THE DIVINE WARRIOR RESCUES THE KING
January 11, 2022

A. Starting point: Rev. 7:12

“Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”

B. Praying from: PSALM 18
“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
33 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.
34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.
48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.”

C. Praying Time:
Context
Psalm 18 is a thanksgiving song for a royal victory. The historical title (when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul) is supported by the contents describing rescue from vicious enemies. The psalm itself also indicates that the original composer was a king when it concludes the story of rescue by proclaiming, He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants for ever. Furthermore, only a king could call himself the head of nations (v. 43b) and say foreigners cower before me (v. 44). For other parts of the title, see the Introduction. In addition, 2 Samuel 22 presents a close variant of Psalm 18 and connects it to David.

The psalm is one of the longest in the book, but it is far from tedious, being filled with dramatic action and intense emotion. The psalmist begins by expressing his love for his strong God (v. 1) and offers a series of metaphors of divine protection (v. 2). He then proceeds to illustrate God’s strength and protection by rehearsing his rescue at a time of great distress. At first, he describes his dire situation in general terms. Death was reaching up and pulling him into the grave (vv. 3–5). When God hears his prayer for help, he responds by riding down from heaven in the fullness of his glory, his cloud chariot accompanied by cherubim (vv. 6–15). God the Warrior causes the earth to heave and the seas to dry up as he routs the psalmist’s enemies. He then grabs hold of the endangered psalmist and brings him to a safe place (vv. 16–19).

As the psalmist reflects on his rescue, he affirms that it was an outworking of God’s justice. The psalmist was righteous and God takes care of the righteous, while he destroys the wicked (vv. 20–24, 25–29).
18:1. I love you
Rather than beginning with an account of his rescue, the psalmist opens with an affirmation of his love for God. The verb translated love (rḥm) is elsewhere used only to refer to the compassion or mercy that God demonstrates towards human beings. The term expresses the psalmist’s intimate feelings towards God, evoked by God’s actions towards him, to be explained in the following verses. Indeed, here, God is called my strength, and the poetic narrative that follows will demonstrate how he manifested his power to rescue the psalmist at a vulnerable time.
18:2. My protection
God manifested his strength to the psalmist by protecting him, and thus verse 2 contains a number of metaphors of protection, beginning with the image of God as rock. As is often pointed out, this is not a rock that can be held in the hand because, as the second colon expands on the idea (v. 2b), this is a rock in which the psalmist can find refuge. In other words, it is big enough (perhaps a cliff) that the psalmist can slip into a crevice and hide from the onslaught of his enemies.

A second metaphor of protection is found in the word fortress, sometimes understood to mean ‘mountain stronghold’. Perhaps the fact that David sought refuge from Saul in such natural fortresses (1 Sam. 23:14, 19, 29) helps to explain the historical title (see Context). A third metaphor of protection describes God as a shield, yet another common image found in the Psalms (3:3; 5:12; 7:10; 28:7, etc.). Next, the psalmist proclaims God as the horn of his salvation. Horn in the Old Testament signifies power. It is connected to the horn of an animal such as a bull. God indeed is the power behind the psalmist’s rescue, as he will describe and celebrate it in verses 6–15. Finally, the psalmist announces that God is his stronghold, a word similar to fortress and often used in conjunction with it. The verb from the noun (miśgāb) means ‘to be (inaccessibly) high’ (NIDOTTE 3: 1216), so one again pictures a defensive location in the mountains.
18:3–5. I almost died
As is typical in thanksgiving psalms, the poet now remembers his earlier trouble and how God intervened to rescue him. Verse 3 begins with the happy ending. The poet had called on God in prayer in the midst of his struggles, and the result was that God saved him from his enemies. The following verses will fill out the details. Because God rescued him, God deserves praise, and this poem serves to do just that.

