The seventeenth Psalm is entitled “A Prayer of David,” and in it we have the exercises of the godly man in the midst of the wicked. David speaks to Jehovah of his own integrity and desires to be kept by Him, as the apple of His eye, from the wicked who compass him about. The oppressors of the godly are “the men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: they are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes” (Psalm 17:14). Such is man without God. He thinks only of present things, living in that which is to pass away, without a thought of God and of eternity beyond the grave.

“As for me”

In contrast with the men of the world, the Psalmist tells God of His convictions. He is affected in this life with what is to be his portion in the life to come. This is an altogether personal matter. He cannot speak for others here; it is what affects his own soul before God, but he would have others understand his exercises before the LORD. There were not the crystal-clear revelations of Christianity upon which to rest his soul, but there was evidently light from God to David as to the future, and his faith laid hold upon that which God had revealed; and the Spirit of God through David, in this portion seems to have given light beyond his dispensation.

“I will behold Thy face”

God had appeared to the Patriarchs, to Moses, and to others, and had said to Moses, “I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” and the commentary of the Lord on this is, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Exodus 3:6; Matthew 22:29–32). This Scripture makes known that the saints of God would rise from the dead, and also that they live before the face of God in heaven. Indeed, in Luke’s Gospel, the Lord shows us that Abraham is alive there (Luke 16:22–31); and also, that Moses is alive, for he appeared with Elias on the glory mount in the company of Jesus.

If David apprehended the force of God’s communication to Moses in Exodus 3:6, we can understand how his soul laid hold by faith on the prospect of seeing Jehovah’s face. Whether this was so, or not, the Spirit of God gave him this deep conviction, which enabled him to say with such certainty, “As for me, I will behold Thy face.” Nor can we doubt for a moment that David was thinking of what lay beyond death, for he had just been speaking of the men of this world, who had their portion “in this life.” He was clearly thinking of the life to come.

With the Christian, there is not only the dim light of the Old Testament on this matter, but the crystal-clear light of the New Testament, in both the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, and in the words of the Holy Spirit come down from heaven. Having this light, the Christian can speak with the same conviction as David, and as having faith and hope in the word and promises of God.

The Christian knows what it is to be brought before the face of God, accepted in Christ, and he can say with the writer to the Epistle to the Hebrews, “We see Jesus…crowned with glory and honor”; and can also say, “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face” (2 Corinthians 3:18); and it is our present privilege to possess the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). By faith, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the Christian’s privilege to say with the Psalmist that we behold His face.

We can also say with the Psalmist, “I will behold Thy face” if it is the Lord’s will to take us to Himself before He comes for His church. To the dying thief, who said, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom,” He replied, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42–43). It is no longer to Abraham’s bosom that the saints of God go when released from the earthen vessel, but to the Lord Himself in the heavenly paradise.

Through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit confirms to us the words of the Lord. Paul had been caught up into paradise, had learned the unspeakable bliss of the Lord’s presence there, and could therefore say, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). Had he only thought of himself there would have been no strait, he would only have desired the far better portion, but when he thought of those who were leaning on him, and requiring his tender care, he was willing to continue in his path of trial and suffering for their sake. The Spirit of God also tells us through Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Blessed as it is to behold the face of the Lord in the unclothed state referred to in 2 Corinthians 5, it will be yet more blessed to see the face of Jesus when all the saints are gathered home, even as we read in Revelation 22:3–4: “And His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads.” So that the saints of the present dispensation know what it is to see the unveiled face of Jesus now; they have the prospect of seeing Him and being with Him if called to pass through death and will also see His face in the day of coming glory.

The writer of Psalm 49 contemplated the end of the men of this world who trusted in their riches, saying, “Like sheep they are laid in the grave…and their beauty shall consume in the grave” (verse 14). With the godly there was hope, even as the Psalmist writes, “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive me.” How very blessed was this confidence that looked beyond the grave to be received by God into His presence.

“In righteousness”

If David was to behold Jehovah’s face, he realised it would be in righteousness, for God must ever act in consistency with His holy nature, with the claims of His throne regarding sin perfectly met. Since Christ has died, and in His death meeting every claim of the divine throne in relation to our guilt, we can clearly see how we can behold His face in righteousness. Abraham was accounted righteous by God through faith in Him, and we, too, have righteousness imputed to us “if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:22–25).

Besides, as being in Christ, and having the life of the One in whom we have been justified, God says we are “constituted righteous” (Romans 5:19); and this is the portion of all who truly come under the headship of Christ, the last Adam. Like the prodigal in the best robe, we even now are graced in Christ before God, even as it is written, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are God’s righteousness in Christ now and shall be displayed as God’s righteousness in Christ in the day of His glory.

“I shall be satisfied”

Even now, as having drunk the “living water” (John 4:14), the Christian knows what it is to be satisfied with Christ. Christ is enough to satisfy every desire of the heart that grace has produced in us. And if the believer is called to pass through the article of death and has the “far better” part with Christ in the heavenly paradise, the spirit will find satisfaction in Christ in that blessed place. But here the Psalmist is looking further ahead, as the Christian also does, to the time when every longing will be fully satisfied, and that for all eternity.

“When I awake”

When on earth, the Lord Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11). When death comes to the Christian, it is but sleep, sleep for the body till awakened by the Lord at His coming. Therefore, it is written of Stephen, “And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). Paul, by the Holy Spirit, speaks of the saints who die as in sleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13–15; 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 51), and it is also written of David in Acts 13:36.

The mother who puts her babe to sleep does so in view of its awakening. So with the believer, whether of the Old Testament days or of the days since: those put to sleep by Jesus will be awakened by Jesus. It was David’s confidence and hope; it is ours also. Resurrection was the hope of the saints of old, as seen in the words of David and of Job (Job 19:26, 27). The New Testament abounds with this precious truth. The Lord speaks of “the resurrection of life; and…the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29); and Paul before Felix spoke of “a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15); and other Scriptures show that there are two distinct resurrections, with a thousand years between.

“With thy likeness”

Man was made in the likeness of God, but alas, he soon lost this: but it is the privilege of the Christian to come out in the moral likeness of Jesus here (2 Cor. 3:18). David, by the Holy Spirit is confident he will rise from the dead with the likeness of Jehovah; but the New Testament sheds abundant light on this blessed subject for the Christian.

We shall indeed be like Jesus, whether it be coming out of death, or having our mortal bodies changed, if alive at the coming of the Lord, for, says the Apostle John, “We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Paul joins with John in this glad theme, writing, “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Philippians 3:21).

Well might the Psalmist speak of being satisfied when he awakes “with Thy likeness.” He could not then understand this precious truth as we do now, but faith laid hold of it, even if only known in a dim way. David will indeed be like Jesus; with us, he will have a body of glory, like the body of Jesus, a body suited to the heavenly place where the heavenly saints, in their different families, shall dwell before the face of the Lord, in the Father’s house for the ages of ages.

Our every desire will then be satisfied to the full, for all that God has promised us will then be possessed when we are with Jesus and like Him, sharing His place before the Father’s face, knowing the Father’s love resting on us as it rests on Him, being in the same relationship with the Father, where He is the Firstborn among many brethren; and the church forming the body and bride of Christ, to have His love lavished on her, and being the vessel for the eternal display of the glory of God.