PSALM 24: The Messianic Kingdom
INTRODUCTION: As we indicated previously, there are often great reservoirs of truth contained in triplicate such as in ROMANS 6,7, and 8 (Part One, Two and Three). We have looked at this triple treasury of truth as found in PSALM 22, 23 already and are currently examining and 24.
In PSALM 22 we saw the Suffering Servant and Savior Who paid the ULTIMATE of ultimate sacrifices, Who shed His own blood, Whose soul the Father made as an offering for sin. It is finished and has been (by our reckoning) for two thousand years! Done deal!
Then in PSALM 23 we see the LORD Jesus as the Good Shepherd Who tends His flocks with tender care, compassion and correction. Indeed, He is the Chief Shepherd (one might say THE Senior Pastor of the body of Christ, His church). This is and has been His current occupation (among others) since the dawn of the church age (but let’s not forget He’s been the True Shepherd of Israel for much longer and will manifest Himself as such to them at the time appointed by the Father).
Now in PSALM 24 we have a glimpse into the future when the Messianic Kingdom will be realized, when Christ returns to this Earth that belongs to Him, as He is the Creator of such, and will establish His reign in Zion!
PSALM 24:1-2
1 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.
We might think that the idea that our land masses are “founded upon the seas” as some sort of archaic belief, but in reality there are immense reservoirs of water, veritable oceans of water deep below the earth’s surface. Remember in GENESIS 7 when it rained on the Earth for forty days and nights? What else happened? In verse 11 it states that “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.” Huge geysers erupted, shooting billions upon billions of gallons of water onto the planet surface. The windows of heaven might imply more than just rain fall too. It’s possible that a frozen canopy of water that encapsulated the Earth was broken, and that the shards of ice were catapulted to the planet, adding to the devastating volume of water.
Those waters obviously receded and those underground colossal caverns have had their water supply restored. We won’t expect the world to ever be destroyed by water ever again: we have GOD’s covenantal promise on that one (GEN 9:12-13)!
The next time the Earth is destroyed, it will be by fire! But not to worry – the end of the world won’t be happening any time soon (at least 1,007 years from now; 2 PET 3:10-12). It will occur after the Seven Years of Tribulation and the Millennial Reign of Christ (1,000 years) but before the Great White Throne Judgment where all unredeemed souls will be judged for their sins (REV 20)!
So most of today’s humanity will be dead by then anyway and face GOD in Judgment. Be sure to be ready for that day because no one can keep alive his own soul (PSA 22:29), our days are numbered (PSA 90:12), and GOD will ensure justice upon every crime committed against His Holy Law (REV 21:8). Flee from the wrath of GOD and find refuge at the Cross of Christ where Judgment on all sin has been dealt with for all who will place faith in Christ by genuine repentance and faith.
PSALM 24:3-5
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.
In the context of this Psalm, this question is asked regarding the worthiness of any to enter into the kingdom of heaven once it’s established on planet Earth, since it will depose the kingdom of darkness and the current “god of this world” (2 COR 4:4). While the focus is on Israel (“Jacob” in the next verse), it may apply to Gentiles as well, for by the end of the Beast’s reign, there will be a multitude beyond count who will have come to salvation in Christ (REV 7:13-14).
It's likely that many of these will have been martyred, but still, some Gentiles will have survived this incredibly awful era and make it through the 70th Week of Daniel without having taken the mark of the Beast (these are represented as “sheep” as opposed to the “goats” that are rejected by the LORD; MATT 25:34).
The criteria for “who may ascend into the hill of the LORD” seems to gel well with what is laid out for us in the Judgment of Sheep and Goats parable.
Clean hands indicates guiltless hands, hands that have not committed iniquity (PROV 6:17; ISA 1:15; 59:3). Purity of heart ensures that such a person will see GOD (in all of His glory! MATT 5:8). Yet perfect purity of heart (and clean hands as well) can only be accomplished by spiritual surgery by the Great Physician (EZEK 36:26; JOHN 3:3-10; 1 PET 1:23).
These prophecies of replacing hearts of stone with spiritual vitality in new hearts are in regards to Israel, yet the nation of the Messiah rejected Him, and this tragedy opened the door for us Gentiles to come to His Light (ISA 42:6; 49:6; 60:3), and these are represented in the “holy nation” who were “not a people” (1 PET 2:9-10) but are now the people of GOD, the church of the LORD Jesus Christ Who is our Head (EPH 4:15-16).
