The Universal, Eternal King
So this Sunday we’re in Psalm 21, and I’d like to start by reciting this psalm for you, and I want you to hear it in an attitude of prayer. This psalm is not about you; it’s about the King, but it is for you. So receive this. Psalm 21:
O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart's desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a blazing oven
when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
and their offspring from among the children of man.
11 Though they plan evil against you,
though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
This is the word of the Lord!
There are two parts to this psalm, verses 1–7, and then verses 8–12, and it’s pretty easy to notice the change from the first part to the second. In the first part, verses 1–7, David, the psalmist, is addressing Yahweh about the King; and in the second part, verses 8–12, David is addressing the King in view of Yahweh.
That’s the difference in the two parts, and I want us to see this in the text. So start with verse 1. Verse 1 introduces the King: The King rejoices in the Lord and greatly exults in the Lord’s salvation. Then verse 2 says, “You have given him his heart’s desire” and this is the first place where we have to make an interpretive decision about the “you” and the “him.” Who are they referring to?
Well in the context here we can see that the “you” is Yahweh and the “him” is the king, and this is the case all the way through verse 7. The “you/your” is referring to the Lord, Yahweh, and the “he/him” is referring to the King. And one thing you can do that helps is to read these verses and drop in those names for the pronouns:
Verse 2: Yahweh has given the king his heart’s desire.
Verse 3: For Yahweh meets the king with rich blessings; Yahweh sets a crown of fine gold upon the king’s head.
And you can try that out all the way through verse 7. It’s clear in this first part that David, the psalmist, is talking to Yahweh about the king.
But then notice the change in verse 8.
Nothing else is mentioned about the king in third person because David starts addressing the king in the second person. The “you/your” changes from being “to Yahweh about the king,” to now being “to the king himself, with Yahweh still in view.”
And we see this best in verse 9. “You,” which is the king, will make his enemies as a blazing oven when he appears, and then the second part of that verse says that Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. So the king’s judgment and Yahweh’s wrath are in concert together. David is speaking to the king but it’s not disconnected from Yahweh. He’s still in view.
So again, in verses 1–7 the psalmist David is speaking “to Yahweh about the king.” In verses 8–12 David is speaking “to the King in view of Yahweh.”
But now the question is: Who is this king?
Is David talking about himself and then to himself, or is he talking about and to someone else, such as his descendent that God promised in 2 Samuel 7 who would reign forever?
Is David talking about himself or the Messiah?
It’s the Messiah! In Psalm 21 David is talking about the Messiah who will one day appear in the future and reign forever. This again is the focal point of the Book of Psalms, and in fact, in Psalm 21 there are some allusions to earlier psalms, and they’re meant to sort of tie all these psalms together as messianic.
We’re going to see that as we walk through Psalm 21, but I just wanted to go ahead and right away let the cat out of the bag! This psalm is about the Messiah!
The composer of the Book of Psalms put this psalm here because of its message of hope in David’s future descendent. The Book of Psalms wants us to know what we should think when we think about the Messiah. And overall, in a word, here it is: we should know that the Messiah is glorious. We're supposed to know that God highly honors his Messiah and he has given his Messiah glory like no other.
And for the rest of our time, I just want us to look closer at that glory. I’m going to show you at least three ways in Psalm 21 that Yahweh has given the Messiah unique glory.
Here’s the first:
1) Yahweh enthrones the Messiah as the universal, eternal king. (verses 2–5)
Notice in verse 2 the relationship between Yahweh and the Messiah. Whatever it is that the Messiah desires in his heart, God has given that to him. Now back in Psalm 20, verse 4 says “May he [= Yahweh] grant you your heart’s desire!” Now Psalm 21, verse 2 says Yahweh has given him his heart’s desire, and together these Psalms, 20 and 21, are echoing Psalm 2.
Remember back in the opening of the Psalms, in Psalm 2, verse 8 Yahweh tells his Messiah, Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, the ends of the earth your possession.
In Psalm 2, Yahweh honors the Messiah by inviting him to ask for supremacy over all the nations. And Psalm 21 is an extension of that, which means this psalm is not just about a one-time battle, but this is about all-time kingly authority over all the nations (like we also saw in Psalm 18).
The Messiah getting his heart’s desire is not like a ‘genie in a bottle’; it’s not a random “choose your own fantasy”; but this has precisely to do with the Messiah’s reign as king over all. He has asked for the ends of the earth, and God has answered him. And see that here.
How has Yahweh given the Messiah his heart’s desire and has not withheld his request? Verse 3: By meeting the Messiah with rich blessings and placing a crown upon his head. This, of course, is kingship. This is a coronation!
