The repetition of this psalm reminds us that these passages were meant to be sung. In fact, if you are familiar with Handel’s Messiah, you may recall the tune he set the last third of the psalm to.
Before we jump into the anthem of praise at the end, we should give time to the basis of praise in the first two sections.
Verses 1-2
God is our Creator. The inventor of every living thing. He holds the patents, the trademark, and the copyrights. Therefore, it is His right to do with His creation as He pleases. We must remember this when His decisions clash with our wishes.
Verses 3-6
Thankfully, our Creator is not beyond our reach. He welcomes us with open arms and encourages us to draw close. The only requirement—clean hands and a pure heart.
Who then is worthy to come before Him? Are we not all sinful creatures failing daily?
Yes. But the key is found in verses 4-5.
Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
We are all imperfect creatures, but pretending we aren’t is what gets us into trouble.
If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9
Confession is key to communion. If we are to be in relationship with our Creator, we must seek the cleansing of Christ upon approaching the throne of grace.
Verses 7-10
There is imagery used in the final stanza that is better understood by an art history lesson. When conquering kings, or generals in service to the emperor or king, returned home from battle, they would parade through the city with their army, showing the spoils of their conquest or prisoners of war to the people. On this triumphal march, they would parade under or through an arch depicting various times in the city’s history. Afterwards, their recent exploits would be added to the arch to be remembered in stone forever…or until the next king or general came along and altered the arch. (For a wonderful explanation of the Arch of Constantine, click here to access the Khan Academy video.)
Image: Arch of Constantine – Wikipedia.org
Verses 7-9 are a victory cry, demanding the city prepare to welcome its King. The people are to gather to worship the King as He marches through our midst in celebration. One day this will happen on physical streets, but until Jesus’ return we must offer ourselves to our King in private worship.
David reminds us that we serve a strong and mighty God worthy of our praise and celebration. Open wide the gates of your heart and let the King of Glory in.
This post is Day 24 of the 31 Days of Journaling through the Psalms series. If you would like to read the first post, Psalm 1: The Wise and the Wicked, click here. The introduction to the series can be found here.
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