Psalm 24:1-10

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Psalm 24:1-10

“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy hill? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.”

Interesting Background For Psalm 24

“Psalm 24, let’s read through it, and then we’re going to kind of intro it, but, Psalm 24 is the last of this triad. Now, if you haven’t been with us, this is the way it goes. Psalm 22 tells us about Christ the Saviour, Psalm 23 tells us about Christ the Shepherd, Psalm 24 tells us about Christ the Sovereign. As we read about these things, again, scholars through the centuries say this is Grace, Psalm 22, Guidance, Psalm 23, Glory, Psalm 24, the Cross, the Crook, the Crown, the Past, the Present, Psalm 24 tonight the Future, it’s a triad. So we looked in Psalm 22, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ this description of the crucifixion a thousand years before it takes place, long before crucifixion is used, Jesus on the cross, the only place we have in the Bible where we actually hear his emotions and his thoughts as he’s being nailed to the cross. That was Justified. Now, then we read Psalm 23, ‘The LORD’s my shepherd,’ what he’s doing in our lives tonight, he’s caring and guiding, the Justified, Sanctified, and then as we come to this Psalm it ends five times calling him the “The LORD of glory.” So Justified, Sanctified, Glorified, this is the Psalm that looks ahead. So we have Christ our Saviour, and Christ our Shepherd, and then Christ our Coming King, we have all three of these pictures placed in front of us here. Let me read it, and then we’ll look at it. It says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?” answer, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” ‘think about that.’ And then it’s “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” (verses 1-10) ‘Selah, think about that.’ Now, we’re going to study through the first part, and as we get to verse 7, when we come to this part “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; be ye lift up ye everlasting doors,” we have some interesting pictures that are brought before us. Now look, this Psalm, Hebrew tradition tells us, and Josephus says it’s true, who was a Jewish historian in the days of Jesus Christ, he said, and Jewish tradition says, “This Psalm was written when David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-Jearim up to Jerusalem,” from the house of Obed-Edom up to Jerusalem, bringing the Presence of the LORD up to, well, it was Jabuz, the city of the Jebusites, and south of the Jerusalem Temple area now. And that’s when David wrote this Psalm. Hebrew tradition for thousands of years has been that this Psalm is sung every Sunday. Josephus says when David brought the Ark up from Kiriath-Jearim, remember he failed the first time, and had to go through a process of months realizing it had to be carried a certain way and had to be treated the right way, the Ark of the Covenant. And then as he brought it up, we’re told by Josephus, that he had seven choirs singing. This Psalm was antithaphul, and the idea is, part of the choir would sing ‘The earth is the LORD’s and the fulness thereof, the world and them that dwell therein, for he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.’ (verses 1-2) then another group would sing ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD, or who shall stand in his holy place?’ (verse 3) then another group would sing ‘He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.’ (verses 4-5) Then they’d all sing ‘This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.’ (verse 6) Then another group would sing ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.’ (verse 7) then another group would sing ‘Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.’ (verse 8) Then again, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” again, the other part, ‘Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” (verses 9-10) you can imagine thousands singing this back and forth. And it became Hebrew tradition that it was sung on the first day of the week, it was sung every Sunday. Now, try to understand that Jesus Christ, on Palm Sunday, as he comes to the city of Jerusalem, it tells us in Luke 19:41 that he stops on top of the hill, on the donkey, and whole crowds are singing ‘Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD,’ and it says he’s sitting there sobbing, he’s weeping out loud. And he said ‘If you’d have only known, this thy day,’ it had been prophecied exactly to the day, by Daniel the prophet, speaking with Gabriel, that it would be 173,880 days, from March 14, 445BC, when Artaxerxes gave command to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, that would be 173,880 days, to the day, that Messiah would come, that was Palm Sunday. And as Jesus is sitting on the hill weeping, they are singing ‘Lift up your heads O ye gates, be lifted up’ and Josephus says in the days of Jesus they had two choirs, they had a large choir down in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Kidron, and at the top, by the East Gate, they were singing ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.’ Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, and they’re singing ‘Who is this King of glory, he’s the LORD, mighty in battle, lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in, Who is this King of glory? He is the LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.’ And you can imagine, Jesus is sitting there. He’s sitting there, Zechariah said ‘Behold, your king comes to you, humble, riding upon the foal, the colt, the foal of an ass,’ and there was Jesus, all of these prophecies are being fulfilled, and they sang this song, ‘Lift up your heads O ye gates,’ and they didn’t receive him when he came. Now in his 2^nd Coming it will be vastly different. People call that the triumphal entry [at his 1^st coming], nothing compared to the triumphal entry that’s still ahead of us. ok? Jesus will again come to that gate. Now, tradition tells us that gate will not be used until the Messiah comes. Jewish tradition says that Eastern Gate, or Golden Gate, or Gate of Mercy on the outside wall of Jerusalem will not be used until Messiah comes, and because it says [in Malachi 4] that Elijah will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, the Muslims believe that Elijah will go through that Gate first, then the Messiah will follow. So very interesting, when you go to Jerusalem, I’ve been there many times, and every time I look at that Eastern Gate, and it’s all blocked up, you think, ‘Nobody’s going to go through there until he comes,’ in fact Ezekiel prophesies, as he’s speaking of the Millennial Temple, and finally the Lord establishing his Temple in his glory, on the Mount of Olives, he says, ‘And the glory of the LORD came into the house by way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.’ Then he says, ‘He brought me back by way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh towards the east, and it was shut.’ That word means, it’s shut, it’s blocked up, it was used of building a dam to stop water from flowing. ‘Then said the LORD unto me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.’ That’s the gate that Jesus Christ came in, it’s the gate that he departed through on the night of his betrayal to Gethsemane, you know, that was Ichebod, when he left, and he goes out of there again to the Mount of Olives [40 days after his resurrection] and he ascends (cf. Acts 1:9-12). We’re told, ‘This same Jesus will return in like manner.’ And we’re told that, in Isaiah 63 ‘He will come from the east, from the area of Edom, with his garment dyed red, Whose this that cometh from Bozrah with dyed garments?’ that his garments will be dipped in blood, and he’ll be coming, vanquishing the armies of the earth, ‘the LORD of hosts’ used over 300 times in the Bible, he’s called “the LORD of hosts” which is “the LORD of armies.” And he’ll come. Interesting, in Zechariah, and I’m just flying here, excuse me, I wasn’t planning on going right here, but I’m there, in my mind. Zechariah has the LORD of hosts speaking, ‘Thus saith the LORD of hosts,’ and it says, “it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced…” (Zechariah 12:9-10) when did the Jews ever pierce the LORD of hosts? Isn’t it a remarkable prophecy? “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” it says, “and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son,” You know, the Lord Jesus, when he came to the Temple, he said, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you unto myself as a hen gathers her chicks, and you would not, behold, now your house is left unto you desolate, until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” And it is coming, this day, soon, when Christ will come. We have some pictures I just want to show you, the East Gate, before we launch into the Psalm (as you can tell, we haven’t started the Psalm yet). There is the East Gate, if you can see it there. [log onto http://www.bible-history.com/jerusalem/firstcenturyjerusalem_golden_gate.html] There is the East Gate, if you can see it there, from the Mount of Olives, everybody can see that? It’s right in the middle of the wall there, that little pop-up there, that’s the East Gate. And if you’ll notice, it’s bricked up, it’s blocked up, you can’t get through it. In front of it there’s a cemetery. The Muslims put a cemetery there, because in their tradition, Elijah is of the lineage of Aaron, we don’t know much about Elijah, he’s a Tishbite, from Gilead. We don’t know what his lineage is, but the Muslims believe he’s of the line of Aaron, therefore he’s a priest. So they believe that Elijah will come before the Messiah [interesting how they read our Bible too, or they’d never know that (cf. Malachi 4:5)], so they put a cemetery in front of the East Gate, because they believe as a priest, as a Jewish priest he’s not allowed to walk through a cemetery. So they put the cemetery there, and they blocked up the gate, because they don’t want Elijah or Messiah coming into the Temple Mount where they built the Dome of the Rock. Can we have the next picture. There it is again, you can see both of those arches, they’re blocked up, ‘the gate shall be shut, no man shall enter through,’ Ezekiel said, and you can see the cemetery right in front of it, put there to defile that territory so no holy person would go through there. Now, next one. Here’s another one, give me another one, give me another one, give me another one. ok, you