Psalms 87:4

THE GLORIOUS THINGS

"I will make mention of Rahab and

Babylon as among them that know me;

Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia:

This one was born there.

Yea, of Zion it shall be said,

This one and that one was born in her;

And the Most High himself will establish her.

Jehovah will count, when he writeth up the peoples,

This one was born there. (Selah)"

"Rahab and Babylon" (Psalms 87:4). "Rahab" here is a poetic word for Egypt; and the thought is that God shall be worshipped even in the oldest nations of the world. These nations, of course, were among the bitterest enemies of Israel and of Israel's God; and "The thought is that, Those who were once strangers and foreigners shall become fellow-citizens with the saints of God (Ephesians 2:19)."[4]

"This one was born there" (Psalms 87:4). This is not a reference to merely one, for it becomes, "This one and that one" in Psalms 87:5; and in Psalms 87:6, it is revealed that when God "writes up the peoples of the earth," when he calculates the number of the redeemed, he shall count only those who indeed were "born in her."

All of the other nations mentioned in the passage are merely representatives of "all nations," harking back to God's promise to Abraham, "in thee and in thy seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 28:14).

Thus what is prophesied here is the worldwide triumph of the gospel of Christ. All nations and all countries shall be represented in the roster of the redeemed.

"The Most High himself shall establish her" (Psalms 87:5). Christ established His Church upon the Rock, that Rock being Christ himself; and that foundation is the most sure of anything in heaven or upon earth.