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Scripture Reading: Psa. 9:11, 14; 11:4; 14:7; 15:1; 16:1-11; Acts 2:25-28, 31
Now let us consider the kind of psalms that follow Psalm 8. They are of the same category as Psalms 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Again, it is pitiful.
We may sketch the spiritual level of the first fifteen psalms as follows:
Do not laugh at the psalmists; you are just like them. Last night you were in Psalm 8, but this morning you are in Psalm 15, or perhaps still in Psalm 12. This is exactly your situation; you are just like this. Last night it was “Hallelujah! O Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” But when you left the meeting, by the time you got home, you had descended from the peak to the bottom of the valley. You immediately dropped from the top to the bottom, from Psalm 8 to Psalms 9 through 15.
We may define Psalms 9 to 15 by saying that the saints, based upon their concept of the law, judge that evil people are abhorred by God and that only the righteous can please God and abide with Him. This again is the concept of the law. Read all these Psalms 9 through 15. There are seven psalms altogether in this group, and in essence all say the same thing: “O God, the wicked can never praise You; they are abhorred by You; only the righteous can please You and abide with You.” Meanwhile, while they were expressing something in this way, they still realized their need of the house of God. Why? Because God is universally invisible. If there is not a definite place in which God may dwell, it is difficult to locate Him. For this reason they appreciated the house of God. Psalm 9:11, 14; 11:4; 14:7; and 15:1 all prove that while the saints were expressing their concept of the law and asking God to judge the wicked, they realized their need of the house of God; they realized that God could be located in a solid place, in His dwelling. They praised God in the dwelling place of God, and they declared that God’s salvation issues from His dwelling. They realized their need of God’s house — but this is all.
If we do not have the heavenly vision, if we only have the human concept, we will say that every psalm is wonderful. In a sense, every psalm is wonderful. But when we have vision from above, we see that many of these so-called good psalms are in the valley, at the bottom. I know that many of you, at least subconsciously, will not agree with me. You still say, “Psalm 9 is so good; Psalm 11 is wonderful.” I am afraid that some of you still have a great appreciation for Psalm 15. Something within you is still for these psalms. It does not surprise me, for I was the same as you are. It is because we are short of heavenly vision. With heavenly vision we see the true value and position of these psalms.
But praise the Lord, we have another psalm — Psalm 16! Now we must again apply the principle which we have previously mentioned: while the saints are uttering something according to their human concept, the Spirit of Christ intervenes at a certain point to express the divine concept within their expression.
Let us first read Psalm 15 to see the psalmist’s expression according to his human concept: “O Jehovah, who may sojourn in Your tent? / Who may dwell on Your holy mountain? / He who walks in integrity / And does righteousness / And speaks truth from his heart. / He does not slander with his tongue; / He does not do evil to his friend, / Nor does he take up a reproach against his neighbor. / In his eyes a reprobate is despised, / But he honors those who fear Jehovah. / Should he swear to his harm, / He does not change. / He does not lend his money on interest, / Nor accept a bribe against the innocent. / He who does these things will not be shaken forever.”
Is this good or not? Psalm 15:5 says, “He who does these things will not be shaken forever.” But Psalm 16:8 says, “I have set Jehovah before me continually; / Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Have you seen the difference? The difference is that in Psalm 15 you must do many righteous things; then you will not be moved. But Psalm 16 says that if you set the Lord before you, if He is at your right hand, you will not be moved. In Psalm 15:1 the psalmist asks, “O Jehovah, who may sojourn in Your tent? / Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?” Who? According to Psalm 15 it is those who do all the things mentioned in that psalm. But in Psalm 16:11 we read, “You will make known to me the path of life; / In Your presence is fullness of joy; / At Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Have you seen the difference? Now which of these two psalms do you prefer? Where would you put Psalm 15? Where would you put Psalm 16?
When Peter was on the Mount of Transfiguration, he spoke nonsense, but when he spoke on the day of Pentecost, he was transparently clear. On the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2, he tells us that Psalm 16 is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ. In Acts 2:25-28 Peter quoted Psalm 16:8-11 and then said that David, as a prophet, spoke “concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was He abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31). Thus, by the word of Peter, we learn that Psalm 16 is a description of Christ. Psalm 2 is a psalm of Christ, Psalm 8 is a psalm of Christ, and Psalm 16 is another psalm of Christ. Some Bible teachers call all these psalms Messianic psalms, but I prefer to say that they are psalms of Christ.
