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Good evening, everyone. This 
evening, I'd like to preach from Psalm 24. So if you have your 
Bibles, I'd like to turn to Psalm 24 with me. We'll read the passage, and then 
we'll pray, and then we'll look at it in detail. So Psalm 24, 
a Psalm of David. The earth is 
the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell 
therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established 
it upon the waters. Who may ascend into the hill 
of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place? He who has 
clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul 
to an idol nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive blessing from 
the Lord. and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This 
is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, 
Selah. Lift up your heads, O you gates, 
and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory 
shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The 
Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. 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 Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory, Selah. Let us 
pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank 
you for your Word. Lord, we thank you for this passage 
of Scripture and the glory of our Savior Christ that it gives 
to us. And Lord, I pray now as we look 
into this psalm that you would be pleased to send your Holy 
Spirit among us to assist in in understanding the truth, that 
we would see the glory of Christ here. Lord, like the Greeks who 
asked Philip, Sir, we would see Jesus. Lord, that is our prayer 
to you, that we would see Jesus today in this psalm, in all his 
glory. Glory as creator, glory as redeemer 
and king. and our savior so lord i pray 
that you would that you would bless us now open our hearts 
to receive these things open and and assist in in delivering 
the message and lord we thank you that that it is not about 
the wisdom of words but that it is about the the message of 
of our lord jesus christ and so i pray that you would bless 
it and i pray this in christ's name amen So Psalm 24 is often 
considered to be called the Ascension Psalm, and we'll see that as 
we get into it there. But the specific context that 
the psalm was written in by David is historically, the Jewish historians 
and others just generally, it's thought to be written when David 
was bringing the ark. from Obed Edom's house to the 
city of Jerusalem. So if you remember the history 
there, the story, the ark had been captured by the Philistines. And after the various plagues 
that had happened there, it was sent on a cart led by the cows, 
and the cows went back to the land of Israel. Then the Ark 
was taken after the men of Beth Shemesh looked into it. Many 
were killed by the Lord then for looking into the Ark. And 
then the Ark was taken, brought to the neighboring city there 
of Kirjath-Jerim, and it was kept there for 20 years. So, but now, so 20 years later, 
David has, he's captured Jerusalem, the city, and now he wants to 
bring the ark into the city of David. Now, and then he had, 
there was this, the first attempt that David did was a failed attempt. We know the story, you know, 
quite well. And it was a failed attempt because David did not 
take into consideration the holiness of God and that God had these 
specific ways by which one must deal with transporting the Ark. 
David put it on a cart, pulled by oxen, and we know the story 
now when Uzzah reached out to touch the Ark when it looked 
like it was going to teeter, and he was struck dead by the 
Lord. It was a warning to David there to take seriously the holiness 
of God and how he was going to do these things. And now it's three months later, 
and now David is doing this again. Now he's doing things the proper 
way. And so if it is true then that this was, that David did 
write this psalm at the time of this event and was singing 
it at the time of this event, then we see a striking difference 
now between how David understands the holiness of God, as we'll 
see in this psalm here. It's very different from the 
from the first attempt to transport this ark. So, and now if you 
remember the story, David was, he was just so full of praise 
there. He was dancing in the streets 
with all his might, the Bible tells us. So that was when his 
wife, you know, thought he was making a fool of himself, but 
he was just, he was overflowing with praise and praising God 
as the creator there. And that's how he begins the 
psalm there. So the psalm basically breaks 
down into three main The first is the majesty of Yahweh the 
Creator. Now, when I say Yahweh, I'm sure 
most of you are familiar with that, but just to be clear, Yahweh is the 
Hebrew name for the Lord. Our Bibles have it written with 
capital L, capital O-R-D. That's the word Yahweh, and that's 
when I say Yahweh, that's what I'm referring to, just for those 
who might not be familiar with that. So that's verse 1 and 2, 
the majesty of Yahweh the Creator. And then verses 3 through 6, 
we have the question of how to enter into his presence. And 
then in verses 7 through 10, we have the triumphal entry by 
the king of glory. So first, we'll then we'll look 
at the majesty of Yahweh, the creator in verses 1 and 2. So 
it says, verse 1 says, the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, 
the world, and those who dwell therein. So it's very clear here 
then, obviously, everything in the earth is Yahweh. So David 
is praising him as a creator and as sovereign over all things. And that's something that I find, 
I think, we take for granted sometimes. Of course, yes, that's, you know, 
we affirm the sovereignty of God and we don't question those 
things. But the Old Testament, it's always 
reminding us, there's just constant reminders of God's universal 
control over all of the earth. Exodus 19 5 for all the earth 
is mine Deuteronomy 10 14 indeed heaven and the highest heavens 
belong to the Lord your God also the earth with all that is in 
it Job 41 11 Psalm 50 verse 12 Psalm 89 verse 11 just if just 
a few of the of the the more explicit references to to the 
Lord as all of creation, all of the created order belonging 
to Yahweh. So why all these reminders? Why 
does it happen so often in there? And that's because of the prevailing 
ancient Near Eastern thought of the nations there was that 
all of the various nations around the earth belonged to various 
other deities. So Yahweh was the god of Israel, 
and then the various other Baals and Elves, Chemosh, you know, 
all those other, Molech, all those other gods, they occupied 
that same position over their specific nation. So what Yahweh 
was to Israel is what these gods were to their respective nations. 