got the bone’s ones? Where’s the bone’s picture. Ok, see that? 1969, an archeologist named James Fleming was working along the wall there where the cemetery was, and it was rainy and the ground was wet, and as he was working, he fell through the ground of the cemetery, into a burial chamber, and what he found there, see that arch? That is the arch of the original East Gate under the existing East Gate, and that East Gate is open, he wasn’t able to go in and explore, he came back the next day to go down again, but of course the Muslims filled it all in with concrete, because they don’t want anybody down there exploring [see http://www.generationword.com/jerusalem101/5-gates-today.html for James Fleming’s own explanation, and some good photographs of all Jerusalem’s gates, including the Golden or East Gate]. But isn’t it interesting, you can see all those bones there in front of the original East Gate, which is under the East Gate there now, built in the 1500s by Suleiman the Magnificent. Ah, next one, no, no, the drawing, back to the drawing. There’s the one, ok. You see the tomb there, that’s where he fell through the ground, and you saw the top of that arch, and there are the arches of the original gate that is under the top gates that are blocked up now. And those gates underneath, they know go back to at least Nehemiah, possibly to Solomon. Josephus says when Herod rebuilt the city, the only part of the city he didn’t have to rebuild was the Eastern Wall, because it still remained there from the days of not just Nehemiah, and some before that. There are some archeologists that feel there’s stones that Solomon placed in that wall there [see also http://www.templemount.org/jerusalem-gates/gates.html]. So James Fleming falls through, if you don’t believe me, you go to Biblical Archeological Review, 1983, the January-February issue, page 30 [or just log onto the link above], there. And all of this is in there, you can find out about it yourself. So that may very well be part of what we’re looking at here in these last verses of this Psalm tonight, I want to go there, but I’m going to give you a little bit more background, then we’ll jump into the Psalm. Ok? Just so now you have some idea. 692AD, the Muslims built the Dome of the Rock Mosque that’s on the Temple Mount today. And they sealed the Eastern Gage with a 15-foot-thick structure, because of Zechariah’s prophecy that the Messiah would come through there, and they don’t want that to happen. Through the centuries, between the Crusades and the different Caliphates and the different wars, the different tragedies, terrible, that took place, but the walls were up and down and so forth. But in the 1500s the Ottoman Empire came in and took over that part of the world, and Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the City of Jerusalem, and he rebuilt it on the ancient foundations, and he rebuilt the gates on the ancient gates. In fact, it’s interesting the Bible says of Jerusalem “her foundations shall not be moved.” [For history about the Ottoman Empire, see, http://www.unityinchrist.com/prophets/edom/Edom%20in%20Prophecy%202.html] And it’s very interesting to go there today, I’ve been there 18 times. And you go under the North Gate, the Damascus Gate, and they’ve excavated, you can go down now, and the Damascus Gate, the North Gate that was there in the day of Jesus is sitting right under the North Gate that Suleiman built. And I’ve stood down there, and looked at the dirt, and realized the cross drug right there here. Remarkable, we even snuck down there once, a bunch of us, and worshipped down there, it was wonderful. So the walls are built, the ancient City of Jerusalem with the old walls you see there today, those were built in 1517AD by Suleiman the Magnificent, and they’ve been there ever since. But again, tradition says, that Suleiman gathered some of the Hebrew scholars and asked them, and they said “Yes, Messiah will come through the East Gate,” and that he blocked, the blockages we see today, that Suleiman when he rebuilt an East Gate on top of that East Gate that’s under the ground, he blocked it up so the Messiah couldn’t come into the city. Over the centuries, at different times, different people have tried to open that gate, they’ve either been struck down, or some terrible thing has come upon them. Just recently they found somebody there with a pack of plastic explosives, wanting to blow up the East Gate in the last few years, and they stopped him. Those kind of people have always been there through the centuries. The interesting thing is, at the end of the Ottoman Empire, when General Allenby came to Jerusalem in 1917, and wanted to take the city back. The day before he got there, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who cares for the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock Mosque, and it’s interesting, if you look down at them from above you see a huge silver dome and a gold dome, but you read in Habakkuk the LORD says of the Temple, “The gold is mine, and the silver is mine, sayeth the LORD of hosts.” You know, it’s kind of interesting. Ah, the Grand Mufti was going to open the East Gate to allow Jordanians freer access to come in and worship at the Dome of the Rock Mosque, and then he got word that Allenby was coming, and he put it off. But General Allenby, as he got ready to come into Jerusalem, didn’t want to destroy holy sites. And he said, ‘You know, I’m thinking of flying over Jerusalem and maybe dropping pamphlets to warn them,’ and he wired back to England and asked of his superiors what he should do, and instead of giving him an answer, they texted back to him (they didn’t text, excuse me), they wired back to him, now that I’ve got you all on the same page, they wired him, you know when he said ‘Should I fly over Jerusalem, what should I do?’ They wired him back a verse instead of an answer, Isaiah 31:5 says, “As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem, defending also, he will deliver it and passing over, he will preserve it.” That’s the answer they gave him, about how he should fly over Jerusalem. Let me read it one more time, Isaiah chapter 31, verse 5, “As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem, defending also, he will deliver it and passing over, he will preserve it.” So Allenby took, and he went and he got all of the planes he could get, from everywhere, even old German planes that they had confiscated, and it was the largest fly-over in history, they said, from one border of the horizon to the other, all you could see were planes, from the beginning to the end, thousands of planes flew over Jerusalem. And all they did was drop pamphlets that Allenby had written, saying, “Get Out Of Jerusalem.” Now this was all new to the Muslims, and in their religion, Allenby, that thought it was “Allah-be”, “Allah,” “God,” “be,” “his son.” And they thought all of the messages falling down from the sky were saying ‘God’s Son,’ who they thought “Messiah” is saying “Get Out Of Jerusalem.” And they fled. And Allenby came in to Jerusalem on a donkey, and when he got to the gate he took off his shoes, and he walked in, and he kneeled down. He understood that Jesus had done a miracle and preserved the City, the holy place where Christians, Muslims and Jews worshipped, hadn’t been destroyed, nothing had been ruined. So miracle after miracle after miracle attached to the City and to this East Gate that stands there today. I should probably start the Psalm, right? But with the background you’re going to appreciate some of this. ok?

“The Earth Is The LORD’s…He Hath Founded It Upon The Seas”---No Room For Evolution Here

He begins by saying, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (verse 1) That’s good news today, isn’t it? We’re going to have Jehovah 5 times in this Psalm, “The earth is Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” It’s his. “For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” (verse 2) he’s the creator, no evolutionist knows anything about this. It’s the LORD’s, he owns the earth, he died for it in Psalm 22, he’s guiding his people now [Psalm 23] and he is coming back to claim his purchased possession, first in his Bride, and then relative to his Kingdom, he’s coming to set up his Kingdom [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm], and the earth is his. It doesn’t matter what Washington says, it doesn’t matter what Moscow says, there’s only one superpower, and it ain’t us, it’s him. There’s only one Supreme Court, it’s him, it ain’t ours. There’s only one power that matters, and that’s our Lord and sweet Saviour, Jesus Christ. He said before he ascended “All authority’ not most, ‘All authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me.” And he is coming again. And you think of, here are these noises coming out of Washington, ‘This is what’s right, this is what’s wrong, this is what you need to do,’ here are these voices coming out of Moscow, and coming out of Istanbul, coming out of Jerusalem, all these little squeaky voices of men. And here’s the universe, with a million, they estimate 100 million galaxies across the universe [observable galaxies, 125 to 225 billion galaxies, see http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/how-many-galaxies/ ]. And here we are in this Milky Way Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy they estimate has a million-billion stars in it. You figure out that number for yourself [be sure to use a scientific calculator]. The Milky Way Galaxy is like a disc, and it is 100,000 light-years from one edge to the other. 100,000 years at 186,000 miles per second [a light-year is 6-trillion miles approximately, I’m an astronomy buff too, as well as being a history buff]. That amount of miles is unimaginable [and we’re still inside our local galaxy]. And about 30 million light-years from the center of it, which puts us out near the edge, there’s our sun, insignificant in the whole thing. And then these little orbs going around our sun. And then here’s earth, this little stage for redemption to take place on, sin-ridden, broken. The only thing in the expanse of the universe, it says he laid out the heavens with the span of his hand, the distance between his index finger and his thumb, and yet God set aside earth for the plan of redemption. The universe is geocentric, and earth is Jerusalem-centric, and Jerusalem is Golgotha-centric. It says before the worlds were formed the Lamb was slain. All of that laid out for the King of kings and Lord of lords to have glory