Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Joy, Security, and Triumph of the Lord’s King (Psalm 21)

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The Joy, Security, and Triumph of the Lord’s King (Psalm 21) · Reformed Thinking

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So picture standing in a crowded Israelite sanctuary.
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OK. The year is well, it is
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somewhere in the early 10th century BC.
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The air is thick, it is stifling under the Judean sun, and heavy
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with a very specific kind of communal dread.
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Right, the tension would be palpable.
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Because not long ago this very congregation was gripped by
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intense anxiety, we actually have the actual script of their
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desperate prayers recorded for us in Psalm 20.
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Yes, the preceding text. Right.
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Their king had gone out to war against the Ammonites at a
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stronghold called Rabaa. The survival of the entire
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nation hung by a thread. I mean, the ancient world was
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not kind to the losers of the siege.
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It was absolute, total warfare. If the king fell, the nation
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fell. Wow.
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Yeah, The people waiting back in Jerusalem knew that the Ammonite
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forces were brutal, so they spent days, maybe weeks,
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pleading with Yahweh to protect their anointed leaders.
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They were locked in a state of petitionary anxiety, asking God
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to hear the King in the day of trouble.
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Right. And now the dust settles.
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Word reaches the city. The king returns victorious.
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It is a massive relief. Oh, absolutely.
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But the scene that unfolds is so counterintuitive to how we think
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about ancient warlords. He does not strut into the
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sanctuary boasting of his own tactical genius.
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No, not at. All He is not giving a speech
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about his military might or his brilliant flanking maneuvers.
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Instead, he carries this massive, heavy, pure gold crown
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taken from the enemy, and he lays all credit for his
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survival, his victory, and his very life at the feet of Yahweh.
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That is a striking image. It really is.
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The authorial intent of the ancient texts we are examining
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today was to move that nervous nation of Israel from their nail
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biting anxiety into a state of total rest and praise.
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It shifts their entire focus. Yeah, this scene captures that
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shift perfectly, because it anchors the nation's security in
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God's might rather than human effort.
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That historical backdrop really changes how we read everything
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today. It takes this out of the realm
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of abstract poetry and puts it into the dirt and blood of a
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real historical moment. Which is why today we're taking
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a deep dive into an ancient royal anthem.
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We're looking at Psalm 21. A fascinating text.
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We have a stack of theological commentaries, linguistic
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analysis of the original Hebrew, and historical texts in front of
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us. Quite a lot of material to cover
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for sure. Our mission today is to figure
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out how a 3000 year old song about an ancient king dodging
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arrows completely shatters our modern obsession with self-made
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success. We want to see how this text
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systematically dismantles the idea of human autonomy.
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To do that well, we have to look closely at the man actually
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wearing that crown, right. Psalm 21 comes directly from the
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Davidic monarchy, likely during the middle of David's reign.
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As we noted, it operates as the answered prayer counterpart to
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Psalm 20. Follow up, Yes, But to grasp the
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staggering, unmerited grace displayed in this passage, we
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have to deal with the reality of who David was.
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He was not a sinless man receiving shiny rewards for his
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personal perfection. No, he had massive moral
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failures. I mean, when we talk about
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David's reign, we have to factor in the Bathsheba incident
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recorded in Second Samuel chapters 11 and 12.
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We absolutely do. David committed adultery with
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Bathsheba, abused his royal authority to cover up the
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pregnancy, and then, you know, he deliberately arranged for her
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husband, Uriah the Hittite, to be killed on the front lines of
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battle. Just a horrific sequence of
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events. Truly, when you look at the raw
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facts of that event, David deserved wrath.
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He deserved of the absolute severity of God's judicial
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execution, right? Yet after the prophet Nathan
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confronted him, David exhibited true, broken repentance.
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God then showed an incredible, almost scandalous level of
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grace. Which changes everything.
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It does. The blessing we see throughout
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Psalm 21 is based entirely on covenant mercy, not on David's
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personal merit. That raises a huge question
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though. I mean, how can a just God
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simply pardon A murderer and an adulterer and then go on to
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bless him with military victories and golden crowns?
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If God is just, how does David survive that?
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That goes straight to the heart of the Davidic covenant
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established in Second Samuel Chapter 7.
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God had made a binding promise to David.
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A promise for what specifically? He promised a lasting house, a
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royal seed, and a throne that would not fail.
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God's dealings with David show us the clear distinction between
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fatherly discipline and covenant rejection.
