Who can come before God?

Psalm 24:3-4

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.

 Who can come before God? Who can enter his presence? Who can stand before him? The short answer is that none of us can. Our hands are filthy, our hearts certainly aren't pure and we constantly put ourselves before God.

We are sinful, we disobey God and therefore we deserve his wrath. We cannot come before him asking for salvation while we're in this state, and we don't deserve anything except God's wrath. Yet he has made a way for us to be saved. He has provided someone who can enter his presence.

Jesus is God, he is perfect. He has clean hands, he is pure. He did not trust in himself or worship anything other than God (even though Satan tempted him to in Luke 4). He is God and he came to earth as a man, he lived perfectly and he died in our place.

Jesus, the creator of the universe, God the son, equally God along with the Holy Spirit and God the father from all eternity came to earth for our sakes and died in our place. Why? To take our sin, so that whoever turns to him can be entirely forgiven by him. He suffered the wrath that we deserve because he took our sin on himself. He was punished by God even though he was perfect so that he could save us.

So Repent and Believe! Turn to him! Jesus saves, put your faith in him, turn from sin and obey him. Jesus not only died, but he rose again. The wages of sin is death, and he suffered that, but he rose again proving that he had dealt with our sin in full, he had paid the price that we would spend eternity in hell paying. He rose again from the dead and ascended to heaven, and he is with God preparing a place for us.

Jesus has ascended the "mountain of the Lord" and he will return to judge the living and the dead. Everyone who puts their faith in him will be entirely forgiven and will be saved from his wrath. We will spend eternity with him in heaven, enjoying his presence. Anyone ho rejects him will be rejected by him and thrown into hell to suffer God's wrath on that day.

Jesus alone can save. He is the only true God: we need to worship him. He is the one who makes our hands and hearts clean, washing them in his blood so that we are righteous in God's sight. Nothing we can do can add to that or take away from it. Trust in him! Repent and Believe and be encouraged! Stand firm!

Jesus saves. This is love.

Soli Deo Gloria
Nat.