Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully.  

Psalm 24:3-4 (ESV)

Lori’s father recently passed away – thank you for your expressions of love and support.  I explained to our five-year-old grandson that we would not be able to visit his great grandfather, Papa Gary, at his home anymore because Papa Gary went to heaven to live with Jesus.  He processed the information during a long pause, the wheels in his brain were turning vigorously, and then asked the most important question anyone can ask: “How did he do that?” 

The remarkable little guy quickly processed the information and asked the question every human longs to have answered – how do we go to where God is and live in that place with Him?  What do we need to do to gain the privilege of approaching God and once we approach, how do we stay in His holy presence?  What gives us the right to do either, much less both?  This is life’s greatest question, and it was uttered by a child during his first semester of kindergarten.  It is no accident that Jesus tells us unless we turn and be like children we will not enter the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 18:3).  Jesus also tells us that prophets from long ago longed to hear, see and know the message we have readily before us (see Matthew 13:17).

Before considering the how, perhaps we should back up and question who has the amazing privilege of approaching God, and after approaching Him, who has the privilege of staying in His holy presence?  Who are we to approach God? 

Our answer depends on our view of God and our view of ourselves.  If we, like many people, exalt ourselves and view ourselves as far closer to deity than we are, and by so doing, perceive God as something more like us than He is, we might convince ourselves that we have every right to approach Him simply because of who we are.  But when we see God for who He is – the holy, almighty Creator of everything, the One who spoke the universe into existence out of nothing, the One who breathes the breath of life, the One who is love, life and light, the One whose glory is so radiant and powerful if we were to see His face it would destroy us – when we appreciate who He is and recognize our relative nothingness, we see that we have no right on our own to approach God.

God’s holiness, purity, radiance and power are beyond our ability to imagine, and He hates sin (see Jude 1:22-23).  He cannot even look at sin (see Habakkuk 1:13), and every human is sinful (see Romans 3:23).  So what are we to do?  How might sinful humans approach God, who is radiant, pure and divine, who is holy, who is unable to even look at sin?

Psalm 24 tells us that only people with clean hands and a pure heart may approach God and stay in His holy presence.  But who has clean hands and pure heart?  No one.  No human is good.  Every human is unclean, impure, sinful.  Even the most righteous human is dirty and unfit to enter God’s holy presence.  The prophet Isaiah writes, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6 ESV).  Only God is good.  But God sees us as pure and clean when washed by Jesus Christ's blood.  We must be born again, which is an act of God, not an act we can accomplish.  So we pray, begging God to transform us, begging Christ Jesus to deliver us, recognizing we are nothing without Him and we can do nothing to earn His holy favor.  While receiving his holy grace, we must engage in relationship with Christ Jesus.  This is the only way. 

It is remarkable that King David composed Psalm 24, laying out the gospel of Christ Jesus, a thousand years before Jesus.  Let’s look at the psalm, which begins by reminding us of who God is.  He is the One who created everything and who owns everything.  Psalm 24 begins saying,

A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.  Psalm 24:1-2 (ESV)

The earth and everything on it belongs to God because He is God, and He designed and created it all.  This thought runs throughout Scripture.  In the Book of Job, God says,

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.  Job 41:11 (ESV)

In Leviticus 25, God presents rules relating to sabbath rest, discussing the Sabbatical Year (every seven years people should allow their fields to rest) and Year of Jubilee (every fifty years, liberty is proclaimed throughout the land: slaves are freed, everyone takes a year off work, and ownership of land is returned to the original owner).  At verse 23 God says,

The land is not to be permanently sold because it is Mine, and you are only foreigners and temporary residents on My land.  Leviticus 25:23 (ESV)

God says, “It is Mine.” When the Israelites conquered Canaan, they took possession of land that did not belong to them. It belonged (and belongs) to God. That fact had significant consequences regarding the way the Israelites treated land. They could sell land only according to God’s rules since He was the owner. Furthermore, when they sold land, they were not really selling it. The transaction appeared more like a sublease because they were not the owners in the first place – they were merely tenants taking care of the land for its Owner.

The land and everything else belong to God.  He designed it.  He created it.  He owns it, and He is in control.  So, when Jesus calmed the sea, it was a remarkable demonstration of His divine nature.  In Matthew we read,

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”  Matthew 8:23-27 (ESV)

Everything belongs to God and is subject to God’s control, including people.  People also belong to God. At Leviticus 25:55 God says,

For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.  Leviticus 25:55 (ESV)

The Hebrew word translated as “servants” in the ESV may also be translated as “slave.”  A few translations choose the word “slaves,” saying, “For the Israelites are my slaves.” The land belongs to God and the people belong to God. We do not even own ourselves. So when Jesus calls us to serve Him as slaves, creating a master - servant relationship, He is treading familiar territory, making yet another claim on His divinity.

