Are you being transformed by God? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Psalm 24:3-4,

"Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false."

Ascending "the hill of the Lord", standing "in his holy place" are
expressions that refer to entering into God's kingdom, participating
in God's family.

The future fulfillment of this will be realized in the resurrection.
There, we are told, "I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is
the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done
as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each
person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades
were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second
death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he
was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15.

Apparently those who "may ascend the hill of the Lord", who "may stand
in his holy place" will have their names written in a very important
book, "the book of life".

Whose names will be written in this book? According to David, those
who have "clean hands and a pure heart." Those who do not lift up
their souls to an idol.

However, no one leaves this life with "clean hands". As Paul observes,
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who
understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have
together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even
one." Romans 3:10-12. Paul leaves no room for dispute as he
effectively demonstrates this reality in his letter to the church in
Rome. We are all guilty of sin. All of us.

A few verses later in Romans 3 Paul tells us how anyone can enter into
God's family. He says, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from
law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets
testify.This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did
this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had
left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to
demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the
one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:21-26. It
comes through faith.

To make sure he is not being misunderstood, Paul concludes his thought
by saying a couple of verses later, "We maintain that a man is
justified by faith apart from observing the law." Those who ascend the
hill of the Lord, who stand in his holy place get their by faith.
What are we to make of David's observation, "He who has clean hands
and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by
what is false."?

Taken together we learn that entering into God's kingdom is a matter
of faith. Those who do so will manifest "clean hands and a pure
heart." How does that happen? Those who enter into God's kingdom are
transformed as members of God's family. "Those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brothers." God brings about changes within
those who are his, who have embrace him in faith. The process is
ongoing in this life finding its ultimate fulfillment in the
resurrection.

In his psalm David is not communicating how one becomes a member of
his family, but what a family member looks like as the transformation
takes place.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com