Psalm 20

May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high! May He send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion!

Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.

What were the Apostle John’s thoughts and emotions as he penned the words of Jesus to the Seven Churches of Revelation chapters two and three? Were there highs and lows? Were there fears and sorrows? Was there a trial of hope?

Sandwiched between the letters to the churches and the unfolding cosmic visions of chapters six through eighteen are the Sanctuary – Throne scenes of chapters four and five. Immediately after the seventh church letter, the letter to the lukewarm church of Laodicea, John hears a voice telling him to, “Come up here”. John writes, “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne…” In the Throne Room are worship, the Father, the Lamb, and the decrees of the Almighty – in the Sanctuary John sees (as he will continue to see throughout Revelation) that “the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind” (Daniel 4:25) and that He will bring His people through their pilgrimage on this earth to their eternal destiny of koinonia with Him forever and forever (Revelation chapters 19 – 22).   

Our help comes from the sanctuary and to the sanctuary we may go for help. We may draw near to the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16) where our High Priest Jesus Christ awaits us; we have an anchor of the soul, a hope which is sure and immoveable, a hope that is in this Throne Room – Sanctuary, it is there because Jesus is there (Hebrews 6:20); and He beckons us to draw near to God in the confidence that He is ever interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25).

Though we walk on the earth we do not draw our life from the earth; though our physical bodies breathe the air of this planet we do not live by the air of this planet for we sit in the heavens in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6) and our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). We do not look to the things of earth, the modern equivalents of horses and chariots, for our strength and deliverance, for we are sons and daughters of the Eternal One and we know that true strength is not by earthly might or earthly power but by the Spirit of God (Zechariah 4:6).

Psalm 20 is a prayer that we can pray for others as well as a truth that we can rest in ourselves. On whose behalf can you appropriate Psalm 20 today? Pray this Psalm for your family, your church, your coworkers – pray that those who know Him will know Him deeper and deeper, and pray that those who don’t yet know Jesus will come to know the reality of this Psalm. There is a Sanctuary that surpasses earthly security, there is a Strength that exceeds all that man has devised, there is a Security that will endure forever.