Psalm 15:1-5 Tenants
Zion is God’s holy hill. David describes the tenants who would be welcome there. The ones God would welcome into His Holy Kingdom too.
When I was first reading this description, I was looking at it in terms of those who would be in Heaven with God. But the list of attributes is in present tense, meaning the person who is being described is currently doing these actions. Actions that are done on this side of the grave and not after death. So I believe David is describing the man God would establish as His representative or tenant.
Thinking about this psalm in terms of a tenant reminds me of the parable Jesus shared about the land owner and the wicked tenants. In that story, when the time of harvest arrived and the land owner was to be paid, the tenants withheld his payment. They eventually even killed his son, the heir to the owner’s fortune.
This parable was a representation of the spiritual issues with Israel. The land owner represented God and the son represented Jesus. God took the ‘exclusive agreement’ from Israel’s hands when they killed His Son and gave it to the rest of the world. I’m grateful for my inclusion in God’s provision now.
David’s psalm though, refers to Jerusalem itself. The place where God said He would put His name. David was describing the kind of person God would want to establish as His representative in this holy place. This was the kind of king God would support and not uproot. David fit that description, most of the time and on most fronts. There were blind spots even in David’s life but God still held him close.
Since Jesus’ work on the cross we don’t have a specific place where God calls us to meet with Him. He meets with each of us in our hearts. The characteristics David outlined here fit for us today and for His throne in our hearts. Like David, we are not perfect and we do not ALWAYS live up to this description. But if we love God with our whole heart, as David did, He holds us close too.
Something I also noticed about this list is that nowhere does it say that the man’s heart is devoted to God. This is a list of actions not necessarily a ‘heart condition.’ Here the man who came to Jesus asking what must he do to be saved would find himself. “All these I have kept from my youth” (Luke 18:21) responded the man. But Jesus told him he still lacked one thing. That thing was a heart utterly sold out to the Lord. A heart where nothing else came between him and God.
David’s description reminds me of the ‘good person’ argument. The argument where someone says, “I’m not going to Hell because I’m a good person.” But it takes more than just being a ‘good person’ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It takes a personal relationship with God and His Son Jesus through the person of the Holy Spirit. THAT is the person God will establish forever. And the person God wants to share His eternal Home with.
Father God, I want to always be that person You want to spend eternity with. I pray You never tire of my questions or my search for just a little bit more. Help me live up to these standards but mostly to have my heart so entwined with Yours that I have no desire for anything else.
