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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/psalm-24/
Turn to the Psalms, please. Psalm number 24. This psalm has been referred to a number of times in the conference, so let's read it together. Psalm 24, it is a psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek thee, that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, Sela. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye 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 ye gates, even lift them up, ye 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. Now, let's come over to the book of Revelation just for a reference, Revelation 5. Revelation 5, and we'll read from verse 8. And when he had taken the book or the scroll, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of orders, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.
And the four beasts said, Amen, and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. The Lord bless to us the reading from his word. Now it's Psalm 24 that we're going to be focusing our thoughts upon.
You'll notice the the setting of the psalm. It's often linked with the two psalms that go previously. In Psalm 22 we have a cry of anguish from the Savior. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? A cry of anguish.
When we come to Psalm 23, it is the calm of assurance as the psalmist can say, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want like the calm after the storm of the previous psalm. But when we come to Psalm 24, I want to put a title over this, and just notice the claims of authority.
The claims of authority. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. Now in coming to Psalm 24, the background to the psalm is likely 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
You remember in that chapter, well the ark in the background, the ark of the covenant has been captured and held by the Philistines for quite a time, and then it is making its way, made its way to the house of Obed-Edom.
And in chapter 15 of 1 Chronicles, David has had it upon his heart to bring that ark up to Mount Zion. He has prepared a place for it, a temporary place for it. The temple is not yet built, but it is the procession, if you will, that is moving from the house of Obed-Edom, and as we've been reminded already today, moving up into Zion.
And this psalm would have accompanied the people likely being sung on that procession up to Zion, an occasion of great joy. If we were to read in 1 Chronicles 15, it was with cymbals, with strings, and with harps, and with the people singing to the musical accomplishment and the crescendos of music that would arise on that happy occasion.
Now, I also noticed this in just looking into it a little. Alfred Eiderschein, in his book on the temple and its ministry, he points out that this psalm was sung on the morrow after the Sabbath. Isn't that interesting?
The morrow after, that's the first day of the week. That's the day that the Lord Jesus arose from the dead in his triumphant resurrection. That's interesting. Be that as it may, we'll leave that there.
We notice that in this psalm, the Lord himself, Jehovah, is taking his rightful place, his rightful place. The Lord has claims of authority over the whole earth. Still does. In this psalm, there's no mention of the heathen raging, the people imagining a vain thing like you have in Psalm 2.
So in its setting, we are past that stage of understanding. Psalm 2, you remember, they want to cast off the bands of authority of the Lord and of his anointed. But he that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh.
The Lord will have them in derision. And you have the seals in the book of Revelation being opened, and the irony that's involved in that. It's like he that sitteth in the heavens is laughing at men. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath.
And the seven trumpets in the book of Revelation, they speak, and each one of them brings another round of judgments upon this world. And he will vex them with his sore displeasure. And so the vials are poured out in concentrated judgment toward the end of the tribulation period.
So we don't have anything of that here in the psalm, you see. We've moved past that. It is as though the Lord has already decreed, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. The exile for the ark is past. The enemies are vanquished. And there are the claims of authority that are going to be taken up.
Now, in the first two verses then of the psalm, we have the authority of the creator. The earth is the Lord's. In verse 3, not only the authority of the creator, but we have here the assessment of the challenge.
The challenge is, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The assessment of the challenge. Verses 4 and 5 brings before us the attributes of character that are required.
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart that hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully and so on. The attributes of character. Then in verse 6, we have the application to the company.
As it speaks about, these are the generations that seek him. This is the generation of them that seek him. So, their worthiness to be in his presence. A generation. So, it's application now to a company.
And then the last verses of the psalm really are in the form of an antiphonal chorus. Now, I'll explain what that is. An antiphonal chorus. It is two groups, at least two groups of singers. And these were arranged in 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
There was a Levite over the arrangement of the singing because he was skillful in music. So, there was a skillful arrangement here. And you get it played out, at least in the latter part of the psalm, where one group of singers, they would say, lift up your heads, O ye gates.
And another would respond, and be lifted up ye everlasting doors. And then maybe both together, and the king of glory shall come in. That kind of thing. Like we do with the children. Can the boys say we are ready?
Can the girls say we are ready? And then all together, can we all say that we are ready when the Lord returns? So, that's the idea with the antiphonal chorus. Well, let's come to these verses then, and we'll move through them quickly.
