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Scripture Reading: Psa. 68:1-18; Num. 9:15; 10:35; Eph. 4:8, 11-12; 6:12; 2:22
In this message we will begin to study Psalm 68. As we come to this psalm, we should regard it as the highest psalm among the one hundred fifty psalms.
Psalm 68 is extremely difficult to understand. Examples of this difficulty are found in verses 11b through 13. "The women who bear the glad tidings are a great host./The kings of the armies flee./They flee!/And she who abides at home / Divides the spoil./Though you lie among the sheepfolds,/There are dove wings covered with silver,/And its pinions, with greenish yellow gold." Who are the women who bear the glad tidings and are a great host? Who is she who abides at home and divides the spoil? There seems to be no antecedent for the pronoun "she" here. To whom does this pronoun refer? Furthermore, who is the "you" lying among the sheepfolds? We also need to inquire concerning the dove wings covered with silver and the pinions covered with greenish yellow gold. We must admit that it is difficult for us to know what these things mean and to understand them.
As we will see, the dove, the silver, and the gold refer to the Triune God. The dove symbolizes the Spirit of God; in typology silver signifies Christ as the Redeemer who accomplished redemption for God's salvation; and gold signifies God in His nature. Here the gold is greenish yellow, with green signifying the divine life and yellow, the divine glory. Hence, greenish yellow gold signifies God in His nature glittering in His life and glory. Here we have the Triune God — the Spirit, Christ, and God — with all His accomplishments for us to enjoy.
Verse 12 speaks of dividing the spoil. What is this spoil? It is something reaped as the result of fighting a battle. In His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ fought the battle, and the spoil reaped by Him has become our enjoyment. Christ gained some spoil in every step of His fighting; He reaped spoil in His death, in His resurrection, and in His ascension, at which time, according to Colossians 2, the evil ones tried to hold Him back. The spoil gained, reaped, by Christ is actually the Triune God. This means that the spoil in verse 12 is the Spirit as the dove, Christ the Son as the silver, and God the Father as the gold.
To illustrate further how hard it is to understand Psalm 68, let us also consider verses 25 through 27. "Singers go before; players after;/In the midst of virgins sounding the tambourines./Bless God in the congregations,/Even Jehovah, O you who are of the fountain of Israel./There are little Benjamin, who rules them,/And the princes of Judah in their company, /The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali." Do you understand all this? Why are the names of four of the twelve tribes mentioned — Benjamin, Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali — but not the names of the other tribes? Once again, we must admit that this matter is difficult to understand.
An even more difficult matter to understand is the reason Psalm 68 was written. Why was this psalm written, and why was it composed in the way it was? In order to answer this question, we need to consider the way the psalm begins. Verse 1 says, "Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered;/And let those who hate Him flee before Him." This is a quotation of Moses' prayer in Numbers 10:35, uttered when the ark of the covenant set out from Mount Sinai.
After Moses brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai, they stayed there for quite a long time. During that time, God decreed His law to them through Moses. However, the main thing that happened at that time was not the decreeing of the law but God's charging Moses to build the tabernacle with the ark, the incense altar, the lampstand, the showbread table, the laver, the altar, and all the utensils.
What was God's purpose in decreeing the law and in charging Moses to build the ark and the tabernacle with all its furnishings? The law was decreed for the purpose of exposing and subduing Israel. God intended to use the law to expose the people's weakness, incapacity, defects, and shortages in order to make them realize that they were sinful and could do nothing for Him. Thus, the law was decreed to convince them of this and even to condemn them.
Exodus 19 speaks of the experience of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. On the one hand, they were fearful, for they heard the thunder, saw the lightning and the thick cloud, and realized that God was present with them at the mountain. On the other hand, they were proud of all these things concerning God. When Moses laid before them all the words which God had commanded him, the people answered and said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (v. 8). Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, and then He came in to decree the law. Even before the law had been decreed to the children of Israel, they broke the Ten Commandments and committed sin by worshipping the golden calf. When Moses learned about this, he became angry and broke the two tablets of stone. The point here is that the law was given in order to expose the people of Israel, to convince, condemn, and subdue them, and to cause them to realize that they could not do anything to please God. This was God's purpose in decreeing the law.
