(1)
Scripture Reading: Psa. 42; Psa. 43; Psa. 44
The Psalms are composed of five books. Thus far in our fellowship, we have covered Book One of the Psalms, composed of the first forty-one psalms. In this message we will begin our fellowship on Book Two of the Psalms. In this book we see the psalmists' intensified enjoyment of God in His house and city through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ.
The psalms in Book One were written mainly by David. Book Two, however, contains eight psalms that were composed by the sons of Korah, Psalms 42—49. David is a glorious name among the nation of Israel, but Korah is an infamous name because Korah rebelled against Moses and God (Num. 16:1-3). In spite of this, some of the descendants of Korah became composers of the Psalms. This indicates that among the five books of the Psalms, the revelation is progressive. The five books of the Psalms are not on the same level. The Psalms is like a stairway with five steps, that takes us higher in its revelation in a progressive way.
Book Two of the Psalms begins in Psalm 42:1 in a very good way. The psalmist said, "As the hart pants/After the streams of water,/So my soul pants/For You, O God." We can sense the Lord's freshness in the desire and aspiration of the psalmist here. This is much different from what is expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 1. The human concept of Psalm 1 is that the man who delights in the law of God prospers in everything. The psalmist said that the one who delighted and meditated in the law would be like a tree transplanted beside streams of water (vv. 2-3). A tree drinks water by absorbing it.
In Psalm 42, however, the psalmist said that his soul panted for God, just as the hart pants after the streams of water. Then he said, "My soul thirsts for God,/For the living God./When will I come and appear/Before God?" (v. 2). Psalm 1, the opening word of Book One, begins with the law. But Book Two begins with God. What do we prefer — the law or God? Do we want to be like a tree transplanted by the streams of water by delighting in the law or like a hart panting after God? Surely there is no comparison between God and the law. This shows us that Book Two of the Psalms is higher than Book One.
Thus, we have to realize that the psalms progressively become higher in their revelation from Book One through Book Five. Book Five is the high peak of the Psalms. The high peak of this book is expressed in the word Hallelujah! Hallelujah means praise Jehovah, praise God. Thus, Book Two begins with God, and Book Five ends with "Praise God."
When we get into the New Jerusalem, we will all say, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" Some have asked me what language we will use in the New Jerusalem. I do not know what language we will speak, but we will probably say — "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" — all the time. What other things will we need to talk about by that time? When we study the book of Psalms, we should reach some points where we sing " hallelujah" spontaneously. Even when we read Psalm 1 we can say, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I don't need to love the law anymore."
It is very striking that Book Two begins with the psalmist's panting after God. Panting after God is different from worshipping God in a formal, religious way. God is our living water for us to drink. Do we need to bow down to worship the water? We need to pant after this water and then drink it. In verse 1 the word pants is used. In verse 2 the word thirsts is used. My soul pants for God and thirsts for God. I love these predicates. We need to have times with the Lord in which we pant after Him and thirst for Him.
Book One of the Psalms has turned the psalmists from the law to Christ, and Christ has brought them to the enjoyment of God in His house and in His city. We should come to God through Christ. Christ is the real stairway to God. Christ told us that He is the way. Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where You are going; how can we know the way?" (John 14:5). Then Jesus said, "I am the way" (v. 6). He is the real stairway to God.
Thus, Book One of the Psalms turned the psalmists to the right direction, to Christ. Then Christ brought them to the enjoyment of God in His house and in His city. I say this because of the first two verses of Book Two, which say, "As the hart pants/After the streams of water,/So my soul pants /For You, O God./My soul thirsts for God,/For the living God" (42:1-2). This is the enjoyment of God. Book Two begins with the direct enjoyment of God.
Book Two unveils the psalmists' intensified enjoyment of God in His house, and even the more in His city, through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ. Book One does not speak of the enjoyment of God in the house of God and the city of God as strongly as Book Two does. We may say, in a sense, that God was homeless at the beginning of Book One. The law is not God's home. Who is God's home? We have seen that God's home is firstly Christ as the tabernacle and the temple (John 1:14; 2:21). The first part of the New Testament, the Gospels, tells us clearly that God's home was Christ. He was the tabernacle of God. Actually, this tabernacle was a portable home. Christ was God's tabernacle, God's tent, and also God's temple.
