Sing Praise to the King of Glory (Psalm 24:1-10)

Sixth Sunday in Lent Palm Sunday 

April 1, 2012

Dear friends in Christ.

If there is one part of worship that I love more than the others, that part would be singing.  I love singing.  Ever since I was a little child I have loved to sing.  I love singing hymns of praise to our Lord each and every week.  I love singing the Psalms between the readings.  I even love singing the familiar melodies of the Liturgy!  I love singing in church because I know that as I sing, my praises are going up to the Lord who is the King of Glory!  I love to sing, and I know that you love to sing too.  For as I have often told you, I have the best seat in the house when it comes to just sitting and listening to you sing your praises to the Lord, the King of Glory!  And today is no exception!  For today, already, I have been overjoyed to hear your voices melding together in thanks and praise of Jesus our Lord, our Savior, our King of Glory!

Well, today, as we study the lesson before us, we don’t even need to take a break from singing our praises, because the lesson for our consideration this morning comes to us from the song book of the Old Testament.  Our lesson, this morning comes to us from the book of the Psalms; Psalm 24.  Now, I invite you to open your bulletins to the first two pages of the insert and we will read this Psalm responsively, just as we did at the beginning of the service.  We will read only the verse of the Psalm omitting the hymn. 

P:        “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

C:      for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

P:        Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 

C:    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

P:        He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

C:      Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

P:        Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

P:      Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24:1–10, NIV84)

What better song of praise could there be for us to study this morning than a song of praise written by King David himself!  It was David whom the Lord chose to be King over Israel.  It was David whom the Lord used to pen many beautiful Psalms about the coming Savior.  It was David and his line through whom the Savior was promised to come, and it was David whom the Lord inspired to write the beautiful words we have before us this morning.  Now, when King David wrote these words, it is very likely that he wrote them for the day when the Ark of the Covenant would be brought into Jerusalem for the first time.  Before this the Ark had been kept in the Tabernacle at Shiloh.  This was where Hannah had brought her son Samuel, when he was three years old, as she had promised the Lord when she prayed for a son.  This was where the Lord had called Samuel at night, and Samuel had run to Eli three different times before Eli had figured out what was happening.  This is where the Lord gave Samuel a message of Judgment against Eli and his family because Eli had allowed his sons to act in ways that were terribly disrespectful of the Lord.  And this is where the Ark of the Covenant had been until the day Eli’s two sons had taken it into battle against the Philistines.

I’m sure you remember the story from your Sunday School days.  Though Eli’s sons had brought the Ark into the Israelite camp, on that day the Israelites were thoroughly defeated by the Philistines and the Ark was taken into captivity for seven months.  Though they moved it from city to city, the Lord’s hand was so heavily against them that they finally sent the Ark back to the Israelites in a cart pulled by two cows that had just calved.  It came to the town of Kiriath Jearim where it stayed for the next 70 years, until David was King, Jerusalem had been taken, and all was ready to bring the Ark into Jerusalem. (see 1 Samuel 1-6)

Can’t you just imagine the procession that day!  Can’t you just see the Levites carrying the Ark on their shoulders as the Lord commanded, with King David and a procession of hundreds if not thousands of people coming to Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant?  Can’t you just hear the sounds of tambourines, harps, lyres, and trumpets being played in celebration of the Ark coming to Jerusalem?  Can’t you just feel the joy that radiated off all the people as the Ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark, (2 Samuel 6:2) was brought into the city?  Can’t you just imagine the procession of people singing the words of Psalm 24, singing to the Lord God, King of Glory, as the Ark approached the city?  Let’s read those words together again:

P:        “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

C:      for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

P:        Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 

C:    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

P:        He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

C:      Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

P:        Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

P:      Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24:1–10, NIV84)

Now, fast forward to Palm Sunday!  Can’t you just see all the people gathered around Jesus as his disciples cover the donkey with their cloaks?  Can’t you just see all the people as they spread their cloaks on the road and laid down palm branches in his path?  Can’t you just hear the songs the people were singing along the road as they traveled the few miles from Bethany to Jerusalem?  Though the Bible doesn’t say which songs they sang, other than the song of Hosanna to the Son of David as they saw Jerusalem and approached the temple, I can just imagine this crowd singing praise to their King of Glory with the words of Psalm 24 at some point before they began their shouts of Hosanna!  I can just imagine that because Psalm 24 was regularly read in the temple on the first day of the week.  Psalm 24 was a psalm that builds on the theme of the Lord’s coming for his people.  On that Palm Sunday, as Jesus, the King of Glory was riding to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, I can just imagine someone in the crowd beginning to sing the words of Psalm 24 which we read again together,

P:        “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

C:      for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

P:        Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?  

