Wednesday, March 28, 2018

A VERSE AND A THOUGHT: PSALM 24: 8 - "JESUS - THE KING OF GLORY!!!"

Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8)

THOUGHT:
Our point of reference of historical times for Kings and Rulers of bygone eras, are from books and movies. For most of human history, all major towns and cities had some sort of fortification or system to keep evil out and protect the townspeople.  This was necessary because mankind has always been sinful and evil, since the Fall of Man, recorded in Genesis Chapter 3.

The more significant the town or city, the stronger the fortress, turrets and wider the walls so that you could ride a chariot around it. Then when the ruler of king of that town would return from a campaign, or even hunting out in the countryside, the armorbearer would always have to call out to the Gatekeepers to “Open the Gates”. After the gatekeepers inquired as to the purpose of the visit, the armorbearer would say “It is the King, Let the King come in” (or something to that effect).

In this instance – Psalm 24:8, this is no ordinary King and He doesn’t need permission to come into any part of His Creation. This is the King, Commander and Creator of the Universe.  This is the Lord Jesus Christ. In this current Age, until the church/believers/Christians are called Home at once, in the final raising up, He still announces Who He is to the hearts and lives of all peoples, from all corners of this blessed earth.

The Majestic Lord, Who is currently occupying the Throne on the Right Hand of God the Father, still offers a Royal invitation to join Him in Eternity in Heaven – FOR FREE. There is an equation to fulfilling the requirements to being a resident of the Eternal Kingdom. He had it written down for us – confess (ask forgiveness wholeheartedly – after realizing you’re going down the wrong road); then believe in your heart (with every fiber in your being) that Jesus is Lord, then you SHALL be saved!  Did it cost you money in a church collection plate? No. Did it cost you obeying a bunch of rules and tenets of some man-written religious rule book? No. Did you have to go do something for it? No! Why not? Why would the King, Whom we assume will be a high-taxing, hard-driving, high-living monarch like all the other kings and rulers of the earth, give something away for free?

The free gift from the Royal Throne of Heaven is only free for one reason – the King paid the freight.  He did not send some lesser subject to do it, He came off His Majestic Throne, after creating ALL we see around us, and lowered Himself to be just like us in the flesh. The one major and most significant difference between This Eternal King and the human He became like, for only 33 years is this – He never sinned.  The King only never sinned, He came to explain everything  written about Him from Genesis to John the Baptist as well as the Law of Moses, which He told to Moses.

There is no mind like His. There is no work like His. There is no one comparable. He is not only the beginning and the end, He is in the middle of all history. History will boil down to only His story.

ACTION:
Knowing Jesus as Savior of all mankind is excellent. Knowing Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior is even more important to your final destination. At death, people go one of two places. There is no such thing as purgatory.  In order to KNOW the King as He really is, He must be completely the LORD of your life, as well as Savior. This means everything.  Here is how we proceed:
-     Take your foot off the gas pedal of your life. He owns the vehicle of your life, let Him drive from now on. It also reduces your stress level
-     Leave no corner of your life unswept by the Blood of the Lamb, the Washing of the Word and the Conviction of the Holy Spirit.
-      Allow the Holy Spirit, Who is the Ultimate Gentleman, to turn on the search light and recover every hidden cobweb and buried sin action from even from when we were 5 years old. Then repent of it and move on.
-     If your church does not teach on the Holy Spirit because “that is a Charismatic thing”, forget that – the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and does not follow church or men’s doctrines. He interprets our prayers and the thoughts of our spirit and communicates them with the Lord Jesus Who intercedes with the Father.  If you think your prayers are not answered, consider this – are you fully committed as a Christian to Jesus and if so, repent, surrender to Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to take full control. Do not grieve Him. He goes to the background when that happens. So keep it real, real clean and ask for His intervention. You will not regret it.

Psalm 24 has 10 verses. Verses 9 and 10 are the same as verses 7 and 8, so this is the end of this majestic ode to our great God and King – the Lord Jesus. There is a twofold purpose here. The first one is for the church of the Jesus to wake up from culturally induced slumber and realize just Who He really is! This makes a huge difference as we see less and less reverence for the power and holiness of God in most of our western churches these days, as well as less focus on making disciples.

Secondly, on an individual level, opening the gates to the King of ALL Glory, means the extreme vetting of our hearts and souls to ascertain, in the affirmative, if Jesus Christ TRULY is the Lord of our lives. Anything else is vanity.
Amen.

"Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand His previous glory in its height of majesty, and His incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When He was enthroned in the highest heavens He was very God of very God; by Him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded Him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: He reigned supreme above all His creatures, God over all, blessed for ever. Quote from Charles H. Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening Devotional" - March 28, 2018

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