Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 1 | Date: March 12, 2023 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Psalm 1. This is a familiar psalm to you. I hope it is. It’s a familiar one to most. My dad had us memorize this when I was a small child. In our family devotions, it has always stuck with me. Of course, when I read it, it comes out in King James English, because that’s what I memorized it in. I will try to read it here in the ESV. If it comes out King James, you’ll understand why.

Psalm 1: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He’s like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. Its leaf does not wither. In all he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Psalm 1 is often referred to as a wisdom psalm. You know there’s the wisdom literature in the Old Testament: Proverbs most famously, also Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Many of the psalms are called wisdom psalms as well, and in fact, in grouping of the wisdom literature, Psalms is often grouped with them as well. Psalm 1 in particular is often referred to as a wisdom psalm because it has many of the familiar wisdom themes in it—themes that you’ll find, for instance, in the book of Proverbs.

We have, for example, in Psalm 1, the two ways. We find that in the book of Proverbs very prominently: the way of the righteous and the way of the sinner, the way of the fool, the way of the wise man. We have the two ways. We also have in Psalm 1 terms like “blessed,” and even the word “scoffer.” These are familiar themes in the book of Proverbs. In fact, one older commentator makes the remark that Psalm 1 is little more than the expansion of a proverb. And it is something like that.

I think it might be better to call this a Torah psalm. Torah, of course, means law. Psalm 1 verse 2 directs us to delight and meditate on the law of the Lord, to live according to the teaching of the law of the Lord. Verse 3 extols the value of the law of the Lord. The one who lives by the law of the Lord is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which brings forth his fruit in his season.

It might be better, and this is to take the broader approach, to say this is a didactic psalm—a psalm given to teaching. The psalmist’s intent here in this psalm is not specifically to give praise. The psalmist’s intent here is not specifically to give thanksgiving. His intent is not to give petition, much less to lament anything. His intent here is to give instruction and incentive to embrace God’s law for faithful living before him. And it’s a simple message, and it’s graphically portrayed in a wonderful poem that he has composed.

The structure of the poem is really very simple, but it’s layered with some symmetry involved that’s multi-layered. In fact, I’ll give you a brief overview of it here so you can see the way the psalmist himself is thinking to divide up his thoughts here. We have the whole psalm broken up with these alternating contrasts—positive and negative ideas. You have the blessed on the one hand, you have the wicked on the other, or the righteous on the one hand and the wicked on the other. And you have this, not only the contrast between the righteous and the wicked, but you have other positive-negative contrasts, like in verse 1: the blessed man does not walk in step with the wicked. Positively, verse 2: his delight is in the law of the Lord. Verse 3: he’s like a tree. Verse 4, negative: the wicked are not so. And then verse 6, we have more contrast: the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked. The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but negatively, the way of the wicked will perish.

So you have the way of the righteous in verses 1 to 3; it’s the first stanza. Then you have the way of the wicked in verses 4 and 5. And then you have a summary statement in verse 6, a summary contrast of what he’s just been saying. So in verses 1 to 3, we have the way of the righteous. First of all, verse 1 describes it negatively: he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly nor sit in the seat of the scornful, and so on. And then verse 2, the way of the righteous is described positively: his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night. And then verse 3, the righteous is described metaphorically: he’s like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit in his season. And then verses 4 and 5, you have the way of the wicked. First of all, their characteristics, verse 4: the wicked are like the chaff, not like the righteous. Verse 5: they won’t stand in the judgment. And then verse 6, the summary contrast: the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Jesus seems—I’m not saying he does, I’m not certain of this—but he seems to have had Psalm 1 in mind because he sums it up so well in Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14, where Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

All right, so there’s an overview of the psalm. Let’s work our way through it quickly in the time that we have.

The Characteristics Of The Blessed Man

First of all, let’s understand this word “blessed” in verse 1. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly or stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of the scoffer.” Blessed. It has become very popular today to translate this word “happy.” Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. “Happy” doesn’t quite say the same thing as “blessed.” Now certainly if you’re blessed of God, the result of that is going to be that you’re happy for it. But to translate this “happy,” it’s just a little bit trite. It’s not quite what the psalmist is getting at.

