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There is one thing that I want to impress upon my students wherever I teach in the world. I'm not, I couldn't care less if they know anything about my credentials, although that's important that in a lot of cultures that boosts your credibility.
But I know I have to work against it because sometimes your greatest strength is your greatest weakness. And so I realize I have significantly more education than they do. I get that. I know that. I know who I am and I know who I'm not.
So I have to work against the challenge of them thinking I have to download a bunch of information into their brains. I'm not so interested in leaving lots of data and information in people's minds. My desire is to leave an impression that forever changes a person's biblical worldview, primarily that the Bible is sufficient and supreme and able and powerful to show us Jesus Christ.
It is enough. There's an old children's chorus written by a Sunday school teacher that says this. The Bible is the written word of God. It tells about the living word of God. On every page, on every line, you find the Son of God divine.
If you want to learn to know the king of kings, if you want to learn of all the heavenly things, read the book. Learn the book and let the book teach you. That's what I want to impress upon my students.
The people I share the gospel with, even I don't care if they think I have all the right answers. I want them to be impressed with the sufficiency of this. So, when we come to the Bible, I think sometimes we have these lenses that we're always looking for ways to do one of two things.
How do I get to love God more and how do I love my neighbor as myself better? It's like we're primed to ask, what do I need to do more in that direction? Basically keeping the law and the prophets is essentially the subconscious question I think we are trying to answer when we come to the text.
Whether or not we can consciously say that, I don't know, but I think that's how we functionally operate when we open the book. Psalm 23 is a great text that it comforts many people and it's not hard to see illusions, pictures of the great shepherd Jesus, right?
It's a universal favorite in most cultures. What's interesting is that the Psalms are not just random songs thrown together in a songbook, kind of like maybe we do with our hymns or songbooks. There's order and there's structure divinely intended into the Psalms and they lead into one another.
Have you ever wondered what makes Psalm 23 so fabulous? What secures its blessings for the believer? To be sure, Psalm 23 is a high point in the book of the Psalms. But we also are familiar with the Psalm that comes prior, the Psalm 22.
It talks explicit prophecies about the Christ's crucifixion. But have you ever wondered what comes after Psalm 23? Is it just random? Is it just chance? Is it just thrown in there? Or is it by design?
Psalm 23 is beautiful. But I want to show you today that Psalm 23 is beautiful because, one, Psalm 22 establishes the blessings of Psalm 23 and Psalm 24 secures those blessings. I can't do all three, of course.
So today, we're going to look at what is so wonderful. And that word is used purposefully. Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your life. What is so wonderful about Psalm 24? How does it secure the blessings, the gospel blessings of a good shepherd in Psalm 23?
So if you're taking notes, this is the main point that I'm going to drive home. It's not a command. It's not a mandate. It's not an imperative. It's just a truth statement that I hope is ringing in your ears from various different angles.
When I look at Psalm 24, going through it multiple times, this is the main point that I want to highlight that I believe the Psalm is teaching. Your conquering king is worth seeking. I did that so it's kind of a rhyme.
Your conquering king is worth seeking. Your conquering king is worth seeking. This Psalm consists of three scenes or, as it were, three acts of a play. They each paint a different portrait of God. First scene is verses 1 to 2.
God as creator. The second act, second scene, verses 3 to 6, God's holy hill. Third scene, verses 7 to 10, God as glorious warrior king. So we're going to watch each of the three acts of the play and see how it climaxes in scene three.
According to Jewish tradition, this Psalm was used in worship every Sunday during their captivity in Babylon. In the exile, the Jews celebrated Yahweh's kingship on every day of the week. And Sundays in Babylon were exclusively set aside for Psalm 24.
Why? Because of its messianic triumphal overtones. And according to early Christian tradition, Psalm 24 was sung on Ascension Day, the day set aside to celebrate the ascension of Christ into the heavenly place after his resurrection.
Throughout church history, Christians have interpreted this Psalm as pointing to the final victory in ascension of Christ after his resurrection. So let's look at how this plays out, how the three different acts develop.
Scene one, the earth, God as creator. So the backdrop is the earth. The main character is God as creator. Verse one, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.
For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. The first scene starts by surveying the earth that God created. God owns it all because he made it all and sustains it all. And in the ancient Near Eastern pagan cultures, the seas and the rivers were forces of chaos and evil.
