"BLESSED IS THE MAN"
“BLESSED IS THE MAN”
It is interesting to notice the psalms in this book. The first begins with: “Blessed is the man”; then Psalm 32, “Blessed is the man”; and again in the last psalm of the book (Psalm 41), “Blessed is he”. It is of interest and gives character to the whole. It is the Spirit of God pronouncing the kind and character of people who are blessed. To be apart from evil is the mark of the blessed man in Psalm 1; to have one’s sins forgiven is the mark in Psalm 32, and in Psalm 41 it is “Blessed is he that considereth the poor”; it is not difficult to see the spiritual progress there is in that. I only notice that by the way.
I come now to the continuation of what I was speaking of last week. The first few psalms up to 13, especially Psalm 2 and Psalm 8, set before us the glory. Then when you come to Psalm 16 what is so important is that God Himself provides the Man who is fit for the glory. Blessing is not to come in in connection with the first man, but in connection with the Man whom God Himself has provided. That is the thought to my mind in Psalm 16: the perfectness of the Man according to the mind of God. The terms of Psalm 16 are not strictly applicable to any one but Christ; they are essentially prophetic of Christ. Christ was the seed of the woman, but morally He derived nothing from man. All that came in by Christ was perfectly new and different in kind from anything that had been here before. Every quality that you find in Christ, every trait was different from the man that preceded Him — whether fallen or unfallen; that is a great deal to say, but I am assured of the truth of it. Psalm 16 brings out the perfectness of His piety — the three great marks of which are: Jehovah His inheritance,
[p. 210] Jehovah the source of His counsel, and Jehovah at His right hand. The Lord was morally apart from man, and human wisdom, and human support. Beloved friends, that was entirely new!
I go back for a moment to the earlier psalms, that is the introduction of the glory. What I see is this, that God makes Himself known to man in man’s responsibility, as man must know Him. When God makes Himself known in the gospel, it is as every man must know Him, that is, in righteousness and in power. The power of God will raise man for judgment; in the gospel I see God makes Himself known in righteousness and power to man, but in grace. The blood is the witness of His righteousness, and the resurrection of His power. It is Christ whom God presents — not in judgment, but in grace. Depend upon it, that is the way we must begin our acquaintance with God. We must begin by knowing God morally. Until you have light as to what God is in righteousness and power you have nothing upon which to build up a solid structure. Then when the Holy Spirit is received another thing comes in: the love of God is shed abroad in the heart. The knowledge of that is coincident with the reception of the Holy Spirit. You get new light entirely with regard to God; you begin to know God, not as He presents Himself to man in his responsibility, but as God is pleased to reveal Himself in connection with His counsels. I believe the pivot is the reception of the Holy Spirit. The moment I am made acquainted with the love of God by the Holy Spirit I am privileged then to know Him as He makes Himself known in connection with His counsels. “There is one God, the Father ... and one Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 8: 6), and the Holy Spirit; that is the display of God according to His counsels. Man, as man stands, must know God first morally in righteousness and power before the truth will open out to him as to what God is, and what He will display Himself to be in His counsels.
[p. 211] Now all the first part of the psalms — what we get in Psalm 2 and Psalm 8 is God coming out according to His counsels. Another passage will help to explain it, Ephesians 3:14 to end. I want you to notice that the prayer is addressed to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the subject of the prayer is that the saints may be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; and the divine object to be gained is that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, and that you may be filled to all the fulness of God.
At the close of Ephesians 2 Jew and gentile are “builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit”, Ephesians 2:22. Many of us stop there and we think ourselves very well instructed in the truth of the church in knowing that. But in chapter 3 God brings in the vessel; the display is to be in the saints, and for the display they are to be “filled even to all the fulness of God”. ‘Fulness’ to my mind in Scripture is display. There was the full display of God in Christ. In Him “all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell”, Colossians 1:19. Love is “the fulfilling (or the fulness) of the law” — the display of it. The way it is all brought about is according to the grace of the Father; and it is effected by the Spirit and Christ dwelling in the heart that there may be the full display down here of all that God is in connection with His counsels. You have to remember that all that came out when Christ was here on earth. Christ was the Vessel, the Fulness; there was the power of the Spirit, and the Father was the Source. “The Father loves the Son and shews him all things which he himself does”, John 5:20. The Father is specially prominent in John and the Spirit in Luke, but you have to take the whole in. Christ was the Vessel of the fulness; the Father’s own works and words were seen there, but all were effectuated by the Spirit. The wonderful thing is the church succeeds Christ. The church is now the vessel. The idea was that they might be the expression of it down here as [p. 212] in that prayer in Ephesians 3. Beloved friends, it is a most wonderful thought to me! The structure of Ephesians is beautiful; the saints are taken to heaven where God is, that they may understand that down here they are the habitation of God by the Spirit and they are to be filled unto all the fulness of God so that all that God is might come out in the saints.