In fact, if you look at this word “blessed” through the Old Testament and the New Testament as well, you find that it has larger connotations. For example, in Job 5 verse 17, “Blessed is the one whom God reproves.” That’s probably not best to translate that “happy.” Happy is the one whom God reproves? Matthew chapter 5: “Blessed are the mournful.” “Blessed are the persecuted.” Happy are the persecuted? It’s probably not the best way to translate that. And I think, although eventually you get to “happy” because of God’s favor, I think we’re better to look at this word “blessed” in terms of God’s favor. How favored? Or perhaps, how rewarded? How rewarded is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly? The idea is that he enjoys God’s favor.

So the Psalter then opens up in its very first line with this highest prospect imaginable, and that is having God’s favor—rewarded by God, blessed by God. More than that, it instructs us then in Psalm 1 how to attain God’s favor, how we might know God’s favor, and it does that by giving us the characteristics of the blessed man.

Verse 1, as I say, states it negatively. Blessed is the man—who is he? He’s the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. So we have three lines here of negative characteristics. Let’s look at them quickly.

Number one, he walks not in the counsel of the wicked. So the man who is favored by God is not one whose thinking is shaped by worldly counsel. The world has its counsel and it’s giving it to us all the time. It pontificates on all kinds of matters and it is throwing it at us continuously. It’s got its own ethics, its own morals, its own idea of what is right and wrong, good and bad; its own convictions. And you hear it in the educational system, you hear it in the entertainment industry, you hear it in the newscasts and the commercials, and it’s being thrown at us all the time. It has its counsel that it’s giving, and it pontificates on everything from personal identity to sexual identity, sexual preferences to gender identity, gender roles, and child-rearing roles in the home. It’s got its convictions, and it’s proclaiming them at us all the time. And the blessed man, the psalmist says, the blessed man, the man who has God’s favor, is the man who won’t listen.

He receives his counsel from elsewhere, and we’ll see that when we get to verse 2. He hears the commercials, he sees the shows, the movies, he hears the newscasts, and he hears the talking heads, and he listens discerningly. “I know what you’re doing. You’re not a man who loves God. And you’re giving me wicked counsel and I won’t have it. It’s contrary to God.” This blessed man listens discerningly. So number one: he does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. His life is not shaped by the philosophy of life that he hears around him all the time.

Number two, the blessed man does not stand in the way of sinners. Now, first of all, we have to explain this expression, “stand in the way.” I grew up in the church. I grew up knowing this psalm, and for those of us who did, we understand immediately what it means. But I have heard at least on two occasions where new converts coming into the church are introduced to Psalm 1, and they misunderstand it entirely because “stand in the way” can mean to oppose. “Oh, I get it,” one guy said, “we’re not supposed to oppose them in their wickedness.” And that’s not what the psalmist is saying. To stand in the way—we think in terms of Robin Hood and Little John walking in on that log in the tree and they meet each other and they’re standing in each other’s way. That’s not what he’s saying here.

Standing in the way with sinners might be a way to understand it. The idea is standing with the wicked in their way. The idea is that of not participating with them. He’s not going along with them. The blessed man doesn’t participate in the actions; he doesn’t stand in the way of sinners in that sense. He’s not with them. He doesn’t live like the rest of the world. He doesn’t participate in their sinful behavior—in his talk, his actions, his way of life. He’s distinctly different. He’s not marked by the world’s lust. He’s not marked by the world’s selfishness and greediness. He doesn’t jump on the bandwagon of each new fad ideal that the world trumpets. You see it in his home. You see it in his relationships. You see it in his personal life. He’s distinctly different. He doesn’t stand in the way of sinners. He’s different.

