Echoes From the Campfire

High country agreed with me.  I seem to breath a lot easier where the air ain’t cluttered up with a lot of people and their ways.”
              –Lou Bradshaw  (Cain…Just Cain)

    “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
              –Isaiah 55:12 (NKJV)
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“Who is the King of glory?  The Lord God Almighty in battle is He!”  Thus is the answer given in the last verse of Psalm 24.  But before that question can be answered we must look to the previous verses.  They are essential if we are to learn to worship properly.  Serving the Lord is not as you please, but as He commands.  It is not the way you want and if others do not like it tough.  No, worship must follow His guidelines.  Notice that there are two places where the term “Selah” is mentioned.  Do what it says, “Think on this!”

    1 – The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;
    2 – for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers.
    3 – Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?
    4 – 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.
    5 – He will receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
    6 – Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.   Selah
    7 – Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.
    8 – Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.
    9 – Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in.
   10 – Who is He, this King of glory? The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory.    Selah (HCSB)

    First of all there is a clamor in the world about the condition of it.  Global warming, environmental issues, toxic gases and on we hear.  Remember, there will be a day of reckoning for man was to have dominion over the earth.  It belongs to God and man was given the responsibility of being a steward.  The earth is groaning due to the curse; there will be a day of reckoning.
    Second, there is a prescription for proper worship.  Who can stand in His holy place?  It’s a short list, but all-encompassing.
         1)  He must have clean hands.
         2)  He must have a pure heart.
         3)  He must not think of falsehoods and false practices.
         4)  He cannot have sworn deceitfully.
There are the qualifications and they haven’t changed.  This is not legalism but true worship.  This is worship of the will for the qualifications to enter the Holy Place have to do with the will.  The Scriptures continually point out that the outward will reflect the inward.  Take heed.
    George A.F. Knight makes this comment concerning entering the Holy Place of the Lord.  It is NOT:  Have you kept the Law?  or have you performed the required sacrifices?  Instead you MUST HAVE:  clean hands, which mark outwardly the cleanness of the heart within and carefully avoid overt evil ways.
    Finally, there is a grand finale.  Who is the Lord of glory?  Look!  Contemplate!  Take heed to Whom you worship and owe allegiance!  Remember, the Lord of Host is the commander of the armies of heaven.  There is so much about the Lord being a commander and fighting battles in Scripture, yet, perhaps we have, as Dorothy Sayers said, allowed our modern and enlightened society to successfully declawed the Lion of Judah.  Don’t be mistaken, He is soon to roar!

              “The king of glory!  Who can tell
               The wonders of his might?
               He rules the nations; but to dwell
               With saints is his delight.”
                       –Isaac Watts