Psalm 21 – Victory In Jesus
Psalm 21:1-13
1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD;
And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
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 the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold upon his head.
4 He asked life from You, and You gave it to him–
Length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great in Your salvation;
Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.
6 For You have made him most blessed forever;
You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD,
And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8 Your hand will find all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find those who hate You.
9 You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger;
The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire shall devour them.
10 Their offspring You shall destroy from the earth,
And their descendants from among the sons of men.
11 For they intended evil against You;
They devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
12 Therefore You will make them turn their back;
You will make ready Your arrows on Your string toward their faces.
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength!
We will sing and praise Your power.
On our Fifth Sunday Sings I often love to bring to you a portion from the book of Psalms. Psalms is the songbook, the hymnal, of the Bible. These songs were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God as scripture, were sung by Israel in their worship, and are given to us for teaching and admonishing one another (Col. 3:16). We are to sing them with grace in our hearts to the Lord. In their praise, we worship the Lord. In their theology, we meet God. In their prayers, we learn to pray.
Today, I want us to look briefly at Psalm 21. David, king of Israel, composed this Psalm as a song of praise and thanks to Yahweh, the Lord God, in the aftermath of victory. It is a companion to Psalm 20 which is a prayer for going into battle. In Psalm 21, David rejoices in the great victory that the Lord had won. It’s all about what God has done. A quick reading of the Psalm brings that easily to light.
(1) “The king shall have joy in YOUR strength, O LORD”
(1) “in YOUR salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!”
(2) “YOU have given him his heart’s desire”
(3) “YOU meet him with the blessings of goodness”
(3) “YOU set a crown of pure gold upon his head”
(4) “YOU gave it [life] to him”
(5) “Honor and majesty YOU have placed upon him”
(6) “YOU have made him most blessed forever”
(6) “YOU have made him exceedingly glad”
(8) “YOUR hand”
(8) “YOUR right hand”
(9) “YOU shall make”
(9) “The LORD shall swallow”
(10) “YOU shall destroy”
(12) “YOU will make them turn their back”
(12) “YOU will make ready YOUR arrows”
(13) “Be exalted, O LORD, in YOUR own strength!”
It’s clear, isn’t it? King David has returned from battle victorious, but he’s not taking credit for a single aspect of the victory. The Lord delivered him, and David is honoring God and rejoicing in the Lord. David knew that every victory he experienced was from the Lord. And like David, we could sing this song giving credit to God for every spiritual blessing and victory.
But I want you to notice something else about this psalm. Rather than writing in the first person using “I” and “me”, David writes it in the third person, using “he” and “him”. This could be because David wanted the congregation to sing about the victories God gave him. But I think there is more to it than that.
Notice that in Psalm 21:1-6, David looks back with gratitude for the victory that God gave, but in verse 7-12, he looks forward with confidence and hope. I believe that David wrote the psalm this way because he wanted us to see the greater King in the future. This is a psalm ultimately about the Messiah, our Lord Jesus. Like many of the psalms do, it speaks about David but looks past David to fulfillment in Christ Jesus. It is a prophetic picture of the certain victory which God will grant His Messiah-King. David praised God not only for the blessings and victory that were his, he praised God for the blessings and victory that belong to Christ. David rejoices in these blessings. He sings praise to the Lord God.
So, if these blessings and victory belong to Christ, what do they mean to us today? Here is where our union with Christ comes in. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” If I am in Christ, and Christ receives all these blessings, so do I! This is why we sing and rejoice.
What are these blessings that belong to Christ?
- Salvation – Psalm 21:1 says, “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!” The Lord saved David from his enemies. God delivered him and gave him life and victory. Jesus Christ was delivered from death and received the victory over sin when God raised Him from the dead. This is what we sing about—Christ’s resurrection, Christ’s victory. After writing a whole chapter in 1 Corinthians on the resurrection, Paul says, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57). Because Christ has been delivered from death, we who are in Christ have been delivered from sin. Salvation is ours in Christ.
Christ is blessed with salvation, and second, Christ is blessed with …
- Answered Prayer – “You have given him his heart’s desire, And have not withheld the request of his lips.” (Psa. 21:2). The Lord answered David’s prayer for victory in battle. But even more, God always answered Jesus’ prayers. At the tomb of Lazarus Jesus prayed, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me…” (John 11:41-42). David rejoices that God answers the prayer of His anointed, namely Christ. And because we are in Christ and we pray in the name of Christ, we can also rejoice in answered prayer.
David rejoiced in answered prayer through Christ, and third, Christ is blessed with …
- Eternal Life – “He asked life from You, and You gave it to him–Length of days forever and ever.” (Psa. 21:4). David looked ahead to Christ and rejoiced in the eternal life that is His through His resurrection. Eternal life is knowing Christ. Rejoice that you know Him!
David rejoiced in eternal life in Christ, fourth, Christ is blessed with …
- Glory and Honor – “His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.” (Psa. 21:5). God placed upon Christ the highest glory and the highest honor. Rejoice that we who are in Christ will be glorified in Him. This glory is Christ’s and ours in His presence. “For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence.” (Psa. 21:6). Rejoice in the blessing of God’s presence through Christ.
These blessings are Christ’s because He trusts in God the Father. “For the king trusts in the LORD, And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.” (Psa. 21:7). David knew these blessings because He trusted in Christ, and that is how we know them as well—by faith, by trusting in Christ. It’s through the mercy of the Most High. It’s by God’s grace showered on us in Christ.
The first seven verses describe the blessings Christ in His victory over sin and death through His resurrection. The rest of the psalm is about the future victory of Christ at His second coming. Christ will have the …
- Victory – In Psalm 21:8-12 we see that all of Christ’s enemies will be exposed (Ps. 21:8), they will be destroyed (Ps. 21:9-10), and completely defeated (Ps. 21:11-12).
And so David concludes the psalm, “Be exalted, O LORD, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.” (Psa. 21:13). When we look at Christ and see all that God has done through Him and for Him, we rejoice and sing praise! God has delivered Him, answered His prayers, given Him eternal life, glory, and honor in His presence, and total victory.
These spiritual blessings in Christ also belonged to David because he trusted in the Lord. And they are ours when we are in Christ. Rejoice in the blessings Christ has received! In Him, those are your blessings as well!
