Chad Richard Bresson - Preaching The Psalms in The New Covenant

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69
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Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant

Text: The Psalms, especially Psalm 69
Speaker: Chad Richard Bresson Introduction Most of us are familiar with the pocket testaments that have been handed out by the millions at schools all over the United States. Mention pocket testament and for many of us, we can still envision the Gideons workers and their boxes showing up at school and the buzz of getting something for free. For some of us, the pocket testament from the Gideons was the first time we owned our own Bible. Being a good church kid who was taught to recite the books of the Bible at an early age, the pocket testament was a bit of curiosity for me. I always found it curious that the Psalms (and sometimes Proverbs) was added to the end of the New Testament. This practice dates back to at least 1557. John Knox and other Protestant scholars who had the means fled England under the rule of Bloody Mary, the Catholic monarch who made life difficult for those Englishmen trying to follow in the reforming footsteps of John Calvin and Martin Luther. The English Protestants, with the help of Knox and Calvin, began work on an English translation that was not tied to the throne. Their project is what we now know as the Geneva Bible. The Geneva Bible was completed and published in 1560. But before the translation was published, three years prior, the Geneva New Testament had been published along with a copy of the Psalms attached. This was no doubt because the English church used the Psalms in its worship and would benefit from having the Psalms released early in the Geneva project. In fact, in some cases, the Psalters were printed separately specifically for use in corporate worship. The modern habit of adding Psalms to the New Testament was cemented in English literature with the arrival of the pocket Testaments that were first distributed to Union and Confederate soldiers in the Civil War. Again, use of the Psalter in worship was most likely a factor. But with the advent of the Civil War, the Psalms also provided salve for the wounded soldier. The Psalms took on a devotional dimension in a profound way. This practice of placing the Psalms as an appendix (as Geerhardus Vos calls it1) served to highlight the devotional nature of the Psalms. The serene pastures of green and the cool, still waters of refreshment have been understood to provide comfort in times of difficulty and hardship. The pietistic quiet time with God in the solace of one's private space is thought to not be complete without a meditation from the Psalter. The pocket New Testaments took on a noticeable devotional tenor, almost exclusively so. And one wonders if the New Testament itself didn't suffer from the privatization of Psalms for the devotional hour. This isn't to say that many of the Psalms are not borne of the individual soul's delight in the Covenanting God and his revealed Word. But Vos points out an often missed element that is resident in the pocket testament. The adjacency of the Psalms to Revelation's Apocalypse, a phenomenon more acutely felt during times of great upheaval, accentuates the Psalter's eschatological character. Not only would this have been true during the American Civil war, it was true years later in the War to End all Wars. Writing in the wake of World War 1, Vos says,
(Vos, 1920)
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The storm-ridden landscape of the Apocalypse has little enough in common with the green pastures and still waters of which the Psalmist sings...It requires something more strenuous than the even tenor of our devotional life to shake us out of this habit and force us to take a look at the Psalter's second face...It has happened more than once in the history of the Church, that some great conflict has carried the use of the Psalms out from the prayer-closet into the open places of a tumultuous world. We...who are just emerging from a time of great world-upheaval, have perhaps discovered, that the Psalter adapted itself to still other situations than we were accustomed to imagine. We have also found that voices from the Psalter accompanied us, when forced into the open to face the worldtempest, and that they sprang to our lips on occasions when otherwise we should have had to remain dumb in the presence of God's judgments. This experience sufficiently proves that there is material in the Psalms which it requires the large impact of history to bring to our consciousness in its full significance. It goes without saying that what can be prayed and sung now in theatro mundi (or the stage of human history) was never meant for exclusive use in the oratory of the pious soul.2 If we have missed the accidental significance of the Psalms set in immediate proximity to John's Apocalypse, it would seemingly obligate us to observe that the Psalms are inherently eschatological. Because the Psalms are casting Israel's vision toward its climatic and glorious end in both grand and stark language, the Psalms find their greatest meaning in the Messiah of its meter and its greatest expression in the New Covenant of its strophe. It is the purpose of this presentation to show that if we have not accounted for the New Covenant in our preaching of the Psalms, we have missed the intention of the Psalmists themselves and ultimately the true meaning of the Psalms to which we turn for comfort.
Contemporary Preaching of the Psalms

When was the last time you or I heard a sermon from the Psalms that was informed by this eschatological character of the Psalms? When was the last time you or I heard a sermon from the Psalms in which the ultimate subject of the Psalm being preached was Israels coming messiah and the expected deliverance he brings? When was the last time that you heard a sermon preached in which the New Covenant was presented as that Psalms end point? Other than Psalm 2 or Psalm 22? Why does it seem that we tend to miss the forward-and-upward looking trajectory of the Psalms? Why do our sermons on the Psalms typically sound as if they have not moved from the Old Covenant to the New? The dearth of preaching the Psalms in a manner that is in keeping with their eschatological features is due to a number of things, which I will mention only briefly here before making some points about preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant. In fact, the purpose of the first part of my presentation is to lead us in calling to mind some of the interpretational and preaching principles in preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant.
Presentation
1. Contemporary problems preaching Psalms 2. Hermeneutics and homiletics of Psalms sermoncraft in the New Covenant 3. Model Psalm 69
(Vos, 1920)
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My first task will be to point out some of the contemporary problems in our preaching of the Psalms. And then my next task in Part 1 of this presentation is to look at the hermeneutics involved in the sermoncraft surrounding the Psalms. In Part 2 of this presentation, I will attempt to model what we have discussed in preaching Psalm 69. I also pray that our consideration of Psalm 69 will be a fitting conclusion to our time together this week.
5 contemporary problems regarding preaching from the Psalter

