We turn our attention
this week to the final verses of Psalm 24 which I have entitled, ‘The
Ascent of the Saviour’. Remember, David is returning with the
ark from Obed-edom’s house. It is a picture of a greater than David
returning after offering Himself as a living sacrifice upon the
mercy seat of redemption and is now my ark of safety.
David says in verses
7-10, “Lift
up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift 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. Selah.”
Our Lord has been
upon the earth for 33 years. He has suffered Satan’s temptation,
sorrow, slapping, spitting, scourge, spikes, sneering, sword, sealed
stone, and 100 pounds of savory ointment on His lifeless body. In
spite of all that He has been through He arose triumphant, alive,
and well from the grave.
He was here about
fifty days upon the earth where He appeared to about 500 people. At
the end of the fifty days Luke tells us in Acts 1:9 that this
happened, “And when he had spoken these things, while they
beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”
The New Testament tells us nothing of what happened beyond the
clouds. Hundreds of years before David had recorded for us what was
to happen beyond the clouds at His arrival back in that heavenly
city.
In our text of study
He is called the ‘King of glory’ five times. ‘King of
glory’ is a title given to a king who is now glorified. He is
now not just the Jesus man but the God man. He is now robed again
in the fullness of deity. He has never been, except to the human
eye, less than all God. The title is used five times which is the
number of grace. The glorified God man will for all eternity
display to His children the riches of His glorified grace.
On two occasions
there is a cry that comes from the party of the ‘King of glory’.
‘Lift up the heads of the gates and everlasting doors, that the
King of glory may come in.’ The gates of the cities of that day
were pulled from the top and rolled up in sections. This is the
picture David had in his mind. They were doors into the everlasting
world.
There was a cry that
came back from heaven’s guard at the gate. “Who is the King of
glory?” The answer says ‘He is the Lord strong and mighty in
the battle’. The word ‘strong’ means to be stout with
prevailing strength. The word ‘mighty’ means the power of a
chief champion. He is called the ‘LORD of hosts’. (Vs. 10)
The phrase ‘LORD of hosts’ speaks of a warrior who fights in
all battles. The root of the word is one who wins all battles
before they are fought.
He didn’t come to
this earth hoping to return to His homeland as a victorious
champion. He left and came to this earth knowing that He would
return the victor. He has secured the redemption for His people
that will populate that city with Him forever. He ends the Psalm
with the word ‘Selah’. John Phillips said it means, “Well,
what do you think about that?”