The first psalm of Christ is Psalm 2; it tells us something about Christ in principles. The whole earth with all its rulers is against Christ, but God has appointed Him. Regardless of what they do, God laughs at them; God has them in derision. All history proves this. Then Christ proclaims that God has begotten Him by resurrection and that God has given Him all the nations of this earth as His inheritance. Then we preach the gospel: Be prudent, kings of the earth; be admonished, judges of this earth; you must kiss the Son, lest He be angry with you. All the points in Psalm 2 are concerning Christ in principle. Psalm 8 follows, telling us that Christ was incarnated, resurrected, ascended to the heavens, enthroned with glory, and made to have dominion over all things with His Body. By this all the problems on earth will be solved. It is wonderful and clear, but it is still not so clear. So we have the next psalm of Christ, Psalm 16, which begins by telling us the kind of life Christ lived as a man on this earth. Psalm 8 tells us that He was a man, a little lower than the angels, but it does not tell us the kind of life He lived. Hence, we need Psalm 16. This psalm reveals to us that Christ, by humbling Himself to be a man and passing through death and resurrection, pleases God and abides with Him.
Let us consider this psalm in more detail. The first section, verses 1 through 8, describe the human life of Christ on earth. These verses remove the veil to show us the living of this real man by the name of Jesus. “Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You” (v. 1). The life Jesus lived on this earth was a life of continual trust in God. His life was a trusting life. Then verse 2 says, “I say to Jehovah, You are my Lord; / No good have I beyond You.” This is the attitude of Jesus while He was on earth. Within Himself He said to God, “You are My Lord; no good have I beyond You.” Verse 3 says, “As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent; / All my delight is in them.” He considered all the saints so excellent; His delight was in them. He trusted in God, and He loved all the saints. All these points are abundantly proved in the four Gospels. In verses 4 and 5 the Lord Jesus continues, “The sorrows of them who bartered for some other god will be multiplied; / Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, / Nor will I take up their names upon my lips. / Jehovah is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; / You maintain my lot.” This means that He had nothing to do with any idol. His interest was in God and with God — nothing else. Then verse 6 says, “The measuring lines have fallen on pleasant places for me; / Indeed the inheritance is beautiful to me.” He chose nothing for Himself; He left His destiny and all the choices to His Father. Verse 7 says, “I will bless Jehovah, who counsels me; / Indeed in the nights my inward parts instruct me.” How much He denied Himself! He trusted in the Father; He received the Father’s counsel. Then as a man He said, “I have set Jehovah before me continually; / Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (v. 8). We need to pray-read these eight verses and become intimately acquainted with the kind of life Christ lived while He was on earth as a man. This is the kind of life we need.
Then He was put to death; He was crucified. Apparently, He was shaken. But what did He say? “Therefore my heart rejoices and my glory exults; / Even my flesh dwells securely” (v. 9). When did He say this? The words, “My flesh [meaning His body] dwells securely,” refer to His death. According to Peter’s word in Acts 2:24-32, He was put to death and laid in the grave, and while He was in Hades, He was glad, for He said, “My heart was made glad and my tongue exulted” (v. 26). What is His “glory”? Glory in Psalm 16 is often interpreted as referring to the innermost part of His being, the spirit. Jesus was saved out of death (Heb. 5:7), His heart was glad, and His spirit, the innermost part of His being, exulted. Peter translated glory as “tongue” because our spirit is the source of our praise, and our tongue is the means to express our praise. Whenever we praise the Lord, our praise must issue from our glory, our spirit, but it is always expressed by our tongue. In the matter of praising God, our tongue has very much to do with our spirit. Whenever we praise the Lord, we must praise Him out of our spirit and by our tongue. Our heart is glad, our spirit exults, and our tongue praises. Then what about His body? His body was buried, but while His body was buried, His flesh rested in hope of resurrection. “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, / Nor let Your Holy One see the pit” (Psa. 16:10). Peter tells us that this means resurrection.
Verse 11 says, “You will make known to me the path of life; / In Your presence is fullness of joy; / At Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” If we have God’s presence, we have fullness of joy; if we are at His right hand, there are pleasures forever. After Christ was resurrected, He was seated at the right hand of God, where He enjoys pleasures forever.
Psalm 15 asks, “O Jehovah, who may sojourn in Your tent? / Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?” The real answer is in Psalm 16. Then what about Psalm 15? That answer is according to the human and religious concept. The answer according to the heavenly vision is the One revealed in Psalm 16. Such a One will sojourn in God’s tent and dwell on His holy mountain. He is there now; He is in the presence of God; He is at the right hand of God. Which one? The One who took refuge in God, the One who lived in the presence of God, the One who was put to death, who was resurrected by God, and who ascended to God’s right hand. This is the One who can dwell in the tabernacle of God.
We should all be able to recite Psalm 2, Psalm 8, and Psalm 16. No human words can exhaust the goodness of these psalms. Oh, Psalm 2! Oh, Psalm 8! Oh, Psalm 16!
