Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates! (Psalm 24)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.280 --> 00:00:06.799 Let's turn to another Psalm now, Psalm twenty four, and here this portion 2 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:26.539 of God's word. We read and sang this a few weeks ago. Psalm 3 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:35.060 Twenty Four. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and 4 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:41.250 those that dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established 5 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:46.770 it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who 6 00:00:46.810 --> 00:00:52.159 shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure 7 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:56.479 heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does 8 00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.520 not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the 9 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:06.109 God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, 10 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:11.390 who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, 11 00:01:11.469 --> 00:01:15.549 O Gates, and be lifted up o ancient doors, that the king of 12 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:19.540 glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord Strong 13 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:25.099 and mighty, the Lord Mighty in battle? Lift up your heads, O 14 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:27.819 Gates, and lift them up, oh ancient doors, that the king of 15 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:33.049 glory may come in. Who is this King of glory, The Lord of 16 00:01:33.129 --> 00:01:44.730 hosts? He is the King of glory. Amen. Here in Psalm Twenty 17 00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:49.879 four we have the advent of the king. The king is coming, he 18 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:57.120 is about to arrive and hear the people of God sing his praise. They 19 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:06.510 call out even to the gates, the ancient doors of the citadel, perhaps 20 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:12.229 as the king of glory of drives. It's a mighty song. It's the 21 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:16.620 kind of song that would be sung in a grand procession, the kind of 22 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:23.539 processions that you might read about in fairy tales or perhaps see on TV, 23 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:34.650 a great victory parade of crowds and people. Some scholars think that perhaps the 24 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:44.560 Psalm was used when David brought the Ark out of its wandering into into the 25 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:51.120 temple, and that is God represented there and the arc advanced in. The 26 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:57.680 people would have sung this song. Perhaps we even have some back and forth 27 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:00.990 singing going in versus seven and eight and nine and ten. It's hard to 28 00:03:01.030 --> 00:03:05.710 say about these specifics in particular, but what we can know for sure is 29 00:03:05.789 --> 00:03:13.460 that this is a very kingly royal, Royal Song, as we do so 30 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:16.699 are as we look at it. Let's let's look at some of its parts 31 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:25.180 and consider our king of glory and what we can expect of him. The 32 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:31.569 Psalm begins and verses one and two with the proclamation of the extent of his 33 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:39.770 rule. The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world and those 34 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:46.759 who dwell there in God's kingly rule is as far as the I can see. 35 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:54.439 Let's say you decided to start a business and you worked very hard. 36 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:59.229 Let's say you opened up a restaurant and you poured your life and your money 37 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:02.069 into it and finally got going and it was going well and after a couple 38 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:08.030 years you opened up I don't know what we would call this. We'll just 39 00:04:08.069 --> 00:04:11.500 call it number two. You opened up the second restaurant in another part of 40 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:15.539 town, and you'd be so proud of yourself right that you will open a 41 00:04:15.699 --> 00:04:19.139 second restaurant and then maybe, after thirty years, you would even have a 42 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:24.139 chain of these things, if you things went really well and throughout the city 43 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:29.730 you might have five or six or maybe even ten, and we would congratulate 44 00:04:29.889 --> 00:04:32.050 this person, we would be happy for them. Here, though, is 45 00:04:32.129 --> 00:04:36.490 not just a building here and a building there and a business here in a 46 00:04:36.529 --> 00:04:44.079 business there. The Earth is the Lord's. It all belongs to him, 47 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.759 and not just this little piece of land or that little piece of land, 48 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:51.910 all the land and not just the land, but the waters too, and 49 00:04:53.069 --> 00:04:58.230 not just the waters but everything in the whole world and all that dwells in 50 00:04:58.389 --> 00:05:05.389 it. This king is glorious if you think about different aspects of creation, 51 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:13.980 on whether it is perhaps physical things like a mountain or a sea