THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Four—Psalms (3)
Scripture Reading: Psa. 2:6-7; 26:8; 27:4; 46:4; 48:2; 72:8; 73:16-17; 90:1; 91:9
I. Four major stations concerning Christ—Psalms 2, 8, 16, and 22—24; we all need to see the particular aspects of Christ revealed in these psalms; these psalms present us a completed Christ: (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
A. Psalm 2 tells us that the Christ is God’s anointed One. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
B. Psalm 8 reveals Christ as the incarnated and crowned One, the excellent One in all the earth. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
C. Psalm 16 reveals Christ in His human living; it shows that Christ lived on this earth as a God-man, died on the cross, resurrected, and then ascended to the right hand of God. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
D. Psalm 22 shows us Christ crucified and resurrected to produce His brothers to constitute His Body, the church; then in resurrection in Psalm 23, He became our Shepherd, shepherding us through five stages of enjoyment; eventually, He will come back to be the King of glory, as revealed in Psalm 24. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 12)
II. Psalm 2 is God’s speaking, God’s declaration, God’s proclamation, concerning Christ as the center of His economy: (2011 ST, msg. 2)
A. The word economy is not in Psalm 2, but the revelation and reality of God’s economy are there. (2011 ST, msg. 2)
B. The King and the kingdom in Psalm 2 show us the economy of God—vv. 6, 8-9: (2011 ST, msg. 2)
1. For God to have a King is for the fulfilling of His economy—v. 6. (2011 ST, msg. 2)
2. Christ’s kingdom will be a great kingdom of all the nations, covering the entire earth; His kingdom will be everywhere to include everyone—vv. 8-9; 22:28; Dan. 7:14. (2011 ST, msg. 2)
C. Psalm 2 reveals the steps of Christ in God’s economy, beginning from His being anointed in eternity in His divinity (v. 2) and continuing with His resurrection (implying His death also—v. 7; cf. Acts 13:33), His ascension (Psa. 2:6), His setting up His universal kingdom (Rev. 11:15) with the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the earth as His possession (Psa. 2:8), and His ruling the nations with an iron rod (v. 9). (2011 ST, msg. 2)
III. Psalm 8 is David’s inspired praise of the excellency of Christ—this psalm speaks of the heavens, the earth, babes and sucklings, man, three categories of enemies, and the Lord’s incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension, the Body of Christ, His coming back, and His kingdom—cf. Matt. 6:9-11; Gen. 28:12-17; John 1:51: (2011 ST, msg. 3)
A. The Lord’s name is excellent (majestic) in al the earth, and His splendor (glory) has been set over the heavens—v. 1: (2011 ST, msg. 3)
1. In Psalm 8, the name of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and exalted Jesus (Phil. 2:5-11) is excellent (majestic) in all the earth according to the divine revelation, and the Lord’s Glory is over the heavens in the sight of David. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
2. The goal of this psalm is to join the earth to the heavens and bring the heavens down to the earth, making the earth and the heavens one—John 1:51; Gen. 28:12. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
B. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings the Lord has established strength (praise—Matt. 21:16) because of His adversaries, to stop the enemy and the avenger—Psa. 8:2: (2011 ST, msg. 3)
1. Satan is God’s adversary within God’s kingdom, God’s enemy outside God’s kingdom, and the avenger who roves to and fro over the earth—cf. Job 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:8. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
2. The Lord stops these three categories of negative ones by establishing strength and perfecting praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, the youngest, smallest, and weakest ones. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 8:2, footnote 1)
3. The highest consummation of the Lord’s work in His redemption is to strengthen the weakest and smallest ones and perfect the praise they offer to Him out of their mouths. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 8:2, footnote 1)
C. “What is mortal man, that the Lord remembers him, and the son of man, that He visits him?” Psalm 8 shows that God’s purpose and plan for man to express Him with His image and to represent Him with His dominion have never changed—Psa. 8:4; Gen. 1:26-28: (2011 ST, msg. 3; 2002 FTTA-S, msg. 3)
1. In his view in the heavens, David turned his consideration to man on the earth. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
2. Man is the central object of God in His creation for the accomplishment of His economy to fulfill His heart’s desire. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
3. The first “man” in verse 4 is enosh in Hebrew, and the second “man” is adam in Hebrew, both referring to: (2011 ST, msg. 3)
a. The God-created man in God’s creation in Genesis 1:26. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
b. The Satan-captured man in man’s fall in Psalm 8:4. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
c. Christ as a man in His incarnation for the accomplishment of God’s redemption in Hebrews 2:6. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
4. Such a man God remembers in His economy and visits in His incarnation—John 1:14; Phil. 2:7. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
5. The man prophesied in Psalm 8 is the second man, the Lord Jesus, who has recovered man’s lost ordination and has fulfilled God’s original purpose—Heb. 2:5-9. (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 3)
D. The Lord has made man a little lower than angels; this refers to Christ’s incarnation with His human living for His all-inclusive death—Psa. 8:5a; Heb. 2:7a; John 1:14; Heb. 2:9a. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
E. God has caused man (Christ) to rule over the works of God’s hands and has put all things under His feet: all sheep and oxen, the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas—Psa. 8:6-8; Heb. 2:7b-8a: (2011 ST, msg. 3)
1. This word was fulfilled in Adam (Gen. 1:26-28), but it was broken by man’s fall. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
2. In Christ’s ascension God subjected all things under Christ’s feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body—Eph. 1:22-23; Rom. 16:20. (2011 ST, msg. 3)
3. It will be fulfilled in full in Christ with His Body, the overcomers, in the millennium, the age of restoration—Rev. 20:4-6; Matt. 19:28; Isa. 11:6-9; 65:25. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 8:6, footnote 1)
