SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 1/14/2012 9:48:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The
Return of Jesus Christ”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Psalm 24:1-10
Message of the verses: “1 A
Psalm of David: The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and
those who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas And established it
upon the rivers. 3 Who may ascend into
the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean
hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not
sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD And
righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of those
who seek Him, Who seek Your face- even Jacob. Selah. 7 Lift up your heads, O
gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 8
Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in
battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That
the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah.”
We
need to remember when we began to look at Psalm 22 that it was said that
Psalm’s 22-24 were a trilogy about the Shepherd and we saw in Psalm 22 that the
good Shepherd died for His sheep and then rose again, and then in Psalm 23 we saw
that the good Shepherd lives for His sheep to take care of them, and now in
Psalm 24 we will see that the Great Shepherd will return for His sheep: “And
when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory”
(1Pe. 5:4).
This
psalm may have been written for when the ark of God was brought up to Jerusalem
by David as some think, but it also looks to the return of Christ in its
prophetic form. Dr. Wiersbe points out
that this is an antiphonal psalm. (A
hymn or psalm performed by two groups of singers chanting alternate
sections). He also reports that the
psalm was sung in Herod’s temple each Sunday, and that some connect the psalm
with our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. Some in the early church would sing this
psalm forty days after Easter as that is when the Lord Jesus was to have gone
back to heaven after His passion and then He will return again as He spoke of “"But when the Son of Man comes in His
glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne”
(Matt. 25:31).
Dr.
Wiersbe writes that this psalm presents a threefold privilege God has given His
people.
We
Are Stewards Who Enjoy His Goodness in Creation (vv.1-2): “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it
contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon
the seas And established it upon the rivers.”
This first statement in verse one of Psalm 24 is a
statement that many people do not believe, and yet it is true for this is the
Word of God and God cannot lie. Many
people today believe that there are certain parts of the earth that are theirs
because they have paid for it or in fact are paying for it monthly, but the
truth of the matter is that all of the universe belongs to the Lord because He
created it.
God
has chosen the earth and the people whom He created on this earth to live out
the greatest drama ever imaged and that was having the second person of the
Godhead come to earth to live on His earth and to die on His earth for His
people. We know this as we have read it
in His Word, but there are times when we seem to not think about it in the way
we should think about it for this was the greatest thing that ever happened on
His earth.
As
believers we are to care for the earth and not spoil it for we are all stewards
of God for He has created us. God
created us and before He created the world and verse two speaks of God creating
the world out of water. “For when they maintain this, it escapes
their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth
was formed out of water and by water (2 Pe.” 3:5). The creation story in
Genesis tells us that this verse in 2 Peter is true, that God did use water to
create the earth: “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth
was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the
Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” The word used for “moving” is interesting in that it can mean shaking. John MacArthur speaks of this event by saying
that when the Holy Spirit was moving over the waters He was kind of like
incubating the earth. When a mother
chicken lays and egg and sits on it to keep it warm in order to have the little
chicken form inside the egg and this is kind of like what happened to the
earth, the Holy Spirit was incubating the earth causing it to be formed in the
way He wanted it formed. We must
remember that water was used.
We
Are Worshipers Who Experience His Grace in Redemption (vv. 3-6): “3 Who
may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who
may stand in his holy place? 4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who
do not worship idols and never tell lies. 5 They will receive the LORD’s blessing
and have a right relationship with God their savior. 6 Such people may seek you
and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.
Interlude”
“3 Who may climb the mountain of the
LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4
Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never
tell lies. 5 They will receive the LORD’s blessing and have a right
relationship with God their savior. 6 Such people may seek you and worship in
your presence, O God of Jacob. Interlude”
(NLT)
The
verses here and also in Psalm 15 as they are parallel and they emphasize that
when we worship the Lord we have to move up higher for Psalm 2:6 says, “"But as for Me, I have installed My
King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.’”
Verse
four speaks of those who can worship the Lord and they must have hands and
hearts that are pure. The Levites who
carried the Ark of God had to be ceremonially clean and believers today must
have their hearts right before the Lord, making sure that they have taken inventory
of themselves to find out that they do not have any sins in their hearts that
have not been confessed. Paul writes to
the Corinthian believers in chapter 11 about having their hearts right before
the Lord before taking communion and speaks of some who did not follow this
process: “27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in
an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28
But a man must examine
himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and
drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body
rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a
number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.”
In
the rest of verse four there is a warning that believers must not worship idols
and are not to lie. We mentioned before
that an idol is anything that can come between you and God and it doesn’t have
to mean a gold or silver statue.
The
reward of doing these things in verse four is salvation, yet we know that there
is no one who can do this on their own and so it had to be done for us in order
to receive the gift of salvation.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness as
Genesis 15:6 tell us and believing in what Christ has done for us is part of
the process of salvation along with admitting to God that we are sinners in
need of His precious gift of salvation. In
the statements above referring to 1Cor. 11 I was applying the first part of verse
four to those who already are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worshiping
the Lord in the way we should worship Him is seen in verse six and this happens
after a person has put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and
Lord. However as we have seen believers
must keep themselves clean in order to have this kind of fellowship and worship
of the Lord.
We
are Victors Who Celebrate His Glory in conquest (vv. 7-10): “7
Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient
doors, and let the King of glory enter. 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty; the LORD,
invincible in battle. 9 Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. 10 Who is the
King of glory? The LORD of Heaven’s
Armies- He is the King of glory.
Interlude” (NLT)
“7 Lift up your heads, O gates, And
be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the
King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up
your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory
may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of
glory. Selah.” (NASB)
This may have been what David was thinking about
when the Ark of God was brought up to Jerusalem in the day he had it brought
into the city of Jerusalem through its gates.
We can also think about the time when the Lord Jesus Christ came into
the city of Jerusalem on what is called Palm Sunday and some of the people were
celebrating His arrival, and some were planning to have him killed. This can also picture when the Lord Jesus
Christ comes back as described in Revelations 19 and will begin to fight a
battle with those who are trying to destroy Jerusalem and He will destroy
them. “11 And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat
upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages
war. 12 And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems;
and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 And He
is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which are in heaven,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15
And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the
nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press
of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh
He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." 17 And I
saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to
all the birds which fly in midheaven, "Come, assemble for the great supper
of God; 18 in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders
and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on
them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and
great." 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their
armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against
His army. 20 And the beast was seized,
and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by
which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came
from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled
with their flesh. (Rev. 19:11-21)
I
believe that those who come with the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been
taken in the rapture before the tribulation period began, the entire Church,
His bride will return with Him and help to rule during the 1000 years that the
Lord Jesus Christ will rule from Jerusalem.
Dr.
Wiersbe ends his commentary of this psalm with these words, “As children of
God, we belong to three worlds: the
world of creation around us, the world of the new creation within us (2Cor.
5:17), and the ‘world to come’ of the wonderful final creation that will be our
home for eternity (Rev. 21-22).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to quote from the last chapter of 2 Peter
for this portion of my SD today: “the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be
destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.11
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people
ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today:
1. I want to be a person that is
ready to tell others about the saving grace of the Lord and live a life that is
pleasing to the Lord each day.
2. Continue to learn contentment as
I serve the Lord and trust Him to rule in my life.
1/14/2012 11:38:51 AM
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