Followers of Jesus belong to Him. Paul writes,

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

In the commentary Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Allan Moseley writes,

If God owns everything and we own nothing, what do we do with the stuff we have? How do we relate to it? The stuff is not ours; it belongs to God. He allows us to use it for a while, and He tells us to use it for His glory. We drive the car He gives us for His glory, we eat the food He gives us for His glory, we spend the money He gives us for His glory, and we live in the house He gives us for His glory. He owns the houses; we just live in them, just like God owned Canaan and the Israelites were to live there for His glory.[1]

King David begins Psalm 24 reminding us of who God is, and who we are in comparison to Him.  He is the holy Creator of everything.  He is in control.  Returning to Psalm 24 we read,

 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.  Psalm 24:1-2 (ESV)

God founded the earth upon seas and rivers.  What does this mean?  What thought is King David expressing by poetically referring to seas and rivers?

Seas and rivers are chaotic and unpredictable, often turning violent without notice.  A calm day on the sea can suddenly turn deadly.  Rivers can suddenly breach banks and destroy everything around them.  Seas and rivers present images of chaotic, destructive, unpredictable forces beyond human control, but subject to God’s control.  And God founded the earth upon this sort of chaos. The founding of the earth on chaos is a reference back to the beginning described in Genesis 1, when God spoke, and chaos transformed to order.  Let’s consider a few verses.  Genesis begins saying, 

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  Genesis 1:1-2 (ESV)

The earth was without form and the waters were beyond control.  They were without boundary.  It is an image of utter chaos.  Beginning at verse 9 we read,

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.  Genesis 1:9-10 (ESV)

When God speaks, chaos transforms to order.  God controls forces that humans have no influence over.  God created everything and everything belongs to God.

King David introduces Psalm 24 by reminding us of these truths.  He then poses and answers the questions, who may approach God and who may stay in His holy presence?  This thought begs several questions.  For example, is God not with us all the time?  Is God uniquely present in certain places but no other places?  If so, and we must go to a certain place to be with Him, where is that place?  Where does God live?  And if God is separated from us, what separates us from God?  Are we separated by physical distance or spiritual distance or something else?

Scripture presents God as omnipresent – everywhere all the time (see Psalm 33:13-14). But it also presents God as uniquely present in certain places at certain times.  For instance, Genesis presents God as an anthropomorphized figure walking in the Garden during the cool of the day (see Genesis 3:8).  He was uniquely present in the Garden, and after Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast out of the Garden, away from His holy presence.

Exodus presents God as uniquely present on His holy mountain, Mount Sinai, where Moses encountered Him in the burning bush (see Exodus 3:4-6), and where God later revealed Himself in a holy cloud (see Exodus 19:16-20).  Leviticus presents God as uniquely present in the tabernacle and His glory filled the tent of meeting (see Leviticus 9:22-24).  In 2 Chronicles we see God’s holy presence associated with the Ark of the Covenant, and God’s glory filling the Holy of Holies when the Ark was delivered there (see 2 Chronicles 5:11-14). 

We also see God depicted as uniquely present in heaven (see Psalm 11:4), and in Christ Jesus (see John 1:14 and John 14:8-11), and in believers (see Galatians 2:19-20 and 1 Corinthians 3:16-17), and Jesus says the Holy Spirit is uniquely present in certain places at certain times, blowing like the wind (see John 3:5-8).

If God is uniquely present in some places and not others, and we must go to where He is, then something separates us from Him.  What separates us from God? 

God is holy.  He is pure.  He cannot even look at sin.  Addressing God, the prophet Habakkuk writes,

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…. Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV)

Addressing God, the psalmist writes,

The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. Psalm 5:5 (ESV)

And the prophet Isaiah writes,

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.  Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

The holiest human is unclean compared to God.  Human righteousness is like dirty rags compared to God’s holiness.  God is holy, pure, divine and unable to associate with sin, yet humans are all sinners.  Paul writes,

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)

And John writes,

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.  1 John 1:5-10 (ESV)

Scripture clearly sets forth our dilemma.  We need God.  He is life.  He is the source of goodness and abundance and wholeness and satisfaction, yet we are sinners and as lowly sinners we have no privilege of approaching God, much less dwelling with Him.  King David recognizes our dilemma.  He succinctly states the problem and solves it writing,

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  Psalm 24:3-4 (ESV)

According to the psalm, only those with clean hands and a pure heart may approach God and stay in His holy place.  Who has clean hands?  Who has a pure heart?

