Snippet taken from The rare Jewel of Christian contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646)

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Christian contentment described

“I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11

     THIS text contains a very timely cordial to revive the drooping spirits of the saints in these sad and sinking times. For the “hour of temptation” has already come upon all the world to try the inhabitants of the earth.  

Our great Apostle holds forth experimentally in this text the very life and soul of all practical divinity. In it, we may plainly read his own proficiency in the school of Christ and what lesson every Christian who would prove the power and growth of godliness in his own soul must necessarily learn from him. These words are brought in by Paul as a clear argument to persuade the Philippians that he did not seek after great things in the world, and that he sought not “theirs” but “them.” He did not long for great wealth; his heart was taken up with better things. “I do not speak,” he says, ‘in respect of want’,2 for whether I have or have not, my heart is fully satisfied, I have enough: ‘I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’ ”

“In whatsoever state I am.”The word state is not in the original, but simply “in what I am,” that is, in whatever concerns or befalls me, whether I have little or nothing at all. 

“Therewith to be content.” The word rendered “content” here has great elegance and fullness of meaning in the original. In the strict sense, it is only attributed to God, Who has styled Himself “God all-sufficient,” in that He rests fully satisfied in and with Himself alone. But He is pleased freely to communicate His fullness to the creature, so that from God in Christ the saints receive “grace for grace” (Joh 1:16). As a result, there is in them the same grace that is in Christ, according to their measure. In this sense, Paul says, I have a “self-sufficiency,” which is what the word means.

You will say, “How are we sufficient of ourselves?” Our Apostle affirms in another case, “That we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves” (2Co 3:5).

Therefore, his meaning must be, “I find a sufficiency of satisfaction in my own heart, through the grace of Christ that is in me. Though I have not outward comforts and worldly conveniences to supply my necessities, yet I have a sufficient portion between Christ and my soul abundantly to satisfy me in every condition.” This interpretation agrees with, “A good man is satisfied from himself ” (Pro 14:14), and with Paul of himself: “…having nothing yet possessing all things” (2Co 6:10). Because he had a right to the covenant and promise, which virtually contains everything, and an interest in Christ, the fountain and good of all, it is no marvel that he said that in whatsoever state he was in, he was content.

Thus, you have the true interpretation of the text. I shall not make any division of the words because I take them only to promote the one most necessary duty: quieting and comforting the hearts of God’s people under the troubles and changes they meet with in these heart-shaking times.

The doctrinal conclusion briefly is this: That to be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory, and excellence of a Christian. This evangelical truth is held forth sufficiently in the Scripture, yet we may take one or two more parallel places to confirm it. In 1 Timothy 6:6 and 8, you find expressed both the duty and the glory of it. “Having food and raiment let us be therewith content” (6:8)—there is the duty. “But godliness with contentment is great gain” (6:6)—there is the glory and excellence of it, as if to suggest that godliness was not gained except contentment be with it. The same exhortation you have in Hebrews: “Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have” (Heb 13:5). 

I offer the following description: Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition. This description is a box of precious ointment and very comforting and useful for troubled hearts in troubled times and conditions.

Snippet from Studies in the Scriptures by A W Pink

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THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST

“For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Ti 2:5).  Some unregenerate men, who deny the Godhead of Christ, imagine they find something in this verse which supports their system of infidelity, but this only serves to make the more evident the fearful blindness of their minds.  As well might they reason from Galatians 1:1 (where we read, “Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ”), that the Lord Jesus is not Man, as to infer from 1 Timothy 2:5 that He is not God.  As we shall show in what follows, none could heal, the breach between God and men save one who partook of each of their natures.

“For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Ti 2:5).  “In that great difference between God and men, occasioned by our sin and apostasy from Him, which of itself could issue in nothing but the utter ruin of the whole race of mankind, there was none in heaven or earth, in their original nature and operations, who was meet or able to make up a peace between them. Yet this must be done by a mediator or cease forever.  This mediator could not be God Himself absolutely considered, for ‘a mediator is not of one, but God is one’ (Gal 3:20).  And as for creatures, there was none in heaven or earth, there was none meet to undertake this office.  ‘For if one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?’ (1Sa 2:25)” (John Owen, 1616-1683).

