Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
The call was first sung as the ark, the emblem of the invisible King drawing near His throne, was carried into Jerusalem, and its gates and everlasting doors are the portals of the heavenly city of God, opening for the Lord strong and mighty in battle and Lord of hosts. Above all it portrays Christ's ascension after His resurrection, escorted upward with shouts and songs of triumph and leading those freed from death as firstfruits and trophies, while the escorting angels sing the command, the waiting host answers with the question who the King of glory is from longing to exalt His praise, the call is repeated, and the portals open wide for the throng to pass through with music. That entrance celebrates Him as conqueror over sin, Satan, death and the grave, taking His place upon the Father's throne to continue His work as Advocate and Intercessor and to impart power to His disciples. It will be fulfilled again when the heavenly gates are lifted for Him to come forth as King of kings with myriads of holy ones to raise the righteous dead, and when He opens the gates of the city of God for the truth-keeping and overcoming nations to enter in triumph to Paradise restored and the tree of life. The King of glory is Jesus Christ, the Majesty of heaven, who veiled His glory in poverty, lowly toil and fallen human nature to defeat the foe where Adam fell, suffered through temptation, Gethsemane and Calvary to open redemption, and now opens the everlasting gates wide to the humble through faith, calling for complete consecration and for following Him through suffering and self-denying labor while it is day.
Setting and Language
The call belongs first to the triumphal procession bringing the ark into Jerusalem, when the gates of the city were bidden to open for the coming King of glory. As the ark drew near, the summons welcomed that King into the city. In that setting the ark was the sacred symbol of Israel's invisible King, whose presence was coming near the throne.
The gates and everlasting doors so addressed are the portals of the city of God in heaven, the Holy City. An innumerable company waits there for the coming One. The summons is spoken to those waiting angels at the portals and gates as the approaching train draws near.
The answering song names the King of glory as the Lord strong and mighty, mighty in battle. It names Him further as the Lord of hosts. That twofold answer — strong and mighty in battle, then Lord of hosts — is the reply that completes the call to open.
Triumphant Heavenly Entrance
The verse depicts Christ's ascension after His resurrection as a triumphant entrance into heaven and into the Father's presence, escorted upward by angels with shouts and songs of joy and triumph. All heaven waits to receive the Saviour as He leads the way upward to the celestial courts and the city of God, with the heavenly host attending Him in praise. He leads upward the multitude set free from death at His resurrection, the risen captives who accompany Him as captives and as firstfruits and trophies of His victory over death and the grave, with Moses among those attending Him.
As they draw near, the escorting angels sing the command for the gates and everlasting doors to open for the King of glory. The waiting sentinels and innumerable angels answer by asking who the King of glory is, not from ignorance but from desire to hear His exalted praise and because they never grow weary of hearing His name exalted. The escort replies that He is the Lord strong and mighty and mighty in battle, and the Lord of hosts. The call is repeated and the question asked again, and then the portals of the city of God are opened wide. The angelic throng and heavenly train pass through the opened gates with rapturous music and amid angelic music, and Christ takes His position upon the throne of the Father surrounded by all the heavenly host.
That entrance celebrates Him as conqueror and victor in battle, the Lord strong and mighty in battle who ascends as a conqueror amid the praise of the heavenly host. His triumph is over sin, over Satan and the prince of darkness, and over death and the grave. He enters as the covenant-making Redeemer of those who belong to Him through faith, who leads captivity captive. The heavenly escort, brightness, opened gates and celebration were veiled from the disciples who watched Him go from the Mount of Olives in His human form. Mortal eyes could not see the heavenly escort or hear the angels' triumph, because the full glory and splendor would have overwhelmed them and unfitted them to return with courage and faith to earthly work, trials, the earthly life of Christ they were to imitate, and imitation of His life.
From that enthronement He receives power from His Father to return to His disciples and impart power to them. His entrance to take His place on the Father's throne marks His continuing work of atonement as humanity's Advocate and Intercessor. That work includes His appeal before the Father for His people, asking that they be with Him and share His glory and pleading for their acceptance because He has identified Himself with them and purchased their rights and titles with His blood.