I have listed seven, very brief reasons that we tend to miss the New Covenant significance in our preaching of the Psalms. These are all interrelated, so as I listed these it occurred to me that some might find these things arbitrary. But I want to put these in front of us as I thought about them and maybe these will be of help to us as we consider preaching from the Psalter in light of New Covenant Theology.
Devotional material
The first reason we (evangelicals) dont tend to take the New Covenant into account when we preach the Psalms is one weve already mentioned. Too often the Psalms are simply understood and subsequently preached as devotional material. This isnt to say that the Psalms are not devotional. The Psalms are intensely personal. We empathize with the real life grit that gives rise to both lament and praise. The Psalms are indeed messages of hope and comfort3 for the New Covenant community. But when we simply leave it at that, we miss the upward and forward view of the Psalms. We miss the Psalms bigger message.
Individualism
The second reason is that we often preach the Psalms with the individual at the center of our interpretation. Again, this isnt to say that the Psalms do not speak to the plight of the individual in a world gone wrong. But I think we are not often aware in our preaching of the Psalms, and indeed the Old Testament, how much our rugged American individualism is coloring both our exegesis and our preaching. Again, the Psalms are deeply personal. One cannot approach the Psalms, especially the Psalms of Lament, without feeling a sense of kinship with the author and his plight. Many of the Psalms are written in the first person, and many of those Psalms are the prayers of a person in trouble.4 Geerhardus Vos is correct when he says, Subjective responsiveness is the specific quality of these songs.5 But sermons from the Psalms today too often fail to go beyond the personal plight of the author, as if the personal crisis of the psalmist is an end to itself. Carl Bosma notes that the "biographical-psychological approach to the Psalmsconcentrates its attention on the unique experience of the individual authors". 6That approach dominates the homiletical landscape.
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(Larondelle, 1983), p. 1 (Mays, 1991) 5 (Vos, 1920); the larger quote in Vos The Eschatology of the Psalter is this: "The deeper fundamental character of the Psalter consists in this that it voices the subjective response to the objective doings of God for and among his people. Subjective responsiveness is the specific quality of these songs. As prophecy is objective, being the address of Jehovah to Israel in word and act, so the Psalter is subjective, being the answer of Israel to that divine speech." 6 (Bosma, 2008)
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Sermons from the Psalms reinforce the prayer closet as the place where we immerse ourselves in the Psalms, looking for some kind of refuge and relief in our complex, busy, and difficult lives. In our psychologized, Oprafied Americana, the Psalms provide Divine Therapy during our morning "me" time, selectively offering nearness to God through inner reflection. The Psalms, then, are preached to the individual rather than the New Covenant community. We read the plight of the Psalmist through the lens of our own plight, turning the pulpit into an access point for self-help. What passes for sound advice from Oprah during the week (who may have even used the Psalms as the source for her advice), on Sunday is Christianized by our personal spiritual adviser in the pulpit. There must be more to our preaching than individual self-actualization. As James Luther Mays has noted, It will not do to employ them simply as a resource of counseling and therapy, a tool of catharsis7
Moralism
The third problem that shows up in our preaching of the Psalms is that, much like the rest of our preaching of the Old Testament, we moralize the text by preaching the Psalms out of context. Sermons from the Psalms today suffer from moralism that occurs when little or no regard is given to the intentions of the original author, the place of the Psalm in the Psalter, or the place of the Psalm in redemptive history. I am spending time on moralism as a problem not simply because it is a big problem, but also because preaching any text from the vantage point of the New Covenant goes a long way in tempering our moralizing tendencies in our sermonizing. Our preaching as New Covenant theologians and pastors should be marked by a Christocentricity that functions as as a built-in hedge against moralism. Properly understanding the relationship between Jesus, the New Covenant and the recipients of our sermon is the antidote for an evangelical penchant for moralizing the sermon. New Covenant preaching in its very essence, is Christocentric; finding the timeless moral principle of any given text almost always tends to be anthropocentric or man-centered.8 What is meant by moralizing? According to Leander Keck, "moralizing" the text "means drawing moral inferences, usually things to do or become."9 Moralism is drawing morals out of the text (as if the biblical authors were Aesop) and holding them up as ideals or ethics to live up to. What is moralistic preaching? Moralistic preaching occurs when a passage is preached out of context or a passage is preached without regard to the author's original intention. Moralistic preaching, according to William Dennison, attempts to extract an eternal moral principle from the text for successful living. Dennison refers to this principle as "a Biblical Aesop's
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(Mays, 1991) Greidanus: "While exemplary theory may call for Christological, even Christocentric sermons, the sermons it inspires are all too often anthropocentric -- anthropocentric in the sense that Moses, David, Peter, or Mary becomes central." (Greidanus, 1988) p. 67. In the case of the Psalms, it is the Psalmist, or some nebulous individual taking the place of the Psalmist in actualizing the Psalms, who becomes central. 9 (Keck, 1978), p. 101
principle".10 Leander Keck agrees, insisting that moralizing "has the effect of transforming the Bible into an assortment of moral precepts and examples."11 Keck further points out that when evangelical preachers go to the Old Testament looking for -and then preaching -- the key moral insight of a passage, "the Bible's own agenda is replaced."12 In preaching an eternal moral principle in an Aesopian way, the preacher's own moralization of the text "usually fails to bring across the actual point and intention of the text."13 This happens because, as Greidanus points out, moralizing tends to draw the moral inference from isolated elements in the text."14 More than simply finding some kind of good or positive virtue for which we strive to become (which is what we tend to do with the Old Testament narrative), in the case of the Psalms we take comfort and encouragement from the ethical dilemmas, the crises of life, and the wide range of emotional expression. But we must take such comfort from the text of the Psalter as that text presents itself with its own expectations, its own conclusions, and its own context. Each Psalm has its own purpose, its own context, its own story expressed in the beauty of poetry and song. Ironically enough, even preachers who emphasize expository preaching and believe that context is everything allow the context of the Psalms to go missing. Moralism in both exegesis and application affects our preaching of the Psalms all too frequently. Rather than preaching what the Psalmist intended, and rather than preaching in a way for our audience to understand the text in the same manner as the Israelites would have understood it, the Psalter is preached in a way that ignores the original intent.15 In the case of the Psalms, the Psalmist is held up as virtuous in the way he expresses toward God the wide range of human emotions. Sermons on the Psalms attempt to extract a moral principle from the Psalm, usually by calling the individual to the same kind of moral piety as the Psalmist. David becomes our exemplary tragic figure who inspires us to those pious virtues that attend the prayer closet: meditation, prayer, closeness with God, solitude, and the list goes on and on. Because David and the Psalmists have become the supreme examples of devotional piety, sermons take on a very distinct me-first approach both to the Psalms and their various applications in preaching timeless or even Biblical principles from the Psalms. To paraphrase and adapt Kromminga, the Psalter has become a book primarily to be proclaimed as illustrative of human moral behavior.16 For example, in preaching Psalm 69, some preacher (who will remain nameless) pulled the following timeless biblical principle out of the moral hat: give God your prayersWe have not because we ask not. For that preacher and that congregation, the point of Psalm 69 is that
10
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(Dennison, 2003), p. 136; In making a connection between Greek ethics, idealism, and evengalical preaching, Dennison notes that Aesop was known for "his ability to extract an instructive moral principle from a fable." In Old Testament preaching, the narrative and Psalm has replaced "fable". 11 (Keck, 1978), p. 102 12 (Keck, 1978), p. 103 13 (Greidanus, 1988), p. 164 14 (Greidanus, 1988), p. 164 15 If the original intention isn't ignored outright, Kromminga suggests that the intention is allowed "to play only a subsidiary role in the application of the message to life." (Kromminga, 1983) p. 38 16 (Kromminga, 1983), p. 32
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when things dont go our way, we need to pray to God and keep on praying. Another preacher found the biblical principle of thankfulness alive and well in Psalm 69 we need to live lives of thankfulness because Jesus supplies our needs. Another preacher decided that Psalm 69 is a good place to go to find out that God protects his people. While all pagan religions will pass away, Gods people, the church will not pass away. Another preacher preached Psalm 69 as a call for Gods people to live lives of sacrifice in order to be Christlike. Are these biblical principles? Yes. Are they to be found in Psalm 69. Maybe. Are they the point of the Psalm? No. I would argue they are not. Psalm 69 has simply become a vehicle to preach a timeless biblical principle or a moral lesson, without regard to the context of Psalm 69, the purpose of the Psalmist in writing Psalm 69, or the original situation of the Psalm. In order to reach a simple moral lesson from the Psalm, whatever was intended by the original Psalmist goes missing and becomes irrelevant.17
Systematizing
The fourth problem is related to the previous point. In fact, this and the next point are really subsets of the problem of moralism, or preaching something other than the context of the Psalm. This is the problem of systematic theology in our preaching. Systematic theology tends to mute the poetry and liturgical nature of the Psalms.18 There is much to appreciate about the Psalms and its presentation of God as transcendent and yet intimate. However, in studying and preaching the Psalms highlighting many of these themes, we have tended to treat the Psalter as a theology book. As Leslie Allen says we must allow the Scripture to speak for itself, on its own terms. And Allen points out, our tendency has been to either preach the Psalter academically or to simply Christianize those parts that seem difficult to us.19 This isnt to say that the Psalms has nothing to inform our theology. James Luther Mays notes that Paul uses Psalm 24:1 in giving instruction to the Corinthians about their dietary practices.20 But the New Testament writers didnt make systematic theology or development of doctrine their primary focus in their use of the Psalms. Too often, the Psalms function as a theological quarry from which relevant doctrinal gems are mined. One example that comes immediately to mind is Psalm 139. This Psalm is preached once a year in pulpits across the country. It is the basis for many a sermon on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. And for good reason. This Psalm provides one of the Scriptures clearest statements about personhood in the womb. But is that really the point of Psalm 139? Most of us would readily admit no. I think one of the primary examples of systematic theology taking over the sermon is in the area of divine sovereignty. The Psalms seem to be a favorite place to go in order to proof text divine sovereignty. And indeed, given that many Psalms are given to personal crisis and a resolution of that crisis, divine sovereignty is a running theme through many of the Psalms. There are some grand statements about Gods sovereignty in the Psalms. However, far too
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Kromminga is helpful: The broad structures of covenant, theocracy, and holy office, and the ethical responsibilities which they imply, are usually sacrificed to the interpreter's urgent desire to find a limited exemplary moral lesson (Kromminga, 1983) p. 38 18 Futato reminds us, "The more you appreciate the poetry of the psalms, the more you will get their message...one key to interpreting the Psalms is understanding and appreciating their poetic features." (Futato, 2007, p. 24) 19 (Allen, 1977) 20 (Mays, Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, 2006, p. 70)
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often, great theological truths such as Gods sovereignty eclipse the primary purposes of the text and the intention of the Psalmist. For example, from Psalm 45, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. We appeal to verses like this to extol not only Gods sovereign reign, but tend to ignore the context. In the instance of Psalm 45, this declaration of sovereignty is in the context of a royal wedding song, in which the marriage of the king or prince will serve to extend the throne of David down through the ages. Given this particular statement is quoted in Hebrews and applied to Jesus, this passage ultimately isnt simply about marriage extending Davids posterity and sovereignty over Israel, but about Christs marriage to his Bridegroom the church through which his sovereignty is extended forever through his rule and his reign over all things. How many sermons have we heard preached on the Psalms, where Gods sovereignty is mentioned but little or no mention is made of the Sovereign heir to Davids throne who is ruling and reigning in the heavenlies? The theme of Gods sovereignty in the book of Psalms cannot be preached without some kind of acknowledgment that the subject and object of the poetry is King Jesus who rules and reigns in the heavens21. Yet too often, Gods sovereignty is proof-texted from the Psalms with no regard to the original context or the ultimate fulfillment to which the original context points. Systematic theology is helpful and valuable in its place. But while the Psalms do indeed inform our systematic categories, too many sermons are simply a springboard to preach systematic theology in a devotional manner. Psalm 139, which we mentioned moments ago, is a classic example of "springboard preaching". Springboard preaching22, for the most part, is moralistic. Springboard preaching is taking a kernel thought that may or may not be germane to the author's original intent in the passage and developing a sermon from that thought in a way that is not consistent with the rest of the passage. In our reformed circles, the theology of springboard preaching is not necessarily unbiblical it's just that it does not have much, if anything, to do with the text at hand. And the Psalms tend to be a place where a lot of springboard preaching occurs. So, for instance, the question naturally arises, can the value of human life in the womb be found in Psalm 139? Does Psalm 139 speak of the value of an unborn child? Yes, it does. Is that the point of the passage? No, it isn't. And we do further violence to the text when a passage such as Psalm 139 is not brought through the cross and resurrection. At the very least, if we are going to springboard into a sermon about the sanctity of human life out of Psalm 139, at least such a sanctity should be understood in light of The Christ Event and the New Covenant in which we are situated.
Lack of biblical theology

That leads us to the fifth problem, which is, again, a subset of moralism. It is also closely related to the problem of systematic theology. There is a lack of biblical theology in our preaching of the Psalms. Theres more to say on this in a few moments, but I bring it up here for the simple reason if taking passages out of context is a problem in preaching the Psalms, necessarily, preaching passages in their context, especially in terms of redemptive history, is a problem in preaching the Psalms. Preaching the Psalms too often gives little regard for how it
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I agree with James Luther Mays who suggests that the primary organizing metaphor for the theology of the Psalms is the reign of God. (Mays, Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, 2006, p. 71) 22 John T. Jeffery has suggested another term: Cape Canaveral (Launch Pad) preaching
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presents itself on its own terms. Little regard is given for how the Psalmists understand themselves within Israels history. Preaching the Psalms too often ignores the place of the Psalter in redemptive history. The Psalmists, including David, stand on behalf of the people and give voice to the people in their communication to God. Their personal experience becomes the experience of the people. This is why the Psalter resonates with us. But it is beyond any one individual. The Psalter is the response of Gods people to Gods great acts in history on their behalf.23 David Jackman is right when he says in the Psalms and their divine inspiration, we have Gods authoritative model of the variety of ways in which we may rightly respond to him, corporately and individually, in praise and in prayer(the Psalms) give us language by which we can answer Gods initiating speech.24 The songs are response to Gods activity in redemptive history and are part of the progression of revelation from Genesis to Revelation. This means we must first study the Psalms as intended by the original Psalmists. We must hear the Psalms in their original context, or as Leslie Allen says, hearing them over Israels shoulder.25 We will have more to say on this in a moment.
Old Covenantalism
There are two other problems we should mention briefly here, but will be unpacked further in the next section. Because theres a lack of preaching the Psalms without regard to biblical theology and the place of the Psalter in redemptive history, sermons from the Psalms many times are infected with Old Covenantalism. Too many sermons from the Psalms could be preached in a synagogue with nary an objection from the audience.26 The Psalms are poetical expressions of Torah. Many, if not, most of them arise from the divine providence that placed David on Israels throne as the enactor and enforcer of the theocracy, whereby God rules over His people through His king, a king with whom he has covenanted to established his throne forever. Those covenants are obsolete, having been fulfilled in Christ. The Psalms cannot be simply extracted from their place in redemptive history, especially in their dominant contexts of both the Mosaic and Davidic Covenants, and plopped down into the New Covenant and preached with no regard to the development of redemptive history. And it should not be lost on anyone here in this room, if the Psalms are being preached as if this is the Old Covenant, then the New Covenant and all of its implications are missing from the sermon.
Lack of Christocentricity
And that brings us to the last problem we will mention, and again, this is a problem inherent to the problem of preaching the Psalms out of their context in their moralization. The preaching of the Psalms today lacks Christocentricity. Just as little regard is paid to the context of the Psalms in the storyline of redemption in the Bible, little regard is paid to the idea of Messiah that permeates the Psalms. The Psalter is thorough Messianic in its outlook and trajectory. This is because the entire Old Testament is permeated with the expectation of the Messiah. But the Messiah has gone missing from too much of our preaching of the Psalms. The Psalms, too
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Vos: The deeper fundamental character of the Psalter consists in this that it voices the subjective response to the objective doings of God for and among his people. (Vos, 1920) 24 (Jackman, 2003, pp. 127-128) 25 (Allen, 1977) 26 John Piper has called this the synagogue test. If a sermon can be preached to a religiously Jewish audience, such as one would find in a synagogue, with little or no objection to the way an Old Testament passage is being interpreted, the sermon is not a Christian sermon. Sermons from the Old Testament must fundamentally account for the Christ Event (Christs life, death, resurrection, and ascension) and Christs fulfillment of any given passage in the Old Testament.
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often, are neither interpreted or preached through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus (what many theologians call "The Christ Event"). This happens because the Messiah does not figure prominently enough in our exegesis of the Old Testament. This habit is at the very least one hundred years old. Geerhardus Vos noted in 1920, Belief in "typically-Messianic" Psalms has practically disappeared from contemporary critical exegesis.27 On the one hand, the promise of the Messiah as a big part of the makeup of the Old Testament is decidedly evangelical; on the other hand, the messiah does not figure prominently into the exegetical enterprise of the Old Testament. If we preach the Psalms as primarily oriented around my prayers and my response in the prayer closet of my private devotions, messiah will not figure prominently in the way we understand the meaning and purposes of the Psalms. And if the messiah is missing from our preaching of the Psalms, then (again) the coming of the New Covenants Messiah will be missing from our preaching of the Psalms. These are all tied together the problems of Old Covenantalism, a lack of Christocentricity, and a lack of the New Covenant perspective. Between the problem of Old Covenantalism showing up in our sermons, and our sermons having a lack of Christocentricity, the Psalter as it is to be understood in the New Covenant by New Covenant people goes missing from the sermon. There is a failure to account for the arrival of the New Covenant in our preaching of the Psalms. And that brings us to the next part of our discussion. Whats the answer for these kinds of problems? How do we ensure that our preaching does not moralize the text, make Jesus the priority and properly account for the New Covenant? How are the Psalms to be preached on this side of Christs life, death, resurrection and exaltation? What are the distinguishing marks of New Covenant Theologys sermoncraft from the Psalter?
13 Basic Principles of Psalms, hermeneutics, and homiletics

