WHO IS THIS KING OF GLORY?
Psalm 24
“The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”
As the Creator of the cosmos, God has every right to set the rules, but the question, “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?” also implies worthiness—what is the kind of person who is worthy to stand before God? The answer is an answer to the eternal question, what has true and intrinsic value?
If we understand the question as above, that it is about intrinsic value and worth, then we must not understand “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” as merely ceremonial; clean and pure must be ethical terms reflecting the outer lifestyle and the inner life of a person. Coupled with the clause about false gods, one is reminded of the thrust of the 10 commandments. In God’s universe, true worth and value lie in God himself. Who may ascend and stand in God’s holy place? Only God himself and those who reflect the essence of who he is.
To a world that is obsessed with power, and the use of external garments to cover flaws and project beauty and superiority, “clean hands and pure hearts” are mundane and trivial compared to more exotic possibilities. But in due time, these are the ones who “will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior.”
As the herald’s voice resound throughout the chamber, asking “Who is this King of glory?”, the congregation responds “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Again, “Who is this King of glory?” and the congregation replies, “The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory.”
God is no doting grandfather, obsessing over the little details of our lives, caring that we are well-fed, well-equipped and well-protected. We need to get our minds off ourselves and onto him who is Lord of all that exists. Nothing we have or can do can ever match the majesty of the Lord Almighty. And so true worth is found in him and the true value of our lives is measured by how we reflect him and serve his purposes.
In the light of who he is then, we are called to lift up our heads, both to see Him as well as to draw strength and purpose from Him, to let him enter into our realm so that our actions and our hearts have significance beyond the temporal nature of our existence, in the eternal realm of the divine.
“Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory.”