PART ONE: THE KING OF GLORY AS YAHWEH BECOME MAN (A STUDY OF THE MESSIANIC NATURE OF PSALM 24)

I

The earth is the LORD's [Yahweh's] and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; for he has established it upon the rivers (vss. 1-2)

II

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD [Yahweh] and who shall stand in his holy place? 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 [Yahweh] and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the                       God of Jacob (vss. 3-6).

III

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 [Yahweh], strong and mighty, the LORD [Yahweh], 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 [Yahweh] of hosts, he is the King of glory (vss. 7-10)!

As you can see, I have broken this psalm down into three sections. Typically, these sections are understood in the following manner:

Section I (vss. 1-2) has to do with God's creation, providence, ownership, and sovereignty over all the world with its peoples.

Section II (vss. 3-6) has to do with the requisite character of God's people in order to go to heaven, approach God, be accepted of Him, or live in fellowship with Him eternally.

Section III (vss. 7-10) is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, who will be honored as the King of Glory.

In this way of looking at these three sections in Psalm 24, we tend to have a series of three different themes, slightly disjointed as such in their juxtaposition to one another. If we were to hear a series of sermons based on these sections, they might be identified respectively in the following manner: 

(1) "The Sovereignty and Providence of God" (vss. 1-2) 

(2) "The Need for Holiness in God's People" (vss. 3-6)

(3) "The Messiah Who Is To Come" (vss. 7-10)

Moreover, in any text which speaks of who God is, what He does, has done, or will do, there is often a call for people to do something in response. In this psalm, that part is often understood to be found in the second section, where having "clean hands" and a "pure heart" is necessary to be qualified to "ascend the hill of the LORD." We might think here, for example, of Hebrews 12:14: "Strive for...the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." 

What troubles me, though, about this way of understanding Psalm 24 is not only that it breaks up the context and flow of thought in the text but also that we tend to get a works-righteousness message from it which is in contradiction to the teaching of Scripture concerning the finished work of Christ for salvation. We must always be on guard so as to avoid the situation of certain Galatian Christians in Paul's time to whom he wrote: "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3)

More pointedly, does the Bible really teach that the way people are qualified to "ascend the hill of the LORD" is by having clean hands and a pure heart? Or is David momentarily forgetting the things he writes in other psalms, viz., that "there is none who does good not even one" (Psalm 14:3). Or is he forgetting that "blessing of the one to whom God counts or credits righteousness apart from works" as he says in the Psalm 32,  "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin" (Romans 4:6-8;  Psalm 32:1-2)? Is David momentarily forgetting that grace which Scripture describes in these terms: "To the one who does not work but trusts Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness" (Romans 4:5)? Surely not! David clearly knew the basis for his acceptance with God; it was through grace and not law that he was saved just as we are. 

That is, through the gospel — and this is precisely what the good news is all about — people with unclean hands and impure hearts are ascending the hill of the Lord!  God is justifying the ungodly through Christ! Their faith in Christ is being counted as clean hands and pure hearts!