“The King of Glory” (2005)
This is a song I finished in January of 2005, although it bears some resemblance to a sketch I made for it back in 1996. The lead sheet is still in progress.
Listen to a demo track I made of this song in 2005 (
hi-fi or lo-fi).
You’re always welcome to contact me with comments or questions.
About the song
I began an adaptation of Ps 24 in 1996, but at the time I failed to see the text from a thoroughly Christian perspective. What kind of person does God find acceptable? the psalmist asks. I took his answer to mean, God accepts the person who succeeds at keeping his rebellious behavior in check. The trouble is, Christians are no more acceptable to God than anybody else, even on the good days, because everything we do, say, think, and feel is shot through with diabolical tendencies. That’s why we need a Savior, someone whose life was perfect in every way all the time and who submitted to the death penalty we deserve. So in this song’s present form I’ve woven in other texts together with the psalm in order to clarify this.
The psalm’s subject is “the King of glory”—the Jewish Messiah—who is the only person who can ascend the hill of the LORD and stand in his holy place on his own merit. Ed Clowney’s transcendent hymn, “Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?,” makes the parallel of Calvary and the hill of the LORD poignantly clear. It was this hymn that inspired me to return to this text and rewrite my song. Incidentally, my experience with this text recalls the pivotal episode of Martin Luther’s life in which he wrestled with and finally understood Ro 1:17.
The correlation of 2Co 5:21 and Ps 24:5 is the hinge on which this song swings: Jesus completed his redemptive work “so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co 5:21) and so that “[we] will receive […] righteousness from the God of [our] salvation” (Ps 24:5).
| 1. |
Lord, who may stand in your sanctuary? |
(Ps 24:3f.) |
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And who may summit your holy hill? |
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Whose hands and heart are clean, speaks in honesty, |
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Delights to do all your will? |
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| 2. |
Lord, you look down from the throne of heaven, |
(Ps 53:2f.) |
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Judging the daughters and sons of man. |
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None seeks your face, O God—no, not even one. |
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Corruption pervades the land. |
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| Bridge: |
But when the time had fully come, |
(Gal 4:4f.) |
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God sent his Son, |
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Born under law, |
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To redeem those under law. |
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He knew no sin |
(2Co 5:21; Ps 24:5) | |
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But became our sin |
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So that we might receive his righteousness. |
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| 3. |
So lift up your heads, O gates! O you ancient doors, |
(Ps 24:7f.) |
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Open and herald the glorious King. |
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Who is this champion, the strength of Israel’s wars? |
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He met Sinai’s demands; |
(cf. Heb 10:5–14; 7:25) | |
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Now in heaven he stands. |
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Let your praise for Messiah ring! |
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