Word of Salvation – Vol.26 No.29 – April 1980
A Prayer For The King’s Victory
Sermon by Rev. D.K. Baird, Th. Grad. on Psalm 20
Scripture Reading: Matthew 7:1-14 (law); Psalm 20
Psalter Hymnal: 160; 114; 331; 452
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, and say “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, what do we actually want to happen?
Are we not expressing the desire that the Kingdom of God, which he is setting up through his Son – the Rule of Christ – might be established, and grow, and succeed? Are we not praying that that Kingdom may be victorious even here in this world? Yes, in the midst of this world in which we live – a world which is trying to destroy that Kingdom whether it be by stoning it to death, or ignoring it to death.
Also, in praying “Thy Kingdom come..!” we are looking to the future. In response to Jesus who says, “I am coming quickly” (Rev.22:20) we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Thus we express our desire that the rule of our King, Jesus Christ, will finally be seen to be fully victorious.
This Psalm – Psalm 20 – is also about the rule of Christ the King. May the Lord enable us to see how that is so.
When we read a psalm like this we feel we are receiving devotional help from it. Straight away we may feel it is speaking of our own situation. Take verse 1 for instance: “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.” If you are having one of those days when everything seems to have gone wrong, you will be comforted by the thought that the Lord will send help. How he will, or when, or why, is not the point. The mere fact that he will send help is of real comfort to you.
Now it is good to get devotional help like that, and yet we may have missed out on a lot more that is in the Psalm that God has put there for us. There is more in this psalm than the simple truth that God sends help to believers in need. This psalm is actually about the rule of Christ the King. “Oh, yes? you say, “I find that a bit hard to believe!” “Well, then, let’s have a closer look.
This psalm is a prayer on behalf of the King. You can see that in the last verse: “O Lord, save the King! Answer us when we call!” (NIV) Also in the first five verses, the word “you” refers to one person. For example, “May the Lord answer you,” (verse 1); “May he send you help..!” (Verse 2); “May he give you the desire of your heart..!” (verse 4) etc. This refers to one person, the King, and is a prayer being offered for him, as he prepares to go out into battle. It is really the congregation – the nation – praying for its King.
Now the Bible tells us to pray for our Queen too doesn’t it, as well as for the Governor-general and the Prime Minister, that is important. However, Israel praying for its King was more important. In praying for King David at that time, Israel was praying for the head of the Kingdom of God on earth. David was not the King of just any nation. He was the King over Israel, the people of God of that time. So He was the head of the church too. He was the anointed one: anointed by the Lord for this solemn task.
Being in that position, David was a forerunner (a picture) of Christ, the anointed one who was to come. So Jesus of Nazareth was constantly referred to as “the Son of David”, and this psalm tells us not only of the success of the rule of King David, but also of the success of the rule of the Son of David, Jesus Christ.
When we sing this psalm now, we are really singing it to Christ, praying that his Kingdom will be established. It is like saying, as does that old hymn: –
“Thy kingdom come, O God,
Thy rule, O Christ begin;
Break with thine iron rod,
The tyrannies of sin.”
So there is more in this psalm than just one or two simple devotional thoughts. Does that put you off the psalm? Does it then sound too complicated? That would be a pity. By seeing what a passage of Scripture is actually saying, will only enable us to get more help from it, not less. There is more blessing and comforting strength to be had when we discover the fullest meaning.
In verse 1 the congregation prays:-
“May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.”
King David had his days of trouble, and some were on a large scale – much bigger than ours. As the King, there were those battles against his enemies, when the security of the kingdom was threatened. Let’s not forget that the security of that kingdom was most crucial. It was a matter of the security of the Lord’s programme. Through that nation would come the Christ to bring salvation to the world. The reputation of the name of the Lord was at stake, for He had identified himself with his covenant people. The issues in that kingdom were big indeed, and David, the man after God’s own heart, was well aware of that. So the pressure was on. Enemies from both within Israel and outside were out to destroy the work of God.
Some suggest that this “day of trouble” referred to here was the time of David’s deep fall into sin. It was the time of the Syro-Ammonitish war, That war was only successfully completed when David the King was forgiven and delivered from that sin.
The Lord is indeed a God who helps his people and especially his King:- “May the name of the God of Jacob protect you.” (verse 1)
Ever since the time of Jacob the Lord had shown himself to be a certain type of Person, with a certain programme making certain promises.
Everything he did and said showed him to be a God who is powerful, faithful, gracious, merciful, and holy.
The same Lord can be relied upon to continually grant the same sort of help to his people always, whether that be in Jacob’s time, David’s time, or now.
How is it that the Lord can send such help to people who still commit sin which he loathes? Verses 2 and 3 give us the answer:-
“May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings.
