THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Three—Psalms (2)
Scripture Reading: Psa. 2:6-7; 27:4; 48:2; 72:8; 23:6; 26:8; 27:4; 34:8a; 36:8-99; 42:1-2; 68:28-34
I. The book of Psalms covers four main points in a wonderful sequence: Christ—house—city—earth; the five books of the Psalms are arranged in the same progressive way as the entire Bible is arranged—2:6-7; 27:4; 48:2; 72:8: (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
A. From the first book of the Psalms to the fifth book, the revelation progresses higher and higher; the fifth book is filled with the psalmists’ praising of God. (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
B. The central thought in this progressive revelation is that God is embodied in Christ, Christ is in His Body, and His Body is God’s house and God’s city for God’s kingdom over the earth—Col. 2:9; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19; Rev. 11:15. (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
II. The revelation of Psalms begins with the psalmist stressing the law and with the Spirit turning the psalmist to Christ: (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
A. When the psalmist began in Psalm 1 by stressing the law, he was going in the wrong direction; in the first psalm, the psalmist seeking after God was driving on the wrong highway, so the Spirit came in to turn him to the right way. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
B. In Psalm 2, the psalmist began to enjoy Christ—to take refuge in this Christ and to kiss this Christ (v. 12); the highest and best enjoyment of human life is kissing; kissing Christ is the enjoyment of Christ. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
C. This enjoyment continues in Psalm 8, in which the psalmist declares, “How excellent is Your name / In all the earth!” (vv. 1, 9). (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
D. Psalm 16 is also full of enjoyment; verse 11 of this psalm says, “You will make known to Me the path of life; / In Your presence is fullness of joy; / In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
E. Psalm 22 gives us a very vivid picture of Christ’s death on the cross; it also shows us His church-producing resurrection (v. 22); in Christ’s resurrection His God is our God, His father is our Father (John 20:17), and we are His brothers. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
F. Psalm 23 is full of the enjoyment of Christ as our Shepherd; Psalm 24 goes onto show that the victorious Christ as the King of glory is coming to reign as the kin in God’s kingdom; all these points in the Psalms indicate that Christ is enjoyable. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
III. The enjoyment of Christ leading us to the enjoyment of God in the House of God—Psa. 26:8; 27:4; 34:8a; 36:8-9; 50:2: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
A. God is universal and omnipresent, yet He is a located God; God is located in His house, His dwelling place—23:6; 27:4: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. Christ is God’s location; Christ is the tabernacle of God and the temple of God—Col. 2:9; John 1:14; 2:21. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. Christ has been enlarged, and the enlarged Christ is the church as God’s enlarged temple, His dwelling place—1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
B. “O Jehovah, I love the habitation of Your house, / And the place where Your glory abides”—Psa. 26:8: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. We should love the habitation of God’s house and the place where His glory abides, remains, to be manifested—84:1; 29:9. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. Today the church is the place where God’s glory abides to be manifested—Eph. 3:21. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
C. “One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple”—Psa. 27:4: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. Our God is a lovable person with a lovely dwelling place; God Himself is enjoyable, and His dwelling place is also enjoyable. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. The Hebrew word for beauty implies loveliness, pleasantness, and delightfulness; when we behold God’s beauty, we are in a very peasant atmosphere—Exo. 24:9-11; 2 Cor. 3:18. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
D. “Taste and see that Jehovah is good”—Psa. 34:8a: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. This tasting and seeing must be in God’s house, His dwelling place. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. We taste and see that God is good in His house—in Christ, in the church, and, ultimately, in the New Jerusalem. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
E. “They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. / For with You is the fountain of life; / In Your light we see light”—36:8-9: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. We can be saturated with the fatness, the abundance, the riches, the fullness, within God’s house—v. 8a. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. In God’s house we can drink of the river of God’s pleasures—v. 8b. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
3. In God’s house we can share of the foundation of the life of God—v. 9a. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
4. In God’s house we can see light in God’s divine light—v. 9b. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
5. In God’s house we can enjoy the river of life, the tree of life, the foundation of life, and the light of life: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
a. In Christ and in the church, we enjoy the located God as the fatness to saturate us, the river of life to quench our thirst, the tree of life to feed us, and the light of life to enlighten us. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