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Oh, that makes a lot of sense. David certainly received severe
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discipline. I mean, his family was plunged
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into chaos and violence for years, but God spared him from
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absolute rejection because of that covenant, right?
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That covenant, as we will see, points to a much greater king
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who would eventually pay the actual penalty for David's sins.
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That historical reality alters how we read every single line of
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this text. It brings us to the literary
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context. This is a royal Psalm, which
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means it is inherently messianic.
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It always points forward. Yeah, points beyond the
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immediate earthly king toward a greater reality.
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The entire song is framed by a focus on divine strength at both
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the beginning and the end. So let's jump right into the
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text itself. Let's do it.
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We have 4 main points to cover today.
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First we will look at how trust in the Lord answers and exalts
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his king in verses one through 6.
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Then the fear of the Lord who defeats all who opposes king in
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verses 8 through 13. A.
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Heavy section. For sure 3rd we will look at
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relying upon the covenant mercy of the Lord in verse 7 and
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finally trusting and fearing Christ who is the King of kings.
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The Christ connection. Right, so verses one and two,
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said the stage. The text says, The King shall
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joy in my strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation.
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How greatly shall he rejoice that has given him his heart's
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desire, and has not withholding the request of his lips?
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Selah. That is a.
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Beautiful opening. Right off the bat, the king
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rejoices exclusively in Yahweh's strength and salvation.
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He is not looking at his own military hegemony.
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And the grammatical structure of those opening verses is
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incredibly precise. The Hebrew verbs used for shall
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joy and shall rejoice are imperfect verbs.
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OK, what does that mean for us? In Hebrew syntax, imperfect
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verbs suggest a habitual, ongoing state of being.
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Meaning this is not just a sudden burst of adrenaline after
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a battle. That is right.
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This is not a fleeting emotional reaction to a singular military
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victory. This is the settled, continuous
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disposition of the Lord's anointed king.
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He exists in a constant state of joy because his dependence is
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total. Furthermore, verse 2 notes that
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God has given him his heart's desire.
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From our Reformed theological perspective, adhering to the
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Westminster Confession, we recognize a critical nuance
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here. His heart's desire was granted
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specifically because his will aligned with God's glory.
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So he wasn't just asking for a bigger palace or more gold for
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his own ego. No, the King's desires were not
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the selfish appetites of a tyrant.
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They were the lawful prayers of a ruler who knew his authority
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was entirely derivative. That is a great way to put it.
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He desired victory for the sake of God's covenant people, and
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God answered that prayer. Think about your own life for a
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second if you are listening to this and how alien this concept
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is to us today. We are conditioned by every
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business show, every self help book and every cultural
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narrative to build our own empires.
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Oh. Constant.
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We live in an era where leaders want to claim all the credit for
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their achievements. We love the myth of the
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self-made man, but the biblical king finds his greatest joy in
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knowing he did not achieve this on his own.
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It makes me think of a kid building a tree house.
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How so? Imagine a young child who
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proudly boasts to all his friends about building this
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massive, elaborate tree house in the backyard.
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But he fully, happily acknowledges that his dad bought
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all the lumber, operated all the power tools, carried the wood up
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the ladder and did all the heavy lifting.
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The kid just watched, basically. Yeah, or maybe handed him a few
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nails. The child's joy isn't diminished
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by his dependence on his father. His joy is actually rooted in
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the strength of his father. He is thrilled because his dad
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is strong enough to build the tree house.
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The king rejoices because God did the heavy lifting.
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That captures the dynamic perfectly.
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The joy of dependence is a completely foreign concept to
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the modern mind, which views dependence as weakness.
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Right, we hate depending on people.
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But in the biblical worldview, recognizing your total reliance
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on a sovereign God is the only path to true gladness.
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Which leads us directly into verse 3.
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And this is where the theology gets fascinating.
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The text says, For thou preventest him with the
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blessings of goodness, Thou settest a crown of pure gold on
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his head. Now that word preventist in the
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King James Version really trips up modern readers today.
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Prevent means to stop something from happening.
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It is a striking word in older English to prevent meant to go
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before, to anticipate, or to meet someone beforehand.
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How interesting it translates the Hebrew root qadam in this
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specific grammatical form. It signifies A vigorous,
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intentional and active divine intervention that precedes any
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human movement. Wow, so God is moving first.
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Yes, God outruns the King with blessings before the king even
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has the opportunity to ask. He beats the king to the punch.
