THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Five—Psalms (4)
Scripture Reading: Psalm 68
I. Psalm 68 reveals God’s move on the earth; 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 steps in God’s move on the earth in Christ:
A. God’s move began after the rearing up of the tabernacle with 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—v. 1; John 1:14a; Num. 9:15a.
B. God’s move in the tabernacle with the Ark from Mount Sinai (Psa. 68:8b, 17b) through the wilderness (vv. 4b, 7b) to Mount Zion (v. 16) was a type of His move in Christ from the incarnation to the ascension—John 1:17; Eph. 4:8-10.
C. God is still moving on this earth in and through the church, and He is moving with Christ as the center of the church—1 Tim. 3:15-16; Psa. 68:4, 7.
D. God’s move in man is to deify man, making man the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead—1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:10, 6, 11.
II. Psalm 68 reveals God’s victory in Christ as the center, typified by the Ark:
A. “Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered; / And let those who hate Him lee before Him”—wherever the Ark, a type of Christ, went, the victory was won—v. 1; Num. 10:35.
B. “The kings of the armies flee. / They flee!”—these kings, who were defeated and scattered, typify Satan and the rulers, the rebellious angels—Psa. 68:12a, 14; Eph. 6:12.
C. “The Lord gives the command; / The women who bear the glad tidings are a great host”—these women of Israel signify the weak ones who publish the gospel—Psa. 68:11.
D. “She who abides at home / Divides the spoil”—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—v. 12b.
E. “Though you lie among the sheepfolds—lying among the sheepfolds signifies resting in God’s provision and care for His elect”—v. 13a.
F. “There are dove wings covered with silver, / And its pinions, with greenish-yellow gold”—this verse reveals four items among the spoil—v. 13b:
1. The dove wings signify the moving power of the Spirit.
2. Silver signifies Christ in His redemption for our justification, which is indicated by the color white, the color of approval.
3. Pinions (the feathers at the end of a bird’s wings giving it the strength to fly and soar) signify the flying and soaring power of the Spirit—Isa. 40:31.
4. The greenish-yellow, glittering gold with which the pinions are covered signifies God’s nature glittering in the divine life and glory—2 Pet. 1:4; cf. John 4:24; 1 John 4:8; 1:5.
5. 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—cf. Rom. 5:10, 17, 21.
6. God’s elect enjoy all the above items as their portion in Christ and announce them to others as the glad tidings—Psa. 68:11.
III. Psalm 68 reveals Christ’s ascension:
A. “You have ascended on high”—this refers to the highest peak in the universe—v. 18; Eph. 4:8a; cf. Isa. 14:13.
B. “You have led captive those taken captive”—Psa. 68:18:
1. Those taken captive refers to the redeemed saints, who were taken captive by Satan and imprisoned before being saved by Christ’s death and resurrection.
2. Christ defeated Satan and captured his captives (including us); then like a general leading his captives, Christ in His ascension to the heavens lead us to the Father—cf. 2 Cor. 2:12-14.
3. The Amplified New Testament renders “He led captive those taken captive” in Ephesians 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 the celebration of Christ’s victory.
IV. Psalm 68 reveals Christ’s receiving the gifts:
A. “You have received gifts among men, / Even the rebellious ones also”—we have been captured by Christ, presented by Christ to the Father, and then given to Christ by the Father as gifts—v. 18.
B. The gifts received by Christ have become the gifted believers, whom He gave to His Body for its building up—Eph. 4:7-12.
V. Psalm 68 reveals the building up of the dwelling place of God:
A. “That Jehovah God may dwell among them”—the gifts as the gifted persons, the believers in Christ, are built together to be the dwelling place for God; this dwelling place signifies the church, the Body of Christ—v. 18, Eph. 4:11-12.
B. “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; / He brings the prisoners forth into prosperity” —God’s dwelling place is also the habitation of the believers (the needy, the solitary, and the bound ones) —Psa. 68:5-6a.
C. The “mountain on which God desires to dwell” (Psa. 68:15-16) is Mount Zion, the highest peak in the universe—cf. Rev. 14:1.
VI. Psalm 68 reveals the enjoyment of God in His house:
A. The enjoyment of God in His house comes after the building up of His dwelling place, the church—v. 18.
B. “Blessed be the Lord, who day by day loads us with good; / God is our salvation. Selah”—the good here is the Triune God—the dove wings covered with silver and its pinions covered with greenish-yellow, glittering gold—vv. 19, 13; Rom. 8:28.
