Scripture Reading: Psa. 15; Psa. 16
In this message we come to another pair of psalms, Psalms 15 and 16. We have seen that Psalms 1 and 2 were sovereignly arranged as a pair. Psalm 1 says that the man whose delight is in the law of Jehovah is blessed (vv. 1-2). Psalm 2 says that the man who takes refuge in the Son is blessed (v. 12). Thus, we see the human concept of being blessed by the keeping of the law versus the divine concept of being blessed by taking refuge in the Son. The comparison in Psalms 1 and 2 is between the law and Christ.
Psalms 15 and 16 also present a comparison. The end of Psalm 15 says, "He who does these things will not be shaken forever." These things refer to the good things according to the law in the foregoing verses. On the other hand, Psalm 16:8b says, "Because He is at My right hand, I shall not be shaken." Psalm 15 says that if you do all the good things according to the law, you will never be shaken. Then Psalm 16 says concerning Christ that because God is at His right hand, He will not be shaken. No doubt, Psalms 15 and 16 were arranged together to show us a comparison between the keeping of the law and the participating in the Son. Do we keep the law or do we partake of Christ? Do we keep the law or do we enjoy Christ as our portion?
At this point I would like us to read Psalms 15 and 16 together so that we can see the different concepts in these psalms. Afterward, we will cover them in more detail.
At the beginning of Psalm 15, the psalmist asks, "O Jehovah, who may sojourn in Your tent?/Who may dwell on Your holy mountain?" The tent refers to God's house, the temple. David says that this one is "He who walks in integrity/And does righteousness/And speaks truth from his heart./He does not slander with his tongue;/He does not do evil to his friend,/Nor does he take up reproach upon his neighbor./In his eyes a reprobate is despised,/But he honors those who fear Jehovah./Should he swear to his harm,/He does not change./He does not lend his money on interest,/Nor accept a bribe against the innocent./He who does these things will not be shaken forever" (vv. 2-5). This may seem like an excellent psalm, but actually it is a psalm in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Psalm 16, on the other hand, is a psalm revealing the God-man, Christ. Psalm 16:1 does not say, "Preserve Me, O God, for I keep the law, and I meditate in the law day and night." This is absolutely wrong. Psalm 16:1 says, "Preserve Me, O God, for I take refuge in You." It was as if the psalmist said, "I don't care for the law; I care for You and I enjoy You." Then Psalm 16:2 continues, "O My soul, you say to Jehovah, You are My Lord;/No good have I beyond You." When the Lord Jesus was a man on this earth, He always held such an attitude of recognizing God the Father as His Lord. His attitude toward the Father could have been expressed by His saying, "I do not have anything beyond You which is good. I have no blessing, no pleasure, and no enjoyment other than You."
Verse 3 says, "To the saints who are on the earth and to the excellent,/All My delight is in them." The Lord Jesus loved God the Father. He also had His delight in the saints, in the believers, in the members of His Body. He did not delight in the commandments of the law, but in the members of His Body, the saints in God's kingdom.
Verse 4 says, "Sorrows will be multiplied to them who bartered for some other god;/Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,/Nor will I take up their names upon My lips." Their names refers to the names of the idols, the names of the other gods.
Verse 5 says, "Jehovah is the portion of My inheritance and of My cup;/You maintain My lot." God is the portion of two things: of the inheritance and of the cup. The inheritance refers to the substance of the lot, and the cup refers to the enjoyment of God as our blessing. At the Lord's table, we drink the cup of blessing (1 Cor. 10:16a). Stanza 3 of Hymns, #223 points out that in this cup God is our portion. Thus, we have God as the portion for our inheritance and for our enjoyment. God the Father was the very portion of these two things to Christ as a man on this earth. Verse 5b says, "You maintain My lot." The lot is the portion of the inheritance.
Verse 6a says, "The measuring lines have fallen on pleasant places for Me." To understand this verse, we have to read Psalm 2:8, which says that God will give to Christ the nations as His inheritance and the limits of the earth as His possession. The limits are the measuring lines of God in His divine economy. God has measured the earth. Whatever God has measured will be Christ's possession. The measuring lines have fallen on pleasant places for Christ.
