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Transcript 110A — Psalm 23 Explained
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening. Some time ago you did an explanation of Psalm 23, and I wondered if you would do that again tonight.
HC: Psalm 23. I'll try to do that.
The question that's raised is: What does God teach in the 23rd Psalm? We are all quite familiar with this, of course. I think most of us are. But it is a psalm that is loaded with deep spiritual meaning.
Now the first verse goes: "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want." It's interesting how God presents Himself to us as a Shepherd. In Ezekiel 34 we find such a beautiful statement about the kind of a shepherd that God is. He says in verse 11 of Ezekiel 34:
For thus says the Lord God. Behold, I, I Myself will search for My sheep and will seek them out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad. So will I seek out My sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered, on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land.
And I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, on fat pasture. They shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I Myself will be the Shepherd of My sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over. I will feed them in justice.
Now you see how God repeatedly uses this figure that He is a Shepherd. And you will recall in John 10 that Christ says, "I am the Good Shepherd. I lay down My life for My sheep." And so when it says here, "Jehovah, the Lord, is my Shepherd," it is really speaking of those who have been sought out by God and who have been found. It is talking about those who are born again believers, those who have become children of God.
No wonder it goes on to say, "I shall not want," because when we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ we have everything on our side. We are of royal blood. We are heirs of all the promises that we find in the Bible. Jesus promises, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." And He of course is Kind of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Almighty Ruler of the universe. So we have everything going for us.
Now: "He makes me lie down in green pastures." And the word green here is a word that really means the tender grass. He leads me where the grass is the most tasty. In a pasture the older grass is not nearly as quickly eaten as the young tender grass, because the older grass is more difficult to digest. And it does not have the taste, apparently. And so sheep will always eat the new grass first. God, of course, when He provides for us, provides that which is the very best.
"He makes me lie down." We are safe and secure when we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have no fear. A lamb, a sheep, that is frightened is not going to lie down. It will be running hither and thither. But when a lamb is safe and secure, and there is abundant food, then he can lie down in the pasture land.
Now of course when He provides this pasture, it means that there is abundant food. And we feed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Bread of Life. He is of course identified totally with the Word of God. And as we read the Word of God, we are feeding on Him.
Then it says, "He leads me beside still waters." The word still here really means waters of rest. Again you get that picture of having arrived, of having finally found total safety and security. The land of Canaan is called the Land of Rest in Hebrews 3 and Hebrews 4. And it's a figure of salvation. We rest in Christ.
Now you see, the fact is, before we are saved we are struggling. We are desperately trying to find a way back to God. And of course we're doing this by thinking we can do good things, by thinking that somehow by our good works, by our worthiness we can come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But the fact is that when we realize that Christ has paid it all, and that we only have to rest in Him, then we have found the true rest.
Now waters bespeak of the Word of God. You'll recall that in John 7 it says that when we belong to Christ, out of our belly will flow rivers of living water. The Word of God will flow from us. And we are led by Christ into this land of rest, which is described here in the Word of God. All of this is totally interrelated with each other.
"He restores my soul." Now before we are saved, in body and soul we are unsaved. Before we are saved, body and soul we are antagonistic toward God. But the first grand and wonderful thing that happens when we are saved is that we experience the resurrection of our souls. We are restored to Christ. We are no longer an alien. We are no longer against God. We read in Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul." It is the Word of God in which we can discover about this salvation. The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit that leads us to a repentant attitude so that we experience salvation.
It goes on: "He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake." Remember, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." This is the path, this is the way that we walk when we become born again, when we are a sheep, when we are under the care of the Shepherd, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been led in the way of Christ. And it's the way of righteousness. We read in II Corinthians 5:21: "For our sake He made Him to be [that is, Christ] sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." And so God imputes His righteousness to us, and He leads us on the way to God, which is a righteous way. And it's for His Name's sake. Not because it's going to be for our glory, but it's totally for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation is to bring Him glory.
Then it goes on: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." No matter how death might threaten, you'll remember what Jesus said, "Don't fear him who can kill the body, but fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell." Even though we are threatened by physical harm, by persecution, we fear no evil because God is always in charge of us. Even at the moment that we would die, because of illness or whatever, we know that we are never abandoned by God, that we are only one breath away from being in His glorious presence.
And so we have the promise, "Thou art with me." Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He sends the Holy Spirit, God Himself, the Holy Spirit, to indwell us, from the moment that we are saved.
"Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." The shepherd's rod was the symbol of his leadership. It was the rod that was able to keep the wild animals away. It was symbolical of his care over his flock.
"Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of my enemies." Now the table that is prepared for us is really Christ Himself. He is the Bread of Life. We eat that Bread in the presence of our enemies. We are in an alien world. Actually, all of the unsaved of the world are enemies of Christ and His followers, enemies of the citizens of God's Kingdom, which we enter into when we are saved. And yet we can very safely and securely feed on the Word of God, because we are protected by God. Even in an alien country like Russia, they don't have the Bible in their home. And yet they can feed on the Word of God, as they recall this verse or that verse from the Word of God.
"Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup overflows" — "Thou anointest my head with oil" refers to the fact that we have been ordained by God, from the moment that we have been saved, to be a king, a prophet, and a priest. A king was made king by having his head anointed, and we read in Ephesians 2:6 that we have been "raised with Christ and are seated with Him." We read in Revelation 5 where it speaks of the fact that we reign with Him on earth. We also have been anointed with oil in the sense that we are priests. We are a royal priesthood, as we read in I Peter 2:9. This is all because of fact that Christ has become our Shepherd.
"My cup overflows." This reminds me of Luke 6. Remember in Luke 6 where it speaks about giving in verse 38? Notice what God will do: "And it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." When we have surrendered our lives to Christ, when we have laid our lives down on the altar of service, as we read in Romans 12:1, then we can expect that God's blessings will flow, and our cup will overflow. He will give us more than we deserve, more than we could ever contemplate. In fact, our whole salvation is just a cup that overflows.
And then the psalm closes with this beautiful promise: "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." This is a faithful statement of God that once we are saved, we will always be saved. "All the days of my life." Now how long is my life when I have been saved? Well, the Bible teaches that I have been given eternal life. And so the days of my life continue, on this side of the grave, until I die. And then they continue forever and ever and ever, in the presence of the Lord.
The fact is, the next phrase emphasizes this eternity: "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Do I dwell in the house of the Lord now? Yes, I do, if I'm born again. This does not mean that I live in a church building. This does not mean that my home is in some kind of a physical temple. The house of God, the house of the Lord, is God Himself, as we read in Psalm 90:1: "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." When we are saved, we are brought into Christ, as we read in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." When we are in Him, we are dwelling in Him, And we dwell in Him forever. We dwell in Him now that we are saved. We dwell in Him eternally. We read in Revelation 21 or 22 where it says that there is no temple in the New Heaven and the New Earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is our temple. And this is to be forever.
So in Psalm 23 we have a tremendous statement of the security, of the eternal character, of the rest that is found in the born again believer who has been encompassed within the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Shepherd.