Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomin:
Psalms 24:3-4: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or shall stand in His Holy place. He who hath clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul until vanity nor sworn deceitfully.”
II Peter 1:10-11 “Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you shall never fail. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
Ok, now I find out who really reads these things because I am going to share something that is really off the reservation. When my study partner called me to tell me about II Peter 1:11 she did not have her Bible in front of her and said this was an entry to the “kingdom of God.” My first response is that the “kingdom of God” means many things. To the Jews of that day it was often just a reference to God Jehovah and a way of referring to Him without speaking His name as that was forbidden. Secondarily it was a reference to an earthly kingdom that God would set up and it was also a reference to the ultimate knowledge of God, but to the Jewish ears it did not mean what we as Christians immediately think and that is heaven.
In looking at this verse I discovered it was not referring to the “kingdom of God,” but the “everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.” George, my Greek teaching friend pointed out that some Greek manuscripts use the word “Epouranion.” (heavenly kingdom) rather than aionion basileian (everlasting kingdom). Either way, I can not dispute that Peter is referring to the heavenly realms, if not heaven itself.
Yes, I am on that portal subject again. If we are truly living in last days, then I firmly believe we will be given the authority to open up portals to heaven. I will not say anything further than that until I have Scriptural support. Here, however, I believe we have a Scripture basis to the fact that entrance into heaven involves passing through a portal just as Elijah and Enoch.
George pointed out that the word “entrance” is “eidsodos” which originated from eis (motion to) and hodos (highway). The entrance is a moving toward a highway. Literally a highway to the heavenly kingdom. This is so similar to the expression in II Kings which is often rendered as a “whirlwind” that it is scary.
Clearly, in Psalms 24 David is referring to the temple mount when he references the “holy hill” and to the holy of holies when he references the Holy Place. It is that word “ascend” which catches my attention, it is “Ya’lah” which is a play on words. It could find it’s root in “Ya’al” which refers to a mountain goat and seeking a profit. It is used for one who climbs a hill or mountain to find some treasure or something that will bring personal profit.
It could also come from the root word “alah” (no you’re thinking of the Arabic word). This word has the idea of blossoming. It means to arise, but arising from a seed that has been planted. In other words one is ascending this hill to dwell on that hill and blossom.
The curious thing is that the only one allowed into the Holy of Holies is the high priest, once a year. In the Holy of Holies there was the ark of the covenant where the very presence of God rested. I remember as a child hearing that God rested on the Ark of the Covenant which was in the Holy of Holies and I could not help but think: “What does he do all day long while sitting there in a little room and boy it must get lonely if He only get’s a visit from the High Priest once a year.” That was until I read in Jewish literature that the Ark of the Covenant was not a resting place for God but a portal to the presence of God. That is why such care was taken in moving the Ark, one did not want even a part of his flesh to pass through that portal if he did not have “clean hands.” Remember Uzzah in I Chronicles 13:10? Washing one’s hands in those days was not done for sanitary reasons, it was done for ceremonial purposes. Washing one’s hands was removing everything that did not belong on the flesh, dirt, dust etc. It symbolized one’s heart being clean of anything not of God.
I have already discussed a pure heart in previous devotionals which is a heart free of unadulterated motives. Uzzah was struck dead because his hand passed through the portal into a a realm that could not tolerate any sin, any impure motive.
I always thought it was unfair that Uzzah was struck dead for doing a good deed like protecting the Ark from falling. But you have to ask yourself, where was his mind when the Ark started to tip. He was focused on his job and the consequences of the Ark falling on his watch. His motives were on his own gizzard and the prestigious job of carrying the Ark of God. He was ya’al, climbing the hill for personal gain and not “alah” to dwell in the presence of God.
I hear people all the time saying: “I want more of God, I want more of God.” Actually, you have all of God you will ever get. Jesus is the way, the “hodos” highway and that portal is ready to open at anytime. The question is, “Why do you want it open, why do you want to pass through it?” Are you ya’al, wanting to walk that highway for you own gain, comfort, pleasure, escape?
Remember the words of Tommy Dorsey: “It’s a highway to heaven, none can walk that way, except the pure in heart.” If you motives are totally directed to bringing pleasure to God, then you will have clean hands and a pure heart and then you will open that portal to the presence of God.
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