That was the prevailing thought of the time. So when we understand 
that, And then now we see this constant reminder, and we see 
this David's reminder here, again, of this, that Yahweh is God of 
all the earth. He's not just limited to Israel. He has sovereign control over 
everything. That their God, yes, He is the 
God of Israel, but He's also the God of all of the earth. 
And He's intimately involved with everything, not just with 
Israel as well. That His common grace extends 
towards all of all of creation. He causes the rain to fall on 
the just and on the unjust. When it rains on the Canaanites, 
that's not a gift from Baal, that's a gift from Yahweh. And then, of course, this thought 
now fills David with praise to God, and rightly so, of course. 
We ought to be We ought to be filled with praise for that as 
well. But what implication then does that have for the Jews of 
David's day and for us as well, of course, you know, that all 
things, all people on this earth belong to God? Well, the Jews 
understood that they were Yahweh's special people, but David points 
out then that all of the All of the people on the earth, they're 
all ultimately the Lord. So what does that mean then for 
Israel? And basically what it's doing 
is it's showing them that there's nothing different about them 
in and of themselves that has set them apart. It's a reminder 
to the Jews of Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6. I'll just read that 
for a moment for you. It's that it's that reminder 
here where where God says you are a you are a holy people or 
Moses speaking you are a holy people to the Lord your God the 
Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself a 
special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth 
But the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because 
you were more in number than any other people for you are 
the least of all peoples but because the Lord loves you So 
the Jews were God's special people by virtue of the covenants, by 
virtue of God choosing them, not by their own virtue, not 
by anything in and of themselves. And of course, you know, for 
us as as reformed Christians, we understand that, you know, 
Israel here is typifying, as the people of God in the Old 
Covenant, is typifying the church now. And so that same reminder 
then goes to us. You know, God did not choose 
us for anything in us. He didn't look through the tunnel 
of time and see something in us that made us worthy to be 
chosen, but rather He loved us and chose us, not because we 
are deserving, but because He is gracious. Basically, what 
the text says in Deuteronomy is that He loved you because 
He loved you, because He chose to do so. It was in and of Himself. 
So now, often, Just as an aside, I guess, we often hear, well, 
that's not fair. Why would God, you know, choose 
them over, you know, that's not fair. But we don't want fair 
in this state. Because fair, God is fair with 
the non-elect. God is fair with the reprobate. 
They get what they deserve. That's fair. And God is gracious 
now to the elect, to the chosen people of God. So there's nothing 
unfair about the situation there. John Calvin, he agrees with this 
view as well here. He says, the object of the beginning 
of the Psalm is to show that the Jews had nothing of themselves 
which could entitle them to approach nearer or more familiarly to 
God than the Gentiles. So David will deal with that 
later, like we saw in the second part of the psalm here, of how 
to approach to God. But now he's setting the stage. 
He's reminding the Jews of this fact. He's putting them in their 
right place before God. And then now moving on to verse 
2 then. So he says, for he has founded it upon the seas and 
established it upon the waters, speaking of the earth. So what 
does that mean, that he's founded it upon the seas? Now, so David 
is speaking of God as creator here, of course, we've seen that. 
And now when we look back at the creation account, that is 
what we see, the idea of the sea. So Genesis 1 tells us that 
the earth was formless and void, and darkness covered the face 
of the deep. Now, the deep there is a term that's used for a chaotic, 
watery abyss. It's the word tahum in Hebrew. 
Just chaos, watery, and abyss. We see that word used in Jonah. When Jonah's in the belly of 
the fish, he's praying to the Lord from the belly of the fish that 
he's descending into the deep here. And, you know, so that's 
the idea then of this watery abyss. And Genesis, Continues 
in the account of the creation account. It says the Spirit of 
God was hovering over over the waters So now the word translated 
in in verse 2 of the of Psalm 24 here is it's literally means 
rivers and again, it's it's that idea of turmoil of not calm and 
ordered but but rather a turmoil and and and using the reference 
to waters in this situation, so now does You know, what exactly 
does that look like in Genesis 1? Was it literal water? I don't 
think so. We know, we understand that God 
created ex nihilo, we call that, out of nothing. You know, so 
it wasn't that there was water in existence. And then he used 
that and made something out of it. That's not what it means. But the Bible often uses this 
idea of just a chaotic, unordered waters to refer to the creation 
of the earth and to see God's sovereignty over that. So it 
says that darkness was over this tahum, the deep. The spirit was 
hovering, brooding over the waters, ready to bring order to it. And 
then when God speaks, then he brings a cosmic order to this, 
and a very good creation from this unordered chaos. And then 
so when we look at that throughout all of the Old Testament, we 
see the use of a tumultuous sea, tumultuous waters. and to show 
God's sovereignty over it again. And it's all there just to point 
us back to the creation account and to point us to God as creator. The flood narrative, for example. 
