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Scripture Reading: Psa. 34; Psa. 35; Psa. 36
In this message we want to continue our fellowship on the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in his enjoyment of God in God's house. If we do not have a deep hunger to seek after the Lord with His Word, these messages may disappoint us. This is because what we may like according to our natural concept is exposed. What we see in the Bible and what the Bible is to us depend upon what kind of person we are. Our understanding of the Bible is always according to what we are. This is why we need to be adjusted and brought into the divine concept.
In this message we want to see the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in Psalms 34—36. The title of Psalm 34 says that this was a psalm of David "when he disguised his sanity before Abimelech, who drove him out, and he departed." We can see from this that the situation in which Psalm 34 was written was not an honorable one. David was not normal; he disguised himself as being insane because he was before a king who had the power to kill him. As a result of disguising himself, David was delivered from Abimelech (1 Sam. 21:10—22:1a). Afterward, he wrote Psalm 34. In this psalm he gave all the credit to God, but actually he delivered himself by disguising himself. To disguise oneself is a kind of falsehood.
In Psalm 35 David asked God to fight against his enemies with weapons (vv. 1-8). Then in Psalm 36 he asked God to deal with the wicked (vv. 1-4) and even gave God instructions as to how to deal with them (vv. 11-12).
We need to remember that the book of Psalms needs to be interpreted according to the divine concept of the divine revelation in the entire Bible. The Psalms is the longest book of the Bible, but it is not the only book. It must be interpreted in the light of the divine concept of God as the divine revelation concerning His eternal economy in Christ, taking Christ as its centrality and universality.
We need to be adjusted from our human concept to the divine concept. At the beginning of my Christian life, I came to the Bible with much of my own thought. Throughout the years I have been adjusted, and the adjustment which I have received in studying the Bible has taken away layer upon layer of my human concept.
Our understanding of the Bible depends upon the measure of our growth in the spiritual life. Even today in our human life, our knowledge depends upon the measure of our growth in the human life. When someone is a child, we cannot expect him to understand that much. As this child grows, he is able to understand more and more. Eventually, when he becomes a full-grown man, he can understand things properly. It is difficult to understand the book of Psalms properly according to the divine concept. We have seen that at times David spoke things in the Psalms which were very wonderful. Then he spoke something which was altogether according to the human, natural concept.
In order to understand the Bible, we must exercise one principle. This principle is that God planned in His economy to make Himself one with man. The basic principle, the main principle, of Christ's birth is that God came to join Himself to man, to be a man, and to be one with man. This is the basic principle of the Bible.
When we read the Bible, we need to keep the principle of God's being one with man. We should keep the principle that the Word of God as the divine revelation shows us that God's main purpose is to make Himself one with man and to make man one with Him. In John 15 the Lord said, "I am the vine; you are the branches...abide in Me and I in you" (vv. 5, 4). This shows us that God and the believers in Christ are one. We and God were once separate, but one day we, the wild branches, were grafted into Him in Christ (Rom. 11:24). We have been grafted into Christ as the tree, and this grafting has made us one with Him. What is needed now is for us to abide in Him that He may abide in us. Then He and we will be one, having one life, one nature, and one living.
If we see this, we will be fully adjusted in our understanding of the Bible. We need to hold the divine concept in John 15 where the Lord said that He is the vine, that we are His branches, and that we should abide in Him that He may abide in us. In Psalms 34—36, we can see that David was not acting as a branch who was one with God.
In our understanding of the Bible, we have to pick up the proper principles. The main principle is that God desires to be one with His chosen people. Eventually, the oneness between God and man will be completed, consummated. All of God's chosen people will be consummated to be fully one with God to become the constituents of the holy city, the New Jerusalem. Whenever we come to the Psalms, we need to hold this concept; otherwise, we can be misled.
Psalm 34 shows us the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in his enjoyment of God in God's house in blessing and praising God. To bless God is to speak well about God, to talk about God in a good way. To praise God is to give the honor and the glory to God.
It is good to bless and praise God, but we should not forget that such a wonderful psalm was written after David put on a "mask." He wrote this psalm after he disguised himself as being insane before Abimelech. This story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. There David disguised himself before this Philistine king in order to escape from being killed.
David blessed and praised God because of God's answer and deliverance (vv. 1-6). In verse 1 he said, "I will bless Jehovah at all times;/His praise will continually be in my mouth." This is good, but we have to remember the situation in which David said this. When he disguised himself before Abimelech, he surely was not blessing God at that time. Instead, 1 Samuel 21:13 says that David scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon his beard to make Abimelech think that he was insane.
