Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 68 | Date: September 29, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Take your Bibles, if you will, and turn to Psalm 68. Psalm 68. The theme of this Psalm is the Lord ascended and triumphant. Psalm 68 is one of the longer Psalms. I will take the time to read through the entire thing. Beginning with verse one, this is a Psalm of David, a song.

“God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God. The righteous shall be glad. They shall exult before God. They shall be jubilant with joy. Sing to God. Sing praises to His name. Lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts. His name is the Lord. Exult before Him. Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. Oh God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah. The earth quaked. The heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad. You restored your inheritance as it languished. Your flock found a dwelling in it. In your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

The Lord gives the word. The women who announce the news are a great host. The kings of the armies, they flee, they flee. The women at home divide the spoil. Though you men lie among the sheep folds, the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold. When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon. Oh, mountain of God, mountain of Bashan. Oh, many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan. Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode? Yes, where the Lord will dwell forever. Chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them. Sinai is now in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Selah. Our God is a God of salvation, and to God the Lord belong deliverances from death. But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways. The Lord said, ‘I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea, that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.’ Your procession is seen, O God. Procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers in the front, the musicians last. Between them, virgins playing tambourines. Bless God in the great congregation. The Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain. There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us. Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bear gifts to you. Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds, the herds of bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute, scatter the peoples who delight in war. Nobles shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God. Sing praises to the Lord. Selah. Him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens, behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God whose majesty is over Israel and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary, the God of Israel. He is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.”

It is almost impossible, I think, to classify Psalm 68 into one of the usual forms that we have noticed along the way. It’s certainly not a lament song. It doesn’t quite fit the form of a regular or typical praise song. But the overall tone surely is one of praise, an expression of confidence in God who has gone to war on Israel’s behalf and now has returned triumphant. This Psalm is often described in terms like, “this is one of the most exuberant and boisterous Psalms in the Psalter.” So the psalmist here is rejoicing in the triumph of God on behalf of his people.

In the background, we don’t have it stated exactly what the background is, but we can surmise here that this is a triumph Psalm of some kind, occasioned by some important victory on Israel’s behalf—a victory in battle. Verse 18, “you ascended on high,” portrays the Lord as entering his sanctuary as he returns in triumph over his enemies. We have that again in verse 24 and following with the procession as they enter into the sanctuary. This reminds us, and this is likely the background, of 2 Samuel 6. It’s also recorded in Chronicles as well, where God had enabled David to defeat the Jebusites, he had taken Jerusalem, and now David wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant up into Jerusalem where a tent there had been prepared for it. And there’s that long procession as they glory in the triumph of God who has given his people triumph, and God now is established as on his throne in the tent there on Zion.

Because of those military connotations, this became a favorite song of many Christians during various kinds of religious wars. This was a favorite of Oliver Cromwell. During that period, this was the battle song of the French Huguenots during some of their engagements as well in the 16th and early 17th century. By way of overview, Psalm 68 is really rather simple: in verses one to three, we have a prelude of praise, and then in verse 35, at the end of the verse, we have a postlude of praise: “Awesome is God from his sanctuary.” And in between, from verses 4 through 35a, we have this extended victory hymn that is sung in praise of God who has worked and fought on behalf of his people. That’s nine stanzas; from verses 4 to 35, we have this one victory hymn. God, triumphant in battle, takes his place at the throne, and the people of Israel and the people of all the earth are bringing him praise.

Prelude Of Praise

All right, so let’s work our way through. Verses one to three, we have this prelude of praise, and this sets the context and the setting for the entire Psalm. “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God.”

In verse 1, this expression “God shall arise”—God arising—is typically in the scriptures a battle cry. God arising on behalf of his people, going to fight for them, going to battle on their behalf. It stems back to at least Numbers 10, verse 35, where Moses in the wilderness offers this as well. It tells us, whenever the ark set out to go before Israel in battle, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” So taking the ark in front of the people, leading the battle, was symbolic of God going before his people in battle, leading the way as it were, and blessing them with his presence and delivering them in battle. So this “arise, O Lord” is something of a war cry and an expression of trust in God as deliverer of his people and as destroyer of all his and their enemies.