Later, Christ became mingled with His believers, and His believers became His extension, His enlargement. Thus, the church is God's home in the second step (Eph. 2:22). It is difficult to find a verse in Book One of the Psalms which speaks of the city of God. The city of God signifies God's kingdom. Christ as the tabernacle of God eventually became a kingdom. Christ cannot be a king without a "dom." When the tabernacle becomes enlarged it becomes the temple, and the temple is the church (1 Cor. 3:16). The church is also the kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19; Rom. 14:17), the King with the "dom." The kingdom is signified in the Psalms by the city.
Zion was a peak of the mountain range on which the city of Jerusalem was built. Jerusalem was built on a mountain range, that mountain range had a high peak, and on top of that high peak was the temple. That high peak was called Zion. On Zion a temple was built, and the temple was God's house. Around that temple was the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem as the city signifies God's kingdom. In Book Two the psalmist begins to speak about the city. Thus, we have the enjoyment of God in His house and in His city.
The universal God is located in His house, His dwelling place. God's house is both Christ as God's tabernacle and temple and the church as the enlargement of Christ, the enlarged temple. On the one hand, God in Christ is our home, our dwelling place (Psa. 90:1), and on the other hand, we as the church are His home, His dwelling place. All the unbelieving sinners need to realize that because they are homeless, God is also homeless. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we come back home. When we get into this home, into Christ, God is also home in us. When I was younger, we preached the gospel by telling the unbelievers that they were homeless, not having any rest. Because they are restless, homeless, God is also homeless. But when we believe in the Lord Jesus, we come back home. Then we are home, and God is also home. We are no longer restless and neither is God.
Many believed in the Lord through this kind of preaching. We should not just tell people that they are sinners and that Jesus died for them. Many people have heard this kind of word, and they are not open to receive it. They would be open, however, to realize that as human beings they are homeless apart from God. In Book Two of the Psalms, God is home. We enjoy God in His home. This means that we enjoy God in Christ and in the church. Ephesians 3:21 says that God is glorified in Christ and in the church. God is glorified in His house and in His city, in Christ and in the church.
The psalmists enjoyed God through the suffering, exalted, and reigning Christ. Such a Christ is the way for us sinners to enter into God. Now we enjoy God as our God in Christ as the home and in the church as the city. Our enjoyment of God is through a stairway, and this stairway is Christ — the suffering One, the exalted One, and the reigning One. In Book Two of the Psalms, Christ's suffering, Christ's being exalted, and Christ's reigning are stressed.
Psalms 42—49, 84, 85, 87, and 88 are the holy writings of the sons of Korah. Korah was the leader of the rebellion against Moses and God (Num. 16:1-3). After about four hundred seventy years, Samuel the prophet, Heman the singer, and some other psalmists came out of Korah the rebel's descendants at the time of David (1 Chron. 6:31-39). Even the descendants of a leading rebel became the godly writers of psalms, praising God in their holy writings as a record existing for generations. What a grace this was!
It is marvelous that the descendants of Korah wrote something that became a part of the Holy Bible. Their holy writings have become a record existing for generations. They were also faithful to tell people that they were the sons of Korah, the one who rebelled against God. This shows us that all the psalms were written based upon the infinite grace of God. The sons of Korah were the descendants, the sons, of that great sinner and rebel, Korah, yet they became holy people writing psalms to praise God. Today we are like the sons of Korah. In a sense, we are still poor sinners and rebels, yet we poor sinners can be those who are speakers of the holy Word!
The crucial point of Psalms 42—44 is the psalmist's panting after God.
The psalmist was panting after God at a time when he and his people had been stripped and defeated by the neighboring nations.
He panted after God as the hart pants after the streams of water (Psa. 42:1-2).
The psalmist was also under the adversaries' reproaching and oppression (42:3, 9b-10). Psalm 42:3 says, "My tears have been my food/Day and night,/While they say to me all day long,/Where is your God?"
