In this message we shall consider further aspects of Christ’s person in the fulfillment of the types and figures of the Old Testament.
Psalm 24:7-10 reveals strongly that Christ is the King of glory. The King of glory is “the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (v. 8). Psalm 24:7-10 is fulfilled in a full way in Revelation 19:11-16, which speaks of Christ as the Warrior who is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (v. 16).
As the King of glory Christ is “Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war” (Rev. 19:11). In faithfulness to God and the believers He defeats those who oppose God and persecute the believers. He is true in carrying out God’s economy and in caring for those who believe in Him. He judges and fights in righteousness, His flaming eyes (v. 12) carrying out His judgment.
As the King of glory Christ has many diadems on His head (v. 12), His name is called “The Word of God” (v. 13), and a sharp sword proceeds out of His mouth (v. 15). Christ has been crowned and glorified. Because He has been crowned with the glory (Heb. 2:9) that has different aspects, He wears many diadems. His name, “The Word of God,” indicates that He is the definition, explanation, and expression of God, even while executing God’s judgment upon the rebellious. The fighting of Christ is the speaking of the Word of God. As Christ fights against the enemy, He proclaims to the universe that God is sovereign, righteous, and orderly. The sword that proceeds out of His mouth is the powerful word that judges the rebellious. Christ defeats the enemy with the sharp sword, the almighty word, that proceeds out of His mouth.
As the King of glory Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords, a name that is written on His garment and on His thigh. Christ’s garment signifies His attributes, especially His righteousness in His humanity, and the thigh signifies His standing strength, His stability. His title “King of kings and Lord of lords” is exhibited in His righteousness and stability. This is Christ as the King of glory.
Psalm 36:8a says, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house.” In typology the fatness of the Lord’s house refers to the rich produce of the good land. All the riches that were offered to God in the house became the fatness of His house. The fulfillment of this type is in Christ. He, with His unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8), is the reality of the fatness of God’s house. In Old Testament times God’s people could enjoy this fatness only in the place God had chosen for His habitation. For this reason, the psalmist declares that God’s people were satisfied with the fatness of His house. Apart from God’s dwelling place, the temple, the Old Testament saints did not have this enjoyment. They were bountifully, abundantly satisfied with the fatness of God’s house. Today the rich enjoyment of Christ is ours in the house of God, the church. In the church we are satisfied with the riches of Christ, even His unsearchable riches, enjoyed, digested, and assimilated by us as the reality of the fatness of God’s house.
Psalm 36:9a says, “With thee is the fountain of life.” Christ is the fountain of life in the house of God, the church. In God’s house the saints partake of Christ as such a fountain.
Psalm 36:9a is fulfilled in John 4:14. In His conversation with the Samaritan woman the Lord Jesus indicated to her that she needed the living Son of God as the fountain to become a spring of water welling up within her. First He said, “If you knew the gift of God…you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). God’s gift includes both His Son and the divine life. These two are one gift, for the divine life is in the Son (1 John 5:11-12), and the Son actually is the divine life (John 14:6). The thirst in human life can only be satisfied by the One who has been given to us as eternal life. For this reason, the Lord went on to say, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again” (4:13). “This water” signifies the enjoyment of material and worldly things. Only one “water” can satisfy us for eternity—Jesus Christ. He satisfies today, tomorrow, and forever. Therefore, the Lord said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life” (v. 14). We have received Him, and He has become a spring of water welling up within us into eternal life.
On the one hand, Christ is the fountain of living water; on the other hand, He is the spring. In God He is the fountain, but in us He is the spring. When He enters into us and dwells in us, He becomes a spring of water welling up into eternal life. Whenever He wells up in us we are brought into eternal life, and our thirst is quenched.
Psalm 36:9a is also fulfilled in Revelation 21:6: “I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.” This spring is Christ Himself. In eternity and for eternity we, the sons of God, shall enjoy Christ as the spring of the water of life.