The Psalms are songs about Christ as the God of our salvation in all their praise of Yahweh, the Most High and the Holy One of Israel. They are also about our Lord’s life, suffering, resurrection and glorification in all their descriptions of our sufferings and the glory of our salvation. They talk about his incarnation, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension and enthronement at God’s right hand. In this brief article, I want to point out several psalms that are about his incarnation.
The most obvious of these psalms is Psalm 2: “You are my Son. Today I have begotten You.” The psalm itself connects this with his exaltation to be ruler of the nations. According to the Apostle Paul in Acts 13:33 the verse is about the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Nevertheless, Christ did not first become king when he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He was the Son of God from his conception (Lk 1:35) and was “born king of the Jews (Mt 2:2).” His begetting as King of kings and Lord of lords began in the womb of Mary. Psalm 2 is in part a celebration of the incarnation.
Psalm 103 is too. In verses 13-14 of that psalm we sing about the Lord’s compassion for us in our sin and frailty:
As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
This refers in part to our creation (in which the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us participated, Jn 1:1-3,14); the LORD made our frame from the dust. In part it refers also to the curse of the fall, when he said, “Dust you are, and to dust you shall return (Gen 3:19).” The LORD knows us intimately. He knows that we are like grass and the flowers of the field that perish in a day (Ps 103:15-16). He knows us not only as humanity, but as individuals. He knows, if I may put it that way, the peculiar dustiness of each one of us, for he searches our hearts and stores our tears in his bottle (Ps 56:8).
But there is more here than that. For our great High Priest, who has passed through the heavens, was touched with the feeling of our infirmities and tempted in all points as we are (Heb 4:14-16). He knows our frame because he took our frame on himself. He remembers that we are dust because he became dust with us and for us.
Psalm 113 is a song about the glory of the Lord. He is high above all nations, his glory is above the heavens, and he dwells on high. Nevertheless, he humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth (v.6). He does not do this simply in the sense that he condescends to notice us, poor and sinful as we are. Kings of earth may at times take note of beggars who thrust themselves in their paths. This king has humbled himself in the person of his Son and has beheld things in heaven and earth through our eyes and suffered with us. He has taken on him the form of a servant, come in the likeness of man, and become obedient to death (Phil 2:7-8).
Psalm 142:3 says, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.” The Lord knows all things because he has ordained all things in his eternal decree and because he carries out his decree by his providence. But he also knows our path because he has walked that path himself. There his own enemies set a snare for him, no one acknowledged him, refuge failed him, and no one cared for his soul (v.4). There he too cried out to the Lord and said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
One of the great lessons of these psalms is that our Lord suffered and was tempted as we are because he came into our flesh. He is a faithful and sympathetic high priest because he understands the pain and difficulty of life in a fallen world. “In that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted (Heb 2:18).” “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).”