Devotional Short Note to Psalm 24: Whereas Psalm 23 is about the Messiah as Shepherd, this Psalm is about the Messiah as Recreator and Warrior. Most translations translated the future verbs of 24:2 as past tense trying to show that God was the Creator of this earth and therefore the earth is the Lord’s in 24:1. It seems as if David wants to go beyond what is already common ground: God did create this world of ours but something is wrong and the question is, is God still in control of this world or what is going on? The answer unfolds as David uses the hiphil causative verbs in verse 2. The earth is the Lord’s, he says in 24:1. The people on the earth as well. The reason is underlined in what He is going to do in future with this world: “for He will cause it to be founded (Hiphil) upon the seas, and will cause it to be established (Hiphil) upon the floods”. It is probably the reason why Revelation 21:1 says that when the new heaven and new earth will be created “there is no longer sea”. There is a nuance embedded here that David wants us not to miss. One may argue that grammatically in narrative genres like Genesis, a past is used and then a future in form with the meaning of a past in the second part of a sentence. This is poetry and not narratives. Poetry is not only about existential and ontological day to day life experiences, it is also about what happened in the remote past and what will happen in the Eschaton or End-times. It sometimes speaks of Creation, Heaven and Hell and beyond. This Psalm is one of those. David is saying that now we are living in this world and we are the Lord’s and the world also, not because of a past event of creation which was so-called lost to evil, but to a future plan of God to recreate this earth. In that new earth and new heaven belonging to this earth, “Who shall ascend on the mountain of the Lord?” (24:3a). David asks, once we reach this point in prophetic events, who will qualify to stand on mount Zion before the Lord? “Who will stand in His holy place/sanctuary?” (24:3b). There is going to be sanctuary in heaven in the sense that the Trinity’s presence is the “holy place”. Revelation 21:22 says the same message: “and I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple”. We are dealing with a serious Q & A here, question and answer: who is fit to approach God then from the remnant on the new earth? Answer: people perfected in Christ. “He that has clean handpalms (kaphim) and a pure heart. Who has not taken My name in vain and has not sworn to deceive” (24:4a-c). This perfect person also kept the ninth commandment carefully. It is basically keeping the ten commandments since a pure heart and not using the Lord’s name in vein are the first four commandments and clean hands and not making false promises are the six others. Only a perfect person can enter into God’s presence in heaven. That is what David says here. David knew that it was possible to be perfect in his time since Job was and earlier Henoch was and others. He knew that it is possible to have a perfect relationship with the Lord, to be spiritually perfect. The bodies are ageing and sighing but the spiritual life is perfect. ‘Nothing between me and my Lord’- people. It is this person with a perfect relationship with the Lord, a total surrender to God unconditionally, “He [and she] shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from God of his salvation” (24:5). Nicodemus’ rebirth requirement is in mind here, namely that salvation by justification of Christ’s righteousness on behalf of the sinner is a crucial ingredient of this successful perfection (24:5b). His/her salvation is “from God” (me-elohey). But while we are living now, before that glorious day come of successful graduation, the tires needs some mileage first. They need to be worn-out for God. An ingredient of this successful perfection is “such is the generation of them that seek after Him” (24:6a). “the ones seeking Your face, Jacob [as template for the Time of Jacob’s Trouble]”. The word Jacob almost does not fit the sentence. And just before the citation break of selah, David placed Jacob since he was in agony that night when he wrestled with the Lord (angel of the Lord) and after the Door of Mercy closes in the near future, and perfection is sealed after the Latter Rain, saints will experience the same agony of Jacob since the Mediator has finished His work and is making ready to come. These qualify for the new heaven and earth, says David. Then in 24:7-10, after the selah marker, David moved to a new scene, this time after the millennium. At that time Hell will take place. Christ the Warrior destroys all evil including Satan by the power of His word and without military hardware. Psalm 46 depicts the same scene. When He comes back to the New Jerusalem, the saints inside the city calls: “Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, everlasting doors [why everlasting? It is the New Jerusalem, no earthly one] that the King of glory may come in”. Some claimed that it is the entry of the ark into the tabernacle or Temple in David and Solomon’s time, but this is not possible. The King of Glory is the Messiah which received His kingship after the Door of Mercy closed and His intercessory work as heavenly Advocate on converts behalf seized. This king of glory is Christ the Messiah (24:8a). It is the Warrior Messiah Christ since it says: “The Lord is strong and mighty, the Lord is mighty in battle” (24:8). David’s battles? No. The Day of the Lord battle. Hell. It is then repeated and the angelic host is also mentioned before the citation note selah appears concluding this citation in 24:10.
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