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Psalms are not just prayers of inspired kings and priests. They are prophetic.
Then [Jesus] said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...
Luke 24:44-45 ESV (emphasis added)
Do you see what's written about Jesus in the section of Psalm 89 we read today?
My faithful love will be with him,
and through my name his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.
He will call out to me, "You are my Father,
my God, the Rock my Savior."
And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.
Psalm 89:24-29
Here we see the foretelling of Christ's coming eternal Kingship as established through the line of David, and we see His purpose in coming to earth.
"If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes,
if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,
I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging;
but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.
Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness -- and I will not lie to David --
that his line will continue for ever and his throne endure before me
like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon,
the faithful witness in the sky."
Psalm 89:30-37
Jesus came to to bear the punishment for the sins of the sons. The punishment we could not bear. He took the rod, the flogging, bearing His love for us. Making the way for justice to be fulfilled, while making the way of atonement.
We see in this passage a picture of Jesus suffering God's wrath on our behalf. What it looked like through the eyes of the prophetic psalmist.
But you have rejected, you have spurned,
you have been very angry with your anointed one.
...
You have broken through all his walls
and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
All who pass by have plundered him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
...
You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with a mantle of shame.
Psalm 89: 38, 40-41, 45
On the cross, He took the blame. He allowed Himself to be broken for our sake. The shame He wore was ours.
Being aware of the prophetic nature of Psalms opens our eyes to Jesus in the Old Testament, but we also need to remember it was Jesus's prayer book.
A psalm we cannot utter as a prayer, that makes us falter and horrifies us, is a hint to us that here Someone else is praying, not we; that the One who is here protesting his innocence, who is invoking God's judgment, who has come to such infinite depths of suffering, is none other than Jesus Christ himself. He it is who is praying here, and not only here but in the whole Psalter.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life TogetherDo you see Him praying in our passage today? Are they words only He could pray?
How long, Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
...
Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked,
how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
the taunts with which your enemies, Lord, have mocked,
with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.
Psalm 89:46, 50-51
Jesus grew up learning and praying these psalms, how do you think they helped Him face what was to come? How did they help Him prepare for His mission on earth?
How can seeing the Psalms as His prayers, help you identify with Him? understand Him better?
As we continue our journey through Psalms be mindful of the Messianic prophecies they contain and listen for Jesus praying. Open your heart to revelations of Him.
Lord, thank You for Your Word and the glimpses it gives me into Your truth.
Open my eyes, ears, mind, and heart to receive.
Praise be to the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
Psalm 89:52
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