Psalm One

Psalm one is more than just Psalm one, it is an introduction to the book of Psalms. It introduces the two categories of people in this life. The first three verses talk about the believer and the last three verses talk about the unbeliever. Since it is such a very short psalm just one thing is mentioned with regard to the believer and one thing to the unbeliever. What is most important to the believer in time? The principle is Bible doctrine producing inner happiness in the mentality of the soul. And what is the greatest challenge to the unbeliever in time? This is recorded in Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” So the last three verses talk about the judgment of the unbeliever.

Verse 1-3, the happiness of the believer. The first word is a very unusual word found throughout the Old Testament. In the Hebrew singular it is asher. Asher is the name of a tribe, and it simply means happiness. It is in the singular and it is only used for the tribe. However, whenever this word is used for happiness connected with the believer it always is in the plural, ashere. It only occurs this way in connection with the believer because the believer cannot have one kind of happiness, he either has two or none. The first of these two happinesses is inner happiness or mental happiness. This is what is described in this concept, “Blessed.”

The second happiness is an outer or overt happiness which comes from inner happiness and is based upon it. You cannot as a believer ever possess outer happiness. Unbelievers can have it for a short time and then it is gone. It is very elusive; it comes and it goes. Whatever makes the unbeliever happy yesterday will not make him happy today. He goes on to something else that makes him happy today and it doesn’t make him happy tomorrow. So that happiness is a very elusive thing and the things that make the unbeliever happy at the beginning make him miserable at the end. A smart unbeliever finally develops a philosophy which is the antithesis of hedonism for he discovers that in hedonism—seeking pleasure and happiness through pleasure—there is no future; it makes him happy today but miserable tomorrow.

With the believer, the only happiness that he can possess is a dual happiness and therefore the word “blessed” is not blessed as it appears here. It is in the plural and should be translated “happinesses.” There are two kinds of happiness which belong to the believer, one depends on the other. The first happiness is inner happiness based on Bible doctrine resident in the soul, and the second is the ability with Bible doctrine in the soul to enjoy certain things in life and to possess happiness in spite of the circumstances of life.

“to the man” – the word for man here is man in the sense of noble man. There is one Hebrew word which is adam. This is man generically—homo sapien. But when you want man from the standpoint of noble man there is another word—ish [ishah is woman]. The word used here is man in his noble sense, a reference to the believer, not because the believer is noble but because the believer is born into the family of God and regeneration is considered nobility here.

Then we have the negative approach where three things are developed. When this happiness is described it is often best to describe it negatively and then you can see it from the positive standpoint. There are three life patterns of the believer which guarantee that the believer will always be miserable. The first of these is “walking in the counsel of the ungodly.” You can have this dual happiness if you “walk not” in the counsel of the ungodly. The word counsel means thinking or thought pattern and the word ungodly refers to the unbeliever, the unjustified one, literally.

Here is a picture, then, of the believer who is ignorant of Bible doctrine and therefore he patterns his life on the human viewpoint. Human viewpoint is guaranteed to make the believer miserable and to cancel out the dual happiness, the ashere. Human viewpoint, then, is the first way to be miserable.

The second is legalism: “nor standeth in the way of sinners” – the word sinners here refers to one controlled by the old sin nature. This means someone who as a believer under the control of his old sin nature is producing sin from his area of weakness, he is producing human good from his area of strength, and he is motivated by his lust pattern. So legalism is a combination of approbation lust plus the performance of human good. Human good makes the believer miserable. If good is done in the power of the Spirit, fine; if it is done in the energy of the flesh it only increases the misery of the one who produces it. It often increases his ego--he becomes proud of himself; it stimulates his approbation lust—and this therefore produces legalism. This is what is meant by standing in the way of sinners. The sinner, again, is the one controlled by his old sin nature.

The third thing guaranteed to make the believer miserable and to cancel out happinesses is apostasy—“nor sitteth is the seat of the scornful.” The word for scornful in the Hebrew is lutz. It is a word which means to stammer or to speak in a manner which is unintelligible. This is in the qal active participle, which means this is a continuous thing. The word originally means to mumble, to stammer, but eventually it came to mean to deride, to mock, to ridicule. So the scornful one is the one who not only rejects Bible doctrine but he mocks and ridicules it. It refers, then, to the believer who is apostate.

The principle, then, is that the world of human viewpoint—legalism and apostasy—has nothing to offer the believer. They compose the cosmos diabolicus and in cosmos diabolicus the believer is miserable, he cannot have this inner happiness. This is the negative side of the born-again believer. If he is ever going to be happy he must avoid three things. He must avoid the principle of human viewpoint; he must avoid legalism; he must avoid apostasy. All three are tied into doctrine; they are a rejection of doctrine. Human viewpoint is simply overriding doctrine, if there is any in the soul. Legalism is orientation to human works rather than to grace, and therefore avoids doctrine. Apostasy is a rejection of doctrine plus a ridicule of it. The positive approach follows in verse two.

