«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　Psa. 24:1 The earth is Jehovah’s, and its fullness, the habitable land and those who dwell in it.

　　7-8 Lift up your heads, O gates; and be lifted up, O long enduring doors; and the King of glory will come in. Who is the King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty! Jehovah mighty in battle!

　　In Psalm 22 Christ is the Redeemer and the Regenerator, in Psalm 23 He is the Shepherd, and in Psalm 24 He is the King who will regain the entire earth through the church, His Body, the people whom He has redeemed and regenerated and is shepherding today. At His second coming Christ will take possession of the earth (Rev. 10:1-2), which has been given to Him as His possession (Psa. 2:8), and will establish God’s kingdom on the whole earth (Dan. 2:34-35; Rev. 11:15), thus recovering God’s right over the earth, which has been usurped by His enemy, Satan. (Psa. 24:1, footnote 1)

　　Psalm 24 reveals Christ as the King in God’s kingdom. This will be in the coming age. In Psalm 24:1-2 we see the realization of the earth and the fullness thereof, and the habitable land and those who dwell in it, founded by God upon the seas and established by Him upon the streams, as God’s kingdom.

　　Verses 7-10... show us the victorious Christ as the coming King in God’s eternal kingdom... [In verse 7] the gates are of the cities of the nations. The doors are of the houses of the people. The long enduring doors indicate waiting and expecting with long endurance (Phil. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:7). This indicates that the people of the earth have been waiting and expecting Christ’s second coming. In Haggai 2:7 we are told that Christ is the desire of all the nations. All the nations, in a general way, are expecting Christ to come, but Christ would not come that quickly according to our human concept. Thus, we need to wait and expect His coming with long endurance. Because we must wait for His coming with long endurance, we have a tendency to drop our heads in discouragement... But if we received a phone call from [someone dear to us], telling us that he is coming, we would lift up our heads, that is, we would be encouraged to expect his coming.

　　We have to lift up our heads, because the King of glory will come in (Psa. 24:7, 9; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31). We must get ready to welcome Him. Psalm 24:8 asks, “Who is the King of glory?” The King of glory is “Jehovah strong and mighty! / Jehovah mighty in battle!” Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is the embodiment of the Triune God in resurrection. He is the One who is strong in fighting and victorious.

　　Verse 9 says, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And lift up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in.” Verse 7 says, “Be lifted up”... To be lifted up means that we are still weak, needing someone to move us. But to lift up [in verse 9] means we have become stronger. We can act to lift up ourselves.

　　Psalm 23 reveals Christ as the Shepherd in His resurrection, and... Psalm 24 reveals Christ as the King in God’s kingdom. Hallelujah for the shepherding Christ, and Hallelujah for the reigning Christ! Hallelujah for our Christ being our Shepherd today and our King in the future! (Life-study of the Psalms, pp. 148-150)

　　The King of glory is Jehovah of hosts (that is, of armies), the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and coming Christ (Psa. 24:7-10; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31). Jehovah is Jesus (Matt. 1:21 and footnote), and Jesus is the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Triune God, who is strong in fighting and is victorious (Rev. 5:5). He is the One who will come back in His resurrection with His overcomers to possess the entire earth as His kingdom (Dan. 2:34-35; 7:13-14; Joel 3:11; Rev. 11:15; 19:13-14). (Psa. 24:7, footnote 4)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 11; CWWL, 1969, vol. 3,” Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,” ch. 5