Now if you have a New International Version with you this morning, you’ll notice a bit of a translation difference here. The ESV says, “God shall arise, those who hate him shall flee before him.” Verse two: “you shall drive them away” and so on. In the New International Version, this is translated, “may God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his enemies flee before him.” So it’s expressed as a kind of wish. Actually, the Hebrew here is ambiguous. It can be translated either way. We make our choice; translators do that. Either way, we have a declaration or an affirmation, either of what God will do—arise on behalf of his people—or it is a plea for God to arise on behalf of his people. But either way, it’s an expression of God’s lordship over the enemies and an expression of confidence that he will fight on behalf of his people.

In verses 1 and 2, his enemies who hate him and refuse his rule will be utterly destroyed and routed. They’ll be scattered. They’ll flee from before him, unable to regroup in any way. They’ll be driven away and they’ll perish. And like vanishing smoke, there’ll be no trace of them left when God is done. By contrast, in verse 3, the righteous—that is, because of the Lord’s triumph on their behalf—”the righteous shall be glad. They’ll exult before the Lord and they shall be jubilant with joy.”

An Extended Victory Hymn

Now all of this brings us, or brings David, to the petition of verse 4. Here he summons the righteous to sing the Lord’s praise. Verse 4: “Sing to God, sing praises to his name, lift up a song to him, exult before him.” All of this now is the setting, the context of the victory hymn that follows. Verse 4 begins that victory hymn with this petition for the righteous to sing praise to God who will come and battle on their behalf.

Now all the way from verses 4 through 28, we have a depiction of God’s mighty works on behalf of his people in the past. In a sense, this is something of a historical Psalm where he looks back. We’ve seen that before, where the psalmist will look back to see what God has done for his people in acting in a powerful way on their behalf. And that reciting of history becomes something of a statement of faith because it is something of a symbolic pledge of what God will do in the future. So in verses 4 and following, he reminds us of the exodus from Egypt, taking the people through the wilderness into the promised land, and even through the time of the book of Judges. Verse 6, for example: “God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity. The rebellious dwell in a parched land.”

So God has acted on behalf of his people before. He’s brought them out of Egypt. In verses 7 and following, we have God on the march from Sinai onward. Verses 7 and 8 describe his victorious presence in the wilderness: “Oh God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness…” Verses 9 and 10, he settled them in their land: “Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad. You restored your inheritance as it languished.”

So he’s reminded them of the past. And now, in verses 11 and following, we have something interrupting this recitation of history. We have a prophetic oracle—a prophet speaks, announcing victory ahead of time—and then that victory is echoed by throngs of women at home as they divide up the booty. That’s the flavor of verses 11 and following. Verse 11: “The Lord gives the word. The women who announced the news are a great host. The kings of the armies, they flee. The women at home divide the spoil.” So they’ve come back from battle with the treasures of war. It’s been distributed to the people of the land. The women are sorting through it, and everyone’s happy.

And then, in verses 15 and following, the narrative culminates now with the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant from 2 Samuel 7. This is from Obed-Edom, and it arrives at the tent in Jerusalem. David now is establishing his monarchy in Jerusalem, reigning over all of the tribes, having unified all of the tribes of Israel, and God has established his presence in Zion in the tent. Verse 15: “O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan, O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan, why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode? Yes, where the Lord will dwell forever.” So they’re depicting here Mount Hermon. Hermon, which is a multi-peaked mountain up in what is now Lebanon, is the center of Baal worship. This is Israel’s enemies, and it pictures Mount Hermon, which is a very fertile region comparatively, looking down on Mount Zion with envy. “Why do you hate us? We’re so privileged and you can’t get over it.” So it has Mount Hermon envious—Mount Hermon, the center of Baal worship, envious of Zion, the dwelling place of God.