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He does, and this is the biblical bedrock for the
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doctrine of prevenient grace. I want to tie this directly to
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Chapter 9 of the Westminster Confession, which deals with the
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will of man. Let's bring that in.
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The confession states that fallen man has wholly lost all
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ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation.
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Left to his own devices, man will never naturally choose God.
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Total depravity, essentially. Correct.
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Therefore God must be the first mover.
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He does not wait for the king to provide a seed of faith or work
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of obedience. God anticipates the King.
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He goes before him. He meets him with the blessings
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of goodness. God is the one who places the
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crown of pure gold on the King's head.
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The crown is a gift of sovereign mercy unilaterally bestowed by a
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God who acts first. Hold on, I need to push back on
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that idea for a second. If God outruns the King with
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blessings before he even asks, doesn't that render human prayer
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completely pointless? It is a fair question.
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If God is already moving and His sovereign decrees are already
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set, why do the entire congregation spend all of Psalm
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20 desperately praying for the King's survival?
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That is the classic tension, is it not?
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But the biblical framework does not view God's sovereignty in
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our prayers as mutually exclusive.
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How do they fit together? God ordains not just the ends,
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but the means. He ordains that the King will be
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blessed, and he ordains that the congregations prayers will be
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the instrument through which those blessings are manifested.
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The fact that God goes before us does not nullify prayer.
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It actually guarantees that our prayers will be effective.
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If God did not move first to align our hearts with His, we
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would not even know what to pray for.
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So the prayer itself is part of the blessing God outran them
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with. Precisely.
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He gives the grace to pray, and then he crowns the outcome of
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that prayer. That sovereign initiative really
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sets the stage for the massive requests we see.
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Next. Listen to verses 4 through 6.
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OK, He asked life of thee, and Thou gave us to Him even length
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of days. Forever and ever His glory is
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great in thy salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid
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upon him, for Thou has made him most blessed forever.
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Thou has made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
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It is staggering. The king asks to survive the
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battle, and God turns around and grants him length of days
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forever and ever. This goes so far beyond mere
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physical survival on a battlefield.
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It shatters the boundaries of a mortal lifespan.
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Right. And the contrast here between
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the biblical king and secular leaders is sharp.
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A secular ruler views success as the accumulation of wealth, the
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expansion of territory, or leaving a historical legacy.
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We think of Pharaohs building pyramids to be remembered.
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Exactly. But the biblical king views
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ultimate success as standing in the light of God's face.
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The text says. He is made exceeding glad with
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God's countenance. The magnitude of verse 6 cannot
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be overstated. The Hebrew literally translates
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to Thou has set him to be blessings, echoing the ancient
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promise given to Abraham in Genesis.
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That is a huge connection. But the absolute climax of the
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verse is that exceeding gladness found in God's face.
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The highest blessing God bestows is not the gold crown.
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It's not. No, it is not the military
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conquest over the Ammonites. It is not even the extended
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lifespan. The supreme blessing is face to
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face communion with God. The gifts are great, but the
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giver is the actual prize. Yes, the King's deepest joy lies
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not in conquest, but in communion.
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His honor and majesty are barred splendor laid upon him by a
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gracious God. Derived entirely from the Lord.
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Every aspect of his exaltation is derived from the Lord.
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For anyone listening to this right now, this establishes A
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baseline truth. True blessedness is never found
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in the gifts themselves. We get that so wrong today.
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We do a healthy family, financial stability, a
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successful career. These are good gifts, like the
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golden crown, but if you make them the source of your
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exceeding gladness, they will crush you.
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True joy is found only in the unclouded presence of the Giver.
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So we see this beautiful, intimate, face to face
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communion. The King is basking in the light
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of God's presence. But that raises A terrifying
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question. It does.
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If God's unclouded presence is that intense, what happens when
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that exact same face turns towards someone who actively
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hates him? This is where the song takes a
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severe and sudden turn. A very sharp turn.
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The tone shifts drastically in verse 8.
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Listen to this dying hand shall find out all line enemies.
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That right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
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The focus moves entirely away from the grace poured out upon
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the King, directly toward the terrifying reality facing the
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King's enemies. The contrast is jarring.
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It is the right hand of God, which is a symbol of His active
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strength, is now reaching out. And the lexical choice here is
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deliberate and chilling. The Hebrew word translated find
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out is matzah. Let's break that down.
