In this episode of In Light of the Cross, we pause to invite the Spirit and explore the Psalms as a unique part of Scripture: poetry that is largely people’s words to God, yet inspired for our good and also God’s words to us.

We reflect on how the Psalms point to Jesus in several key ways:

1. through the theme of the unjust suffering of the righteous (including Psalm 22 language echoed by Jesus on the cross),
2. through David and the psalmists modeling a rightly oriented heart of worship, lament, confession, and trust that Jesus fulfills perfectly,
3. and through explicitly Messianic Psalms like Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, which Jesus uses in debate to reveal the Messiah as both David’s son and David’s Lord.

We then meditate on Psalm 23, listening for a phrase to pray over, and close by reciting the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Lenten Series Intro

00:45 Centering Prayer

01:08 Why Psalms Matter

02:26 Psalms Fulfilled in Jesus

02:54 Righteous Sufferer Theme

04:53 Righteous Heart Model

06:27 Messianic King Psalms

07:59 Psalm 110 and Jesus Debate 1

1:03 Reading Psalms by the Spirit

12:14 Psalm 23 Meditation

14:50 Lord's Prayer Closing

Welcome back to In Light of the Cross this lenton season.

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We're seeing how all of scripture

points us to Christ and that's

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good news for us, isn't it?

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Amen to that because otherwise it's

a really cool and interesting story,

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but it loses its purpose if we don't

understand that it all points to Jesus.

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Yeah.

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So I've just been amazed as we've

traced this, Old Testament story,

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the ways that God has demonstrated

his faithfulness, even in the

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midst of human brokenness and sin.

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And, um, that's gonna be a theme

that we're gonna continue today

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as we talk about the place of the

Psalms and the Old Testament canon.

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Right?

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And how they point to Christ, or how we

can understand them in light of the cross.

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let's begin as we've done throughout

this whole time, just with a pause

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and a centering of ourselves.

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Take some deep breaths and, uh,

invite the spirit into this time as we

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reflect on God's faithfulness today.

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So the Psalms are a

really interesting book.

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we've been following.

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All narratives up until this

point, but yeah, pretty much.

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Yeah.

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But the Psalms is a book of poetry.

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It is, and it's distinct because

most of the Bible is either God's

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words to his people or God's

words about what's happening.

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But here it's people's words to God,

and yet we understand that God inspired

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them to write this way for our good,

so they're also words of God to us.

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So is, is it possible to then

see these in light of the cross?

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Oh man.

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Oh, is it?

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Yeah.

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There's perhaps no part of the scripture

to the point more directly and more often

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and, and in more varied ways to the cross

and to Jesus than, than the Psalms do.

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I know you and I are aligned in that.

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we love the Psalms.

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Sure.

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There's a, there's a beauty here.

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I mean, all of scripture is so

beautiful, but there's something here

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that just resonates with what is true

and what is good and what is pure.

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And, gives language for the groanings

that we feel groanings of worship or

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groanings of lament or confession.

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and so these are, a great collection

of poems to not just read and

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learn, but to make our own prayer

and adopt as our own language.

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Yeah.

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Right.

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And

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one of the ways that we can approach

the Psalms is to recognize that

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such a large part of them are

designed to point us towards Christ.

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At the same time, they're also

descriptive of the life, what's going

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on with the person who wrote them.

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So usually David, he didn't

write all of them, of course.

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there's a lot of different layers

to this, but there seem to be

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two primary ways that the Psalms

find their fulfillment in Jesus.

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One is the idea of the unjust

suffering of the righteous person.

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And so most of these are written by

David, where he describes he's being

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pursued and attacked by enemies.

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He's being abused even by his own friends.

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And yet he's done nothing wrong.

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And so in many of these occasions

you see him calling out, my God,

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my God, why have you forsaken me?

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You know, wake up, Lord, help me.

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So he had these anguish, prayers of

lament, God, everything's going against

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me, but I've done nothing wrong.

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As well as crying out in

that lament for his help.

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And again, that's gonna find its

ultimate fulfillment in Jesus who.

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Is the only one who really is fully

righteous and yet finds himself opposed

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and finds himself the victim of injustice

and accusations, unjust accusations, and

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eventually violence and horrific death.

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So those words on the cross, my God,

my God, why be forsaken me from Jesus?

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He's quoting directly from the

Psalms because it's that same

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dynamic that in this world.

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There is unjust suffering that sometimes

the people of God have to endure and

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even the son of God had to endure.

