Proclaimer Blog
Christ in the psalms
Following on from yesterday's post here's a more practical outworking of the messianic implications of the psalms. Let's take a simple psalm, say Psalm 1. We could argue a lot about structure etc, but let's for the sake of this post, assume that it is, as the oldies used to say, describing the two ways to live: the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. How does that relate to what I posted yesterday.
I guess a sermon that had not really thought this through would apply the psalm something like this: "Make sure you are the righteous one. The wicked man will perish. Make sure you live." [I've heard it preached like this several times.]
This, though, is problematical on several levels.
- First, who is righteous? The psalms are going to unpack that idea a little. There is no one righteous, not even one.
- How do Christians receive the prosperity pictured in Psalm 1?
The second question is partly answered by understanding the psalm in its Old Covenant context, for sure. But both are answered more adequately by saying that this is a song sung by the anointed King. He is the perfect righteous man and he enjoys the prosperity that perfect fulfillment of the Old Covenant brings. As such it is a song we sing as those who are in Christ, the perfect man. There is no sense in which this is something we can sing about ourselves apart from Christ. That may not change the way you preach the psalm a whole lot – I guess you'd still want to outline the two ways. But, I submit, it will change the way you conclude and focus on Christ, the perfect man – and the benefits we enjoy being joined to him.