Psalm 72: The Greater Than Solomon

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that Psalm, Psalm 72, and I want us to walk through this Psalm, but if we just take as our text the words of verse 17 to 19, Psalm 72 and verse 17, may his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun, may people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things, blessed be his glorious name forever, may the whole earth be filled with his glory, glory, amen and amen.

[1:03] I'm sure that you would agree that it's always a great encouragement to know that someone is praying for you. There's always something so humbling and so encouraging to know that the Lord has put you on someone's heart and that a person is bringing you to God in prayer.

[1:23] They're bringing you to the throne of grace, as it were. And, you know, as we saw recently in our study of the letter of Colossians, Paul encourages the Colossians by reminding them that both he and Timothy are praying for them.

[1:39] And there's no doubt that it's good to pray for one another. And it's good to tell people that you're mindful of them and that you're praying for them. Because we have this tendency to say nothing to anyone.

[1:52] But that's not the example that we're giving off in Scripture. Paul encouraged the Colossians, as we've seen, they were struggling in their faith and he reminded them that he was praying for them.

[2:04] So, and he was, he reminded them that he was praying for them so that they would know that they're not on their own. That they're part of the body of Christ and that they would be strengthened in their faith and that they would be given the grace to keep going and to keep persevering.

[2:20] And, you know, that's something of what we read here in Psalm 72. Because in Psalm 72, it is a psalm that was written by Solomon and it's a prayer. It's a prayer of Solomon.

[2:32] And it's a prayer for a particular person. But at the time of writing this prayer, which was about 1000 BC, the person whom Solomon was praying for hadn't yet been born.

[2:47] And I say that because the person, as you could guess by singing through it, the person that Solomon is praying for in Psalm 72 is the greater than Solomon. He's praying about Jesus Christ.

[3:00] Solomon, the king of Israel, is praying for the arrival of the Messiah, the covenant king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we mentioned this morning, the title, Lord, we see it all the time in the Psalms and throughout the Bible, the title, Lord, in capital letters, it means the one who keeps covenant.

[3:21] Meaning that the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the covenant king who keeps covenant with his people. He keeps covenant, his covenant promises. But, you know, Solomon wrote this prayer, not so that King Jesus would be encouraged.

[3:36] It was written so that the Lord's people reading and singing this psalm would be encouraged to persevere, to keep going, and to keep looking to this king.

[3:47] And that they would be reminded by singing this psalm and reading it, that they would be reminded of God's covenant promise of a covenant king. And that covenant promise which was made to King David.

[3:59] Because, as you know, Solomon, he was David's son. He was David's successor to the throne of Israel. And back in 2 Samuel 7, when David was king, David was given the assurance of this covenant promise.

[4:16] And David was reminded of God's covenant grace with his people. The covenant that was made, as we saw a few weeks ago, the covenant that was made with Abraham, and then it was reaffirmed to Isaac and to Jacob and to all the children of Israel and then to Moses.

[4:30] And then in 2 Samuel 7, David had the covenant of grace reaffirmed and reassured to him and to his people. And what's remarkable is that when the covenant promise was reaffirmed to King David, the Lord who was the covenant king, he promised to the king of Israel, he promised him that the Messiah will be one of his descendants.

[4:56] And you know, that's how Matthew opens his gospel. He says the genealogy of Jesus, the son of Abraham, the son of David. And you know, the Bible's talking about this Messiah who will be a king and his throne will be established forever.

[5:12] And that's what the Lord said to David in 2 Samuel 7. When your days are fulfilled, and when you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

[5:26] He shall build a house or a dynasty for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

[5:38] And those words of covenant promise in 2 Samuel 7, they were promised, yes, to David's son Solomon, but they were also promised to the greater than Solomon, who was to come a thousand years later.

[5:51] They were promised to the greater than Solomon, the true royal son of God, Jesus Christ. And so as the heir to David's throne, who's Solomon, and as this descendant of the Messiah, Solomon, Solomon here, he's praying for his greater, the greater than Solomon.

