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Bible Study • Christ in the Old Testament
Long before Bethlehem, Israel's worship book already sang of a coming King, a suffering Redeemer, a risen Lord, and an everlasting kingdom. Jesus said the Psalms testify of Him, and the apostles preached Him from them. When we read the Psalter through the New Testament, one story comes into focus: the God who spoke through David stepped into history and manifested Himself in Jesus Christ.
"All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me."
Luke 24:44 KJVSection 1
The Psalms were Israel's inspired hymnbook, the songs God's people sang for a thousand years. They are also the Old Testament book Jesus and the apostles quoted most.
The book of Psalms is a collection of one hundred and fifty inspired songs and prayers. Its poems are attributed to a number of writers across many centuries. The largest group carries the name of David, with others attributed to Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Ethan, and Heman, while a number of psalms are anonymous. Traditionally the collection reaches from the time of Moses through the monarchy, with some psalms composed later. Where a psalm's author or setting is uncertain, it is honest simply to say so rather than to claim more than the text provides.
What is not uncertain is the place the Psalms held in the mouth of Jesus and His apostles. Jesus quoted the Psalms more than almost any other book, and nearly every apostolic sermon in Acts reaches for the Psalter to preach Christ. That is our method in this study. Instead of gathering verses on our own authority, we will let Jesus and the apostles show us which psalms speak of the Messiah, and how.
Section 2
"These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures."Luke 24:44-45 KJV
On the day of His resurrection, Jesus placed the Psalms alongside the Law and the Prophets as Scripture that testifies of Him. This is the foundation of the study. We are not importing Christ into the Psalms from the outside. Jesus Himself said the Psalms were written concerning Him, and He opened His disciples' understanding to see it. Everything that follows simply traces the psalms that He and His apostles applied to the Messiah.
Section 3 • Psalm 2
"I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance... Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron."Psalm 2:7-9 KJV
Psalm 2 pictures the nations raging against the LORD and against His Anointed, the King He sets upon His holy hill. The New Testament applies this psalm directly to Jesus. In Acts 4:25-27 the believers quote Psalm 2 and name the rulers who gathered against Jesus, Herod and Pilate with the Gentiles and Israel. Paul preaches Psalm 2:7 in Acts 13:33, Hebrews cites it in Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5, and the rod of iron reappears in Revelation 19:15. The raging of the nations, the reign of the Anointed, and the worldwide inheritance all belong to Christ.
Psalm 2 calls the Messiah "My Son," but notice the timing marker: "this day have I begotten Thee." When Paul preaches this verse in Acts 13:33, he ties it to a moment in history, applying it to the raising up of Jesus. According to Apostolic theology, the Sonship refers to God's manifestation in genuine humanity through the Incarnation. The Son was "begotten" in time (Luke 1:35; Galatians 4:4), while God's own divine existence is eternal. The eternal Word did not begin to exist; rather, the Sonship, which is God revealed in flesh, began in history. This guards us from imagining an eternal second person existing alongside the Father before Bethlehem, while fully affirming that the child born of Mary is "the Son of God" (Luke 1:35), the one true God revealed in genuine humanity.
Section 4 • Psalm 22
Written roughly a thousand years before the crucifixion, and centuries before crucifixion was even practiced as a form of execution, Psalm 22 describes the death of the Messiah in startling detail.
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?... they pierced My hands and My feet... They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture."Psalm 22:1, 16, 18 KJV
Jesus prayed the opening words of this psalm from the cross: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). He was not quoting at random; He was praying the very psalm that describes His passion.
"He trusted on the LORD that He would deliver Him: let Him deliver Him." The rulers echoed these words almost exactly as Jesus hung on the cross (Matthew 27:39-43), wagging their heads just as the psalm foretold.
"They pierced My hands and My feet." This detail points straight to crucifixion. The wording is read as "pierced" in the ancient Greek Septuagint and is supported by a Dead Sea Scrolls Psalms fragment, and it was fulfilled when Jesus was nailed to the cross (see John 20:25-27).
"They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture." John quotes this verse directly and records its exact fulfillment as the soldiers gambled for Jesus' seamless robe (John 19:23-24; Matthew 27:35).
The psalm that begins in agony does not end there. Psalm 22 closes in triumph and worldwide worship: "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD... They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done this" (Psalm 22:27, 31). That final phrase, "He hath done this," reads like an anticipation of the cry from the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The death of the Messiah opens salvation to all nations.
A closely related detail belongs with this scene. The promise that not one of the Messiah's bones would be broken comes from Psalm 34:20 and from the Passover lamb of Exodus 12:46, and John records its fulfillment when the soldiers did not break Jesus' legs (John 19:33-36). Letting each Scripture speak in its own place keeps the picture both full and accurate.
