1/14/2012 9:48:53 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus:
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 24
Message of the verses: “1 ¶ «A Psalm of David.» The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.
3 ¶ Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And 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 falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face- even Jacob. Selah.
7 ¶ Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.”
We need to remember when we began to look at Psalm 22 that it was said that Psalm’s 22-24 were a trilogy about the Shepherd and we saw in Psalm 22 that the good Shepherd died for His sheep and then rose again, and then in Psalm 23 we saw that the good Shepherd lived for His sheep to take care of them, and now in Psalm we will see that the Great Shepherd will return for His sheep: “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1Pe. 5:4).
This psalm may have been written for when the ark of God was brought up to Jerusalem by David as some think, but it also looks to the return of Christ in its prophetic form. Dr. Wiersbe points out that this is an antiphonal psalm. (a hymn or psalm performed by two groups of singers chanting alternate sections). He also reports that the psalm was sung in Herod’s temple each Sunday, and that some connect the psalm with our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. Some in the early church would sing this psalm forty days after Easter as that is when the Lord Jesus was to have gone back to heaven after His passion and then He will return again as He spoke of “"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne (Matt. 25:31).”
Dr. Wiersbe writes that this psalm presents a threefold privilege God has given His people.
We Are Stewards Who Enjoy His Goodness in Creation (vv.1-2): “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.”
This first statement in verse on of Psalm 24 is a statement that many people do not believe, and yet it is true for this is the Word of God and God cannot lie. Many people today believe that there are certain parts of the earth that are theirs because they have paid for it or in fact are paying for it monthly, but the truth of the matter is that all of the universe belongs to the Lord because He created it.
God has chosen the earth and the people whom He created on this earth to live out the greatest drama ever imaged and that was having the second person of the Godhead come to earth to live on His earth and to die on His earth for His people. We know this as we have read it in His Word, but there are times when we seem to not think about it in the way we should think about it for this was the greatest thing that ever happened on His earth.
As believers we are to care for the earth and not spoil it for we are all stewards of God for He has created us. God created us and before that He created the world and verse two speaks of God creating the world out of water. “For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water (2Pe. 3:5).” The creation story in Genesis tells us that this verse in 2 Peter is true, that God did use water to create the earth: “1 ¶ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” The word used for “moving” is interesting in that it can mean shaking. John MacArthur speaks of this event by saying that when the Holy Spirit was moving over the waters He was kind of like incubating the earth. When a mother chicken lays and egg and sits on it to keep it warm in order to have the little chicken form inside the egg and this is kind of like what happened to the earth, the Holy Spirit was incubating the earth causing it to be formed in the way He wanted it formed. We must remember that water was used.
We Are Worshipers Who Experience His Grace in Redemption (vv. 3-6): “3 ¶ Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. 5 They will receive the LORD’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. 6 Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob. Interlude”
“3 ¶ Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. 5 They will receive the LORD’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. 6 Such people may seek you and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob. Interlude” (NLT)
The verses here and also in Psalm 15 are parallel and they emphasize that when we worship the Lord we have to move up higher for Psalm 2:6 says, “"But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.’”
Verse four speaks of those who can worship the Lord and thy must have hands and hearts that are pure. The Levites who carried the Ark of God had to be ceremonially clean and believers today must have their hearts right before the Lord, making sure that they have taken inventory of themselves to find out that they do not have any sins in their hearts that have not been confessed. Paul writes to the Corinthian believers in chapter 11 about having their hearts right before the Lord before taking communion and speaks of some who did not follow this process: “27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.”
In the rest of verse four there is a warning that believers must not worship idols and are not to lie. We mentioned before that an idol is anything that can come between you and God and it doesn’t have to mean a gold or silver statue.
The reward of doing these things in verse four is salvation, yet we know that there is no one who can do this on their own and so it had to be done for us in order to receive the gift of salvation. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness as Genesis 15:6 tells us and believing in what Christ has done for us is part of the process of salvation along with admitting to God that we are sinners in need of His precious gift of salvation. In the statements above referring to 1Cor. 11 I was applying the first part of verse four to those who already are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worshiping the Lord in the way we should worship Him is seen in verse six and this happens after a person has put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. However as we have seen believers must keep themselves clean in order to have this kind of fellowship and worship of the Lord.
We are Victors Who Celebrate His Glory in conquest (vv. 7-10): “7 ¶ Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty; the LORD, invincible in battle. 9 Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. 10 Who is the King of glory? The LORD of Heaven’s Armies- he is the King of glory. Interlude” (NLT)
“7 ¶ Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.” (NASB)
This may have been what David was thinking about when the Ark of God was brought up to Jerusalem in the day he had it brought into the city of Jerusalem through its gates. We can also think about the time when the Lord Jesus Christ came into the city of Jerusalem on what is called Palm Sunday and some of the people were celebrating His arrival, and some were planning to have him killed. This can also picture when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back as described in Revelations 19 and will begin to fight a battle with those who are trying to destroy Jerusalem and He will destroy them. 11 ¶ And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. 20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. (Rev. 19:11-21)
I believe that those who come with the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been taken in the rapture before the tribulation period began, the entire Church, His bride will return with Him and help to rule during the 1000 years that the Lord Jesus Christ will rule from Jerusalem.
Dr. Wiersbe ends his commentary of this psalm with these words, “As children of God, we belong to three worlds: the world of creation around us, the world of the new creation within us (2Cor. 5:17), and the ‘world to come’ of the wonderful final creation that will be our home for eternity (Rev. 21-22).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to quote from the last chapter of 2Peter for this portion of my SD today: “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
1. I want to be a person that is ready to tell others about the saving grace of the Lord and live a life that is pleasing to the Lord each day.
2. Continue to learn contentment as I serve the Lord and trust Him to rule in my life.
1/14/2012 11:38:51 AM
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