[6:10] He's praying for the covenant king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Solomon, he's seeking to encourage the Lord's people to sing this psalm, to read this psalm, to look to the king of this psalm, and he's seeking to encourage the Lord's people by praying for the covenant king according to his covenant promise.

[6:33] And you know, Psalm 72, it's a beautiful prayer, because as you can see yourself, it's a Christ-centered prayer. It's a prayer all about Jesus.

[6:46] And in this prayer that's all about Jesus, we see that Solomon, he prays for three things. He prays for the king, he prays for the kingship, and he prays for the kingdom.

[6:59] And it's all about Jesus. The king, the kingship, and the kingdom. So we look first of all, at Solomon praying for the king.

[7:10] He prays for the king. Look again at verses 1 and 2. So he says, it's a psalm of Solomon, meaning by Solomon. Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son.

[7:23] May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. And what we see in these opening verses is that Solomon begins his prophetic and messianic prayer with a plea for the royal son.

[7:40] And as we said, Solomon, he's not talking about himself as a royal son. He's referring to the greater than Solomon, Jesus Christ. He's talking about the true royal son, King Jesus.

[7:52] And Solomon says, that royal son is God's son. And you know, this ties in exactly with what was said to David in that covenant promise, where the Lord said, I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

[8:08] I will be to him a father. He shall be to me a son. And Solomon is praying here according to that covenant promise that was made with his father, David, and he's pleading the promise that the promise of the royal son would be fulfilled.

[8:24] And when Solomon describes this messianic king, this royal son, he describes him as one who is righteous. He describes him as one who is righteous.

[8:35] Of course, as the royal son of God, he could have been described as one who is glorious or holy or full of honor and majesty. One who is altogether lovely.

[8:47] He was the royal son. He was the perfect son of God. He was the king who would rule over his people. But what Solomon prays for isn't the glory or the holiness or the honor and majesty or perfection of this royal son.

[9:03] Solomon prays for his righteousness. And notice how many times Solomon mentions the righteousness of this son, this royal son, in the opening three verses.

[9:14] He says, give the king your justice. That's a word of righteousness. Oh God, and your righteousness to the royal son. May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice.

[9:25] Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people and the hills in righteousness. And what we have to see is that Solomon's prayer is that the royal son will be the true king of righteousness.

[9:39] That he will be Melchizedek. That he will be the king of righteousness. Not only so that he will act righteously and justly for the sake of those who are unrighteous.

[9:51] But also that he will be himself righteous for the sake of the unrighteous. And this is what Solomon is drawing our attention to here. That this royal son, this covenant king, the righteous king, Jesus Christ, he's praying that he will act on behalf of those who are poor and needy.

[10:11] Those who are unrighteous. Those who are unable to make themselves righteous before a holy God. And Solomon is pleading that the Messiah will act on behalf of these people.

[10:25] He's pleading that he'll act on behalf of sinners. And this is what Solomon says in verse 4. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people and give deliverance to the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

[10:42] And who do you think the oppressor is? The oppressor is sin, Satan, and death. The oppressor is the curse. We spoke about the curse this morning.

[10:55] The curse that's upon us all. The curse that has been with us since the fall of Adam at the beginning. The curse that has infected and affected every area of our lives and it has brought us nothing but pain and sorrow.

[11:10] Because that's what was promised to Eve, wasn't it? In the garden there will be pain, there will be sorrow, there will be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

[11:25] But the seed of the woman says the Lord God in the garden. He says the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. And here is Solomon all those years later and he's still praying that that promise will be fulfilled.

[11:41] That the covenant king of righteousness, righteousness, that he will come and he will crush the oppressor. That he'll come and crush the head of the serpent and destroy the power of sin and defeat death and destroy sin.

[11:55] But more than that, Solomon is praying that the righteous king will make poor and needy sinners who have no righteousness of their own, no right standing with God at all.

[12:07] He's praying that the covenant king of righteousness will make the unrighteous righteous. And you know, when you come to the New Testament and you see the fulfillment of Solomon's prayer and you see it all unfolding in the Gospels and in the New Testament letter, we're told that Christ suffered once for sins.