C:    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

P:        He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

C:      Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

P:        Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

P:      Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24:1–10, NIV84)

What better song of praise could there be for us to sing and to meditate upon today, especially as we Celebrate Palm Sunday!  For today, we are celebrating the fact that even though Jesus humbly rode into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey, he rode into Jerusalem as the King of Glory!  Even though Jesus humbly road into Jerusalem following a path that would lead to utter humiliation, kangaroo courts, illegal trials, mocking, whippings, beatings, and finally crucifixion, he rode in as the King of Glory who came to free each and every one of us from our sins.  Just as the Lord had come to Jerusalem centuries before when the people welcomed the Ark of the Covenant, so also Jesus came to his people as the Savior who would free them from their sins.  Though we know the sorrow and the humiliation that will face as he is arrested, tried, convicted and crucified, we also know that he willingly did all this in our place.  Jesus willingly carried the weight of our sins to the cross so that we could be forgiven and live with our King in his glorious heavenly kingdom forever.

Thus, today, as we sing praise to Jesus, our King of Glory, we not only remember how he came to the earth to be our Savior, but we also look forward to the day of his returning.  We look forward to the day when we will see the glory our King returning on the clouds of heaven.  We look forward to the day when we will hear the trumpet blast of the angle and see the procession of Jesus with his angels and all those who have gone before us through faith in him.  We look forward to the day when we will stand before the Lord and as our lesson says, “receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God [our] Savior." (Psalm 24:5, NIV84)  We look forward to that day when we will be judged innocent of all our sins through faith in Jesus.  We will be declared righteous in the sight of our God.  It will be proclaimed that we have clean hands and a pure heart and we will be blessed to ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in the presence of our King of glory forever more.  This is the day we are waiting for, because we have already received all these blessings through faith in Jesus sour King of Glory!

Thus, today we have gathered to join our hearts and voices in praise of Jesus, our King of Glory.  We have gathered meld our voices together in praise and let them echo about our church in worship of the Lord our God!  So, as we close today, let us raise our voices in praise of Jesus our King of Glory by speaking responsively the words of Psalm 24 1 more time. 

P:        “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

C:      for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.

P:        Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 

C:    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

P:        He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

C:      Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

P:        Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

P:      Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory. (Psalm 24:1–10, NIV84)

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN

Why is Jesus' Name So Special? (Luke 2:21)

January 1, 2012

Dear Friends in Christ

What do you like best about your name?  Do you like the way it sounds?  Do you like the meaning that it holds?  Do you like the fact that your parents chose it especially for you?  Or do you like the fact that your name is everything that you are?  For that, if you think about it, is exactly what a name is and what it conveys.  In most cases, names are a simple, one, tow, three or perhaps four word summary of everything that we are and have been.  Well, this morning, as we celebrate this New Year’s Day, we will also celebrate the festival of the Name of Jesus.  We will take a close look at the name Jesus and see everything that it contains and tells us about Jesus as we answer the question, “Why is Jesus’ name so special?

So, let me ask you then, “Why is Jesus’ name so special?  Is it because of its sound?  Is it because the name Jesus is simply the Greek version of the Hebrew name, Joshua?  Or is Jesus’ name so special because it is the name that tells us who Jesus is and everything that he has done for us?  The answer is obvious, for we know that wrapped up on those 5 simple letters is a summary of everything our Savior is and all that he has done for us.  This, in fact, is the very reason why we could go so far as to say that the text before us is one of the most comforting texts in the Bible!  Though on the surface, what I just said might seem like a gross overstatement, the simple sentence which Luke recorded in verse 21, “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived,” show us why Jesus name is so special.