In view of this state of things, the eternal Son, out of love for His Father and the people which had been given to Him, volunteered to enter the office and serve as Mediator.  It is to this that Philippians 2:7 refers, where He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” The susception (taking upon Him) of our nature for the discharge of the mediatorial office therein, was an act of infinite condescension, wherein He is exceedingly glorious in the eyes of His saints.  To quote again from the eminent Puritan:

“Such is the transcendent excellency of the divine nature, its written of God that, ‘He dwelleth on High, and humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth’ (Psa 113:5-6).  All His respect unto creatures, the most glorious, is an act of infinite condescension.  And it is so on two accounts.  First, because of the infinite distance there is between His being, and that of the creature.  Hence, ‘All nations before him are as a drop of a bucket.’ Second, because of His infinite self-sufficiency unto all the acts and ends of His own eternal blessedness.  What we have a desire unto, is that it may add to our satisfaction, for no creature is self-sufficient unto its own blessedness.  God alone wants nothing, and stands in need of nothing, see Job 35:6-8.  God hath infinite perfections in Himself.

“How glorious, then, is the Son of God in His susception of the office of mediator!  For if such be the perfection of the divine nature, and its distance is so absolutely infinite from the whole of creation, and if such be His self-sufficiency unto His own eternal blessedness, so that nothing can be taken from Him, nothing added unto Him, so that every regard to Him unto any of His creatures, is an act of self-condescension from the prerogative of His being and state; what heart can conceive, what tongue can express the glory of that condescension in the Son of God, whereby He took our nature upon Him, took it to be His own, in order to a discharge of the office of Mediator in our behalf!” Nothing but love, love unfathomable, to His Father and to His people, could have moved Him thereunto.

When we speak of Christ as Mediator, we always think of Him as God and man in one person, and that his two natures, though infinitely distinct, are not to be separated.  As God, without a human nature united to His divine person, He would be too high to sustain the character or to perform the work of a servant, and, as such, to yield to the law that obedience which was incumbent upon Him as Mediator.  So, on the other hand, to be man, or merely a creature, would be too low, and altogether inconsistent with that infinite value and dignity which must be put upon the work He was to perform.  Therefore, none but God incarnate, possessing two natures, was qualified to function as Mediator.  Let us amplify this important consideration with a few details.

First, it was necessary that the Mediator should be a divine person.  “It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God and the power of death, give worth and efficacy to His sufferings, obedience, and intercession, and to satisfy God’s justice, procure His favour, purchase a peculiar people, give His Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation” (Westminster Catechism, 1643). None but God can give eternal life, and, therefore, none but a divine person could be a real Saviour of those who were dead in sins (Joh 10:27-28).  Again, “For man to glory in any one as his Saviour, and give him the honour of the new creation, to resign himself to His pleasure, and become His property, and say to Him, ‘Thou are Lord of my soul,’ is an honour to which no mere creature can have the least claim. ‘In JEHOVAH shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory’ (Isa 45:25) (Hermann Witsius, 1636-1708).

Second, it was necessary that the Mediator should be a human person.  “It was requisite that the Mediator should be man, that He might advance our nature, perform obedience to the law, suffer, and make intercession for us in our nature, having a fellow-feeling of our infirmities, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace” (Westminster Catechism). The law of God requires the love of our neighbour, but none is our neighbour but who is of the same blood with us.  Therefore, before our Surety could satisfy the law for us, He must become man.  So, too, He needed to take on Him our nature in order to our being united to Him in one body, and He made members “of his flesh and of his bones” (Eph 5:30).

Third, it was necessary that the Mediator should be God and man in one person.  “It was requisite that the Mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should Himself be both God and man, and this in one person; that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of the whole person” (Westminster Catechism). Had He been God only, He could not have died.  Had He been man only, He could not have merited for and bestowed the Holy Spirit upon all His people.  Had He not been the Godman, our redemption would have been brought about by two persons! Therefore, did the eternal Word become flesh (Joh 1:14)—forever be His name adored.