creature, 52 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:17.540 or you think of the Stars and the heavens, or you think of small 53 00:05:17.819 --> 00:05:25.089 things, little microbiomes. At each of these, anywhere you point, you 54 00:05:25.250 --> 00:05:28.850 can see the glory of the Lord, and you add all of these things 55 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:33.810 up and you have something that's more glorious than we can even imagine. The 56 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:40.160 Glory of God is evident in this world, and that he has made the 57 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:47.360 earth itself testifies to these things, to this king of glory. Not only 58 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:50.870 does it belong to the Lord, but there's a reason it belongs to the 59 00:05:51.029 --> 00:05:56.029 Lord, and that's given to us in verse two. He created it. 60 00:05:56.069 --> 00:06:02.029 It is his because he he made it. This wasn't a buyout. He 61 00:06:02.149 --> 00:06:11.180 didn't happen to accidentally fall into an inheritance. The Lord made this by the 62 00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:18.009 power of his own words, and the strength of his power is also expressed 63 00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:23.810 in verse two by noting in particular that it is founded upon the seas and 64 00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:30.930 it is established upon the rivers. The water is a nice thing and we 65 00:06:31.009 --> 00:06:38.879 enjoy it when we're taking some time at the beach perhaps, or looking at 66 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:46.000 a creek up on mountain lemon, but the water, when you think of 67 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:50.589 it in this global way, is often a terrifying thing. It's not a 68 00:06:50.709 --> 00:06:56.870 place that really sustains humankind very well. We have to work very, very 69 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:01.060 hard to put together a boat, let's say, to to have a cruise 70 00:07:01.379 --> 00:07:06.220 or to send out a an aircraft carrier. It's a lot of work to 71 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:12.860 create this, and even then it's temporary where ultimately it seems land creatures. 72 00:07:13.939 --> 00:07:17.889 What what we able are able to establish is always limited. We never can, 73 00:07:18.170 --> 00:07:21.529 we've never been able to any way to establish any kind of great city 74 00:07:21.569 --> 00:07:28.769 or kingdom on the seas alone. The seas for a long time have represented 75 00:07:28.810 --> 00:07:32.800 and are represented in the scriptures as being those which are filled with chaos. 76 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:39.480 They are a formless place. You can't grab onto them, you can't contain 77 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:45.550 them. They are powerful and when they spill their bounds destruction, as we 78 00:07:45.670 --> 00:07:54.110 see in the tsunami's from Hurricane sometimes the force of the seas and the power 79 00:07:54.310 --> 00:07:59.660 of the seas, though, doesn't begin to compare with the God who made 80 00:07:59.819 --> 00:08:05.420 them and who establishes the Earth upon them. He separates the sea from the 81 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:13.370 dry land and he creates an inhabitable place for mankind, a place where all 82 00:08:13.410 --> 00:08:16.889 around us, if you think globally, in this big picture of perspective, 83 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:26.769 we have these giant bodies of water contained at bay where we are safe and 84 00:08:26.850 --> 00:08:31.679 and protected. This is particularly important because there have been a lot of people 85 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:39.519 throughout history who have maintained that these waters are themselves gods or controlled by the 86 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:46.350 Gods, powers and forces which we ought to give our respect and even worship 87 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:56.700 to. That's not correct. God, Yahway, the Covenant King, the 88 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:01.940 King of glory. He has founded the Earth upon the seas, he has 89 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:07.059 established it upon the rivers, and every other false god is a shamed in 90 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:20.370 his light. In verses three through six, then the psalmost sort of focuses 91 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:26.679 in on a particular hill. I'm God, in various times and places throughout 92 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.120 history, has promised to set his name in a particular place on that north 93 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:41.909 and they involve mountains, these great spectacles, these marvelous aspects of God's nature 94 00:09:41.990 --> 00:09:46.429 which which create in us even a sense of fear and awe and majesty. 95 00:09:46.549 --> 00:09:52.139 God Use is these places, to not contain himself by but to set his 96 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:58.220 name there, that we might, in a human way, begin to understand 97 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:05.220 his glorious nature. And so we consider the hill of the Lord, Not 98 00:10:05.500 --> 00:10:11.490 Sinai on Zion. And then we have this question that's asked of us. 99 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:18.049 WHO Shall Ascend? How shall we relate to this God, who is this 100 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:26.960 glorious who can go and stand in this holy place? The answer is clear. 