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Scripture Reading: Psa. 22:22-31, 23—24
As we have seen, the first part of Psalm 22 depicts the death of Christ. Now the last part of this psalm speaks of the resurrection of Christ in a marvelous way. The word resurrection is not used in the passage, but the fact of resurrection is indicated clearly and definitely.
Verse 22 says, “I will declare Your name to my brothers.” This indicates a sudden change in the trend of this psalm. The situation in the previous verses is full of intense suffering and sadness. Then suddenly He says, “I will declare Your name.” This means that He was resurrected. After His resurrection He said, “I will declare Your name [the name of the Father] to my brothers.” This verse is quoted in Hebrews 2:12, by which we see that it is a prophecy of Christ.
The Lord Jesus, after His resurrection, told Mary, “Go to My brothers” (John 20:17). Then, again, in Matthew 28:10 He said, “Go and report to My brothers.” Before His death the Lord Jesus never called the disciples His brothers. Why? Because by His resurrection all His disciples were regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3) and made the sons of God; thus, they all became His brothers. The New Testament tells us that on one hand the Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16), but on the other hand that He is the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). Before His resurrection the Lord Jesus was the only begotten Son, but after His resurrection the only begotten Son became the firstborn Son, for at that time all His believers were regenerated and became His brothers, the sons of God. The only begotten Son became the firstborn Son, the Firstborn of many brothers. “That He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” This is not a small matter.
Here we have a hint of the church: “I will declare Your name to my brothers.” All His brothers are the members of His Body, the church.
Then Psalm 22:22 continues, “In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” This is the Old Testament rendering. In the quotation of this verse in Hebrews, the word assembly is rendered differently to read “church.” “In the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You” (2:12). Here we have the church, and we are the church. We all must believe that Christ today as the resurrected Lord is among us, and that He is singing among us. When we sing, He sings within our singing. Christ is in resurrection, and He has many brothers to be His church, His Body. Now He is in the church, singing praise to the Father, and He asks us to praise the Father: “You who fear Jehovah, praise Him! / All you seed of Jacob, glorify Him!” (Psa. 22:23).
From verse 26 to the end of this psalm, there are some things which are difficult for many to understand. But if you pray-read this section again and again, looking to the Spirit, you will see that it describes the result of His death and resurrection. The result is fivefold: first the lowly and the flourishing will “eat and be satisfied” (vv. 26, 29). It is so good. We are the eating people. Day by day we are eating in His resurrection, so we are satisfied. Then, because we are satisfied, we worship. The worldly people and even some Christians do not understand what we are doing. We are the lowly ones, and they are the proud ones; we are the truly flourishing ones, but they are the miserable ones. The lowly and the flourishing ones of this earth will eat, be satisfied, and worship.
The second aspect is in verse 27: “All the ends of the earth / Will remember and return to Jehovah.” This is really so. All the ends of the earth, especially today, do remember the Lord, turn to Him, and worship Him.
The third aspect is seen in verse 29: “All who go down into the dust will bow down before Him, / Even he who does not keep his soul alive.” This corresponds with Philippians 2, where we read that all those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow before Christ. Praise the Lord, we are the living ones, but the Bible tells us that even the dead will bow before Him. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, because Christ was resurrected.
The fourth aspect of the result of Christ’s resurrection is in Psalm 22:28: “The kingdom is Jehovah’s, / And He rules among the nations.” Christ is the King ruling over the nations. We have not seen this with our eyes, but one day we will see it. It seems that Satan is ruling today, but with heavenly revelation we can see through to the reality. Christ is the King. The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations. Do you believe the present situation, or do you believe the Word of God? Praise the Lord, we believe the Word of God.
The fifth point concerns the gospel preaching: “A seed will serve Him; / That which concerns the Lord will be told to a coming generation. / They will come and declare His righteousness / To a people yet to be born, that He has done this” (vv. 30-31). No doubt this refers to the believers; the believers are the seed of Christ. We will tell the coming generation; we will declare His righteousness, justification, salvation, to a people yet to be born; and we will tell them that the Lord has done this. This is the gospel preaching. The five aspects of the result of the death and resurrection of Christ are these. We cannot at this time go into these matters thoroughly; I have simply indicated the lines with all the points to you. I trust in you and I trust in the Holy Spirit that you will take time to pray-read these verses to gain something more.