And these prophecies will in fact find their fulfillment on the blessed day that Israel nationally recognizes and receives their Messiah King upon His Second Advent, when He delivers them from the Beast who is intent on destroying them (ISA 63; ZECH 12; REV 19). On that day Israel will be reborn, just as we Gentiles are today, by placing faith in our Kinsman Redeemer (JOHN 1:12-17).
Amen, “[they] shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation”!
On that day, they shall know the LORD without exception – every descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will know Y’shua, being born of His Spirit! He will fulfill the new covenant with His people, completely revoking (on a covenantal basis at any rate) the Law of Moses:
The land that Israel currently possesses is about the size of New Jersey, but the vast domain GOD promised them in the Abrahamic Covenant (from the river Nile to the Euphrates; GEN 15:18) is about the size of Texas, or about thirty-five times their current borders!
The fruitfulness of the land will be astounding, far surpassing even their present achievements (and even today, their crops help to supply Europe! They export flowers to Holland, technology to Japan! They now have oil and natural gas resources valued at over $15 billion). Not bad for a New Jersey-sized State!
Not just the land either: the people of Israel will become “as the sands of the sea” (GEN 22:17)! I believe that in the Millennial Reign every genetic deformity will be a thing of the past and that life will be extended into centuries, not decades, enabling Israel to repopulate (as well as their Gentile counterparts) the Earth in record time (ISA 65:18-25)!
Every aspect of the Davidic Covenant will be realized once the Greater David assumes His throne in Jerusalem (LUKE 1:31-33), with King David himself being His regent officer (JER 30:9)!
PSALM 24:6
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah.
For the better part of two thousand years, the Jewish people have not merely rejected Jesus, but have despised and even vilified Him! I remember when I was in the mission field back in 1987, and some folks were preaching the Gospel in nations and cities where there were dense populations of Jewish people.
They received more hatred and violent intent (and some action) from them than they did from Muslims who lived in those communities! Most Jews today are secular. There are some who espouse Buddhism, New Age mysticism, or Talmudic Judaism which is fraught with all kinds of unbiblical doctrines.
There are a scant few Jews who have true faith in their Messiah, but these numbers have been gradually growing over the years, and in this past decade, New Testaments in Hebrew have been mass produced, and purchased almost as fast as they’re stocked on the shelves of such ministries like One For Jesus!
Despite their abhorrent behavior towards their Messiah, GOD will not revoke His covenants with Abraham, with David and the Land covenant – they are unconditional, with only GOD Himself vowing to fulfill all the promises He made.
Because He is the GOD of truth, He can’t go back on his word, and He won’t. The honor of His Name (which the Jews have polluted) is at stake! Check out the entire chapter of EZEKIEL 36!
Also consider the TTUF article, GOD’s RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL.
Whether Jew or Gentile, man or woman, rich or poor, famous or obscure – no matter who you are, if you seek GOD, you will find Him! But you must seek Him in truth and wholeheartedness (JER 29:13). Seek GOD in the person of Christ:
From that “City of Peace” the Prince of Peace shall reign over all the Earth!
PSALM 24:7-10
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.
Gates in Scripture often represents the idea of praise and worship, for just as one might “enter in” to a city by its gates, so too we enter into worship, into His presence by the one and only entry, the Way that is Christ Himself.
It’s because of His atonement, and His Spirit that we can even address GOD the Father, much more then to have our worship received by Him, to enjoy a relationship with Him as our Abba. It astounds me still (after more than four decades of being in the faith) that any time a child of GOD (though we are made of dust) receives an immediate audience with the King of Glory, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Supreme Sovereign Ruler of all things seen and unseen!
We have interaction with the One Who wields absolute and total knowledge, power, wisdom, insight, as well as love and peace from such a majestic, tender heart unparalleled by any other! Any who should oppose this one has reached the nadir of foolish and vain ambition! As the Broadway play is entitled, “Your Arm Is Too Short To Box With GOD!”
Yet this world is populated with such fools who will challenge the authority of the One Who sits at the right hand of the Father (PSA 2). The ridiculousness of that action is met with laughter from the One with Whom we have to do! He is the One Who will with but a word dismiss the entirety of the universe out of existence! And these pathetic specks of dust think that they can challenge the Word made flesh: the ultimate of absurd foolishness!
