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Scripture Reading: Psa. 31; Psa. 32; Psa. 33
When we come to the Psalms with a clear view concerning the entire Bible with its principles, we can realize that the book of Psalms bears two burdens. It takes care of two responsibilities. First, it shows us Christ. Second, it shows us Christ in comparison with the law.
Beginning in the book of Genesis, Christ is revealed as the tree of life. One Bible teacher has said that the tree of life is over today, but the tree of life in Genesis 2 is a central item. If the tree of life is taken away from Genesis 2, Genesis 2 means nothing and becomes nothing. It is wrong to say that the tree of life is over today. In Revelation 2:7 the Lord Jesus said that to the overcomer He would give to eat of the tree of life. Jesus came to feed us with Himself as the tree of life. The first responsibility the written word of God bears is to show us Christ.
God's desire in eternity past was not concerning the law. The law came in at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is mentioned by Paul in Galatians 4, not in a positive sense but in a negative sense (vv. 24-25). In the eyes of both God and the apostle Paul, Mount Sinai is a very negative term. Sinai produces slaves, and is signified by a concubine, Hagar. The proper wife was Sarah. The concubine was Hagar. Whatever comes out of this concubine is a slave. All the Jews who treasure, uplift, and try to obey the law are slaves under the law.
Besides Mount Sinai there is another mount, Mount Zion. Hebrews 12 says that in the New Testament we have come, not to Mount Sinai but to Mount Zion (v. 22). Here we are not slaves, but we are sons of the free woman. That means we are sons of grace. The grace of God is signified by the free woman, Sarah. The law is signified by a concubine. We are not for the law, but as the sons of the free woman, we are exalting Christ. The first responsibility of the Psalms is to show us Christ.
The second responsibility of the Psalms is to give us a comparison between Christ and the law. In message eight we saw the lines, the principles, and the spirit of the Bible. In the Bible God shows us only two lines. One is the proper line and the other is the negative line. The proper line is of Christ from God, and the negative line is of Satan. This is why there are two trees in Genesis 2, and those two trees signify two sources. The tree of life signifies God as the source of life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies Satan as the source of death. Then out of these two sources there are two lines. One line is the line of the day, and the other line is the line of the night. The negative line of darkness is the line of satanic chaos. The positive line of the day is the line of the divine economy.
In addition to these two lines, there is also the line of the law. Christ is the main line, and the law is a side line. If you do not handle the side line properly, the side line becomes a part of the negative line, which is the line of chaos, the line of death, the line of the knowledge of good and evil. Since the day the law was given, God's people have very rarely handled the law properly. I believe that Moses knew something about the position of the law because when he became old he wrote Psalm 90. In verse 1 he said, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." According to Moses' realization, God is our dwelling place, and we are living in God. This is absolutely not according to the law.
The Psalms' second responsibility is to show us the difference between Christ and the law. However, most of the readers of the Psalms do not understand this. They think that everything in the Psalms is positive. But we have seen that many expressions in the Psalms are according to the human concept of uplifting the law, not according to the divine concept of exalting Christ. We saw in the previous message that it is difficult to find anything in Psalms 28—30 that is up to the divine standard of God's New Testament economy.
In this message we want to see the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in Psalms 31—33. Much of David's speaking in these psalms is according to the natural concept. Regretfully, when most readers of the Bible come to the Psalms, they do not see much of Christ. They may see the good points in the Psalms which are according to the human concept. The Psalms exhort and advise us to fear God. Then they tell us to take refuge in God. As persons under all kinds of attack, we need a refuge, a place to hide. We can take refuge in our God. The Psalms also speak of trusting in God, waiting on God, and hoping in God. Then the Psalms speak of praising God, thanking God, and worshipping God. These are the points based upon which all the psalms are composed: to fear God, to take refuge in God, to trust in God, to wait on God, to hope in God, to praise God, to thank God, and to worship God. These are the main points in many of the psalms, especially in Psalms 31—33.
Psalm 31 shows us the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in experiencing and enjoying God's salvation from his distress. In Psalm 31 David does not speak of God's salvation from eternal perdition and from God's judgment but of salvation from his distress. In Psalm 31 he lists the items of his distress.