Section 5 • Psalm 16
"Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption."Psalm 16:10 KJV
Both Peter and Paul preach Psalm 16 as a prophecy of the Messiah's resurrection. At Pentecost, Peter argues that David could not have been speaking only of himself, "for David is not ascended into the heavens," and his tomb "is with us unto this day" (Acts 2:25-34). David died and his body decayed, so the psalm that promised no corruption must point beyond David to the Christ who would rise. Paul makes the same argument in Acts 13:35-37. The empty tomb of Jesus is the fulfillment of a song written a thousand years before.
Section 6 • Psalm 110
"The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."Psalm 110:1 KJV
Jesus Himself pointed to this verse. In Matthew 22:41-46 He asks the Pharisees how the Messiah can be both David's son and David's Lord, since David, writing by the Spirit, calls Him "my Lord." The question silenced them. Peter then uses the same psalm at Pentecost to reach his conclusion: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:34-36). Psalm 110 also declares the Messiah a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4), which the book of Hebrews develops at length (Hebrews 5 through 7).
"The LORD said unto my Lord" is not a conversation between two separate divine persons. The Man Christ Jesus, crucified and risen, was exalted to the place of all authority, which Scripture pictures as the "right hand" of God. The right hand is a figure for supreme power, not a second throne beside God. And the One now exalted in glorified humanity is the very God of Israel who took on flesh. Peter draws the plain conclusion, "both Lord and Christ." We stay exactly where Scripture stays and do not speculate beyond it.
Section 7 • Psalm 118
"The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."Psalm 118:22-23 KJV
Jesus applied this stone directly to Himself: "Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?" (Matthew 21:42). Peter preaches it before the rulers in Acts 4:11, and writes of it again in 1 Peter 2:7. The nation's leaders rejected the very cornerstone God had chosen, and God made that rejected stone the foundation of His church. This same psalm also cried, "Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the LORD" (Psalm 118:26), the words the crowds shouted at the triumphal entry (Matthew 21:9).
Section 8 • Psalm 23
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."Psalm 23:1 KJV
In the Old Testament, the LORD Himself is the Shepherd of His people. David sings, "The LORD is my shepherd," and through Ezekiel God says, "I will both search My sheep, and seek them out... I will feed My flock" (Ezekiel 34:11-16). In the New Testament, Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). Hebrews calls Him "that great Shepherd of the sheep" (Hebrews 13:20), and Peter calls Him "the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" and "the chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 2:25; 5:4).
The Shepherd of Psalm 23 is Jehovah, the LORD. The Shepherd of John 10 is Jesus. These are not two shepherds but one. When Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd, He is identifying Himself as the LORD of Psalm 23 come in the flesh. The God who sang over His people through David walked among them as the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.
Section 9 • Psalm 45
"Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre... therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."Psalm 45:6-7 KJV
Psalm 45 is a royal wedding song for the king, and Hebrews 1:8-9 applies its words directly to the Son. What is striking is that in the same breath the King is addressed as "O God," and is said to be anointed by "God, Thy God." Both are true of Jesus Christ. He is fully God, addressed as God upon an everlasting throne, and He is the Anointed One, the Man who was anointed by God. This is the mystery of the Incarnation: the one true God revealed in genuine humanity, fully divine and truly human in one Person, without dividing Him into separate persons.
Section 10 • Psalm 69
"For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up... They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink."Psalm 69:9, 21 KJV
After Jesus cleansed the temple, His disciples remembered Psalm 69:9, "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up" (John 2:17), and Paul quotes the same verse of Christ in Romans 15:3. The psalm's cry of thirst and its bitter drink meet their fulfillment at the cross, where Jesus was offered vinegar (Matthew 27:34, 48). Even the judgment of the betrayer draws on this psalm, for Peter cites Psalm 69:25 when the disciples chose a replacement for Judas (Acts 1:20). Psalm 69 is one of the most frequently quoted psalms in the New Testament.
Section 11 • Psalm 72
"He shall have dominion also from sea to sea... His name shall endure for ever... all nations shall call Him blessed."Psalm 72:8, 17 KJV
Psalm 72 is a prayer for the king, attributed to Solomon, describing a reign of justice for the poor, dominion from sea to sea, and blessing for all nations under a name that endures forever. No earthly king of Israel ever fulfilled it. Here an honest distinction matters. Unlike Psalms 2, 16, 22, and 110, the New Testament does not explicitly quote Psalm 72 and declare it fulfilled in Christ. What we are drawing is a theological connection rather than a direct apostolic citation. Even so, its themes of a righteous, universal, and everlasting kingdom resonate deeply with what John later saw, when "the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15), and with the reign of the Lamb over all nations in Revelation 21 and 22. Psalm 72 begins with a human king and points beyond him to the King whose kingdom truly has no end.