b. In the New Jerusalem we will be saturated with the fruit of the tree of life, drink of the river of water of life, share of the fountain of God’s life, and see light in God’s divine light; this will be the consummate enjoyment of God in the house of God—Rev. 22:1-2, 5. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
F. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, / God shines forth”—Psa. 50:2: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. The shining forth of God out of His house is the dispensing of His goodness. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. Under such a shining, we enjoy God in Christ—cf. Num. 6:25. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
IV. Book Two begins with the direct enjoyment of God and unveils the psalmists’ intensified enjoyment of God in His house, and even more in His city, through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 42:1, footnote 1)
A. Book Two begins with the direct enjoyment of God; “As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants/ Four You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, / For the living God. / When will I come and appear/ Before God?” (42:1-2): (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 19)
1. It is very striking that Book Two begins with the psalmist’s panting after God; panting after God is different from worshipping God in a formal, religious way. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 19)
2. God is our living water for us to drink; we need to pant after this water and then drink it; we need to have times with the Lord in which we pant after Him and thirst for Him. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 19)
B. God’s house is both Christ as God’s tabernacle and God’s temple (John 1:14; 2:19-21) and the church as the enlargement of Christ, the enlarged temple (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21); Jerusalem, the city of God that surrounded the temple, signifies God’s kingdom. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 42:1, footnote 1)
C. Psalms 46—48 are on the church as the city of God; here the church has become the city over which God rules and from which God reigns: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
1. Psalm 46 is an unveiling of the God who meets our needs in the city; God is our enjoyment and meets our needs: (2011 ST, msg. 8)
a. In the city, God is our refuge, strength, and help in distress; He is most readily found—v. 1. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
b. In the city, the ruling center of God in His kingdom, there is “a river whose streams gladden the city of God;” in the city—the enlarged, strengthened, and built-up church—we have the flow of living water; therefore, we are the most joyful people—v. 4a. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
c. This city, which cannot be moved, is the unshakable kingdom—Psa. 46:5a; Heb. 12:28. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
2. In Psalm 47, we have the God-King ruling over the earth through the city; God in Christ is the great King over all the earth through the city—vv. 2, 6-8. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
3. Psalm 48 is about the city of the great King; here we have God in the climactic experience of the city. (2011 ST, msg. 8)
D. Psalm 68 reveals the spreading from the temple into the city of God; “Strengthen, O God, that which You have done for us. / Because of Your temple at Jerusalem”—following God’s strengthening of what He has done for His elect, the influence of the enjoyment of God in His house would spread to the entire city of Jerusalem—vv. 28b-29; cf. Eph. 3:16-17a; John 16:13; Rev. 4:5; 5:6. (2002 FTTA-F, msg. 16)
V. The book of Psalms reveals that the earth is the ultimate intention of God’s desire—8:1, 9: (2011 ST, msg. 1)
A. Psalm 68 reveals the gaining of the earth for God; the influence of the enjoyment of God will gain the whole earth for God; the kingdoms of the earth being charged to praise God—vv. 29b-34; Matt. 19:28; Isa. 2:2-3; Zech. 14:16-17; Rev. 21:24. (2011 ST, msg. 10; Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 28)
B. Psalm 72 reveals that in His reigning, Christ will recover the earth by watering—vv. 6, 8: (2011 ST, msg. 12)
1. “He will drop like rain upon mown grass, / Like abundant showers dripping on the earth” —v. 6: (2011 ST, msg. 12)
a. Christ gains the earth not by fighting and judging but by watering. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
b. In His coming back, the Lord will not mainly exercise His righteous judgement; rather, He will come primarily like showers to water the earth. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
c. Christ will have mercy on the earth, and He will come back graciously like showers of rain to water the barren land and to satisfy the depressed and empty people—v. 6. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
2. “He will have dominion from sea to sea / And from the River unto the ends of the earth”—Psa. 72:8: (2011 ST, msg. 12)
a. The Lord’s kingdom will spread to the ends of the earth by His flowing as a river—Dan. 2:44; Rev. 11:15; Joel 3:18. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
b. The Lord Jesus will recover the earth by means of the river that will flow from Jerusalem—Ezek. 47:1-12; Joel 3:18. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
c. In His kingdom the reigning Christ will recover the earth by means of this river, the unique divine stream—Psa. 72:8. (2011 ST, msg. 12)
C. The Psalms shows us that God’s intention is to recover His title, His legal rights, over the whole earth through Christ in the church as the house and the city—2:6-8; 36:8-9; 48:2; 72:8. (2011 ST, msg. 1)
D. When the church is enlarged from the house to the city for the recovery of the earth, God’s purpose will be fulfilled, and we will declare, “O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth!”—Psa. 8:9. (2011 ST, msg. 1)