Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

Inside a goodfig

on Psalm 24  

vv. 1-2  Where we are standing upon, is the Lord’s.  Everything is the Lord’s.  We have nothing that we can claim as our own.  Our very breath is of the Lord.  There is no room for the high and mighty among His creatures.  We are to know our rightful place before Him.

Whatever we are (think and feel), whatever we do, belongs to the Lord.  He freely gave all that He has to us, because He delights to receive what we freely give back to Him.

Job 9:24  The earth is given into the hand of the wicked.    Creation was given to Adam, but because he sinned, dominion was given to the enemy.  The enemy tried to offer it to Jesus if only He would worship him, but at the cross, Jesus regained all creation back to the Father.

Praise God that in Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places far above principalities and rulers of this world.

These first verses are important for us to understand in order to bring us into right perspective when answering the question of:

verse 3: Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?  

This hill is not of the earth, else we would have climbed it.

Who shall stand before the Most High in His holy place?

Would anyone dare stand before the king uninvited?  Worst, unprepared?

There is a protocol when presenting one’s self before royalty.

God’s S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedure) for presenting one’s self before  
   His holy throne:

having clean hands - works acceptable to the Lord

bearing pure heart -  borne out of Godly character

clothed in humility -  ever acknowledging God and giving Him the glory

The Word of Truth in your mouth - confession of Christ

v. 4 CLEAN HANDS

Job 9:30b  “He that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.”

Mk. 7:1-8  physically unwashed hands is not unclean to God, but what we regard as clean, may not be to Him.  He has placed the poor before us to test our hearts whether we honor every man the same way we honor Him.  For whatever we do to the least of the brethren, we do it to Him.

Do we shout at them?  Do we lord it over them?

Do we give them less than what we would give the visitors or pastors?  

Do we feed ourselves better than the sheep?

Do we make them feel that we are the learned, and they are uneducated?

Do we choose the people we minister to?

Pro. 31:30-31  the labors of clean hands shall speak for itself.

Ecc. 2:11  What we have in our hands we shall present before the Holy One.

Jer. 25:14    We shall receive our just wage according to the works of our hands.

Acceptable ministry can only come out of Christlike character borne out of a heart that is fully surrendered to God and covered in a cloak of humility, having professed with your mouth that Christ is your Lord and Savior.  All other works beside these are dead.

Everything is the Lord’s.  Even the works of ministry.  Even the cleansing of our hands.  Humble ourselves therefore before a Mighty God that He may consider us worthy to ascend His holy hill, and allow us to stand in His holy place.  Moreover, even to permit us to get close to His throne of grace!