Now we need to see God's purpose concerning the building of the tabernacle. God wanted the children of Israel to build Him a tabernacle so that He could dwell among them and they could contact Him and even dwell with Him. However, because they were sinful, they needed an altar to take care of their sins. In addition, they needed the showbread table for spiritual food, the lampstand for spiritual light, and the incense altar for them to pray to the Lord.
The tabernacle built and erected at Mount Sinai was a type of Christ as the real tabernacle. This real tabernacle was set up through Christ's incarnation. John 1:14 tells us that the Word, which is God, became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality. Whereas the tabernacle built up by Israel under Moses was a type, or a shadow, Jesus Christ, the incarnated God, is the real tabernacle for God's dwelling on the earth and for God's people to contact Him and dwell with Him.
During their years in the wilderness, the children of Israel did nothing except deal with the law and the tabernacle with the altar, the laver, the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark. Whenever it was time for them to move on in their journey, they packed up the tabernacle and its furnishings and utensils and carried them with them in their move. Eventually they would stop, and the tabernacle and everything related to it would be set up again.
The people also had to present the various offerings to God. Otherwise, they would have been condemned by the law because of their sins in breaking God's commandments. However, the blood of the sin offering that was sprinkled on the cover of the ark fulfilled the requirements of the law and enabled the people to be at peace and to contact God.
Before the incarnation of Christ, God did not do anything for the accomplishment of His New Testament economy. In the Old Testament, God called Abraham, having chosen him and his descendants to be His people, His called race. Centuries later, God brought the people of Israel to Mount Sinai to train them and to help them to know their sinfulness and thereby to convince and subdue them. Whereas the law decreed through Moses was a reality, the tabernacle with all its furnishings and utensils was a type of Christ. Nevertheless, God could dwell in that tabernacle, and the people had a way to contact Him. Throughout the remainder of the Old Testament, in all the books of history and of the prophets, God continued to expose Israel. He exposed them in Joshua and in Judges; He exposed them in the books of Samuel and of the Kings; and He exposed them in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the other prophets, both major and minor. It seems that God did not move but rather did only one thing — expose the people of Israel.
God's move on earth for His New Testament economy began with the incarnation, with God's coming as the Son to be incarnated. The incarnation was the setting up of the real and living tabernacle. Thus, the incarnate Christ was the real tabernacle in whom God dwelled and through whom He could move on earth. Beginning with the incarnation, God began to move, to walk, on earth for His New Testament economy. He moved on the earth for thirty-three and a half years and then, after His death and resurrection, ascended to the heavens.
This move of God in Christ is portrayed in Psalm 68:1-18. We have seen that the first part of verse 1 says, "Let God arise," and God did rise up to move. Through what did God move? He moved through the tabernacle. Without the tabernacle, God could not move. This indicates that God moves in Christ and through Christ. Without Christ, God cannot move on the earth. In Christ the Triune God made a long "tour," a tour that lasted thirty-three and a half years and that ended with Christ's ascension to the third heaven.
In typology, this tour, this move, of God for His New Testament economy is pictured in Psalm 68 as the journey of God with Israel from Sinai to Zion. Sinai was the place where the law was decreed, and Zion was the destination of the traveling Triune God and His people. As we consider this, we need to realize that there have been two journeys — a journey in type and a journey in reality. The journey in type was the journey of God with Israel from Sinai through the wilderness to Zion. The journey in reality, the actual move of God on the earth, was the journey of God in Christ as the real tabernacle starting from the incarnation and ending with the ascension to the heavenly Zion.
In Psalm 68 we have the type of God's journey, and in the New Testament we have the fact and the reality. God's actual journey on the earth, His real move on the earth, was His move in Christ, the real tabernacle with the real ark. In order to understand this real journey, we need to study Psalm 68, a psalm that helps us to see that Christ's personal life from His incarnation to His ascension was the journey, the move, of the Triune God. If we realize this, we are ready to consider the first eighteen verses of Psalm 68 in some detail.
