Sunday, November 6
Behold
Psalm 24 NRSV
The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the LORD,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory. Selah
Rejoice, ye shining worlds on high,
Behold the King of glory nigh!
Who can this King of glory be?
The mighty Lord, the Savior’s he.
Ye heav’nly gates, your leaves display,
To make the Lord the Savior way:
Laden with spoils from earth and hell,
The Conqueror comes with God to dwell.
Raised from the dead, he goes before;
He opens heav’n’s eternal door,
To give the saints a blessed abode,
Near their Redeemer and their God.
Isaac Watts (1674-1748), from “Psalm 24.”
Be Perfect
“The Kingdom is coming, but primarily and fundamentally the Kingdom is. These emphases on the past and the future are essential but not the essential. The essential thing to be burned into our thinking is the fact that the Kingdom is. ‘Thine is the Kingdom.’ God is ruling, and if man does not accept that rule, than so much the worse for man. If he attempts to put the Kingdom aside, he does not succeed in doing so. He does something else—he puts himself aside, renders himself unfit to live… You can dodge an ideal, but you cannot dodge yourself.”
E. Stanley Jones, Is the Kingdom of God Realism?