The Gospel in the Psalms
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Why This Topic?
Why This Topic?
Last time we looked at the Gospel in the Pentateuch, we used Luke 24:13-27, which explicitly says that beginning at Moses and the Prophets that Christ showed them all things concerning Himself.
What about the psalms? What are they? Do they show Christ? Why do we have the Psalms and what did they do?
The Psalms are prayers and songs celebrating God’s relationship with His people
They span a period of around 600 years.
The Psalms often express praise to God, anguish in difficulty, but if all of God’s Word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work how do the Psalms do this?
The Psalms provide us with “experiential theology.” The psalms are rich in emotion that is governed by truth.
There is a logical expression to the Psalms - if you look at Psalms you see their are five books organizing the 150 Psalms into logical groups - we are just not sure what the organization is.
There are forty-one psalms in Book I (Pss. 1–41), thirty-one psalms in Book II (Pss. 42–72), seventeen psalms in Book III (Pss. 73–89), seventeen psalms in Book IV (Pss. 90–106), and forty-four psalms in Book V (Pss. 107–150).
Very wise men have studied these Psalms, and, while, there isn’t ignorance of the organization there isn’t a consensus on the organization.
Why Does It Matter?
Studying this topic should cause us to have greater confidence in Christ
Studying this topic should cause us to have greater confidence in Christ
The Bible has a story line: it traces an unfolding drama revealing Jesus and His work. In the Old Testament it is there: it has shadows, types, and symbols but it is there.
Studying this topic should cause us to use God’s Word correctly
Studying this topic should cause us to use God’s Word correctly
People can and do misinterpret the Word of God - and it is to their detriment!
One of the best ways to find Christ in the Old Testament is by taking New Testament passages and following them back to the Old. This is not poor homiletic but “rightly handling the Word of Truth” as spoken in 2 Timothy 2:15.
To find the Gospel we need to know the Gospel
To find the Gospel we need to know the Gospel
We have help from two passages of Scripture.
Romans 10:8-10 gives us a glimpse of the content and appropriation of the Gospel.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
In 1 Cor. 15:1-5 we have a marvellous statement on the content of the Gospel.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
The Gospel is more than believing; it is believing certain content about Christ.
A Jesus or Gospel of your imagination will not save you. Someone you call your Messiah will not save you. Only Jesus can save you - your Gospel must be all about Him and rooted in Him.
In this message the hardest thing has been to decide which Psalms to include
The typical Messianic psalms are 2; 8; 16; 22; 40; 45; 68; 69; 72; 89; 109; 110; 118, and 132.
These Psalms speak more directly of the Messiah and his work and are used in the New Testament in this way.
In our last study we had the following main elements:
We Were Created for God
We Have Sinned Against God
The Gospel Is Given by God
We Can Be Rescued by God
In Psalms we see some similar themes
Psalm 8: All of life is all about God (the Psalmist uses creation to show this)
Psalm 16: Death has no victory!
Psalm 22: Suffering finds victory in perseverance. This Psalm has the prophetic words uttered by Christ: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Due to brevity (I went too long last week) we will not cover this one in depth.
The Gospel in the Psalms
The Gospel in the Psalms
All of life is all about God (Psalm 8)
All of life is all about God (Psalm 8)
This Psalm is about God’s people praising God for His creation and where man stands in that creation.
This psalm starts and ends with the words, O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Genesis 1-2 is the heart behind these words, just as we saw in the Pentateuch, on Creation, these words stand on that foundation: we were created by God, for God’s glory, not for ourselves.
The names of God here are significant:
O Yahweh, our Adonai, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
The Psalm ends the same way, calling out to God in that covenant name of Yahweh, and the second name, Adonai, denoting Him as our master.
The heart of this Psalm is found in in Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
These words are quoted in Hebrews 2:5-9
For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.
It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
This is a Psalm about the supremacy of Christ and the writer of Hebrews brings this to full circle - He who was above all angels was made a little lower than the angels so that He might taste death.
The Gospel is all about the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ.
This Psalm highlights the reality that He who was involved in Creation put Himself lower than His creation that He might redeem man.
The reference in Hebrews 2:9 is not a statement in favor of Universalism, nor does it “disprove” Calvinism.
All those who have faith in Christ, He has tasted death for them. Hence, Paul can say, Death, where is your sting, Grave, where is your victory? But this is ONLY true for the believer. No one outside of Christ is privy to those words.
Adam failed in the plan of God but Christ was successful. All in Adam DIE, all in Christ are made alive!
Death Has No Victory for Christ or those in Christ! (Psalm 16)
Death Has No Victory for Christ or those in Christ! (Psalm 16)
Psalm 16 opens with a prayer to God to preserve David because he has taken refuge in God. The word ‘preserve’ and the word ‘refuge’ both stress protection.
This Psalm is full of trust and confidence in the Lord.
What this Psalm shows is words of David that are both personal and prophetic.
The Psalm really apexes with versus 9-11 - the ESV Study Bible sums it up as “hope in everlasting joy.”
Peter cites this Psalm in Acts 2:25-28
For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Paul uses this Psalm in Acts 13:35
Therefore he says also in another psalm,
“ ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’
In both of these cases the Psalm is saying that it prophecies of the resurrection of Christ.
Peter says in so many words that this Psalm wasn’t about David - he says in Acts 2:29
“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
He says that it was about Christ in Acts 2:31
he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
You may as the question, was David fully aware of all these truths?
