Psalms 16 is a short psalm but reveals so much about the Lord Jesus in His human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension – even without mentioning these words. This One, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Beloved of the Father, the Firstborn Son of God, the One who fulfills God’s heart’s desire and lives a life for God’s good pleasure.
We may think that WE KNOW about the Lord’s death and about His resurrection, that we read about it, studied about it, and can even speak it.
But there’s a fresh revelation to be seen in Psalms 16 concerning the Lord’s death and His resurrection – and I for one want to be open, unloaded, and unveiled to see something more about the Lord!
Christ in His death – Praising God and Resting
Psa. 16:9-10 says, Therefore my heart rejoices and my glory exults; Even my flesh dwells securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, Nor let Your Holy One see the pit. In His death, Christ’s flesh dwelt securely (He was buried in a secured tomb – see Matt. 27:59-60). The word REST means that Christ was resting in His death waiting to be resurrected! He didn’t see corruption in His physical body(He was in Sheol / Hades for 3 days).
Even more, according to Psa. 16:9 and Acts 2:24-32 where Peter quotes this portion, Christ was glad when He was put into Hades! Jesus was in death but He was glad, His spirit exulted, His heart was glad, and His tongue praised God! Our tongue has very much to do with our spirit since our spirit praises the Lord with our tongue. Our heart is glad, our spirit exults, and our tongue praises!
Seeing Christ in His Wonderful Resurrection
Psa. 16:11a says, You will make known to me the path of life. Together with the last part of the previous verse, we can see Christ’s resurrection – God will not allow Christ’s soul to see Sheol and His body will not see corruption! Christ’s soul has been resurrected and His body also has been raised up – God made known to Christ the paths of life in resurrection (Matt. 28:6). There are several wonderful things that happened in Christ’s resurrection:
- In His incarnation, Christ brought divinity into humanity by bringing the infinite God into the finite man. In His resurrection, Christ brought humanity into divinity by bringing man into God (Rom. 1:3-4). Christ brought His humanity, the human part which had nothing to do with God, into God!
- In His resurrection, Christ was begotten of God to be the firstborn Son of God (Psa. 2:7; Acts 13:33; Rom. 8:29). In eternity past and before His resurrection, Christ was already the Only Begotten Son of God(see John 3:16), but through incarnation, He put on humanity. This humanity was not the Son of God; therefore, in His resurrection, Christ brought His human part into divinity to be begotten of God as the Firstborn Son of God! In the resurrection of Christ, the only begotten Son became the firstborn son of God!
- In Christ’s resurrection, all the believers in Christ 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). We may say we were regenerated at the time we received the Lord into our heart, but the reality is that we were regenerated in Christ’s resurrection more than 2000 years ago! Christ was begotten to be the firstborn son of God and we were begotten to be the many sons of God – Christ was divinely human and we are humanly divine! We are now sons of God the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead!
- In His resurrection, Christ became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Just as in His incarnation God became a man, in His resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit to regenerate us for His Body (John 20:22). As the life-giving Spirit now Christ is everywhere in a “breathable form”, ready to be received by man so that He may accomplish God’s economy in man! He as a life-giving Spirit is now in our spirit, imparting life to all the inward parts of our being, making our whole being life!
[sharing inspired from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms(by bro. Lee) and the life-study of the Psalms as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of the Psalms]
Praise You Lord for Your wonderful death! You rested in Your death awaiting Your resurrection, since You believed that God will not leave You there in Sheol! How we appreciate You in Your praising God with Your heart, spirit, and tongue! You were not touched by corruption and Your soul and Your body was not left in Hades to see decay. Rather, You were resurrected and You brought humanity into divinity! Praise You Lord for Your resurrection!
