(PART 1)

There is no subject so affecting to the hearts of the Lord's people as the Person of the Lord Jesus. He is the theme of all the Scriptures. I purpose in this, and in a series to follow, to write concerning Himself as He is presented in some of the Psalms. The Lord Himself in the upper room opened up the Scriptures in the law of Moses and in the Psalms. May our pen be "the pen of a ready writer" as such a glorious theme is meditated upon. The cure for all the ills and departure today is a fresh appreciation of Christ. A heart full of His matchless Glories will worship acceptably, walk worthily, and serve faithfully.

The book of Psalms is not a book of doctrine or types, but a collection of poems written by the inspiration of God, under the personal circumstances of the psalmists, and many of these tell out prophetically the feelings of the Lord Jesus when in the World His hands had made, and also as He hung upon the Tree of shame. Every psalm, or all contained in any one of them, may not refer to Christ personally so the reader must "rightly divide the Word of truth". In a number of these beautiful psalms there can be no doubt that Christ alone is the subject, and it is these that, by the help of the Holy Spirit, we shall consider. Some are known as the "MESSIANIC PSALMS" - that is, they refer particularly to the Messiah or the Christ. It is these that we have thought much about. It is well to remember that even in these "Messianic" psalms some verses cannot be directly applied to the Lord Jesus personally, but rather express the feelings of the writer, or prophetically are those of the remnant of the coming Great Tribulation. Much error has developed by applying all in the grand Messianic Psalms to the Glorious Person of the Sinless Redeemer.

THE FIRST PSALM - "THE PERFECT MAN"

The first two psalms are fitting introduction to the whole book in presenting Christ morally and officially. He is the Perfect Man (Psalm I) and the Annointed King (Psalm 2). It is the grand portal to this remarkable part of God's truth. The first psalm does not refer exclusively to the Lord, for it describes the godly and contrasts with the ungodly. But who ever reached the standard of perfection morally among all the sons of men described in this psalm? The Christ alone was pre-eminently the Godly Man. Perfection was ever seen in Him from the manger of His lowly birth right through every circumstance of His pathway, until finally He was subjected to the cruel death of the Cross. What a sight for all Heaven's hosts and for the eye of God, to see a Man on earth in a scene of revolt, iniquity and poverty, passing through it in absolute separation and perfection. He was the one who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners nor did He ever sit in the seat of the scornful, but all His delight was in the law of His God. God found infinite pleasure in this devoted path of His Son in Holy Manhood down here. He was separate from all the ways of the world, devoted in all His path to the Father and in perpetual freshness to those who desired His blessing. How different from all others who were called to walk before God. The subject of His sinless walk is set before us as an example that we should "follow His steps". As we gaze upon the devotion, moral worth, and hidden desires of the Perfect Man, God intends that such traits in measure will be reproduced in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is something very touching and attractive to the heart in this moral glory of the Lord Jesus. He was ever marked by absolute perfection. This then is the Perfect Man of Psalm I. May we all seek to follow His Pathway and be marked by His traits. For the help of young saints, I would heartily commend the reading of John G. Bellett's, "The Moral Glory of the Son of God" in connection with this delightful subject. This book proved a real blessing to the writer many years ago and is still valued above many today. The lines expressed in the well known hymn which we often sing embody the truth,

"This Name encircles every grace
That God, as man could show
There only can the Spirit trace
A PERFECT LIFE below."

May our meditation of Him be sweet to our souls, but also as the R. V. of Psalm 104 verse 34 reads, "Let my meditation be sweet unto Him".