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This verse is taken from:
Psalm 21. 1-13
“search the scriptures” John 5:39
We would like to believe that in this part of the Psalm the king expresses his confidence in God. In spite of serious obstacles, David is now king, yet his position as king is not always secure and peaceful. The Psalm refers to ‘enemies’, to those who ‘hate’ the king, v. 9, and were planning ‘evil’ against him, v. 11. The words of the poet remind us that the Lord Jesus warned his followers of very serious impending dangers as they moved into the world with God’s message of salvation, John 16. 1-4.
In these difficult times, the king trusts in God, he is sheltered in God’s love and, for that reason, he knows he will not be intimidated or moved by his enemies, v. 7. It is God’s hand that will seek out the enemies and He will deal with them justly and severely, v. 8. This brings us to the startling announcement that God will make the king’s enemies ‘as a fiery oven’.
The phrase, ‘as a fiery oven’, may carry the meaning of a city on fire, of something being destroyed. How foolish to imagine that human beings can stand against God and win! The message of the Bible is that God loved the world. He loved us so much that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, ‘to be the Saviour of the world’, 1 John 4. 14. The door is open, wide open, for human beings to escape the ‘fiery oven’ of God’s wrath. John writes, ‘Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’, 1 John 4. 10. We still sing Charles Wesley’s hymn,
‘Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray: I woke - the dungeon flamed with light! My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee’.
The alternative is to fall under God’s judgement, to pass through ‘the fiery oven’ of His wrath. We know God is not ‘willing that any should perish’, 2 Peter 3. 9. M. Lloyd-Jones said, ‘God has done what he has always said he would do, namely, that he would punish sin, and the wages of sin is death’. That is what the ‘fiery oven’ is all about.
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