AN INTEPRETATION OF PSALM 20, FROM A MESSIANIC POINT OF VIEW …
First, let me share with you the whole Psalm, once again. It’s short, but powerful!
“The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 2 Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; 3 Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah. 4 Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 5 We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions. 6 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. 9 Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.”
The entire Poem can be viewed with Jesus in mind!
Jesus, as You pray, even from Heaven right now: “The LORD (God the Father) hear thee (God the Son) in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.” Psalm 20, its first two verses!
Oh, how Jesus needed these words to be prayed for Him … especially at Gethsemane! He even there “hinted” at prayer with this question: “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40
But WHY should the Father hear Jesus’ Prayers? Because of Calvary, for one Reason! “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice.” (Psalm 20:3) What a Burnt Sacrifice, the Darling Son of God, the fulfillment of all burnt sacrifices!
Wow!
And Jesus even now is (still) praying for us! As Intercessor, from the Father’s Right hand! (“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25 where “save” means “to deliver.”) Thus Psalm 20:4 is extremely appropriate! “Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.” God always hears His Son’s Prayers! Jesus at Lazarus’ graveside, praying: “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it (prayed it), that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” Yes, our Saviour’s “counsel” will be granted!
Even more so, “The Lord fulfil ALL Thy petitions!” Of Whom could this be prayed, totally and unreservedly, other than the Son of God? Whoever, but Him, deserved ALL their prayers to be answered, no exceptions!
And, almost as if offering concrete “proof” of the Psalm’s true Focus being Jesus … “Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.” (Psalm 20:6) Jesus is God’s “Anointed,” in Hebrew spelled “Mashiyach,” or “Messiah!”
Praying for Jesus!
For Him Who is praying for us!
Then look with me at this “closing” to the Psalm. “Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.” Praying so the “King” (so Jesus in my view this morning) will know, will hear, will be glorified!
Heavenly Father, PROSPER all Thy Son does today, all His purposes!
Even to the allowing of His Second Coming, “Thy Will be done.”
Like this: “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20, the Bible’s very last prayer!
And lest you think I am being “eccentric” here, I found the following quote about Psalm 20, by a godly man of history, Andrew Bonar, a preacher of renown. “This Psalm is the prayer which the Church might be supposed offering up, had all the redeemed stood by the cross, or in Gethsemane, in full consciousness of what was happening there. Messiah, in reading these words, would know that He had elsewhere the sympathy He craved, when He said to the three disciples, “Tarry ye here, and watch with Me.” Matthew 26:38. It is thus a pleasant song, of the sacred singer of Israel, to set forth the feelings of the redeemed in their Head, whether in His sufferings or in the glory that was to follow.”
To which I say, “Surely this is holy ground!”
— Dr. Mike Bagwell