great, victorious, and triumphant captains.
John Diodati.
Verse 7. "Be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory
shall come in." Some interpret this of the doors of our heart, according
to that (Revelation 3:20), "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him," etc. In the
gospel history, we find that Christ had a fourfold entertainment among men.
Some received him into house, not into heart, as Simon the Pharisee (Luke
7:44), who gave him no kiss nor water to his feet; some into heart, but not
into house, as the faithful centurion (Matthew 8:8), esteeming himself
unworthy that Christ should come under his roof; some neither into house nor
heart, as the graceless Gergesites (Matthew 8:34); some both into house and
heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha. John 3:15; Luke 10:38. Now that Christ
may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that our bodies may be temples of his
Holy Spirit, we must as our prophet exhorts here, lift up our souls, that
is, in the words of St. Paul (Colossians 3:2), our affections must be set on
things which are above, and not on things which are on earth: if we desire
to lift up our hearts unto Christ's verity, we may not lift them up unto the
world's vanity; that is, we must not fasten our love too much upon the
things of this life, but on those pleasures at God's right hand which are
evermore; that as we have borne the image of the first Adam, who was
earthly, so we should bear the image of the second Adam, which is heavenly.
1 Corinthians 15:49. The prophane worldling sings a Nunc dimittis unto
Christ, and saith as the devils, "Ah! what have we to do with thee, thou
Jesus of Nazareth?" (Mark 1:24); and as Job reports his words, "Depart from
us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." Job 21:14. On the
contrary, the religious soul, enjoying the possession of the Saviour,
chanteth a merry Magnificat, and a pleasant Te Deum: she saith unto
Christ, as Ruth unto Naomi (Ruth 1:16), "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to
return from following after thee." Nay, death itself shall not part us, for
when I am loosed out of my body's prison, I hope to be with Christ; as Ittai
then unto David, I say unto Jesus, "As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the
king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether in
death, or life, even there also will thy servant be." 2 Samuel 15:21. O
Lord, which art the God of my salvation, I lift my heart to thee, desirous
to seek thee, both in the right ubi —where thou mayest be found, and in
the right quando —while thou mayest be found. Psalm 18:47; 25:1. Open
my dull ears and hard heart, that thy Son my Saviour may come in and dwell
with me. Grant me grace that I may still hear while he calleth, open while
he knocketh, and hold him also when I have him; that I may both ascend
thine hill, and stand in thy holy place; that I may not only sojourn in
thy tabernacle, but also rest and dwell upon the mountain of thine holiness.
John Boys.
Verse 7. "Everlasting doors." Heaven's gates are called
"everlasting," because they shall endure for ever, or because they be the
doors unto the life which is everlasting.
John Boys.
Verse 7. Whatever we may think of these things, David thought it high
time for him to bid such a messenger welcome, and to open his heart for the
receiving of his God. Hear what he saith to his own heart and others:
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in." And because the door of men's hearts
is locked, and barred, and bolted, and men are in a deep sleep, and will not
hear the knocking that is at the gate, though it be loud, though it be a
king; therefore David knocks again, "Lift up, ye everlasting doors." Why,
what haste, saith the sinner? What haste? Why, here's the King at your
gates; and that not an ordinary king neither; he is a glorious King, that
will honour you so far, if you open quickly, as to lodge within, to take up
his abode in your house, to dwell with you. But the soul for all this doth
not yet open, but stands still questioning, as if it were an enemy rather
than a friend that stood there, and asks, "Who is this King of glory?"
Who? He answers again, "It is the Lord of Hosts;" he, that if you will
not open quickly and thankfully too, can easily pull your house down about
your ears; he is the Lord of hosts, that King who hath a mighty army always
at his command, who stand ready to their commission, and then you should
know who it is you might have had for your friend; "Lift up, therefore, your
heads, O ye gates." Open quickly, ye that had rather have God for your
friend, than for your enemy. Oh, why should not the soul of every sinner
cry out, Lord, the door is locked, and thou hast the key; I have been trying
what I can do, but the wards are so rusty that I cannot possibly turn the
key? But, Lord, throw the door off the hinges, anything in the world, so
thou wilt but come in and dwell here. Come, O mighty God, break through
doors of iron, and bars of brass, and make way for thyself by thy love and
power. Come, Lord, and make thyself welcome; all that I have is at thy
service; O fit my soul to entertain thee!
James Janeway.
Verse 7. He hath left with us the earnest if the Spirit, and taken from
us the earnest of our flesh, which he hath carried into heaven as a pledge
that the whole shall follow after.
Tertullian.
Verse 7. Christ is gone to heaven as a victor; leading sin, Satan, death,
hell, and all his enemies, in triumph at his chariot wheels. He has not
only overcome his enemies for himself, but for all his people, whom he will
make conquerors, yea, "more than conquerors." As he has overcome, so shall
they also overcome; and as he has gone to heaven a victor, they shall follow
in triumph. He is in heaven as a Saviour. When he came from heaven it was
in the character of a Saviour; when on earth he obtained eternal salvation;
in heaven he lives as a Saviour; when he comes again from heaven he will
come as a Saviour; and when he will return, he will return as a Saviour. He
is also gone to heaven as the rightful heir. He is not gone to heaven as a
sojourner, but as "the heir of all things." He is the heir of heavenly
glory and happiness, and believers are "heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ."
