Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?

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Psalm 24 verses 1-10:
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory."

Here the psalmist asks: "Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?" The answer is: "He that has clean hands, and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." (verse 4)
The Lord created the earth and man, but unfortunately man has fallen into sin. Satan planted the cancer of sin into the nature of man and made him a lost creature. Without the redeeming help from the Almighty all of manhood is lost.
We need the redeeming help from the Saviour; we must allow Him to do His work of salvation in us. We must let Him into our heart and being in order for Him to do this work in us. If we do this in faith satan has to let go of us, because the Lord won the victory over him and the power of sin on Calvary. This victory must be proclaimed/broadcast to all people in order that they, after letting Him realize their personal conversion in their heart and life, through faith in the power of His victory, will themselves become victors/conquerors over the sin in their heart, thinking and life.In this way the whole of mankind must be delivered from Satan’s claws for God created the world and it belongs to Him only.
Let us have another look at above question: “Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?”

Whoever

1. is clean of hands;
2. is pure of heart;
3. does not lift up his soul unto vanity;
4. does not swear deceitfully.

Thus: only they that are

• clean of hands,
• pure of heart,
• pure of soul, and
• pure of tongue;

In other words, they that live a pure life inwardly and outwardly. Thus no one among men, for we all sin. We do need the salvation of God's Saviour. This salvation, however, does not happen automatically after we have believed in Him and go to church; we are to cooperate in this salvation!
Verse 6 mentions, that we must ask Him, seek His face in prayer. This means, that we must be willing to leave behind our sinful life and convert to Him in willing surrender, if we are to be saved by Him.Thus, we have to meet Him in prayer. In this way He can heal us, body, soul and spirit; quicken us and make us healthy.
Isaiah 1:18 says:

1. “Then come,
2. let us reason together.”

Thus He requires from us a voluntary act: we are to come to Him, seek Him and confess our sins. But this is not enough either. In verse 7 (Psalm 24) it is written: "Lift up your heads, ye gates (gates of our body, soul and spirit)... that the King of glory may come in."
In days of old the hinges of the gates were underneath and the gates had to be lifted up by means of chains: thus, their heads had to be lifted up, that the Saviour/Redeemer could come in. Man consists of body, soul and spirit. So the gate of the body must be opened first: we must be willing to hear the redeeming Word of the Cross, of the shed blood of God's Lamb.
Then, the gate of our soul has to be opened. We are to be willing to accept Him and His salvation of our own free will; we must be willing to be saved.
Finally, the gate of our spirit must be opened. We have to let Him into our heart; we must love Him and His salvation, for the Redeemer must personally bring into effect the work He fulfilled on Calvary in our willing heart and life.
He must be allowed to burn away the sins of our body (flesh), our lusts; and wash them off in His shed blood. We also have to be delivered from the sins of our soul: sinful desires of the eyes for material goods and property, for riches and luxuries. Finally also the sins of our spirit have to be burned away: pride of self, lust for power and haughtiness.
Let this King of glory in, that He deliver you from all these sins; let Him share His victory over all these sins with you. "For," says the Word in this psalm: "He is strong and mighty in battle (namely the battle against sin)." (verse 8)
For this purpose he worked on Calvary an eternal salvation! (Hebrews 9:12). We have to want this, for we have a free will, and He will not torpedo this free will.
John 8:36 says: "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
This is the highway of salvation that the Lamb of God has paved/cleared for us.
Hereafter He will also share His Divine life with us and will pour out His peace, joy and love in our redeemed heart and life, and will make us sons and daughters of God.
This divine life shares with us the struggle against Satan and the salvation of our fellow-man.
That is why this psalm ends with: "Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory."
Then all of us, whom He thus saved, will form His hosts, God's army, that will fight satan's power and annihilate it.

To God be all glory!! Amen.

by E. van den Worm

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord - About holiness and purification

