Psalm 24:7-10 The King Enters

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, strong and mighty, 
     the Lord, 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 of hosts, 
     he is the King of glory! Selah    Psalm 24:7-10, ESV
 
Israel sang Psalm 24 on her way to the tabernacle for worship. We feel their emotion in these final verses. The gatekeepers and doorkeepers of the tabernacle are asked to stand up straight and take notice because the King of glory, the Lord of hosts, is entering in. 
 
We may get swept up in the regal nature and the beauty of the metrical praise of verses 7-10 and miss their message. Recall the six verses that came before them: The Creator God is King over His creation and is holy. His holiness is so great that anyone who desires to come into His presence must also be holy. Since man is not holy, God must save him and make him fit to enter. That was why Israel brought sacrifices to the tabernacle. But Psalm 24 says nothing about sacrifices. Instead, it moves from the description of a saving God who makes men holy to heralding the entry of the victorious King of glory, returning from battle. This would have brought to Israel’s mind the return of the ark of the covenant to the tabernacle after God had brought them victory in battle. He had saved them from their enemies and now they could again come to the tabernacle where God dwelt.
 
However, we truly need more than that. We need more than entry into a tent where God lives in the middle and we visit the outer areas with our sacrifices. The tabernacle of Israel was but a symbol. We need to be able to enter the true tabernacle in heaven. And, as this Psalm makes clear, we need a Savior to make us holy if we are to do so. Hebrews 9 explains how Christ, our victorious King, entered the true tabernacle and made His people holy so they could enter in.
 
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.   Heb 9:11–14
 
Read Psalm 24 again with Hebrews 9 in mind. Celebrate the King of glory, the Lord of hosts who entered into the holy place for us and offered Himself as a sacrifice to purify us and rescue us from our self-righteous and inadequate efforts to purify ourselves.
 
Believer, as you celebrate the King of glory, know that Christ will soon return and take you with Him to this holy place. As it is written, “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” Heb 9:28.
 
Psalm 24 is clearly a joyous song. I pray that, whatever your day may hold, you will live today with joy and hope because you know the King of glory, the Lord of hosts.
 
Pastor Don