Singing the Psalms in Christ - Exaltation
By Ben Petersen, 25 Apr 2023
This is the second of two posts helping us think more about reading and singing the Psalms ‘in Christ.’ You can read the first one here. Our starting point is that the Psalms are songs that are both about Jesus, and for Jesus, before they’re about us and for us.[1]
These two posts are helping us tune into how the Psalms speak of the down-up movement of Jesus’ mission; what older theologians called his two states: Humiliation and Exaltation.[2]
Exaltation
We left off Christ’s humiliation with him in the grave. Very often in the Psalms, David faces his body lying in the grave. Often, he’s either asking that God wouldn’t leave him there, or he’s praying in confidence that God wouldn’t leave him there.
Resurrection
When we hear those prayers as Jesus’ we hear his prayer for the beginning of his exaltation – the resurrection. See this from Psalm 16:
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
My body will also rest secure,
Because you will not abandon me to the grave,
Nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in your presence,
With eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:9-11
See David’s confidence that God will raise him from the dead. And when Peter quotes this in his sermon in Acts 2, he tells us that Psalm 16 is about Jesus – he is the Holy One. He died, but God didn’t abandon him to the grave, because he raised him! So, we can see the resurrection in the Psalms in a general way when we hear Psalms that are about hope beyond the grave.[3]
And then imagine this! Jesus, whose prayer God answered - he is alive! - give you those prayers to sing and pray confidently as his people.
As well as this general hope of resurrection, the Psalmists look for the resurrection when they pray for vindication. E.g.,
Vindicate me, O LORD,
For I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. Psalm 26:1
Or,
Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Rescue me from deceitful and wicked men. Psalm 43:1
Vindication means being shown to be in the right. In these Psalms David has people accusing him of things falsely. He wants everyone to see his innocence. When we come to Jesus, there’s no more horrific example that his death!
As he faces death, and all that comes with it, these words are for him to pray, ‘Vindicate me, Lord,’ ‘Vindicate me, O God!’ And how does God answer? The resurrection. Man’s verdict on Jesus’ life is the death sentence. God’s verdict is to raise him from the dead.
Vindication = Resurrection
But how can we pray for vindication when we our lives are far from blameless? Here’s the thing: the Bible word for vindication, is actually the same as the word for justification.[4] So when Jesus is resurrected and vindicated, he’s also justified!
Vindication = Resurrection = Justification
As we read in Romans, we’re justified by faith. God declares us righteous as we receive Jesus by faith. Faith joins us to the one who has this verdict - the resurrection! Which explains why Paul says in Romans 4,
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Romans 4:25
When we remember that justification is the same word as vindication, all these Psalms become ours in Christ. God raises him from the dead to vindicate him. His vindication, his justification becomes ours. Jesus is vindicated because he earned it. We’re vindicated by his grace.
Ascension
The ascension is the most obviously uppish bit of the upwards journey;[5] it’s the moment Jesus went from being a man on earth to a man in heaven. Luke records it for us like this:[6]
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Luke 24:50-52
One moment Jesus was on the earth, the next he was taken up into heaven. And that’s where he will be until he comes back and we will be with him forever.
So how do we see that in the Psalms?
- Being in God’s presence
Often, that’s in temple language. In Psalm 5:7 David says this in the midst of bloodthirsty people who are after his life:
But I, by your great mercy will come into your house;
In reverence will I bow down towards your holy temple.
Here we hear the Lord Jesus looking beyond his cross to the ascension, when he comes into his Father’s heavenly temple.
One more famous example of this,
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4
This is the king’s prayer to be face to face with God, a prayer that’s answered most clearly in the ascension of Jesus. As Jesus’ people we can pray those words because his reward is our reward. We will see the beauty of the Lord in Jesus’ face, and we will dwell with him all the days of eternity!
The other major way we see the ascension is:
- The King on Mount Zion
This is a huge theme all through the Psalms. It goes back to Psalm 2, which sets up the whole book. In Psalm 2:1-3 we see the rulers of the world raging against the Lord, and against his anointed one – his Messiah. And what’s the Lord’s answer?
