Question: I notice that you put a lot of emphasis on singing the Old Testament Psalms. Why? (pt. 3)
Question: I notice that you put a lot of emphasis on singing the Old Testament Psalms. Why? And aren’t some of these Psalms out of place in this New Testament period?
Pastor Bill responds (pt. 3):
Some time back I read with great fascination the chapter “Christ’s Reading” in the rich volume by Mark Jones Knowing Christ. It made a powerful impact on me that Jesus Christ’s “textbook” by which he grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man, cf. Lk. 2:40,52 was what we know as “the Old Testament”. And because the Old Testament is about Jesus Christ and His Kingdom to come, cf. Lk. 24:27, Jesus was learning about himself - especially His sufferings and the glory that would follow, cf. I Pet. 1:10f. - as He read from Genesis to Malachi (although the books had a different order than in our Bibles) in the original languages of Hebrew and Aramaic.
But it would have been the Psalms in particular that Jesus would have read, meditated on, and sung for his years of preparation for his public ministry, and for the 3 1/2 years of that ministry - culminating in the cross, the resurrection, and his ascension to glory to reign with all authority in heaven and on earth. While the Psalms were written by various writers, e.g. David, Moses, Asaph, they are all ultimately about Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, cf. Lk. 24:44. Those in union with Jesus Christ by grace through faith can (and should) read the Psalms drawing out applications for themselves; but they should never forget that the Psalms (like every other part of the Old Testament) point us to Jesus.
It will transform your view of both reading and singing the Psalms if you think, first of all, of how the Psalm is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Some examples:
• In Psalm 1, Jesus is the One (and the only one!) who perfectly delighted in the law of the Lord and who perfectly avoided walking in the counsel of the wicked. He is the perfectly blessed man, vss. 1-3.
• In Psalm 2, Jesus is the One about whom the Father says, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you” (speaking of Christ’s resurrection), vs. 7, cf. Heb. 1:5. Jesus now reigns from Zion., i.e. heaven, as the King who is being given the nations as His inheritance, vss. 6-8.
• In Psalm 110 (the most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament), it is the Lord Jesus who sits at the right hand of His father, and who will reign until all of his enemies are made a footstool for his feet”, vs. 1, cf. Heb. 1:13.
• In Psalm 119 (which uses all seven of the Old Testament terms for the Word of God), Jesus, “The Word made flesh” is the only One who was truly blameless, vs. 1 and who perfectly kept His way pure by guarding it according to (God’s) word, vs. 9. In that Psalm, and in all the others that speak of the sufferings of God’s people think first of those sufferings as part and parcel of Christ, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, eg. Psalm. 119:23, 70, 161, etc.
So always think of Christ first as you read, meditate on, and sing the Psalms. They are first of all about Him and His Kingdom. That will transform your view of singing the Psalms!
BUT: What about the Psalms that include confession of sin? Jesus never sinned! And what about the Psalms of God’s painful judgments? We’ll consider those things next week.