In this message, entitled "The Saints' Deeper Experience of God in the Identification with Christ," we will consider Psalms 90 through 92. As we read these psalms, we need to seek what they reveal about the deeper experience of God and about the identification with Christ.

Psalm 90 opens with a word concerning God as our dwelling place: "O Lord, You have been our dwelling place/In all generations." To be sure, the Bible is the only book that tells us that God can be our dwelling place. Psalm 42:1 speaks of panting after God as a hart pants after streams of water. In preaching the gospel, we may tell others that they can drink, eat, and breathe the Lord Jesus, but have you ever told others that they can dwell in the Lord? Dwelling in the Lord is deeper than drinking Him. Many of us, after coming into the church life, can testify of drinking, eating, and breathing Christ, but have you ever had the thought of dwelling in Christ?

Psalms is not a book on good and evil. Psalms is a book on Christ—a book on drinking Christ, eating Christ, breathing Christ, and dwelling in Christ. Christ is the living water to quench our thirst. In Psalm 36 the river of God's pleasures is for our drinking, and the fatness of God's house is for our eating. We can drink, eat, and breathe the Lord. Now in Psalm 90 we see that we can also dwell in the Lord.

Psalm 90 was written by Moses, the one who gave the law with all the statutes and ordinances. In verse 1 this lawgiver, who was quite old, proclaimed that God is our dwelling place in all generations. Then in verse 2 he went on to say, "Before the mountains were brought forth,/And before You produced the earth and the world,/Indeed from eternity to eternity, You are God." This was a new thought, something altogether unprecedented. Have you ever considered this matter of God's being our dwelling place?

From my youth I was taught by Bible teachers regarding the abiding in Christ mentioned in John 15. The Lord Jesus said, "Abide in Me and I in you" (v. 4a). At that time I understood the word "abide" as meaning to stay or to remain, not to dwell. But eventually I learned that the Greek word translated "abide" means not simply to remain but also to dwell. To abide in Christ is to dwell in Him, not just remain or stay in Him. When we dwell in our house, we have our life and our living there. This means that our life and living are altogether wrapped up with our dwelling place. We spend more money on our house than on anything else. Some people really love their house and all the furniture in it. Furthermore, our house indicates the kind of person we are. In Scotland, for example, the people are known for the excellent way they care for their houses.

According to Moses' word in Psalm 90:1, our house, our dwelling place, is the Triune God as our Lord. Dwelling in God is the deeper experience of God. When we experience the Triune God to the degree that we take Him as our dwelling place, we have the deeper experience of God.