After Psalm 22 Christ is in resurrection. Praise the Lord! But we have here not only one psalm of Christ but three psalms of Christ. Thus, after Psalm 22, we have Psalm 23.
Most Christians do not realize that Psalm 23 is a continuation of Psalm 22. “Jehovah is my Shepherd.” Who is this One who is my Shepherd? Christ in resurrection is my Shepherd. We should not forget the previous psalm, which tells how He suffered death to accomplish redemption for us, how He was resurrected, and how we were made His brothers by His resurrection. It is also by this that the whole earth, in a sense, turns to Him — even the dead bow before Him — and we, the lowly and flourishing ones, are all the day eating Him, being satisfied with Him, worshipping Him, serving Him, and preaching the gospel to the coming generation. Such a Christ, who has died, was resurrected, and brought forth such a result, is our Shepherd.
The New Testament also speaks about Christ as our Shepherd. The Lord calls Himself “the good Shepherd” (John 10:11), and He is also called the “great Shepherd” (Heb. 13:20). God has raised Him from the dead to be the great Shepherd of the sheep. In 1 Peter 5:4 Peter tells us that He is the “Chief Shepherd,” the head of all the Shepherds. He is the Shepherd in resurrection. He is the Shepherd today not in the heavens but here on the earth within us and among us. So He must be the resurrected One, He must be the leading One, and He must be the Spirit. If He were not, how could He be among us and in us on this earth as our Shepherd? Therefore, it is in resurrection that Christ today is the Shepherd as revealed in this psalm.
We cannot say much now concerning Psalm 23, but I wish to indicate that within His shepherding, there are five stations through which we must pass. The first station is so wonderful — the green pastures with the waters of rest. “He makes me lie down in green pastures; / He leads me beside waters of rest” (v. 2). So many of you in the local churches are lying on the green pastures and drinking of the waters of rest. So many newcomers in these days are shouting, “Hallelujah, now we are in the local church!” I agree with you, and I am happy, so very happy. Christ in the local church is the green pastures, and in the local church we are beside the waters of rest. But this is just the first station, the beginning of His shepherding.
The second station is the paths of righteousness. “He restores my soul; / He guides me on the paths of righteousness / For His name’s sake” (v. 3). It is not sufficient for us merely to enjoy Him; the purpose of the enjoyment is that we may go on and walk on the paths of righteousness. We need to walk not only on the paths of grace but also on the paths of righteousness. We all know what righteousness is. With grace there is love and happiness, and everything is rather easy. But with the matter of righteousness, it is not so easy; there is a certain kind of regulation and restriction. We must go on from the green pastures to take the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. This is the second station.
Then we must proceed to the third. We must go on and on. We who have been following Him for years can tell you that the further we go, the more difficult the situation becomes. The third station is the valley of the shadow of death. I know that you like the green pastures; you do not like the valley of the shadow of death. The valley is not at the top but at the bottom; it is not the shining but the shadow; it is not the life but the death. You would like to stay in the green pastures with the waters of rest, but sooner or later you will enter the valley. Regardless of how much we help you to stay on top, you will descend to the valley. You will pass through the valley of the shadow of death. I know you will. But do not be frightened; listen to what the psalmist says: “Even though I walk / Through the valley of the shadow of death, / I do not fear evil, / For You are with me” (v. 4). If you have ever observed a shepherd with his flock in various situations, you know that when the flock is lying in the green pastures, the shepherd may leave for a while or remain at a distance. But when the flock is passing through the valley with its shadows, he is so near and protective. When you are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, the Shepherd is nearer to you than ever before.
Moreover, His rod and His staff comfort you. The rod is for protection, to keep the wolves away, and the staff is for guidance in whatever way your need demands. In the valley you have the Shepherd with you; you have His rod, and you have His staff. It is sufficient. In all the past years I have passed through a good number of valleys. But whenever I have entered a valley, the presence of the Lord has been so dear and so precious. I can testify that the rod has protected me and the staff has guided me. It is really so. This is the third station.
After the valley you may think that everything should be so wonderful. But the next station is the battlefield. It is after the valley of the shadow of death that you are qualified and equipped for fighting. Allow me to say that however living and active you are now, I can have no trust in you. You need to pass the test; you need to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. The potters, after making certain objects of clay, place them in an oven to be burnt. There is a great difference between vessels of clay which have been burnt and those which have not. The valley of the shadow of death is the place for us to be burnt. After this experience we are qualified and equipped to fight the battle.
