The Instrument of Death Is Now the Symbol of Glory and Dominion

Come now, when you read in the words of David, how that “the Lord reigns from the tree,”* I want to know what you understand by it.  Perhaps you think some wooden king of the Jews is meant!—and not Christ, who overcame death by His suffering on the cross, and thence reigned!  Now, although death reigned from Adam even to Christ, why may not Christ be said to have reigned from the tree, from His having shut up the kingdom of death by dying upon the tree of His cross?  Likewise Isaiah also says: “For unto us a child is born.”  But what is there unusual in this, unless he speaks of the Son of God?  “To us is given He whose government is upon His shoulder.”  Now, what king is there who bears the ensign of his dominion upon his shoulder, and not rather upon his head as a diadem, or in his hand as a scepter, or else as a mark in some royal apparel?  But the one new King of the new ages, Jesus Christ, carried on His shoulder both the power and the excellence of His new glory, even His cross; so that, according to our former prophecy, He might thenceforth reign from the tree as Lord.  This tree it is which Jeremiah likewise gives you intimation of, when he prophesies to the Jews, who should say, “Come, let us destroy the tree with the fruit, (the bread) thereof,”† that is, His body.  For so did God in your own gospel even reveal the sense, when He called His body bread; so that, for the time to come, you may understand that He has given to His body the figure of bread, whose body the prophet of old figuratively turned into bread, the Lord Himself designing to give by and by an interpretation of the mystery.  If you require still further prediction of the Lord’s cross, the twenty-second Psalm is sufficiently able to afford it to you, containing as it does the entire passion of Christ, who was even then prophetically declaring His glory.  “They pierced,” says He, “my hands and my feet,” which is the special cruelty of the cross.

Tertullian, Against Marcion 3.19

*  Psalm 96:10 (Old Latin Version, Dominus regnavit a ligno)
†  Jeremiah 11:19

Giving Glory Where It Is Due

Have you ever wanted to shout in triumph for how the Lord works?  King David has a similar desire in the words of Psalm 21.  Considered by some to be a song of battle triumph, this psalm has been called a Te Deum on the king’s return* as David extols YHWH for His working in the king:

O Lᴏʀᴅ, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults!

It was through the Almighty’s enabling that salvation had been gained, and David desired to express his overflow of gratitude and praise.  He does not stop with the expression of praise but explains how the Lord has provided to merit such laud:

• Answered prayer (v. 2) – given him his heart’s desire … not withheld the request
• Prosperity (v. 3) – meet him with rich blessings … crown of fine gold
• Life (v. 4) – you gave [life] to him … length of days
• Honor (v. 5) – glory is great … splendor and majesty
• Blessing (v. 6) – most blessed forever … glad with the joy of your presence
• Contentment (v. 7) – the king trusts … he shall not be moved

All these the king has received according to the Lord’s goodness, and because they have been received, they can be dispersed to all in whom the king desires to show favor.

David then addresses his words to the king and what he will deliver to his enemies:

• Discovered (v. 8) – Your hand will find out all your enemies; … those who hate you
• Consumed (v. 9) – as a blazing oven … swallow them up … fire will consume
• Destruction (v. 10) – You will destroy their descendants … and their offspring
• Failure (v. 11) – Though they plan evil … though they devise mischief, they will not succeed
• Dread (v. 12) – put them to flight … aim at their faces with your bows

While going through this psalm in my reading, I was struck by the fact that David never refers to himself as the recipient of all the Lord’s blessings, nor as the instrument of vengeance on the enemies: all references are third person.  David wants to remove himself as the individual benefactor and judge, but whoever holds the office of king can rightfully consider himself in the same light, assuming he walks in the light of the Lord.  As well, this psalm is looking forward to David’s promised Son:

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.  When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.  And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.  Your throne shall be established forever.  (2 Sam 7:12-16)

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches.  I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.  (Rev 22:16)

Messiah will establish the throne forever as the builder of David’s house and only legitimate heir.  It is the Lord Jesus alone to whom the words of the psalm sufficiently apply and in whom is the ultimate fulfillment.  Only God Himself who can accomplish both the promise and realization.  Understanding this, David completes the psalm the same way he begins—with glory to God alone.

Be exalted, O Lᴏʀᴅ, in your strength!  We will sing and praise your power.