In Genesis, it describes a decreation, a return back to that chaotic, 
watery chaos. The fountains of the deep were 
opened, those types of things. So it's a return back to that. But then when we look in Psalm 
29 verse 10, it tells us that the Lord sat enthroned at the 
flood. So he was in control of it all, even the flood, the waters 
were raging, the Lord was in control of it all. It says, the 
water saw you, O God, they were afraid. The depths also trembled. 
So that's that word again, the depths. And then many other places 
we, in the Old Testament, we see God having control over a 
raging sea. And of course, this does refer 
to his power over the physical sea that he can control. He can 
control it. He's in control of all of nature. 
But the idea, the concept then is always used to point us back 
to Genesis 1, highlighting God as a creator, seeing him bring 
order and a very good creation out of this primordial chaos 
that was there. And then again, Remember the 
worldview there of the ancient Near East, so that we understand 
the fact that God is creator, that he's sovereign over all 
things. You keep that in mind there. The ancient Near East, 
they had all these many gods that they held to. this belief. And I believe that 
a biblical case can be made that all of these gods of the various 
nations are, in fact, literal spiritual beings. Demons, the 
Bible uses in some instances. Leviticus 17.7, Deuteronomy 32.17, 
Psalm 106.37. Those are just a few instances 
where it specifically labels the gods of the nations as demons, 
as a spiritual being so and then so now in in this context now 
David is is he's reminding his audience you know God is not 
one among many gods he's he's sovereign over over it all he's 
he's king of kings lord of lords that he's created all of these 
other spiritual beings and that that the other nations um may 
may worship and And the Old Testament is full of reminders like that. Exodus 15 11. Who is like you, 
O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Deuteronomy 3 
verse 24. What God is there in heaven or 
on earth who can do anything like your works and your mighty 
deeds? So who is like you, right? We see that over, that refrain 
is over and over in the Psalms and the prophets. Who is like 
unto our God? Who is like you? And the response 
then that comes from God He says, who is God? Who formed the earth 
and made it? Who has established it? Who did not create it in 
vain? Who formed it to be inhabited? I am Yahweh and there is no other. 
That's Isaiah 45 verse 6. So Yahweh is in a class on his 
own. And that's Yahweh. That's what 
Yahweh means. It means I am. It speaks of his self-existence, 
of his eternality, his holiness. And that's what David understands 
now as he comes here, as he writes the psalm, in contrast to the 
first time when he attempted to move the ark. Now he understands, 
by those that come near me, I must be regarded as holy, Leviticus 
10.3 tells us. So now back to that theme then 
of bringing order to the chaotic seas. you know, as proof of God 
as a sovereign creator. When we trace that theme now 
through the Bible, when we go into the New Testament, what 
do we find there? Well, that's where we find Jesus walking on 
the waves, you know, in the storm. Jesus calming the turbulent seas. You know, the people say, well, 
what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey 
him? Because he's no ordinary man. He is Yahweh of Israel, God in 
the flesh, fully God and fully man. In Matthew's account of 
one of these instances, then the result was that the people 
worshipped him and they said, truly, you are the son of God. 
So they understood the implications of this. Not just the fact that 
it was a miracle in the sense that Jesus had control over the 
waters, that he could walk on the water and he could calm the 
storms, but that it was proving him to be the creator, that he 
was, in fact, the holy, eternal Yahweh of Israel, God among them, 
Emmanuel. So this theme then of control 
over the seas throughout the scripture, it points to the Lord 
as such, and Christ, in fact, as creator. So now we have David 
then praising God for his sovereign control over the created order, 
and not just the sea and nature, but we'll see it again later 
towards the end of the psalm, where he's called Lord Sabaoth, Lord 
of hosts. you know, or Lord of Armies, 
but that's typically used to refer to his control over the 
entire spiritual realm as well, you know, which is all part of 
the created order. So that, you know, including 
Satan, you know, the other principalities, powers, and spiritual hosts of 
wickedness that exist. So like I mentioned earlier, 
he's not one God among many, but he is God over all. He's 
in a class on his own. He is holy, set apart. And now 
David then is filled with praise as he contemplates the greatness 
of his God. So if this historical understanding 
then that David was singing this particular psalm as he brings 
the ark to Jerusalem, then it's no wonder that he's dancing with 
all his might before the Lord in praise as he comes to understand 
who this Lord is, who Yahweh is, and worships him as such. So then we get to now the question 
of how to enter into Yahweh's presence? Because the question 
naturally arises then, how can this awesome God, so powerful, 
so holy, so sovereign over all things in a class completely 
on his own, how can he be approached? Who and how can we come into 
his presence? And David asks that question 
then in verse three, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? So who can ascend the hill of 
the Lord? Now, what does that mean, then, 
to ascend the hill of the Lord? Now, Jerusalem was on a hill 
or a mountain, and the temple would later be built on its own 
mountain or its own hill in Jerusalem. It actually was Mount Moriah 
that we've seen in the Old Testament. So so now David is ascending 
this hill as he's as he's bringing the ark to the to the into the 
city But now to understand more about what exactly does he mean 
by this? you know, we need to go back back to the Garden of 
Eden again and And the Garden of Eden we find was on was was 
actually on a mountain now How how do we know well because the 
Bible tells us so Ezekiel 28 calls it specifically the holy 
of mountain of God. And then practically, we can 
deduce as well, four rivers flowed out of the Garden of Eden, so 
it had to be, you know, an elevated area so the rivers could flow 
out. So we see now Eden is on a mountain, and when we look 
at the language that's used to describe the creation account, 
we see the similar language when it comes to building the temple 
and the tabernacle, there's very many parallels between how the 
creation account is described versus how the temple was to 
be built. And in the Hebrew language, when 
you see that, that is very significant. We need to take note and think, 
hey, there's something going on here. And so we know that 
the temple, the building of the temple signified the dwelling 
of God with his people. Exodus 29, verse 45, after it's 
giving all the details of how to build the temple or the tabernacle 
in that instance. But then God says, I will dwell 
among the children of Israel and will be their God. So we 
take this subsequent revelation then of temple building. and 
the idea of dwelling, of God dwelling with them. And then 
that serves now to show us then that the mountain of Eden was 
a place where God dwelled in a special way with his people. 
