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Weds 24 February - Psalm 24

Psalm 24

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god

They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you 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, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty –
    he is the King of glory.

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Meditation on Psalm 24

This Psalm is the final one in the group of Psalms 15-24.  You will notice that one of themes is coming into the presence of God which comes in each of Psalm 15:1-5 and Psalm 24:3-6.

Psalm 24 is a Psalm of procession which celebrates the coming of the King of glory into Zion.

But first, there are some preparatory thoughts before we reach the grand climax in verses 7-10.

The opening verses remind us of the hymn, How great Thou art. 

And here the Psalmist reminds us that God owns everything – ‘the earth, the world, everything in it and all who live in it.’

We are reminded as to why this claim is true – it’s because He made it. As David says, ‘He founded it...He established it.’
Come back to Genesis 1, where we read, ‘In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.’

 When God was responding to Job He asks a series of questions relating to creation – Read Job 38:8-11

Out of the original chaos, God brought order by the word of His power – ‘and God said, Let there be… and there was…’

What grandeur; what beauty – what a mess we have made of it.
So many of the Psalms speak of the wonders of God’s creation – e.g. Psalms 8; 19; 89 and 104 among others.

No wonder the Psalmist asks the question in verse 3 ‘Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place?’

For David this was Mount Zion.

For us, it is through Mount Calvary that the way has been opened to come into the presence of the holy God.

In verses 1-2 we are reminded that God is everywhere. We cannot get away from Him.

In verses 4-5 we are reminded that we cannot just turn up and come into His presence without realising that there are certain qualifications for us to enter. As Michael Wilcock says, ‘this involves right living, right thinking, a right relationship with Him and a right relationship with others.’

These aren’t the result of our efforts to get into His presence. Rather, they are a gift from Him to bring us into His presence.
And, as we are brought into His presence, we experience the blessings of the LORD and His acceptance of us. 

How wonderful to know that we are ‘accepted in the beloved.’ (Ephesians 1:7 NKJV)

We need to continue to ‘seek Him’ in order to continue receiving His blessings.

Who is He that brings us into His presence and blesses and accepts us?

Verses 7-10 give us the answer. In the context of this Psalm these verses refer to the time when David had the Ark of the Covenant brought back to Jerusalem and put in the Tent of Meeting. This was the presence of God among His people. David was king and, as his story unfolds, we read that ‘he became stronger and stronger’ (2 Samuel 3:7); ‘he captured the fortress of Zion, the City of David’ (2 Samuel 5:7) and ‘the LORD gave him victory wherever he went’ (2 Samuel 8:14).
Hence, the warrior-king.
We, too, have a warrior-king – Jesus. Whilst verses 7-10 may refer to David, they are also prophetic about Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords. He is coming. We look forward to His return. 

He is THE KING OF GLORY.

 

(Roger Purdom)

Daily Readings

Thursday 25 February - Psalm 25

Friday 26 February - Psalm 26

Saturday 27 February - Psalm 27

Sunday 28 February - Psalm 28

Monday 29 February - Psalm 29

Tuesday 30 February - Psalm 30

 

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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