Today the whole earth is not a pleasant place, not a place of pleasure. Even though people are trying to have their amusements, that is not the real pleasure. The earth today is a messy earth, not a pleasant earth. In Genesis 2 the earth was a pleasant garden, but after the fall of man, this pleasant garden became a messy earth. But when the earth will be measured and given to Christ, it will become a pleasant earth. Verse 6b says, "Indeed the inheritance is beautiful to Me." All the nations with the earth will be not only pleasant but also beautiful to Christ as the man who inherited God's inheritance.
Verse 7a says, "I will bless Jehovah, who counsels Me." Do you like to have someone as your counselor? To take others' counsel implies humility. A person is humble who wants to receive counsel from others. The Lord Jesus blessed Jehovah, the One who counseled Him. Isaiah 50:4 tells us the attitude of Christ as the Servant of Jehovah: "The Lord Jehovah has given me/The tongue of the instructed,/That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word./He awakens me morning by morning;/He awakens my ear/To hear as an instructed one." Christ, in His human living, had the tongue of an instructed One, and He heard as an instructed One. He took God the Father as His counselor.
Psalm 16:7b says, "Indeed in the nights My inward parts instruct Me." This shows us that when God counseled Christ as a man, Christ's inward parts instructed Him. The inward parts of Christ were one with God. God counsels, and the inward parts instruct. This is our proper experience today. On the one hand, it is God who counsels us. On the other hand, it is our inward parts which instruct us. Our inward parts instruct us mostly in the nights while we are quiet. In the night, from four to six in the morning, I receive many things and many instructions from the Lord. Most of the light I have written down in the outlines for these messages has come during these hours. This is an experience of our inward parts instructing us in the nights.
Verse 8a says, "I have set Jehovah before Me continually." According to David's natural concept, he might have said, "I have set the law before me continually." We may want to say, "I have set the Bible before me continually." But even this is not as good as saying, "I have set Jehovah, the person, before me continually."
Verse 8b says, "Because He is at My right hand, I shall not be shaken." Because the Father was at Christ's right hand, He would not be shaken. Our security is not to keep the law, but to have Jehovah, the person, at our right hand. We shall not be shaken because we have Him as our security.
Verse 9 says, "Therefore My heart rejoices and My glory exults;/Even My flesh dwells securely." Glory here refers to our spirit. This verse covers our soul, which is included in our heart; our spirit, which is the glory; and our body, which is the flesh. What is in this verse transpired in the death of Christ. When He was in Hades He said, "My heart rejoices, My spirit exults, and even My body dwells securely." His body dwelt in a secured tomb.
Verse 10 says, "For You will not abandon My soul to Sheol,/Nor let Your Holy One see the pit." Christ was not bothered to be in Hades, in Sheol. Hades is from the Greek, and Sheol is from the Hebrew. They both refer to the same thing. The Septuagint translates pit as corruption. This means that Christ's body would not see corruption. It would not be decayed. This is because within three days, His body was resurrected from the tomb, and His soul was raised up from Hades.
Verse 11 says, "You will make known to Me the path of life." The path of life is the way of resurrection. God the Father made known to Christ the way of resurrection. Verse 11 continues, "In Your presence is fullness of joy." This was in Christ's ascension. In God's presence in the heavens is fullness of joy. Finally, verse 11 says, "In Your right hand there are pleasures forever." In God's right hand in ascension, Christ is enjoying pleasures forever.
We need to notice that in this whole psalm, Psalm 16, nothing concerning good and evil is mentioned. The revelation in Psalm 16 is far beyond our natural understanding.
From the day we were born, we were always taught to take care of good and evil. We were taught that we need to do good and abandon evil. In every culture on all the continents, this same thing is taught. We may be people of different colors, but in our thought concerning good and evil, we are absolutely the same. We are "birds of the same feather" in our natural, human concept of good and evil. Psalm 15 is full of the concept of good and evil. In Psalm 16, however, there is no good and evil. Instead what replaces good and evil is the Lord Himself, the very person.
