VERSE 5 (CONTINUED)
“My cup runneth over." What a happy state to be in! The blessing of the King's guest is now unmeasured. He who was a little while ago amidst the deepest shades of the valley is now in the scene of highest joy and receiving the most public assurance of the Lord's favor. Nevertheless, we must not forget that the valley may be as strong an expression of the Lord's favor as the banquet, though the results in experience be so widely different. Now, the cup of joy is running over. But this joy is only in the Lord. The whole scene below may be as joyless as ever. These two things are perfectly consistent in Christian experience and well known to many. Earth's scenes may henceforth be joyless though full of mercies, while the heart is in the boundless joys of the Lord. Everything around may be tinged with the dark shade of disappointment, bereavement, or with the most crushing, abiding trial; while all above is calm, cloudless, unmingled joy; standing before God in the full credit of Christ, and in the sweet confidence that we are the children whom He loves, the heart overflows with joyous praise.
This is the genuine fruit, O my soul, of being at the King's entertainment. But how could it be otherwise? Seated at the King's table—partaking of the repast which His own hand had dressed—the head anointed with the fragrant oil—the cup filled to overflowing with the King's choicest wine; what else, tell me, could a soul say in such circumstances than "my cup runneth over"? My joy, my blessing and my happiness are full—yea, more than full: I can only love and praise.
From this expressive image thou mayest learn, O my soul, what worship is. And rest assured that nothing is of more importance to the Christian and nothing more honoring to God. He is robbed of His glory when His children fail to worship Him. The true principle and character of worship are seen here. How full and instructive is this remarkable Psalm! And in how many points it applies to the blessed Lord Himself. Oh! How full was His cup of joy, and of sorrow too, when down here as the dependent Man, confiding in Jehovah's care! But what wonderful experience for a sinner saved by grace to say, when in deep, deep waters, "My cup of joy is full, my cup of sorrow too." Such was always the portion of the Lord's cup as the Man of Sorrows. But He knew both perfectly. What a blessing to have fellowship with Him! What a privilege, however painful for the present, to taste His cup of sorrow, as well as His cup of joy—to know something of His earthly sorrows and of His heavenly joys. Of the cup of wrath, which He drank for us, we can never taste: "It is finished" (John 19:3030When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:30)); it is drained to its dregs: but of His cup of joy we shall drink forever. Hallelujah! "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. 25:2121His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21)) will surely be His welcome greeting by-and-by. Not merely, observe, my soul, into the joy of heaven or of angels, but into the joy of thy Lord.
“Thou art my joy, Lord Jesus!
Thou art my glorious sun!
In the light that shineth from
Thee, I gladly journey on.
There is a hidden beauty,
A healing, holy light,
In Thy countenance uplifted,
Upon the inward sight.
“Oh, purer than the morning,
And brighter than the noon,
And sweeter than the evening,
A thousand joys in one;
Thou Brightness of God's glory,
And Lord of all above.
Son of the Father's bosom,
And Image of His love.”
What then is the spiritual meaning of this emblem in our Psalm? We believe it represents a soul in the true spirit and act of worshiping. We know no other four words in Scripture which so emphatically express the true idea of worship.
The Master has so filled the vessel that it overflows. When the heart is filled with the truth, as it is in Jesus (Eph. 4:2121If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: (Ephesians 4:21)), and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, it overflows in thanksgiving and praise—it worships God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. The heart of the guest responds to the kindness of the Host. But, plainly, that which comes down from God to the soul in grace re-ascends from the soul to Him in grateful praise. Like the smoke from the golden altar, it ascends in sweet odors of acceptable worship.
It is perfectly clear that a cup running over can hold no more; that which is poured in only increases its overflow. But what are the spiritual feelings of a soul that answers to this figure? They are heavenly in their character and produced by the Holy Spirit. Nothing on earth comes so near the employment of heaven as worship. It will be our happy employment throughout eternity. But the soul must, in spirit, be in heaven—in the holy of holies—before it reaches this condition; and that is where the Christian should always be. He is in Christ, and Christ fills all heaven with His glory. In God's account there is no outer-court worship now; it must be priestly and inside the veil. When the heart of the worshiper answers to the overflowing cup, it is evidently completely filled up—not a corner is left empty. This is the main thought. It feels spiritually that every wish is met—every desire is satisfied, and all the longings of the soul perfectly answered.
True, the worshiper is not as yet in resurrection-glory, but he knows and feels that he has everything excepting glory. That he waits for, but not uncertainly. "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Gal. 5:55For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Galatians 5:5). The hope which properly belongs to righteousness is glory. We have the righteousness now in Christ; we wait for the glory. And yet, in another sense, we have the glory, too, as the Lord Himself says, "And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them." John 17:2222And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: (John 17:22). And even in a still closer way we may say that we have it now, according to what the apostle says to the Colossians: "Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:2727To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27). Here it may be said that we are already linked with the glory. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." But we wait for the glory of God in full manifestation.