In verses 3–4, the psalmist uses figurative language to say that he was seriously threatened by the possibility of death. Later it will become clear that the threat came from enemies who sought to kill him. Here death itself is treated as an animate object that tried to trap and drag the psalmist into its realm. The grave (Sheol)/death utilizes cords and snares as weapons. The psalmist describes his danger in terms of being overwhelmed by torrents of destruction, utilizing a common image of waters to signify chaos.
18:6–15. God rides into battle
This stanza dramatically describes God’s rescue of the psalmist from his death-threatening trouble. Again he mentions his prayer to God in the midst of his distress (v. 6). He was beyond his own human resources and knew it, so he called on God to help him. God made his presence known on earth in the sanctuary, and so the psalmist directed his prayers towards the temple and God heard his prayer. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he realized, as did the psalmist, that God’s presence was not limited to the temple. Not even heaven itself can contain God (1 Kgs 8:27). However, Solomon also spoke of a situation very similar to that in which the psalmist found himself, when he stated: ‘When your people go to war against their enemies, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the LORD towards the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause’ (1 Kgs 8:44–45).

God did indeed hear, and he rushed down from heaven in order to save the psalmist. God appeared as a Warrior in order to fight against his enemies. When the Warrior appears, the earth and the very mountains themselves shake. God was angry with the treatment the psalmist had received. God’s anger is often described as a consuming fire, as in verse 8. The picture of God coming to the rescue riding a cloud (dark clouds were under his feet, v. 9b) derives ultimately from Ancient Near Eastern storm-god imagery and is also found elsewhere in Scripture (Pss 68:33; 104:3–4). The cherubim were among God’s most powerful angelic forces. They were stationed at the entrance of the Garden of Eden with flaming swords after Adam and Eve had been forced out (Gen. 3:24). They also accompanied God’s chariot when he abandoned the temple in Ezekiel 9–11. In short, they are God’s bodyguards in the heavenly army, and they came with him now to rescue the psalmist. The picture here is of the cloud as the chariot, and the cherubim as the means of propulsion of the chariots, as God rode to the aid of the distressed psalmist.

God controls the weather and used it as his weapon in his deliverance of the psalmist. In particular, he used hailstones and bolts of lightning (v. 12b), reminiscent of his battle against the southern Canaanite forces in Joshua 10 (see v. 11). They were like his arrows as he shot them at his enemies.

God’s anger and power are so great that they exposed the valleys of the sea. Again, the waters, in this case the sea, often personify the forces of chaos and evil ranged against God. But here they are no match for the Divine Warrior.
18:16–19. The rescue
The psalmist was in deep trouble, confronted by enemies more powerful than himself. He pictures himself in deep waters, a frequent image signifying chaos and evil. God, though, swoops down from heaven on his cloud chariot powered by cherubim to bring him out of his distress. He was in a tight spot, but God took him to a spacious place (v. 19b). God rescued him because he delighted in him.
18:20–24. God’s reward
This stanza explains why God delighted in him and rescued him. The psalmist is righteous. He has acted with integrity in his relationship with God and with others. He keeps God’s law. The law in the book of Deuteronomy (chapters 4–26) is followed by the blessings and curses (chapters. 27–28). The latter are reserved for those who disobey God; the former for those who obey him. Since the psalmist obeyed, he rightly experiences the blessings of the covenant, which include deliverance from enemies: ‘The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven’ (Deut. 28:7).
18:25–29. The humble and the haughty
Verses 25–27 state the principle by which God operates. He is faithful to those who are faithful. The noun and the root of the verb connote covenant love or loyalty (ḥsd). God had promised to be Israel’s God and that they would be his people, and here he demonstrates this truth to the psalmist by rescuing him from his enemies. The same point is made in verse 25, using a different noun and verbal root that means ‘to be blameless/innocent’ (tmm). The blameless are those whose lives are marked by ethical rightness. By the use of a verb and noun from the same root (‘to be pure’ [brr I]), the psalmist makes it clear a third time that God is good to those who live in accordance with his law. That God treats people as they deserve is expressed in a negative sense when it says that God shrewdly treats those who are devious. Verse 27 uses an antithetical parallelism to drive the point home. God saves the humble but will put down those who have pride.