In the following message, I will fellowship concerning the lines, the principles, and the spirit of the Bible. For us to read and study the Bible properly, we have to know the two lines in the Bible, the principles in the Bible, and the spirit of the Bible.
In the Bible there are two lines. Right after God created man, God brought man into the garden and put him in front of two trees. These two trees were not a tree of good and a tree of evil. Good and evil are of one tree. We should not forget this. In the eyes of God, good is the same as evil. They are considered as one unit, as one tree. The other tree is the tree of life. Thus, there are the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life (Gen. 2:8-9).
With the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there are knowledge, good, evil, and death. Thus, knowledge, good, evil, and death are all one family. If you are in the family of good, you are in the family of evil. Where good is, evil is there; where good and evil are, knowledge is there; and where knowledge is, death is there. This family is very complicated and terrible. It includes the good teachings of Confucius and the evil deeds of bank robbers. What family is this? It is the family of good and evil. But in the family of the tree of life, there is only one thing: life, life, life, life! There is no good, but life; no evil, but life; no knowledge, but life; and no death, but life. This is the tree of life.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life are two sources, which produce two lines. These two lines start from Genesis 2 and go through the entire Old and New Testaments to reach two ends. The one end for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the lake of fire, and the other end for the tree of life is the New Jerusalem. The lake is full of burning fire, but the holy city is full of water, flowing and quenching and watering and saturating. If you are of the source of good and evil and are always going along in the line of good and evil, you will arrive at the lake of fire. There are only two ends in the entire universe: the lake of fire and the city of water.
The divine revelation of the Bible shows us two starts, two sources, two lines, and two ends, two results. If we can see these two lines, they will become governing principles to us in our understanding of the Bible. We will be governed and kept from making any mistakes. Throughout the years, in all the messages we have given, we have been governed by these two principles as the two main lines in the holy Scriptures.
We need to consider the book of Psalms in the light of these two lines. If we are the appreciators of the law, as David was in Psalm 1, we are on the line of good and evil. People may wonder what is wrong with good and evil. But if we trace this line to the end of the Bible, we arrive at the lake of fire. When you "drive" to and arrive at the end of the divine revelation on this line, you know you are wrong. The line of good and evil leads to the lake of fire.
The person in Psalm 2 takes refuge in the Son and kisses the Son, loves the Son (v. 12). This one surely is on the line of life leading to the New Jerusalem. We need to be those who are on the line of life. The person in Psalm 15 is on the line of good and evil. Psalm 16, however, reveals Christ as the God-man. He has been, still is, and always will be on the line of life. Those of us on the line of life will eventually be in the New Jerusalem, the city of living water.
After the fall of man, the Bible tells us that Adam had two sons. Actually, I believe Adam had more sons, but only two sons are recorded in the Bible because these two sons represent two lines. The first son was Cain, and the second son was Abel. Cain was a representative of good and evil. At first, he was good. He presented the offerings of the labor of his own hands to God. This was good according to Cain's way, but he was rejected. God rejects man's evil. God also rejects man's good as evil. Then when Cain was rejected by God, he immediately turned to kill his brother. This was evil (Gen. 4:1-8). On the one hand, he did something good. On the other hand, he did something evil. Both good and evil are in the same line. Cain was in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Abel, however, was not in this line. He enjoyed Christ as his burnt offering to contact God and to take God as his portion. Abel was in the line of life.
The title of this message is a question. This is the question David asks in Psalm 15 — "What kind of man may dwell with God for His heart's desire and good pleasure?" We may think that the man of good can dwell with God, but not the man of evil. Good and evil are our two lines. Teachers of philosophy and those of many religions would all say that if there is a God, only a good man, not an evil man, could dwell with Him. All of them would hold the same concept. But thank the Lord, in the Bible, which is His divine revelation, we have a pair of psalms, Psalms 15 and 16, to show us what kind of man God wants. God does not want an evil man or a good man. God rejects the good man as the evil man. They are of the same source, in the same nature, and in the same entity. They are in the same line and will arrive at the same end. Only a God-man can satisfy God's desire and fulfill His good pleasure.
