The King of Glory
Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of 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 this 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.
This is the word of the Lord.
And Psalm 24 is a celebration of the King. We saw last week that this celebration is a fitting next step to the ending of Psalm 23. Psalm 23 verse 6 ends, remember, with the Messiah, the victorious king, returning to dwell in the presence of God forever. And Psalm 24 continues that theme by showing us that the king is welcomed into this place with praise.
As we look at the psalm this morning, there are two simple things I want us to do. First, we’re going to remember Jesus, and then second, we’re going to recognize our calling.
Those are the two basic points:
Remember Jesus
Recognize our calling
And before we get started, let’s ask again for God’s help to receive what he has for us in this psalm. This is a short prayer from Psalm 119 — would you ask God: open my eyes to behold wondrous things in your word. We ask that in Jesus’s name, amen.
Part One: Remember Jesus
So Part One is Remember Jesus, and by starting here I’m heeding to a command from the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:8. Timothy was a pastor, and Paul exhorted him in Chapter 2, verse 8:
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.
And I think that’s a command with comprehensive application. It matters everywhere. When it comes to his decision-making, remember Jesus. When it comes to his endurance in ministry, remember Jesus. When it comes to his preaching, remember Jesus. And this is something that your pastors are eager to do — and it’s not hard to do in Psalm 24.
Psalm 24 is considered a Messianic psalm, which means historically this psalm has been interpreted to be about the Messiah. Now every psalm is ultimately about the Messiah, but certain psalms are more overt than others, and this is one.
That’s the way Psalm 24 has been read for most of church history, going all the way back to at least Justin Martyr in the 100s. Justin Martyr said Psalm 24 is not about Solomon because “None of the gatekeepers at the temple in Jerusalem ever said this about Solomon.” Psalm 24 is about Jesus. And other church fathers agreed. And Augustine agreed. And later Calvin agreed. And in 1741 the composer George Frideric Handel agreed.
Now I don’t pretend to know much about music or Handel’s Messiah, but I know it’s a long musical production about the life of Jesus, and it walks through the major scenes of Gospels, including the Resurrection and Ascension, and for the Ascension scene, the choir sings Psalm 24, verses 7–10. You can YouTube this and listen to it.
Psalm 24 is about Jesus, and that’s the way it’s been read all throughout church history, and I think that’s right. And now I want to show you why in more detail.
Righteousness and Kingship
First, I want to highlight the two themes of righteousness and kingship. These themes are interconnected throughout the whole Book of Psalms, and actually, that’s how the Book of Psalms start, back in Psalm 1 and 2.
Remember that Psalm 1 gives us a vision of the blessed man. The blessed man is the man who turns away from sin and delights himself in the instruction, or the law, of Yahweh. He meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. That’s what the blessed man does.
But also, when we consider the Old Testament more broadly, the Psalm 1-blessed man is also a description of what the King is supposed to be like. Back in Deuteronomy 17 Moses lays out what God expects of Israel’s king. And Moses says this a long time before Israel even had kings, so the passage is prophetic; it’s looking into the future; and God tells Israel that the king he sets over them should be righteous. And the description of this righteous king includes two main things: In one part he turns away from sin, and in the other part he is devoted to the law of Yahweh. Listen to Deuteronomy 17:18ff,
And when he [=the king] sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them…
So now Israel knows what to look for in their king. He must be righteous, and devoted to the law. And this comes up again with Joshua. Joshua was the leader who came after Moses, and he was like a “preview king” for Israel. He was serving Israel in a kingly way, anticipating Israel’s future kings, and Moses tells Joshua what he’s supposed to do. Moses says, Joshua 1:8,
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
Again, this is what Israel should expect in their king. And so when Psalm 1 opens the way it does, speaking about this blessed man who is righteous and devoted to the law of Yahweh, if we’re thinking along with the rhythm of the Old Testament, that reminds us of the king.
And that reminder of the king in Psalm 1 is immediately confirmed in Psalm 2. Because remember Psalm 2 is about the Lord’s Anointed One, his Messiah, who is his King.
Yahweh says in Psalm 2, verse 6, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
And Yahweh gives his King universal reign. The ends of the earth are his possession. And he’s reigning from Yahweh’s holy hill — which is Zion, or Jerusalem. And this is something we see again throughout the Old Testament. Jerusalem, Zion, the location of the temple, was like a mountain (see Isaiah 2:2–3; Micah 4:1–2), and so it’s called God’s “holy hill.” That phrase “holy hill” and others like it are used throughout the Book of Psalms, and they’re referring to the temple. This is God’s dwelling place. That’s where Yahweh sets his King.
And so, right at the start of the Book of Psalm, righteousness and kingship are connected.
The righteous man who turns from sin and meditates on the law is Yahweh’s king who is set on Yahweh’s holy hill. We are supposed to expect the Psalm 2 universal king to be like the Psalm 1 righteous man. And we see this theme again, like in Psalm 15.
