Living Stream Ministry

I. THE REVELATION OF THE PSALMS BEGINNING
WITH THE PSALMIST STRESSING THE LAW AND
WITH THE SPIRIT TURNING THE PSALMIST TO CHRIST

The revelation of the Psalms begins with the psalmist stressing the law and with the Spirit turning the psalmist to Christ (Psa. 1—2). When the psalmist began in Psalm 1 by stressing the law, he was going in the wrong direction. In the first psalm, the psalmist seeking after God was driving on the wrong highway, so the Spirit came in to turn him to the right way.

In Psalm 2 the psalmist began to enjoy Christ—to take refuge in this Christ and to kiss this Christ (v. 12). The highest and best enjoyment of human life is kissing. When a child is born, the parents and grandparents enjoy kissing this child. If a person had no one whom he could kiss, he would surely be one of the most miserable people on earth. Psalm 2:12 commands us to "kiss the Son." Kissing Christ is the enjoyment of Christ.

Some may wonder where the word enjoyment is in the Bible concerning our relationship with Christ. Although this word is not in the Bible, the fact of the enjoyment of Christ is there. It is the same with the words trinity and triune. Although these words are not in the Bible, the early church fathers discovered the fact in the Bible that our God is triune, that He is the Divine Trinity. In like manner, the word enjoyment is not found in the Scriptures, but the fact is there. In Psalm 2 we are told to kiss the Son. The Son is a pleasant title. Kissing the Son is enjoying the Son.

The enjoyment of Christ in the Psalms begins with kissing the Son in Psalm 2. This enjoyment continues in Psalm 8, in which the psalmist declares, "How excellent is Your name/In all the earth!" (vv. 1, 9). Psalm 16 is also full of enjoyment. Verse 11 of this psalm says, "You will make known to Me the path of life;/In Your presence is fullness of joy;/In Your right hand there are pleasures forever." Psalm 22 gives us a very vivid picture of Christ’s death on the cross. It also shows us His church-producing resurrection (v. 22). In Christ’s resurrection His God is our God, His Father is our Father (John 20:17), and we are His brothers. The apostle Paul quoted Psalm 22:22 in Hebrews 2:12, pointing out that the Lord’s brothers are the church.

Psalm 23 is full of the enjoyment of Christ as our Shepherd. Many Christians love Psalm 23, but not many have the realization that in this psalm they need to kiss Christ as the Shepherd. We saw in the previous message that Christ as the Shepherd leads us through five stages of enjoyment. The first stage is that of the green pastures and the waters of rest (v. 2). The second stage is the paths of righteousness (v. 3), and the third stage is the experience of Christ’s presence through the valley of the shadow of death (v. 4). The fourth stage is the deeper and higher enjoyment of the resurrected Christ, in which we enjoy the Lord’s table in the presence of our adversaries (v. 5). This implies that we are enjoying the Lord on the battlefield. The fifth and final stage is the lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and kindness in the house of Jehovah (v. 6). Psalm 24 goes on to show that the victorious Christ as the King of glory is coming to reign as the King in God’s kingdom. All these points in the Psalms indicate that Christ is enjoyable.

(Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee)