- Rubric: Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
- Title: Blessed Is the Man
- Publication: Volume 1 Issue 2 (April 22, 2023)
Headwaters of the Psalms
Blessed is the man. These first words of the first verse of the first psalm are the key that opens the entire book of psalms. These words are the fountain of the songs of Zion. These words are the tune of the songs of the Lord. These words are the headwaters from which the entire river of the psalms flows forth.
For when one finally understands that Jesus is the blessed man of Psalm 1:1, then one understands that the entire book of psalms speaks of him. Jesus as the blessed man is not an isolated exegetical curiosity of this particular psalm. Rather, Jesus as the blessed man is the fundamental exegetical principle of the entire psalm book. If one does not know that Jesus is the blessed man, then the entire book of psalms remains closed to him. But when God reveals to the believer that Jesus is the blessed man, all the psalms are opened up to him.
That the psalms speak of Jesus was Jesus’ and his apostles’ testimony. Jesus expounded unto the travelers to Emmaus the things in the psalms concerning himself (Luke 24:27, 44). Peter preached at Pentecost that “David speaketh concerning” Jesus (Acts 2:25). The church knows Jesus as the mediator from the holy gospel, which gospel God published by the prophets, including the prophet David (Lord’s Day 6, Q&A 19).
The whole life and work and death and resurrection and ascension and session and outpouring of the Spirit of Jesus Christ are written in the psalms.
Consider the blessed man’s life through the lens of the psalms.
The blessed man is the everlasting decree of the living God. Before the world was framed and its foundation laid, in the inscrutable heart of God’s eternal counsel, there is the blessed man as the decree of the living God: “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (Ps. 2:7).
In the fullness of time, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Mary brought forth her firstborn son, who was at the same time the everlasting Son of God (Ps. 2:7) and the fruit of David’s body (132:11). God and man! God with man! God with us!
The small child Jesus was worshiped by the wise men of the East and was presented with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him” (Ps. 72:10–11).
The boy Jesus stayed behind at the temple when his family returned home and was wiser in the law of God than all the learned men. “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation” (Ps. 119:99).
Set upon a mountain to preach a sermon, Jesus blessed the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit! The Lord “saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Ps. 34:18). Blessed are the meek! “The meek shall inherit the earth” (37:11). Blessed are the pure in heart! “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (24:3–4).
Jesus spoke unto the people in parables. “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old” (Ps. 78:2). “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13:34–35).
Jesus entered Jerusalem upon the foal of an ass, with the cry of the people in his ears, “Hosanna!” “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord” (Ps. 118:26). Jesus cleansed the temple of its buyers and sellers, “for the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (69:9).
Jesus fulfilled the passover and instituted the Lord’s supper with the “hallelujah” psalms upon his lips (Matt. 26:30). “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:22–23). In the garden of Gethsemane, the disciples first slept and then fled, for “my lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off” (38:11). Jesus’ own disciple betrayed him with a kiss. “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (41:9).
Surrounded by his enemies, Jesus was condemned. “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion” (Ps. 22:12–13). Suffering under Pontius Pilate, Jesus was crucified. “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (v. 16). Hanging upon the cross, he suffered the jeers and taunts of the wicked. “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him” (vv. 7–8). The soldiers standing by stole his clothes. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (v. 18). God from heaven poured out upon Jesus the curse due to us. “But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed” (89:38). God from heaven covered Jesus with our shame. “The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame” (v. 45). Suffering all the agonies of hell, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (22:1). Thirsting, Jesus was given bitter gall. “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (69:21). Having finished our salvation, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. “Into thine hand I commit my spirit” (31:5).
The third day he rose again from the dead. “I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:8–11).
He ascended into heaven. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.…Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in” (Ps. 24:3–4, 7).
He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty. “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Ps. 110:1).
Pouring out his Spirit upon his church, he abides with her and leads her worship of Jehovah. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee” (Ps. 22:22).
From heaven he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself” (Ps. 50:3–6).
In his just judgment the blessed man shall cast out all the wicked. “Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous” (Ps. 69:27–28).
In his tender mercy the blessed man shall make a new heavens and new earth where his people shall dwell with their God forevermore. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Ps. 23:6).
After all this, who could possibly say that the psalms have no gospel? Who could possibly say that the psalms are insufficient for the New Testament church to sing the finished work of her savior? And mark well, the church that once puts her foot down on the path that she may sing the New Testament ere long will put her other foot down on the path that she must sing the New Testament. So it has always gone in the church, as sure as foot follows foot and step follows step. And the ground that always has been and always will be advanced is the same: the psalms are insufficient to sing of Christ. But those who say such things know nothing of the psalms. For the blessed man is the headwaters of the psalms, and the blessed man is Jesus Christ.
Behold the blessed man of Psalm 1. Make your way through the psalms with him.
“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 psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44–48).
Blessed is the man!
Blessed is Jesus Christ!