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Scripture Reading: Psa. 119
I. In Psalm 119 Christ is the reality of the law:
А. Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God, the expression of God; the testimony of God signifies Christ, the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9), as the living portrait of what God is.
B. Christ is the reality of the law as the word of God, signifying Christ as the living Word of God breathed out by Him — Rev. 19:13b; 2 Tim. 3:16-17:
1. The written words are the letters, but the living Word is the Spirit, who is the reality of the letters — John 6:63; Eph. 6:17.
2. The law is the person of Christ, and the person of Christ is the Spirit — 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
3. The Spirit is the reality of whatever God is (John 16:13; 1 John 5:6); hence, as the Spirit, Christ is the reality of the law.
II. There are two aspects of the law — the aspect of the letter and the aspect of the Spirit as the reality of God’s blessings — 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 1:3:
А. If our attitude in coming to the law is to care for the commandments in letters, we will have the law in the aspect of the killing letter.
B. However, if we take every part of the law — all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgments — as the word breathed out by the God whom we love, we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit.
III. There are two aspects of the function of the law:
А. The law has a negative aspect:
1. As God’s commandments, the law exposes man’s sin and subdues sinners before God — Rom. 7:7b; 3:19-20; 5:20a; 4:15b.
2. As God’s regulations with statutes, ordinances, and rituals, the law functioned to guard God’s chosen people in its custody that they might be conducted to Christ — Gal. 3:23-24.
B. The law has a positive aspect:
1. As God’s living word, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers — Psa. 119:2, 88.
2. As God’s living word, the law functions to dispense God Himself as life and light into those who love the law — vv. 25, 50, 107, 116, 130, 154.
3. As God’s living word, the law functions to restore man’s soul and make man’s heart joyous — 19:7-8.
4. As God’s living word, the law functions to bring us salvation — 119:41, 170.
5. As God’s living word, the law functions to strengthen (v. 28), comfort (v. 76), and nourish us (v. 103).
6. As God’s living word, the law functions to uphold us, keep us safe, and cause us to hope — vv. 116-117, 49.
7. As God’s living word, the law causes us to enjoy God as our portion — v. 57.
8. As God’s living word, the law causes us to enjoy God’s countenance (v. 58) and the shining of His face (v. 135).
9. As God’s living word, the law causes us to enjoy God as our hiding place and shield (v. 114) and also enjoy God’s help and well-dealing (vv. 175, 65).
10. As God’s living word, the law functions to make us wise and give us understanding — vv. 98-99.
11. As God’s living word, the law functions to give us proper discernment and knowledge — v. 66.
11. As God’s living word, the law functions to keep us from sinning and from every evil way — vv. 11, 101.
13. As God’s living word, the law keeps us from stumbling (v. 165), establishes our footsteps, and causes us to overcome iniquity (v. 133).
C. Whether in our experience the law is positive or negative depends on the condition of our heart in receiving the law:
1. If we love God, humble ourselves, and regard the law as His living word through which we contact Him and abide in Him, the law will become a channel through which the divine life and substance are conveyed to us for our supply and nourishment; being infused with God’s substance through the law as God’s word, we will become one with God in life, nature, and expression and will spontaneously live a life that expresses God and corresponds to His law — Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:21a.
2. However, if in coming to the law we do not seek God in love but rather separate the law from the living God as the source of life, the law, which was intended to result in life but cannot give life of itself, will become a condemning and killing element to us — Exo. 19:8; John 5:39-40; Rom. 7:10-11; Gal. 3:21; 2 Cor. 3:6-7, 9; cf. Exo. 23:19b and footnote 2.
IV. There are two kinds of people in relation to the law:
А. The first kind is the letter-keepers, illustrated by the Judaizers and Saul of Tarsus — Phil. 3:6b, 2.
B. The second kind is the God-seekers, illustrated by the psalmists, especially by the writer of Psalm 119, and by the apostle Paul — 2 Cor. 3:6:
1. They seek God with all their heart — Psa. 119:2.
2. They love God’s name and remember it — vv. 132, 55.
3. They entreat God’s face — v. 58.
4. They ask for God’s face to shine on them — v. 135.
5. They walk in God’s presence — v. 168.
6. They consider God’s law to be God’s word — vv. 17-18, 28-29.
7. God’s word is sweeter than honey to their mouth — v. 103.
8. God’s word is more precious than fine gold to them — v. 127.
9. God’s word is a lamp to their feet and a light to their path — vv. 105, 130.
V. Psalm 119 expresses the attitude of God’s loving seekers toward God’s law as His living word:
А. They choose God’s word — vv. 30, 173.
B. They believe God’s word — v. 66.
C. They lift up their hand to God’s word, indicating that they receive the word of God warmly and gladly and say Amen to it — v. 48a; Neh. 8:5-6.
D. They love God’s word — Psa. 119:47-48, 97, 113, 119, 127, 140, 159, 163, 165, 167.
E. They delight in God’s word — vv. 16, 24, 35, 47, 70, 77, 92, 174.
F. They taste God’s word — v. 103.
G. They rejoice in God’s word — vv. 14, 111, 162.
H. They sing God’s word — v. 54.
I. They regard God’s word — vv. 6, 117.
J. They have a perfect heart in God’s word — v. 80.
K. They incline their heart to God’s word — vv. 36, 112.
L. They seek God’s word (vv. 45, 94), long for it (vv. 20, 40, 131), and hope in it with prayer (vv. 43, 74, 114, 147).
M. They trust in God’s word — v. 42.
N. They muse on God’s word — vv. 15, 23, 48, 78, 99, 148:
1. Rich in meaning, the Hebrew word for muse implies to worship, to converse with oneself, and to speak aloud; to muse on the word is to taste and enjoy it through careful considering.
2. Prayer, speaking to oneself, and praising the Lord may also be included in musing on the word; to muse on the word of God is to enjoy His word as His breath (2 Tim. 3:16) and thus to be infused with God, to breathe God in, and to receive spiritual nourishment.
O. They consider God’s word — Psa. 119:95b.
P. They esteem God’s word to be right in all things — v. 128a.
Q. They learn God’s word — vv. 73, 71.
R. They treasure God’s word — vv. 14, 162, 72, 127, 111.
S. They treasure up God’s word in their heart — v. 11.
T. They remember God’s word and do not forget it — vv. 52, 16b, 93.
U. They stand in awe of God’s word — vv. 161b, 120.
V. They cling to God’s word — v. 31.
W. They do not forsake God’s word, do not swerve from it, do not turn aside from it, and do not stray from it — vv. 87, 51, 157, 102, 110.
X. They turn their feet toward God’s word — v. 59.
W. They keep, observe, and do God’s word — vv. 33, 69.
Z. They walk in God’s word and run the way of God’s word — vv. 1, 32a.
