August 20, 2026

Psalms 24

3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

These four verses say a lot about the temple.

3 - who shall go to the temple of the Lord?

4 - in ancient days, Hebrews went to the temple to offer sacrifice for atonement. They would bring the sacrificial animal, representative of Christ, for the priest to perform the performance. Today, we no longer practice animal sacrifice, but we still must bring something to the temple to sacrifice - a pure heart. Another word for this could be a broken heart.

5 - in the temple we receive the blessing(s) of the Lord. The endowment is literally a blessing of power. The initiatory and sealing are also grand blessings, the latter being the pinnacle of all blessings. Additionally, we receive the robes of righteousness, made possible to us from the Lord, our Savior.

6 - finally, who is the generation that seeks Jacob? This statement is two fold. First we seek the house of Israel to join into the covenant, to become part of God's covenant people, and the temple is where that path walked. Secondly, in the temple we also perform a vast portion of the work of gathering Israel. Seeking the face of Jacob can be read as looking for Israel, or gathering Israel.

I am grateful for the temple, because it is my Savior's house, and I know Him there.

Psalms 25

While there is so much beauty in this Psalm, two things specifically stood out to me - mercy and covenants. I will focus primarily on the latter, but also how the two are connected.

10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

I love how "covenant" is emphasized in this Psalm, especially given the lack of covenantal emphasis in Christianity today. What do we learn here about our covenant relationship with the Lord? Keeping it results in mercy and truth. The more we strengthen our covenant relationship with the Lord, the more we feel and receive mercy, and the more truth we understand until, as verse 14 says, we learn the secrets (mysteries) of God.

Verse 14 also points out one ingredient of strengthening or covenantal relationship - fear, or rather, reference for God.

I also love the statement "he will show them His covenant". Again, I always look at covenant as the relationship, knowing (yada) God. So to read that He will show us His covenant, I read He will show us His relationship with us, His love for us, His willingness to give all to save us.