November 25, 2007 Christ the King Sunday
Sermon Title: “Who Is This King of Glory?”
Series: None
Text: Psalm 24:1-10
Dr. Steve Jackson
Delivered on November 25, 2007
“Who is this King of Glory?” Psalm 24:8
Who Is This King of Glory?
Today is the final Sunday of the year on the liturgical church calendar. It’s called Christ the King Sunday and it’s the day when we celebrate the reign of Christ in our hearts and we anticipate the coming reign of Christ in the world. There’s a sense in which every sermon, on every Sunday, for the past year we’ve been building towards this day. We started way back last December when the church year began with the season of Advent and the expectation of the coming King (a cycle that will begin again next Sunday, since next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. Then in the season of Christmas we celebrated Jesus’ birth. In the winter and early spring we looked at Jesus’ life and teachings. And then, at Easter, we heard again about his passion, death and resurrection and how what Christ did for us in those acts impacts each one of our lives. Then Pentecost arrived and, guided by the Holy Spirit, we learned more about Jesus’ teachings and his claims about himself. Right on up until today, this final Sunday of the church year where we ask, “Who Is the King of Glory?” Who is this God we claim to know, love, and serve?
A fifth grade teacher in a Christian school had an unusual assignment for her class. She asked her students to use television commercials to see if they somehow convey ideas about God and provide clues to His identity. Here are some of the results from the kids:
God is like a FORD ... He’s got a better idea.
God is like COKE ... He’s the real thing.
God is like HALLMARK CARDS ... He cares enough to send His very best.
God is like TIDE ... He gets the stains out that others leave behind.
God is like GENERAL ELECTRIC ... He brings good things to life.
God is like SEARS ... He has everything.
God is like your AMERICAN EXPRESS
card …Don’t leave home without Him!
God is like ALKA-SELTZER ... Oh, what a relief He is!
God is like SCOTCH TAPE ... You can’t see him, but you know He’s there.
God is like DELTA ... He’s ready when you are.
God is like ALLSTATE ... You’re in good hands with Him.
God is like VO-5 HAIR SPRAY ... He holds through all kinds of weather.
God is like DIAL SOAP ... Aren’t you glad you have Him? Don’t you wish
everybody did?
Not bad, huh? But I think we can answer the question, “Who is this King of Glory?” even better, and certainly more biblically using today’s Scripture, the 24th Psalm.
By way of
background, Psalm 24 is a song of praise attributed to David, the chosen king
of
The psalm was probably
originally composed to be used as a processional hymn that was recited
responsively between the people carrying the ark and the gatekeepers of the
temple. Scholars believe that as the ark was processed up the hill to the
Others see the psalm operating on another level as well. They see it as being about the ascension of Christ into heaven and the welcome given to Him there. When Jesus finished his work on earth he ascended in the clouds of heaven (Dan. 7:13-14, Acts 1:9-11). The gates of heaven must then have been opened to him, those “ancient doors” which had been securely shut since the Fall of man recorded back in Genesis chapter 3. Jesus found them still shut, but, since he had made atonement for sin by the shedding of his blood after a sinless life, He gained the right to enter into the holy place (Heb. 9:12). Thus he demanded entrance as one having authority, “Lift up your heads, O you gates!” His approach was no doubt magnificent and stunning, and so it’s the angels in this understanding of the story who are asking, “Who is this King of glory?” According to Revelation 21:12 it’s angels who are the gatekeepers at the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. The Good News, of course, is that the ancient gates did open, and Jesus did enter as the forerunner of all who would follow after him as believers. By his sacrifice Jesus gained access not only for himself, but for all those who follow him as Lord.
The Psalm also
operates on a third level, that of Christ’s entrance into our souls by his word
and Spirit, that we may be each be made his temple. Christ’s presence in our
souls functions like the ark did in ancient
Given these three different interpretations of the psalm, what do we learn about the king of Glory? Who is this King of Glory? How can he be described? If someone were to ask you on the way home this afternoon, “You say you went to church today? Who is this God you worship?” What would you say? Here’s what the psalm teaches us.
He is LORD of all
First of all, based on this psalm you could begin talking about Jesus by saying He is LORD of all. The first two verses tell us that, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it…” Simply put, everything belongs to Him, He is sovereign Lord of all. We live in a God-created, God-saturated world. God is everywhere, you can’t escape Him.
Now clearly everyone doesn’t believe that God is the Lord of earth and heaven. They’ve got a host of ideas about how things came to be as they are—or else they believe that none of life has any real order or significance. The world, to them, is just a bunch of random chaos with no central organizing intelligence or Being behind it. But the fact that people don’t believe something is true doesn’t mean it isn’t true does it?
Many believers I’ve spoken with tell me that getting beyond this initial hurdle of being able to describe God as “Lord of all” was the hardest thing they had to do in their faith. They had to answer the question, “Is God really Lord of it all, or isn’t he?”
