From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 10): Psalm 19 And The Faithful King

by on November 29, 2025 | Comment

We use the phrase, “when the stars align,” as a way to express when everything comes together in just the right way, even though it seemed like an unlikely outcome. Every factor that needed to be in agreement for a particular result actually fell into place. “The pieces come together,” “the stars align,” “the chips fall into place”—these are ways we talk about conditions being perfect or favorable for something good to happen.

Psalm 19 describes several things that need to come together in order to bring blessing to God’s people. Some have thought that the significant shift in topic at verse 7, where the focus changes from creation to God’s law, suggests this psalm was originally two separate psalms.1 That view, however, does not sufficiently account for how creation and law do align in the work required of God’s messianic king to rescue his people.

Thus, Psalm 19 instructs God’s people how to respond to God’s revelation both in creation and in the law. It also teaches us about the one who has responded perfectly to that revelation, Jesus Christ. The main point is: Psalm 19 teaches that righteousness is required to come before God and that Christ has lived that righteous life.2

Placement

The Psalter is a unified book that tells a singular story, the story of God’s king who provides blessing to all who take refuge in him. The Psalter teaches us about the law and the gospel, reminding us of the standards for obtaining the blessed life but also reminding us that the king of God’s people has obtained that blessing for us. This book then also teaches us about the godly response to the full spectrum of experience and emotion that we encounter in the Christian life.

As this series has worked through Psalms 15–24 so far, we have seen that this group of psalms is most emphatically about how to enter God’s presence. Psalm 15 began with the question: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” Psalm 24 then returns to that question, asking “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?” These questions drive the whole story that unfolds in these ten psalms. The main issue is about who can enter God’s presence by ascending his holy mountain.

The two themes of Psalm 19, creation and law, bring us back to that same issue, drawing our focus on how the one who will enter God’s presence must align with certain standards. The one who will ascend the mountain to enter God’s presence is the one who measures up to God’s standard as summarized in his law, to how God made us as creatures to display his glory and to love and glorify God. In other words, Psalm 19 is about how the one who enters God’s presence is the one who is righteous.

Psalm 19 also comes as the center point of this group of Psalms.3 Normally, in Western literature and stories, we expect the main point to come at the end. Thus, we read as though we are always working up to the main takeaway at the end. In Hebrew writings, and especially Hebrew poetry like the Psalms, the main takeaway often comes in the middle. If a story is like a mountain, we tend to climb one side of the mountain and stop at the peak so that the story ends on the mountaintop. In Hebrew literature, stories often go up the mountain and down the other side. The main takeaway is still at the peak atop the mountain, but the story comes down the other side of the mountain after providing that main takeaway. Psalm 19 is the middle of the story that Psalms 15–24 tell, signaling to us that this is the main point.

We have thought together about how Psalms 15–24 tell the story of the incarnate Christ, first backwards and then forwards. It begins at the end of his story to tell of his ascension in Psalm 15, then tells about his resurrection in Psalm 16, his grave in Psalm 17, and his death in Psalm 18. Now, in Psalm 19, as well as in Psalms 20–21, the spotlight is on his righteous life.

Psalm 19 falls into three parts. Verses 1–6 praise God for his creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Verses 7–11 proclaim the perfection of God’s law: “The law of the Lord is perfect.” Verse 12–14 are then about the king who is faithful in creation and to the law, in whom his people find protection.4  The idea that unites the Psalm is that God shows his knowledge, wisdom, and goodness in his creation and in his law.5

Praise

Although we do not know the exact historical setting for when David wrote Psalm 19, we can see that it is a psalm of praise. It reflects upon God’s glory as we find it displayed in creation and as he specially reveals it to his people. The closing verses end with praise for being in a right relationship with God.

One of the easiest things for us to forget as Christians is to praise God. We often have a very keen sense that we need God’s help, and a list of requests for help comes quickly to us. Bodily health is often at the top of the list. When our bodies are failing, in trouble, or struggling, we can have our most profound sense of need for the Lord. When we have trouble at home, be that because of our work, finances, or family relationships, we feel that need. We cry out to him because of our trial, seeing that we are not able to bring about the best outcomes for ourselves.

Thankfulness can often come easily. When we see how the Lord answers our prayers of need, we know we should be glad. So, we thank him for taking care of us in our various times of difficulty.

We are probably weakest in the area of outright praise, however. Praise is, at least as I am considering it in light of Psalm 19, somewhat distinct from giving thanks. Thanksgiving is the response of honoring God for something he has done for us. Praise is honoring him just for who he is. We see in Psalm 19 a happy reminder of how important praise is. As this psalm describes the Lord’s goodness in what he made and in his statutes, we ought to see how full of positivity they are presented. David has no begrudging praises for God. He does not struggle to see reasons to be happy in the Lord. He sees creation and even what he knows of God through the obligations we have to him as pulsing with God’s magnificent grandeur.