But on the battlefield, praise the Lord, there is a table set before us. “You spread a table before me / In the presence of my adversaries” (v. 5). The fighting on the battlefield is the feasting. While we are fighting, we are feasting. We may tell the enemy, “Send your armies; all your armies will be the courses of our feast.” The Old Testament tells us that even the enemies are our food (Num. 14:9). For us Christians, the enemies are the best food. This is a table, a table spread with many courses, and this is not all. It is here on the battlefield that we experience the anointing of our head with oil and our cup running over. It is really so. In our experiences, the more we are on the battlefield fighting for the Lord, the more we sense that we are under the anointing, that we are feasting, and that our cup is running over. It is really good. But still this is not all.
Now we come to the last station. Hallelujah! “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me / All the days of my life, / And I will dwell in the house of Jehovah / For the length of my days” (Psa. 23:6). What is this? It is at this point that we are settled in the local church. The psalmist did not say that he would pass through the house of Jehovah but that he would dwell in the house of Jehovah. Some Christians conceive of this as going one day to heaven. After passing through all the courses on earth, they think, they will die and go to heaven, where they will dwell in the house of the Lord. Do you believe that this Scripture means that? If you could go to David, the author of this psalm, he would tell you that this is absolute nonsense. David expected to dwell in the house of Jehovah on this earth.
You may say that now you are in the local church. Yes, you are in the local church, but let me illustrate the real situation to you from my experience. I have been in the local church for forty years, but I can testify that my being in the local church today is different from my being there forty years ago. Forty years ago I was not so deeply settled in the local church, but today I am deeply settled. Not one who is reading this book can remove me from the local church. I am dwelling in the house of the Lord. I can hear some of you saying, “Hallelujah, I am so happy I am in the local church!” But after six months you may say, “It is not so good as it used to be; I’m not so happy.” Eventually, you may even say, “This local church is not what I thought it was; I’m going to give it up.” An infant tree which has been planted only two weeks ago is easily plucked up. But after a tree has been growing for forty years, a giant bulldozer would be required to remove it. Praise the Lord, I am really settled in the house of the Lord. I do not care whether the house of the Lord seems to be wonderful or miserable — I am just here. You may think today that you are settled in the house of the Lord, but you are not so settled. You need time to pass the test, time to grow, time to let your roots be deeply implanted. The shepherding of the resurrected Christ is to lead us into the local churches, to lead us into the house of the Lord forever. It is here that goodness and lovingkindness follow us all the days of our life.
This is the last station. We start with the green pastures, and we end with the house of the Lord; in between we have the paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow of death, and the battlefield. This is Psalm 23; it shows us how the resurrected Christ shepherds us, leading us into the house of God. It is really good! But this is not all.
Psalm 24 is one of the deepest of all the psalms, and it is rather difficult to understand. It opens by saying, “The earth is Jehovah’s.” Psalm 8 speaks of the excellence of the Lord’s name in all the earth. But this psalm goes beyond that: “The earth is Jehovah’s, and its fullness, / The habitable land and those who dwell in it” (v. 1). This means that the Lord has the right, the title, to this earth. “It is He who founded it upon the seas / And established it upon the streams” (v. 2). He has established it, so it is His. Apparently, the earth today is not the Lord’s. Even when this psalm was written, the earth was apparently not the Lord’s. But have you realized that on this earth there was at least a mountain, which was called His holy mountain, and at least that mountain was His? Thus, verse 3 says, “Who may ascend the mountain of Jehovah?” The earth is the Lord’s, but actually, today the earth is not the Lord’s. Yet on this earth there is at least a mountain, at least a spot, which is the Lord’s.
Let me illustrate. Is Los Angeles today the Lord’s? No. But do you realize that today in Los Angeles there is a mountain? Praise the Lord! In typology, Zion at that time was the mountain. The mountain of Zion was one hundred percent possessed by the Lord, though the entire earth was not. We may express it this way: the earth is the Lord’s, yet only the mountain of Zion was actually possessed by the Lord. Likewise, Los Angeles is the Lord’s, but only the mountain of the local church is possessed today by the Lord. Is California the Lord’s? No. But in California there are some mountains, there are some local churches, and these places are possessed by the Lord.
