Underlying the 'picture'

The false allegorical idea taught in so many Christian churches is that Jesus Christ is “reigning in the hearts of men.” They say, “As long as He reigns as Lord in your life that's the Kingdom of God working.”

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An astonishing thing about the Bible is that every book in it has a statement about the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in every single book, either in connection with prophecy, or through a picture-type, or as a direct reference.

When it comes to the Book of Psalms, for example, almost all—if not all—of the 150 individual psalms have some kind of reference to Jesus Christ. Some times you'll simply read it as, "The Lord is my shepherd." Christ says, "I am the good shepherd."

There are references to Him as our shield, our helper, our salvation, on and on.

Throughout the Psalms, the situations and circumstances where it talks about David or someone else serve as allusions or parallels to things Christ does or is involved in somehow.

You can look at a psalm and know it's a reference to Jesus Christ that underlies the picture of the event being discussed.

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In the New Testament are actual quotes from certain psalms that provide direct statements about Jesus Christ, not just allusions or parallels to Him.

Take, for example, John 13:18. Peter, talking about Judas, says, "He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."

This comes from an obscure little verse in Psalms 41 that says, "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." This is Christ talking.

 

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We know, for instance, Psalm 8 is a “messianic psalm” because it's quoted half a dozen times in the New Testament, including in Hebrews 2:7, where it says, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands."

The psalm in its entirety reads: "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
"All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
"The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

 

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Psalm 8 begins by referring to man and God's purpose to extend His dominion in the earth through Adam and mankind.

But since Adam failed, the reference goes forward to the Lord Jesus Christ as "the last Adam," the true Son of Man who's going to do for man what man failed to do for himself.

When man failed his commission given by God, God reasoned, "Okay, I'll send my Son to become a man and accomplish for man my original purpose in creating mankind."

The psalm is anticipating that day when all of God's purpose for man is accomplished through Jesus Christ, who will reign as King on earth. That's why David says, "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth."

Of course, the word "our," refers to the nation Israel. The God of all the earth is the God of Israel.

God provides for a "seed of the woman," and that seed becomes the seed of Abraham (the nation Israel), which then becomes the line of David and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Abraham's given the promise of the nation, and David's given the promise of the throne along with the kingdom blessings, but none of it will be accomplished except in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God gave Adam dominion in the earth and he failed. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to accomplish what Adam was originally intended to accomplish and so His dominion is going to be in the earth.

That's why Christ says, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth,” and, “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

God has a plan and purpose not just for this planet but for the whole universe. That's what it's saying in Psalm 8:1—“who has set thy glory above the heavens."