David said that he took refuge in God as a rock of protection and a fortress to save him out of the net secretly laid for him by his enemies (vv. 1-4). The Lord Jesus said that He as the rock is for building the church (Matt. 16:18), but David said that God as the rock was for his protection to save him from his distress. God's desire is to save people mainly from eternal perdition and judgment, not from their distress. Once we are saved from eternal perdition, God wants to continue to be our salvation so that we can live and magnify Christ (Phil. 1:19-21a). Perhaps the wife wants to be saved from her husband's bad temper, and the husband wants to be saved from his wife's disapproval. In other words, they want to be saved from their distress. But God's salvation for the New Testament believers is for them to be sustained and strengthened to live and magnify Christ.
David also exulted in God's kindness that He had not delivered him into the hand of his enemies but had made his feet stand in a place broad and free (vv. 5-8). These expressions indicate that David was too self-centered even in seeking God's salvation.
In verses 9-13 David enumerated to God his afflictions and distresses: "Be gracious to me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress./My eye is wasted with grief,/Indeed my soul and body" (v. 9). It is very good for David to ask God to be gracious to him, that is, to have grace upon him. This sounds somewhat like the New Testament. David also said that his eye was wasted with grief, even his soul and his body. To be wasted means to be dried up. David said that he had become a dried up person through his grief, which to him was distress.
In verses 10-13 he said, "For my life has been consumed in sorrow,/And my years, in sighing./My strength fails because of my iniquity,/And my bones have wasted away./Because of all my adversaries,/I have become a reproach,/And especially so to my neighbors,/And something dreaded to my acquaintances;/Those who see me on the street flee from me./I am forgotten, like a dead man out of mind;/I am like a destroyed vessel./For I hear the slander of many;/Terror is on every side./When they take counsel together against me,/They scheme to take my life." All of these items in these verses were considered by David as his distresses. David's word concerning others' taking counsel against him and scheming to take his life was actually the experience of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 27:1). In this point, David bore the responsibility to show Jesus to us.
David's distresses included his grief, sorrow, and the reproach of his opposers. We Christians today who follow the Lord also suffer much distress, including persecution. The New Testament, however, shows us that the apostle Paul did not complain about this. In the book of Romans, Paul said that all things worked together for his good that he could be transformed as one of God's many sons into the image of the firstborn Son of God (8:28-29). Paul did not complain about his distress. Instead, he realized that all things worked together for his good that he could be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ.
David said, "But I trust in You, O Jehovah;/I say, You are my God./My times are in Your hand" (vv. 14-15a). This is a very good word, but the New Testament revelation is higher than this. David's times were in the hand of God, but our entire being is in Jesus. David's times were in God's hand, but we are now in Christ, the embodiment of God (1 Cor. 1:30a; 2 Cor. 5:17). It is much higher to be in Christ.
Verse 16a says, "Cause Your face to shine upon Your servant." David was seeking God's face to shine upon him. He wanted to be pleasant to God, and he wanted God to be happy with him. This verse is in the context of his desire to be delivered from his enemies and for them to be put to shame (vv. 15b, 17). Thus, the shining which David sought in Psalm 31 is not the kind of shining for which we are seeking. The kind of shining which we need to seek is the shining that exposes us. When we are under God's shining, we will see that we are ugly, not pleasant. When we get into the shining of God, we will prostrate ourselves on the ground to confess.
In verses 21-24 David blessed God and exhorted His godly ones to love God and to be strong and encouraged.
In Psalm 32 David expressed his sentiment in his experience of God's forgiveness.
Verses 1-2a say, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven;/Whose sin is covered./Blessed is the man to whom / Jehovah does not impute iniquity." This implies a lot. If there were no Redeemer, how could the righteous God not impute our iniquity to us? If God did this without a Redeemer, God would be unrighteous. God's not imputing our iniquity to us is based upon Christ's redemption.
David said that the blessed man is the one to whom Jehovah does not impute iniquity and "in whose spirit there is no deceit" (v. 2b). On the one hand, David indicated that he had been forgiven of his sins, yet on the other hand, he indicated that in his spirit there was no deceit. This is altogether unscriptural. If there were no deceit within man, he would not be a sinner in need of God's forgiveness. Since you need God's forgiveness, you must realize that you are full of deceit. Who is the one that does not have any deceit in his spirit yet should confess his sins? This is not logical.
