King of Glory

There are several things that drew me to Psalm 24 this past week. I thought I knew the direction I wanted to take in writing about it but sitting on our balcony looking out as we cruise through Glacier Bay in Alaska and re-reading Psalm 24, I had a different idea.

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

for He has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

For four days now, we have been sailing upon the seas, the seas that God created and founded the world on. Beauty is everywhere I look – beauty that God created. Our cruise isn’t over yet, but we’ve already seen humpback whales, sea lions, otters, golden and bald eagles, sea urchins, crabs, starfish, many other birds, and different landscape including the glaciers. All this belongs to God including everything we don’t see. God is their maker.

This cruise is short 600 passengers, but there are still 1500 aboard plus about 900 staff. We tend to hang out in our suite and its balcony except for meals and our excursions, but even so, we’ve met people from all over the world or as the Psalmist put it “the world and those who dwell therein.” Each one of these people are made in God’s image. They each have their own talents and gifts, their own stories, their own pain and joys. God is their maker too.

Verses 1 and 2 confess who God is particularly as the Creator of all things. In verses 3-6 David, the Psalmist, asks who can approach Creator God. All people were created by God, but not all people can approach God. David lists the qualifications for someone to be able to approach God (“ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place).

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully.

He will receive blessing from the Lord

and righteousness from the God of His salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek Him,

who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

To approach God, we need clean hands (outward) and a pure heart (inward) (vs 4). We can’t be chasing after idols or swearing deceitfully (lying). We must instead be people of integrity (vs 4) and loyalty (vs 6).

What went through your head as you read those verses and the above paragraph? For me, horror. Despite all the hand washing and sanitizing of the past year, my outward actions or hands are not clean. I have said and done sinful, hurtful things. My hands are not clean. If that wasn’t bad enough, my thoughts and motivations are not pure. I say and do things out of pride and fear of man. My heart is not pure. On my own, I cannot approach God.

There is only One who had clean hands and a pure heart. Jesus never sinned in thought, word, or deed. His only motivation was glorifying His Father. Recently, I asked my youth group girls if they could imagine never ever having an anxious thought. They couldn’t, but Jesus never did because He trusted His Father completely. You can apply that same truth to every other sin. Jesus alone had perfectly clean hands and a pure heart.

Not only did Jesus have clean hands and a pure heart, but for those of us who are in Christ, He bore our sin on Himself, and He gave us His perfect record of clean hands and a pure heart. Although this is not a new truth, I know I need reminding of it regularly – both in my self-righteousness and in my guilt over sin.

This good news leads us to the last part of Psalm 24, verses 7-10, which pictures God’s children worshipping their Creator. I found quite a bit of background for the imagery used in Psalm 24. I don’t have time to delve into all of it, but I’ll throw in a few tidbits. Psalm 24 is reflective of Israel’s liturgy for a processional going up into Jerusalem. The people would worship as they ascended into Jerusalem to the tabernacle and later the temple.

There are also some word ties to the pagan gods Baal and Marduk. Verses 7-10 reflect language that was used in relation to Baal going to battle. By using this language, David conveys that Yahweh is the only true God and King. Baal and Marduk are nothing. There is one God alone who deserves worship – Yahweh.

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

the Lord, mighty in battle!

Lift up your heads, O gates!

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord of hosts,

He is the King of glory!

In verses 7-10, David depicts the people of God welcoming Him like they might an earthly king. However, although there were many who claimed the throne, only God is the true King and worthy of all glory.

When we visited Israel, we spent several days in Jerusalem. It truly is a city on a hill that you must ascend to. While there, we saw many of the enormous gates into the city. When reading verses 7-10 I can picture them being flung open making way for the King to enter in.

In Matthew 21:6-11 we read of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Jerusalem where He would be crucified. The people threw down their cloaks and/or palm branches before Him and cried, “Hosanna.” The people wanted a political king who would overthrow the Roman government (see my blog “Topsy Turvey Worship). Instead, they got the true and eternal King of glory. The best King. The King they needed more than any mere earthly King. The King of glory had clean hands and a pure heart, so that He alone could atone for our sins and reconcile us to the Father.

Reflection

1. What in creation stirs you most to worship the Creator? What do you take for granted?

2. Are you living in light of Jesus’ righteousness (clean hands and pure heart) that was given to you or are you relying on your own “good” works to try to earn your way to God? I would guess I am not the only one who looks to my own obedience or “good” works at some point if not regularly. What areas do you struggle with most?

3. Take time right now to worship God as Creator and King. This is a good time to write down your “God is” truths from Psalm 24. You’ll find more reasons to worship Him.