Day 19: Understanding the Psalms Point Us to Christ

In this episode of In Light of the Cross, we pause to invite the Spirit and explore the Psalms as a unique part of Scripture: poetry that is largely people’s words to God, yet inspired for our good and also God’s words to us. We reflect on how the Psalms point to Jesus in several key ways: through the theme of the unjust suffering of the righteous (including Psalm 22 language echoed by Jesus on the cross), through David and the psalmists modeling a rightly oriented heart of worship, lament, confession, and trust that Jesus fulfills perfectly, and through explicitly Messianic Psalms like Psalm 2 and Psalm 110, which Jesus uses in debate to reveal the Messiah as both David’s son and David’s Lord. We then meditate on Psalm 23, listening for a phrase to pray over, and close by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. 00:00 Lenten Series Intro 00:45 Centering Prayer 01:08 Why Psalms Matter 02:26 Psalms Fulfilled in Jesus 02:54 Righteous Sufferer Theme 04:53 Righteous Heart Model 06:27 Messianic King Psalms 07:59 Psalm 110 and Jesus Debate 11:03 Reading Psalms by the Spirit 12:14 Psalm 23 Meditation 14:50 Lord's Prayer Closing