Henry Pendlebury, 1626-1695.
Verse 7. O clap your hands together, all ye people; sing unto God with
the voice of melody. God is gone up with a merry noise, and the Lord with
the sound of the trump." Psalm 47: 1, 5. This Ark, which has saved the
world from destruction, after floating on a deluge of blood, rests at length
on the mountain. This innocent Joseph, whose virtue has been oppressed by
the synagogue, is brought out of the dungeon to receive a crown. This
invincible Samson has carried away the gates of hell, and goes in triumph to
the everlasting hills. This victorious Joshua has passed over Jordan with
the ark of the covenant, and taken possession of the land of the living.
This Sun of righteousness, which had gone down ten degrees, returns
backward to the place which it had left. He who was "a worm" at his birth,
a Lamb in his passion, and a Lion in his resurrection, now ascends as an
Eagle to heaven, and encourages us to follow him thither. This day heaven
learns to endure man's presence, and men to walk above the stars; the
heavenly Jerusalem receives its rightful King, the church its High Priest,
the house of God its Heritor, the whole world its Ruler. "O sing praises,
sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King."
Psalm 47:6-8. "God reigneth over the heathen, God sitteth upon his holy
seat." "The princes of the people are joined unto" him; "he is very highly
exalted" above them.
From "The Life of Jesus Christ in Glory," translated from the French of
James Nouet.
Verses 7, 8. Christ being now arrived at heaven's doors, those heavenly
spirits that accompanied him began to say, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come
in!" to whom some of the angels that were within, not ignorant of his
person, but admiring his majesty and glory, said again, "Who is the King of
glory?" and then they answered "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle," and thereupon those twelve gates of the holy city, of
New Jerusalem, opened of their own accord, and Jesus Christ with all his
ministering spirits entered in. O my soul, how should this heighten thy joy
and enlarge thy comforts, in that Christ is now received up into glory?
Every sight of Christ is glorious, and in every sight thou shouldst wait on
the Lord Jesus Christ for some glorious manifestations of himself. Come,
live up to the rate of this great mystery; view Christ as entering into
glory, and thou wilt find the same sparkle of glory on thy heart. O! this
sight is a transforming sight: "We all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Isaac Ambrose.
Verses 7, 8. Ye that are thus the living temples of the Lord, and have
already entertained his sanctifying Spirit into you, do you lift up your
hearts in the use of holy ordinances through faith, in joyful desires and
assured expectation of him; yea, be you abundantly lift up by faith in the
use of holy means who are the everlasting habitation of an everlasting God,
with a joyful and assured welcome of him; for so shall you invite and
undoubtedly entertain the high and mighty Potentate the Lord Christ into
your souls, with the glorious manifestation and ravishing operation of his
love, benefits, and graces. And know, O all ye faithful and obedient ones,
for your courage and comfort, who, and of what quality this glorious King,
the Lord Jesus is, whom the world despises but you honour. Why, he is the
Almighty God, of power all-sufficient to preserve and defend his people and
church, that in trust of him do love and serve him, against all the strength
and power of men and devils that do or shall malign or oppose themselves
against them, and to put them to the foil, as we his Israel in the letter
have found by experience for your instruction and corroboration that are his
people in spirit.
George Abbot, in "Brief notes upon the whole Book of Psalms," 1651.
Verses 7-10. Oh, what tongue of the highest archangel of heaven can
express the welcome of thee, the King of glory, into these blessed regions
of immortality? Surely the empyreal heaven never resounded with so much
joy: God ascended with jubilation and the Lord with the sound of the
trumpet. It is not for us, weak and finite creatures, to wish to conceive
those incomprehensible, spiritual, divine gratulations, that the glorious
Trinity gave to the victorious and now glorified human nature. Certainly
if, when he brought his only-begotten Son into the world, he said, "Let all
the angels worship him;" much more now that he, "ascendeth on high, and hath
led captivity captive, hath he given him a name above all names, that at the
name of Jesus all knees should bow." And if the holy angels did so carol at
his birth, in the very entrance into that state of humiliation and
infirmity, with what triumph did they receive him now returning from the
perfect achievement of man's redemption? and if, when his type had
vanquished Goliath, and carried his head into Jerusalem, the damsels came
forth to meet him with dances and timbrels, how shall we think those angelic
spirits triumphed, in meeting of the great Conqueror of hell and death? How
did they sing, "Lift up your heads, ye gates! and be lifted up, ye
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Surely, as he
shall come, so he went; and, "Behold, he shall come with thousands of his
holy ones; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand
thousands stood before him;" from all whom, methinks I hear that blessed
applause, "Worthy is the Lamb that was killed, to receive power, and riches,
and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and praise: praise and
honour, and glory, and power, be to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to
the Lamb for evermore." And why dost not thou, O my soul, help to bear thy
part with that happy choir of heaven? Why art not thou rapt out of my
bosom, with an ecstasy of joy, to see this human nature of ours exalted