The point is that we might be most joyful when we pause to reflect on things that are good about God himself. I am sure, however, that we would all have a deeper thriving prayer life were we, no matter how strong we presently are at this, to grow in adoring God for his amazing character. He is the God who made all things and who guides us in what is right and good. He is majestic and glorious. He deserves our praise.

Proclamation

As one ancient commentator observed from Psalm 19, “The most ancient preacher in the world is the sky.”6 David unpacks that truth as the heavens and the sky themselves night and day reveals God’s glory in a way that must be heard. We cannot escape it, as “there is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”

This testimony is universal as it goes through all the earth. Interestingly, Paul quotes verse 4 in Romans 10, saying, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’”7

In context, the astounding point is that Christ’s Word must be proclaimed for people to come to faith, but that Paul then quotes this psalm about how creation testifies to God’s glory. The tension is that although creation teaches us truths about God, nature itself does not announce the gospel, which seemed to be in Paul’s focus. When God created the world, it was without sin and we did not need salvation. God did not write the message of salvation into nature because sin caused our need for salvation.

This would be like wondering why our grandparents did not write anything in their journals from fifty years ago about their iPhones. They did not write about iPhones because they were not yet a reality to discuss. Creation talks about God’s glory because God’s glory always deserved proclamation, but creation does not explain salvation because that was not a message that needed to be delivered until sin entered.

So, why did Paul invoke this passage? Because creation is still the word of Christ. As Colossians 1:16 tells us, “By [the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Psalm 19 is a song about Christ because it reminds us that God the Son, who came in our nature as Jesus Christ, is the Creator who deserves glory.

Hence, Paul’s next point in Romans 10 was actually about the inability of those who had heard Christ only in creation. Creation leaves us without excuse because it tells us of the true God and makes known his righteous expectations of us.8 The law also tells us of what Christ has done. God the Son is Creator of all things, and God the Son, Jesus Christ, is redeemer of all his people by satisfying the law on our behalf. In both aspects, Christ deserves our proclamation.

Protection

Psalm 19 is also about Jesus Christ in that it describes his righteous life. Augustine says the metaphor of the sun being sent out like a bridegroom is the key to seeing Christ in this psalm.9 In Scripture, such as in Job 38:12–15, and throughout literature in the ancient near east, the sun was associated with righteousness and law.10

Creation then tells of God’s righteous demands, which as key for us to enter his presence. Yet, righteousness comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber. That is the description of Christ’s incarnation, that God the Son left his heavenly chamber so that the Creator shone even more fully into creation as God the Son came to earth as a man. The Creator stepped into creation.

God’s law also tells us of his righteous demands. Yet, as God the Son came forth as the bridegroom, he did so to satisfy the law. That is why the closing verses are about Christ as the true king of Psalm 19. There are no errors or hidden faults to find in Christ because he is perfect and he kept the law perfectly. He had no sins and he is blameless. He is the king who has been faithful to all the creation demands of us in justice and has fulfilled all the law demands from us for righteousness. Psalm 19 is about the life of Christ as he came forth from heaven to live the righteous life.

So, we know where to find protection because we know who the true and faithful king is. Jesus Christ is our rock and our redeemer who has earned great reward by keeping the law in our place. Although we are without excuse and deserve condemnation, Jesus Christ is our protection. He is where we find life and provision. He is how we are right with God and forgiven of our sins. In him, we know God as sweeter than honey. So, in Christ we learn to praise well because we have been given the gift of protection from the wrath we deserve.

Notes

  1. Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, 4 vol. (Crossway, 2024), 2:213.
  2. Quinn, Arrival of the King, 47–48.
  3. Carissa Quinn, The Arrival of the King: The Shape and Story of Psalms 15–24, Studies in Scripture and Biblical Theology (Lexham Academic, 2023), 38–39; James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, 2 vol., Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Lexham Academic, 2021), 1:253; Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel, How to Read and Understand the Psalms (Crossway, 2023), 31–32, 431, 481; Bruce K. Waltke and James M. Houston with Erika Moore, The Psalms as Christian Worship: A Historical Introduction (Eerdmans, 2010), 290.
  4. Quinn, Arrival of the King, 42; Ash, Psalms, 217; Hamilton, Psalms, 1:250; Waltke and Houston, Psalms as Christian Worship, 353.
  5. Waltke and Houston, Psalms as Christian Worship, 439.
  6. Ash, Psalms, 2:217.
  7. Ash, Psalms, 2:214.
  8. Waltke and Houston, Psalms as Christian Worship, 374
  9. Saint Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms Volume 1, trans. Maria Boulding OSB (New City Press, 2000), 204–5.
  10. Waltke and Houston, Psalms as Christian Worship, 355.

© Harrison Perkins. All Rights Reserved.

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