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What is Matzah's imply? In a judicial context like this,
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matzah does not mean simply looking for someone who is lost,
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like finding your keys. Like a game of hide and seek.
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Right. It is not that it implies an
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inescapable attainment for the purpose of arrest and execution.
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It is the long arm of the law finally grabbing the fugitive by
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the caller. Wow, that is intense.
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The repetition of the word in that verse guarantees the
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result. The enemies of the king might
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attempt to hide behind political pragmatism, religious hypocrisy
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or sophisticated intellectual arguments, but their concealment
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is an illusion. God sees right through it.
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The hand of the Lord will attain them.
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There is no neutral ground in this Kingdom.
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You are either the recipient of the King's grace, or you are the
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target of his inescapable right hand.
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The imagery becomes even more visceral, almost disturbing to
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our modern ears in verses 9 and 10.
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It is very graphic. Thou shalt make them is a fiery
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oven in the time of EIN Anger. The Lord shall swallow them up
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in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
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Their fruit shall thou destroy from the earth, and their seed
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from among the children of men. We are looking at the imagery of
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a fiery oven. That is intense concentrated
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heat. It is a terrifying picture of
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total judicial ruin. Now, many people today recoil at
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this severe language. They hate the idea of wrath and
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ovens. Understandably so from a human
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perspective. They prefer a deity who is
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exclusively affirming. You know, a cosmic therapist who
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just validates everyone's life choices.
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Why is this fierce, consuming justice an absolute necessity
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for God to be truly good? That is the vital question for
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our generation. We want a God of love, but we
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strip away His Holiness, right? To understand why justice is
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necessary, we must look at the brilliant theological connection
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hidden right within the text itself.
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Verse 9 literally says this judgement happens in the time of
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thy face or in the time of thy presence.
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With the exact same word for face used in verse 6.
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That is right, the identical face of God that brings
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exceeding joy to the king in verse 6 becomes a devouring
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fiery oven to the wicked in verse 9.
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That is a massive realization. God does not change.
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He does not have a good mood and a bad mood.
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His unclouded holiness is a joy to the redeemed, but it is an
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absolute terror to the rebel. Because they cannot handle his
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perfection. This connects directly to the
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Westminster Confession chapter 2, which points out that God is
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most holy and most terrible in his judgments.
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Because if he were not terrible in his judgments, he would not
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be just. Correct.
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If God were to ignore high treason against his anointed
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King, He would cease to be just, and therefore he would cease to
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be good. That makes total sense.
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Think about a human courtroom. A judge who smiles at a murderer
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and lets him walk freeway without consequence is not a
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good judge. No.
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He's a corrupt judge. God's goodness demands that evil
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is dealt with decisively. Furthermore, verse 10 details
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the destruction of the enemy's fruit and seed.
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Right, destroyed from the Earth. This shows the generational
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consequences of rebellion. The root and branch of
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wickedness are subjected to sovereign judicial pruning.
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God's justice is incredibly thorough, ensuring that the
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rebellion is cut off completely from the earth.
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It is a sobering reality that cuts completely against the
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grain of our modern sensibilities.
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We want to believe that humans can outsmart consequences, but
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verses 11 through 13 show us the absolute futility of trying to
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fight against this divine justice.
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The futile efforts of man. Listen to this, for they
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intended evil against thee. They imagined A mischievous
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device which they are not able to perform.
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Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt
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make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of
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them. Be thou exalted Lord, in thine
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own strength. So will we sing and praise thy
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might. The irony in these verses is
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striking. The enemies deliberately stretch
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out their malice. They sit in their war rooms
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intending to overthrow the Lord's anointed.
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They imagine a mischievous device.
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It makes me think of an ancient grand villain monologue.
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Oh, like in a movie? Yeah, the bad guy is standing
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there giving this massive speech about how his super weapon is
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going to destroy the hero, and halfway through the speech he
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realizes the weapon is unplugged.
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They imagine this device, but they are completely impotent.
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They cannot perform it. That is a great way to picture
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it. God's sovereign decree forces
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them into a panicked retreat, the text says.
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He makes them turn their back or turn their shoulder to flee.
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They realize they have lost. But as they turn to run, they
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realize God has already anticipated their flight.
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He has fitted arrows to his bowstrings, aimed directly at
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their faces. There's nowhere to go.
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There is total judicial envelopment.
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They are surrounded by the judgement of God before they
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even take their first step in retreat.