Bible studies, available on our website www.endtime-messenger.com

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1. A closer look at Christ's Second Coming
2. Called by the Spirit of God to take part unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb of God and unto the Divine Marriage.
3. Called to be made up to God’s purpose with mankind: an eternal sanctuary of our almighty God and Father.
4. God shall shake the Church and the world in the end-time.
5. Jesus our Guide, Redeemer, Saviour, Sanctifier and Complete and Perfect maker.
6. JOHN – The book about the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
7. LUKE – The book of the NEW MAN in Christ (about Jesus, the High Priest, and how we, as priest of the most high God, must serve Him).
8. Our earthly Divine calling: “And you shall by My witnesses”.
9. Sanctification.
10. Soon there will be a Divine Wedding here on earth (namely, a great latter Rain, a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these last days).
11. The 5 wise and the 5 foolish virgins and their destiny in the end-time.
12. The 7 phases of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
13. The 7 Spirits of God and of the Lamb of God (Revelation 4:5 and 5:6).
14. The 7 thunderclaps of Revelation 10:3.
15. The 10 fulfilled (perfect) laws of the Kingdom of heaven on earth (the Church), given by our Lord Jesus Christ.
16. The Day of YaHWeH (and the development of the Church during that “Day”).
17. The Divine healing work in the Church of the end-time.
18. The false state church of the last days (a co-ordinate institution of Christian Churches in the end-time.) The great harlot of Rev.17.
19. The ladder of God's blessing bringing grace.
20. The New Jerusalem, the Bride of God's Lamb, the Body of Christ.
21. The perfection in Christ on earth, in the end-time.
22. The sermon of the Lord Jesus Christ on the mount (the constitution of the Kingdom of heaven on earth – part 1, 2, 3).
23. The shed Blood of God’s Lamb, Who now sits on heaven’s throne, Who overcomes all satan’s (sin)power.
24. The tabernacle of Israel (God’s prophetic model of the spiritual developments of a true child of God unto all perfectness).
25. The ultimate, Divine GLORY of the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the end-time, which is GREATER than the glory of the first Church.
26. The victors; over (the power of) sin and satan in the last days.
27. The wonderful works of the Holy Spirit in the end-time.
28. Thou, people of Israel, wake up! (A prophetic Bible study with relation to the political repair and the complete return of the whole of Israel to Canaan).
29. What God has prepared for those, who love Him.
30. What Scripture teaches about the Millennium of King Jesus (the porch of the New Heaven and the New Jerusalem).

The study: “What Scripture says about our almighty God” is not yet ready.

A. Klein

PS:
On our Dutch website – http://www.eindtijdbode.nl/ – we have a lot more Bible studies (from different writers/Bible-teachers), as well on the website as on our Blog. If you can read Dutch, you can take a look.

Bible studies about the endtime and Second (2nd) Coming of Jesus Christ

LUKE (Chapter 1) - The gate of repentance unto the NEW LIFE in Christ

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Part I:
The court-life of the believer

Introductory words:
In the Gospel after the evangelist Luke we see the Lord Jesus portrayed as the Son of man (after the flesh: from the seed of David – Romans 1:3), as the NEW MAN in God, as the New Creature. And, of course, each new creature is a priest of God, because he enters into, and is in, a relationship with God. It is exactly this relationship which issues the new creation. And by and in that relationship with God the new creature is a priest, who stands between God and fallen man. Therefore the Gospel after Luke is, in the first place, a revelation of Jesus Christ as the wonderful High Priest of God, because He is revealed here as the Son of man, the First among the new creations of God. Spiritually, what applies to the Head (i.e. Jesus), also applies to the Body (the Christians). It is therefore also a book of the Christian as a royal priest, who can be a priest, because He, Jesus Christ, is the High Priest. It is the book of the NEW MAN, because he lives in unity with that wonderful High Priest and Savior, whereby the NEW MAN can also be a channel of God's streams of mercy on behalf of God's people.
This first chapter shows us in particular the gate of repentance opening unto the NEW LIFE. We will look at this Bible-book in the light of the Tabernacle. Would it have been possible for us to approach that holy place of that time, we would first have had to enter a gate in order to come unto holy ground. This is also the case if we begin to read this Gospel prayerfully and with proper respect.
The colors of Jesus' Being are displayed by this gate: scarlet, blue, purple, and white. Especially the white typifies purity, characteristic for the NEW MAN. The purple signifies the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is expressed in the Gospel after Matthew. The scarlet signifies God's Son as a servant, His willingness to die for fallen humanity, as the Father asked it of Him, already before the foundation of the world. This is told unto us in the Gospel of Mark. The blue tells us of Jesus as the Son of God, which is described in the Gospel of John. The color of Jesus, as described by Luke in his Gospel, is therefore white. He is that pure NEW MAN and High Priest.

Luke 1 verse 1-4: "Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in (good) order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee, in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed."
Luke, the doctor and later evangelist, wrote to a certain Theophilus. This last name may be a fictitious name, as "Theophilus" in Greek means "son of God". Therefore he directed this Gospel to each son of God, to each perfect (read: sincere) child of God. And the purpose of the evangelist is to bring religious security in the heart of each child of God.

The birth announcement of John the Baptist.
We will now have a close look at the birth announcement of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a preacher of repentance. He called to repentance the people of Israel, that is to say the Jews (namely the tribe of Judah, wherein is also included the tribe of Benjamin[1]). He came in the spirit of Elijah, the prophet that called Israel to repentance, after it had strayed (spiritually), and had served Baal through the doing of queen Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab of Israel. The Baal religion in fact is a nature worship. On closer consideration the Baal religion wants to let itself go in worldly lusts, the worldly ways are indulged. The Baal cult (i.e. the worship of Baal, an idol) had a licentious character, whereby the fertility was idolized.
Elijah called Israel away from Baal – away from the loose worldly lifestyle that Israel had fallen into – back to YaHWeH. He called them to the living God and Lord, the God of purity, modesty and justice. This was Elijah's manner, and so was this John the Baptist also.
We read, that God announced the birth of this John the Baptist. Everything right and good comes from God. It is God, Who calls us unto repentance. We can't come unto God without this call to repentance; and He uses the mouth of the preacher of repentance for this. The preacher of repentance is a gift of a loving God, to people who are lost in sin. God in His compassion filled him with the Spirit, Who calls unto repentance. He is a sounding board of the call which comes from the heart of God.
The birth of God's instrument, which would sound forth this call, was announced here. Again: the call to repentance must come from God into the heart and being of the sinner. Without this voice of the Spirit, Who also was in Elijah, no sinner will repent. This we read in John 6:44 "No one comes to Me (i.e. Jesus) unless the Father, Who sent Me, draw him..."

Luke 1 verse 5: "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zechariah, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth."
Zechariah was a priest, and his name means "God remembers" or "God is mindful (of)". From him this preacher, who preached repentance, was born. Zechariah had prayed for this son, who was given to him and his wife in their old age. Let us understand the spiritual meaning of this. As Zechariah prayed for a son and prayed for his people, so also must we pray God to let His call unto repentance be heard on behalf of sinners, whom we love, and whom we would love to see "in Christ". If we pray in this way God will hear, and will send that call unto repentance through the mouth of one of His serving children. So also was this John the one asked by God, who had to sound forth the call unto repentance to the faithless people of Judah.
This priest (Zechariah) was of the course of Abia. In his time David had established 24 divisions (see 1 Chronicles 24:1-19). Such division consists of a chief priest with his helping co-priests. As one would understand, with the growth of the generations the number of priests had increased greatly, but the number of divisions remained 24. Twice a year a certain division had a chance to serve in Jerusalem in the temple. Zechariah was of the eighth division, namely the division Abia had when he was chief priest. God chose for this John the Baptist to be born, a man of the eighth division. We see how wonderfully God worked, because the symbolic worth of the number 8 is that of the new beginning, of the resurrection. He also chose Zechariah, because he and his wife were righteous in His eyes. We read this in the following verses:

Luke 1 verse 6: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."

Luke 1 verse 7-9: "And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord."
We know that such a division counts many priests. The task to burn incense among all religious acts the priests are to perform, is a holy task. Incense was to be laid on the altar of incense, after it had been cleansed of the ashes, and whereon new coals had been laid, after which the assembled people were to be blessed. It was a wonderful, holy task in their eyes: it was the most holy task the priests of such a division had during that week. Because it was such an extraordinary task lots were drawn. During such a week only seven priests of an entire division were appointed by lot for this work. It was customary that the one on whom the lot had fallen, withdrew from further lot drawing for the rest of his life; the reason being that such a division was especially large in number. It so happened that the lot fell on the priest Zechariah... After the altar of incense was cleansed of the ashes of the offering of the previous day, and new coals had been laid on it, he entered. Quietly he came near, knowing what holy task was awaiting him; namely to offer incense unto that great God, to bring Him honor, and praise and worship.

Luke 1 verse 10: "And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense."

They waited outside for this priest's blessing.

Luke 1 verse 11-12: "And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him he was troubled, and fear fell upon him."

When he was thus occupied with the offering of incense, to then worship God, and afterwards to exit backwards, keeping his face towards the altar of incense, he suddenly noticed the angel! Fear came over him!

Luke 1 verse 13: "But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zechariah: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John."
John means: "God is merciful", "God gives grace".

Luke 1 verse 14-15: "And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb."

