Introduction: The Pursuit of Joy
If you were to ask the world what it seeks, after you strip away all the layers of ambition, wealth, and power, you would find one simple, universal desire: the desire for joy.
People will climb the highest mountains, sail the widest seas, build the tallest towers—all in a relentless pursuit of lasting happiness, a settled joy.
Yet so often, this joy proves to be a fleeting phantom. The promotion brings more stress. The new possession loses its shine. The earthly victory is soon forgotten in the face of the next struggle. The world’s joy is circumstantial, dependent on things that rust, decay, and pass away.
But the Bible speaks of a different kind of joy—a joy that is not dependent on circumstances, but on a Person. A joy that is not found but given. It is this profound, God-given joy that is the subject of our text this morning. Psalm 21 is a song of victory, a psalm of thanksgiving, and most importantly, a psalm of royal joy. It was written for a king, but it speaks to every believer. In it, we see a perfect portrait of our true King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the unshakeable joy He possesses—a joy in which we are invited to share.
Let us walk through this majestic psalm and discover three great truths:
1. The Source of the King’s Joy
2. The Scope of the King’s Victory
3. The Song of the King’s People
I. The Source of the King’s Joy (vv. 1–7)
“The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!” (v. 1)
The psalm opens with an explosion of jubilation! But notice immediately where the joy is located. The king does not rejoice in his own wisdom, his own military might, or the size of his kingdom. The verse is explicit: he shall joy in thy strength, O LORD. His rejoicing is great in thy salvation.
Here is the first and most fundamental lesson for our souls: true, lasting joy is found not in our own resources, but in God’s. David, the earthly king, knew that any victory he achieved was not his own—it was a direct result of the strength and saving power of Jehovah.
And see how God lavishes His goodness upon His anointed king:
“Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.” (vv. 2–3)
The word “preventest” in the King James English is beautiful. It does not mean to hinder but to come before or to precede. God doesn’t just wait for the king to ask; He comes forward to meet him with blessings! He anticipates our needs. He is a God of proactive, overflowing goodness. He gives the king his heart’s desire and crowns him with pure gold—a symbol of supreme value, authority, and purity.
But the greatest gift is yet to come:
“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.” (v. 4)
While this certainly applied to David in the promise of a lasting dynasty, can you not hear the echo of a greater King? Who else but Jesus Christ could truly be given “length of days for ever and ever”? On the cross, it seemed life was taken from Him—but He, who is the Resurrection and the Life, asked life of the Father and was raised from the grave, defeating death itself to live and reign forevermore!
This is the ultimate source of joy: our King lives! And because He lives, we too shall live. His glory, His honour, His majesty—all spoken of in verses 5 and 6—are not self-generated. The text says, “His glory is great in thy salvation,” and “honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.”
The culmination of this joy is found in verse 6:
“For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.”
The final source of the King’s joy is the very presence of God. It is not the crown, not the victory, not even the long life that is the ultimate prize—it is the face of God, His countenance, His favor, His fellowship. This is the wellspring from which all true joy flows. Our King, Jesus, now sits at the right hand of the Father, ever in His presence, full of a joy that is our inheritance.
II. The Scope of the King’s Victory (vv. 8–12)
Now the tone of the psalm shifts—from the celebration of blessings received to the certainty of victory to come. It speaks of the king’s enemies and their ultimate fate.
“Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.” (vv. 8–9)
This language is fierce and absolute. It describes a victory that is not partial, but total. The hand of the King, which is the hand of God, will find all His enemies. There is no place to hide from the justice of the Almighty.
Who are these enemies? For David, they were the Philistines, the Ammonites, and other hostile nations. But for our great King Jesus, the enemies are far more formidable: Sin, Death, and the Devil. These are the spiritual forces that have held humanity in bondage.
And the Bible declares that their defeat is certain. When Christ returns, He will come as the righteous Judge. The “fiery oven” speaks not of petty revenge, but of the pure, holy, and terrifying wrath of God against all that is evil and unholy. Sin will be consumed. Rebellion will be crushed. Every force that has set itself against God and His Christ will be utterly and eternally defeated.
This is not a message of fear for the believer—it is a message of profound comfort! It means that evil will not have the last word. Injustice will not reign forever. That which has caused you pain, tempted your soul, and threatened this world—it is on a leash, and its days are numbered. The victory of our King is total and all-encompassing. He will not just win the war; He will eradicate the very memory of the enemy from the land of the living (v. 10).
III. The Song of the King’s People (v. 13)
After this majestic vision of the King’s joy and the King’s victory, how does the psalm conclude? It does not end with the king boasting—it ends with the people singing.
“Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.” (v. 13)
This is the proper response to all that God has done. It is the only fitting conclusion. Our hearts, having seen the source of true joy and the scope of absolute victory, must erupt in worship.
Notice the final pivot. The psalm began with the king rejoicing in God’s strength, and it ends with the people calling for God to be exalted in His own strength. The focus, from beginning to end, remains steadfastly on God Himself.
Our lives are to be a living out of this verse: “Be thou exalted, LORD!” This should be the cry of our hearts in the morning and our meditation at night. We do not say, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in my strength, my goodness, or my accomplishments.” No! We say, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength.”
And what is the result? “So will we sing and praise thy power.”
Our praise is the direct consequence of recognizing His power. When we understand that our salvation, our security, and our future joy are all held in the mighty hand of God and secured by the victory of His Son, we cannot help but sing. Our worship is not a duty we perform—it is a spontaneous eruption of a grateful heart.
Conclusion: Is This King Your King?
My friends, we have looked this morning at a psalm about a King—not just King David, but King Jesus.
He is the King who rejoices in the strength of His Father.
He is the King who was crowned with glory and honor after He asked for life and was given it for ever and ever.
He is the King whose hand will find all His enemies and bring forth perfect justice.
The great question for each one of us today is this: Is this King your King?
Have you placed your trust in Him? Have you turned from finding joy in your own strength and learned to rejoice in His salvation? The joy described in this psalm is not for everyone—it is for those who belong to the King.
If you are weary from chasing the fleeting joys of this world, I invite you today to come to King Jesus. Bow your knee to Him. Confess your need for His salvation. He will meet you not with condemnation, but with the “blessings of goodness.” He will take away your sin and give you His righteousness. He will give you a joy that the world cannot give and the world cannot take away.
And for those of us who already know Him as our King, let us take the final verse as our charge. Let us leave this place determined to live lives that exalt the Lord in His strength. In our homes, in our workplaces, in our secret struggles, let our confidence be in His power, not our own. And let our lives become a song—a joyful anthem of praise to the power of the One who has secured our great salvation.
Be thou exalted, O LORD!
