Treasury of David

Charles Spurgeon

PSALM 21
 

SUBJECT. The title gives us but little information; it is simply, To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. Probably written by David, sung by David, relating to David, and intended by David to refer in its fullest reach of meaning to David's Lord. It is evidently the fit companion of Psalm Twenty, and is in its proper position next to it. Psalm Twenty anticipates what this regards as realized. If we pray today for a benefit and receive it, we must, before the sun goes down, praise God for that mercy, or we deserve to be denied the next time.

It has been called David's triumphant song, and we may remember it as The Royal Triumphal Ode. "The king" is most prominent throughout, and we shall read it to true profit if our meditation of Him shall be sweet while perusing it. We must crown him with the glory of our salvation; singing of his love, and praising his power. The next psalm will take us to the foot of the cross, this introduces us to the steps of the throne.

DIVISION. The division of the translators will answer every purpose.

A thanksgiving for victory, verses 1 to 6.
Confidence of further success, verses 7 to 13.
 

EXPOSITION

Verse 1. "The king shall joy in your strength, O Lord." Jesus is a Royal Personage. The question, "Are you a King then?" received a full answer from the Savior's lips: "You say that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world, that I might bear witness unto the truth." He 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 but 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, blessing with more than imperial munificence the needy sons of earth.

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 mountain's side, 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 the oil of gladness above his fellows. Returned in triumph from the overthrow of all his foes, he offers his own rapturous "You, O God, we praise" 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 shall rejoice more and more as we learn by experience more and more fully the strength of the arm 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 your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!" Everything is ascribed to God; the source is your strength and the stream is your 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. If the mountains of his joy rise in proportion to the depth of the valleys of his grief, then his sacred bliss is high as the seventh Heaven. 'For the joy which was set before him as 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 in due order they are brought 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. We need not be afraid of too much rejoicing in this respect; this solid foundation will well sustain the loftiest edifice of joy. The shoutings of the early Methodists in the excitement of the joy were far more pardonable than our own lukewarmness. Our joy should have some sort of inexpressibleness in it.

Verse 2. "You have given him his heart's desire." That desire he ardently pursued when he was on earth, both by his prayer, his actions, and his suffering; he manifested that his heart longed to redeem his people, and now in Heaven he has his desire granted him, for he sees his beloved coming to be with him where he is. The desires of the Lord Jesus were from his heart, and the Lord heard them.

If our hearts are right with God, he will in our case also "fulfill the desires of those who fear him."

"And have not withheld the request of his lips." What is in the well of the heart, is sure to come up in the bucket of the lips, and 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. Some of us feel that even when alone we find it easier to collect our thoughts when we can pray aloud.

The requests of the Savior were not withheld. He was and still is a prevailing Pleader. Our Advocate on high returns not empty from the throne of grace. He asked for his elect in the eternal council-chamber, he asked for blessings for them here, he asked for glory for them hereafter, and his requests have speeded. 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? Let us not be slack to use our willing, loving, all-prevailing Intercessor.

"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.

Verse 3. "For you preventest him with the blessings of goodness." The word prevent formerly signified 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, before he came believers saw his day and were glad, and he himself had his delights with the sons of men. 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 the Father for you, for the Father himself loves you."

Before Jesus calls the Father answers, and while he is yet speaking, he hears. 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.

Reader, 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. Prevenient grace deserves a song; we may make one out of this sentence—let us try. 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 grace; and they come to us in a preceding way, a way of prudent foresight, such as only preceding love could have arranged. In this light the verse is itself a sonnet!

"You set a crown of pure gold on his head." Jesus wore the thorn-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.

This crown is set upon his head most firmly, and whereas other monarchs find their diadems fitting loosely, his is fixed so that no power can move it, for Jehovah himself has set it upon his brow.

Napoleon crowned himself, but Jehovah crowned the Lord Jesus; the empire of the one melted in an hour—but the other has an abiding dominion.

Some versions read, "a crown of precious stones;" this may remind us of those beloved ones who shall be as jewels in his crown, of whom he has said, "They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels!" May we be set in the golden circlet of the Redeemer's glory, and adorn his head forever!

