THE FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT - WEDNESDAY LESSON: PSALM 24 Your king. Matthew 21:5 Here this King is separated from all other kings. He is “your king,” the one promised to you and whose own you are. He is the one who rules you and no one else. But His rule is a spiritual, not a secular, rule. This is a comforting word for the believing heart, for apart from Christ, man is subjected to many raging tyrants who are not kings but murderers. Under these he endures great misery and terror. Such tyrants include the devil, the flesh, the world, and sin, as well as the law, death, and hell. At the hands of all these the wretched conscience is oppressed, suffers heavy imprisonment, and lives a bitter, uneasy life. For where sins are, there is no conscience; where there is no good conscience, everything is quite uncertain and there is unending fear of death and hell before which there can be no firm joy or delight in the heart. As Moses declares, such a heart is terrified at the rustling of a leaf (Leviticus 26:36). Wherever a heart receives this King in firm faith, it becomes established and does not fear sin, death, hell, or any misfortune. It knows and does not doubt that this King is the Lord over life and death, sin and grace, hell and heaven, and that all things are in His hands. PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, my King, establish your rule in my heart in such a way that my heart becomes your throne, and peace and joy may reign therein for evermore. Amen.
