Scripture Reading: Psa. 84
In this message I have the burden to give a further word on Psalm 84 as a supplement to the foregoing message. Recently, the Lord has opened up the intrinsic content of this short psalm. The intrinsic content of Psalm 84 is the secret revelation concerning the enjoyment of the incarnated Triune God.
The Old Testament indicates that God is triune (Gen. 1:1, 26; Isa. 6:1-3, 8), but the God unveiled in the Old Testament is not the incarnated Triune God. In the Old Testament the incarnation of the Triune God was a hidden mystery. However, the very first chapter of the New Testament, a chapter on the genealogy of Christ, speaks of God being born into a virgin to become a man in the flesh (Matt. 1:20). This is the Triune God coming into man to make Himself one with man, to make Himself humanly divine as the God-man named Jesus (vv. 21, 23).
The Lord Jesus lived and walked on earth in a divine-human way for thirty-three and a half years, and then He died on the cross to consummate an all-inclusive, vicarious death, a death that solved all the problems between God and man. His death on the cross is signified by the first of the two altars mentioned in Psalm 84. This altar is the bronze altar for the offering of the sacrifices.
After Christ passed through death, He entered into resurrection. In resurrection He was born to be the firstborn Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29). Prior to that time He was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16). As the only begotten Son, Christ had divinity, but He did not have humanity. However, as the firstborn Son of God, begotten in resurrection, He has humanity as well as divinity, the human nature as well as the divine nature.
Furthermore, in His wonderful resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The Spirit of God was there in the Old Testament, but at that time the Spirit of God did not have the capacity to give the divine life to humanity. For this reason, certain ones of the descendants of Adam received the power of God but not the life of God. Samson is a typical example of one who received the power of God from the Spirit of God but did not have anything related to God's life. Many others in the Old Testament, such as Job, were quite godly and pious, but we cannot say that they were spiritual, that they were filled with the spiritual, divine life. It was only since the resurrection of Christ, who is the incarnated Triune God, that the Spirit of God began to have the capacity to give the divine life to human beings, for it was in resurrection that Christ Himself became the life-giving Spirit. Also, in the resurrection of Christ all of God's chosen people were regenerated, born again (1 Pet. 1:3). In the resurrected Christ, who is the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit, we, God's chosen people, were regenerated to become the new creation, the new man.
Following His resurrection, Christ ascended. When He ascended to the heavens, another altar was established, the golden altar of incense for God to accept what Christ has brought to Him. The two altars — the bronze altar for the sacrifices and the golden altar of incense — are the leading consummations of the work of the incarnated Triune God, who is Christ as the embodiment of God for His increase. This is the intrinsic content of Psalm 84.
Psalm 84 bears four aspects. The first aspect is the loveliness of the house of God (v. 1). The second aspect is the longing of the psalmist to enter into God's house (v. 2). Third, there is the aspect of the highways to the house of God (v. 5b). The fourth aspect consists of the blessings of dwelling in the house of God to enjoy God as the sun, the shield, the grace, and the glory. In such a house we enjoy the incarnated and consummated Triune God as our sun to supply us with life, as our shield to protect us from God's enemy, as grace for our enjoyment, and as glory for the manifestation of God. Let us now consider this psalm in more detail.
We have pointed out that in Psalm 84 there is a secret revelation concerning our enjoyment of the incarnated Triune God. Although many Christians talk about and even debate regarding the Trinity, not many enjoy the incarnated Triune God. We thank the Lord that in the recovery, in the church life, the Christ we enjoy is the incarnated Triune God.
We need to see that Christ is not only the embodiment of God but also that Christ is the incarnated Triune God. In this Christ we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and also coinhere, that is, they dwell in one another. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. The Father and the Son are in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Father and in the Son. In this way the three of the Triune God coinhere. Furthermore, in Christ the Triune God has passed through a long process to become the processed and consummated Triune God. This is Christ as our enjoyment and as our portion allotted to us by God (Col. 1:12).
The center of this secret revelation is the house of God (Psa. 84:4, 10a), typified by the tabernacle (Exo. 40:2-8) and by the temple (1 Kings 6:1-3; 8:3-11). Both of these types have been fulfilled in Christ.
At this point, I would ask you to consider the diagram of the layout of the house of God printed on the next page. In this diagram we see the main items of our enjoyment of Christ as the incarnated Triune God.
The diagram shows us that in the outer court there are two items: the first altar, the bronze altar, for the offering of the sacrifices, and the laver, a large basin containing water for washing. At the first altar, all of our problems before God are solved through the sacrifices, and we are saved. Why, then, do we still need the laver? To answer this question we need to see that God's goal is not to solve our problems; God's goal is to make us, the old creation, the new creation. In order to become the new creation, we need to be washed. Our old creation was made of the dust of the earth, and this dust needs to be washed away in the laver. Thus, Titus 3:5 says that God has saved us "through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." After we have experienced the altar and the laver, we are qualified to enter into the incarnated God, signified by the tabernacle.
