Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter! Sermons
Sung on the entry of the ark into the ancient gates of the fortress of Jerusalem. The singers, two choirs of priests - the one bearing the ark, the other already stationed there as warders. First choir demanding admission; second reply from within, "Who is this King of glory?" The transaction may suggest and represent the appeal made for God's entrance into the heart of man. Then - I. THE LANGUAGE WOULD REPRESENT THE MIND OF MAN AS GOD'S TEMPLE. What views of our nature are suggested by such a representation? 1. The religious destination of man. A temple is built for religious uses and objects. So this is the grand destiny for which man is created - religion. Physical, intellectual, moral destiny. 2. Represents the mind as a sanctuary/or the Divine habitation. The glory of God dwelt between the cherubim; but man is God's grandest Shechinah. This is fully recognized and asserted in the New Testament, "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you;" "Ye are God's temple." II. GOD AS A GLORIOUS KING IS EVER SEEKING ADMISSION INTO OUR MINDS. 1. The King of glory assumes the attitude of a majestic suppliant. "Let the King come in." "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." Illustrates the voluntary nature of our relations with God. Wonderful! Infinity pleading with the finite; majesty supplicating meanness; holiness stooping before the unholy! 2. The purpose for which he seeks to occupy our minds. To draw us into friendship and harmony with himself, and to establish a glorious rule over us. We are incapable of self-rule, and cannot exist alone. And this is our proper and normal relation to him. III. THE EXERCISE OF MIND BY WHICH GOD IS ADMITTED INTO OUR NATURE. A lifting up of its powers - an elevation and expansion of them - in the following ways. 1. It is the reaching forth of our powers towards the Infinite Being. An effort to embrace our infinite and eternal concerns - a going forth out of the transient and visible into the everlasting and spiritual. 2. The active reception of God enlarges our best powers and affections. It enlarges and exalts love, will, and conscience. - S. Lift up your heads, O ye gates. It is generally admitted by expositors that these words have a secondary, if not a primary, reference to the return of the Mediator to heaven, when He had accomplished the work of human redemption. Bishop Horsley affirms that the Jehovah of this Psalm must be Christ; and the entrance of the Redeemer into the kingdom of His Father is the event prophetically announced. But you will say, Are we to rejoice in the departure of our Lord from His Church? Suppose that Christ had not been exalted to the right hand of God, would not the supposition materially affect our spiritual condition? The resurrection of Christ was both the proof and consequence of the completeness of His mediatorial work. If He had remained in the grave we could only have regarded Him as a man like one of ourselves: we could not have looked on Him as our substitute. It is easy to certify ourselves of the indispensableness of the resurrection, but why may not the risen Mediator remain with His Church? We reply, the reception of our nature, in the person of our surety, into heavenly places, was necessary to our comfort and assurance. So long as Christ remained on earth there was no evidence that He had won for our nature readmission to the paradise from which it had been exiled. If He had not returned to the Father we must always have feared that our redemption was incomplete. The plan of redemption was designed to reveal to the world the Trinity of the Godhead. There could not have been the thorough manifestation of the Divinity of the Son had not Christ ascended up on high. His ascension and exaltation may well furnish us with great matter of rejoicing. () "The King of glory" is our Lord Jesus Christ, as we acknowledge Him every morning in the Te Deum, "Thou art the King of glory, O Christ." He is the King of glory, the Giver and Owner of life and glory; the Brightness of His Father's glory and the express Image of His Person. That holy Son had on the day of His incarnation emptied Himself of His glory for a while, and had become like unto the meanest of His creatures. On the day of His crucifixion He offered up all His humiliation, for a sacrifice to His Father; on His resurrection day He showed Himself ready to take His glory again; and on this ascension day He actually took it. The King of glory is Christ the Lord of Hosts, and the gates which He commands to be opened to Him are the gates of heaven — the gates of His own chief city, to which He is returning as David returned to Jerusalem, after His triumphant warfare against His and our enemies. He returns, as the Lord mighty in battle, having bruised Satan under His feet, first in His temptation, then in His passion on the Cross, lastly in His descent into hell. And as David came accompanied by his guards and soldiers, who had been fighting on his side, and could not but rejoice, as faithful and dutiful subjects, in their king's victory; so the Psalm represents the Son of David returning to the Father's right hand with a guard of angels; who, as they come near the holy and awful gate, cry aloud and say, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors." But why is the song repeated? Why are the everlasting gates invited to lift up their heads a second time? We may not pretend, here or in any place, to know all the meaning of the Divine Psalms. But what if the repetition of the verse was meant to put us in mind that our Saviour's ascension will be repeated also? He will not indeed die any more; death can no more have any dominion over