Introduction to the Psalms
Delighting in the Psalms of Christ
I wrote this for a sermon that I preached on July 12, 2025 for my church on Psalm 1. I spent some time pouring over a couple commentaries by Keil & Delitzsch, James M. Hamilton Jr., Derek Kidner, Matthew Henry, John Calvin. I love the Psalms.
Before I drop this intro, I want to also direct your attention to an interview that I did on livestream with a constitutional lawyer in Alberta, Leighton Grey, and his colleague Michael Klassen. It was on The Grey Matter Podcast. We covered a lot of ground, largely related to some of the things that I have been writing on here on Substack. These topics include Christianity & nations, Roman Catholicism, and the need for reformation & revival in the Albertan & Canadian Church. You can find it on Facebook livestream here, on X livestream here, or a recording on YouTube here.
Beloved congregation of Jesus Christ.
Before we consider Psalm 1, we will enter into a broad overview, an introduction to the Book of Psalms. In the Bible, God gives His Church Psalms for singing, inspired by the Spirit of God who came upon the authors. In these Psalms we encounter the Triune God, especially as they speak of the coming Messiah. In the Psalms we see the entire trajectory of history from the fall of the first Adam to the victory of the second Adam. The constant hope of the Psalms is in a coming Savior, a coming King, the Messiah. One author writes, “only a Philistine could fail to love the Psalms.”
“only a Philistine could fail to love the Psalms.”
The 150 Psalms in the Bible are written primarily by King David. Seventy-three Psalms bear the inscription of being written by David. Twelve Psalms are listed as Psalms of Asaph, 12 are Psalms of Korah. A number of Psalms belong to the time of the Exile and the time following the Exile. There are also Psalms attributed to Moses and Solomon…
The Psalms are divided into 5 books. 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150. David’s Psalms are sprinkled throughout. You will see that there is a pattern to the Book of the Psalms as it moves towards a climax in Psalm 150, of praise to the God of redemption. The Psalter soars to a happy climax. There is a superscription, about halfway through between 72 and 73 indicating that the prayers of David are ended. This of course demonstrates again that the Psalms teach us not only praise and song, but also prayers to God in the Name of Jesus. Jesus teaches us how to pray in the Lord’s Prayer, but also in the various prayers of Scripture, but especially in the inspired book of Psalms.
We find Psalms at the time of Moses as well, in the song of Moses and then Miriam, the song of Deborah. The height of all of this is in the Davidic Psalms. Even though Psalms continued during the time of Solomon, we see that it is in decline during his time. The prophets in the Old Testament have some Psalm-like elements at times, but often they are looking back to the Book of Psalms.
The interpretation of the Psalms has played an important role in the piety of the Christian Church. Throughout history. Christ Himself said in Luke 24:44 that the Psalms speak of Him, and so with the church throughout the ages, we should sing songs of praise to Christ by singing the 150 Psalms of Scripture. There was a rich liturgy of Psalm-singing in Milan when Augustine was converted. Both Augustine and Chrysostom and other early church fathers have extensive writings on the Psalms. Throughout history we have accounts of Christians singing Psalms as they tow boats and resounding over fields and vineyards. Many martyrs have died with the richness of the Psalms on their lips. Wouldn’t it be incredible if the Psalms resounded in the yards and streets of our city again?
The Reformation fanned into flame again a love for songs in the Church after a period of quiet. Clement Marot and Theodore Beza brought Psalms to the French Church. Goudimel put tunes to Marot’s Psalms for the Church in Geneva. The French Protestants marched through the streets of their cities singing Psalm 68, and many a pastor in England has been released from prison to the tune of Psalm 124 wafting on the breeze. “Let Israel now say with thankfulness, that if the Lord had not our right maintained…” The Dutch became the protectors of the Genevan Psalms. The Scottish became protectors of the metric Psalms.
The Psalms do not present a flattened range of emotion. Godly men cry out to God from the depths of despair. There are Psalms of repentance. There are Psalms of joy. There are Psalms where the Psalmist angrily shouts out to God in faith. There are songs calling for the destruction of the enemies of God and the conversion of the nations. The Psalms delight in the church. The Psalms provoke a deep piety and depth of faith in your personal life, but also in your home as you teach your children to sing the Psalms, and memorize the Psalms as a family. These Psalms have given me a frame of reference to cling to God in faith over the years when faced with temptation and despair and the need for confession of sin. There is rich and overflowing joy, deep grief and despair, anger and frustration, depression, but all of it turns to God in faith, for He is the source of comfort in every moment, every situation in human history.
The Psalms, when loved and well-understood, have given rise to theologically rich hymns of praise to God, and a depth of hymns across the ages.
And so we begin with Psalm 1.
This Psalm was written either by David or by Ezra in the period following the exile as a preface to the Psalms, which sets the tone and the trajectory of the Psalms, as we wrestle to walk in the way of the righteous. It is a preface to the Book, alongside Psalm 2.
In this Psalm, you see Christ, the truly blessed Man. He calls out to you and me, to live the blessed life in union with Him. You search the Psalms, you sing the Psalms, you memorize the Psalms, thinking that in them, you will find eternal life, and it is they that speak of Christ. See the glory of Christ! In seeing Christ, you will see the antithesis between the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous. You must see a central love for the Law of God. You yourself must come to know this and experience its reality. Would you cast yourself into the snare of Satan or find blessing in Christ? These are not just words on a page, but a way of living, a way of living to pass on from generation to generation….
Photo by Tim Wildsmith on Unsplash