If we don't get these right, we have no chance of properly presenting the Psalms to our congregations. Ive come up with 13 points. There may be more that you may be able to think of, and there could be less if you think some of these points are repetitive. But in the interest of time, my specific task this morning does not involve a full development of each of these points. I simply present them here, because as the preacher begins to consider a particular Psalm in his preaching, these 13 points must help shape and form the sermon (each of these would warrant more than a few paragraphs to unpack). These 13 points are fundamental to the proper exegesis of the Psalms. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Psalms are Poetry The Psalms are Song The Psalms are Prayers The Psalms are Human The Psalms are Subjective The Psalms are Corporate The Psalms are Structured: The Structure gives up the meaning The Psalms are Genre-oriented (Examples: Lament, Imprecation, Hallel, etc. Psalm 69: Lament)
27
(Vos, 1920)
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9. The Psalms are Covenantal 10. The Psalms are Messianic 11. The Psalms are Typological 12. The Psalms are Soteriological 13. The Psalms are Eschatological
New Covenant Theology considerations

As valuable these thirteen principles are to making sure we preach the Psalms rightly and do not moralize the text, a lot of sermons on the Psalms never make it to the New Covenant simply based on these thirteen principles alone. If left to themselves, these thirteen principles, though necessary, are not enough. Theoretically, one could employ all thirteen principles in the study, and yet develop a sermon that would not pass the synagogue test. So the questions remain: how is the New Covenant community to see itself in the Psalms? Is there a one-to-one correlation between the church and the original worshipping community of Israel? We would answer no, just as if we were considering the Law, the Ten Commandments, and the Sinaitic Covenant. How does the church participate in the Psalms? Keep in mind, that the context of the Bunyan conference provides the framework of our discussion at hand. We want to know what New Covenant Theology brings to the table in preaching the Psalms. There is much that could be said about the proper exegesis of the Psalms, but our task at hand is to consider the Psalms in light of the New Covenant. I have briefly highlighted some of the more egregious problems in our preaching of the Psalms; I will leave many of the rest of the exegetical questions to others. I also recognize that many of you sitting here have much more knowledge and understanding of the Psalms. My aim is to simply encourage you in what you already know and are already doing. It would take us all day to unpack all the tasks of a New Covenant preacher in his study. Because the Psalms are often preached out of context, there is something to be said for revisiting not only what it means to preach the Psalms in their context, but how that kind of preaching moves from exegesis and hermeneutics to the actual sermon and homiletics. In the interest of time, Ive identified those things that are characteristic of New Covenant Theology, and I trust our time together will be profitable along those lines. The following points are all inter-related. So it may seem a bit arbitrary to distinguish them. But I think it is helpful to speak of the parts in order to understand the whole.28
The Storyline of the Bible

The first thing is that New Covenant Theology will insist that the Psalms be preached in light of the entire storyline of the Bible. The Bible has one storyline about, centered on, and infused with the person and work of Jesus Christ. This story, progressively unfolded over 3 or 4 millenia, begins in Genesis and moves toward the Apocalypse of John. This revelation shows us that God, from the very beginning of time, has been orchestrating history and revealing himself to his creatures in both act and word form in a manner that gives us the story of Jesus.
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It is also a working presupposition of this presentation that expository preaching is the proper method of preaching the text. Expository preaching attempts to present and apply the truths of a specific biblical passage. (Chapell, 2005, p. 30) Expository preaching best helps explain the text according to the authors intent. So Chapell: An expository sermon may be defined as a message whose structure and thought are derived from a biblical text, that covers the scope of the text, and that explains the features and context of the text (Chapell, 2005, p. 31)
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Douglas Moo says it this way: God had so ordered Old Testament history that it prefigures and anticipates His climactic redemptive acts and that the New Testament is the inspired record of those redemptive acts.29 The Bible begins with a garden and ends with a garden, proclaiming what God has done for His people through the Son Incarnate.30 New Covenant Theology agrees with David Jackman when he says that the message of the Biblecenters on Jesus Christ. The Old Testament predates his coming, preparing the way and explaining the focus of Gods purposes for all humanity in the Messiah, Gods specially appointed and unique revealer, ruler, and rescuer. The New describes and explains his life, death, (and resurrection) Jesus Christ is the center and focus of the entire Bible.31 The storyline of the Bible progressively unfolds, in ever greater detail and increasing intensity, the Person and work of Jesus Christ. The story moves, in an eschatological trajectory, from Adam to Jesus as the culmination of all things in the New Heaven and New Earth. This places eschatology as a main consideration of the preacher in the study of the Psalms, or any scriptural passage in his sermon preparation. Stephen Wellum comments, "eschatology, properly understood, is nothing more than a thorough study of Gods great act of redemption in Jesus. Eschatology, then, not only presents us with the Bibles metanarrative, it also unpacks how that grand story is centered in Jesus. How our Lord was not only anticipated and predicted in the OT, but how, in our Lords coming he has literally ushered in and inaugurated the last days.32 These last days are the New Covenant age in which the New Covenant community resides (more on this below). The Bibles authors are tracing this storyline from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, with each book of the Bible intersecting that storyline in its own unique way. The storyline, which is unfolding the redemptive plan of God, can be traced through the Old Testament Scriptures and finds its end in Jesus.33 In his recent book on New Testament Biblical Theology, G.K. Beale says, the main elements of the OT plotline become the basis for the formulation of the NT storyline. 34But this doesnt mean that the Old Testament interpretation takes precedent over the New Testament (more on that in a moment). By the time we get to the New Testament, the NT storyline will be a transformation of the OT one in the light of how the NT is seen to be an unfolding of the OT, especially through fulfillment of the OT.35 The New Covenant preachers sermon from any given Psalm must reflect the Psalms place in that unfolding storyline. The Psalter is part of that progressive revelation as it unfolds in the Old Testament. In poetry and song, the grand themes of Gods sovereignty and faithfulness through covenant and redemption are expressed by a needy and grateful people who are given a voice through the Psalmists. The Messiah who was promised in Genesis 3 and anticipated in the rest of the Old Testament is anticipated in the Psalms, with the poetry and song expressing expectation of a coming greater than David. This Old Testament storyline of an anticipated Jesus has a messianic songbook reflecting that messianic storyline.
29 30
(Moo, The Problem of Sensus Plenior, 1986, p. 198) Tom Wells: the history of this revelation has its apex in Jesus Christ. (Wells, 2005) p. 9 31 (Jackman, 2003, p. 29) 32 (Wellum, 2010, p. 3) 33 Douglas Moo: New Testament exegesis proceeds on the assumption that Jesus Christ is the culmination of Gods plan and that all the law and the prophets ultimately point to Him. (Moo, 1986, p. 194) 34 (Beale, 2011, p. 6); Doug Moo concurs, The two Testaments are bound together by their common witness to the unfolding revelation of Gods character, purpose, and plan. (Moo, 1986, p. 196) 35 (Beale, 2011, p. 6)
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Our preaching must reflect the progressive nature of the revelation found in the Psalter. Each song intersects the storyline in some way, especially as it comes to us in the mystery and incomplete revelation of the Old Testament. One of the running themes through this incomplete revelation is the incompleteness of its shadows, types, characters, and institutions. As Goldsworthy notes, A characteristic of the salvation historical narrative is that the human involvement in the outworking of Gods plans is never without blemishes.36 This reality of imperfection and fallenness shows up in the Psalter. One of the characteristics of the Psalmists, especially David, is a recognition that David and his royal posterity are fallen, imperfect, incomplete and in need of a New David to come and intervene. In the instance of David and his sin with Bathsheba, and Solomons polygamy and idolatry, divine intervention resulted even in the intermediary. The progress of salvation history is not without the occasional serious interruption due to the waywardness and rebelliousness of the people of God. These setbacks serve only to demonstrate why history needs to be salvation history.37 These imperfections and incompleteness anticipate the perfect fulfillment in Jesus. Christ, Beale says, is the final, climactic expression of all God ideally intended through (the events, people and institutions) in the Old Testament (e.g., the law, the temple cultus, the commissions of prophets, judges, priests, and kings). Everything which these things lacked by way of imperfections was prophetically filled up by Christ, so that even what was imperfect in the Old Testament pointed beyond itself to Jesus.38 Among those institutions and persons marked by (serious) imperfections are Israels leaders, especially those occupying Jerusalems earthly throne of heavens rule and those leading and serving in the temple. David and Solomon are irreparably flawed. It would be this New David anticipated in the Psalter who would right all things. Psalm 89 anticipates a kingdom and throne greater than Davids: You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. In light of what has already been poetically stated in Psalm 2, these kinds of references to the Davidic covenant and its imperfect recipient, there is forward momentum in Davidic passages such as Psalm 89. The Psalter and its themes are anticipatory of a coming glory in the redemption and rescue of Gods people through another David. Our preaching should reflect that. Now that the new David has come and is now sitting on a throne, an event anticipated in the Psalter, we must preach the Psalms in light of the coming of the New David who fills up the meaning and brings flesh to the shadows of the coming David in the Psalter.39 King Jesus is on Davids throne
36 37
(Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, 2012, p. 123) (Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, 2012, p. 123) 38 (Beale G. K., Positive Answer to the Question: Did Jesus and His Followers Preach the Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts?, 1994, p. 396) 39 Douglas Moo is helpful: it is best to think that the use of the psalm is based on an underlying typological relationship: Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the experience and feelings that David undergoes in this passage. It is not clear that David would always have been aware of the ultimate significance of his language; but God could have so ordered his experiences and his recordings of them in Scripture that they become anticipatory of the sufferings of Davids greater son. It is this fundamental identification of Christ with David in a typological relationship, not chance verbal similarities, that undergird the extensive use of this psalm. (Moo, 1986, p. 197) What is true about Psalm 22 in this instance is true of the rest of the Psalter, not in the sense that each Psalm is as obvious in its employment of typology, but that David functions, as the chief Psalter, in a
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having redeemed his people from the curses of the covenant and the threat of destruction. Psalm 121: From where does my help come from? My help comes from Jesus who made heaven and earth. Psalm 46: Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! And how is that happening in the New Covenant? The LORD of hosts, Jesus himself, is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.40 Even use of the word son in Psalm 2, most likely a reference to David, or Solomon or any number of those who followed David to Israels throne, is applied to Jesus in the New Testament. This kind of fulfillment language must be accounted for when we open up the Psalter for use in a sermon. David has become more than simply David the Psalmist. He is prefiguring something beyond himself. In seeing how these Psalter personages take on added significance in the coming of Jesus, one begins to get a sense of how the New Testament writers are handling the Old Testament. The Old Testament stories, characters, institutions, ideas, and events are loaded with anticipation of what is yet to come in Jesus. Because all of revelation has been progressively unfolded with this sense of anticipation, the New Covenant preacher who takes up the Psalms for his people will make note of where the Psalms are in redemptive history, the Old Testament, and interpret and then preach the Psalm in light of its fulfillment in Jesus. The New Covenant preachers people live and breathe and have become a new creation in the New Covenant era. The use of and the preaching of an Old Testament Psalm in worship and preaching must reflect this reality. The Psalms have been energized and infused with the Christ Event (Christs life, death, resurrection, and ascension/exaltation). As Christian scripture for the New Covenant congregation, the Psalms anticipation of a coming New David takes on greater and richer significance in our New Covenant part of the storyline of the text. The community participating in the Psalter is no longer an Old Covenant community, singing and lamenting under threat of losing everything due to disobedience to the covenant. The community and its preacher are members of the New Covenant and therefore sing and preach the Psalter as a fulfilled song and prayer book.
The Priority of Jesus

