Psalms 73—76
Scripture Reading: Psa. 73:1-3, 12-17, 25-26; 74:2-3, 7-8; 75:2, 4-7; 76:2-4
The divine revelation in the Bible is progressive. In Genesis 1 we have a history of God's creation, but in that chapter we cannot see much of the divine revelation. Of course, there is some revelation there. For instance, verse 1 says, "In the beginning God created..." The Hebrew word for "God" here is Elohim, which means the "faithful, mighty One." From this word we can realize that God is faithful and also mighty. Furthermore, this word, a proper noun, is not singular but plural; however, the predicate "created" is singular. This is an indication that God is triune, three-one. This surely is something of the divine revelation that progresses throughout the Bible until the last chapter of Revelation.
In Colossians 1:25 Paul tells us that the stewardship of God was given to him "to complete the word of God." The word of God is the divine revelation, which had not been completed before the New Testament was written. In the New Testament the apostles, especially Paul in his fourteen Epistles, completed the word of God. It is clear, therefore, that the word of God had not been completed at the time of Job or David or Malachi or even at the end of the book of Acts.
Some mistakenly think that orthodox doctrine consists only of what the Lord Jesus taught the twelve apostles. Those who hold this concept need to consider the Lord's word in John 16:12-15: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have said that He receives of Mine and will declare it to you." The disciples had to wait for the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of reality to reveal more things to them. From this we see that the word of God had not been completed even when the Lord Jesus was on earth, but still needed to be completed through the speaking of the Spirit of reality. Surely Paul was a person to whom the Holy Spirit revealed many things, and he wrote concerning these things in his Epistles, indicating, as we have seen, that he had been commissioned by God to complete the word of God.
In particular, Paul completed the word of God in regard to the mystery of God, which is Christ (Col. 2:2), and the mystery of Christ, which is the church (Eph. 3:4). In Colossians 1:27 he says, "To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." There is not such a word in Genesis or in the Psalms or fully in the four Gospels. This is an example of the fact that the divine revelation in the Bible is progressive and that it is not completed until the end of Revelation.
Revelation 22:18 and 19 tell us that, since the divine revelation has been completed, no one is allowed to add to it or take away from it. In other words, the Bible itself makes it clear that the entire revelation has been completed and closed, and no one is permitted to claim, as the Mormons do, that additional revelation has been given to them.
The teaching of the New Testament as a whole is called the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42). The apostles' teaching began with the teaching of the Lord Jesus and continued with Peter, John, Paul, and the other apostles. We praise the Lord that we have in our hand the complete divine revelation.
As we read the Bible, we need to learn the principles of the Bible. Especially we need to keep in mind the basic principle that the divine revelation in the Bible is progressive. If we are clear concerning this, we will realize that the speaking of Job's three friends is a matter not of divine revelation but of human opinion. How, then, can we regard their opinion as divine revelation?
We face a similar situation when we come to the Psalms. I appreciate the comment of John Nelson Darby that the Psalms are the expressions of the psalmists uttered out of their complex sentiments. We should not regard every aspect of the psalmists' sentiments as the divine revelation. It would be very unwise for us to do this. On the one hand, the psalmists received a certain amount of the divine revelation; on the other hand, their receiving of this revelation caused them to have various sentiments, including sentiments related to hating their enemies, to doing good, and to keeping the law.
Many Christians appraise the Psalms very highly and even exalt them. On the contrary, I have been helped by Darby to see that some of the expressions in the Psalms are not the direct expression of the divine revelation but the expression of the complex sentiments of the psalmists. The psalmists who uttered these expressions were pious; they loved God, feared God, and tried their best to please God, trust God, and keep the law. With the exception of trying to keep the law, all these things are good. Trying to keep the law is contrary to one of the principles of the Bible. The law was not given for God's people to keep; rather, the law was given to try them, to prove them, and to convince them that they were unable to keep the law.
Today's Christians commonly say that every word of the Bible from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 is the word of God. I believe that the Bible is wholly inspired by God but not that every word in the Bible is a word by God. Surely, the word of the serpent to Eve in Genesis 3 is not a word by God, and it would be a great mistake to say that it is. In the Bible there are many words uttered by God's enemies, for instance, the words uttered by the chief priests and the scribes in their mocking of the Lord Jesus (Mark 15:31). My point here is that we need to differentiate between the word spoken by God and the word spoken by others. No doubt, every word out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus is a word out of the mouth of God, and such a word is the divine revelation directly given. However, in the Bible there are many words that are not the words of God. Without those words we would not have the proper background for the showing of the divine revelation.
