Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
A triumphal entrance
I. The great thing to desire is the entrance of the king of glory into our souls. Without it thou wilt be like a house without a tenant--cold, cheerless, dilapidated, desolate. Thy heart will be as a nest without a bird--a poor, sad thing.
II. There are impediments to this coming into our hearts. The text speaks about “doors” and “gates,” and there are such to our hearts, and they need to be “lifted up” ere the King of glory can come in, Sometimes it is our wicked prejudice. We do not want to know the Gospel; or our love of sin, which we do not care to give up. Then there is the door which I may call the iron gate, that entereth into the city--the door of unbelief. That unbelief is the ruin of souls.
III. If Christ is to enter we must be willing to remove all these. The text says, “Lift up your heads,” as if they were to lift them up themselves. Though salvation is of grace, it is never against, but always with our will.
IV. It is grace that must enable you to be thus willing. Picture the inhabitants trying to lift up the gates themselves. They cannot, and what shall they do? An invisible spirit stands by them, puts his power with theirs, and up go the gates.
V. Jesus will enter. He was willing to come in before: the unwillingness was all in us.
VI. And He is the King of glory. This title belongs to the Saviour. It proclaims Him in His highest authority. What peerless prince is this, with a name above every name? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christ the High Priest of our profession in heaven
The common notion seems to be that all the offices of the Mediator to us-ward took place before the ascension. Consistently with this belief that high festival is despised and neglected. The truth is, that His acts after His ascension are as distinct and important as those which took place before that event. It was not till the ascension that He offered “gifts and sacrifices for men.” As the efficacy of the slain victim of old depended on its blood being brought into “the holiest of all,” so the efficacy of that sacrifice consummated on the Cross depends and is assured to us by its continual presentation by our Mediator in heaven. The heavenly gates have been lifted up, and the King of glory has gone in. But “who is this King of glory?” The Eternal Son of the Father, clad with the white robe of expiation, girt with the golden zone of the priesthood, pleading the cause not only of the Church at large, but of every individual member thereof. There is not a trial we have, as we pass through this vale of tears, but He knows it and recognises it as the lot of humanity from His own actual experience. (T. Huntington, M. A.)
The triumphant ascension of Christ into heaven
Every circumstance in this description is suited to impress us with a lofty sense of the majesty of the Son of God.
1. He is described as a powerful conqueror. In what conflicts has He been engaged? We can speak of Him as having overcome the world, and as subduing the great enemy of man and bruising the serpent’s head.
2. The universal sovereign. Note His preeminent dignity. He is seated upon the throne of the universe.
3. He is “the King of glory.” This title includes in its meaning the substance of the description previously given. This is a subject in which we all are deeply concerned. For henceforth we can look to Christ as our Mediator at the right hand of God; as the Head of His Church, and the Author of all spiritual blessings; and as opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Lessons--
(1) The subject is suited to inspire us with a sure trust in the Captain of our Salvation.
(2) It invites us to have our thoughts and affections in heaven.
(3) It teaches us to look forward to another ascension yet in futurity, and calls us to prepare for it. (Will. Dealtry, D. D.)
The ascension of Christ
Consider the prophetic reference of these striking words. The ark was the type of Christ. We may regard the removal of the ark to Mount Zion as typifying Christ’s ascension to the heavenly Jerusalem.
I. The title which is here given to Him. “The King of glory.” When He lived among men little did He appear like a king at all. But in spite of all mockeries He was a King even then. There are multitudes who have still low thoughts of the Lord Jesus, and there are many religious systems whose tendency is to produce such a result.
II. The dignity and blessedness claimed for Him. Admission into the heavenly mansions. Who are the persons that Claim for Him this high honour? The angelic hosts. And the spirits of just men made perfect took part. See the right which He had to the honour and blessedness which were now claimed for Him. That is taken for granted. No favour is craved. Admission is not a privilege implored or supplicated. He had a right to the heavenly kingdom as the promised reward of His toils and sufferings. He had also a right on the ground of conquest. The connection between the victory which He won and the glories which awaited Him is quite obvious.
