The King's Imprint
The King's Imprint
Psalm 18
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; 5 the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him. 9 He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 10 He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. 12 Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. 14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. 19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. 24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. 29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
32 the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. 33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great. 36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. 37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. 38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. 39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. 40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed. 41 They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the people; you made me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. 44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; foreigners came cringing to me. 45 Foreigners lost heart and came trembling
out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—47 the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me, 48 who rescued me from my enemies; yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me; you delivered me from the man of violence.
49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name. 50 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; 5 the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him. 9 He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 10 He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. 12 Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. 14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.
15 Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me. 18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. 19 He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. 24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. 29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 30 This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
32 the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. 33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great. 36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip. 37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed. 38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. 39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. 40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me I destroyed. 41 They cried for help, but there was none to save; they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind; I cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the people; you made me the head of the nations; people whom I had not known served me. 44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me; foreigners came cringing to me. 45 Foreigners lost heart and came trembling
out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation—47 the God who gave me vengeance and subdued peoples under me, 48 who rescued me from my enemies; yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me; you delivered me from the man of violence.
49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name. 50 Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.
Kids Ornaments
You may have the same kinds of Christmas ornaments and artwork around your house: the ones featuring your kids’ toddler handprints and footprints. Some involve a little hand traced with a marker, others a painted footprint on a wooden ornament, and some are imprints in a piece of clay. Moms love these ornaments, but not because they are exquisite works of art. They point to something else—someone else—a little boy or girl who once crawled up in their lap. The decoration is just a model of the real thing.
A Lifetime of Trouble
Think of Psalm 18 like that. Yes, it’s about David the individual believer, and we spent yesterday connecting his experiences of the Lord’s faithfulness to our own. But it’s also a Royal Psalm, meaning it’s specifically about David as God’s Anointed King. Notice the final verse: “Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever (18:50).” Psalm 18 is specifically describing God’s faithfulness to that “Davidic covenant” we learned about on Day 1, showing steadfast love to his anointed King. But that means Psalm 18 is also pointing us to someone besides King David. Like the clay ornament with the footprint, Psalm 18 provides the shape, the outline, the pattern, of King Jesus. Can you see it yourself?
See, as God’s eternal Son, Jesus could have stayed in the safety and glory of heaven. Instead, he saw the cords of death entangling us for our sin. So at Christmas, he came down to become the king who would save us. But becoming a man—specifically becoming the son of David—meant accepting a lifetime of trouble, sorrows, and enemies. From King Herod to his scoffing siblings to the angry hometown crowd at Nazareth to the vicious Pharisees and Sadducees to Satan himself—Jesus was hounded by bad guys all his days. Yet King Jesus never stopped loving and trusting his heavenly Father. In the end, he landed in a far greater scrape than David: abandoned by his friends, nailed to a cross, engulfed in mockery, the coils of death around him.
See, as God’s eternal Son, Jesus could have stayed in the safety and glory of heaven. Instead, he saw the cords of death entangling us for our sin. So at Christmas, he came down to become the king who would save us. But becoming a man—specifically becoming the son of David—meant accepting a lifetime of trouble, sorrows, and enemies. From King Herod to his scoffing siblings to the angry hometown crowd at Nazareth to the vicious Pharisees and Sadducees to Satan himself—Jesus was hounded by bad guys all his days. Yet King Jesus never stopped loving and trusting his heavenly Father. In the end, he landed in a far greater scrape than David: abandoned by his friends, nailed to a cross, engulfed in mockery, the coils of death around him.
What David Never Could Do
And that’s the difference with King Jesus. When he called on Yahweh on Good Friday, he didn’t get a miracle-extraction like King David. The only storm and flood that showed up was the Father’s wrath, coming down on Jesus. Why? Because King Jesus had come to do what King David never could. He was dying in the place of all the people of God whose hands weren’t clean. Who could never say they were righteous. People like David himself, and like you and me. He took my sins and my sorrows and made them his very own; he bore my burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.
What King Jesus Has Won
But then came Easter morning! That’s when the Father answered the cries of his Anointed. Sin’s penalty was paid in full! God raised his Son from the dead and put him in a wide place, exalted to heavens throne. Jesus had run against a troop of demons and leapt over the wall of death and condemnation that separated us from God. Now God has given to King Jesus rule over all the nations! The true Son of David sings in the presence of his Father, drawing his people into his Kingdom (see 18:43–50).
And if you belong to Jesus, you inherit what this Psalm-18-King has won! You get this beautiful, personal relationship with God. You can know that your sufferings in this life are limited, and will be turned for your good. And you will be saved from all your troubles, drawn into the joy and glory of the King.
And if you belong to Jesus, you inherit what this Psalm-18-King has won! You get this beautiful, personal relationship with God. You can know that your sufferings in this life are limited, and will be turned for your good. And you will be saved from all your troubles, drawn into the joy and glory of the King.
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Article by Eric Smith
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church
Senior Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church
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