Scripture presents the concept that certain things and conditions are unclean, thus unsuited for certain privileges or uses. For instance, certain animals were unfit for consumption or sacrifice, and people were unclean while experiencing certain conditions.  During a person’s time of defilement, he or she was unable to participate in the community or enter the place of worship.  Personal defilement was often the result of a physical condition like leprosy, menstruation or contact with a corpse, and had nothing to do with moral choices.  Ceremonial cleansing removed the defilement for a time and temporarily rendered a person clean in a legal or religious sense, allowing that person to return to the community or house of worship.

God is holy and He requires that those who approach Him be clean, but Scripture also recognizes that only God may clean or purify a person.  In Psalm 51, the psalmist prays for God to wash him and cleanse him from his sin writing,

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! … Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Psalm 51:2&7 (ESV)

The psalmist needs God to cleanse him.  The psalmist cannot do it on his own, he needs God. The prophet Ezekiel quotes God saying,

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  Ezekiel 36:25-27 (ESV)

Through Ezekiel, God says that He will cleanse people from their iniquity, and spiritually transform them.  And through the prophet Jeremiah, God proclaims,

I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.  Jeremiah 33:8 (ESV)

Only God can cleanse us from our unrighteousness.  Only God has the authority and power to purify us.  Scripture also presents the notions that (i) life is in blood (see Leviticus 17:11); (2) the wages of sin is death (see Romans 6:23); and (3) blood is necessary to transform the death of sin back to life.  Blood must be offered to atone for sin.  For instance, Leviticus directs priests to sprinkle blood of a sacrifice on the mercy seat and the altar to make atonement for the sins of the people (see Leviticus 16:14-19). 

The Old Testament sacrificial cleansing system provided temporary cleansing, but Christ Jesus perfected it all.  Leaning heavily on the sacrificial system described in Leviticus, Paul writes,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.   In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)

We must be holy and blameless to approach God, but we are not.  How can we possibly be holy and blameless in His holy eyes?  Only through the cleansing of Jesus’ holy blood.  And the writer of Hebrews, referring to the Levitical sacrificial system, says,

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.  Hebrews 9:11-14 (ESV)

Peter writes,

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.  1 Peter 1:17-19 (ESV)

And in John’s heavenly revelation we see several references to the blood of Christ Jesus washing people clean from their iniquity and providing life.  In Revelation 5 we read,

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.  Revelation 5:9-10 (ESV)

In Revelation 7 we read,

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Revelation 7:13-14 (ESV)

And in Revelation 12 we read,

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.  Revelation 12:10-11 (ESV)

Only God may cleanse us from unrighteousness.  Only God may purify us from our iniquity.  And the blood of Christ Jesus offers the only eternal means of cleanliness and purity.  According to Psalm 24, only those with cleans hands and pure hearts may approach God and remain in His holy presence, and God uses the blood of Christ Jesus to purify us.

Only God may cleanse, only God may purify, only God may remove our iniquity.  In the gospels we see Jesus assert His divine power and authority when He proclaims a person with leprosy as “clean.”  Only God may clean, and Jesus proclaims the man as clean, which also serves as a proclamation of His divinity.  Consider this account from Luke:

While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.  Luke 5:12-16 (ESV)

Only God is capable of cleansing, and Jesus cleansed the man.

In a simple, poetic passage, King David presented all this by writing,

 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah  Psalm 24:3-6 (ESV)

Who receives blessing and salvation from the Lord?  The person with clean hands and pure heart.

Who has clean hands and pure heart?  The person who is washed clean by the blood of Christ Jesus.

King David concludes the psalm writing,

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah  Psalm 24:7-10

Indeed, Christ Jesus is the King of Glory, and King David wrote this amazing psalm a thousand years before Christ Jesus relinquished His heavenly glory and came to earth as a human.  Praise be to God!

When I explained to our grandson that Papa Gary had gone to be with Jesus in heaven, the five-year-old asked, “How did he do that?”  How might we approach God and stay in His holy presence?  Who has the privilege of ascending His holy mountain and basking in His holy presence?  Only those with clean hands and pure heart.  Only those who have been washed in the blood of Christ Jesus.

May you know Him, may you seek Him, may He dwell within you, may He fully transform you.  Amen.

 

[1] Moseley, Allan. Exalting Jesus in Leviticus. Edited by David Platt et al., Holman Reference, 2015, pp. 234–35.