and to reign. What was necessary was for redemption to come, because God knew of our fall, our propensity, he gave us the freedom of choice [which in reality, wasn’t much of a choice, since he created us on a planet infested with demons, and Satan as their leader to deceive all of mankind (cf. Revelation 12:9).], and [consequently] men chose to rebel against God, and here we are. [Comment: And God’s overall plan of salvation takes all of that rebellion into account, and is actually far larger a plan of salvation than much of Christianity is aware of, according to how some interpret Bible prophecy. For a glimpse of how large God’s redemptive plan of salvation may actually be, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] The world is filled with it [i.e. rebellion]. And yet, he hasn’t abandoned us, he’s redeemed us. “The earth is the LORD’s” Aren’t you glad it’s his? Aren’t you glad it doesn’t belong to a politician or a businessman? [applause] “The earth is the LORD’s” that feels really good tonight, watching the Supreme Court today, just looking at, “The earth is the LORD’s”, this little old spec of dust that can’t even be seen with a microscope in the universe, with all this squawking and noises, bombs and nuclear mushrooms, all this nonsense coming off of it, you know, it’s his, ‘the fulness thereof, the world and those that dwell therein,’ they’re his. He’s the one who established it, it says, ‘upon the seas, he’s founded it upon the floods of water.’ [Comment: Very interesting, all life and earth’s vast CO-2 exchange system, and complex temperature regulation systems are contained within earth’s oceans and seas. Kill the oceans, you kill all life on the planet.] He’s the one who created it, it’s all his.

In The Middle Of All This, God’s Plan Of Redemption

And in the middle of it all is his plan of redemption, his holy hill. And he asks the question here in regards to all that, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?” (verse 3) Look, David ended the 23^rd Psalm saying “I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” (verse 6b, Psalm 23) Here’s the question, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?” Look, it doesn’t matter what all the nations or all the rulers or all the powerbrokers say, he owns it all, he’s going to set up his Throne. And whose going to ascend there and walk into his presence? Some smarty-pants politician? No, no. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?” the question is being asked. “who shall stand in the holy place?” the answer, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” (verses 3-4) “a pure heart”, his behaviour, his attitude, outwardly, inwardly, clean, pure. “Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,” man, I did that for years, “nor sworn deceitfully.” You guys should always pray for us, you know. If I ever backslide, I’m not going to be an astronaut or a brain surgeon, I’m going to be a dog, a druggy, violent, I’ll only go back to what I knew before I knew Jesus. Whose going to ascend to his place, “he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart,” you feel like you’re being omitted here? you’re not qualifying? “who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (verse 5) And this person is going to receive “righteousness from the God of his salvation.” That’s whose going to walk up there, blood-washed saints, those that have received righteousness from the God of their salvation. We’re not going to walk up there because we deserve to walk up there, we’re going to walk up there because he’s there, and we’re going up to praise him and say “thank you” one more time. I mean, when we’re in the Millennial reign of Christ in the Kingdom Age, and then on into the new heavens and the new earth, I mean, will we ever weary, I mean, how many encounters will we have to stand face to face with Jesus, alone? I’m assuming, because we’re there for eternity, we’ll have as many of those as our hearts desire. And every time we see him, the nail marks in his hands, the holes from the thorns in his brow, the holes in his feet, what else will we be able to say but “Thank you, thank you Lord, I love you Lord.” What more astounding sight will there be in all of this, but the Lord of glory with the marks of our salvation borne on his own frame? That’s going to be who ascends his hill, it’s he that receives “the blessing from Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (verse 5) David writes, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” (verse 6) the ones that are seeking him are the ones who receive righteousness from the God of their salvation. ‘the generation of them that seek him,’ “that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” He looks to the LORD now, “that seek thy face,” and he’s answering the question, “O Jacob.” Jacob was the conniver. Want to know whose going to be there? The ones that are going to be there are ones who receive righteousness from the God of their salvation, that’s the generation that’s going to seek him, that’s going to seek his face, “O Jacob” and then “Selah”, think about that for awhile. I’m ready to think about that for awhile, I don’t know about you guys. I could just sit and think about that for awhile, that is the ultimate, that’s uber-cool.

“Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates, Be Lift Up, Ye Ancient Doors”---An Incredible Scene

Now, shifting into his taking of that position, it says this, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” (verse 7) “everlasting doors” is “ancient doors”, one Hebrew translation says “everlasting doors of antiquity, these ancient doors” “be ye lift up, ye ancient doors;” why? “the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” (verses 7b-8) coming from a victorious battlefield. “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye ancient doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” (verses 9-10). ‘The LORD of armies, he is the King of glory. Selah, think about that.’ You know, David wrote this Psalm anticipating the coming of the Messiah in glory. He saw it as they brought the Ark up into that area. But there wasn’t any East Gate then, the Temple wasn’t built, but he prophecied, he saw something. And it was sung then, every Sunday, the 8^th day, the first day of the week, the day of new beginnings this song was sung. And again, imagine Jesus listening to the words, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates” and he’s sitting there, “be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” “Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” (verses 7-8) and he’s weeping, because they don’t recognize the day of their own visitation. But he will return, he’s coming. And it tells us that when he returns, you and I are coming with him. If you will look at, oh, you don’t have to look at, I’ll just read it to you. Psalm 149 says this, it says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.” (verse 5) we’re going to have beds there, guys. You know, it’s funny, here we have beds, and we never get to spend any time in them, you know, because you have kids. I’m at 60 years old I love to go to bed, and I hate to get up, my kids hate to go to bed and love to get up, my grandkids are like that. Finally, we’ll be in glory, we’ll be in heaven [the kingdom of heaven, which ends up on earth, cf. Revelation 21:1-23], and we’ll have beds, and we won’t want to spend any time there, because of everything there is outside, and our bodies won’t be tired. But he says here “Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.” (verses 5-9) So we are told in the Scripture that Enoch [Book of Jude] prophecied and saw the Lord coming with ten thousands of his saints. Jesus is returning in a two-fold return, he is coming for his saints, and he is coming with his saints, and those are two distinct things. [Comment: And the major disagreement within the Body of Christ is how much time exists between those two distinct parts of Jesus Christ’s 2^nd coming. see, http://www.unityinchrist.com/Prophets_Prophecy.html to view an explanation of this tangled mess of doctrinal interpretation.] He will come for us [taking us up to the Sea of Glass and the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 19:7-9)] at the sound of a trumpet, and he’ll gather his Bride, and seven years later [that’s the big debate, how much later] he comes with us. It says ‘the sun will not give her light, the moon refuses to shine, the stars of heaven will not shine,’ the first time Jesus the Messiah came they spit on him, they mocked him, they beat him. When he comes the 2^nd time, the Father in heaven won’t even allow the orbs in heaven, the stars to share glory with him, the only thing visible coming through the heavens will be the Lord of lords and King of kings, and it says the diadems, the crowns on his head will be sparkling with glory as he comes. The earth rotating, the way the earth rotates, as he descends, will it be a three-day descent, five-day descent? I don’t know that, but the whole time he’s descending it looks like he’s coming from the east to the west as he’s descending, and he comes down, and it says ‘all of the tribes of the earth are going to mourn because of him as they see him coming.’ And it says ‘He’ll come as lightning shines from the east to the west, he will come,’ Isaiah 63 tells us he comes from the area of Bozrah, from Edom, over to the Mount of Olives. And it says when he touches down on the Mount of Olives, the Mount of Olives splits in half, half of it moves to the north, half of it moves to the south (cf. Zechariah 14:4). The Intercontinental Hotel today on the Mount of Olives, when they did the soundings to put the foundations in, they found a fault running through the Mount of Olives, it runs from the east to the west, it’s only waiting for the right foot to touch down, it opens up. It says as it opens up, then he himself comes into the City of Jerusalem. Revelation chapter 14 tells us that the blood is running to the horses bridle, not in the valley of Armageddon, it says in “the valley without the city,” that’s the Valley of