All right, this historical look backwards climaxes then in the vision of God enthroned over the nations in verse 18: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.” Now this verse 18 has three lines, but the first two lines of verse 18 are the center lines. These are the center lines of the Psalm. Here we have the key verse, the message of the Psalm: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train.” The Lord has established his own presence in Jerusalem, reigning on high from Mount Zion. The people of God are cheering that God has gone to battle on their behalf, and now he has taken his place on his throne, made Israel his, and he’s established himself on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Now to all of this, in verses 19 and following, we have Israel’s response. And the response, of course, is praise and a preparation for battle. Verse 19: “Blessed be the Lord who daily bears us up. God is our salvation. Our God is a God of salvation and to God the Lord belong deliverances from death.” And then verses 24 and following, as I’ve already mentioned, we have this victory procession as the people bring the Ark up to Jerusalem. You find this in 1 Chronicles as well. Verse 24: “Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines.” Verse 26, now David addresses Israel: “Bless God in the great congregation. The Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountains.” So here we have this procession leading with singing and rejoicing and musical instruments, all following as the ark is being taken up into the sanctuary. David calls on the people—the king calling on the congregation now—to sing praise to God.

And then verse 27 returns to the parade scene: “There’s Benjamin, the least of them in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.” So we have this grand parade of the ark leading the people of God as God takes his place in his temple. And we have choirs and musicians and tambourines. And this is a great moment of celebration and rejoicing for Israel.

Now we come then to verses 28 and following. In this, David’s trust—his confidence in God—now takes the form of a petition. He asks and pleads that the Lord will extend his reign, not just here on Mount Zion and not just over the Jebusites that he has taken, but that God would extend his reign to all the earth. Verse 28: “Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute, scatter the peoples who delight in war. Nobles shall come from Egypt. Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.” So he pleads with God now that just as he has worked for them in the past and just as now he has brought them to this high moment of their history, so God will continue to work and work in a bigger way and bring all the nations, even Egypt and Cush, to come and worship before God in his temple.

Explosive Fanfare Of Praise

Then we come to verses 32 to 35. The Psalm ends with this explosive fanfare of praise. Here all the nations are brought into submission to God, and they sing his praise. Verse 32: “O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God. Sing praises to the Lord, to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens. Behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary, the God of Israel. He is the one who gives power and strength to his people.” And so he concludes at the end of the Psalm, the last part of verse 35, with this postlude of praise, this closing note of praise: “Blessed be God.”

So Psalm 68 then is a Psalm of confidence, but a Psalm of praise—joyful praise that just as God has gone to war for us in our past, and just as he has blessed us so and accomplished so much for us in the past, so he will continue to do the same until all the earth brings him tribute. And then we have the postscript to the choirmaster. David hands this off to the leader of the singing in the temple. So let’s have the congregation sing this. So this Psalm is intended for us explicitly from David himself.

The question now becomes, as we’ve asked so often going through these Psalms, how do we sing this Psalm as Christians? We’ve said many times going through this that we need to learn to read the Psalms not only in their own setting but also in their larger canonical setting to see how this is treated in the larger flow of redemption and to see how any anticipation in these Psalms is finally fulfilled and realized in Jesus. Whatever else is unclear about the Psalm, the message is plain, and that is that God has won. And God will win on behalf of his people.

Now if you read your Bible even once, you know that somehow or other, this is going to point us to Jesus. Because if you’ve read the whole story, you know that God wins. But you also know that God wins through his anointed one, his appointed king, who is his son, who is David’s son, the king of Israel, who will rule over all the nations. That’s the Bible story. Now, built into Psalm 68 is that kind of a trajectory. It views the present—what’s going on in their own setting—not only in light of the past, but it also views it in light of the future, especially when we get to verses 29 and following, where you have this depiction of the victorious Lord God asserting his reign over the entire universe and over all the nations, and all the kingdoms of the earth come to give him praise. That’s a major biblical theme.