On the one hand, the psalmist was panting after God. On the other hand, he was recalling the glorious and pleasant past in the leading of the festal multitude to enjoy God in His house with His people. Psalm 42:4 says, "These things I remember,/And I pour out my soul within me:/That I passed through with the throng;/I led them to the house of God/With the voice of a joyous shout and praise,/The festal multitude."
This is a very pleasant recounting of the past. But I would like us to consider whether or not this was the right thing to do. In the psalmist's captivity, he was panting after God. But at least in his thought, in his consideration, he left the panting after God and went to something else — the recounting of his past. How good that was, how glorious that was, and how pleasant that was! He remembered how wonderful it was when he was leading a multitude to ascend to the peak of Zion to enjoy God with God's people by feasting together with God.
This was a pleasant picture from the past, but should he have recounted his past in this way while he was panting after God? Actually, this was a departure from his panting after God. He should have remained in the state of panting after God. We may be having a time with the Lord in which we are panting after God, but then some consideration within us will take us away from our panting after God. We might remember how wonderful and pleasant the church life was many years ago. This consideration and remembrance of our past distracts us from enjoying the Lord.
Psalm 42:4 is a good verse, but it shows that there is a mixture within the sentiment of the writer of this psalm. There should be no mixture. Instead, there should be only panting after God and singing "Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!" Our considerations and thinking should not take us away from the panting after God. We should not be distracted from God to the treasuring of our past. Because the psalmist departed from his panting after God, the thoughts constituting his sentiment were expressed.
Verse 5 says, "Why are you bowed down, O my soul?/And why are you disquieted within me?/Hope in God, for I will yet praise Him/For the salvation of His countenance." The psalmist was encouraged by the hope in God for the salvation of His countenance. The psalmist encouraged his soul, himself. He told his soul not to be cast down but to hope in God. He said that he would still praise God for the salvation of His countenance.
At that time the psalmist had been stripped of almost everything. He had lost his home and was in captivity. What could he enjoy? He could enjoy the countenance of God. He lost his home, his country, and he had been stripped of his earthly enjoyment. Now he was in captivity, but he could enjoy God's presence, God's countenance. God's countenance became his enjoyment in his captivity. However, while he was enjoying God's presence by panting after God, he became distracted by different thoughts. We are also like this. In our time with the Lord, we may be panting after Him, but then we are taken away from God by distracting thoughts.
The psalmist remembered God from a distance — from the land of the Jordan and the Hermons, from Mount Mizar, quite far from Zion and Jerusalem, where God's house and city were. Psalm 42:6 says, "O my God, my soul is bowed down within me;/Therefore I remember You/From the land of the Jordan and the Hermons,/From Mount Mizar." This indicates that the psalmist was away from his home, from his country, from his nation. He remembered the Lord not from the door of the temple or from the gate of Jerusalem but from far away. This is because he was in captivity. This was during the time when the people of Israel, including those serving in the temple, had been defeated and captured by their invading enemies. This psalmist was such a serving one. The sons of Korah were Levites. Korah was a leader of the Levites who served the temple (Num. 16:8-10). The invaders defeated Israel and captured the people. Thus, the psalmist here was in a far away country.
Psalm 42:7-9a shows that the psalmist recognized God's sovereignty in his environment. Verse 7 says, "Deep calls unto deep/At the sound of Your water spouts;/All Your waves and Your billows/Pass over me." Some versions render "water spouts" as "waterfalls." This poetic expression describes the sufferings through which the psalmist passed.
Verse 8 says, "By day Jehovah commands/His lovingkindness,/And by night His song is with me,/A prayer to the God of my life." Of course, while he was passing through such a deep suffering, all the psalmist could do was to pray. In the day he enjoyed God's lovingkindness; in the night he enjoyed Jehovah's song being with him, a prayer to the God of his life.
Verses 9 and 10 say, "I say to God my rock,/Why have You forgotten me?/Why do I go mourning/Because of the oppression of the enemy?/As with a shattering in my bones, /My adversaries reproach me,/While they say to me all day long,/Where is your God?" His adversaries asked him where his God was since he was in captivity.
