day Jesus will come as the Judge, and he will reward the righteous and punish all evildoers.
From that day on the crown of Christ Jesus will shine forever! (v 18b) The Hebrew word translated as ‘shine’ literally means to blossom or bloom. It is an image of splendour and success and growth!
This psalm began with David’s hardships and determination, and it ends with Christ’s victory and glory!
It looks back to David bringing the Ark of the Covenant to its resting place in Jerusalem, and forward to the triumph and victory of David’s great son the Lord Jesus!
We too need to look back over what God has already done for us in our lives and families and our church and be thankful for his guidance, help and blessings.
And we need to look forward to what God will do for us in Christ in the future. Amen.