Verses 3-4a say, "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away/Through my groaning all day long./For day and night Your hand/Was heavy upon me." David's expression here is good in showing us that God was dealing with him concerning his sins. He continued by saying, "My life sap was dried up/As in the drought of summer. Selah./I acknowledged my sin to You,/And I did not cover my iniquity./I said, I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah./Then You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah" (vv. 4b-5). The iniquity of his sin refers to the effectiveness of sin. God forgave not only our sin but also the effectiveness of our sin which was deserving of His punishment.
Verse 6 says, "Because of this let everyone who is godly/Pray to You at a time when You may be found;/Surely when great waters overflow,/They will not reach him." This shows that although David confessed his sin and realized the iniquity of his sin, he considered himself as a godly one. Is he sinful or is he godly? This is a psalm on confession, but in this confession there is self-justification. He confessed his sin, but he also indicated that he did not have any deceit in his spirit, that he was a godly one, and that he was seeking God at the time when God might be found.
In verse 7 David said, "You are my hiding place;/You preserve me from trouble;/You surround me with the ringing shouts of deliverance. Selah."
Then God came in to instruct and teach David. Verses 8-10 say, "I will instruct you and teach you concerning the way you should go;/I will counsel you; My eye is upon you./Do not be like a horse or like a mule, without understanding;/Whose trappings consist of bit and bridle to constrain them, /Else they do not come near you./Many are the sorrows that the wicked have;/But he who trusts in Jehovah is encompassed by lovingkindness." David said that the wicked have many sorrows, but that the one who trusts in Jehovah is encompassed by lovingkindness. Was David a person with many sorrows, or was he the one trusting in Jehovah? It is difficult to say which category David was in. This shows that his speaking here is according to the natural concept.
Verse 11 says, "Rejoice in Jehovah and exult, O righteous ones;/And give a ringing shout, all you who are upright in heart." Who are the righteous ones and who is upright in heart? We do not have the boldness to say that we are such ones. Thus, this is a psalm with a good beginning but a poor ending. The beginning is confessing, and the ending is self-justification. Basically speaking, Psalms 31 and 32 show us a person trying to keep the law without Christ.
Psalm 33 is the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in praising and giving thanks to God.
The psalmist encouraged the righteous to praise God and give thanks to God (vv. 1-5).
In verses 6-9 the psalmist praised God in His restoring of the heavens and the earth. Verse 9 says, "For He spoke, and it was;/He commanded, and it stood." When God said, "Let there be light," there was light (Gen. 1:3). When God commanded, something came out and stood. This is good, but we need to see that Paul's teaching is not concerning the restoration of the chaotic universe, but of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
We were once dead, but one day the Lord made us alive and raised us from the dead (Eph. 2:1, 5-6). Today we are living in resurrection. We are not restored people but resurrected people! We may be impressed with God's restoring of the heavens and of the earth, but the New Testament is concerning the new creation in resurrection. Paul's prayer in Ephesians 1 refers to the resurrection (v. 20). Regardless of how much restoration the heavens and the earth undergo, they are still the old creation, but we are the new creation. We are not merely restored; we are resurrected. There is nothing in the New Testament which asks us to praise God for the restoration of the heavens and the earth. Instead, Paul spoke of his desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10).
I want to point out again that the Psalms show us the inferiority of the law and the superiority of Christ. It is good to praise God for His restoration of the heavens and the earth, but this is not as high as praising Him for the resurrection of Christ. In His resurrection, Christ raised us from the dead (Eph. 2:6). This is much higher than the restoration of the heavens and the earth.
In verses 10-15 the psalmist praised God in His relationship with the sons of men on earth.
The psalmist praised God in His deliverance and preservation, which are stronger than those by a great army, by a mighty man of great strength, and by a horse with its great power (vv. 16-19). He compared God's saving power and God's preserving strength to a great army, a mighty man, and a horse. When I was a young Christian, I felt that this was wonderful, but today I do not feel the same. The New Testament does not compare our God with a horse. This shows again that we should not trust in our natural understanding when we read the Psalms. We need to have a change from our natural concept to the divine concept.
