Today's Christians commonly say that every word of the Bible from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 is the word of God. I believe that the Bible is wholly inspired by God but not that every word in the Bible is a word by God. Surely, the word of the serpent to Eve in Genesis 3 is not a word by God, and it would be a great mistake to say that it is. In the Bible there are many words uttered by God's enemies, for instance, the words uttered by the chief priests and the scribes in their mocking of the Lord Jesus (Mark 15:31). My point here is that we need to differentiate between the word spoken by God and the word spoken by others. No doubt, every word out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus is a word out of the mouth of God, and such a word is the divine revelation directly given. However, in the Bible there are many words that are not the words of God. Without those words we would not have the proper background for the showing of the divine revelation.

In the fifty chapters of Genesis we have a history of a number of people from Adam to Joseph, but in this book there is very little teaching or doctrine, if any. Without teaching or doctrine how can there be much revelation? In this matter, Romans is very different from Genesis. Chapters one through fifteen of Romans are filled with Paul's teaching.

What do we have in the Psalms? Do we have history and doctrine? No, in the Psalms we have the expressions of sentiments. How much of the divine revelation is unveiled in a particular expression depends on the kind of sentiment conveyed by that expression. Certainly David's expression of his sentiment of hatred for his enemies should not be considered something of the divine revelation.

I hope that this opening word will help to give you, especially the young generation, a proper foundation for understanding the Bible. In particular, I hope that this word will help you to understand what I am endeavoring to do in these messages on the Psalms. In our reading of the Psalms, we need to realize that certain expressions are not of the divine revelation but of the psalmists' complex sentiments.

Let us now go on to consider Psalms 73 through 76, which are concerned with the desolation of God's house and Christ as the solution.