Ps 22, the focus of our last Bible study, looked at the sufferings of Christ on the cross and how these were predicted with shocking clarity hundreds of years before crucifixion was even a form of public execution. This psalm has two halves: the first describing the humiliation and suffering of the Messiah and the second describing the glory and exaltation which this suffering would achieve.
Many other psalms look ahead to the resurrection and exaltation of the Messiah. Ps 16, written by David, talks of the satisfaction that is found in God alone: ‘Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup’ (Ps 16:5) and looks to a ‘delightful inheritance’ (Ps 16:6) found in God. Chief amongst the pleasures found in God is the fact, however, that ‘my body will rest secure because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.’ (Ps 16:9-10)
It is entirely possible that David was not thinking of the after-life as he wrote this, focussing on God’s immediate deliverance from ever-present enemies. However, both Peter and Paul understand the ‘layers’ of meaning found in prophetic writings, and both assert that these verses apply directly to Jesus Christ. Acts 2:25-33 expounds this fully, with Peter saying ‘I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.’ Paul makes the same point in Acts 13:32-37. What the psalmist had only prophesied about, the apostles had actually witnessed: a man whose very dead body had been placed in a tomb with a seal in front of it and Roman guards placed outside appearing in glory and light to more than 500 witnesses, a man for whom the grave did not have the last word. No wonder Paul talks of Christ disarming powers and authorities and making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over the cross! (Col 2:13-15) No wonder he talks of Christ being exalted to the highest place and given the name above every name! (Phil 2: 9-11)
We have the benefit of hindsight and the benefit of a fuller revelation than David or any of the psalmists possessed. May these things propel us to worship and adoration, for we serve a risen Saviour!