the central thought of the book of Psalms is Christ and the church as the house and the city of God

Praise the Lord for the book of the Psalms! Just like most believers, I also love this book – every psalm brings me closer to God. It is so sweet to read psalms and love the Lord more, or at least to be ministered to in the situation or condition you’re in…

According to our concept humanly, the Psalms are the expressions of the sentiments, feelings, and impressions of godly men who were intimately close to God and were seeking after God. But we need to see the divine view of the book of the Psalms. According to the divine concept, the central thought of the book of Psalms is Christ (as revealed in plain words – see Luke 24:44) and the church as the house of God (as typified by the temple) and the city of God (as typified by the city of Jerusalem) for His kingdom.

Actually, the whole Bible has a “spirit” – the spirit of the Bible is to exalt and uplift Christ! The spirit, the characteristic, and the reality of the divine revelation in the book of Psalms is Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s eternal economy.

It is so easy to take this book for granted and let it appeal to our natural man, our natural taste, and our present state of mind / our emotions. Sometimes we may feel down, other times we may feel up – and the Psalms are just like that, sometimes up, sometimes down. But when we come to this book we need to have God’s view, we need to know God’s thought, and see what the divine revelation is in this book.

The Bible doesn’t talk about anything else except Christ and the church in many aspects. Firstly, Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and then He is enlarged to be the house of God (as the habitation of God, signified by the temple), and then He is enlarged even more to become the kingdom of God (the city of God, signified by the city of Jerusalem)!

From the city of God and the house of God Christ is the Ruler of the entire earth! He becomes all in all in the entire universe, filling everything and being enlarged to fill all and in all! This high revelation of God’s purpose in making Christ everything and having Him enlarged to fill all and in all is prophesied in the expressions of the sentiments of the ancient godly saints in the book of Psalms.

In Psalms this revelation is shining here and there since it is mixed with their comfort in sufferings, their cultivation of godliness, their genuine seeking after God, their sentiments concerning other people and their enemies, etc. This is why we need to put on the glasses of God’s economy that we may see that what God desires is to have a habitation on the earth!

This habitation is the aggregate of the living saints gained by God through the terminating death and the germinating resurrection of the all-inclusive Christ! These ones will be the eternal manifestation and expression of the processed and consummated Triune God!

This is revealed progressively in the Bible and also progressively in the book of Psalms. May we have God’s view and God’s thought when we read and enjoy the Lord in the book of Psalms! [sharing inspired from the life-study of the Psalms (by brother Witness Lee), as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of the Psalms]

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see Your eternal economy and Your thought in the book of Psalms! Save us from our own concepts, our own views, and even from our self! Lord, we love You! We love Your eternal economy. Thank You for becoming a man and for making us, in Your resurrection, to be Your duplication and Your enlargement! Be expressed through us, Lord! Be enlarged and expanded in our whole being and in all Your believers – that You may gain the house and the city of God for Your full expression!