And so, number three, he doesn’t sit in the seat of the scoffers. Now, the scoffer here is the world’s scathing unbelief. The world’s ideals are one thing, and now they have turned on those who hold on to a biblical, godly form of righteousness, and they mock it. And so it’s not enough that they themselves are unrighteous; they must mock the righteous. Make fun of righteousness. Make fun of the righteous. That’s our culture today. What was formerly thought evil is now thought good. And you can see how it’s progressed. Things that even in our own generation were thought shameful came to be accepted and then protected and then championed and defended until finally now it’s demanded that you give your approval of it or you are the bad guy. We’ve turned all of it on its own head so that now in order to be a good person you must not only allow homosexuality, you must approve of homosexuality. And if you oppose gay marriage, you are an unreasonable bigot. That’s the scoffer.

Well, the blessed man does not sit in the seat of the scoffer. He doesn’t have a kind of belonging with them. The blessed man doesn’t sit there. He doesn’t take sides with them. He doesn’t listen to them—that’s the first line. He doesn’t participate with them—that’s the second line. And so certainly the third line: he doesn’t take sides with them in the discussions. He doesn’t listen to them, he won’t participate, and he won’t sit alongside them and mock the righteous. He won’t make light of God’s law. When workmates at work deride biblical righteousness, he doesn’t laugh with them. He doesn’t sit in the seat of the scornful. The blessed man has taken sides with God, and he’s committed in his loyalty to God. There’s an “us” and there’s a “them,” and he certainly is not “them.” He’s taken his sides with God.

And it struck me while thinking through this and how this works out in real life: the man being described here, this blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of scorn—this man is not, distinctly not, a troublemaker. But he is likely considered to be one. Because he doesn’t go along, he doesn’t fit in. He’s the one that the world thinks is odd, that there’s something distinctly countercultural about him, and he finds himself all the time saying yes when the world says no, saying no when the world says yes, and he’s considered a troublemaker.

Our culture is—we’ve seen it in our generation like a few others—increasingly bent on everything evil. And our culture is making its continuous demands, pontificating on what is right and what is wrong and the way you ought to think. And if you want to get along, you want to fit in, you can. Just conform. That’s what the world demands. Parrot the lines, trumpet the same causes, adopt the same ideals, and you can get along well. But the blessed man here is one who doesn’t care about fitting in. What he’s concerned with is God’s favor. He’s made his choice. He won’t be like the world. So in his talk and his ambitions, he’s distinctly different. To borrow from the old chorus, this blessed man has decided to follow Jesus. No turning back.

So who is this blessed person? Verse 1 describes him negatively. He’s not like the world around him. He doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked. He doesn’t stand in the way of sinners. He doesn’t sit in the seat of the scornful. Now verse 2 describes him from a more positive standpoint. Verse 2: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

Law here is Torah, which isn’t just commands, but teaching. The teaching, in whatever form it comes, pictures God’s self-revelation in Scripture as instruction for living. Both the “thou shalts” and the “thou shalt nots,” and also all of its instruction for living. And the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord, the instruction that God has given. So the blessed man marches to the beat of a different drum. He doesn’t listen to the world around him and take his orders from them. He takes his cues from God.

And we might say here along the way as well: this is not a man who does his own thing either. He’s not a man who sings with Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way.” And he’s not a man who follows his own heart. Oh, we hear that so much that it drives me nuts. It’s like we’ve all got this infallible compass on the inside that if you just look deep within, you can find it and you’ll always be right. Meanwhile, the Bible is telling us, like in Proverbs, “he that trusts his own heart is a fool.” No, this man isn’t following his own heart. He’s not following the world. He takes his cues from God. His life is directed by the law of the Lord. Our Creator has spoken. He’s given us direction for life and living, and this man recognizes that that is what is good for me, and that is my guide, and he lives then by God’s direction.

But I want you to notice here that the thought goes much deeper than that. He does not say here merely that the blessed man lives according to the law of the Lord. What’s the word he gives? The blessed man “delights” in the law of the Lord. In other words, there’s not just an outward conformity to it. He understands the value of God’s revealed will, and he prizes it accordingly, and he prizes it with zeal and affection. He delights in the law of the Lord. And so obedience to God is not a drudgery. In fact, obedience to God for the blessed man is his goal. It’s his ambition. It’s what he delights in doing.

