Cross Road
Baptist Church
© 2017
Look Up!
7. Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up you 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.
Psalm 24:7-8
Look Up and Know God
This song of David begins with God and ends with God. The point of interest is that God is known in verse 1 as the Declared Owner of heaven and earth and yet God is unknown in verse 7 as the King of Glory. The question for us is who is this King of Glory? This requires a first “look up” on our part to discover what we do not know about God. When we look up to know God, we will learn that He is not only the Declared Owner but also He is God of every aspect of life; He is the King of Glory.
It is quite interesting that everyone has perceptions of God. Based on these perceptions they build their theology only to arrive at a limited understanding of the mercy and goodness of the Lord. Those with their own perceptions of God also find that problems look bigger than the God they have developed with their theology. That look up would bring people to the realization that they can never know God fully based on personal study. As our elders would say, “He is so high – you can’t get over Him, so low –you can’t get under Him.” We can only know God based on His Self Revelation.
What do I mean by the Self Revelation of God? If you study God and determine to know Him based on that study you will develop a theological perspective of God only; you will only have the study of God. While that is not bad, it cannot reveal all that we need to know about God. God must reveal Himself in His own way and on His own terms. Jesus declared, no one has seen God at any time, the Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1:18. This does not mean that we should not study our Bible and pray to understand God’s Will. Just know that as you study, the Holy Spirit teaches you what you ought to know about God. Flesh and blood is not revealing this to you, nor are you to lean on your own understanding. God is in you teaching you what you should know about Himself. Yes, it is only when you look up that you will truly know God.
That is why this prophetic psalm grabs our attention. While the psalm opens with God as Divine Owner, it asks a question that earth dwellers often ponder, who will ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who will stand in His holy place? Only those whose hands are clean and heart is pure will receive such blessings from God. Yet, even with that, we must seek the Lord by looking up. Notice in verse 6, this is the generation that seek Him. If we don’t seek God, we will never know Him, but even when we seek Him, we cannot know Him as we need to know Him. God must reveal Himself. God will reveal Himself, but we must look up.
Look Up and find Strength
Remember that it was in the heart of David to build a Temple for the Lord so that God would always be near. It was in the heart of David to bring up the Ark of God to Jerusalem, because he understood that God had given him victory over His enemies. For this reason, it is recorded in this psalm, Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up you everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. This prophetic Psalm was all about recognizing that God’s presence is near. God’s presence and God’s power had been revealed when struggles came. Now God’s presence was sought in every day living. Why do we need God’s presence? We need God because we are weak and frail when it comes to righteousness. Look at the struggles of this psalm. Now ask yourself, how many times you have struggled to keep clean hands and a pure heart? We live in a filthy world and you and I are forever trying to wash our hands so we don’t get defiled. The only people who don’t struggle with sin are those who have already given in to it or who just don’t care. I struggle and for that reason I constantly cry out, come on in King of Glory. I realize that every effort to make myself right will not work. But if I can get God close to me, He will see my struggle and give me strength to be what I need to be. If I can get close to God, He will lift up my head. If I can call on God, He will hear my cry and pity every groan as I strive to live holy.
The struggle would not be as bad if I did not have to fight every day. It seems that every day, the enemy of my soul has a new battle plan. Here is the point of truth. You need the King of Glory to keep you clean because the enemy of your soul wants you filthy and unfit to stand in the presence of God. The strength comes from God and not your own life. The power comes from God and not your own hands. You cannot slay the giant of sin and ungodliness on your own. You cannot win the battle in the Valley of Elah. God, your King must come to fight for you. The battle is not yours, it is the Lord’s. You don’t have enough strength or determination, but if the King of Glory is on the battlefield with you, nothing shall be impossible.
For the first time, lift up your head, O you gates. That means You lift up your head by taking your mind off of self. Closed gates to the city of your soul means you have shut out the only One that can help you. After all, your little city does not belong to you because you belong to the Lord. Why not let Him into the city of your soul in order to deliver you from your own destruction.
The more that people become self centered, the more they develop anti-God attitudes. They seek their own way, the defile themselves with all kinds of heinous practices and then wonder why their life is miserable. Don’t you think it is time to open the gates so that God can conquer, clean up, and cast out those destructive forces that are bringing you down? Do yourself a favor and open the gates.
For the second time lift up your head, O you gates. That also means you place your mind on the Lord. In our own little world we love to think of ourselves as stars in our life movie. First, this is not a game and life is not about acting a role. It is a battle between life and death, good and evil. You either live right or die wrong. When you lift up your eyes and behold the Goodness of the Lord, it will change your outlook as you look up. Life is so much better to live with a God purpose than to live for self esteem. It is so much better to seek the Glory of God than to seek honor for self. One of our biggest battles will be the conquering of our own soul. Jesus said, pray that you do not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
For the third time, lift up your head, O you gates. That means that God will make His presence known. Here is the wonderful part of this entire Psalm. God had said to David, “I have never asked for a place to reside among men.” God yearns to bless mankind, and yet He is so humble that He never imposes Himself on us. All of David’s life, God had followed him and delivered him from many obstacles, but had never asked for a place to abide. When David brought the Ark of God to Zion, he not only wanted God near, he wanted to provide a permanent place for God’s presence. That is awesome. David was literally saying to God, “please stay with me.”
Look Up and Live
Have you ever had someone to visit you and when they prepared to go, you wanted them to stay longer? It is that way with God. David realized that life was impossible without the King of Glory. He said to himself, God was with me when I was in the wilderness. God was with me when I faced the giant Goliath. God was with me when I ran over into the Philistines country. God was with me when the raiders took my family hostage. God was with me to bring them back safe and sound. God has been with me every morning when I wake up. God is with me with every step I take. Every time I look up, God is there. Since God is with me, I need to prepare a place for Him. Since I know that He desires clean hands and a pure heart to worship Him, let me prepare a place for Him.
When David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the City of Zion, the priests and Levites were stationed at the gates of the City. As David danced with all his might before the Lord, he saw that the City gates closed. Then David announced to the priests and Levites on the wall, Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up you everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. The problem is, they did not know the Lord the way David knew the Lord. And so, the Psalmist asked the question that was on their minds. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. It is as simple as this. You don’t know like I know what He’s done for me. But if you open the gates of your mind, I will tell you about the goodness of the Lord. If you open the gates of your heart, the same King of Glory that filled me with the Holy Ghost will fill you. If you open the gates of your understanding, God will show you great and mighty things that you did not know. Open the Gates and let the King of Glory come in.
Whenever the Gates are open, God shows up and shows out. Throughout time, people have been reminded to look up. When Israel was in bondage in Egypt, God sent Moses down to Egypt to open the Gates. Pharaoh did not want Moses to open the Gates, but God opened them anyway. The Gates were open to bring the Children of God out of bondage.
Whenever the Gates are open, God shows up and shows the way. Not only did God make a way for the Israelites to come out of bondage. God had provided for King David in the day of battle. That is why David called God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. If the enemy fights me alone, the enemy will win every time; but if the enemy fights God, God will win every time. First, the battle is not mine, it belongs to the Lord. Second, since I am on the Lord’s side there is no weapon formed against me that can prosper. Third, since I open the Gates to the Lord, God will defend the place where He dwells. I must always ask God to abide with me. Open the Gates.
Lastly, the Church needs to open the Gates in perilous times. It is a sad day when you have Church folk thinking that guns can protect them. Someone asked, “what good is a gun a bomb?” The Church has only one defense: God Almighty. Put your trust in the Living God and allow Him to protect Zion. He is the King of Glory … The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.