“For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.” —Psalm 132:10-12
This Psalm is a bit enigmatic, and one is hard pressed to determine its exact origin. I am inclined to side with those who see it as a psalm of David and his use of the third person (vss. 1 and 10, e.g.) as a not altogether unusual literary device. It is from that perspective, trusting the Lord for wisdom, that we approach our “nugget” for today.
There is in v.10 an impassioned plea that ought to be the heartfelt and frequent prayer of every believer. “Turn not away the face of Thine anointed.” The first question is, who is the “anointed?” Some deem it to be David himself, divinely anointed as king of Israel. If that were the case, the essence of the prayer would be, ‘Don’t turn my face away from you,’ That does not make a whole lot of sense. The more logical meaning is, to paraphrase, ‘Do not turn the face of Your anointed from me.’ The Psalmist’s vision, then, is focused upon God’s anointed and his plea is for His sustained favor. The numerous references in scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s anointed surely give legitimacy to this understanding and the plea then becomes a prayer for the sustained favor of God in the king’s life. This, I say, should be the passion and prayer of every true believer. Nothing in our life is more important than knowing we are in His favor and abiding in fellowship with Him.
The divine response is remarkable. God, Who cannot lie, replies with an oath that amounts to an assurance of everlasting favor to David, manifested in a successor to the throne for ever (see v.12, the last clause.) That promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in “the Son of David,” our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In fact, this very text was employed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost:
But what of the next verse? “If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.” That is a conditional promise relating to David’s earthly descendants, and in due season they failed to meet the condition. As a result, David’s temporal throne has been vacated for many generations. The promise to David has not failed, but the disobedience of his children in the interim has cost them the rights and privileges of reigning.
What the spiritual significance of this suggests to me is this: Those who become children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are authorized to “reign in [this] life.” “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ [Rom. 5:17 my italics].” Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it [John 14:12-14].” That is “reigning in life,” and many Christians know nothing of what it means, Why? The next verse offers a suggestion: “If ye love Me, keep my commandments.” Redemption requires only faith in Christ and His atoning work;Reigning demands obedience!
All the sons of David were legitimate heirs to his throne, but their disobedience to God has denied them the right to reign. All the children of God are authorized to reign now with Him and through Him (and for Him) but disobedience will deny them the privilege. If there is a “power outage” in our life, the problem may lie just here!
For His glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
This Psalm is a bit enigmatic, and one is hard pressed to determine its exact origin. I am inclined to side with those who see it as a psalm of David and his use of the third person (vss. 1 and 10, e.g.) as a not altogether unusual literary device. It is from that perspective, trusting the Lord for wisdom, that we approach our “nugget” for today.
There is in v.10 an impassioned plea that ought to be the heartfelt and frequent prayer of every believer. “Turn not away the face of Thine anointed.” The first question is, who is the “anointed?” Some deem it to be David himself, divinely anointed as king of Israel. If that were the case, the essence of the prayer would be, ‘Don’t turn my face away from you,’ That does not make a whole lot of sense. The more logical meaning is, to paraphrase, ‘Do not turn the face of Your anointed from me.’ The Psalmist’s vision, then, is focused upon God’s anointed and his plea is for His sustained favor. The numerous references in scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ as God’s anointed surely give legitimacy to this understanding and the plea then becomes a prayer for the sustained favor of God in the king’s life. This, I say, should be the passion and prayer of every true believer. Nothing in our life is more important than knowing we are in His favor and abiding in fellowship with Him.
The divine response is remarkable. God, Who cannot lie, replies with an oath that amounts to an assurance of everlasting favor to David, manifested in a successor to the throne for ever (see v.12, the last clause.) That promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in “the Son of David,” our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In fact, this very text was employed by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost:
"Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ…"(Acts 2:29-31a)The divine promise is made unconditionally, and rests upon His grace. David’s anointing and his temporal throne foreshadow Christ’s eternal anointing and His position as King of Kings and Lord of Lords forever. The glorious assurance thus given to David parallels our assurance of God’s eternal favor because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins according to the scriptures. Thereby He has made us “kings and priests unto God and His Father” forever (See Rev. 1:6) This glorious truth is reiterated in the chorus of the beasts and elders in Rev. 5:9-10: “For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” All of grace, to the glory of God the Father!
But what of the next verse? “If thy children will keep My covenant and My testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.” That is a conditional promise relating to David’s earthly descendants, and in due season they failed to meet the condition. As a result, David’s temporal throne has been vacated for many generations. The promise to David has not failed, but the disobedience of his children in the interim has cost them the rights and privileges of reigning.
What the spiritual significance of this suggests to me is this: Those who become children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are authorized to “reign in [this] life.” “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ [Rom. 5:17 my italics].” Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it [John 14:12-14].” That is “reigning in life,” and many Christians know nothing of what it means, Why? The next verse offers a suggestion: “If ye love Me, keep my commandments.” Redemption requires only faith in Christ and His atoning work;Reigning demands obedience!
All the sons of David were legitimate heirs to his throne, but their disobedience to God has denied them the right to reign. All the children of God are authorized to reign now with Him and through Him (and for Him) but disobedience will deny them the privilege. If there is a “power outage” in our life, the problem may lie just here!
For His glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
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