In our Sunday evening studies, we’ve seen that in messianic prophecy. It began way back in Genesis 1, that God has established a man to rule over his created order. Man failed. God promised a champion who would come—and over and over and over and over and over again. Throughout ancient history, God made the promise again and again and again that he would send that champion. The king would come. He would rule over his people. He’d rule over the world. He would have victory over all. We have it in the Psalter expressed in some marvelous ways. In Psalm 2, the nations of the world rebel. And God says to them—David asks, “Why in the world are you doing this? This is an impossible rebellion. It can’t succeed.” God responds to the rebellion by laughing at them, and God says, “I’ve set my king on Zion, my holy hill.” There’s no fighting that. And then the king responds, you remember in Psalm 2, and says, “the Father, God has promised me an inheritance of nations. They’ll all be mine.” We have it again in Psalm 110, where the same idea is portrayed, where God’s appointed, his anointed one, has come and he has succeeded in his work. And God says to him, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” It’s a huge theme.

That’s the theme of Psalm 68. Verse 18 again: this is the center lines of the Psalm, the key verse. The Psalm’s message: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men.” So the Lord has established his presence in Jerusalem. He reigns on high in Zion. And that has a marvelous prospect for world history. Now when you read verse 18—”You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train”—when you read verse 18, if you have a sneaking suspicion that maybe this verse anticipates the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the throne, well then you’re reading just like the Apostle Paul.

Let’s take time. Keep your finger here. We’ll be back to Psalm 68, but look at Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians chapter four. This is a wonderful chapter where the apostle calls the people of God to a practical, experienced kind of unity together. He’s expounded the gospel at great length in chapters 1 to 3, and now in Ephesians 4, he has this call to unity. “I beseech you,” verse 1, “a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we’ve been called, with humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” This is a call to unity—a practical, experienced unity of the people of God. Verses 4 to 6, he gives us the basis of that unity. It’s a reminder here of our oneness in Christ. There’s one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. We have all this in common. This is the basis of our unity.

Verse 7: within that unity, there’s a variety of giftedness. Verse 7: “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Grace—that is, a gift of grace. As this pans out in the New Testament, these are enablements to serve in various capacities. He mentions that in verse 11: some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, teachers. He gives a variety of gifts. But what’s important here for our purposes is to note that these varied gifts in the body of Christ are gifts from Christ. That’s what he says. Verse 7: “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” You’ll see that again in verse 11: “He gave”—that is, Christ. He gave some apostles, some prophets and evangelists and so on. So this is a gift of Christ to his church.

And then in verse 8, Paul grounds that theology in the Old Testament teaching. Look at verse 8 again. Where do these gifts come from? Look at the “therefore.” He gave us these gifts. Some apostles, some prophets. He gave us… Oh, how do you know that, Paul? Verse 8: “Therefore it says,” and here he quotes Psalm 68 and verse 18: “When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives. He gave gifts to men.” In saying “he ascended,” what does it mean but that he also descended in the lower regions of the earth? That is, His incarnation was preparatory to his ascension. “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave to the apostles and prophets” and so on.

So Paul says here in Ephesians 4 that the very giftedness in the body of Christ comes to us from Christ himself. And for support of that affirmation, he looks back to Psalm 68, which we’ve just been looking at, and verse 18 in particular. And so Paul is saying that the ascent of God, the Lord, in Jerusalem to the temple at Mount Zion is prospective of the ascent of Jesus to the heavenly Zion at the right hand of the Father. The ascent of the Lord God himself is prospective of the ascension of Christ. God takes his throne at Mount Zion back in 2 Samuel chapter 6. David sings of it in Psalm 68. Paul comes along and says all of that is anticipating what we have seen now in Jesus. Verses 9 and 10, his incarnation has led to his ascension. All of that was foretold in Psalm 68, verse 18.