Now, inasmuch as the Mediator is God and man in one person, it follows that various things may be truly stated concerning, or applied to Him, which are infinitely opposite to each other, namely, that He has all power and wisdom as it concerns His Deity, and yet, that He is weak and finite as respects His humanity. In one nature, He is equal with the Father, and so receives nothing from Him, nor is under any obligation to yield obedience.  In His other nature, He is inferior to the Father, and so receives all things from Him.  Here then is what makes it manifest that there is no contradiction between John 10:30 and John 14:28. As the second person of the Trinity, He could say, “I and my Father are one.” As the God-man Mediator, “My Father is greater than I.” Such verses as Matthew 11:27; 28:18; John 17:5; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 1:22-23; Revelation 1:1, etc., all speak of Him as “the Mediator!”

In seeking to make practical application of this blessed theme, we cannot do better than quote the following words.  “Think of it, my brother, I entreat you, upon every occasion when drawing nigh to the throne of grace, through that channel by which alone you can approach the throne—through the mediation of Jesus—and in that recollection, may the Lord strengthen your hands and heart.  That almighty Friend we now have in heaven, in whose hands all our high interests are placed, though once ‘Man of sorrows,’ was, and is, no less, at the same time, one with the Father, ‘over all God blessed forever,’ (Rom 9:5)” (Robert Hawker, 1753-1827). May the Lord be pleased to add His blessing to this meditation.

A solemn question for those who are rejecting Christ, that they may obtain the World. Revival message by R A Torrey

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A solemn question for those who are rejecting Christ, that they may obtain the World. Revival message by R A Torrey

“What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the world, and lose his own soul?”—Mark

viii. 36.

That question ought to set thinking every person here tonight, who, because

of love of the world is refusing Jesus Christ.

1. Will you please notice in the first place the two things that are contrasted in the verse?

The two things contrasted are not the present and the future.  The question is not what shall

it profit a man if he gain the present and lose the future. That would be an important question.

If a man were to gain the fleeting present and thereby lose the eternal future, it would be a

very foolish bargain; but that is not the question of the text. The man who loses his soul

does not gain the present.  It is true he loses the future, the eternal future; but he does not

gain the present.  The man living in sin, the man living away from Christ, does not get the

most out of the life that now is. He gets the least out of it.  On the other hand, the man that

saves his soul does not lose the present. It is true that be gains the future, the eternal future;

but he does not lose the present.  The man whose soul is saved gets the most out of the life

that now is.  The two things put in contrast are these, the world and the soul, or life- the

world, that is, the tangible world and all it contains, wealth, honour, power, pleasure,

everything that appeals to the senses, the lust of the flesh and lust of the eye and the vainglory

of life (cf. 1 John ii. 16).  That is the world.  That which is put into contrast with it is the soul

or life, the inner, real man.  To gain the world is to get all the wealth there is, and all the

honor there is, and all the social position there is, and all the power there is, and all the

worldly pleasure there is.  To lose the soul is to lose your real manhood, to fall short of that

for which God created you, to miss the divine image, to have the divine image blotted out

and the image of the devil stamped in its place.

To lose the soul is to come short of the knowledge of God, to lose communion with

God and likeness to God, to “fall short of the glory of God.” Now the question is this, What

shall it profit you to gain all that this world has, all its wealth, all its honor, all its pleasures,

all its power and lose your true selves, lose that for which God created you, lose communion

with God and likeness to God, and the glory of God?

2. For any man to gain the whole world at the cost of forfeiting his soul would be a bad

bargain.  If one could get the whole world by forfeiting his soul, it would be an idiotic exchange.

Why?

1. First of all, because the world does not satisfy. The world never satisfied a human

soul.  Take wealth.  Was ever any man satisfied with wealth?  Did any amount of money ever

bring satisfaction and lasting joy to any person on earth?  You had a man here in

England a few years ago who was highly successful in making money. He made millions of pounds sterling, but so little did it satisfy him that he jumped overboard from the deck of

an ocean steamer and drowned himself.  I remember one day that the heir to one of the

largest fortunes in the world invited me to dinner, and I went to dinner with him.  After the

dinner was over he opened his heart to me, and confessed his dissatisfaction with life. All

the millions—and there were a great many millions that that young man was heir to—did

not give him satisfaction and joy.

