1. The king shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord.
Jesus is not merely a King, but the King; King over minds and
hearts, reigning with a dominion of love, before which all other rule is mere
brute force. He was proclaimed King even on the cross, for there, indeed, to
the eye of faith, he reigned as on a throne. Jesus has wrought out the salvation
of his people, but as a man he found his strength in Jehovah his God, to whom
he addressed himself in prayer upon the lonely mountainside, and in the
garden’s solitary gloom. That strength so abundantly given is here gratefully
acknowledged, and made the subject of joy. The Man of Sorrows is now anointed
with oil of gladness above his fellows. Returned in triumph from the overthrow
of all his foes, he offers his own rapturous Te Deum in the temple above, and joys in the power of the Lord.
Herein let every subject of King Jesus imitate the King; let us lean upon
Jehovah’s strength, let us joy in it by unstaggering faith, let us exult in it
in our thankful songs. Jesus not only has thus rejoiced, but he shall do
so as he sees the power of divine grace bringing out from their sinful
hiding-places the purchase of his soul’s travail; we also will rejoice more and
more as we learn by experience more and more fully the strength of our covenant
God. Our weakness unstrings our harps, but his strength tunes them anew. If we
cannot sing a note in honor of our own strength, we can at any rate rejoice in
our omnipotent God. And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice.
Everything is ascribed to God; the source is thy strength and the stream
is thy salvation. Jehovah planned and ordained it, works it and crowns
it, and therefore it is his salvation. The joy here spoken of is described by a
note of exclamation and a word of wonder: how greatly. The rejoicing of
our risen Lord must, like his agony, be unutterable. For the joy which was set
before him he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now that joy daily
grows, for he rests in his love and rejoices over his redeemed with singing as
they are brought out to find their salvation in his blood. Let us with our Lord
rejoice in salvation, as coming from God, as coming to us, as extending itself
to others, and as soon to encompass all lands.
2. Thou hast given him his heart’s desire. That desire he ardently pursued when he was on earth by his
prayer, actions, and suffering; he showed that his heart longed to redeem his
people, and now in heaven he has his desire granted him. If our hearts are
right with God, he will in our case also “fulfill the desire of them that fear
him.” And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Those are the
only true prayers where the heart’s desire is first, and the lip’s request
follows after. Jesus prayed vocally as well as mentally; speech is a great
assistance to thought. The requests of the Saviour were not withheld. He was and
still is a prevailing Pleader. He is ready to ask for us at the mercy-seat.
Have we not at this hour some desire to send up to his Father by him? Selah.
Here a pause is very properly inserted, that we may admire the blessed success
of the King’s prayers, and that we may prepare our own requests which may be
presented through him. If we had a few more quiet rests, a few more Selahs in
our public worship, it might be profitable.
3. For thou prevented him with the blessings of goodness. The word prevent formerly meant to precede or go
before, and assuredly Jehovah preceded his Son with blessings. Before he died
saints were saved by the anticipated merit of his death, believers saw his day
and were glad. The Father is so willing to give blessings through his Son that,
instead of his being constrained to bestow his grace, he outstrips the
mediatorial march of mercy. “I say not that I will pray to the Father for you,
for the Father himself loveth you.” Before Jesus calls, the Father answers.
Mercies may be bought with blood, but they are also freely given. The love of
Jehovah is not caused by the Redeemer’s sacrifice, but that love, with its
blessings of goodness, preceded the great atonement, and provided it for our
salvation. It will be a happy thing for you if, like your Lord, you can see
both providence and grace preceding you, forestalling your needs, and preparing
your path. Mercy, in the case of many of us, ran before our desires and
prayers, and it ever outruns our endeavors and expectancies, and even our hopes
are left to lag behind. All our mercies are to be viewed as blessings,
gifts of a blessed God, meant to make us blessed; they are blessings of
goodness—not of merit, but of free favor; and they come to us in a way of
prudent foresight, such as only “preventing” love could have arranged. Thou
settest a crown of pure gold on his head. Jesus wore the thom-crown, but
now wears the glory-crown. It is a crown, indicating royal nature,
imperial power, deserved honor, glorious conquest, and divine government. The
crown is of the richest, rarest, most resplendent, and most lasting order—gold,
and that gold of the most refined and valuable sort, pure gold, to
indicate the excellence of his dominion. Whereas other monarchs find their
diadems fitting loosely, his no power can move.
4. The first
words may suit King David, but the length of days for ever and ever can
only refer to the King Messiah. Jesus, as man, prayed for resurrection and he
received it, and now possesses it in immortality. “Because I live, ye shall
live also” is the delightful intimation which the Saviour gives us, that we
are partakers of his eternal life. We would never have found this jewel if he
had not rolled away the stone which covered it.
5. His glory is great in thy salvation. Immanuel bears the palm; he once bore the cross. The Father
has glorified his Son, so that there is no glory like that which surrounds him.
See his person as it is described by John in the Revelation; see his dominion
as it stretches from sea to sea; his splendor as he is revealed in flaming
fire. Salvation is ascribed to God; and thus the Son, as our Saviour, magnifies
his Father; but the Son’s glory is also greatly seen, for the Father glorifies
the Son. Honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him. These are put upon
Jesus as chains of gold, and stars and tokens of honor, are placed upon princes
and great men. If there be a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for
his humble followers, what must there be for our Lord himself? A glory
commensurate with his shame he must and will receive, for well has he earned
it.
