In a recent conference, there were four main points which I would like us to take note of in this introductory word to the Psalms:
1) The economy of God is to bring forth an organism for His Divine Trinity.
2) The law in the economy of God is to be used by God for exposing the sinful nature and evil deeds of the sinners.
3) The grace in the economy of God is God's embodiment for man to receive to be his enjoyment and supply.
4) The issue of the experience of grace in the economy of God is the organic Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
I praise the Lord for His sovereign arrangement in allowing us to have this conference with these four main points before we begin our life-study of the Psalms. In the Psalms we will see these four main points.
The first psalm is concerning the law. David did not know the real function of the law. He likened himself, as one who delighted in the law, to a tree growing beside streams of water and flourishing all the time (v. 3). But after Psalm 1, there is Psalm 2 concerning Christ. Then there is Psalm 3. The heading of Psalm 3 says, "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son." The one who enjoyed the law as the streams of water by which he grew became a kind of exile due to the rebellion of his son. This happened to David because of his murder of Uriah and his taking of Uriah's wife (2 Sam. 12:10-12). The one who enjoyed the law so much in Psalm 1 became an intentional murderer. Does this show that the law works? The law does work, but not in David's way. The law works to expose us. The law exposed David to the uttermost as one who conspired to kill Uriah and rob Uriah of his wife. Does the law work or not? We have to say that the law works, not according to David's concept in Psalm 1, but according to the apostle Paul's teaching in the New Testament. Paul pointed out that the law was something added to the central line of the divine revelation to expose man's sinful nature and wicked deeds (Rom. 3:20b; 5:20a). We need this view of the law in order to understand the Psalms according to the divine concept in the New Testament. We are not in the Old Testament as David was, but we are in the New Testament.
The book of Psalms is not of doctrines or of any kind of teachings. The writings of the Psalms are in the form of praises. These praises were not composed by doctrine or understanding of teachings.
The book of Psalms is composed of the expressions of the sentiments, feelings, impressions, and experiences of godly men. This is the very crucial key for us to understand the Psalms. If we do not pick up this key, we have no way to understand this book. Not seeing this key is a big mistake many Christians have made.
The book of Psalms is not a book of stories, but a book of divine revelation through the expressions of the sentiments, feelings, impressions, and experiences of godly men concerning eight things. We need to see what these eight things are; otherwise, we will not be able to understand the Psalms. These eight things are:
1) God and the way He is in His dealing with them.
2) The law of God as the holy Word with the divine revelation.
3) The house of God, the temple, and Mount Zion on which the temple was seated, as the center of God's dwelling place on the earth.
4) The holy city of God, Jerusalem, as the encompassing protection of the house of God.
5) The holy people of God, Israel, as God's beloved elect among the nations.
6) Their love toward God, their fellowship with God, their blessings received of God, their sufferings under God's dealing, and their environment.
7) Their captivity.
8)Their thanksgivings and praises to Jehovah their God, whom they tasted and enjoyed.
The psalmists, as godly men, loved the law, loved God, loved the temple, loved the holy city, and loved the holy people, but eventually, they were exiled. They were brought into captivity. The law, after being given, results in captivity. Jeremiah shows the pitiful captivity and exile which the people of Israel experienced. They experienced captivity upon captivity and exile upon exile. Many of them were killed by the Babylonians. A small remnant of them remained, but they would not take the word of God to remain in their holy land. Instead, they wanted to go to Egypt. They went there to be exiles (Jer. 42:1—43:7).
The Old Testament law given by God through Moses resulted altogether in captivity. Captivity came because of the failure of the carrying out of the first covenant. Because the old covenant was altogether a failure, Jeremiah said that God would make a new covenant (31:31-34). Even by the end of the time of the early apostles, the New Testament believers had entered into captivity due to the fact that they remained in the old covenant although they had been put into the new covenant. Today's Catholic Church is a mixture of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Their rituals, formalities, and even the clothing of their clergy are an Old Testament mixture. Today's Pentecostalism is also a mixture of the Old Testament with the New Testament. These are proofs that even today's New Testament believers have entered into captivity as a result of keeping the Old Testament practices with the law. Eventually, the psalmists turned from enjoying the law in which they delighted to enjoying their God whom they loved and sought after.
The Psalms were written according to two kinds of concepts. We also have to pick up this point. Otherwise, we cannot properly understand the Psalms.
The first concept, according to which the Psalms were written, is the human concept of the holy writers. Their human concept was produced out of their good nature created by God, formed with the traditions of their holy race, constituted with the teachings of their holy Scriptures, promoted by their practice of a holy life, and uttered out of their holy sentiments and impressions. These are the constituents of the human concept of the holy writers of the Psalms. They were from a holy race, possessing the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. They were a greatly cultured people. The traditions of their holy race formed their human concept according to which many of the psalms were written.
