of love to Him, the sacrifice He loves, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Is it a broken heart? bruised, trembling, hardly able to look up? Lord, accept it; and pour into that heart the riches of Thy grace, the fulness of Thy love. And you will pray for me, beloved, likewise; and we will pray thus for each other, 'The Lord fulfil all thy petitions;' the Lord give thee beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.' 'Save, Lord: let the King hear us when we call.' PSALM XXI. THE JOY OF THE KING, THE JOY OF BELIEVERS. 'The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in Thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! "Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 'For Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 'He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. 'His glory is great in Thy salvation: honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon him. 'For Thou hast made him most blessed for ever: Thou hast made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. 'Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies: Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee. 'Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. "Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against Thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. 'Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back, when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them. 'Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength: so will we sing and praise Thy power.' IT is almost universally admitted by commentators, that we are not only to look first and primarily at the Lord Jesus Christ as set before us in this and many other Psalms, but that they themselves often in a remarkable manner bear upon each other. Sometimes we have them in couplets, as in the 1st and 2nd. The 1st describes to us the only man that was altogether and for ever perfect, the Man Christ Jesus; while the 2nd tells what He had to endure at the hands of men. The 15th and 16th are linked together. We have also triplets while some are found in clusters. Of the last-named we have an instance before us here; the 22nd Psalm is the centre of that little cluster, where the Messiah is heard to speak in words which must be deeply engraven on all our hearts My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' In the opening verse of this Psalm, we read 'The King shall joy in Thy strength, O Lord.' The address here is to Jehovah, the Father and the King of Sion, the Lord's anointed one. When the Son of God appeared on earth, it was manifest that while Christ was equal with the Father, He yet came as an obedient Son, to learn obedience by the things which He suffered; and throughout all, from first to last, only came to fulfil His Father's will, as He Himself says in John x: Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.' If He had not done all this of His own free will and accord, all would have been changed. It is from thence that all the merit of the great atonement and sacrifice springs; His own free will and at the same time His perfect obedience to the Father's will. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father.' And so also as concerning His people, He says, 'They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.' The Father and the Son are thus eternally one in their purpose not to let any of the sheep be lost or plucked out of their hands. So also, our Lord says to Philip, ' Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?' So then in the Psalm now before us, the Psalmist is led to bring out strongly that perfect oneness and communion of the Father and the Son; the Son coming of His own free will and pleasure to suffer and to die in our stead, and at the same time counting it His meat and drink to do the Father's will. The joy of the King.' This brings forcibly to mind those beautiful words which we read concerning the Lord, 'At that time Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' Yes, the strength here is Jehovah, and the joy of the King with reference to the soul being plucked as a brand from the burning is in the strength of the Lord Jehovah. So great was this joy that we read concerning Him, that for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.' 'The joy that was set before Him!' Look at Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at Him on the cross while He cried, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Why did He endure all that? why did the Father heap all that suffering on the Son's head? Why, but for the joy which was set before Him. And so through His toilsome path of suffering and death He went on in the strength of Jehovah, and fought the fight, and won the victory for ever! Thou hast given Him His heart's desire;' as He Himself said when on earth, I know that Thou hearest Me always.' Ah, what prayers must those have been on the mountain side, the whole night through! You know that marvellously beautiful and precious prayer in the 17th of John 'Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am.' Ah, let us ever remember in our hours of darkness and dreariness, that not one word of that prayer is unheard; and that it is all for us. 'Thou hast given Him His heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of His lips.' Every word shall be heard, and every request answered over and above of His own royal bounty. In the 3rd verse what a beautiful expression occurs: Thou preventest, that is, Thou comest to meet Him, with the blessings of goodness.' Yes, He does indeed come to meet Him. Was it not so, that in the days of His flesh, when He began His work on earth, the words of the Father were heard from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;' I am meeting Him now; yes, meeting Him with untold blessings for you, in Him. 'Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon His head.' Thou givest Him the many, many crowns with which He shall appear at last. For 'God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name.' 'He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest Him life, even length of days for perpetuity,' or for ever and ever. His glory is great in Thy salvation. Yes, so it was and is. Father, glorify Thy Name.' 'I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again.' 'Father, I come to Thee. I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' The great and glorious salvation was planned and decreed in the counsels of Eternity. Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever.' Thou hast set Him to be blessings for ever, blessings more than tongue can tell or pen describe? Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance.' 'Thou hast anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows.' We are brought here in this Psalm to listen to this sacred and blessed communion between the Father and the Son. These are all set down with this end in view, viz. our salvation, that His joy may be fulfilled in us. This is the great ruling purpose of it all, 'That He may see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.' It is for you and me, if we are His people in deed and in truth, that all these are recorded; that we may think often of the crown of gold, and the heart's desire granted, and of Him who is set to be blessings for ever, whose glory is great in our salvation. Child of God, it is all for you! These are the purposes and ways and dealings of Him who bowed the heavens and came down. Can you say, 'My beloved is mine, and I am His?' Can you feel this in your hearts? Then, take all this. It is yours, in Him; the joy, the crown, the answered prayer, the blessings for ever, the light of a Father's reconciled countenance. Take them all, for Christ is there, and you are there; and all is yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's! Onward, upward, homeward! Hastily I flee From this world of sorrow, With my Lord to be; Onward to the glory, upward to the prize, Onward, upward, homeward! Here I find no rest, Treading o'er the desert Which my Saviour pressed. Soon its joys and pleasures I through grace shall share. Onward, upward, homeward! K |