But in Israelite usage, the unbridled waters of seas and rivers, they're under the dominion of Yahweh. They're not hostile, destructive forces that the pagans attribute to them. They were subdued by Yahweh's sovereignty.
These two verses have both historical and theological significance. Historically, they're important because they remind us that God created the land over the waters, which he used in part to flood the earth in judgment in Genesis six to nine.
And theologically, these two verses are pointing to something more significant than just a historical referent. The worldly culture deems rivers and seas as fearful and chaotic. So what the psalmist is saying is that whatever it be, whether it be seas, floods, rivers, World War Three, totalitarian governments, aging, unemployment, illness, Yahweh controls it all and it's under his dominion.
Those things that the earth fears, that the worldly people of this earth fear, Yahweh is in control of it all. The psalm opens by showing that Yahweh is absolutely sovereign over the chaos of every age and the hostility that threatens God's people.
In other words, the psalmist is getting our attention from the very beginning. Behold your God. He's in control of everything. Every beat of your heart, every blink of your eye, every dust particle that floats through the air, every twitch of a leaf on every tree, every exploding star in the galaxy, everything is intentionally made and consciously sustained at the command of God.
And this, therefore, begs the question, who is acceptable to this creator king? Who can stand before him enters scene two? The second act of the play. As if the camera pans over to a new backdrop, it's no longer earth, we are now in heaven.
God's holy hill, to be exact. We move from where on earth God claims dominion over everything. Those things that are ominous and distressing and untamable and hostile to this world. And the second scene, Mount Zion, in Hebrew Jewish literature, this would have been the hill leading to the temple in Jerusalem.
But theologically, as the Jews saying while they were exiled in Babylon, they knew there was a better Mount Zion than just the physical one because they're not even there. And as the early Christians no longer needed to go to temple to worship.
The psalm is painting a picture of the heavenly Mount Zion. The psalmist considers the power of Yahweh to make and control all things. And he looks up to Zion and asks the obvious question. Who can enter the presence of this God, the holy one?
And then the answer comes back to the psalmist. Psalmist says, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? God from his holy hill answers. Verse four, he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of God. The Lord expects purity, singleness of heart from all who seek to be in his presence. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 8, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
Purity of hands and heart is the condition for living before God in accordance with his word. Appearance of holiness is not enough because clean hands are expressive of a pure heart, just as clean words are reflective of a pure heart.
Life with God in the house of God, it was the original intention of the creation of the cosmos. And that became the goal of redemption and then new creation. The prophets, throughout the Old Testament, they offer glimpses of this reality in their descriptions of God's final redemption of his people.
After he has purged and made them utterly holy, God then dwells with them on his holy mountain. There's this innate yearning among God's true people to dwell with Yahweh in a life dominated by a love for the vision of God.
The beatific vision, as some theologians would call it. This life of seeing God for who he is, seeing the face of God, seeking the face of God and seeing the face of God. This longing is expressed in the psalmist, he says in Psalm 27, 4,.
One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. But then the question comes, how can this be possible?
How can someone created from dust ever hope to dwell in God's presence in heaven's mountain Zion, let alone ever have the chance to meet with God in Jerusalem in the Holy of Holies? How is it possible for a guilty, shameful, fearful person, broken by the curse, guilty in Adam, ever to enter the presence of the Holy One and survive one millisecond?
Not to mention all this talk about dwelling joyfully in the presence of the Holy One. One commentator says it this way, In many ways, this is the fundamental question of Israel's religion and of life itself.
He quotes two Psalms, Psalm 15, 1, O Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle and who may dwell on your mountain? And then Psalm 24, 3, again, Who may ascend the mountain of Yahweh, who may stand in his holy place?
These are not questions looking for information and instruction. These are questions of exasperation and desperation. I'm undone. What can I do? Not looking for instruction, but a question of I can't do anything.
I need help. I need a redeemer. I need someone to go before me. I need a substitute. So the question to us is, what about us? Is this about what we should do to enter the presence of the Lord? Is this instruction for us to grow in integrity so that we can have an improved relationship with God?
The burden of verse 3 is simply saying that the ground on which anyone can stand in the presence of God is essentially blamelessness, holiness, and purity. So are your hands clean? Is your heart pure?
Have you let your heart follow after things that are false, worldly, empty, vain? Do you speak the truth always? More than just occasionally thinking about something, what do you find yourself habitually daydreaming about and meditating on that is vanity?
