The Writings
The Psalms – All Things Must Be Fulfilled Concerning
Me
In
Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms
KJV Luke 24: 44
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened
he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
People
usually see Jesus Christ in the Torah, the Books of Moses, though many of my
graduate students in Old Testament are surprised at how much Gospel is there, how
many ways the Son of God is revealed before His Incarnation. One senior pastor
said he never realized this, and he preached on the Old Testament all the time.
The Gospel revelations come from God’s intent and Luther’s unified teaching of
the Bible as the Book of the Holy Spirit, all parts in complete harmony.
The
prophets are filled with many Gospel Promises, but some readers become obsessed
with Law and condemnation without giving a place for God’s mercy and grace.
Unfortunately, the Psalms are another battle ground for the unbelieving scholars,
who ply their trade as if it is their duty to teach the threadbare rationalistic
theme of the Old Testament being on its own and not relating to the New
Testament – except as the New Testament writers chose to quote it. One “conservative”
denied Jesus in the Messianic Psalms, in a one-volume NIV commentary from
Concordia Publishing House, so it is important to deal with them. Nothing is
clearer than Psalm 22 beginning with the cry of Jesus from the cross, which was
mocked by the crowd.
Concordia
Publishing House also featured Reading the Psalms with Luther, 1993. Luther
wrote, p. 56:
The
22nd psalm is a prophecy of the suffering and resurrection of Christ
and a prophecy of the Gospel, which the entire world shall hear and receive.
Beyond all other texts, it clearly shows Christ’s torment on the cross, that He
was pieced hand and foot and His limbs stretched out so that His bones could
have been counted. Nowhere in the other prophets can one find so clear a
description. It is indeed one of the chief psalms.
KJV
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words
of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in
the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O
thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted
in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee,
and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and
no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me
laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the
Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in
him.
9 But thou art he that
took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's
breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee
from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me;
for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have
compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me
with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like
water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in
the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried
up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me
into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have
compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my
hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my
bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my
garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far
from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from
the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the
lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy
name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the
Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye
the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not
despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his
face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be
of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear
him.
26 The meek shall eat
and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall
live for ever.
27 All the ends of the
world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the
nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is
the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.29 All they that be fat
upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow
before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve
him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and
shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath
done this.
Psalm
2 is another one of many Messianic psalms. Luther wrote about its prediction
that the Savior would suffer:
Psalm 2 is a prophecy
of Christ, that He would suffer, and through His suffering become King and Lord
of the whole world. Within this psalm stands a warning against the kings and
lords of this world: If, instead of honoring and serving this King, they seek
to persecute and blot Him out, they shall perish. This psalm also contains the
promise that those who believe in the true King will be blessed.[1]
Those Jewish believers
who have been converted by the Gospel to the Christian Faith recognize that
many passages that seemed obscure and strange were the Scriptures preparing
them for the New Testament. What else could “Kiss the Son” mean in verse 12,
but to stop raging against the Truth and follow Him?
Psalm
2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a
vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the
rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed,
saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away
their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the
Lord shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and
vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto
me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed,
ye judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with
trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye
perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
they that put their trust in him.