III. The reception which awaited Him. Here we can say but little, for on such a theme poor is thought, and altogether impotent the most emphatic expressions. Well may we, therefore, rejoice in the ascension of Christ. With the fact of the ascension we should combine its special objects and purposes. They relate not to Himself alone, but to us likewise. The ascension of Christ should remind us of the glorious, yet solemn and momentous, fact of His second coming. (Expository Outlines.)
An urgent demand, and an earnest inquiry
I. The demand. It may be applied to three events--
1. To the entrance of the ark into the holy city (2 Samuel 6:1-23; l Chronicles 15).
2. To the advent of Christ at His incarnation. The doors and gates of the world’s heart were shut against Him. “He came to His own,” etc.
3. To the ascension of Christ into heaven.
4. To the admission of Christ into the human heart. “In the Gospel history,” says an old writer, “Christ had a four-fold entertainment amongst men. Some received Him into their house, but not into their heart, as Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:44). Some into the heart, but not into the house, as the faithful centurion (Matthew 8:8). Some into neither, as the faithless Gergesenes (Matthew 8:34). Some into both, as Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.” And Christ now seeks admission into men’s hearts, but the gates are closed.
5. To the return of Christ to heaven at last. “After the judgment,” says Keble, “He will pass again through the everlasting doors with a greater company than before; for He will lead along with Him into the heavenly habitation all those who shall have been raised from their graves and found worthy (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18).
II. An earnest inquiry. Who is this King of glory? The question is twice put. None can be of greater importance. The answer tells.
1. That He is one strong in Himself. “The Lord strong.”
2. That He is “mighty in battle.” His conquests are moral, and how numerous, constant, universal, and ever-multiplying they are.
3. That He is vast in command. “The Lord of hosts.” All material existences, all spiritual are His hosts: the heavenly orbs are His hosts. He marshals them as a commander his battalions. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The God who dwells with men
Notice the application, the historical and original application, to the King who dwelt with Israel. But the texts speak of the Christ who dwells with men. The devout hearts in Israel felt that there was something more needed than this dwelling of Jehovah within an earthly temple, and the process of revelation familiarised them with the thought that there was yet in the future a “coming of the Lord” in some special manner unknown to them. When was that fulfilled? Christ is the highest raying out of the Divine light, and the mightiest exhibition of the Divine power. Application of these words to the Christ who will dwell in your hearts. His historical manifestation here upon earth, and His incarnation, which is the true dwelling of Deity amongst men, are not enough. They have left something more than a memory to the world. He is as ready to abide, as really within our spirits, as He was to tabernacle upon earth amongst men. And the very central idea of that Gospel which is proclaimed to you all is this, that if you will open the gates of your hearts He will come in, in all the plenitude of His victorious power, and dwell in your hearts, their Conqueror and their King. What a strange contrast, and yet what a close analogy there is between the victorious tones and martial air of this summons of my text, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates! that the King of glory may come in, and the gentle words of the Apocalypse, Behold. I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice and open the door I will come in to him.” But He that in the Old Covenant, arrayed in warrior arms, summoned the rebels to surrender, is the same as He who in the New, with the night dews in His hair and patience on His face and gentleness in the touch of His hand upon the door, waits to enter in. Open your hearts, “and the King of glory shall come in.” And He will come in as a King that might seek to enter sonic besieged and beleaguered city far away on the outposts of His kingdom. If the relieving force can be thrown into Khartoum, the clouds of enemies will scatter. If the King comes in, the city will be impregnable. If you open your hearts for Him He will come and keep you from all your foes, and give you the victory over them all. So to every hard-pressed heart, waging an unequal contest with toils and temptations and sorrows and sins, this great hope is given, that Christ the Victor will come in His power to garrison heart and mind. As of old the encouragement was given to Hezekiah in his hour of peril, when the might of Sennacherib insolently threatened Jerusalem, so the same stirring assurances are given to each who admits Christ’s succours to his heart. “He shall not come into this city, for