Psalm 68 - A Triumphant God

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

We yearn for specific things to happen in the future. We all have experience yearning for things. We likely recently yearned for particular outcomes in the elections. We yearn for our sports teams to win in sports. We yearn for a loved one to regain health. We yearn for the COVID challenge to go away. Right now, some of you may be yearning for the kids to go back to in-person school.

This past week I yearned to go deer hunting. At the beginning of the week it looked as if I might have to miss out due to some COVID concerns. That was when my wife realized how much I was yearning to go because she saw how disappointed I became when it looked like it might not happen. By the way, I did make it out for a couple of days and plan to go out again this coming week.

Involvement:

The point is, we yearn for a lot of different things. What is it that you are yearning for this morning? Is your yearning centered on God? What do you yearn for God to do? Do you yearn for God to do things for you? Do you yearn for God to do things for Himself? Do you yearn for God at all?

Context:

Our psalm this morning is one that expresses yearning. It is one of the longest psalms in the 2nd book of the psalter, surpassed only by next week’s psalm which is one verse longer. It is a prayer, a rather long prayer. The psalm is attributed to David. There are various suggestions of what may have prompted David to write the psalm. Events like when David brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem from the house of Obed-Edom in 2 Sam 6 would make a fitting backdrop, but we really can’t say for sure. What we can recognize is that this psalm is a prayer to God who has proven Himself to our author time and again as the Divine Warrior who fights for and delivers His people. God is clearly the focus. In fact, in the Hebrew there are eight different names used for God, names such as Elohim, Adonai, Yahweh, and so forth. The psalm yearns for God to do something.

Preview:

As a prayer, this psalm flows like many of our prayers…of course, our prayers don’t have this level of poetic delivery, but the way it flow is similar to the way that we often pray. Our psalm leads out with the main idea and then develops that idea more fully throughout the rest of the psalm. Also, like many of our prayers, the main idea is an expression of yearning. The main idea that we will see in this psalm, right from the beginning is that We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival.

Transition from introduction to body:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. We see this in verses 1-6.

BODY:

I. We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival, vv. 1–6

Since this is a large psalm, we will read each section as we come to it. Let’s read the first six verses…<read Ps 68:1–6>

For the nation of Israel, the ark of the covenant represented God’s presence with the nation. Whenever nation broke camp and the ark of the covenant set out during the wilderness years, Moses, according to Num 10:35 would call out, “Rise up, O Lord! And let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You.” The idea was that no enemy could stand in the presence of God. This psalm begins with echoes of those same words to express the same idea; none can stand before God. Any who attempt to do so will be like smoke dispersed by wind or wax melting before a flame. They are all immaterial, feeble to stand against the power of God.

At the same time, the righteous are filled with joy rather than dread before God. They know that the very same God who will vanquish the wicked is the God who answers their repeated prayers. The idea that God will respond to their prayer and come in triumph causes the righteous to sing praises, rejoicing and exulting before Him. They know God to be a Defender of the powerless and destitute. They know that He will deliver them from the wicked and rebellious. They know, according to verse 5, that even now God is in His “holy habitation”—His holy home—watching the over the affairs of mankind with special attention for the oppressed.

All of this knowledge combines to create a yearning in the breast of the righteous for God to once again arise and march before His people, to come and scatter His enemies in triumph.

Application

I expect that many of you feel increasingly oppressed in our society, and I am not talking simply about the extended lockdowns that we are dealing with. America is becoming less and less friendly toward believers…at least the America that makes its way to network programing and national news. The towers of media and the halls of academia are often openly hostile to righteousness. Does this cause you to despair? Do you look at the decline of righteousness in our society and respond with discouragement? Or do you yearn for God to arise; to come triumphantly scattering His enemies.

Illustration

I remember times back in high school when the sports teams would be extremely excited about certain games. Big games like the year-end tournaments would generate pep rallies, but not every pep rally evoked equal excitement. There were some cases when we knew the truth of the matter was that our team was outmatched in the coming competition. We would show team-spirit, but with a certain level of fatalistic realism. At other times, though, we knew that our team held the dominant abilities in the upcoming competition. Barring some unforeseen fluke set of circumstances, we would win. We had good reason to be confident in a coming victory.

Well, with God, there are no fluke set of circumstances to consider. God will triumph before His enemies. The only thing that is required for God to be victorious is for Him to arise and come to our aid. Rather than being discouraged by the direction America is going, we should find ourselves echoing the psalmist, yearning for our God to come triumphantly. And yearning should in turn generate prayers to God.

Transition:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. That really is the main idea of this entire psalm, an idea that is developed further in the remaining sections.

In verses 7–18, several reasons are given for why we should yearn for God to come, reasons that come from looking back;…

II. God’s past triumphs display His majesty, vv. 7–18

Follow along in your Bibles as I read these verses…<read Ps 68:7–18>.