Him; "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Neither, of course, can He rise again any more. But as He will come again at the end of the world, to judge the quick and the dead, so after that descent He will have to ascend again. Now observe the answer made this second time. Christ ascending the first time, to intercede for us at His Father's right hand, is called "the Lord mighty in battle." But Christ, ascending the second time, after the world hath been judged, and the good and bad separated forever, is called "the Lord of Hosts." Why this difference in His Divine titles? We may reverently take it, that it signifies to us the difference between His first and second coming down to earth, His first and second ascension into heaven. As in other respects His first coming was in great humility, so in this, that He came in all appearance alone. The angels were indeed waiting round Him, but not visibly, not in glory. "He trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him." He wrestled with death, hell, and Satan alone: alone He went up into heaven. Thus He showed Himself "the Lord mighty in battle," mighty in that single combat. But when He shall come down and go up the second time, He will show Himself "the Lord of Hosts." Instead of coming down alone, in mysterious silence, as in His wonderful incarnation, He will be followed by all the Armies of heaven. "The Lord my God will come, and all His saints with Him." "The Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints." Thus He will come down as the Lord of Hosts, and as the Lord of Hosts He will ascend again to His Father. After the judgment He will pass again through the everlasting doors, with a greater company than before; for He will lead along with Him, into the heavenly habitations, all those who shall have been raised from their graves and found worthy. This is Christ's second and more glorious ascension, in which He will be visibly and openly accompanied by the souls and bodies of the righteous, changed and made glorious, like unto His glorious body. The angels and saints will come with Him from heaven, and both they and all good Christians will return with Him thither. () II. THE SIMILAR SCENE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. The triumphal procession on palm Sunday. That procession could boast but few circumstances of dignity and majesty. III. THE SPIRITUAL PASSAGE OF CHRIST BY FAITH INTO THE STRONGHOLD OF THE HEART OF MAN. 1. The heart is susceptible of comparison in many particulars with the literal city of Jerusalem. 2. The remedy is to be found in admission of Christ into the heart. He alone can thoroughly cleanse the desecrated temple. 3. Therefore lay aside your pride and self-righteousness, and become Christ's disciples. IV. THE SECOND ADVENT IS HASTENING FORWARD. That progress is to be triumphant in character. Its issue must be certain victory. ()
People David, Jacob, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Age-during, Ancient, Doors, Eternal, Everlasting, Gates, Glory, Heads, Lift, Lifted, OOutline 1. God's Lordship in the world
3. The citizens of his spiritual kingdom
7. An exhortation to receive him
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 24:7 5299 door Psalm 24:7-8 1045 God, glory of Psalm 24:7-10 5323 gate Library A Great Question and Its Answer
'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in His holy place?'--PSALM xxiv. 3. The psalm from which these words are taken flashes up into new beauty, if we suppose it to have been composed in connection with the bringing of the Ark into the Temple, or for some similar occasion. Whether it is David's or not is a matter of very small consequence. But if we look at the psalm as a whole, we can scarcely fail to see that some such occasion underlies it. So just exercise your imaginations …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureThe God who Dwells with Men
'Lift up your heads, O ye gates: and be ye lift up, ye 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 ye gates; even lift them up, ye 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.' --PSALM xxiv. 7-10. This whole psalm was probably composed at the time of the bringing of the ark into the city of Zion. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Ascension of Messiah to Glory
Lift up your head, 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. T he institutions of the Levitical law were a "shadow" or "sketch" of good things to come. They exhibited a faint and general outline …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 June the Fifteenth the King's Guests
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?" --PSALM xxiv. Who shall be permitted to pass into the sanctuary of the cloud, and have communion with the Lord in the holy place? "He that hath clean hands." These hands of mine, the symbols of conduct, the expression of the outer life, what are they like? "Your hands are full of blood." Those hands had been busy murdering others, pillaging others, brutally ill-using their fellow-men. We may do it in business. We may do it in conversation. We may do …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year Climbing the Mountain
Behold, then, before your eyes believer, the hill of God; it is a high hill even as the hill of Bashan, on the top thereof is that Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all; that rest "To which our laboring souls aspire, With fervent pangs of strong desire." This mount of which we speak is not Mount Sinai, but the chosen hill whereon are gathered the glorious company of angels, the spirit of the just made perfect, the Church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven. And we are …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 7: 1861 For Ascension Day. --Ps. xxiv.