I leave the last word with Theodoret of Cyrus from his Commentary on the Psalms:

Not for being lowly is God exalted, nor does He receive what He does not possess.  Instead what He possesses He reveals, so it was right for the psalmist to say: Your exaltation is revealed in Your ineffable power, which we shall continue to celebrate and sing, recounting Your marvelous works.  (21.13)

*  J. J. Stewart Perowne, Commentary on the Psalms, Kregel, 232

Come, Marvel, and Glorify

When the Lord had clothed himself with humanity, and had suffered for the sake of the sufferer, and had been bound for the sake of the imprisoned, and had been judged for the sake of the condemned, and buried for the sake of the one who was buried, he rose up from the dead, and cried aloud with this voice:

Who is he who contends with me?  Let him stand in opposition to me.  I set the condemned man free; I gave the dead man life; I raised up the one who had been entombed.  Who is my opponent?  I am the Christ.  I am the one who destroyed death, and triumphed over the enemy, and trampled Hades under foot, and bound the strong one, and carried off man to the heights of heaven, I am the Christ.  Therefore, come, all families of men, you who have been befouled with sins, and receive forgiveness for your sins.  I am your forgiveness, I am the passover of your salvation, I am the lamb which was sacrificed for you, I am your ransom, I am your light, I am your savior, I am your resurrection, I am your king, I am leading you up to the heights of heaven, I will show you the eternal Father, I will raise you up by my right hand.

This is the one who made the heavens and the earth, and who in the beginning created man, who was proclaimed through the law and prophets, who became human via the virgin, who was hanged upon a tree, who was buried in the earth, who was resurrected from the dead, and who ascended to the heights of heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father, who has authority to judge and to save everything, through whom the Father created everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the age.  This is the alpha and the omega.  This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end.  This is the Christ.  This is the king.  This is Jesus.  This is the general.  This is the Lord.  This is the one who rose up from the dead.  This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father.  He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.

Melito of Sardis, On the Passover 100-105

Can't Help But Boast

For the Spirit of the Lord fills the world,* and “where shall I go from your spirit? or where shall I flee from your presence?”†  And, in the words of the Prophet, “For I am with you, says the Lord … and my spirit remains among you.”‡  But what nature is it proper to assign to Him who is omnipresent, and exists together with God?  The nature which is all-embracing, or one which is confined to particular places, like that which our argument shows the nature of angels to be?  No one would say so.  Shall we not then highly exalt Him who is in His nature divine, in His greatness infinite, in His operations powerful, in the blessings He confers, good?  Shall we not give Him glory?  And I understand glory to mean nothing else than the enumeration of the wonders which are His own.  It follows then that either we are forbidden by our antagonists even to mention the good things which flow to us from Him, or on the other hand that the mere recapitulation of His attributes is the fullest possible attribution of glory.  For not even in the case of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Only begotten Son, are we capable of giving Them glory otherwise than by recounting, to the extent of our powers, all the wonders that belong to Them.

Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit, 23.54

*  Wisdom 1:7
†  Psalm 39:7
‡  Haggai 2:4-5

Recognizing Your Ministry

Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

[Paul] called the ministry of the Law a ministry of death since the Law punished the transgressors.  So if from a source of punishment, death and letters carved on stone, he is saying the person mediating them was invested with glory of countenance such that it was impossible for the viewers to bear the brightness coming from it, how much more those ministering to the divine Spirit will enjoy greater glory.  By ministry of the Spirit, note, he referred to those ministering to the Spirit, as likewise ministry of death those ministering to the Law, namely Moses.  He makes a comparison between Moses and the heralds of grace, and shows him bringing inscribed tablets and them supplying the grace of the all-holy Spirit—the Law punishing and grace giving life; the glory coming to him lasting for a short time and theirs continuing forever; in one case Moses alone sharing in the glory and in this case not the apostles alone but also all those who have come to faith through them.… The Law condemned the sinners, whereas grace accepts them and justifies them through faith: it leads them to divine baptism and grants them forgiveness.  So if the one ministering to the former shared in glory, much more those serving the latter will enjoy it to a greater extent.

Theodoret of Cyrus, "The Second Letter to the Corinthians" on 2 Corinthians 3:7-9