Future Openings of Gates
The lifting of the gates will be fulfilled again at the second coming of Christ to this world, when the full kingdom of glory is established. Then the heavenly gates will be lifted up for the Saviour to come forth with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy ones as King of kings and Lord of lords. Coming thus He takes His great power and reigns as king over all the earth.
At that coming the King of glory identified in the psalm appears with the heavenly angels. His voice and the trumpet call the righteous dead from their graves to immortal life.
The same opening of the gates in triumph belongs to Jesus ascending to the Father's throne, with attending angels announcing the arrival of the King of glory and identifying Him as the Lord mighty in battle, and it pictures the triumphant welcome awaiting those who overcome as they are escorted into God's kingdom. The King of glory opens the gates of the city of God at the resurrection of the faithful dead so that the nations who have kept the truth can enter in. What they enter beholds Paradise and the garden of Eden restored, with beauty and glory far greater than decaying nature and with access again granted to the fruit and leaves of the wide-spreading tree of life. Adam in transports of joy beholds Eden again, bows first in adoration at the feet of the King of glory, then joins the redeemed host in swelling the song Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, having regained by repentance and faithful obedience the garden lost by disobedience, the curse for disobedience replaced by blessing for obedience.
King in Humiliation and Victory
The King of glory is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Majesty of heaven and the mighty Counselor. He is the One who was crucified to save the sinful race from eternal ruin and then raised in glory. At His resurrection He was proclaimed as King of glory by the angel at the tomb, a proclamation heard by the Roman guard who then bore testimony to what they saw and heard.
Though King, He veiled His divine majesty and shunned all outward display when He took humble human nature. He entered poverty and rude, forbidding surroundings, lying in a manger and sharing lowly home and toil, so that the majesty of His outward form would not become an object of attraction. He purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side, but only the beauty of heavenly truth, desiring men to accept Him as the long-foretold Messiah upon the testimony of the word of God. He did not exalt Himself by building rich dwellings or wearing costly clothing, for riches, worldly honor and human greatness can never save a soul from death. His glory was revealed not through outward show but through a humble, meek and lowly spirit and a life of strict self-denial, even serving His disciples and making Himself their example. Yet the angels who had seen Him worshiped in heaven were astonished at the humility of His incarnation and still recognized and worshiped Him in His humiliation without disloyalty to Jehovah.
In amazing love and condescension He humbled Himself to come among fallen humanity and placed His feet in Adam's steps. He entered the path Adam had taken and assumed fallen human nature to cope with the strong foe who had triumphed over Adam. Having faced and defeated Satan, He thereby opened redemption from the disgrace and effects of Adam's failure and fall for all who believe in Him. He led the way through a hard, self-denying, self-sacrificing and humble path to save humanity. That work of salvation brought difficulties, disappointment, reproach and affliction, endured in temptation, in Gethsemane and at Calvary. He bore the cross, the thorny crown and the bitter cup, going before His followers through suffering so they can follow Him through suffering toward a share in His glory, showing the way and bringing the divine help people need to overcome.
In death and burial the sealed tomb was His prison-house. Angelic hosts watched His resting place with untold interest, guarding His way out of the tomb and earnestly waiting for the command to do their part in liberating Him from the grave. His followers therefore had no reason to fear that His enemies would take His body. Even when mocked and treated as a pretender during His trial and crucified by His persecutors, He remained heaven's pure and stainless King who came to save the sinful race from eternal ruin.
Having completed the plan of salvation He again possesses the exalted stature He had before becoming human. He carries on His saving work among people as healer and evangelist while clothed in humble human nature. Because He as the Son of God tabernacled in humanity and lived and suffered and died on this earth, this little world under the curse of sin, the dark blot in creation claimed by Satan, will be not only ransomed but exalted and honored above all other worlds in the universe. When He makes all things new He comes to remain, and the tabernacle of God will be with men here, with God Himself dwelling with them as their God, while through endless ages the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord praising Him for the unspeakable Gift of Immanuel, God with us.