So also then, as it was in Psalm 68, as well as back in 2 Samuel 6, it was God’s triumph that was in view as he has triumphed over his enemies. Now he takes his throne as ruling over all. So also Christ’s ascension now is his moment of triumph. Having finished his redeeming mediatorial work in his death and resurrection, he ascends to the throne; he has accomplished universal lordship, the right to rule, the right to judge, because he’s the only Savior. Paul talks like that elsewhere in Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 20 and following: in his ascension, God seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and all dominions. We have the same in Psalm 110 where it’s spoken of God’s anointed: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool.” All of that is a fulfillment of what was anticipated here in Psalm 68 and verse 18—God ascending that hill up to Mount Zion, taking his place, putting the Ark of the Covenant there. And that is prospective now of what is finally realized in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus.

Well, that’s the victory parade then of Psalm 68, verse 18 and following: “You ascended on high, leading a host of captives.” There’s another expression. That actually works back to Judges chapter 5, verse 12—Deborah’s praise to the Lord for her victory over Canaan. There she says, “Arise, Barak, lead away your captives.” That is, lead away in captivity those who previously held you captive. Well, that kind of thinking is picked up in the New Testament, as you know, several times, probably most famously in Colossians chapter 2, where he stripped the spiritual principalities and powers of all their authority through his death on behalf of sinners.

Now there’s one other brief change here in the translation that you might want to note if you’ve caught it. Verse 18, Psalm 68: “you ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, receiving gifts among men.” In Ephesians 4, if you still have that, Paul says, “when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.” In Psalm 68, he receives gifts. In Ephesians 4, when Paul quotes it, he gave gifts to men. Well, both are the same. He’s referring to the ancient custom when a military leader would come back victorious in battle—he’s collected the booty, he’s won the treasures of war, he has received gifts. And as he makes his way back in the city, there’s this triumphal procession and the people are cheering and praising, and he’s throwing the booty out and sharing it with everyone. That’s some of what we see with the ladies sharing the booty and sorting things out in Psalm 68 as well.

All that to say, in Ephesians 4, upon his ascension, which is his coronation, the Lord Jesus gave gifts to his church. That, of course, comes to its fulfillment in Acts chapter 2. Peter tells us that, “being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” So the ascent of the Lord to Zion in Psalm 68 anticipates and finds its fulfillment in the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You’ve heard me refer to Revelation chapters 4 and 5 many times. It’s a central passage that is essential to redemptive history. It’s a high point. To this point, it’s a high point—the high point in redemptive history. You remember Revelation chapter four presents God seated on his throne in majesty, unapproachable glory. And then chapter five, he has a scroll in his hand. This is the symbol of a last will and testament with the seven seals. How will God’s purposes for judgment and salvation be carried out? Who in this world is worthy to do that? And you remember as the scene unfolds, it’s a great drama. This lion appears, and they look again and it’s a lamb—the slain lamb who appears—and because he’s been slain and by his blood has redeemed a people for God out of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue, he’s worthy to take the scroll. And so he takes the scroll. And all of that climaxes in Revelation chapter 5, verse 13: “I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever.” Everyone under heaven acknowledging the lordship of Jesus as he’s ascended the throne and he has authority to carry out God’s purposes of judgment and salvation. And that, of course, is exactly what we see in Revelation chapter 6 and following.

All of that is foreseen in Psalm 68, verses 29 and following. As a result of his enthronement, God on Zion, universal worship is brought. In the anticipation of Psalm 68, we find it realized in Jesus and his ascension and as he carries out God’s purpose in the earth. Now when we come to the New Testament more broadly, our Lord’s kingdom we find—and this is perhaps the overarching note of Old Testament teaching—that our Lord’s kingdom has been established in the earth. It has not come yet in its full glory, but God’s kingdom has been established in the earth in an inaugurated way. He’s died for sinners. He’s taken their judgment to himself. He’s borne the curse. He’s offered satisfaction to God. God in vindication has raised him from the dead. He’s exalted him to his position of glory.