The second idea we should note about preaching the Psalter in the New Covenant is what Tom Wells has called The Priority of Jesus. (If you havent run into the same guy mentioned at the beginning of Tom Wells book, then you havent been articulating New Covenant Theology very well. The objection is that New Covenant Theology says too much about Christ and too little about God.) It is not the task of this presentation to unpack all of the reasons why Jesus takes priority in Scripture. Theologians such as Tom Wells and Graeme Goldsworthy and Geerhardus Vos have done that elsewhere. Wells provides an apt summary: To the writers of
typological manner for the entire Psalter. Conversely, Christs use of the Old Testament, including the Psalms, shows he understood the Psalms to be eschatologically prefiguring the Christ Event. This is how I approached Psalm 69 (see Modeling). 40 There are numerous instances in the New Testament in which the writers, especially Paul, apply texts about YAHWEH, and/or Jehovah to Jesus. So Douglas Moo: Romans 10:13, for instance, applies to faith in Jesus the words of Joel 2:32 (MT; LXX 3:5): Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Moo, The Problem of Sensus Plenior, 1986, p. 200) Moo points out there are numerous other places in the New Testament where YAHWEH is applied to Jesus: John 1:1,18, 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, 2 Peter 1:1. But he notes that its in Romans 10:13 where Paul therefore almost unobtrusively associates Jesus with Yahweh (or Jehovah) of the Old Testament. (Moo, Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey, 2002, p. 159) Christopher Wright also notes that the word kyrios was the standard technical term for YAHWEH, and says that Paul uses kyrios 275 times, most of which are speaking of Jesus. (Wright, 2006, pp. 106-126) Not only is this remarkable (Jehovah was exclusively reserved for God in the Old Testament), this has significant implications for understanding Christ in the Psalms, and indeed the entire Old Testament.
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the New Testament, the New Covenant era and the priority of the Lord Jesus are two truths that belong together, each complementing the other.41 But it stands to reason that if Jesus is the One taking center stage in history on behalf of the Godhead, Jesus is the One who spoke all things into existence, Jesus is the One who is the final agent of Gods self-revelation42, Jesus is the One whose person and work is the centerpiece of Gods revealed word, and Jesus is the One through whom His redeemed people have fellowship with God, then that reality must permeate our preaching of the Psalms. Why? Before the coming of Jesus, scripture remains, so to speak, empty; Jesus is the reality that fills the words of scripture.43 Jesus has filled up the meaning of the Psalms, providing the Psalms with a referent in reality corresponding to all of the words of the Psalms. Some may think this is a no-brainer and need no repetition: if the Psalms are thoroughly Messianic, then the Psalms are thoroughly Christocentric. Christ is the Messiah of the Old Testament. Commenting on Romans 1:1-4, Goldsworthy says, the Son of God is also the son of David, and is demonstrably so through his resurrection from the dead.44 Christ, the son of David, is the David-Messiah of the Psalms. While some Psalms (such as 2, 22, 110) are obviously Messianic, given the way that the New Testament quotes from all over the Psalms and applies them to Jesus, all of the Psalms at some point and in some way intersect with the idea of the Messiah, and therefore, Jesus. Garrett points out that any kind of psalm (individual psalm of lament or royal psalm for instance) can have a messianic aspectThus the preacher should not assume there is a single category of messianic psalms but be prepared for messianic significance in all kinds of psalmsthese psalms function as pointers to the New Testament.45 And its in the New Testament where the messianism of the Psalms lands on Jesus. From the principles outlined above, if the Psalms are Messianic, typological, and eschatological, the Psalms will find their highest meaning in the Jesus Christ of the New Testament. Dennis Johnson suggests all of the Psalms point to Jesus saying, All 150 Psalms should be viewed as messianic and read in the light of Jesus fulfillment of the psalmists varied experiences of suffering and vindication, inasmuch as David and his fellow Israelite poets composed their prayers and praises under the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ and in relation to their typological theocratic offices.46 The Psalms, according to Jackman, anticipate the fulfillment of Gods purposes which the Messiah will bring.47 Like the rest of the Old Testament, the Psalms even in its poetic and musical form, is prophetic in the sense that it is
41
(Wells, 2005), p. 117; this, of course, is not to say that the Father and the Holy Spirit are unimportant in the exegesis, interpretation, and storyline of the Bible. Carson and Beale note, it is very common for NT writers to apply an OT passage that refers to YHWH (commonly rendered LORD in English Bibles) to Jesus. This arises from the theological conviction that it is entirely appropriate to do so since, granted Jesus identity, what is predicated of God can be predicated no less of him. In other passages, however, God sends the Messiah or the Davidic king, and Jesus himself is that Davidic king, thus establishing a distinction between God and Jesus. (Beale G. K., 2007, pp. xxv-xxvi). While there are times in which there is a definite distinction between The Father and Jesus, and Jesus and the Spirit, the main focus of the entire storyline is Jesus as he himself said to Philip (John 14:8-11) and as Paul stated to Timothy (1 Timothy 2:5; also Hebrews 1:1-3). 42 Tom Wells: Jesus Christ supersedes all the rest of Gods agents in revelation. (Wells, 2005) p. 39 43 (Menken, 2004, p. 81) 44 (Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, 2012, p. 161) 45 (Garrett, 2006, pp. 113-114) 46 (Johnson, 2007, p. 315) 47 (Jackman, 2003, p. 129)
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forward looking and anticipating something (or Someone) beyond the Psalm, the Psalmist, and the community. Christ is the fulfillment of the Psalms. So, Moo says of Psalm 22, taking David to be the author of the psalm, we must remember that he is much more than an individual righteous sufferer. The promises given to him and to his progeny and his status as Israels king give to many of his psalms a corporate and even eschatological significance.48 Moo sees Psalm 22 as typology wedded to the eschatology of Psalms. Even as the text anticipates what is to come, its form is decidedly intentional in the way the Psalmist gives voice to the entire community. If the representative of the Old Covenant community, the Chief Psalmist, is David, then it is the New David who provides the ultimate context for understanding the meaning of the Psalms and then preaching the Psalms to His people. Davids psalms have been fulfilled in Jesus biography.49 If the David of the Psalms anticipates a Messiah Royale who will establish Davids throne forever in bringing salvation and judgment, then it is The Christ of the New Testament who has brought this expectation to its intended fulfillment. To speak of David, to speak of Messiah, is to speak of Christ. Vos reminds us, the Messiah comes, from Genesis to Revelation. This is the import of the message in which ultimately the eschatological hope embodies itself.50 The storyline of the Old Testament is embodied in the Messiah figure who is, as Vos says, the central figure of that hope in the Old Testament, including the Psalms. There is no hope in the Psalms outside of this Messianic David figure who, the New Testament authors believe, is now on full display at Jesus the Messiah. Having grounded the sermon in its original context, the sermon (along with redemptive history) moves toward the fulfillment and conclusion of the Psalm in the One who is the ultimate subject and object of the Psalm. The New Testament writers interpret the Psalms as moving in both a horizontal and vertical way, giving voice to subjective, earthly concerns but on a trajectory that points forward and upward to another King and a greater throne who provides the ultimate refuge for his people and is worthy of all praise. The New Testament writers interpreted Psalms this way because Jesus himself interpreted Psalms this way (more on this in a moment). If we are following along in the storyline of the Psalms, what begins as a description of the The Blessed Man and a Son who will Reign, moves through crisis and lament, and ends in sublime praise. Again Vos says of Psalm 150 bringing the Psalter to its conclusion: When He is contemplated in the overpowering majesty of his final appearance, then a super-certainty results that all the earth will be flooded with the knowledge of his glory.51 In pointing to this great David figure, the Psalms are pointing to the One whom God has made the New David both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). This is the kind of Messianic actualization that is found in the Psalmist of Psalm 69, when the Psalmist says you know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. Such a statement is reflective of Davids plight as an enemy of those who are opposed to the plans and purposes of God, his covenant, and his people. But the dishonor does not end with David. Such a dishonor is understood by the New Testament authors to be speaking above and beyond David toward One who would suffer dishonor in bringing about the salvation of Zion.
48 49
(Moo, 1986, p. 197) (Doble, 2004, p. 87) 50 (Vos, 1920) 51 (Vos, 1920)
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Andreas Kostenberger notes that the New Testament writers see in the Psalmist of Psalm 69 a type of Christ.52 When the New Testament writers note that Christ was offered wine mixed with gall and given sour wine, they see in Jesus not simply fulfillment of the Psalmists words, but they see in Jesus the ultimate purpose and meaning of Psalm 69. For the New Testament authors, by applying the language of the righteous sufferer in Psalm 69 to Jesus, they are providing us with a glimpse as to how they are interpreting the Old Testament in light of Christ. For Christ and these New Testament authors, who view the righteous sufferer of Psalm 69 as a type of Christ, Christ has become the hermeneutical lens by through which the Psalms are interpreted.53 Christ has brought all of the Messianic, and Davidic, and Kingly expectations of the Psalms to their fullest realization. Our sermons should reflect that reality. If our sermons are preaching the Psalms rightly, they will not only reflect the due diligence necessary for understanding the Psalm the way the original audience would have understood it, but also unpack the realized expectations found in Jesus, the New David.
The New Testament interprets the Old Testament

