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

The answer to who ascends is here in the first part of this verse. Put forth the effort as identified in PS 24:3a and the Word and the Spirit will get you to that place where you are prepared to make that climb. Whole libraries have been filled with all that faith, grace and forgiveness have done to prepare you.

Let us rather spend a moment thinking about the vanity portion of the verse. It is just as important to know what not to do as it is in knowing what to do.

Vanity is defined as emptiness as to results. If your goal is to climb the hill of the Lord and come into His presence, isn’t it important to pick the hill of His choosing? Moses investigated the burning bush that was not consumed because it was shown to him.

Is the mountain before you of your choosing or have you seen that invitation to come up and investigate? What would that mountain look like to you? Or are you that mountain?

Psalm 30:5-7 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.

All that effort, all that success and then to discover the Lord wasn’t there after all. We build our own mountain to attain that which we care about only to discover God wasn’t in the effort.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Psalm 24:3b … or who shall stand in his holy place?

This is the first thing that came to me about standing.

Exodus 18:13-15 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses’ father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:

Moses is a foreshadowing of Christ, a typos, a type of Christ in reference to relationship if not practice. We come to Christ to inquire of God. All things have been put into His hands. In reference to relationship, because He is Lord, we need an invitation to sit. We should never be so presumptuous as to make ourselves so comfortable that we do not wait on that invitation to do anything but stand.

Psalm 135:1-3 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.

Standing is also a sign of respect.

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Standing is also a position for receiving orders and being prepared to go and carry them out.