A Psalm of David Commentary by Dennis Edwards
In the Psalms we find many
prophecies about the Messiah, both His First coming as a suffering Servant, and
His second coming as a Captain of War. The psalms are songs sung to a musical
accompaniment. Music was a vessel that the prophets used to prime the pump of
their prophesizing. In 2 Kings we see Elisha asking for a musician to play in
order to help him to receive a prophecy from the Lord.
2 Kings 3:15 “But now
bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the
hand of the Lord came upon him.”
In David’s psalms many times
what he is singing goes beyond his personal life. Many times, the words of the
psalm apply more to the Seed of David that will sit on the throne forever, than
to David himself. The psalms often have prophetic lines that apply to the
Messiah who would come some 1,000-years later. The following psalm is one that
has prophetic application. We can see the psalm as speaking of David’s
kingship, or of the kingship of the Messiah at His future coming.
Psalm 21 The king
shall joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in
Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy among others attributes. The joy we
experience in of our salvation, being liberated from the guilt of sin, is so
great that it enables us to fight the good fight of faith. The joy of God in
our heart gives us strength for the battle.
Psalm 21:2-4 You have given
him his heart's desire, and have not
withholden the request of his lips. Selah. For You greeted him
with the blessings of goodness: You set a
crown of pure gold on his head. He asked
life of You, and You gave it him, even
length of days for ever and ever.
The Lord granted David a good life of 70-years, not a life for
ever and ever. It is Jesus the Christ that has opened the door for eternal
life, life for ever and ever.
John 3:16 “For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Psalm 21:5 His
glory is great in Your salvation: honour and majesty have You laid
upon him.
God laid glory and honour upon David during his lifetime, but
eternal glory and honour goes to the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world.
Revelation 5:11-13 “And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and
such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him (God the
Father) that sits upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb (the Son) for ever and ever.”
It is Jesus Christ whom honour and majesty have been laid upon. We
see, also, in the prophecy of Daniel the same foretelling.
Daniel 7:13-14 “I saw in
the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man (Jesus) came
with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days (God the
Father), and they brought him near before him. And
there was given him (Jesus) dominion, and glory, and
a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him (Jesus): his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed.”
In the prophecy of Daniel, we see the Son of man, whom Jesus
claimed to be when examined by the Sanhedrin, receiving the kingdom from the
Father. In gospel of Mark, we find Jesus’ words.
Mark 14:60-62 “And the
high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, You have no
answer? What is it which these
witness against you? But he held his peace,
and answered nothing. Again, the
high priest asked him, and said unto him, Are you the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And
Jesus said, I am: and you shall see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus not only makes reference to the Son of man of Daniel 7
to whom the Father will give the kingdom, but also, uses the phrase, “I am,”
which is the name that God used when he spoke to Moses from the burning bush.
Exodus 3:13-14 “And
Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall
say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me
unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name?
What shall I say unto them? And God
said unto Moses, I
Am That I Am: and he said, Thus, shall you say
unto the children of Israel, I
Am hath sent me unto you.”
Psalm 21:6 For You have made
him most blessed for ever: You have made
him exceeding glad with Your countenance.
Jesus is obviously more blessed than David. In fact, Jesus is the “most
blessed” of all.
Psalm 21:7-8 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. Your hand shall find out all Your enemies: Your right hand shall find out those that hate You.
Jesus is He who sits at the right hand of the Father as we see in
many verses of the Old and New Testaments.
Psalm 110:1 “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
David prophesized saying that God the Father or
Yahweh, said unto Adonai, God the Son, that is, to the Messiah, or Son of man, “Sit
at my right hand.” Jesus used the quote from the Psalms to question the
Pharisees on how was the Messiah David’s son, when David was calling Him “Lord”?
The Pharisees couldn’t answer. Matthew 22:41-46.
Hebrews 1:1-3 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Psalm 21:9 You shall make
them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger:
the Lord shall swallow them
up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
At Jesus’ second coming at the time of the wrath of God, the
Biblical imagery is of fiery judgment. We could cite many such verses, but here
are two such examples.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 “And to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Zephaniah 1:18 “Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but
the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for He shall make
even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”
Psalm 21:10-12 Their
fruit shall You destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children
of men. For they intended evil against You: they
imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore, shall You make
them turn their back, when You shall make
ready Your arrows upon Your strings
against the face of them.
The Devil, his demons, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and
their followers shall be destroyed from off the earth. They have already been
defeated at Calvary, but judgment will come during the wrath of God.
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I
saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together
to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the
beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before
him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and
them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire
burning with brimstone. And the
remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword
proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”
Revelation 20:1-3 “And I
saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a
great chain in his hand. And he
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and
bound him a thousand years, and cast
him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he
should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be
fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
Psalm 21:13 Be
exalted, Lord, in Your own
strength: so, will we sing and praise Your power.
In Revelation we see a picture of the victory celebration which begins
at the rapture and concludes at the end of the wrath of God some 75 days later.
Revelation 11:15-18 “And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the
four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their
faces, and worshipped God, Saying,
We give You thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, which are, and was, and are to
come; because You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and has
reigned. And the nations were angry, and Your wrath
is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You
should give reward unto Your servants the prophets,
and to the saints, and them that fear Your name,
small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth.”
Evil shall be vanquished for a 1,000-years. God will patiently
give unbelieving mankind another opportunity to come to the knowledge of the
truth at that time. Mankind will not be judged unrighteously, but uprightly by
the God of love and truth in Jesus Christ.
Psalm 9:8-10 “And He shall
judge the world in righteousness, He shall
minister judgment to the people in uprightness. The Lord also will be a
refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they
that know Your name will put their trust in You: for You, Lord, have not
forsaken them that seek You.
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