Did honour ever satisfy any man?  I have known men and women in the highest positions

of honour in politics and social life, in culture and in all spheres of life, but I never knew a

man or woman yet that was satisfied with honour. Does power satisfy any man?  Was any

king or emperor or czar, no matter how large his power, satisfied with the possession of

power?  Do the pleasures of life satisfy any man?  Does the ball room satisfy?  Does the card

party satisfy?  Does the theatre satisfy?  Does the racecourse satisfy?  Does gambling satisfy?

Is there any form of the world’s pleasure that satisfies the human soul? How mad then to

forfeit your soul to gain money, honour, power, position, glory, pleasure, or anything that

this world contains, when we know that they never satisfied anybody.

2. But in the second place it is a mad bargain to forfeit your soul to gain the world, because

the world does not last.  As the Apostle John says in 1 John ii. 17, “The world passeth

away.” How well we know it. Take wealth.  How long does wealth last?  With many a man it

does not last even a few years.  A man is a millionaire to-day, and by a turn of the wheel of

fortune he is practically penniless to-morrow.  I was talking about a man of your city only

to-day to a friend of his, and he told me how wealthy this man used to be. But there was a

little change in the line of production in which this man was interested, and your country

ceased to be the country that supplied that market, and that man’s fortune dwindled from

millions to practically nothing.  I remember when I was a boy, one night we five children

were in the sitting room at home, and we asked our father to tell us what his properties were.

We were going to figure them up and see how much we were going to be worth when he

was gone.  He was rather amused at the idea, and he began to tell us what he thought he was

worth; and when he told us of all the possessions he could think of, we all of us added them

up, and divided them by five to see how much each of us would be worth when my father

saw to hand things over to us.  This looked splendid on paper, and I felt quite rich that night;

but a financial crash in America in 1873 which affected my father’s properties, and little by

little, by the year ‘77, when my father was called away, practically the last vestige of all that

he possessed was taken from his hands and he left only a few thousand dollars. And that

was mismanaged, and in a few months not a penny was left.  All I had was a matchbox and

a pair of sleeve-buttons, one of which I have lost, and I don’t know what became of the

other.  “The world passeth away.” I thank God that that money did pass away.  It was one of

the best things that ever happened to me.

Take honours, how long do they last? I remember a man in our country who stood preeminent

among the statesmen of America.  I think beyond all question he was the first

statesman of America of his day.  He might have become President, but he was a little too

much of a statesman to become President.  England had an unpleasant experience once with

this man’s statesmanship, when he represented the United States government at the Geneva

Commission on the Alabama claim and carried the day. He was the most highly honoured

I think of any man of his day in America, but after a while this man dropped out, and we

almost forgot there had been such a man. I remember I was thinking of this man one day,

and I said to myself, “I guess So-and-so’s dead.” I have not seen his name in the pages at all

lately,” and a day or two afterwards I saw in the papers that the Hon. So-and-so was living

in such a street of New York, that he never went out in public, but sat by his open window

looking out upon the passing crowds and thinking of his old-time successes. That man was

utterly forgotten, yet at one time he was almost the unquestioned leader of political life in

America.  In a few months more I took up the paper and read that he was dead, and when

he died there was nothing said.  He had dropped out of sight.  Honour does not last.  Take

your most honoured statesmen, whose names are in every mouth, no one will be speaking

of them or thinking of them a few years hence. “The World passeth away.” Suppose honour

and money do last until a man dies. How long will they last?  Twenty years, thirty years, forty

years, possibly fifty or sixty years, and then—gone! One of our wealthiest men in America,

the wealthiest man of his day, died.  Two men on ‘Change in this city, New York, met the

next day, and one of them said to the other, “How much did so-and-so leave?” and the

other one replied, “He left it all.” So, he did.  Of his one hundred and ninety-six millions of

dollars which he was worth, he didn’t take one penny with him.

