The Messiah and the Psalms:

Preaching Christ from All the Psalms

Richard P. Belcher, Jr.

Unless otherwise indicated scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Copyright © Richard Belcher 2006

ISBN 978-1-84550-074-0

Published in 2006

Reprinted 2008 & 2012 in the Mentor Imprint by Christian Focus Publications, Ltd.,

Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire,

Scotland, IV20 1TW, UK.

www.christianfocus.com

Cover design by moose77.com

Printed by Bell & Bain, Glasgow

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. In the U.K. such licenses are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London, EC1 8TS www.cla.co.uk.

Dedicated to my wife

Lu

who is a gift from the LORD

Proverbs 19:14

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Key Issues in Interpreting the Psalms

Chapter 2

Different Approaches to the Messianic Psalms

Chapter 3

The Christological Approach to the Messiah in the Psalms

Chapter 4

Indirect Messianic Psalms: Psalms of Orientation

Chapter 5

Indirect Messianic Psalms: Psalms of Disorientation

Chapter 6

Indirect Messianic Psalms: Psalms of New Orientation

Chapter 7

The Royal Psalms

Chapter 8

Direct Messianic Psalms

Chapter 9

Conclusion: The Majesty of Christ in the Psalms

Bibliography

Particular Psalms

Psalm 103

Psalm 93

Psalm 19

Psalm 49

Psalm 91

Psalm 46

Psalm 79

Psalm 88

Psalms 109 and 137

Psalm 51

Psalm 26

Psalm 73

Psalm 32

Psalm 107

Psalm 105

Psalm 106

Psalm 2

Psalm 45

Psalm 72

Psalm 89

Psalm 110

Psalm 132

Psalm 144

Psalm 8

Psalm 16

Psalm 22

Psalm 40

Psalm 68

Psalm 118

Preface

Seeing more of the majesty of Christ in the pages of Scripture should be an encouragement to God’s people and should lead to praise and thanksgiving. The basic thesis of this book is that all the psalms have a relationship to the person and/or work of Christ, not just the traditional Messianic psalms. The goal is not to find Christ in every verse, but to understand how the major concepts and ideas in the Old Testament are foundational for understanding the person and work of Christ. The justification for this approach is laid out in Chapters 1–3. The benefit of this approach follows in the rest of the book. Different types of psalms are examined to show how those psalms relate to Christ and what those psalms might teach us about Christ. The basic structure of a psalm, its use of key concepts and themes, and its basic message in its Old Testament setting are first analyzed as a foundation for making connections to Christ. It is important for the reader to have a Bible open to the psalm that is being discussed, and then to be willing to explore the New Testament connections that are ...