Psalm 21: it behooves us to stay on God’s good side
The subtitle for Psalm 21 is “for a coronation ceremony”. But this isn’t David’s coronation, is it? The description is too eschatological to ignore, and besides, he was already king. Let’s look at the psalm together, and draw parallels between it and Jesus Christ. You’ll be surprised at how well things fit. I’m not going to go through verse by verse. Instead I’m going to focus on representative verses.
Verse 2 says, “You have granted him his heart’s desire, not denied him the prayer of his lips.” Now skip forward to John 17, and read Jesus’ prayer to God at the Last Supper. It is truly poignant to see His prayer, and in particular to read words that parallel this psalm so closely. I wanted to point out in particular John 17:24: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may always see my glory which you have given me because you loved me, before the foundation of the world.”
How about verse 3: “For you come to meet him with blessings of prosperity, put a crown of pure gold on his head.” Jump to Revelation 14:14: “Now in my vision I saw a white cloud, and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.”
Go back to Psalm 21, in verse 4: “He has asked for life, you have given it him, length of days for ever and ever.” Now, John 17:2: “… he may give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.” And, Revelation 1:18: “Do not be afraid: it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and look - I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of Hades.”
In verses 8 through 12, David writes about the last judgement and the punishment of the wicked. These verses clearly parallel Revelation. In particular look at verse 9: “You will hurl them into a blazing furnace on the day when you appear; Yahweh will engulf them in his anger, and fire will devour them.” Then look at Revelation 14:10: “…in fire and brimstone they will be tortured in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb…” and Revelation 19:21: “All the rest were killed by the sword of the Rider, which came out of his mouth…”
David ends the Psalm with “Rise Yahweh, in your power! We will sing and make music in honour of your strength.” One cannot miss the clear reference to Jesus’ resurrection here. As for the last words, let’s look at Revelation 19:1: “After this I heard what seemed to be the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and power to our God!”
This is all very intimidating, isn’t it? It’s scary to think what awaits those who do not obey God. I’m not trying to “fire and brimstone” you, as many preachers have done and continue to do from their pulpits. But this is serious stuff. It behooves those of us who are worried about this to search the Good Book and discover how we can stay on God’s good side, right? And, this is also good news, isn’t it? We know that in the end, good will triumph over evil! It is, indeed reason to write and sing a Psalm, and we see that David has already written it. He was ready for just this occasion way back then. Are you ready for it today, when we’re that much closer to it?