Pleasure, how long does it last? Take the ball; how long does the pleasure of the ballroom

last? Somewhere from two to seven hours; then you go home with weary feet and throbbing

brain, blaming yourself for having been such a fool. The card party; how long does it last?

Oh, two or three hours, four or five hours; and then you will go home with a lighter purse

and a heavier heart.  The champagne party; how long does it last? A few hours, and you go

home with an aching head, a nauseated stomach, thinking what a fool you have been and

saying, “I will never be such a fool again.” Ah, friends, “the world passeth away.”

The joys of friendship; how long do they last, if it is worldly friendship? A few brief

years, and then we look into the casket on the beloved form and face and the coffin lid is

locked down, and all is over.  “The world passeth away.” But the soul lasts.  “He that doeth

the will of the Lord abideth forever.” So I say that to forfeit your soul to gain the world is a

mad bargain, for the world does not satisfy while you have it, and it does not last at all.

3. Now, then, if any one here to-night could get the whole world as the price of selling

his soul it would be a foolish bargain.; but who ever got the whole world? Whoever had the

world’s wealth?  No one.  The richest man has but small portion of all the world’s wealth.  Who possesses all the world’s honor?  The most honored man on earth to-day has but a

portion of all the world’s honour?  Who possesses all the world’s pleasure?  The greatest devotee

of pleasure has but an exceedingly small portion of all the world’s pleasure.  Who possesses all

the world’s power?  The mightiest man on earth has but a small portion of all the world’s

power.  But even if you could get it all, it would be a bad bargain; and what a mad bargain

to sell your soul to get so small a portion of the world as any of you are getting!

I asked a man one night at a meeting like this—he looked a bright,, intelligent fellow

for a man of his class: “Why are you not a Christian?” He replied, “I am deeply moved and

I would like to become a Christian.  You have made me perfectly wretched.  Yes, I would like

to become a Christian.” “Then why not become one tonight?”’ He said, “My business forbids

it.  I would have to give up my position tonight if I became a Christian.” I asked what was

his business and he replied, “A bartender!” He didn’t look it; he looked more respectable. I

said, “Will you please tell me how much you get a week for tending the bar?” If I remember

correctly it was six dollars, that is twenty-four a month.; and that man was selling his soul for twenty-four a month.  Some of you are selling your souls at almost as cheap a price.  I asked another young fellow why he did not become a Christian.  He said, “I believe in it, and I hope I may one day. But

I am in a business of my own and I have my best business on the Sabbath; I cannot be a

Christian and do Sabbath work.” Then I said, “You had better give up your Sabbath work.”

“No” he said, “I cannot do that.  It is the biggest day’s profit I have in the week.” And that

man was selling his soul for the profit of one day’s business a week.

Why, there are some of you here to-night selling your immortal souls, for which Jesus

Christ died, and which shall live forever, in Heaven and glory, or in hell and flame, for some

single form of pleasure.  It may be the dance, it may be the card party, it may be the horse

race, it may be the theatre, it may be some other form of pleasure to which you are a slave,

and for one single form of worldly pleasure you are forfeiting your souls. Why, man, you

are mad!  “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Friends, while I am talking here to-night, and offering Christ to you, and salvation in

Him, all unseen but none the less present there is another preacher here tonight and that is

Satan.  He stands right by some of you as you sit in yonder pews, and while I offer you Christ

and salvation and life eternal in Him, Satan offers you money, a little larger income in your

business, or the social position that he tells you will have to forfeit if you come out and

out for Christ, or some form of worldly pleasure. He says, “Take this.  Give me your souls

and I will give you money.  Give me your souls and I will give you these pleasures that you

will have to give up if you become real Christians. Give me your souls and I will give you

social position.  Give me your souls and I will give you the world.” Why, men and women,

if he should offer you the whole world, you would be mad to accept his offer; but when he

offers to you such a little trifle—the consummate folly of it— that for the little piece of the world you forfeit your soul; you forfeit life eternal for a world that never satisfies and does

not last!

