I.　At His second coming, Christ will take possession of the earth, which has been given to Him as His possession, and will establish God's kingdom on the whole earth, thus recovering God's right over the earth—Psa. 24:1:

A.　Psalm 24:7-10 unveils the victorious Christ as the coming King in God's eternal kingdom.

B.　The King of glory is Jehovah of hosts, the consummated Triune God embodied in the victorious and coming Christ—vv. 7-10; Luke 21:27; Matt. 25:31:

1.　Jehovah is Jesus (1:21 and footnote), and Jesus is the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Triune God, who is strong in fighting and is victorious—Rev. 5:5.

2.　He is the One who will come back in His resurrection with His overcomers to possess the earth as His kingdom—Dan. 2:34-35; 7:13-14; Joel 3:11; Rev. 11:15; 19:13-14.

II.　Whereas Psalm 69 is on the suffering Christ, typified by the suffering David, Psalm 72 is on the reigning Christ, typified by the reigning Solomon:

A.　Psalm 72 is actually a psalm on King Solomon, who is a type of Christ as the reigning One —Matt. 12:42.

B.　Solomon is a type of Christ as the son of David, the One who inherits the throne and kingdom of David—1:1; 2 Sam. 7:12-13; Luke 1:32-33.

C.　After His life of suffering on earth, typified by the sufferings of David, Christ ascended to the heavens, where He is now reigning as the King, typified by Solomon—1 Cor. 15:25; Rev. 17:14.

III.　The reigning Christ is typified in Psalm 72 by the reigning Solomon, the son of David (Matt. 1:1; 22:42), in his prosperous and flourishing time (1 Kings 9—10), as indicated by the title of this psalm and by the first verse:

A.　Psalm 72 reveals Christ reigning over the earth, with all the kings bowing down to Him and all the nations serving Him—vv. 8-11.

B.　Psalm 72 is a glorious picture of what it will be like for the Lord to recover, possess, and reign over the whole earth—vv. 17-19.

C.　The reign of Christ, typified by Solomon, will be in the millennium in the age of restoration—Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 19:28.

IV.　The reigning of Christ will be in righteousness and in justice, by which peace will be ushered in—Psa. 72:1-4, 7:

A.　When Christ returns, He will be the King ruling over the entire earth with righteousness and justice—89:14a; Isa. 32:1, 17; 11:4-5; 61:11b:

1.　Righteousness is a matter of God's kingdom, for it is related to God's government, administration, and rule—Matt. 6:33; Psa. 89:14a; 97:2b.

2.　Justice is righteousness with a judgment; without judgment, there is no possibility of justice.

3.　Justice comes from judgment according to a person's righteousness, and it declares his righteousness.

4.　This corresponds with the fact that the foundation of God's throne in the New Jerusalem is pure gold, signifying God's nature in the attributes of righteousness and justice —Rev. 21:18b; 22:1; Isa. 32:1.

B.　Peace is a sign that righteousness and justice are present; as a result of Christ's rule with righteousness and justice, the earth will be full of peace —vv. 16-17.

C.　There will be no peace until Christ returns; under His rule, peace will begin its reign—9:6-7; cf. 1 Thes. 5:3; Jer. 6:14.

V.　Psalm 72 reveals that in His reigning, Christ will recover the earth by watering—vv. 6, 8:

A.　"He will drop like rain upon mown grass, / Like abundant showers dripping on the earth"—v. 6:

1.　Christ gains the earth not by fighting and judging but by watering.

2.　In His coming back, the Lord will not mainly exercise His righteous judgment; rather, He will come primarily like showers to water the earth.

3.　Christ will have mercy on the earth, and He will come back graciously like showers of rain to water the barren land and to satisfy the depressed and empty people —v. 6:

a.　The whole earth is a dry and barren wilderness, and many evil things spring forth from this drought and dryness; people are often sinful because they are disappointed and dissatisfied— John 4:14-18.

b.　The Lord Jesus will be the King, not merely by exercising power to subdue others but mainly by supplying living water to satisfy the thirsty ones—Rev. 22:17.

c.　In that day all nations will be rained upon by the Lord Jesus and will be happy under His dominion; all will be satisfied by His living water—Isa. 35:6b-7a; 41:18; 43:19-20; Zech. 14:16-17.

B.　"He will have dominion from sea to sea / And from the River unto the ends of the earth"—Psa. 72:8:

1.　The Lord's kingdom will spread to the ends of the earth by His flowing as a river—Dan. 2:44; Rev. 11:15; Joel 3:18:

a.　Christ will have dominion from sea to sea and will flow as a river to the ends of the earth; where the flow is, there His dominion will be.

b.　The Lord's dominion will be by Himself as the flowing river; He will gain the dominion and recover the earth by His watering.

2.　The Lord Jesus will recover the earth by means of the river that will flow from Jerusalem—Ezek. 47:1-12; Joel 3:18:

a.　In that day the center of the earth will be Jerusalem, and the center of Jerusalem will be the house of God, from which the river will flow.

b.　This river will reach all the earth in four directions, as in Genesis 2:10-14.

3.　In the Scriptures the concept of the divine stream is crucial—v. 10; Psa. 46:4a; John 7:37-39; Rev. 22:1-2:

a.　The Bible reveals the flowing Triune God—the Father as the fountain of life, the Son as the spring of life, and the Spirit as the river of life— Jer. 2:13; Psa. 36:9a; John 4:14; 7:37-39.

b.　The source of the flow is the throne of God and of the Lamb—Rev. 22:1.

c.　In the Scriptures there is only one flow, only one divine stream: 1) The divine stream, which has been flowing throughout the generations, is uniquely one — Gen. 2:10-14; Rev. 22:1. 2) Since there is only one divine stream and since the flow is uniquely one, we need to keep ourselves in this one flow.

d.　Where the divine stream flows, we have the life of God, the fellowship of the Body, the testimony of Jesus, and the work of God—1 John 1:1-3.

4.　In His kingdom the reigning Christ will recover the earth by means of this river, the unique divine stream—Psa. 72:8.