Scripture Reading: Psa. 74—83
Ⅰ
Whereas Psalm 73 is on the sufferings of the seeking saints, Psalm 74 is on the desolation of the house of God:
A
The intrinsic reason for the desolation was that Christ was not exalted by God's people; they did not give Him the preeminence, the first place, in everything:
１
Their failure to give Christ the preeminence and to honor and exalt Him was the cause of their becoming sinful and evil.
２
The desolation of the church as the house of God always issues from the negligence of the experience of Christ—1 Cor. 1:9-13, 23-24, 30; 3 John 9.
B
Psalm 74:1-11 is the psalmist's painful presentation of the perpetual ruins and damages in the sanctuary of God.
C
Verses 12 through 23 are a desperate cry for God's interest according to His power and based on His covenant; this prayer is an example of the best kind of prayer—the prayer that is for God's interest, that is according to God's power, and that is based upon God's faithfulness to His covenant.
Ⅱ
Psalm 75 is concerned with the judgment of Christ upon the desolators, and Psalm 76 is on the victory of God in His dwelling place.
Ⅲ
Psalms 77—83 cover the devastation of three holy things—the holy temple, the holy city, and the holy people—and reveal the way of restoration—exalting Christ:
A
Psalm 77 says that God's way is in the sanctuary—v. 13.
B
Psalm 78 is on man's failure and God's restoration.
C
Psalms 79 and 80 reveal that restoration comes by exalting Christ:
１
In 80:14-19 the psalmist asks God to visit His vine (Israel) for the sake of Christ as the man of His right hand:
ａ
Son in verse 15 refers to the Lord Jesus; when He became a man, He joined Himself to Israel—Hosea 11:1; Matt. 1:15.
ｂ
Psalm 80:17 reveals that Christ is at the right hand of God, the highest place in the universe; the first place, the highest position, the preeminence, has been given to Christ.
２
The way of restoration is to exalt Christ:
ａ
The problem of desolation is solved by our appreciating and exalting Christ.
ｂ
Real revival in the church depends upon everyone in the church life giving Christ the preeminence, the first place, in everything.
Ⅳ
God intends that Christ have the first place, the preeminence, in all things—Col. 1:15-18:
A
Christ is the centrality and universality of God's eternal economy; God has determined that one person—His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—must be everything—Matt. 17:5; Heb. 1:1-3; Col. 2:16-17.
B
God's desire is to have a recovery purely and wholly of the person of Christ; God wants to recover Christ as everything in His eternal economy and everything to us as our portion and enjoyment—1 Cor. 1:9; Col. 1:12.
C
To give Christ the preeminence in all things, we need to be delivered from the principle of antichrist—1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7:
１
To be an antichrist is to be against Christ or to have something instead of Christ.
２
The principle of antichrist is first to deny something of what Christ is and then to replace Christ with something else.
D
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love, regarding Him as everything in our life—Rev. 2:4; Col. 1:18; 3:11:
１
We must not love anyone or anything above the Lord, including our soul-life—Matt. 10:37-39; Rev. 12:11.
２
We love the Lord because He first loved us, infusing His loving essence into us and generating within us the love with which we love Him—1 John 4:19, 7, 16.
３
We love the Lord according to the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity as love—Rom. 5:5; 8:39, 35; 15:30.
E
In order to give the Lord the preeminence, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, to be made nothing, that the Lord can have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of His Body—Col. 1:18; 3:4, 11; 2:19.
F
As regenerated people we need to come together in the meetings of the church to exalt Christ by praising, singing, and shouting—1 Cor. 14:26:
１
Instead of being silent, we should exercise our spiritual birthright to exalt Christ.
２
The more we exalt Christ, giving Him the preeminence in everything, the more we will be revived and restored.
Ⅴ
God's intention is to recover the earth for Christ's inheritance, and Satan's plot is to take God's habitation in possession—Psa. 82:8; 83:12:
A
Psalm 83:1, 13-18 is the psalmist's prayer for God to deal with the nations that they may know that God alone is the Most High over all the earth.
B
God's intention is to give Christ the preeminence in the local churches and then through the churches to recover the whole earth for Christ's inheritance—2:8.