I would say probably not but the writer of the Psalm - the Holy Spirit - and the one breathing into David these words - the Father - knew exactly what these words were referring to.
I get quite annoyed when people want to stress the ignorance of the writer as impacting the meaning of the text.
It is clear that this psalm is a promise of the resurrection, which much of Jewish teaching supported. How this would happen was not “crystal clear” but any question goes out the window when we see Christ’s words and the Apostle’s words after the resurrection.
Belcher, in his book on the Psalms has this quote from Walter Kaiser, which I agree with
...Kaiser uses this text to argue that meaning is rooted in the human author and that a prophet could foresee all the future fulfillments of his prophecy.
The prophet not only saw the meaning of the prophecy for his own day (the literal historical sense called historia), but he also perceived the meaning of the prophecy for the future (theoria).
Thus every Old Testament prophet foresaw the future fulfillment(s) of his prophecy. Peter specifically says that David was a prophet and he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ (Acts 2:30–31).
Trust finds victory in perseverance (Psalm 22)
Trust finds victory in perseverance (Psalm 22)
Jesus utters these words from the cross: Psalm 22:1
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Once again, was David going through suffering and feelings of abandonment? Absolutely, I am sure he wrote many of these words about his own suffering.
What David wrote, did it find more truth in the person of Christ and, as a result, was it also prophetical? Absolutely!
Psalm 22:18 finds fulfillment in Matthew 27:35
Psalm 22:7 finds fulfillment in Matthew 27:39
Psalm 22:8 finds fulfillment in Matthew 27:43
Psalm 22:1 finds fulfillment in Matthew 27:46
Sure, David was feeling abandonment but he was never truly abandoned by God. He felt forsaken but he was never truly forsaken by God. These emotions expressed by David find actual fulfillment only in Christ
Spurgeon said this of this passage, There are seasons when the brightness of our Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us.
It is only a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ's case it was a real forsaking.
We grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father's love; but the real turning away of God's face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it caused him?
The Eternal Reign of Christ (Psalm 110)
The Eternal Reign of Christ (Psalm 110)
There are those who want to limit this psalm and that is very offensive to me.
This psalm is a royal psalm after victory in battle but it cannot be limited to David and it speaks more of Christ than it does anyone else
Calvin says of this psalm, In this psalm David sets forth the perpetuity of Christ’s reign, and the eternity of his priesthood … Having the testimony of Christ that this psalm was penned in reference to himself, we need not apply to any other quarter for the corroboration of this statement … the truths here stated relate neither to David nor to any other person than the Mediator alone.
The ESV Study Bible notes that this psalm is one of the most cited OT texts in the NT, with quotations or allusions appearing in the Gospels, Acts, the Pauline epistles, Hebrews, and the Petrine epistles.
This Psalm speaks of
the king who will reign over all people
The king-priest, which none other than Christ could fulfill in the nation of Israel
the subduing of the Gentiles (nations) to the reign and rule of Christ [this psalm speaks of me!]
This Psalm is quoted in the New Testament
Psalm 110:1 is quoted in Matthew 22:44; Hebrews 1:5; 5:5; Matthew 26:64
Psalm 110:4 is quoted in Hebrews 5:6; 7:17, 21.
I am just giving a few; this Psalm is stated clearly to reference Christ throughout the New Testament.
Jesus notes that David calls this king “my Lord” and all agree that this reference was to the Messiah, whom Jesus states He is that Messiah in Matthew 22, Mark 12 and Luke 20.
Psalm 110:4 is of particular notice as it references back to Genesis 14 with Abraham giving tithes to Melchisedek.
We see this referred to in Zechariah 6:9-14, where Zechariah says these two offices (priest and king) will be united in the Messiah; it is speaking of the final king of the Davidic line who reigns forever.
Hebrews states that Jesus had a better priesthood than that of Aaron because it preceded Aaron and is greater than the Aaronic priesthood.
Throughout this psalm we see the image of the conquering king
There is one element where this is going on now - by the Gospel the Christ is subduing His enemies.
There is another element where this will be consummated at the return of Christ; where He will vanquish His enemies and all will bow before Him as judge.
Another royal Psalm, Psalm 2:12 makes this statement
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
What Does This Teach Us?
What Does This Teach Us?
All of life is all about God
All of life is all about God
English Standard Version Psalm 8
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Only Jesus can give us resurrection hope
Only Jesus can give us resurrection hope
David wrote Psalm 16 around 1,000 years prior to the death of Christ. Psalm 16 speaks of Christ; yes, there is a promise of the resurrection for all in Christ but our bodies will see decay in the grave should we die before Christ’s return. Jesus’ body is the only one who died and did not see decay.
Perseverance in suffering will result in victory, as shown by Christ
Perseverance in suffering will result in victory, as shown by Christ
in times of trial we can feel that God has abandoned us and we are alone, such is not the case. God has not forsaken us as, though Christ was temporarily forsaken, the resurrection showed the faithfulness of God.
Kiss the Son Today (Psalm 110)
Kiss the Son Today (Psalm 110)
The combination of Psalm 110 and Psalm 2 tell us that there is a reckoning day. There is a day where Christ will return and you will stand before Him as judge. There will not be a tomorrow, or more time, you will be judged and found lacking the required righteousness.