“In the Messianic Psalms …we have a treasure of pure gold.” 

So writes Dr Sidlow Baxter.[1] He lists the following as those psalms in which we may find reference to ‘Jesus, who is called Christ’.[2]
                                      Psalms 2 : 8 : 16 : 22 : 23 : 24 : 40 : 41 : 45 : 68 : 69 : 72 : 87 : 89 : 102 : 110 : 118 

As Jesus walked with those two disciples on their way home to Emmaus, and later as they joined the other disciples back in Jerusalem, he explained to them what had been written about him in ‘the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.’[3] What may have been some of the things he taught them from the Psalms? Could he have reminded them, for example, of the portrait that is sketched of him in Psalm 45. Go to Psalm 45 Lesson 1 and Psalm 45 Lesson 2

As well as this striking picture of Christ in Psalm 45 we find references to particular aspects of his life and ministry all through the Psalms. A number of these are listed below, along with the New Testament references that see them as applying to Christ. As Jesus explained to those two disciples what had been written about him in ‘the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms,' while walking with them on their way home to Emmaus, and later as they joined the other disciples back in Jerusalem, perhaps he also reminded them of these Psalms that spoke of …

HIS SUFFERINGS 

The rejection of Christ by his own people is pictured in these words of the psalmist, later quoted from in the New Testament as referring to Christ. 

   For I am mocked and shamed for your sake. Humiliation is written all over my face. Even my own brothers pretend they don’t know me, they treat me like a stranger. Passion for your house burns within me, so those who insult you are also insulting me. (Psalm 69:7-9)

   For even Christ didn’t please himself. As the scriptures say, “Those who insult you are also insulting me.” (Romans 15:3) 

HIS BETRAYAL 

   “Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.” (Psalm 41:9) 

Jesus quoted from that verse when he spoke of his coming betrayal by Judas.

   “The Scriptures declare, ‘The one who shares my food has turned against me,’ and this will soon come true. I tell you this now, so that when it happens you will believe I am the Messiah.” (John 13:18) 

HIS DEATH 

   My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Everyday I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. (Psalm 22:1-2) 

Listen to Jesus’ cry of anguish from the cross, as he bears for us our own separation from God because of our sins. 

   At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. Then, at that time Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:33-34) 

HIS RESURRECTION 

   No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave. (Psalm 16:9-10) 

Peter quotes this reference to Messiah in his message to the crowds of people who had gathered on the day of Pentecost. 

   “People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing wonderful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. But you followed God’s pre-arranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him. However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip. King David said this about him: ‘I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in hope. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ ” (Acts 2:22-27) 

Paul explains more fully this reference to Christ’s resurrection when he was preaching on one occasion in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. And in doing so, he speaks of another of the psalms in which the Messiah is spoken of. 

   “And now Barnabas and I are here to bring you this Good News. God’s promise to our ancestors has come true in our own time, in that God raised Jesus. This is what the second Psalm is talking about when it says concerning Jesus, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’[4] For God had promised to raise him from the dead, never again to die. This is stated in the Scripture that says, ‘I will give you the sacred blessings I promised to David.’[5]

   Another Psalm explains it more fully, saying, ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’ Now this is not a reference to David, for after David had served his generation according to the will of God, he died and was buried, and his body decayed. No, it was a reference to someone else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.’ 

   Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God—something the Jewish law could never do.” (Acts 13:32-39) 

HIS ASCENSION 

   When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even those who rebelled against you. Now the LORD God will live among us here. Praise the LORD. Praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. (Psalm 68:19) 

Paul saw Christ in these words of the Psalm. He quotes from them in one of letters. 

   There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father who is over us all and in us all and living through us all. However, he has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”

   Notice that it says, “he ascended.” This means that Christ first came down to the lowly world in which we live. The same one who came down is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe. He is the one who gave these gifts to the church—the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:5-11) 

HIS COMING AGAIN 

   Tell all the nations that the LORD is king. The world is firmly established and cannot be shaken. He will judge all peoples fairly.

   Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Let the earth and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst forth with joy! Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the LORD!

