Somehow, the sections of this psalm always seemed so disjointed to me. The first section is about the Lord making the whole world. The middle section is about holiness being necessary to come into God's presence. And the third part is "Lift up your heads" which shows up in many Advent hymns, and thus seemed to me to refer to getting our hearts ready for Christ's coming. The pietist in me sure saw this psalm as referring to our efforts at spirituality.
But what if verse 3 ("Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?") is connected to verses 7 & 9 about "lift up your heads, o gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in"? If Jesus is the one with "clean hands and a pure heart," then He is the one who "may ascend into the hill of the Lord." Jesus is the one who receives blessing and righteousness from God. So --yoohoo-- somebody meets the requirements for coming into the holy place [in the middle section of the psalm] and therefore, naturally, the doors need to be opened for Him [the last section].
In addition, He may stand in the holy place --He may enter into God's presence [the middle section] with the blood of atonement-- because He is the one who is "strong and mighty in battle," the one who fights, the one who defeats the enemy [the last section].
Hey, maybe this psalm hangs together a little more than I thought for the past few decades!
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Susan,
ReplyDeleteGood questions. You are not the first to ask along these lines.
My grandfather was a "Bronze Age LCMS" pastor. This is what he preached on this text at an Advent vespers service in 1958:
"My friends, who is sufficient for these things? Who can scale these towering heights -- clean hands, pure heart? Who shall abide the blaze of His glory?
"The God of all grace and mercy has made this possible. For we hear the response: 'He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of His Salvation.'
" 'Righteousness from the God of His Salvation.' He Christ, Child of Mary and God's Son, is the Lord our Righteousness. 'Thou shalt call His name, Jesus' -- Savior. 'For He shall save His people from their sins.'
"Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? We ascend as those who receive, and not as those who merit. Jesus took the burden of our sins upon Himself, became poor so that we might become exceedingly rich in God's great love. 'Ah Lord, who hast created all, How weak art Thou, how poor and small.' -- 'He will Himself your Savior be, from all your sins to set you free.' "
Pastor Jerry Gernander (ELS)