Psalms (2)

     The book of Psalms has much to say about the coming Messiah.  It states in chapter 102 that the Christ was involved in the creation.  Chapters 2 and 40 identify Him as the incarnate Son of God.
     The eighth Psalm points to Jesus as the son of man, while chapters 78, 89 and 132 call Him the son of David.  But Psalm 110 also notes that He is the Lord of David.
     Psalms 2 and 7 recognize Jesus as the anointed Messiah of God, and chapters 8 and 97 place Him in a position superior to the angels.  We noted all of these Scriptures last week, along with the New Testament passages that explain their fulfillment.  We also mentioned that the Psalms have much to say about the ministry, death, resurrection and reign of the Christ.
     One of the earliest events in the ministry of Jesus is the temptation in the wilderness recorded in Matthew 4:1-11.  The Lord answers each of the devil's temptations by quoting Scripture from the book of Deuteronomy.  But on one occasion Satan resorts to quoting a passage from the Old Testament.  This passage is taken from the book of Psalms.
     "For He will give His angels charge concerning you," Psalm 91:11-12 promises, "to guard you in all your ways.  They will bear you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone."
     Another early event in the ministry of Jesus is the cleansing of the temple.
     "Take these things away;" Jesus orders the merchants and money-changers in John 2:16, "stop making My Father's house a house of merchandise."
     "His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for Thy house will consume Me.'"
     Where was it written that Jesus would be consumed by zeal for the house of God?  It is prophesied in Psalm 69:9.
     One of the favorite teaching techniques of Jesus was the use of parables.
     "All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables," Matthew 13:34-35 observes, "and He was not talking to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'I will open My mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.'"
     Who is this prophet?  It is David.  Where is it written?  It is found in Psalm 78:2.
     Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  And, as we all know, every human being falls into this category.  But, unfortunately, many people reject Him.
     "Did you never read in the Scriptures," Jesus asks in Matthew 21:42, "'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
     The Scripture that the Lord is quoting is Psalm 118:22.
     As Jesus' time on earth draws to a close, He is betrayed by one of His own apostles.
     "And as they were reclining at table and eating," Mark 14:18 reports, "Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me, - one who is eating with Me.'"
     "I do not speak of all of you," Jesus foretells in John 13:18.  "I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.'"
     "Brethren, the Scripture has been fulfilled," Peter points out in Acts 1:16 after Jesus has returned to heaven, "which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus."
     "Even my close friend," David writes in Psalm 41:9 hundreds of years before the actual event, "in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."
     And this is not the only prophecy that David makes about Judas.
     "For it is written in the book of Psalms," Peter notes in Acts 1:20, "'Let his homestead be made desolate, and let no man dwell in it.'"  This reference is to Psalm 69:25.
     "His office let another man take," Peter quotes from Psalm 109:8 in the second part of the same verse.
     There are all of these passages from the book of Psalms which relate to the ministry of Jesus.  But there is another event in the life of the Christ which draws even more attention from David.

     "They gave Him wine to drink mingled with gall;" we read in Matthew 27:34, "and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink."
     "They also gave me gall for my food," David observes in Psalm 69:21, "and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."
     "And when they had crucified Him," Matthew 27:35 states, "they divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots."
     "They divide my garments among them," Psalm 22:18 prophesies, "and for my clothing they cast lots."
     "And about the ninth hour," the account continues in Matthew 27:46, "Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'"
     "My God, my God," Psalm 22:1 records, "why hast Thou forsaken me?"
     This chapter, the 22nd Psalm, is one of the most amazing passages in the Old Testament.  Listen to a few verses from the chapter and compare them with the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus.
     "All who see me sneer at me," verses 7-8 state, "they separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 'Commit thyself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.'"
     "I am poured out like water," we read beginning in verse 14, "and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
     "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and Thou didst lay me in the dust of death.
     "For dogs have surrounded me; they pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones.  They look, they stare at me."
     "The soldiers therefore came," John 19:32-34 tells us, "and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.
     "For these things came to pass," verse 36 concludes, "that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 'Not a bone of Him shall be broken.'"
     "He keeps all his bones," Psalm 34:20 says, "not one of them is broken."
     As we all know, the tomb could not hold the Christ.  And this is something what David understood, too.
     "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day," Peter preaches in Acts 2:29-31.
     "And so, because he was a prophet," Peter continues, "and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay."
     "For Thou will not abandon my soul to Sheol;" David states in Psalm 16:10, "neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to see the pit."
     Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, we are able to be sanctified.
     "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father;" Hebrews 2:11-12 teaches, "for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim Thy name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will sing Thy praise.'"
     This last phrase is a quotation from Psalm 22:22.
     Not only does Jesus sanctify us, but He also intercedes for us as our great high priest.
     "So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest," Hebrews 5:5-6 explains, "but He who said to Him, 'Thou are My Son, today I have begotten Thee'; just as He says also in another passage, 'Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'"
     The first quotation is from Psalm 2:7 and the second from Psalm 110:4.
     This same Jesus is our eternal, unchangeable King.
     "But of the Son He says," we read in Hebrews 1:8, "'Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.'"  This statement is taken from Psalm 45:6.
     "They will perish, but Thou remainest;" the Hebrew writer adds in verses 11-12 as he quotes Psalm 102:26-27, "and they all will become old as a garment, and as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed.  But Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end."
     How long will this King rule?
     "For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet," Paul responds in 1 Corinthians 15:25 in a reference to Psalm 110:1.
     And over whom does this King reign?  He reigns over both the Jews and the Gentiles.
     "And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold;" Jesus explains in John 10:16, "I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one Shepherd."
     "Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations (or Gentiles) as Thy inheritance," Psalm 2:8 points out, "and the very ends of the earth as Thy inheritance."
     Jesus is reigning now.  He is reigning over all those who have been sanctified through His death, burial and resurrection.  He is reigning over all those who have been sanctified according to God's plan.
     "Sanctify them in the truth;" Jesus prays in John 17:17, "Thy word is truth."
     We must be sanctified according to the truth if we want to be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)