And when the showdown between GOD Incarnate and the ‘dust cloud’ of humanity being led by a mere fallen cherub finally comes together, “the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle” is going to show them what war is all about!!
The collective spillage of blood with create a scarlet river nearly two hundred miles long and as deep as the height of a horse’s bridle!! There really won’t be any true “battle” at Armageddon – it will be a one-sided slaughter, where the righteous and holy King Jesus will mow down the enemies of Israel, His brethren as their Avenger of Blood!
“Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in”! Those doors that lead into the city of Jerusalem were ruined by the judgment of GOD upon rebellious Israel during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. They were ruined once again when Israel rejected her Messiah King by the Roman’s Fifth Army that laid waste to it all.
But the day is coming when those doors, those gates, will be everlasting, never to be ruined ever again! Indeed, the City of Peace will know Eternal Peace because the Eternal Prince of Peace shall reign forever, AND EVER! HALLELUJAH, FOREVER!!! (as Handel would put it)!
And as glorious as the Millennial Reign will be, GOD will take it up several notches when this old Earth (revived and replenished by the hand of GOD for those 1,000 years) will be dissolved along with the heavens (all of the elements that make up this universe) in a nuclear blast of cosmic proportions!
GOD will start from scratch in a new creation which we will be privileged to witness first hand (can we say, WOW!??) and we shall behold an eternal heavens and an eternal earth, and an eternal Jerusalem! Then the proclamation of our LORD will reach its final fulfillment, “Behold, I Make All Things New!”
Then we saints, along with all of the holy angels with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit “will live happily ever after (and that ain’t no fairy tale!)”!!
This concludes this TRIUMPHANT TRILOGY that has examined PSALMS 22,23 and 24!
Next time, we will look at:
JOHN 12,13,14
Until then, Keep your eyes on the skies and don’t believe the lies, the LORD Jesus Christ returns soon from on high!
INTRODUCTION: As we indicated previously, there are often great reservoirs of truth contained in triplicate such as in ROMANS 6,7, and 8 (Part One, Two and Three). We have looked at this triple treasury of truth as found in PSALM 22, 23 already and are currently examining and 24.
In PSALM 22 we saw the Suffering Servant and Savior Who paid the ULTIMATE of ultimate sacrifices, Who shed His own blood, Whose soul the Father made as an offering for sin. It is finished and has been (by our reckoning) for two thousand years! Done deal!
Then in PSALM 23 we see the LORD Jesus as the Good Shepherd Who tends His flocks with tender care, compassion and correction. Indeed, He is the Chief Shepherd (one might say THE Senior Pastor of the body of Christ, His church). This is and has been His current occupation (among others) since the dawn of the church age (but let’s not forget He’s been the True Shepherd of Israel for much longer and will manifest Himself as such to them at the time appointed by the Father).
Now in PSALM 24 we have a glimpse into the future when the Messianic Kingdom will be realized, when Christ returns to this Earth that belongs to Him, as He is the Creator of such, and will establish His reign in Zion!
PSALM 24:1-2
1 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.
We might think that the idea that our land masses are “founded upon the seas” as some sort of archaic belief, but in reality there are immense reservoirs of water, veritable oceans of water deep below the earth’s surface. Remember in GENESIS 7 when it rained on the Earth for forty days and nights? What else happened? In verse 11 it states that “all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.” Huge geysers erupted, shooting billions upon billions of gallons of water onto the planet surface. The windows of heaven might imply more than just rain fall too. It’s possible that a frozen canopy of water that encapsulated the Earth was broken, and that the shards of ice were catapulted to the planet, adding to the devastating volume of water.
Those waters obviously receded and those underground colossal caverns have had their water supply restored. We won’t expect the world to ever be destroyed by water ever again: we have GOD’s covenantal promise on that one (GEN 9:12-13)!
The next time the Earth is destroyed, it will be by fire! But not to worry – the end of the world won’t be happening any time soon (at least 1,007 years from now; 2 PET 3:10-12). It will occur after the Seven Years of Tribulation and the Millennial Reign of Christ (1,000 years) but before the Great White Throne Judgment where all unredeemed souls will be judged for their sins (REV 20)!
So most of today’s humanity will be dead by then anyway and face GOD in Judgment. Be sure to be ready for that day because no one can keep alive his own soul (PSA 22:29), our days are numbered (PSA 90:12), and GOD will ensure justice upon every crime committed against His Holy Law (REV 21:8). Flee from the wrath of GOD and find refuge at the Cross of Christ where Judgment on all sin has been dealt with for all who will place faith in Christ by genuine repentance and faith.