Verse 4. "He asked life from you, and you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever." The first words may suit King David, but the length of days forever 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. He died once, but being raised from the dead he dies no more. "Because I live, you shall live also," is the delightful intimation which the Savior gives us, that we are partakers of his eternal life. We had never found this jewel, if he had not rolled away the stone which covered it.

Verse 5. "His glory is great in your salvation." Immanuel now bears the palm—he once bore the cross. The Father has glorified the Son, so that there is no glory like unto 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. See his splendor as he is revealed in flaming fire. Lord, who is like unto you? Solomon in all his glory could not be compared with you, O once despised Man of Nazareth!

Mark, reader: salvation is ascribed to God; and thus the Son, as our Savior, magnifies his Father; but the Son's glory is also greatly seen, for the Father glorifies his Son.

"Honor and majesty have you laid upon him." Parkhurst reads, "splendor and beauty." These are put upon Jesus as chains of gold, and stars and tokens of honor are placed upon princes and great men. As the wood of the tabernacle was overlaid with pure gold, so is Jesus covered with glory and honor. If there is a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for his humble followers—then what must there be for our Lord himself! The whole weight of sin was laid upon him; it is but fit that the full measure of the glory of bearing it away should be laid upon the same beloved person. A glory commensurate with his shame he must and will receive, for well has he earned it.

It is not possible for us to honor Jesus too much; what our God delights to do, we may certainly do to our utmost. Oh for new crowns for the lofty brow which once was marred with thorns!

"Let him be crowned with majesty
Who bowed his head to death,
And be his honors sounded high
By all things that have breath."

Verse 6. "For you have made him most blessed forever." 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, you have set him to be blessings; he is an overflowing wellspring of blessings to others, a sun filling the universe with light.

According as the Lord swore unto Abraham, the promised seed is an everlasting source of blessings to all the nations of the earth. He is set for this, ordained, appointed, made incarnate with this very design, that he may bless the sons of men. Oh that sinners had sense enough to use the Savior for that end to which he is ordained, namely, to be a Savior to lost and guilty souls.

"You have made him exceeding glad with your 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, the countenance of God, gives Jesus exceeding joy. This is the purest stream to drink of, and Jesus chooses no other. His joy is full. Its source is divine. Its continuance is eternal. Its degree exceeding all bounds.

The countenance of God makes the Prince of Heaven glad; how ought we to seek it, and how careful should we be lest we should provoke him by our sins to hide his face from us! Our anticipations may cheerfully fly forward to the hour when the joy of our Lord shall be shed abroad on all the saints, and the countenance of Jehovah shall shine upon all the blood-bought. So shall we "enter into the joy of our Lord."

So far all has been "the shout of them that triumph, the song of them that feast." Let us shout and sing with them, for Jesus is our King, and in his triumphs we share a part.

Verse 7. "For the king trusts 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. He felt himself safe in his Father's care until his hour was come, he knew that he was always heard in Heaven; he committed his cause to him that judges right, and in his last moments he committed his spirit into the same hands.

The joy expressed in the former verses was the joy of faith, and the victory achieved was due to the same precious 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, and chants her triumph while yet she sings her battle song.

"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. Other kings fail because they rest upon an arm of flesh, but our monarch reigns on in splendor 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, for in Jehovah the King himself trusts. All unbelieving methods of action, and especially all reliance upon mere human ability, should be forever discarded from a kingdom where the monarch sets the examples of walking by faith in God.

Verse 8. "Your hand shall find out all your enemies—your right hand shall find out those who hate you." The destruction of the wicked is a fitting subject for joy to the friends of righteousness; hence here, and in most scriptural songs, it is noted with calm thanksgiving. "You have put down the mighty from their seats," is a note of the same song which sings, "and have exalted them of low degree."

We pity the lost for they are men—but we cannot pity them as enemies of Christ. None can escape from the wrath of the victorious King, nor is it desirable that they should. Without looking for his flying foes he will find them with his hand, for his presence is about and around them. In vain shall any hope for escape, he will find out all, and be able to punish all, and that too with the ease and rapidity which belong to the warrior's right hand.