I have known many people that gave up the world for Christ, who gave up

money for Christ, men that gave up much money for Christ, gave up high honour for Christ,

gave up social position, high social position for Christ, gave up pleasures that had been the

passion of a lifetime for Christ, but I have yet to find the first man or woman who regretted

it, and I have known people who gave up Christ for the world, and when the hour came in

which the eternal realities were opening upon them, they bitterly regretted it.

One day in New York City one of the wealthiest men that America ever produced, the

first man that established a family name now famous, lay dying, with all his millions in the

bank, and with all his railway stock of no use to him. And as he lay there, he said, “Bring in

the gardener.” The gardener was a godly man, and when he came in to see his dying master,

the rich man said to the gardener, “Get down, and pray for me.” The gardener did so, and

when he had finished his prayer, the rich man said, “Sing,

’Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,

Weak and wounded sick and sore.’”

Ah, people, a time is coming when we shall no longer see through eyes that

are blinded by the glamour of this world; the time is coming when every man and woman

here to-night will have the scales taken from their eyes, and face to face with death, face to

face with God, face to face with eternity, you will see as God sees. You will say, “What a fool

I was to forfeit my never-dying soul to get the world that has not satisfied, and is now slipping

out of my grip.” “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own

soul?”

The story is told of Rowland Hill, the great preacher.  Lady Ann Erskine was passing by

in her carriage, and she asked her coachman who that was that was drawing such a large

assembly.  He replied that it was Rowland Hill.  “I have heard a good deal about him she said;

draw up near the crowd!” Mr. Hill soon saw her, and saw that she belonged to the aristocracy.

He suddenly stopped in the midst of his preaching, and said: “My friends, I have something

for sale.” His hearers were amazed.  “Yes, I have something for sale; it is the soul of Lady

Ann Erskine.  Is there anyone here that will bid for her soul?  Ah, do I hear a bid? Who bids?

Satan bids.  Satan, what will you give for her soul? I will give riches, honour, and pleasure.’

But stop! do I hear another bid? Yes, Jesus Christ bids.  Jesus, what will you give for her soul?

‘I will give eternal life.’ Lady Ann Erskine, you have heard the two bids—which will you

have?” And Lady Ann Erskine fell down on her knees and cried out, “I will have Jesus.”

Men and women, two are bidding for your soul to-night, Satan, and Jesus.  Satan offers you the

world, the world that does not satisfy, and that does not last. Jesus offers you life, real life,

eternal life.  To which will you have?  “What shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world

and lose his own soul?”

Christ and his church in the book of Psalms by Andrew Bonar Psalm 21

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Psalm 21

 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
       1       The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; 
  And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 
       2       Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, 
  And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 
       3       For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: 
  Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 
       4       He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, 
  Even length of days for ever and ever. 
       5       His glory is great in thy salvation: 
  Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 
       6       For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: 
  Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. 
       7       For the king trusteth in the LORD, 
  And through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. 
       8       Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: 
  Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. 
       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. 
       10       Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, 
  And their seed from among the children of men. 
       11       For they intended evil against thee: 
  They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. 
       12       Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, 
  When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. 
       13       Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: 
  So will we sing and praise thy power.

The Cambridge Paragraph Bible: Of the Authorized English Version (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1873), Ps 21

