The Messianic Psalms: Seeing Christ in the Psalter
Several psalms are quoted in the New Testament as prophecies of Christ. A guide to the main ones.
The New Testament quotes the Psalms more than any other Old Testament book, often to show that Jesus fulfills them. These "Messianic Psalms" are not predictions in a simple sense; they are prayers and songs that find their full meaning in Him.
Psalm 2 speaks of God’s Anointed King, rejected by the nations but enthroned in Zion. The early church prayed it after Pentecost (Acts 4). Psalm 22 describes suffering in language Jesus quoted from the cross, and ends in worldwide praise.
Psalm 110 is the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament: "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand." It establishes Christ’s priestly-kingly reign. Psalm 16 promises that God will not let His Holy One see corruption, applied to the resurrection in Acts 2.
Reading the Psalms with Christ in view does not replace their original meaning; it fulfills it. They become the prayers of the Messiah, sung by His people, pointing to His suffering, glory, and eternal reign.
Related Psalms
Psalm 2
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?”
The nations rage against the Lord and His Anointed, but God establishes His King on Zion.
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“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
A lament of abandonment that becomes praise, foreshadowing Christ’s suffering.
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