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So that's one of the main themes

that you find in the redemptive

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thread in how it points to Jesus.

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Yeah, so especially that psalm, you're

quoting, Psalm 22 kind of points forward

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to Christ, although it's David's language,

David, the man after God's own heart.

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But a lot, these are distinct

from prophecy and that they

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aren't really forward focused.

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Most of them.

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Right?

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Well, they end up being that way, but no,

David wasn't writing for their purpose.

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He was just pouring out his heart.

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So he serves as a kind of model and,

and the psalmists serve as models for

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a, right orientation toward what is.

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Real and what is true, namely God.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So that, that's the second way I should

probably say there are three ways that

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they kind of pointed to the cross is that

these are the heart expressions of people.

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And many times, especially with

David, they are the example of a

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righteous heart interacting with God.

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In a righteous heart showing trust in God.

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And that's of course finds its

fulfillment in Jesus what David did

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sometimes well, showing trust and

faithfulness to God in living his life.

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In light of that Jesus does

perfectly and completely.

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So that's a second way.

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Yeah, I think some examples

of that would be, his.

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Passions, his emotions.

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He's, he's worshipful in a way

that corresponds to, reality.

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I mean, he's, he's worshiping that,

which is most, worthy of our worship.

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And, he laments the brokenness and

the injustice just as we've seen God

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throughout all of, uh, the pages.

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when he confesses.

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even in his sin and his

confession, you see that that

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is a way that he demonstrates,

trust in what God says is right.

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Yes.

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Because he's demonstrating

he doesn't live up to it.

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Um, and he, he wants to.

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so even in the way that he's speaking

about how he's thinking about things

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or the way he's feeling about things,

a lot of them give language to just

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this, this right way of life in a way

that's pure and just very authentic.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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That's good.

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And in that he points to Christ, right.

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'cause Christ does that perfectly,

but he also provides a model for us.

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And that's why the songs

are so beautiful for us.

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There is one more way, and this is a very

important way that the Psalms point to

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Jesus or find their fulfillment in Jesus.

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And really you can't understand them

very well without Jesus in the cross,

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and that is they also point to him as

the Messiah, the one sent from God and

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the one who will reign over all mankind.

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For example, in Psalm two, it

says, why do the nation's rage

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and the people's plot in vain?

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And the kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together against

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the Lord and against his anointed.

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And again, anointed refers

to, first of all, a king.

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A king would be anointed, simply means

he had olive oil poured over his head.

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That's at the anointing, a

symbol, the Holy Spirit upon him.

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But ultimately the anointed

one is the Messiah.

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That's the same word, which that's a

Hebrew word when you translate to Greek.

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It's Christ.

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And against the Lord in his Christ

saying, let us break their chains

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and throw off their shackles.

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The one ENT thrown in heaven

laughs The Lawrence scoffs at them.

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He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies

them in his wrath saying, I have installed

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my king on Zion, my Holy Mountain.

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I'll proclaim the Lord's decree.

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He said to me, you are my son today.

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I become your father.

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Ask me and I'll make the nations

your inheritance and the ends

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of the earth, your possession.

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So who are those words applying to?

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Well, somewhat to David, but

ultimately they're gonna find

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the fulfillment in Christ.

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Right.

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Even better example, and I love this one

because Jesus himself uses it is Psalm

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one 10 in the English it says this.

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The Lord says to my Lord, sit at

my right hand until I make your

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enemies a footstool for your feet.

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And then it goes on to talk about the

great victory that this king will have.

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Now, this is gonna be fulfilled in Jesus,

but one of the cool things you see is

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that you can't understand is exactly

what's going on here unless you understand

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Jesus In the New Testament, Jesus is

in a debate with the Pharisees and

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some of the scribes, and he quotes this

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You've seen the tension between

the religious leaders and

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Jesus, and they're trying to.

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catch Jesus.

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And this is an interesting passage

because he kinda, he kind of

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fires back with his own question.

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And here's the question.

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So it says in, in, chapter 22 of

Matthew, verse 41, and on it says,

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while the Pharisees were gathered

together, Jesus asked them, what

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do you think about the Messiah?

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Whose son is he?

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The son of David?

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They replied and he said to them.

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How is it then that David speaking by the

spirit calls him Lord for he says, the

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Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies under your feet.

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If then David calls him,

Lord, how can he be his son?

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And then it says, no one

could say a word and reply.

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And from that day on, no one

dared to ask him anymore.

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Questions.