The Psalms were also written according to the divine concept of God as the divine revelation. This divine concept of God as the divine revelation is concerning His eternal economy in Christ, taking Christ as its centrality and universality. It is also concerning Christ in His divinity, humanity, human living, all-inclusive death, life-imparting and seed-producing resurrection, glorification, ascension, appearing in glory, and reigning forever. All these points are clearly, and even in detail, revealed in the Psalms. The divine concept in the Psalms is also concerning God's heart's desire, His good pleasure in Christ as His centrality and universality, in the church as His fullness for His expression, in the kingdom for His eternal administration, and in the recovery of the earth for His eternal kingdom in eternity. This divine concept of God was uttered from the godly writers of the Psalms as a part of the utterance in their holy writings. The same writers uttered two kinds of concepts — the human concept and the divine concept.
We need to apply these two kinds of concepts to Psalm 1 and Psalm 2. Psalm 1 says:
According to what concept was Psalm 1 written? Is Psalm 1 good or not? Surely it is a good psalm, yet it was written according to the human concept. In Psalm 1 the psalmist said that the one who delighted in the law of Jehovah would prosper in everything that he does, but eventually the psalmists were not prospering. They were suffering. In Psalm 73, the psalmist was bothered. He thought that he had cleansed his heart in vain because he was being plagued and chastened (vv. 13-14). On the other hand, he saw all the evil ones prospering (v. 3). He was bothered until he went into the sanctuary of God, the temple of God (v. 17). Then he received the revelation, and he was led to have nothing in the heavens nor anything on the earth but God (v. 25). So, he declared that God was his living portion (v. 26); not the law, but the very God Himself was his portion.
This shows us that Psalm 1 is good, but it was written with a wrong concept. The law was not given for us to keep for our prosperity. Instead, the law was given to expose us. The writer of Psalm 1, David, was exposed by the law as being a murderer and a robber of someone's wife. Because of what he had done, the situation with his entire family became a mess. Fornication and murder were among his children (2 Sam. 13:1-29), and rebellion came from his son, Absalom (15:7-12). The third psalm was a psalm of David when he was fleeing from his rebellious son. Thus, we should not highly appraise Psalm 1. It was written wrongly with a wrong concept, a human concept.
Now let us read Psalm 2:
Jehovah's Anointed in verse 2 and the King in verse 6 are Christ. The Son in verse 7 is also Christ as the resurrected One. He was the only begotten Son of God from eternity (John 1:18; 3:16), but He needed to be begotten again in His resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29). Psalm 2:8 says that the nations and the earth will be given to Christ. The nations will be His inheritance, and the earth will be His possession.
We need to consider why the Psalms are arranged with Psalm 1 as the first one and Psalm 2 as the second one. Psalm 1 is altogether not related to Psalm 2. David was saying that the one who delights in the law and meditates in the law will be blessed and will prosper in everything he does. While he was declaring this, God came in to make a declaration concerning Christ in Psalm 2, saying, "I have anointed Him and set Him up as the King. He will prosper because He will gain the whole earth as His possession, and He will gain all the nations as His inheritance. Blessed are those who take refuge in Him. You have to kiss Him."
These two psalms are two kinds of declarations. One is made by the psalmist according to his human concept, and the other declaration is made by God according to His divine concept, concerning Christ as His centrality and universality. We have to say amen to God's divine concept in Psalm 2. In God's eyes, it is not a matter of our keeping the law. In God's eyes, it is a matter of taking refuge in Christ and kissing Him. To take refuge in Christ means to believe in Him, and to kiss Him means to love Him. This is according to the divine concept of the New Testament. We need to believe in Christ and to love Christ. By doing this, we are blessed.
Have you seen the difference between the two concepts in the Psalms? Through one writer, David, two different declarations came out in Psalms 1 and 2. Psalm 1 was a declaration by David, and Psalm 2 was also a declaration by David. Psalm 1 was declared according to his human concept. Psalm 2 was also his declaration, but according to the divine concept. First, the human concept came out of this one speaker. But while he was speaking humanly, the tone changed! Another speaking came out according to the divine concept.
Many preachers have spoken on Psalm 1, exalting this psalm. But it is hard to find anyone who has spoken properly on Psalm 2. It seems that not many understand Psalm 2. When we read Psalms 1 and 2 in the past, we may have greatly appreciated Psalm 1. How good Psalm 1 was to us! But Psalm 2 may have been placed into the category of portions of Scripture which we did not understand. We all need to see the two kinds of concepts, human and divine, in the Psalms, as seen in Psalms 1 and 2.
I hope that we would remember these points concerning the human and divine concepts in the book of Psalms. The human concept of the holy writers uplifts the law as their central emphasis to treasure the law and remain in it for their whole life.
The divine concept of the unveiling God exalts Christ as His central stress to turn the holy writers' human concept from the law to Christ according to the divine concept of the divine revelation.
The book of Psalms, composed of one hundred fifty psalms, is divided into five books. Psalms 1—41 are the first book; Psalms 42—72 are the second book; Psalms 73—89 are the third book; Psalms 90—106 are the fourth book; and Psalms 107—150 are the fifth book. These five books can be likened to the five floors of a building. The first book is the ground floor, whereas the fifth book is the highest floor. Book 5 is a book of praises with thanksgivings.
Apparently, according to the human concept, all the Psalms are the expressions of the sentiments, feelings, and impressions of godly men who were intimately close to God.