Psalm 68 is the highest peak of the divine revelation concerning Christ in all the Psalms. It is written in poetry, with types and signs, portraying the nine steps in God's move on the earth in Christ, the all-inclusive embodiment of the Triune God.
Psalm 68 is about God's move within the tabernacle (typifying Christ) as His dwelling place with the ark (typifying Christ) as the center. The tabernacle with the ark traveled among the children of Israel for forty years until it arrived at Zion. This traveling was a type, a shadow, of God's real move on the earth.
This move began after the decree of the law for the exposing, convincing, and condemning of Israel. This means that God's move within the tabernacle began after God had gained a people who had been prepared by the law and trained under the law to go along with Him.
This move of God began after the rearing up of the tabernacle of the ark, signifying Christ incarnated to be the dwelling place of God on the earth with Himself as the center for God's move in His economy (John 1:14a; Num. 9:15a). This means that God could move on earth only after He had established a way — the tabernacle with the ark — in which He could be with His people and in which they could contact Him and be with Him. In the Old Testament we have the type, but in the New Testament we have Christ as the reality of the tabernacle of the ark.
God's move within the tabernacle was in the midst of Israel, His elect.
This move was from Sinai, signifying from the law (Psa. 68:8b, 17b), through the wilderness, signifying the earth (vv. 4b, 7b), to Mount Zion, God's dwelling place (v. 16), signifying God's dwelling place in the heavens (Eph. 4:8a).
Psalm 68:4 says, "Sing to God; sing psalms to His name; /Triumph in Him who rides through the deserts — /For Jah is His name — and exult before Him." This indicates that Israel, God's elect, triumphed in God, who rode through the deserts, and exulted before Him. Today we should triumph and exult in the move of God on earth, in His move from incarnation to ascension.
In verse 1 we have the prayer of Moses, the representative of God's elect, for Jehovah to arise and for His enemies to be scattered (v. 14). The enemies here typify Satan and his forces in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). This prayer was actually the aspiration of all God's elect people.
"The kings of the armies flee./They flee!" (Psa. 68:12a). These kings, who were defeated and scattered, typify Satan and the rulers (Eph. 6:12).
"The women who bear the glad tidings are a great host" (Psa. 68:11b). These women of Israel signify the weak ones. As believers today, we are the weak ones, those who cannot do anything except bear, preach, the glad tidings.
"She who abides at home/Divides the spoil" (v. 12b). The "she" here is collective and refers to the women in verse 11. To abide at home signifies not to be at work. The spoil signifies all the gains of the accomplishment, consummation, attainment, and obtainment of Christ as the reapings of the victory of His death, resurrection, and ascension. This spoil includes dove wings covered with silver and pinions covered with greenish yellow gold.
They will divide the spoil even though they lie among the sheepfolds (v. 13a). The "you" in verse 13a refers to the collective "she" in verse 12 and the women in verse 11. Lying among the sheepfolds signifies resting in God's provision and care for His elect.
Verse 13b shows us that there are four items among the spoil.
The dove wings signify the moving power of the Spirit.
The dove wings are covered with white silver. Silver signifies Christ in His redemption for our justification, which is indicated by the color white, the color of approval.
The pinions are feathers at the end of a bird's wings. The pinions give a bird the strength to fly and to soar. Hence, in verse 13b "its pinions" signify the soaring power of the Spirit.
The greenish yellow, glittering gold with which the pinions are covered signifies God's nature glittering in the divine life and glory.
The contents of the above four items, as Christ's spoil in His victory for the enjoyment of God's elect, are actually the Triune God with all the items of His complete, full, and all-inclusive salvation. "Dove" signifies the Spirit with His moving and soaring power; "white silver" signifies Christ in His all-inclusive redemption for His believers' justification as the entrance into His full salvation; and "greenish yellow gold" signifies God in His nature glittering in His life and glory. Both Christ and God are brought in by the Spirit's power: Christ by the Spirit's moving power and God by the Spirit's soaring power.