PSALM 21 commentary of Andrew Bonar
1–13 WE have entered on a series of Psalms that more directly fix the
eye on Messiah alone as their theme. This is the second of the series.
It takes up the theme of the former Psalm. We are at once shewn the
King Messiah, already triumphant at the Father’s right hand; and
yet, as King, to triumph more ere all be done.
David, now on the throne at Hebron, and soon to be on a loftier
throne at Jerusalem, might be the original of the typical scene; but
certainly he was not more than this. It is of our King that the Holy
Spirit speaks.
The plan is very simple. From ver. 1–7, we have Messiah’s exaltation
after his suffering: then ver. 8–12, His future acts when He rises up
to sweep away his foes; and ver. 13, the cry of His own for that day, as
their day of realised bliss:—
“Be exalted, Lord, in thy strength!
So will we sing and praise thy power.”*
He who was the “man of sorrows,” and “whose flesh was weak,” now
(ver. 1), “joys in thy strength, greatly rejoices.” And how sweet to us
to hear verse 2, “Thou hast given Him His heart’s desire,”
remembering, in connection with it, John 11:42, “I know that thou
hearest me always;” for it assures us that He did not mistake the
depth of the Father’s love, or err in His faith in the Father’s kindness
of purpose towards Him. He knew what was in man, but he knew
what was in God also, and declares it to us, sealing it with the
“Selah”-pause of solemn thought. The Father “came before Him
with,” or rather, anticipated, outran, His desires; for that is the
meaning of
“For thou preventest Him with the blessings of thy goodness.”
And in the “crown of pure gold,” already set on His head, we see this
verified, inasmuch as it is not the crown which he is to get at his
appearing. The Father has at present given Him the crown,
mentioned in Heb. 2:9, “Glory and honour,” but it is as an assurance
and pledge of something more and better, the “many crowns,” (Rev.
19:12).
Let us often stay to rejoice that the man of sorrows is happy now
—”most blessed for ever!” He feeds among the lilies. Shall we not
rejoice in the refreshment of our Head—in the ointment poured on
him—in the glory resting on his brow—in the smile of the Father
which his eye ever seeth! Shall the members not be glad when their
Head is thus gladdened and lifted up? Shall such verses as ver. 5, 6,
not form our frequent themes of praise?
In ver. 4, his prayers are referred to—those prayers that He offered
during the lonely nights, when He made the desert places of Galilee
echo to his moans and the voice of His cry—such prayers as Heb. 5:7
tells of, and such as Psalm 88:10, 11, gives a sample of. He asked
deliverance from death and the grave—and, lo! He has now “Endless
life” (Heb. 7:16) in all its power. Verse 6 resembles in construction
verse 9, and so presents the contrast of meaning more forcibly. The
one is, “Thou hast set him blessings;” the other is, “Thou hast set
them like a furnace.”
And here we see that “He is the author and finisher of faith;” for if his
prayers and cries prove him to have had truly our very humanity in
sinless weakness, no less does ver. 7 shew that his holy human soul
fixed itself for support, like ivy twining round the tower, on the
Father by faith. In this He was our pattern.
“The King trusted in the Lord.” (Ver. 7.)
He is the true example of faith, surpassing all the “elders who have
obtained a good report;” he is “captain and perfecter of faith;” he
leads the van and he brings up the rear, in the examples of faith
given on this world’s theatre. (Heb. 12:3.) And the Father’s love rests
on Him for ever; that love (“tender mercy,” ver. 7) of which he prayed
in John 17:26, that the same might ever be on us.
And now the scene changes; for, lo! he has risen up!
“Thy hand finds out all thine enemies;
“Yea, thy hand finds out all that hate thee!
“Thou puttest them in a furnace of fire,” &c. (Ver. 8, 9.)
It is his rising up to judgment! His foes hide in the caves and rocks of
earth, but he finds them out. It is the day which burns as an oven
(Malachi 4:1) that has come at length. It is the עתפְנֶיךָ ; the time of his
presence; the day of his appearing; “the day of his face”—that face
before which heaven and earth flee. His enemies flee, and they perish
in their impotence, his arrows striking them through, (Ver. 12).
“They formed a design which they could not effect,”
is truly the history of man’s attempts to thwart God, from the day of
Babel tower down to the day when Babylon and Antichrist perish
together. And who would not have it so? Who will not join the
Church in her song, “Rise high, O Lord, in thy strength?”—the song
of
Messiah’s present joy and future victory.

Christ and his Church in the book of Psalms by Andrew Bonar, Psalm 20

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Psalm 20

 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. 
       1       The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; 
  The name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 
       2       Send thee help from the sanctuary, 
  And strengthen thee out of Zion; 
       3       Remember all thy offerings, 
  And accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. 
       4       Grant thee according to thine own heart, 
  And fulfil all thy counsel. 
       5       We will rejoice in thy salvation, 
  And in the name of our God we will set up our banners: 
  The LORD fulfil all thy petitions. 
       6       Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; 
  He will hear him from his holy heaven 
  With the saving strength of his right hand. 
       7       Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: 
  But we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 
       8       They are brought down and fallen: 
  But we are risen, and stand upright. 
       9       Save, LORD: 
  Let the king hear us when we call.