I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake.” Open your hearts and the conquering King shall come in. And do not forget that there is another possible application of these words, lying in the future, to the conquering Christ who shall come again. The whole history of the past points onwards to yet a last time when “the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple,” and that Christ shall so come in like manner as He went into heaven. Again shall the summons ring out. Again shall He come arrayed in flashing brightness, and the visible robes of His imperial majesty. Again shall He appear mighty in battle, when in righteousness He shall judge and make war. For a Christian one great memory tills the past--Christ has come; and one great hope brightens the else waste future--Christ shall come. That hope has been far too much left to be cherished only by those who hold a particular opinion as to the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy. But it should be to every Christian heart “the blessed hope,” even the appearing of the glory of Him who has come in the past. He is with and in us in the present. He will come in the future “in His glory, and shall sit upon the throne of His glory.” All our pardon and hope of God’s love depends upon that great fact in the past, that “the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.” Our purity which will fit us to dwell with God, our present blessedness, all our power for daily strife, and our companionship in daily loneliness, depend on the present fact that He dwells in our hearts by faith, the seed of all good, and the conquering antagonist of every evil. And the one light which fills the future with hope, peaceful because assured, streams from that most sure promise that He will come again, sweeping from the highest heavens, on His head the many crowns of universal monarchy, in His hand the weapons of all-conquering power, and none shall need to ask, “Who is this King of glory?” for every eye shall know Him, the Judge upon His throne, to be the Christ of the Cross. Open the doors of your hearts to Him, as He sues for entrance now in the meekness of His patient love, that on you may fall in that day of the coming of the King the blessing of the servants “who wait for their returning Lord,” that when He cometh and knocketh they may open unto Him immediately. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Christ demanding admission into sinners’ hearts
1. Entrance solemnly demanded. The demand is addressed to the gates (that is, princes or heads.
Vulg.). Hence it is understood of Christ’s ascension into heaven. Literally, by the gates are recant those of the Temple, which was a type of heaven. The gates were to be thrown wide open, as was fitting when the ark should enter. It tells of the receiving of Christ into the soul.
2. For whom the demand is made--for the Lord Jesus Christ. When the ark of Gospel ordinances comes, Christ Himself comes to the hearts of sinners for admission.
I. Inquire what is the ark of Gospel ordinances.
1. The Word read and preached.
2. The two sacraments.
II. How Christ comes to sinners.
1. With the offer of Himself.
2. Exhibiting Himself in the sacraments.
3. In both He demands admission.
III. Inferences from the foregoing.
1. The presence of Gospel ordinances shows that Christ is come to our hearts seeking admission.
2. This coming will aggravate the condemnation of those who refuse.
IV. What is it to open the heart to Christ? There is an initial opening at conversion, and a progressive one afterwards. The opening of the door of the understanding and of the will.
V. Why we should do this? The house is His own. The Father who gave it to Him demands this. It was solemnly made over to Him at your baptism. Some will not so much as open the outer door. Others, not the inner door.
1. It is Satan who keeps Christ out.
2. See who it is that seeks admission. The King of glory.
3. How unworthy the house is of Him.
4. Note His condescension--He will come if you open.
5. This offer cost Him dear.
6. Your positions will be one day reversed.
7. You are solemnly called now.
8. The offer will not last always.
9. There is no other way to be saved. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Man’s Brother in heaven
When we were in Cuba a young woman over at Marianne told us she walked over to Morro Castle every morning. It was a long walk, and she said she did it because her brother was a prisoner there. She had never been inside that castle, and had no interest in it until her brother had been incarcerated there; and then every morning that sister walked all the way from Marianne to the great castle, and looked at it until she could count every stone and knew every tower, and knew the colour of every archway, and recognised the position of every sentry. She was interested in the castle because she had a brother there. We would be interested in heaven’s towers, and would count its embattlements, and would love to read about and study it, if we appreciated the value of our Christ who is there. (R. H. Conwell, D. D.).