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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/aj-higgins/solomons-psalm-72/
Psalm 72. I'll take this opportunity to tell you that it's been a pleasure to be with you and to thank the Assembly for all their effort in convening the weekend and all the work and expense involved.
Psalm 72, and you'll notice the title, a psalm for Solomon. So this is actually a psalm written by David concerning Solomon, we would gather. Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy.
He shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the moon grass as showers the water of the earth.
In his days shall the righteous flourish in abundance of peace so long as the moon endure. He shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him and the enemy shall lick the dust.
Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath no helper.
He shall spare the poor and needy, shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live unto him shall be given of the gold of Sheba.
Prayer also shall be made for him continually and daily shall he be praised. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued 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 doeth 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. Now we're sure that God will add his blessing to the reading of his word.
I want you to notice the location of this psalm. You'll notice if you just let your eye drop just beneath the last verse, probably your Bible should have in brackets book number three. The Psalms were divided into five sections and this is the end, Psalm 72 is the end of the second section of the Psalter, of the book of Psalms.
And it doesn't take a lot of imagination and no manipulation to link the five sections of the Psalms with the five books of Moses. And so what we would have here in Psalm 72 would correspond to the book of Exodus and the end of Exodus.
The end of the Exodus section of the Psalms. And of course when you think of Exodus you think of the lamb and you think of the sacrifice. And when you come to Psalm 72 you're looking at not the lamb but the lion.
Looking at the one who will one day reign. And so its location is unique. The language of course is tremendous to think of. Exalted, expectant and rapturing makes our hearts look forward to a day that is yet to come.
Because you will realize of course that while David is initially writing about Solomon, David is called a prophet in the New Testament. And beyond just David, beyond just Solomon, he is actually speaking of a coming day and a coming king.
Because what we have in Psalm 72 can only be true in its fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you look at the Psalm you see some of the longings that are expressed for a world that will be rid of so much of what now blights the creation that God once brought into being.
Noticing you have your chart up here and of course what we're looking at here is the millennial period, a period of a thousand years. And as you all know during that thousand year period of time the Lord Jesus will actually reign over the earth.
And conditions will be changed as we'll see in a few moments as you look at this Psalm. And at the end of that thousand year period, amazingly there will be one final rebellion, one final revolt. Satan will be loosed.
He's been kept in captivity for a thousand years. His influence, his power over the earth nullified. And men that go into that kingdom will all be saved. And during that thousand year period they will procreate and have children who need to be saved, need to be born again just as ours do today.
And during that time there will be those that despite all of the favored conditions will prefer to side with Satan at the end of that thousand year period. There are many, many reasons for the millennial reign of Christ.
Many reasons God is going to give that final thousand years. But one reason, one of the many, is it will be the final trial for humanity. Because during that thousand year period, perhaps you've never thought of it this way, during that final thousand year period, according to what we read here in Psalm 72, many other places in the Word of God, every excuse that men have ever used for rejecting Christ will be absolutely absent.
For example, now you can probably add to my short list of excuses that men use for refusing to believe the Gospel. Number one, we've never seen God. Who's seen God and how do you know there is a God? How do you know there really is anything?
Well, they'll see the King. They'll know there's a God. He will have come in in judgment at the beginning of the millennium. Evidence of His power will be seen throughout the millennial period when men sin and they will be put to death as a result of open rebellion against God.
They will see God in all of His power, in all of His holiness, in all of His glory, in all of His greatness. No excuse then. How do we know there's a God? Excuse number one gone. Number two, nobody has ever come back from the dead to tell us what's on the other side.
Right? I mean, you face that all the time. No one's ever come back. Really? Men will look upon and see millions upon millions of people who not only have come back but have come back with glorified bodies and will be able to testify of what's on the other side.
So that excuse will be gone. Men won't be able to say no one's ever come back to tell us. And then, of course, men will say, if there is a God, why is it that evil seems to be triumphing on our world?