Call to Enter and Serve
The everlasting gates open wide to the humble and not to the proud or self-exalted, so that even the weakest and most lowly may enter through simple faith and love and receive grace rather than earning heaven by status or achievement. The King of glory who enters there is the Redeemer who gave Himself as a ransom, and He is worthy of complete and whole-hearted consecration, with the deepest homage, service, abilities and possessions still too small a response to Him. Because that King, the Majesty of Heaven, bore the heavy cross, wore the thorny crown and drank the bitter cup, dying to redeem souls by His precious blood, His people must not recline at ease glorifying themselves and forgetting souls. His suffering entrance through the gates stands joined to the call to share His work of saving others.
He has gone before His followers through a rough path of suffering, so they can follow Him through suffering toward a share in His glory, and His great gift in coming and dying for sinners must not be in vain but must be accepted. Accepting Him means giving while there is power, doing while there is strength, working while it is day, and devoting time and means to God's service in order to have His approbation and receive His reward. It means becoming laborers together with God in obeying the principles of His Word, living in simplicity without seeking the flattery or compliments of the world, doing all that can be done to save the world, and raising up churches for Him in new places. Those who will be presented to Him as His pledged followers must bear the fruit of the true vine, seek a higher life and a higher education, serve as workers and laborers together with God, and follow on to know the Lord, with His promised help and blessing resting upon them.
Those proclaiming the third angel's message are called to end the listless indifference that robs God, to bring the spirit of the message into life as a living testimony of its power to the world, to lift hearts to God and lift heads and drooping hands, and to pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so they may work the works of God. The King is the source of power, strength and efficiency, and staying close to Him brings the Holy Spirit's influence and unites believers in one mind and judgment. On the very eve of the day of God, in the closing scenes of earth's history when His judgments are in the land, He looks upon His people with melting mercy and works in their midst with power and love and majesty and glory. He sweeps back the cloud of darkness and unbelief and sends the Holy Spirit into hearts to break down every barrier, so that hard hearts are reconverted, sanctified and made fit to bear His message.
The call was first sung as the ark, the emblem of the invisible King drawing near His throne, was carried into Jerusalem, and its gates and everlasting doors are the portals of the heavenly city of God, opening for the Lord strong and mighty in battle and Lord of hosts.
Above all it portrays Christ's ascension after His resurrection, escorted upward with shouts and songs of triumph and leading those freed from death as firstfruits and trophies, while the escorting angels sing the command, the waiting host answers with the question who the King of glory is from longing to exalt His praise, the call is repeated, and the portals open wide for the throng to pass through with music.
That entrance celebrates Him as conqueror over sin, Satan, death and the grave, taking His place upon the Father's throne to continue His work as Advocate and Intercessor and to impart power to His disciples.
It will be fulfilled again when the heavenly gates are lifted for Him to come forth as King of kings with myriads of holy ones to raise the righteous dead, and when He opens the gates of the city of God for the truth-keeping and overcoming nations to enter in triumph to Paradise restored and the tree of life.
The King of glory is Jesus Christ, the Majesty of heaven, who veiled His glory in poverty, lowly toil and fallen human nature to defeat the foe where Adam fell, suffered through temptation, Gethsemane and Calvary to open redemption, and now opens the everlasting gates wide to the humble through faith, calling for complete consecration and for following Him through suffering and self-denying labor while it is day.
Setting and Language
The call belongs first to the triumphal procession bringing the ark into Jerusalem, when the gates of the city were bidden to open for the coming King of glory. As the ark drew near, the summons welcomed that King into the city. In that setting the ark was the sacred symbol of Israel's invisible King, whose presence was coming near the throne.
The gates and everlasting doors so addressed are the portals of the city of God in heaven, the Holy City. An innumerable company waits there for the coming One. The summons is spoken to those waiting angels at the portals and gates as the approaching train draws near.
The answering song names the King of glory as the Lord strong and mighty, mighty in battle. It names Him further as the Lord of hosts. That twofold answer — strong and mighty in battle, then Lord of hosts — is the reply that completes the call to open.