In the fifty chapters of Genesis we have a history of a number of people from Adam to Joseph, but in this book there is very little teaching or doctrine, if any. Without teaching or doctrine how can there be much revelation? In this matter, Romans is very different from Genesis. Chapters one through fifteen of Romans are filled with Paul's teaching.
What do we have in the Psalms? Do we have history and doctrine? No, in the Psalms we have the expressions of sentiments. How much of the divine revelation is unveiled in a particular expression depends on the kind of sentiment conveyed by that expression. Certainly David's expression of his sentiment of hatred for his enemies should not be considered something of the divine revelation.
I hope that this opening word will help to give you, especially the young generation, a proper foundation for understanding the Bible. In particular, I hope that this word will help you to understand what I am endeavoring to do in these messages on the Psalms. In our reading of the Psalms, we need to realize that certain expressions are not of the divine revelation but of the psalmists' complex sentiments.
Let us now go on to consider Psalms 73 through 76, which are concerned with the desolation of God's house and Christ as the solution.
It may be hard for some to believe that the temple, God's house, was desolated, but it was desolated to such an extent that it was burned, and the city surrounding it was ruined.
What was the cause of the desolation of God's house? Apparently it was because the children of Israel were evil and sinful. However, the intrinsic reason for the desolation was that Christ was not exalted by God's people; they did not give Him the preeminence, the first place, in everything. Actually their failure to give Christ the preeminence, their failure to honor and exalt Him, was the cause of their becoming sinful and evil.
The principle is the same with us in the church life today. If we do not love Christ with our first love, giving Him the first place in everything that He may have the preeminence among us, the church will become desolate. The desolation of the church as the house of God always issues from the negligence of the experience of Christ.
The problem of desolation is solved by Christ being properly appreciated and exalted by God's people. Recently the church in Anaheim has been praying for revival. If all the saints in Anaheim would give Christ the preeminence, exalting Him to the uttermost and loving Him with the first love, there would be a genuine revival. The real revival in the church depends upon everyone in the church life giving Christ the first place in everything.
If we are clear concerning the problem of desolation and its solution, we may now go on to consider Psalms 73 through 76 one by one.
Psalm 73 is on the sufferings of the seeking saints.
Psalm 73:1 tells us that God is good to those who are pure in heart. To be pure in heart is to have God as our one goal and aim. No doubt the psalmist here was this kind of person.
Verses 2 through 16 are a record of the sufferings and puzzles of the God-seeking psalmist. Verse 2 says, "As for me, my feet were nearly turned aside;/My steps had almost slipped." This indicates that the psalmist was nearly stumbled by the situation concerning the prosperity of the wicked (vv. 3-12). Whereas Psalm 1 says that the wicked do not prosper, here the psalmist is puzzled by the prosperity of the wicked, who are at ease and heap up riches (v. 12). The psalmist goes on to say that he has purified his heart in vain, that he has been plagued all day long, and that he was chastened every morning (vv. 13-14). Psalm 1 says that the one who keeps the law will be blessed, but in Psalm 73 we see a law-keeper who was plagued. In verse 15 the psalmist continues, "If I had said, I will speak thus;/Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children." This pious seeker of God was suffering, but if he had told others about his situation, they would have been stumbled and would have said, "Whoever keeps the law will be prosperous." However, here is one who kept the law, yet was not at all prosperous. In the next verse the psalmist tells us that he was puzzled. "When I considered this in order to understand it,/It was troublesome in my sight." This is a heavy word. The more the psalmist considered the situation, the more he was troubled and puzzled.
In verses 17 through 28 we see that the psalmist obtained the solution in the sanctuary of God. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God;/Then I perceived their end." Where is God's sanctuary today? First, God's sanctuary, His habitation, is in our spirit. Second, God's sanctuary is the church. Thus, to go into the sanctuary of God, we need to turn to our spirit and then go to the meetings of the church. Once we are in the sanctuary — in the spirit and in the church — we will have another view, a particular perception, of the situation concerning the wicked.
Having gone into the sanctuary of God, the psalmist could perceive that the wicked were set in slippery places to be cast down into ruins (v. 18). This caused the psalmist to say, "How they are made desolate in a moment!/They are utterly consumed by terrors./Like a dream from which someone awakes, You, O Lord,/Upon arising, will despise their image" (vv. 19-20).
