Who May Stand In God’s Presence?

Psalm 24

Jim Davis

David defines God as the supreme creator of all things. He created the earth and everything in it.

Psalm 24:1-10 
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.
  Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.
They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you 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, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—
    he is the King of glory.

The Scriptures are built upon the premise the universe is the work of God.

Psalm  19:1-4 
The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

The Scriptures are written on the premise that God is the supreme creator. Therefore everything belongs to God by virtue of creation.

The laws of physics deny the possibility of atheism. Without the invisible laws of physics the universe, galaxies and this world could not exist. The laws of physics brought the entire universe into existence and keeps our world turning on its axis. 
 
I ask myself where did these laws originate? If we say the blind forces of nature, the question then is, where did this blind force originate? How do blind forces of nature exhibit so much intelligence and order? 

It is difficult to contemplate God without wondering how one can one have a relationship with him. Isaiah had a vision of God. He explains how he felt when he saw the angels response to God in his vision.

Isaiah 6:3-5 
And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

We may feel as Isaiah felt when we seek to approach God. God is so holy, we question the possibility of a relationship. From the moment evil entered into this world as Adam and Eve sinned and were driven from Eden the question has been: Who among men may approach God?

David writes:

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.

Who has clean hands and a pure heart? NO ONE!!! Many doubt the possibility of a relationship with God as a result of passages like this one. It leaves us feeling hopeless, especially if we fail to understand the full scope of God’s desire to have a relationship with each of us. 

I remember in my ministry talking to those who thought a relationship with God for them was not possible. A man who had murdered a drug pusher who enabled his daughter’s addiction. Another woman I remember, who didn’t think she could be forgiven. She admitted that she lived a sinful life for years and came to the conclusion she couldn’t have a relationship with God. She felt she had done too much and gone too far. Sadly, she was dying when I met her and my visits left me feeling that I never really convinced her she could be saved. I officiated at the lady’s funeral. There was a doctor, I recall, who said there wasn’t any chance of him going to heaven. He brushed off any notion that he could be saved.

We think in terms of sinners in the hands of a angry God; actually it should be sinners in the hands of a loving God. It is not that God doesn’t dislike sin, but he loves the sinner more. He has chosen to salvage all sinners who come to him.

Some feel that they can’t pray to God. They may feel what they have done -- the sin in their life -- prevents God from listening. So they go to the church, to a priest or minister to get them to pray for them.

We allow our misunderstanding of scripture to drive us away from God.

Some think a relationship with God is only made possible by keeping all the Ten Commandments without flaw. To think of a relationship with God on these terms convinces us we don’t have a chance. None of us can say we have clean hands and a pure heart.

Paul wrote the verses below to those seeking to come to God on their personal merit as they sought to keep the commandments. Paul describes their plight.

Romans 3:10-11 
As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one; 
    there is no one who understands;
    there is no one who seeks God. 
All have turned away,
    they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
    not even one.”

These verses were actually written to persuade them to come to God on God’s terms. Their desire for self-righteousness hindered their relationship with God.

Isaiah 59:1-2 
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.

These verses, in the context of Isaiah’s life, is where God is pleading for his people to recognize their sinful ways and return to him in repentance and confession.

God gave the Ten Commandments as he set up a system of sacrificial offerings. These sacrificial offerings were to atone for the sins of those who were seeking God through acknowledgement and confession of their sins as they embraced God’s covenant. When they sinned they offered sacrifices as an atonement for their sins as they struggled to live moral lives. The sacrifices atoned for their sins as they failed to keep God’s law perfectly. The covenant of commandments manifested God’s desire to enter into their presence in spite of their sinfulness.

God knew they couldn’t perfectly keep the law. That is why he set up a sacrificial system to atone for their sins until Christ came to pay the ultimate price for all sin. 

The Context of the Passage

To often the Scriptures are read as we shape God into the kind of God we think he should be. It is not what the Bible actually teaches that make it difficult to understand. It is what people try to make it say that makes it difficult. 

Psalm 24 was most likely written as David brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. (2 Samuel 6). Moving the ark into Jerusalem  was indicative of God’s desire to have a relationship with his people. God allowing the ark to be brought into Jerusalem spoke of his desire to be among his people.

The ark was an ornate box that was to hold some of the law God had given the Israelites to be in charge of: the Ten Commandments. It was also a marker for how the Israelites could approach God: it provided the means by which they could have a relationship with God. The Hebrews approach to God was through the law of Moses. The ark contained the Ten Commandments, a bowl of mana and Aaron’s rod that had budded when he was appointed high priest. 