At the conclusion of Psalm 33, the psalmist said that he was waiting on God as his help and his shield and trusting in His holy name, having hoped in Him (vv. 20-22).
Now I would like to speak a word concerning the difference between Christ and the law. The difference between Christ and the law is the difference between the Old Testament economy and the New Testament economy. Under the law in the Old Testament, man was always striving to arrive at the standard of the law. Man realized that he was weak and sinful, so he asked for God's mercy, God's lovingkindness, and he put his trust in God. He also took refuge in God, waited on God, hoped in God, praised God, thanked God, and worshipped God. This was all man's doing because in the Old Testament God was apart from man, and man was apart from God. Man and God were separate.
Then in the New Testament economy, God came into man to become incarnated and be born as a God-man. When Christ lived on this earth, that was God living on this earth in man. Through His redemption, He solved all the problems for man and paved the way so that He could enter into man. In His incarnation He entered into the womb of a virgin, but through His death and resurrection He entered into thousands of men. In order to enter into man, He was resurrected. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) and the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29) who brought men into God. In His incarnation He brought God into man; in His resurrection He brought man into God. By this He accomplished the mingling of God and man. He mingled God and man into one.
Now we believers are in Him and He is in us. He and we have become one person. He has the divine life and the divine nature, and so do we. We have the human life and the human nature, and so does He. He has become us, and we have become Him. We need to recognize that we have been crucified with Him. Now it is no more we who live, but it is Christ who lives in us (Gal. 2:20).
In the New Testament economy, we have to do something, but not the things done by the Old Testament saints. In the New Testament economy, we have to believe into Christ (John 3:16, 36). Then we have to love Him (John 14:21, 23). We also have to live Him that we may magnify Him (Phil. 1:19-21a). In the New Testament, we are not doing something out of ourselves in our natural strength. We are enjoying Him. To believe into Him is to receive Him; to love Him is to enjoy Him; and to live Him is to magnify Him. This is not our doing in ourselves. Whatever we are doing in the New Testament is an enjoyment.
God does not want us to do good. He wants us only to live Christ. To live Christ implies many things. To live Christ implies being holy and overcoming. To live Christ implies not losing our temper and being enduring and full of patience. We just need to live Christ, and this living implies everything in the Christian life. It implies our faithfulness and our honesty. To live Christ means everything. This is why the New Testament charges us to live Christ that we may magnify Christ. We need to live, move, and walk by the spirit, having our entire being according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4). This is the New Testament economy.
Much of the terminology in the Old Testament psalms is good, but it is good in a natural realm. It has nothing to do with the Spirit. The New Testament is altogether in another field, in another world. It is altogether in the Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God. Thus, everything in the New Testament is altogether a matter in the Triune God. Our honesty, faithfulness, patience, endurance, kindness, and everything we are and do involves the Triune God. All of our virtues should be the expression of the Triune God, not of ourselves. The Christian life in the New Testament is not our doing, but is altogether a matter of our living Christ. To live Him in order to magnify Him is to enjoy Him. Thus, every day we should not do anything but enjoy Christ. Christ is our enjoyment.
This thought is in Hymns, #499, #501, and #841. These three songs were written absolutely according to the New Testament economy. Hymn #841 is concerning the building up of the church. Many Christians, however, still exalt the law, remaining in the Old Testament economy.
We need to have the proper discernment to see the difference between the Old Testament economy and the New Testament economy. On the one hand, the psalms are lovely because they are the aspiration of the sentiment of the ones who were seeking after God. On the other hand, many portions of the Psalms are not according to the New Testament economy. The New Testament economy includes first, incarnation; second, resurrection; and third, mingling. God came into us and He brought us into Him. He has accomplished a mingling of divinity and humanity. We and He are living as one person in the same one life and with the same one nature. We should not endeavor to keep the law. Instead, we live only one person — Christ. We live Christ that He may be magnified.
I hope we can see this revelation. When we come to any psalm, we have to weigh it with this scale of God's New Testament economy. Then we can realize what belongs to Mount Sinai and what belongs to Mount Zion. We are here on Mount Zion where we have the church, the Body of Christ, and God's economy for God's testimony.