For Ascension Day.--Ps. xxiv. Lift up your heads, ye gates! and wide Your everlasting doors display; Ye angel-guards, like flames divide And give the King of Glory way. Who is the King of Glory?--He, The Lord, omnipotent to save; Whose own right arm, in victory Led captive death, and spoil'd the grave. Lift up your heads, ye gates! and high Your everlasting portals heave; Welcome the King of Glory nigh; Him must the heaven of heavens receive. Who is the King of Glory?--who? The Lord of Hosts;-behold …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns Letter Xliv Concerning the Maccabees but to whom Written is Unknown.
Concerning the Maccabees But to Whom Written is Unknown. [69] He relies to the question why the Church has decreed a festival to the Maccabees alone of all the righteous under the ancient law. 1. Fulk, Abbot of Epernay, had already written to ask me the same question as your charity has addressed to your humble servant by Brother Hescelin. I have put off replying to him, being desirous to find, if possible, some statement in the Fathers about this which was asked, which I might send to him, rather …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux The Influence of the King James Version on English Literature
THE Bible is a book-making book. It is literature which provokes literature. It would be a pleasure to survey the whole field of literature in the broadest sense and to note the creative power of the King James version; but that is manifestly impossible here. Certain limitations must be frankly made. Leave on one side, therefore; the immense body of purely religious literature, sermons, expositions, commentaries, which, of course, are the direct product of the Bible. No book ever caused so much discussion …
McAfee—Study of the King James Bible His Future Work
The Lord Jesus Christ, who finished the work on earth the Father gave Him to do, who is now bodily present in the highest heaven, occupying the Father's throne and exercising His priesthood in behalf of His people, is also King. To Him belongeth a Kingdom and a kingly Glory. He has therefore a kingly work to do. While His past work was foretold by the Spirit of God and His priestly work foreshadowed in the Old Testament, His work as King and His glorious Kingdom to come are likewise the subjects …
A. C. Gaebelein—The Work Of Christ The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Father and the Son. ...
The Holy Spirit in relation to the Father and the Son. Under this heading we began by considering Justin's remarkable words, in which he declares that "we worship and adore the Father, and the Son who came from Him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels that attend Him and are made like unto Him, and the prophetic Spirit." Hardly less remarkable, though in a very different way, is the following passage from the Demonstration (c. 10); and it has a special interest from the …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching Dialogue ii. --The Unconfounded.
Eranistes and Orthodoxus. Eran.--I am come as I promised. 'Tis yours to adopt one of two alternatives, and either furnish a solution of my difficulties, or assent to what I and my friends lay down. Orth.--I accept your challenge, for I think it right and fair. But we must first recall to mind at what point we left off our discourse yesterday, and what was the conclusion of our argument. Eran.--I will remind you of the end. I remember our agreeing that the divine Word remained immutable, and took …
Theodoret—The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret The Impossibility of Failure.
