Psalm 139, a supposal

This morning’s sermon was on Psalm 139. The main point of the sermon was that our God knows all things. True enough.

But I had another thought about the main thing that this Psalm teaches. My supposal is that this Psalm is about the incarnation of Christ. That David, as a prophet, was speaking of the coming of the Messiah… God in human fresh.

Firstly, for context, the Hebrew Preface to this Psalm is as follows: To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David. Now David was the king of Israel. Another way of saying this is that David was the Lord’s anointed, the Lords’ Messiah or Christ. So, the one to whom the ‘I’s and ‘My’s of this Psalm refer is the King of Israel, not to a Joseph citizen in David’s day, nor a modern day Christian. As with most of the Psalms, this one is not about ‘us’ (in the first instance).

My supposal is that this Psalm is preeminently referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and David spoke as a prophet in this respect. A few things to support this supposal follow:

1. The Lord’s knowing [loving] of the Psalmist seems to parallel the Father’s repeated declaration regarding Jesus that ‘You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. This same point returns at the end of this Psalm.
2. When the Psalmist says, ‘There is not a word on my tongue, but O Lord you know it all together’, it reminds me of the sort of thing that Jesus said (repeatedly) ‘I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things’ (John 8:28).
3. When the Psalmist speaks of the Lord being with him always and everywhere, it reminds me of John 8:29 ‘And He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please Him.’ This was true even in Jesus’ darkest trial in the garden on the night in which he was betrayed.
4. When the Psalmist says, ‘And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.’ reminds me of the words of Jesus recorded in Luke 24:43 ‘Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.’
5. When the Psalmist speaks of God as forming his inward part and ‘covering me in my mother’s womb’ and of his being ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ I am reminded of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, that ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’ There was no one more fearfully and wonderfully made than the Son of God in his humanity.
6. The preciousness of God’s thoughts (v17-18) to our Lord Jesus Christ is evident from all that He said about the Scriptures.
7. The Psalmist’s denunciation of the wicked who go on in their rebellion reflects all that Jesus himself said of his role as Judge in the day of judgment (Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 25:44-46)
8. Finally, the Psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, to know his anxious thoughts (remember the prayer of Christ in the garden and the great drops of sweat) and to see IF there is any wicked way in him. These things remind me of the sinless sin bearer for His people, the one of whom the Father said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. The Saviour of the world was tried in every way and was found to be without sin (Hebrews 4:15), so that He could be a faithful High Priest who offered Himself as a sufficient sacrifice in the place of sinners.

Now, to a lesser extent, some of the things that the Psalmist says might well apply to people in general, and perhaps more of what is said might apply to Christians in general, but my supposal is that the Psalm is preeminently about our Lord Jesus Christ.