In Psalm 15, David's concept was according to the law given by God at Sinai alongside the central line of God's economy. His concept in this psalm was not at Zion in the central line of God's economy. It was at Sinai. Do you love the name Sinai? According to Galatians 4, Sinai symbolizes a source that produced slaves, who are rejected by the grace of God (vv. 24-31). The law given by God at Sinai goes alongside the central line of God's economy. This side line always goes in parallel with the central line.
Satan is always where God is. The book of Job shows that Satan even went to the sanctuary in the heavens where God was (1:6-7). Before we are going to have a meeting, I pray desperately, asking the Lord to chase away all the darkness, all the demons, and all the evil spirits. This is because where God is, Satan is. Where the central line goes, the side line will come along to bother and distract you.
Psalm 15:2-5 shows that David's concept in this psalm was that the perfect man according to the law could dwell with God for His heart's desire and good pleasure. Thus, verse 5 says that he who does these good things will not be shaken forever.
Following Psalm 15, we see the divine revelation in Psalm 16.
The divine revelation in Psalm 16 is according to the economy of God with Christ as its centrality and universality, ordained by God in eternity (Eph. 3:9, 11).
Psalm 16 reveals the God-man, Christ, not the good man. God does not desire a good man, but a God-man. He does not desire a man with two "o's" as in the word good, but a man with one "o" as in the word God. Psalm 16 shows us Christ in His four stages: the stages of human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. Only God with His Spirit could write such a psalm. The human mind could never compose such a writing.
Psalm 16:1-8 reveals the God-man, Christ, in His human living. He is not merely a good man, but a God-man. God became a man and lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. He lived in Nazareth until the age of thirty. Then He ministered for three and a half years. He was the very God living a human life in a small geographical area. The land of Palestine in the time of Jesus was a very small and narrow strip of land. He grew up in the small village of Nazareth in the despised place of Galilee for thirty years. What patience He had! Then He came out to travel in His ministry. Of course, there was not the modern means of transportation which we enjoy today. Jesus had to travel mostly by foot within the land of Palestine.
The four Gospels show us the marvelous human living of this God-man. No biography can compare with Jesus' life. Millions of readers of these four Gospels have been inspired by the way in which Jesus Christ lived on earth. After His human living, He entered into death for three days and three nights. Then He came out of death and entered into resurrection. Finally, He ascended to the heavens where God the Father is. Today He is in ascension at the right hand of God the Father. Psalm 16 is a short psalm, but it covers such a wonderful Person in His four stages: His human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension.
His human living spontaneously implies His incarnation. If He had not been incarnated and did not have the human nature with a human body, He could not have lived on earth. Because He was altogether in humanity, He did not threaten anyone. Even the small children could come to Him (Luke 18:15-16). He was so wonderful — because He was God born to be a man. God, in this man, in this humanity, lived on earth.
His human living implies His incarnation in which He became a man and brought divinity into humanity (John 1:14a). Formerly, before the incarnation, divinity was separate from humanity. But when Jesus was born, divinity was brought into humanity, and divinity and humanity were mingled together to produce a God-man.
Christ took refuge in God and trusted in God's preservation (Psa. 16:1). We may pray, "Lord Jesus, protect us; preserve us." When Christ was a man on this earth, the very God in whom He trusted was also His preservation.
Christ took God as His Lord and had no good beyond God (Psa. 16:2). Today on earth everyone, even the most sinful person, is claiming his rights. But the Lord Jesus, while He was a man on this earth, did not claim any right for Himself. He took God as His Lord. Every man needs God as his Lord. Without the Lord, we do not know who our Possessor is. Our parents or our wives are not our possessors. Christ the Lord is the One who owns us. He is our Possessor. Christ in His human living had no good beyond God. His good was uniquely God Himself as His portion.