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Their plots are completely futile against the might of
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Yahweh. And verse 13 brings all of this
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to a massive climax. Be thou exalted Lord, in thine
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own strength. The proper end of all this
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victory, both the salvation of the King and the destruction of
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the enemies, is the exaltation of Yahweh in His own strength.
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Always back to His glory. It is never the glorification of
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human might. The congregation responds with a
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doxology singing of God's self existent absolute capability.
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That doxology is the perfect rational response to the tension
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between God's grace and God's wrath.
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How so? When you see God save the
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unworthy king and destroy the rebellious enemies, the only
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thing left to do is sing about his might.
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Now, we skipped over one specific verse on purpose
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because it acts as the center of gravity for everything we've
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talked about. Let's look exclusively at verse
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7. The hinge of the song.
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It sits structurally right in the middle, acting as the hinge
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between the blessings of the 1st 6 verses and the judgments of
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the final verses. For the King trusteth in the
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Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be
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moved. I want to know why this single
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verse acts as the anchor for the entire passage.
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It acts as the anchor because it reveals the spiritual and
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theological principle operating beneath the King's stability.
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OK, unpack that syntax for us. The syntax here is crucial.
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The Hebrew word for trusteth is botia.
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This is an active participle. It denotes A continual
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characteristic state of relying. The King's life is defined by
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constant steady dependence. So it is not a one time prayer.
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He prayed at the altar when he was 12.
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It is a daily hourly reliance. Right.
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However, his stability does not rest on the strength or quality
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of his own faith. This is a huge point.
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Explain that. If his security relied on his
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own ability to believe perfectly, his throne would be
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incredibly fragile. We have already established
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David's massive failures. His faith faltered all the time.
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It really did. Instead, his stability rests
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entirely on the Hesed, the Covenantal mercy and steadfast
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love of the alien, the Most High.
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The Covenantal Mercy. Because God is the Most High
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possessing absolute sovereignty over heaven and earth, the
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result is an absolute certainty. The King shall not be moved.
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The Hebrew phrase there is volumo.
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Right. Yes, Volumo indicates a total
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impossibility of being shaken. This links beautifully to the
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Westminster Confession, Chapter 17, regarding the perseverance
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of the Saints. Which teaches what for those
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listening. The stability of the believer
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flows from the free and unchangeable love of God the
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Father and the immutability of the decree of election, not from
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human free will. If it relied on our free will,
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we would lose it before breakfast.
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To put that into a physical image, imagine standing on a
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massive granite Cliff overlooking a raging, violent
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ocean. A massive Category 5 storm is
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battering the coastline. The wind is howling.
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The rain is blinding. A terrifying place to be.
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Right now, your safety in that moment does not depend on how
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tightly your leather boots grip the whetstone.
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No it wouldn't. If your safety relied on your
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physical grip, the first strong wave would sweep you into the
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sea. Your grip is frail.
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Your safety depends entirely on the fact that the granite Cliff
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itself cannot be washed away by the waves.
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I like where this is going. Your grip is the King's trust,
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the Botea. That is right, and the massive
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granite Cliff is God's covenant mercy.
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The He says you stand secure not because you are holding on so
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tightly, but because the rock beneath you is immovable.
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That is the reality of her seven.
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That analogy hits the nail on the head.
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The King's faith is the instrument, but God's steadfast
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love is the bedrock foundation. Which changes our whole
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perspective. Because the foundation is the
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Most High, the King is completely secure.
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Even when the King's faith wavers, the rock does not move.
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This moves us into the most critical part of our discussion
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today. We must move from the shadows to
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the reality. The Christ connection.
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David was a great king, but he was just a shadow of the
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ultimate king. Let's be honest about historical
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facts. David died.
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His. Earthly reign ended.
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His physical body was laid in the tomb.
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He could not literally experience the length of days
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forever and ever described in verse 4.
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Therefore, the very language of this passage demands a greater
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king to fulfill it. Absolutely.
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The historical meaning points directly to the Christological
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fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the greater Son
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of David. The true King.
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He is the King who perfectly trusted the Father, fulfilling
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the continual reliance of verse 7.
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Christ never experienced a lapse in that trust, even in the
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Garden of Gethsemane. And how does Christ fulfill
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those first 6 verses about the crown and the length of days?
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Christ was the one who was prevented or anticipated with
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the blessings of the resurrection.
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He asked for life, and God granted him eternal life,
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bursting forth from the tomb. And eternal length of days.