Verse 28 now applies the principles of the preceding verses to the psalmist. His only source of illumination in the dark place where he finds himself is provided by God. The darkness he now faces is his enemy, but God keeps the oil in his lamp burning so that he can see what he is doing. The NIV signals a translation enigma, preferring the rendering: with your help I can advance against a troop, rather than the alternative found in the footnote: ‘with your help I can run through a barricade’. In either case, along with the second colon (with my God I can scale a wall), the psalmist proclaims that God enables him to overcome any obstacle put in his way by his militaristic enemies.
18:30–36. The Lord is the only God
God’s help, as described in the previous stanza, inspires the psalmist to extol him. God’s word is flawless in that he fulfils his promises of protection of his people (v. 30c connects back to v. 2). There were many false gods in Israel’s cultural environment, but the psalmist realizes that there really is only one true God, the LORD (Yahweh). And Yahweh is a protective Rock (see comment on v. 2).

The psalmist realizes that God has helped him not only by direct intervention (described in vv. 6–19), but also in giving him his skill as a warrior (vv. 32–36). His success as a warrior is due to God, not his own native abilities. He can protect himself because of God’s saving help (v. 35a). He can attack with a bow because of God’s training. He is nimble and sure-footed in battle because of God’s provision.
18:37–49. Victory
Because of God’s enabling (vv. 30–36), the psalmist gained the upper hand over his enemies (vv. 37–39). Indeed, he completely overwhelmed them and destroyed them. Admirably, the psalmist does not dwell long on his achievements without giving the glory to God. What he has done, he has accomplished through the power of God (vv. 38–40). Although the enemy sought God’s help, they were too late; God did not listen to their cries, but allowed the psalmist to complete his victory over them (vv. 41–42). Employing two similes (beating into dust; trampling like mud), he emphasizes his total dominance of his foes.

But again, he moves quickly from his own role and acknowledges God’s help. He won only because of God (v. 43a), and his victory granted him status, the head of nations. His defeat of his enemies causes other nations to submit to him (vv. 43c–45). God is the One who gave him victory and status against his enemies; thus, he praises God (vv. 46–49).
18:50. God loves David
The psalm ends by identifying the psalmist as the king, the anointed one or Messiah (see title and discussion in Context). God had promised to show his unfailing love (ḥesed) to David and his descendants in the Davidic covenant (2 Sam. 7:1–16), and the psalmist understands the victory God has given him as an expression of that covenant commitment.
Meaning
In Psalm 18, the king expresses gratitude to God for rescuing him from his enemies through a military victory. Others, though, can use this psalm as a model prayer for their own experience of God’s salvation from trouble. Indeed, Christian readers are engaged in a spiritual battle (Eph. 6:10–20) and must call on God’s help against these overwhelming foes. Interestingly, as the psalmist describes God riding on a cloud to deliver him (vv. 6–15), Jesus is often pictured as riding a cloud chariot when he returns to achieve his people’s ultimate rescue (Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26; 14:62; Luke 21:27; Rev. 1:7). While the psalmist appealed to his own righteousness (vv. 20–24), the Christian can point to the righteousness of Christ and his promises to be with us in our difficulties.

Indeed, we can read Psalm 18 as a song of Jesus, David’s greater Son. He suffered the coiling ‘cords of death’ (v. 5) in his crucifixion, but also experienced the power of God who raised him from the dead (Rom. 8:11). God indeed ‘dealt with [Jesus] according to [his] righteousness’ (v. 20). He conquered his enemies, the powers and principalities. Paul seems to have read Psalm 18 with Jesus as the first-person speaker as he cites verse 49: ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name’ (Rom. 15:9), along with other Old Testament passages that signal the inclusion of the Gentiles in the covenant promises.

D. THE A-MEN OF ROMANS 16:20, 24, 27
16:20 “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. A-men.”