The Psalms testify about Christ’s person and ministry. Almost all aspects of His work in the plan of salvation are seen in the Psalms. In various ways, Christ’s life and work are prefigured and predicted in them, often with remarkable accuracy.
The topics revealed in the Psalms include Christ’s deity, His Sonship, His obedience, His zeal for God’s temple, His identity as the Good Shepherd, His betrayal, His suffering, His bones not being broken, His death, resurrection, ascension, priesthood, and kingship. It’s all there, as predicted many centuries before Jesus came in the flesh.
No wonder, for example, when talking about His ministry, Jesus pointed back to the Psalms when speaking to the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:44). He wanted them to find in the Psalms evidence for who He was.
Some of the psalms that have a typological fulfillment in Christ include Psalms 24, 45, 72, and 101 (the ideal King and Judge), as well as Psalms 88 and 102 (prayers of the suffering servant of God).
In all the Psalms, through the psalmists’ laments, thanksgivings, praises, and cries for justice and deliverance, we can hear the echoes of Christ’s prayer for the salvation of the world.
Thought question: How nice it is to know that, yes, in the end, good will triumph over evil, justice will be done, and pain and suffering will forever be vanquished. How should this truth give us comfort now when, from a human perspective, evil seems to prosper?