PSALM 21:1–7 He Asked Life of You
READ: PSALM 21:1–7
v. 4 “He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.”
The ancient kings of Israel set the pattern for the ministry of the Lord Jesus. The kings were God’s representatives to save and lead God’s people. The Lord Jesus performs this role eternally for the church and for the world. He saves and protects true believers. He rules and governs according to the perfect law of God and will one day summon all people to be judged.
Psalm 21 was written to thank God for the way he worked through the human kings who ruled Israel. There are hints in the psalm, however, that its message looked beyond those kings to the eternal King Jesus: “He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever” (v. 4). Long life was a sign of God’s favour to the kings of Israel. But no king in Israel ruled “forever and ever.” More than poetic exaggeration, these words point us to a King who will reign forever and ever. God will bless his people through this King in a far greater way than he blessed Israel through any of their kings.
King Jesus gave his life for the people of God. He died in defence of God’s people to save them from sin and Satan. His death, however, was not permanent. Jesus knew that he would overcome death and so let us share in the victory over death. During his ministry Jesus told his disciples that he would rise again from the dead. He also told the leaders to “destroy this temple,” by which he meant his body, “and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19).
How could Jesus be so confident that he would not be destroyed by death? Like the king in Psalm 21:4, the Lord Jesus prayed to his Father for life: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” (John 17:1). The apostle Peter describes the Father’s answer to this prayer in Acts 2:24: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” The Lord Jesus overcame death and now he reigns forever and ever. Through him God’s people are blessed forever and ever.
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