Psalm 24- The King of Glory A Psalm of David. 1 “The earth is Yahweh’s, and all its fullness,’ etc. With all its forms of beauty and magnificence, with all its ponderous forces and mystic laws, with all its wealth of mineral and hidden treasures of earth, air, and ocean. Man has conquered the earth by the power of the sword, and claimed the right to dispose of it in petty states and kingdoms; but the earth does not belong to man. ‘He is but a tenant at will,—a leaseholder upon most precarious tenure, liable to instantaneous ejectment. The great Landowner and true Proprietor holds His court above the clouds, and laughs at the title-deeds of worms of the dust. The fee-simple is not with the lord of the manor, nor the freeholder, but with the Creator.’ (Spurgeon)…." (Preacher's Homiletical) “’And those who dwell therein.’ —Jehovah’s dwelling on Zion did not mean His desertion of the rest of the world, nor did His choice of Israel imply His abdication of rule over, or withdrawal of blessings from, the nations. The light which glorified the bare hilltop, where the Ark rested, was reflected thence over all the world. ‘The glory’ was there concentrated, not confined.” (Expositor's Bible) "‘For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters’— The reference is to the account of creation account In Genesis, the dry land having emerged from the water, and seeming to rest upon it... The human mind has wearied itself in spinning theories about the origin of the world, and in the historic development of these theories, from time to time, different schools of pseudo-religious philosophy have prevailed—modern thought being but a reproduction, in a new setting, of the ideas of the ancient philosophers.” (Preacher's Homiletical Comm.) 3 Who may ascend into the hill of Yahweh? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from Yahweh, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah The Question—> “Who shall ascend into the hill of Yahweh?’- Mount Zion; called the hill of the Lord, because it was the place designated for His worship, or the place of His abode. See the notes at Psalm 15:1. The idea here is, ‘Who shall ascend there with a view of abiding there? Who is worthy to dwell there?’ The question is equivalent to asking, What constitutes true religion? What is required for the acceptable worship of God? What will prepare a person for Heaven?” (Albert Barnes) The Answer—> “He who has clean hands and a pure heart,’ as it is a kingdom of righteousness, the righteous alone shall inherit it (Isaiah 33:15-16). The pure in heart alone shall see Him who is purity itself (Matthew 5:8). Christ alone ascended by right of inherent purity; we ascend by virtue of His imputed righteousness. None are accounted righteous whose ‘hearts’ are not ‘purified by faith’ (Acts 15:9). Though no mere man hath the purity of perfection, every believer hath the purity that consists in singleness of eye - i:e., a sincere aim to purify himself as His Lord is pure (1 John 3:3). Outward cleanness of ‘hands’ must be accompanied by inward purity of ‘heart.’— ‘who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,’ to vanity. nor sworn deceitfully.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “‘This is Jacob’— It is a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ should take his people’s name but he does. He gives his Church his own name in that remarkable passage in Jeremiah 33:16, ‘This is the name wherewith she shall be called The Lord our righteousness;’ and now, to make the union complete, he takes her name as his own, and Christ is here called Jacob.” (C. H. Spurgeon)— “’the generation of them that seek Him,’—The persons above described are such, who in every age are the generation of the children of God, and are accounted by Him for a generation; they are such that seek Him, in the first place, with their whole hearts, and in Christ, where they find Him;” (John Gill)— ‘that seek thy face, O Jacob.’ That is, O God of Jacob, that seek thy grace and favour, often called God’s face. Such ought the people to be who seek the presence of God, and approach to worship Him in the sanctuary.” (Joseph Benson) 7 Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? Yahweh strong and mighty, Yahweh mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? Yahweh of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah “‘Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be you lifted up, you everlasting doors— literally פּתחי עולם , doors of eternity—… as the portals dating back into the hoary ages of the past…” (Keil & Delitzsch) "Heaven's gates are called everlasting, because they shall endure for ever, or because they be the doors unto the life which is everlasting.” (John Boys)— “’And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory?- Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle,’ for the Son of Man is Jehovah incarnate.” (Ironside) “He is our Lord Jesus Christ, as we acknowledge Him every morning in the Te Deum, ‘Thou art the King of glory, O Christ.’ He is the King of glory, the Giver and Owner of life and glory.” (J. Keble) “And as Jesus approached the holy mount in Jerusalem on the asses colt the call came from Heaven, ‘lift up your heads O you gates, and be lifted up you everlasting doors. That the King of glory might come in.’ They cried it out as loudly as they could. They could not believe that no one heard, it was so clear to them. But earth was deaf to their cries, and no one opened the doors for Him, and when He entered the Temple He was ignored, and when He cleansed it He was crucified for His pains. The earthly Temple in Jerusalem had no place for the King of glory.” (Pett) Even the criers eventually fled. Yet if the rulers of this age had known, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor 2:8) But three days later He entered Heaven, victorious by His obedience. “’Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?’ The same verse is repeated again, to awaken the dulness of mankind, who are so hardly brought to a serious preparation for such solemnities; and to signify the great importance of the matter contained under these expressions.” {Joseph Benson) But in the answer there is another old name applied to the Messiah, which denotes His Second Coming to take the throne of David. Who is the King of glory? “Jehovah of hosts,’ the great Jehovah Sabaoth,— “God of the armies of the stars (typical of the saints), or God of the unseen armies of angels (from Heaven); or perhaps it may include both of these ideas.” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) It pictures the reality of Him engaged in physical warfare of old, as well as spiritual warfare with His people. The name “Jehovah of hosts” is used 235 times in the Scriptures to refer to God in battle against His enemies, enabling Israel to achieve victory. Paul said that He was still defending spiritual Israel in his day.—> “And as Isaiah said before: ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth— transliteration of the Hebrew word _tsebha'oth_, meaning “hosts” or “armies”— ‘had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.” James likewise condemns the compassionless rich of this earth—> saying, “Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” (Jam 5:4) “Thus says Yahweh, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.." (Isa 44:6) Comparing Scripture with Scripture, we find that in Revelation 22:13, Jesus identifies Himself as ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ which clearly parallels the Is passage. So Jesus is our Jehovah Sabaoth.” (Precept Austin) “When Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are You for us or for our adversaries?’ So He said, ‘No, but as Commander of the army of Jehovah’s I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Then the Commander of Jehovah’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.’” (Josh 5:13-15) Selah