Psalms Volume II: Christ in the Psalms

Overview of Psalms: This collection is the Hymnal of the Jewish people. Music was a vital part of public and personal worship in Israel.

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers divided into five books, each ending with a doxology. Often these songs paralleled events in Israel’s history.

The majority of Psalms were written in the time of David and Solomon. They provide poetry for the expression of praise, worship, and confession to God.

The authors honestly pour out their true feelings, reflecting a dynamic, powerful, and life-changing friendship with God.

The psalmists confess their sins, express their doubts and fears, ask God for help in times of trouble, and praise and worship Him.

This is Volume 2 of our study of the Psalms. This series is titled “Christ in the Psalms” a study of the Messianic Psalms.

In this study, we are focused on the person and work of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Psalms.

Note: You can find all the lessons from our Volume 1 Study of the Psalms here: Songs of Life.

Key Verse

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Psalms 1:1-3 (NASB)

Available Lessons

Content Outline

The Message of Psalms

“Let good Christians divide them for themselves, so as may best increase their acquaintance with them, that they may have them at hand upon all occasions and may sing them in the spirit and with the understanding.”
Matthew Henry
Minister and Bible Commentator

“The main subject of these songs [are] the glorious things of the gospel, as is evident by the interpretation often put upon them, and the use that is made of them in the New Testament.

For there is no other book of the Old Testament that is so often quoted in the New Testament as the book of Psalms.

Here Christ is spoken of in multitudes of songs.”
Jonathan Edwards
North American revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian.

“This book I am wont to style an anatomy of all parts of the soul; for no one will discover in himself a single feeling whereof the image is not reflected in this mirror.

Nay, all griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, anxieties – in short, all those tumultuous agitations wherewith the minds of men are wont to be tossed – the Holy Ghost hath here represented to the life.”
John Calvin
French theologian, Pastor and Reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation

“More and more is the conviction forced upon my heart that every man must traverse the territory of the Psalms himself if he would know what a goodly land they are.

They flow with milk and honey, but not to strangers; they are only fertile to lovers of their hills and vales.

None but the Holy Spirit can give a man the key to the Treasury of David; and even he gives it rather to experience than to study.

Happy he who for himself knows the secret of the Psalms.”
Charles H. Spurgeon
English Baptist Preacher

“The Psalms are full of Christ. There is a more complete picture of Him in Psalms than in the Gospels.

The Gospels tell us that He went to the mountain to pray, but the Psalms give us His prayer. The Gospels tell us that He was crucified, but the Psalms tell us what went on in His own heart during the crucifixion.

The Gospels tell us He went back to heaven, but the Psalms begin where the Gospels leave off and show us Christ seated in heaven.”
J. Vernon McGee
American Presbyterian minister, pastor, Bible teacher, theologian, and radio minister

“The Psalms constituted Israel’s ancient, God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) ‘hymnbook,’ which defined the proper spirit and content of worship.

The backdrop for the Psalms is twofold:
(1) the acts of God in creation and history, and (2) the history of Israel.

The collected psalms comprise the largest book in the Bible and the most frequently quoted OT books in the NT.”
Dr. John MacArthur
The MacArthur Bible Commentary

“Whenever God’s people gather, whether in grief or celebration, they sing.

And in the middle of it all– at the very heart of the Bible– is the book of Psalms, the hymnbook of the people of God.

Often when we cannot find words to express our fears, joys, longings, or sorrows, we find them in the pages of this book.”
Dr. David Jeremiah
Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible

“The book of Psalms is the heart of the Old Testament.

Indeed, the Psalms are not only the heart of the Old Testament; they are a pivotal witness and anticipation of Jesus Christ, and thus a perfect illustration of Augustine’s statement that ‘the New Testament is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed’.

Jesus made this clear when he told his disciples that the Psalms spoke of him (Luke 24:44).”
Dr. Tremper Longman III
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms

“The book of Psalms has been and still is the irreplaceable devotional guide, prayer book, and hymnal of the people of God.

But primarily, the Psalms are about God and His relationship to His creation, the nations of the world, Israel, and His believing people.

The psalms teach us to seek God with a whole heart, to tell him the truth and tell Him everything, and to worship Him because of who He is, not just because of what He gives.”
Dr. Warren Wiersbe
Be Worshipful – An OT Commentary on the Psalms (1-89)

“The book of Psalms has been designed to be the prayer book of God’s people as they wait for the Messiah and his coming kingdom.

Through the Psalms, we learn about the importance of prayer and the acknowledgment of pain, as well as the power of praise and fulfillment of prophecy.

Note how the Psalms correspond particularly well with Isaiah, Zechariah, and God’s covenant with David in Chapter 7 of 2 Samuel.”
The Bible Project