Psalm 21
Rejoicing for and with the King
“Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15.57)
We are once again in the throes of a leadership election. It dominates the headlines and our conversations at the coffee shop. That’s because we know that as the leader goes, so do the people.
That’s the reality in this Psalm. And we as God’s people celebrate, because our King, Jesus, has been appointed and anointed by God. The Psalm opens with his joy and climaxes with our own. For the victory and salvation of the King is ours in and through him.
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The king rejoices in your strength, LORD.
How great is his joy in the victories you give!
2 You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
3 You came to greet him with rich blessings
and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him –
length of days, for ever and ever.
5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
you have bestowed on him splendour and majesty.
6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings
and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD;
through the unfailing love of the Most High
he will not be shaken.
This is a companion piece in many ways to the previous Psalm. The prayers of the people have been answered.
In Psalm 20.4, we prayed for God to grant the desires of the King’s heart. And in v2, God has done just that. He has poured out abundant and lavish blessings on his King. The imagery in v3 is evocative. A rich honour has been bestowed upon him by the Sovereign of the Universe. The favour he has received is undiluted and opulent. There are three blessings that the Psalmist explores in the following verses.
First, he has life. When we consider the stories of David and Jesus, that is remarkable in itself. From the moment they were anointed by God, they had targets on their back, from other nations and even their own families and people. God protected and preserved them both on numerous occasions. But more than that, he gave Jesus eternal life as the eternal King of his people (Luke 1.33).
Second, the King as God’s instrument of redemption, receives glory from his people. Like the man in Psalm 8.5, he is crowned with splendour and majesty as the one whom God has empowered to exercise dominion over his Kingdom and all creation.
Third, he is filled with joy due to being in the presence of God. The ultimate blessing we have is beholding and dwelling in the radiance of God’s beauty.
And this is all because he has placed his trust solely and wholly in the faithful God. And those who stand in the presence and protection of God will not be shaken. They will not be ultimately harmed by the enemy. Death will not be their ultimate end. And so we get a clue that all who trust in the God who raised Jesus from the dead will also be justified and glorified (Romans 4.24-25, 8.30).
8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;
your right hand will seize your foes.
9 When you appear for battle,
you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
and his fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
their posterity from mankind.
11 Though they plot evil against you
and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.
12 You will make them turn their backs
when you aim at them with drawn bow.
13 Be exalted in your strength, LORD;
we will sing and praise your might.
The strength and might God has given his King has a purpose. The King’s power is to be used to punish those who plot against God and to purge the world of evil.
In v8-12, we are praying and singing directly to the King. This is probably a Psalm written to be sung in the light of a great triumph by the hand of Israel’s King. What this does is remind us that this is all due to the power and purposes of the LORD.
The picture here is fearsome and final. The King’s power is overwhelming and volcanic. Nothing can stand in its way. And nothing will last before this blistering fire of judgement. Lines which refuse to bend the knee at the invitation of God’s grace, people who rebels against God’s good ways will not live with the everlasting God in eternity (see 2 Thessalonians 1.6-9).
And the plans and schemes of the enemies of God and the chief Enemy will be foiled. There is only one true King. His name is Jesus. There are no elections in heaven. The are no impediments to God’s purposes. There is no end to Christ’s Kingdom.
And so at the end of this song, we publicly join in the praise and rejoicing of the King. For his strength has won our salvation. His might has won our victory. We will be strong in the Lord and his mighty power (Ephesians 6.10) and we will then be more than conquerors through him who loved us (Romans 8.37).
Glory be to God the Father, who has triumphed through his beloved Son.
Glory be to God the Son, who has overcome the world in the unfailing love of the Most High.
Glory be to God the Spirit, who raises us to life inextinguishable.
Ever three and ever One.