Triumphant Heavenly Entrance
The verse depicts Christ's ascension after His resurrection as a triumphant entrance into heaven and into the Father's presence, escorted upward by angels with shouts and songs of joy and triumph. All heaven waits to receive the Saviour as He leads the way upward to the celestial courts and the city of God, with the heavenly host attending Him in praise. He leads upward the multitude set free from death at His resurrection, the risen captives who accompany Him as captives and as firstfruits and trophies of His victory over death and the grave, with Moses among those attending Him.
As they draw near, the escorting angels sing the command for the gates and everlasting doors to open for the King of glory. The waiting sentinels and innumerable angels answer by asking who the King of glory is, not from ignorance but from desire to hear His exalted praise and because they never grow weary of hearing His name exalted. The escort replies that He is the Lord strong and mighty and mighty in battle, and the Lord of hosts. The call is repeated and the question asked again, and then the portals of the city of God are opened wide. The angelic throng and heavenly train pass through the opened gates with rapturous music and amid angelic music, and Christ takes His position upon the throne of the Father surrounded by all the heavenly host.
That entrance celebrates Him as conqueror and victor in battle, the Lord strong and mighty in battle who ascends as a conqueror amid the praise of the heavenly host. His triumph is over sin, over Satan and the prince of darkness, and over death and the grave. He enters as the covenant-making Redeemer of those who belong to Him through faith, who leads captivity captive. The heavenly escort, brightness, opened gates and celebration were veiled from the disciples who watched Him go from the Mount of Olives in His human form. Mortal eyes could not see the heavenly escort or hear the angels' triumph, because the full glory and splendor would have overwhelmed them and unfitted them to return with courage and faith to earthly work, trials, the earthly life of Christ they were to imitate, and imitation of His life.
From that enthronement He receives power from His Father to return to His disciples and impart power to them. His entrance to take His place on the Father's throne marks His continuing work of atonement as humanity's Advocate and Intercessor. That work includes His appeal before the Father for His people, asking that they be with Him and share His glory and pleading for their acceptance because He has identified Himself with them and purchased their rights and titles with His blood.
Future Openings of Gates
The lifting of the gates will be fulfilled again at the second coming of Christ to this world, when the full kingdom of glory is established. Then the heavenly gates will be lifted up for the Saviour to come forth with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy ones as King of kings and Lord of lords. Coming thus He takes His great power and reigns as king over all the earth.
At that coming the King of glory identified in the psalm appears with the heavenly angels. His voice and the trumpet call the righteous dead from their graves to immortal life.
The same opening of the gates in triumph belongs to Jesus ascending to the Father's throne, with attending angels announcing the arrival of the King of glory and identifying Him as the Lord mighty in battle, and it pictures the triumphant welcome awaiting those who overcome as they are escorted into God's kingdom. The King of glory opens the gates of the city of God at the resurrection of the faithful dead so that the nations who have kept the truth can enter in. What they enter beholds Paradise and the garden of Eden restored, with beauty and glory far greater than decaying nature and with access again granted to the fruit and leaves of the wide-spreading tree of life. Adam in transports of joy beholds Eden again, bows first in adoration at the feet of the King of glory, then joins the redeemed host in swelling the song Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, having regained by repentance and faithful obedience the garden lost by disobedience, the curse for disobedience replaced by blessing for obedience.
King in Humiliation and Victory
The King of glory is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Majesty of heaven and the mighty Counselor. He is the One who was crucified to save the sinful race from eternal ruin and then raised in glory. At His resurrection He was proclaimed as King of glory by the angel at the tomb, a proclamation heard by the Roman guard who then bore testimony to what they saw and heard.
Though King, He veiled His divine majesty and shunned all outward display when He took humble human nature. He entered poverty and rude, forbidding surroundings, lying in a manger and sharing lowly home and toil, so that the majesty of His outward form would not become an object of attraction. He purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side, but only the beauty of heavenly truth, desiring men to accept Him as the long-foretold Messiah upon the testimony of the word of God. He did not exalt Himself by building rich dwellings or wearing costly clothing, for riches, worldly honor and human greatness can never save a soul from death. His glory was revealed not through outward show but through a humble, meek and lowly spirit and a life of strict self-denial, even serving His disciples and making Himself their example. Yet the angels who had seen Him worshiped in heaven were astonished at the humility of His incarnation and still recognized and worshiped Him in His humiliation without disloyalty to Jehovah.
