Advent 2 Midweek - 2013 - Psalm 24

Psalm 24

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.^[a] 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! 

Revelation 5:6-10

⁶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. ⁸ And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
¹⁰ and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

¹³ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the readings just read, along with the words of hymn 339, Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors. 

Christmas is coming, God is coming to be more clear.  And as he comes, who is worthy?  “Who is it that shall ascend to the hill of the Lord?” asks our psalm.  In other words, who is that is worthy to enter the temple, to be in the presence of God?  Who is deserving and praiseworthy enough for God?

Its not you, and its not me.  The psalm tells us what requirements there are to stand in the “holy place of God.”  You must have “clean hands and a pure heart.”  You must not “lift up your soul to what is false, or swear deceitfully.”  And your life does not match up with what this text says.  You are not clean by hand or action, and you are certainly not pure of heart.  This list in our psalm is not a long list, but still we’ve failed at these few commands. 

Your hands are not clean.  What sins have they committed.  Have they committed adultery?  Have they stolen, have they hurt or harmed your neighbor?  They have.  In fact you hands of done things that would make your family blush if they knew of them.  You’ve committed sin by your deeds.  The guilt is yours.  And in addition your heart is not clean, for the sins of your heart are really what made your hands unclean themselves.  You desire sin at every turn.  You seek to serve not God, but to serve yourself.  To make yourself happy in this life by the works of your hand.  Your heart desires not the things of God, but only the things of this world.  For you, dear friend, are a sinner. 

No, you are not worthy to ascend to God’s holy mountain.  You are not worthy to receive blessings from the Lord, nor righteousness from the God of salvation.  Instead, all you and I desire is condemnation, death, punishment and hell – forever. 

And yet there is one who is worthy, there is one who can ascend the mountain of God, one who is perfect both in action and in heart.  One whose righteousness passes all our understanding.  And it is for this one that we wait with anticipation.  It’s for this one that we sang the words of our hymn today.  “Who is this King of great and glorious fame?  What is His name?  Lord God of Sabaoth!  Of whom the prophets wrote, whose chosen humble steed declares him king indeed!  Hosana Lord!  Messiah come and save from sin and grave!” 

It’s Jesus, the coming one, who is worthy.  For it is He who is perfect in purity of heart and in cleanness of hand.  It is he who may ascend God’s holy mountain, to enter into his presence, for he has first ascended the mountain of God’s wrath.  It’s He who taking your sins, bore them to Golgotha, where all the judgment and wrath of God was poured out upon him.  It is there that your death became his, and his life became yours.  It’s on the cross that God punished your guilt.  It’s there that the worthy Christ suffered and died in your place. 

“Worthy is Christ!  The lamb who once was slain!”  And he gives that worthiness to you, in water and the word.  You now belong to God.  You now inherit heaven.  In Jesus your identity is not that of a sinner with unclean hands and un pure heart.  But instead in Jesus your identity is a holy child of God, who is fully forgiven and holy forever in God’s sight.  You are ransomed by the blood of God’s Son.

Rejoice!  O Zion’s daughter sing!  The gates of heaven lift up their heads to Christ who enters in.  And you follow in his train.  Hosana!  Blessed is He and all who come with him and in him.  Blessed are you, who belong to Christ, even forevermore.  For He is the King of glory!  The Lord of hosts!  Forevermore!  Amen.