A Prayer for the Coming of the Kingdom of Christ, Which Shall Have No End
Explanation of the Psalm
1 A very brief preface, because it is the prayer of a just man or a Christian people, asking to be heard by God; not to turn away from them, but to take a considerate view of their case. The Hebrew for “supplication” conveys the idea of its being not an ordinary one put up in silence, but an ardent, loudly expressed appeal to God; and, therefore, more likely to arrest his attention. A cold prayer, coming from the lips alone, will hardly penetrate the clouds, much less the heaven of heavens.
2 David was never an exile in “The ends of the earth,” nor were the children of Israel; and, therefore, he must speak here in the person of the Church, which has spread over the whole world, to its very extremities, according to Psalm 2, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.” He therefore says, I (the Church) having been propagated to the ends of the earth, from those extremities of the earth, through the voice of all my members, “Have cried to thee” with a loud and earnest voice. The words, “Ends of the earth,” seem also to convey an idea of the distance between him who asks and him from whom he expects. God, to whom the appeal is made, is in heaven, and he who asks it in “The ends of the earth;” and hence he should needs cry aloud. The same idea is conveyed in the expression, “From the depths have I cried to thee, O Lord.” He should have a loud voice who, from the depths, expects that God, who sits aloft in the highest heavens, nay, even on the Cherubim, should hear him; in other words, the person who, cognizant of his own nothingness, when compared to the divine perfections, yet presumes to commune with God in prayer. “When my heart was in anguish thou hast exalted me on a rock.” He assigns a reason for appealing to God with such confidence, because he found the divine assistance never withheld from him when in trouble. “When,” on various other occasions, “my heart was in anguish,” by reason of various temptations that beset me, you heard me when I cried to you, and “exalted me on a rock;” the safest possible place I could be lodged in, afterwards called “a tower of strength.” That lofty rock is Christ; and anyone that will raise himself up to him in contemplation, considering how much he suffered for us, and what an end he had, will easily conquer, and despise the whole world beside.
3 He explains the expression, “Thou hast exalted me on a rock,” by the words, “Thou hast conducted me;” became my guide when I fled from the enemy, who assailed me with temptation. “For thou hast been my hope;” your escort and guidance consisted in inspiring me with hope, which not only upheld me, but made me bear everything with the greatest courage. And thus, you became “a tower of strength against the face of the enemy;” for he who trusts in God, and reflects on the sufferings of Christ, to what glory he came on his resurrection, that he is our head, from looking on whom we are to learn what we have to suffer on earth, and what we have a right to expect and desire in heaven; he undoubtedly stands on a highly fortified tower, where he can not only avoid the weapons of the enemy, but even hurl weapons at them.
4 He now tells us that, by the stronghold in the preceding verse, he does not mean the kingdom of heaven, but the resting place of the pilgrim here below; such is the force of the word in the Hebrew; and he says, I will take up my lodging in “that tower of strength;” and in the meantime, while there, “I shall be protected under the covert of thy wings,” as the hen protects her chickens from the birds of prey.
5 His confidence arises from the fact that, at all times, “Thou, my God, hast heard my prayer;” and that because, “Thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name;” made me one of your heirs, your children. For if God has an everlasting inheritance for his children that fear him, will he not protect them on their journey thereto? What father ever despised or deserted his deserving children? “And if God be for us, who is against us?” We are absolutely sure and certain of the eternal inheritance in heaven, and God’s protection in this world, if we truly fear him.
6 The Prophet, bearing in mind that the inheritance of the saints is life everlasting, now informs us that this inheritance, so promised to the Church, should commence with its head; and, therefore, says, “Thou wilt add days to the days of the king;” you will multiply the days of Christ our king without end, “even to generation and generation;” to the day of eternity, which, though designated as a day, is equivalent to generation and generation, to ages of ages, and times of times without end. That the expression means eternity is evident from Psalm 118, where he says, “Forever, O Lord, thy word standeth firm in heaven. Thy truth unto all generations.” Which is similar to the expression in Psalm 134, “Thy name, O Lord, is forever; thy memorial, O Lord, unto all generations.” From which we clearly see that the Psalm is not applicable to David as king, but to Christ as king; for David did not live more than seventy years, nor did the sovereignty remain in his family. The eternity, then, of both king and kingdom, foretold in the Scriptures, is accomplished in Christ alone, for “There will be no end of his kingdom,” Luke 1 “And he, rising from the dead, shall die no more. Death shall have no more dominion over him.” Rom. 6.
7 Christ, the head of the Church, “abideth forever in the sight of God” for us; the Apostle testifies it was for such purpose he “entered into heaven itself, that he may appear now in the presence of God for us.” Instead of “abideth,” the Hebrew word has “he sitteth;” to show that he sits as a Judge, instead of standing as a servant. “His mercy and truth who shall search?” His mercy, in redeeming fallen man; and his truth, by virtue of which he has kept and will adhere to his promises. “Who shall search them,” for they are a great abyss; and, as the Apostle to the Ephesians says, “The charity of Christ surpasseth knowledge;” is beyond our comprehension.
8 As God’s mercy has been poured upon me in abundance, and his truth is so certain that I have no need of inquiring into it, “I will sing a psalm to thy name forever and ever;” I will praise you, my God, not only here on earth, but forever, with loud canticles and shouts of praise in heaven; that by doing so “I may pay my vows” of thanksgiving “from day to day,” all the days of my life, to the day that will not be succeeded by night.