The heart of the covenant, the legal covenant’s commandments were housed in the ark in the most holy place of the tabernacle. He had fed them with mana for forty years. He gave them a high priest and a sacrificial system to bridge the gap between himself and the Hebrews. He gave them a law to guide them in their relationship with himself. The ark represents God’s willingness to provide, forgive and lead them to himself through the covenant.

“The Ark of the Covenant was a different kind of religious symbol than the Israelites were use to in Egypt. It was not a statue meant to represent the physical manifestation of a god. It was not a container for God—it was to be respected but not worshiped. 

‘Instead, it was a place where God and man could meet. Both literally, as God would hover over the Ark when the priests approached it, and figuratively through the law that was kept inside. That law was the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written (Deuteronomy 10:2). These commandments were key in the covenant for which the Ark was named. If Israel followed the Ten Commandments and, as they represented, the rest of the Law God gave to Moses, God would always be in their presence.’” (via https://www.compellingtruth.org/What-Ark-of-the-Covenant.html)

The Ark of the Covenant was built as the Hebrews were led into the wilderness. God had manifested himself as the great all powerful God. He performed the miracles in Egypt that persuaded the pharaoh who claimed to be god to let them go. He brought the ten plagues upon Egypt, he had parted the Red Sea destroying Egypt’s army. He revealed himself to Moses at Mt Sinai as he writes the Ten Commandments upon stones. He reveals his desire to have an intimate relationship through the covenant he makes with them. 

The Hebrews followed God in the wilderness for forty years as he hovered over the ark in a cloud. 

Exodus 40:38 
So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.

The animals were sacrificed before the Lord as parts of the sacrifices were offered to God. The remaining parts of the sacrifices were eaten by the priests and the people. Through the sacrifices God was inviting them to share a fellowship meal with him. Their sins had been atoned for by the very sacrifices they were eating. It is not any different from slaughtering animals as we do today for a barbecue. The significance is they were sharing a fellowship meal with God as they acknowledged and confessed their sins.

Coming to God Is Joyous for All Sinners

Clearing up family differences before having a family reunion is always  a great way to have a family reunion. So God provides a means to atone for their sins. This allowed them to come to him with clean hands and a pure heart.

As David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, he offered a bull offering before the Ark. (2 Samuel 6). It was a sin offering for himself and all the people. (Exodus 24:5; Exodus 29:36) The offering allowed God to enter into their presence as they were forgiven of their unclean hands and impure hearts.

David displays the attitude Jerusalem should have as he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. They should lift up their heads, it is not a time for mourning. God is entering your presence. 

Lift up your heads, you gates;
    be lifted up, you 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, you gates;
    lift them up, you ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord Almighty—
    he is the King of glory.

The atonement provided through the sacrifice gave them reason to lift up their heads and rejoice over God’s desire to be present among them.

Through the sacrificial offerings God invited them to feast with him. It was to be a joyous feast as they acknowledged their sin and sought atonement. 

As Nehemiah writes, Israel had been suffering for seventy years in Babylonian captivity because they had forsaken God. They are returning to Jerusalem by God’s direction after their captivity to celebrate a holy feast. They hadn’t celebrated it for seventy years and Nehemiah tells them:

Nehemiah 8:10 
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

God was rejoicing over their return. They were entering back into a relationship with God and it was to be a joyous occasion. 

Conclusion:

The Scriptures reveal God’s desire to have a relationship with the worst of us. This is the story of Scripture.

The psalmist tells us who can appear before such a holy God.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol
    or swear by a false god.
They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

When Christ came and died for all sin, God made a new covenant.

Hebrews 8:6 
But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

Rabbinical tradition indicates Psalm 24 was recited on the first day of every week. If this is true, it was recited by the Rabbis on the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. If you go back and reread this psalm how fitting this would be for the resurrection of the perfect sacrifice for all sin.

God today offers us his righteousness apart from the sacrificial covenant he made with Israel. The Ten Commandments are still valid (Romans 13:8-10  ). However the sacrificial system was done away as Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for all sin—even for the worst of us. 

Romans 3:21-26
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. his righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

We should lift up our head as God seeks to enter into our lives through the forgiveness he has provided through Jesus Christ.

Blessings await for those who choose to enter into a relationship with God through the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Savior.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

Peter preached the first sermon after Christ crucifixion saying:

Acts 2:36-38
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Matthew 19:23-24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, 

“Who then can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Forgiveness through Jesus Christ makes it possible.