In a recent conference, there were four main points which I would like us to take note of in this introductory word to the Psalms:
1) The economy of God is to bring forth an organism for His Divine Trinity.
2) The law in the economy of God is to be used by God for exposing the sinful nature and evil deeds of the sinners.
3) The grace in the economy of God is God's embodiment for man to receive to be his enjoyment and supply.
4) The issue of the experience of grace in the economy of God is the organic Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
I praise the Lord for His sovereign arrangement in allowing us to have this conference with these four main points before we begin our life-study of the Psalms. In the Psalms we will see these four main points.
The first psalm is concerning the law. David did not know the real function of the law. He likened himself, as one who delighted in the law, to a tree growing beside streams of water and flourishing all the time (v. 3). But after Psalm 1, there is Psalm 2 concerning Christ. Then there is Psalm 3. The heading of Psalm 3 says, "A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son." The one who enjoyed the law as the streams of water by which he grew became a kind of exile due to the rebellion of his son. This happened to David because of his murder of Uriah and his taking of Uriah's wife (2 Sam. 12:10-12). The one who enjoyed the law so much in Psalm 1 became an intentional murderer. Does this show that the law works? The law does work, but not in David's way. The law works to expose us. The law exposed David to the uttermost as one who conspired to kill Uriah and rob Uriah of his wife. Does the law work or not? We have to say that the law works, not according to David's concept in Psalm 1, but according to the apostle Paul's teaching in the New Testament. Paul pointed out that the law was something added to the central line of the divine revelation to expose man's sinful nature and wicked deeds (Rom. 3:20b; 5:20a). We need this view of the law in order to understand the Psalms according to the divine concept in the New Testament. We are not in the Old Testament as David was, but we are in the New Testament.