And that's what is signified by the theme of mountains throughout 
the Bible. So throughout scripture then mountain is a place where 
God, where man comes into the presence of God. So now when 
David asks who can ascend the hill of the Lord, He doesn't 
mean who can climb this hill up to Jerusalem, but rather who 
is worthy to approach this majestic, this holy creator and to come 
into his presence. And then the next statement in 
the verse makes that very clear again. It's a clear reference 
to temple and the presence of God. Who can stand in his holy 
place? So David, he understands now, like I mentioned, he understands 
the holiness of God, the otherness of God, that he's in a class 
on his own. So this understanding now begs 
the question, who can stand in this holy place? Who can approach 
such a holy God? If you remember the account in 
Isaiah chapter 6, when he is in the in the temple, and he 
says, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And he sees the seraphim 
are there singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And 
what is his response? He says, woe is me, for I am 
undone. I dwell, I'm a man of unclean lips, dwell among a people 
of unclean lips. So as he recognizes the holiness 
of God, he recognizes his unholiness and his And he pronounces woe 
on himself. He's about to be undone because 
of his unholiness in the presence of holiness. And now in that 
instance, we see how he is cleansed, how he's purified and made able 
to be in that presence. So the question is there then. And then in verse four, we get 
the answer. So he who has clean hands and 
a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn 
deceitfully, So David and the company of Israelites that he 
was with, they knew that there was a law that they were to obey. 
They knew that God had made a covenant with them and they understood 
what God had said in Leviticus 26 verse 4 and verse 11 and verse 
12. He says, If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments 
and perform them, then I will set my tabernacle among you, 
and I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be 
my people." So there's that concept of dwelling there in the tabernacle, 
man being in the presence of God. But there was conditions 
that needed to be met in order to dwell in the presence of God. So David understands that you 
cannot just come into the presence of Yahweh But Yahweh has standards that 
must be met. And naturally, given the nature 
of God as a holy God, that standard is perfect holiness. So for someone 
to enter into the presence of Yahweh, they needed to be holy 
as God himself was holy. So Habakkuk 1 verse 13 says, 
you are of pure eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on 
wickedness. So if we have one spot, one blemish, 
one sin, then we are not able to approach this holy God. So 
is David saying here in verse four, well then, you know, try 
your best and don't sin, have a pure heart, don't trust in 
falsehood or swear deceitfully. You know, if you're a good person, 
if you're a really good boy or a good girl, then you can approach 
this holy God. And, you know, that's not what 
he's saying at all. He understands that we need perfectly 
clean hands and a pure heart. And he understood that our hearts 
are not pure by nature, right? Psalm 51, verse 10, he says, 
created me a clean heart, O God, renew a steadfast spirit within 
me. So, and then David's son, Solomon, 
says in the Proverbs then, in Proverbs 20, verse 9, who can 
say that I have made my heart clean or I am pure from sin? 
So it becomes very obvious then that none of us can approach 
this holy God in and of ourselves. And the question, the question 
then becomes a problem. So now who then can come into 
the presence of Yahweh and be accepted? And the solution is 
given in the next verse, in verse five. It says, he shall receive 
blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 
So David understands here then that it is the Lord who purifies 
the heart and cleanses the hands. And these are the blessings that 
he's talking about. Here from verse 4, it's the clean 
hands, the pure heart. The Lord does that. The one who 
has clean hands, the one who has a pure heart has been made 
so by God himself. So who can ascend the hill of 
the Lord and not be cast out? It's one who has received these 
blessings from the Lord, the blessings of a pure heart and 
clean hands. And the one who can ascend to 
the hill of the Lord has also been given a righteousness, as 
he says here, a righteousness from the God of his salvation, 
a righteousness that allows him to enter into the presence of 
Yahweh. Now, we understand that this righteousness, of course, 
is the righteousness of Christ. We'll see that more, right? Philippians 
3 tells us that that righteousness comes from God by faith. So that 
is the righteousness that meets the holy standards of the holy 
creator. So, the righteousness of Christ. 