[12:32] The righteous for the unrighteous. That he might bring us to God by being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. It was the Father, says Paul, who made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

[12:49] Why? So that we, poor, needy sinners, could be made the righteousness of God in him. My friend, in this Christ-centered prayer, Solomon is praying about Calvary's great transaction.

[13:06] He's praying about this great exchange between the righteous king and the unrighteous sinner. And he's praying about the glory of the Gospel that at the cross Christ died for you.

[13:20] You know, let's make this personal. Solomon is saying here that at the cross the worst about you was laid upon him and the best about him was laid upon you.

[13:35] your sins were transferred to Christ. His righteousness was transferred to you. His, he was credited with your sin. You were credited with his righteousness.

[13:48] The penalty that was due to you, he took it all. He bore it all. And you are justified by faith in him. It's Calvary's great transaction.

[14:00] That's what Horatius Boner said. Man of sorrows, what a name. For the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a saviour.

[14:12] In my place condemned he stood. That's what he talks about. Calvary's great transaction with God's royal son, the covenant of, the covenant king of righteousness, he made you righteous by faith in him.

[14:30] And notice what Solomon prays about those who are made righteous by the king of righteousness. Look at what he says in verse 5. May they fear you while the sun endures.

[14:42] And as long as the sun, as long as the moon throughout all generations, may he be like rain that falls on the morn grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more.

[14:59] Solomon. And what Solomon is praying here is that those who are made righteous by faith in the covenant king, Jesus Christ, he prays that they will continue to fear the Lord as long as the sun endures.

[15:17] And that they're to fear the Lord because their righteousness doesn't, isn't their own. Their righteousness, our righteousness, if you're a Christian tonight, our righteousness, it's sure and steadfast.

[15:32] It's not our own. It's been given to us, merited by Christ and Christ alone. And our righteousness, this is the beauty of it, it doesn't ebb and flow.

[15:45] Your Christian life might ebb and flow. You might have good days and bad days. You might feel close to the Lord some days. You might feel as far away from the Lord as possible thinking I can't be saved.

[15:58] But the wonder and the beauty of this king of righteousness is that your righteousness when it is imputed to you, it does not ebb and flow. It doesn't peak or trough.

[16:09] It doesn't rise or fall. And that's why I love the catechism. It puts it so succinctly. Justification. This is what you are. Justification.

[16:20] Being made righteous. It's an act of God's free grace. It's an act of the covenant king of righteousness wherein he pardons all our sins and he accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ.

[16:37] The righteousness of the covenant king being imputed to us and received by faith alone. My friend, it's all because of the king of righteousness that our righteousness never changes.

[16:52] which means that we are as righteous in God's sight today as we will be when we stand before him on the shores of eternity.

[17:04] and if you're unconverted this is what you're missing out on. This is what you're missing out on because when we trust in this righteous king Jesus we are justified by faith and we have peace with God.

[17:20] and what Solomon says here it's so beautiful because he prays that those poor and needy sinners who have been made righteous by faith in the covenant king of righteousness he says in verse seven he says that they will flourish he says that they will flourish that's what he's praying for here in his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more it's a wonderful prayer that we who are made righteous by the king by simple faith commitment to Jesus Christ he says that we will flourish we will grow we will increase and be strengthened by the grace of God in Jesus Christ that's what's promised to you if you commit your life to Jesus Christ maybe you're on the edge wanting to commit wanting to make this commitment to this righteous king

[18:26] Jesus Christ well this is what's promised to you that you'll flourish what's stopping you is the fact the reason you're not flourishing or growing or increasing is because you're not committing but the promises and every Christian will testify to this that when you commit to the righteous king you'll flourish and grow and increase and be strengthened by the grace of God in Jesus Christ and you know I love those words in Psalm 92 where the psalmist speaks about the righteous flourishing in the house of God he says those that within the house of God are planted by his grace they shall grow up and flourish all in God's in our God's holy place that's what's promised flourishing growing increasing when we trust in the righteous king Jesus Christ and so in this Christ centered prayer Solomon is seeking to encourage the Lord's people by praying for the covenant king according to this covenant promise and in these opening verses he's prayed for the king but secondly we see that Solomon prays for the kingship so the king and the kingship look at verse 8 he says may he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust may the kings of

