Reprinting by permission from the magazine of the Soverign Grace Advent Testimony – ‘Watching & Waiting’ (October – December, 2026)
By David Baron
(Mr. Baron gave a full exposition of Psalm 24, but sadly, space forbids that we include the whole article here. However, we are happy to give a little of his introduction to the Psalm- Editor, ‘Watching & Waiting’).
In their application to our Lord Jesus Christ, Psalms 22, 23, and 24 have sometimes been grouped together as ‘the Shepherd Psalms.’ In the 22nd, He is prophetically set forth as ‘The Good Shepherd’ (John 10), who lays down His life for the sheep. In the 23rd, He is ‘The Great Shepherd’ (Hebrews 13:20), who having been raised from the dead, skilfully tends His flock in this moral wilderness, leading them into green pastures, and by the quiet waters. And in Psalm 24, He is ‘The Chief Shepherd’ (1 Peter 5:4), not only crowned with honour and glory Himself, but who, at His appearing, shall bestow a crown of glory which fadeth not away on all His faithful under-shepherds.
According to Rabbinic writers, with which most Christian commentators are agreed, the historical occasion which originated the 24th Psalm was the bringing up of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim to the Tabernacle which David built for it on Mount Zion, as recorded in 2 Samuel 6. Now the Ark was, so to say, the earthly throne of Jehovah, for with it was associated the Cloud of Glory, the visible symbol of God’s special presence in the midst of His people, and the pledge and prophecy of the time when ‘the King of Glory’ shall be manifested and set up His throne on His ‘holy hill’ of Zion, from there to extend His beneficent rule over the whole earth.
Indeed almost every great event in the past history of Israel foreshadows something still greater in the future, and that which is foreshadowed by the triumphal procession of the Ark to Mount Zion amid the great demonstrations of joy and gladness, shall be fulfilled when Jehovah in the person of the Messiah – the true ‘King of Glory’ – shall appear not only to claim, but to exercise sovereignty over the earth, and when a great voice out of heaven shall proclaim, ‘Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and be their God.’
It is interesting to note that in the Service of Song which accompanied the Divinely appointed ritual in the Temple, the 24th Psalm was the one sung on the first day of the week, which was later to be consecrated as the day of memorial of the resurrection of Christ, which was the first step in His glorification, inasmuch as He was thereby manifestly ‘declared to be the Son of God with power.’
The Psalm divides itself into three parts. First we have a proclamation of the absolute and universal sovereignty of God over the earth (verses 1-2). Then follows a description of those who can be declared worthy to enter into the presence of this Almighty God whose chief attribute is that of holiness. In the last brief section there is the triumphant announcement of the advent of the Divine Hero – the conqueror of sin and death – who truly answers to the requirements set forth in the second section, and before whom therefore the ‘everlasting doors’ which as a consequence of the Fall shut out sinful men from the presence of God, must open wide.