In amazing love and condescension He humbled Himself to come among fallen humanity and placed His feet in Adam's steps. He entered the path Adam had taken and assumed fallen human nature to cope with the strong foe who had triumphed over Adam. Having faced and defeated Satan, He thereby opened redemption from the disgrace and effects of Adam's failure and fall for all who believe in Him. He led the way through a hard, self-denying, self-sacrificing and humble path to save humanity. That work of salvation brought difficulties, disappointment, reproach and affliction, endured in temptation, in Gethsemane and at Calvary. He bore the cross, the thorny crown and the bitter cup, going before His followers through suffering so they can follow Him through suffering toward a share in His glory, showing the way and bringing the divine help people need to overcome.
In death and burial the sealed tomb was His prison-house. Angelic hosts watched His resting place with untold interest, guarding His way out of the tomb and earnestly waiting for the command to do their part in liberating Him from the grave. His followers therefore had no reason to fear that His enemies would take His body. Even when mocked and treated as a pretender during His trial and crucified by His persecutors, He remained heaven's pure and stainless King who came to save the sinful race from eternal ruin.
Having completed the plan of salvation He again possesses the exalted stature He had before becoming human. He carries on His saving work among people as healer and evangelist while clothed in humble human nature. Because He as the Son of God tabernacled in humanity and lived and suffered and died on this earth, this little world under the curse of sin, the dark blot in creation claimed by Satan, will be not only ransomed but exalted and honored above all other worlds in the universe. When He makes all things new He comes to remain, and the tabernacle of God will be with men here, with God Himself dwelling with them as their God, while through endless ages the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord praising Him for the unspeakable Gift of Immanuel, God with us.
Call to Enter and Serve
The everlasting gates open wide to the humble and not to the proud or self-exalted, so that even the weakest and most lowly may enter through simple faith and love and receive grace rather than earning heaven by status or achievement. The King of glory who enters there is the Redeemer who gave Himself as a ransom, and He is worthy of complete and whole-hearted consecration, with the deepest homage, service, abilities and possessions still too small a response to Him. Because that King, the Majesty of Heaven, bore the heavy cross, wore the thorny crown and drank the bitter cup, dying to redeem souls by His precious blood, His people must not recline at ease glorifying themselves and forgetting souls. His suffering entrance through the gates stands joined to the call to share His work of saving others.
He has gone before His followers through a rough path of suffering, so they can follow Him through suffering toward a share in His glory, and His great gift in coming and dying for sinners must not be in vain but must be accepted. Accepting Him means giving while there is power, doing while there is strength, working while it is day, and devoting time and means to God's service in order to have His approbation and receive His reward. It means becoming laborers together with God in obeying the principles of His Word, living in simplicity without seeking the flattery or compliments of the world, doing all that can be done to save the world, and raising up churches for Him in new places. Those who will be presented to Him as His pledged followers must bear the fruit of the true vine, seek a higher life and a higher education, serve as workers and laborers together with God, and follow on to know the Lord, with His promised help and blessing resting upon them.
Those proclaiming the third angel's message are called to end the listless indifference that robs God, to bring the spirit of the message into life as a living testimony of its power to the world, to lift hearts to God and lift heads and drooping hands, and to pray for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so they may work the works of God. The King is the source of power, strength and efficiency, and staying close to Him brings the Holy Spirit's influence and unites believers in one mind and judgment. On the very eve of the day of God, in the closing scenes of earth's history when His judgments are in the land, He looks upon His people with melting mercy and works in their midst with power and love and majesty and glory. He sweeps back the cloud of darkness and unbelief and sends the Holy Spirit into hearts to break down every barrier, so that hard hearts are reconverted, sanctified and made fit to bear His message.