After all, most of us have little trouble thinking of Jesus as “savior.” That was the message of the angels in announcing His birth. A little over a month from now we’ll hear that wonderful passage read again: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Jesus as “Savior” is fundamental to our faith isn’t it? He has saved us from the penalties of our sin, becoming our “Savior.” (Matt. 1:21.) To become a Christian, one must acknowledge this and thus have him wash away our sins. “Savior,” of course! But what about “Lord?
We’ve got to remember that everything from the ‘saving moment’ on has to do with Him being Lord. If you call Christ “Lord,” it means—or should mean—that you have granted Him lordship over your entire life. You acknowledge Him as the one who has the right to control all of your actions, all of your thoughts, everything about you. In the words of one old famous preacher, “He is Lord of all, or He’s not Lord at all.”
He is HOLY
A second thing we can say about this King of Glory from this Psalm is that He is HOLY. That comes in verses 3-6 and comes in the form of a question and answer, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” (v. 3-4).
This one isn’t such a stretch for most folks to believe. Even the most un-spiritual, non-religious people will admit that at times they feel as though they are in the presence of something, or someone, holy.” This feeling of experiencing the chasm between ourselves and something “higher” or “better” or “purer” is common to the human experience. But it is hard to get our heads around the fact that God is absolutely perfect in all His ways. There is not a single blemish or flaw in God's character. God is never partial; He is never unfair; He never plays favorites. God is often referred to as the “Rock of salvation,” which means that the Lord is strong and stable and perfectly faithful.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that the requirement to “ascend the hill of the Lord” is that we’ve got to have clean hands, and a pure heart, and to not have worshipped false idols. That’s because holiness cannot take part in sin nor approve it in others. The Bible says God is so holy He can’t even stand to look upon sin.
That creates a problem for you and me, because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So how are we going to ascend the hill of the Lord? The only way we can do that is by claiming the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood in our life. That way when God looks at us he sees the faith and obedience of Jesus and counts it in our favor. We need an intermediary, and that intermediary between us and God is Jesus Christ.
He is ACCESSIBLE
Something that is often overlooked in this Psalm, and in our understanding of God is that He is ACCESSIBLE. The very act of asking the question “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord” and then having the answer provided is good news in the sense that God is accessible to us. This God is personal and accessible and he wants to be with you and me even more than we want to be with him. That’s why Jesus went all the way for us—all the way to death on a cross—to open up the access between us and God.
You know, we live in an impersonal age—a time when we have “our people” get with “your people” to set up a deal, or a luncheon, or whatever. But God wasn’t satisfied with starting the clock ticking on this world and walking away. He also wasn’t satisfied with just having his angels keep tabs on things here on earth for him. God is involved in your life and mine, and he wants to be involved. Even though it would seem as though God has bigger fish to fry than you or me, he takes the time to stoop down to earth and to really listen to us, and to care for us. And when he does, verses 5 and 6 say, we “receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.” Such is the generation of those who what???? “Who seek him” (v. 6).
Who is this King of Glory? His name is Jesus. It’s Jesus who has paid for our sin and who stands between us and a Righteous God. Only by Christ can our hands be clean and our heart pure; only by Christ can we refrain from lifting up our souls to an idol and swearing deceitfully. Cry out to God to grant you this faith in Christ. Go to Him, for He alone can save you.
And that is it. This is the life God has prepared for us. Who is this God of Glory? His name is Jesus, this time of the year we refer to him often as Immanuel, God-with-us -- a God so close to us we are included in the very name: God-with-us.
And perhaps that’s the best news of all for you to share with you friend who asks, “Who is this King of Glory?” Tell him or her that there is not one step in our life that we have to take alone. God is with us every step of the way, every moment we live, every place we find ourselves. And so as we learn to face the (sometimes painful) truths about ourselves, our lives and our relationships, we do not do this alone, we do it hand-in-hand with Immanuel, God-with-us. He is there to open our hearts when we are afraid, to soothe and hold us when we are in pain, to lift us up when we are oppressed and pushed down, to heal us when we are hurt and to forgive us when we sin. As we learn to listen and respond to God, Immanuel is with us, our courage, our friend, our teacher and our guide. As we ascend the hill of the Lord, the footprints beside our own are Immanuel's; and as we stand in the Lord's holy place and look up, we see none other than our Immanuel, our life's companion, seated on the throne of glory, smiling at us.
And so how do we begin such a life? It begins when we are able to answer that, “The Lord is strong and mighty, mighty in battle to save his people, and to subdue his and their enemies.”
Let me ask you a question as I close: Is he your King today? If not, cry out to Him to fill your heart with faith and praise to the Lord. Ask him to grant you ever-increasing faith in Christ. Go to Him, for He alone can save you. As Jesus himself said in Revelation, he’s standing there at the door to your heart knocking. Cry out to him today so He will come in and make his dwelling with you. He is faithful and he’ll do it if you ask. For He is the Lord, the Holy One, the Accessible One, the King of glory. Let’s pray.