Search
Scripture Reading: Psa. 133—134
I. Psalm 133 is the praise of a saint, in his going up to Zion, concerning Jehovah’s commanded blessing of life on brothers who dwell together in oneness; the blessing that is commanded whenever brothers are united under the anointing is “life forever,” a full, free, unceasing stream of life:
А. The brothers’ dwelling together in oneness is likened to the inestimable goodness of the precious ointment on the head of Aaron and to the incalculable pleasantness of the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion — vv. 1-3:
1. As a person typified by Aaron, the church as the one new man includes the Head with the Body as the corporate Christ, the corporate priesthood — Eph. 2:15; 1 Pet. 2:5.
2. As a place typified by Zion, the church is the dwelling place of God — Deut. 12:5-7, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26; Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 21:3, 22.
B. The genuine all-inclusive oneness (the oneness of the all-inclusive Spirit) is constituted with the spreading ointment and the descending dew for the gradual building up of Christ’s Body in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity:
1. Psalm 133 is equivalent to Ephesians 4; when we are in the Body and are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, we have the anointing of the all-inclusive Spirit (vv. 3-6); the anointing oil as the compound ointment is a type of the processed Triune God, the all-inclusive compound Spirit (Exo. 30:23-25):
a. The compound Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God with the divine attributes, the human virtues, Christ’s death with its effectiveness, and Christ’s resurrection with its power — Phil. 1:19.
b. We are in the oneness that is the processed Triune God anointed, or “painted,” into our being — 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 John 2:20, 27.
c. Day by day in the church life, all the ingredients of the divine and mystical compound ointment are being wrought into us; through the application of these ingredients to our inward being, we are spontaneously in the all-inclusive oneness — Eph. 4:3-4.
d. The ground of oneness is simply the processed Triune God applied to our being; the anointing of the compound, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit is the element of our oneness — v. 4; cf. John 4:24:
1) If we act apart from the Spirit, who is in our spirit, we are divisive and lose the oneness — Eph. 4:3; cf. 1 Cor. 1:10; 2:14-15; 3:1.
2) If we stay in the life-giving Spirit, we keep the oneness of the Spirit — cf. John 4:24; 1 Cor. 6:17.
e. The compound Spirit is not for those who are individualistic; He is in and for the Body and for the priestly service that builds up the Body — Psa. 133:2; Exo. 30:26-31; Phil. 1:19; Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.
2. The dew of Hermon descending on the mountains of Zion signifies the descending, refreshing, watering, and saturating grace of life (3:7), the Triune God as our life supply for our enjoyment (2 Cor. 13:14):
a. In typology Hermon signifies the heavens, the highest place in the universe — cf. Eph. 1:3; Matt. 17:1-2.
b. The mountains of Zion typify the local churches; there is one Zion, one church as one Body, but many mountains, many local churches — Rev. 1:11-12.
c. Grace is God in Christ as the Spirit experienced, received, enjoyed, and gained by us — John 1:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20-21; Rom. 5:2, 17, 21.
d. By remaining in the church life, we are preserved in the Lord’s grace — Acts 4:33; 11:23.
e. By the grace we receive on the mountains of Zion, we can live a life that is impossible for people in the world to live — 20:32; 2 Cor. 12:7-9.
f. The Christian living must be the living of grace, the experience of grace — 1:12; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Tim. 4:22:
1) We have faith and love through the Lord’s superabounding grace — 1 Tim. 1:14.
2) By grace we receive the salvation in life through Christ’s resurrection and ascension — Eph. 2:5-8.
3) We have obtained access into and stand in God’s abounding grace — Rom. 5:2.
4) In this grace we can enjoy God’s eternal comfort and good hope — 2 Thes. 2:16.
5) We can come forward with boldness to the throne of grace to find grace for timely help — Heb. 4:16; cf. Eph. 2:22.
6) We can receive God’s abounding supply of all grace — 2 Cor. 9:8.
7) We can constantly enjoy God’s multiplying grace — 1 Pet. 1:2b; 2 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 22:21.
8) We can enjoy God’s greater grace through humility — James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5.
9) In our experience of the grace in God’s economy, we enjoy the Lord’s presence in our spirit — 2 Tim. 4:22; cf. Luke 1:28, 30.
10) We need to live out Christ as God’s righteousness by the grace of God — Gal. 2:20-21.
11) We need to experience the perfecting of the Lord’s sufficient grace, Christ’s overshadowing power, in our weakness — 2 Cor. 12:9.
12) By grace we can overcome the usurpation of temporal and uncertain riches and become generous in ministering to the needy saints — 8:1-2.
13) The God of all grace perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds us through our sufferings — 1 Pet. 5:10.
14) We need to be good stewards of the varied grace of God — 4:10; Eph. 3:2.
15) Our word should convey Christ as grace to others — 4:29-30.
16) We need to experience Christ as grace to be a surpassing one and to labor abundantly for the Lord — 1 Cor. 15:10.
17) We need to receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness to reign in life — Rom. 5:17, 21.
g. The grace given to the local churches in the dark age of the church’s degradation is for the believers who seek to answer the Lord’s calling to be His overcomers — Rev. 1:4.
h. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ dispensed to His believers throughout the New Testament age consummates in the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s good pleasure in joining and mingling Himself with man for His enlargement and eternal expression — 22:21.
3. In the church life we are daily anointed and graced — 6, Eph. 1:13.
4. The anointing of the Spirit and the supply of grace make it possible for us to live in oneness.
5. The more we experience Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the more our natural constitution and disposition are reduced; as they are reduced through our experience of the Triune God with His divine attributes, we are perfected into one — John 17:23; Eph. 4:1-3.
II. As the conclusion to Psalm 133 and as the last of the Songs of Ascents, Psalm 134 is the praise of a saint, in his going up to Zion, concerning the charge and the blessing of the children of Israel to the serving priests in the house of God:
А. Psalm 134 indicates that the highest people, those who are in Zion, can bless everyone and teach everyone — vv. 1-2; cf. Gen. 47:10; 48:20; 49:28.
B. The blessing comes from Zion, from the highest peak, from the ones who have attained to the top, to the position of the overcomers — Psa. 134:3.
C. In every age and century God’s blessing has come to the church because of the overcomers — cf. Rev. 2:7; Num. 6:23-27.