Our psalmist has just traced Israel’s history as God led the people out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the Promised Land, and ultimately to the establishment of Jerusalem as the nation’s capital. The emphasis is that God had been active throughout this history, fighting on behalf of His people. Some of these things are well-known, such as verse 8 referring to when God gave Moses the Law at Mt Sinai. Other events are obscured by history now but were certainly clear to the original recipients of this poem, things such as the reference to “snow in Zalmon” since the identity of Zalmon is unknown today.

The point is, God has moved in a definitive manner on behalf of His nation throughout their entire history. He has established them and upheld them. He has even chosen when and where to display His majesty, choosing Jerusalem on Mount Zion for His holy dwelling place—His capital—rather than one of the more spectacular peaks of Mount Bashan. Bashan is depicted as being jealous of Zion because of God’s choice; the glory of magnificent Mount Bashan is dwarfed by the majesty resulting from God’s holy presence in Mount Zion.

The Song of Deborah, specifically Judges 5:12, supplies the words for verse 18. By the way, the Song of Deborah was also drawn from for verse 7, so her words wrap this section of our Psalm. In verse 18, the Lord is depicted as having completed His triumph—the nation has been taken through the exodus, the wilderness wanderings, and the conquest, to where it is now peacefully settled. Having completed this triumph, the Lord returned, as it were, to heaven to celebrate His kingship. His majesty is display through His historical involvement for all to see.

Application

Two things to note before we move along. One, even though our history as Americans is far different than that of Israel, we are nonetheless to see God’s majesty on display through the triumphs of that chosen nation. We can read the record in the OT and marvel along with our psalmist. We can also marvel that Israel remains an identifiable people and viable nation even now, while enemy after enemy of Israel has come and gone.

Second, we can now add to the history of Israel nearly 2000 years of church history. For 2000 years, God has triumphantly preserved the church of Jesus Christ. The church too has faced numerous enemies throughout its history who have attempted to stamp it out of existence. And yet, here it stands, “the gates of hades” have not prevailed. In fact, the Apostle Paul uses verse 18 of our psalm in Eph 4:8 to describe the triumph of our Lord Jesus, who victoriously returned to heaven, having completed His mission to provide a way for His people to break the bondage of sin and death. The triumph of Christ at the cross is another past triumph of God that continues to display His majesty.

This afternoon, we will have our annual thanksgiving praise service. I trust that we will continue the tradition displayed in this section of our psalm of declaring the past triumphs of our God—triumphs that display His majesty!

Transition:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. God’s past triumphs display His majesty.

From the past, though, it is natural to look to the future as well, which our writer does next in His prayer,…

III. God’s future triumphs are promised vv. 19–23

These future triumphs are seen in the praise of verses 19–23. Let’s read these verses…<read Ps 68:19–23>.

These are amazing verses. The same God who is the Victor in Israel’s history is “the God who is our salvation.” He is a God who daily cares for His people, bearing their burden. The God who still promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. A God who instead, as verse 20 calls out, provides us with “escapes from death.” The plurals of “deliverances” and “escapes” may point out that God has innumerable ways of delivering us.

Illustration

Think about it, how many times has God delivered you this past week from death? How many potential cancer cells has He ejected from your body? How many minute delays has He used to keep you from traffic accidents? Or for that matter, how many green lights has He arranged to move you along so that you were removed from the area before a problem developed? “To God the Lord belong escapes from death.”

He is also the God who will deliver us from His enemies. There are many people who hate us because we are God’s people. God will deliver us from them. The final image of verse 23 is rather shocking to us, yet it pictures this complete triumph. The enemies of God’s people may try to hide when God comes to deliver His people, but no matter where they go, God will draw them back for judgment. God is a God who has promised that He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God is coming and He will be triumphant when He comes.

Application

Of course, we need to be clear at this point. We are all guilty before God. We have all rebelled against His holiness, violated His righteous standards, and willfully sinned against Him. We have rejected His right to rule over us. These acts leave all of us guilty; as the Apostle Paul says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” We cannot escape the coming judgment of God. All we can do is prepare for it using the only means that He has provided for us to do so—our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus went to the cross to suffer the wrath that our sins deserved. God the Father accepts God the Son’s payment for our guilt when we humble ourselves enough to admit that we cannot do anything to be guiltless before Him. When we accept that we deserve punishment and place our faith in Jesus Christ that He will substitute His righteousness on our behalf, we find salvation. In fact, our salvation becomes another triumph of our God. We become trophies of His grace for all eternity. He has promised as much.

If you need to know more about how to find personal salvation in Jesus Christ, please contact me, call me at the church or send me an email at the address on the screen.