It has struck me many times how odd it is to see the world’s idea of where they will find joy and happiness and freedom; and they’ll find it, they think, in rebellion against God’s law. And we’ll see that in Psalm 2. That’s the world today: in a rage, running as far and as fast as we can away from any restriction God would put on us. Any number of times I’ve sat in a counseling room with people who’ve messed up their lives—drugs, alcohol, illicit sex—and doing it their own way. And they recognize finally how they’ve just messed up their lives. And your heart goes out to them; they’re hurting. And so you call them to leave that life and to repent. And it staggers the mind that they still view that life as something positive. It’s a madness of sin.

It’s the same on a societal level. We’ve given ourselves as a society to forsake God’s law, to get rid of it, to reject it entirely. We’ve got our own ideas on everything from marriage roles to child rearing to public policy and crime and penalties for crimes. We’ve got our own ideas on all of it. And in the meantime, all of society is crumbling down around our ears and they’re still convinced they’re right. Isn’t that amazing? It’s the madness of sin.

The blessed man sees through it all, he knows better, and he prizes divine instruction for living. He recognizes that this is the Creator who has designed life, and his instruction for living is going to be what’s good for me. Not just right—just like in the book of Proverbs, following God’s command is not just right, it’s good for me. And this man recognizes that and he values God’s designs for living. And he won’t play the fool thinking that he knows better. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Here is where I’ll find joy. Here is where I’ll find happiness and fulfillment. He’s convinced of it.

And so his goal is to delight in the scriptures further. And so, the next part of verse 2: “on the Lord’s law, he meditates day and night.” He recognizes its value, he prizes it accordingly, and so he gives his mind to it. He runs his mind over the law of the Lord all the time, all the time, all the time. He gives careful thought. He’s diligently studying, trying to understand, trying to see how it applies to life in whatever situation. Implicit in all of this is the idea of trust. God has given us his self-revelation. It must be what is best for me. And so I give myself to it with delight. This is what I want. This is good for me. And I trust that God knows what is best for life and for living.

So he entrusts himself to it and, again, his obedience is not begrudging; it’s joyful, it’s confident, it’s even expectant. Here is where I’ll find God’s favor. And so he meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, continuously, running his mind over the scriptures. Here’s a guy who assuredly has his devotional time, specifically given to the reading of the Word of God and prayer probably more than once a day. That’s just the beginning. It doesn’t begin and end at devotional time. All day long and all night long his mind is running on the scriptures and going over it and thinking through, trying to understand, trying to apply, reminding himself of the Word. He meditates on the Word day and night. We have an echo here of Psalm 119 verse 97: “Oh how I love your law, it is my meditation all the day.”

All right, so who is this blessed person, this man who knows God’s favor? Answer: he’s a man who is devoted to the law of the Lord. He’s discovered and he’s convinced that in devoting himself to God’s law, he will find and know God’s favor. The point here then has to do with what shapes and what influences his mind and his heart and his life. What shapes his ideals? It shapes his ambitions and his goals. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stands in the way of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates all the time, all the time, all the time.

The blessed man is one whose heart and life is shaped by divine revelation. He’s convinced that in following God’s Word, in knowing and understanding and following God’s Word, he will find blessedness. So he jumps at every opportunity to learn, to hear, to think, to read, to memorize. Now, this psalm is not shaped as an imperative, a command, but there’s an implicit exhortation in this, and that is: you must devote yourself in mind and heart to learning, understanding, and living by God’s direction in Scripture. That’s the implicit command, and it does it with this inherent promise, and that is, as you do so, you’ll find God’s favor. But it also has an implicit warning, and that is: you neglect this awesome gift of God’s revealed will, and you cheat yourself from God’s blessing and God’s favor. The blessed person is the one who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it all the time.

What brings us then to verse 3, where the blessed man is described metaphorically. Here’s his characteristic. Unlike the wicked who delight in their sin—you know, unlike them, but like the blessed man of verse 2—he delights in the Word of God. As a consequence now, verse 3: “He’s like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”

The terminology here in the Hebrew pictures not just a tree, but a transplanted tree, planted by an irrigation canal, a stream of water that’s been placed there for it. And there, next to the irrigation canal, this tree that’s been transplanted there receives its nourishment, and it grows strong, and it becomes stable, and it produces food. And the imagery, of course, is that of the Word of God as nourishing and invigorating. And by an acquaintance with the scripture, and by our increasing acquaintance with the scripture, we have become well nourished, stable, and fruitful.

