Only those with a pure, clean heart, will ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in righteousness with Him, which on our own is none of us. Psalm 24 makes clear that the only one’s to ascend the hill of the Lord are those possessing a purity beyond reach because of our depravity and having cut ourselves off from the life of the Trinity. What a sad thought.

But this is precisely why the rest of the Psalm the ancient gates and doors open for the revealing of the Holy One of God, the Son of God, Jesus, as the one who will and now has ascended the hill of the Lord.

He’ll do it for us, because we can’t. Through faith and trust and rest in Him, we are united to Him. This union with Him means that His ascension up the hill of the Lord is really and truly our ascension. It really and truly is our righteousness, because we’re in Him, he’s in us, and because it’s His righteousness. We stand on the hill, clean, pure in heart, not because we are yet by any means, but because He is for us, and carries us, and one day at death we will be free of this remaining impurity to be made just like Him and take part in His divinity, perfectly. We do take part in His divinity now, but only as a glimpse of what’s to come. Now it’s a hint and many times almost completely obscured, but in the end it will be to the fullest without end.

What a wonder.