And that's what it says here. So we know this righteousness 
comes by faith, and that's what David says here. He says, the 
one who trusts in Yahweh, not who trusts in falsehood. There in verse five it says, 
he has not lifted up his soul to an idol or to something empty, 
to vanity there. So that phrase there, lifted 
up his soul, It means to trust or to believe. So if we look 
at Psalm 25 verse 1 for a second, it says, To you, O Lord, I lift 
up my soul. O my God, I trust in you. So 
the lifting up of the soul means to trust. So the one who trusts 
in Yahweh has not lifted up his soul to something vain, something 
empty, something worthless, but rather to Yahweh. receives this 
blessing from him. There. So what he... Sorry. I said this is why they 
tell young preachers not to stray from their notes. So the one 
who then, you know, the one who finds acceptance now is the one 
who trusts and who believes in the Lord, who has faith in the 
Lord. So we see it very clearly here 
now that David, you know, he understands justification by 
faith. You know, by faith, one receives 
a pure heart and his sins are taken away. He receives, you 
know, clean hands, so to speak. In Psalm 32, David says, blessed 
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the 
Lord does not impute iniquity." So David understands this. He 
understands that by faith, by trusting in Yahweh, the God of 
his salvation, he receives a righteousness that meets the standard of God's 
holiness. So those who trust in Yahweh 
have their hands cleansed, meaning the stains, the guilt of their 
sin is taken away, their heart is made pure, made new by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, and they receive a righteousness 
from Yahweh that makes them acceptable in His sight and able to come 
into His presence. Those are the blessings that 
they receive from the Lord when they trust in Him. So when people 
tell you then that the Israelites, they didn't know about faith 
in Christ and they were just doing their best to obey the 
law and they were rewarded accordingly, no, that is wrong. They knew 
the Old Testament, prophets knew that the just shall live by faith. 
We see that in the Old Testament. So they may not have fully understood 
everything that we have now with the revelation of Christ, that 
Yahweh would come in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, but they 
knew fully and they were fully aware that they had to trust 
in Yahweh for their salvation. And we've seen that already, right? 
That Christ is Yahweh. We saw that through the control 
over the seas, that Christ is Yahweh. So now we have faith 
in Christ again here. as a means of salvation. And 
that's what David wants to remind them of that there. Now, and 
we see that in verse six. And now verse six, it says, this 
is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face. 
Now this is a difficult verse to translate, particularly the 
word Jacob. The word Jacob comes at the end 
of the verse in the Hebrew, So, the NASB says, this is the generation 
of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. The King James Version says, 
who seek your face, O Jacob. Now, some think that Jacob may 
be just a shortened version of the God of Jacob. So if you have 
an ESV, in fact, it adds that. It says, who seek the face of 
the God of Jacob. But I think that given the context 
here, that David is reminding them of their status before God, 
like we saw earlier. And when we look at, he understands 
justification by faith, then he's now addressing Jacob, or 
that is the Israelites, and he's calling them to take notice. 
So he's reminding them of this fact, that they were justified 
by faith. So it's almost like he's saying, 
listen, listen, Jacob, this is the generation or the people 
group of God who seek Him, not those who are descended by Abraham, 
you know, by the flesh, not those who are circumcised, but it's 
those who have put their faith in Yahweh as the God of their 
salvation, and the ones who have then, through that faith, received 
the blessing of salvation and a righteousness from God. So, because David knew... Sorry. So David knew then that 
he didn't have a pure heart on his own. He knew that he didn't 
have a sinless, holy life to present to God. So he knows, 
he understands that this righteousness that he needed could not come 
from himself, but he knew that there was a righteousness available 
from God, from the God of his salvation, that would allow him 
to find acceptance with God. And that righteousness was imputed 
to him through faith in Yahweh. And that's what he's trying to 
remind the Israelites of in this verse, saying, take note, this 
is the true Israel. John Calvin presents this view 
as well. Calvin says he adds the word Jacob confirmation of 
the same doctrine, so what he's just taught and what he's just 
said in verse 4 and 5, putting it for those who were descended 
from Jacob as if he had said, although circumcision distinguishes 
all the seed of Jacob according to the flesh from the Gentiles, 
yet we can only distinguish the chosen people by the fear and 
reverence of God. So now we see them then and they're 
ascending this hill of Jerusalem with the Ark, David and this 
whole company of of people, signifying that they're coming into the 
presence of Yahweh. The question is posed, who can 
do this? Who can come into His presence? 