Because of the sacrifices performed at the tabernacle on Mount Zion, help and assistance is able to be mediated to the King. That burnt offering is described in Lev.1 in this way, “a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.”
It soothes the holy wrath of the Lord against sin; satisfies it; turns it away.
David’s “day of trouble” may be partly the result of his own sin and a very serious sin it was too. How can the Holy Lord continue in fellowship with David? Has not the sin of David the anointed King blown apart the whole work of the Lord? Well, the Lord is a merciful redeemer – merciful to sinners through sacrifice. So, from the sanctuary, where is the ark of the covenant, where is the mercy seat, where is the sacrifice – from there, help comes.
Of course, God lives in heaven, as we are reminded from verse 6, (“he answers him from his holy heaven.”), but it was through the sanctuary that he manifests himself.
Those tabernacle sacrifices pointed forward to Christ – to THE sacrifice offered on the cross. As the success of David the King is ensured by sacrifice, so the success of the work of Christ the King is made certain by his own sacrifice. In the New Testament book of Hebrews we read (in 10:12-13):-
“But Christ, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time,
sat down at the right hand of God,
waiting from that time onward
until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet,”
It is because of the cross that Christ is now in his position of authority. It is from the cross that the victory comes. So, even when we think we have “blown it!” – “Thrown a spanner into the works” of the Lord’s kingdom- and are warned that God, being angry, will not send us help any more, let us have confidence to return to him. This is not a confidence in ourselves at all – quite the opposite. It is a confidence in his mercy mediated by sacrifice. Let us continue to ask him for help because of what Christ had done.
As the psalm moves on we see how the people of God, who are praying, express the fact that their future, success and victory is tied up with the success and victory of their king.
For example:
“We will shout for joy when you are victorious…!” (verse 5)
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (verse 7)
Of course the future of any people in wartime is inseparably linked to the success of their leaders and their army. If a general uses incompetent strategies, the whole nation shares the defeat. If he is brilliant, all share in the victory. It is even more so in Israel: for there the King was the Lord’s anointed. Verse 6, “Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed..!” The future of the nation was especially tied up with him.
Our victory is simply a sharing in the victory of Christ. Is that what we pray for that we may share in Christ’s victory – or do we merely pray prayers of convenience?
If you find you have neighbours who hold wild parties, how do you think about it, and how do you pray about it? Do you merely desire that they leave town or that their stereo should break down? That really can be just a prayer of convenience. If you desire that the Lord’s Kingdom will come, your prayer may well be quite different. As with this psalm we should be praying for Christ’s victory, and that we, as his people, may be able to share in that. Part of that may well be a victory over impatience when those parties are on.
How do you pray when the results of those tests come back and the doctor tells you that the news is not good? It is natural to pray to be well – for a successful operation, for healing. But if the Lord does not grant that healing, does that mean there is no victory?
If our desire is for the success of the kingdom of Christ, we should be praying for a victory over fear and worry. God is indeed praised when his grace enabled us to conquer those. We should pray for a victory over the temptation to doubt the goodness of God. We should pray that we do not fail as Job’s wife who advised her husband to “curse God and die.” To maintain faith in the goodness and grace of God in the day of trouble, is the real victory that proves that the victory of Christ on the cross is no empty thing.
When we are in fellowship with Christ as Saviour and Lord, being in union with him, we are truly in a most wonderful position. We are delivered from sin because Christ has won the victory over sin – sin which is his enemy even more than it is ours. On the cross the victory HAS been won. It only remains for that victory to be displayed in the lives of we who know him. Satan is trying to hinder that constantly. He is trying to spoil it and to make it look weak. The victory is demonstrating that the grace of Christ is everything it claims to be.
In the psalm the congregation confesses,
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Verse 7).
The victory is maintaining – indeed growing in – that attitude. By nature we trust in our own resources, which is rather stupid as well as being sinful. All around us people are doing just that: obeying their own desires rather than obeying the Lord; depending on themselves rather than upon the Lord. They are – at the moment anyway – the Lord’s enemies, for they will not submit to his ways, nor honour him by trusting him and accepting the gift of eternal life in his Son.
Conclusion:
Our prayers need to reflect the attitude of this psalm. We need to be praying that the kingdom which God is establishing will continue safe and prosperous, and be manifested in our own lives first of all. Such prayer rises above mere prayers of convenience. To have a victory of faith in the day of trouble maintaining our trust in the Lord when everything is against that, is something that shakes the universe, even though no-one on earth may even notice. Such a thing demonstrates that the Kingdom and grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ are indeed victorious. To see this is to be given a great blessing.
So indeed we pray: “Thy Kingdom come!” “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Amen.