Who Shall Ascend?

TEXT: PSALM 24: 3-10

One great question that often comes to the mind of those who sincerely seek after God is what should be the character, conduct and lifestyle of those who will have the singular honour of entering into the royal presence of God and beholding the King in His beauty and dwelling eternally with Him in glory?

Our Lord Jesus Christ who came from heaven and who, at the end of His earthly ministry ascended to heaven and was received into glory had ‘clean hands’ and ‘pure heart’. If believers, who are the body of Christ, will ascend to God’s holy hill, they also must have clean hands and pure hearts.

To have ‘clean hands’, the believer must live a daily life free from sin: moral defilement, violence, malice, dishonesty, oppression and slander. He will not swear deceitfully because every liar is a child of the devil and only fit to be cast into the lake of fire. But ‘clean hands’ will not suffice unless connected with ‘pure heart’.

We may wash the outward of a cup as long as we please, but if the inward part is filthy, it is unfit for drinking. There is therefore, need for inner purity. The thoughts, motives, imaginations and desires must be pure. Love for God and all men must be without dissimulation. Meekness, humility, forgiveness, freedom from hypocrisy, obedience to God’s word, death to self and total separation from the world must characterize the believer’s life.

To climb a steep, precipitous physical hill is difficult and troublesome. To be among the number of faithful saints that will dwell with God in His very place and seat of glory is like climbing a steep hill, fighting a continuous warfare, or running a race. The heavenly race is fraught with difficulties and persecutions, reproaches and world’s hatred, dangers and distresses. But through prayer, perseverance, patience, lively hope, strong determination, meditation on the word of God and faith in Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, we can make it.

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