A Twofold Song for Spiritual Warfare
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. …Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, invincible in battle.” —Psalm 24:1,8,10 NLT
In 1974, as a brand-new freshman at Wamego High School, under the leadership of John Childs, our high school marching band was chosen to play in the New York City Macy’s Day Parade.
Our marching band began to get ready for this event, showing up ninety minutes before school ever started, we practiced marching in straight lines all throughout the streets of Wamego Kansas, memorizing all the songs. We had marching steps to each song, dance moves, songs to memorize, and important turns. We practiced marching and lifting our knees high so that the marching line looked flawless. The day finally came when we were off to New York City. It was my first time out of Kansas, my first time on an airplane, my first time in a big city, my first time seeing skyscrapers. On Thanksgiving morning, we had a 3:30 A.M. alarm set to get dressed and get down to find our place in the parade. We walked 32 blocks in the freezing cold following a dozen horses. This was the biggest crowd of people cheering I had ever seen. They were lined for miles to watch every part of this joyous event. Oh, what a parade. The music, the shouting, the joy, the drum cadence, the floats, all of the marching bands. The triumphant sounds echoing all throughout the streets of New York City and to top off the whole parade was Santa Claus. Everywhere I looked, throngs of people were cheering and full of joy as each band and each float made its way down the streets of New York City.
In Psalm 24, we find David hosting the parade of all parades. The whole kingdom had come out to witness the return of the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David. This parade lined from the house of Obed-Edom to the hill of Mount Zion.
David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns (2 Samuel 6:14-15 NLT).
All of Israel celebrated the Ark of the Covenant, welcomed to the hill of Zion. There was only one who did not enjoy this parade, to which David responded, “I can be even more undignified than this.” The day of this parade full of joyful shouts, singing, dancing, declarations, and music was the setting for Psalm 24.
So picture in your mind David with his grand parade of musicians, singers, choruses, and musical instruments. The Levites carrying the Ark of The Covenant. All the people singing and shouting, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything and everyone in it is His.”
Spurgeon writes, “The whole round world is claimed for Jehovah, ‘and they that dwell therein’ are declared to be his subjects.” [1]
Here lies our first key: “The earth is the Lord’s.” This declaration that started David’s song needs to be the declaration that starts ours. The entire world belongs to God. Everything is God’s. Everyone belongs to God. This settles any and all questions because it is all from God, created by God and for God. When we unwrap some of these words, the earth means “countries, territories, districts, regions, tribal territories, all inhabitants of the land, Sheol, land without return, city, states, ground, soil.” Then it is every people, every land, every country—we could go on and on—but it is every single thing belongs to the Lord. Now when we bring in the Greek for this verse, the Greek is, “The earth (is) the Lord’s and its sum.” What’s interesting is that the emphasis in Greek is on the Lord due to word order. Thus, even though the idea of the sentence is “everything belongs to the Lord,” God still remains the focal point amidst everything else that He owns. [2]
This is our statement. This is our key. This is the truth: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it belongs to Him.”
This psalm is very similar to Psalm 15, which many believe was sung when David began to bring the Ark of the Covenant up the first time which brought about the death of Uzzah as the oxen stumbled and he reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant. Therefore, David writes in the middle section the rules for carrying the presence of the Lord. Now we will not be carrying The Ark of the Covenant, however, we do carry the presence of the Lord within us. So think of the Holy Spirit alive within us just as the presence of God was alive in the Ark. Therefore, the middle portion are steps and directions we need to follow.
There is an obedience that we are invited to walk in as we carry the presence of the Lord on a continual basis. So when we pick up this first key, the earth is the Lord’s, it sends us down the right path much like Psalm 1 does when we follow those directions. Then Psalm 24 asks the very same questions that Psalm 15 asked. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His presence? Two different times in the Psalms, David is asking this question and then giving us the instructions. This is our heads up. It has to do with our hands, our heart, and our mouth. Carrying or hosting the presence of the Lord is a privilege—it is an honor that requires our hands, our heart, and our mouth. This to me speaks again as in previous psalms that the eyes of the Lord are always watching our private lives. What we do in private matters. He wants to empower us to live rightly before Him when no one is looking. When it’s just you and the Lord, He wants to help every believer make right choices. He wants to bring everything into the light. And He requires this as He promises to help us achieve right choices at all times so that the presence of God we carry in our lives in public is the overflow of our life in God before the eyes of One—before the Lord alone.
