Who wrote the Psalms? Predominantly King David wrote them. Who spoke the Psalms? The witness of the New Testament is that Jesus is the primary speaker of the Psalms. It’s his voice we should hear as we read the Psalms.
Jesus Spoke The Psalms
When the author of Hebrews read Psalm 22, instead of David, he heard Jesus telling the Father of his intent to be the worship leader for the church: “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” (Heb 2:12)
When Luke read Psalm 31 he knew David wrote it, but the voice that resounded in his ears was Jesus’ voice as he hung on the cross, calling out with a loud voice, saying, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)
Jesus had grown up hearing Psalm 118. It was written ages ago, but to him the words of Psalm 118 were his words. Psalm 118 was about him, and it expressed his thoughts. So, when rejected by the religious leaders, he spoke the words of Psalm 118 as his own: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes”. (Matt 21:42)
We should hear the voice of Jesus when we read the Psalms. Jesus is the new David who spoke the Psalms, the new worship leader who leads his people through the Psalms in worship (Heb 2:12) and the new David who experienced the more ultimate suffering and victory that his ancient father expressed in his psalms (Matt 22:44).
Reading The Psalms Afresh
This truth has unlocked new treasures in some of my favorite Psalms. If Jesus is the primary speaker of Psalm 20, did you know that his prayer for you is …
May God grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans! (Psalm 20:4)
May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! (Psalm 20:1)
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! (Psalm 20:1)
May we shout for joy over your salvation! (Psalm 20:5)
Do you ever doubt that Jesus is for you? Does it seem that he has forgotten? I’ve lost loved ones, experienced heart-wrenching break-ups, seen loved ones destroyed by Parkinson’s, seen churches and ministries split because of fighting and pride, and experienced deep loneliness and separation. I’ve wondered if God even cares. Does he pay attention?
The resounding answer is “Yes.” He cares. In fact, right now he is praying for God to grant your heart’s deepest desires. He is praying for an overflowing joy in the very salvation that he bought for you. He is praying that God would protect from trouble. We know God hears his son!
Do you see the power of reading the Psalms with Jesus as the speaker? I encourage you to read the Psalms in a fresh way. See that Jesus is the primary speaker of the Psalms. See that the Psalms are all about Jesus (Luke 24:44).
This is a powerful point, Joel, although it can make us nervous when we read passages like Psalm 51:4 or Psalm 32:5. We know Jesus was without sin; does your approach break down at this very point?
I find it quite moving to remember 2 Cor 5:21: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," ESV.
It was no legal fiction that Christ endured on the cross. He truly became sin on the cross, as our sin was credited to him. He had to confess it to God in the words of those Psalms, and he was punished for them anyway. We will never have to undergo such punishment for sin.
In the same way, we can have full confidence that his righteousness truly has been credited to us. It doesn't always feel like it, but we know it to be true. The Lord counts us righteous by faith in Jesus, and he will never execute judgment on us as he did on Christ.
Seeing Christ as the one who wrote/spoke the Psalms provides such confident hope and assurance!
Peter,
Could you clarify you comment? Are you saying you agree with Joel's point that we should hear the voice of Jesus when we read any of the Psalms, or were you offering a correction or differing view? You seemed to imply that his approach might break down when considering Psalms that talk about the author/speaker being sinful, but then you made a case for Jesus needing to confess sin because he took it upon himself.
Thanks!
Thanks for asking, Jeremy, and sorry for my lack of clarity! What I was trying to say was that Psalms of confession might appear to go against the idea that Jesus spoke the Psalms. I then went on to propose that, actually, those Psalms are tremendously powerful in that they show that his death for our sin was no legal fiction but solid fact. Does that make sense?
So yes, I agree with Joel!
Thanks Joel for this post. It is an amazing reminder of what Christ has done for us and how He thought of us. Great application such as this is a great example of how to truly study the bible well.