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. When he appears to judge the world, hard hearts will be subdued into terror, and proud spirits humbled into shame. He who has the key of human nature can touch all its springs at his will, and find out the means of bringing the utmost confusion and terror upon those who aforetime boastfully expressed their hatred of him.

Verse 9. "You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger." They themselves shall be an oven to themselves, and so their own tormentors. Those who burned with anger against you, shall be burned by your anger. The fire of sin will be followed by the fire of wrath. Even as the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah went up to Heaven, so shall the enemies of the Lord Jesus be utterly and terribly consumed.

Some read it, "you shall put them as it were into a furnace of fire." Like faggots cast into an oven they shall burn furiously beneath the anger of the Lord; "they shall be cast into a furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

These are terrible words, and those teachers do evil, who endeavor by their sophistical reasonings to weaken their force.

Reader, never tolerate slight thoughts of Hell, or you will soon have low thoughts of sin! 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 your anger," reminds us that as now is the time of his grace, so there will be a set time for his wrath. The judge goes upon judgment at an appointed time. There is a day of vengeance of our God; let those who despise the day of grace remember this day of 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 his Son. The Lord Jesus will, as it were, judge by commission from God, whose solemn assent and cooperation shall be with him in his sentences upon impenitent sinners. An utter destruction of soul and body, so that both shall be swallowed up with misery, and be devoured with anguish, is here intended. Oh, the wrath to come! The wrath to come! Who can endure it? Lord, save us from it, for Jesus' sake.

Verse 10. "Their fruit shall you destroy from the earth." Their life's work shall be a failure, and the result of their toil shall be disappointment. That in which they prided themselves shall be forgotten; their very names shall be wiped out as abominable, "and their seed from among the children of men." Their posterity following in their footsteps shall meet with a similar overthrow, until at last the race shall come to an end.

Doubtless the blessing of God is often handed down by the righteous to their sons, as almost a heirloom in the family—while the dying sinner bequeaths a curse to his descendants. If men will hate the Son of God, they must not wonder if their own sons meet with no favor.

Verse 11. "For they intended evil against you." God takes notice of intentions. 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. Intentional evil has a virus in it which is not found in sins of ignorance; now as ungodly men with malice aforethought attack the gospel of Christ, their crime is great, and their punishment will be proportionate. The words "against you" 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." Lack of power is the clog on the foot of the haters of the Lord Jesus. They have the wickedness to imagine, and the cunning to devise, and the malice to plot mischief—but blessed be God, they fail in ability. Yet they shall 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 close our reading by cheerfully repeating, "which they are not able to perform."

The serpent may hiss, but his head is broken.
The lion may worry, but he cannot devour.
The tempest may thunder, but cannot strike.

Old Giant Pope bites his nails at the pilgrims, but he cannot break their bones as aforetime. Growling in hideous frustration, the devil and all his allies retire in dismay from the walls of Zion, for the Lord is there.

Verse 12. "Therefore shall you make them turn their back, when you shall make ready your arrows upon your strings against the face of them." 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.

At first they advance impudently enough, but Jehovah meets them to their teeth, and a taste of the sharp judgment of God speedily makes them flee in dismay.

The original has in it the thought of the wicked being set as a target for his wrath to aim at. What a dreadful situation!

As an illustration upon a large scale, remember Jerusalem during the siege; and for a specimen in an individual, read the story of the death-bed of Francis Spira. God takes sure aim—who would be his target? His arrows are sharp and transfix the heart—who would wish to be wounded by them? Ah, you enemies of God, your boastings will soon be over when once the shafts begin to fly!

Verse 13. "Be exalted, Lord, in your own strength." A sweet concluding verse. Our hearts shall join in it. It is always right to praise the Lord when we call to remembrance his goodness to his Son, and the overthrow of his foes. The exaltation of the name of God should be the business of every Christian; but since such poor things as we fail to honor him as he deserves, we may invoke his own power to aid us. Be high, O God, but do maintain your loftiness by your own almightiness, for no other power can worthily do it.

"So will we sing and praise your power." For a time the saints may mourn, but the glorious appearance of their divine Helper awakens their joy. Joy should always flow in the channel of praise. 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.