Psalms 18

Psalms 18:1

Psalm 18: The Power That Raised Christ From the DeadWe get a clue that this Psalm may be about the Lord Jesus Christ from the fact that verse 49 is quoted in Rom_15:9 as referring to Him. For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, and sing to Your name. As we investigate more closely, we find that we were right. The Psalm is indeed all about the Lord Jesus Christ. It describes graphically His death, Resurrection, exaltation, Second Coming and glorious kingdom. Nowhere else in the Bible are we given such a vivid account of the tremendous battle that took place in the unseen world at the time of our Savior’s Resurrection. But more of that later. 18:1-3 The song opens with praise to the LORD for hearing and answering the prayers of His beloved Son. Notice the figures of speech that are used to describe the strength, safety, security, and salvation that are found in God: my strength . . . my rock . . . my fortress . . . my deliverer . . . my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 18:4-6 Death is rapidly closing in on the suffering Savior. In quickly changing pictures, He describes Himself as being bound with ropes, being gradually overwhelmed with waves, being entangled by cords, and being confronted with a host of inescapable snares. In such a desperate situation, there is only one resource: prayer to God. Christ did not ask to be delivered from dying; that, after all, was His purpose in coming into the world (Joh_12:27). What He requested was to be delivered out of death. “Who in the days of His flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to Him who was able to save Him out of death, with strong crying and tears…” (Heb_5:7, JND). In His deep distress Christ had the assurance that His prayer was heard and answered. The rest of the Psalm reveals how Immanuel’s plaintive cries from Gethsemane and Golgotha mobilized all the forces of Omnipotence on His behalf. “The voice is thin and solitary,” wrote F. B. Meyer, “but the answer shakes creation.” 18:7-15 When you come to verses 7-19, it sounds as if a war has broken out. And that is exactly what happened at the Resurrection of Christ. The battle was between God and the hosts of hell. Satan and all his demons encamped at the tomb outside Jerusalem, determined that the Lord Christ would never rise again. Their success in having the Son of God crucified would be completely nullified if He were to rise from the dead. So they massed themselves at the sealed tomb of the Savior. Then God lowered the heavens and came down in the greatest display of power the world has ever known. The Apostle Paul later spoke of it as “the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead” (Eph_1:19-20). Greater than the might that created the universe, greater than the strength that delivered Israel from Egypt, God’s resurrection power drove back the hosts of principalities, powers, and wicked spirits on that first Easter morning. At the approach of God the earth is convulsed. His rage is fierce, pictured by smoke billowing forth from His nostrils, intense fire issuing in torrents from His mouth, and great coals of flame hurtling against His enemies. As He descends, riding upon a cloud that resembles a cherub, the world is shaken by a violent storm of darkness, thunder, lightnings and hailstones pummeling the enemy in a massive bombing attack. Just as in the crossing of the Red Sea, the waters of the sea and rivers recoil in fear at the titanic display of the wrath of the Almighty. 18:16-19 In striking symbolism God smashes, bruises, crushes, wounds and maims the foe until he retreats in utter defeat. Then He reaches down and takes Christ from the still-sealed tomb. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! Not only does God raise Him from the dead but He gives Him a triumphant ascension through the enemy’s realm and glorifies Him at His own right hand. Thus, as Paul says, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col_2:15). 18:20-30 Here we have the rationale or mystique of the Resurrection. There was a certain moral necessity for God to raise the Lord Jesus. This necessity arose from Christ’s sinless, spotless life, from His undeviating devotion to the will of His Father, and from the perfection of His work at Calvary’s cross. All the righteous attributes of God demanded that He bring the Savior up from the grave in the power of an endless life. This is what is meant by the majestic utterance, “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Rom_6:4). The glorious character of God made the Resurrection a moral necessity, the reward of Christ’s perfect, personal righteousness. While David did write verses 20-30, they are really not completely true of him. Instead, he was speaking prophetically through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the One who would be both his Son and his Lord (Mat_22:41-46). 18:31-42 These verses describe Christ’s Second Advent. He will come from heaven “with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Th_1:7-8). He will be “clothed with a robe dipped in blood . . . out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations . . . He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (Rev_19:13, Rev_19:15). Christ is pictured primarily as a Man of war here. This is consistent with the other Scriptures that teach that when He comes back to earth, He will come first of all “to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him” (Jude v. 15). After being equipped for war by God the Father (vv. 31-37), Christ pursues and utterly destroys His enemies (vv. 37-42). 18:43-45 Following the crushing of His foes, Christ sets up His kingdom on earth and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is now the head of all the nations on earth. Both redeemed Israel and redeemed Gentiles serve in willing submission to the righteous rule of the glorified Christ. Foreigners yield feigned obedience. 18:46-50 The Psalm closes as it beganwith a hymn of praise to God for His wonderful vindication of the Lord Jesus. He has given great victories to His king, and shown mercy to His anointed, His Son. Because of what He has done, we too should extol Him among the Gentiles, and sing praises to His Name.