…“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”   Luke 24:44 (NKJV)

David’s kingship, faulty as it was, can nevertheless be seen as foreshadowing the kingship of Christ. David is remembered as a musician as well as a king, with an amazing legacy in his catalogue of Psalms. It is considered that he wrote at least 73 of the 150 Psalms, possibly commissioning others. 

Some commentaries see every psalm as messianic – all pointing towards the Christ and the Kingdom he, Jesus, inaugurated, and which would be consummated upon his return; detailing the suffering that would precede it. Psalms 22 and 69, in particular, give a graphic account of Christ’s suffering. David suffered greatly before and during his forty year reign, first over Judah and then the united Israel. Saul was intent on killing him. He lost his close friend, Jonathan, in battle. His poetry tells of a man often lonely, overwhelmed, and persecuted. But even within a single song, he turns from begging for protection and deliverance to unrestrained joy. Knowingly or unknowingly, he also wrote about the suffering and glory that would be Christ’s

Christ, in teachings that often led to persecution, referenced Psalms about fifty times. Luke records Christ’s claim that this Old Testament book was about him (Luke 24:44). On the evening of his betrayal and crucifixion, after the Passover meal, the bread and the wine, we are told that they ‘sang a hymn’. It was traditional at this point to sing Psalm 118, and reading it in this context is to elevate it.

It is topped and tailed with joyful thanks: ‘Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.’ (Psalm 118:1,29). Jesus knew he was about to walk into the hands of a mob who will mock, torture and kill him in the most painful and drawn-out way, and he sings of His Father’s goodness and mercy. A few days before he had ridden into Jerusalem with the crowds crying out words from this same Psalm: ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (v 26). These people would have been aware of this Psalm and what it pointed to although they, along with the disciples, did not understand how this particular saviour would fulfil his role. Three of the gospels record Christ seeing himself in this Psalm when he declares, ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone.’  (Luke 20:17; Psalms 118:22) It was this statement, among others, that led the chief priests and scribes to seek ‘…to lay hands on Him…’ (Luke 20:19).

The salvation that people had been singing about was unfolding before them – but not in the way they imagined. And we can sing, ‘This was the  Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.’ (Psalm 118:23-24).

Prayer
Thank you Father that Jesus has shown us, through David’s words, that suffering comes before the joy that is your kingdom. In Jesus’s name, Amen.