We have our key, the earth is the Lord’s, which leads us straight to the question: Who can host the presence of the Lord continually? This leads us to God’s view of our private lives and His desire to strengthen us for righteous choices involving our hands, our heart, and our mouth. I like to call this the “heads up passage” because this passageway leads us straight into the joyful celebration of David’s parade in the last four verses.
Many believe these last couple of verses were literally a song. As David begins to declare, “Open up the gates,” this was antiphonally sung, meaning David would sing out parts of it and then the people would respond in singing back to David. It would have been a grand chorus that they continued to remember, much like the “Hallelujah” chorus by George Frideric Handel. They would have practiced this song so that everyone knew their part as the Ark of the Covenant made its way up to Jerusalem
They would have sung out, “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in.” Then there was a chorus of voices from within the gates of Jerusalem actually welcoming the Ark of the Covenant in. They would have sung, “Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle.” Then picture a chorus of priests, Levites and people outside the gates with the Ark, and they are answering them in verse 9, saying, “Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up you everlasting doors that the King of Glory may come in.” Then the voices within the gates begin to declare and sing out, “Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts; He is the King of Glory.” Then the whole grand chorus of everyone would have sung that last verse, “Who is this King of Glory? It’s Adonai—He is the King of Glory.” Then Selah—pause and think about that.
They are singing, “Open up the gates” as they watch the literal gates of Jerusalem be lifted up to welcome back the Ark of the Covenant.
In the same way that the Ark of the Covenant went through the gates—as the crowds were singing, children were rejoicing, and the musicians were playing—David begins to see into the future, into the day when Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty will be welcomed back to Jerusalem with the gates of the city lifted up and the parade of all parades welcoming Yeshua Hamashiach back into Jerusalem.
Here lies another key for us—who is this King of Glory? This is a real question that we want to ask ourselves. Who is this King? He is the King of all nations and He is the King of our hearts. This King fights on our behalf today. He is the victorious One. He is armed and ready for battle. He is victorious over everything. He is mighty over sin, mighty over hell, and mighty over death. This mighty King fights on our behalf today. Whatever we face. Whatever our battle. This King is armed and ready to fight with us and for us. We are not alone. We are never left without help. We have this promise of Psalm 24. This is our key—we have a King who fights for us and with us. He is mighty. He is glorious, and He cares about our battles.
So what battle are you fighting? What are you fighting in your life where you feel the enemy coming against you? I want you to picture the King of Glory, the King of Heaven’s armies, this great warrior. He is armed, and He is ready to fight with you and for you in battle. You do not fight alone. You have the King of the host of Heaven’s armies, and He is armed and ready to help you fight your battle.
Remember this King—He’s victorious over everything; nothing hinders Him. Nothing stops Him. The King of Glory is behind you, beside you, in front of you. We are surrounded by His shield, by His presence, and He is victorious over everything. He’s the One who is helping us fight our battle. So let this be a twofold song. Let it call us higher in how we live our lives, the choices that we make when no one’s looking, the words that we use in life when no one is around to hear. God hears. How we live our lives when no one’s looking, this is what the King of Glory is in battle over—that we are upright and righteous when no one is looking. Oh, that we would be those who ascend, who come up and commune with the Holy Spirit and commune with God and host His mighty presence wherever we go.
Daily Prayer
Oh Lord, The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it belongs to You. The whole world is Yours, and everyone in it belongs to You. You founded it upon the sea, established it upon the waters; You are the One who pushed back the ocean to let the dry land appear.
Lord, who may ascend the hill of the Lord, and who may stand in His holy place? Who may ascend to the presence of the Lord? God, could it me? Let me be one who has clean hands and a pure heart, whose works and ways are pure, and whose heart is true. Oh, let me be the one who never deceives, whose words are sure.
I seek You, God of Jacob, I want to stand before You, seeking the pleasure of Your face, seeking out the pleasure of Your ways.
So be lifted up, O you gates. Be lifted up you ancient doors; let the King of Glory come in. Who is this King of Glory? He is the Lord, strong and mighty. He is the Lord, mighty in battle. He conquers everything.
Notes
Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, “Psalm 24, verse 1.”
Joseph Meyer, formerly a Doctoral Fellow in Classical Languages and Literature at UCSB.