And it’s not a little tribal kingship, this is a universal kingship. All the nations rage and kings of the earth conspire together against Yahweh and against his Messiah, but Yahweh laughs at them and holds them in derision, because he has crowned his Messiah as King over them (see Psalm 2:1–6).
And not only that, but Yahweh has also crowned the Messiah as king for all-time. That’s verse 4. What else did the Messiah ask for? Eternal life. “Length of days forever and ever.”
And we might read that and think it sounds boring, like it’s just endless time. But that’s not the idea here. The request for eternal life is in reference to his reign, which echoes God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:13 where God said he would establish the Messiah’s throne forever. The Messiah is to be king over all for all time. This is universal, eternal kingship, and Yahweh has given that glory to his Messiah.
Or as verse 5 puts it: “[the Messiah’s] glory is great through [Yahweh’s] salvation; splendor and majesty [Yahweh] bestows on [the Messiah].”
Splendor, majesty, glory — these are all the same idea. It’s the highest honor. Yahweh has given the highest honor to the Messiah.
And if we step out a little bit, we would say that God the Father has bestowed the highest honor on his Son. And of course we see this in the New Testament.
What kind of honor has the Father given the Son?
The Father has made Jesus the watershed for all humanity. Jesus is the cosmic fork in the road. Jesus is the difference-maker, and every single person on this planet must answer to him. John 3:35–36,
The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (see also John 13:3)
Then there is John 5 where Jesus says that the Father has given him the authority to give life to whoever he wills, and to issue judgment. In John 5:22 Jesus says, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.”
In John 6:40 Jesus says that it’s the Father’s will to make the Son the focus of our salvation. “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life…”
The Father has exalted Jesus to this place. To be king over all means to have this kind of authority. He has the authority to give life and to give judgment. He even has authority over his own life. Jesus says in John 10:18:
No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I received from my Father.
“He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever.” Yeah, you did, Father! You gave him authority over his own life and over all of life. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him (see Matthew 28:18–20). That is what belongs to universal, eternal kingship.
And more than that. The Father has exalted Jesus so highly that the people of God, the church, can do absolutely nothing apart from him. Jesus literally says this in John 15:5 — he is the vine; we are the branches — Jesus says, “apart from me you can do nothing.” That’s what it means for him to be the head of the church. Ephesians 1:22, “He [God the Father] put all things under his feet [Jesus’s feet] and gave him as head over all things, to the church.”
And I love what John Owen says on this point. This is the 17th century Puritan John Owen. He says that the rule of Christ as king of the church is so sovereign that it extends even to his reigning spiritually over “the minds, souls, and consciences of all who believe.” Owen says, There is not one gracious acting of the soul in any one believer, at any time in the whole world, either in opposition unto sin or the performance of duty, but it is influenced and under the guidance of the kingly power of Christ. (The Glory of Christ, VII, 98).
In every moment of your life when you experience grace, whether it’s negative resistance or positive pursuit, whether you are fighting sin or loving others, it is because of the kingship of Jesus. Jesus is the reason you experience any grace because the Father has given him that kind of honor!
He has made him Lord of all, for all time. The Father has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that indeed Jesus is Lord (see Philippians 2:9–11).
His glory is that great! Yahweh bestows splendor and majesty on his Messiah! The kind of spender and majesty that makes angels numbering myriad of myriads, and thousands of thousands, along with every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth — it’s the kind of glory that makes them all fall down before him and say,
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! (see Revelation 5:13)
The Father has given Jesus the glory of being that kind of King, over all and for all time. Yahweh enthrones the Messiah as the universal, eternal king.
Here’s another way we see his glory.
2) Yahweh makes the Messiah the happiest person ever. (verses 1, 6–7)
Now this is straightforward in verse 6, but remember how this psalm starts. Right away in verse 1 we read that the King, the Messiah, rejoices in God’s strength. He exults in God’s salvation. And this is the banner over the entire psalm. The theme is joy and celebration. And then in verse 6 we read that this joy is connected to the glory that Yahweh has given to the Messiah.
Splendor and majesty you bestow on him. For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
And in verse 6, there’s some parallelism here. The second clause is expanding the first. “You make him most blessed forever.” What is the nature of this eternal blessing? What does it mean to be “most blessed forever”? Gladness. “You make him glad with the joy of your presence.”
The Messiah is glad in the joy of Yahweh’s presence. Now where have we heard that before? It sounds like Psalm 16:11 where the Messiah says to Yahweh, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The Messiah’s blessing is his joy. And of course, we know that the concept of blessedness and happiness go hand in hand. The blessed one is the happy one — which is how the Psalms begin:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
The blessed man — the happy man — is the Psalm 1 man, who is the Psalm 15 man, who is the Psalm 24 man (we’ll see), who is the Messiah in Psalm 21 — God has made him blessed.
