Pilgrim Worship: Thursday Psalms: God is Present Among His People

Today's psalm has a definite Advent theme: God's presence among His people. There are three sections here for us to study, the first two verses begin by proclaiming the Lord as Creator, Owner, Founder and Establisher of the earth and everything around us. And then David asks "who can be in the presence of the one true God?" Certainly we are not deserving of this honor! However, we find the answer in verses 4&5.

PSALM 24 A Psalm of David.
¹The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
²for He has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
³Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in His holy place?
⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
⁵He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶Such is the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
⁷Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
⁸Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
⁹Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!

Do you meet the standards set in verse four? If you're like me, the answer is "...sometimes, I think?" You and I don't like to admit it, but our hands are never really clean, our hearts are never really pure and deception and dishonesty are tools of our daily lives. Things are really hopeless, if our own merit is all we have.

But Jesus has intervened for you! If you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you receive great blessings (v 5) from the Lord! Because Jesus took your punishment for all your sins, you have received His righteousness and salvation! We are the people, we are the "generation" who seek Him by seeking to live lives which glorify Him. Because Jesus has cleaned our hands and made our hearts pure, we can joyfully ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place!

In the final four verses, David calls all creation (including you & me!) to worship Jesus, the King of glory! These verses are the basis for one of our beautiful Advent hymns, Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates (LSB 340). These verses are also sung beautifully as part of Handel's Messiah, entitled Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates.

What a fitting psalm and theme for Advent, as we await the King of glory's birth in just a few days! We also keep our heads uplifted as we wait His second and final return, when the the Lord, strong and mighty, returns for His final judgement of the world, and the bodily resurrection of all believers to eternal life!