By Mike Chaffin
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or 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 an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall 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 you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah
There are two exceptionally good books about the creation of the Universe and all that is in it. The first is GOD THE SCIENCE THE EVIDENCE. The second is RATIONAL CONCLUSIONS. Both books are excellent resources that provide the evidence for David’s statement in verses 1 and 2. The universe and everything in it are God’s creation.
For people of faith, we didn’t need these books to tell us this. For the atheist and agnostic these two books show the scientific proofs in physics, cosmology, microbiology, paleontology, and neurobiology that there is a God who created everything. For more than one hundred years atheist scientists told us there was no God, the universe was eternal and came out of chance. These false beliefs have now been exposed as bad science, and dangerous ideology that led to decades of bad teaching. Many atheist scientists have admitted there must be a God; the evidence cannot be denied. They are now either agnostic, theist, or Christian.
But believing there is a God does not get one into Heaven. Believing there is a God is different from accepting God into your heart and living for Him as Lord and Savior. David points this out in verses 3-6. We need clean hands and a pure heart. We can’t get these by our own merits. But once we ask for forgiveness of our sins, for God to clean us up and purify our hearts and live in us, we are made new. Once new we are blessed by God with the righteousness of Christ. This makes us righteous in God’s sight.
David wrote this song to sing in worship of God while carrying the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem as recorded in 2 Samuel 6. The King of Glory was God symbolically entering through the gates. Today this chapter is used in liturgies to worship Jesus in celebration of His ascension into Heaven.
Today, do not let your heart be hardened. Open the gate to your heart and let Jesus in. His cleansing power brings new life, joy, and peace. His righteousness covers our sins and allows us to come through the gates of Heaven to reside for eternity.
