What is a bulwark in the Bible?

Is Zion fully suitable as God's center of His dealing with the world? Let all who will check out this matter take plenty of time to walk (not ride) about Zion, count her towers (points of observation), mark her bulwarks (the strength of her protection), consider her palaces (the wealth and beauty of her resources). Such inspection and consideration will unfailingly move the observer to tell of it to the following generation (v. 13), and there will be many generations to be told in the space of 1000 years.

A place strengthened temporarily for war, or permanently for the protection of the country. The same name is applied to the soldiers who guarded such places. 1 Sam. 13:3-4, 23; 1 Sam. 14:1-15; 1 Chr. 11:16; 1 Chr. 18:13; 2 Chr. 17:2; 2 Cor. 11:32.

The terms 'fortress,' 'stronghold,' and 'castle' mostly refer to a part of a city that was more strongly fortified than by the mere walls. Prov. 18:19 speaks of the 'bars of a castle.' There was such a place in Jerusalem when the city was taken by David, which was held by the Jebusites. 2 Sam. 5:6-7. The Romans had a 'castle' in Jerusalem, to which Paul was carried when he was seized by the Jews. Acts 21:34, 37. This may have been the same that was called ANTONIA, a fortress built by Herod the Great, adjoining the temple, as described by Josephus: Wars, 5:5. 8. The Psalmist often calls Jehovah his rock and fortress. Ps. 18:2; Ps. 31:3; Ps. 71:3; Ps. 91:2.

The wall of the city clearly speaks of its security: it has "a great and high wall;" for "salvation hath God appointed as walls and bulwarks." (Isa. 26:1.) And in the wall, which has four sides, there are twelve gates, — three gates on every side, for egress and ingress, home as this is of a life which is unceasing activity. The number 12 is upon all the city, 12 being an expanded 7, with the same factors (4 X 3 instead of 4 + 3), and the symbol of manifest divine government, God being here manifestly supreme. This is perfection in its deepest analysis; and the numbers are thus one in fact. The 12 here is plainly the usual 4 X 3; the 3 still speaking of divine manifestation, while the 4 shows it to be universal, the sides facing also every way.

Psalm 48 — Prophetically, Zion is freed from every foe — the kings, their armies, and fleets are scattered by the manifestation of God's presence in the midst of her. Her memories of the past (Psalm 44:1) are realised now, in a still more excellent way. She is the city of Jehovah of hosts. In His Temple, His loving-kindness is the theme of their meditation; without, He is the bulwarks of the city. They attribute their blessing to His grace and power. Divine power has elevated Zion in the earth, in fact, as well as figuratively. (See v. 2.) It is the accomplishment of Zech. 14:10. Elohim, 8; Jehovah, 2.

In Isaiah 26 the remnant sing in praise of the character of this deliverance. They have a strong city, but its bulwarks are the salvation of God. The strength of man has no place here; it is the foot of the poor that treads down the lofty city. It is the judgment that the righteous God executes Himself. The remnant had waited for Him in the way of His judgments. The long-suffering of grace was in vain; it is only when the judgments of God are in the earth that the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Even when the hand of Jehovah was lifted up to strike, they did not see. But they shall see, in spite of themselves, and they shall be ashamed. The fire of Jehovah's jealousy shall devour them; they shall not rise. But Israel shall be raised, as from the dead, by the power of Jehovah.

And then beautifully in the twenty-sixth chapter, the closing of that section, you have a song of salvation, "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city — salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Do you see the beauty of it? Here is the rod of God smiting everything into the dust; cities are laid low, strong places are made desolate, mighty Babylon and all the great places of the earth are as nothing. Yet in the midst of all this ruin, faith takes up its happy song and says, "we have a strong city, salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Who can shake that which is founded upon the acknowledged ruin of everything, by the mighty power of God Himself? Now read with that thought as the key all through those burdens, you will feel like joining in the song of praise at the close of that section. What a day will it be for Israel when with joy, the beloved Jerusalem, now trodden under foot of the Gentiles, shines in all her beauty so that that which the psalmist says shall be fulfilled, "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God."

"Or what king going to make war … Have you any thought of such an aggressive movement? If a disciple you ought to have. Notice, the king with ten thousand proposes to take the offensive against the king with twenty thousand. A bold movement that! Ah, but behind his back was a well-fortified base of operations, his tower was built. This is ever God's way. David's tower was built in the wilderness experiences of meeting the lion and the bear, and hence Goliath has no terrors for him. Luther, "the monk that shook the world," advances with his tiny book into the hot-bed of animosity at Worms. Yes, but this was his battle cry: "A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing."

Luther, like Nehemiah, may thus be classified as a builder of the wall; for surely justification by faith is the great bulwark of Christianity. Ezra, with his temple work, may, in principle, be as fitly the representative of those who are now led to the acknowledgment that there is one body, and who are seeking to gather upon this ground, in the confession that "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." Wherever the Church is thus viewed, the practical effect has been manifested in the accession of thousands from the established and dissenting forms of our times, though there has been nothing tangible or attractive to please the outward eye. All such as have been delivered in the present day from the false systems around can say, at the very least, with Ezra, "And now for a little space grace hath been shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage, for we were bondmen."

We know that the activities of these evil powers are not confined to Germany, Russia and Italy, they are at work in Britain. They have the subtlety of their leader, who is the “dragon, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan” (Rev. 12:9; 20:1). They know men and nations, and they vary their operations to suit the temperament and character of the people they set out to deceive and destroy. Their work is seen chiefly in this land in efforts to discredit the Bible and destroy its influence. It has been our great bulwark in the past against moral and spiritual evils that have overflowed some other lands, but its hold on the consciences and lives of the people has been sorely weakened of late years. Destructive criticism of the Bible, the absurdly false evolutionary hypotheses, and- modernism in the pulpits have done their deadly work, more deadly than that done by Bradlaugh and Ingersol of a past generation. These are our worst and most subtle enemies. In Russia and Germany and France also, they have spoken openly and boldly, and defiantly “against the Lord and against His Anointed saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Ps. 2), but these men are “fifth columnists” as far as God and His kingdom are concerned, while professing continued allegiance to Him they are against Him undermining faith in Christ as Lord, and should be more feared than German hordes, for they at their very worst can only kill the body, while these men, speaking perverted things in the midst of the church (Acts 20:30), are destroying the souls of men, for they are robbing them of the gospel of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and are loosening the cords that bind the consciences of men to the will of God. It is of such that Paul wrote “If any man preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8). We quote his Holy Ghost-inspired words, and leave them there.