The King of Glory
Psalm 24, which I am going to talk about today, is a poem that praises the King of Glory. Are you living a life that praises God, the King of Glory? No matter what kind of life you have lived, I earnestly hope that resentment turns into thanksgiving, complaint into praise, and any suffering becomes hallelujah, Amen.
Then lets see how to praise the King of Glory. First, it must not be mine, but must belong to the Lord. In verse 1, the earth and its fullness, and the world and all who stand in it, belong to the Lord. Those means all mankind and human society. In other words, all of this must be Gods, not mine. The reason why its not mine is, as explained in verse 2, that the Lord built his foundation on the sea and on the rivers. The first thing God did when he created the world was to divide the light and the darkness. However, since our purpose of life is to collect and accumulate, we cannot share it nor enjoy it, and there are many times when we feel empty and meaningless. Therefore, we must follow Lords order that prioritizes sharing. Only then will the first, second, and third days of my life continue, and the darkness and light that coexist in my heart will be divided. Also, we must stay humble and remember that God is graceful and he has promised us through a rainbow that he will never judge us with a flood again.
Second, we must seek grace, not works. There are two major mountains we should climb, which are Mount Sinai in the wilderness and Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The majesty of Mount Sinai was so great that it was said, 'Whoever climbs the mountain or violates its borders will surely be put to death' (Exodus 19:12). The law of the Old Testament prevents us from going into the light, so Jesus, who became the light himself, must come to us first. The mountain of Jehovah mentioned in todays text refers to Mount Zion where the temple was built. This is the place where God prepared a lamb in advance when Abraham offered up his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. In order to climb Mount Zion, verse 4 says that three conditions are necessary.
1) Hands must be clean. That is, our visible acts must be immaculate.
2) You must be pure in heart and do not set your intentions in vain. It means that your heart and will must be fundamentally clean.
3) You must not make false oaths.
If the first two conditions are about the relationship between God and me, the third condition is about the relationship between humans. In other words, those who want to come before God must be faithful in their relationships with others. By grace, not works, we must wash our dirty hands with the blood of Jesus Christ and go up to the mountain of Jehovah. Also, because we are forgiven by grace, not by our works, we should seek the face of the God of Jacob, not Joseph. In the end, we must remember that no one will be able to climb the mountain of Jehovah by his works, only by Gods grace.
Third, the door of heaven will be opened only when the door of the heart is opened. Psalm 24 is a poem of David, and it is said to be a hymn sung when the Ark of the Covenant was brought from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem where Mount Zion is located. The first door in verse 7 refers to the gate of the sanctuary, and the eternal gates can be seen to point to the gates of the heaven. Lift up your heads, O gates is an active imperative, and You will be lifted up, you eternal gates is a passive imperative. The first scene is when the gates voluntarily raise their heads to welcome the kings entrance, and the second scene shows that the gates will be inevitably raised in front of the king of glory. The gates of heaven will be opened when your heart is opened. But Davids wife, Michal, closed her heart to either her husband David or to the Lord. When David entered Jerusalem carrying the Ark of the Covenant, Michal was leaning against the window sill, sticking her head out to watch, rather than dancing with joy like others did. This is because in her heart she looked down her husband David, and her heart was firmly closed. If you think why is this person talking like that in your small group meeting, it is because your mind is closed and you are being like Michal. Verses 9-10 repeat almost the same message as the previous verse. This shows how important the author thinks the message is and how much he would like to emphasize it. The author used expressions like the King of glory, the strong and mighty Lord, and the Lord mighty in war. This is the scene when the Lord, who has overcome the power of Satan and has returned victorious from the battle, enters the heavens temple while the angels are singing, Lift up your heads, you gates. You will be lifted up, you eternal gates. Just as the door of heaven is opened, the door of your heart must also be opened. However, there still are many of us who, like Michal, obsessed with their self-pity and wounds, only stick out their faces when others are all rejoicing and praising together.
Lastly, I would like to introduce a sharing from our small group meetings. A man said that it has been two years since he started working as a daily worker after suffering business difficulties for over ten years. One day he got to work overtime, so he was paid extra money. His wife did not know this, so he transferred only the money he received after deducting the commission, and kept the rest of the money. But he felt guilty after reading a daily QT, and felt like God was asking him, 'Do you want me to open your way when its right for you, or will you end up keeping that 36,000 won?' So, he transferred extra money to his wife and told her everything. His wife told him that she was grateful rather than angry with him. This couples conversation was truly a blessing. I sincerely hope that everything will belong to the Lords, and that the door of heaven will be opened by asking for grace rather than works.
Let us conclude todays sermon. Instead of living a life in vain without a true purpose, we are all told to live for the glory of God. I earnestly hope that we all live a life that praises the King of glory, instead of a life that is eventually ruined after trying so hard to create a world of our own on the shaky foundation of seas and rivers.