What comes out of our mouth, anger, gossip, idle talk, cutting down others, based on the state of our thought lives, daydreams, fantasies, desires, aspiration, financial spending? Do you think we could ascend the hill of Yahweh and stand?
Not fall, stand in His holy place. Are we good enough? Should we just try harder? Follow more rules? If we were good enough, what would the result be? Well, verse 5, we would receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of our salvation.
And as the psalmist writes it, and he ends verse 5, it's as if you could feel the writer's heart sink within him. Who am I? What hope do I have to stand in His holy place? Does the Bible teach that if we do this, we'll receive righteousness and blessing from the Lord?
Verse 5 tells us that the man who has clean hands and a pure heart will not only ascend Mount Zion, but stand, and not fall, but stand in His holy place. But any good Hebrew who's reading this knows that 10 chapters earlier in Psalm 14, 14 .3 says, as Paul says in Romans, there is no one who does good, to be sure, not even one.
Who can ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place? He must have clean hands and a pure heart and not chase after the vain things of this life. But the Bible says nobody does this. That's the problem.
But the Psalms introduces us to the one who can do this. In Psalm 1 .1, as we read earlier today, there is one representative man who perfectly keeps and delights in the law of the Lord day and night.
He is able and worthy to ascend the mountain of the Lord and stand in His holy place. It's that one with clean hands and a pure heart. He will receive the well-deserved blessing and righteousness from God.
But the psalmist, this is what's amazing. The psalmist doesn't abandon us to the condemning nature of our dirty hands and dirty hearts. Well, you might ask, how do you know? What do you mean? Well, look at verse 6.
This is fascinating. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of God, of Jacob. The mood begins to change. There's a glimmer of hope, of good news, in the psalmist's writing here.
Do you hear what he's saying? The people who seek the face of God will receive blessing and righteousness. They who seek Him have access to Him. On the cross, the righteousness of Christ credited to all who would believe and the sin of all who would believe credited to Christ.
The great exchange on the cross. More clearly, Romans 5 .1. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The Hebrew construction of verse 6 is really interesting. Psalm 24 is saying, such, or this here, or this is true of the generation of those who seek Him. Who seek the face of God. And then it's as if, in the Hebrew, it's as if there's like a dash and it says, Jacob.
Those who seek the face of God, Jacob. In other words, the people who seek the face of God, they're Jacob. What's Jacob? Jacob is code for the true spiritual people of God in the Old Testament. There is ethnic Israel and then there is a remnant.
Jacob is the remnant. That's a synonymous word for the remnant in the Old Testament. Those who escape to and rest in Yahweh and by faith, like Abraham their father, are counted righteous. They are the remnant.
Jacob is the remnant. The seekers of God, the God-seekers who are credited with righteousness, by faith in the God who rewards them with blessing and righteousness. This is amazing. This is really good news for us who can't ascend the hill of the Lord.
So then, now we pan to scene 3. Act 3 of the play opens. Remember, your conquering king is worth seeking. Your conquering king is worth seeking. Curtains close. Curtains open. Third scene. Mount Zion's gates.
The Aktor. God, the glorious warrior king. It's the final stanza in the psalm and it's a sudden shift of mood. The psalm started out as a mood of reflection on the greatness of the creator God, Elohim.
Then it moves to contemplation of who is truly worthy to ascend the mountain of Yahweh and stand clean and pure in His holy presence. But now the mood turns celebratory. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.
Who is this king of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts. He is the king of glory. This term, lift up your heads, is an ancient idiom for the rejoicing of the godly. The gates can symbolize people collectively. What we know, literally, historically, is that Mount Zion, or, well, we know from what this is saying, Mount Zion has gates and ancient doors that open up for Yahweh, the warrior king.
But throughout the history of the church, this is one of the main texts that they emphasize to commemorate the ascension of Christ after His resurrection. In Christology, that means the study of the theology of Christ, the doctrine of His ascension, by far, is the most overlooked doctrine.
More than His incarnation, more than His eternality, more than His crucifixion, more than His divinity, humanity, resurrection, return in glory, by typical, non-denominational evangelicals, the Christological doctrine of the ascension of Christ is by far most neglected.
But this is a beautiful psalm when you completely understand its moving scenes and it highlights this work of Christ to ascend on our behalf. The psalm starts again by this majestic sovereignty of God over all the world.
