Search
Scripture Reading: Psa. 90:1-2, 4, 17; 91:1-2, 4, 9, 11-12, 14-16; 92:1-5, 10, 12-15
The main points in both the second and third books of the Psalms are identical: each book sets forth the house and the city, and eventually, in the last psalm of each book, Christ reigning over the entire earth. Both Book Two and Book Three conclude with the same glorious event. Such a conclusion, however, is not found at the end of Book One of the Psalms, because at that point the message of the Psalms is not yet complete. At the end of Book Two everything is completed. We have Christ in the deeper experiences of the saints, and we have the house and the city; therefore, Christ is set forth as the One who is coming to reign over the entire earth. After the desolation, then, in Book Three, we have the restoration of all that was gained in Book Two. Therefore, Book Three must contain all that was originally found in Book Two. In Book Two we had the house and the city with Christ reigning over the earth, and now in Book Three, in the restoration, we have the same thing — the house and the city, with Christ reigning over the entire earth. In Book Three everything in Book Two has been restored: the enjoyment of God is restored, the experience of Christ is restored, the appreciation and love for the house and the city have been restored, and Christ reigning over the entire earth has been restored. Therefore, Book Three is nearly the same as Book Two. This is very significant.
Now let us consider briefly the authorship of the Psalms. Many Christians presume that all the psalms were composed by David. As far as Book One is concerned, this may be true; at least most of the psalms in Book One were written by David. But have you noticed that all the psalms from Psalm 42 through Psalm 48 — all these deeper and more precious psalms — were not written by David. Psalm 68, that glorious and climactic psalm, was indeed written by David. Psalm 72, however, was written by Solomon, and Psalms 73 and 80 were written by some other author. Notice now the authorship of Psalms 42, 45 through 48, 84, and 87, which include some of the deepest psalms of Books Two and Three. All these deeper psalms were written by the sons of Korah. This is remarkable. Numbers 26 gives us the background of these men: “These are the Dathan and Abiram, who were called by the assembly, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against Jehovah; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died...But the sons of Korah did not die” (vv. 9-11). This chapter makes reference to the rebellion of a group of God’s people under the leadership of Korah. When God intervened to vindicate and judge, Korah was devoured, but his children were spared. Had they died, we would not have all those wonderful, deeper psalms, which we have mentioned. The sons of a leading rebel composed all those psalms concerning God’s restoration. This is a real restoration.
When I first realized this, something leaped within me. We can tell the whole universe, “Satan, look at this; I do not care how much you can do; you may even cause some brothers to be rebellious. But, look out, some of their sons will be spared to write the deeper psalms of God’s restoration.”
Almost all of the deeper psalms, the psalms which are so sweet and precious to us, were written by the sons of Korah. The sons of Korah wrote Psalm 42:1: “As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants / For You, O God.” The sons of Korah, not David or Solomon, wrote Psalm 45:1: “My heart overflows with a good matter; / I speak what I have composed concerning the King.” Can you imagine this? Psalms 46 and 48, those marvelous psalms on the city of God, were written by the sons of Korah. The Holy Spirit does not mention their names but refers to them only as the sons of Korah. Regardless of what the enemy can do, the Lord always wins a glorious victory! It was the sons of Korah who wrote, “How lovely are Your tabernacles” (84:1). How much blessing has been brought through the sons of Korah to so many saints by Psalm 84. Psalm 87, that gem of a psalm concerning Zion and those who are born there, was written by the sons of Korah. Satan may say, “Look, I caused this one to be rebellious.” But we may tell him, “Just wait, some sons of Korah will come out. What you destroy, God will raise up again, and the psalms of God’s restoration will be composed by the sons of Korah, the sons of the leading rebel.”
Whenever I read Numbers 26 as a youth, I hated Korah. But almost all the deeper psalms were written by the sons of this rebel. This is God’s marvelous, miraculous doing. What assurance we may have that God is going to recover the local churches and that eventually many sons of rebels will compose some praising psalms! Just one Korah rebelled, but many sons came out of him and became composers of the deeper psalms.
To compose a hymn or write a psalm requires many experiences. This proves that the sons of Korah had gained many deeper experiences of Christ, of the house, and of the city. They were first deeper in the things of God (Psa. 42), then deeper in the experiences of Christ (Psa. 45), then deeper in the experiences of the city (Psa. 46, 48, and 87), and even the deepest in the experiences of the house (Psa. 84). This is solid confirmation and assurance that one day the Lord will recover all things. One day He will return and reign over the whole earth. The local churches are for that.
Now we must go on to Book Four, keeping in mind the message of the first three books. Book Four tells us 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. This sentence is full of meaning. The earth is the Lord’s, and now He is coming to claim His legal right and title over the whole earth through Christ in the church. This is the message of Book Four.
Book Four contains seventeen psalms, exactly the same number as Book Three, and these seventeen are clearly divided into three groups: Psalms 90 to 92, Psalms 93 to 101, and Psalms 102 to 106. Not only are all five books of the Psalms in a wonderful sequence, but each separate psalm within each book is in good and perfect order. Let us consider now Psalms 90 to 92, the first section of Book Four, which reveal how the saints, identified with Christ, are practically one with God.