Verse 3 asks, “Who may ascend the mountain of Jehovah, / And who may stand in His holy place?” The answer is, Christ and His brothers. The church is a mountain which is occupied by the Lord today as the very steppingstone, the beachhead, for the Lord to come back. The earth is the Lord’s, but today the earth is usurped; yet in this usurped earth there is a spot, a mountain, which is the steppingstone for the Lord to return to take the whole earth.
Verse 7 says, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in.” As the mountain of Zion we must have our doors open that Christ may come in. According to an article which I believe to be accurate, this psalm was written at the occasion of David’s returning the Ark to Zion. It was in that kind of situation, with that kind of background, that David wrote Psalm 24. Zion was there, and the gates and doors were there. Then David said, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in. / Who is the King of glory? / Jehovah strong and mighty! / Jehovah mighty in battle!” (vv. 7-8). This is Christ. The Ark was the type of Christ. The Ark coming in typified Christ coming in.
In Revelation 3:20 the Lord said to the church in Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him.” This verse indicates that even some of the local churches shut the Lord Jesus outside. Do not imagine that as long as we are the local church, the Lord Jesus is among us. In a sense He is, but in another sense He may be shut out. Even today, while we are enjoying the Lord’s presence so much, we still must say, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors.” We all must be so open to the Lord. If Christ could not come in to the church today in an adequate and fuller way, how could Christ come back to the earth? If the church, if Zion, is not absolutely open to Him, how can we expect the earth to be open to Him? So today we must respond and say, “Yes, open the doors; let us all open widely to Him. Come in, O come in, Lord! Before You come back to the earth, come in to the church, come in to fully possess this little mountain, the mountain of Zion.”
In the background of Psalm 24, the mountain of Zion was there, but the Ark was missing. Now the Ark is coming in; Christ is coming in. And while the Ark was entering, David said, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in.” We may be the mountain of Zion, we may be the local church, but the King of glory is not so absolutely within. We need to be open, we need to be lifted up, to let the King of glory come in all the way. Then the church will be the steppingstone, the beachhead, for the Lord to return and possess the earth.
In the latter part of King David’s life, he was chased out of Jerusalem by his rebellious son, Absalom. His kingdom was threatened; his place was usurped. But the Lord vindicated David, and after a short time Absalom perished. During that time, David sent some to Jerusalem to prepare the way for his return. They became the steppingstone for King David to come back (2 Sam. 15:25-29; 19:11-15). Today we are the ones sent by Christ into this rebellious, usurped world. We are here as the steppingstone for His return to regain the earth. In this usurped world there is a mountain as the very beachhead which the Lord must possess. If He can fully possess this area, He can return to take over the whole earth. This is the thought, the deep thought, of Psalm 24. Praise the Lord!
Now let us put all these three psalms together. Psalm 22 tells us that Christ was put to death; He was crucified for our sake. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (v. 1). We all must answer, “Lord, because of me, for my sake!” He suffered death to accomplish redemption for us. Then He was resurrected, and by His resurrection He brought so many brothers into being. These brothers became His flock, His church, His Body; and now He is shepherding this flock, He is caring for the church, He is building up His Body. For what purpose? That He may have a spot on this earth, a mountain in this usurped earth, as a steppingstone for Him to come back to regain the entire earth. At that time He will be the returning King. In Psalm 22 He is the Redeemer and Regenerator. In Psalm 23 He is the Shepherd; and in Psalm 24 He is the coming King, the King who will regain the entire earth through the people He is shepherding today. He died for us, and He was resurrected with us and made us His brothers that we may be His flock under His shepherding, that we may be His church under His building. Then through us, by us, and with us, He will come back to be the King of glory. We can see all this in the New Testament.
All these steps can be seen in the New Testament, but they are all covered in Psalms 22 through 24. These psalms tell us how Christ enables the saints to partake of Him in five steps: (1) He accomplishes redemption for us through His suffering death (22:1-21); (2) He makes us His brothers through His resurrection (vv. 22-26); (3) He is preached to the uttermost part of the earth so that all the people may turn to Him, worship Him, and serve Him (vv. 27-31); (4) He is our Shepherd in the resurrection life, leading us to dwell in the house of God (Psa. 23); and (5) He comes back to the earth to be the King of glory for us (Psa. 24). This is wonderful!