Christ has delight in the saints, the excellent people on the earth (Psa. 16:3). The saints implies the church, the Body of Christ. Why does Christ delight in the saints? It is because the saints are the members that constitute His Body, the church. While we are gathered together in the meetings, many other people are gathered together to engage in worldly entertainment and sinful pleasures. Who is the excellent group in God's eyes? By the Lord's mercy, we are the excellent group. In Christ's view, we are a particular and excellent people. Christ delights in God's people, and He has made us excellent.
Christ in His human living had nothing to do with other gods and their offerings, nor did He take up their names upon His lips (Psa. 16:4). He would not mention the names of any idols. He even would not mention the names of the idol worshippers. That would contaminate His lips.
Christ took God as the portion of His inheritance and of His cup (Psa. 16:5). Inheritance refers to a possession, and cup refers to enjoyment. In Christ's human living, God became His possession and also His enjoyment. God was His inheritance and His cup. With the inheritance, there is a portion, and with the cup, there is also a portion. The portion of our inheritance and of our cup today is Christ. Furthermore, Christ trusted in God to maintain His lot (v. 5). Today the whole earth is a mess. Seemingly there is no hope for this earth. We may think the earth is hopeless, but God still maintains it for Christ. Eventually, Christ will inherit the earth as His possession.
Christ appreciated the possession given by God to Him under the measuring lines on pleasant places and the beautiful inheritance given to Him by God (Psa. 16:6; 2:8; Rev. 11:15). This messy earth will become a pleasant globe to Christ when He comes back to inherit it.
Christ blessed God who counseled Him and was instructed by His inward parts in the nights through His contact with God (Psa. 16:7; Luke 6:12).
Christ set God before Him continually and was not shaken (cf. Psa. 15:5b) because God was at His right hand (Psa. 16:8; Acts 2:25). In John 8:29 the Lord said that while He was on this earth, He was never alone, because God the Father was always with Him. In Jesus' human living, God the Father was with Him.
In Psalm 16:9-10 we see the revelation of the God-man, Christ, in His death (Acts 2:26-27).
Psalm 16:9a says that Christ's heart was rejoicing and His glory was exulting. This means His heart was rejoicing in Hades. The Hebrew word for glory in verse 9 can be interpreted as spirit or tongue. The Hebrew word means glory, but the Greek Septuagint translated the Hebrew word for glory into tongue. When Peter quoted Psalm 16:9 from the Septuagint in Acts 2, he said, "My tongue exulted" (v. 26). Some other versions translate the Hebrew word for glory as mouth. Thus, three things are referred to by the word glory: our spirit, our tongue, and our mouth. In Christ's death His heart was rejoicing, and His spirit with His tongue was exulting.
We have to exercise our spirit, our mouth, and our tongue in the meetings. This is the way to prophesy. Many saints come to the meetings and sit quietly. They are like the "marble Mary" outside some Catholic cathedrals. I would like to ask them, "Where is your spirit? Where is your mouth? Where is your tongue?" In the meetings their spirit is not exercised, their mouth is not exercised, and their tongue is not exercised. When we are in the meetings, we should exercise our spirit, our mouth, and our tongue to speak for the Lord. Then we will be glorious; we will be in glory. When we do not exercise in such a way, we are in a low condition. We need to exercise our spirit, our mouth, and our tongue to speak Christ to one another in the meetings. Then we are glorious because we are exercising the three parts of our glory: the spirit, the mouth, and the tongue.
Christ's heart rejoicing and His glory, His spirit with His tongue, exulting indicate that Christ was obedient to God even unto death, and that the death of a cross (Phil. 2:8). He was obedient unto death, not an ordinary death but a particular death, the death of the cross. This also indicates that Christ was willing and happy to die for the accomplishment of God's economy. He told us in John 10:17-18 that no one took His life away, but He laid it down. He also had the authority to take His life back. He died for the accomplishment of God's economy.
In His death, Christ's flesh (His physical body) dwelt securely (Psa. 16:9b). This indicates that Christ's body was buried in a secured tomb (Matt. 27:59-60). This also indicates that Christ was resting physically in His burial waiting to be resurrected.
His soul went to Sheol (Hades) and remained there for three days (Psa. 16:10a; Eph. 4:9).