Verses 2-6 say, "My soul makes its boast in Jehovah;/The lowly hear and they rejoice./Magnify Jehovah with me,/And let us exalt His name together./I sought Jehovah, and He answered me;/And He delivered me from all that terrified me./They looked to Him and were radiant;/And their faces will never be abashed./This poor man called out, and Jehovah heard;/And He saved him out of all his troubles."
David said that Jehovah delivered him. But I would like to ask whether he was delivered out of the hand of Abimelech by Jehovah or whether he delivered himself. People may pray for a number of things, and then give all the credit to God when they are done. Actually, however, God did not do any one of them. Instead, they prayed according to their own desire, and they did it on their own. Sometimes they might have even done something in a way to cheat people, but God surely did not cheat people for them. We may pray for something, get what we prayed for, and then give the credit to God. This is an insult to God. In this case the credit should not go to God but to us to become a debit.
Verses 7-22 show us David's advising and teaching others to fear God and take refuge in Him. In verse 8 David said, "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him." However, when David disguised himself in front of that king, he did not take refuge in Jehovah but in his "mask," in his disguising himself. In verse 11 David said, "Come, children; hear me./I will teach you the fear of Jehovah." Do we want David to teach us to disguise ourselves, to put on a mask? This shows that on the one hand, we may trust in the Lord; on the other hand, we may put on a mask to deliver ourselves. Eventually, who saved us — the Lord or our mask?
In Psalm 34 David spoke of the goodness of fearing God and taking refuge in Him (vv. 7-10, 17-22). Verse 10 says, "The young lions hunger and starve,/But those who seek Jehovah will not lack any good thing." People may quote these verses for their personal benefit but eventually end up lacking the material things they desire. Second Corinthians tells us that Paul passed through much suffering and deprivation, even to the extent that he was lacking food and clothing (11:27).
In Psalm 34 David spoke of the way to fear God (vv. 11-16; 1 Pet. 3:10-12). Verses 12-16 say, "Who is the man who desires life,/Who loves having days in order to see good?/Guard your tongue from evil,/And your lips from speaking deceit./Turn away from evil and do good;/Seek peace and pursue it./The eyes of Jehovah are set toward the righteous,/And His ears, toward their cry./The face of Jehovah is against those who do evil,/To cut off the memory of them from the earth." These verses were quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 3:10-12, but Paul did not quote such a word. Paul's vision of the New Testament economy was clearer than that of all the other apostles.
When David asked, "Who is the man who desires life,/Who loves having days in order to see good?" he was not talking about the eternal life but about the physical life. David was a great saint in the Old Testament, and Peter was one of the great apostles in the New Testament, but I do not believe that what David said here is spiritual. Even among us, who dares ask the Lord to give him long days that he may enjoy many good things?
David said that if we love having days in order to see good, we should guard our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking deceit. But who has ever succeeded in guarding his tongue from evil? What David spoke here was according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Verse 15 says, "The eyes of Jehovah are set toward the righteous,/And His ears, toward their cry." But who is righteous on this earth? Paul said that not one is righteous (Rom. 3:10), and Isaiah said that our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isa. 64:6). If we depend upon our righteousness to enjoy God's eyes and ears being set toward us, we will enjoy nothing, because we have no righteousness of our own.
Concerning the righteous man, David said, "He keeps all his bones;/Not one of them is broken" (v. 20). This is a verse concerning Christ because David was a type of the suffering Christ. When Christ was on the cross, the soldiers did not break His legs when they saw that He had already died (John 19:33). John said, "These things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled: 'No bone of His shall be broken'" (v. 36). There were times in describing his sufferings that David typified Christ.
When we look at Psalm 34, we can see the mixed expressions of David's sentiment. Verse 20 refers to Christ, but most of this psalm is not according to the tree of life. Our concept needs to be changed to the divine concept according to the tree of life. As we grow in Christ, our concept will be changed.
In Psalm 35 David asked God to deal with his enemies.
First, he begged God to fight his enemies with weapons (vv. 1-8). Verse 1 says, "Strive, O Jehovah, with those who strive with me;/Battle against those who battle against me." Do you believe that God desires such a prayer? This is not according to the Lord's teaching in the New Testament, which tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44).
Verses 2-3 say, "Take hold of shield and buckler,/And rise up as my help./Draw out also the spear, and close up the way/Against those who pursue me;/Say to my soul,/I am your salvation." Instead of asking God for something, David here is teaching God how to deliver him by fighting against his enemies with weapons.
