THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Two—Psalms (1)
Scripture Reading: Psa. 2:6-7; 26:8; 27:4; 46:4; 48:2; 72:8; 73:16-17; 90:1; 91:9
I. The book of Psalms is a book of divine revelation through expressions of the sentiments, feelings, impressions, and experiences of godly men; in and through these expressions, Christ is revealed and the church as God’s house and God’s city is typified—2:6-7, 26:8, 27:4, 46:4, 48:2: (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
A. The book of Psalms is not of doctrines or of any kind of teachings; the writings of the Psalms are in the form of praises; the book o Psalms is composed of the expressions of the sentiments, feelings, impressions, and experiences of godly men; this is the very crucial key for us to understand the Psalms—Psa. 1:2. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
B. Psalms is a book of divine revelation composed of the expressions, sentiments, feelings, impressions, and experiences of godly men—vv. 2, 6; 2:6; 26:8; 46:4; 48:2: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
1. God and the way He is in His dealing with them. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
2. The law of God as the Holy Word with the divine revelation. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
3. The house of God, the temple, and Mount Zion, on which the temple was seated, as the center of God’s dwelling place on earth. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
4. The holy city of God, Jerusalem, as the encompassing protection of the house of God. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
5. The holy people of God, Israel, as God’s beloved elect among the nations. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
6. Israel’s love toward God, their fellowship with God, their blessings received of God, their sufferings under God’s dealing, and their environment. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
7. Their captivity. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
8. Their thanksgivings and praises to Jehovah their God, whom they tasted and enjoyed. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
C. Through the godly expressions of the psalmists Christ is revealed and the church as God’s house and God’s city is typified—2:7-9, 46:4. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
D. The central thought of Psalms is Christ, the church as the house of God and the city of God, for His kingdom, as typified by the temple and by the city of Jerusalem—Psa. 8, 84, 87. (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1)
II. The book of Psalms was written according to two kinds of concepts—the human concept of the holy writers and the divine concept of God; we need to be brought into the divine concept of the unveiling God—73:16-17: (2002 FTTA-S, msg. 1; Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
A. The human concept of the holy writers was produced out of their good nature created by God, formed with the traditions of their holy race, constituted with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, promoted by their practice of a holy life, and uttered out of their holy sentiments and impressions—vv. 1, 16-17, 23-26. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
B. The divine concept of God as the divine revelation in the Psalms concerns three major items—2:7, 51:1, 53:6, 91:9: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
1. God’s eternal economy, of which Christ is the centrality and universality. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
2. Christ in His divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, life-imparting and church-producing resurrection, glorification, ascension, appearing in glory, and reigning forever. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
3. God’s heart’s desire, His good pleasure, in Christ as His centrality and universality, in the church as His fullness for His expression, in the kingdom for His eternal administration, and in the recovery of the earth for His eternal kingdom in eternity. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:1, footnote 1)
C. The human concept of the holy writers uplifts the law as their central emphasis to treasure the law and remain in it for their whole life—1:2, 40:8. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
D. The divine concept of the unveiling God exalts Christ as His central stress to turn the holy writers’ human concept from the law to Christ according to the divine concept of the divine revelation—43:3, 5. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
E. In the Psalms, only what is written out of the divine concept of God, and not what is written out of the human concept of the psalmists, should be considered as part of the divine revelation from God concerning His divine economy—73:17, 24, 25, 28. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
III. The book of Psalms, composed of one hundred fifty psalms, is divided into five books; these five books can be likened to the five floors of a building; the first books is the ground floor, whereas the fifth book is the highest floor; the five books of the Psalms were divided by the Spirit according to four crucial words: Christ, house, city, earth—2:6-7, 27:4, 48:2, 72:8: (Life-Study of Psalms, msgs. 1, 35)
A. Psalms 1—41 are the first book; indicating that God’s intention is to turn the seeking saints from the law to Christ that they may enjoy the house of God—the church. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
B. Psalms 42—72 are the second book; indicating that the saints experience God and His house and city through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
C. Psalms 73—89 are the third book; indicating that the saints, in their experiences, realize that the house and the city of God with all the enjoyments there of can be preserved and maintained only with Christ properly appreciated and exalted by God’s people. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
D. Psalms 90—106 are the fourth book; indicating that the saints, being joined to Christ, are one with God so that He can recover His title over the earth through Christ in His house and city. (2002 ST, msg. 1)
E. Psalms 107—150 are the fifth book; indicating that the house and the city of God become the praise, safety, and desire of the saints, and that Christ comes to reign over the whole earth through the house and the city of God—the church. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 1)
IV. In the book of Psalms, as in the entire Bible, there are two lines: the line of the tree of life, the line of life, and the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the line of death; in addition to these two lines, the line of the law runs alongside the line of life—Gen. 2:8-9, 16-17; and note 93, par. 2: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:2, footnote 1)
A. In reading the Psalms, we need to be on the line of the tree of life, not on the line of the knowledge of good and evil—Gen. 2:9: (2011 WT, msg. 19)
1. The two trees are two sources with two lines, two principles, and two ends; the tree of life signifies God as the source of life; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of death. (2011 WT, msg. 19; Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 15)
2. The Bible was written according to these two trees; the entire divine revelation is the development of the notion of these two trees. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 8)
A. God’s purpose in giving the law was to lead His people to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24), i. e., to the line of life: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:2, footnote 1)
1. However, if the law as the sideline is exalted improperly, it becomes part of the line of the tree of knowledge, the line of death (Rom. 7:7-11; 2 Cor. 3:6b). (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:2, footnote 1)
2. God has ordained Christ to be the centrality and universality of His economy to fulfill His good pleasure (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:8-11); the law has been ended by Christ (Rom. 10:4a), and the believers are no longer under the law (Rom. 6:14). (Holy Bible Recovery Version, Psa. 1:2, footnote 1)
V. To take God as our habitation, our eternal dwelling place, is the highest and fullest experience of God—Psa. 90:1; 91:9: (2011 WT, msg. 16)
A. Psalm 36:8 speaks of eating the fatness of God’s house and drinking the river of God’s pleasures, indicating that we can experience the Lord by eating and drinking Him—cf. John 6:48-58, 63; 7:37; 1 Cor. 10:3-4; 12:13. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
B. According to Moses, the giver of the law and the writer of Psalm 90, we can also dwell in the eternal Triune God as our Lord—v. 1; 91:9; Deut. 33:27; cf. John 15:4; 1 John 4:15-16; Rev. 21:22. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
C. To dwell in God is to have our living in God (Col. 2:6; 3:3; 1 John 4:16), taking Him as our everything; this is deeper than eating and drinking Him. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
D. If we would be identified with Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension, we need to abide in Christ (John 15:4), and to abide in Christ is not only to remain in Him but also to dwell in Him, taking Him as our everything. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
E. Book Four of the Psalms (Psa. 90-106) unveils the saints’ deeper experience of God in the identification with Christ, and it unveils God’s recovery of His title and right over the earth: (2011 WT, msg. 16)
1. This indicates that our experience of dwelling in God paves the way for Christ to come to possess the earth so that God may recover His title (ownership) and right over the earth. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
2. Without the saints’ deeper experience of God, God has no way to recover this title and right. (2011 WT, msg. 16)
Ⅵ. “God desires to have an organic habitation on earth, and this habitation is the aggregate of the saints gained by God through the terminating death and germinating resurrection of the all-inclusive Christ; they will be the eternal manifestation and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God, and He will be everything to them in His all-inclusive Christ; the Triune God will reign on the new earth through such an organism in the new universe; this is the spirit, the extract, of the book of Psalms.” (2011 WT, msg. 23; Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 45)