Why is it that people who cheat, people who steal, people who are unfaithful, people who are, they all seem to prosper. And if there's a God, why doesn't He do something? In that day, according to Psalm 72 that we read, the righteous shall flourish and the oppressor shall be put away.
Men won't be able to say if there's a God, why is there evil in our world and why is evil prospering? There will be none of that in that day. And then, of course, people say if there's a God, why is there suffering?
And, indeed, our world is filled with suffering. We cannot deny it. There's a collective groan which goes up from planet Earth, the results of suffering at every level. There'll be no suffering in that day.
Disease, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, all that will all be quelled. All the suffering of humanity absent for a thousand years. And then, of course, men say, well, it's all because of Satan.
Satan made me do it. Satan is the one who's the cause of all this. And, of course, Satan will be bound. His activity not known. And so men won't be able to blame anything upon Satan. And then, of course, they'll say all religions are okay as long as you're sincere.
Won't be able to say it in that day, will they? Won't be able to say that every religion is okay as long as you're sincere and you really are trying your best. Everyone will have to acknowledge in that day all nations shall call him blessed.
Only him. So men won't be able in that day to say that all religions are okay. And what about the heathen who have never heard? Yeah, that's a common one, right? What about the heathen who have never heard?
The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. There will not be one spot, one square inch of Mother Earth where the name of Christ will not be known in that day.
And won't be able to say, I can't believe the gospel because it doesn't make sense because of the heathen who have never heard. No, in that day they will all hear and they will all know. And then another reason will be, well, you know, there are so many hypocrites.
People claim they're Christians and they do this and they do that. No hypocrites in that day. Reality alone, as we see in Psalm number 72. And then, of course, why doesn't God intervene in our world? And God will intervene.
Why is there poverty? You can extend the list as you like, but all those excuses will be gone. Man will be on trial for the last time. And all of the ill effects, all the social injustice, all the poverty, all of the sad tragic events of life that men use as excuses for their sin will all be dealt with.
And man now will be placed in the most favorable of conditions. And at the end of it all, there will be those who will say, I'd rather side with Satan so I can have my own way than bow to the king upon the throne.
And, of course, that period then will end with a judgment and then bringing in the new heavens and the new earth, the longings and the lessons. But let me tell you a little bit about the character of that kingdom, if I can, from Psalm 72.
I want you to think, first of all, looking at Psalm 72, that this millennial kingdom will be compensation for his sufferings, partial compensation. I mean, his glories, the result of his sufferings will be far greater than just the kingdom for a thousand years.
But it will be partial compensation, the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. His kingdom and dominion will extend throughout the entire earth. And you recall in Psalm 53, the end of Psalm 53, Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, he shall divide the strong man's spoil, because, and four reasons are given, pouring out his soul unto death, being numbered with the transgressors, bearing the sin of many, making intercession for the transgressors.
God will glorify his Son and give him this glory. The earth that rejected him, he will one day rule over and reign over as compensation for his sufferings. It will be a demonstration of his headship. Verse number 8 reminds us, they that dwelt, or rather verse number 8, Yes, he shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.
The headship of Christ is in four different spheres. He is head of man, 1 Corinthians 11. He is head of the church, Ephesians chapter 5. He is, excuse me. He is also head over all the principalities and powers, Ephesians.
But he's also head over all things. Head over all things. And in this day, it won't just be his headship over man, or his headship over the church, or his headship over principalities and powers. But when we're looking at him in Psalm 72, I'm thinking of a millennial kingdom.
He will be head over all things. It's Ephesians chapter 1 that God will head up all things in Christ and the dispensation of the fullness of times, everything. The absolute head over everything will be the Lord Jesus Christ in that day.
So there is the compensation for his sufferings, the demonstration of his headship. There will be the elimination of every social difference and bias. Don't know if you noticed it. Four times at least in this Psalm, it speaks of the poor and the needy.
The poor and the needy. In every kingdom to this moment in time, they have been the expendables. They have been the people who could be overlooked without any worry. And then maybe if you're in a democratic society, you want their vote.
