William Nixon
Luke 24:44. All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the . . . psalms, concerning Me.
A summary view of the way in which the psalms testify of Christ may be given in this way. Some of them are more expressly Messianic. In others, their reference to Christ is declared in the New Testament. In others the allusions to ancient Israel are figurative representations of Christ and His Church under the gospel. In still others, the spiritual meaning of the references to the Mosaic ritual is declared in the psalms themselves. In those psalms which express the delight of believers in the holy law of God, it is implied that those who experience that delight have that spiritual life and liberty which are found in Christ alone. Further still, there are psalms of lofty adoration of God’s perfections displayed in the works of creation and providence; these are adoration of Christ, by whom God made the world, who upholds all things by the word of His power.
1. There are psalms in which the things stated are, in the first instance, suggested by, and have reference to, the actual history and experience of David, Solomon, Moses, or anyone else who was connected with their composition, but we cannot view these matters as having been fully realised in any mere human creature. But they plainly apply ultimately, and in some particulars exclusively, to the Messiah; for the most part they are thus expressly applied in the New Testament. The psalms in question are prophetic representations of Christ and His redeeming work, and the experiences which His people have of His grace. Thus:
According to Psalms 2, as quoted in Acts 4, while the powers of the earth combine against the Lord Jesus Christ, He pours His mockery on their helpless rage, sits as King in Zion, dashes to pieces all His enemies, and makes His blessing to rest on all who submit to Him, and love and serve Him.
In Psalms 8, as quoted in Hebrews 2, Christ as the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, regains the dominion on earth which the first Adam forfeited by disobedience.
Psalms 22, 69, 16 and others – as quoted or referred to in Matthew 27, Romans 11, Acts 1,2 – prophetically represent Christ as suffering every kind of bodily and mental distress from human enmity and, at length for a season, forsaken even by God. Yet though, when enduring these things, He died and was buried, His body did not return to corruption. On the contrary, He rose in triumph from the grave, and by the path of life ascended to fulness of joy in His Father’s presence.
The words of Psalms 40, “Sacrifice and offering . . .”, “Lo, I come . . .”, are declared in Hebrews 10 to be the words of Christ about His coming to bring animal sacrifice to an end and to take away sin by offering Himself.
In Psalms 45, as quoted in Hebrews 1, Christ stands forth to view, fairer than the children of men, clothed with glory and girded with power, to conquer enemies into willing submission, to bind them to His throne and service, to unite them to Himself in closest bonds of reverence and love, to sanctify them into His likeness, and finally to bring them, with infinite gladness, to dwell in His immediate presence for ever.
In Psalms 68, as quoted in Ephesians 4, we have Him who came down as the Lawgiver in such majesty on Sinai, set before us as in His character of God the Saviour, ascending gloriously on high, leading captivity captive, and receiving gifts for men – yea, for the rebellious also – that the Lord God may dwell among them and thus, as the living, life-giving Head of the Church, filling all its true members with His presence, grace and Holy Spirit.
In Psalms 72, Christ is presented before us as possessing a universal dominion, which He exercises for the salvation of the poor and needy, and so to multiply His willing, devoted subjects and servants, until all nations are blessed in Him and call Him blessed, and the earth is filled with His glory.
In Psalms 110, quoted in Mark 12, Acts 2, Hebrews 7, it is said that Christ is made a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec, and that His seat is at Jehovah’s right hand, from whence He sends forth His power to render His people willing to serve Him in the beauty of holiness, and to make His enemies His footstool.
In Psalms 118, quoted in Matthew 21, Acts 4, Ephesians 2, it is declared that Christ is the stone which the builders – the rulers of the people and the elders of Israel – refused, and yet is become the headstone of the corner. It is further declared that God has raised Him up whom they rejected and crucified, and that there is salvation in Him and in Him alone.
And in Psalms 132, we have the promise of the fruit of David’s body being placed on his throne, which is declared in Acts 2 to have been fulfilled in Christ; and in that psalm we see Christ taking up His rest in the Church, blessing her provision, satisfying her poor with bread, clothing her priests with salvation, causing her saints to shout aloud for joy, and ruling with such light and strength that His enemies are clothed with shame, while He is encompassed and crowned with ever-increasing glory.