And this brings us to our third proposition about New Covenant Theologys preaching of the Psalms. The New Testament interprets the Old Testament. In fact, the New Testament is the definitive interpretation of the Old Testament. Goldsworthy says it this way: The New Testament authors regard Jesus as the fulfiller of the Old Testament promises and expectations the New Testament is an interpretation, or series of interpretations, of the Old Testament in light of the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth.54 Too often, the New Testament is not consulted in the exegetical process that produces the sermon. Its not simply a matter of showing how the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. Its us allowing the New Testaments interpretation of any given passage to shape our own interpretation of any given passage. This idea that the New Testament interprets the Old Testament lies at the heart of New Covenant Theology.55 And it must lie at the heart of our preaching. New Covenant theologian Blake White says in his book What is New Covenant Theology?, The Old Testament should be interpreted in light of the New Testamentthe Old Testament must be read and interpreted in light of its fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the new covenant.56 G. K. Beale is also helpful when he says, later biblical quotations of and allusions to earlier Scripture unpack the *meaning* (emphasis mine) of that earlier Scripture, and yet the earlier passage also sheds light on the later passage.57
52 53
(Kostenberger, 2007, p. 42) Kostenberger posits Psalm 69 and Psalm 22 as sharing Davidic typology. R. T. France, unpacking Christs use of the Psalms, says Christ saw in the Psalms righteous sufferer, a prefiguration of his experience (France, 1971, pp. 56-59). France attributes this prefigurement to an unnamed Psalmist and the nation of Israel in the Psalms. One could just as easily understand the source of the prefiguration to be David himself. 54 (Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, 2012, p. 130) 55 While some in Covenant Theology and a few in Dispensational Theology affirm this hermeneutical principle, only New Covenant Theology follows this principle consistently. 56 (White, What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction, 2012, p. 9); see also John Reisingers similar comments in Continuity and Discontinuity: We must interpret the Old Testament Scriptures through the lens of the New Testament Scriptures. p. 25; also Tom Wells, from The Priority of Jesus Christ: A Study in New Covenant Theology: We must read the Old in light of the New so that the Jesus has the first and last word. p. 71 57 (Beale, 2011, p. 3)
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New Covenant Theologys hermeneutic rides on this foundational principle because it is the foundational hermeneutical principle employed by the apostles. New Covenant Theologys John Reisinger says it this way, New Covenant Theology grounds its interpretive principles in the way in which Christ and the writers of the New Testament understood and used the Old Testament.58 Those New Testament writers are interpreting the Old Testament in light of the Christ event (Christs life, death, resurrection, and exaltation). Again, Beale is also helpful: NT writers interpret the OT in the light of the later events of Christs coming and work.59 Blake White is short and to the point: We read all of the Scriptures with Christian lenses on. Jesus is our hermeneutical filter.60 Richard Hays puts the same thought in verb form: Gods act in Jesus illuminates.61 If the New Testament is the definitive interpretation of the Old Testament (and I believe it is), there is a direct bearing on the pastors study of the Scripture and the sermon that arises from that study. The New Testament must be consulted in order to understand and then preach any given Old Testament passage, including the Psalms. White encourages us, We must strive to read the Old Testament storyline in the same way that the apostles did.62 Another New Covenant Theology author, Gary George, puts it this way: Sound exegesis harmonizes the Old Testament with the greater light of the New Testamentto be definite about the teaching of an Old Testament text, New Covenant Theology relies on the commentary of the New Testament as authoritative and final.63 If we are to preach the Psalms rightly, once we have studied and understood any given Psalm in its own Davidic, Israelite, and tabernacle/temple context, we must then consult the New Testament for its view and perspective on the Psalms. This is the pattern advocated by Graeme Goldsworthy in Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Goldsworthy says, Preaching the Psalms involves the same basic hermeneutical principles that we should employ in preaching any other part of the Old Testament. In the process of exegesis we will seek to understand the unique features of the individual psalms and their significance in their canonical and historical context. Exegesis of the passage leads us to relate it to the immediate theological horizon. Then we need to relate the text to the overall pattern of redemptive history as it finds its fulfillment in Christ.64 Regardless of the Psalm that is being preached or taught, New Covenant Theology wants to know, What New Testament passage sheds light on this Psalm? How does the New Testament interpret this passage? In what way may the New Testament writer being interpreting this Psalm differently than how I am interpreting this Psalm? How should Christs or the New Testament writers interpretation of this Psalm shape my own
58
(Reisinger, 2012, p. 1); Reisinger further states in the introduction to Georges book that New Covenant Theology uses a redemptive-historical approach derived from the New Testament writers interpretation of the Old Testament. 59 (Beale, 2011, p. 4) 60 (White, The Law of Christ: A Theological Proposal, 2010, p. 127) White further says that Jesus and the new covenant Scriptures are our hermeneutical filter. p. 141. White also quotes Craig Blomberg in this regard: none of (the Old Testament) can rightly be interpreted until one understands how it has been fulfilled in Christ. Every Old Testament text must be viewed in light of Jesus person and ministry and the changes introduced by the new covenant he inaugurated. p. 127 (Blomberg, Matthew, New American Commentary, 1992, p. 104) 61 (Hays, 1989, p. 157) 62 (White, What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction, 2012, p. 9) 63 (George, 2012, p. 20) 64 (Goldsworthy, 2000, p. 201)
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interpretation and subsequent preaching of this Psalm? Given that the Psalms are quoted more often than any other book in the New Testament65, locating the take of the New Testament on any given Psalm is not all that difficult. The New Testament must reshape how we think about these texts. For example, Psalm 69:9 is quoted by John the Apostle in bearing witness to Christs overthrow of the moneychangers in the temple. In our preaching of this passage, we must take into account that John has applied the words of Psalm 69:9 to Jesus in a very direct way. The Psalmist says, zeal for your house has consumed me. Whatever is taking place in the Psalmists life, zeal for the tabernacle or temple, Gods dwelling place with Israel, is consuming him, and in the context of the Psalm, his life is apparently threatened because of it. This statement in its original context flows from the voice of the Psalmist, David the King, who is so zealous for the tabernacle and all that it means that his enemies are about to take his life because of it. Fast forward hundreds of years later, when Jesus clears out the temple of those who have made a mockery of the symbol of Gods dwelling place on earth. John cites Psalm 69:9 in explaining Christs motivation behind his statement, Do not make my Fathers house a house of trade. Between Christs physical actions of driving out the traders and pouring out the traders money AND his verbal warning against the trade business, Christs disciples discern that Christ is living out the words of Psalm 69:9. Kostenberger, again, is helpful here: Jesus clearing of the temple stirred in his disciples the memory of the righteous sufferer of Ps. 69:9.66 Davids words have found their ultimate meaning in Jesus, who has brought those words into their fullest actualization. But Johns words have implication for our homiletical endeavor. Because Jesus has fulfilled the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 69, we are forced to move from John back to the Psalm to reevaluate the original interpretation in light of Christs words and his use of the Old Testament. Is Psalm 69:9 about Davids zeal or Christs zeal? When I preach this text, do I preach it as it relates to David or Jesus? The answer is both. It would be a hermeneutical (and exegetical) error to ignore the original context of Psalm 69 as it relates to David and the circumstances in his life that gave rise to the Psalm (as much as we can determine). But we are post-cross, postresurrection in the New Covenant age of the now/not yet. Because of the Christ Event, our interpretational axiom must be this: the New Testament interprets the Old Testament, and Jesus is the interpretive key. In preaching the Psalms this way, the New Covenant preacher is patterning both his exegesis and his sermon after the interpretational grid of Jesus and the New Testament writers. So Longman: Paul read the Psalms from a Christian perspective and saw Jesus. In this, he was following the lead already set by Jesus. Jesus himself was conscious that the Psalms anticipate his work.67 This means Johns words in John 2 become my interpretational control for Psalm 69:9. Christ is interpreting Psalm 69:9 in the light of his own incarnation, life, and circumstance. Christ didnt simply inspire the Psalms, but lived out the Psalms. In noting that Christ sings the Psalms with the New Covenant community, Edmund Clowney says this: Jesus can sing the we Psalms
65
(Longman, 1988, p. 65) Longman notes that one-fifth of Pauls citations from the Old Testament come from the Psalms, which is significant considering the role of the Old Testament in Pauls view of redemptive history 66 (Kostenberger, 2007, p. 432) 67 (Longman, 1988, pp. 66-67)
with us because he sings the I Psalms for us as our Savior.68 Christ and the New Testament authors interpretation of the Psalms is grounded in what Christ has done for the community in his life, cross-work, and resurrection.69 When we read John 2 and notice that Christ is interpreting Psalm 69:9 in light of himself, then the New Covenant preacher is obliged to follow suit in his own preaching of Psalm 69. Further reflection on how Christ (and John, the author of the gospel) is understanding and preaching the Old Testament in light of himself also gives us an added insight into our hermeneutical and homiletical endeavor. Because this passage was intentionally applied to Jesus by John, AND because the 9th verse isnt the only occasion this Psalm is quoted or alluded to in the New Testament, we are also forced to conclude that the entire Psalm is to be interpreted in light of the revelation of the New Testament (where we find the Christ Event Christs life, death, resurrection, and ascension/exaltation understood as the fulfillment of Old Testament revelation). Bruce Waltke notes (in quoting Dodd) that the apostolic community selected certain large sections of the Old Testament and understood them as testimonies to Jesus Christ.70 When it comes to the Psalms, Jesus, Jackman says, applied the messianic predictions to himself and the apostles extended an ever wider range of references to Christ.71 As Christ and the New Testament authors quoted the Old Testament they were invoking the larger passages and contexts surrounding the Old Testament quote.72 These kinds of hermeneutical pointers73 employed by Christ and the New Testament authors show us that they understood the Person and work of Jesus to be the end goal of Old Testament revelation. Rather than simply using the Old Testament arbitrarily to make a theological or historical point, and beyond simply seeing some Old Testament passages as predictive of some event in Christs life, Christ fills up the meaning of those Old Testament passages, including the Psalms. The Psalter, its context, and the Old Testament and its various contexts are retained but now has their full significance in Jesus. Moo is right when he says, Rightly exegeted, with due attention given to the informing theology, the OT texts that NT authors quote are in complete harmony with the meanings the NT authors give them.74 In this way, the entire Old Testament canon, including the Psalms, is prophetic, anticipating what was to come in Jesus. Its important to point out here that this prophetic phenomenon of the Psalms isnt simply relegated to those obvious messianic texts, such as Psalm 2, 22, and 110 (Psalm 69 also belongs
68 69
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(Clowney, 1979, p. 40) Notes Clowney: Jesus, after His resurrection, explained the Psalms to show His disciples that He must suffer these things and enter into His glory (Luke 24:26, 44) (Clowney, 1979, p. 40) 70 (Waltke, 2007, p. 136) 71 (Jackman, 2003, p. 129) 72 C.H. Dodd develops this thought in According to Scriptures, where his study of large sections of Scripture (which he calls testimonia testimonies about Jesus Christ) brings him to conclude that these sections were understood as wholes, and particular verses or sentences were quote from them rather as pointers to the whole context. At the same time, detached sentences from other parts of the old Testament could be adduced to illustrate or elucidate the meaning of the main section under consideration. But in the fundamental passages it is the total context that is in view, and is the basis of the argument. (italics his) (Dodd, 1952, p. 126) Dodds testimonia includes the Psalms. Richard Hays agrees with Dodd, Though the quotations appear eclectic and scattered, the usually must be understood as allusive recollections of the wider narrative setting from which they are taken. (Hays, 1989, p. 158) Also John T. Willis: New Testament quotations of and references to Old Testament texts are intended to call the hearers or readers attention to whole Old Testament contexts in which those quotations or references appear and not to those quotations or references in isolation from their Old Testament contexts. (Willis, 1997, p. 339) See also (Lindars, 1961, pp. 16-17) 73 Richard Hays uses this term regarding Pauls use of the Old Testament in his writing, but I think the term has general application to the whole of New Testament revelation. 74 (Moo, Pauls Universalizing Hermeneutic in Romans, 2007, p. 80)
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to the more blatant examples of messianic language in the Psalms). The entire Psalter should be interpreted and preached this way. Why? Because David and Israels royal expectations sit in the backdrop of the Psalter, the entire Psalter is messianic. Gerald Wilson points out that the royal psalms (2, 72, 89, and 144) shift the figure of the Davidic king into a new interpretive role75, and that the David of the headings and royal psalmsprovide a radical messianic hope for Israels future.76 The New Testament authors attribute this royal messianism of the Psalms to Jesus, fulfiller of the Davidic Covenant, and ruler on Davids throne. David Jackman notes, Clearly no king of Israel began to fulfill these divine qualities (found in various Psalms), so that the psalms were increasingly attributed to the coming great King, great Davids greater Son, the Messiah. It was on these terms that Jesus taught his disciples to see that he was spoken of.77 Psalms 1 and 2 long have been understood as both a summary of the entire Psalter and a key to understanding the Psalms interpretation. If Psalms 1 and 2 are the hermeneutical key for understanding the entire Psalter, and the Psalmist David is to be understood in the Psalter as a type of Christ, then we must conclude along with Vos and others, that the entire Psalter is messianic. Each and every Psalm is intersecting with some salient point along the Messianic storyline.78 To be this emphatic about the Psalter being comprehensively Messianic is to stand alongside the New Testament writers who were interpreting the Psalms in light of the life, death, resurrection, and (especially) the exaltation of Christ.79 But this also works in the other direction, and this also should inform our sermoncraft. Just as the New Testament is interpreting the Old Testament, the Old Testament is informing the New Testament. The Psalms inform us about Jesus. If we did not have the voice of the Psalmist speaking on behalf of Israels congregation about her own history and salvation, there would be information about Jesus that goes missing. Because the Psalms are thoroughly Messianic, they inform us about the Person and work of Jesus in ways the New Testament doesnt. One Psalter theologian, James Luther Mays, points out that the Messiah of the Psalms informs us about Jesus: "Jesus is not known as Christ apart from the knowledge of the Christ/Messiah of the Old TestamentThe Old Testament provides a description of the person and role of the Christ that is personified by Jesus in an enactment that revises and transcends the description. But it is from the Old Testament that we know the description that is revised and transcended.80
The necessity of Biblical Theology

