Seeing Jesus in the Psalms

  Psalm 88 “ He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.  We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.” Isaiah 53:3 The verse above from Isaiah is universally accepted as a messianic verse referring to Jesus the Christ and can be linked to a few gospel passages such as: “He told them, “ My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death . Stay here and keep watch with me.”” Mark 14:34 Two songs came to mind as I read Psalm 88 today. One is a hymn I have know since I was a child and I feel emotional when ever I sing or say the words even today. It deeply expresses the wrongness and yet rightness of the way Jesus suffered: Man of sorrows what a name for the Son of God, who came ruined sinners to reclaim: Hallelujah, what a Savior! If you don’t know this hymn and the story of the writer then I encourage you to enrich your heart and mind with both the music and story of P. P. Bliss. The other song mi...

  Psalm 82 “God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings:” Psalm 82:1 MAIN POINT: Jesus sits above everyone and He determines the priorities of the universe. And His priorities are the care of the poor, the widow, the foreigner, the orphan and the oppressed. We know this is Jesus in Psalm 82 sitting in judgement over all things because Jesus has position but He also has the priorities of God’s heavenly court. How do I know I have the heart of God? How do I know if I am singing off the same song sheet as Jesus? Imagine for a moment I have been called into the office to have a conversation with Jesus. There we are saying hi, getting comfortable and Jesus asks if I want a coffee and I say, yes please. And then after a little bit of small talk. Jesus askes, well how do you like your position in my kingdom? And I say, “Oh Jesus it’s great, thanks, I love it.” And then He says, then I am just wondering, William, do you know what my kingdom priorities ...

  Psalm 80 MAIN POINT: Jesus is the Shepherd who can hear our cry and rescue our hearts so that we turn to God and are saved. Aspah has been on a roll and he uses imagery that Jesus also uses many times to refer to Himself. As this Psalm talks about a grapevine and then links it to the chosen son, we see where Jesus got His references to describe Himself in John 15 . And so it is the desire to be restored and to be attached to the person, power and plan of God that brings Asaph to cry out: 3“Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. “ 7“Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven's Armies.  Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. “ 19“Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies.  Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.” Psalm 80:3, 7, 19 NLT Three times Asaph asks God to change the focus of the people. But how? Psalm 80 is the 4th Shepherd Psalm in a row from A...