The holy Sufferer and forsaken One is heard from the horns of the unicorns: "save Me from the lion's mouth: for Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns." v. 21. And so the work being finished, redemption accomplished, Satan vanquished, death robbed of its sting, and the grave of its victory, God raises the Blessed One up from among the dead; then immediately that mighty conqueror began to dispense the spoils of the victory: "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." This was literally fulfilled when Jesus said to Mary after He arose, "Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God." John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17). Raised up from the low depths of that death, and standing in resurrection, it was His great joy to bring His people into a new relationship with Himself, and declare the Father's name in a way that it had never been declared before. Blessed family oneness is expressed in those words, "My Father, and your Father... My God, and your God." He is not ashamed to call us brethren, saying, "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee. "Heb. 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12).
Is there not something inconceivably precious in the thought that this was the first act after He arose from the dead—to declare the Father's name to His brethren, and to make them acquainted with the fact of their new place before God in family association with Himself? Hitherto His disciples had been members of a nation which had been brought into outward nearness to God, and who were individually the people of God. Now they are brought into corporate family oneness with the risen Lord Himself. If we remembered this on every occasion when gathered together to celebrate His praise, how high and holy our strains would be, and how sweet would be the flowing forth of that which God delights to accept from grateful hearts.
But, it is not the purpose of our psalm to introduce us into all the glories belonging to the Church, and the calling and privileges of it. In fact the Church is not the subject of the psalm; it simply states in the 22nd verse, Christ speaking prophetically of Himself, that He would declare the Father's name to His brethren, and sing praises in the midst of the congregation, which is interpreted as the Church (Heb. 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12)). Then it passes on with what the psalm is occupied with, that is, Israel's restoration and blessing, and the nation's and the earth's blessing in the millennial period yet to come, when "the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that
day shall there be one Lord, and His name one." Zech. 14:99And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9). Then it shall be said, "Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel." Psalm 22:2323Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. (Psalm 22:23). This evidently takes us into the "age to come"—not into eternity, for nationalities cease there, but into the "age to come," when Christ shall have taken away the joint-heirs to glory, and have returned with them to judge the living, restored Israel, and those saved of the nations, when Satan shall be bound, and "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."
It is this that our psalm points to, from verse 23 to the
end. And how interesting to know that this present sin-blighted scene shall be so relieved and refreshed under the righteous sway of the rightful King. Not only will God bring the now scattered tribes of Israel from the north and the south, from the east and the west (Isa. 43:5, 65Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; 6I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; (Isaiah 43:5‑6)) and establish them in their own land, and make Jerusalem the joy of the whole earth, but He will also bless the saved nations, and cause them to serve and worship the King—the Lord of Hosts that reigns in Mount Zion. "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and He is the governor among the nations." And what then? "My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear Him." Here it refers not to the Church, as in verse 22, but to the mighty millennial gatherings, when the center of the nation's and Israel's gatherings shall be "Zion the city of the great King," and the King Himself the object of universal adoration. Blessed time! Blessed release from Satan's power!
Then waves of blessing shall roll forth from the grand center until they have reached the utmost limits of the King's vast domains. His kingdom shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, and the tide of blessing shall wash the utmost limits. These will not be waves of demoralizing evil, but those of wondrous ennobling and exalting blessing, which shall result in the acknowledgment of the supremacy and worthiness of the One who is then reigning.
Blessed are the purposes of God! He will not stop until all is found in blessed acknowledgment of that once lowly Lord Jesus, for it is the mystery of His will that He has so graciously made known to us, "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10). God has purposed that His dear Son, the once rejected and cast-out Jesus, should be the grand center of heavenly and earthly glory, that every nation of the earth should worship Him (Zech. 14:1616And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16)), and that the angels of God should be ascending and descending upon Him (John 1:5151And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (John 1:51)). Thus God will honor the One who honored Him even to death!
But in contemplating this vast scene of coming glory, we do well to remember that it is the fruit of the death of the cross that God's blessed Son endured. All is based upon and flows from that death and the atonement made by it. There can be no blessing for the fallen race and a sin-blighted creation apart from the cross. It had to be endured first, by the very Son of God, with the bearing of the judgment and the forsaking. And then blessings infinite and universal can flow forth without a hindrance; yes, the whole scene shall exult in blessing under the righteous scepter of the King of kings.
Thus does this wonderful psalm introduce us to not only the ground of blessing—the forsaking and the wrath-bearing of Christ upon the cross, but it also spreads before us the whole scene of future millennial blessing and glory, the precious fruit of that Cross endured by Him. Then, not only shall the heavens adore and worship Him, but everything beneath the sun shall bow down before Him and own Him Lord of all.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the once-rejected but now enthroned One, He is worthy, worthy of all!
"Hark! the sound of Jubilee
Loud as mighty thunders roar
Or the fullness of the sea
When it breaks upon the shore!
Hallelujah! for the Lord
God omnipotent shall reign:
Hallelujah! let the word
Echo round the earth and main."
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