Actually, according to the divine concept, the central thought of the book of Psalms is Christ, as revealed in plain words (Luke 24:44), and the church as the house of God and the city of God for His kingdom, as typified by the temple and the city of Jerusalem.
Thus, the book of Psalms is one book, but in two kinds of tones. One tone is uttered according to the human concept, and the other tone is uttered according to the divine concept. How could this be? No doubt, these holy writers were wrong in their understanding according to their human concept, but they were still godly men. They were very close to God. Therefore, while they were speaking wrongly, God came to speak through them. Because they were so intimate, so close, and even so one with God, while they were speaking, God came in to speak in their speaking. We should not separate Psalm 1 from Psalm 2. These two psalms were one speaking by David. The first psalm was uttered according to the human concept spoken by David directly. The second psalm was also David's speaking, but it was actually uttered by God.
Then in Psalms 3 through 7, there is David's tone again, but in Psalm 8 God's tone came. Psalms 3 through 7 show us how poor and full of trouble the situation on earth is. But Psalm 8 begins by saying, "O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth" (v. 1). When His name is absent, the earth is a mess. When His name is here on the earth, the earth is excellent. This is the name of the One who became a human being, a little lower than the angels, and the name of the One who passed through human life and died, resurrected, and ascended to the heavens to be glorified and honored (vv. 5-6). When this One's name is on this earth, the earth becomes excellent.
Today in the newspapers murders are reported all the time. We have to warn the sisters that they should not walk home alone after the meetings in the evening. Can we say that it is excellent on the earth today? If we want to make the earth excellent, we need to preach the gospel and turn sinners into Christians. The day will come when the entire earth will be excellent because the Lord's name will eventually be excellent in all the earth. This is the divine concept. According to God's divine concept, the central thought in the five books of the Psalms is Christ and the church.
Book 1 indicates that God's intention is to turn the seeking saints from the law to Christ that they may enjoy the house of God — the church. In Book 1 there are forty-one psalms. In Psalm 1 the psalmist appreciated the law to the uttermost, but in Psalm 27 he no longer appreciated the law. Instead, he appreciated dwelling in the house of God to behold God's lovliness. He desired to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of his life (v. 4). This is to enjoy God, not the law, in God's house. Then in Psalm 36 the psalmist declared that they would be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God's house. In God's house they could drink the river of His pleasures. The psalmist also said that with God is the fountain of life and in His light we can see light (vv. 8-9). What a difference we can see between Psalm 1 and Psalms 27 and 36. Psalm 1 begins from the ground floor, the basement. But in Psalms 27 and 36 the psalmists have gone up to the "fifth floor." They came up from the basement. If we still highly appreciate Psalm 1, we are remaining in the basement. We need to come out of the basement in our appreciation to the higher level of the divine concept.
Book 2 indicates that the saints experience God and His house and city through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ.
Book 3 indicates that the saints, in their experiences, realize that the house and the city of God with all the enjoyments thereof can be preserved and maintained only with Christ properly appreciated and exalted by God's people.
Book 4 indicates that the saints, being joined to Christ, are one with God so that He can recover His title over the earth through Christ in His house and city. Psalm 90 is the first psalm of Book 4. The title of Psalm 90 says that it is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. In the first verse, Moses says, "Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations." The one who wrote the law declared that God was his eternal dwelling place. I was shocked when I read this psalm for the first time and saw that it was written by Moses. According to our thought, Moses only knew how to give the law, the Ten Commandments.
When we read the Ten Commandments, do we feel that they bring us close to God? After reading these commandments, a number of Christians would say that they cannot make it since they break the commandments all the time. People lie frequently and spontaneously. Someone may call on the telephone and ask, "Is your father home?" Then the person would say that he is not home, even though his father is there reading the newspaper. People lie to one another all the time. The children lie to their parents. The husbands lie to their wives and vice versa. People also break the commandment concerning not coveting again and again. When we see others with possessions better than ours, we covet what they have. A person covets another person's expensive car. A young boy in school covets another boy's expensive pen. The commandments of the law are impossible for fallen man to keep. The law does not bring people close to God. However, the law does escort people to Christ. The law of God is the custodian and child-conductor of God's chosen people to bring them to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24).
When Moses, the one who wrote the Ten Commandments, became old, he declared, "O God, You are our dwelling place for eternity. I am not actually living on this earth. I am living in You. I am dwelling in You. You are my dwelling." This is the introductory word to Book 4 of the Psalms.
Book Five indicates that the house and the city of God become the praise, safety, and desire of the saints, and that Christ comes to reign over the whole earth through the house and the city of God — the church.
This is the content of the five books of the Psalms. We need to pick up all of these crucial points in this introductory word. Then we will be prepared and qualified to study the book of Psalms. We will be able to receive the real and genuine interpretation of all one hundred fifty psalms.
We need to see that, on the one hand, the book of Psalms was written according to the human concept, and on the other hand, it was written according to the divine concept. If we do not see this, our understanding will be natural, and the Psalms will be understood by us according to the human concept. In our understanding of the Psalms, we will not have anything of the divine concept. We all need to be brought into the divine concept of the unveiling God. We need to be turned from the law to Christ according to the divine concept.