"But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak: for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward His name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister. And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end: that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews The Christian Business World
Scripture references: Proverbs 22:29; Romans 12:11; Psalms 24:1; 50:10-12; Haggai 2:8; Psalm 49:6,10,16,17; 62:10; Matthew 13:22; Mark 10:23,24; Job 31:24-26; Proverbs 3:9; Matthew 25:14-30; 24:45-51; 6:19-21; Luke 12:16-21. THE IDEAL IN THE BUSINESS WORLD There is often a wide difference between the methods actually employed in doing business and when they should be. Good men who are in the thick of the battle of competition and rivalry with other firms in the same line of trade, are the quickest …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian Letter Xlviii to Magister Walter De Chaumont.
To Magister [75] Walter de Chaumont. He exhorts him to flee from the world, advising him to prefer the cause and the interests of his soul to those of parents. MY DEAR WALTER, I often grieve my heart about you whenever the most pleasant remembrance of you comes back to me, seeing how you consume in vain occupations the flower of your youth, the sharpness of your intellect, the store of your learning and skill, and also, what is more excellent in a Christian than all of these gifts, the pure and innocent …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux The Glory of Penitents and Pious People.
Who are they that compose yonder bright multitude? They are headed by a queen who does not wear a virgin's crown; and yet, she is so beautiful, and enjoys so intimate a union with Jesus. Who is she? She is Mary Magdalen, the bright queen of Penitents, and the star of hope to all who have grievously sinned in this world. She was once a sinner, and such a sinner! Her soul was the home of seven devils! She was a hireling of Satan, to catch the souls of men. But a flash of light came forth from the Heart …
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven Sense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son.
For whereas man sinned, and is fallen, and by his fall all things are in confusion: death prevailed from Adam to Moses (cf. Rom. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. Ps. xlix. 12), while the devil was exulting against us;--then God, in His loving-kindness, not willing man made in His own image to perish, said, Whom shall I send, and who will go?' (Isa. vi. 8). But while all held their peace, the Son [441] said, …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations Question of the Division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative
I. May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Augustine, De Consensu Evangelistarum, I., iv. 8 " Tractatus, cxxiv. 5, in Joannem II. Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a sufficient one? S. Augustine, Of the Trinity, I., viii. 17 I May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Gregory the Great says[291]: "There are two kinds of lives in which Almighty God instructs us by His Sacred Word--namely, the active and …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life The King --Continued.
The second event recorded as important in the bright early years is the great promise of the perpetuity of the kingdom in David's house. As soon as the king was firmly established and free from war, he remembered the ancient word which said, "When He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there" (Deut. xii. 10, 11). His own ease rebukes him; he regards his tranquillity …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David Destruction of Jerusalem Foretold.
^A Matt. XXIV. 1-28; ^B Mark XIII. 1-23; ^C Luke XXI. 5-24. ^a 1 And Jesus went out from the temple [leaving it to return no more], and was going on his way; and his disciples came to him ^b as he went forth ^a to show him the buildings of the temple. ^b one of his disciples saith unto him, Teacher, behold, what manner of stones and what manner of buildings! ^c 5 And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said [The strength and wealth of the temple roused …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Election Confirmed by the Calling of God. The Reprobate Bring Upon Themselves the Righteous Destruction to which they are Doomed.
1. The election of God is secret, but is manifested by effectual calling. The nature of this effectual calling. How election and effectual calling are founded on the free mercy of God. A cavil of certain expositors refuted by the words of Augustine. An exception disposed of. 2. Calling proved to be free, 1. By its nature and the mode in which it is dispensed. 2. By the word of God. 3. By the calling of Abraham, the father of the faithful. 4. By the testimony of John. 5. By the example of those who …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Psalm 24:7 NIV
Psalm 24:7 NLT
Psalm 24:7 ESV
Psalm 24:7 NASB
Psalm 24:7 KJV
Psalm 24:7 Bible Apps
Psalm 24:7 Parallel
Psalm 24:7 Biblia Paralela
Psalm 24:7 Chinese Bible
Psalm 24:7 French Bible
Psalm 24:7 German Bible
Psalm 24:7 Commentaries
Bible Hub
|