Transition:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. God’s future triumphs are promised. In verses 24-27 this leads to the recognition that…

IV. God’s people will praise His triumphs, vv. 24–27

Reading these four verses…<read Ps 68:24-27>.

Those who have seen God’s glory on display are expected to be in the forefront of praising Him. Israel has seen who God is by experiencing what God has done for them. They have seen God set them up as a nation, establish Jerusalem as a capital, and arrange for His ark to have a home there.

The psalmist likens this history to a conquering king leading a great procession back to his capital. The people line the procession and hail him, singing his praise.

Illustration

Probably the closest parallel we have are parades that are often arranged when a team wins a major sporting event. Most years, for example, the team that wins the world series has a victory parade in their home town. This parade is a great celebration, especially if the final game was away, it serves as a glorious welcome home.

God is pictured as being welcomed by His people. The entire nation is involved, from the southern most tribes to the northern most. There is great jubilation celebrating God as the great God that He is.

Application

Folks, we too should be known for celebrating God’s victory. As men and women who have experienced His victorious might first hand, our joy should be great. We should jubilantly praise our God. Really, every Sunday is a victorious celebration of our God. We remember that through Jesus Christ, sin and death is defeated. We remember that our Savior has returned victorious to His home where He is seated at the right hand of God. We remember that we are His people because of His victory. And we have a chance to celebrate and praise Him.

One of the most inappropriate things that we do, I believe, is worship like we are mourners. When we sing our songs or hear the Scripture read that reflects the victorious work of our Lord, our faces should light up. Our joy should be obvious. Our jubilation and exultation should be real. That is exult, with a “u” as in verse 3 of our psalm; not exalt with an “a.” Exult with a “u” means to feel or show triumphant jubilation. When people observe us worship, do they think that here is a group showing triumphant jubilation. They should!

I think that if we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we fail to have the joy that we ought sometimes when we worship. The good news, though, is that a time will come when we will join the rest of the redeemed and praise God the way that we ought with the joy that He deserves. This will happen when our Savior returns triumphantly.

Transition:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. God’s people will praise God’s triumphs. That is the idea conveyed in verses 24-27.

In the final verses of this psalm, we are reminded that along with God’s people,….

V. The world will praise God’s triumphs, vv. 28–35

Let’s read these final verses…<read Ps 68:28-35>.

These are incredible verses. As our writer comes to the final thoughts of his prayer, his yearning anticipates a time when the whole world will praise God for His triumphs. Even long-time enemies of Israel, nations like Egypt and Ethiopia (or Cush, depending on your translation), will join the streams of kings making their way to Jerusalem in order to worship and praise Israel’s God. When that day arrives, all nations will know that Israel’s God is the one true God. The worship will be offered by both the leaders and the people of the various nations of the world…that is the idea of the “bulls” and “calves” of verse 30, both leaders and people will seek to ascribe glory to God. They will join Israel singing God’s praises. They will declare God as “awesome” and listen to His “mighty voice.”

Application

Let me ask you, do you really expect that to happen? Are you anticipating that the entire world will join in the praise and worship of God? Do you believe that everyone will join you in the declaration of awesomeness; that everyone will listen to His “mighty voice.”

If we really believe that, then why to we find ourselves at times acting and looking like we are on the loosing team? Why are we afraid to identify with God? Why are we shy about telling people about our God?

Illustration

We gladly identify with Detroit teams? Some of you even admit to being Lions fans. So it can’t necessarily be that we are afraid of being identified with what others might mock.

So why do we refrain from identifying with God when He has promised that He will come in absolute triumph? Why do we shy away from aligning with His victory? I suspect the reason is that we recognize that doing so carries responsibilities with it. We must act like we are aligned with Him, willingly wear His jersey so-to-speak. In other words, if we identify as Christ’s, then we need to live Christlike. The problem likely is that we don’t want to identify with Christ because we don’t want to go whole-hog in for Christ.

But friends, the whole world is going to go whole-hog for Christ when He returns—God will come triumphantly. It is actually our privilege to start doing so now before the rest of the world joins in.

Transition from body to conclusion:

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. The world will praise God’s triumphs. David concludes his prayer with this glorious idea.

CONCLUSION

We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. That has been the idea of this psalm, a prayer that both expressed and developed this idea. We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival. God’s past triumphs display His majesty. God’s future triumphs are promised. God’s people will praise His triumphs. The world will praise God’s triumphs. We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival.

Application

As I said at the beginning, we yearn for a lot of things. 2020 has given rise to many unique yearnings: election yearnings, COVID relief yearnings, even yearnings for school. How much do we yearn for God to come triumphantly? How does that yearning compare to our yearning for a comfortable bank account? For physical health and comfort? For ease and entertainment?

We have a glorious God who has given us a victorious Savior. Does yearning for His triumphant arrival eclipse all other yearning in your life this morning? We should yearn for God’s triumphant arrival.