This Psalm deals with the
Lord coming to his Tabernacle. It may
have been written when David brought the ark to Jerusalem, or in later commemoration of it. It then deals with what kind of person may
come into the Lord's presence and worship him and receive his blessing.
Verse 1 says the earth
belongs to the LORD. He owns it. It is
his. Every thing in the earth and every
one who lives in it is his. They are his
possession.
Why does he own it? Verse 2 tells us. It is because (or "for" in this
verse) he made it. "Founded"
and "established" are metaphors for beginning a city or constructing
a building. The Bible often speaks of
the foundations of the world. For
example, Psalm 102:25 says "In the
beginning, you laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the work
of your hands." The writer of
Hebrews quotes this verse in Hebrews 1:10.
So, the "foundations" means the beginning, the time of creation.
God’s creation of the
world is an important concept in Scripture.
Genesis 1:1 begins the whole Bible with the statement that God made the
heavens and the earth. It then proceeds
to show us that God created all things on the earth and all of the things in
the heavens. As we discussed before,
"heavens" means the sky and space, not just "Heaven" where
God dwells. The God we worship is the
Creator.
So, the one who makes it
owns it. Deuteronomy 10:14 says "Behold, to the LORD your God belong
heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it." In Job 41:11, God said "Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole of heaven is
mine." Paul even uses this
argument when he writes about election in Romans 9:20: "But, who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed
it, "Why did you make me like this?"
The implication here is
that, since God created us and therefore owns us, he is to be worshipped and he
determines who may come to worship him.
Verses 3-6 deal with the
issue of who may come into God's presence and worship. David asked the question, “who may ascend the
hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place”. He alludes to the tabernacle here. David brought the ark to Jerusalem and made a tent for it there on the
hill. (2 Samuel 6). To go to the tabernacle, you had to ascend
the hill of the Lord. To stand in the
holy place, in the tabernacle, you had to be clean. He specifically addressed clean hands, a pure
heart, and a soul not given to idol worship.
You see a very similar approach here to Psalm 15, which asked who could
dwell in the sanctuary.
"Hands",
"head" and "heart" are often named in the Bible but are
actually representative of other things.
Here, "clean hands" does not refer to washing, but to actions
that are right. If you steal something,
you do not have clean hands. A
"pure heart" does not mean one with no plaque in the arteries, but a
person of pure motives. In Matthew 5:8,
Jesus said "blessed are the pure in
heart for they will see God".
This means you come to truly worship, not to be respected or to look
good or to socialize with your friends or to make business connections or to
look for clients. Thus, the one who
could come to the tabernacle was one who had not acted sinfully, one who was
not coming out of improper motives.
Also, one could not worship idols.
God commanded that only he be worshipped.
We can see that the one
who could come into God's presence in the tabernacle had to be holy. We know God is holy and cannot tolerate sin
in his presence. (That is Isaiah's
vision of Christ in Isaiah 6.) Verses
5-6 tell us this person will receive a blessing from God, worshipping God and
being in God's presence.
Verses 7-10 are the
herald's cry of the coming of the Lord's presence to the city of Jerusalem. This may have meant the bringing of the ark
to Jerusalem by
David. We know the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle according to Exodus 40:34. The gates to the city of Jerusalem are opened so the Lord may come
in. He is referred to as the "king
of glory". He is strong and mighty
in battle. He has led Israel to victory over Egypt, over the
Canaanites and all who oppose them. He
is the Lord Almighty, the Lord of Hosts, who is sovereign over all the powers
of the universe.
The covenant people, Israel here,
have the great privilege of worship in the presence of the Lord Almighty. But they must be holy to come into his
presence. Not every one in Israel
qualified. This was acted out in the Old
Testament by the sacrifices which cleansed of sin. Before the High Priest could come into the
holy place, he had to be purified. The
people all came offering sacrifices for sin.
Of course, by this
time in our journey through the Old Testament, you know I am going to look for
Christ in the passage. I did and I found
him.
The New Testament tells
us the world was made by Christ and for Christ.
John 1:3 is well known for this: "All things were made through him, and
without him was not anything made that was made." Paul gives a great explanation of this in
Colossians 1:16-17: "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether throne or dominions or rulers or authorities-all
things were created through him and for him." They were all created for him, to bring him
glory. He took part in creation and it
all belongs to him. All will bow before
him one day for this reason. He is
entitled to be worshipped.
Those who worship God
receive the blessing of his presence.
Where does Christ dwell today? He
is with us when we gather as his body.
Who gets to come into his presence?
Does the sinner? No, just as in
this Psalm, it is the one who is clean and the one who worships no other
god. If we believe in Christ, we are
clean. We are not clean because we have
been perfect, but because he has cleaned us.
Even more accurately, he has declared us clean and he has imputed his
cleanness to us.
We believe in Jesus not
only as savior, but as Lord, and as the only Lord. David said the worshipper could not lift up
his soul to what is false. God commanded
that there we have no other gods (Exodus 20:3).
Jesus said loving God with all of our being is the greatest
commandment. This principle has not
changed from Old Testament to New Testament.
We cannot worship the gods of self, money, success, power or
pleasure. See what Paul tells Timothy
about this in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
Some believe this Psalm
to apply to the ascension of Christ into heaven. For those who observe the liturgical
calendar, this Psalm is often read on Ascension Day or Ascension Sunday. However, since it deals with those men and
women who will come into his presence to worship him, I believe we can apply it
to his second coming. He will come as
king and will be worshipped. Revelation
21 shows the holy city coming down out of heaven and says the dwelling place of
God is with man. He will dwell with them
and they will be his people. This is the
blessing of his presence. The tabernacle
and the temple are types of this presence of God with man, they foreshadow
it.
This chapter goes on to
say who will not be there, who is not clean.
Revelation 21:8 says "But for the cowardly, the faithless, the
detestable, as for murderer, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars, their portion will be the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death. They cannot
come into the presence of the holy God, for they are not cleaned by the blood
of Christ.
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