Psalm 24:3 – Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

Psalm 24:4 – He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Psalm 24:5 – He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Hello readers, can you go up? We are at the end of another year… and did you go up? How high did you get? In this world, it’s a battle over who can be highest. Everyone is trying to be higher than everyone else. Sports teams compete to be exalted higher than each other. In the business world, businesses seek earn more and more money. On an individual level, people try to be higher every day. They try to exalt their opinions, ideas, thoughts, intelligence, achievements, finances and very life above others. They try to be the best and most righteous and most worthy version of themselves every day. But did they make it? Can they make it?

We know from the Bible that to get higher than someone else takes ascension power. To descend is to go down, but to ascend is to go up. Everyone is trying to ascend in this world that we live in. They’re trying to rise… but can they really? And who can rise to heaven? Who can ascend? Can you ascend? Can you go up?

The Bible asks who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Can you? Go on, try. Go outside and stand under the clear blue sky and try to ascend straight up into heaven. See if you can. See if you’re worthy, see if you’re accepted, see if you can. Bet you can’t though! Because guess what, we don’t have that power. I can try all I want, but I can’t go up.  But imagine having the power and ability to ascend!

Well guess what, someone has ascended, someone made it to the highest, and that someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. He had the power to ascend up to heaven… where he belonged. Heaven parted to receive him. The last time we saw Jesus Christ was at his ascension, as he ascended up to his Father and disappeared out of our sight. Jesus Christ’s ascension was a critical part of our salvation and our hope. His ascension shows he has power to ascend, it shows he has fulfilled the requirements for ascension, and while we struggle to ascend in our life as everything pulls us down, we see Jesus, who has passed into the heavens. He made it!

I have quoted a few verses from Psalm 24, and the question is asked… who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who can go up? Who can be this high? Who can make it? Who can be worthy? And then you look at the criteria for ascension, such as having clean hands and a pure heart…and immediately everyone to have ever existed bar one, and only one, are eliminated from candidacy for ascension. I can’t ascend because I don’t have clean hands and a pure heart. None of us do. That’s why I can’t go up.

So we have already established that we are in a world that is trying to ascend. Everyone is trying to get higher both individually and corporately. Everyone is trying to get that bit better, that bit richer, that bit more famous, that bit smarter. But the truth is, instead of man ascending, all we see is man descending. Newsflash: evolution is a lie. Everything in our nature and this world is taking us down… just like gravity which throws us all down to the earth, and a law which we all abide under and are subject to.

We are in a nation that has tried to ascend, it’s tried to exalt itself even as it plunges all the way to the depths of hell. Because it’s tried to ascend with hands and heart of sin. And that sin is throwing us down even while we fight to make it higher. Mankind is not ascending. Man is descending. And watch it, because you may just end up descending into the pit where so many finish. They didn’t go up… they went down. They went down because that’s all they did while they were alive… going down. I look at my life. Everything in my life is taking me down. My sin takes me down. My thinking takes me down. My desires take me down. My heart takes me down. When man should be going up… we are all plunging down to hell. Look at this verse…

Isaiah 5:14 “Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.”

Hell is having to make room there are that many people descending into it. You see, hell is down. No matter where you are on earth there is a force taking you down. Hell is the end of man’s downward journey. That is the future for man because of his downward trajectory in disobedience and sin.

But it need not be so. Because God has made it so it doesn’t have to be so, because he loves you, and he came from above and descended below, so that we could rise above this mess. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled those verses of Psalm 24, he was fully qualified and able to ascend into the very presence of God for us. And he didn’t go up just for himself, oh no, he went up on our behalf, to make a place for us, to intercede for us, and he went up with the promise of receiving us unto himself.

But before the ascension, there was a descension. Because the only one who can ascend is the one who descended from heaven, God in the flesh. John 3:13 “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” God came down to us, and walked the earth as a man. He was from above and above all, and that’s where he returned. See, while you’re trying to get higher in life, while you’re trying to go up… you cannot, because you are from beneath and you cannot go up and you are not, and never will be above the most High God. Jesus Christ said in John 8:23 “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.” Woah, that put them in their place didn’t it! They thought they were pretty high… turns out they were beneath. And until you get beneath instead of trying to ascend in vain in your life, you will not be saved, and never will ascend, but rather your future is one of down, down, down to hell.