6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. He is most blessed in himself, for he is God over all,
blessed forever; but this relates to him as our Mediator, in which capacity
blessedness is given to him as a reward. The margin has it, “thou hast set him
to be blessings”; he is an overflowing wellspring of blessings to others. As
the Lord swore to Abraham, the promised seed is an everlasting source of
blessings to all the nations of the earth. He is set for this, appointed, made
incarnate with this very design, that he may bless the sons of men. Oh that
sinners had sense enough to use the Saviour as a Saviour to lost and guilty
souls. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. He who is
a blessing to others cannot but be glad himself; the unbounded good doing of
Jesus ensures him unlimited joy. The loving favor of his Father gives Jesus
exceeding joy. This is the purest stream to drink of, and Jesus chooses no
other. Its source is divine, its continuance eternal, its degree exceeding all
bounds. How we ought to seek it, and how careful lest we should provoke him by
our sins to hide his face from us! We may cheerfully look forward to the hour
when the countenance of Jehovah will shine on all the blood-bought.
So far all has been “the shout of them that triumph.” Let
us shout and sing with them, for Jesus is our King, and in his triumphs we
share a part.
7. For the king trusteth in the Lord. Our Lord,
like a true king and leader, was a master in the use of the weapons, and could
handle well the shield of faith, for he has set us a brilliant example of
unwavering confidence in God. Safe in his Father’s care, he knew that he was
always heard in heaven; he committed his cause to him that judgeth right, and
in his last moments he committed his spirit into the same hands. The joy was
the joy of faith, and the victory was due to the same previous grace. A holy
confidence in Jehovah is the true mother of victories. This psalm of triumph
was composed long before our Lord’s conflict began, but faith overleaps the
boundaries of time. Through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be
moved. Eternal mercy secures the mediatorial throne of Jesus. He who is
Most High in every sense engages all his infinite perfections to maintain the
throne of grace upon which our King in Zion reigns. He was not moved from
his purpose, nor in his sufferings, nor by his enemies, nor shall
he be moved from the completion of his designs. He is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. Other empires are dissolved by the lapse of years, but
eternal mercy maintains his growing dominion evermore because he trusts in
Jehovah. It is a great display of divine mercy to men that the throne of King
Jesus is still among them: nothing but divine mercy could sustain it, for human
malice would overturn it tomorrow if it could. We ought to trust in God for the
promotion of the Redeemer’s kingdom: all unbelieving methods of action, and
especially all reliance on mere human ability, should be forever discarded
where the monarch sets the example of walking by faith in God.
8. The
destruction of the wicked is a fitting subject for joy to the friends of
righteousness; here it is noted with calm thanksgiving. “Thou hast put down
the mighty from their seats” is a note of the same song which sings, “and
hast exalted them of low degree.” We pity the lost, for they are human, but we
cannot pity them as enemies of Christ. None can escape from the wrath of the
victorious King, nor is it desirable. In vain shall any foe hope for escape; he
will find out all, and be able to punish all. The finding out relates, we
think, not only to the discovery of the hiding-places of the haters of God, but
to the touching of them in their tenderest parts, so as to cause the severest
suffering.
9. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger. They themselves shall be an oven to
themselves, and so their own tormentors. The enemies of the Lord Jesus will be
terribly and utterly consumed. Some read it, “thou shalt put them as it were
into a furnace of fire.” These are terrible words, and those teachers do not
well who endeavor by their sophistry to weaken their force. The hell of sinners
must be fearful beyond all conception, or such language as the present would
not be used. Who would have the Son of God to be his enemy when such an
overthrow awaits his foes ? The expression the time of thine anger
reminds us that as now is the time of this grace, so there will be a set time
for his wrath. The Lord shall
swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Jehovah will
himself visit with his anger the enemies of Satan. The Lord Jesus will, as it
were, judge by commission from God. An utter destruction of soul and body is
here intended.
10. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth. Their life’s work will be a failure; their very names will
be wiped out as abominable, and their seed from among the children of men.
At last the race will come to an end. The blessing of God is often handed down
by the righteous as almost an heirloom in the family, while the sinner
bequeaths a curse to his descendants. If people hate the Son of God, they must
not wonder if their own sons meet with no favor.
11. For they intended evil against thee. He who would but could not is as guilty as he who did. Christ’s
church and cause are not only attacked by those who do not understand it, but
there are many who have the light and yet hate it. The words against thee
show us that he who intends evil against the poorest believer means ill to the
King himself: let persecutors beware. They imagined a mischievous device,
which they are not able to perform. The haters of the Lord Jesus lack
power; yet they will be judged as to their hearts, and the will shall be taken
for the deed in the great day of account. When we read the boastful
threatenings of the enemies of the Gospel at the present day, we may cheerfully
repeat, which they are not able to perform. The devil and all his allies
retire in dismay from the walls of Zion, for the Lord is there.
12. For a
time the foes of God may make bold advances, and threaten to overthrow
everything, but a few ticks of the clock will alter the face of their affairs.
The original has in it the thought of the wicked being set as a target for
God’s wrath to aim at. God takes sure aim; who would be his target?
13. A sweet
comforting verse. It is always right to praise the Lord when we call to
remembrance his goodness to his Son, and the overthrow of his foes. For a time
the saints may mourn, but the glorious appearance of their divine Helper
awakens their joy. All the attributes of God are fitting subjects to be
celebrated by the music of our hearts and voices, and when we observe a display
of his power, we must extol it. He wrought our deliverance alone, and he
alone shall have the praise.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