And now throughout this age, men and women are brought to faith one by one, rescued out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Now the strange thing from an Old Testament perspective—the strange thing about this period of the kingdom in the New Testament age—is that the kingdom now makes its advance, but it does it secretly, imperceptibly. According to Matthew chapter 13, it’s like a sower who goes out to sow. He reaches in the bag, grabs the seed, and he tosses it. And here and there, there are responses, and they come. There are some false responses, there are some non-responses, but there are people who come in genuine faith. And the kingdom makes its advance, but it’s rather unperceived. It’s secret. It’s not really noticed that well by the earth.

And in fact, the kingdom in this phase, this inaugurated phase of the kingdom, is still being contested. It’s still Psalm 2. The kingdom’s raging against God. “We won’t have his rule.” Fighting against it. But the kingdom makes its advance steadily just the same. We find this in the book of Revelation as well. Revelation chapter 12, we saw this recently. Was it last time? Revelation chapter 12, a woman about to give birth to the child, and the dragon is standing in front of her waiting for this child to be born so that he can devour it. The child is born. And immediately it’s snatched up into heaven to the throne of God. And the dragon is really mad now. And he chases the woman and her children out into the wilderness where he makes war against them. But they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and despite Satan’s assault against the people of God, they continue faithful and they say, “We have been saved from him by the blood of the Lamb,” and they continue proclaiming this message. And they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. The kingdom of God continues to make its advance.

In Revelation 13 and following, we find the beast and the false prophet led by the dragon to make war against the people of God, impose their mark on the people of God, and make it increasingly difficult for them to live here. “We won’t have them here. They’re not part of us. You’re not welcome here.” But according to what we have found, the Lord has set his king on Zion. He has set his king on his holy hill. The Lord has ascended to Zion. He reigns, and he reigns over all the nations of the earth. The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet make their assault against the church. It’s portrayed as a great harlot, drunk with the blood of the martyrs. It’s portrayed as a great city, Babylon, making war against the city of Jerusalem. God has set his king on Zion and his purpose will be fulfilled. His kingdom continues to make its advance until finally we come to Revelation chapters 18 and 19 and Babylon falls under the judgment of God. In Revelation 19, the Lord Jesus makes his grand entrance riding on a white horse in victory and triumph over all until finally all of the nations bring him tribute. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

Psalm 68 inevitably drives our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s triumphant in his death, glorified in his resurrection, exalted in his ascension, and now he rules over all of his enemies until they all—they all, the world over—come to own him as Lord. And so the theme of Psalm 68 then is the theme of the Psalter. It’s the theme of the whole Bible. It’s the theme that shaped the psalmist’s whole outlook. It’s the theme over and again we’ve seen it. It’s the theme that strengthened the psalmist’s soul. And this is the whole hope of every Christian today. The theme of our songs still today is the same. It just brims with the anticipation of what God will do in history.

One day, the grand celebration of verses 21 and following will climax in the cheers of God’s people when Christ returns. And at last, in verse 32, the kingdoms of the earth will sing to God and sing praises to our Lord Jesus Christ. What a day that will be. I keep saying it—I hope you don’t tire of it—but I keep saying I can’t wait. I can’t wait to see that day. The uglier this world gets, the more I just crave to see the day where they recognize our Lord for the glory that is His. That day will come. I’ve said this before as well: don’t ever buy into that argument when they tell you to “get on the right side of history.” This is where history is going. We are privileged to be on that side. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our Father, how privileged we are to see, to be let in on your grand purposes for history, and how our hearts just rejoice to see how it all climaxes in our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we have come together today as we do each Lord’s Day to refresh our hearts in thoughts of Christ. Carry us with this, and we pray that this will stir us to increased faithfulness and continued faithfulness until that great day when he comes. We pray in his name, amen.