Psalm 121 began with the same words as this psalm: “I will lift up my eyes to ...” But while the former poet lifted up his eyes to “the hills," asking as a secondary thought, “Where does my help come from?” this psalm gets to the point directly: “I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven.” 

Jerusalem means “habitation of peace.” But no habitation has ever been less peaceful, and it remains in turmoil today. Which makes us think of the church. The church of Jesus Christ is for us what Jerusalem was for ancient Israel, and it is a tremendous step beyond it, as the author of Hebrews points out to the Jewish believers of his day. The ancient city with its temple and temple worship was a wonderful gift of God to be highly valued and loved. But something much better has come by the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus has established a new, spiritual temple by the sacrifice of himself on the cross, and he has brought us not to Mount Sinai or to the old Mount Zion but to a new Mount Zion and a new Jerusalem.

Psalm 122 falls into three easily identifiable parts: 1) expressions of joy upon arriving in Jerusalem (vv. 1, 2); 2) observations upon the unity of the city and its function as a center for dispensing justice (vv. 3-5); and 3) prayer for the city's peace and prosperity (vv. 6-9). 

Do you want to be wise? If so, that is the way to be wise. Do you want to grow in knowledge? If so, that is the way to grow in knowledge. Read this book, beginning with Genesis, and go all the way through it to the end of Revelation. And as you read it, ask the Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks in it, to preach his own Easter sermon to your heart. I assure you that if you do that sincerely and prayerfully, the Bible will never be the same for you again. And in addition to that, you will never be the same, because you will find the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere in Scripture and discover that it will be your greatest delight in life to serve him.

In the fourth chapter of Acts we have another of Peter’s sermons. Here he has been called before the Sanhedrin (the highest council of the ancient Jews), and he is defending himself and his teaching. We have a relatively short record of this sermon in verses 8-12, but in the midst of it we have another important Old Testament text applied to Jesus. It is Psalm 118:22, which Peter cites, saying, “The stone you builders rejected ...has become the capstone” (Acts 4:11).