PSALM 24:3-5
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.
In the context of this Psalm, this question is asked regarding the worthiness of any to enter into the kingdom of heaven once it’s established on planet Earth, since it will depose the kingdom of darkness and the current “god of this world” (2 COR 4:4). While the focus is on Israel (“Jacob” in the next verse), it may apply to Gentiles as well, for by the end of the Beast’s reign, there will be a multitude beyond count who will have come to salvation in Christ (REV 7:13-14).
It's likely that many of these will have been martyred, but still, some Gentiles will have survived this incredibly awful era and make it through the 70th Week of Daniel without having taken the mark of the Beast (these are represented as “sheep” as opposed to the “goats” that are rejected by the LORD; MATT 25:34).
The criteria for “who may ascend into the hill of the LORD” seems to gel well with what is laid out for us in the Judgment of Sheep and Goats parable.
Clean hands indicates guiltless hands, hands that have not committed iniquity (PROV 6:17; ISA 1:15; 59:3). Purity of heart ensures that such a person will see GOD (in all of His glory! MATT 5:8). Yet perfect purity of heart (and clean hands as well) can only be accomplished by spiritual surgery by the Great Physician (EZEK 36:26; JOHN 3:3-10; 1 PET 1:23).
These prophecies of replacing hearts of stone with spiritual vitality in new hearts are in regards to Israel, yet the nation of the Messiah rejected Him, and this tragedy opened the door for us Gentiles to come to His Light (ISA 42:6; 49:6; 60:3), and these are represented in the “holy nation” who were “not a people” (1 PET 2:9-10) but are now the people of GOD, the church of the LORD Jesus Christ Who is our Head (EPH 4:15-16).
And these prophecies will in fact find their fulfillment on the blessed day that Israel nationally recognizes and receives their Messiah King upon His Second Advent, when He delivers them from the Beast who is intent on destroying them (ISA 63; ZECH 12; REV 19). On that day Israel will be reborn, just as we Gentiles are today, by placing faith in our Kinsman Redeemer (JOHN 1:12-17).
Amen, “[they] shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation”!
On that day, they shall know the LORD without exception – every descendent of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will know Y’shua, being born of His Spirit! He will fulfill the new covenant with His people, completely revoking (on a covenantal basis at any rate) the Law of Moses:
JEREMIAH 31:31-37The blessings of the LORD upon Israel His people will be unprecedented! They were blessed abundantly (not perfectly) if they obeyed the Law of Moses (and they did so, at best imperfectly). But now that Israel will be indwelt by the Spirit of GOD: which is the greatest of blessings, bar none! – they will find unparalleled blessing poured out upon them, fulfilling every covenant GOD made with them: the Abrahamic, the Davidic, the Land Covenants.
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- 32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." 35 Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): 36 "If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37 Thus says the LORD: "If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.
The land that Israel currently possesses is about the size of New Jersey, but the vast domain GOD promised them in the Abrahamic Covenant (from the river Nile to the Euphrates; GEN 15:18) is about the size of Texas, or about thirty-five times their current borders!
The fruitfulness of the land will be astounding, far surpassing even their present achievements (and even today, their crops help to supply Europe! They export flowers to Holland, technology to Japan! They now have oil and natural gas resources valued at over $15 billion). Not bad for a New Jersey-sized State!
Not just the land either: the people of Israel will become “as the sands of the sea” (GEN 22:17)! I believe that in the Millennial Reign every genetic deformity will be a thing of the past and that life will be extended into centuries, not decades, enabling Israel to repopulate (as well as their Gentile counterparts) the Earth in record time (ISA 65:18-25)!
Every aspect of the Davidic Covenant will be realized once the Greater David assumes His throne in Jerusalem (LUKE 1:31-33), with King David himself being His regent officer (JER 30:9)!
PSALM 24:6
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face. Selah.
For the better part of two thousand years, the Jewish people have not merely rejected Jesus, but have despised and even vilified Him! I remember when I was in the mission field back in 1987, and some folks were preaching the Gospel in nations and cities where there were dense populations of Jewish people.
They received more hatred and violent intent (and some action) from them than they did from Muslims who lived in those communities! Most Jews today are secular. There are some who espouse Buddhism, New Age mysticism, or Talmudic Judaism which is fraught with all kinds of unbiblical doctrines.