But generally speaking, they are the people who are overlooked. The high and the mighty, the power brokers, the wealthy, they're the ones that get all the attention and all of the favor from men. But in that day, the poor and the needy will be vindicated.
You notice what he says, doesn't he? In verse 12, he shall judge the poor, the people, and save the children of the needy. Down at verse number 12, it reminds us again. He shall deliver the needy, the poor also.
Verse 13, he shall spare the poor and the needy, and shall save the souls of the needy, and redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. Every kingdom has bypassed the poor and the needy.
In this kingdom, they will be valuable. And they will be valued. All bias gone. All the prejudices among the families of the earth, all gone in that day. And there will be the elimination of all social differences and all class distinctions in that day.
There will be the eradication of every oppressor. Verse number 4, he shall break in pieces the oppressor, so that every oppressor, everyone who has taken advantage of men, every manipulator, every user of men, every abuser of men, all of those will be eliminated in that day.
That's what this kingdom will be like. Just as we read together and sought to deal with relative to Solomon and the removal of things from his kingdom that offend this kingdom, there will be the removal of all things that offend.
And all oppressors will be put down, and he alone will reign in that day. So there will be the eradication of every oppressor. Verse 7 tells us of the proliferation of peace. In his day shall the righteous flourish an abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth.
An abundance of peace. That is the longing of virtually every human heart, isn't it? Now, it's defined in different ways, in different individuals, what peace will mean. Most people, by it, mean they want to be left alone to do their own thing and not be interfered with.
But really, people want peace. In that day, there will be an abundance, not just peace, but an abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth. There's an expression that is used in Haggai that may be difficult to understand.
It's one of the titles or references to the Lord Jesus, and he's called the Desire of All Nations. The Desire of All Nations. And yet, when he was here, he was rejected, despised by all nations. The three languages at the cross bespeak the universal rejection of Christ.
So in what sense is he the Desire of All Nations? In the sense that deep down, what man longs for, and what he has tried in various ways to do and to patch over and to put together, peace and satisfaction, value to life, meaning to life, he's never been able to find.
But that's really what they desire, and it can only be found in Christ. And so there is the abundance of peace that will, in that day, the proliferation of peace. Remember what it says in Isaiah, and again, Isaiah, many scriptures from Isaiah come to mind, they shall not hurt, he says in Isaiah, nor destroy in all my holy mount.
A time of universal peace, no wars. Here will be the thing that men have tried by treaty, by manipulation, by armament, by strategies of every kind to somehow bring about a world with no war. In that day, they will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mount.
I'm not up on this right now. I haven't checked it recently, but I don't know, a number of years ago I checked, and from the time of recorded history, how many years have there been on the planet where there has not been a war somewhere?
I think it was only maybe a hundred or so years that could actually be reckoned, could be tabulated where there has not been war in some part of our globe. In that day, they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mount.
There will be absolute abundance of peace throughout the world. Imagine conditions like that for men to live in. No bias, no prejudice, no poverty, no social distinctions, no class distinctions, no oppression, no injustice.
That's the kind of world there will be for a thousand years. There will also be, according to what we have here, not just the compensation for his sufferings and the demonstration of his headship and the elimination of social distinctions and the eradication of oppressors and the proliferation of peace, but the confirmation of holiness.
Holiness. That that is really what God is looking for. So that as you look at this chapter, you realize it's not just a world where there will be no war, no peace, but a world where holiness, the righteous shall flourish.
Holiness will be what is valued in that day. You recall how Zechariah speaks of how he ends his tremendous prophecy with upon the bells of the animals there in Jerusalem, there will be bells, holiness unto the Lord.
I'm not quoting the exact, so just give me a quick second to bring you to Zechariah 14, where he speaks about that. In that day, there shall be upon the bells of the horses, holiness unto the Lord, and the pots of the Lord's house shall be like bowls before the altar.
Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord, and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and see therein and so on. So holiness will mark that kingdom. Wonderful to think of the one who loved righteousness and hated lawlessness so much that he went to a cross to bring it about.
