The Blessed Man of Psalm 1
Psalm 1 has been called a preface to the hymnbook of God’s people. It was not ascribed to a particular psalmist, yet we know that God, who inhabits the praises of His people, has placed it in Scripture for us to enjoy. Although it is written anonymously, the One portrayed therein is surely not a man of anonymity.
While we would strive to be the kind of person this psalm describes (walking with the Lord, staying true to His Word, and bearing fruit for His glory), there is no doubt that the true Blessed Man of Psalm 1 is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Containing six verses, this psalm divides equally into two sections. The difference between the first three verses and the last three is that the first three have a singular reference to the blessed man, whereas the last three have a plural reference to the ungodly.
Why is the singular used to describe the blessedness of this man? Because there is only One who is altogether righteous, the Lord Jesus Christ! Why is the plural form used when describing the ungodly? Because “all we like sheep have gone astray” and have “all turned aside” (Isa. 53:6).
John 14:6 is a wonderful verse for an outline of this psalm. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Follow the first three phrases of John 14:6 as we consider the first three verses of Psalm 1, and this poetic portrait of the Blessed Man will become a symphony of praise.
“I am the way”
Interestingly, the psalmist begins with a negative description of this Man, telling us three things that He does not do. He doesn’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. This should not surprise us, for, in describing the righteous Son of God, Paul, Peter, and John also used negative expressions to point out His sinlessness. Paul writes, He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21); Peter declares, He “did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22); and John concludes stating, “In Him is no sin” (1 Jn. 3:5).
This threefold description of the Blessed Man’s sinlessness also presents Him in three different postures: walking, standing, and sitting. All three postures speak generally of the way. He did not walk in their counsel, and, if you don’t mind two useful expressions, He would not stand for it, and it did not sit well with Him!
We can see in the life of the Lord Jesus that He separated Himself from the religious leaders of Israel. John writes that “Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (Jn. 2:24-25). The writer of Hebrews says that as a High Priest, He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). He not only followed the heavenly way, but He became the “new and living way” by whom we enter heaven (Heb. 10:19-20). He is the way.
“I am…the truth”
“His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” There are two parts to this verse that refer to the law of the Lord, and they touch two areas of the Savior’s life: His heart and His head.
Let’s look first at His delight in the law. Psalm 40:7-8, which is quoted in the Book of Hebrews, gives us this insight: “Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart’” (Heb. 10:7). How wonderfully linked to the heart of the Blessed Man is the desire to do the will of the Father! He said, “I always do those things which please Him” (Jn. 8:29).
If to delight in the law of the Lord relates to the heart, then meditating on the Word of God relates to the head. The mind of Christ was filled with the Word of God day and night. It is no wonder that whenever the Savior was questioned by seekers, tested by Satan, or sought to be tricked by the scribes, He inevitably answered using the Word of God. On more than one occasion, they marveled at His understanding and asked, “Where did this Man get these things?” (Mk. 6:2). Christ was the embodiment of truth. John declares, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14). Psalm 119:142 links the law with truth stating, “Your law is truth.” He is the Truth.
“I am…the life”
The overriding theme of verse 3 is life! We see it in the components: a tree planted, rivers of water, fruitfulness, the leaf that does not wither, and prospering. Job also used a tree for a life-like illustration saying, “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again” (Job 14:7).
In the first book of our Bible, we see the tree of life. We find the same components of life come together again in the last chapter of the Bible where we see a river of life flowing and the tree of life growing. The tree has twelve kinds of fruit every month of the year, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. When you consider whom the tree of life represents, is there not the overwhelming witness in your heart that it is “Christ who is our life” (Col. 3:4)? We look forward to the day when the statement “whatever He does shall prosper” will have its complete fulfillment.
Surely, the Blessed Man of Psalm 1 is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But there is another portion that we must consider: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” It is a sad and solemn warning when we read: “The ungodly are not so.” The second half of the psalm tells us what happens when people leave God out of their lives.
The ungodly are not so
First, we read that the ungodly are “like the chaff which the wind drives away.” Chaff is the outer shell of a grain or a seed. It has no life but is blown away or burned. John writes, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 Jn. 5:12).
We are then reminded that the ungodly have no standing in the judgment or congregation of the righteous. Why? Because they have no truth. Romans 1:17 says they “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” One day, “every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Rom. 3:19).
Lastly, in verse 6, the conclusion of it all is the sad state of the ungodly in contrast to the righteous: “the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” They followed a way that seemed right, but it ended in destruction.
What better way is there to preface the hymnbook of God’s people than to present the Blessed Man Himself? Without Him there is no life, no truth, and no way because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
That Man of Calvary
Has won my heart from me,
And died to set me free,
Blest Man of Calvary!
—Manie Ferguson