Because the New Testament interprets the Old Testament, and because Christ is the priority of the revelation of Scripture, New Covenant Theologys sermoncraft will be marked by biblical theology. This is our fourth consideration. When we preach the Psalms, ultimately the entire canon has been consulted in the interpretation of the Psalm we are preaching. Each and every Psalm not only intersects with the storyline of the Psalter (and yes, the Psalter has its own
75 76
(Wilson, Psalms, Volume 1: NIVAC, 2002, p. 124) (Wilson, Psalms, Volume 1: NIVAC, 2002, p. 125) 77 (Jackman, 2003, p. 130) 78 This does not mean that every little point made by the Psalmist has a one-to-one correlation to Jesus on every point. The nature of typology is such that the relationship between the type and anti-type is specific enough so that the type can be seen in the antitype (and vise versa) and general enough that the original type exists in its historical and literary context in its own right. 79 We should not underestimate the importance of the relationship between Christs exaltation to his throne in the heavens and the Psalms. The New Testament writers believed that when Christ ascended in exaltation (see Acts 1-2), he was fulfilling the promises made to David regarding Davids throne. 80 (Mays, "In a Vision": The Portrayal of the Messiah in the Psalms, 1991, p. 1)
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storyline), but also the storyline of the Bible. Again, this is especially true if Psalms 1 and 2 function as the summary statements of the Psalter. Psalms 1 and 2 point us forward and upward to the New Humanity, the New David, and the Messiah-King who not only rules all things, but is worthy of all honor and praise because he rules all things. The necessity of biblical theology to New Covenant Theologys sermoncraft of Psalms cannot be underestimated. Of all of the so-called theological systems or movements, New Covenant Theology is primarily identified by its Christocentricity. But that Christocentricity cannot be simply a tack on to the end of a sermon. It cannot be simply an acknowledgement of the importance of Jesus to the sermon subject. We must be showing our people a Christocentricity that is tied to the text itself. Our Christocentricity is wedded to biblical theology and its exegetical principles. Blake White notes, New Covenant Theology does justice to the progressive nature of Scripture by seeking to let biblical theology inform systematic theology.81 Or in the case of the New Covenant pastor in his study, biblical theology informs the exegetical and homiletical process. We allow the text to place Christ on display for our people. We who would find our identity in the Christ of the New Covenant feed our people Christ as we preach a text from which Christ arises as the central figure. A sermon informed by New Covenant Theology preaches the One who brings to pass and obeys Gods plan from the ages, and saves His people from their sins. This isnt about finding Jesus under every rock.82 This is simply operating with a homiletical and hermeneutical assumption that Christs story will preach itself from the text, because the text itself is about Jesus. It is about presuming that Christs story is the reason we have revelation to begin with,83 so that when we preach the text we are preaching something about the Person and work of Jesus.
The Obsolescence Principle

Our fifth point on the preaching of the Psalms in the New Covenant is a natural outflow from allowing biblical theology to shape our preaching. Its what I call the obsolescence principle. We must always be aware in our preaching that the Psalms are the response of Gods people to His Person and work on their behalf *in the Old Covenant*. Too many sermons preached on the Psalms do not pass the synagogue test. If we preach a sermon from the Psalms in which a Jewish congregation in a synagogue would be comfortable and in agreement with our interpretation of the Old Testament text, we have not rightly preached that text in the New Covenant. Our preaching must reflect the radical dynamic of the New Covenant. For those of us in New Covenant Theololgy, this would seem like a no-brainer. But this is simply a reminder that our exegesis in the study must be an exercise that bears the marks of the New Covenant. The inauguration of the New Covenant has a profound impact on our interpretation
81 82
(White, The Newness of the New Covenant, 2008, p. 57) Richard Belcher is helpful here: It is appropriate to analyze the meaning of a psalm in light of the coming of Christ, not because Christ is to be found in every verse of the Old Testament, but because Christ is the goal toward which the Old Testament moves. (Belcher, 2006, p. 19) He also notes that because Christ invokes the threefold sections of the Old Testament in Luke 24:27,44, the comprehensive nature of Jesus reference to the Old Testament is meant to demonstrate that all of the Old Testament speaks of Jesus in some way. (Belcher, 2006, p. 32) This includes all of the Psalms. 83 So Gaffin, who says redemption is the raison dtre of revelation. (Gaffin, 1987, p. 22) Gaffin also says, God reveals himself both in redemption and in revelation, in what he does as well as in what he saysrevelation never stands by itself, but is always concerned either explicitly or implicitly with redemptive actionsrevelation is either authentication or interpretation of Gods redemptive action. p. 22 Lindars sounds a similar note: the events of redemption are the regulative factor, and provide the key to the meaning of Scripture. (Lindars, 1961, p. 17)
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of the Old Testament. We can say this because of the way that Christ and the New Testament authors are interpreting the Old Testament. How does the obsolescence principle work in hermeneutics and homiletics? Its quite simple, but the implications may be complex and difficult, depending on the text under consideration. When we approach the Old Testament text, we must ask ourselves, what is obsolete, now that Christ is exalted and the New Covenant is inaugurated? And then we must ask ourselves, how does that obsolescence affect my exegesis and homiletic of this passage (based on biblical theology or the context of the entire Scriptures)? From the Psalms, we can think of a number of things: the community is obsolete, the tabernacle/temple is obsolete, Old Zion is obsolete (Galatians 4), the covenants (especially the Mosaic and Davidic) are obsolete, the law is obsolete, and many of the old expectations are obsolete. In these cases of obsolescence, Christ has fulfilled what was former, what was prior, what was imperfect, what was shadow, what was type, and what was fading. Christ fulfills the Old Testament and its shadows and types. This means when we preach an Old Testament text, we must be cognizant of the obsolescence of the type or shadow in the New Covenant. This isnt unique to New Covenant Theology. This obsolescence principle is found in Christ and the New Testament writers use of the Old Testament, and mimicked by the New Covenant preacher in his handling of the Psalms.84 The implications for some of these Psalms are quite significant. Do we preach I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Are we preaching about a church building? Further, is this some transcendent Lord that has never been seen? When we pattern our exegesis after the way Jesus and the New Testament authors are interpreting the Psalms, when we preach house in bringing the passage into the New Covenant, we are not simply talking about a church building. The New Covenant community that gathers together is the house. Christ is the Lord. This house of Psalm 122 is the church in whom Christ dwells through his Spirit. The church body is the temple-tabernacle where Christ dwells. It is the house of the Lord. That verse is the opening verse of the Psalm the rest of the Psalm will follow the same kind of New Covenant interpretive principles.
Preaching imprecations and the law in the New Covenant

Where this gets controversial and I do not plan to unpack all of the implications of these things in this particular presentation is in 1) the preaching of the imprecatory passages in the Psalms, and 2) the preaching of the law in the Psalms. To be brief, the imprecatory passages are specifically tied to the covenants in which they exist. While I do think there are a couple of examples of Paul invoking imprecation against his enemies in the New Testament, I do not believe those examples warrant pulling in the imprecation prayers into the New Covenant as if the cross hasnt fundamentally change the imprecation paradigm, especially since Christ explicitly says we are to love our enemies. The imprecations of the New Covenant are not aimed at the pagans, as they were in Davids day. They are aimed at the hypocrites and apostasizers in the New Covenant era. Imprecation doesnt go away, but there are significant changes in the way they are used.
84
For instance, many of the Old Testament passages that seemingly were spoken to Israel are applied to the church in the New Testament. So Beale and Carson: NT writers happily apply to the church, that is, to the new covenant people of God, many texts that originally referred to the Israelites, the old covenant people of God. (Beale G. K., 2007, p. xxvi)
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The law (how it is preached and how it is applied in the New Covenant) is another thorny issue that few agree on. But we must remember this: the Mosaic and Davidic covenants provide the primary contextual backdrop for the Psalter85. While the Davidic covenant provides much of the contemporary and cultural context for the Psalter, the Psalters theology is grounded in the Mosaic Covenant. Psalm 1 sounds much like Joshua 1 in the way it presents the Blessed Man. In the imagery of Psalm 1, Torah is invoked from the beginning of the Psalter. Gordon Wenham comments that the Psalms point back to the Torah as foundational for a righteous and successful life.86 In this sense, the Psalms as part of the Writings section of the Tanakh, has much in common with Proverbs. There are places in the Psalms where it seems that the Psalmists have put the Torah to song, to be reminded of the Mosaic Covenant in the gathering of the community. The community responds to Gods Act on their behalf in the exodus and in giving them Canaan. But for those of us who believe the law has been abolished, and in fact, would try to kill us if we attempt to live under it, this presents a bit of a problem in preaching the Psalms. This problem deserves its own treatment, so what I have here doesnt nearly begin to answer all of the questions. One hasnt argued vehemently enough for New Covenant Theology and Pauls negative view of the law unless one has heard the Psalm 119 objection: if Paul thought the law was negative for binding ourselves to it in our sanctification, then why did David think the law was great for life? If Paul thought the law would kill him and put him in a fetal position (at the end of Romans 7 and in 2 Corinthians 3), why would David embrace it as a good thing? We dont have the time to handle that objection here. Interestingly enough, Tom Schreiner attempts to tackle this question in his recent book, 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law (a book I highly recommend). Schreiners answer helps a bit, but its obvious he struggles to answer in a way that is consistent with his denial of the third use of the law. And I think he answers it in a way that could allow third use of the law in the back door. But his answer does show the tension between understanding Pauls negative view of the law (Romans 7, 2 Corinthians 3, Galatians 3-4) and Davids unmitigated love and adoration of Gods law. Schreiner asks the question, if David loves the law so much, how does this fit with Pauls declaration that the law kills?87 Schreiners answer is that Pauls negative view of the law applies to unbelievers, and that David is speaking from a regenerate standpoint. While I agree with Schreiner that Romans 7 can apply to unbelievers, I believe the overall context of Romans 7, 2 Corinthians 3, and Galatians 3-4 are primarily speaking of the particular churches being addressed in the letter. These churches were pulling the law into the New Covenant and attempting to live under the law in their sanctification. Pauls argument goes beyond simply those trying to earn right standing with God, but trying to continue to earn and keep right standing with God. They werent trying to become believers via the law, but using the law as an identification mark of the Christian life. Stated another way, these were regenerate people living as though they were still unregenerate under the Old Covenant.
85
While the Abrahamic is also part of the Psalms context, the Sinaitic and Davidic covenants are the dominant considerations on the Psalmists collective mind. Abraham is in the Psalters shadows because there is a direct theological link from Abraham to David and Solomon. (Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, 2012, p. 123) 86 (Wenham, 2012, p. 79) 87 (Schreiner, 2010, p. 86)
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So, Im not convinced that the suggestion that David is writing from the standpoint of someone who is regenerate resolves the tension between Paul and David. What also isnt satisfactory is using commands and precepts to describe just what it is David loves, which some have tried to do. Davids scope is broader, at least in its context. David is speaking of the Mosaic Covenant, the Sinatic law, even Torah as a whole, and not just commands and precepts. In fact, I think those who hold to a third use of the law would agree with Schreiners interpretation on this point. So far, Ive simply addressed what I believe is not true about the use of the law in the New Covenant. Its another matter to provide a satisfactory explanation, in light of Pauls negative view of the law when it comes to preaching from the Psalter in the New Covenant. I think there are two important things to remember in thinking about the Psalters view of the law. The first is that the law in the Psalms functions as Gods Word for David, the Psalmists and the community. Even when David is invoking statutes and commands, we have to remember that those commands and statutes constitute for David Gods Word for life. Another way to think of this is to remember that David is articulating for the community the essence of the law. I think this is where some of our theology of the law doesnt help us. Christ was clear with the rich young ruler that the law held out the promise of eternal life. If you gaze into the law, its demands, and its provisions in the sacrifices, you get a sense of who God and what he is doing on behalf of his people precisely because his standard is perfection. The law in its essence is good because it reflects the character and work of Jesus. And as commands, statutes, and precepts go, the Spirit does use these for good use in our lives in our transformation from death to life. We still have commands and precepts to live by, but the dynamic has changed in the New Covenant with the advent and descent of the indwelling Spirit who unites us to the One who obeyed the law on our behalf. I concur with Schreiner when he says God uses the commands in conjunction with his Spirit to strengthen believers so that they rely upon Gods grace to please him.88 John Reisinger notes, in Tablets of Stone, that believers have a regenerated heart that loves and sincerely desires to keep all of Gods will as it is revealed in Christ.89 Reisinger, concurs with Schreiner, saying the new heart of flesh loves all of Gods laws as they are revealed in Christ90 The Spirit operates from within as the Word prescribes from without. Both are necessary in the transformation of the Christian into the image of Christ. The second thing is to remember that the Psalter is eschatological. In agreement with Schreiner, the Psalmists are among the regenerate. The Psalter is the response of Gods people coram deo, a community whose life and voice are pointed toward the heavenly temple from which Gods law descended on Sinai. Insofar as the law reflects the character of Jesus, into whose image we are being transformed, we may speak of the law in the way that David does. The law in and of itself is good because it shows us Jesus. There is coming a day when we will live in the light of the One who visibly expresses all that the law was intended to do for an imperfect and disobedient Israel. Christ is our righteousness because he kept the law and then died under that law so that we might be free from the tyranny of the law. Our obedience to his commands flows out of that Righteous Act of God on our behalf. In that sense, we too can say we love his statutes and precepts that do not function as law, but as the expression of the work of the Spirit in our lives through Gods Word.
88 89
(Schreiner, 2010, p. 87) (Reisinger, Tablets of Stone and the History of Redemption, 2004, p. 67) 90 (Reisinger, Tablets of Stone and the History of Redemption, 2004, p. 66)
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Much more could be said on this point, and I probably havent articulated this in a way that satisfies everyone, but I think we would all agree that we cannot preach Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 without accounting for the obsolescence principle. All of these things, including the law, are shadows that have found their end and meaning in Jesus and must be preached that way. The community is no longer the same. The New Covenant community is not a mixture of white sheep and black sheep. We are no longer under the law, but we are in-lawed to Christ. We do not pine for an earthly temple, but we exist as Gods temple on earth, assembling as a new creation waiting for the day when the temple made without hands will cover the earth. While were not out to intentionally offend Jews listening in the synagogue simply to offend them, we must preach the Psalms in a way in which they would fundamentally disagree with our interpretation and application of the Psalm we are preaching.
Eschatologys goal is Jesus