He will establish a kingdom that will be marked by holiness, the confirmation, the vindication of the righteous. Not only will the kingdom vindicate the Lord Jesus Christ, but it will vindicate all who have lived righteously.
Right now, it looks like you're a loser if you live righteously, right? I mean, people scoff at it. You know, it's okay to do good things and so on, but you've got to break the rules once in a while, and you've got to do your own thing once in a while, and you're kind of too straight, you're kind of too narrow, you're kind of inhibiting yourself.
In that day shall the righteous flourish so that there will be the vindication of the righteous. Verses 9 to 11 remind us there'll be the subjugation of every foe. There will be no foe that will rise up to in any way disturb that kingdom.
And so whether we are looking at the day that Jewel of the Wilderness shall bow before him, his enemies shall lick the dust, the kings of Tarshish, the isles, everyone subservient to this king, everyone recognizing the value of this king in that day, the vindication of the righteous, the subjugation of every foe.
Look at verse 11 though. What you have there is the dedication of willing service. All nations shall serve him. So great, so glorious will be this king that men will rush, men will rush and clamor and it will almost be like Black Friday at Best Buy, people banging on the doors to get in, to have a chance to be a servant of this king.
It will be such an honor to think of being allowed to be a servant of the king that is sitting in Jerusalem and imagine that we can have that opportunity and all nations will willingly serve him. Remember what Psalm 110 says, a corollary psalm concerning this day.
It says, Thy people shall be willing offerings in the day of thy power. When the day when he who is the Melchizedek king sits upon the throne, David writes, Thy people shall be willing. Now the word really is willing offerings in the day of thy power.
And so people will clamor to be able to serve this king in that future day of glory. What a thing it will be. There will be supplication made. Now here of course in verse number 15, it is prayer made for Solomon, but in that day there will be supplication made to the Lord Jesus Christ in that day.
Verse 15 reminds us of the exaltation, the worship that will ascend. We are reminded that daily shall he be praised. Tremendous to think of what it will be like to be in a world where it will not be unnatural to walk down the street and hear people singing about the Lord Jesus.
If you want to check this out on YouTube, you can do it because it's thrilling. I think it was a year ago, just around this time of the year, holiday season, in, used to be Wanamaker's, I still call it Wanamaker's.
It's Macy's department store in Philadelphia. It was a Russia. It was a busy time with shoppers milling and there's a, in the store, it's a very old, very picturesque, architecturally beautiful store with a huge grand court.
There's an organ. The Wanamaker organ is very famous, but there's a grand court and shoppers mill around there. They have a big display for Christmas, but it was a noontime occasion. Place was filled with shoppers and unknown to everybody that there was mingling around shopping, coming in slowly mingling among the crowd was the Philadelphia Choral Society.
And at a predetermined moment and with a predetermined signal, suddenly they began singing. What they sang was the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. People just stopped. First, they thought what was going on?
Are these people just friends? But then when suddenly from all over the court, over a hundred people singing this tremendous anthem of praise, everyone just stood frozen. In fact, if you scan the audience, there were tears in the eyes of some people as they stood listening to a spontaneous outburst of praise.
That's only a little picture of what this world will someday be like when instead of you turning on your radio and listening to what you don't want to hear, there'll be spontaneous outbursts of praise throughout the universe.
Daily shall he be praised, exalted his name, his name made very, very high. The exaltation. Verse 15 reminds us of the cancellation of sin's dominion. There will be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountain.
Just a handful, and yet the fruit will be like Lebanon. It will be just a little bit, will suddenly blossom into a tremendous harvest. Now, sin's curse will not be totally removed from the earth because men will still die as a result of rebellion and sin.
But all that sin has brought into the world will be subdued to a tremendous extent. And among it will be the curse that has been placed upon the creation order, that in that day there will be no need for farmers.
If anybody here is a farmer, you can just imagine what it would be like to just throw some seed in the ground and just leave it there. You've got an abundant harvest when you come back and you've done very, very little to bring it about.
Amos reminds us as well in his prophecy about that day. He tells us that the day shall come that the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. The plowman overtaking the reaper.