   For the LORD is coming! He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and all the nations with his truth. (Psalm 96:10-12) 

Paul writes of his coming in a letter to the church in Thessalonica. 

   And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who do not know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power when he comes to receive glory and praise from his holy people. And you will be among those praising him on that day, for you believed what we testified about him. (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10) 

Those who will be praising him on that day are, as Paul says, those who have accepted his sacrificial death at the time of his first coming as the means for the forgiveness of their sins. Another New Testament writer explains this for us … 

   And just as it is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes the judgment, so also Christ died only once as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again but not to deal with our sins again. This time he will bring salvation to all who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:27-28) 

HIS DIVINITY 

   Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal power is expressed in justice. You love what is right and hate what is wrong. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else. (Psalm 45:6-7) 

Edersheim[6] tells us that with Jewish Biblical scholars “Psalm 45 is throughout regarded as Messianic … On verse 7, the Targum, though not in the Venice edition (1568), has, “Thou, O King Messiah, because thou lovest righteousness … ” 

The author of the article written to explain the priestly aspect of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, also understands the psalmist’s reference to God as being a reference to the Messiah. To him the names God and Christ are interchangeable, for Christ is God. 

   And then, when he presented his honored Son to the world, God said, “let all the angels of God worship him.” God calls his angels “messengers swift as the wind, and servants made of flaming fire.”[7] But to his Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever. Your royal power is expressed in righteousness. You love what is right and hate what is wrong. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” (Hebrews 1:6:9) 

HIS ALWAYS-IS-NESS 

   In ages past you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You will change them like a garment, and they will fade away. But you are always the same. Your years never end. (Psalm 102:25-27) 

Christ did not come into existence at the time of his human birth to a virgin mother, “conceived by the Holy Spirit.”[8] He always was, is, and will be. The author of the Hebrews treatise for example, adds to his former reference to Christ as being God, his understanding of Christ being involved in the creation, calling him ‘Lord’. 

   And, “Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. Even they will perish, but you remain forever. They will wear out like old clothing. You will roll them up like an old coat. They will fade away like old clothing. But you are always the same, you will never grow old.” (Hebrews 1:10-12)

   Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) 

This was also Paul’s understanding. 

   Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together. (Colossians 1:15-17) 

HIS TEACHING 

   O my people, listen to my teaching. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—stories we have heard and know, stories our ancestors have handed down to us. (Psalm 78:1-3) 

Matthew could see Christ as the one pictured in these words of the psalmist when he writes about the way Jesus taught. 

   Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast used by a woman making bread. Even though she used a large amount of flour, the yeast permeated every part of the dough.”

   Jesus always used stories and illustrations like this when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. This fulfilled the prophecy that said, “I will speak to you in parables. I will explain mysteries hidden since the creation of the world.” (Matthew 13:33-35) 

HIS ROLE AS PRIEST 

   The LORD has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the line of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:4) 

Edersheim[9] tells us that “Psalm 110 is throughout applied to the Messiah by Jewish scholars. Likewise the writer of Hebrews, who says … 

   Christ did not exalt himself to become High Priest. No, he was chosen by God, who said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.”[10] And in another passage God said to him, “You are a priest forever in the line of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 5:5-6) 

HIS KINGSHIP 

   For the LORD declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, my holy city.” The king proclaims the LORD’s decree: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’ ” (Psalm 2:6-9)

   Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, invincible in battle.

   Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the king of glory. (Psalm 24:7-10) 

Edersheim[11] tells us that “Psalm 2:7 is quoted as Messianic in the Talmud, among a number of other Messianic quotations. Nathanael[12] recognised Jesus as King after Philip had introduced him. In the conversation that followed, Nathanael said to Jesus, “Teacher, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel.” The time for Jesus to take up his kingship was not then however. This would not occur until his second coming. John was the one who saw this coming to pass. He tells us what he saw in the revelation given to him. 

   Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword, and with it he struck down the nations. He ruled them with an iron rod, and he rode the winepress of the fierce wrath of almighty God. On his robe and thigh was written this title: KING of kings and LORD of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16)

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