The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Saviour!
He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from a violent man you rescued me.
Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.He gives his king great victories;
(Ps. 18:46-50 NIV)
he shows unfailing love to his anointed,
to David and to his descendants for ever.
The Psalmist returns to his expression of confidence. The covenant LORD lives. The Psalmist knows this because he has experienced the power of God in his life. The covenant LORD (Yahweh), the warrior God is the rock. The salvation of the LORD has been so real to the Psalmist that he directs his praise to ‘my rock’. It is not just like a rock, but he names and praises the LORD as ‘My rock’. When we read about salvation, forgiveness, redemption and preservation it all becomes more meaningful when we have experienced that in our lives, then we can speak of my redeemer, my Saviour. The Psalmist exalts his Saviour in his praise. Notice how personal everything is to the Psalmist. He says God has avenged me. God subdues nations under me. God rescued me. The Psalmist reflects on the acts of God to save the Messianic King. The Psalmist sings of the acts of God in his own life and this was the work of the LORD establishing the line of the kings of the tribe of Judah. The LORD gives victories and shows covenant love to David the first king from the tribe of Judah and the LORD will maintain His blessings to David’s descendants. In keeping faithful to the covenant, the LORD will preserve the throne for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the anointed One, the Messiah. The kings of Judah in the OT established God’s kingdom to some extent. But Jesus is the good news of the Kingdom. In Christ we receive covenant love (Hesed) and in Christ we receive the victory over sin, death and hell. The salvation that he gives involves concern for our whole well-being.
The Psalmist does not exalt himself, and we do not exalt ourselves because of the salvation that we have. Every aspect of our salvation is due to our Saviour alone. This Psalm has the completion of the Kingdom in mind. In the OT we have kingdom prologue. The first advent is the inauguration of the kingdom. When Christ ascended on high and sent the Holy Spirit, the kingdom entering its continuing phase. When Christ comes back again, it will be to consummate the kingdom in the new heavens and in the new earth. The King of kings will rule the nations and the great victory will be to our King. The Lord will have a king from the tribe of Judah upon the throne for all eternity. The praise of all nations will be to King Jesus Christ, because all rule and all authority will be brought down, and Christ shall reign forever and ever.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!:|
|: For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!:|
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
|: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!:|The kingdom of this world
‘Hallelujah Chorus’ from Handel’s Messiah
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
|: King of kings, and Lord of lords, 😐
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings,…
Prayer
Lord God we thank you for the hope that you have implanted in us, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory. What a song we will sing when the Church Triumphant will gather at the feet of our Saviour King, and the redeemed out of all nations and peoples will gather around the throne to sing the praise of the Lamb who was slain. Christ will make the redeemed of all nations to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and we will reign with Christ. Lord strengthen our hearts today by the real anticipation of what salvation will mean to us when You will have completed that work in us. Though we do not see Christ, we love Him, we believe in Him and we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for we are receiving the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls. Receive our praise in the name of our Saviour, who died for us. Amen