He did not see corruption (decay) in His physical body (Psa. 16:10b). This indicates His death and burial.
Now we come to the third stage of Christ in Psalm 16 — His resurrection (Psa. 16:10-11a; Acts 2:27-28a).
God would not abandon Christ's soul to Sheol, nor let Him as God's Holy One see corruption, decay (Psa. 16:10; Acts 2:31). This indicates that Christ's soul would be raised up from Hades and also that Christ's physical body would be resurrected from the tomb (Matt. 28:6; John 20:5-9).
God would make known to Christ the path of life — resurrection (Psa. 16:11a; Matt. 28:6). In His incarnation Christ brought divinity into humanity; in His resurrection He brought humanity into divinity. In His incarnation Christ made something divine, human; in His resurrection He made something human, divine.
In resurrection Christ was also begotten of God to be the firstborn Son of God (Psa. 2:7; Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29). Through His incarnation Christ put on humanity. In His resurrection He brought His human part into divinity to be begotten of God that He could be the firstborn Son of God. In eternity past and before His resurrection, He was the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). But in resurrection the only begotten Son became the firstborn Son of God by having His humanity begotten of God.
In Christ's resurrection the believers were regenerated to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3; Heb. 2:10; Rom. 8:29). First Peter 1:3 says that through the resurrection of Christ, God regenerated us, all the believers. Actually, we were not regenerated at the time when we believed. That is merely according to our estimation. According to the divine fact, we all were regenerated together nearly two thousand years ago. When Christ in His humanity was begotten of God to be God's firstborn Son, all His believers were also begotten of God to be God's many sons. Thus, now through the resurrection of Christ, God has a group of sons, a corporate sonship. As sons of God, we need to realize that divinity was brought into our humanity and now our humanity is being brought into Christ's divinity. Christ was divinely human, and we are humanly divine. Thus, we are the same as He is in life and in nature, but not in the Godhead.
Psalm 16 finally reveals the God-man, Christ, in His ascension (v. 11b & c; Acts 2:28b).
Christ is in God's presence participating in fullness of joy, indicating that Christ has ascended to the heavens for His attainments and His obtainments (Psa. 16:11b; Acts 1:11; Phil. 2:9-11). In His ascension, among many other things, He attained to the kingship, to the lordship, and to the ruling leadership and the qualification of being a Savior to save others (Acts 5:31). He also obtained many things in His ascension.
In His ascension Christ is enjoying pleasures forever in God's right hand, indicating that Christ is also at the right hand of God in His ascension to surpass all for the accomplishment of God's eternal economy concerning the church, the Body of Christ (Psa. 16:11c; Eph. 1:20b-23). This is the wonderful God-man portrayed in Psalm 16.
We need to see the divine revelation of this wonderful person in the Psalms. We may be like the blind man who was healed by the Lord in Mark 8. After the Lord laid His hands on him, He asked this man if he saw anything. The blind man responded that he saw men as trees, walking. The Lord had to lay His hands upon this man again so that he could see clearly (vv. 22-25). We may be like this man because our eyes are not fully open yet. But as we get into the Psalms week by week, our eyes are becoming more open, and we are seeing more and more.
Our eyes need to be opened until we have a full vision, a full revelation, concerning this wonderful person. He is the Word of God, even God Himself. In eternity past, He was full of divinity without any humanity. But one day in time He came to be incarnated and put on humanity. He became a God-man with a human body and lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He entered into death to accomplish God's redemption according to God's eternal plan, God's economy.
Christ came out of death and entered into resurrection. In this resurrection He brought His humanity into divinity to be begotten of God to become God's firstborn Son, and God regenerated all His believers to be God's many sons. Furthermore, in resurrection, He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As the life-giving Spirit, He is now within His believers as their life and their life supply.
He ascended to the heavens to attain many positions and to obtain many qualifications. In His ascension He became the Lord, the King, the Ruler, the Savior, and even the Christ for the accomplishment of God's economy that God could produce an organism, that is, the Body of Christ in resurrection as the church.