A final implication of the New Testament interpreting the Old Testament is that our preaching of the Psalms must take into account an eschatology that finds its fullest realization in Jesus. As has already been mentioned, the Psalms move from a Blessed Man, through the Son who reigns, a people who petition the covenanting God of Israel, a people who lament, to a people who sing to the Lord a new song and praise God in his sanctuary. This movement from Psalm 1 to Psalm 150 is decidedly earth to heaven. The Psalter is the response of Gods people to what he has done for them in the past, what he has done for them in the present and what he will do for them in the future. While not every Psalm has a noticeable movement from earth to heaven and from present to future, every Psalm is in the context of the upward and forward trajectory of the storyline. As Vos and Mays and others have pointed out, this forward looking trajectory is wedded to and embedded in the royal context of the Psalter with David as the primary Psalmist, speaking both for himself and as a representative of his people. The Psalms originated in an eschatologically oriented milieu.91 The fortunes of those who sing the songs and pray the prayers through the Psalter are tied to the fortunes of the house of David. Israels hope lies in that throne, but it is a throne whose origin is in the heavens where the Lord reigns. Israels hopes are tied to Davids throne, but that throne is unlike any on earth. That throne is tied to a covenant and divine promises, a covenant that extends into the future forever. This heavenly throne has an earthly presence in the New David-Messiah. James Luther Mays is right when he insists that The Messiah's rule actualizes in the world what is reality in heaven and cosmos. David's kingship is the agency through which the Lord's rule is extended from heaven to earth, and the divine dominion over cosmic chaos expanded to include historical disorder. Just as sun and moon are in the heaven, so David's line will be the enduring witness on earth to the reign of the Lord. This throne and its kingdom are messianically oriented, moving from the Blessed Man in the garden-like scenery of Psalm 1 to the sanctuary of the tabernacle/temple in Psalm 150. This Messianic throne and its kingdom will eventually circumnavigate and encompass the entire globe. The earthly throne of heavenly origins is the termination point for Israels expectations. There is a Son coming in Davids line who is Greater than David (Psalm 2). This One Greater than David will crush his enemies and rule the entire earth from Zion (Psalm 110).
91
(Mitchell, 1997, p. 82)
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David himself will not accomplish this grand vision. In fact, David died. As Noble points out, Death frustrated what God promised.92 The Psalms of Lament are a reminder that David and Israel need divine help. There is expectation of sudden and dramatic divine intervention in history that will restore the nations fallen fortunes.93 That intervention comes in the Person and work of Jesus. This kind of contrast, Noble points out, is at the heart of Lukes storyline in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, Luke is painting a contrast between the imperfect and incomplete David, and the perfect and complete New David, Jesus. Lukes references to Psalms are not proof texts but signals of his narratives theological substructure, the essential body of scripture revealing Gods plan now fulfilled in Jesus. Noble further points out that Lukes use of the Psalms in the book of Acts shows that Jesus is Davids descendent who is to sit on Davids throne for ever, and focuses on Jesus in the context of the Christs being Davids son.94 Regarding Christs suffering and death, Luke takes Davids voice in the Psalms and appropriates it to Jesus.95 Jesus speaks using Davids voice and in so doing fulfills the Psalms in their intended purposes. If the author of Acts, Luke, is interpreting the Psalms as eschatologically anticipating Jesus, its not all that hard to see where the New Covenant Theology pastor should contextualize his sermon with the eschatology of the Psalter. Our sermons from the Psalms that are informed by New Covenant Theology must account for Christ having fulfilled the Davidic and Messianic expectations of the Psalter. This expectation of a Davidic kingship that would circumference the globe has come to its fruition in Jesus Christ. Sudden, divine intervention has taken place in time and space. The New David has lived, died, rose, and has taken his seat on his throne. In Peters declaration that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ in his ascension to the throne, Peter quotes a Psalm, Psalm 110. Peter interprets Psalm 110 as an explanation for what has transpired in Pentecost. Having lived, died, and rose from the dead, Christ has ascended into the heavens, and has taken his rightful place as the heir to Davids throne. A new covenant has been inaugurated and a kingdom has been established. Acts 2:34: For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Peter understands that the Psalm has been fulfilled, because the very next thing he says is this: Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Peter is reading Psalm 110 through the lens of what he has just witnessed. Peters sermon from Psalm 110 was not what it would have been just 50 days prior. Peter was there when Christ ascended to his throne. Peter was there when the Spirit descended from the heavens. Peter has witnessed the intended meaning of Psalm 110 and he points to Psalm 110 as a theological basis for the events that have just happened, and as we listen to Peters interpretation of Psalm 110, we are given insight to his hermeneutical principle for understanding not just Psalms, but the entire Old Testament. As we read Psalm 110 with Peter, the Psalmist is not simply providing a prediction, but is typologically and eschatologically anticipating another David who will embody what has been written in Psalm 110. In this sense, Psalm 110 and the rest of the Psalter constitute poetry that is prophetic, speaking to a reality that is beyond David and the Psalmists in their original context.
92 93
(Noble, 2004, p. 90) (Mitchell, 1997, p. 82) 94 (Noble, 2004, p. 96) 95 (Noble, 2004, p. 114)
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Psalm 110 is specific to Peters occasion, but the entire Psalter bears the same eschatological nature that lands in Jesus who is now seated on Davids throne in the heavens. The expectations of Psalm 2 and Psalm 45 and Psalm 110, and indeed the entire Psalter, have found their realization in Jesus. Peter is simply giving us a hermeneutical cue as to how we are to interpret and preach the Psalms (as he did at Pentecost). Psalm 69 is a great example of the eschatological trajectory of the Psalter. The introductory lament-cry of a Psalmist in dire straights, Save me O God, for the waters have come up to my neck, moves through the Psalm bringing a spotlight on severe personal suffering in anticipation of a salvation that requires both the destruction of Gods enemies and the salvation of his covenant people. At the end of the Psalm, this anticipation ultimately gives rise to praise in song to a God will save Zion and provide it to his people for a possession. There is an eschatological trajectory in this Psalm that moves from brokenness to final consummation in the salvation of Zion. The picture painted of Zion did not exist in Davids day or any other Psalmists day. The Psalm is a snapshot of redemptive history, moving from the brokenness and suffering of the fall of the Psalmist to a Divine intervention in history that provides salvation and vindication for His people. This is accomplished through the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate subject matter of this Psalm. Various New Testament authors appropriate the language of Psalm 69 to Jesus at numerous points in their writing. Not all Psalms will lend themselves to an obvious redemptive-historical trajectory that moves from lament to glory. But what we see in Psalm 69 then is a snapshot of the entire Psalter moving from the original garden in Psalm 1 to the full and final grand vision of a Zion-garden in the divine sanctuary of God in the heavens in Psalm 150. It is a Messiah-King who brings to life all of the Psalms in his person and work that moves the Psalter from the Blessed Man of Psalm 1 to the Sanctuary of God in Psalm 150. Again and again in the Psalms, the Psalmists place their hopes upward and forward to a Divine King who would be their Savior, a New David who would deliver his people and establish his throne forever encompassing the entire earth. Israel, in the Psalms, ties its fortune to this Messiah-King-Savior whose kingdom will ultimately constitute Gods sanctuary on earth in which he dwells with his people. This Messiah-King, Jesus Christ, brings the sanctuary to earth among his people in a kingdom that was established through righteous suffering. Christs resurrection and ascension/exaltation has commenced a new age in which the New David sits on his throne ruling over his people. This kingdom is the kingdom promised to David in which Davids throne would be established forever. Regardless of where we are at in the Psalms, this must be our context for preaching the wide variety of Psalms in the Psalter. Our preaching in the New Covenant of any given Psalm must show how that Psalm fits into this grand storyline of the Bible.
Conclusion
In summary, New Covenant Theologys preaching of the Psalms first establishes the original context and intended meaning of the Psalmist in that particular Psalm. But it is not left there. To do so would flunk the synagogue test of New Covenant preaching. Once weve established the original context of the passage and shown how this text was intended by the original Psalmist (and conversely, understood by the original audience), then we move toward that texts resolution and fulfillment in Jesus. Part of the problem with moralism is that it does not take the time to establish what the text was intended to convey (most texts were not intended to convey the conventional character study that is a popular method of preaching the Old Testament today). Establishing the original situation of the Psalm is hard work. Putting the
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Psalm in the storyline of Israels history and redemptive-history is hard work. But thats the task of the New Covenant preacher in feeding manna to the people. Preaching the psalms rightly in the New Covenant does not ignore the characteristic of the Psalms as the response of what God has done for His people in his mighty acts. But the response is from a Christian community, a New Covenant people living in the now and not yet age of redemptive history. In the Psalms, the New Covenant community is called to participate in the grand drama of redemption by responding through the text to what God has done for the church in the Grand Mighty Act of Christ Jesus. As the New Covenant community responds to what Christ, the Ultimate Psalmist, has done for them in The Grand Mighty Act (his life, death, resurrection, and exaltation), the New Covenant community is formed into His image.96 Rather than grasping at a moral ideal, the New Covenant community is living out redemptive history by responding to The Grand Mighty Act of Christ Jesus in Christ who has been and is the First Psalmist on their behalf. William Dennison is helpful in this regard, God engages His people as participants in the event of His activity; He places them in union with the event. Or, to put it another way, God draws His people into His redemptive-historical work as a participant in the event, not as a spectator of the event.97 The event of the Psalms is both the Christ Event (his life, death, resurrection, and ascension/exaltation), and the corporate gathering of the community to participate in the Psalms through praise, exhortation, and lament. The Psalmist, then, is not a virtuous ideal to be attained through the work of lament and praise in the Psalms. Rather, the New Covenant community sees in the Psalmist, the Ultimate Lamenter and Praiser and Imprecator, etc. (yes, new words :-)), as Someone who has lamented and praised on their behalf. The New Covenant community finds its responsive voice to Gods Great Act in Jesus through Jesus, knowing that its imperfections in response cannot be fixed through its own efforts of lament and praise, but are filled up and completed by Jesus who did it perfectly. Even lament itself lands in the Person and work of Jesus so that the Lament of the New Covenant community is in Christ, embodied in the Righteous Sufferer who has a New Covenant that eventually will bring all need for lament to an end. In this way, the application of the Psalms is tied to the New Covenant communitys union with Christ in the now/not yet on this side of the cross and resurrection. As Dennison points out, the application comes from the text.98 The task of the New Covenant preacher in the Psalms, then, is to pull and draw the church into the redemptive-historical and eschatological drama99 of the Psalms. To paraphrase Dennison, the New Covenant preacher isnt applying the Psalms to the church, but applying the church to the Psalms. The Psalms are to shape the church in conformity to the image of Christ. That conformity has an ethical dimension, even when preached from the Psalms. As participants on the grand drama of the story of redemption in revelation, the New Covenant community lives out that story in a transformed life. The Zion of the New Covenant is marked by love for, belief in, and obedience to the New David who rules over His people. The life of
96
This follows along a similar thought from Athanasius, as relayed by Bosma: For Athanasius, therefore, the Psalms are not merely a mirror of emotions. On the contrary, the Psalms also possess the perfect image for the soul's course of life. In fact, for Christian readers, this perfect image in the psalms belongs to a larger imitatio Christi. (Bosma, 2008) 97 (Dennison, 2003, p. 148) 98 (Dennison, 2003, p. 149) 99 (Dennison, 2003, p. 149)
