Day 54: The King of the Glory
Read: Psalm 24:7–10
Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
— Psalm 24:7 (ESV)
Reflect
Psalm 24 ends with an arrival. Someone is coming to the city, and a voice calls out to the gates themselves: "Lift up your heads!"
It is a strange command. Gates do not have heads. But the image is of old, heavy city doors, too low for the one who is arriving. They have to rise to let him in.
Who is coming? Melekh hakkavod, "the King of glory." In Hebrew it is closer to "the King of the Glory." The word for glory comes from a root meaning "heavy." This King is no light thing. When he comes in, he comes in with weight.
The doors are called "ancient." The word can also mean everlasting. They have stood a long time. They may not be used to opening this wide.
Twice the question comes back: "Who is this King of glory?" (vv. 8, 10). And twice the answer: the LORD, strong and mighty. The LORD of hosts.
The gates do not shrink the King to fit. They rise to receive him. The psalm's answer to his coming is welcome and worship.
Across Scripture
The psalm answers its own question: "The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!" (Psalm 24:8). Psalm 29:3 calls him "the God of glory." Stephen began his defense by reminding his hearers that "the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2). And Paul says the rulers of this age, had they understood, "would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8). The LORD of hosts has come to us in Jesus, "the Lord of glory."
Sit With It
The gates are told to make room for a King too great for them. Where is he asking you to make room for his rule today?
Pray
Come in, King of glory.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.