This is the Christ revealed in Psalm 16. This is the man that can sojourn in God's temple and dwell on God's holy mountain. Such a man is not a good man according to the law, but a God-man according to God Himself as the life and life supply.
From Psalm 1 to Psalm 16, there is a history which we need to see. The history begins in Psalm 1 with a man appreciating the law, treasuring the keeping of the law, and highly appraising the keeper of the law. Then in Psalm 2, God came in to declare that Christ was His Anointed. God anointed Him and installed Him to be the King. God also begot Him in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God. Thus, we all have to take refuge in Him, to believe into Him. We also have to kiss Him, to love Him. This is the second step of the history.
After Psalm 2 was written, David, the appreciator of the law, committed the most "rough and tough" sin. He committed adultery with Uriah's wife and murdered Uriah (2 Sam. 11). We have seen previously that by that terrible sin, he broke the last five commandments (Exo. 20:13-17). He murdered Uriah, committed fornication, robbed Uriah of his wife, lied to Uriah, and coveted Uriah's wife.
The title of Psalm 3 says that this psalm was written when David was fleeing from his son Absalom. David fled from his son because his son rebelled against him. This rebellion was the issue of David's sin of fornication and murder. Because of this sin, God allowed fornication and murder to occur in David's family among his children. One of David's sons committed fornication with his daughter, and then Absalom killed the son who did this (2 Sam. 13). Eventually, Absalom rebelled against David (2 Sam. 15).
I would like to add something here for us to see. At the time that David committed his terrible sin, God took away His sustaining hand from David. If God had so desired, He could have arranged the situation so that David would have never seen Uriah's wife. There was a kind of circumstance that gave David the opportunity to sin. God allowed this to happen to David. We need to consider why God allowed this. David appreciated the law and even appraised himself so highly. Therefore, God took His sustaining hand away from David so that David could be fully exposed, not only to himself but also to all the Lord's children throughout the generations until today.
David was exposed to the uttermost. I do not believe that any of us have been fully exposed or convicted of our sinfulness. This is because God in His mercy has not exposed us to the extent that He exposed David. It is hard to believe that such a godly servant of God as David could commit such a terrible sin. He conspired to murder one of his soldiers, and then he robbed this one of his wife! Who could believe that such a godly king like David could do this? God allowed that to happen. God kept His preserving, protecting, and sustaining hand away from David for a time. David thought he kept the law, but God arranged an environment to show him that he could not keep the law. An environment was there that fit David's sinful flesh, allowing his flesh to come out and fully expose him.
David committed this great sin about one thousand years before Christ. Many years later the New Testament still refers to this sin. Even in the genealogy of Christ, Matthew 1:6 says, "David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah." What an ugly record! How could someone beget a son of another's wife? David is exposed even today.
He was exposed, and later he was on the test with Absalom's rebellion. When Absalom was pursuing him, David prayed the prayers recorded in Psalms 3—7. After considering Psalms 3—7 in the light of God's New Testament economy, we have seen that these psalms should not be taken as models for our prayer. In them we see David's sufferings, his desire to be avenged of his adversaries, and his self-righteousness. We do not see any repentance, confession of his fault, or self-condemnation. This is the history of the one who appreciated the law and who was exposed. There is no hint or indication that he was humbled, that he was full of self-denial, or that he was self-condemned. He was on the test during Absalom's rebellion, and the testing did not bring out anything positive in these psalms.
Then in Psalm 8, God came in to inspire David. This psalm is David's inspired praise of the excellency of Christ. After Psalm 8, the history goes on with Psalms 9—14, which show us David's human concept concerning God's judgment on his enemies and his concept concerning man's condition before God. Then Psalm 15 speaks of David's concept of a perfect man according to the law being able to dwell with God for God's heart's desire. But in Psalm 16, there is the divine revelation that the only one who can dwell with God for God's heart's desire is the God-man, Christ. The God-man Christ in His human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension is the centrality and universality of the economy of God, the man who may dwell with God for His heart's desire and good pleasure. I hope that we can keep in mind the history of these sixteen psalms. Then we can understand their real significance.
