And in the third section, the theme is the true Messiah-portrayed as a conquering monarch (verse 8), ' The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!.' In the second section, the theme is true worship, which as Jesus taught, can be offered only by those who worship in spirit and in truth. In that first section, the theme is the true God who is sovereign creator of everything. The first two verses speak of His sovereignty verses 3-6 speak of His holiness-and the holiness he demands of His people and verses 7-10 speak of His triumph. Now: Psalm 24 itself is also in the form of a trilogy. And Psalm 24 celebrates Him as the triumphant King. Psalm 23 portrays him as the Great Shepherd. Psalm 22 portrays Him as the suffering Servant. So you have this trilogy of psalms about the Messiah in all His major roles-and even the order is significant, I think.

Verses 7-10 are a prophetic reference to His triumphant return, which is yet future. Psalm 23, of course, is the most familiar of all the messianic psalms, a psalm about the Good Shepherd and his pastoral care of the sheep.Īnd this psalm, Psalm 24, portrays Christ as victorious king. So the whole psalm is a graphic and vivid prophecy of those awful hours Jesus hung on the cross. And verses 7-8 describe the very words people taunted Him with as he hung on the cross. Verse 1 of Psalm 22 foretold the exact words Jesus said when He cried out from the cross. Matthew 27:35, for example, describes the crucifixion of Christ this way: ' When they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.' And that's a precise fulfillment of Psalm 22:18: ' They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.' Near the end of his sufferings on the cross, according to John 19:28, ' Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst.'' What Scripture was fulfilled by that? Psalm 22:15: ' My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws you lay me in the dust of death.' Psalm 22:16 foretold the piercing of His hands and feet. This was God's plan before the foundation of the world-and even the incidental features of Jesus' crucifixion were foreknown by God and foretold in Psalm 22. They repeatedly remind us that the crucifixion of Christ was no accident or interruption in the plan of God for Christ, but everything occurred (in the words of Acts 2:23) ' according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.' God planned and prophesied (and sovereignly brought to pass) every aspect of our redemption. The precision and detail in Psalm 22 is one of the great proofs of the inspiration of Scripture, and the gospel writers point out that fact. It is the most-quoted Psalm in the New Testament, and it depicts the crucifixion of Christ with uncanny accuracy. In fact, Psalm 22 is cited repeatedly in the gospel accounts of Jesus' crucifixion. It is filled with prophetic references to the cross. Psalm 22 is a famous psalm about the crucifixion of the Messiah. Psalm 24 is the third in a perfect trilogy of messianic psalms. Let me start from the beginning, though, and we'll get a quick an overview of this psalm that will help establish some context for you. But we're going have to work our way through the text in order for you to see that. Here's some good news to start with: This text actually points the way of salvation for sinners whose hands are already dirty and whose hearts are already defiled.

He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.' Here's the text (Psalm 24:3-5): ' 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. We're going to focus in this hour on three verses in the middle of a psalm of triumph about Israel's Messiah and king.

I've chosen a text from Psalm 24, and it is a great one, reminding us that no one can stand before the Lord without clean hands and a pure heart.

Clean hands pure heart