101 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:33.120 The one who is holy verse, for says he who has clean hands 102 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.509 and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is 103 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:41.350 false and does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the Lord and 104 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:46.990 righteousness from the God of his salvation. Here, of course, we were 105 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:52.379 we come to know more about the Lord, that he is good, that 106 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:56.460 he is holy, that he is pure and he desires these things. We 107 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:01.019 also learn something about ourselves that if we are to be in that place, 108 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:05.049 if we are to share in his glory, his kingly power, his might, 109 00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:07.730 his victory, his protection, all of these things, then we must 110 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:11.769 be a people who can be in his presence, or or else we will 111 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:18.080 be rejected, set away. We also learned that, in order for this 112 00:11:18.279 --> 00:11:24.000 to happen, we must be saved, says he. Verse Five says he 113 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.879 will receive a blessed or receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God 114 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:35.110 of his salvation. We don't come to God as a God ready to make 115 00:11:35.190 --> 00:11:43.309 a deal, ready to divide the land or establish some sort of peace treaty 116 00:11:43.429 --> 00:11:50.779 with him or a compromise. No, we come as servants. We come 117 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:56.740 as people that are entirely in need. We come up his holy hill to 118 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:03.009 seek his favor, to find his grace, to know him, to serve 119 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:07.730 him and to praise him. And God says that when we are holy as 120 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:15.879 he is, then we will receive these things, not only the one who 121 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:18.879 ascends, but all who assends. Such is the generation of those who seek 122 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:26.279 him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Then, in 123 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:31.710 verses seven through ten, we have identified for us the one who will ascend 124 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:41.669 and, interestingly, paradig oxy Clee, it's God himself who will send the 125 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:46.539 hill of the Lord. Where the Lord is? The answer is the Lord. 126 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:54.059 Lift up your heads O Gates and be lifted up o ancient doors that 127 00:12:54.139 --> 00:12:58.970 the king of glory may come in. I imagine this. I imagine this 128 00:13:00.769 --> 00:13:05.009 grand procession, right, the king coming back from victory in battle. I'm 129 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:09.370 moving towards those ancient doors on the citadel, on top of the mountain, 130 00:13:09.409 --> 00:13:15.399 in the doors creaking open hearth, you know, as going to accept the 131 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:20.159 king. The king is welcome in this place. Right, Citadel's fortresses, 132 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:26.279 even temples, are guarded right and against the enemy. You don't fling open 133 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:31.309 the doors, you protect the doors, you bar the doors, you pour 134 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:35.110 hot oil over the doors, you create moats in front of the doors. 135 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:41.860 Not here. Here, open the gates, all ancient doors open up. 136 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:45.340 The King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? 137 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:54.940 The Lord? Yeah, this one who's promised himself to Jacob, to Abraham, 138 00:13:54.929 --> 00:14:01.610 this one who has promised himself to David. Here he is, and 139 00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:05.450 now it is time to welcome him. The Lord is at hand, and 140 00:14:05.730 --> 00:14:11.000 so we have these praises being lifted up. The Lord of hosts. He 141 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:13.320 is the King of glory, The Lord of hosts, strong and mighty in 142 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:22.600 battle. Amazing, amazing thing. What this Psalm teaches us is that, 143 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.429 ultimately, our place in the holiness and the glory of God is going to 144 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:33.909 only be obtained by him. By the Glorious One, the God of our 145 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:37.389 salvation, and what we come to learn as we continue on in scripture, 146 00:14:37.509 --> 00:14:46.179 is that God accomplishes this victory by sending his only son into the world to 147 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:52.289 become victorious over his enemies. But this victory is not achieved as people think. 