This is the fourth and final article in a series of meditations on Psalm 1. This week’s article gives a method for interpreting Psalm 1 and the entire Old Testament. Before proceeding, go back and re-read Psalm 1 and check out the previous articles in this series by going to wnewsj.com.
Jesus said all the Old Testament was written about Him (Luke 24). Instead of placing ourselves into the narratives of the Old Testament to gain understanding and application, we should place Jesus in the narratives, laws, and prophecies.
To help us interpret Scripture, we should ask these questions, “How does Jesus fulfill this Old Testament story?” and “How does Jesus fulfill the ceremonial, judicial, and moral laws?”
We use this same type of question when reading the Psalms. “Where do we see Jesus in the Psalms?” Jesus is the one who fulfills the Psalms and Jesus is the key to fully understanding the Psalms.
Applying the “Christ lens” to Psalm 1, we remember, Jesus only said what the Father told Him to say, and He only did what the Father told Him to do. Jesus only applied God’s Word to His life, never applying the counsel of the wicked. We see Jesus as the blessed person in Psalm 1, verses one and two.
Additionally, we find that He is the perfect fulfillment of God’s Law on which we should meditate.
Under the Old Covenant, to love God meant following the Torah, and not only did Jesus obey the Torah, but He also built upon those words and revealed God’s intention behind them. It is not only the letter of the Law that must be obeyed but the Spirit of the Law, too.
In the New Covenant, to love God means following Jesus, because He is the only one who ever perfectly kept all of God’s Law. “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:26.
When we find Jesus in the “streams of water” in verse three, we understand He is the one who allows us to thrive. As we reflect on Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, we open ourselves up to “abiding in Christ and His words abiding in us” (John 15). We only flourish spiritually when we are connected to Jesus Christ.
His Spirit is the nourishing water by which we bear fruit in season. As we stay connected to Christ we grow in the spiritual attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
In Jesus, we reveal these characteristics in ever increasing situations.
Jesus can even be found as the “chaff” from verse four. “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’” 1 Peter 2:24.
On the cross, Jesus became sin in our place and experienced the full judgement and wrath of God for our sin. The penalty and debt of sin is completely paid for by Jesus’s life.
God also raised Jesus from the dead, proving that He was good enough to cover over all our sin by His sacrifice.
As we entrust ourselves to Jesus, we receive the blessing of His righteousness, allowing us to stand before God “in the assembly of the righteous.” (Psalm 1:5)
And because of our connection to Jesus by faith we will not be separated out like those who reject God. “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Continue your own meditations on the Psalms.
As you reflect and memorize and apply the Scripture to your life, always search to see Jesus Christ within them, because “God watches over the way of the righteous.”
Dale McCamish is Pastor at the Wilmington Church of Christ.
This weekly column is provided to the News Journal on a monthly rotation basis by members of the Wilmington Area Ministerial Association.