Psalm 15 starts with a question: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” And there’s that phrase again, “holy hill.” But now we know the answer to that question, because Psalm 2, verse 6 says it’s the King. The King is seated on Yahweh’s holy hill. But look how Psalm 15 answers the question. Psalm 15 says the one who dwells on the holy hill is …
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3 who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor…
And Psalm 15 goes on to describe the righteous man, who sounds like the Psalm 1 man.
And so we wonder: Which is it? Who gets to be on God’s holy hill, in his dwelling place? Psalm 2 says it’s Yahweh’s king; Psalm 15 says it’s the righteous man. And we should say, Yep. It’s both. Because he’s the same. We should expect the King to be the righteous man. The themes of righteousness and kingship are interconnected.
The Psalm 1–2 Righteous King in Psalm 24
And the next place we see these themes connected is Psalm 24.
Psalm 24, verse 3 asks that question again:
Who shall ascend the hill of Yahweh? And who shall stand in his holy place?
Again, we’ve heard this question. And the answer in Psalm 24 is the righteous man in verses 4–6 and then king in verses 7–10 — righteousness and kingship, just like we saw going back to Psalm 1 and 2. The vision of this righteous King, which introduces us to the Book of Psalms, is the same vision we have in Psalm 24. He is the King of glory. This is the Messiah.
But verses 8 and 10 say clearly that the Lord, Yahweh himself, is the King of glory. So can the King be both Yahweh and his Messiah? And the answer is yes, of course, because the Messiah is Yahweh. Now we’re able to read this with New Testament clarity, but this is also something we see other places in the Psalms. Take Psalm 45 for example. Psalm 45 is a psalm all about the King. It’s a song of adoration for the King, who is the Messiah, and verse 6 says:
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
So there’s a conflation of God himself and his Messiah-King. It’s almost interchangeable how the psalms talk about God and the King. God is often called the King. We see that in Psalm 10:16; we also saw it in Psalm 22:28 — “kingship belongs to Yahweh.” In the Old Testament, Yahweh is the original, and the ultimate, King over Israel. And in the Psalms, the reign of the King and God’s reign are one and the same. There is no disparity between the reign of Messiah and the reign of Yahweh. The Messiah is the King set on the throne by God, and so whatever God wants, Messiah wants. Whatever God says, Messiah says. We already see this unfolding in the Psalms, but of course, the New Testament shouts this. Jesus, the Messiah, is God. He is Yahweh! He is the one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist (see 1 Corinthians 8:6).
He is the One that God the Father has highly exalted to his right hand. He has given him dominion over everything, which is what Psalm 24, verses 1–2 are about. I don’t want to skip those verses.
In Psalm 23, verse 6, the Lord is a host, and he has welcomed the Messiah into his presence where he will dwell forever, and then Psalm 24 opens by reminding us what belongs to the Lord. The answer is everything.
The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
All that is belongs to Yahweh because he made all that is, and that’s what the King inherits under his reign. And this reminds us of the temptation of Jesus, in Matthew 4:8, when Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
That’s not an arbitrary temptation. Satan knew who he was talking to (Satan knew the Psalms better than we do!) But Jesus knew the Psalms better than Satan, and he knew that the earth and its fullness belongs to God, which means it’s not Satan’s to give. Jesus indeed would have all those kingdoms and all that glory, but not this way. Not without the cross. Not without the valley.
See, it’s nail-scarred hands that embrace the throne of Psalm 24. This King has come through a battle, and he was mighty in that battle, Psalm 24, verse 8. The King was mighty in that battle for you. Jesus conquered sin and death, not only for his glory, but so that you can be part of it.
We have a place in Psalm 24. And this is Part Two. We need to recognize our calling. In Part One we remember Jesus. Now Part Two: What does that mean for us?
Part Two: Recognize Our Calling
This all has to do with our union with Jesus.
Let’s look back at verse 6. Remember the question is who ascends the hill of the Lord. The answer is the righteous man, like we’ve seen. But then in verse 6 — after describing the righteous man in verses 4 and 5 — verse 6 says:
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
The “generation of those who seek God’s face,” refers to the people of God. These are the faithful, true saints of God, who are like this Righteous Man. It’s a singular “he” in verses 4 and 5, and verse 6 is saying the faithful people are God are like him. “Such is the generation of those who seek [God].” This means that the Messiah, who is one person, has a whole people who are like him and who share in his glory.
Another place we see this is Daniel Chapter 7. And we don’t have time to go there, but Daniel 7 is a prophecy about the dominion of the Messiah — “there came one like a son of man … and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom…” (see Daniel 7:13–14).
And it’s absolutely about Jesus. In the Gospels, Jesus often refers to himself as the Son of Man, and the kind of reign described in Daniel 7 is attributed to Jesus in other places in the Bible. Exact phrases from Daniel 7 are quoted in the Book of Revelation. The glory and kingdom belongs to Jesus.
