October 6 - Psalm 15

October 6 - Psalm 15:1-5

If you spend any time reading Revelation 4-5, you will glimpse images of the throneroom. Isaiah 6:1-4 shows another peek in God's sanctuary.

David asks who it is that can draw near to God's presence and worship where the Lord resides?

The next verses seem to be nearly impossible standards by which we must live. We must be righteous and speak the truth with no slander. We must not do our neighbor any wrong or speak badly about anyone. We must despise sin, yet honor those who fear the Lord. We are told to keep our oath, even when it hurts, lend money freely (with no interest), and care for the innocent. (Psalm 15:2-5a)

This Psalm points out clearly the difference between the Old and New Testament foundational structure. When Jesus came to act as the atonement for our sins, all of a sudden these standards become tolerable. When David was writing these verses, the only way to escape from the punishment of sin was to go to extreme measures with offerings and acts of penitence. There was never going to be a way that man could eliminate all of the sin in his life, no offering would be good enough, he would always be found lacking.

Until Jesus died on the cross. That was the perfect offering, the act which made it possible for us to stand in the throneroom before the Creator who sat on the throne. No longer will God see us simply as sinners and reject us from His presence. With the covering of Jesus' act of atonement, we are welcomed as children of God.