There are over 7 billion people in the world. Now imagine all of them receiving a summons to do something immediately. It seems almost impossible to consider something so important, so pressing that an entire state, let alone the entire world bend give undivided attention to it. But, this is what we read in the first words of the 50th Psalm:
“The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.” (Psalm 50:1)
God’s Word is going out as a summons to the entire earth, every day, all day. This means all people who have lived for centuries and centuries. This makes that 7 billion number explode with exponents.
What does he want the entire world to hear and know?
“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.” (Psalm 50:2)
Zion was the place on earth where God and his people dwelt. It was used for the site of the temple and for Jerusalem as a whole. Israel gathered for worship in Zion because the Lord loved it (Pss. 78:68; 87:1-2) and made it his dwelling place (1 Kings 14:21; Pss. 9:11; 48:1-2; 74:2; Isa. 8:18).
In the midst of all the nations’ perennial attempts to discover, display, and delight in beauty, God says it is in Zion. Why? Because God is there. Notice that God shines forth. It is God who shines out of Zion. What makes Zion so beautiful is the fact that God is there in her midst and being reflected out and through his people.
It is noteworthy that the prophets looked forward to God’s deliverance coming of Zion (Isa. 59:20; Zech. 9:9). In fact, God has spoken of Zion in such a way that it refers to the heavenly city, the heavenly Zion (Ps. 48:8; 87:1-7; Is. 28:16, 54:11-14; Rev. 14:1, 4). What’s more, the writer of Hebrews says that the New Covenant experience is in fact access to Zion where God dwells and God’s people together for worship (Heb. 12:22-24).
Therefore, the summons from God to the 7 billion is still being echoed through the witness of the people of God, the church, as they herald God’s Word to the nations. We are still declaring and demonstrating God’s rule as we delight in his beauty. We are bringing the gospel to our neighbors and the nations so that they might behold the beauty of God through the gospel.
Let us never forget that while the world around us searches for the perfection of beauty that it is housed in the church. Beauty is displayed in the God’s perfect attributes harmoniously displayed in the gospel of Christ; eternal righteousness aside unfading love; perfect holiness with omniscience; immutability with mercy and justice. The church, those who have been washed and welcomed by the blood of Christ, are reflecting the beauty of God. We have, after all, made a covenant with God by sacrifice (Ps. 50:5).
Delight in the perfection of God’s beauty as it radiates from Zion. And, declare it to the nations and your neighbors, that they might come to Zion and behold the beauty of the Lord.