2. In other psalms, on reading them superficially, nothing would appear to refer to Christ, but in them there are passages which the New Testament declares have this reference to Christ as their chief meaning. Thus passages in Psalms 18, 67, 117 are quoted in Romans 15 to prove that the Gentiles would joyfully give all praise and glory to God, for His mercy in Jesus Christ. Psalms 41:9 is declared in John 13:18 to have been fulfilled in the betrayal of Christ. The words of Psalms 44:22 are said in Romans 8:36 to have been fulfilled in the sufferings which the followers of Christ endured for His sake. It is said in Matthew 13 that Jesus speaking in parables fulfilled what is recorded in Psalms 78 as spoken by “the prophet”.
Psalms 95 speaks of the rest in Canaan, of which the first generation of Israel fell short through unbelief. The higher and principal meaning, we are told in Hebrews 4, is the danger of those who, under the gospel, are falling short, through unbelief, of the rest found in Christ on earth and at length in heaven. The words of Psalms 97:7, “Worship Him, all ye gods,” are declared in Hebrews 1:6 to be a command to all the angels of God to worship Christ.
3. The nation of Israel, as we have already seen, was a figurative representation, throughout its history, of the spiritual condition of those in that nation who were spiritually minded, and also of all the redeemed in Christ under the gospel. Every allusion in the psalms to their national character, privileges and blessings, as well as to their sins and miseries, is fitted and intended to convey a great spiritual truth, or a great spiritual lesson, to the Church of Christ as such, and to each of its families and members.
We have already seen that their observing of meats and drinks and sacred seasons was only a shadow of good things to come, a shadow whose body or substance was to be found only in Christ, and His grace and salvation (Col 2:17). The gifts which the priests offered according to the law served merely as an example and shadow of heavenly things (Heb 8:5). Their ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary were but figures, for the time being, of the blood of Christ, who, through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God (Heb 9:13,14). And the events of their history, from Abraham to Moses, from their redemption from Egypt till the end of their wilderness journey and throughout the ages when they occupied Canaan, were divinely designed to typify the great spiritual realities of the redemption of the gospel (Rom 4, 1 Cor 10, Gal 4, all of Hebrews).
Now, many of the psalms are full of allusions to events in the history of the patriarchs, to the redemption from Egypt, to the deliverance of the Red Sea, to the scene at Sinai, to the events that took place in the course of the 40 years spent in the desert, to the entrance into Canaan, and to the many subjects of deepest interest during the history of the children of Israel in Canaan. Throughout the psalms, there are references to promises and covenants, to mercies and judgements, sins and sufferings, penitence and prayers, pardon and deliverance, the overthrow of enemies, triumphs and joys, sacrifices and purifications, manna from heaven and water from the rock, the tabernacle and temple, the sanctuary and the courts of our God, Judah and Salem, Zion and Jerusalem, the mountains round about Jerusalem, the glorious things that are spoken of the city of God, and the Shepherd of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim.
The Christian Church is expressly declared in the New Testament to be, under the gospel, the Sion of God (Heb 12:22,23) and the Jerusalem which is above and is the mother of all believers (Gal 4:26). Thus all these manifold references to ancient Israel in the psalms apply, and are designed to apply, to the redeemed through all ages. Indeed every such allusion provides the Christian with more light than it gave the Jew, for the Jew, having the truth only in figure, could but dimly perceive it through such a medium. But the Christian, having the reality which the figure was intended to convey, sees all the more clearly the force of the form in the substance which he grasps, and so can use the form all the more effectually as a means of impressing on his mind the truth itself.
What sin can be so lovely as the love of Christ? . . . Live to God in time, and you shall live with Him to all eternity.
Christ has lost none of His majesty by His mercy; He has lost none of His dignity by His humiliation; He has lost none of His riches by His poverty. Hence, while I adore Him for His condescension, may I never forget the awe I ought to feel in the remembrance of the splendour of His divine majesty.
Rowland Hill
1Taken, with editing, from Nixon’s Christ All and in All. He was a nineteenth-century Free Church minister in Montrose.