Psalms 48:8
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
The verse was written by the sons of Korah, Ezra, and others on the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity in the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia. It expresses the mingled joy, sorrow, and anxiety of the returning exiles and refers to the building and dedication of the second temple and the glorious triumphs connected with it. What God's people had heard about His city they had now seen in Zion, in Jerusalem the city of the Lord of hosts, where God had made Himself known and protected it from assembled kings. God chose Jerusalem in His plan to proclaim the gospel to the nations as the place where His name would dwell, where He established His house the sanctuary and revealed His glory, making it in a special sense His dwelling-place, the capital city of His spiritual kingdom, and the center from which His light and salvation would go forth to the whole world. By this special revelation of His presence in Jerusalem God separated His people from all nations, and while they stayed loyal to Him as King and kept spiritual union with Him through the sanctuary and its services He was their all-sufficient protection against every enemy.
The verse affirms that God will establish His city, the restored city of God, forever. Its triumph and the establishment of God's kingdom belong to the future, when His kingdom is established on earth and the redeemed are its subjects; they do not describe Christ's ascension as the beginning of His reign over all the earth. The verse is a prophecy of the glory of Christ's kingdom.
The verse shows delight in doing God's will with God's law within the heart, meaning that having a true copy of God's law on the heart produces delight in obeying God in every particular, and that delighting obedience permits entering through the gates into the city with all the Israel of God. It is the rejoicing declaration of those who reach the city of the Lord of hosts, when what they had only heard told about Heaven and its splendors, happiness, peace and rest is confirmed by sight, where they see the Lord face to face, understand truth fully, and serve and praise God. What God promised about their home has come to pass and nothing good that He spoke has failed. It is the experience to pray for now, asking the Father not to fail at last to be among those who make it, since the overcomer is promised to inherit all things.