PSALMS 21


     We will begin this lesson by giving the chapter in metre.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                           Chapter 21

verse 1  "Now, O Jehovah, shall the king Be joyful in the saving
          might, And of thy great salvation sing In songs of rapture
          and delight."
verse 2  "His heart's desire, his lip's request, Thy gracious hand did
          not withhold; With all thy goodness he is blessed, And wears
          a crown of purest gold."
verse 3  "He asked for life, thou didst decree For him an endless
          length of days; And through salvation wrought by thee, How
          great his majesty and praise."
verse 4  "Afar his glory is displayed, With highest honour he is
          crowned; Thou hast the king a blessing made While endless
          ages circle round."
verse 5  "Blessed with the favor thou hast shown, and gladdened with
          the beaming face, In God Most High he trusts alone, And
          stands forever in his grace."
verse 6  "On all that hate thee, all thy foes Thy hand shall be
          outstretched in power; Like flames thy wrath shall round
          them close, And God's consuming rage devour."
verse 7  "From earth their race shall be destroyed, Their lineage
          never more be known; Their schemes and plottings all are
          void, Their counsels utterly overthrown."
verse 8  "Thou at their face thy shafts shall aim, And turn them back
          in sudden flight. O Lord, in strength exalt thy name, And we
          will celebrate thy might."

     We will now begin the verse by verse study of chapter 21. Psalms
21:1 {To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.} "The king shall joy in
thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he
rejoice!"

     Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. We Christians are the
kings without the capital letter. We will be subordinates of King
Jesus. Who rejoices in the salvation that King Jesus brought?  Those
who accepted the salvation that He offered. Our joy is in His
strength. Believers in Christ have much to rejoice about. We have the
hope of the resurrection.

     Psalms 21:2 "Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not
withholden the request of his lips. Selah."

     The heart's desire of everyone who ever lived is to live forever.
This is what Jesus has provided for all who will receive salvation in
Him, eternal life. The cry of the people for God's help has never gone
unnoticed by God. Just as the children of Israel cried out for a
deliverer and God sent Moses, all of mankind cried for a Saviour and
Jesus came to save mankind.

     Psalms 21:3 "For thou preventest him with the blessings of
goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head."

     Revelation 14:14 "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and
upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head
a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle."  Although Jesus wore
a crown of thorns here on the earth, He was awarded the crown of Gold.
This crown of Gold shows His godly power.  Notice, also, in the next
few verses that we Christians will, also, wear a crown. The crown will
be given us, not for the deeds we have done, but because of who we put
our faith in. II Timothy 4:8 "Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that
love his appearing."

     Psalms 21:4 "He asked life of thee, [and] thou gavest [it] him,
[even] length of days for ever and ever."

     We know that the gift of eternal life is from God. We, also, know
that Jesus rose from the grave, paving the way for you and me to be
resurrected unto eternal life, as well. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the End. He possesses life eternal. He has given
those who follow Him the opportunity to live forever in Him.

     Psalms 21:5 "His glory [is] great in thy salvation: honour and
majesty hast thou laid upon him."

     The glory of the Lord is in the salvation He provided for you and
me. We {the Christians}, are his inheritance. God has magnified Him
above all others.  Philippians 2:9 "Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:"
Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
[things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the
earth;"  Philippians 2:11 "And [that] every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  In some
wonderful and peculiar way, God the Father was magnified along with
Jesus in the crucifixion. Jesus was a sweet savour offering unto God.
Jude 1:25 "To the only wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and for ever. Amen."

     Psalms 21:6 "For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou
hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance."

     We know that one of the promises God made unto Abraham, was that
all the earth would be blessed through the seed of Abraham. This was
speaking of the world of believers in Christ. All who believe in
Christ are spiritual seed of Abraham. He believed God, and it was
counted as righteousness to him. We Christians believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and are counted righteous in God's sight, because we
believe. The One who blessed all of us, is the one blessed Himself. He
is the Lord Jesus Christ who is blessed forevermore. Romans 9:5 "Whose
[are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [came],
who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."  Acts 2:28 "Thou hast
made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with
thy countenance."  If the countenance of the Lord fills us with such
joy, let us take a look at that countenance in the next verses.
Matthew 28:3 "His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment
white as snow:" Revelation 1:16 "And he had in his right hand seven
stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his
countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength."

     Psalms 21:7 "For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the
mercy of the most High he shall not be moved."

     We have spoken before about trust, but it bears repeating here.
Trust is a state beyond faith. It is when we depend entirely upon the
Lord, knowing that every single little thing that happens to us is for
our own good. Possibly a better saying would be to say, resting in the
knowledge that all is well with you in the Lord. Jesus said it all,
when He said, Not my will but thine. We are told that we should stand,
and then having done all to stand. Put your faith and trust in the
merciful God, and you shall not be moved.

     Psalms 21:8 "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy
right hand shall find out those that hate thee."

