This is the language of Christ, the Son and heir of David, anticipating His kingdom or Sabbath. But in this coming Sabbath, God’s thoughts will be celebrated as well as His works (Psa. 92:55O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. (Psalm 92:5)). This will give the joy and praise of the final sabbath a higher character than the first had, when the works alone were celebrated. For counsels of grace, which are God’s deep thoughts, have produced this. The first sabbath came in simply upon creation, the last sabbath will come in upon the destruction of the enemy, as Christ here also anticipates, so that it will not be exposed to danger and disturbance, as the first was, but the righteous will still flourish and be fruitful, as is here also declared.
Zacharias spoke of Jesus as this “horn of salvation,” under whom Israel was to be delivered and flourish. Here the speaker takes that character to himself. (See Luke 1:67-7967And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:67‑79).)
But Messiah, son and heir of David, takes the kingdom from God. (Dan. 7; Luke 19.) It is called the kingdom of the Father. God the Father is glorified though it be the day of the Lordship of Jesus. (Phil. 2.)
Jesus was anointed for the ministry of grace (Isa. 61; Luke 4); He is to be anointed for the ministry of the kingdom. (Isa. 11:2-102And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 10And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:2‑10).) This is the “fresh oil.” Faith in a poor but happy pardoned sinner brought its oil to greet this anointed one. (Luke 7; John 12.) The nations will also after this manner gladden and honor Him. (Psa. 45:88All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. (Psalm 45:8); Matt. 2:1111And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11).) And here Jesus owns the fragrancy of this costly anointing which was on Him.
This is, indeed, “a Psalm or song for the Sabbath day.” For this exaltation of the anointed One will be the kingdom, of which the Sabbath is the type and pledge. And then, the teil tree and the oak, which have long been withered, shall flourish again—revive as in the time of old age. Israel shall then, after so long a time, flourish and bud and fill the face of the earth with fruit (Psa. 102:1414For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof. (Psalm 102:14); Isa. 6:1313But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:13); Isa. 17:66Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. (Isaiah 17:6)). And all this will be to God’s praise. “Every tongue shall confess Jesus Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”