Ascension separates Christ from everyone else. Because you cannot ascend, I cannot ascend. You and I are not good enough.  Before Jesus Christ’s resurrection and ascension he told the unbelieving Jews in John 8:21 “Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”See, you and I can’t ascend into the holy hill. Who can go up? You and I cannot go up. We need someone to go up for us, who can take us up with him. In that verse, Jesus Christ was going to be with his Father, and guess what, they couldn’t follow him up. And they couldn’t go where he has gone, they had no power to.

So maybe this year, you’ve tried ascending. Maybe you’re trying to get that big higher in life. Maybe you feel you’ve gained a bit of altitude. And maybe you are that bit higher than someone else. Saul was a bit higher wasn’t he, head and shoulders above everyone else. But guess what… that’s why the Bible says it is not wise to compare amongst ourselves. You may measure up pretty well against others, and you may be that bit higher, so you think anyway, in intelligence or looks or finances or success… whatever… but  the Bible says man in his best state is altogether vanity. You aren’t near as high as you think, though you exalt yourself, and you will be thrust down like everyone else.

Think about this, if Satan tries to ascend and he cannot… what hope do you have? Satan had some very lofty ascension goals in Isaiah 14, but look how that turns out for him, read it yourself. Hint: he ends in the sides of the pit. That’s quite a fall from trying to be like the most High? That’s a pretty big downward spiral don’t you think from trying to be above the stars and sitting on the mount? In life, it’s time to admit that you are not the most high, not even close. The Most High is a title that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ… not you, never you. You will never make it. The only way you go up is by trusting him who went up, who bids you come up and take your place that’s he’s made for you up there.

The absolutely tragic thing is, and don’t miss this please, the closest an unsaved person will ever get to truly ascending is guess what… the smoke of their torment is what will ascend up forever and ever (Revelation 14:11). That’s terrible. What an end. While man thought he could go up, he could only go down. Evolution is a lie. You’ve been lied to and deceived along with so many else. Your natural trajectory is down… the force is down. Your sin is taking you down. It will take you all the way down to hell, don’t kid yourself about that. As soon as you’re born you are going down! The only way you don’t end down there in hell is if you believe in he who came down to take you up.

Guess what, God’s word is from above just like Christ is. Until you get a holy reverence to God’s word, you will not be saved. At the heart of all this Bible doubting and disputation is man’s mistake thinking God’s word is down here for man to mess with. No, the Bible says, forever God’s word is settled in heaven. Guess what, Jesus Christ came down with God’s word for mankind. His word is pure and truth. God’s word is way up there, way above you, dear reader. Realize you are under it, not over it. You are from beneath, his word is from above, just like the Saviour is from above.

If you are a Christian, you can rise above. You can dare to ascend. Oh you cannot physically ascend yet. Guess why? Because it’s not time yet. We ascend by command, but that command is not yet given. The command to come up found in Revelation 4:1 is not yet. Until he bids you come, you cannot come. But he’s making things ready for us. And guess what, if you are saved, your seat is already there, you’re already seated in heavenly places, your life is connected to that fact by the sureness of his promise. We shall ascend one day, because he made us clean, he made us pure, he made us worthy, he made us to belong. We will meet the Lord in the air one day, what a glorious promise and hope to cling to in these dark days. Oh no, we don’t trust in our own ascension powers, because we have one, but we rise above because of our Saviour who is from above who is gone above!

Even today, your prayers ascend into the presence of God. Prayers have power, they have ascension power. And you can rise above in a nation and world that is going down. This world is like the Titanic, she’s going to Davey Jones locker and the life vest is being thrown you. Will you take it? You can be saved and rise in Jesus Christ. Because he is risen, we rise, because he ascended, we will ascend. He is the Highest. You are not. Stop trying to be high, and instead get low in repentance, faith and earnest prayer. What ascends is your humble prayer, not your pride. God thrusts pride down, God casts that junk down, your self-righteousness and fake rubbish will not lift you up one bit.

So this year, who finished the highest? None of us did. And this year, the Most High remained the Most High. God is still God. You can be a child of the most High, or you can be with your god, Satan, in the pit when all this is down, the smoke of your torment ascending forever as a testament to the truth and righteousness and holiness of Almighty God. Can you go up? No. We are all going down. Man is going down, down, down. The end of that down is hell. Don’t go there. You don’t have to. You can rise in Jesus Christ, just as that axe head swam in the Jordan River, you can ascend out of the murk and mire of a life of darkness, sin and death. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, there’s still time.

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