C. “God is to us / A God of deliverance, / And with Jehovah the Lord / Are the goings forth even from death”—when we enjoy God as our saving life, we escape death—Psa. 68:20; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 1:8-9; 4:16.
D. In God’s house we also enjoy His victory over the enemies—Psa. 68:21-23; Matt. 16:18; Rom. 16:20.
VII. Psalm 68 reveals the praising of God according to His New Testament economy:
A. “They have seen Your goings, O God, / The goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary”—they refers to the enemies, goings refers to God’s activities, and the sanctuary signifies the church—v. 24.
B. “Singers go before; players after; / In the midst of virgins sounding the tambourines”—virgins signifies the believers—v. 25; 2 Cor. 11:2; Phil. 4:4.
C. “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. / Your God has commanded your strength; / Strengthen, O God, that which You have done for us”—Psa. 68:26-28.
D. In the praise rendered to God by His elect, there is portrayed a scenery in typology concerning God’s New Testament economy in the accomplishment of God’s redemption for His salvation by Christ and in the spreading of the glad tidings of Christ’s accomplishment with the beautiful words of the gospel:
1. Psalm 68:27 speaks of “little Benjamin”:
a. As the son of sorrows, Ben-oni, Benjamin typifies Christ, who, as the man of sorrows in His incarnation and human life on earth, accomplished God’s eternal redemption for His full salvation—Gen. 35:18a; Isa. 53:3.
b. As the son of the right hand, Benjamin typifies, Christ, who, as the Son of the right hand of God in His resurrection, victory, and ascension, ministers in the heavens to carry out the application of God’s redemption for His salvation—Gen. 35:18b; Heb. 1:3; 5:5-10.
2. Psalm 68:27 speaks of “the princes of Judah”:
a. Judah typifies Christ as the victory for God’s people (the lion with the power and the scepter) and the peace (Shiloh) to God’s people.
b. Judah reveals the victory of Christ (vv. 8-9), the kingdom of Christ (v. 10), and the enjoyment and rest in Christ.
c. Judah, as the kingly tribe, was accompanied always by Benjamin, as a warrior tribe, for God’s kingdom on the earth—v. 27.
3. Psalm 68:27 speaks of “the princes of Zebulun”:
a. Dwelling at the shore of the sea (Galilee) and being a shore for ships (Gen. 49:13), Zebulun typifies Christ as the “shore” of the evangelists for the transportation and spreading in the preaching of God’s gospel.
b. On the day of Pentecost, at least one hundred twenty gospel “ships,” all of whom were Galileans, set out to spread the gospel—Acts 1:8, 11; 2:2-41.
4. Psalm 68:27 speaks of “the princes of Naphtali”:
a. Naphtali typifies Christ as the One who is released from death in resurrection, signified by the “Hind let loose” (Gen. 49:21; Psa. 22, title; 18:33; S. S. 2:8-9), and gives beautiful words for the preaching of His gospel.
b. People of both Zebulun and Naphtali were men of Galilee (4:12-17; Acts 1:11), from whom the gospel of Christ has been spread, preached, and propagated.
c. In typology Zebulun and Naphtali form a group for the spreading and the propagating of the glad tidings of Christ’s redemption for God’s salvation.
VIII. Psalm 68 reveals the spreading from the temple into the city of God:
A. “Strengthen, O God, that which You have done for us. / Because of Your temple at Jerusalem” —following God’s strengthening of what He has done or His elect, the influence of the enjoyment of God in His house spreads to the entire city of Jerusalem—vv. 28b-29a.
B. The house of God signifies the local church, and the city of Jerusalem signifies the kingdom, the strengthening and safeguard of the church.
Ⅸ. Psalm 68 reveals the gaining of the earth for God:
A. The influence of the enjoyment of God will gain the whole earth for God—vv. 29b-31; Matt. 19:28; Rev. 21:24.
B. The kingdoms of the earth are charged to praise God—Psa. 68:32-34.
C. The psalmist concludes by praising and blessing God—v. 35.
Ministry Excerpts:
CHRIST AS THE CENTER OF GOD’S MOVE ON THE EARTH
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.
The Triune God—the Spirit, Christ, and God—
With All His Accomplishments for us to Enjoy
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 it’s 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 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 10:30, 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.
God’s Purpose in Decreeing the Law
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.
God’s Purpose Concerning the Building of the Tabernacle
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 tabernacle 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.
This Move of God in Christ
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. (Life-Study of Psalms, msg. 27)