Verse 11 indicates that God's elect enjoy all the above items as their portion in Christ and announce them to others as the glad tidings. On the one hand, we are the great host of women bearing, preaching, the glad tidings. On the other hand, we are restfully enjoying our portion in Christ, enjoying the Triune God — the Spirit as the dove, Christ the Son as the silver, and God the Father as the gold. The Spirit as the dove moves with Christ as the silver and with God as the gold. While we are preaching the glad tidings, we are enjoying the Triune God as the spoil gained for us by Christ.
Verse 18b says, "You have led captive those taken captive." Here "those taken captive" refers to the believers of Christ. Before we were saved, we were sinners and enemies of God, and we had been taken captive by Satan and imprisoned. We were "those taken captive." But Christ defeated Satan and captured his captives, including us. Then, like a general leading his captives, Christ in His ascension to the heavens led us to the Father.
Psalm 68 speaks concerning Christ's ascension (v. 18a; Eph. 4:8a).
Psalm 68:18a says, "You have ascended on high." This refers to the highest peak in the universe (cf. Isa. 14:13b).
As we have pointed out, in His ascension Christ led captive those taken captive. Now we need to see that these ones, the redeemed of Christ, are included in the train of vanquished foes. The Amplified New Testament renders "He led captive those taken captive" (Eph. 4:8) as "He led a train of vanquished foes." In Christ's ascension there was a procession of these vanquished foes, led as captives from a war, for a celebration of Christ's victory. Although, as Colossians 2 indicates, the evil spirits tried to hinder Christ in His ascension, Christ nevertheless ascended to the Father leading a train of vanquished foes. He did not appear before the Father empty-handed but had a great many vanquished foes following Him.
Psalm 68:18 also reveals the matter of Christ receiving the gifts.
"You have taken gifts among men,/Even the rebellious ones" (v. 18b). When Christ ascended to the Father, He presented to the Father all the ones He had captured and brought with Him. The Father then returned all these captured ones to Christ, making each one of them a gift to Christ.
We all were held captive by Satan in his prison, but we have been captured by Christ, presented by Christ to the Father, and then given to Christ by the Father as gifts. Although as gifts we may differ in size and quality, we all are gifts given by the Father to the ascended Christ.
The gifts received by Christ have become the gifted believers, like the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11). We should not believe the lie that we are not a gift or that we have not been gifted. Every saved person is a gifted believer.
The last part of Psalm 68:18 says, "That Jehovah God may dwell among them." This indicates that Christ uses all the gifts to build up the dwelling place for God. The dwelling place here signifies the church as God's habitation (Eph. 2:22). As Ephesians 4 reveals, all the gifts do the same work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ as God's dwelling place on earth today.
The gifts as the gifted persons, the believers in Christ, are builded together to be the dwelling place for God. This dwelling place signifies the church, the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12).
"A Father to the orphans and a Judge for the widows/Is God in His holy habitation./God causes the solitary to dwell in a household" (Psa. 68:5-6a). Here we see that God's dwelling place is also the habitation of the believers, the needy, the solitary, and the bound ones. Today we all are the needy ones (the orphans and widows), the bound ones (the prisoners), and the solitary ones, and the church is our dwelling place. The church is a building that includes such people.
"O mighty mountain, O mountain of Bashan,/O many-peaked mountain, O mountain of Bashan:/Why do you look with envy, O many-peaked mountain,/At the mountain on which God desires to dwell?/Indeed Jehovah will dwell there forever" (vv. 15-16). The "mountain on which God desires to dwell" is Mount Zion. The dwelling place of God is built on Mount Zion, signifying the highest peak in the universe, the heavens.
The builded church is in the heavens. Whether we are in the heavens or on the earth depends on whether or not we have been built up. If we have not been built up, we are earthly. If we have been built up, we are heavenly. Whenever the saints in a locality are divided and scattered, they are on the earth or, even worse, below the earth. But whenever the saints in a locality are built up together, they are in the heavens. This is an aspect of the wonderful things in God's New Testament economy, in His move in Christ from incarnation to ascension.
