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Scripture Reading: Psa. 102:6-8, 13, 16, 21-28
I. Psalm 102 unveils Christ’s death and His eternal and unchanging existence in His resurrection:
А. In typology, this psalm first refers to Christ’s suffering, especially to His death:
1. Christ’s suffering was for redemption, and His redemption was to produce the church as the house of God and the city of God — vv. 6-8.
2. Verse 7 is a particular verse concerning Christ’s suffering, which was related to His zeal for God’s house — John 2:17; Psa. 69:9:
a. In Psalm 102:7 Christ is likened to a lone sparrow on a housetop, referring to the flat roof of a Jewish house, where people would often go to pray — Acts 10:9.
b. This indicates that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, probably there were times when in the night He, like a lone bird on a housetop, would watch and pray, caring not for His own interest but for the interest of God and of God’s house — Matt. 14:23; Luke 6:12.
B. Psalm 102:23-28 unveils Christ as the One who is everlasting in His resurrection:
1. Verses 25 through 27, quoted in Hebrews 1:10-12, speak of Christ’s continuing existence in His resurrection.
2. Christ’s existence is unchanging throughout all generations because of His resurrection — Acts 2:24; Rev. 1:18; Heb. 13:8.
3. The resurrected Christ is no longer bound by any limitations; when He resurrected, nothing could hold Him back — John 20:1-18; Acts 2:24:
a. Resurrection means that the Lord Jesus has broken through all barriers, even the greatest barrier of all — death; death has been nullified, and the resurrected Christ lives forever and ever — Heb. 2:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; Rev. 1:18.
b. In His resurrection Christ has transcended everything, including space and time; as the resurrected One, He is omnipresent, and space and time cannot limit Him — Eph. 1:19-23.
4. Because of His eternal and unchanging existence in His resurrection, Christ is the key that turns the earth to the Lord — Psa. 102:12-27; Rev. 1:18; Heb. 13:8.
II. The product of Christ’s death and resurrection is the church, typified by Zion with God’s house and God’s city — Psa. 102:13-16, 21; Heb. 12:22-23:
А. In Psalm 102 Zion, the center of the city of Jerusalem, typifies the church as the center of God’s kingdom — 48:2; Matt. 16:18-19.
B. The stones typify the believers as the building materials of the church, and the dust, the soil, typifies the ground of the church — Psa. 102:14; 1 Pet. 2:5; Rev. 1:11:
1. We should take pleasure in all the members of the church — Psa. 102:14.
2. We should favor the ground of the church, which is the ground of oneness — Deut. 12:5-28; 14:23-25; John 17:11, 21-23; 1 Cor. 1:10-13a; Eph. 4:3-6; Rev. 1:11.
C. In Psalm 102:16 the rebuilding of Zion typifies the rebuilding of the church:
1. It is through the established, restored Zion, signifying the church, that all the nations and kingdoms will be brought into the praise and worship of Jehovah — vv. 21-22.
2. The rebuilding of the devastated church, typified by the rebuilding of Zion, will turn all the nations to the Lord, and the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of God and of Christ — v. 16; Rev. 11:15.
III. It is in Christ’s resurrection, by Christ’s resurrection, and through Christ’s resurrection that the church continues its existence — Psa. 102:21-28; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6:
А. Christ’s resurrection enables the church to continue its existence — Matt. 16:18; Acts 1:22; 2:31; 4:2, 33.
B. The church, the Body of Christ, is absolutely in resurrection — Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6:
1. The golden lampstand, typifying the church as the Body of Christ, portrays Christ as the resurrection life, growing, branching, budding, and blossoming to shine the light — Exo. 25:31-40; Num. 17:8; Rev. 1:11-12.
2. The church is a new creation in Christ’s resurrection and was created by the resurrected Christ — Gal. 6:15; Heb. 2:10-12:
a. We are the Body of Christ only in the new creation germinated by Christ’s resurrection life — 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 1:19-23.
b. The reality of resurrection is Christ as the life-giving Spirit — John 11:25; 20:22; 1 Cor. 15:45b:
1) If we do any work that is not in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit will not honor it.
2) The Spirit honors only what is in resurrection — vv. 45b, 58.
3. In order to be in the reality of the Body of Christ, we need to be absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ — John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 1:9:
a. When we do not live by our natural life but live by the divine life within us, we are in resurrection; the issue of this is the Body of Christ — Phil. 3:10-11; 2 Cor. 1:9.
b. Our natural strength and ability need to be dealt with by the cross to become useful in resurrection for our service to the Lord — Phil. 3:3.
C. The church is “resurrectionly”; that is, the church is an organic entity absolutely in resurrection, a new creation created in Christ’s resurrection and by the resurrected Christ — Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:17:
1. “God sees the church as a being that can endure death. The gates of Hades are open to the church, but the gates of Hades cannot prevail against her and cannot confine her; thus, the nature of the church is resurrection” (The Orthodoxy of the Church, pp. 21-22).
2. The church is the vessel that holds the resurrected Christ; the church is the place where God demonstrates the operation of the might of His strength, according to the power which He caused to operate in Christ when He raised Him from the dead — Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6.
3. The church is the same as the resurrected Lord not only in nature but also in power — John 11:25; Matt. 16:18; Acts 4:33; Rev. 1:11, 18; 2:8.
5. Just as God broke through all barriers in the resurrected Christ, He is breaking through all barriers in the church; therefore, the church should be the same in life and power as the resurrected Christ — Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6:
a. The church should be as powerful, as free, and as unfettered by any limitation as the Lord Jesus is — Rev. 1:18.
b. The might of God’s strength not only operated in Christ, but it continually operates in the church as well — Eph. 1:19-20; Col. 1:29.
c. The power of the church is the resurrection power of Christ — Phil. 3:10.
6. The Holy Spirit is manifesting the resurrection power of Christ through the church — Acts 1:8; 2:24; 4:33:
a. The church is the depository and storehouse of the resurrection power of Christ — Eph. 1:19-23.
b. Hades represents death, and the church represents resurrection — Matt. 16:18.
c. As Christ is in resurrection, the church also is in resurrection; therefore, the church continues its existence in the resurrection of Christ — Eph. 1:19-23; 2:6; Rev. 1:18, 20.
