King of the Hill

In Maine we make our own mountains. Southern Maine lacks this natural terrain, so when the winter snows fall we build mountains by plowing the snow into huge piles. Maybe they are impressive only to schoolchildren, but schoolchildren make the most of these piles with a game called “King of the Hill.” It is a simple but furious game. Each child scrambles to the top of the hill. The first one there is king and defends against all attackers. This will include pushing, pulling, hitting, and sometimes kicking, and an eventual tumble down the hill, only to look up and see someone else is the new “King of the Hill.”

Psalms 24 suggests that “ascending the hill of the Lord” (vs. 3) is quite different from playing “King of the Hill.” When Jesus ascends, the psalmist cries for the gates to open to receive the “King of Glory” (v. 7). The Lord Jesus is “King of the Hill” forever. He alone is perfectly clean and pure (v. 4). He is the Lord of hosts.
And as we approach the throne, we do not find Jesus ready to repel our advances. Rather, he invites us to join him. He promises that, “I will be [their] God, and [they] will be my [people]” (Rev. 21:7). His blood makes us clean (1 John 1:7). We can follow the ways of the world and struggle to exalt ourselves or we can “humble [ourselves] before the Lord, and he will exalt [us]” (James 4:10).