"He Asked Life of Thee, and Thou Gavest it Him" - When Asked and What Does it Mean?

Psalm 21:2‑4; 2 Peter 1:20  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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But why asked for? Was it not of necessity, so to speak, that as a man He should ascend to His Father?—Psa. 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11).
M.
Answer: If we compare Heb. 5:77Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; (Hebrews 5:7) (and Gethsemane’s cry, I think the force of the Psalm will be evident. The answer in the Psalm is not being preserved from dying; but life as risen in glory above, made most blessed forever, not sparing life for a time here, but honor and great majesty laid upon Him as man in a higher and more glorious condition. Christ as a man, though mighty to do all things, asked everything of His Father. Dependence was His perfection. At Lazarus’ tomb He asked, knew His Father heard Him always; asked in John 127Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. (John 12:7); asked that the cup might pass. Only the word αἰτέω is not used of Him. The necessity of an event does not hinder asking. Everything in God’s purpose will be necessarily accomplished; but He leads men’s hearts to ask, as the moral filling up of their relationship with Him. In Christ, as man, this was perfect.