But if we keep reading in Daniel 7, verse 18 says: “But the saints of the Most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever…” And Daniel 7, verse 27 says,
And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them.
So then, what is said about the Son of Man in Daniel 7:13–14 is said about the whole true people of God in verses 18 and 27. That’s because the people of Jesus are united to him, and we share in his glory.
This is called corporate representation. It’s when a king (or head) is the representative of his kingdom (or whatever he is the head of). It means that what is true of the representative is true of the represented. In Psalm 24 what is true of the individual righteous man, the King, sums up all his people in himself. The one who ascends the hill of the Lord is the righteous man, the King of glory, and his people with him — those who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
This is a union between Jesus and his church that the apostle Paul talks about. When Jesus was crucified, our old selves were crucified with him. When Jesus was raised, our new selves were raised with him. And when Jesus ascended, we also ascended with him. We are seated with him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). And this is so important. Remember that in the Ascension, Jesus was returning to his seat of glory. He was going back to the place he had left to come to earth. The difference in Jesus taking his seat in the Ascension is not a change in his glory — he has always been glorious — but the difference is that now he brought us with him. The Ascension does not give Jesus more glory, as if he lacked anything before, but the Ascension gives us a glory we never dared to dream, because now we are united to the exalted one.
All of his benefits are ours. His achievements. His privileges. His inheritance. Even his Spirit, is given to us because of his Ascension. Paul says in 2 Corinthians Chapter 1, verse 20 that God has established us in Christ, and he has anointed us — and that word is literally “christed.” That’s what Paul is saying. God has christed us, and he has put his seal on us by giving us the Spirit — that’s what it means to be a Christian! We are “little Christs” — we are a whole people joined to our King, the head, made to be like him, and all that is also belongs to us.
Do you know, Christian, how rich you are? Do you know your inheritance? You are a citizen of heaven. You are seated with Jesus who rules over all. And all things are yours (1 Cor. 3:22–23). You will judge the world — you will judge angels! (2 Cor. 6:2–3). You will reign with Jesus (Revelation 20:6; 2 Tim. 2:12). All because you are united to Jesus, and Jesus is the Ascended One.
Right now, objectively, spiritually, positionally, our lives are heavenly. We are citizens of heaven (see Phil. 3:20). But we’re not in heaven. Not yet.
This world in its current condition is a faraway country for those of us who are seated with Jesus, and yet, our being seated with Jesus is supposed to impact what we do here.
This is our calling. We remember who Jesus is, and we know we are spiritually resurrected with him; we are born again; we are ascended and seated with him right now. Our hearts are in heaven — so how do we live here during the in-between? How do we live in this world as those ascended with Jesus?
Okay, for the fullest answer, “see New Testament.” But I want to highlight three things here from Psalm 24. How do we live in this world as those who are ascended with Jesus?
1 - We live morally
We see this in verses 4–6. Be righteous in your deeds, your motives, your allegiances, and your words. Clean hands, pure hearts, truth in soul and speech. This is Jesus. He lived this way perfectly, and this is how we should live as his people. Now living this way is not what earns us our union with Jesus, but this is how we live because we are united with Jesus. And when we see this moral vision in places like Psalm 1, and Psalm 15, and Psalm 24, we should think Christlikeness. We as the people of Jesus should live like Jesus.
2 - We live generously
We are ascended with Jesus. Our citizenship is in heaven; our inheritance is in heaven; our treasure is in heaven; our Savior is in heaven. And therefore, there’s nothing more incompatible with that reality than to live in this world stingy. I can’t think of anything more backwards than for Christians to live with a “scarcity mindset,” always being afraid of what we might lose. Listen: the things of highest value in your life are secured for you in heaven, so while you’re here, give. And I mean money. Give your money. Share what you have. Pour out. Be generous.
Finally, because we are ascended with Jesus:
3 - We live joyfully
And more specifically here, we worship Jesus joyfully, which means we declare his kingship. This should shape the way we think about sharing the gospel. When we tell neighbors and friends about Jesus, we’re actually announcing the reign of Jesus. We’re not inviting people to “make Jesus their king” — we’re telling them that Jesus is King, and they’re going to meet him, either by faith through the gospel or in judgment on the last day.
We are saying, I worship Jesus! Come, worship him with me!
As the people of Jesus, in our worship, in our witness, in our sharing the gospel, we joyfully join the chorus of Psalm 24. We say:
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?
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became human like you and lived in your place, unceasingly faithful, righteous, and true. But he went to the cross and died for you. He took your sin and guilt upon himself, and he suffered and died as your punishment. But he didn’t stay dead. Because on the third day he was resurrected from the grave, and he ascended to heaven, and he is seated at the Father’s right hand, and if you trust in him — if you put your faith in Jesus, not in yourself or anything else, but if you believe in Jesus — you will be forgiven for all your sins, and united with him forever, and even ascended with him right now.
So some worship him with me! Jesus Christ, the Lord of all! He is the King of glory!