Section 12 • Psalm 95
"To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart."Psalm 95:7-8 KJV
Psalm 95 calls God's people to worship and warns them not to repeat the unbelief of the wilderness generation who never entered God's rest. Hebrews 3 and 4 build an entire argument on this psalm, and notably introduces the quotation with "the Holy Ghost saith" (Hebrews 3:7), then presses its "today" upon the reader. The rest promised in Psalm 95 is finally found in Christ, and the warning stands: hear His voice, believe, and obey, while it is still called today.
Section 13 • Psalm 102
"Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure... Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end."Psalm 102:25-27 KJV
Psalm 102 is a prayer addressed to the LORD, the eternal Creator who laid the foundation of the earth and who never changes. In Hebrews 1:10-12, the inspired writer takes these very words, spoken of Yahweh the Creator, and applies them to the Son. This is one of the clearest places where the New Testament identifies Jesus with the one God of the Old Testament.
Hebrews does not say the Son merely resembles the Creator. It applies the Creator's own words to Him. The unchanging LORD who made heaven and earth is the same One who was made flesh in Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the Apostolic message: not a second divine person who arrived later, but the one true God who manifested Himself in genuine humanity, "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16), in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is both the Creator of Psalm 102 and the truly human Messiah who suffered in Psalm 22.
Section 14
The Psalms were not only predictions about the Messiah. They were the very words on His lips through His suffering and ministry.
From the cross Jesus prayed, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46), the opening line of the great psalm of the passion.
With His last breath He prayed, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luke 23:46), the words of Psalm 31:5.
At the Last Supper, Jesus and the disciples "sung an hymn" (Matthew 26:30), by long tradition the Hallel psalms (113 to 118), before He went out to Gethsemane.
Jesus reasoned from Psalm 110 to reveal His own identity as David's Lord (Matthew 22:41-46), teaching from the Psalter about Himself.
Because the Psalms were the language of His prayers, they were never merely a distant forecast. They were the voice of the Messiah Himself as He walked to the cross.
Section 15
When the church was born, the apostles preached Christ straight out of the Psalter. At Pentecost, Peter proves the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus from Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 (Acts 2). Before the rulers, the believers pray Psalm 2 and Peter cites Psalm 118 (Acts 4). Paul preaches Psalm 2 and Psalm 16 in the synagogue at Antioch (Acts 13). Paul's letters lean on the Psalms repeatedly, and the book of Hebrews reads almost like a sustained exposition of Christ from the Psalter, drawing on Psalms 2, 8, 22, 40, 45, 95, 102, and 110. The apostolic pattern is unmistakable: to preach Jesus, they opened the Psalms.
A Closer Look
The Psalter was foundational to apostolic preaching. Again and again the New Testament reaches into the Psalms to proclaim Christ. Here is a sampling of the psalms the apostles applied to Jesus, and where they used them.
| Psalm | New Testament Use |
|---|---|
| Psalm 2 | Acts 4; Acts 13; Hebrews 1 |
| Psalm 8 | Hebrews 2 |
| Psalm 16 | Acts 2; Acts 13 |
| Psalm 22 | Matthew 27; John 19 |
| Psalm 34 | John 19 |
| Psalm 40 | Hebrews 10 |
| Psalm 45 | Hebrews 1 |
| Psalm 69 | John 2; Romans 15; Acts 1 |
| Psalm 95 | Hebrews 3 and 4 |
| Psalm 102 | Hebrews 1 |
| Psalm 110 | Matthew 22; Acts 2; Hebrews |
Memorize This
Luke 24:44 KJV
"All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me."
Final Section
The Psalms are not merely songs about ancient Israel. They reveal the promised Messiah, His suffering, His resurrection, His exaltation, His kingdom, and His glory. Jesus Himself declared that the Psalms testified concerning Him, and the apostles consistently preached Him from these sacred songs.
When we read the Psalms through the lens of the New Testament, we see one unified story. The God who spoke through David fulfilled His promises by manifesting Himself in Jesus Christ, accomplishing redemption through His death and resurrection, and reigning forever as both Lord and Christ. Israel's worship book was pointing home all along, to the one God who came in the flesh to save us.
Go Deeper
Read Acts 2:25-36. How does Peter use Psalm 16 and Psalm 110 to prove both the resurrection and the exaltation of Jesus? What makes his argument from David's own death so convincing?
Psalm 102 speaks of the LORD the Creator, and Hebrews 1 applies it to Jesus. What does this teach about the identity of Christ? How does it fit with "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16)?
Jesus prayed the Psalms in His darkest hour (Psalm 22:1; Psalm 31:5). How might praying the Psalms shape the way you bring your own suffering and worship to God?
For the Historical and Textual Notes
The Messianic identifications above follow the New Testament's own use of the Psalms. Scripture is quoted from the KJV. The background notes on authorship and text draw on the following standard sources.
See the one God revealed in Jesus Christ across the Scriptures.
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