These simple words, “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived,” (Luke 2:21) are so comforting to us, because wrapped up on them is everything that Jesus is and everything that he has done.  Let me show you what I mean!  Take out the Bibles in front of you and turn to Luke 1:31-35, which can be found on page 1013.  About 9 months before Mary and Joseph had embarked on their Journey to Bethlehem, the angel had appeared to Mary and said to her, verse 31: “31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called a the Son of God. (Luke 1:31-35)

With these beautiful words, the Angel Gabriel assured Mary that this child, whom the Lord had named Jesus, would be no ordinary child.  Instead, he would be the Son of God himself, born by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He would be born in fulfillment of all the prophecies spoken about him, as we celebrated on Christmas Eve, not more than a week ago.  This Jesus, whom we see as he is receiving his Name in our text is the very Jesus who came in fulfillment of the prophecies that Isaiah spoke about him.  Turn to Isaiah 7:14 found on the bottom of page 681 and see what I mean.  For this prophecy, which the Lord made through Isaiah, was a prophecy made to evil king Ahaz who simply refused to ask the Lord God for a sign, even when the Lord was commanding him to do it.  So, Isaiah prophesied, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you  a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

In this prophecy, the Lord God marked the coming Savior as Immanuel, which Gabriel told us means, “God with us.”  In this stunning prophecy, the Lord God promised that he would come and physically dwell among his people Israel.  But not only that, just a few chapters later the Lord spoke about what the coming Savior would do among his people.  Turn to Isaiah 9:1-2 on the bottom of page 683 and see what I mean.  For here Isaiah tells us, “1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:1,2)

Seven hundred years before Christ was born, Isaiah prophesied that the Savior would proclaim the Gospel message to the people living in what had been the Northern Kingdom of Israel before the Assyrians had come and destroyed it, taking the people into a captivity from which they never returned.  In these verses, in verse 2 especially we see Jesus as he withdraws to the region of Galilee after John the Baptist was arrested by King Herod and how he proclaims the message, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  In this way, as the gospels record, Jesus brought these beautiful words into fulfillment as he brought many to the Light of Gospel from the shadow of unbelief and death. 

Yet this was not the only purpose that Jesus was born to, for Isaiah tells us in verses 6 and 7 of chapter 9, “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6,7)

These words remind us that when Jesus was born, he was indeed born with the government on his shoulders.  Not that he was born into such a high position that he was heir to the throne of Israel, but that he was born under the authority of the Law as Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4,5 which I have printed on the screen for you: “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:4,5)

It was to redeem us, to buy us back from the slavery of sin that Jesus was born under the authority of the Law.  For when he was born as a little child, he was born to perfectly keep the entire law which we have never been able to keep.  Though Jesus was the very one who established his covenant with Abraham, and given Abraham the sign of circumcision, Jesus himself was circumcised, and marked as a child of the covenant.  He was circumcised and declared to be the Seed of Abraham-the promised Messiah whom generations looked forward to expectantly.  He was circumcised and thus empowered the Old Testament right which the Lord had commanded in Genesis 17:12, “For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.” (Genesis 17:12)

Not only did he do this, but through his willing obedience, Jesus became our substitute as Isaiah prophesied he would.  Turn with me if you would one more time to Isaiah.  We will look at Isaiah 53:1-6 which can be found in the middle of page 731.  “1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:1-6)

Though there was nothing special that made Jesus stand out of a crowd, he is the one who carried our sorrows.  Though he had no special beauty or majesty to attract us to himself, he is the one who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.  He carried our punishment, and we have been healed by his wounds.  Though we see him today as a little 8 day old baby, wrapped up in the name Jesus is everything that he will become and everything that he will do for us.  Wrapped up on that name Jesus is the man who proclaimed to the Pharisees, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58)  He is the Lord God who proclaimed, “I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” And again, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:11, 25)  He is the Lord who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and again revealed his glory before Moses as he covered Moses face with his hand so that Moses might only see his back.  In short, this Jesus whom we see as an 8 day old baby in our text, is the Lord our God who came to free us from our sins by his perfect life and innocent suffering and death.  For in the same way that the Lord appointed Joshua to lead the people Israel into the Promised Land and receive their rest, the Lord our God appointed Jesus to lead his people into his Rest in the Promised Land of eternal life.

This is why Jesus’ name is so special to us today.  For like our own names are summaries of all that we are, Jesus name is a summary of all that he is.  For wrapped up in that simple name of five letters is the Lord our God who willingly came to the earth so that he might take our place and free us from our sins forever.

Amen.

Pastor David M. Shilling

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church