And so this man, he says, prospers. He succeeds in living before God. He’s stable. He’s not easily thrown. Things don’t throw him off track. He’s confident. He’s steady. And so he’s productive. Related psalm is Psalm 119 verse 165: “Great peace have those who love your law. Nothing can make them stumble.” They’re not thrown. They’re so well nourished and made stable and fruitful that they’re not thrown.

Now with verses 1 and 2 and 3, we have, I think, an obvious allusion to Joshua chapter 1 in verse 8. Some of you might have already caught that. It’s a familiar verse as well. Joshua 1:8: “This book of the law”—remember this is God speaking to Joshua on his way into the promised land—”shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” So God tells Joshua on his way into the promised land, “Follow my instructions, you’ll never go wrong. You’ll be blessed.” The psalmist now picks that up and he says what is true for Joshua is true for every one of us. Blessed life is found only in devotion to God’s Word. Such a simple, simple exhortation.

The Way Of The Wicked

Now he gives the contrast, verses 4 and 5, he talks about the way of the wicked. Here the vocabulary about the righteous shifts just a little bit. In the first stanza it’s the word “blessed,” but now in these verses we become “the righteous.” Those who follow the word of the Lord are the righteous. But the focus here in these verses is not the righteous and it’s not the blessed. The focus of these verses is the wicked. And so he gives his attention to that.

Verse 4: “The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Well, here he gives us the characteristics now of the wicked person. We’ve had the characteristic of the righteous or the blessed person, now the characteristics of the wicked. And he presents it in the negative: “The wicked are not so.” He doesn’t draw it out at length, just “the wicked are not so.”

There’s a stark contrast with verses 1 to 3. In the first stanza, verses 1 to 3, the righteous treasure God’s law and are faithful to it. But in stanza two now, the wicked are not so. They do not treasure it. In fact, they oppose it. They’re wicked after all. Stanza one: because the righteous are devoted to God’s Word, they’re stable and they’re productive and they’re fruitful. But now stanza two: the wicked are not so. They’re unstable. They’re fleeting. They’re like the chaff that the wind drives away.

You understand, of course, what the chaff is. Particularly in those old days when they would do it by hand, they would get the pitchfork or something and they’d shovel, they’d throw the wheat up and then the chaff—the husk, the light part—would just blow away. It’s worthless. It’s not good for anything. Let it blow away and you separate the wheat from the chaff. The chaff is worthless, it’s unstable, it’s not good for anything. And his point here then is that the wicked are like the chaff, and that is that life apart from God’s revelation is meaningless, it’s worthless, and it’s insignificant. They’re like chaff.

In fact, what’s more, verse 5, this life of sin has its inevitable destiny as well: “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Here we have an explicit link to a big theme that’s prominent all through the scriptures, and that is the culminating, climactic coming of the kingdom of God will involve two different things: one is the vindication of the righteous—the blessing, the favor of the righteous—and on the other hand, the destruction of the wicked. You find this in passage after passage in the scriptures. You find it in some of the great prophetic passages of the Old Testament; Daniel chapter 7 is one. You find it in many of the passages that God’s kingdom will come in its fullness and there’ll be the vindication of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked.

And the psalmist says here, when that day of judgment comes, this wicked one will not stand. He won’t stand his ground. And the idea is that he won’t survive the verdict. He won’t have a part with the righteous whom God favors. And like the chaff that is blown away with the wind in the judgment, the wicked will be overwhelmed with divine judgment. Some of the psalms—and we’ll see this particularly, I guess it’s most famously in Psalm 73, where Asaph had his crisis of faith—some of the psalms complain about the temporary prosperity of the wicked. Why do the wicked prosper? They lament that. We’ll talk about those. Psalm 1 doesn’t take that tack. It ignores all of that. It just looks only to the end of the road and the outcome of that life that is given to following God’s Word and the outcome of that life that is given to rejecting God’s Word. And he says the righteous and the wicked here come to two very different ends, and the difference between them turns on their response to God’s Word.