And see now what task was awaiting him:

Luke 1 verse 16-17: "And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

I already pointed out to you: Elijah was a preacher of repentance, his task was: to call to repentance. He must sound forth the merciful call, which came straight from the heart of God, to the people of Israel. He was a sounding board for God's grace. It is God, Who always calls to repentance! The repentance unto God, a deed which goes out from us, after God called us thereto, is not only the basis and the beginning of a healthy religious life, but also a new beginning each day. This must be a distinguishing mark of our religious life each day: absolute, wholehearted repentance unto God. Not a single Christian can go on in sincerity for God without this daily mark!
John had to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children"; he had to move the hearts of the elders to a childlike acceptance of God's will, and a similar approach to God. He had to "turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just". For disobedience to God's will characterized Israel, and characterizes today's spiritual Israel (the Church)! Repentance shows obedience to God; yes, being willing to obey with all one's heart His entire Word. If, in any way, we are disobedient (or want to be disobedient) to God's will, then there is no repentance in us! If there is a bondage of sin, which keeps us captive, there is a pain in a repentant heart, a wrestling in prayer to God for deliverance and mercy to be able to obey Him! And this wrestling in prayer continues until God pours out His redeeming grace! When we receive God's strength unto deliverance, then again it is up to the Christian himself to show his good will, and break the bondage of sin, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, himself, in the power of grace he received. God calls us out of the darkness of sin, and we must ourselves be willing to get out of the darkness, in God's strength. So Abram had to leave the people of Ur of the Chaldees, his original dwelling place. God called him hereto in order to bless him; but Abram had to do it himself, he had to leave those people in the strength given him by God. The will to act and to obey must come from deep within ourselves, as a positive answer to God's call, then the strength to obey will issue from Him. God must be able to see in the depth of our heart a sincere repentance life, an sincere longing for that life in His justice. Then He will satisfy such a heart with His justice.
John had to "turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just". Wisdom is the distinguishing mark of the just. A righteous person will, at each deed he wants to do, ask himself prayerfully: "is this after God's will?"

Luke 1 verse 18-19: "And Zechariah said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings."
When still young, Zechariah had prayed for a son, but he now did not believe the angel's announcement for he and his wife were already old, and, humanly spoken, the fertile period was over; he therefore asked the angel for a miraculous sign. He could not accept God's Word... but God requires of His people that they believe His Word! Then the announcer made himself known: "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God!" Do you know who Gabriel is? He is the messenger of God's revelations and will; he is the teacher of God's children. So, also Mary received from him the announcement regarding Jesus' birth (see Luke 1:26-35), and, earlier, also Daniel received a revelation from him (see Daniel 8:16-26; 9:21-27). There is but One with God, Who teaches the children of God, and He is the Holy Spirit. Therefore Gabriel is an Old-Testament appearance (revelation form) of Him. He is the third revelation form of the Godhead Himself, and had to condemn Zechariah' unbelief! Zechariah received the sign he asked for; but that sign was at the same time God's judgment over his unbelief:

Luke 1 verse 20-22: "And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zechariah, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless."

When Zechariah came out, his hands were stretched out to bless, as is customary with all the priests, who perform such a deed, but his mouth remained silent... he could not utter the blessing...
Beloved, let us continue to repent from the heart, and obey Him from the heart, but let us also be willing to believe His Word. These are the pillars on which a blessed, religious life rests!

Luke 1 verse 23-25: "And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach (contempt) among men."

The miracle of Elisabeth's conception (at a very old age) then happened. She kept her joy over this miracle of God to herself for five months. After all, the people would not have believed her, and would have laughed at her... Only when it became visible that she was pregnant, she showed herself to the outside world. God had removed her "reproach among men" by this conception, and that in her old age. A barren woman was someone God did not want to bless. In people's opinion her righteousness must have some hidden sins or shortcomings. But now they could not say or think any such thing of her. God had splendidly made good all defamation she suffered by working this miracle in her!

CLICK HERE if you want to read this study (Chapter 1) - that is to long for the Blog - further.

By E. van den Worm

[1] There is a difference between Israel and Jews, which we like to explain in short. First the people of Israel contains twelve tribes, named after the 12 sons of Jacob (who received the name Israel from God). Later there was a split, and the Bible mentions then the “House of Israel” and the “House of Judah” (the Jews). The “House of Israel” (also named Israel) is the empire of 10 tribes which in history was taken in exile from Canaan by Assyria. After this they mingled with the heathens (originally to Europe etc.) where they now live as an “hidden nation”. Specially the “Christian nations” in the North West of Europe and the countries to which many immigrated, like America, Canada and Australia. The “House of Judah” contains two tribes namely Judah and Benjamin, which lived in the promised land in the days that Jesus walked on earth. The house of Judah (the Jews) is the part of Israel that was hardened (see Rom. 11:25).