He shall cry unto me, Thou _art_ my Father, my God, and the Rock of my
salvation.
Also I will make him _my_ first-born, higher than the kings of the
earth.
My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand
fast with him.
His seed also will I make to _endure_ for ever, and his throne as the
days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes.
Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of
my lips.
Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.
His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
It shall be established for ever as the moon, and _as_ a faithful
witness in heaven. Selah.
But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine
anointed.
Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned
his crown, _by casting it_ to the ground.
Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong
holds to ruin.
All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his
neighbours.
Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all
his enemies to rejoice.
Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to
stand in the battle.
Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the
ground.
The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with
shame. Selah.
How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn
like fire?
Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in
vain!
What man _is he that_ liveth, and shall not see death? shall he
deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
LORD, where _are_ thy former loving-kindnesses, _which_ thou swarest
unto David in thy truth?
Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; _how_ I do bear in my
bosom _the reproach of_ all the mighty people;
Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have
reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
Blessed _be_ the LORD for evermore. Amen, and amen.
This is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom; he
speaks of the church or kingdom of Christ, as a “kingdom in the
heavens;” in the same manner as Christ himself calls it “the kingdom
of heaven.” And though this spiritual kingdom of Christ is here upon
earth, yet the Psalmist gloriously describes it as being “in the
heavens.”
The Psalmist, indeed, here apprehends the promise made to David
concerning Christ; and, opening that promise in a wonderful manner, he
describes the riches of this spiritual kingdom. He enforces the
everlasting firmness and sureness of that promise; and, taking a stand
of heavenly meditation therein, he dwells upon the effectual power of
that promise against all the violence of sin, and the malice and
accusation of the devil; and here the Psalmist takes up his divine
abode; here he fixes his standing; as the apostle hath it, “by faith
ye stand:” and he says that this truth of God, this his promise was
prepared from everlasting, built up in the fulfilment of God’s purpose
of mercy, and firm, and “established in the heavens.”
“Thy faithfulness and truth,” (says the Psalmist,) “are established in
the heavens;” that is, a heavenly righteousness is preached by the
gospel, which is not placed in us, or in any worthiness or merit of
ours; but is out of us, and is the righteousness of Christ, and is
imputed, for Christ’s sake, unto all that believe in him: and hence,
the promised riches of this kingdom are the gift of the Spirit, and
the remission of sins, with all other spiritual blessings: all which
are not offered unto us on any condition of the law, or of our works
or our merit, but are given unto us freely of God. Salvation,
therefore, is not a matter conditional on our works, but freely given
unto us for Christ’s sake; that thus all doubting and uncertainty may
be taken from our souls; and that we may safely rest, entirely and
only on the immutable and immoveable certainty of this truth and
promise of God.
The temporal kingdom of the Jews was promised to that people, on
condition of a law given to them; that, if they kept that law,
nationally, as a people, if they were therein good and obedient, they
should be preserved and blessed. And, in the same way also, all the
kingdoms of the world are given to their people under a like condition
of a law, and, as long as they are good and obedient, God preserves
them. But the immense and glorious riches of this spiritual kingdom,
the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, victory over death
and the devil, &c. are promised and held forth without any condition
of a law; and, in a word, the remission of sins is promised, freely,
not only to those who have done nothing to deserve it, but to those
who have done everything to forfeit it. This is a throne, therefore,
not of angry and destroying majesty, but of grace alone; and being
founded, not on the basis of our good works and merits, but on the
rock of the sure and everlasting truth of God, it affords a great and
marvellous consolation to the afflicted consciences of sinners.
After, however, the prophetic Psalmist has described the flower and
glory of this kingdom and church of Christ, he deplores, on the other
hand, from verse 39, in the most powerful expressions, the desolations
and destructions of it: saying, that it shall come to pass that this
kingdom, like as the apostle has also foretold, shall be so disturbed
and torn to pieces by antichrist, that it shall seem as if God had
wholly forgotten his promise unto it; nay, as if, contrary to the word
of his promise, he did nothing but show his wrath against this
kingdom.
All these things, however, are written for a consolation unto the
godly; and especially unto us who, in these last times, have witnessed
such abominations of papacy; these things, I say, are written for our
comfort and consolation; that we should not be broken-spirited, or
terrified, at the multitude and diversity of offences; nor be driven
to despair, though wickedness should have the dominion for a time, and
though Satan should, as it were, so subvert all things human and
divine, that there should seem to be no church of Christ at all, no
remains of the kingdom of Christ upon earth. For if you look at the
abomination of the Pope, and of Mahomet, which have spread themselves
over the whole world, no other appearance is presented than that there
is not a vestige of the true church remaining: and yet, it is not
wholly blotted or rooted out from the earth; for, under the reign of
each abomination and tyranny, there has ever existed a true church of
Christ, although greatly despised and greatly oppressed.