Psalms 2, 45, 102, and 110 – Christ in the Book of Hebrews

Why, you may ask, are these Psalms here in our reading plan? Well, after reading the first three books of the Pentateuch, I wanted us to read through the book of Hebrews, because it pulls heavily from the Mosaic Law, especially the priesthood and sacrificial system, to point us to Christ. However, the writer of Hebrews leans on four Psalms to explain Who Christ is, and these four are those Psalms used in his arguments for the supremacy of Christ over Moses, over angels, and over the Aaronic priesthood.

We begin with Psalm 2. This is a royal Psalm that is attributed to David in Acts 4:25, and which is quoted in multiple New Testament books. The Psalm is about the anointed king, David (v. 2), whom God sovereignly placed over His people (v. 6). David is perhaps the greatest type of Christ to be found in the Old Testament. So this royal Psalm about the kingship of David is really a pointer to the Kingship of Christ. He is the Son Who has been begotten by God (v. 7 – see Matt 3:17, Rom 1:14, Acts 13:33, Heb 1:5 and 5:5). His kingdom, not David’s, is over the whole earth and every nation (v. 8). He is the King of kings (v. 10). He is even paralleled with YHWH in verses 11 and 12. He is the Son Whose wrath rests upon those opposed to Him, but Whose blessing rests upon those who take refuge in Him.

Psalm 45 is a song about a wedding. In particular, it is the wedding of a king. This Psalm is addressed to the king, in fact (v. 1). Note that in verse 2, the king is blessed by God, but in verse 6, we see that the King being addressed is God. In verse 7, the God being addressed in verse 6 is told that “your God has anointed you.” Clearly, this King is Christ (The writer of Hebrews asserts this in Hebrew 1:8-9). He is God, but God is also His God (see John 1:1). This reign is eternal (v. 6), and God has anointed Him in an unparalleled way (v. 7). The address to the bride in verses 10-15 is ultimately the address to the bride of Christ. We are made absolutely beautiful by our marriage to our Bridegroom, in Whom is our joy.

Psalm 102 is “the prayer of one afflicted.” Note that the prayer in verses 1-11 turn to a focus on God in the rest of the Psalm, ending with the assurance of blessing in verse 28. This is a good model for our prayers when we are suffering. Let our needs and anxieties be known (Phil 4:6), and then turn our focus on God, and all He has already done. The Psalmist does this, including recounting God’s creation (v. 25), and recognizing that this world is temporary, but God is eternally the same (vv. 26-27). This creation and eternality is ascribed to Christ in Hebrews 1:10-12.

Psalm 110 is one of the Messianic Psalms that Christ applies to Himself (v. 1 quoted in Mark 12:35-37). We see again the royal theme of God establishing the king (v. 2). Note in verse 3 the freewill offerings and the holy (or consecrated) garments we have seen in Exodus and Leviticus. In verse 4, we see that this king is not just a king, but a priest. And he’s not just a priest, but an eternal priest. This verse is quoted by the writer of Hebrews multiple times. This is the only other verse to refer to Melchizedek in the Old Testament, along with Genesis 14:18 (refer back to see how Melchizedek is a type of Christ). The writer of Hebrews focuses on the ministry of Melchizedek over three chapters (chapters 5-7) to prove that the Aaronic priesthood was not the true priesthood, but pointed to the true High Priest, Jesus Christ. As this is a Psalm of the king, David, written about the One that is his Lord, it is clearly a Psalm about Christ.