Search
Scripture Reading: Psa. 2:8-9; 8:1; 22:27-28; 48:1-2; 72:8, 19; 93:1; 97:1; 145:1, 11-13
I. It is crucial that we have a clear understanding of the extract, the spirit, of the Psalms — 2:6-8; 26:8; 36:8-9; 46:4; 48:1-2; 72:8, 19:
А. The spirit, the reality, the characteristic, of the divine revelation in the book of Psalms is Christ as the centrality and universality of the eternal economy of God — Luke 24:44.
B. Christ is first the embodiment of the Triune God, then the house, the habitation of God (signified by the temple), the kingdom of God (signified by the city of Jerusalem), and the Ruler of the entire earth from the house of God and in the kingdom of God — Psa. 2:6-8; 36:8-9; 46:4; 48:1-2; 72:8, 19.
C. God desires to have an organic habitation on earth, and this habitation is the aggregate of the saints gained by God through the terminating death and germinating resurrection of the all-inclusive Christ — 22:22; 26:8:
1. The saints will be the eternal manifestation and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God, and He will be everything to them in His all-inclusive Christ — Rev. 21:2, 11, 23.
2. The Triune God will reign on the earth through such an organism in the new universe — 11:15; 22:1-5.
II. God created a corporate man to express Himself with His image and to represent Him by exercising His dominion over all the earth — Gen. 1:26-28:
А. God’s intention in giving man dominion is to subdue God’s enemy, Satan, who rebelled against God; to recover the earth, which was usurped by Satan; and to exercise God’s authority over the earth in order that the kingdom of God may come to the earth, the will of God may be done on the earth, and the glory of God may be manifested on the earth — Matt. 6:10, 13b; Rev. 11:15.
B. Man is especially related to the earth, and the area where God desires man to rule is the earth; God needs man to recover the earth from the usurping hand of Satan, causing Satan to suffer loss on the earth — Gen. 1:26-28; Psa. 8:1.
C. God’s intention that man would express God in His image and represent God with His dominion is fulfilled not in Adam as the first man, the old man, but in Christ as the second man, the new man, comprising Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body — Eph. 1:22-23; 2:15; 4:15-16, 24; Col. 3:10-11.
D. The Lord Jesus, the King, taught us to pray, saying, “Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” — Matt. 6:10:
1. The kingdom is a realm in which God exercises His authority so that He can express His glory — v. 13.
2. After the rebellion of Satan, the earth fell under his usurping hand; thus, the will of God could not be done on earth as in heaven; hence, God created man with the intention of recovering the earth for Himself — Ezek. 28:17; Isa. 14:13-15; Gen. 1:26-28.
3. After the fall of man, Christ came to bring the heavenly rule to earth so that the earth would be recovered for God’s interest and so that the will of God could be done on earth as in heaven — Matt. 2:2; 27:11; 4:17; 12:28.
4. The church brings in the kingdom; the work of the church is to bring in the kingdom of God — 6:10; 12:22-29; Rev. 11:15; 12:10.
5. The believers must pray for the coming of the kingdom until the earth is fully recovered for God’s will in the coming kingdom age — Matt. 18:18-19.
III. The book of Psalms unveils the recovery of the earth through God’s reigning in Christ and His kingdom — 2:8-9; 22:27-28; 48:1-2; 72:8, 19; 93:1; 97:1; 145:1, 11-13:
А. Christ will set up His universal kingdom with the nations as His inheritance and the ends of the earth as His possession; He will rule the nations with an iron rod — 2:8-9; Rev. 11:15.
B. In Psalm 8 the name of the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and exalted Jesus is excellent in the earth according to the divine revelation.
C. The church ushers in Christ’s kingdom for Christ to rule over the nations — 22:27-28:
1. The church, produced by Christ’s resurrection, is the reality of the kingdom and a precursor to the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium — Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17.
2. Jehovah as Christ will rule over the nations in the millennial kingdom — Psa. 22:28; 2:8-9; Rev. 19:15; 20:4, 6.
D. In Psalm 24 Christ is the King who will regain the entire earth through the church, His Body:
1. At His second coming Christ will take possession of the earth, which has been given to Him as His possession — 2:8; Rev. 10:1-2.
2. He will establish God’s kingdom on the whole earth, thus recovering God’s right over the earth, which has been usurped by His enemy, Satan — Dan. 2:34-35; Rev. 11:15.
E. When the church is enlarged to a city, in which we enjoy God as our everything, God will subdue the peoples and the nations through the city and rule over all the earth in Christ as the great King — Psa. 46:4, 10; 47:2; 48:1-2.
F. Psalm 89 unveils God’s intention that Christ, His Anointed, would possess the entire earth — vv. 3-4, 19-29, 34-37:
1. In verses 19 and 20 Christ, the unique One in God’s record (87:6), has become God’s Holy One, God’s mighty One, God’s anointed One (Acts 2:27; Isa. 9:6; Matt. 1:16).
2. He has become the Firstborn and “the highest of the kings of the earth” — Psa. 89:27; Rom. 8:29; Rev. 1:5a.
3. God will extend the territory of this unique One so that He will possess the entire earth, setting “His hand on the sea / And His right hand on the rivers” — Psa. 89:25; cf. Rev. 10:1-2.
4. The fact that Christ’s territory will be extended to all the rivers indicates that Christ will possess the whole earth — Psa. 2:8.
G. Psalms 93 — 101 shout joyfully that God will recover His full title and right over the whole earth through the reign of Christ:
1. These psalms reveal that Christ’s reign is through the house and city of God — 93:5; 96:6; 99:1-2; 100:1-4; 101:8.
2. God has the right over the earth because the earth with all its fullness — all the different peoples of all races and colors — was created by Him — 93:1:
a. Thus, He is the Possessor of the earth and holds the title deed — 24:1.
b. He has the full right to claim the earth, and He will do it through the reign of Christ — 2:8; Rev. 10:2; 11:15.
3. Psalm 95 unveils that Jehovah as Christ is a great King who possesses the earth — vv. 4-7.
4. Psalm 96:3-13 indicates that Jehovah as Christ will come to judge the earth, the world, and the peoples with righteousness and truth and that He will reign over the nations; the word peoples in verses 3, 5, 7, 10, and 13 indicates that people of every race and color will be judged by Christ in His reign over the nations — cf. Matt. 25:31-46.
5. According to Psalm 97:1-2, 4-6, 8-9, and 11, Jehovah as Christ will reign, and because of this the earth will be glad and rejoice.
H. In Psalm 145:1 and 11-13 David praises God for His reigning in Christ and His kingdom — cf. 1 Chron. 29:10-13.