[20:00] Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts may all kings fall down before him all nations serve him and in this section we see that Solomon prays for the kingship or the rule and the reign of the covenant king Jesus Christ and what Solomon prays for is that the sovereignty and the supremacy of king Jesus will know no restriction or boundary he says in verse 8 may he have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth and the river which Solomon refers to you might have it in a footnote in your bible the river that he refers to is the river euphrates and for the people of Israel the river euphrates was an important river because it marked one of the boundary lines of the promised land the promised land that the lord had given to his people and everything up until the river euphrates was part of the promised land it was all within this boundary and that was the boundary that Solomon ruled and reigned over that's as far as his kingdom extended to but what

[21:18] Solomon is praying here is that the rule and the reign of the messianic king will not only include this promised land up until the river euphrates his prayer is that the messianic rule and reign of king jesus will go from the river euphrates to the ends of the earth Solomon's prayer is that the messianic rule and reign of jesus will have no boundaries and no restrictions he's praying that the kingship of jesus will be a universal rule and a universal reign over all nations in which people as he says himself in distant lands and distant places will acknowledge the messianic king and confess him to be their lord and bow down before him and this is what Solomon is saying may desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust may the kings of tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute may kings of sheba and seba bring gifts to him may all kings fall down before him all nations serve him and Solomon mentions the names of all these places like tarshish and sheba and seba they were all distant lands they were all outside this boundary line of the river euphrates they were all foreign lands that worshipped foreign gods and served foreign kings and Solomon's prayer is that these distant peoples nations tribes and languages that they will submit and bow down under the universal rule reign of king jesus and you know it's fascinating to think that this messianic and prophetic prayer of Solomon it has been fulfilled it's been fulfilled you look at yourself tonight if you're a christian you are outside the boundary of the river euphrates and you have come to worship this king and that's because when jesus rose from the dead he said to his disciples he reminded them about his kingship and he said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me and jesus was saying that he's sovereign he's supreme over all nations over all the earth and his kingdom his kingship his rule and his reign is over all creation but you know what's remarkable is that when jesus received this kingship over all the nations he then sent his disciples into all these nations to preach the gospel jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i've commanded you and behold i'm with you always even to the end of the world and you remember when jesus when he ascended in acts chapter one when he ascended to heaven he commands the disciples to be witnesses for him from jerusalem within the boundary to judea outside the boundary to samaria further outside the boundary then he says to the uttermost parts of the earth my friend we are to be witnesses for christ because christ's kingship knows no boundaries and we can have confidence as witnesses for christ as timid as we are and as weak as we feel we can have confidence because his rule and reign is over all the earth but we can also have confidence because king jesus has promised as he said to his disciples long ago that he will go

[25:19] with us to the end of the world he'll go with us to the end of the world he's promised to go with us into our homes and among our families where there is a separation because of the gospel he's promised to go with us into our workplaces and into our communities where there is hostility towards the gospel the lord has promised to go with us because this is his promise to us he has given it to us and we're to be witnesses for him because his kingship is over all people and over all nations it's a wonderful prayer but then in verse 12 solomon tells us what jesus is kingship does for people the lord is sending us out but this is what he does for people this is what jesus is kingship does for sinners he says in verse 12 for he delivers the needy when he calls the poor and him who has no helper he has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy from oppression and violence he redeems their life and precious is their blood in his sight solomon prays that jesus will help sinners those who are needy those who need help those who who need to be redeemed and he will help them because he's the covenant king their life is precious to him and you know it reminds me of what isaiah prophesied about jesus in isaiah 61 you remember when isaiah prophesied and he said the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to those who are bound and to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and you remember how 800 years later how these words were fulfilled in luke chapter 4 where we're told that jesus he came into nazareth his hometown he came into the synagogue on the sabbath day and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet isaiah was handed to him and he unrolled the scroll and he found the place where it was written the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives the recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the lord's favor and you know when jesus rolled up the scroll and sat down in the synagogue that day all the people were just looking at him in amazement and jesus said to them all today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing and this is the kingship that solomon is praying that the messianic king will have a kingship that brings good news to people in need and my friend the kingship of this messianic king it has brought good news to us because we are in need we are poor needy helpless sinners in need of this wonderful savior but sadly there are many people who are still asking about jesus are you the one that is to come or shall we look for another and yet solomon is saying to us here you don't need to look anywhere else you don't need to go anywhere else you don't need to turn to anyone else because with this messianic king jesus christ with him the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear and the dead they're raised up the poor have the good news preached