Verses 4-8 say, "Let those who seek my life/Be put to shame and humiliated;/Let those who devise evil for me/Be turned back and confounded./Let them be like chaff before the wind,/With the angel of Jehovah driving them on./Let their way be darkness and slipperiness itself,/With the angel of Jehovah pursuing them./For without cause they hid their net for me in a pit;/Without cause they dug a hole for me./Let destruction come upon them unawares,/And let his net, which he hid, catch him;/Let him fall into it, into destruction." Is this a spiritual prayer? Surely this prayer comes out of a man who is fully in himself. In the New Testament economy, a spiritual person could never ask God to come with a shield, with a buckler, and with a spear to fight against his enemies.
In verses 9-16 David boasted in his trusting in God and in his well-dealing with those who mistreated him. These verses say, "Then my soul will exult in Jehovah;/It will rejoice in His salvation./All my bones will say,/Jehovah, who is like You,/Who delivers an afflicted one from him who is too strong for him,/And an afflicted and needy one from him who robs him?/Malicious witnesses rise up;/They ask me about things I know nothing of./They repay me evil for good;/I am bereaved in soul./But I, when they were sick,/Had sackcloth as my clothing;/I afflicted my soul with fasting,/And my prayer returned to my own bosom./I conducted myself as if it had been my friend or my brother; /Like one mourning for his mother, I bowed down gloomily./But at my stumbling they rejoice and gather together;/The dregs whom I had not known/Gather together against me; /They tear at me and do not cease./As profane mocking parasites,/They gnash their teeth at me."
The above verses show that in David's consideration his enemies were very bad, whereas he was very good. His expressions in these verses display too much self-righteousness.
In verses 17-28 David urged God to deliver him by instructing God according to his natural knowledge of good and evil.
In Psalm 35 David asked God to deal with his enemies, and in Psalm 36 he asked God to deal with the wicked.
Verses 1-4 are his accusation of the wicked: "Transgression speaks to the wicked/Within his heart;/There is no dread of God/Before his eyes./For he flatters himself in his own eyes,/Until his iniquity is found out and hated./The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;/He has ceased being wise and doing good./He plans iniquity on his bed;/He sets himself on a path that is not good;/He does not reject evil." Here David did not have the heart or the intention to ask God to be merciful to the wicked. Instead, he accused them.
Verses 5-10 are his praising of God's lovingkindness, faithfulness, and righteousness mixed with the enjoyment of God in His house. Verses 7-9 are a top portion of the Psalms concerning the enjoyment of God in His house, but such a portion is in a psalm in which David asked God to deal with the wicked. This again shows us the mixed expressions of David's sentiment.
Verses 11-12 say, "Do not let the foot of the arrogant come upon me,/Nor let the hand of the wicked drive me away./There those who do iniquity are fallen;/They are cast down and unable to rise." In these verses David entreated God to deal with the wicked not according to God's way but according to his way.
In reading the Psalms, we should see the contrast between the human concept and the divine concept. Most of the saints do not see such a contrast. Instead, they highly appraise everything in the Psalms. In a sense, it seems that they received the help from reading the Psalms, but actually they did not receive the real help. Instead, they were misled.
I am burdened for us to see the contrast between the human concept in the Psalms and the divine concept in the New Testament. According to our concept, we may feel that the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, tells us mainly that we have to fear God, to take refuge in Him, to trust in Him, to wait on Him, to hope in Him, to praise Him, to thank Him, and to worship Him. This concept, however, is not the divine concept in the New Testament. What the New Testament shows us is God's economy.
In God's economy, God has only one intention — to gain an organism for Himself. In eternity past God decided to do one thing in His economy — to create for Himself an organism, the Body of Christ. He created the universe and man for this purpose. Then man became fallen, but God promised man that He would come through a woman to be a man, to join Himself with man, and to become one with man (Gen. 3:15). Eventually, He became a man and lived a life on this earth to show people the life of a God-man. Afterward, He went to the cross and died not only for our sins but also to deal with every problem in the universe. Then He was resurrected. In His incarnation He brought God into man, and in His resurrection He brought man into God so that God and man could be one.
Although this is the revelation of the New Testament, not many see this revelation. Instead, most Christians still hold a natural and religious concept of trying to do good. Most Christians would say that they need to improve their conduct. Because they know that they are weak and the temptations are strong, they ask God to help them and try to trust in God. But they do not see the central line of God's economy to make God and man, man and God, one entity, with the two having one living by one life with one nature. Such a revelation is missing among Christians today.
