“Your Power” (Ps 21:1-13)

“Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power.” (vs13)

We praise God, no matter what, because He's saved us in Christ, and He does right, whether He exalts or punishes.

First, Jesus, the Son of God, obeyed His Father and received heavenly dominion and eternal power as His reward and gift (vs1-7).  It is written, “The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice”, and again, “You set a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life from You, and You gave it to him – length of days forever and ever”, and again, “His glory is great in Your salvation; honor and majesty You have placed upon him. For You have made him most blessed forever”. He is exalted to the God's right hand, blessed with salvation's glory, and He is why we're saved, the Subject of every sermon!  Look on the King Jesus and know that God enthroned Him justly for His obedience and graciously for us.  He is rightfully rewarded, because He as God in the flesh, reveals God's glory in atoning love!  Bless the Lord!  He exalts One so worthy and marvelous as Christ!

Secondly, God opposes wickedness and rightfully punishes rebels (vs8-12).  We read, “Your hand will find all Your enemies; your right hand will find those who hate You. You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger; the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them”. They deserve doom for denying One so beautiful, and they will get it.  They will be burned in hell and suffer everlasting wrath for rejecting God's mercy in Christ, despising the Son He's exalted, and refusing the gift of obedience.  Hell's fury is sure and deserved!  They should not have rebelled, and being rebels, they SHOULD have taken the pleas of a beseeching God (2 Cor 5:20-21). Oh, how dreadful is God's wrath, but it is righteous and will torment forever.

Finally, it doesn't matter what God does to us or anyone else: we've seen His glory and fully agree with everything He does (vs13). We say like the Psalmist, “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your own strength! We will sing and praise Your power”.  In the Son, we say, praise God for holy salvation and rewards for the righteous.  In the wicked, we say, true and righteous are Your judgments, for You've judged the whore, mystery Babylon, who rejected You (Rev 19:1-6).  We bow to sickness and death, blessings and gifts, happiness and sadness, ease and discomfort (Job 1:21).  We see God in Christ, and whatever He does, since He rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked, is utterly just. We simply say, “Amen. Not my will, but Yours be done”.