Verses 1 and 2, the authority of the creator. The earth is the Lord's. It's his by ownership. You know why? Because he made it. He made it. And we get the account of that, of course, in the opening chapters of our Bible.
He made it and he made everything pertaining to it. The fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. And so, we come to the book of Hebrews and we know that through faith, we understand that the worlds were made, were framed by the very word of God.
He just spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. And as you look at creation, it's wonderful to notice the intelligent, intentional design that's found in it, isn't it? Wonderful to notice that.
So many areas. The intelligent, intentional design in creation, pointing to an intelligent, intentional designer, the creator, who is the Lord. For the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Marvelous to think that from the macro to the micro.
God has stamped his marvelous manifestation of might and power in his creation. He has put on an astounding display of his wisdom from nothing. He has called it all into existence by just his spoken word.
So, the heavens declare the glory of God and all their immensity, unimaginable immensity, right down to the microscopic level and the subatomic level, the atomic level, the subatomic level and all those little protons and neutrons and electrons and quarks and all the rest of them.
They're all in there and they don't know how they stick together, but you know how they stick together? It's by him that all things consist. All things are held together by him. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
They talk about the blue planet, you know, and as they go out into space and they look down from the International Space Station or from rockets and what have you, the earth is blue with the white clouds, the blue planet with all its wonderful variety.
Just for example, you take the life that's found in the waters. God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly and so they did. So far as fish are concerned, there are something like 22 ,000 species of fish that are known to men, 22 ,000 separate species of fish.
That's almost twice as many birds and mammals combined. The variety that God has put into the oceans of earth, the variety and then the virility as well. The waters were filled with life and they tell me that every little droplet of water has got some kind of life in it.
Might be a little plankton or some other kind of organism, but in terms of fish, there are something like a billion billion estimate, a billion billion herring, just one species, a billion billion herring.
That is 10 with 19 zeros after it in the oceans of earth in spite of all the overfishing and in spite of all the pollution and so on. The oceans are teeming with life. God made it, made it different from the dusty moon, didn't he?
Made it different from rocky Mars, didn't he? And you ask why? Well, it's pretty obvious that God built an earth that was capable of being inhabited, right? And it was going to be the stage where the greatest drama would ever be played out.
The drama of human redemption and through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross by his glorious resurrection, the man Christ Jesus will fill heaven with life. How many are going to be there?
As you think of the redeemed of all ages, children that have died in infancy, all the aborted babies in the tribulation alone there in chapter seven of revelation, there's a multitude that no man can number of those that have been martyred in the tribulation, a multitude that no man can number.
And that's only within a seven year period at the moment. Heaven is going to be filled with life. And then there's the angels as well, created beings. Amazing to think, isn't it? But God will fill heaven and we are going to be there as well.
The authority of the creator. But come to verse three, the assessment of the challenge. The challenge is who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy place? So right away, we learn that there are moral qualities of character that are required to enter into the sanctuary of his holy place.
You know, not everybody could go into the sanctuaries in the Old Testament, the tabernacle, and then the temple. Those Old Testament sanctuaries were, they were confined to just the priests. And then finally, for the holiest of all the high priest and just once a year.
There were very strict qualifications that were required for those that could enter into his holy place. And, you know, when we think of heaven, that presents to us a problem, doesn't it? Who shall stand in his holy place?
There's not a one of us was ever qualified of ourselves to be there. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. Listen, we would not even have sought after God if left to ourselves.
There is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. By nature and by practice, you and I were totally disqualified of ever standing in his holy place.
We'd never make it. But the challenge is, who shall stand in his holy place? You know, that's where my mind jumped over to Revelation 5. And I thought about the challenge there because there's going to be an assessment of a challenge there in heaven as well, isn't there?
The question was asked and John heard it. Who is worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, the title deeds of earth? Who's worthy to do it? And initially, John didn't see anybody coming forward.
It seems that there was a pause. It seems that there was a search made throughout the universe. The vast cosmos could yield no one. No one qualified to open the book and to loose the seals thereof. So John wept much.
He wept much. He said, well, I thought there was no weeping in heaven. Well, John's in the spirit and you see he's not actually there in heaven. And at this point, John does not yet have heaven's mind on this thing.
So he wept much. There's many a time you and I are caused to weep. We live in a wrong world. We live in a world that has not yet been freed from the bondage of corruption. We have loved ones. We have friends that have not yet come to know the Lamb of God, the taker away of the sin of the world.
