Throughout history, the Psalms have not only served as the Church’s hymnal, but as a book of prayer as well. Whether in seasons of want or fullness, wandering or wondering, joy or sorrow, the Psalms have given voice to countless saints along every leg of their earthly pilgrimage.

The Bible is many things. It is the world’s best-selling book, year after year, with no signs of waning popularity despite what culture would have us believe; it is a historical document, chronicling the creation, rebellion, and redemption of the human race; the Bible is also a book of prophecy, outlining not only that which was, but that which will surely come to pass; and, the Bible is a love letter, penned across generations and continents to an adopted people in Christ who, one day, will no longer be separated by either time or distance.

The word of God is also the world’s greatest hymn book, penned by Him who is reality’s foremost author, poet, artist, mathematician, and musician all rolled into one. From Genesis to the Psalms to Revelation, all of holy Scripture serves as creation’s hymnal with a single, solitary focus: Him, the Lord God Almighty. Every word in the Bible—each jot, tittle, and iota, every minute stroke of the pen—sings of the glory of God alongside the gathered voices of the stars, trees, and roaring seas. The Bible is a Him book, a Him hymnal, a Him-nal—that is, it’s all about Him.

In every word of holy Scripture we should strive to see the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). The Lord Jesus, the living Word of God made flesh (John 1:14), was the Father’s agent in creation from the beginning, the very Word of God who spoke light and life and order into a chaotic, primordial universe in Genesis 1:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:1-3).

If we are to understand God’s word at all, we must follow every syllable back to the feet of the Word Himself. Indeed, casting His shadow over each word, proverb, prophecy, and story in the Bible is the Word: Jesus was there in the beginning, bringing light to darkness; Jesus was the one prophesied of in the Garden, the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent; Jesus was the one who shut the door of the ark behind Noah, securing the remnant from whom He would ultimately be born as Messiah; Jesus was the ram caught in the thickets when Abraham went to sacrifice his son Isaac, foreshadowing the sacrifice of God’s own Son on that very hill centuries later—only, this Father’s hand would not be stayed as Abraham’s was.

It’s all about Him. Is it any wonder, then, that on the road to Emmaus the risen Christ, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). The Lord Jesus Christ is the interpretive key to understanding everything in the Bible—the Him hymnal. It is from this Christ-centered vantagepoint of understanding—growing in the knowledge of both the word of God and the world of God—that we can then worship Him appropriately.

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