Jesus is happy, and it’s so important we know that.
Back in Psalm 16 we talked about how the whole mission of Jesus was about joy: He came from joy and was headed back to joy, and he came here to bring his church into that joy with him.
And we see this in the Gospels. Jesus tells his disciples to abide in his love just as he abides in the Father’s love, and he says, John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Jesus told the Father in John 17 that he has taught his disciples so that “they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (see John 17:13).
Then, of course, there’s Hebrews 12:2 where Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him.”
It’s the like the entire ministry of Jesus, in his life and example and teaching and suffering and death and resurrection and exaltation even now, the undercurrent for the whole thing is joy. And I want to be clear: this is divine joy. This is a joy that’s not completely unlike the joy we experience, except that it’s transcendent. Jesus had a truer joy than we’ve yet to fully know, but it’s still called joy, and he wants us to have it.
And this is especially relevant because of his kingship. If Jesus is king over all and for all time, we’d like to know what kind of king he is! Right? Jesus is the sovereign over everything, so what’s he like?
He’s happy.
Rock-solid happiness, not temperamental. It’s immovable, unshakeable divine happiness. It is happiness from the essence of the triune God.
To understand this, it requires us to look outside of our own lives and own our circumstances, and even our own suffering. If we could get our fingers on the corner of reality and peel it back, if see could see deeper than all the brokenness of this world, if we could go there and look, there is a smile. We hear laughter. Jesus is glad in the joy of his Father’s presence. That is his glory. Yahweh makes the Messiah the happiest person ever.
Here’s the third way we see his glory.
3) Yahweh gives the Messiah the power to subdue all his enemies. (verses 8–12).
Now this is an aspect of kingship, but it’s the whole second half of the psalm, so we need to pay special attention here. From verses 8–12, we see that the Messiah will judge all his enemies.
First, notice that this judgment is from the Messiah.
Throughout church history, and even up to now, people can think that in the Old Testament God is full of wrath, but in the New Testament God is full of love. It’s like an urban legend of the Bible. But when we read the Bible, that doesn’t work, because he One who executes final judgment is also the One who accomplishes salvation. It’s the Messiah.
Notice in verse 9 that the Messiah’s judgment is connected to his appearing.
The blazing oven of wrath, in verse 9, is what Messiah will do when he appears. That’s an important word. We see this in the New Testament. Jesus appeared the first time to accomplish salvation, he suffered for us as our sacrifice to save us from our sins; and also he will also appear a second time, to consummate the salvation of his people and to bring final judgment (see Hebrews 9:26–28). And Paul is so clear about this in 2 Thessalonians 1. I’m going to pick up reading in verse 6. Listen to this:
God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed. (2 Thess. 1:6–10)
Salvation and judgment. There is a judgment seat, and Jesus is the one who is seated on it — because the Father has given him that glory.
And we see even more of this glory in the scope of his judgment.
Notice that his judgment is of all his enemies, and all their schemes, completely destroyed.
We see that first in verse 8. The Messiah will find out all his enemies. Every person who is opposed to Jesus, Jesus knows. This is a warning that you cannot hide from him.
“No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
No enemy gets away, and nothing they do will ultimately succeed. We see this in verse 11. The enemies of Jesus are active in their opposition. They are planning evil against him. They conspire together about how they might destroy him — and of course we see this in the Gospels. It’s not long into the ministry of Jesus that we see the Jewish leaders are trying to kill him.
And they do.
But verse 11 says they will not succeed. Now how does this work?
They didn’t ultimately succeed. Because the worst of all enemies is death, and Jesus put death to flight. Jesus died to make war against the grave. He aimed at its face with his bow, and on the third day he arose.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:24 that Jesus will destroy every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
See, Jesus has broken the power of death in his resurrection, but on the Last Day, in his final judgment, Revelation 20:14, Death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire. Completely destroyed.
The victory belongs to Jesus Christ. That is his glory.
Enthroned as King over all; happy in his Father’s presence; fierce in the judgment of his enemies — this is Jesus, and there is no other like him.
And this is what it means for you.
Verse 13 concludes the psalm with praise to God, which is like an invitation. We are invited to worship God, which we either do or we don’t.
We see the same conclusion in Psalm 2. There, in the context of the Messiah’s judgment, we’re told to “Kiss the Son” — honor the Son. The invitation is: Will you take refuge in him?
In the book of Revelation, at the very end, after we have seen the judgment of Jesus, there’s another invitation. It’s to come. Are you thirsty? Come and drink!
And here in Psalm 21 we see the glory of Jesus. The glory of Jesus is beautiful and fierce, but the invitation is the same:
Believe on him.
Take refuge in him.
Honor him.
Let us worship Jesus!