The answer is given that only those who are those fit to do 
so are those who have received the blessings of a pure heart 
from Yahweh and a righteousness that meets His standard of holiness. So, well, then the question comes, 
then, well, whose righteousness is this? Because righteousness 
is complete obedience to the law of God. So, who then is worthy? If David looks around, you know, 
at himself or his own, anyone in his company there, then there 
is none worthy. In Revelation, we find the Apostle 
John doing the same thing. The Apostle John is weeping, 
for there was none worthy to open the scroll. one of the elders 
comforts him and says, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the 
tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll 
and loose its seven seals. So not David himself, he wasn't 
worthy, but the root of David, the lion of Judah, the Lord Jesus 
Christ is worthy. And that's now where David will 
take us here. He's not looking to himself or 
to anyone around him, but now he looks into the future and 
to the seed of David, to one greater than David. And that's 
now where we come upon this scene now in the psalm of one coming 
into the presence of Yahweh. So the triumphal entry by the 
King of Glory. And this here is why the psalm 
is referred to as the Ascension psalm. In the following verses 
here, we have a scene of Jesus ascending to heaven to the right 
hand of the Father. But it's such an incredible scene 
So here we see a man marching up to the gates of heaven and 
calling out, lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, 
you everlasting doors, and let the King of glory come in. So 
who would dare be so bold as to march up to heaven's gate 
and demand entrance? Who would be able to enter the 
holy presence, that unapproachable light of Yahweh himself without 
being destroyed by the brightness of his glory. And here we see 
it's a man declaring himself to be the king of glory. And 
look at these, look at the gates. They're wondering the same thing 
almost. Their heads are hanging down, as it were, and they've 
been shut. They've been shut for a long 
time. Not once have they ever opened to anyone. Never before 
has one come who has been worthy to be let into the presence of 
Yahweh Himself. So the demand now comes as a 
surprise here. And then we see a voice that, 
you know, we hear a voice call out from the wall, from the porters 
that are at the gate. Who is this king of glory? And 
then listen to the response. It's Yahweh, strong and mighty, 
Yahweh, mighty in battle. So we know that this is none 
other than our Lord Jesus Christ. We've just seen that. It was 
his righteousness, right? So fully man, and yet Yahweh 
himself coming up to the gates of heaven and demanding entrance. 
So we've seen Christ in the beginning of the psalm as Yahweh the creator, 
the sovereign ruler over all of creation and then here again 
we see Christ as Yahweh but this time now he's Christ the The 
the warrior the the Hebrew word here is a is a Gabor so it's 
it can be used as an as an adjective Translated in our Bibles as as 
mighty or valiant which in the way, it's translated Here the 
the Lord strong and mighty mighty in battle but it's also it also 
can be used translated as a noun and and the just the idea of 
a of a warrior a war a war hero, so So who is this king of glory? Well, it's Yahweh, a strong warrior, 
a hero, Yahweh, a hero in the battle. So the scene that we 
have now of Christ coming up to the gates of heaven, it's 
one of a victory parade that was customary of the kings of 
that day as they return victorious from a battle. If you remember 
David and King Saul coming back after they defeated the Philistines, 
well, David did and killed Goliath. Now David was the Gabor in that 
story there. He was the war hero. So as they 
paraded into the city, the people sang, you know, Saul has slain 
his thousands, but David his ten thousands. And that's what 
we see here in this scene, is the greater David, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, returning victorious from the battle. So he had left 
his throne, In heaven, he had come to earth as a man born under 
the law to redeem those who were under the law. So as a man, he 
lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father, which gives him 
the right then to march up to the doors of heaven and to demand 
entrance into the presence of God. And then in doing so, through 
his perfect life and his death, he defeats the enemies of God. So the second person of the Trinity, 
the Son of God himself, He became a man in order to rescue us. So the sovereign creator of the 
universe takes on our humanity and he died a substitutionary 
death in our place to pay the penalty to the father that we 
had incurred. So Colossians 2.15 says that 
through his death he disarmed principalities and powers having 
triumphed over them in it. So he rescues us from the power 
of death. He partook of flesh and blood, 
Hebrews 2.14 says that through death He might destroy him who 
had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those 
who through fear of death were all their lifetime in bondage. 