[29:19] to them this messianic king he says has a kingship that knows no boundaries and a kingdom that will be established forever what better king to follow than this king king jesus because he has a kingdom that is established forever and that's the last thing solomon prays about in this psalm so he said it's a christ centered prayer solomon is wanting to encourage us to keep looking to this king this king jesus and he's praying for the covenant king according to the covenant promise and solomon he's prayed as we've seen he's prayed for the king the kingship and lastly solomon prays for the kingdom the kingdom look at verse 15 he says long may he live may gold of sheba be given to him may prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day may there be abundance of corn in the land on the tops of the mountains may it wave may its fruit be like lebanon and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field and as solomon begins to bring his prayer to a close he focuses his attention towards the kingdom of the king he's prayed for the king and his righteousness he's prayed for the kingship of the king and now he moves on to the kingdom of the messianic king jesus christ and like his kingship the kingdom of the messianic king has no boundaries it's not governed by space and it's not even governed by time it's a kingdom that endures forever but notice what solomon prays for in verse 15 he says long may he live may the gold of sheba be given to him may prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day solomon prays about jesus he says long live the king long live the king and his prayer is followed by this desire that many will acknowledge him for who he is just like the queen of sheba he mentions the gold of sheba and solomon is referring there to his own experience when the queen of sheba came to solomon and acknowledged the wisdom of solomon and she came to him with all this gold and so too here

[32:01] Solomon he's praying that the messianic king will be acknowledged in his kingdom and that those in his kingdom will worship him as the king of glory but you know I find the words of verse 15 interesting where Solomon says may prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day and the question that comes to my mind is how do we pray for Jesus how can we invoke blessings upon him because is he not the one who intercedes on our behalf is he not our mediator is he not our advocate with the father and is he not the one who blesses us as his people and yes the answer is yes but we have to see that Solomon's request is not for us to pray for King Jesus and his blessing Solomon's request is that we will pray for the kingdom of

[33:05] King Jesus and the Lord's blessing upon it and that's what Solomon means when he says pray for him pray for him he means that we must not pray for the head and the king of the church but for the body and the people of the church we're to pray for Christ's people throughout his kingdom we're to pray that his kingdom would extend and that his kingship would be known and that his cause would be established throughout the world my friend we're to pray for him we're to pray for him because that's what the covenant king said to his disciples do you remember in Matthew chapter 9 and Matthew's gospel it's all about the covenant king and in Matthew chapter 9 Jesus he was going around all the cities and villages and he was teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and he was healing all these diseases and all these people and when he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and then

[34:18] Jesus said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest and that's what we're to do that's the command of the covenant king we're to pray for the harvest by praying to the lord of the harvest and that's what Solomon is reminding us he's reminding us that this is non negotiable we must pray it's a divine imperative pray for him we must pray we are commanded to pray we are to pray for him we're to pray for the harvest field that it would flourish we're to pray that the kingdom would extend that people would be one to Christ that there would be this great blessing this abundance of blessing and that's the image that Solomon gives in verse 16 may there be abundance of corn in the land on the tops of the mountains may it wave may its fruits be like Lebanon and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field

[35:28] Solomon prays that the church would pray for the king and its head and that his kingdom would extend and that his harvest field would flourish and that salvation would be one for those outside of Christ and with this prayer for the messianic covenant king Solomon bases everything he's saying upon the covenant promise of grace everything goes back to the covenant because as we said earlier the covenant of grace it was a covenant that was promised and inaugurated and established with Abraham then reaffirmed to Isaac to Jacob to the children of Israel to Moses then to David and second Samuel and here's Solomon David's son he's praying for the blessing of the messianic kingdom according to the covenant of grace because the covenant of grace that was made with Abraham it was when the Lord said to

