K
To love the Lord with the first love, to give Him the first place in all things, is to behold His beauty and to ask for the counsel of Jehovah in every detail of our Christian life and work—Psa. 27:4; Josh. 9:14; Phil. 4:6-7.
L
To love the Lord with the first love, to give Him the first place in all things, is to be dominated, governed, directed, led, and moved by our mingled spirit, caring for the rest in our spirit by being His captives and by praying, "Lord, conquer me. Make me Your captive. Never let me win. Defeat me all the time"—2 Cor. 2:13-14.
M
To love the Lord with the first love, to give Him the first place in all things, is to have a clear sky like awesome crystal with God's sapphire throne above it; this means that there is nothing between us and the Lord and that we are filled with the heavenly atmosphere, condition, and situation of His ruling presence—taking Him as our King and allowing Him to rule and reign within us—Ezek. 1:22, 26.
N
Only Christ the King reigning on the earth with the overcomers as His helpers in the kingship can solve the problems of today's world (Isa. 42:1- 4); Christ's name will be remembered in all generations and praised by the nations through His overcoming and co-reigning saints (Psa. 45:16- 17; Rev. 2:26).
O
The overcomers, who are typified by Zion, are the beachhead through which the Lord will return to possess the whole earth—Psa. 48:2; Dan. 2:34-35.
P
"Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in. / Who is the King of glory? / Jehovah strong and mighty! / Jehovah mighty in battle!... / Who is this King of glory? / Jehovah of hosts— / He is the King of glory!"—Psa. 24:7-8, 10:
１
The gates are of the cities of the nations; the doors are of the houses of the people, and Christ is the Desire of all the nations (Hag. 2:7); all the nations, in a general way, are expecting Christ to come, but Christ will not come quickly according to our human concept (2 Pet. 3:8-9); thus, we need to lift up our heads and await and expect His coming with long endurance.
２
The King of glory is Jehovah of hosts (that is, of armies), the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and overcoming Christ (Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31); Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Triune God, who is strong in fighting and is victorious (1:21; Rev. 5:5).
３
He is the One who will come back in resurrection with His overcomers to possess the entire earth as His kingdom—Dan. 2:34-35; 7:13-14; Joel 3:11; Rev. 11:15; 19:13-14.
Q
Christ as the One on the throne of God has the appearance of sardius (its red color signifying redemption) and jasper (its dark green color signifying life in its richness); thus, when we submit ourselves to Christ's headship and are under His throne, we are the beneficiaries of all that He is in His judicial redemption and His organic salvation so that we may bear the same appearance of the God of glory in His rich life—4:3; 21:10- 11a; Rom. 5:10.
R
Those who wash their robes in the redeeming blood of Christ have the right to enjoy the tree of life as their eternal portion in the holy city, the Paradise of God, in eternity—Rev. 22:14; 2:7.
Morning Nourishment
Psa. 45:16-17 In the place of Your fathers will be Your sons; You will make them princes in all the earth. I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise You forever and ever.[In Psalm 45:16] fathers signifies Christ's forefathers in the flesh, sons signifies the overcomers of Christ as His descendants, and princes signifies the overcomers of Christ as His co-kings, who will reign with Christ over the nations.
No one can solve the problems of today's world. Only Christ the King can solve these problems. When Christ reigns on earth, the overcomers will be His helpers in the kingship, His co-kings. The sons of Christ, the overcomers, will be the princes reigning with Christ over the nations.
We need to see not only the beauty of Christ that is in Christ Himself and the beauty of Christ that is in the church but also the beauty of Christ that is in all His descendants, all His members, as the princes. If we see Christ's beauty in these three ways, we will have a complete view, the full picture, of His beauty.
[Verse 17] reveals that Christ's name will be remembered in all generations through the overcoming saints, and Christ will be praised by the nations through His overcoming and co-reigning saints. (Life-study of the Psalms, 2nd ed., pp. 267-268)
Today’s Reading
Psalm 24:7-10…shows us the victorious Christ as the coming King in God's eternal kingdom. Verse 7 says, “Lift up your heads, O gates; / And be lifted up, O long enduring doors; / And the King of glory will come in.” The gates are of the cities of the nations. The doors are of the houses of the people. The long enduring doors indicate waiting and expecting with long endurance (Phil. 3:20; 1 Cor. 1:7). This indicates that the people of the earth have been waiting and expecting Christ's second coming. In Haggai 2:7 we are told that Christ is the Desire of all the nations. All the nations, in a general way, are expecting Christ to come, but Christ will not come quickly according to our human concept. Thus, we need to lift up our heads and await and expect His coming with long endurance.Because we must wait for His coming with long endurance, we have a tendency to drop our heads in discouragement. This is why the psalmist says, “Lift up your heads.” If we expected someone dear to us to come and he does not come, we would drop our heads. But if we received a phone call from him, telling us that he is coming, we would lift up our heads; that is, we would be encouraged to expect his coming.
We have to lift up our heads, because the King of glory will come in (Psa. 24:7, 9; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31). We must get ready to welcome Him. Psalm 24:8 asks, “Who is the King of glory?” The King of glory is “Jehovah strong and mighty! / Jehovah mighty in battle!” Jehovah is Jesus, and Jesus is the embodiment of the Triune God in resurrection. He is the One who is strong in fighting and victorious.
Verse 7 says, “Be lifted up,” but verse 9 says, “Lift up.” To be lifted up means that we are still weak, needing someone to move us. But to lift up means that we have become stronger. We can act to lift up ourselves. The King of glory, whom we welcome, is Jehovah of hosts…Jehovah is the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Triune God. He is the One in His resurrection coming back to possess the entire earth, to take it as His kingdom. The King of glory is Jehovah of hosts, the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and coming Christ (v. 10).
We have seen that Psalm 23 reveals Christ as the Shepherd in His resurrection and that Psalm 24 reveals Christ as the King in God's kingdom… Hallelujah for our Christ being our Shepherd today and our King in the future! (Life-study of the Psalms, 2nd ed., pp. 149-150)
Further Reading: Life-study of the Psalms, msgs. 11—12, 20—21, 31; Life- study of Ezekiel, msg. 11; Life-study of Joshua, msg. 9; CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” ch. 3