IV. The subject of Psalm 22 is the Christ who has passed through His redeeming death and entered into His church-producing resurrection: (2011 ST, msg. 5)
A. Psalm 22:1-21 gives a detailed picture of Christ in His suffering of death (cf. Isa. 53), as typified by David in his suffering: (2011 ST, msg. 5)
1. The question in Psalm 22:1 was spoken by David in his suffering, but it became a prophecy concerning Christ in His suffering of His redeeming death. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
2. Verses 6 through 8 display Christ’s suffering unto death through men’s reproach, despising, deriding, sneering, headshaking, and mocking. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
3. Verses 9 through 11 show that while people were mocking Him and deriding Him, Christ trusted in God for deliverance, that is, for resurrection; He intended definitely to die and expected to be delivered from death, that is, to be resurrected from the dead—Luke 18:31-33; Heb. 5:7. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
4. Psalm 22:12-18 depicts in vivid detail how Christ passed through His suffering of crucifixion—Mark 15:16-37. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
5. God judged Christ and put Him into death for our redemption—Psa. 22:15: (2011 ST, msg. 5)
a. On the one hand, man crucified the Lord Jesus; on the other hand, God killed Him; in the first three hours that Christ was on the cross, He was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours, Christ was our Substitute, He became sin on our behalf, and He died a vicarious death to redeem us from our sins and from God’s judgment—2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 15:3. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
b. All the sin of the world was laid on Christ as the Lamb of God; God judged Him and put Him into death or our redemption—Isa. 53:6b, 10a; 1 Pet. 2:24a; John 1:29. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
6. On the cross Christ was forsaken by God; when the Lord Jesus died on the cross under God’s judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being; nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and judging God economically—Psa. 22:1; Matt. 27:45-46. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
B. After passing through His redeeming death, Christ entered into His church-producing resurrection—Psa. 22:22-31: (2011 ST, msg. 5)
1. “I” in verse 22a is the resurrected Christ who declares the Father’s name to His brothers; it was in His resurrection that Christ called His disciples His brothers, for in God’s eternal view, His disciples were regenerated and became God’s sons in Christ’s resurrection—Heb. 2:12; John 20:17; Matt. 28:10; 1 Pet. 1:3. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
2. In Psalm 22:22b, the assembly signifies the church, indicating that the Lord’s brothers constitute the church; thus, His resurrection is the church-producing resurrection—Heb. 2:10-12. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
3. In Psalm 22:22, You and Your refer to the Father; in resurrection Christ declared the Father’s name to His brothers and praised the Father in the church—Heb. 2:12. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
4. The church ushers in Christ’s kingdom for Christ to rule over the nations; the church, produced by Christ’s resurrection, is the reality of the kingdom and a precursor to the manifestation o the kingdom in the millennium—Psa. 22:27-28; Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
5. Jehovah as Christ will rule over the nations in the millennial kingdom—Psa. 22:28; 2:8-9; Rev. 19:15. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
6. The believers are the seed of Christ, and their declaring the Lord’s righteousness (justification, salvation) to a coming generation refers to the preaching of the gospel—Psa. 22:30-31. (2011 ST, msg. 5)
V. In Psalm 22, Christ was the Redeemer and the Regenerator, in Psalm 23, He is now the Shepherd, and in Psalm 24, He will be the King who will regain the entire earth through the church, His Body, the people whom He has redeemed and regenerated and is shepherding today: (2011 ST, msg. 6)
A. Christ in His resurrection is the Shepherd (Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4), and the church produced by Christ’s resurrection is His flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2): (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 23:1, footnote 2)
1. By being incarnated, crucified, and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), Christ as Jehovah (John 8:24), the Triune God (Exo. 3:14), is qualified to be our Shepherd (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 23:1, footnote 2)
2. By His redeeming, washing, resurrecting, and regenerating us, we are qualified to be His flock. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 23:1, footnote 2)
3. To enjoy Christ’s shepherding, we need to be in the lock, i. e., in the church. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 23:1, footnote 2)
B. According to Psalm 23, Christ shepherds us in five stages: (2011 ST, msg. 6)
1. The initial stage is the enjoyment of Christ as the green pastures and of the Spirit as the waters of rest—v. 2. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
2. The second stage is the revival and transformation on the paths of righteousness—v. 3. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
3. The third stage is the experience of the resurrected pneumatic Christ while walking through the valley of the shadow of death—v. 4. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
4. The fourth stage is the deeper and higher enjoyment of the resurrected Christ in fighting against the adversaries—v. 5. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
5. The fifth stage is the lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah—v. 6. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
C. In His heavenly ministry, Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people; this is the apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry—John 21:15-17; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 5:1-4. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
D. If all the churches receive the teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery; our cooperation with Him in His heavenly ministry of shepherding will build up His Body, prepare His bride, for His second coming to be the King in the next age. (2011 ST, msg. 6)
E. Psalm 23 is the link between Psalms 22 and 24; it is by Christ’s wonderful shepherding and by our entering into this shepherding (the intrinsic significance of the vital groups) that the Body of Christ will be built up with His redeemed and regenerated ones and that the bride will be prepared for Him to return as the King in the next age in the manifestation of His kingdom. (2011 ST, msg. 6)