What kind of a man does God desire to dwell with on His holy mountain? We have previously seen that God doesn’t want a good man nor an evil man but a God-man.
We may like Psalms 16 outwardly, but inwardly and unconsciously we may still appreciate the man Psalms 15 – a perfect man, so upright, not slandering, so good in every way, very generous, etc. Where is such a man in the world today? There is no such man, and it’s impossible to be such a man through our own efforts.
Two lines in the Bible: life and knowledge (of good and evil)
What satisfies God’s heart’s desire and fulfills His good pleasure is a God-man, the Lord Jesus with His perfect and beautiful incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection as revealed in Psalms 16!
This really shows the two main lines in the Bible – the line of the tree of life and the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These lines start from the very beginning in Genesis and run through the Bible all the way until the end, with two sources, two lines / developments, two flows, and two destinations!
Even in the same family of Adam and Eve with Cain and Abel we have the two lines – Abel was on the line of life and Cain was on the line of the knowledge of good and evil. Within ourselves we have these two lines, and we daily need to choose which line we are on / we continue on.
The good teachings of Confucius (so high, so ethical, so moral, and so upright) and the evil deeds of the bank robbers and the criminals (so low, so condemnable, so illegal, so immoral, so unethical, and so degrading), as far as God is concerned, are from the same source – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the Psalms we see this very often – David and the other psalmists jumping between the two lines, sometimes writing under God’s inspiration on the line of life, while a little later being fully on the line of the knowledge of good and evil.
We also may hate the evil and love the good, we may love to choose to do the good and reject doing evil – yet God is not for good or evil but for the line of life!
God’s economy is in faith and can be accomplished only through the line of life – God’s economy is altogether centered around the Lord Jesus as the God-man in all His processes. This Christ is so wonderful, so perfect, and so beautiful in His human living…
Exercising our spirit, our heart, and our tongue
This morning I enjoyed one particular aspect of the Lord in Psalms 16:9, “Therefore my heart rejoices and my glory exults; Even my flesh dwells securely.” Even in His death, Christ’s heart rejoiced and His glory exulted! His heart was rejoicing in Hades, and His spirit with His tongue was exulting.
Wow… on the one hand, as a man, the Lord Jesus asked the Father to remove (if possible) the cup from Him. On the other hand, as a God-man, Christ rejoiced and exulted!
It is the same with us today – especially when we come to meet with the saints, we need to exercise or spirit and rejoice, exult with our heart and our mouth!
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 was obedient to the Father even unto death, and that the death of a cross (Phil. 2:8) – He was willing and happy to die for the accomplishment of God’s economy. He laid down His own life since He had the power and authority to do so. But with us – we need to lay down our own soul life and exercise our spirit, our heart, and our tongue to praise the Lord, enjoy Christ, and speak Christ!
[Sharing inspired from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms (by brother Witness Lee) and the message in the Crystallization-Study of the Psalms, msg. 4. Intro: God wants a God-man!]
Lord Jesus, we love You! Save us from trying to be a good man – may we aspire to be in reality a God-man, Your reproduction! Change our concepts, Lord, and uplift our view to see things the way You see them! May we even unconsciously appreciate You as a God-man rather than aspire to obey the law and be a good man. Lord Jesus, we praise You for Your perfect human living – such a pattern! Even in Your death You praised the Father and exulted in Him… We choose right now to exercise our spirit, our heart, and our tongue: Praise the Lord!
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