There are a scant few Jews who have true faith in their Messiah, but these numbers have been gradually growing over the years, and in this past decade, New Testaments in Hebrew have been mass produced, and purchased almost as fast as they’re stocked on the shelves of such ministries like One For Jesus!
Despite their abhorrent behavior towards their Messiah, GOD will not revoke His covenants with Abraham, with David and the Land covenant – they are unconditional, with only GOD Himself vowing to fulfill all the promises He made.
Because He is the GOD of truth, He can’t go back on his word, and He won’t. The honor of His Name (which the Jews have polluted) is at stake! Check out the entire chapter of EZEKIEL 36!
Also consider the TTUF article, GOD’s RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL.
Whether Jew or Gentile, man or woman, rich or poor, famous or obscure – no matter who you are, if you seek GOD, you will find Him! But you must seek Him in truth and wholeheartedness (JER 29:13). Seek GOD in the person of Christ:
2 CORINTHIANS 4:6Throughout human history the ordination of kings who assume their thrones have known considerable pomp and ceremony; some more glorious and replete with extravagance than others. But none of them will even come close to the glory, the majesty, the honor, the beauty of our LORD Jesus Christ when He enters into Jerusalem to take up His rightful place as Messiah King of Israel.
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
From that “City of Peace” the Prince of Peace shall reign over all the Earth!
PSALM 24:7-10
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.
Gates in Scripture often represents the idea of praise and worship, for just as one might “enter in” to a city by its gates, so too we enter into worship, into His presence by the one and only entry, the Way that is Christ Himself.
It’s because of His atonement, and His Spirit that we can even address GOD the Father, much more then to have our worship received by Him, to enjoy a relationship with Him as our Abba. It astounds me still (after more than four decades of being in the faith) that any time a child of GOD (though we are made of dust) receives an immediate audience with the King of Glory, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Supreme Sovereign Ruler of all things seen and unseen!
We have interaction with the One Who wields absolute and total knowledge, power, wisdom, insight, as well as love and peace from such a majestic, tender heart unparalleled by any other! Any who should oppose this one has reached the nadir of foolish and vain ambition! As the Broadway play is entitled, “Your Arm Is Too Short To Box With GOD!”
Yet this world is populated with such fools who will challenge the authority of the One Who sits at the right hand of the Father (PSA 2). The ridiculousness of that action is met with laughter from the One with Whom we have to do! He is the One Who will with but a word dismiss the entirety of the universe out of existence! And these pathetic specks of dust think that they can challenge the Word made flesh: the ultimate of absurd foolishness!
And when the showdown between GOD Incarnate and the ‘dust cloud’ of humanity being led by a mere fallen cherub finally comes together, “the LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle” is going to show them what war is all about!!
The collective spillage of blood with create a scarlet river nearly two hundred miles long and as deep as the height of a horse’s bridle!! There really won’t be any true “battle” at Armageddon – it will be a one-sided slaughter, where the righteous and holy King Jesus will mow down the enemies of Israel, His brethren as their Avenger of Blood!
“Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in”! Those doors that lead into the city of Jerusalem were ruined by the judgment of GOD upon rebellious Israel during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. They were ruined once again when Israel rejected her Messiah King by the Roman’s Fifth Army that laid waste to it all.
But the day is coming when those doors, those gates, will be everlasting, never to be ruined ever again! Indeed, the City of Peace will know Eternal Peace because the Eternal Prince of Peace shall reign forever, AND EVER! HALLELUJAH, FOREVER!!! (as Handel would put it)!
And as glorious as the Millennial Reign will be, GOD will take it up several notches when this old Earth (revived and replenished by the hand of GOD for those 1,000 years) will be dissolved along with the heavens (all of the elements that make up this universe) in a nuclear blast of cosmic proportions!
GOD will start from scratch in a new creation which we will be privileged to witness first hand (can we say, WOW!??) and we shall behold an eternal heavens and an eternal earth, and an eternal Jerusalem! Then the proclamation of our LORD will reach its final fulfillment, “Behold, I Make All Things New!”
Then we saints, along with all of the holy angels with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit “will live happily ever after (and that ain’t no fairy tale!)”!!
This concludes this TRIUMPHANT TRILOGY that has examined PSALMS 22,23 and 24!
Next time, we will look at:
JOHN 12,13,14
Until then, Keep your eyes on the skies and don’t believe the lies, the LORD Jesus Christ returns soon from on high!
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