July 06 2023

Today, Thursday July 06

“And Blessed Be His Glorious Name Forever!”

Psalm 72:15-20

“And He shall live; And the gold of Sheba will be given to Him; Prayer also will be made for Him continually, And daily He shall be praised. There will be an abundance of grain in the earth, On the top of the mountains; Its fruit shall wave like Lebanon; And those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; All nations shall call Him blessed.

Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

Today we are going to complete our thoughts on Psalm 72, as we look at these last six verses. Historically, this Psalm is about King Solomon and his rule and reign over Israel for 40 years. It was either written by his father David who prayed this prayer for him and his future reign just before he died, or it was written by Solomon himself as he remembered his father’s last words. But the fulfilment of the verses in this Psalm can only be found in the future reign of Jesus over Israel and all the earth during His Millennium reign (Revelation 19-20).

To summarize Psalm 72, we found in verses 1-7, Solomon would be a “righteous” king. But the complete fulfilment of these verses is found in the only true Righteous King, Jesus Christ! In verses 8-11, we learn that Solomon would have dominion over a large part of the earth in his time. This privilege is reserved for Jesus Christ (Psalm 2:8; Zech. 9:9-10; Mic. 4:1-5; Luke 1:33). But there is only one King of kings, and that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Isa. 2:1-4; Dan. 7:13-14; Rev. 17:14; 19:16).

The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Philippians 2:8-11: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In verses 12-14, we see the King would have a compassionate reign. The picture here is surely that of our Savior who had such great compassion for the needy and met their needs (Matthew 9:36).

Now, finally in verses 15-17, we find God’s promise that His Kingdom would be a prosperous one. God's covenant with Israel assured them of prosperity so long as the rulers and the people obeyed His commandments. The Lord also assured David that he would always have an heir to his throne if he and his descendants obeyed God's will (2 Sam. 7:11-12, 16). Because of the promise of the coming Savior, it was important that the Davidic dynasty continue. But in the case of Jesus, He reigns "according to the power of an endless life" (Hebrews 7:16). He is the life (John 14:6), and He is alive forever (Rev. 1:18). He is King forever!

Israel's prosperity would be not only political (the king), but also economic (gold), spiritual (prayer), and commercial (thriving crops). In fulfillment of His covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3), God would bless all the nations through Israel, as He has done in sending Jesus Christ (Gal. 3). The prophets wrote of this glorious kingdom and their prophecies will be fulfilled (Isa. 35 and 60-62; Ezek. 40-48; Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 4; Zech. 10 and 14). There will be abundant grain even on top of the hills in the most unproductive land. The grain fields will look like the forests of the cedars in Lebanon (1 Kings 4:33).

The closing benediction (vv. 18-19) is not a part of the Psalm proper but forms the conclusion to Book Two of the Book of Psalms (Psalm 41:13; 89:52; 106:48). A fitting conclusion it is, for it focuses on the glory of the Lord. Solomon's kingdom had its share of glory, but the glory did not last. When Jesus reigns on earth, the glory of God will be revealed as never before (Num. 14:21; Isa. 6:3; 11:9; 40:5; Hab. 2:14).

Isaac Watts used Psalm 72 as the basis for his great hymn "Jesus Shall Reign." Read the last verses of this Psalm once again: “Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who only does wondrous things! And blessed be His glorious name forever! And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.”

God bless!