The Cambridge Paragraph Bible: Of the Authorized English Version (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1873),

1–9 WHAT typical occurrence, or what event in Israel’s history may have given the groundwork of this Psalm?  Luther calls it a “battlecry;” while others have imagined it appropriate to such an occasion as that of the high priest going in to the Holiest on the Day of Atonement, and reappearing to the joy of all who waited without in anxious prayer.  We think the truth may be reached by finding some scene that may combine the “battle-cry” and the priestly function, such as was once presented in Numbers 31:1–6, when the zealous priest Phinehas was sent forth at the head of the armies of Israel to battle.  David may have been led to recal some such scene, as he sang.

Full of zeal for his God, Phinehas, in his priestly attire, and with priestly solemnity,—with “Holiness to the Lord” on his mitre,— prepares for the conflict with Jehovah’s and Israel’s most subtle foes. We may suppose him at the altar ere he goes, presenting his offerings (ver. 3), and supplicating the Holy One of Israel (ver. 4), amid a vast assemblage of the camp, small and great, all sympathizing in his enterprise.  This done, he takes the holy instruments and the silver trumpets in his hand, and sets forth. There is now an interval of suspense,—but soon tidings of victory come, and the priestly leader reappears, crowned with victory, leading captivity captive. The confidence expressed in ver. 5 is not vain, for victory, or “salvation,” has been given.

Perhaps there were times when David was in such circumstance as these, and there are still times when any member of the Church may be, in some sense, so situated; while “all weep” with the one member that weeps, and then “all rejoice” in the joy of the one. But still the chief reference is to David’s Son, our Lord.  He is the Leader and the Priest, the true Phinehas, going out against Midian.  It is “the Anointed” (ver. 5) that is principally the theme.

This Psalm is the prayer which the Church might be supposed offering up, had all the redeemed stood by the cross, or in Gethsemane, in fall consciousness of what was doing there.  Messiah, in reading these words, would know that He had elsewhere the sympathy he longed for, when he said to the three disciples, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me,” (Matt 26:38).  It is thus a pleasant song of the sacred singer of Israel, to set forth the feelings of the redeemed in their Head, whether in his sufferings or in the glory that was to follow.  In ver. 1–4, they pray:— “Jehovah hear thee in the day of trouble,

“The name of (i. e., He who manifests himself by deeds to be) the God of Jacob defend thee.

“Send thee help from the sanctuary,” where his well-pleasedness is seen.

“And bless thee out of Zion,”—not from Sinai, but from the place of peaceful acceptance, Zion.

The solemn “Selah”-pause comes in when “sacrifice” has been spoken of, and then in verse 5, they exult at the success which has crowned his undertaking; and, observe, reader, they speak now of Him as one that makes petitions—”The Lord fulfil all thy petitions.” Is not this recognising Him as now specially employed in interceding? applying His finished work by pleading it for us?  It may, at the same time, remind us of that other request, which the Intercessor is yet to make, and to make which, speedily, the Church is often urging him, verse 1–5, ‘Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.”—(Psa. 2:8) In ver. 6–8, they exult again, “knowing whom they have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12), both as to what the Father has done for Him, and what the Father will do. They reject all grounds of hope not found in King Messiah; express their souls’ desire for complete deliverance, when He shall appear at last, and answer, by complete salvation (Heb. 9:28), the continual cry of His Church, “Come!  Lord Jesus!” Verse 9 teaches us to expect both present and future victories, by the arm of our King; and in hope of these further exploits, we look often upward to the right hand of the Father, and cry, “Hosanna!”—

“Save, Lord!” or, Give victory, הבֿשִׁיעִהָ

“Let the King (who sitteth there) hear us when we call.”

It is a Psalm differing in its aspects from most others, for it presents to us,

Messiah prayed for, and prayed to, by his waiting people.