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He was given the crown of pure gold at his ascension, taking
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his seat at the right hand of the Father, perfectly fulfilling
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verses one through 6. He now lives in the unclouded,
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exceeding gladness of the Father's presence.
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But we cannot stop there. We have to connect the
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terrifying judgments of verses 8 through 12 to Christ as well.
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We must the suffering servant who bore the wrath of God on the
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cross in his first advent is the exact same King who will return
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in his second advent to execute final fiery justice upon all who
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refused to bow to him. The arrows are his.
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The arrows fitted to the string belong to Christ.
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It highlights the dual nature of Christ shown in this text.
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The Savior who receives repentance, sinners like David
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after the horrific Bathsheba incident, is the exact same
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sovereign who will draw his bow against unrepentant rebels.
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You cannot separate them. You cannot have the comforting
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grace of verses one through 6 without acknowledging the severe
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justice of verses 8 through 12. They are executed by the same
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king. And that theological truth was
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highly intentional on the part of the Holy Spirit.
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When we consider the intended effects on the original target
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audience, those ancient Israelites singing this song in
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the sanctuary, we see several specific goals being
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accomplished in their minds. Let's unpack those What was this
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song supposed to do to them? First, it completely shattered
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Pagan synergism. Let's explain that term for
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anyone who hasn't been to seminary.
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Synergism means working together, right?
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Correct. The surrounding nations operated
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on a transactional basis with their gods.
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If I sacrifice enough goats, the rain God gives me water.
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A business deal? Exactly like a business deal, if
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I perform the right rituals, the war God gives me victory.
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It was a joint effort between human appeasement and divine
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action. That is Pagan synergism.
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How does Psalm 21 counter that? This text proved to Israel that
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Yahweh flips the script entirely.
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Yahweh blesses out of sheer unmerited grace.
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He goes before the King. He provides the victory.
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So they couldn't sing this song and think, man, and we fought
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really well out there. No, they had to sing.
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God gave us the victory. Second, it cultivated robust
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covenantal assurance. By resting on the promise, yes.
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It taught the people that their national survival was secured by
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God's steadfast love, not by counting their military
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Chariots. 3rd It acted as a severe pedagogical warning.
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A teaching tool to keep people in line.
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Precisely the terrifying language of arrows and fiery
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ovens was intended to restrain internal treason and external
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conspiracy. It paints a scary picture.
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It showed the absolute futility of opposing gods.
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Anointed you sing about arrows aimed at faces and suddenly
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starting a rebellion does not seem like a great career move.
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Not at all. Finally, it fostered A
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redemptive historical longing and made the congregation look
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past David's mortal flaws toward an ultimate Messiah whose throne
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would literally never end. Which brings us to the
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application for modern believers.
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We pivot directly to you listening right now.
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We bring this ancient text right into your present moment.
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It is not just ancient history. The realities of Psalm 21 are
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not locked in the sands of the ancient Near East.
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They demand a response from you today.
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The core applications are clear and pressing.
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First. There is a severe warning to the
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unconverted rebellion against the King of Kings is treason.
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A. Sobering thought.
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Do you not trust your own goodness, your wealth, or
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secular philosophies that promise you autonomy?
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The myth of the self-made man will not save you when the
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arrows are fitted to the string. So what must they do?
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You must kiss the sun, submit to His scepter now, and take refuge
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in His mercy before the day of His wrath.
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And for the believer? There is immense comfort because
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Christ's throne cannot be shaken.
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The Church does not need to panic overshifting, cultural
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tides, political unrest or worldly plots.
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The bad guys cannot win. The King's enemies imagine
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mischievous devices all day long, but they cannot perform
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them. The granite Cliff will not fall
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into the sea. Finally, there is a call to
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doxology. A life of praise.
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The Christian life should be marked by a constant rhythm of
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return Thanksgiving. You must trace every answered
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prayer, every victory over sin, and every breath of life back to
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the sovereign grace of God. It is all about recognizing who
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built the tree house. Exactly I.
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Want to leave you with one final thought to Mull over.
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Building on everything we have discussed today, we saw that the
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very face of God is the source of the greatest joy for the
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believer in verse 6. Yes, the ultimate communion.
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And it is the source of the most terrifying fire for the rebel in
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verse 9. So ask yourself this.
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What does your current reaction to drawing near to God's
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presence reveal about which side of the King's bow you are
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currently standing on?