All of these thoughts came in to distract the psalmist from panting after God. Here we see the mixed expressions of the sentiment of the writer. When he was writing such a psalm, all kinds of distracting thoughts came to his mind, distracting him from panting after God and from the salvation of God's countenance. In verse 11 he said, "Why are you bowed down, O my soul?/And why are you disquieted within me?/Hope in God; for I will yet praise Him,/The salvation of my countenance and my God."
While the psalmist was enjoying God in His house and His city, a lot of things came into his thoughts to distract him. That constituted a kind of sentiment, which he poured out in his expressions. Psalm 43:1-2 shows us the mixed expressions of the psalmist's sentiment in his enjoyment of God in His house and city.
To pant after God and to thirst for God are marvelous, wonderful, and good. In this we should remain, but we lack control. Thoughts come in as darts to distract us. These thoughts constitute our sentiment, which we utter in expressions. Mixed expressions such as these are the contents of many of the psalms.
The psalmist asked God to give him light and truth that would lead him and bring him to God's holy mountain and to His tabernacles that he might go to the altar of God, to the God of his exultation's rejoicing (43:3-4). This means that he was away from the holy mountain and from the temple. He asked God to send forth light and truth. When we have light and truth, we have the way, but at that time the people of Israel did not have a way to get out of their captivity. They did not have the way, the leading, to get back to Mount Zion, the holy mountain, so that they could return to God's house.
The psalmists who wrote Psalms 42—44 were really lovers of God. They were panting after God, thirsting for God, and desiring to go back to Jerusalem, to get to Mount Zion to reach the altar. Then they could enter into the temple to meet the God of their exultation's rejoicing. This is why they prayed that God would give them the light and the truth that they might know how to get out of their captivity and get back to God's dwelling place.
Psalm 44 shows us the mixed expressions of the psalmists' sentiment in their enjoyment of God in His house and city.
In verses 1-8 the psalmists were treasuring their forefathers' past history. Verse 1 says, "O God, we have heard with our ears;/Our fathers have recounted it to us,/The work You did in their days,/In the days of old." Their treasuring the past was a distraction as a part of their mixed sentiment.
In addition to treasuring the past, the psalmists were sighing for the present (Psa. 44:9-26). Psalm 44:9 says, "Nevertheless You have rejected us and humiliated us,/And You have not gone forth with our armies." This verse begins with the word nevertheless. The psalmists were saying that even though God was so good and kind to their forefathers, He had rejected them now. Thus, they blamed God.
Verse 17 says, "All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You,/Nor have we been false to Your covenant." The psalmists maintained that even though all these bad things such as their defeat and captivity had come upon them, they had not forgotten God nor had they been false to His covenant. Was this true? In the Old Testament, especially in the Prophets, God told His people frequently that they had forsaken Him (Jer. 2:13) and had broken His covenant (Jer. 11:10; Hosea 6:7). Thus, it was false for the psalmists to say that they had not forgotten God or been false to His covenant.
Psalm 44:18 says, "Our heart has not turned back,/Nor have our steps slipped from Your way." God said in the Prophets that the people of Israel turned their hearts away from Him. Whose word is right — God's word or the psalmists' ? In the Prophets God also said clearly that the people of Israel had left His way. In spite of this, the seeking psalmists argued with God in this way. This shows us that we should not think that every psalm is so wonderful. Again we need to realize that in the Psalms there are both the human concept and the divine concept.
We can see again that the psalmists' panting after God was disturbed, and their thirsting for God was taken away by all these different thoughts. The psalmists spoke of how good God was to their forefathers, but of how bad He was to them. They told God that even though He had rejected them, they had not rejected Him. They were vindicating themselves, but where was their panting after God and their thirsting for God? They were gone. All of us have had similar experiences. Often we may have been panting after God, but then we became distracted by many thoughts. Often we are distracted from panting after God, from enjoying God.
I hope that we are being helped to understand how to study the book of Psalms. Verses 1-2 and 5 of Psalm 42 are very good because they are according to the divine concept. Verses 1 and 2 speak of panting after God and thirsting for God, and verse 5 speaks of the salvation of God's countenance. Like the psalmists, we may have lost everything, having been stripped of everything, yet we have not lost God. Even though we may have rejected Him, we have not lost Him. His presence is with us, and that presence is His countenance. His countenance is our salvation.
