Life-Study of Psalms, by Witness Lee

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II. CHRIST AS THE KING IN GOD’S KINGDOM

Psalm 24 reveals Christ as the King in God’s kingdom. This will be in the coming age.

A. The Realization of the Earth and
the Fullness Thereof as God’s Kingdom

In Psalm 24:1-2 we see the realization of the earth and the fullness thereof, and the world and those who dwell in it, founded by God upon the seas and established by Him upon the streams, as God’s kingdom. The thought in these two verses is very good.

B. The Mixtures of David’s Concept

In verses 3-6 we again see the mixtures of David’s concept. In these verses, his natural concept returns again. David said, "Who may ascend the mountain of Jehovah,/And who may stand in His holy place?/He who has clean hands and a pure heart,/Who has not engaged his soul in falsehood/Or sworn deceitfully./He will receive blessing from Jehovah,/And righteousness from the God of his salvation./This is the generation of those who seek Him;/Those who seek Your face are Jacob." These verses have nothing to do with the kingdom and are absolutely like Psalm 15.

We should not blame David too much for his natural concept because we are the same as he was. We have to remember that David was still living in the flesh. This is why there are two kinds of concepts in the Psalms—the human concept and the divine concept.

C. The Victorious Christ to Be the Coming King
in God’s Eternal Kingdom

Verses 7-10 are surely a proper continuation of verse 2. These verses show us the victorious Christ as the coming King in God’s eternal kingdom. Verse 7 says, "Lift up your heads, O gates;/And be lifted up, O long enduring doors;/And the King of glory will come in." The gates are of the cities of the nations. The doors are of the houses of the people. The long enduring doors indicate waiting and expecting with long endurance (Phil. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:7). This indicates that the people of the earth have been waiting and expecting Christ’s second coming. In Haggai 2:7 we are told that Christ is the desire of all the nations. All the nations, in a general way, are expecting Christ to come, but Christ would not come that quickly according to our human concept. Thus, we need to wait and expect His coming with long endurance.

Because we must wait for His coming with long endurance, we have a tendency to drop our heads in discouragement. This is why the psalmist says, "Lift up your heads." If we expected someone dear to us to come and he does not come, we would drop our heads. But if we received a phone call from him, telling us that he is coming, we would lift up our heads, that is, we would be encouraged to expect his coming.

We have to lift up our heads, because the King of glory will come in (vv. 7, 9; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31). We must get ready to welcome Him. Psalm 24:8 asks, "Who is the King of glory?" The King of glory is "Jehovah strong and mighty!/Jehovah mighty in battle!" Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is the embodiment of the Triune God in resurrection. He is the One who is strong in fighting and victorious.

Verse 9 says, "Lift up your heads, O gates;/And lift up, O long enduring doors;/And the King of glory will come in." Verse 7 says, "Be lifted up," but verse 9 says, "Lift up." To be lifted up means that we are still weak, needing someone to move us. But to lift up means we have become stronger. We can act to lift up ourselves. The King of glory, whom we welcome, is Jehovah of hosts. Hosts means armies. He is Jehovah of the armies. Jehovah is the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Triune God. He is the One in His resurrection coming back to possess the entire earth, to take it as His kingdom. The King of glory is Jehovah of hosts, the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and coming Christ (v. 10).

We have seen that Psalm 23 reveals Christ as the Shepherd in His resurrection, and that Psalm 24 reveals Christ as the King in God’s kingdom. Hallelujah for the shepherding Christ, and hallelujah for the reigning Christ! Hallelujah for our Christ being our Shepherd today and our King in the future!

(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee)

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