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Scripture Reading: Psa. 93:1, 5; 94:15; 95:1-5; 96:1-4, 6-13; 97:1, 6-9; 98:2-9; 99:1-4, 9; 100:1-4; 101:8
These nine psalms tell of the recovery of God’s title over the earth through Christ in the house and the city of God. Five times in these psalms we read, “Make a joyful noise.” It is marvelous! Why should we make a joyful noise? Because the Lord is coming to reign over the entire earth! Notice how many times in these psalms the words all the earth are mentioned. Other words in a similar vein are used as well, such as the nations and the people, or, the peoples. The peoples are the nations. The psalmists are not referring merely to the Jewish nation but to all the nations on the face of the earth.
It is clear in the first three books that God has accomplished everything through Christ to establish His house and His city for the purpose of possessing the whole earth. Thus, both Book Two and Book Three end with the reign of Christ over the earth in and through the house and the city. That is wonderful, yet it is still not so adequate. Therefore, we need Book Four.
We have already considered the first three psalms of Book Four, Psalms 90—92. Notice the title of Psalm 90: “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.” There is no title for Psalm 91, but Psalm 92 is titled, “A Psalm; a Song for the Sabbath day.” It is difficult to determine the authorship of Psalms 91 and 92, but I am certain that Psalm 92 was not written by Moses, and I doubt that Psalm 91 was written by him. My point is that these psalms, written probably by different authors, were all put together as one group. The subject of this group of psalms, as we have seen, is the enjoyment of God as our dwelling place, which makes us absolutely one with God. When we take God as our habitation and dwell in Him, we and God are one. We have this concept in John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you.” When we abide, or dwell, in the Lord and let Him abide, or dwell, in us, it means that we are absolutely and practically one with Him. Psalm 90 speaks of our taking God as our dwelling place, and Psalm 91 speaks of Christ taking God as His dwelling place, thus proving that we and Christ are one. As He is, so are we. In John 17 Christ prays, “That they also may be in Us” (v. 21). The “Us” here is composed of the Father and the Son. Thus, we are identified with Christ: He and we, we and He, are one, as a great, universal, corporate man, taking God as our dwelling place. This man is now practically one with God: “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one” (v. 23). We are absolutely and completely one with the Triune God. Then Psalm 92 tells the issue, the result, of taking God as our habitation. We will praise Him, realize His works, have our horn exalted, and be mingled with fresh oil day by day; then we will be planted in the house of God and flourish in His courts; we will bring forth fruit even in our old age, full of sap and green. It is not a matter of keeping His laws but of being one with Him, mingling with Him, dwelling in Him, and letting His favor be upon us, that He might come to recover His title over the whole earth.
After the first group of the first three psalms of Book Four, we have the second group of the next nine psalms. These nine psalms are grouped together in a marvelous way. All of them speak about the reigning of Christ and the recovery of the earth’s title for God.
Let us look into the titles of all these psalms; they are quite interesting. Psalms 93 through 97 have no titles; Psalm 98, just “A Psalm”; Psalm 99, no title; Psalm 100, just “A Psalm of thanksgiving”; Psalm 101, “Of David. A Psalm.” It is so clear that these nine psalms are one group. This group is the central part of Book Four. Books Two and Three each have just one psalm which speaks of Christ’s reign over the whole earth. That is good, but it is not adequate; hence we need all these nine psalms grouped together as a section to show how God comes to reign over all the earth, over all peoples, to recover His legal rights over the earth.
We have seen that with all the psalms there are five key words, the first on the negative side and the next four on the positive side: the law, Christ, the house, the city, and the earth. In Book One Christ is revealed adequately. In Book One we also have the house to some extent, with but one verse concerning the city. Book Two, however, reveals the house and the city in fullness, and at the end of this book, at its climax, we have the earth. In Book Three there is a recovery, a restoration, of the house and the city which had been desolated. Consequently, in Book Three we have again Christ, the house, the city, and the earth. However, in all these first three books the earth has not been covered adequately, so we need Book Four. The main part of Book Four is just for the earth. Book Four is the one book of the Psalms which concentrates on the earth. In this book, not much is said concerning Christ, not much regarding the house, very little concerning the city, but very much about the earth, about the reigning of Christ over all the earth to recover its title for God. It is tremendously meaningful. These psalms of Book Four do mention something concerning Christ, the house, and the city, but here these are not the central point, the main subject. The main point is the recovery of the earth through the reign of Christ. So we see the good sequence of all these books.
Psalm 93 tells of Christ’s reign in majesty and strength: “Jehovah reigns; He is clothed with majesty. / Jehovah is clothed, He has girded Himself, with strength. / Indeed the world has been established; it will not be moved” (v. 1). In Psalm 94 He returns judgment to righteousness: “Judgment will return unto righteousness, / And all the upright in heart will follow it” (v. 15). In the entire earth there is no judgment according to righteousness, but when Christ comes to reign, He will judge the earth in righteousness. He loves justice and establishes equity: “The strength of the King, who loves justice. / You have established equity; / You have executed / Justice and righteousness in Jacob” (99:4). There is no country upon this earth in which there is real justice and equity. I have traveled widely throughout the world, and wherever I have gone, I have found no justice or equity. I could tell many stories to bear this out. But praise Him, when He returns, He will love justice and establish equity. He is a great King above all, and all the earth and the sea belong to Him: “Jehovah is a great God / And a great King above all gods. / In His hand are the depths of the earth, / The heights of the mountains are His also. / The sea is His, and He made it; / And His hands formed the dry land” (95:3-5). He will reign at His second coming to judge the world with righteousness and faithfulness; the world will be established; and all things will be joyful, rejoice, and sing praise to Him — Psalm 96:10-13; 97:1; 98:4-9; 96:1-4. All the ends of the earth have seen His salvation; all the people see His glory; all the angels worship Him (Heb. 1:6); and He is exalted above all — Psalm 98:3; 97:6-7, 9.
These nine psalms show that Christ’s reigning is in and through the house and the city of God. This is indicated by a number of verses: (1) Holiness befits the house of God — Psalm 93:5. (2) The strength and beauty of Christ are in the sanctuary, and people must ascribe to Him glory and come into the courts of God with an offering to worship Him — Psalm 96:6, 8-9. (3) Christ reigns and is great in Zion; He is exalted over all the peoples, and the peoples exalt and worship Him on His holy mountain — Psalm 99:1-2, 9. So, you see, the holy mountain of God is really the beachhead to which Christ will return and from which He will reign over the whole earth. (4) All the earth must enter into the gates of God with thanksgiving and into the courts of God with praise to serve Christ — Psalm 100:1-4. (5) All the wicked will be cut off from the city of God — Psalm 101:8.
If you read all these psalms and pray-read all these verses, you will recognize the main point. It is that God is coming to reign in Christ to recover His legal right in the whole earth for the fulfillment of His eternal plan. Now we have come to the consummation. We have seen Christ revealed as the King; we have had the house established and the city built up; now we have the entire earth under God’s title, with the reigning of Christ in His house and in His city. It is unspeakably marvelous!
