Psalm 68
Main Point : When you live with the presence of God you will see the power and strength of God among you.
As I copied Psalm 68 today I had many ideas of what to share. It is a very rich 35 verses. And there are verses that easily thrill our souls and we want to share these because we want to say, Look, God is wonderful and He does lovely things (vv.5, 6, 19, 20). But then there are verses that are possibly harder to enjoy depending on your situation and mindset in life (vv.1, 10, 12, 21, 23) .
The whole Psalm tells us the story of how God will live with His people. And that is the idea that Isaiah picks up on in
“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means 'God is with us').”
Isaiah 7:14 NLT
And thankfully Matthew makes it very clear that Isaiah was talking about Jesus.
“All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: 23 "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"
Matthew 1:22-23 NLT
God’s plan to live among His people has been being worked out since before the garden of Eden. And the first thing we must accept, according to David in Psalm 68, is that the very same presence of God is a blessing for some and a judgement for others. If you want to know if the presence of God is good for you then you need to ask yourself, am I glad and rejoicing at the thought of God’s presence? Because if you are rejoicing at the thought of God’s presence then you are showing that you are a child of God and you are going to be blessed by His presence. But if you “cringe” as we saw in Psalms 18 and 66 then you will not be excited about the presence of God and you are an enemy of God. If you are reading this and you think you might be an enemy of God then have no fear, you can let God change your heart. He wants to do that and He can and will if you are willing to love His presence, His ways, and His help.
“When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the LORD God will live among us there. 19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. Interlude 20 Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign LORD rescues us from death.”
Psalm 68:18-20 NLT
David wants you to know that there is a transformative power in God’s presence and you can be saved. You can be set free. You can be changed from the dead to the living. God’s presence will be forever among His people (v.16). When Jesus wanted his cousin John the Baptist to be comforted that Jesus was whom he thought He was, He sent this message back. Jesus was doing all the stuff that Isaiah said He would do in Isaiah 61:1-3 (29:18-19, 35:5-6, 42:16). These are the very things David said would happen and they were happening in Jerusalem on mount Zion, right where God said through David and Isaiah they would happen.
And as I read Psalm 68:30-32 I couldn’t help but think of the three wise men (Matthew 2) who travelled to give gifts to Jesus.
Lastly I see this saving presence of God in the same powerful way that David wrote about it in Psalm 18. The contrast is so stark. God is a blessing of power and strength and salvation for those who love Him and He is a terror and a mighty judge for those who reject His presence. And that is simply how it works.
So I am going to focus on the things I long for in the presence of God.
Jesus is that same God who is in the clouds
“Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen! “Revelation 1:7
[Luke 24:50-51 NLT] 50 Then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven.
[Mark 16:19 NLT] 19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.
[Act s1:9-11 NLT] 9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!"
Isn’t there something amazing about the ascension of Jesus and what we know of His return? The God who is hovering over the deep in Genesis, the God who swoops down to gather Elijah and the God who saves David in Psalm 18 is also the God who ascends in Luke 24, Mark 16 and Acts 1 and that is the same God who will return in the clouds in Revelation 14:14-20.
[Rev 14:14-20 NLT] 14 Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, "Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe." 16 So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested. 17 After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, "Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment." 19 So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God's wrath. 20 The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse's bridle.
Conclusion:
When you read about God’s eternal presence among His people helping the vulnerable and saving the rebellious while bringing judgement to His enemies, you are reading of Jesus and His kingdom.
She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"
Matthew 1:23
And that is how the presence of God works. It is a strength-giving presence to some and a damning judgement to others. And you are free to choose which you want to be.
I choose to rejoice in the presence of God and not hide or cringe because I believe in the transforming power of His presence.
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