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them
Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 2:4-6
The answer to the world’s rebellion is a human king, the anointed one, enthroned on Mount Zion. This, then, becomes the hope of the Psalms.[7]
Psalm 24 brings both of these ideas together. In verses 1-6 David asks, ‘Who can stand in the temple, on God’s mountain?’ The answer is, ‘The righteous one, the holy one,’ The Lord Jesus! He then changes the camera angle in verses 7-10. To show us the view from the heavenly city, when the Lord Jesus comes in, victorious!
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
Be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and Mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty-
he is the King of glory. Psalm 24:7-10
All of heaven prepares to receive the king. Who is the King of glory? He’s both the man who has clean hands and a pure heart, and he is the LORD himself. He is the God-Man, the Lord Jesus.
Rule from Heaven
If the ascension is when Jesus sits on his throne as the king, then what happens afterwards? He rules.[8] To see how he rules, just look out for times where the royal Psalmist prays for things in his kingdom.
One example:
Do you rulers indeed speak justly?
Do you judge uprightly among men?
No, in your heart you devise injustice,
and your hands mete out violence on the earth.
… Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;
tear out, O LORD, the fangs of the lions. Psalm 58:1-2, 6
The King prays against unjust rulers in his kingdom. He wants his kingdom to be a place of justice and love! What does that mean for Jesus, to pray in heaven? I think Jesus is praying that God would break the teeth of wicked pastors: false teachers, and teachers who prey on the flock.[9]
Return
We see Jesus’ return in the Psalms especially when we see the king defeat his enemies.
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” Psalm 110:1
This is a famous Psalm. But where does Jesus’ heavenly rule lead to? Well, see v5-7,
The Lord is at your right hand;
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
He will judge nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
He will drink from a brook beside the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
There will be a day of Jesus’ wrath, where he will crush kings and judge nations. There are so many Psalms where this is the hope of God’s people.[10] And when the Psalms talk about that moment they’re talking about Jesus’ second coming.
Conclusion
This has been a very brief introduction to some ways we can hear Jesus’ voice in the Psalms. The better we know Jesus’ life and ministry, the richer the Psalms become; and the more precious they seem to us as we join our Lord Jesus singing them.
[1] For more on this, you can check out this blog post. And for a very readable book-length introduction, see Christopher Ash, Teaching Psalms Volume 1 (Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2017).
[2] The steps we follow here are a lightly modified version of the chapter in Jonty Rhodes, Man of Sorrows, King of Glory: What the Humiliation and Exaltation of Jesus Mean for Us (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 103–13.
[3] Some other examples of this are: Psalm 18:4-6, 16; Psalm 49:13-15. As we hear Jesus praying these Psalms, we hear his hope that God will raise him from the dead.
[4] Dikaio? (Greek), tzadak (Hebrew).
[5] You can hear teaching on the Ascension here: https://www.churchbythebay.org.uk/cbtb/talk-series/one-offs/
[6] He also records it for us again in Acts 1.
[7] It’s striking that in Psalm 3, when David is on the run from Absalom, feeling pressure on every side, his comfort comes when the LORD ‘answers me from his holy hill.’ Psalm 3:4. When his own kingship is under threat, David takes comfort in the promise of Psalm 2 that God will install his king on Mount Zion. Psalm 8, too is a prayer for God to restore all of creation in the Davidic king, by setting his glory above the heavens. He does this by raising Jesus, the Davidic king through the heavens in glory! And Romans 8 tells us he will restore all creation in him.
[8] Psalm 110 gives us an insight here. After the Lord is invited to sit down, the Father says to him, ‘The LORD will extend your mighty sceptre from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies’ (v2).
[9] There’s a lot more we could say here. For starters, we can see his rule being established in the present defeat of enemies; his leading of people in praise of God; nations beginning to bring tribute to him; his counsel to his people (though that clearly overlaps with his prophetic office).
[10]E.g., Psalm 2; 118.