And without redemption, it would cause us to weep, to think of them in their sins, exposed to the wrath of God. So with every sympathy with John, as he looks at this, and he thinks there's nobody that's going to come and redeem, clean back planet earth for God.
At that point, he wept much. Well, let's come to the attributes of character and we'll find the answer. Who's worthy? The answer is he that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up a soul onto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.
So clean hands and a pure heart are required. Notice that is outward purity, clean hands. Notice that is inward purity, a pure heart. Someone is required to have outward and inward purity of character.
We're reminded this morning again that the Levitical offerings, they were to be without blemish and without spot. Without blemish on the outside, there's not a mark that you can trace on the outside of that animal.
And without spot, there is no inward defect either. And that was the characteristic of those sacrifices that were acceptable to the Lord. And Peter takes that up with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, verily foreordained from before the foundation of the world.
So the Lord Jesus, he is the one that's qualified here. And as we examine his life, that's the Spirit of God would. He did no sin. He knew no sin. And in him, there was no sin. He was altogether pure without.
He was altogether pure within. He never lifted up his soul onto vanity. He never worshiped any idol, nor swore deceitfully, no falsehood from his lips. He did always those things that pleased the Father, reminding us that once he was down here and once he was tested.
And he was found to be holy, holy, holy through and through our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and all his sinless purity. And to John, we have to say to him, John, weep not. Oh, John, stop your weeping. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and to lose the seals thereof.
And John turned to see the lion and he saw a freshly slain lamb, a young lamb as though it had been just slain because the sacrifice of Christ is ever fresh in heaven. The efficacy of that finished work speaks eternally before the throne of God.
And it will never grow old. The freshness of the work of Calvary and he was found worthy to open the seals and to lose the seals, open the book, lose the seals thereof. So he has those attributes of character that are needed, doesn't he?
Then we come to verse six. And I've written over this application to the company. We read, this is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. So there's a generation that has come into the benefit of God's righteous salvation, verse five.
And now they're seeking his face. Now, the expression there, O Jacob, at the end of the verse has posed some difficulty. The Septuagint has the God of Jacob, that seek thy face, the God of Jacob. And the ESV follows that, I'm sure, with some other translations as well.
But at any rate, it is those that seek him, we notice, those that seek him are actually deemed to be qualified to stand in his holy hill. You see, that's the thought flow, that there is qualifications of an individual.
And then that extends to the company in verse six. Now, let's apply that. We notice that the Lord Jesus, by virtue of his own spotless purity, and by virtue of his redeeming work, the lamb freshly slain, he was fully qualified to be in the midst of the throne, to enter that heavenly sanctuary, if you will, and to assume his place, standing there in the holy hill of Zion, the very innermost sanctuary, the dwelling place of God.
But what about the generation of those that seek him? I think that's where you and I are brought in, brothers and sisters, because you and I, of ourselves, we're not accepted. We're totally disqualified.
And there's nothing in us or about us of our own energy or effort or determination would ever make us qualify. But you and I are accepted in the beloved, in the beloved one. What a wonderful truth that is.
Just as acceptable as Christ is before God, so am I. So am I. You say to me, but Mr. Speaker, come Monday morning or Monday afternoon after the morning, and I tell you what, I don't feel very accepted.
You see, there's a problem of sin, intrudes. And there's a problem of self, self intrudes. And there's the attacks of Satan, Satan intrudes. And so often I just don't feel like I'm accepted anymore. And there's other believers.
Surely they're more accepted to God than I am. Well, you might feel like that. You might feel like saying those things, but that's altogether wrong thinking altogether. Our acceptance is not based on how we feel.
And our acceptance is not based on how we perform. It's not my living for God that makes me accepted. It's him living for me. Much more when we are reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It's his living that preserves us accepted before the Father.
And so that acceptance then is complete. And it is absolute. It is actually filled out to complete fullness. So reverently speaking, God himself cannot cram any more acceptance into it than he has already found for you and I in Christ.
That's amazing. You remember what Paul wrote to the Colossians? He said concerning the Lord Jesus, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. Grasp a hold of it today, even by faith, and then get your thinking adjusted to it.
You see, do I lack holiness in myself? I sure do. But in him, I am complete. Do I lack meekness? Yeah. Gentleness? Yes. Goodness? Yes. Purity? Yes. But in him, I am completely accepted, completely accepted in Christ to stand in his holy hill.