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Yeah.

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Isn't that a great passage?

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Yeah.

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But, um, hard to understand

if you don't have the backdrop

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of the psalm and the cross.

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Right, exactly.

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in the minds of the, of their culture,

the Messiah would be the son of David

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in that he would come from David's line,

but he would not be greater than David

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because, because he's the son of David.

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And the, father figure is

always considered to be greater.

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And so the question is here, well,

how then could David call his son?

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Lord, how would the son be?

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Lord over the Father?

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Didn't seem to make any sense unless

one from the line of David is gonna

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have an incredibly greater power and

authority than even King David had,

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and that's what Jesus is getting to.

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Yeah.

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Jesus is both in the line of David.

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Matthew tells us in chapter one,

and then also he is, he's the Lord.

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Yeah.

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That Greek word curiosity gets

applied to him all the time.

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He's David's Lord.

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Yes.

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And so David is recognizing that

he has a Lord who's not Yahweh.

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Right.

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Uh, somehow distinct,

but they're both lords.

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who hasn't met yet,

and then lo and behold.

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1500 years or whatever.

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Later, a thousand years later, Jesus

shows up on the scene and seems to fulfill

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that Messiah spot as David's heir, right.

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The son of David, but also David's Lord.

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Yeah.

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Beautiful.

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Yeah, and what's cool here too, I love

how Jesus says, how is it that David.

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Speaking by the spirit.

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So even though it's David's

words, he's being inspired by

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the spirit to write these things.

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And I think that's one thing to

keep in mind as we read the Psalms.

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They are the words of an individual

in a certain time and place.

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And if we understand, sometimes

we don't, we're not giving clues.

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But if we can understand who wrote

them and in what circumstance,

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it helps us to understand it.

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But at the same time, it's a

spirit working through them

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and speaking through them.

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anyway, this is just one example.

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There are dozens and dozens of psalms

that are Messianic psalms because

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they point in some way to Jesus the

Messiah, where they about David, yes,

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to a limited degree, but ultimately

they find the fulfillment in Christ.

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He is the one that makes

sense of all these Psalms.

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He is the one who is the Messiah.

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He is the one who is the model of the, of

human, who has their full trust in God.

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And he's the model of the one who

often suffers unjustly because of

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that, all that is found in the Psalms

and find its fulfillment in Jesus.

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Beautiful.

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So as we move toward our time

of application, we thought

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that it would be beautiful to.

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Just soak in one of the classic psalms.

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Maybe you've read it, maybe it's familiar.

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You've sung it as a PS song.

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It's Psalm 23, and just as Daniel was

saying, this Psalm demonstrates somebody

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who's total trust is in the Lord.

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Somebody who's able to be at peace

because of his relationship with

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the Lord, and then a song that

recognizes that God has made.

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Promises that will be fulfilled.

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So I'm just gonna read this twice,

giving us a little bit of time in between

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to meditate on it and reflect on it.

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And as I read through it the first

time, just listen, uh, listen to it.

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recognize the words and phrases.

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And then as I read through it the

second time, during that pause, just

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ask the Lord, what is a word or phrase

that you want to bring to my attention,

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uh, that you want me to reflect on.

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And.

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In prayer with the Lord.

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Ask him why that is.

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Here is Psalm 23.

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The Lord is my shepherd.

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I lack nothing.

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He makes me lie down in green pastures.

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He leads me beside quiet waters.

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He refreshes my soul.

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He guides me along the right paths

for his namesake, even though I

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walk through the darkest valley.

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I will fear no evil for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

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You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil.

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My cup overflows.

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Surely your goodness and love will follow

me all the days of my life and I will

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dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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as I read through this a second time.

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Again, ask the Lord, Which word or phrase

would you like me to meditate on and why?

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Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd.

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I lack nothing.

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He makes me lie down in green pastures.

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He leads me beside quiet waters.

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He refreshes my soul.

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He guides me along the right

paths for his namesake.

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Even though I walk through the

darkest valley, I will fear

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no evil for you are with me.

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You're Rod and your

staff, they comfort me.

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You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil.

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My cup overflows.

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Surely your goodness and love will

follow me all the days of my life, and I

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will dwell in the house of the Lord for

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Beautiful Psalm, and Let's end

by reciting the prayer that our

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great shepherd taught us to pray.

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Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be

done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us today our daily bread and forgive

us our debts as we also have forgiven our

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debtors and lead us not into temptation.

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But deliver us from the evil one.

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Amen.