Many do not have an ear to hear this central teaching of God's economy. Paul solemnly charged Timothy before God and before Christ by His appearing and His kingdom to proclaim the word (2 Tim. 4:1-2). Paul was being poured out as a drink offering (v. 6), so he charged Timothy to be faithful to proclaim the healthy word. Then he said, "For the time will come when they will not tolerate the healthy teaching; but according to their own lusts they will heap up to themselves teachers, having itching ears" (v. 3). People who have itching ears are those who seek pleasant speaking for their own pleasure. According to Paul's word to Timothy, the itching and turned-away ear is the main factor in the worsening decline in the churches. We have to be faithful to speak the healthy words of God's economy, not the words that satisfy people's itching ears.
In the Lord's recovery, we have been enlightened to see what God wants. God wants us to be one with Him. God lives in us, and He wants us to live Him. The writings of the apostle Paul are crystal clear on this point, with no ambiguity. The main item in Paul's fourteen Epistles is stated in Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." These words are divine. They have nothing to do with anything natural, religious, or superstitious.
God created Adam almost six thousand years ago. From Adam to Abraham was two thousand years, from Abraham to Christ was two thousand years, and from the time of Christ until now has been also almost two thousand years. In the first two thousand years, God visited people to help them to realize that they needed Him. In the second two thousand years, God told Abraham that in his seed all of the nations would be blessed (Gen. 22:18; 26:4). They would be blessed by God's being one with them and by their being one with God. This is altogether mysterious and divine.
Christ as the seed of Abraham came to fulfill God's promise. When Christ came, the Jews had their religious way of worshipping God according to their kind of thought. Later, the apostles had to encounter two problems — the Jewish religion and Greek philosophy. This earth today is full of different philosophies from different cultures and religions. In addition to all of these philosophies, there is the philosophy and the logic in today's Christianity. Many Christians today understand the Bible according to their natural concept, not the divine concept.
In the Lord's ministry we have spoken concerning God's economy, God's dispensing, and the life-giving Spirit, the processed, consummated Spirit. We have seen that this Spirit is the compound Spirit, and this compound Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. These things cannot be heard in the theology of today's Christianity.
Because of the opposition, I published an article in 1977 entitled What a Heresy — Two Divine Fathers, Two Life-giving Spirits, and Three Gods! Many of those opposing us teach that there are three Gods. This is the teaching of tritheism. They also teach that there are two divine Fathers. One is the Father in the Godhead and the other is the Father in Isaiah 9:6, whom they say is the Father of eternity. They also mistakenly say that there are two life-giving Spirits. One is the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, and the other is the life-giving Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:45b. All of these teachings, of course, are heretical.
I have been speaking in the United States for thirty years with the burden to release the central line of the divine revelation according to God's economy. But according to my realization, not many of us appreciate this central line. Before I came to the United States, I had not seen that the Spirit was the consummation of the Triune God. I began to say mainly in Hong Kong in the summer of 1954 that the death and resurrection of Christ are in the Spirit. From that year the light concerning the all-inclusive Spirit came in and has been shining brighter and brighter.
Eventually, we saw the type of the compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. The compound ointment takes olive oil as a base compounded with four kinds of spices — myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. These five elements compounded together become one ointment. The one hin of olive oil refers to God as the Spirit, and this divine Spirit is compounded with Christ's death, with the effectiveness of Christ's death, with Christ's resurrection, and with the power of Christ's resurrection. This compound Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit is the realization of the Son, and the Son is the embodiment of the Father. Thus, the Three of the Godhead are not three Gods; they are just one divine being.
The Bible reveals all of these things to let us know how God can be one with man and how man can be one with God. Eventually, we Christians should live a life of God and man, the life of a God-man. Today we live as a man, yet we also live as God in His life and in His nature but not in His Godhead. His Godhead is unique. We have His life and His nature, just as the children of a father have their father's life and nature. But none of the children have the fatherhood. Only the father of a family has the fatherhood. In the same way, God is unique and His Godhead is unique. We cannot share in His Godhead, but we do have the divine life and the divine nature. We are participating in this divine life and divine nature so that we can live God, live Christ. If we see this, our view concerning the Psalms will be changed.
My burden is to try the best to help the saints in the Lord's recovery come out of the misled concept concerning the Psalms. We need to be released from being misled and be brought into the central line of God's economy, which is to live Christ as the embodiment of God by the realization of the Spirit. Today we are here as a man, but we are living the Triune God in our manhood. Many today, however, would oppose us for saying that we live God. But Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21a). Paul was a man, but he told us that he lived Christ, and Christ is God. To live Christ is to live God. We all have to see this. The Christian life is not a kind of improvement of our human life. The Christian life is a transformed life, a life that transforms us into a God-man. I hope that this fellowship helps us to seek after God according to the proper revelation in the holy Word.