Isn't that marvelous? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Think of the Lord Jesus. Well, we are accepted in him. And so we're brought into the great blessing of acceptance with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, having said all that, let's come to the little section at the end of the psalm. I've been enjoying this. In terms of the ark of God that was being brought up to the city of Zion, it seems perhaps they're on the upward swing from the valley of the Kidron Valley there.
And incidentally, there's no evidence of a brook still flowing there, but I guess it'll have to start flowing soon for scripture to be fulfilled. It's still a valley. And still capable of carrying water.
I'm not sure where the brook went. Maybe they put it underground. I don't know. But at any rate, so the ark is approaching the city. And ahead are the gates of Zion. And the music resounds. Well, there are the harps that start to play.
And there's the string instruments that are brought in in all the various notes and in the accompaniment and the harmony. And then as it rises, the cymbals are going and the people are singing. And as they sing, there's one company and it is shouting out its song, lift up your heads, oh ye gates.
And then the other company alongside, likely an honor guard, you know, lined up on each side of the gate. I was thinking of that. Perhaps that's the way it's going to be. One company lift up your head, so ye gates.
And then the others, they come in and be lifted up ye everlasting doors. And then together the chorus goes up and the king of glory shall come in. And then it goes on. Who is the king of glory? The right hand, the left hand, then the Lord strong and mighty.
And then both together, the Lord mighty in battle. Verse nine, right hand, lift up your head, so ye gates, left hand, even lift them up ye everlasting doors. And all together, and the king of glory shall come in.
And then verse 10, right hand, who is the king of glory? Left hand, the Lord of hosts. And then together they agree. He is the king of glory. And the ark is brought in through the gates into the city of Zion.
As it were, the Lord is taking his rightful place. And he's moving up into the place of his sanctuary. Because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And now we jump in our thinking, don't we, to Revelation chapter five.
The enemies are put down. I believe chapter five, just let me say this, chapter five is anticipating the outworking of the book of Revelation. It's heaven's anticipation of God's purposes being wrapped up.
So Armageddon is passed. And with the slaughter of the armies of this world, he will come up, as we were reminded this morning from Edom, and from Basra, having his garments dyed. And he's going to enter in through this city, the true Messiah.
And then he come. And then this psalm, likely, I believe it, will be sung another time, literally, the city of Jerusalem. But Revelation five, he is going to be the leader of the praise in the great congregation.
I want you just to think about the song of heaven and the sounds of heaven. There's been one or two times now at the conference where there's been a hesitation for someone to raise the singing. But I tell you, in heaven, there won't be any hesitation.
He's the leader of the song in the great congregation. And all of heaven joins in perfect spiritual harmony to that. And so we have here on the right hand, you'll allow me to use this, it's likely a circular arrangement, but you have the redeemed.
And they sing a new song. And their song is, thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
What a tremendous sound that's going to be. Every kindred and tongue and people and nation, the hosts of the redeemed. All in perfect harmony, not one of them a tone deaf. Everyone in perfect tune, singing in glorified bodies.
What a tremendous sound. And then the angelic chorus of the angelic beings in antiphonal character now. You with me? They have their say. What do they say? We read, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
What a tremendous sound that's going to be. One angel can sound like the voice of many waters. But here's a multitude that no man can number of angelic beings, all in harmony. And that's what they say.
And there's a spiritual harmony there, too, with the redeemed, isn't there? Although angels are not redeemed, but the worthiness of the lamb is the theme. So we have the one company and their song and now the other company and their song.
And then notice we read that every creature, everyone together now, every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power beyond to him that sit upon the throne and onto the lamb forever and forever.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell there in creation, redeemed and restored and gathered back to God and the kingdom being brought in in all its fullness. And then first Corinthians 15 rendered up to God, even the father, that God may be all in all.
Wonderful to be redeemed, isn't it? And to have a part in that heavenly chorus, to have a future that is absolutely secure. And as we were thinking yesterday of the possessions of earth, listen to it.
You and I are heirs of God. We're joint heirs with Christ and it's all ours as linked with Christ in his redemptive work. We bless him and we praise him for the salvation of our souls, but we thank God for the eternity of bliss that lies before us as his people.
When he takes up the earth, the rains of earthly government, when he will reign from the river to the ends of the world and of the increase of his government, there shall be no end. The Lord bless his word to our hearts.