Verse 2 – “But his delight.” The word but is a conjunction of contrast, and this is a contrast between the miserable and the happy believer. The miserable believer always lives by human viewpoint. He is legalistic; he is apostate. But the happy believer is a different type of person. The true basis of separation for the believer is Bible doctrine and therefore verses two, presenting the positive side, is going to anchor this happiness—the word blessed—into the Word of God.

The Hebrew word for love is ahab, but that is not the word which is used here because that is simply love as a mental attitude. But they had another word which is mental attitude plus desire—chephetz. This means love which has a desire, love which produces a desire, a mental attitude love which expresses itself through desire. It is used here for loving doctrine to the point where you desire doctrine. It is generally true that if you love something you desire it. You desire to be with it, you desire to converse with it, you desire to possess it; and this is the concept behind this word delight. It doesn’t mean delight as such in our sense of the word, it actually connotes loving something and desiring it. In this case it is the law, which refers to the Old Testament scripture or to Bible doctrine. It means the man who is going to have happinesses must have a great love, and with that love a desire for Bible doctrine. So his love and desire is in the law of the Lord. The believer’s happiness is therefore related to the Word of God. There can be no happiness for the believer apart from Bible doctrine, therefore it is called the law of the Lord or the law which points to the Lord. The Bible is the mind of Christ, it is doctrine which points to the Lord, doctrine which leads to the principle of occupation with the person of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, if you love doctrine you are going to desire doctrine.

If you desire doctrine you will study it, you will get it, and therefore we have “in his law doth he meditate.” The word for meditate is hagah, which means to memorise. It means to go over something until you have it. Finally it becomes real to you because you go over it and over it in your mind.

In verse two all of the verbs are in the imperfect tense; in the first verse they are all in the perfect. The perfect is completed action; the imperfect is continuous action. So the true form of happiness depends upon a constant love of doctrine and a constant absorption of it. This word hagah also means to use vocabulary to learn things. The vocabulary actually means something, no one can think or meditate without vocabulary. Doctrine has its own vocabulary, its own categories, and this is “done day and night.” Doctrine becomes like breathing. This, again, is the principle that “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Next is the illustration. Verse 3 –“And he shall be like a tree.” The principle involved here is that a tree is analogous to a believer with inner happiness. The strength of a tree comes from the inside. The happiness of the believer comes from inside, and when he has inner happiness he can also have overt happiness.

“planted” – qal passive participle, having been planted. It remains firmly in the ground, its roots go deep, and the roots in the ground refer to Bible doctrine producing inner happiness. Apparently the roots draw nourishment. The tree may blow in the storm and wave and bend but if it has roots—Bible doctrine resulting in inner happiness—it can be in a great storm and may bend and lose a branch or two, and if the roots are deep the tree remains firm. When the wind dies down and the storm is over the tree is upright again, minus a few leaves and a branch or two. This, then, is the stability of the Christian life. Actually, God has so designed phase two for the believer so that he will have inner happiness as his stability, but inner happiness depends in Bible doctrine so we have a tree planted by rivers of water.

“by rivers of water” – the word rivers is in the plural. You would think that it would be a tree planted by a river of water but rivers is in the plural because many doctrines are found in the Word of God and the word water here refers to the Word itself, as per Ephesians 5:26, 27 where the water is called the Word. But it is not one river but many rivers because there are many categories of doctrine.

As a result of this doctrine in the soul we have production—“that bringeth forth fruit in its season.” The word bringeth means to give and it is in the piel stem, the intensive stem in the Hebrew. The intensive stem means that this requires a lot of pressure. Often great production comes from great pressure. So under the pressures of life this tree can still produce fruit. In fact there is nothing that can stop it from producing because it is anchored into something which is stabilised, namely the Word of God. In the illustration, then, we have a tree which produces in pressure, out of pressure, in success, in adversity, in catastrophe. Principle: There is no person who is going to take the place of Bible doctrine in time of catastrophe. It is the Word of God, doctrine, that makes the difference.

“in its season” – there is a harvest season, and with the piel stem it would be every time that you are under pressure; that is when you can have the greatest type of production.

“its leaf also shall not wither” – the leaf refers to the faith-rest technique. The leaf is a sign that there is fruit on the tree. The faith-rest technique is a sign that there is doctrine in the soul, that you as a believer under the greatest adversities of life have inner resources. You are dependent upon your inner resources and if your inner resources constitute a thimble of a couple of small points of doctrine it may not be enough to carry you more than five steps before you fall flat on your face. So the leaf on the tree is the principle of the faith-rest technique or actually drawing on inner resources.

“shall not wither [wilt or fade]” means that in time of pressure when you become disoriented to the adversities of life and fall apart, then your leaf has withered and you are acting like any unbeliever would act in similar circumstances and you have no impact for the Lord Jesus Christ.

“and whatsoever he doeth” – the word do here is asah, which means to make something out of something. In this case it means to produce something out of something. We produce divine good out doctrine. That is the principle of asah.