     The Right Hand of God {Jesus Christ} has defeated His enemies and
our enemies. He defeated sin on the cross and defeated death when He
rose from the grave. We may think that our enemies are the people who
are giving us a hard time around us, but they are under the control of
Satan. Satan was defeated on the cross by Jesus Christ our Lord. Our
protection from such enemies, if we are a Christian, is the name and
the blood of Jesus Christ.

     Psalms 21:9 "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."

     This is so sad to think that these enemies are headed for total
destruction, and really do not even know it. They have been deceived
by the devil.  Look at the following Scriptures on this subject. They
tell why, and what, this wrath of God is.  John 3:36 "He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Romans 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;" Revelation 14:10 "The same shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup
of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:"

     Psalms 21:10 "Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and
their seed from among the children of men."

     We know the teaching about the fruit tree that does not bear
fruit, being destroyed by the husbandman. This is saying the same
thing here. Those who choose not to follow God, bring their own
destruction upon them. God is longsuffering, not willing that even one
should perish, but there is a time when He is so angry that His wrath
comes up in His face, and He destroys them. This is the very thing
that God did when He looked down from heaven, and He saw the evil in
Sodom and Gomorrah. His wrath came up in His face, and He rained down
fire and brimstone upon them and destroyed them.  The next Scripture
is the best advice that I can give anyone.  Matthew 10:28 "And fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
It is in the power of God to save us or to destroy us. We are His
creation.
The answer is to accept the free gift of salvation today. Make Jesus
your Saviour and Lord and you will be pleasing unto God.

     Psalms 21:11 "For they intended evil against thee: they imagined
a mischievous device, [which] they are not able [to perform]."

     We find, as Jesus said, that to want to sin in your heart is sin.
God is going to judge the heart of man. I truly believe that the books
that are opened on our heart tell whether we intended good or evil.
Christians face the intended evil of the world, the same as did our
Lord. Praise God! Look at the great promise from Isaiah made to the
believers.  Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall
prosper; and every tongue [that] shall rise against thee in judgment
thou shalt condemn.  This [is] the heritage of the servants of the
LORD, and their righteousness [is] of me, saith the LORD."  As I said
in the beginning of this, the desire to destroy someone is just as
much a sin as doing it. God judges the heart of man.

     Psalms 21:12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
[when] thou shalt make ready [thine arrows] upon thy strings against
the face of them.

     When I see this Scripture above, it reminds me of the 300 men
with Gideon who caused an army, so great that the Bible speaks of them
as being like grasshoppers, to flee. Can you imagine thousands fleeing
from 300? Read about it in the 6th and 7th chapter of Judges. I will
show just one Scripture here that shows how God caused this large army
to kill each other when the 300 in Gideon's army blew the trumpets.
Judges 7:22 "And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set
every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host:
and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, [and] to the border of
Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath."

     Psalms 21:13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: [so]
will we sing and praise thy power.

     We should exalt the Lord at all times. It is difficult to
remember to exalt Him in our times of trouble, but we can easily
praise Him, when He delivers us from the problem. We should never
cease to praise Him for not only His power, but for His salvation He
freely gave us. It is not by my strength, or by any power that I have,
that I get any thing done for God. He is strong in my weekness.
                             Questions 21

1.  The king shall joy in thy ________ O Lord.
2.  Who is King of kings?
3.  Who rejoice in the salvation that Jesus brought?
4.  What do the Christians have hope of?
5.  What is the heart's desire of everyone?
6.  When the Children of Israel cried out for a deliverer, who did God
    send to them in Egypt?
7.  Who is the Christian's Deliverer?
8.  Quote Revelation chapter 14 verse 14.
9.  What was the crown that Jesus wore on the earth made of?
10. What does the crown of Gold symbolize?
11. Why will the Christians receive a crown?
12. The gift of eternal life is from  ____.
13. What paved the way for us to be resurrected from the grave?
14. What are some of the names of Jesus that show His eternity?
15. Quote Philippians chapter 2 verse 9.
16. Who must bow to the name of Jesus?
17. Quote Jude chapter 1 verse 25.
18. Who did God promise to bless through Abraham?
19. Who are the spiritual seed of Abraham?
20. Why are we righteous in God's sight?
21. Describe the countenance of the Lord.
22. What is trust in God?
23. How can you stand, and not be moved?
24. What 2 things did Jesus defeat at the cross, and at the
    resurrection?
25. He that believeth on the Son hath _________ ____.
26. What abides in those who do not believe?
27. What will happen to those who do not believe?
28. Who brings destruction on those who do not believe?
29. How was Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed?
30. Quote Matthew chapter 10 verse 28.
31. God will judge the ______ of man.
32. Which is worse: to sin, or to desire in your heart to sin?
33. What promise is made to all believers, in Isaiah chapter 54 verse
    17?
34. What does verse 12 remind the author of?
35. Where, in the Bible, do we find the story of Gideon and his army?
36. When should we exalt the Lord?
37. Who is to receive all the glory?