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the church, as it is found in the Psalms, is marked by an ethic that is Spirit-driven and Christcentered.100 When the eschatology of the Psalms via the inauguration of the New Covenant is rightly preached, the New Covenant community will be moved to action, obedience, worship, and service. Such eschatology will never leave us merely satisfied with this world, but it will orient us towards the future where the church will rightly learn to cry afresh with the church of all ages, Come, Lord Jesus (Rev 22:20).101 This Spirit-driven, Christ-centered belief and obedience is not the only implication of Psalter ethics for the New Covenant community. The Psalters expectation that the Gods glory would be declared in all the nations and on display over all creation informs the New Covenant communitys commissional purposes. Beale notes the missional trajectory of Psalm 67 where the Psalmist anticipates Gods way would be made known to all the people all over the earth.102 This Psalm, Beale says, anticipates the churchs expansion of Gods temple and the true worship of Jesus over the whole earth.103 Christopher Wright also sees this global mission of the church in the Psalms, noting that numerous Psalms anticipate the proclamation of Gods glory among the nations over the entirety of the earth.104 Psalm 96 is an example: Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! The prayers, songs, cries for help, laments, and praises of the Psalms are not static. This orchestral response of Gods people is expansive and dynamic, increasing the boundaries of Christs visible rule through His word via the Spirit. This is why must preach the Psalms through the lens of Jesus Christ. Christ as the interpretational focal point for understanding the Psalms is not only part of the exegetical process, it becomes part of the homiletical process. The hermeneutic is the homiletic. The Christocentric text should preach itself. The preacher should get out of the way of the text and allow Christ to shine through what he has revealed about himself and the New Covenant community in the Psalms. The preacher is feeding divine manna to the people. Our preaching is the bread of life to our congregation, united to the Bread of Life in the heavens. We preach Jesus from the Psalms because Christ saw himself in and preached himself from the Psalms. The Psalter and its Divine Object were forever wedded together in the inauguration of the New Covenant. Jackmans words are poignant: It is highly significant that Psalm 119 is itself the last of a sequence of psalms from 113 onward, known as the Egyptian Hallel, which celebrated the exodus and were sung at the end of the Passover feast. It was with these very words ringing in his ears that Jesus went out from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane, to his betrayal, passion, and death, as the *enactment* (emp. mine) of all that the psalmist had foreshadowed. That surely is Matthews point when he tells us that following the inauguration of the new covenant in his blood, at the end of the last supper, with his disciples, When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30.105
100 101
(White, What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction, 2012, p. 38) (Wellum, 2010, p. 3) 102 (Beale G. , 2004, p. 402) 103 So Beale: our task as the covenant community, the church is to be Gods temple, so filled with his glorious presence that we expand and fill the earth with that presence until God finally accomplishes the goal completely at the end of time! (Beale G. , 2004, p. 402) 104 (Wright, 2006, p. 480) 105 (Jackman, 2003, pp. 130-131)
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If we were to peer into the words of Psalm 118, we would find that Christ and his disciples have sung Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. The Righteous Sufferer walks out of the Upper Room headed to the cross-altar where he would be bound as The Festal Sacrifice. The Righteous Sufferer is the stone headed out to face the builders and their rejection in order to become the Cornerstone. It is the embodiment of all the purposes and meaning of this Psalm that gives rise to the voice of the New Covenant Community in response: Give thanks to Jesus, the Festal Sacrifice and the Cornerstone, for He is good. For his steadfast, New Covenant love endures forever. It is the Festal Sacrifice that inaugurates the New Covenant as the embodiment of all that the Old Testament promised in the New Covenant.106 We feed our people Jesus in the New Covenant now/not yet, when we rightly preach the Psalms as being about, for, and to Jesus the Messiah-King who has established Davids throne forever. It is on that basis, we declare with Peter and Paul and the other New Testament authors that Christ our King of Kings and Lord of Lords is due the praise of a new song. Christ is the subject and object of those final verses in Psalm 69, Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Bibliography
Allen, L. (1977). Faith on Trial: An Analysis of Psalm 139. Vox Evangelica, 10, 5-23. Beale, G. (2004). The Temple and the Church's Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Beale, G. K. (1994). Positive Answer to the Question: Did Jesus and His Followers Preach the Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? In G. K. Beale, The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament in the New (pp. 387-404). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. Beale, G. K. (2007). Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Beale, G. K. (2011). A New Testament Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Belcher, R. (2006). The Messiah and the Psalms: Preaching Christ from all the Psalms. Geanies House, Fearn, Scotland, UK: Mentor. Berlin, A. (2008). The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, revised and expanded. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Boadt, L. (2004). The Use of 'Panels' in the Structure of Psalms 73-78. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 533-550. Bosma, C. (2008). Discerning the Voices in the Psalms: A Discussion of Two Problems in Psalmic Interpretation. Calvin Theological Journal, 43, 183-212. Brueggemann, W. (1985). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg. Chapell, B. (2005). Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
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Blake White has suggested that New Covenant inauguration includes the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost, and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. (White, What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction, 2012, p. 42) I concur, with the caveat that the import of the connection between the end of the Old Covenant and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was as much the destruction of the temple (the nexus of Old Covenant worship and identity) as it was the city (the land that symbolized the blessings of the Old Covenant). With the destruction of the temple, its songbook by necessity must be contextualized by the advent of the New Covenant in Jesus.
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Clowney, E. (1979). The Singing Savior. Moody Monthly, 40-42. Craigie, P. (2004). Vol. 19: Psalms 150 Word Biblical Commentary (2nd ed.). Nashville, TN: Nelson. Daly-Denton, M. (2004). The Psalms in John's Gospel. In S. Moyise, & M. Menken, The Psalms in the New Testament (pp. 119-137). London: T & T Clark. Davidson, R. (2000). The Eschatological Literary Structure of the Old Testament. In J. Moskala, Creation, Life, and Hope: Essays in Honor of Jacques B. Doukhan (pp. 349366). Berrien Springs, MI: Old Testament Dept., SDATS, Andrews University. Dennison, W. (2003). Biblical Theology and the Issue of Application in Preaching. In J. Pipa, & J. A. Wortman, Reformed Spirituality: Communing with Our Glorious God (pp. 119151). Taylors, SC: Southern Presbyterian Press. Doble, P. (2004). The Psalms in Luke-Acts. In S. Moyise, & M. Menken, The Psalms in the New Testament (pp. 83-117). London: T & T Clark. Dodd, C. H. (1952). According to the Scriptures. London: Fontana Books. France, R. T. (1971). Jesus and the Old Testament. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity. Futato, M. (2007). Interpreting the Psalms: An Exegetical Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel. Gaffin, R. (1987). Resurrection and Redemption: A Study in Paul's Soteriology (Second ed.). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing. Garrett, D. (2006). Preaching from the Psalms and Proverbs. In S. e. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament (pp. 101-114). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker. George, G. (2012). Hermeneutical Flaws of Dispensationalism. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. Goldsworthy, G. (2000). Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Goldsworthy, G. (2012). Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles. Nottingham, England: Apollos. Greidanus, S. (1988). The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text: Interpreting and Preaching Biblical Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Grogan, G. W. (2008). Psalms. The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Hays, R. B. (1989). Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. Jackman, D. (2003). Opening Up the Bible. London: Hodder & Stoughton. Johnson, D. e. (2007). Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R. Keck, L. (1978). The Bible in the Pulpit: The Renewal of Biblical Preaching. Nashville: Abingdon. Kostenberger, A. (2007). John. In G. K. Beale, Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament (pp. 415-512). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Kromminga, C. (1983). Remember Lot's Wife: Preaching Old Testament Narrative Texts. Calvin Theological Journal, 32-46. Larondelle, H. K. (1983). Deliverance in the Psalms: Messages of Hope for Today. Berrien Springs, MI: First Impressions. Lindars, B. (1961). New Testament Apologetic: The Doctrinal Significance of the Old Testament Quotations. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. Longman, T. I. (1988). How to Read the Psalms. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press Academic. Mays, J. L. (1991). "In a Vision": The Portrayal of the Messiah in the Psalms. Ex Auditu, 1-8.
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Mays, J. L. (1991). A Question of Identity: The Threefold Hermeneutic of Psalmody. The Asbury Theological Journal, 46.1, 87-94. Mays, J. L. (1994). Psalms. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press. Mays, J. L. (2006). Preaching and Teaching the Psalms. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox. Menken, M. (2004). The Psalms in Matthew's Gospel. In S. Moyise, & M. Menken, The Psalms in the New Testament (pp. 61-82). London: T & T Clark. Mitchell, D. C. (1997). The Message of the Psalter: An Eschatological Programme in the Book of Psalms. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press. Moo, D. (1986). The Problem of Sensus Plenior. In D. A. Carson, & J. Woodbridge, Hermeneutics, Authority, Canon (pp. 179-211). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Moo, D. (2002). Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academi. Moo, D. (2007, Fall). Pauls Universalizing Hermeneutic in Romans. Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 11(3), 62-90. Noble, P. (2004). The Psalms in Luke-Acts. In S. Moyise, & M. Menken, The Psalms in the New Testament (pp. 83-117). London: T & T Clark. Reisinger, J. (2004). Tablets of Stone and the History of Redemption. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. Reisinger, J. (2012). Introduction. In G. George, Hermeneutical Flaws of Dispensationalism (pp. 1-15). Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. Schreiner, T. (2010). 40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel. Stevenson, G. (1997). Communal Imagery and the Individual Lament: Exodus Typology in Psalm 77. Restoration Quarterly, 39(4), 215-229. Vos, G. (1920, January). "The Eschatology of the Psalter". The Princeton Theological Review, 18, 1-43. Waltke, B. (2007). An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Waltke, B., Houston, J. M., & with Moore, E. (2010). The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. Wells, T. (2005). The Priority of Jesus Christ: A Study in New Covenant Theology. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. Wellum, S. (2010, Spring). Thinking Biblically and Theologically about Eschatology. Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 2-3. Wenham, G. (2012). Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Song Ethically. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. White, A. B. (2008). The Newness of the New Covenant. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. White, A. B. (2010). The Law of Christ: A Theological Proposal. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. White, A. B. (2012). What is New Covenant Theology? An Introduction. Frederick, MD: New Covenant Media. Willis, J. T. (1997). An Interpretation of Isaiah 22.15-25 and its Function in the New Testament. In C. Evans, & J. Sanders, Early Christian Interpretation of the Scriptures of Israel: Investigations and Proposals (pp. 334-351). Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press. Wilson, G. (1992). "The Shape of the Book of Psalms". Interpretation, 46, 129-142. Wilson, G. (2002). Psalms, Volume 1: NIVAC. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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Wright, C. (2006). The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

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Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Contemporary Preaching of the Psalms

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

5 contemporary problems regarding preaching from the Psalter

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Lack of biblical theology

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

13 Basic Principles of Psalms, hermeneutics, and homiletics

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

New Covenant Theology considerations

The Storyline of the Bible

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

The Priority of Jesus

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

The New Testament interprets the Old Testament

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

The necessity of Biblical Theology

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

The Obsolescence Principle

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Preaching imprecations and the law in the New Covenant

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Eschatologys goal is Jesus

(Mitchell, 1997, p. 82)

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

Title: Preaching the Psalms in the New Covenant Text: Psalm 69

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