Well, I turn back to the psalms. As I said, Psalm 2 and Psalm 8 specially present the glory. They give such a wonderful insight into the glory that will be displayed of God in the world to come, and all follows on the rejection of Christ. That is the way God comes out in connection with His counsels — He displays Himself in His Son. Christ goes into death to annul it; He goes into heaven crowned with glory and honour. I pass on to Psalm 22, and there I get what is very wonderful. I still get Christ on man’s side. First the sufferings of Christ with which we are all familiar — the whole range of suffering He passed through, the whole path; but in the latter part of the psalm we get brought out in a remarkable way, not the elements of glory like the Son of man, but the connection He has established with man. It is not a question of what He presents on the part of God to man, but what He takes up on the part of man toward God. In Psalm 22 we get “My brethren”; we get “the great congregation” — He takes His place in the midst of Israel. What is plain enough in that passage is the relation which Christ takes up in resurrection, first with the church and then with Israel; but He takes up that position on man’s side; He takes a place in the midst of His brethren, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”, Psalm 22:22. One thing I see in Christ in regard to others is that He came forth from the Father in order that [p. 213] He might conduct us in to the Father — that He might break every yoke under which we were, that we might be released, and that He might quicken us. But it does not end there; His great end was that He might conduct us in to the Father. “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go unto the Father”, John 16:28. He came forth from the Father alone, but He does not go back alone; He takes us in with Him. He came forth for that end, to break every bond under which we were that we might be free — but what for? That we might be made alive in regard to God; that we might live with Christ; and another point even more blessed still, that lie might conduct us in to the Father. That you get here — “I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee”, Hebrews 2:12. He cleared all the ground so that He might come into the midst of the company. He was the “life-giving Spirit”. He said to His disciples, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit”, John 20:22. He breathed on them making them to live in the power of the Spirit. But what for? That they might be His companions in the presence of the Father. That is His grace; it is hinted at here, and in regard to the future He says, “My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation”, Psalm 22:25.
Now in Psalm 40 it is: “I have published righteousness in the great congregation”. It is a great thing to apprehend the divine thought and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I feel we limit it too much. With a great many people the thought of His grace does not go beyond the Saviour; they do not even apprehend Him as the “last Adam” — “the life-giving Spirit”; and many who know that fail to apprehend that He is the One who will conduct them into the Father’s presence. “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”, Hebrews 9:28. That strictly applies to Israel. What is the coming out for with regard to us? To take us into the Father’s house. He has already conducted us into the Father’s presence, but He is going to do more, to bring us into the Father’s house and that too for His own satisfaction. “If I go away... I will come again and receive you unto myself”, John 14:3. Why? That His joy may be full, that where He is there also we may be. It is a great thing for our hearts to be in relation to the Lord.
Just consider these thoughts for a moment — the pressure He has relieved us from (we ought to take that to heart); then that He has communicated to us the Spirit that we might live in Him; and then He would conduct us into the Father’s presence, and finally into the Father’s house. I admit this psalm does not go so far as that; you could not conclude it from the psalms if we had not the New Testament; but we see He takes His place in the church in connection with men. The glory of God is displayed in Him on the one side; He is perfect as Man Himself, but He will not be alone; so He takes His place in the church circle first, and then in connection with Israel.
Now I will tell you the two practical results to us:
one is that you find in Him the Shepherd; the other is, you look for His glory. The former is the effect of knowing the relation in which Christ stands to us — that is Psalm 23, and in Psalm 24 we look for and share His glory. I may venture to read Psalm 23:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”. I have no doubt this psalm may be descriptive even of the experience of Christ Himself, but I want to come to its application to us. In Psalm 22 we have Him in the assembly, but we want Him also in the wilderness as the Shepherd;
[p. 215] and then if you have known Him in the assembly and have known His care as Shepherd, what remains to be looked for is His advent in glory.
Psalm 24 is a very beautiful psalm. No doubt it relates to His coming to earth, but for us it relates to our going into the Father’s house. I think we want to know more of the experience of these psalms. He wants to conduct us into the Father’s presence. Are you willing for it? If you are going to be conducted to the Father’s presence you must drop everything of the flesh and know what it is to be risen together with Christ; you must be free of the power here. What a wonderful thing to know Him there and He leading the praises to the Father! “In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee”, Hebrews 2:12. That is what the eternal day will be: everything pervaded by the Father’s Spirit; Christ Himself the object of everything.
“Of the vast universe of bliss,
The Centre Thou and Sun;
The eternal theme of praise be this,
To heaven’s Beloved One:
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou,
That every knee to Thee should bow”. (11:4)
And
“Not an eye those hosts among
But sees His glory Thine”. (178:4)
He leads us into the Father’s presence now, and eventually He will take us into the Father’s house.
