Psa. 23:5 is the fourth stage of the deeper and higher enjoyment of the resurrected Christ, where the Lord spreads a table before us in the presence of our adversaries and He anoints our head with oil, our cup runs over! What a rich portion! What a rich Christ!
Right after our passing through the valley of the shadow of death, instead of us resting and feasting, we are fighting the battle and feasting! The valley is like a burning, qualifying, and perfecting for us to fight the battle! No matter how living and active we think we are, we need to pass through the test so that we would be perfected and equipped for battle!
You spread a table before me in the presence of my adversaries
On the battlefield we don’t just fight – we feast! I have never heard yet of such a situation where you go to the battle and there you feast! Usually, when the victory is won, the people are feasting, but here the Lord spreads a table before us in the presence of our adversaries… While we are fighting, we are feasting! Just like Joshua and Caleb in the Old Testament, who had a different spirit than the other 10 spies sent by Moses to the good land – “the enemies are our food!“, “these are giants, but they are our food” (Num. 14:9). Though the enemy may attack us, his armies are like courses of a meal for us!
Every day we fight the battle – the enemy is within us, around us, in situations and even in people, and every day there’s a fight! On the one hand, we enjoy the Lord and feast on Him as a table spread before us, and on the other, we fight for the victory and from the victory! Then, when we come to the Lord’s Table, we will feast on the Lord even more together with all the saints!
You anoint my head with oil, My cup runs over
In the old times, the kings were anointed with oil on the head – and Psalm 133 speaks about the anointing spreading from the head down to the skirts of the garments. The all-inclusive compound life-giving Spirit as the consummation of all the processes the Triune God went through is an ointment with which we are anointed. Such a rich ointment, with which our whole being is anointed and mingled!
This cup is the cup of blessing, as 1 Cor. 10:16 says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ?…” Our cup is not just full, but it is running over – it is overflowing! The Triune God has now become our all, and He is our portion running over, overflowing! He anoints us on our head and spreads everywhere all the time to anoint our whole being with all the elements of what He is…
The Triune God has now become our all – He’s for our enjoyment!
In these verses we see the Triune God becoming everything to us – Christ is the rich feast for our enjoyment, the Spirit is the anointing oil on our head, and the Father is the source of blessing overflowing as a cup for us to enjoy… Right after we go through the valley of the shadow of death, there’s a table spread for us with many courses – a feast for us to enjoy – in front of our adversaries! Here on the battlefield, we feast on Christ, our head is anointed with oil, and our cup is running over!
This is so true even based on our experience – the more we fight the battle for the Lord, the more we sense that we are supplied within with the rich Christ, we sense the anointing within us, and we have a cup of blessing that runs over and we “spill over” our enjoyment of the Triune God! We are being perfected, we are fighting, we are feasting, we’re being anointed, our cup runs over – all at the same time! Wow… – and this is not all! There’s even more…
[sharing inspired from the life-study of the Psalms and, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (1). Intro: deeper and higher.]
Lord Jesus, bring us higher and deeper with You. Grant us a higher and deeper enjoyment of the resurrected Christ! Praise You for the table You spread before us – You are our feast. Course after course, we can feast on this wonderful Christ. Lord, our feasting is in the presence of our enemies! Keep us feasting on You as we fight the adversary! We praise You for anointing our head with the compound ointment… and our cup, Lord, runs over! Keep us feasting on You and enjoying You!
