(4) Christ Is Raised

In fifteen verses Psalm seventeen depicts almost the entirety of the Christian life. In the first part David's appeal for help describes our life in flesh and blood. Every believer is embroiled in the ancient conflict between good and evil. God himself declared war between the line of the godly and the line of the wicked (Gen 3:15). Theologians call this conflict the antithesis. No one escapes this battle. Everyone is either with Jesus or against him. And those who are with Jesus will have "adversaries at [their] right hand" (7); "deadly enemies who surround" them (9). This was true for people like David, who wrote Psalm 17. And it is true for us today.

The last verse is a beautiful testimony to the Christian hope in the life to come: "As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied by your likeness" (15). As sleeping is shorthand for death, so waking is a metaphor for the resurrection. The last verse of this psalm is about the resurrection of the believer, a reality that depends on the resurrection of Christ.