Psalm 90 tells us something of the deeper experiences of the saints concerning God. Let us compare Psalm 90 with Psalm 1. Psalm 1 says that the man is blessed who keeps the law. But Psalm 90 says, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations” (v. 1). Which one of these psalms do you prefer? Do you still love Psalm 1? There is no comparison. Psalm 1 ends in this way: “Jehovah knows the way of the righteous, / But the way of the wicked will perish” (v. 6). But Psalm 90 concludes by saying, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, / And establish the work of our hands upon us; / Indeed the work of our hands, establish it” (v. 17). What a difference! Psalm 90 begins with the Lord as our dwelling place and ends with the favor of the Lord. This is certainly not the teaching of the law. Psalm 90 tells us that the eternal God is our habitation. We may find in God our everlasting home. A thousand years to Him are like yesterday when it passes by and like a watch in the night — a mere two or three hours (v. 4). Such a God is our dwelling place. We may dwell in Him; we may abide under His covering, and thus His favor will be upon us. It is not a matter of keeping the law, but of taking God as our dwelling place. It is a matter of putting the eternal God upon us as our favor.
“O Lord, You have been our dwelling place.” “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, / And establish the work of our hands upon us.” If we are in such a position, we are those who are really working for God, and our work will be established by His hands. It is not keeping the Ten Commandments but dwelling in God and letting His favor be upon us. Only thus are we qualified to do His work, and only thus will our work be established by His hands. This is Psalm 90.
From Psalm 90 we go on now to Psalm 91, a psalm of Christ. It tells us how Christ takes God as His dwelling place and dwells in God. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan quoted Psalm 91. (He knows the Bible much better than we do.) He said, “If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written, ‘To His angels He shall give charge concerning You, and on their hands they shall bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone’” (Matt. 4:6). He was quoting Psalm 91:11 and 12, and in so doing he proved that Psalm 91 is a psalm of Christ.
Verse 1 of this psalm says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High / Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Thus, the saints and Christ are identified as one. The saints take God as their dwelling place, and Christ takes God as His dwelling place. How good! Verses 1 to 13 of this psalm tell us how Christ takes God as His refuge and trusts in God, and verses 14 to 16 speak of Christ setting His love upon God, calling upon God, and enjoying God’s presence and deliverance.
Psalm 92 shows the results of taking God as our dwelling place. When we and the Lord Jesus take God as our home, the issue first is that we will sing praises. “It is good to give thanks to Jehovah / And to sing psalms to Your name, O Most High” (v. 1). Only by dwelling in God, by taking God as our habitation, and by letting His favor be upon us, can we be filled with His praises. This is the first result. The second result is indicated in verse 4: “You have made me rejoice, O Jehovah, because of what You have done; / Because of the works of Your hands I will shout for joy.” We must put Psalm 90:17 together with this verse: “Establish the work of our hands upon us; / Indeed the work of our hands, establish it.” By combining these two portions, we see that to dwell in God as our habitation causes us to realize what the work of God is. Continuing in Psalm 92, we read, “How great are Your works, O Jehovah!” (v. 5). Just to preach the gospel, just to open a mission field, just to pass on some chapters and verses to others and help them to be spiritual is not the great work of God. The great work of God is to restore the desolated building of God and to recover the sons of Korah. The great work of God today is first to recover the local churches and second to recover so many of you. Many of us are the real sons of Korah. God’s great work is to recover the things desolated by Satan. Only by dwelling in His house can we realize this work in all its greatness. Some of you have been in the mission field. Do you still appreciate the mission-field work? You must realize something deeper, something greater. In the house of God we may clearly see what are truly the great works of God.
“You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; / I am anointed with fresh oil” (v. 10). So many dear ones who have come into the local churches have experienced their horn being exalted. Before we came to dwell in the churches, we were indeed low and frequently defeated; but when we came into God’s dwelling place, we sensed that our horn was exalted over our enemies. Formerly, we were afraid of this and afraid of that, but after we came into the local churches, we said, “Hallelujah, our horns have been exalted!” We felt then that we were mingled with fresh oil — not only anointed with oil but mingled with it. The word for anointed in verse 10 is the same as that in Leviticus 2:4 for mingled — “unleavened cakes mingled with oil.” In God’s house, dwelling in God as our habitation, we have a daily sense of such a mingling with fresh oil. Do you have this kind of feeling? Day by day I sense something so fresh, not just as water but as oil, being mingled with me. Sometimes people ask how I could be so fresh. It is because I am being daily mingled with fresh oil.
“The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree; / He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of Jehovah, / They will flourish in the courts of our God” (Psa. 92:12-13). When God is our habitation in the local churches, we are like palms and cedars, so stately and secure, planted in the house of God. Have you been planted? If we are planted, we are bound; it is not easy for us to move. But it is here that we flourish. “They will still bring forth fruit in old age; / They will be full of sap and green” (v. 14). We flourish to such an extent that even when we are old, we still bring forth fruit; we are full of sap and green. Only by taking God and the local church as our habitation can we do this. God and the local church as our habitation are not two separate things, but one. If we are truly dwelling in the local church, we are certainly dwelling in God; and if we are one with God, surely we are dwelling in the local church. Then we are planted in the divine habitation, flourishing in the courts of our God, and bringing forth fruit even in old age, full of song and praise. The longer we dwell here, the younger we become. This is the result of dwelling in God, and this is Psalm 92.