“shall prosper” – this word doesn’t mean prosper at all, it means to break through. The word is tsalach meaning to cut through or to break through and it is a word for human success. To make a breakthrough in something is to succeed, to discover its meaning, to utilise it, to harness it properly. Here it means to breakthrough in the sense of success. It is in the hiphil stem which means that we are caused to make a breakthrough, and it is doctrine which causes the breakthrough. Divine good can be produced by the human race through Bible doctrine. The principle is that you can never have human good and inner happiness.

The whole point of these three verses is simply to introduce a member of the human race, a believer in Jesus Christ. One thing should characterise his life on this earth. This earth is filled with misery and tragedy and adversity. It is filled with success concepts and status symbols of one type or another. But in the midst of all the activities of this life there is one thing that every believer should have constantly, and that is inner happiness—at all times. If your happiness is based upon Bible doctrine you will have happiness at all times. If your happiness is based upon the circumstances of life you will be unstable and miserable, having your moments—very short moments—but in between those short moments lots of concentrated misery. So the first psalm is an introduction, and in this introduction to the whole book of Psalms we are going to have something which characterises the believer with doctrine. He is always ‘happinesses.’ If you are not happy there is something wrong with your life. There is nothing wrong with God’s plan, His plan is perfect; you are simply not oriented to His plan. Your happiness does not depend on circumstances, your happiness depends on the Word of God.

What a wonderful way to introduce the Psalms. And throughout the Psalms we have this subject: how and why the believer is happy; how and why the believer is miserable. The believer is miserable when he is out of fellowship; the believer is miserable under discipline, and there are whole psalms on the discipline of the believer—Psalms 32, 38, 51. The things that make the believer happy; and there are whole psalms on the importance of Bible doctrine.

There are also certain psalms on the subject of the unbeliever and his judgment. The last three verses of this psalm, this introductory passage, are designed to show the cursing or the judgment of the unbeliever. Verse 4 – the illustration of the unbeliever’s judgment; verse 5 takes up one of the greatest judgments for the unbeliever, the baptism of fire; verse 6 takes up the final judgment which concludes it all, the judgment of the great white throne.

Verse 4 – “The ungodly, not so.” No verb here, the ellipsis gives emphasis. The ungodly is literally the unjustified, the person who has rejected Christ as saviour. This is not like a tree. The ungodly is like something that does not have roots but is still in the agricultural picture.

“but like the chaff which the wind driveth away” – the tree has roots; the chaff has no roots, it goes up into the air and the air blows it away, it is separated from the wheat. The separation of the wheat and the chaff is always a picture of the thing that should most concern the unbeliever in this life—his future judgments. For the unbeliever of the Tribulation it is the baptism of fire; for all unbelievers, the great white throne. The chaff is used here to represent the judgment of the unbeliever. The unbeliever, first of all, has no roots. This life has nothing to offer him. A little wind blows and he blows in one direction; another wind blows and he blows in that direction. There is something that makes him happy today but miserable tomorrow. Generally speaking he is miserable with short bursts of happiness. His happiness depends entirely on circumstances. Circumstances are as changing as the weather and as variable as the weather, therefore his feelings, emotions and concepts are just as changing as the circumstances. This is the present curse of the unbeliever and is followed by even greater curses, “for it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.”

The wind here refers to the prevailing wind used at the granary. The little grain shovel threw the wheat and the tares up in the air when the wind was blowing, the wind blew the chaff away, the grain fell back onto the floor.

“which the wind scatters” – this is a specific reference to the baptism of fire or the separation of the wheat and the tares at the second advent of Jesus Christ.

Verse 5 – At the Second Advent we have Jesus Christ coming back to establish His kingdom. His kingdom is called in this psalm “the congregation of the righteous.” The Millennial kingdom starts with believers only. The unbelievers are cast off the earth in the fire where they wait for the last judgment. The baptism of fire is a major judgment in the eschatological pattern of scripture and this is used as an illustration of judgment. In this verse we have the actual baptism of fire mentioned.

“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand” – they have no roots, no basis for standing before God. They have rejected Christ as saviour. Unbelief or rejection of Christ is the unpardonable sin, they have committed the only sin for which Christ could not and did not die, and that is rejection of Himself. John 3:18.

“in the judgment” – this is the judgment of the baptism of fire; “nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” – the Millennium. It illustrates what will happen in eternity but it illustrates it from history. It is eschatological but will some day be historical. So there is a separation of believer and unbeliever. This happened once before in history in the days of Noah—“as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.” Then it will occur one more time at the end of history. At the end of the Millennium there will be a last judgment when all unbelievers will be resurrected and cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death. Three times in the history of the human race there is a separating judgment. One is historical, the other two are anticipated.

Verse 6 – the great white throne. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.” The way of the righteous refers to a person believing in Christ. It is the first time a member of the human race orients to the grace of God. Our first orientation to grace takes place at the cross.

“but the way of the ungodly shall perish” – the way of the ungodly is negative volition at the point of God-consciousness, negative volition at the point of gospel hearing. This all adds up to rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour or the unpardonable sin, and “shall perish” means to be not destroyed in the sensed of the body destroyed but to be in pain and misery forever. This is the description of the lake of fire. So we have the end of the unbeliever, which is to live forever in the lake of fire in a place of terrible torment.