Destruction and Rejoicing

Last Sunday I discoursed on Psalm 5, a psalm of David. As I began to deal with the last verses of that Psalm, time was giving out. I can sense when a congregation is becoming saturated with information. When that happens, it is time to start winding down. However, being one who likes to milk all he can out of a verse, I was frustrated that I was not doing justice to the last verses of the Psalm. I was merely hitting the high points. Because of this, I felt let down after the sermon. Such are some of the peculiar trials that belong to preachers. So I will ease myself of this frustration by commenting on those verses in a written meditation.

Psalms 5:10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. 11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. 12 For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

In this Psalm David is interceding to God against his enemies. He prays to God to destroy his enemies. Observe in verse 10 that David’s enemies have also rebelled against God. Those who rebel against God will also oppose God’s servants. When David prays to God to destroy his enemies, he is asking God to do what God has already purposed to do. David had just said in verse 6:

Psalms 5:6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

Our Lord Jesus taught us to pray that the will of our heavenly Father be done. When we see God destroy the wicked, we are seeing that prayer answered. Notice that connected with the destruction of the wicked is the rejoicing of the righteous. When the wicked are destroyed the righteous are shouting. Now just why is this?

In verse 11 David acknowledges that God defends the righteous. A vital part of that defense is the destruction of the wicked. If the wicked were not stopped at some point in the pursuit of their counsels, they would completely destroy the righteous. This fact is vividly expressed in Psalm 124.

Psalms 124:1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

That the righteous are still numbered among the living in this earth is owing to God’s judgment of the wicked throughout history. Therefore, when the enemies of God’s people are destroyed, the righteous should rejoice. And we see this pattern in Scripture. When the wicked Egyptians, the oppressors of Israel, were drowned in the Red sea, Israel sang for joy (EXO 15:1-21).

Or consider the wicked Athaliah, who destroyed all the royal seed in Judah save one and seized the reigns of power. Observe God’s people rejoicing when she was destroyed.

2 Chronicles 23:21 And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

The wise man Solomon said it well.

Proverbs 11:10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.

When God destroys Mystery Babylon, which has persecuted the apostles, the prophets, and the saints, God calls upon His servants to rejoice.

Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

But, as I noted in closing last Sunday, the ultimate answer to the prayer of Psalm 5:10-12 will be realized at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom” (2TI 4:1). Paul describes what will occur at this time.

2 Thessalonians 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Observe that at Christ’s appearing, the wicked will be destroyed from the presence of the Lord. This fulfills the petition of PSA 5:10:

Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

The wicked do not want God. That is their counsel and by that counsel they shall fall. God will grant their desire and forever banish them from His presence. At this time also the Lord will be glorified and admired “in all them that believe,” that is, in “all those that put their trust in thee,” as PSA 5:11 states it. Then the righteous will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (MAT 25:34). They shall “come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (ISA 35:10). This ultimately fulfills the petition of PSA 5:11:

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

So the last three verses of Psalm 5 express in prayer of the yearning we have for the coming of our Lord. In view of the final overthrow of all our enemies and the everlasting joy that shall accompany that event, we do well to sum up PSA 5:10-12 in this simple prayer:

Revelation 22:20 Even so, come, Lord Jesus.