The message then of these verses is: you can reject God’s words, you can ignore God’s Word—you can do that—but it will not turn out well for you. Or you can commit yourself to God’s Word and be blessed.

Summary Contrast

And so we come to verse 6 where he gives us a summary contrast: “The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.” The contrast here: the Lord knows versus perish. Knows versus perish. Now this word “know,” as you’ve seen many times in the scriptures, often has the connotation of regarding with favor. “The Lord knows those who are his.” “The Lord knows his people.” Here the Lord knows the way of the righteous. Obviously the sense is he knows them, he regards them with favor. He knows those who treasure his Word and he watches over them accordingly. And in the day of judgment they will stand their ground. But the way of the wicked will perish. It will end in ruin. God doesn’t know them. They won’t enjoy his favor; they’ll just know his wrath.

“The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.”

So Psalm 1 then gives us this sustained contrast between the righteous and the wicked. And the difference between the two is graphically portrayed for us. This is another clever way that the psalmist has put together his poem. The difference between the righteous and the wicked is graphically portrayed for us in the first and the last word of the psalm. Look at them. First word: “blessed.” Last word: “perish.” The two ways differ entirely, both in life and in death, for time and for eternity. And Psalm 1 is given to warn us that there are these two ways. There is no third. There are these two ways, and these two ways only. And in the end, they part forever.

Now after we have looked through Psalm 2, we will explore more fully how Psalms 1 and 2 together form the gateway to the Psalter. This is the door into the book of Psalms. But already I think you can see how Psalm 1 is Psalm 1 for strategic reasons. Why is Psalm 1 Psalm 1? It is placed here with specific reasons.

Psalm 1 is the first psalm because it identifies for us those for whom the Psalter is intended. It’s intended for the righteous. The Psalms are for the blessed who refuse the way of sin and devote themselves to divine revelation. That’s who the Psalter is for. One commentator writes, “Psalm 1 stands like a Levitical gatekeeper warning the wicked to proceed no further.” The book of Psalms is not for just anyone. God does not want the feigned worship of the wicked. He won’t have it. It’s repulsive to him. He hates it. He despises it. He won’t have it. He accepts only the worship of the righteous.

It’s a big theme, and the Psalter will come across it many times. Some of the psalms are given to that theme, where the Psalter will drive that theme from beginning to end. And the Psalter then begins with this book of praise by declaring that godliness is essential to worship. God won’t have the worship of unclean people. In other words, you can’t worship God and keep your sin. He won’t have it. Again, it’s a big theme in the Psalter. We’ll see it often.

The encouragement, the comfort, the promises, the hope of the Psalter are for those who devote themselves to the law of the Lord. It is not for the wicked. Well, that raises some serious questions. And again, when we’re done with Psalm 2, we’ll come back and we’ll look at it again, but we will see how Psalms 1 and 2 together point us to Christ.

Psalm 2 is easy enough. It’s a direct prophecy of the coming of Christ and establishing of his kingdom in its climactic form. But you can already see in Psalm 1 that the righteousness that this psalm demands points up the need for someone more righteous than we are. And in the flow of the canon, and even in the flow of the Psalms itself, it becomes clear that it’s pointing us beyond ourselves to someone else who has a better righteousness. And the whole thrust of the gospel, of course, is exactly that: that we have someone who is perfectly righteous, and he’s given us his righteousness in exchange for our sins. And in him, we have all that God requires of us. And we’ll see all of that.

Psalm 1 points us to that, but in a subtle way. But its initial message, Psalm 1, is very simple. And that is that this book of praises is for singing, but it’s for the singing of those who in life and in heart commit themselves to God. We find divine favor in devotion to God’s Word. Now there’s some stickers in the details. You have to be countercultural. You have to go against the grain. You’ll find yourself being the one mocked by the world. So what? So there’s a trade. The world’s favor or God’s? Eternal blessedness in the congregation of the righteous or perish with the wicked. That’s the message of Psalm 1.