I commend these psalms to you, beloved friends, because they are so blessed. It is so essential for our hearts to know Him in this way, not only in the assembly but individually as the Shepherd who restores our soul! Then in Psalm 24 it really is you “love his appearing”, as the apostle says. If we know anything about Christ in the assembly and His care for us in the wilderness, nothing will delight us like His appearing. It ought to be very sweet and very blessed to every christian. If you have no love for it — well — I almost doubt if you have a christian heart!
[p. 216] Now I turn to Psalm 32. I dare say some would think I am going back a bit, and I am. I have gone very far beyond this in Psalm 22, but what comes out there is the place which Christ takes. I have enlarged on what He does in regard to us, and I think it is just because we get it so in the New Testament, but strictly the psalm is personal to Christ. It is the sufferings over, and the place He takes in regard to the purposes of God first in the assembly, then in the great congregation, and finally in the ends of the earth. It is strictly true of Christ. In the succeeding psalms what is true is this: two great points come out — the government of God and sins. You have to learn the two things. If you are going to be blest, sins have to be brought home to you, and another great line is the principle and end and issue of God’s government. These two points constitute the substance of all the remaining psalms until you come to Psalm 40. Saints will have to learn it in the future and we have to learn it too. I want to be conformable to God’s government; I will give you a passage: “He that will love life and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile”, 1 Peter 3:10. Why? “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their cry”, 1 Peter 3:12. I have to recognise the reality of God’s moral government, and let the wicked be as rampant as they may, God’s moral government is in favour of the righteous. The righteous have the Lord’s eyes and ears; “the face of the Lord” — His whole presence, “is against them that do evil”. I stand aghast at what people do sometimes! It is not at what every one would call shocking things outwardly — but things that perhaps men would praise, but I believe to be utter abomination in the eyes of God. Though men succeed in paths of wickedness and crookedness you may depend upon it it is true: “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (Psalm 34: 16); we have to remember “[p. 217] the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous”. But there is another lesson which I trust we have all learned, that is sin. When you come to Psalm 32 you really get the terms of the new covenant: forgiveness, and divine instruction. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go”, Psalm 32:8. It is the principle of the new covenant learnt in the soul in the midst of evil. It will be written in the heart of Israel in the future; but we have the terms of the covenant while we are still left in a scene of evil. Believers are justified and they are divinely taught — taught of the Spirit; “I will guide thee”. We have come into spiritual privileges which you do not expect to find opened out in the psalms. Of course they never go beyond their proper scope. Israel will come into these blessings by-and-by. In Psalm 32 and Psalm 41 the characteristics of the blessedness come out, and all is formed on the place Christ takes in Psalm 22 and on all that precedes — the glory that God has established. The great result of all is glory. Stephen looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God — the whole effulgence of God, as God will display Himself in time to come. He saw the glory of God and Jesus: the shining out of Himself in connection with the accomplishment of His purposes in the world to come. We see it, not as Stephen saw it, but morally in the face of Jesus. “God ... hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 4:6. We are privileged to be in the blessed effulgence of God that shines in the face of Jesus, and Christ dwelling in the heart by faith.
The great place to know Him is in the assembly:
that privilege, and to know His care as Shepherd and to look for His glory, sum up christianity. Spiritual privilege is only realised, I believe, in the assembly, but I will tell you what you do realise outside in the wilderness — His shepherd care that never fails. There is no psalm that presents this more beautifully than [p. 218] Psalm 23. That is what Christ is to us, and I do not doubt what Jehovah was to Him as man down here; no doubt it will be true with regard to Israel, but the end and outcome of all is you look for His glory, for His appearing.
I have sought to bring before you these few thoughts. The beauty of Psalm 22 is the place He takes with regard to others. He is not going to abide alone. He has been through the suffering and takes a place definitely in regard to others.
Then in the rest of the book you get the exercises through which saints have to pass until they are brought into the blessings of the new covenant — forgiveness and divine teaching. It is a great thing to be taught of God. It is very difficult to find one’s path through this world; it is very much of ‘a wilderness where there is no way’; but you are not left to your own wit and wisdom and will, but “I will guide thee with mine eye”. “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule which have no understanding”, Psalm 32:9. The new covenant does not bring us to the thought of spiritual privilege, but it gives us the terms on which God is with us. Then we can go forward and learn how Christ conducts us into the holiest of all. He is a Priest for us, too; in regard to the difficulties down here we get support and succour in the wilderness, but His great purpose is that we may not be disqualified for our part in the service of the sanctuary. He is the minister of the sanctuary; saints are the vessel; He wants to keep us fit for the service of the sanctuary:
“In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee”, Hebrews 2:12. You come in as His companions.
May God give us to see the greatness of what He has presented to us: His greatness and glory! Not only do we know Him in righteousness and power, but also as He will display Himself in the world to come in glory. God has made Himself known in the effulgence of His glory.