Kidron. The Valley of Kidron, Kidron means black, and it’s called the Black Valley because for thousands of years lambs were sacrificed there, and their blood was washed into the Valley of Kidron, and the whole Valley of Kidron would turn black with the blood of lambs. And when Jesus Christ returns, he returns to a world where none of the men on this planet can govern themselves, and the blood runs to the horse’s bridle, I believe that’s his horse, as he crosses a river of human blood of all nations. As he crosses a river of human blood of all nations, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace finally coming, to set up a rule on this earth when all of our swords will be beaten into plowshares and our spears will be beaten into pruning hooks, and it says “men shall learn war no more, and nation shall not rise against nation anymore.” And it says in Jerusalem ten men from different nations shall take hold of the skirt of a Jew and say ‘show us where the Temple is, show us where the LORD is so that we can go and worship him.’ He descends, he comes, no light [except from coming off him (and us, we’re all glowing like the stars)], he’s the only thing glistening and shining, rides across the Kidron Valley, and as he comes up to the East Gate, we’re told at the end of Armageddon in Revelation chapter 16, that the ancient city splits into three parts, we’re told in Isaiah chapter 2 that Jerusalem is elevated above the other mountains of the world and the other hills [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg4page1.htm]. It tells us in Psalm 48:2, it says about Jerusalem, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” The Hebrew is “Beautiful for elevation”, some of the ancient translators translate it “Beautiful in its rising,” So you have Jesus coming, the Mount of Olives splitting in half, you have Jesus then riding across the Kidron Valley, crossing this river of blood up to his horse’s bridle, three, four foot deep, he comes up to the city, the city’s rumbling, it’s dividing into three parts, and it says then the ancient city then is starting to raise up while all the other hills are going down---underneath the present East Gate that’s all blocked up, you have the ancient East Gate, which is not blocked up, you have him riding in, and then you have “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; be you lift up, ye ancient doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts [armies], he is the King of glory. Selah.” (verses 7-10) and you just see the city rising, you see these old gates pushing up out of all these bones and open up, and here comes the King of kings and Lord of lords, riding into the ancient city of Jerusalem through the East Gate, just as it says. It will be blocked up, no man will enter through it, that’s not going to happen until he comes, until he comes, and he’s coming, [applause] HE IS COMING. And you’re going to get to see it, and any part of it I got wrong, you’ll have to forgive me, because we’ll be glorified, but we’ll be coming behind him on white horses (cf Revelation 19:14), you’ll get to see this, the Mount of Olives splitting. You’ll get to see this city, the world, you know, it says ‘Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, great darkness on the people, but the LORD shall arise,’ Isaiah says, ‘and a great light shall shine upon thee.’ Jerusalem will rise up, it tells us the part that rises up, the Temple will be built there. Ezekiel 40 through 47, you read all of the details of that Temple [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/ezek/ezekiel40.html and click on the second hypertext link listed, and go to the commentary links taking you through Ezekiel 40-48, they are quite thorough and give you a good mental picture of this future Temple Jesus will build on the new Temple Mount this massive earthquake will create]. It says at that point, all of the waters of the earth, all of the seas, all of the rivers, all of the salt water, all of the fresh water will have been turned to blood [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/revelation/Revelation%2014-16.htm and read through the part describing Revelation 16:3-7, this is part of the 7 Last Plagues which causes the seas, lakes and rivers to be turned to blood]. The new Temple the Messiah puts there, it says a stream of water will run out the front door of the Temple by the right side of the altar, and it will run down out by the East Gate, half of it will go towards the Mediterranean Sea, half of it will run towards the Dead Sea [and then on into the Red Sea and Indian Ocean] and it will begin healing all of the waters on the planet, all of the healing will come from a stream that runs out of the Temple by the right side of the altar in Jerusalem [and this stream then turns into two rivers. See, Zechariah 14:6-9, and http://bible.ucg.org/bible-commentary/Ezekiel/Life-giving-river-and-trees;-Borders-of-the-Promised-Land/ ]. It says the Dead Sea will be healed and fishermen are going to lay their nets there. Bacteria can’t even live in the Dead Sea today, nothing lives in it. It’s all going to be healed, healing is going to flow from Jerusalem when our King, he just said amen, [applause] when our King takes his place there, in glory, what a day, what a hope we have. Listen, and you know, we need to pray for revival, because he is coming, and his heart must be broken over the millions of unsaved people on this planet. [Comment: even though it’s a secondary doctrine, and most of Christianity doesn’t believe this interpretation, I do believe God has a merciful plan for all the “unsaved dead” that have lived and died throughout history (an estimated 50 to 100 billion people, estimated by population experts and historians alike). To view this interpretation see http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm.] And it is his pleasure to use such as us, fishermen, carpenters [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/wwcofg/wearesalt.htm], Jeremiah Lampier, a layman, somebody in the church that wanted to start a prayer-meeting, ex-druggies, he’s not looking for people who are qualified, that’s wonderful if you are, but he’s looking for people that are available. He makes us qualified. He determines that. And I think we should study, I think we should be scholars, I think we should know our theology, don’t get me wrong with any of that. But he’s looking for those who are available. Are we kneeling before the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Lord of glory now?...let the weight of your presence, Lord, come on this life, Lord, let me examine everything in me that needs to change, Lord, let your love and your grace suffocate me Lord, let it stagger me, Lord Jesus my sweet Saviour. How wonderful to see him come, and take up the throne of the earth, the Saviour, the One who allowed himself to be spit upon, and mocked, who laid down his life, and to realize God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever would believe on him would not perish, but have everlasting life. What a Kingdom is coming, what a Kingdom is coming.

In Closing

Let’s have the musicians come, let’s have at least two songs. Let’s take some time and lift our voices. It’s great we can sing some songs while it’s thundering. And I would encourage you, if we’re all going to bow before him then, let’s bow before him now. If there’s things in our lives tonight that need to change, let’s say ‘Lord, here I am, change me, Lord. You know, I wrestle and wrestle and wrestle, and I never, I don’t have the strength to change the things in me that I know need to change, I’m aware of them, Lord, but I am dependent upon your love and your power and your grace, I’m willing to change, Lord, I’m willing to repent, I’m willing to turn away from those things, I just don’t have the power or the strength in myself. But Lord Jesus I am not ashamed or afraid to cast myself upon you tonight, Lord Jesus. You are my Saviour, you are my Lord.’ Let’s do that, let’s stand, let’s sing with all of our hearts, let’s put our lives before him afresh. ‘Lord, you are the King of glory, Lord, the day is coming when those ancient gates, Lord, will lift up their heads and open themselves wide for you to enter, Lord, your rightful place, your throne room on earth. Lord, have the throne room of our hearts tonight, Lord. Do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we would ask or think, Lord. We look at this revival 150 years ago that began in New York and spread to Philadelphia, and Pittsburg, and Chicago and around the world, and we think Lord, ‘Do it again, Lord, do it again Lord Jesus.’ We are willing to fall before you, Lord, to bow before you, Lord. Cleanse us afresh, Lord, practically, Lord. We know that 2,000 years ago you paid for all of our sin on the cross, Lord, let that have a wonderful outward working in 2013 in our lives, Lord. Let us take inventory, Lord, let us be wise and see the things around us that are fading away, that are failing, that are ending, the governments of men, and let us have a fresh view of your coming Kingdom, Lord, let it be the anchor of our soul Lord, in these days, Lord, baptize us afresh with power Lord, with your Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name, Father, and for his glory Lord, as the rain, Lord, let your Word come down from heaven and not return void, Lord. Let it produce in us what you send it forth to do, Lord. Let the rain of your Spirit come upon us, Father, we pray, you know what we’re asking, Lord, and we pray in Jesus name, amen.’ [transcript of a connective expository sermon on Psalm 24:1-10, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]