"Whom do I have in heaven but You?/And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth" (v. 25). This verse reveals that God's pure seeker would have God as his only possession in heaven and his unique desire on earth. God was the psalmist's unique goal. The psalmist did not care for anything except God and gaining Him. In this matter, Paul was the same. In Philippians 3:8 Paul said that he counted all things as refuse in order to gain Christ.
Psalm 73 ends with these words: "My flesh and my heart fails,/But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever" (v. 26). Here we have the answer to the psalmist's question concerning his suffering and the prosperity of the wicked. The one who does not care for God may gain many things and seem to prosper. However, the one who cares for God will be restricted by God and even stripped by God of many things. As we will see in the upcoming life-study of the book of Job, this is what happened to Job.
Whereas Psalm 73 is on the sufferings of the seeking saints, Psalm 74 is on the desolation of the house of God.
Verses 1 through 11 are the psalmist's painful presentation of the perpetual ruins and damages in the sanctuary of God. "Why, O God, have You cast us off forever?/Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?/Remember Your assembly, which You have purchased of old,/Which You have redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance,/And this Mount Zion, on which You dwell" (vv. 1-2). These verses indicate that the psalmist was concerned about two things — God's people and God's dwelling place. Both God's people and His dwelling place had been damaged. Regarding this, the psalmist was deeply disappointed.
Verses 12 through 23 are a desperate cry for God's interest according to His power and based on His covenant. The psalmist did not pray for his own interest — he prayed for God's interest. He cried out to God for God's interest according to His power as described in verses 13 through 17. Then in verse 20 the psalmist said to God, "Regard the covenant." Here he seemed to be saying, "O God, You must regard the covenant which You made with our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You cannot forget it. You may disregard us, for we are evil, but You cannot disregard the covenant which You made."
The psalmist's prayer here is an example of the best kind of prayer — the prayer that is for God's interest, that is according to God's power, and that is based upon God's faithfulness to His covenant. We all need to learn to pray in this way. I believe that God heard this prayer of the psalmist and answered it, for eventually He came in to restore the ruined sanctuary.
Psalm 75 is concerned with the judgment of Christ upon the desolators. Some may wonder how with respect to this psalm I can speak of the judgment of Christ, since this psalm does not mention Christ or the Messiah. The basis for my speaking here is the fact that, according to John 5:22, God has given all judgment to Christ the Son. Thus, the very God who judges in Psalm 75 should be Christ. Christ, as the second person of the Divine Trinity, is the One who will execute judgment upon all sinners. Here Christ's judgment is upon the desolators.
Christ's judgment upon the desolators will be at the time appointed by Him (vv. 1-3). "When I choose the appointed time,/It is I who judge with equity" (v. 2). The "I" must refer to Christ, the just Judge.
In verses 4 through 10 the psalmist speaks of the cutting off of the uplifted horns of the wicked to vindicate that exaltation comes from Him in the north. Verses 6 and 7 say, "Neither from the east nor from the west,/And neither from the south, does exaltation come;/For God is the Judge:/He puts this one down and exalts that one." Here we see that exaltation comes from the north, where God dwells (cf. Isa. 14:13-14). For exaltation to come from the north means that it comes from God, who dwells in the north. Furthermore, this indicates that Christ is unique. Exaltation should not come from any direction other than where He dwells. Therefore, preeminence should be given to Him.
Psalm 76 is on the victory of God in His dwelling place.
Verses 1 through 5 are a declaration concerning the victory of God, as the glorious and excellent One, in His tabernacle. Verse 2 says, "In Salem is His tabernacle,/And His dwelling place, in Zion." Verse 4 speaks of God's excellence and glory: "More glorious are You,/More excellent than the mountains of prey."
Verses 6 through 12 are the praise of the psalmist concerning the wrath and fearfulness of God. Concerning God's wrath, verse 10 says that He will gird Himself "with the remainder of wrath." Concerning God's fearfulness, verse 7 declares, "You, indeed You, are to be feared," and verse 11 says, "Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared."
Psalms 73 through 76 cover four matters: the sufferings of the saints, the desolation of God's house, the judgment of Christ, and the victory of God. Since these four psalms are the expressions of the psalmists' complex sentiments, we need to discern those sentiments that are divine from those that are merely human. This means that we need to discern the Holy Word according to the proper principles. To understand the Old Testament, we need the writings of Paul. If as we study the Psalms we stand on the shoulders of Paul, we will have a clear view of all one hundred and fifty psalms.