In the Old Testament no one could enter into God. But in His incarnation God has become enterable. However, many of today's Christians, not realizing that God is enterable, do not proceed from the first altar to the laver, and they do not enter into God. They may speak of fearing God, of exalting God, and of loving God but not of entering into God. Have you entered into God? We all need to pass through the first altar, come to the laver, and then enter into God.
Do you know who the enterable God is? Our enterable God is Christ, the God-man, the incarnated Triune God and the embodiment of the Triune God. When we enter into Him, we have the showbread table for the life supply and the lampstand for the light of life. This enables us to live and walk in the incarnated Triune God. I can testify that in these days I have been living and walking in the incarnated Triune God.
In the incarnated Triune God we have not only the showbread table and the lampstand but also the second altar, the incense altar, for the offering of the incense. The incense signifies Christ as our acceptance. At the first altar our problems before God are solved through Christ as the sacrifices. At the second altar Christ is the incense for us to be accepted by God.
The diagram of the layout of the house of God indicates that, according to the Old Testament, the incense altar was in front of the ark of the testimony. But there was a veil separating the incense altar in the Holy Place from the ark of the testimony in the Holy of Holies (Exo. 26:31-35). However, through the death of Christ this veil has been rent (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:20). Now there is no longer a separation between the incense altar and the ark of the testimony. They are one. This indicates that when we are accepted by God in Christ as our acceptance, we become God's testimony to express, to manifest, God.
Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9) is the fulfillment of the types of the tabernacle and the temple. This fulfillment commenced in His incarnation (John 1:14; 2:21) and will consummate in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2-3). The New Testament, from Matthew 1 through Revelation 22, covers the entire span of the incarnation of the Triune God. This incarnation, which commenced in Matthew 1, will continue until it consummates in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22. The New Testament, therefore, is simply a record of the divine incarnation, which commenced at the birth of Christ and which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
In the first chapter of the New Testament we have the individual Christ, but in the last chapter we have the corporate Christ. This means that the individual Christ is the beginning of the incarnation of the Triune God and that the corporate Christ, the New Jerusalem, will be the conclusion and consummation. We praise the Lord that we have been blessed to be involved with the incarnation of the Triune God by being made a part of the corporate Christ. We need to see this, to be in this, and to minister this to the saints.
Regarding the incarnated Triune God, there are two main consummations.
The first consummation is the first altar — the bronze altar for the offering of all the sacrifices (Christ in His crucifixion) to solve all the problems of man before God. Concerning this, Psalm 84:3 says, "Even the sparrow has found a home;/ And the swallow, a nest for herself,/Where she may lay her young:/Your altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God." Today we all are "swallows" who have suffered from storms, wind, rain, snow, and the burning sun and who need a nest, a refuge. Our refuge is the first altar, which signifies the cross of Christ. At the cross of Christ we are saved, and here we have our nest. Actually, our nest is the cross of Christ itself. In this nest we may lay our young, that is, produce new believers.
The second altar is the golden altar of incense (Christ in His ascension) for God's acceptance of the redeemed sinners (v. 3). When we experience Christ in His ascension, we have a place of rest, and we sense that we are at home. At the first altar we have a nest, and at the second altar we have a resting place in the house of God.
Psalm 84:5 tells us that the one is blessed in whose heart are the highways to Zion. The highways to Zion are the blessed highways for seeking the incarnated Triune God in His consummations (comprising the washing laver, the showbread table, the lampstand, and the ark of the testimony). From our spiritual experiences we have learned that, on the one hand, we have entered into God, but, on the other hand, we are still on the way to enter into God. None of us can say that our entering into God has been completed. For many of us, the entering into God has only begun. We are in God, yet we are still on the highways to enter into God.
Verse 5a says, "Blessed is the man whose strength is in You." This indicates that one who is on the highways to Zion has his strength in God.
Verse 6a speaks of passing through the valley of Baca (weeping). On this highway we have times of weeping.
Those on the highways to Zion make the valley of weeping a spring (v. 6b). This spring is just the Spirit. How wonderful!
"Indeed the early rain covers it with blessings" (v. 6c). The early rain signifies the Spirit. This indicates that the more we weep on the highways to Zion, the more of the Spirit we receive. While we are weeping, we are being filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit becomes our spring.
"They go from strength to strength" (v. 7a). This indicates that as we are walking on the blessed highways to seek the incarnated Triune God, we go from strength to strength. As a result, no one can turn us aside.
Psalm 84:9 says, "Behold, our shield, O God,/And look upon the face of Your anointed." Here the "shield" and the "anointed" refer to David the king, who typifies Christ.
Verse 10 speaks of standing at the threshold of the house of God. It is better to stand at this threshold than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. However, we should not be satisfied to stay at the threshold of the house of God but should enter into His house.
Verse 11 speaks of those who walk uprightly, and verse 12 concludes, "O Jehovah of hosts, blessed is the man/Who trusts in You." Here "those who walk uprightly" refers probably, in the sentiments of the psalmist, to those who keep the law. The "man who trusts in You" refers probably, in the sentiments of the psalmist, to the man who dwells in the house of God.
