God heard and answered the prayer raised to him in Psalm 89, not by restoring the ancient monarchy but by exalting the Son of David, Jesus, to be the eternal king, in line with the divine promises. The Church uses this psalm (vv. 1-4, 26, 28) on the feast of St Joseph, to show that in Joseph God has done what he promised by causing Jesus to be born into the house of David, to which Joseph belonged.

When applying this psalm to Jesus Christ, Christian tradition focuses particularly on v. 26: "We read here how he who was made incarnate though the power of the divine economy calls God himself his father: 'I go up to my Father and your Father, my God and your God' [John 20:17]. He is the one of whom the prophet speaks: he calls the child that is born 'Mighty God, Everlasting Father' [Isaiah 9:6]" (St Athanasius, Expositiones in Psalmos, 88).

This psalm arrangement is used at the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.