[36:29] Abraham I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great you shall be a blessing I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you I will curse and in you all the nations all the families of the earth will be blessed and here's Solomon on his knees before the Lord and he's praying for the blessing of the covenant king according to that covenant promise he's saying in verse 17 may his name endure forever his fame continue as long as the son may people be blessed in him and all nations may they call him blessed Solomon's prayer for blessing the blessing of the covenant king his kingship and his kingdom it's all according to the covenant of grace it's all according to what God said to Abraham through you all the families all the nations of the earth will be blessed and Solomon here he's he's praying that the name of

[37:42] Jesus would endure forever and that all the nations would call him blessed and you know that's what Paul reminded he reminds us about the risen and exalted king because you remember in Philippians 2 that after Jesus was obedient unto death even the death of the cross Solomon says God has highly exalted him he's given to him a name that's above every other name so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father and that's what Solomon is praying here he's praying that everyone everywhere will bow their knee before this messianic king Jesus and you know for you my unconverted friend Solomon believe it or not he was praying that you will bow your knee before king

[38:51] Jesus and confess that he is your lord that's what his prayer is about that you will bow and that you will confess this king as your lord and you know it's no wonder that Solomon concludes his prayer this prayer for the king and his kingship and his kingdom he concludes with this great benediction he says blessed be the lord the god of israel who alone does wondrous things blessed be his glorious name forever may the whole earth be filled with his glory amen and amen Solomon concludes his prayer with this beautiful doxology of praise to god praise for this covenant king Jesus christ and in these words he's urging the lord's people and he's encouraging us to praise the lord he's encouraging us to praise him because he alone does wondrous things and he's worthy of all praise because of the glory of his actions his actions in creating us in redeeming us and also in keeping us creating redeeming and keeping my friend Solomon's desire and prayer is that we will know this king his desire and prayer is that the whole earth will be filled with his glory his desire and prayer is that from the rising of the sun to where it sets his name will be praised and that we as sinners would respond to the king his kingship and his kingdom and respond with the words as Solomon concludes his prayer amen and amen blessed be his glorious name forever may the whole earth be filled with his glory amen and amen and so in his Christ centered prayer

[40:54] Solomon is wanting to encourage us by praying about the greater than Solomon he's encouraging us to look to the covenant king and to realize his kingship and to see his kingdom that his kingdom is established and it's enduring forever and my friend if you don't know this king and if you haven't submitted to his kingship and if you're not part of the kingdom then the message of this covenant king Jesus Christ his message to you tonight is the message that he first proclaimed the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel the desire and prayer of Solomon is that you will bow down before this king and confess that he is

[41:56] Lord see to it that that is your priority in this week ahead may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord our gracious God we marvel at who this king is and what this king does and what he is still doing and help us we pray to or to bow down before him and acknowledge that he is Lord that he is Lord over every area of our lives because he is not only our creator and our redeemer but he is the one who is keeping us and sustaining us and upholding us each and every day help us then we pray to acknowledge him and to keep looking to him watch over us we ask in the week that lies ahead a week that is unknown to us but known only to thee that I would give us grace to cope with whatever is before us guard our hearts and our minds we pray for we ask it in Jesus name and for his sake amen we shall conclude by singing the closing words of that psalm psalm 72 psalm 72 from verse 17 his name forever shall endure last like the sun it shall men shall be blessed in him and blessed all nations shall him call now blessed be the

[43:32] Lord our God the God of Israel for he alone doth wondrous works and glory that excel and blessed be his glorious name to all eternity the whole earth let his glory fill amen so let it be these verses to God's praise these verses to God's praise his name forever shall endure last like the sun it shall and shall be blessed in heaven and blessed all nations shall him call now blessed be the Lord the Lord the Lord of Israel for he our Lord doth wondrous works in glory that excel and blessed be the Lord blessed be his glorious name to all to all eternity the whole earth let his glory glory fair amen so let it be the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore amen