148 00:14:52.370 --> 00:15:00.409 You remember, that is Jesus entered into Jerusalem for His crucifixion. The 149 00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:09.240 crowds were cheering has ANA, here is the king. Indeed, they were 150 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.399 right, but what they forgot and what they didn't realize, what they were 151 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:18.679 failing to see, is that this kingdom would be established as a king not 152 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:26.190 only of glory but also one of grace. You would be a kingdom that 153 00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:33.669 would be established by grace, through the suffering of this king, through dying 154 00:15:33.870 --> 00:15:41.860 on a cross, so that death itself might be a defeated. And this 155 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:46.899 is why this parade, this advent of the king, the joy that we 156 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:52.090 have in our hearts as we wait for the King of glory to enter in 157 00:15:52.929 --> 00:16:06.879 you so substantial, eternal and ultimately satisfying, because every king throughout human history 158 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:14.000 has ultimately and always failed at some point. Even the best kings, as 159 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:21.230 recorded in scripture, hand their kingdoms over to worthless people. The kingdoms that 160 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:29.070 they establish eventually fall apart, often by the sins and the the fractures in 161 00:16:29.230 --> 00:16:36.179 of their own making. But not this time, not this one, this 162 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:41.340 king whom the Lord Sends, this King of glory, though he's veiled in 163 00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:48.090 flesh, he takes on flesh so that the final victory, the fine, 164 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:53.409 no conquering, would be completed. And this is, of course, what 165 00:16:53.690 --> 00:17:00.559 Jesus does in a hymn that will sing in a moment. Him Two hundred 166 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:07.119 and ninety seven, and they take the the author takes this Psalm, Psalm 167 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:14.799 twenty four, expresses its content and then makes some applications. I want us 168 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:18.589 to think about this and then sing it as we close. The hymn begins. 169 00:17:18.750 --> 00:17:22.309 As the psalm ends. Lift up your heads, you mighty gates. 170 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:26.029 Behold the king of glory waits. The King of glory is drawing near. 171 00:17:26.230 --> 00:17:30.460 The Savior of the world is here, a help or just he comes to 172 00:17:30.539 --> 00:17:40.140 thee his chariot, his or is humility, his kingly crown is holiness, 173 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:48.130 his scepter pity in distress. It's a remarkable kingship, an unusual one that 174 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:55.650 his, that is power also comes in great weakness and suffering. Nevertheless, 175 00:17:55.730 --> 00:18:00.880 it is it is a it is a true power and sold. Verse Three 176 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:03.039 says, Oh, blest the land, the city blessed, where Christ is 177 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.680 the ruler is confessed. Well, happy hearts and happy homes, to whom 178 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:15.670 this king in triumph comes. Then verse four, it makes it personal and 179 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:22.589 it says fling wide the portals of your heart. Right, so the call 180 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:26.990 is first to the ancient gaze. Those ancient doors open up, and now 181 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:32.819 it's to US ourselves. You remember that the Kingdom is not just a place 182 00:18:32.980 --> 00:18:37.140 that God establishes, it is a people. The people the Kingdom that God 183 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:41.809 establishes, our people that are not standing around with their arms cross going. 184 00:18:41.890 --> 00:18:47.049 Well, we'll see how this one goes. There the Kingdom of people whose 185 00:18:47.170 --> 00:18:52.009 hearts have been flown open, the portals of their hearts open wide to receive 186 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:56.640 this king of glory. Fling wide the portals of your heart. Make it 187 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:03.000 a temple set apart from earthly use for heaven's employ indorned, adorned with prayer 188 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:11.390 and love and joy, verses five and six. And with a prayer redeemer, 189 00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:15.789 come, I open wide my heart to thee here. Lord abide, 190 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.630 let my let me thy inner presence, Feel Thy Grace and love in me 191 00:19:22.990 --> 00:19:30.460 reveal. So come, my sovereign enter in let new and nobler life begin. 192 00:19:30.259 --> 00:19:37.460 Thy Holy Spirit Guide us on until the glorious crown be one. And 193 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:41.130 this is, of course, the prayer of the Christian that we would be 194 00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:48.130 God's Temple, that we wouldn't just observe him from afar, standing back from 195 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:52.400 his holy hill, wondering if only we could maybe someday participate in it, 196 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:59.200 if we finally get our act together. No, we come standing in the 197 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:07.079 grace of Jesus, standing in the glory of his satisfaction, and we are 198 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:12.029 a part of that parade as he enters into that city, as he ascends 199 00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:18.150 into that on that Holy Hill, so that when it asks who can ascend 200 00:20:18.190 --> 00:20:23.140 the hill of the Lord, we can say I can because of the one 201 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:32.460 who leads me there. And as this has already happened for us, the 202 00:20:32.619 --> 00:20:37.369 Lord of Glory has come into the Earth to dwell among us, Emmanuel, 203 00:20:38.130 --> 00:20:44.170 we now only are waiting for his final return, when all of these things 204 00:20:44.210 --> 00:20:51.279 will be consummated and brought to their final and glorious completion. And so until 205 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:56.559 that day, we do ask the King of glory the Holy Spirit even to 206 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:59.519 guide US until that glorious crown be won.