He moves into inquiring who can ascend this God's hill. Well, the man who's blameless, who has a pure heart. He receives blessing and righteousness. And that's going to be true of all of God's remnant who seek His face.
This reward is true of them as well. And exploding onto this last scene are the gates of the city of God, bursting with celebration and anticipation. And you thought that Palm Sunday was a party. Here you have the redeemed, triumphant people of God singing at the top of their lungs.
Angels calling out seraphim, exuberant, heart-thumping praise. Think of this. Just picture the scene in your mind. A man is ascending the mountain of the Lord. A man? Yes, a human being from earth. This has never happened before.
No mere mortal since the creation of the world has ever ascended the hill of Yahweh and stood blamelessly in his presence. The face of this man has never been seen in heaven before. The last time this person was seen in Mount Zion, 33 years prior, he was the eternal son of God.
But now the son of God is returning in a human body with flesh as the son of man. The God-man. He has a divine human nature. Yeshua Mashiach. Jesus Messiah. Joshua, the anointed one of God. You know, Abraham ascended Mount Moriah.
Moses ascended Mount Sinai. Elijah ascended Mount Carmel. But no man, no one has ever ascended Mount Zion. But here comes not just a man. Here comes the man. As Pilate says, behold, I give you the man.
Here comes the man. The better Adam who makes the way back to Eden. The better Ark who rescues God's people from the flood of judgment. The better Moses who delivers God's people from slavery to sin and dispenses a better law, the gospel.
The better Joshua who crosses through the Jordan River and brings God's people to the heavenly promised land. The better Israel who perfectly obeys the law of God and secures its blessings. The better David who leads the people of God to victory over the accuser.
The better temple in whom God's people worship. The better Passover lamb who takes away the sin of all who trust in him. The better priest who makes intercession for the people of God. He is God with us.
This man is God and he is with God. And by this man, all things were created. By this man, the story of human history was written. He governs all things. He is the melody line in the symphony of history.
He is the foreground in the masterpiece of all time. He is the lead actor in the theater of God. He is the defense, the offense, the special teams, the coach, the most valuable player of the winning team.
He is it. He is the father of the fatherless. He is the friend of the lonely. He is the hope of the hopeless. He is the physician who heals you. He is the strength of the weak. He is the husband who never leaves you.
He is the shepherd who guides you, the liberator who frees you, and the lamb who dies for you. Your conquering king is worth seeking. And then we ask, you know, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Well, as someone cries out, here he comes.
Lift up your heads, O gates. Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. This Lord, Sabaoth, or as some versions say, Lord Potentate, is the king of glory. He alone can ascend the hill of the Lord.
Jesus Messiah has conquered. The lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered through dying for his people and then rising victoriously from the dead to succeed himself as the rightful sovereign of heaven and earth, ruling as the son of God and the son of man, the son of David.
And then once this king ascends the hill of the Lord, mighty in battle, having conquered death and sin, what does the king of glory do? Well, you're in Hebrews, right? Hebrews 1 .3. After making purification for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
It's over. And ringing through the streets of the city, the worshipers of the Lamb, as it were, would sing, all hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall, bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all.
Crown him the Lord of life who triumphed over the grave and rose victorious in the strife. For those he came to save, his glories now we sing, who died and rose on high, who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die.
Crown him the Lord of years, the potentate of time, creator of the rolling spheres ineffably sublime. All hail, redeemer, hail, for thou hast died for me. Thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity.
I hope that makes your heart sing. And you thank God for the shepherd who guides you in Psalm 23 because of the king who rules over you in Psalm 24. Now I pray that you would say with a psalmist, one thing, one thing I desire, not one among many things, but one thing that I ask of the Lord.
This is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple. May this be true of us. Your conquering king is worth seeking.
Let's pray. Our Father, God, thank you for Jesus, our righteousness, our blessing, the blessing from your right hand who sat down and made an end to death, made an end to our sin and to the curse. And yes, Lord, we will stumble.
We are just fickle, weak sheep. We thank you we have a good shepherd, the best shepherd. We thank you for this king who is worth our seeking, that all his righteousness and all his blessings that he has secured are freely granted to those who call upon your name, seek your face, and rest and escape to you.
And thank you for the word in our language. Thank you for the privilege we have in this country to meet in freedom. Thank you for Jesus who rules over it all in his name.