Archive for the ‘Psalms’ Category

Psalm 99 calls all its hearers to exalt and worship the Holy One.  This Psalm is part of the larger section of Psalm 93-100 which focuses on the LORD’s kingly reign.  It surely echoes the other neighboring Psalms by holding up for us the Holy LORD who reigns over all the earth.  Yet one of the most beautiful elements of this Psalm might go unnoticed – its implicit Christology.  Clearly, Psalm 99 is not a forthright mention of the coming work of the Messiah like Psalm 110 or Psalm 22, but it is nevertheless present.

The Psalm begins:

The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!  He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

The earth is called to tremble in reverence before the reigning king.  The focus narrows slightly in verse 2 when the peoples, or nations, are brought into view.

The LORD is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.

Continuing this trend, verse 4 declares:

you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob

It thus further specifies the LORD’s particular work in the nation of Israel.  And then in verse 6, Psalm 99 describes the LORD’s work among individuals in the nation, specifically its “officers” – the priests Moses and Aaron, and Samuel the prophet.

One might expect the Psalm to conclude its focus on these individuals, but verse 8 brings the Messiah into view, albeit implicitly.

O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

As we read this verse, we see how the LORD is able to forgive His people by first avenging their wrongdoings.

Psalm 85:9-10 makes a similar point.

Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.  Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

The person and work of Jesus Christ allows for righteousness and peace to meet for God’s people.  For it is in Christ that God satisfies his justice while also making peace with his people.  The blood of Christ makes peace between God and his people (Col 1:20; cf Rom. 5:1).

The narrowing focus of Psalm 99 does not stop with Moses, Aaron and Samuel.  It continues to the one faithful Israelite: Jesus of Nazareth.  The person and work of this Israelite is the peace between the Holy One and His Church.

Two years ago when I was in Johnstown, PA I finished a series of sermons on the first two books of the Psalter. That was a challenge, but a joy to preach through them Biblical-Theologically.

I am back again preaching through the Psalter here in Ringoes. And sometimes I forget what I learned the first time preaching the Psalms. I have found myself time and again praying the words of the Psalms as if they were my words – as if they were about me. I fear, however, that I am not alone in this. I think many Christians read the Psalms Me-centrically, or egocentrically.

Think of Psalm 20:6, the Lord saves his anointed. I’m not the Lord’s anointed. It is true that he saves me from my sin and purifies me as if with oil. But how does he save me? He does so through Christ. He does so IN Christ. Jesus is the anointed one who was “saved”, that is, he was redeemed from the land of the dead through resurrection power. But, you may say, Jesus didn’t need “saving” or “redeeming”. Well, yes he did. Did he not have the sins of the people of God laid upon him? Was he not under a curse for three days? Did he not received the due punishment for sin in death? Was he not counted as a transgressor? Yes, on all accounts. Not because of his sin, of course (because he had no sin of his own), but because of our sin imputed to him. Therefore, his resurrection was his redemption – his salvation – and, yes, even his justification.

And this is where I come in, I guess. I am only saved, justified, anointed in the saved, justified, and anointed one. I have resurrection life because the one in whom alone I am found was resurrected. I am justified only because the one in whom I have been united was justified.

Therefore, the Psalms are not really about me, but they are about Jesus. And, only secondarily then, can I say they are about me. They are only about me in so much as I am in Him.

This is no forced exegesis – or, rather, eisegesis. This is Biblical-Theology made real to the Christian. The Psalms are my Psalms, but they are only my Psalms in Christ. Outside of Christ they do not apply to me at all, no matter how I try to tease out some abstract moral principle from the text, shedding the husk of redemptive-history. No, the Psalms are no fertile ground for Bultmannian-existentialist abstractions. Rather, they are the source for understanding the in-breaking of God’s salvific eschaton, foreshadowing the climax of the covenant promises in Christ.

Yes, I am slow to learn, but what a wonderful lesson to be learned – again and again!