In other words, as soon as you put something in the ground, the plowman, the reaper is there and they're trying of racing with each other. All the tremendous prosperity that the earth will know in that day.
And then in verse number 19, the illumination that will fill the earth. Blessed be His glory's name and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. The whole earth. Not a street that is dark, if I can put it like that.
But the whole earth filled with the knowledge of the Lord. The whole earth filled with His glory. Now you who like to check things out, you can go into your computer Bible program and just look at all the places where it speaks of the earth being full of the glory of the Lord.
I think the first time is relative to is back in the book of Numbers when the spies came back and brought that bad report and caused the people to murmur against God and God says, the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Men may fail, but the earth is going to be filled one day with my glory. Of course, Isaiah sees it on Isaiah chapter 6, the whole earth filled with the glory of the Lord and Habakkuk and so on. But you can check it and look at it.
Tremendous lessons to be learned and contextual things to be considered. But here in light of a day of universal glory, he says the earth is going to be illuminated with the glory of the Lord in that day.
You'll notice an aspiration then that is culminated. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are in that I can ask for nothing more. But there's also a realization that humbles at the end because you notice it's not David, the king.
When David talks about the king, he's just David, the son of Jesse. Takes his place just as the son of Jesse. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse. Not David, the king. David, the son of Jesse. I'm speaking about the only king who really is the king.
And he says, I'm just David, the son of Jesse. Now, just a question before I sit down and close. Any place like this on earth now? Oh, you say no. I mean, we live in a world of injustice. We live in a world of bigotry, of prejudice, of oppression, of the curse and everything else.
Well, now, wait just a second. Is there any place that you know of where there's representation of the headship of Christ? Is there any place that you know of on earth where we are given the responsibility to administer fairly for God without respect of persons?
Any place on earth that you know where there is supposed to be the reign of peace and of love? Any place that you know of upon this earth where there is the recognition of the transcendency, the greatness of God?
Any place on earth that you know of where there is the residence of the glory of God? Any place that you know of on earth where there is the revelation of the sanctity, the holiness of God is maintained?
Is there any place you know of on earth where there is the daily remembrance? I shouldn't say daily. Where there is the remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ? You may say you're describing the ideal local assembly.
Yeah, I am. Because what we do when we gather as a local assembly is really a fore view of what will one day fill an entire earth. An assembly has tremendous responsibility and privilege. That right now we are, you might say, I was going to say a beta test unit.
Okay, that's not really good. We are just a little expression of what one day will fill the entire globe. What a privilege. What a privilege to be linked with testimony for God today. To display, to express, to realize all that will one day be represented, be recognized when the King comes back and reigns.
And that reign really, while it's for a thousand years, his kingdom really is everlasting. A thousand years displayed, and when that thousand years is done, we are reminded from 1 Corinthians, he will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.
The only one who has been the perfect steward, giving back to his Father what was committed to his hands to administer. And he's done it perfectly. And then his kingdom will continue forever. And all that we have looked at will mark his kingdom eternally.
We spoke about those who would clamor to become his servants. Little wonder then that Paul says, present your bodies. Now, that day people will stand in line. They'll be jostling for position. Now you can do it freely to become a willing servant of this one, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, who was the lamb, who will in that day be the lion, who will reign and rule for God.
Shall we pray? Our Father, we bow before thee to thank thee again for the sacred word of God. We thank thee for all that we have looked at of a day yet to come. What a tremendous expectation. We would long that he will have that place of honor, glory, vindication.
We thank thee that this is in the purpose of God and cannot be frustrated by all the powers of earth. All the military might of the world will be united to hinder his return in that field of Armageddon.
And yet, with the sword of his mouth and with the word of his mouth, he will slay his enemies and come to reign. We bless thee for him and can only ask thee to hasten that day when he will have his rightful place.
We would give him that rightful place in our hearts right now and seek to give him that place in the testimony to which we are gathered and would seek to honor him and recognize his inestimable value.
Receive our thanks for him in his own worthy, precious name. Amen.