of God under the Jewish dispensation could have no idea of. Let us illustrate this from the psalm before us. This psalm was written on the occasion of car- rying up the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion. The ark was the symbol of the Divine presence : and the carrying it up in so solemn and triumphant a way conveyed to the spectators this important truth, that to have God nigh unto them, where he might be sought and consulted at all times, even in the very midst of them, was an inestimable privilege. But we behold in that ceremony the ascension of our blessed Lord to the heavenly Zion, whither he is gone for the benefit of all his waiting people. The character by which he is described is infinitely more intelligible to us than it could be to those who lived before his advent, and the benefit to be derived from his elevation is proportionably more clear. This will appear whilst we consider,
L The character here given of our ascended Lord —
His ascension, as we have already said, was here represented —
[The priests, with the Levites who bare the ark, demanded, in elevated strains, admission for it within the tabernacle that had been reared for its reception. The terms used, though not strictly applicable to the tabernacle, were proper to it in a figurative sense, as representing the heaven of heavens, the peculiar residence of the Deity. In this view it is said, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ! " The Levites within the tabernacle, on hearing this demand, are represented as inquiring in whose behalf it is made, and who this King of glory is. The reply being satis- factory to those who had the charge of the tabernacle, the ark is borne in, and deposited in the place prepared for it.
Agreeably to this representation we may conceive of Jesus at his ascension, attended by a host of ministering angels, who, on their arrival at the portals of heaven, demand admission for their Divine Master. The angels within inquire who that man can be in whose behalf such a claim is made. Twice is the inquiry made, and twice the answer is returned ; and on the entrance of the Lord into those heavenly mansions we may conceive that the whole celestial choir unite in one exulting acclamation, " The King of glory ! the King of glory ! "]