So the devil, the accuser, he's often called, he had the power 
of death in the sense that he had the law on his side. So as 
an accuser, he comes, he accuses lawbreakers before the Lord, 
and he says they're worthy of death. And he's right in that 
sense. He is very right. The wages of 
sin is death. But then when Christ comes, Christ 
lives in obedience to that law, and he died to pay for those 
sins. So now, when sinners through 
faith receive the forgiveness of sins, and their sins are washed 
away, and they're given a righteousness that is not their own, they're 
given the righteousness of Christ, then no longer does the devil 
have any grounds in his accusation to the Father that they are worthy 
of death. That power has been stripped 
from him. For now, the believer stands 
fully righteous before the Lord. So anytime the devil tries to 
make an accusation against a believer, there stands Jesus Christ the 
righteous as our advocate with the Father, and the devil can 
say no more. He's silenced, so that power 
of death that he had is taken away from him. So here now then 
we see Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. you 
know, returning from the battle, you know, victorious, having 
conquered his enemies. So, you know, Hollywood and storybooks 
and, you know, those kinds of things, they always portray Jesus 
as, you know, gentle and meek and mild. And, you know, and 
like, I think it's Voddie Bauckham, you know, says looking like a 
shampoo model, you know, but that's not how the Bible portrays 
him when it comes to his kingship. You know, he's a warrior, he's 
a war hero. And now he's given that place 
of honor on his throne at the right hand of the Father. I think, 
turn to Daniel 7, verse 13 for a minute, where we see that same 
scene again. Daniel 7, verse 13 and following, 
I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son 
of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the Ancient 
of Days, and they brought him near before him then to him was 
given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations 
and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting 
dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom the one 
which shall not be destroyed So that is our Savior. As the 
apostles, priests, let all the house of Israel know assuredly 
that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord 
and Christ. So King of kings and Lord of 
lords. So here we see Christ, he marches 
up to the gates of heaven, they open wide for him and he climbs 
the steps to the throne and is seated at the right hand of the 
Father. And therefore God also has highly 
exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in 
heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, 
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord to the glory of the Father." Now, what else does the Bible 
say about him and his ascension? In Ephesians chapter 4, now quoting 
Psalm 68 verse 18, it tells us that he ascended on high, and 
he led captivity captive. So as he returns from the battle 
now, he's bringing with him a host of captives, a host that no man 
can number. Those who were held captive by 
the kingdom of darkness, in the sense that they were all deserving 
of death. And he's rescued them, and now he brings them with him 
into the gates of heaven. And that's what, in verse six, 
this O Jacob, that's the generation of those who seek his face, those 
who have been given the blessing of clean hands and a pure heart 
and a righteousness from the God of their salvation, from 
their war hero, Jesus Christ himself. And he is our hero, 
brethren. He ought to be our hero. And 
we ought to regard him as such because he did this for us. He 
died, you know, or first he lived perfect obedience to the law 
of God. You know, the devil took it upon himself to try and tempt 
him to sin. But the devil was not successful. Jesus always kept the law of 
God. He always submitted to the will 
of his father. Even as the people were calling 
for his crucifixion, as he was being led away, he was always 
in submission to the will of his father, always in perfect 
obedience to him and to earn that righteousness that we are 
given. And then He died for you, you 
know, suffering an eternity of the Father's wrath on the cross 
for your sin. We'll never be able to comprehend 
how much Christ, what that means to suffer an eternity of the 
Father's wrath, but Christ did that for us to rescue us from 
death so that we do not have any sins that need to be paid 
for by death. and then Christ raised from the dead victorious 
over it. So he's the sovereign creator, 
the one power over all things, the supreme one. He took it upon 
himself to rescue you from that kingdom of darkness. So now then 
back to verse 9. So it goes on, it says, So lift 
up your heads, O you gates, lift up you everlasting doors, and 
the King of glory shall come in. So who is this King of glory, 
you ask? That's the Lord of hosts. He 
is the King of glory. And Lord Sabaoth is what says 
there. So again, it's another battle 
term. You know, the term is referring 
to his His sovereign control over the entirety of the created 
order, not just the physical realm, the spiritual realm as 
well, that He has sovereign control over the entire heavenly host, 
you know, angels, demons alike, all of the spiritual beings that 
there may be, they're all in His control. Daniel 4 verse 35 
says, He does according to His will in the army of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth. None can restrain His 
hand. or say to him, what have you done? And what an encouragement 
is that? Because Paul tells us in Ephesians 
chapter six that our battle is not a physical one. We don't 
wrestle against flesh and blood. We're not fighting with swords 
and guns and whatever it may be. It is a spiritual battle. 
We wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers 
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 
in the heavenly places. So now, whether or not you believe 
that the gods of the ancient Near Eastern countries were actual 
spiritual beings, but either way, you need to appreciate then 
what David is doing in this psalm here, that he's affirming that 
Christ is Lord over all, and that we have to understand that 
the spiritual warfare is a reality. And that the battle is still 
on, that Satan may have lost the power of death, but he is 
not dead. He's still going about like a 
roaring lion, seeking whom he may destroy. And he's attempting 
to blind the people of the world to the realities of the gospel 
message. in order to maintain that power 
over them, through all the attractions of the world, all the distractions, 
all the things that are going on to distract from the gospel 
message, that gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. So he hates the one who has taken 
that power from him, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, by living 
a life of obedience, by dying for sin, Christ has taken that 
power from him, he hates him for it, and now he hates the 
ones who have been snatched out of his clutches, as it were, 
by that one. So take courage, then, I say, 
because the battle may not be over, but we know the outcome. It doesn't matter, then, what 
the government try to do to the churches in closing them. It 
doesn't matter. Not in the sense that we don't 
care, but in the sense that we don't need to let that shake 
us and cause us to fear. when we see the nations of the 
world just seem to be collectively, you know, shaking their fist, 
you know, at the Lord, don't let that worry you, because we 
know that our hero, the war hero, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, that 
He wins, and that He takes us with Him to dwell in the presence 
of Yahweh forever. So be encouraged, because when 
the Bible tells us that He ascended on high, he led captivity captive. Now those that are being led 
captive, they're not shuffling along in a chain gang with their 
heads down, but they're the ones in the company with David who 
are singing and dancing as they're on their way up to Jerusalem. So too should we be rejoicing 
in our Savior, rejoicing and celebrating his triumph over 
his enemies and rejoicing that he has rescued us from the power 
of death and darkness. And now turn to Revelations 21 
to see how it all ends, the glorious ending to this. So if we look 
first at Revelation 21 verse 10, it tells us the location And it's just interesting to 
know. He says, he carried me away in the spirit to a great 
and high mountain. So again, now at the consummation 
of all things, it is on a mountain. So we've seen that theme now 
all through the dwelling of man and God. Man entering into the 
presence of God on a mountain as we come to the final consummation 
of all things on a mountain. God and man dwelling together 
on a mountain. And now, and we see, just if 
you turn previously now to chapter 20, verse 20, we see the destruction 
of the devil, not verse 20, verse 7 and following there, that, 
and 10, sorry. The devil who deceived them was 
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and 
the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night 
forever and ever. But now then going, jumping ahead 
again to 21, when we read verse one through seven there. Now 
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and 
the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then 
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of 
heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall 
be his people. God himself will be with them 
and be their God. So we see that concept of dwelling 
there again, of God and man dwelling together. God will wipe away 
every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, 
nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, 
for the former things have passed away. So this is what we have 
coming, brethren. That eternal dwelling with God 
in His presence, with Him, based on the virtue and the merits 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we are worthy to come into 
His presence not because of what we have done, but because of 
what Christ has done. And this is why we ought to share 
this message with the world, with those around us, because 
that's how we can engage in this battle. Satan wants to blind 
men to the gospel, but we are to teach them the gospel, because 
that is the means that God uses to bring people into his kingdom. 
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So if you're 
here today and you are not a believer, read verse 6 again from Revelations 
21. He says, at the end, he says, 
I will give of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. And 
go flip ahead to 22, verse 17. There he says, and the spirit 
and the bride say, come, and let him who hears say, come, 
and let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take 
the water of life freely. Now this psalm speaks much of 
the sovereignty of Christ, Christ as the hero, the one who rescues, 
the one who, you know, and his sovereign control of all things. 
But the means that God has given, as clearly laid out in the Bible, 
the means to receive these blessings is through faith, through believing 
in him. Through faith we receive the 
blessings of clean hands, of a pure heart, and a righteousness 
from God. You know, so clean hands and 
pure heart mean, you know, a regenerated heart, the forgiveness of sins, 
and then that righteousness that comes from Christ. So believe 
in the Lord Jesus, trust in Him to give you those things. So 
give up any hope of yourself that you might have of being 
able to walk up to the, you know, through those ancient doors of 
heaven, you know, on your own merits, because you know that 
you don't have clean hands and a pure heart and a righteousness 
that that meets that standard of holiness that God himself 
has. But Jesus does, and Jesus is 
offering that to you. So trust in him to take you with 
him in that company that he's leading captive, leading on this 
victory march into the presence of God for eternity. As he said, 
in John 7, I believe, the one who comes to him, John 6, the 
one who comes to him, he will in no wise cast out, by no means 
will he cast out. So believe on the Lord Jesus, 
and you will be part of this glorious company through all 
of eternity in the presence of the Lamb. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this passage 
of Scripture, and Lord, I pray that that we would see the glory 
of Christ, of our Savior, our hero, the one who has rescued 
us, who came to this earth, born as a man, to live in obedience 
to your law and to save us, to rescue us from death that we 
deserve, that we had incurred by our sin. Lord, I pray that 
Christ would be glorified in our hearts today, that we would 
see him and our hearts would be filled with love, Lord, That 
is our prayer and our desire. And I pray that you would bless 
this message to us. Bless us now as we continue on 
in our day. Watch over each one of us and keep us under your 
care. And we thank you, Lord, for your 
love towards us. We thank you for your promise 
that you will never leave us or forsake us. And Lord, we give 
you much praise, much glory. And we pray this in Christ's 
name. Amen. Well, I'd like to close with 
singing as a doxology. Hymn number 380, crown hymn with 
many crowns. 380, we'll just sing verses one 
and five. So just, I believe it's the first 
and the last verse of 380. So please stand and sing as a 
doxology, 380. I'll wake my soul and sing, Alleluia 
for Him. I was ♪ In the promise of life ♪ ♪ All 
hail, Redeemer, hail ♪ ♪ Lord God, as I formerly knew ♪ ♪ Thy 
praise shall ever, ever fail ♪ ♪ Throughout eternity ♪ May the God of all grace, who 
called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have 
suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To 
him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Well, 
please be seated for a time of meditation.